#thoughts i have on the metro and need to share

[imhereformr]

What was Knut's form of payment working for the Trix? Like, was it just room and board? Room and board, and food? An actual salary? Inquiring minds want to know.

[permanentswaps]

Nonno’s Globetrotting Adventure

Part One

I sat in my modest apartment, the weight of my years heavy upon my frail shoulders. My once-strong body now betrayed me, confined to a wheelchair as age and illness took their toll. But despite my body, I still felt young at heart. And, more importantly, I had a  burning desire to experience the world beyond the confines of my small Italian town before my time was up.

One day, my grandson Nico came to visit. Although it feels weird to say about my grandson, Nico is a very attractive young man.

He’s currently working as a waiter while pursing his dream of getting signed by a modeling agency in Milan. While Nico certainly has the looks to get signed, he seems to lack the discipline and patience needed to succeed. Every time he comes close, he finds a way to sabotage his chances – oversleeping for a final callback, not bothering to dress nice enough, always something.

Seeing that Nico was struggling, I had an idea for how to help us both get what we wanted.

“Wait, so let me get this straight,” Nico said. “You want to use my body to travel the world, while I stay here in yours?”

“Exactly,” I replied. “I know it sounds strange, but think about it. You’re young and full of energy, it’s really the only way I could see some sights before I pass.”

“But how would it even work?” he said.

“I have these enchanted necklaces. If we both wear them at the same time, we’ll swap bodies. And then, when the summer is over, we can switch back by both removing the necklaces,” I explained.

“Wow, that’s… That’s a lot to take in, Nonno,” he said.

“I know it’s unconventional, but I would be willing to pay you double what you would make from waiting tables over the summer. That way, you would have a cushion to focus full time on landing a modeling gig when you get back. And I’d be sure to take a bunch of pictures for you while I’m away to help build up your portfolio.”

“I don’t know, that’s a great offer, but I’m still not sure.”

“Well, let’s try now and see how you feel,” I said, quickly clasping the necklace around his neck before he could say anything.

Then I threw on my own. I felt my soul rush out of me and slam into my grandson. Standing up tall and taking a deep breath, I felt my strong muscles. Then I looked down at my hands and saw thick veins. Damn, I hadn’t felt this good in years.

Sensing some reticence from Nico, I quickly said “Oh! Thank you so much Nico, it really means the world to me.” Hoping to guilt trip him before he could say anything.

Clearly still worried, he tried to play it off and said, “Alright Nonno, you’re welcome.”

Taking in this body, I snapped this photo on the way to my new home:

Part Two

The first stop on my world tour was New York City. Since I was a little boy, I had always dreamed of visiting America, but I had never gotten the chance.

As I stepped out of the metro and up to ground level, I couldn’t help but stare at the skyscrapers touring over me. Walking down the street, I could tell that guys and girls were checking me out, which was a new feeling. Sure, I was attractive when I was younger, thats part of where Nico gets it from. But even then, I’d never really gotten these types of looks back in the day, especially not from such hot guys … I think I like it.

At the youth hostel, I met a bunch of really cool guys – we hung out in a crew and went to do all the iconic landmarks like Times Square, Central Park, and the Statue of Liberty.

Walking through Midtown one of the guys, Adi, shouted to me, “Hey Sal, check this out!” as we turned a corner, revealing a perfect view of the Empire State Building. I couldn’t help but marvel at the sight, feeling a sense of awe wash over me.

Adi slapped me on the back, grinning widely. "Pretty awesome, huh?"

I nodded enthusiastically. "Yeah, it's incredible. I never thought I'd get to see it in person."

We bar-hopped around the city together, sharing stories and laughter late into the night. At one point, we stumbled upon a street performer playing the guitar, his soulful melodies filling the air with a sense of nostalgia. Adi nudged me with his elbow, a mischievous glint in his eye. "Sal, you ever played an instrument?"

I shook my head. "No, never had the chance."

Adi grinned. "Well, there's no time like the present. Grab that guitar and let's see what you've got!"

With a mixture of nervousness and excitement, I hesitantly approached the street performer, who handed me his guitar with a friendly smile. As I strummed the strings and attempted to mimic the chords he had been playing, I felt a sense of exhilaration wash over me. Despite my lack of experience, the music flowed through me, filling me with a sense of joy and freedom I had never known before.

The guys cheered me on, clapping and cheering as I played. In that moment, I felt alive in a way I hadn't in years. It was a feeling I never wanted to end.

I made sure to snap some more selfies of myself, and get my new bros to take some shots for my modeling portfolio too:

After bidding farewell to the bustling streets of New York, I traveled westward. From the majestic mountains of the Rockies to the tranquil plains of the Midwest, each destination had its own unique charm.

But it was in California, with its sun-kissed beaches and sprawling landscapes, that I truly felt at home. As I walked for what seemed like endless miles along the rugged coastline, the salty breeze tousling my hair and the warmth of the sun on my skin, I couldn't help but marvel at the beauty that surrounded me.

With each step, I felt the strength and vitality of Nico's body coursing through me. I would’ve never been able to do this trip in my own body. Gone were the aches and pains of old age, replaced by a sense of boundless energy. I couldn't shake the feeling that this was somehow meant to be, me in Nico's youthful body.

Part Three

After about a month of traveling, I found myself in India. While I hadn’t really though about traveling there before, so many people had recommended it to me as my next stop. So I decided, why not check it out.

Arriving in Mumbai, I checked into my hostel and made a conscious decision to introduce myself as Nico, not Salvatore, this time. While my fellow travelers were none the wiser, I couldn't help but feel a rush of excitement every time someone addressed me by my new name. It made feel even more at home in this body than I had in California.

Among the eclectic group at the hostel, one stood out to me – Emilio. Another Italian adventurer like myself, Emilio had a warm smile and an easy charm that immediately put me at ease. With his curly hair and striking green eyes, Emilio was undeniably handsome, and I found myself drawn to him in a way I hadn't expected. We spent our days exploring the bustling streets of Mumbai, immersing ourselves in the sights, sounds, and flavors of the city, and going to some nearby hotsprings.

One fateful night, after returning from a night out on the town, Emilio found himself locked out of his bunk. Immediately, I offered him a spot in my private room, and to my delight, he accepted without hesitation.

Since it was so hot in Mumbai, we decided to strip down to just our underwear. As we lay sharing my small bed, I feel his hand trace up my inner thigh. My breathing getting heavier, Emilio decides to increase the pressure of his strokes. In reponse, I reach over to his thigh and work my way up to his cock, which I can feel is massive. That was all the sign he needed.

Emilio gets up and splits my legs, now rubbing both of them and playing with my waistband. As he does that, he also leans over and begins sucking my nipples. While this wouldn’t have done anything for my old body, Nico’s nipples are sensitive as hell.

“Fuckkkk” I said in a low grunting whisper.

As he switched over from one nipple to the other, Emilio then reached into my trunks and began jerking my uncut dick. Eventually, he flips me over and pulls down my underwear before taking off his own. I can feel his cock now teasing between my ass cheeks. The anticipation is agonizing as I wait for him to put it in.

He reaches underneath me and pulls up my chest so that I am on my hands and knees. Nibbling on my ear he whispers “you’re the fucking sexiest guy i’ve ever seen,” as he shoves his 25cm cock inside me.

Thrusting in and out of me, he uses the hand that he has across my waist to play with my nipples again, which drives me crazy. Before long, I feel pressure growing, and without him even touching my cock, I feel myself shoot my load across the bed.

Smirking at me as I turn my head around, Emilio takes his fingers, runs it through my seed, before then showing those same fingers into his mouth. He then lifts up his arm, flexes his biceps for me, which makes me tigthen my hole. The tighthness is too much for him and he shoots his entire load inside me. We collapse onto the bed, his cock still inside, where it stays for the rest of the night.

From that night on, Emilio and I became inseparable. We decided to travel together for the rest of our journey, visiting  South Africa, Kenya, and Egypt before finally finding ourselves in Greece at the end of the summer.

The beaches of Greece were a paradise. We spent our days basking in the warm Mediterranean sun, swimming in the azure sea, and indulging in leisurely walks along the shore. In the evenings, we treated ourselves to sumptuous dinners at quaint seaside tavernas, savoring the flavors of Greek cuisine and the company of each other.

One night towards the end of our time in Greece, over a sunset dinner, Emilio turned to me with a serious expression.

“These past few weeks have been beyond anything I could have imagined,” Emilio began, his voice soft but filled with emotion. “I've had the time of my life, Nico, and I don't want it to end when we return to Italy.”

His words echoed the sentiments that had been swirling in my own mind, and I felt a rush of anticipation at what he might say next. Meeting his gaze, I couldn't help but feel a surge of affection for this man who had become so dear to me.

"Me neither," I replied, my heart pounding in my chest as I gazed longingly into his eyes.

With a determined look, Emilio took a deep breath before continuing, "Will you be my boyfriend?"

The question hung in the air between us, charged with the weight of all that we had shared and all that was yet to come. And in that moment, I knew with absolute certainty what my answer would be.

“Yes, of course,” I replied, a smile spreading across my face as I reached out to take his hand in mine. “I've been waiting for you to ask since the night we met in India.”

He looked at me, his eyes glistening, before pulling me in for a deep, passionate kiss.

Part Four

Eventually, Emilio and I made our way back to Italy. We'd been back about a week, and I was eager to share my adventures and introduce Emilio to the rest of my family, which I planned to do at dinner tonight. However, there was a significant problem: none of them knew about the body swap. I hadn’t spoken to the real Nico since I'd left three months ago, but I'd see him tonight. I knew what I was going to do, but I didn’t know how it would go over.

Walking hand in hand, we approached the familiar doorstep of my family's house. I could feel Emilio’s nerves radiating, but I squeezed his hand reassuringly, confident that my family would adore him as much as I did. Stepping into the warm embrace of my family, I proudly introduced Emilio to each and every one of them.

My mother’s (formerly my daughter) eyes lit up with delight as she embraced Emilio warmly. "Oh, it's so wonderful to finally meet you, Emilio! Nico has spoken so highly of you."

Emilio returned her embrace, a smile playing on his lips. "Grazie, signora. It's truly an honor to meet you all."

My father clapped Emilio on the back, a jovial twinkle in his eye. "Welcome to the family, Emilio! Nico here has been a bit of a handful lately, but it seems like you've got him under control."

We all shared a laugh at my father's jest, and Emilio's cheeks flushed with warmth. "I'm doing my best, signore," he replied, earning a nod of approval from my father.

As we sat around the dinner table, sharing stories of our travels and adventures, Emilio chimed in with anecdotes of his own, effortlessly weaving himself into the fabric of our family dynamic. With each passing moment, I could see my family growing fonder of him.

As we sat around the dinner table, I asked, "Hey, where’s Nonno?"

My mother's expression softened with concern as she replied, "He's in bed, nico. He's been resting a lot lately."

A pang of guilt tugged at my heart as I excused myself from the table, my footsteps heavy with apprehension as I made my way upstairs. "Nonno," I said softly, approaching his bedside with a mixture of sorrow and determination. "I need to talk to you."

"I am so relieved you’re back," he replied weakly, his voice raspy with exhaustion, "but, why did you call me that?"

Taking a deep breath, I summoned the courage to tell him. "I... I met a guy," I began, my words faltering slightly as I struggled to find the right way to express myself. "I've never felt such a deep connection before, and I need to see where it leads."

His brow furrowed in confusion. "But... what about our agreement?" he asked, his voice tinged with disappointment.

"I know, Nonno, and I'm sorry," I replied, my heart heavy with guilt. "But I can't ignore how I feel. I hope you understand."

Anger flared in his eyes. "You can’t do this to me," he said, his voice trembling with emotion. "It's not fair."

With a sudden surge of frustration, Nico ripped off his necklace, the enchanted chain clattering to the floor with a finality that echoed through the room. "I want to swap back right now," he demanded, his gaze locking onto the necklace that now hung around my neck.

I leaned in towards my old body, my guilt giving way to slight confidence as I made my declaration. "I understand it's hard to accept, Nonno, but this is my life now," I asserted, my tone laced with a sense of superiority.

With a swift motion, he reached for the necklace around my neck, his fingers trembling with desperation. But as he tore it away, his expression twisted with shock as he realized that nothing happened.

I looked at him with a face of pity. “It’s not going to work,” I said.

"I melted down the necklace and had it made it into a bunch of different pieces of jewelry while I was in India," I confessed.

His eyes widened in disbelief, his feeble grasp on the situation slipping away with each passing moment. "You... you did what?" he stammered, his voice tinged with incredulity.

"I wanted an insurance policy so that I could ensure nothing would stop me from pursuing Emilio," I continued, my resolve unwavering.

