#bahn hell up

[bahnloopi]

I did get asked would Goku and Vegeta turn into Sentos if they stayed there. Yes, but it'd take years of the planet's exposure to alter their genetics. They aren't born Pure Sentos so it'd likely affect them differently. Hell, just for giggles, I'd say it would bring out their looks for SSJ4 naturally without them having to transform into it. Sento's planetary feats stimulate more of the Oozaru's qualities so that's why the regular Sentos look the way they do only evolution added a bit more to the plate. I just think it's cool, me like monke.

#bahn hell up #sento saga

[startingfires]

i'll probably forever live off the high of chloe moriondo looking at me while i screamed sang my little heart out during manta rays

#I SKIP EVERY SONG THAT WON'T REMIND ME OF YOU CAUSE IF IT DOESN'T IT'S NOT WORTH MY TIME #i was really feeling it and had my eyes closed and when i opened them she was looking at me #small venues i love you #will i ever shut up about this concert? no <3 #it was probably one of the most fun nights of my life #and me and my friend looking at each other like !!!!!!!!!!! whenever they started playing a song we said we wanted to hear #fruity has been stuck in my head since it came out #the crowd went all out during hell hounds and fruity it was incredible #also bodybag beloved #and i want to be with you has grown so much on me and was definitely a highlight #ok i just got back from a should have been 4.5 hour trip that turned into 12 (thanks deutsche bahn) and it's almost 3am so i should #stop rambling #anyway i love chloe

[dracolunae]

Summary of today:

Got on a train, had a little delay followed by 1:40 hours of layover. Next train to Paris comes in 20 minutes late. I get on, I have to squeeze through several compartments full of people on an overbooked as hell train. I find my seat, 2 other people are sitting there. I do not get my window seat but I do get the seat next to it so whatever. We go for maybe an hour and then we stop. We were not supposed to stop. We are not at a station. Train attendants rush past to the front of the train. Intercom comes on “we had an accident involving a person so we will be stopped for an indeterminate amount of time”. This is most likely code for “someone jumped onto the tracks in front of the train and committed suicide.” We stay stopped. The hours tick by. We’re past the time we were supposed to arrive in Paris. We stopped only a short bit after entering France. Estimated delay: 120 minutes. 2 hours. It’s past midnight now. The intercom comes on again. “We are cancelling our stop in Paris. We are going to Metz instead. We will tell you more later.” We don’t move for another 30+ minutes. My mum gets me a hotel room in Metz. Finally: movement. Another hour of train ride to Metz. The intercom crackles back to life: “There will be a train for you to sleep in. I do not know when or where it will arrive.” We arrive at the station “We still don’t know when or where the train will be. Please exit this train.” I go “fuck this shit I’m not sleeping in that train, I’m going to the hotel”. I get my hotel room, it’s so nice to not be stuck on that fucking train anymore. All the early morning trains are unavailable. The only trains from here to Paris are TGVs. Very expensive. I read up on compensation for delays and cancellations. I buy a TGV ticket for 9 am because that’s the earliest one possible. I can’t claim comp yet because I have not yet arrived in Paris. Almost cried from frustration several times. Fuck the Deutsche Bahn.

#lunar lullabies #tw suicide

[transitat]

The General Nosiness Tag

Tagged by @writerrose1998

A beautiful place you visited that made you very happy (pictures welcome!).

Ilha do Mel (Honey Island) in the south coast of Brazil. It has a broken down fort right on the beach where you can almost feel the history of the place.

A book or written piece of media that made you go "oh yesssss".

I'm very much into poetry, so I just have to mention Richard Siken's Crush. A really good book I read this year is A Dowry of Blood by S. T. Gibson.

Your Spotify top song of the year.

So You Say by No Pressure. Funny story: I bought tickets to see them live in two different cities this year and saw them zero times due to weather and train delays (fuck the Deutsche Bahn).

Your favorite line/paragraph that you've written or an artwork that you're proud of.

Idk why this one had me cackling: Secure in the knowledge that they're all going to hell, Tyler waves his hand at Lucas and Bianca and drives his heels into the horse's flanks. From Nun'a'ya Business.

Your favorite painting/art piece.

This weird painting my grandmother has had forever.

I'm also absolutely obsessed with churches and religious imagery.

A language that sounds beautiful to your ears.

Italian. I really can't get over it.

Rec some fics that you keep going back to.

There are so many, but I find myself often rereading @suchaladyy and @cupoteahatter works.

Please, please share pictures of your pets if you're comfortable with that.

Kings of the trash. Damasco (Apricot) on the brown boxes and Pêssego (Peach) on the mixer. They're 3 year old twins and a bonded pair that I adopted from Bulgaria on ebay.

They have a lot of love and zero braincells.

A happy story from your life.

The time my waifu and I proved we're the stupidest idiots in Europe. We travel a lot to see our favorite bands live but I live in Munich while she lives in Leipzig, so sometimes we just meet at our destination.

We went to Paris to see Bring Me The Horizon and took trains there. I had a connection in Mannheim and was keeping her updated.

"I'm about to get on the train in Mannheim."

"Cool, my train is just pulling up to Mannheim central station, we'll probably get there around the same time," she said.

"Awesome," I replied, still stupid. "I get there around 5pm."

"That's good," she said, also stupid. "We won't have to wait for each other, my train arrives in Paris at 16:55."