"I knew you probably wouldn’t think to take off the necklace until I cam back. So I took the opportunity to melt mine down into jewelry that I can wear all the time and nobody can just accidentally take off or force me to take off – earrings, bracelets … cock piercing. Emilio thought they were so hot."

"You couldn't get them off me even if you were in the best shape of your life – and well, now I am in the best shape of your life and you’re in the worst shape of mine," I added with a touch of irony.

"I’m sorry, but this is my life now," I concluded, my voice firm. "I hope you can understand."

With that, I turned and walked back downstairs to rejoin my family and my beautiful boyfriend, leaving behind a bewildered Nico in my former body, grappling with the weight of my decisions.

Epilogue:

A week later, I get a call from my mom early in the morning while I am still in bed. Nonno passed away in his sleep. I feel a pang of sorrow mixed with relief, this body was officially mine forever.

I roll back over to see Emilio sleeping peacefully beside me. Leaning over, I gently kiss him on the lips, waking him from his slumber. He stirs and without opening his sleepy eyes, a soft smile graces his lips and he pulls me down into a big hug. In that moment, as I feel his skin on mine, I know with absolute certainty that this is exactly where I belong.

[anashins]

Hiii maybe you can write smth about a date that goes wrong with Jaehyun? You’ve been dating for a little more than a year and he accidentally takes you to a butterfly garden thinking you’re gonna love it cos you two often go hiking together but he doesn’t know you’re terrified of butterflies and moths.

Pairing: Jaehyun x You

Genre: fluff, romance

Word Count: 1.4k

Summary: Jaehyun always makes sure to take you on special dates. The one he planned for your first anniversary will turn out to be the most memorable though - for all the wrong reasons.

A/N: Thank you for requesting, I hope you like it! :)

“Where will you take me?”

“It’s a surprise.” Jaehyun took you by your hand. “Come!”

When a week ago, he had asked you to dress up cutely and be ready by 11am for celebrating your first anniversary together, you had already wondered what he was planning for your special day. 

Out of all common date ideas, you had possibly run through all of them already since it was very important for your boyfriend to take you out to do something extraordinarily nice at least once a week.

From visiting different cinemas to watch a movie you had been anticipating for the longest time, to going hiking together at various places as a hobby you both shared, to the last date being a cooking course where you learned a dish from another country together - Jaehyun was always very creative and would make sure you had a once in a lifetime experience.

So for your first year anniversary, you didn’t expect anything less.

Though, truth to be told, you would also be content with just staying at home, cuddling on the couch and eating delivery pizza every now and then. But whenever you saw your boyfriend already planning a date and looking forward to seeing your happy face, you couldn’t break this truth down to him anymore. You didn’t want to spoil all of his excitement - just like today.

A few metro stations later that still required five minutes of walking, you arrived at your destination.

“We’re here!” Jaehyun exclaimed proudly, having exceeded himself once again.

There was a glass dome stretching out in front of your vision and you could blurrily recognize different trees and plants inside the apparent greenhouse. Nice, you thought, you were going to a botanical garden! You had never been to one and hadn’t visited a country in which a different kind of landscape grew.

But your anticipation was instantly crushed as Jaehyun added,

“It’s a butterfly garden!”

Oh dear god, you silently thought to yourself, this can’t be real.

There were many, many things Jaehyun knew about you after more than a year of dating. But the fact that you were scared of butterflies wasn’t one of them. You had always thought this was kind of ridiculous and childish. After all, butterflies were perceived as something beautiful and nice to look at - not as monsters from hell that you needed to run away from.

But that was how you indeed viewed butterflies. You hated worms and spiders, just anything that didn’t have legs or too many legs, and your boyfriend knew about this, but butterflies were never in anyone’s book’s when you talked about phobias.

Looking at these apparent beautiful creatures, did it fall off everyone’s mind that they had once been caterpillars too? No matter how bright and colorful they were, you could never get past this fact, and that was what made you still scared of them. 

“Oh…” It then dawned on Jaehyun. “You hate it.”

“What?” you feigned surprise. You just couldn’t bear looking at his disappointed face after having put so much effort into coming up with such a unique idea. “I love it! Let’s go!”

Flying worms everywhere in a glass prison cell - that was how you saw the entire setup once you stepped foot into the glass dome. 

Your hands were cold and sweaty despite Jaehyun’s warm one holding yours. Other people were playfully trying to catch or touch them, some even stood there with butterflies resting on their shoulders, stretched out arms or even faces. 

You got this, you were trying to convince yourself. As long as you didn’t move or stayed where there were as few butterflies as possible. Or if you could even noticeably wield them off when they flew too close to you… you would be fine. There was no reason to run away from these pretty creatures, right?

“Let’s go where the most are!” Jaehyun prompted solemnly, and you were actually relieved that he was too excited to notice the mask on your face dropping the further he led you into the garden.

You then stood there among trees, flowers and other plants, petrified, with hundreds of butterflies swirling around you. And then… one landed on your shoulder. You completely lost it.

“I’m so sorry!” you apologized and dashed to the exit, arms flying into every direction, touching god knows what to wield out of your vision.

You let out a suppressed scream when something landed on your face and thus started protecting your head with your hands instead. It was a whole nightmare for you that didn’t stop even when you were outside again, breathing heavily from the panic that had been sitting in your chest all along.

It didn’t take your boyfriend much longer to follow you to the outside, even though in your perception, you had run at the speed of light. In the end, you might have just looked like an idiot who eventually also ruined the precious date Jaehyun had carefully planned for you to enjoy and not flee from.

“Are you okay? What happened back there?” The way he checked up on you and sounded so concerned like something might have truly happened to you, let your bad conscience kick in. “Did something bite you? Should we go to the hospital?”

You suddenly felt so ridiculous.

“No, nothing happened. It’s just…” You inhaled deeply. There was no room to conceal or lie anymore. “I’m scared.”

He was confused. Fair enough. “...of what? There were only plants and butterflies, no?”

“Exactly,” you reluctantly admitted. “...the butterflies.”

“I’m so sorry, I don’t understand…”

“I’m afraid of the butterflies!” you finally blurted. “They scare me!”

Jaehyun frowned for a moment, but then his features softened almost instantly. “That’s fine.”

“So…” Your brows skeptically drew together. “You’re not going to say anything about it?”

He tilted his head in confusion. “What am I supposed to say about it?”

“Like… how it’s weird and childish and they won’t attack me anyway as they’re only little insects. How can I, as an adult, be scared of something so small and pretty?”

Your boyfriend stretched out his hand and placed it on your cheek. He looked at you with a warm gaze. “I would never judge you for your fears. You don’t need to justify your feelings to me. Even if you’re scared of cats, without question, I would swoop you up from the ground when we see one and carry you away so that it won’t even approach you.”

How did you ever deserve someone like him? You shifted your head and kissed the back of his hand that made him a bit shy as his cheeks turned slightly pink.

“Thank you.”

“But…” Jaehyun let out a long sigh now, suddenly looking really troubled. “I now have to look for an alternative to celebrate our first anniversary. What could that be? Maybe we can postpone it until next week…”

He had planned so hard and thoroughly for today, he deserved to rest and be treated well too. So you took the burden of deciding off of his shoulders by suggesting, “How about we go to your place, order pizza and watch a movie?”

“... and that’s all?”

“And that’s all. Would you mind doing only that?” you questioned carefully. “I mean… you always plan all these extraordinary dates and my alternative suggestion is probably the most boring one that wouldn’t even cross your mind, but truth to be told… Sometimes, I just like to do that.”

“You do?”

You nodded and chuckled as you said, “I wouldn’t mind only rotting away the entire day as long as it’s with you.”

Your boyfriend didn’t need to speak it out, but you visibly perceived how more relaxed he got once you had told him about your true feelings. A special date once in a while was very nice too, but you didn’t always need extraordinary places, flowers, menus and… butterflies. He could take you to the hardware shop to run errands and you would have fun all the same.

As long as you got to do it with him.

Jaehyun smiled and took your hand into his. “Then let’s do that today. Ordering pizza, watching a movie and rotting away for the rest of the day. Without butterflies.”

He didn’t judge you, but he certainly would make funny comments every now and then.

You stretched out your tongue and laughed.

[koiiiiijiii]

Heey I loved the joker nsfw scenario you write so goood can I request sth very fluffy for example how each day with him goes, where he takes us on dates and so on?🩷 also you could maybe include some angsty scenarios where we want to watch him at a fight night but he doesn’t want us to see the cruel world he lives in bcs hes so protective and etc

suuure hun!!! sorry that it took me too long to answer, have no idea why ur request displayed in my app only after 6 days so i started to work on it late.

hope you will like it! enjoy🤓🤍

xo-xo💋

｡‧˚ʚ°ɞ˚‧｡ ───

mere mention of apples brought a fond smile to your lips, thinking of Joker's peculiar fondness for everything apple-related. from his shampoo to his gum, his love for the crisp fruit permeated every aspect of his life. you even gift him home fragrance with apple taste. and especially joker liked sweets with apples, all kind of pies, muffins, ice creams and etc, everything with apples. and when you stumbled upon the viral tiktok video featuring the famed apple croissant, you knew it was the perfect choice for your date. you immediately sent a link of that café to Joker. no need to say that date idea was approved in a second.

as you rode the metro toward the new cafe, anticipation for your date with Joker bubbled within you. dressed in your best outfit and with your makeup flawlessly applied, you were ready to make this a day unforgettable, preferably without any distractions from his “colleagues.” or so you thought.

but just as you were lost in thoughts of sugary delights and stolen moments with Joker, a notification from him shattered your reverie. Your smile faltered as you read his message, the words weighing heavily on your heart. “sorry, im in the bar, Wooin said it emergency. don’t wait for me, maybe ask your friends and have fun. i’ll be late. sorry.”

with a sigh, you decided to continue the date alone, and buy that damn apple croissants, unwilling to let Wooin's interference ruin at least your evening. the idea of waiting for your girls seemed futile, knowing they likely had their own plans for evening.

when you entered the cafe, when you were paying for your croissant, you still couldn’t get rid of unpleasant idea. you knew Joker hated it when you stepped into his “work life” and saw him fighting in the actagon. but since Wooin decided to take him away from you so brazenly, you thought that there would be nothing wrong with you grabbing him after this stupid match, and taking a take out bag of croissants with you, you headed to that ill-fated bar.

｡‧˚ʚ°ɞ˚‧｡ ───

as you walked into the dimly lit bar, the contrast to -at least expected- date was stark. the once vibrant excitement for sharing apple croissant after that damn match had faded, replaced by a sense of disappointment and frustration. the air hung heavy with the stench of alcohol, mingling with the faint undertones of stale sweat and spilled drinks. each step you took seemed to echo against the grimy floor, the stickiness clinging to the soles of your shoes, a tangible reminder of the less-than-inviting atmosphere.

despite your reluctance, you made your way through the crowded space, weaving through intoxicated patrons who stumbled and swayed in a haphazard dance of inebriation. the cacophony of voices, laughter, and clinking glasses assaulted your senses, drowning out any semblance of peace or tranquility.

as you approached the bar, your eyes scanned the dimly lit room, searching for the familiar figure of Joker amidst the chaotic scene. and then, like a sudden chill down your spine, you felt the unwelcome presence of an arm slung over your shoulder.

"hi there, little thing," came Wooin's voice, dripping with an unsettling mixture of familiarity and condescension. words sent a shiver down your spine, his presence a stark reminder of the intrusion upon your plans and the disruption of your evening.

despite the façade of casualness in his tone, there was an underlying tension, silent dislike, Wooin never liked your presence, Joker was distracted, which means he did his job badly. you resisted the urge to shrug off his arm, instead steeling yourself with a forced smile, masking the turmoil brewing beneath the surface.

in that moment, surrounded by the oppressive atmosphere of the bar and the unwelcome company of Wooin, you couldn't help but feel a sense of betrayal, both by Joker's absence and by the intrusion of his colleague into your plans. it was a bitter reminder of the complexities of relationships, the delicate balance between loyalty and disappointment. and then your heart sank. the crowd roared, drawing attention to the center of the bar. to the octagon. people seemed to be chanting someone's name, and it clearly wasn't Joker’s. Even though Joker protected you from this world and did not allow you to appear at his fights, you knew he never lost, so why was the crowd rooting for someone else today? these and other thoughts were constantly running through your head.

as you watched in disbelief, Wooin approached you with a sly grin, his words cutting through the chaos of the bar like a knife. "you see, darling," he began, his voice dripping with malice, "Joker's task tonight is not to win, but to fall." the revelation hit you like a sucker punch to the gut, leaving you reeling with shock and betrayal.

as the fight in the octagon reached its climax, you stood frozen in the midst of the raucous crowd, your heart pounding with a mixture of fear and disbelief. you couldn't tear your eyes away from Joker, his form battered and bruised. Wooin's words echoed in your mind, Joker's gaze found yours across the sea of spectators. In that moment of connection, you saw the pain etched in his eyes, a silent plea for understanding and forgiveness.

as the final blow landed, and Joker stumbled to the ground, you felt a surge of anguish wash over you. it was a bitter pill to swallow, knowing that his fall had been orchestrated not by his opponent's strength, but by the cold calculations of those who saw him as nothing more than a pawn in their game.