"Oh," I reply while waiting to stow my luggage. "We might be on the same train. That would be fate bringing me to thee, lady wife."

"Oh yeah," (note that we're still stupid) "I'm in carriage 17."

"Me too!" I'm trembling in excitement. "What seat?"

"75"

"I'm in seat 74, omggg!!"

Anyway, turns out we'd booked the tickets together about 8 months before and completely forgot that we reserved seats next to each other. It's been 2 years, we're still stupid.

A show or movie that you could rewatch forever.

X-Men: First Class. The soundtrack, the plot, the shots! I've watched it so many times.

[boxwinebaddie]

psst! nina! -slides you $20- record store stan and comic book store kyle hanging out on their lunch break…plz 😩🥺💍

excuse me!!!! i am an upstanding law abiding citizen! i would never take a bribe!!!!...but if it somehow ended up on the floor or in my purse while i wasn't looking sahdhdkjs

but bestie i would have done it for free <3 i fucking...Love stan and kyle having edgy boy nerdy boy boyfriend solidarity they're so fkn cute to me oh my god aaaaa

also they work right across the street from each other so they do be shamelessly ogling each other all the time when they're supposed to be working. they also call each other on their work phones all the time and kyle is like "stan i told u not to call me when i'm working!!!!" and stan is like "but i MISSED u!" and hes like "bitch i am literally across the street" and stan is like "so cross the street and give me a big wet sloppy kiss dummy!" shdkjsa

they also totally badly prank call each other which is so funny bc its like I CAN SEE U STUPID!!! and also sometimes jealous kyle calls in like STAN IF YOU DONT TELL THAT BITCH W THE LANA DEL REY ALBUM AND THE BELLY BUTTON PIERCING U HAVE A BOYFRIEND RN IM COMING OVER THERE SHSKHD my hero oh my god!! stan is like ITS FOR HER GIRLFRIEND GENIUS SHE ALSO BOUGHT GIRL IN RED skahsd hes like that man in there tho with all the hair products in his hair!!!! he is not trying to score spiderman hes trying to score ur number sex-c!!! tell him ur closed...also my hero

i am like in the trenches of writer girl hell writing thirteen and trying to put good vibes back into my life so i...unfortunately could not put actions in it ( if u slide me $10 tho...i might consider it ) it's just dialogue but its funny i swear help!!! theyre cute!!!

...i hope this was worth your 20 dollars that ended up mysteriously in my pocket. Please Clap.

*DING!*

“Hey! Welcome to Vinyl Tap! My name is Stan, how may I help you—“

“Yooou know you’re not allowed in here anymore, sir!”

“And why is that…” “Kimberley?” *they never made stan a name tag*

“Because!” “You’re too tall…and good looking. No one will buy anything when you’re in here. They’re too busy looking at you. Me included.”

*stan winks and waves* *kyle rolls his eyes and does a sarcastic twirl*

“And management told me you keep checking out the check out guy at the counter. Absolutely unacceptable behavior.” “You disgust me.” “At least buy me dinner first.”

“I bought you lunch, actually, Asshole.” “Here’s dessert, bitch.” *kyle flips stan off*

“Aw! So sweet, bro! Just for that, you can have a bite.” *stan flips kyle off* “Sorry, your blood sugar looked low.” “And listen, If you’re gonna flip me off at least flip the sign around, you skyscraper! Mmkay?”

“Mmkay.”

“Ooh, ooh, oooooh! What is it?”

“Sniff.”

“NO!”

“Yes.”

“Oh my god?! Is it the super fucking delicious marinated tofu bahn mi from that new vegan Vietnamese food truck that parks next to City Hall? That I’ve been talking about—“

“For weeks. Yes. Please shut the fuck up now.”

“Did you add extr—“

“Extra jalapeño. Obviously, dipshit. I’m surprised you still have working taste buds.”

“Annnnnd—“

“And a Laaaarge Thai tea, sub oat milk. Yeah, yeah, yeahhh, whatever P r i n c e s s.”

“MY KY TEA!”

*holds his orange drink up to his kyles orange head excitedly*

“I totally forgot to pack a lunch earlier and everything! This is going to save my Life. Ugh, Dude, KP! You are LITERALLY the Best!”

*leans across the counter to hug kyle n almost crushes him 2 death*

“I know. And I have several awards and accolades that will back that statement up.”

“Also, I fucking K N E W it!”

“Knew what, motherfucker?”

“That you forgot to take your fucking ADHD medication again!”

“Nooooo…”

“Maaaaaybe…”

“Stan…”

“I know, I know, I knoooooow! I’m sorry! But also, if I am ‘chemically imbalanced’ or whatever and have a hard time remembering shit and focusing, why the fuck would they give me this thing I have to remember to do every morning? Like, it’s just so—“

“Babe.”

“Bro?”

“Food, drink, pill.”

“Fooooood, driiiiink, pillllll~”

*stan is very pleased with his stan-wich*

“Oh my god. D A N K.” “Best lunch EVER. I’m sooooo happy, I could totally k i s s you right now!”

“So kiss me, Dumbass.”

“Well, since you asked so nicely…”

*alexa play pony by ginuwine ;)*

*...did stan jump up on the counter and wrap his legs around kyle's waist...i can neither confirm nor deny these allegaytions ur honor*

“Peppermint.”

“Cherry.”

“Swap?”

“Swap.”

“Cherry.”

“Peppermint.”

“Way better.”

“Agreed?”

“Agreed.”

*kyle pulls back n eyes stan incredulously...and indecently ;)*

“Hold on a second…” “Marsh…”

“Broflovski?”

“Where is the rest of your shirt?”

“Out to lunch?” “Boo! Are you seriously dissing my fit, right now, bro?”

“Your fit would not FIT an eight year old boy!"

“Take it up with Kenny! He did it last night. He said it would help bring in sales.”

“He would say that.” “And what kind? OnlyFans?”

*deflecting and distraught bc...Hot*

“Kyle, c’mon! It’s c u t e!”

“It’s a CROP TOP.”

“It’s fun!”

“It’s INDECENT.”

“You’re staaaaring~” *stan shamelessly teasing kyle vc*

“It stared at me first.” *kp scowl insult combo bc hes nervous rip*

“It’s hot out there!”

“It’s hot IN here.”

“Ooh, say that again.”

“That.”

“Nevermind, I fucking hate you.” *more middle finger*

“I love you too.” *kissy noises*

“Ew, cute.” “But my eyes are up here. Pervert.”

*stan props kyles chin up on his finger so they can make sexually charged eye contact...seek jesus*

“They’re pretty…”

“Pretty weird looking.”

*stan looking crispy because he just got roasted*

“I’M weird looking!? Have you SEEN yourself?”

“Oh, HELL no! I am not taking smoke from a dude with frosted tips wearing low rise jeans and a shirt that looks like it could have been purchased from the junior girls section of Target. All you need is Kenny to tattoo a butterfly tramp stamp on you and you’re good to go, Paris Hilton.”

“And I'M not taking SMOKE from a dude wearing his dorky Cosmic Comic work uniform hat forwards instead of backwards like anyone over the age of 12.”

*stan totally takes his hat off and wears it like a backwards fuckboy snapback, kyle starts choking help sdsjh*

“Basketball shorts and…a Batman baseball tee that looks like it could have been purchased from the junior BOYS section of Target.” “Even if it does make your arms look really good.”

“Really? Ah-ahah. T-Thank you. Your a-arms also—” *nervous kyle stuttering* “Clever diversion tactic, but Stan, do NOT start this fight with me again! I reeeeally do not want to have this fight AGA—“

“Dude, he’s like, not even a Real superhero! He literally BOUGHT his way into being a superhero! He has no superpower! His superpower is being RICH!”

“Bro, so did IRON MAN!”

*cue stan and kyles regular n daily marvel dc fight to the death*

“OKAY! Well, Tony Stark has a wicked sweet robot butler and Bruce Lame-yne just has that weird creepy old guy who should probably have his name on the sex offenders list.”

*kyle absolutely fucking aghast*

“I’m sorry — Did you just refer to Alfred as ‘that weird creepy old guy’?”

“—Who probably wants to diddle little boys, but yes, that’s exactly what I said, Kyle!”

*eye twitches in rabid comic book boy*

“…And are you implying that Jarvis is cooler than ALFRED?!”

“I am not just implying that information…”

“I am d e l i n e a t i n g it to you.”

*stan using his english hw vocab rizz like kyle look look i studied*

“Mwah.”

*stan flabbergasted dramatic boy sounds*

“EXCUSE ME!!!! DID YOU JUST THROW MY KISS IN THE TRASH!?!?”

*he shoooooots, he scooooores*

“No, I threw in it in recycling because I know you’re a hoe for the environment.”

*stan abt to ask kyle to help him find something in the stock room...i really hope its the bible*

“…Okay, w-wowz—Jesus Christ. Ky, you know it’s seriously so hot to me when you recycle responsibly, but..."

*rizzed stan so hard oh my god hes blushin omg is it hot in here*

“Hope you heal from being a DC dickrider.”

“And I hope you heal from gargling Marvel’s balls.”

“Y’know, I still cannot believe you don’t like Batman, Stan. Like you are literally a DICK GRAYSON variant!”

“Woah, you said Dick with a loooot of confidence. Watch out; people might think you’re gaaaa—“

*kyle mad as hell bc he got dusted by his sbbf*

“Yeah, very funny, Stan. It’ll be way funnier when I bury this shithole on Yelp when I accuse you of a hate crime.”

“Okay, concept: hear me out. No hate crimes, just…” “Date Time?”

*stan vana white hand flourish w the emo boy rings*

“How about…we call you in some chicken strips, curly fries an—“

“CANIHAVEACHER—“

*absolutely feral diabetes boy behavior*

“Yes, oh my goood, you fucking FIEND…You can have a cherry coke. But…BUT! it has to be MEDIUM, KP! M e d i u m! Last time you had a large you got totally cracked out on liquid candy carbonation and started talking CRAZY. Like, you literally sounded like a cult leader. I thought you were going to start having religious visions and shit; it was scary.”

*stan shiny eyes emoji*

“Then…can we pleaaaase eat at the pond?! Please, please, please? I bought a mason jar full of oats in my backpack so I could feed the ducks! The little ones are soooo cut—“

“You remembered a lunch for the DUCKS and not yourself?!” “Ugh, and Stan, I HATE Stark’s Pon—“

*three fingers in the air assistant troop leader stan vc scouts honor*

“I promise to protect you from children, frisbees, the elderly, unpredictable water fowl and people with petitions…Do we have a deal, Kyle Pile?”