｡‧˚ʚ°ɞ˚‧｡ ───

in the quiet solitude of the changing rooms, you found Joker sitting alone, his hands trembling as he attempted to patch up his wounds. without a word, you approached him, your hands reaching out to gently grasp his own.

in that moment of shared vulnerability, the weight of the world seemed to lift from your shoulders, replaced by a sense of clarity and resolve. and as Wooin's departing footsteps echoed in the distance, leaving you alone with Joker, you knew that this was your chance to confront the truth that lay between you.

with a trembling voice, you said “you know that you always can stop doing.. this..” after thinking a little, you added "and start with something new..." you looked around the small room, meaning all his work in general, "well, less violent". Joker just smiled at you and with a trembling hand reached for the bag that you had brought with you, his fingers brushing against the delicate pastry nestled within. with a bittersweet smile, he took a bite of the apple croissant, savoring the taste of sweetness and redemption that lingered on his lips.

｡‧˚ʚ°ɞ˚‧｡ ───

[zwedexx]

Promo for AWFC x English-Italian reader.

Summary: Reader is trying to decide whether or not they should leave Lionesses.

TW: Very minor mentions of alcohol

WC: 394

A?N: I got some inspiration on the metro and decided to just start writing. None of it is proof read and it might make -1 sense but whatever. Also people share your thoughts, opinions, suggest.

The phone rang once, twice, you were bitting your nails, worried what the Dutch women’s reaction would be.

“Hello. Y/N?”

“Sarina.”

“Y/N, it’s so good to hear your voice.” You could hear a genuine contentment to her voice which just made what you were about to do even harder.

“Sarina, what do I have to do to be called up for the Euro Qualifiers?”

There was an awkward pause. The Dutch coach certainly calculating her next words.

“Y/N, you know what you need to do. I can’t have you on the team in your current condition and with your addict-“

“Let me be direct.” You cut her off not willing to hear another person spew that bullshit. “I was not born in England as you very well know. And I have already sent in a request to FIFA to change my national team. My hearing is tomorrow, I want to know if I should tell them that I no longer wish to switch.”

Another pause. Worst than the first.

“I.” Sarina began before stopping.

“Let me make this very simple for you. Are you going to invite me to the Euro Qualifiers next week.” you say trying your best to keep a neutral tone.

“No.”

“Alright. Thank you Ms Wiegman.”

You end the call before she has a chance to respond. You didn’t want to hear what she had to say. You couldn’t believe she was willing to sabotage your international career for something that was barely affecting your playing. What you wanted to do in your off time shouldn't impact how your performance is perceived. Just as you look down at your phone that you had put down on the counter, it lights up. There was a message from a new number. You open your phone curiously just to disappoint yourself.

‘Y/N can we please talk. It’s Leah, Sarina told me what just happened.’

You began to type but then erased it. You didn’t want to push Leah away but you didn’t particularly want to talk to her. It didn’t really matter, she had seen your text bubbles and took it as an incentive to share her opinions.

‘Don’t leave. You can’t keep running away from the people who want the best for you.’

You pick up the bottle next to you and take a sip. Then you type back…

‘Fuck you’

[malarign]

jungwon as your boyfriend!

(soft moments with him)

contains: bf!Jungwon x gn!reader | genre: fluff | tw! mentions of food and kissing | wc: 1,5k

reblogs, likes and comments are highly appreaciated!!!

author’s note: writing this i got reminded how i miss my han river late night strolls :((

other members’ versions: LHS - PJS - SJY - PSH - KSW - NRK

➶ going on late night walks near Han river *ೃ༄

Going on late night walks was something that unexpectedly brought to you so much comfort, you spent almost every weekend’s late evenings right near the Han river. The way soft breeze hit your skin with the slightest blow of wind, the way cicadas sang in the bushes along with the buzzing of street lights, the way he held your hand dearly rubbing it with his thumb from time to time, it all made your heart bubble up with joy. Jungwon also never seemed to get tired by your late night strolls, but he genuinely always awaited them. Even though the distance from your apartment to the riverside wasn’t small, and the time of your strolls was rather too late to take a metro, nothing could take away the bliss it made both of you feel.

The night was quite chilly, even though it was beginning of May. Not many people dared to have a walk near the river in this weather, and only a few cyclists rode past you. Walking hand in hand you talked about this week’s work you had, gossip, and what you planned for the weekend. Swinging you arms back and forth you started laughing and just fooling around in the surrounding full of trees and sound of cicadas.

“Are you not cold?” he asked softly after you calmed down and zipped your jacket up.

You watched as he did so with a slight frown knitting on his brows. You smiled and reached on your tippy-toes to kiss him sweetly, taking him off guard. In response he just wrapped his hands around your waist and deepened the kiss, the calmness of the river favouring to the intimacy you had at the moment.

➶ asking you to stay up so he can talk to you *ೃ༄

One of Jungwon’s favourite traits for you was how talkative he became around you, sharing uncommon conversations that brought up his opinions, never shared thoughts and worries but also funny stories. He could talk with you for hours and would not get bored. Seeing how late it got he often would just ask you if you were willing to stay up with him to talk a bit more, making your heart melt at the way he still didn’t have enough of your company.

“Are you not tired already? We can already go and sleep,” Jungwon reassured you, hoping you would disagree, which you did.

“I’m not, Wonie.”

“Then, can we talk a bit more?” he asked, his eyes holding both bright stars and his fond love as he looked at you. You nodded in response, not being able to contain your smile.

He continued to tell you passionately about his recent observations waiting for you to tell him about yours too. He listened to them attentively and nodded constantly, making his remarks from time to time.

“You know, I think I will never have enough talking with you,” he suddenly confessed.

“Then I guess we should stock up with plenty of coffee because I could talk to you day and night.”

➶ finding is selfies on your phone *ೃ༄

I think we all know how many pictures he takes daily. When you started dating him his friends warned you to never leave your phone with him unattended, while some stated you shouldn’t listen to them. Leaving you confused you once decided to put this to the test. While you were hanging out at your place you went to the toilet purposefully leaving your phone with him not expecting to find almost 100 selfies taken from different angles with cute or angrily cute facial expressions.

“I need to go to the toilet.” Jungwon heard and soon you left him on the couch, stopping a movie you’ve been watching.

He followed you with his gaze until your silhouette disappeared behind the bathroom door. Noticing you left your phone he thought for a second, hesitating if he should take it. The urge to leave you bunch of his selfies though was much stronger than that momentary scruple. He swiped to the camera and took about 30 photos (at least that’s what he thought). Knowing which pose worked well and which expression to make your gallery was soon full of pictures of his face.

As soon as he heard you flushing the toilet he put your phone right from where he took it and tried to not let you suspect anything weird. When you came back he just send you a smile and just said pointing to the TV with his head: “Let’s continue.”

➶ playing with your jewelry *ೃ༄

At first you didn’t even notice when he started doing playing with your earrings, necklaces or bracelets. What made you realise was when he stated that one bracelet in particular was his personal favourite to play with leaving you pretty confused. Then you started to actually notice that he continuously played with the beads or pendants of your jewelry. It became such a routine for both of you, first him helping you wear it and keep the clasps at the right place to unintentionally ruining it and messing it with his fingers.

You sat comfortably at the table along with your friends, finally having time for shared meal at your favourite barbecue place. To your left sat your boyfriend, whom you met thanks to the group. Few of them even called themselves godmothers of your relationship, claiming that if not for them it would have taken much longer for you two to start dating.

You laughed, shared recent news about your lives, so much none of you noticed how much time you’ve spent together. Taking a short while to eat and drink you noticed how Jungwon started fidgeting with your bracelet on your left hand, that rested on his thigh.

Watching if the rest is paying attention you softly asked: “Are you okay, Won?”

Your question confused him and he shook his head with a frown. After you took a quick glance at your hand and him following your gaze he realized why you could have thought he was feeling somehow anxious. He laughed slightly and assured you: “I’m okay, lovely. Thanks for concern but assure you I’m having a bliss right now.” He stopped playing with the beads of your bracelet and took your hand in his.

➶ putting his hand on your waist to get past you *ೃ༄

Hopefully one day he will realise how much of an impact this has on you. Jungwon would just casually put his hand on your waist when trying to walk past you, the thought of you getting immense amount of butterflies never crossed his mind, leaving him confused on why you’re blushing so hard. For some time he stopped doing that, thinking it made you uncomfortable. Until one day, his hand slipped in front of his, forgetting to not do that. He cursed himself in his thoughts, but all the guilt disappeared when one of his friend’s commented while you were gone. “Wow, the impact you have on them, Jungwon.”

“You think so?” Jungwon asked, remembering all the moments you blushed whenever he did that.

“Of course! Can’t you see? They’re totally whipped!”

His friend exclaimed and he started to beat himself for not realising earlier on. He decided to put that to the test, now doing it almost every given possible moment, and just like he wished your reaction remained the same. Getting bold because of it he held you for a little longer this time, pulling you body against his in the swift motion. That’s when he could clearly see your flustered face that got rosy red from the sudden blush. He smiled to himself, feeling excitement and somehow pride he had such affect on you. Not wanting to bother you any longer the planted a soft yet quite long kiss on your lips and just walked away, leaving you confused for the rest of the day.

➶ putting a blanket on you while you’re sleeping *ೃ༄

Jungwon’s heart despite his quite sarcastic nature was warmer than the Sun itself. The way he cared for his loved ones was sometimes intense, but mostly just made everybody feel at ease around him. His love for you was seen mostly in those kind gestures, just like him putting a blanket for you while you’re taking your nap, or just fell asleep while he worked until late night hours. He would gently cover your body, not making even a slightest blow of a wind with the movement, taking his time to watch the peacefulness of your sleeping form.

Jungwon was about to exclaim he was back home, but the apartment seemed to quiet. His immediate thought was that you were once again asleep, too tired to wait for him. He felt guilty, but since it was quite stormy moment in his company he had to stay at work until ungodly hours. He made his way to the living room, where only one lamp’s dimmed light illuminated the room. He heard soft breathing and soon also saw how in deep sleep you were in the moment. Smiling to himself with eyes filled with his pure love he brushed away the strand of your hair in a careful motion. Reaching to the armchair he took a blowsy blanket and slowly covered you, tucking you in. Gently kissing your forehead, he decided to let you sleep a little longer before he wakes you up to lay comfortably in bed.

thank you for reading! back to the masterlist

permanent taglist: (send an ask to be added) @nicholasluvbot, @en-chantedtomeetyou, @kpopstanmeg, @skzenhalove, @nfrgirl, @edensgardenn (in bold can’t be tagged)

[sofasoap]

life of Captains

Bit of angry writing and wanting to throw down ideas that will never really eventuate into full story.

Task 141 boy will be in their 40s. Risen to the ranks of captains.

Mature themes. Minors DNI. Read at your own risk. Masterlist

Captain Soap MacTavish

“Morning.”

“... What’s with that?”  Ghost pointed.

“ You like it? Took me a long time to grow and trim.”

“....”

“Morning Ghost. Morning Price…. You are not Price.”

“ Hey Gaz. Long time no see. Congratulations on joining the captain rank.”

“ … What is with the mutton chop? Are you trying to be Price?” 

“Nah, my wife commented on how much she likes my beard once after I was too lazy to shave so I thought I gave it a go.” 

“Too much information. I don’t need to know.”

Next day someone left a fishing hat and cigar on Soap’s desk. 

“What happened to your hair?”

“Oh this? Ghost did it. It was getting a bit too long so I asked him to trim it back for me.”

“.. well tell him to stick to his day time occupation. No one ruins my joysticks to pleasure.”

Captain Simon Ghost Riley

“Here’s the file Captain.”

“ Thank you…..” Simon paused. 

“.... You want to say something?”

“... Is your Ma still angry with me?”

“.... Yes.” Aileen sighed. “Da. You knew she would have found out one way or another, you should have let her know.” 

Simon knew it was his own fault. He never saw you so angry since you fell out with him when you announced the surprise pregnancy with the twins. 

He didn’t want you to be worried. But Soap accidentally let it slip.

Wrath of Mrs Riley was not to be trifled with. 

“... Ma said she wants tulips, no roses.”

Simon smiled under his mask. Taking the hint that your anger is starting to subside, and now it’s the chance for him to make amends.

Later that day, a few soldiers saw their famous Captain at the florist, ordering a huge bouquet of flowers, with twin Sargents nagging him.