*oh no not the eyelash flutter...its super effective*

“…If one of those sick, feathered fucks bites me or shits on me, I’m turning that pond into duck soup.”

“YAY!” “Okay, let’s go. Hold my hand?”

“Stan, are you five years old?”

*stanley marsh signature pout...ur litrally proving his point bff*

“Kyle, you KNOW crossing the street freaks me out.” “Now hold my freaking hand, Assface!”

*aw romance*

“Wooooow, trying so hard to hold my hand. Watch out; people might think you’re gaaaa—“

*stan like five centimeters away from kyles mouth*

“…P l e a s e, baby?”

*more extremely nervous flustered kyle stuttering*

“I—W-whatever.” “There, happy?”

“Extremely.”

“Your hands are sweaty.”

“You make me nervous.”

*bebe vc* And Scene ;)

#aw...true love #bestie im sorry this is not my finest work but i hope u laugh thank u for buying me lunch #SPEAKING OF BUYING PEOPLE LUNCH kyle remembering stans crunchy boy lil lunch order...AW STAN CALLING KYLE HIS KY TEA LIKE PLS #idk why i put stan in a crop top but also i know he looked good kyle was mad as hell and wanted to makeout abt it smh #they really do b bickering like an old married couple #THEY HAVE THE DC MARVEL FIGHT EVERY DAMN DAY ITS SO UNSERIOUS #them being like damn thats pretty gay bro watch it bro people might think ur gay bro #my sons...who i raised...myself...with sharon and shelia...amen...<3 #THEM DOING THE MMKAY CALL AND RESPONSE IS LIKE THEIR RUNNING INSIDE JOKE #kyle talks abt recycling and stans like im going to do terrible and obscene things to u in the stock room...smh

[archiesfagfantasy]

I’ve gotten 4 separate blood tests in the last 2 weeks including IV so my arms are bruised up like a heroin user. Nice visual reminder of my little hypochondriatic freakout. embarrassing as hell. But I am calm in this stage of testing/waiting for the first time all month. Placing my faith in medicine of whatever. Had a really yummy Bahn mi today then lost 3 hours to feverish nap dreams, as is the way after most meals for me. No wonder I’m terrified of food. Excited for the day I can eat like a normal person and not be insane about it.

[poems-from-around-the-world]

Émigré Soul - Faruk Šehić - Bosnia and Herzegovina

Translator: Susan Curtis (Bosnian)

If I could afford to, I’d post myself to Berlin

with DHL or FedEx. I weigh around 85 kilos

and it would cost some to move my mass to Berlin

but I’ll borrow the money, for there are always people with cash

and it’s important I reach Berlin in a DHL parcel

I’ve decided against FedEx, the name of the company’s too long

and it rhymes with those Bosnian firms whose owners like

names ending in -ex, thinking internationalism brings success

I’ll post myself to the Hauptbahnhof, I’ve been there before

I can find my way from there, being somewhat familiar with the U-Bahn

with its enticing smell. I’m hooked on the odour of the Berlin underground,

promising speed and good times on pleasant nights out

I must post myself to Berlin, for I long to touch the Brandenburg Gate,

caress the stone buttocks of Greek goddesses the colour of white coffee,

drink coffee in Potsdamer Platz surrounded by sparrows,

that seem like feathery balls with beaks which they use

to navigate the glass domes of the arcades, seemingly strung with sails,

or what seems now like sails, and now like neckties made for giants,

and those sparrows surround me as I drank my coffee, basking in the sun

waiting for me to give them bread, while I sat in the garden of an Australian restaurant

that served crocodile steak and koala fillet

Berlin is a city where a surplus of indigestible history can’t give you a headache

this thought cleansed me as I walked over the dead German and

Allied soldiers, or rather the fragments of their skeletons

on the lawn in front of the Reichstag, by the river Spree, where

real eagles fly across the sky, while beneath the grass transparent history lies.

Hell-bent on escaping Sarajevo, I must post myself to Berlin

in a cardboard box onto which they’ll post an Urgent! sticker

I’ll rid myself of shop-soiled nations and stunted statelets

my blond hair and green eyes will help me through the X-ray control,

for they’ll know that, although I wasn’t born in Berlin, I’ve got

a trump card up my sleeve: a mysterious watermark on my irises

a biometric passport of a state, a borderless state

that hasn’t yet been created, but until it comes into being

Berlin will do me just fine.

#Émigré Soul #Faruk Šehić #bosnia and herzegovina #poem #poetry #poems from around the world #translation: Bosnian

[blueberry-beanie]

Everything Everything at Arena Wien | 3rd August 2022

Time to write about seeing the amazing EE in Wien! This is going to be a VERY long story, but it features possibly the best concert of my life including meeting all band members afterwards. I have divided the text into sections with titles so you can quickly skip to the main part with the concert if you want to.

A year ago in August N and I decided to take a closer look at Everything Everything after we had exhausted our supply of favourite Foals videos. Jeremy had been a constant source of enjoyment in all ENSWBL live videos and we wanted to find out more about his own band. N already knew some of their material, but had not watched any live videos.

This is how we entered the rabbit hole. Ever since, we could never get enough of EE and their brilliant work. In a stroke of luck the band announced a concert in Wien months ago and I decided to travel all the way from north Germany to see them. In the months leading up to the concert I have been getting increasingly excited (atypical for pessimistic me) and could not wait to see them.

Tuesday - Arriving in Wien

And then it’s finally Tuesday, the 2nd August and it's six in the morning and I'm only transforming, woah... around ten hours of travel were waiting for me now. At first it started out alright, but five minutes after departure Deutsche Bahn decided to play “Your connecting train will (or won’t) be caught” with me via e-mail. And if that wasn’t enough, it turned out they decided to remove two carriages from the train, meaning it became super full and nobody was sure where they were sitting anymore. At 9:30 I ended up sitting on the floor, but not for very long.

The landscapes at my window varied from hills with foggy, mysterious valleys to golden fields and blue sky. There were a lot of tunnels and at some point we were travelling along the huge Main river. Finally in Nürnberg, I changed trains and this is where it became very fun.

It was only 12:30 and I had still more than four hours to travel, but now I ended up sitting in a stuffed luggage and bike compartment on the floor. The air conditioning did not work the entire journey, even when I eventually found a seat. I was joking to N that next time the guys better take me with them, because no tour bus can be this bad. Meanwhile I saw on Instagram that the band were enjoying themselves outdoors and Jeremy sprawling across a hammock on the floor was definitely a mood in this overheated hell of a train.

But I knew that today was not even going to be the hottest day - the next two were promised to be way over 35 °C. A good way to be boiled alive... Finally, at 5 pm I reached Wien Hauptbahnhof. My hostel, St. Christopher’s Inn, was only a few minutes foot walk away from there. The area looked a bit weird. A slightly shabby pedestrian zone with loads of food places and groceries.

An hour later after a cold shower I went out back to the train station to eat some Asian noodles. After that I visited the gardens between upper and lower Belvedere Palace. It reminded me a lot of London because of the opulent scenery, but the park was a proper pleasure garden, planned out completely symmetrical and stretching out from one palace to the other. I did not spend a long time there though, because my tired feet were killing me.

Back at the hostel, I met my roommates (two from Czech Republic, who immediately went out again to enjoy themselves at the Prater, and Maja from Kassel in Germany). After another shower, Maja and I had quite a long talk about school, uni, work, horses and more. We decided to do a little bit of sightseeing together the next day before she had to go to Venice.

Wednesday - Spanish Riding School and Sightseeing

The next morning I woke early and went to eat some free breakfast at 9 am. As I found out, veganism has not arrived to Wien yet, so I ate a very interesting combination of cheap toast with cucumbers and tomatoes. But anything works and I was off to the Spanish Riding School next to the Hofburg. Half an hour later, I arrived at the beautiful place. Wien has an abundance of impressive completely white buildings and this area was no different.

I finally found the entrance to the Winterreithalle, where the the young stallions’ morning training was to take place. I follow the riding school’s social media and so I recognised the street and sure enough - a minute later two white Lippizaner horses crossed the street towards the stables.

We were let in shortly after and I got to see the famous riding hall in person. I had a good seat in the first row and to my delight, two of the older horses were already practicing with their riders. This was the first time I have seen such perfection with my own eyes. They were effortlessly performing piaffe, passage, flying changes and pirouettes. One stallion was even equipped with the famous white saddle, gold-adorned bridle and a red saddle cloth. Taking pictures is not allowed, so I have just sneaked one very quick photo from the end of the training.

Afterwards the actual program with young horses started and it was very interesting to see the different stages of development in the horses, although all of them were four years old. One dark grey horse stood out especially because he moved with such grace and without any rush that you would be forgiven thinking he was flying over the ground. Another horse was a bit nervous and put in a sprint at some point, before his rider could calm him down.

When I got back out, the sun was already unbearably hot. I realised that spending the day without a hat would be an extremely bad idea and went to search for one while waiting for Maja to arrive. With a new hat, I stood in the shadow of a huge church where people in antiquated costumes were trying to sell passers-by tickets for classical concerts. 

Maja and I went to see the butterfly house but it was already way too hot, so we decided to wander in the park nearby. But even this turned out to be absolutely baking hot, because it was already past noon and the sun at its highest point. Instead we took a tram and a bus to a shop to buy her a pair of sunglasses and then we ate something. I had a delicious bowl with tofu and glass noodles and went back home. We stopped by a supermarket (Aldi is confusingly called Hofer here) but it did not have a lot of vegan options. So I got a smoothie, mixed it with water and bought some cheap bread.

Wednesday - Before the Concert

After four o’clock I got myself dressed in my favourite green linnen dress, checked my handbag and headed off to Arena Wien. I knew it was very early still, but I am rather going early than finding out I am too late. It was a very good decision to come early, because it turned out the so-called Arena is a maze of graffitied brick buildings. I knew there was supposed to be a Bierfest and I knew that EE was supposed to play at the Große Halle. But where is that? I was wandering around until I found a small entrance to the Bierfest. I asked an employee where to find the entrance for the Hall and he vaguely pointed around the corner, his voice drowned out by the volume of a bass soundcheck nearby.