Captain John Price

“CAPTAIN JONATHAN PRICE.”

Air in the room instantly froze. Everyone knows when you, the head of the medical team, uses that tone, someone is going to be dying under your wrathful spit.

“ Yes lo…. Yes Ma’am. What can I do for you.”

“ In my office. NOW.” 

 Price can sense everyone’s pity through their eyes as he walks out of the room. Good luck, stay alive.

Price follows you silently through the corridor. Towards the direction of his office. 

Price smirked. 

Price emerges from his office early the next day, hair and shirt dishevelled but sporting a smug smile, plus a few hickies on his neck. 

Captain Kyle Gaz Garrick

“You promise?”

“ Yes babe. I promise.I will be home more and less on field missions from now on.”

Fifteen years of marriage with Kyle, through the up and down. Worrying that a phone call from unknown number is going to be the phone call, telling you your husband isn’t going to come home to you anymore. 

“They have been bugging me for years to share my expertise with the  metro police special units, I thought it was time to take up that offer.”

“ So you're going to be teaching in front of all those recruits? Should I start calling you Professor Garrick, and get you a bi-focal glasses that I been nagging you about?”

Gaz rolled his eyes. He refuses to admit he is starting to struggle to read fine prints, even with Price nudging him.

“ There’s nothing to be ashamed of.”

Part of him is glad he will get to spend more time with his family. He missed out on so many milestone events. You understand that comes with the jobs, but seeing disappointment in the children’s eyes when you tell them again and again that their daddy isn’t going to be home for their first recital or performances really hurts you both.

He worked hard enough, it is time for him to step back, to enjoy time with his family, and with his taskforce 141 families as well.

Sorry @brewed-pangolin for stealing the mohawk joystick quote.

[runwayrunway]

No. 54 - Ryanair

You are watching a video on a popular video sharing service. It is a full episode of a popular and long-running show, generously uploaded for free. It is narrated by a calm man with a BBC accent of the sort which belongs exclusively in documentaries.

The narrator names a date between 1903 and the current year. It is accompanied by a location - an airport. An airplane is on approach. It has a certain number of people on board, and it flies for some airline. There are pilots, most likely two of them. They make some sort of mistake, and maybe there's an issue with the weather, or the ILS is down, or the instruments are giving misleading information, or some other thing has gone tailcone over teakettle in an alarmingly short timespan and now their approach is tremendously unstable. They aren't on the glideslope. They're too fast or too slow. They really need to declare a missed approach, but for whatever reason they don't.

The plane lands, or 'lands' - finds itself on the ground, regardless - either on or short of the runway. It bounces, or flips over, or just pancakes into the ground. The fuselage cracks, or splits, or peels open, or horribly catches fire. There is an evacuation. It's all very stressful at minimum, and an unmitigated tragedy at worst.

You scroll down to the comments for some reason. "Average Ryanair landing," says one near the top.

Ryanair (not to be confused with Ryan Air, a real but unrelated airline) is Europe's largest air carrier. It has over 550 airplanes and serves over 200 destinations. It is difficult to imagine an airline with a worse reputation - their CEO is a literal troll, their customer service is legendarily poor, and their ultra-low-cost model is one in which you inevitably get what you pay for. They are memetically despised, and their rough landings are the stuff of legend.

And yet their livery is understated, with a certain head-held-high gravitas. It is difficult to describe the legitimate cognitive dissonance which arises from Ryanair's aerosartorial choices, an effect that seems to touch more people than just me. On another airline, I wouldn't find this livery particularly thought-provoking. Enough substance to write a post about, but not something which lurks in my mind and draws my attention. But on Ryanair, it's downright fascinating.

I've said what I've said, but I'm actually a defender of Ryanair. Look, it's like getting a ticket on a bus or the metro. It's cheap (at least in theory - they seem to be getting pricier lately) and it gets you where you need to go and it's probably not going to be that long of a flight anyway so, I mean, whatever. I've flown some pretty long flights before in-flight entertainment was standard, Ryanair is fine. I never even noticed the hard landings until I saw people talking about them, and to be perfectly honest I didn't notice them afterward either. Maybe I'm just not bothered by hard landings, the same way I'm not bothered by turbulence. Who really knows? My point is that I'm something of a Ryanair apologist. I live in the US, where you just don't get dirt cheap flights like that and getting anywhere outside of your home metropolitan area by train (and even sometimes bus) costs even more than flying. Ryanair could make me board the plane by abseiling up it myself to save money on airstairs and I'd be fine with it if the price was right. I'm not a millionaire. I haven't got the money to go jetsetting around Europe on a real airline. So I mean this when I say it: thank goodness for Ryanair.

I mean, I'm not saying this because Ryanair is good, don't get me wrong. They are the Big Bill Hell's of airlines. They are the closest thing we have to John Mulaney's version of Delta. Ryanair is not just no-frills, it's hot-glued fabric scraps in the vague shape of a garment. They are legitimately comical in their commitment to service so Kafkaesquely bad that you almost wish you'd travelled by trebuchet instead! And all this for the low, low price of...well, I mean, they do get pretty low.

When I released my first questionnaire I added a question about Ryanair specifically because of its reputation and my own feelings about the airline. Multiple people did agree with me - well, it's definitely not comfortable at all, you won't enjoy yourself, but it's so obscenely cheap that this isn't really objectionable. You are getting exactly what you pay for. And, well, if you do want some semblance of the full-service experience you can pay an extra fee. Or a lot of extra fees. That's how they get you. The ULCC model relies on stripping out everything possible and then charging you extra for it. That does mean that if you need things like printed boarding passes or the ability to pay by credit card that come standard with literally any other airline you could end up paying a decent amount for your miserable cramped flight, but if you truly want the bare minimum they will charge you appropriately, and that is so important to me, because I have too little money to insist on being comfortable.

I do feel...particularly sorry for one respondent.

It isn't bad press they are legitimately a nightmare. A attendant once lied to me and told me that type of plane just didn't have toilets (it did. There was a working toilet on board) then proceeded to lecture me about 'not planning ahead and going in the airport'

This is kind of hilarious in a sad way and I'm very sorry that this happened to you. Ryanair is infamous for its bad customer service but it's rare you'll hear about cabin crew behaving this poorly at any airline. While this particular incident was a one-off, you probably will have a pretty miserable time if you need to call the airline about literally anything.

One person just answered 'bitches'.

Well, that answers the question "what is Ryanair", but why is Ryanair?

The world is full of low-cost carriers. Wizz Air, EasyJet, airasia, Allegiant, Jetstar, FlySafair, Volaris, T'Way, Azul, Nok Air, Frontier, Lion Air, jetBlue, and SpiceJet are just some of the dozens which fill the skies. They are often colourful, frequently grumbled about, and essential.

Low-cost carriers, and especially ULCCs, are a relatively recent phenomenon. They only sprung into being after aviation stopped being by necessity a luxury product. It's generally agreed that PSA (Pacific Southwest Airlines), an intrastate carrier from California colloquially known as the Poor Sailor's Airline, was the first low-cost carrier. While the large interstate carriers of the time had a sort of detached gravitas to both their services and their prices, and were often prevented from lowering said prices anyway due to federal taxes that didn't apply to intrastate carriers like PSA, a ticket on "The World's Friendliest Airline" was cheap and the service was casual and personable. The low-cost model is built on being an option for a normal person. If you don't have the money to fly TWA, you can fly on an airline which is made for normal people and charges you accordingly.

The model didn't really catch on immediately, though. I couldn't exactly say why - it might have to do with the lack of demand for air travel that wasn't either commuter flights or long-haul. There was some activity in the market, with Loftleiðir (a precursor to Icelandair) offering cheap-as-dirt transatlantic flights in the 60s and Laker Airways having a three-year tenure in the late 70s serving a similar market from a Western European base. Even today the long-haul low-cost market they served is notoriously difficult to make anything work in.

What is generally thought to be the next major player in low-cost airlines, Southwest, emerged in 1971. David Neeleman further refined the model, first with innovations in cost-cutting at Morris Air and later by raising the bar for customer experience at jetBlue. David Neeleman, though, was active right at the turn of the millennium. Low-cost carriers only really began to emerge in real numbers in the 80s and 90s, with examples that are long-gone, like the infamous ValuJet, existing alongside ones US residents have probably seen at their local airport, like Spirit.

Spirit is different from jetBlue and Southwest. Spirit Airlines is not just a low-cost carrier but an ultra low-cost carrier. As the name suggests, the difference is one of scale. A low-cost carrier provides less comprehensive and less ritzy service than a full-service airline, but they do so in the tradition of PSA, trying to provide a comfortable experience that makes people want to choose their airline. The ULCC model, on the other hand, guts out literally every possible feature and then dangles it in front of you on a string, telling you to pay extra if you want it. These airlines do not provide a good experience. There will be no baggage allowances, no extra legroom, and no priority boarding. The base fare, however, is almost absurdly low relative to even low-cost carriers, and as air travel becomes a fact of life more and more the humble ULCC becomes a necessary part of the ecosystem as the only way many people can afford to travel.

Ryanair is technically 38 years old, but it's only been a low-cost carrier since 1990. This pivot is the brainchild of then-CFO, now CEO (and ouster of the eponymous Ryan) Michael O'Leary, one of the wealthiest and most unpleasant men in Ireland.

image: Associated Press Yes, this is actually a real image of the CEO of Ryanair. I imagine this may clear up a thing or two.

Why is Ryanair? Because Michael O'Leary, is the simple answer. Michael O'Leary is - and there is genuinely no better way to describe the man - a troll. If you take David Neeleman's image during his tenure at jetBlue, a sweet everyman trying to improve the experience by sitting in on flights and giving up his salary to employee medical funds, Michael O'Leary is the literal exact opposite of him on every point. A self-described "gobshite" and "obnoxious little bollocks" who has admitted to "not liking" aeroplanes, Michael O'Leary is a cruel, selfish, belligerent, publicity-seeking freakazoid on a mission to piss off everyone in Europe which has so far been largely successful.

I don't want anything I say about the man to come off as positive. Michael O'Leary is a wealthy ghoul (and, yes, he was born wealthy, no rags in his tale) who publicly berates, mistreats, and underpays his staff. He has expressed prejudice against racial and religious minorities, fat and disabled passengers, women, and just about anyone who expects to be treated with some measure of dignity. He has committed legitimate crimes, like impersonating journalists. He denies climate change and has accumulated his massive wealth by abusing the pilots and cabin crew who keep Ryanair adequate. In 2010 Ryanair was named one of the least ethical companies in the world. The fact that he is so absurd as to be hilarious isn't an endorsement or a defense of him.

That said, here is a short, curated list of Michael O'Leary's, and Ryanair's broadly (as their public image is really an extension of his and vice versa) most Ryanair shenanigans:

O'Leary installed a taxicab license plate on his luxury car and driving it in the bus lane to avoid traffic.

Advertisements have taken open and somewhat sneering shots at other major European airlines, like Lufthansa ('bye by Late-hansa'), British Airways ('expensive BAstards'), and the now-defunct Sabena (using a reference to the famous Manneken Pis statue). These have not been simple comparisons but outright name-calling.

One time they advertised sales to 'sunny' vacation destinations, like Norway.

Generally, their advertisements push so many boundaries that they were once found to have committed seven violations of advertising law in just two years, and I'm shocked they didn't begin an ad campaign centring around this dubious achievement.

They frequently misbrand airports way outside of major cities as being in that major city, with the most insane example being "Vienna Bratislava" - yes, Bratislava, the one in Slovakia.

Pilots are forced to pay for simulator checks while cabin crew are forced to pay for uniforms and training. Employees are even forbidden from charging their phones from office sockets, apparently.

Sometimes passengers are forced to carry their own luggage to the planes! Not carryons, luggage.

O'Leary, in a bold move, outright denied that the 2010 eruption of Eyjafjallajökull had created a massive cloud of volcanic ash hazardous to airplanes (it very obviously had).

He also said he would like for there to be a recession, since it would let Ryanair keep costs low. He said this in 2008.

One time he said travel agents ("fuckers") should be shot .

O'Leary claimed that Ryanair would begin offering business class, featuring "beds and blowjobs". I'm personally not sure I would want a Ryanair blowjob. That sounds really horrible.

Also, bold coming from an airline with no seatback pockets.

Apparently they tried to get planes delivered with no window shades (though they weren't able to because of regulations).

They've floated the idea of standing seats. I don't believe this will or indeed could ever happen but it definitely is truly dystopian.

Ryanair keeps trying to buy Aer Lingus. They keep failing, and they keep trying. Obviously, everyone in Ireland has a vested interest in making sure this does not happen.

Fundamentally, Ryanair doesn't care. They can and will essentially throw tantrums to get airports to charge them lower operating fees and if they can't get an airport to do this they just won't operate there. It's like negotiating with a seven-year-old. Except that seven-year-old is Europe's largest airline.