I went around the corner to see a huge (but empty) open air stage and a big building with a grey door. The door said “exit only” so I started being nervous. Where was everyone? I did not see anyone who looked remotely like an EE fan, only middle-aged rockers in black clothes. So I sat on a bench and waited. I was undoubtedly at the right place because I heard EE soundchecking in the distance. “Do you think you got everyone under your control?“, Jonathan was singing. At some point later I heard Pizza Boy.

The Middle-aged rockers proved to be a saving grace. A group sat down next to me and I got the courage to ask them if they knew where the entrance was. They confirmed it was next to the confusing “exit only” door and we had a nice conversation about Austria and Germany and overall I started to calm down a bit. Then we were thrown out from out comfortable seats because they were supposed to become merch stands for the fest.

I went towards the grey door where I had seen a guy with an Arc EE shirt wandering around. This guy turned out to be Fabian, a long-time super fan. He was very nice and soon we had a conversation going. He told me the most incredible thing: He is actually working for a radio station called egoFM and not only has he met the band several times before, but he had interviewed them just today!

Naturally I needed to find out more about this. He came here earlier that day and had a conversation with the band (except Jeremy, who was missing). They told him a lot of interesting stuff about the concert and were also kind enough to sign vinyls for him. At some point they were like “Where is Jeremy?” and gave him a call to make him come and see Fabian. It turned out Jeremy was relaxing in the car, because it was cold there. He proceeded to invite Fabian to sit in the cold car and have a chat.

Fabian also told me about the one time he and his fandom friends heard about the band tweeting about cheese. So they proceeded to go out to the supermarket and buy cheese for all of them. They picked all kinds of cheese and changed the names, for example to “El Presidente Heartbeat”. Then they gave the cheese to the management for the band to enjoy.

Fabian is a huge fan and knows everything about the band. It was awesome to finally talk to someone who loves EE even more than I do and to find out more about them as well. N told us that EE posted an Instagram story with them soundchecking Good Shot Good Soldier and Fabian mentioned they hinted at a fresh setlist today.

In the meantime, there were still only a handful of fans standing around, although it was almost 7 pm. I found out that Fabian needed no ticket because he was on the guestlist. The guestlist did cause us some heart attack though, when they started letting us in: He needed to hurry to another entrance because they would not admit him at the main.

But our worries were unnecessary: This gig was never going to be crowded. We had a lot of space the entire time. I was the first one inside and got my absolute dream spot between Jonathan and Jeremy, slightly to the right side of the middle. Fabian stood on my left side and two nice girls to my right.

Later we met Amechi, an extremely nice guy who came all the way from Canada, primarily to see EE, but also to visit a few European cities. We had a wonderful chat about our favourite songs and albums. Fabian is a huge fan of Arc, we agreed that Raw Data Feel is a masterpiece and that we all like Torso of the Week. We also chatted about how Re-Animator had a weird mix and that we were all so goddamn excited about this concert.

The support act Please Madame from Salzburg in Austria were great. Within a few minutes they got everyone clapping, grooving and singing. I don’t think their music is particularly extraordinary, but as an opener they were wonderful for the atmosphere they created. I decided to try my new prisms and hoped that the darkness would improve when EE hit the stage.

Then they started setting up all the instruments. We saw Alex’ guitar and Jonathan’s too and Jeremy’s tiny bass. They also set up his ridiculously small keyboard right in front of us. It was fun to see the roadie soundchecking - he had to really stretch his neck and tiptoe to reach Jeremy’s and Alex’ microphones. At some point Pete briefly appeared in front of us and I said “Hi Pete!” and he smiled and responded “Hi!” as well.

Wednesday - The Concert

Just give me this one night Just one night to feel like I might be on the right path The path that takes me home Wise enough to know myself Just give me this one night Just one night to feel

And then, at 21:10 the Software Greatman outro kicked in and we became really, really excited. The band walked in from the right side and started with Pizza Boy. We all went absolutely insane. I caught the ending for N, and then they continued with Can’t Do. Now this song is one of my favourites (although with this band almost every song is a favourite, so it’s hard to tell!). “Help me, I can’t do the thing you want!” Jonathan sang. He was in a great voice.

Overall I had the best spot in the house if you ask me. To my right, Jeremy, almost too tall to look at him; to my left Jonathan and I also had clear view to Alex and Pete quite often. Only Mike hid beind his drumkit for most of the time. This was exactly where I had always wanted to be. My only problem was that I didn’t know where to look first: At Jeremy, or maybe at Jonathan? Help me, I can’t decide what I want!

It was really hot, so Jonathan for once appeared without his jacket and Jeremy traded his usual shirts for one that reminded me a bit of his outfits for Foals. All of them were dressed in white, with white shoes as well. I had ample opportunity to look at Jonathan’s shoes because he liked to put them right in front of my face when he rested his foot on the stage monitor speakers.

I had such a show just in front of my eyes, with all the bright light leaving the band members just as mysterious shadows. Jeremy of course needed to show off at every opportunity.

Jonathan demanded attention whenever I was staring at Jeremy for too long. He would come up right in front of us very often, so close I could have touched his legs - but of course we are not at a Foals concert, and everyone is extremely well-behaved and would never dare to do that.

Each song was better than the previous one. To say that the setlist was absolute fire is an understatement. The only thing that may be critiqued that they completely left out songs from Man Alive. But instead we didn’t get one, nor two but FIVE live debuts and the first time playing Night of the Long Knives on this tour. We were absolutely ecstatic with the show.

The first debut was Metroland Is Burning, one of my faves from the album. They really got all the bangers out, the run from Shark Week - Hex - Leviathan - Night of the Long Knives and Cut Up! cannot be beaten.

 I still cannot believe I heard everything with my own ears. All the songs I’ve been watching over and over and over again this past year, unfolding in front of my eyes. To the Blade is such a banger and I nearly wanted to cry for Violent Sun at the end of the set. The quietest song was of course Leviathan. The way they managed to deliver this masterpiece really transported me into another dimension, it was perfect.

The encore consisted of I Want a Love Like This, Distant Past and No Reptiles. To say I went absolutely batshit crazy for Distant Past would be correct but doesn’t cut it still. The absolute adrenalin rush, the crowd yelling out the lyrics (they had already been singing along loudly the entire time but NOW everyone went crazy). No Reptiles was the appropriate euphoric ending to this outstanding concert.

I cannot say to have ever witnessed a more perfect set. The guys are absolute geniuses in their profession and they do what they do the best way possible. I was so lucky to experience this, my ears have been blessed. Sorry guys if I have been staring at you with heart eyes a bit too obviously, it was a heartfelt emotion.

In retrospect, I should’ve tried to take more photos during the brighter songs, but I was busy filming half of the songs (with my phone resting against my handbag so I could still yell and jump like a mad person) and just enjoying the moment. During some songs you can hear me screech with excitement, this is how happy I was to hear them.

After the gig, Amechi caught Jonathan’s setlist (with his footprint) and the roadies/security guys were not very welcoming actually. We were ushered away as fast as possible, but I managed to get myself a bass plectrum. We were surprised to see there was absolutely no merchandise from the band and they closed the venue as fast as possible.

There went our plan that the guys might come out and sign some merch. Little did we know that our evening had just started...

Wednesday - Meeting the Band

There's a way that you don't ever have to be a Lunatic or an error Or a prisoner of your terror

What happened next sounds as if I made it all up, but as I wrote to N later “I'm not making this up, my fantasy doesn’t reach that far”. When we came out of the venue it was roughly quarter past ten. Fabian, Amechi and I tried to figure out where it would be most likely for the band to come out if they decided to come out.

We decided that not far from the entrance would be the best spot. Soon we were joined by Gabriele and his Italian friends. We exchanged our opinions about the concert, determined favourite albums and reassured each other that Supernormal is an absolute banger. One of the guys wanted to ask Jonathan about his cats, but I was able to tell him that he doesn’t own any cats anymore (and hasn’t killed them either).

Suddenly Jonathan and Alex appeared from the entrance and we all collectively went “holy shit” and stared at them very inconspicuously. They went to get a drink from the bar on the other side of the yard. For whatever reason Fabian wasn’t there in exactly this moment and neither when they came back and disappeared behind the corner. When he returned we confessed that we were all too awestruck to seize our opportunity. He sighed and asked where they went and then confidently lead our little group to some benches and tables, where Jonathan and Alex were sitting.

He proceeded to gesture at Amechi to approach them. Like school children in front of the headmaster we came closer with big eyes and nervously clasped hands, me at the very end of the group.

This tense atmosphere vanished pretty quickly. It turns out Jonathan and Alex are the most easy-going and sweet people possible. They graciously not only gave us their time but genuinely enjoyed having conversations. They shook each of our hands. Jonathan got up and immediately got engaged in a conversation with Fabian and Amechi. The Italians surrounded Alex.

At some point Alex, still sitting on the bench, remarked “Oh I gotta get up, this is kind of uncomfortable” gesturing towards us all standing in front of him. He proceeded to get up and suddenly towered above us like the giant he is. I laughed and remarked “Well, this is certainly better!”. At some point I managed to get a question in for him: “Alex, I wanted to ask you, what happened to your red guitar? I hope it hasn’t burned like the other one?” He replied that no, the red guitar is safe at home and that he just felt like he needs to move on to another one, the restored guitar from the fire.

In the meantime Jonathan was engaged into a conversation about his t-shirt. The black t-shirt had a boy and some big pumpkins on it. We determined it is from an unknown movie and I said it reminded me a bit of Stranger Things, to which Jonathan agreed. He and the guys were talking about Halloween movies and then he found out that Amechi came all the way from Canada to see them. He was absolutely delighted and in awe that someone would do that and proceeded to give Amechi a heartfelt hug.

They also readily signed some CDs and Amechi’s setlist. Someone asked him to draw Kevin on the Raw Data Feel CD and Jonathan complied, producing the weirdest tentacled face you can imagine. Amechi also complimented Jonathan on his voice, saying that falsetto is rare in today’s mainstream music (”It has gone out of fashion”, Jonathan laughed). I don’t know what bit me, a hyena probably, but I blurted out that I also like all the little effects he does with his voice, to which he cheekily replied “Yeah voice effects, like I just press an effect button and the effects come out!”. But I reassured him that they were up on the same level like his awesome falsetto.

I became very cheeky and joked at some point “Yknow, Jonathan, I’m actually a bit pissed at you guys!” He asked me why and I told him that I bought the ticket to Wien and came all the way here only to find out that they will play almost at my front door the next day. I made clear it is a joke though and that it is really worth it and he asked me if I will be there tomorrow. Fabian said nobody will be there tomorrow and it will be a gig in misery without the fanclub. I joked that no, I have to endure ten hours of Deutsche Bahn tomorrow and they could’ve just taken me back home instead! He answered, just as cheekily, “Sure come along!”