They wanted to buy the C919. This isn't, like, a bad thing, it's just really strange for a hardcore Boeing loyalist airline and I can't imagine how it would save them money.

image: Robot8A This is the interior of a Ryanair plane. Note the safety cards attached to the seatbacks due to the lack of pockets, plus additional adverts on the seatbacks and overhead bins like this is a sports match in a massive stadium. It's also just quite ugly.

Fundamentally, Ryanair is just perpetually doing Ryanair things. Why is Ryanair? Because Ryanair is one giant publicity stunt. A couple of people answered my question by referencing the CEO saying he'd like to charge people to use the toilet, and that's sort of true in the sense that he's said he'd like to do this, but he's always been pretty clear that it's a publicity stunt:

Short of committing murder, negative publicity sells more seats than positive publicity.

Like, it's a bit. He's doing a bit. He's 100% in on the joke. For every one of the more particularly insane claims, like charging to use the toilets, he's outright denied it. Even some claims that are pretty borderline are ones he's contradicted at other points. He's a legitimate bigot who's created one of the most nightmarish work environments out there and just wants to suck money out of people by any means necessary, and he's indefensible, but that's not really what people talk about when they talk about Ryanair. They talk about charging for toilets.

Charging for toilets continues to be the number one story that resurfaces in the press and it’s the gift that keeps on giving. We’ve never done it, but it keeps coming up on social networks every three or four months, the media picks up on it and then someone writes a story on it.

Which I think is misplaced effort when he's also, for instance, a climate change denier who forces disabled passengers to pay for wheelchairs. And I don't believe for a second his climate change denial is based on legitimate convictions - he just doesn't want to have to spend more money. He would absolutely knowingly feed the world into an incinerator if it lowered costs.

Anyway, here is a picture of him having his face violently introduced to a pie.

image: Olivier Hoslet

All of this said, there's no such thing as an ethical airline - he's just playing it up to the extreme for essentially business clickbait.

I feel like the best example of Ryanair's general...Ryanairness is their Twitter account, which I have a sneaking suspicion Michael O'Leary runs himself to save money. It's mostly composed of firing back at complaining customers, Formula 1 opinions, and jabs at everyone from Boris Johnson to the British Museum. (Heartbreaking: the worst person you know just made a great point.) Their description, 'we sell seats, not windows', references the frequent complaints about seat 11A, which does not have a window. (To be fair, their website does warn you about this.) Their weird window situation actually generated my all-time favourite Ryanair tweet.

Here are some other winners.

No, seriously, I think Michael O'Leary might be writing these. I also really don't know how to feel about the fact that it appears someone at the airline - potentially O'Leary himself - has made an edit of a yassified Ryanair plane.

But at the end of the day, it's Ryanair. O'Leary himself has described aeroplanes as "a bus with wings on". As one individual tweeted,

THANK YOU to [Ryanair], for letting me see Europe for Feck All

and that's why I do think I genuinely have primarily positive feelings about Ryanair as a product rather than a company - you truly do see Europe for Feck All. (O'Leary has claimed both that he would introduce $10 transatlantic tickets to the US, and that he would make tickets literally free and make all profits from ancillary fees - while neither has yet happened, it takes one hell of an airline to claim that it's on the table.)

Ryanair isn't affordable, it's dime store. It's an airline you bought from Wish.com. It's the free pen you stole from a cup of identical pens at the bank which stops working within days. You're not just in steerage, you're on a tramp steamer. You get exactly the misery you pay for, and you go from one place to a different place.

And it's worth noting that Ryanair has at least one positive feature - safety.

When I ran my first questionnaire I asked respondents what type of airline they thought was most dangerous. Other than what's shown there was also an option for mainline full service carriers; unsurprisingly, nobody chose this. There were 50 respondents but 5 declined to answer this particular question, so the sample size isn't really significant enough to draw any conclusions from, but it's what I have. (I kind of wish I could stop to re-run this with my current follower count, but this post is actually a request. No, not for my wonderful beloved followers - for my dentist. Not joking. Thank you for making my teeth not have holes in them.)

20% of respondents indicated that low-cost or ultra-low-cost airlines probably had the worst safety records and practices. It's completely understandable why someone would think this, but without going into the actual statistics of plane crashes this simply isn't true, and in fact they're the safest category on here. While it obviously depends on the specific airline, low-cost carriers as a category are no less safe than mainline carriers. This is despite the fact that they tend to fly shorter flights and thus they operate more takeoffs and landings, which are the points in a flight where the majority of crashes occur.

How does that make sense? Well, part of it is that the airline industry has gotten very close to eliminating accidental crashes via innovations in technology and an incredible safety culture built on years of hard lessons. The world has paid in blood for crew resource management and GPWS, but it has paid, and now the sorts of crashes that would have been unremarkable just 20 years ago are completely unthinkable. Actually, in the 2010s it's quite possible more people were killed by planes brought down deliberately than accidents. But beyond that, the costs low-cost airlines cut tend to be ones that aren't safety-critical. They tend to operate shiny new fleets (better fuel efficiency, purchased in bulk) with large maintenance teams (shorter turnaround and less planes grounded for long periods of time) at less congested airports (lower operating fees) and indeed when I think about famous accidents that involve massive cutting of corners it's nearly always full-service airlines, save for egregious examples of low-cost industry pariahs out of business within a few years. Focusing on eliminating operating costs by making the passenger experience cramped and miserable allows for pouring all your budget into running a smooth and well-oiled operation.

The axiom "if you think safety is expensive, try a crash" is often attributed to EasyJet founder Stelios Haji-Ioannou. And it's true. Beyond the cost of writing off a plane, of financial compensation to survivors and families, of lawyers and PR, of having to update your operation to make sure it never happens again...as O'Leary himself said, all press is good press...short of murder. A heinous, clearly negligent crash, on the other hand, can kill an airline as easily as it can kill people. It has done in the past and that threat will never stop being there. Airlines go out of business all the time for any number of mundane financial reasons. In many cases margins simply do not allow for something like a crash. Crashes have even ended the lives of deeply historic, beloved, well-established nationalized flag carriers, so this particular sword of Damocles could cut Ryanair's control cables just as easily. And they've managed to avoid this fate, with zero passenger fatalities and only one written-off airplane - the 2008 crash of flight 4102, caused by a birdstrike during landing.

And I'll be honest, "miserable and safe but a tenth the price of a train ticket from Boston to New York" (I am unfortunately not exaggerating) is a pretty appealing package to my non-millionaire self.

...so why do their planes look like this? I'm dead serious, it vexes me. I don't know what to make of this. Hey, did you remember I'm an airline livery review blog? Look, I can't help myself. Low-cost carriers as a topic, and how they're viewed, is probably the most interesting facet of the aviation industry to me. I feel like if I had infinite time and resources I might genuinely sit down, hit the databases and archives, run a few studies, and write a book about it - it's fascinating, and low-cost carriers are something that only economists and businesspeople seem to want to talk about. I think it's about time someone approached them through a lens of history and social psychology. There's not really academic value to what I do here, on Runway Runway, my tumblr blog where I call Lufthansa planes ugly, but if something doesn't exist I will create it even if my sample size is 50.

So how about how they're literally viewed - like, what their planes look like? Well, here are some low cost carriers I've reviewed. Notice something? They're bright and eye-catching. They don't take themselves too seriously. They're fun. The original low-cost carrier literally painted big smiles on their bright pink and orange planes.

Okay, yes, they don't all look like this. WestJet and IndiGo, for example, are fairly normal-looking. And there are full-service carriers like TAP Air Portugal (and condor. Absolutely condor.) that I would say have a pretty low-costy look to them. There is nothing wrong with that. Low-cost liveries are frequently colourful and exciting, with much more thought put into distinctiveness and charm instead of a passionless appeal to dignity. Indeed a lot of my most highly esteemed liveries, including all the ones pictured above, are low-cost airlines. GOL, for example, is a snappy, eye-catchy design in bright colours that's clearly not meant to look expensive. The same goes for Breeze Airways. There's even more examples out there I've yet to touch on, like EasyJet; ValuJet; Scoot; Spirit Airlines; Frontier Airlines; PLAY (and the late WOW air); Volotea; airasia, so on - to be dignified or clean is not the goal here. Even the names of low-cost carriers frequently are very hastily stapled together and generic, like EasyJet or Super Air Jet or Wings Air; JetSmart; SkyUp; Smartwings; FastJet; Sky Airline (just one!); MYAirlines; the classic ValuJet; flyadeal; and the legendary jet2.com, making no attempt at all to seem as if they have a legacy to fall back on. And there's even more out-there specimens, like Mango or even Nok Air. Many of them have specific themes, like Batik Air, Tigerair, or Buzz, which isn't something you see on full-service carriers, which brand themselves on national identity and the promise of luxury and good service - which is boring. Low-cost airlines, if they want to succeed, have to do something to make people remember they exist.

This is the fundamental shape taken by the low-cost product, which operates with few laurels to rest on and a mission of getting people to remember their website at any cost. Much like a can of Arizona iced "tea" guaranteed to cost ninety-nine cents, literally cheaper than a bottle of water, the package it comes in makes no attempt to look classy. And I am a heavy tea drinker who considers myself fairly discerning, whose favourite type of tea is gyokuro yamashiro (which is absurdly expensive), but you literally can't beat Arizona! It's potable and it's ninety-nine cents and it sort of resembles tea if you don't think too much about it and Massachusetts summers are surprisingly hot and the can is pretty and colourful. Sure, I'd rather have Ito En, but that costs normal money and Arizona costs 99 cents, and sometimes that's all I really have, and it gets the job done even if my teeth aren't enjoying the experience. A Wizz Air plane is a can of Arizona iced tea. It is ninety-nine cents and potable.

This isn't Arizona, this is a box of Darjeeling from Harrods. Ryanair outfits their fleet in handsome navy blue and gold. Their logo, an outline of a woman with harp-like wings taking flight, is simple yet elegant, and that feels so very wrong. I actually asked in my questionnaire what the colours of the Ryanair livery were, because I had seen people expressing casually that they weren't sure they could recognize so much as a Ryanair logo, and the results aren't worth showing in a chart because they're basically as good as random. I do want to specifically appreciate the person who answered "I don't remember but it must be whatever the cheapest colour of airplane paint is", though.

But the truth is that they have such a rich palette, and I do mean that in the sense of 'wealthy'. A deep royal blue paired with a saturated gold used as a sparing trim, these are the colours of an overstuffed plush armchair, not a budget airline. Aside from the name on the winglets and the giant billboard wordmark there is nothing, and I mean nothing, that is typical for a low-cost airline. This is not garish advertising, this is stately.

The layout itself is what I call "Deltalike". Delta certainly did not invent this style of livery but they are the carrier I associate most with it, likely due to the fact that I live right by one of their hubs. The Deltalike is a white plane with a painted tail unconnected to the main fuselage body, painted winglets, painted engines, and a painted underbelly large enough still be visible when viewed directly from the side. While a 'true' Deltalike uses a consistent palette for the engines, tail, and underbelly, there is significant variation. The detached tail is, in my opinion, the harbinger of the Deltalike, and I call liveries with an incomplete presentation of Deltalike features Deltalites.

This scheme is not as common as the Lufthansa Line variants but it is still very common, with its popularity probably peaking in the 2010s. Some examples of the true Deltalike include Air Canada, 2006 Icelandair, Azul, the old GOL livery, and jetBlue. Some colour-varied Deltalikes are the old Flair livery, the SAS red engine livery, and British Airways. An example Deltalite is the old Croatia Airlines scheme, which has a painted tail and belly and engines that are sort of painted. Sure, the engines are just grey and a bit of the tail extends onto the body, but it's got the colour concentrated in the right place and it has the painted belly, it's a Deltalite. A lot of liveries have painted engines and detached tails but no painted bellies, and I do consider these to be on the far end of the Deltalike spectrum, but they aren't what I mean when I refer to a Deltalike. They're what brown dwarves are to actual stars - related but not really the same.

Ryanair is a true Deltalike, but I would even call it an elevated Deltalike. The gold trim, like the cord adorning the hems a of a thick brocade smoking jacket, has an effortlessly shallow curve as it trims the rich blue underbelly, larger than that of a typical Deltalike and with a very deliberate shape to it which at the rearmost point covers half the fuselage by height but fades away to a sort of goatee at the front. This is not a plane which sat in a puddle of blue but an intentional cloak impeccably positioned, visible not just from the side but from the front. The engines, instead of being plain or just one colour with a website printed on, large and garish, are the same white and blue with yellow trim, the last traces of the setting sun melting into a glassy deep blue ocean below a stark white sky with which it inexplicably coexists. Sure, the detached tail still looks bad, it always does, but you can ignore it at most angles.

From below the dark blue creates that distinct cetacean effect, a certain brightness-inverted countershading effect, similar to what you see on airlines like KLM and other blue-side-up liveries. The underside doesn't have a huge, legible logo, visible even from the ground on final approach. One of the defining features of the low-cost livery, in my mind, is a large, prominent website. It's tacky and a little pointless (I mean, surely they can Google your airline's name if your wordmark is large enough) but it is downright ubiquitous. Even full-service carriers frequently heavily feature their website, but it's nowhere on a Ryanair plane. That's so, so incredibly weird.

Just...think about it. Their entire identity is outrage marketing. They are the xQc of airlines - bigoted, constantly in the news, and obnoxious. And nobody remembers what their livery looks like because it doesn't look obnoxious. This is like if MrBeast's thumbnails were lovingly curated aesthetically pleasing shots of scenery that could pass for screenshots from an actual film. It's not tacky and cheap and it's not generic and cheap, it's elegant and cheap. And of all airlines to look like this...Ryanair? Seriously? Ryanair?

image: Associated Press

The CEO.

The airplanes.

Do you see what I mean? Do you see why I find this deeply strange? This is not a clickbait plane. This plane is downright unclickable. It has never been clicked. I bet if I covered the name up and showed it to people (again, I wish I'd had the time to do this) I could fool people into thinking this is like United. Hell, I've learned from my other survey that the average person clearly knows less about liveries than I, the Joker of liveries, do, and can't identify basically any from memory. I could probably fool at least one or two people into thinking this is Singapore Airlines. I may try this on a few co-workers and then get back to you.

How did we get here? I have no clue. While Ryanair did start out as a charter carrier rather than a low-cost airline, and they always had blue and yellow as their colours, their very early liveries were just white planes with wordmarks.

This livery seems to have appeared very early in the history of low-cost Ryanair. Unfortunately, I can't date it precisely - the only thing I can say is that the earliest photograph I could find in this livery was from 1994. Based on the fact that their planes were photographed in different liveries right up to then, including this very brief TAM-like BAC 1-11 livery, I think 1994 is most likely the point they committed to it.

Oh, Adam Rowden, what a different world you lived in.

Even for 1994 this is a pretty conservative livery. Sure, this was before the real boom of bright and venomous flying billboards, but it's still strange. And Ryanair is no stranger to literal flying billboards in the form of logojets for such companies as Vodafone and Hertz, often sort of hideous ones, though I imagine these days nobody would ever want to associate with them like that.

And they never changed it, except that they did - to the modern, softer curve. This I can pinpoint with much more accuracy. It was changed in mid-2003 as new aircraft were delivered, while the older livery was phased out together with the secondhand airframes which wore it. I do not understand this at all. If any airline were to just make the decision to go full circus tent and be as garish as possible it should be Ryanair, right? Ryanair is a brand incapable of cowardly behavior. But they look far more sober than even the average modern flag carrier livery. I guess they don't think they need an eye-catching livery, but I just don't buy that as a full explanation. Imagine the news they'd make for introducing something truly heinous. I think their genuine best move would just be to put a huge picture of Michael O'Leary's face, blown up massively and poorly aligned with visible JPEG artefacts, all over their fuselages. All of Europe would be furious. So why? Why is this the situation?

So what's the verdict? This may be the hardest decision I've made so far. The options here range widely. I'll lay them out.

If I were rating this based on pure visual appeal, I would give it a B-. I am dead serious - this is a visually pleasing, well-balanced livery, simple yet elegant. The detached tail is my only major complaint. But I think Saudia's planes are quite pretty and I graded them low because I think they fail at representing their airline or having a distinct identity, so this cannot be my sole criterion.

I almost want to give them an F because of just how un-Ryanair they are, like how Copa's livery is literally not the Copa livery, but that feels wrong because that's still the Ryanair livery, it's not just a refusal to design a livery at all.

Do I marry these two into a tepid union destined for either divorce or a dramatic act of arson after a seeming eternity of languishing in mutual dysfunction in Tallahassee? I really don't want to do that, because attempting to balance these factors betrays the fact of their contradiction, the mental strain I've been afflicted with over this simple, pointless choice with zero consequences except maybe one of my followers disagreeing with me, which is fine. Unlike certain individuals I will not call you swear words and say you're an idiot.

The final option is maybe my least favourite of them all, because it's capitulation. It's admitting Ryanair is special, just the most annoying golf-ball-sized hailstone in the blizzard of absurd and comical frustrations which is the airline industry. But I just don't know what to make of this miserable little pest, this plague on the patience and knees of the traveling public.

Z. FUCK YOU IT'S RYANAIR.

It defies categories by being good, but being Ryanair. I hate that. I hate it, I hate their beastly little CEO, and I dislike that their planes are sleek, elegant, and could easily pass for an airline that doesn't instruct stewardesses to kick their passengers' shins as they walk down the aisles. If I am buying a ten-euro plane ticket I do not think the plane should look like this, teleologically speaking. At the end of the day I just have no better way to quantify my feelings.

Prick.

[imfeelingbad]

(As a ukrainian) I lost all hope in humanity forever ago and I'm pretty sure I won't change someone's opinion, but I just want to tell the truth that i cry about every time.

I didn't see my home for 2 years. When I was there all I heard was explosions, bombs and warplanes. I saw ruined houses. I saw my half-destroyed school near which a projectile fell. I saw fire, smoke, a lot of it. I was in there. I heard all this. I heard. I saw. with my own eyes and ears. And what did you see and heard in the west, saying "This is all just Ukrainian propaganda"?

I was in the metro and saw hundreds of my fellow citizens, that a few months ago were casually going in this metro to their jobs, schools, universities etc. Some were sitting on the floor, some on old crusty carpets, with no fresh air, no normal ability just to go pee, not even talking about washing. But they were there just to be safe. Just to not die. They didn't care about hygiene, warm food and bath, delicious drink in their favorite café, all they did care about was just surviving.

Then I heard about Bucha massacre (read about this, if you think "russian soldiers are just poor people who don't want war and against Putin!!"). I heard hundreds women, children, men being raped, killed, tortured and firstly I was shocked. Then I heard about Irpin, Mariupol', Izium, Bahmut, now Avdiivka and many other ukrainian cities, that were completely destroyed by russians. But the difference is now I'm not shocked or surprised. Because now I understand this is Russian world, Russian culture, whole Russia in general.

But no one cares. No one cares about genocide, if the victim is big country in the center of Europe (even though every country has many people of color, and the biggest country in the world terrorizes it).

I saw a girl in the tiktok that was telling about the film "20 days in Mariupol". I looked in the comments and started crying. Why am I, my family, my friends, all ukrainians supposed to suffer while some westerns and russians are just laughing and saying "slava russia"?

Many people were talking about Gaza and I agree, there is total hell in Gaza and I feel very sorry for Palestinian people. I know how it is. But what gives YOU, a person that is sitting in the safe place with all basical human needs and think a war is just some trend, the right to compare the DEATHS of people that DIED from GENOCIDE and say that one GENOCIDE is less bad than another.

I'm not saying that we are suffering more than Palestinians, I'm saying that it's just so cruel to normalize deaths of people.. any people. That DON'T HURT anybody. That just want to live in a free country.

If I say, boycott Israel, all people from Israel are terrorists, people will agree with me. But when I say Russia is the terrorist, people will say "No, you're just xenophobic!"... And the genocide of my people is NOT xenophobic?? And the hundreds of years of destruction of Ukrainian culture is not xenophobic??

"What about Gaza?"

Gaza needs help. Ukraine needs help. Congo needs help. Syria needs help. No one should suffer. THAT'S my point.

Did you hear something about Holodomor in Ukraine? About MILLIONS of Ukrainians that died because soviet government were taking LITERALLY EVERY FUCKING BREAD CRUMB?? around 3.9 million ukrainians died. And this is only according to official data. These are only people whose identities have been established. It does not take into account people who were missing, or who were just horribly maimed.

If you still think I'm an ukrainian propagandist and not some fucking random teen like you who's just sharing my thoughts, read about Holodomor in Kazakhstan, first Russian-Chechen war, SECOND Russian-Chechen war, Russian-Georgian war, Russia’s invasion of Syria, Illegal occupation of Crimea and Donbas or just anything that involves Russia and war crimes.

If you're still saying this is all propaganda, Photoshop, I'm not surprised. Of course, everything around is propaganda. But not your beautiful truthful swamp.

Sometimes I just wish I was in yours shoes. Not caring about anything.

I don't care what russia supporting bots will say, I don't care people will not believe me, I just want to feel alive again.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russian_war_crimes

[slavic-roots-western-mind]

Life in China: Observations

I've been living here for a while and decided to share some things that I thought were pretty interesting!

Cheese is not really a thing here Unless you go to an international store like Aldi or Walmart (which are pretty much non-existent in smaller cities ), trying to find cheese is pretty difficult.

Class attendance Attendance is really strict. It doesn't matter how ill you are, you still need to go to hospital or a clinic to get a doctors note. Even then you get only half a day excused rather than the entire day.

Studying Maybe you could have gotten away with not doing your reading back at home, but the studying stereotype is true. In my home uni we'd learn around 20 characters per week plus the usual grammar and homework. Here? Try 70-90 characters plus the usual self-studying and quizzes, and I'm not even in the advanced or intensive class!

Classroom vs Real life chinese Obviously the language spoken in real life is different than the one in the textbook, but it can be drastically different, especially the dialects which are pretty interesting, but at times diffult to understand.

Pacing yourself with the food Not to say that you shouldn't enjoy yourself, but the food will take some adjusting to for many people. Not even in terms of spice, just the type of meals and the commonly used ingredients require time to get used to them, especially if you don't have these types of meals regularly.

English isn't widely spoken (duh) Despite the whole "big cities are very international, you'll have no problems" shtick, outside of international communities English isn't that widely used so knowing some basic Chinese is necessary.

Phone is my new appendage From paying at the grocery store to sending your teacher your homework and paying your phone bill, wechat is the multi-functional daily necessity that you can't go without. In short, you will probably be superglued to your phone whether you like it or not as it turns out.

Public transport is the way In the larger cities at least, the metro is really well-developed and air-conditioned! A life-saver during the summer, as crowds of people crammed together like sardines during the hot and humid months of summer and early autumn would be unbearable with the a/c.

[sgiandubh]

A study in media fabrication: the Metro interview

I was on a late, self-prescribed ☕ break at the office and lo and behold, mindlessly scrolling @bat-cat-reader's page, what do I see? S's last 'interview' to Metro UK. Rarely have I seen such a poorly cobbled fabrication, so I thought I might share a couple of quick thoughts about it.

A word about the newspaper, first. This is not, as you might think, a part of the Swedish-owned and worldwide present Metro conglomerate of free commuter tabloids, that usually end up littering the carriage, by the end of the day. Nope, and I had no idea. Metro UK is owned by DMG Media (The Daily Fail people, in other words) since 1999 and uses a different logo, to avoid being sued on what is, in my opinion a blatant trademark infringement (remember, S was the culprit the EUIPO punished for way less than that!). More interestingly, though, the print and web editions have totally different content, which means that you'd look in vain for the James Bondesque pic while commuting from Wimbledon to London, for example. The relevance of this interview is nearing 0, in my humble opinion: if anything, it just served to check a box of the PR's current media plan and justify the retainers a couple of people cashed in, as a result.

Quotes and references like the one below abound:

Now, if you imagine S talked face to face to Ms. Josie Copson for the sake of this article, you couldn't be more wrong. In fact, I doubt he knows her name or (when questioned) even if he ever gave an interview to Metro.co.uk. In plain English, he didn't "tell" Josie anything: PR probably sent her some formulaic 'answers' by email and let her add some fill-in material, then revised and greenlit the whole for release.

How do I know it? Easy: no photos. No specifics (random example: 'seated at the counter of Soho's BAFTA Bar, in London, SRH' this and that). And the almost scrupulous rehashing of the talking points we have already seen (and it did break my heart to see so many upset people for literally nothing, in here). Give or take some last minute inserts, some of which are quite dubious, to he honest.

This one, for example:

How odd. A Zoom call apparently happened, of which - again- we have no evidence at all. It's not impossible, but it is improbable. What is interesting, though, is the 'related' discreet surfing suggestion at the end of the article, which sheds new light on that Gen Z. joke - which yes, now sorta makes sense:

Why? For more (monetized) clicks and traffic. Remember the tiny detail that Metro's business model is based on a free offer. So, they have to make it viable somehow: in print, it's the ads. Online, it's all about the ads and the clicks.

The only interesting thing I could take out of this would be a very peculiar choice of words:

Being spied on... By all means, please clarify and thank you. I can think of one or two people in this fandom, regularly and almost obsessively dueling for the position of best informed in town. Using very different methods, to be sure, but still qualifying for this spying position, in my book. Both of them completely lack perspective and offer very little context, but that is of no particular import, when it's all about feeding your captive audience with nonsense.

If these two people wanted to come clean, they'd only need to write two very simple phrases:

This is a gossip blog exclusively focused on SRH.

and

This is a social media monitoring blog exclusively focused on SRH.

Not gonna happen anytime soon. Cue in the mystique of 'sources' and repeatedly absurd 'lucky strikes'. It certainly makes things way sexier than they really are. Because when you know things, you don't brag about it. Easy as 1, 2, 3.

Oh, and mark me: it's always been about SRH. No wonder the boundaries feel 'blurred'.

[p-wrryyy-mordial-soup]

Hiiii :3 heres my pack of losers (my x-rank team) because i needed ghost to actually have a team :]. heres a link to all my splatoons on toyhouse

seperate refrences, little blurbs about them and color alts where they all share eachothers colors below the thang v enjoy my word vomit idk how to write character stuff out teehee

sorry his ref is a year old and rushed for artfight </3 also the age is wrong i think i changed it to 23

he's from around where the deepsea metro is/was. had to leave because of unstable surroundings from an unknown to him cause. he's best friends with Rust and her kids, im gonna be honest i haven't actually thought through how they met and ive just realized this oops. since he spent most of his life underground and now lives in the splatlands he gets sunburnt way too frequently to not be covered up constantly, though he wears thing like tank tops and shorts during splatfest since those mostly occur during the night.

He met wisteria and ember first and then 72. they didnt apoint him as leader nor do they really care to have one but he's the tallest so everyone assumes its him. he's the most softspoken out of the 4 of them but thats a really low bar, he has a hard time making decisions but once he does he will die on that hill

(since its not on his ref like the other three)

72 escaped the metro before agent 8 went through it, he had found a memcake that was dropped after a test giving him just a clear enough mind to think for himself some. he ended up finding his way out after a while of accumulating a couple more memcakes, barely any where his though so hes walking around with memories that aren't his. It also took him a while to get used to the fact he isnt a soldier nor a test subject anymore. If he saw another sanitized mollusk he'd probably hide or run away </3.

72 met Ghost while after wandering around the area for a while, and ended up crashing in his car the whole time on ghosts way back to the splatlands (he thought 72 was like, drunk or something since he was tumbling around and seemed to be not the most coherent). he doesnt blink or breath unless hes actively thinking about it :[.

he had a hard time discerning things for a while but hes gotten better, at first he thought ember was just a weird octoling because she wears the old octoling goggles. we beat the evil soap with friendship in this house!!!

personality wise hes pretty hyper and cheerful which isnt usually your first thought upon seeing a zombie, forgot his age but hes an adult, he was encouraged to pick his own birthday :]

I have the least down for him at the moment, there will be more on her prommy </3 she's 21

She's a callie superfan with a vulgar sense of humor, usually the one who purposefully makes other players angry. born and raised in the splatlands she knows all the places to hide and get you lost in.

he's been friends with ember the longest, they where online friends until ember moved to splatsville. was introduced to ghost and 72 later by ember, he likes to antagonize 72 (think sibling antagonizing, theyre both in on it). down to fist fight you in the back of a waffle house

Originally from the inkopolis outskirts, they're 31

Ember's both a video game and turf/anarchy streamer, she has camera in their goggles for the latter. bad habit of talking in twitch/internet lingo outside of streaming. Once she has eyes on something its nearly impossible to get her to do something else. Very friendly outside fighting, will give you nice words and a pat on the back after a game whether they won or not.

met ghost while playing turf war in a random que, he was, in her words, "a bit to intense to be playing in turf" and told him after the game that he should try out anarchy, he was scared of it since he was new to the area. they ended up teaming up and playing a couple games together, later inviting wisteria and eventually 72.

theres def more to these guys but it will take me a long time to get the words in my head to cooperate 🙏im better at answering specific questions about things then coming up with what to write myself

have some color alts :3

[angelbitezzz]

Don’t feel bad! You’re not obliged to have anon on! :0

Also, idk if it’ll let you answer this ask, but if so… I’ll take one of each, if that’s ok!!

💕👋⚖️⭐️⚫️❓

(If not then just whichever you’d like to share!)

Okay warning, this is way longer than I thought it would be! So I'm putting my answers under the cut here

For the 💕, I think this one [It Takes Two] works (ik in the source material its a song between sisters, but i read it differently for crossbones and starstruck. It's definitely a bit more high-energy and peppy than either of them actually are, but I see it more like the romantic dynamic between their heroic personas. It's all geared up to eleven--both of them have to act differently in costume.

For 👋, I like Hummingbird. The song is mostly just vibes but there's definitely lyrical significance for some aspects of their relationship, y'know? Plus, the whole scene that the song is from in Across the Spiderverse is two superheros taking time away just to spend it with eachother. Kinda perfect?

For ⚖️, Sunlight by Hozier definitely feels right. It's a sweet song, and there's significance in someone who's never known the sun ascribing it to someone in their life. Just saying :3

It is. SO HARD to find a good song for ⭐️. Maybe I should make a playlist...what do you guys think?

Anyways, Tarantula by Gorillaz. It's one of their sweeter songs, and it's about like...well, not settling for someone? More like choosing eachother even with the shit in either of their lives? Thats how i see it

Oof, I already posted a rather angsty one with another ask. For ⚫️, I think This December by Ricky Montgomery is a good one--though I almost considered another song from the same album, Snow. There's conflict, y'know, if internal--how do you separate someone you care for from someone who's sacrifice would mean so much to everyone you know? Morally, Sans is an interesting character (I'm talking largely of his Undertale iteration, but since ts underswap tries to keep things relatively unchanged in regards to personality, he also counts) because while he is someone who I'd consider a good person, he's the same guy who more than likely would've attacked frisk on sight if he wasn't such a loyal character. There's love here. There's also the persistent, nagging knowledge of what needs to be done.

And finally, ❓. For the miscellanious song, we have Stars In the Sky by Kid Cudi for the second Sonic thr Hedgehog movie. I know it's a little silly, but lyrically I consider it a fantastic song for Crossbones and Starstruck! Angel is no stranger to the villain that is being mentally ill, and being separated from everyone she knew and essentially becoming the local semi-homeless human in a place that, while very silly and kind, is still hostile to her sucks. Doing the superhero gig--or rather, participating in the saturday morning cartoon gimmicks as either Starstruck or Koffin K's Spooky Servant is a good distraction. She likes it, and she likes getting to spend time with Sans like that. In a way the Starlight Isles are something of an escape for her, a dream-like forest suspended in eternal twilight where she gets to play the hero or the villain on a whim, with no real consequences. For now.

AAAAND that's it! I actually...did not expect to write so much. For your trouble, here is a drawing of the goobers.

[larsbarsart]

Hehe Hat game go brrrrr

Also self insert :3

Lars!! Or also Scarf Teen/Adult!

Their scarf is their equivalent to HK's Hat!

Bio older sibling to Hat Kid and just. Adopted Bow Kid and Timmy as siblings along the way to in-game events

Edit: Tumblr, how did you fuck this up? Why did you move my images??? Anyways I fixed it, all is as it should be.

More Info-Dumping below cut :]

So! I don't really know how Lars and Hat Kid (Harriet, Harry, or just Hat or Hattie in this AU) ended up travelling space but something happened because here they are

During their explorations of planets, they found Bow, a young orphan living on the streets of her hometown, and Timmy, a boy with a not so great home life (understatement).

Their spaceship is basically the same, with another couple of rooms.

Hattie's room, now shared with Bow, is the same but with more furniture and decoration for the latter kid. Hat still has her lil' diary hideout because sometimes the girl just needs some space to be on her own. Lars is the only person on the ship allowed in with permission

Timmy's room is in the basement, as an area renovated and repurposed to be a room. Think the room with the Alpine Skyline Warp Telescope. Harry did argue at first, but was eventually persuaded in the end. I'm not gonna explain, that'll have me writing an entire scene

Lars's room is the attic, where the Finale Warp Telescope is. They repurposed the attic in the first year or so of living on the ship so that they could have their own room.

Anyways, let's go onto the game events!

It all starts relatively the same, the kids wake up, Lars sleeping through the first alarm. Timmy and Hat, knowing how to handle the ship on their own, get started for travelling through the day when, Uh Oh! Mafia!

A couple of five minute alarms later.

Due to damages on the ship, the first couple of Time Pieces on the ship don't warp the kids back to the ship, but once Lars fixes it (and the hole in the window) it works again. After some talking, they start a plan:

Timmy, being a bit more tech oriented and avoidant of most conflicts, will stay on the ship to locate the Time Pieces while the other three track down and retrieve them, Tim relaying to them through earpieces and walkie talkie things. Mustache Girl still goes on the ship to plan Mafia Takedown with the kids, but Lars, back on Earth, remains unaware of their adventure until last second. ("Great. A kid working against us to gather the Time Pieces. Just what we needed.")

After that fiasco, the girls aren't allowed outside of Lars's sight when on field.

Which, of course is quickly disobeyed when Lars loses them at Dead Bird Studio, finding them again while DJ Grooves and the Conductor are roping Bow and Harry respectively into their movies

After a bit of persuading (the girls to Lars) and threatening (Lars to the directors) the girls are allowed to help the birds while their mostly legal guardian checks out Subcon Forest.

If you've played/watched the game, you can guess how that turns out

Anyways, a couple more things I wanna point out is, in my mind, the kids go on the cruise while Lars looks around Nyakuza Metro ("I feel safer leaving yall on a boat than wandering around a bunch of speeding vehicles"). That leaves them all to got around the Skylines together. Family Fun!

Anyways, that's about all I've got on that. Idk if I'll make more posts about this, but I just wanted to get all of my thoughts out in text

[911-on-abc]

9-1-1 Script Fic: Eddie vs. Josh

INT. METRO DISPATCH. BREAKROOM - DAY

MADDIE BUCKLEY stands in front of table. On it are cards with the names of her wedding guests. She is trying to plan seating arrangements. It is not going well. SUE BLEVINS walks in and stands next to LINDA BATES spectating the planning.

SUE Oh no. You can’t put EDDIE and JOSH at the same table.

Maddie is visibly confused. She does not know the lore.

MADDIE Why? Don’t they know each other from when Eddie was at Dispatch? I thought it was a good idea.

Sue and Linda share a look.

LINDA That’s the problem.

Cue Flashback. We CUT TO:

INT. OLD METRO DISPATCH. FLOOR - DAY

JOSH RUSSO is typing into his phone. He’s messaging the Metro Dispatch Group Chat. ON SCREEN: "Going on coffee run! Text your orders!" We CUT TO:

INT. OLD METRO DISPATCH. EDDIE'S OFFICE - DAY 

EDDIE DIAZ types his order into his phone, visibly tired. He hates using his phone, but he wants coffee more. We hear the whoosh of the message being sent. We CUT TO:

INT. OLD METRO DISPATCH. FLOOR - DAY

Josh walks onto the dispatch floor. He is passing out everyone’s drink orders. Everyone is smiling. Grateful. Eddie waits for his drink. It becomes clear that Josh did not get a coffee for Eddie. 

JOSH Oh sorry Eddie. I must not have seen your message.

Eddie fakes a smile. They both know Josh is lying. We CUT TO:

INT. OLD METRO DISPATCH. EDDIE'S OFFICE - DAY 

Eddie is in his office ranting on his phone to EVAN "BUCK" BUCKLEY, his best friend, who he is also in love with. He is complaining about Josh. 

BUCK (amused) You know, Maddie actually tried to set me and Josh on a blind date once.

Eddie sees red. He’s jealous. We TIME CUT TO:

INT. OLD METRO DISPATCH. FLOOR - DAY

Eddie is walking out of the breakroom onto the dispatch floor with a mug of coffee in hand. He ‘accidentally’ walks into Josh, spilling coffee on Josh’s uniform. 

EDDIE (smug and echoing Josh’s words) Oh sorry Josh. I must not have seen you there.

The camera pans to Sue, Linda, and MAY GRANT watching from May’s desk. May has a small whiteboard with the words “Days since last incident” written at the top. She erases the words “2 hours” and replaces it with a zero. 

Flashback ends. We CUT TO: 

INT. METRO DISPATCH. BREAKROOM - DAY

MADDIE Oh. - Well I do need someone to watch over the kids table.

Maddie moves a name to a different spot, but we don’t see which name she picked. Sue and Linda share a smile.

END.

[wafflesinthe504]

Can I be him? (it’s all I’ve been thinking about)

March Fluff Monthly

Rating: Teen

Pairing: Chenford

Prompt Fill: Secret Drawer/Butterflies

Title from Can I be him by James Arthur

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Most times when Tim and Lucy’s shifts don’t match up Tim finds himself disappointed at the fact they won’t get to spend their down time with each other for the next few days, but today is an exception. So, unless the jewelry store that him and Angela are at get robbed and Lucy is needed on scene as a supervising officer the probability of him running into Lucy today is pretty low.

Tim and Lucy have been dating for just over three years now with a lot changing over those few years, professionally and personally.

 Lucy had been a UC detective for two years before deciding that she didn’t want to continue down that path and decided to go back to patrol while she figured her next move. It was only a few months before she decided to take the sergeant’s exam. As soon as she passed the exam Grey, now a captain, tapped her to become Watch Commander for patrol. Tim on the other hand was comfortable with staying as a sergeant despite multiple attempts from higher ups that he was being looked at for becoming the lieutenant over the metro division.

When it came to their personal lives, they both agreed to move in together to a new house since they knew they would need the extra space for expanding their family one day. Tamara decided to stay at the apartment even though they offered to let her move in with them since the apartment ended being closer to her job that she has now that she’s moved on from babysitting. When Lucy and Tim announced that Lucy was moving in with Tim, Celina asked if she thought Tamara would be open to having another roommate. Tamara ended up agreeing and now she and Celina are sharing the apartment. 

Tim is snapped out of his thoughts when he hears Angela call him over to the display she’s at.

“Hey, what do you think of these?” Angela says pointing to a silver tension ring with a cushion cut diamond.

“Uh, its fine but its not really the style that I’m looking for. I think that Lucy would appreciate something a little more unique.”

“Alright, so what do you have in mind?”

“Well, I’m actually having me and Lucy’s bands custom made. Hers is going to be a rose gold band that looks like an actual rose and well I know a guy so it seemed easier than trying to come here to-“

“Wait, you’re having you and Lucy’s ring custom made?” Angela says cutting off Tim in surprise.

“Yeah, why? Wait do you think that’s too much?” Tim says worry etched all over his face.

“No, no.” She says quickly waving off Tim’s worry. “I think that’s incredibly thoughtful and amazing, but Tim if you’re having you’re rings custom made why are we here?”

“Well, I do still need a diamond to go in Lucy’s band and I need to figure what type of cut I want so I can give it to my guy so he can create the right shape on the band and inlay the diamond. I was thinking of a cushion or round cut but I’m open to other cuts.”

“When did you learn so much about diamond cuts and shapes?”

“Ang, I think you’ve forgotten that I was married before and I helped you and my sister during your weddings. A process that included a lot of looking at and talking about wedding bands and diamonds and everything else in- between.”

“Good point.” Angela spots a display showcasing the different types of diamond cuts and what they look like on different ring designs. “Hey what do you think of these?” She asks leading Tim over to display.

In the display there are a variety of diamonds in different cuts and colors. Tim scans the case until his eyes fall onto a one and a half carat green round cut diamond. Originally, he hadn’t considered getting anything but a regular clear diamond the Lucy’s ring but now that he’s seen this diamond he knows it’s the right one for Lucy.

“So, that’s the one huh?” Angela says over Tim’s shoulder. “It’s beautiful.”

“Yeah, it is. You think Lucy will like it?”

“Tim you could probably propose to Lucy with a ring pop and she would like it, but to answer your question I think she would love this Tim. 100% percent without a doubt. Now the real question is how much does it cost?”

“I’ve been saving up for a ring for over a year now. As long as it doesn’t cost as much as my truck I should be able to afford it.”

“Okay, then. I’ll go get one of the sales guys let’s get your girl a proper diamond.”

After Angela brings the sales representative over to where Tim is still standing at the display it only takes a few minutes for Tim to finalize the sale of the diamond. On their way out of the jewelry store Tim thanks Angela for coming with him.

“No problem as much as I love my boys I needed a break from them. I’m really happy Wesley has weekends off and was able to watch the boys today. What do you think about picking up some lunch before you drop me off?”

“Okay, as long as you don’t interrogate me about my plans for the proposal.”

Angela laughs. “No promises there, but I’ll pay for lunch.”

“Deal.”

_______________________________

Nearly a month after Tim ordered the rings he’s finally ready to propose to Lucy. The rings had come in a week ago and have been sitting in a secret drawer in his desk at home for the time being. Since then with the help of Angela, Tamara, and Wade he’s been preparing for the proposal. Most of the help came in the form of hiding away certain decorations at their houses and asking them for help with refining any ideas that he had. 

Now him and Tamara are setting up the backyard with string lights, rose petals, and candles as quickly as they can before Lucy arrives back home from her girl’s day out with Angela, Nyla, and a couple of friends from UC school. Tim decides to add a couple of blankets on the lounge chairs just in case him and Lucy end up enjoying the night spring weather cuddled in each other’s arms. As Tim is putting on some of the finishing touches on the backyard he sees Tamara putting Kojo in a grey hoodie and placing a green bow tie around Kojo’s neck.

“Now that is one handsome dog.” Tamara says as she pets Kojo.

“Yes, he is. Let’s just hope that he doesn’t try to eat his bow tie before Lucy gets here.”

Tim and Tamara’s phones both ding. Tamara takes her phone out first and looks at the text message.

“Yeah, I don’t think that’s something we’re going to have to worry about Angela just texted. They’re only fifteen minutes away. Which means you need to hurry up and go change.” Tamara says as she gestures toward the t-shirt and sweatpants that Tim is wearing.

“Sh*t, you’re right. Okay, so how does the backyard look? Do you think Lucy is going to like?” Tim asks, the words practically flying out of his mouth as he the fact that he’s about to propose to Lucy Chen sinks in.

“Tim the backyard looks great and Lucy is going to love everything about this okay. I’m pretty sure she’s shown me the same Pinterest idea boards as you so trust me when I say she is going to be amazed so take a deep breath and relax. Remember all of this was technically the hard part, now all you have to do is ask Lucy to marry you.”

“Right, all I have to do is ask her to marry me. Four simple words. I’m going to change what are you going to do?”

“Probably sit down for a few minutes, order some food, and watch TV. Now go before you’re stuck proposing in sweats.” Tamara says, shooing Tim away. 

Tim rushes to his room and quickly changes into a green dress shirt, a black bow tie and black pants. He gives himself a quick look over in his mirror, running a hand through his hair in a vain attempt to calm his nerves.

He’s excited and nervous at the same time and he can feel a serious bout of butterflies fluttering in his stomach and chest. He can’t believe that he’s about to ask Lucy to marry him, to finally start the rest of their lives together.

Tim looks at Lucy’s favorite green dress that’s laying on their bed with a note next to it telling her to put it on before coming outside to the back yard. He takes one last look at himself before going to his office to pick up the rings. He goes over to Kojo and places the silicone rings in the pocket of Kojo’s hoodie before he heads back out to the back yard to wait for Lucy.

Tim unconsciously flips the ring box open and close as he waits for Lucy to arrive back with Angela and Nyla. It’s only a few minutes later when he hears Angela’s car pull up to the driveway. Even though he can’t make out what the three women are saying as they say their goodbyes to each other he feels his body relax as listens to Lucy’s voice. The nerves he felt earlier begin to melt away because even though taking this step again is terrifying, he knows without a shadow of doubt that him and Lucy are made for each other. There are butterflies still in his stomach but this time it’s only due to the anticipation of seeing Lucy being able to hold her in his arms again because she’s been his home for a while now and he can’t see his life without her in it.

When Tim sees Lucy start to walk outside, he shoves the ring in his back pocket before standing up from his seat and meeting her at the doorway.

“Wow, you look amazing.” Tim says breathlessly as he takes in Lucy’s simple beauty in the green dress.

Lucy blushes and brushes a 

how as your day out?” Tim asks as he takes Lucy hand in his leading her over to the middle of the back yard.

“It was great. Angela, Nyla, and I had a great time today. I think we all needed some time out together away from work. By the way everything looks amazing when did you have time do all of this?” Lucy says excitedly as she looks around at all of the decorations in the backyard.

“Uh, Tamara and I decorated everything while you were out. I really wanted to surprise you for tonight.”

“Well consider me surprised. So, what’s the special occasion?”

“We are actually.” Tim takes Lucy’s hand and kneels down on one knee. He hears Lucy’s gasp of surprise and sees tears spring to her eyes when he meets her gaze. Tim takes a deep breath to steady his nerves before he speaks. “Lucy Chen, every day that I’ve known you, you have helped to make become a better man. I know that this is where you usually say that I put in the work, but it was you that gave me the continuous push I needed to start making real changes in my life. You became someone that I knew I could lean on and trust with even my deepest fears and worries and every day you accepted me for who I was and helped me become the man I am today. Soon you became the person I love more than anyone in the world and my home. Every single day I fall more in love with you, and I want nothing more than to spend the rest of my life with you. Lucy Chen, will you marry me?” Tim pulls the box from his pocket and opens it showcasing the emerald ring that lay inside.

By the time Tim finishes his speech Lucy is smiling despite the tears running down her face.

“Yes.”

“Yeah?” Tim says in slight disbelief.

“Yes, Tim I’ll marry you.”

Tim stands and wraps Lucy in his arms kissing her passionately. Tim reluctantly breaks the kiss to place the ring on Lucy’s finger. He gently wipes away Lucy’s happy tears and places a kiss on her cheek.

Tim hears clapping coming from the backyard door. When he looks up he sees Tamara, holding her phone with the recording light on, along with Kojo standing on the patio.

“That was the most beautiful proposal I’ve seen.”

“Isn’t this the only proposal you’ve seen?” Lucy asks, turning in Tim’s arms to look at Tamara.

“I would like to think the proposals I’ve seen in Tv shows and movies count as well.”

Tim snorts. “Yeah, okay fair enough. I’m guessing you captured everything on your phone?”

“Oh, yeah. I can’t wait to show everyone.”

“Well, do you think you can hold off on sending it to everyone for a few days. I think Tim and I would like a few days of being engaged without everyone calling and asking about details about our engagement and plans for our wedding.” Lucy says.

“Yeah, no problem. But hey if you want to use the video for your wedding I know just the guy to ask about editing it for you.”

“Thanks, T.”

The doorbell rings and Tim gets an alert on his phone. When he looks at his phone he sees a young delivery man standing outside with a few bags of food.

“It looks like your food arrived Tamara.”

“Yes, let me go it. And don’t worry I got enough tacos for all of us.” Tamara says as she rushes inside to pay for the food.

“Mmm, tacos do sound good right about now. Come on, let’s go inside before Tam eats everything.” Lucy says as she grabs Tim’s hand and begins to lead him inside.

“Oh, wait. There’s one more thing.” Tim says stopping Lucy from continuing. He calls Kojo over and stoops down to pet Kojo before reaching inside the dog’s hoodie and grabbing another ring box and hands it to Lucy. “Here, I know that we can’t exactly wear our normal engagement rings on the job so I thought this might be a good substitute for when we’re out in the field.” 

 When Lucy opens the box it reveals a rose gold silicone ring with a green stripe going around the middle.

“Tim this is perfect I love it. Also Kojo looks so cute dressed up in his little bow tie and hoodie. Whose idea was it to dress him up for tonight?” 

“I was originally only going to have him in the bow tie, but Tamara suggested we give him his own hoodie.”

Lucy laughs. “Of course she did. It was a really cute idea. Remind me to take some pictures of him before the night is over.”

“Okay, Luce.” Tim presses a gentle kiss to the top of Lucy’s head before letting her lead him inside with Kojo following behind them.

When they enter the kitchen Tamara already has all of the food and drinks laid out. Once Tamara notices them she starts to explain everything she got for everyone before they all settle in to eat. They end up eating in the living room and watching a movie together. After they finish eating and watching the movie together the three of them work together to clean up and put everything up. It’s only when Tamara takes Kojo out for his last walk of the night that Tim and Lucy are alone again.

Tim places his hands on Lucy’s waist as she wraps her arms around his shoulders as they stand in the kitchen.

“You know today is easily one of the best days I’ve ever had and I think its time we celebrate.” Lucy says.

“Yeah, and what did you have in mind?”

“Something that’s going to put all that fuel to good use and maybe make a mess of that suit while we’re at it.” Lucy says, pulling on Tim’s tie. 

Their celebrations starts off slow and sensual before turning hot and passionate. Lucy makes good on her promise to make a mess of Tim’s suit and well Tim makes a mess of Lucy in return.

It’s not until the late afternoon the next day that they leave the room. After a long hot shower to wash off the night Tim and Lucy get dressed in lounge clothes. Tim tackles breakfast while Lucy handles the morning laundry. Later on when they’re sitting down eating Tim’s breath is knocked out of him when he sees Lucy wearing her engagement ring. Even though he saw her wearing it yesterday after his accepted proposal seeing her wear it everyday solidifies that they really are going to spend forever with each other. He can’t wait to do forever with her.

______________________________________________________________