Then I managed to mention N and said that I also have some stories from far away to tell. That was after Jonathan had talked about some desastrous Italian TV show (that’s why they don’t come to Italy anymore, he joked) and mentioned that he has some relatives in Canada. I told him that my friend Nikol is Ukrainian and currently in Greece and that she introduced me to EE and she loves the band very much. I said she got obsessed with his orange trenchcoat and that I tried to find one for her and was lucky enough to find one in a vintage shop and that she now can’t wait to wear it and loves it very much. He loved this idea and told me that he found his coat on ebay too. He said, he still has the orange coat and he tried to find another one, but with no luck. Someone asked him about the orange t-shirts (they weren’t sure if they were pink, but Jonathan and I agreed they were orange). He told us he left them in his old house and has no idea where he got them from.

Amechi can speak French and so he asked Jonathan about a line in a song where he expressed some negative view about the French. Jonathan explained that he doesn’t really think that and just wanted to convey a very outdated view instead. I threw in that if we believed everything he sings we’d have a problem. He chuckled and remarked “Ha, yeah, I’d be in jail”. I replied “Well, you did kill the Queen. Thanks for the service”, which made him laugh.

We asked Jonathan why there was no merch today and he told us that there has been an issue because of Brexit and they would’ve loved to bring some but could not. We were all sad but I said well at least we have someone to blame. He replied, “Well, it’s not us!” and I told him, “No, you would never do this!”

At some point Fabian, Amechi and Gabriele with his friends wanted to go and speak to Jeremy and Mike, who had appeared a bit further away from us and were currently talking to a group of people. At the same time, some other guys had come over to talk to Alex and Jonathan. I was torn, because I had the idea to ask Jonathan for a video message for N. So I told Fabian and Amechi to go without me and I would follow.

I proceeded to hang around while Jonathan spoke to a girl who told a story about a banana on Twitter or something like that? I had no idea what it was all about but Jonathan was delighted and hugged her. He also talked about the Breadwinner video and did not remember which program he used to make it, but it was definitely not Blender. Then another group of people took a few photos with Alex and Jonathan.

Finally, I saw my time had arrived to ask Jonathan. I said, “I’m so sorry to abuse your friendliness, can I just ask one more thing?” But he was like, “Nah not at all, it’s alright!” I asked him if he could maybe record a short video message just to say hi to my friend Nikol and that she would be over the moon to receive one. He agreed, and I also asked Alex if he wanted in, but Alex was content sitting on the bench and enjoying the show.

Everyone who thinks Jonathan would just say “Hi, hope you are alright there, greetings from Vienna” doesn’t know him well. That includes me. Jonathan started the funniest acting show with “Hello Nikol!” and proceeded to say “I understand you’ve been trying to find an orange coat...”, meanwhile inching closer and closer to the camera with his beer bottle.“...they are very difficult to find. I found mine on Ebay. You need to keep looking.”

I started giggling, and in the video Alex shakes his head in disbelief, preparing for the inevitable comedy to unfold itself. Then I whispered “She found one!” and the immediate change in tone never ceases to make me laugh “Oh you found one! Congratulations, you found the coat! You are in a very select group now. Thank you!” In the background you can see Alex, sitting and smiling about this, while I am losing it behind the camera.

I thanked Jonathan profoundly for his unique message and told him I will send it to Nikol right away and she will completely freak out in a few minutes. Thinking that I will probably briefly greet Jeremy and Mike and then go home, I already said bye to Jonathan and Alex with a handshake and went on to the others.

This plan did not work out in the slightest. As soon as I arrived, all the guys started moving to where I came from - back to Jonathan and Alex. So much about bye, nice to meet you. But I really needed to speak to Jeremy, for fuck’s sake, so I just followed them back.

Somehow I was suddenly nervous again, I did not want to bother him and also Jeremy can come across a bit bitchy in interviews and livestreams sometimes. He’s certainly quick-witted in giving answers. I also read about other fans meeting the band and saying he was more distant than the others and not as terribly nice as the rest.

I could not have been any more wrong. “Hi Jeremy?” I asked, with big puppy eyes probably, and he immediately turned around to greet me and we exchanged the inevitable “Nice to meet you”. He shook my hand and I told him that I saw him before when he performed with Foals in Amsterdam in 2019. He was like, “Ohh, yes! At Paradiso!” I said that I started wondering about his own band because I really liked his bass playing and his vocals and I wanted to see more of it.

He was like “Ah, so the promo worked!” He seemed to be very happy and pleased about this and completely surprised me with a hug. He was very soft, the hug was lovely and left me completely taken aback. He asked me where I am from and I said near Hamburg. He was impressed I travelled that far and thanked me for coming.

Still in shock about everything that happened in the last five minutes, I sought companionship from N and found it right away: “WHAT! A VERY SELECT GROUP NOW IS FUCKING DYING ALSO OMG ALAX THERE ON BG LAUGHING DFGHJ“ I thought “Ah so she has seen the video now”, and grinned, but could only incoherently reply sth about “I hugged Jeremy”.

In the meantime the circus was still ongoing. Fabian and Mike stood arm in arm and I commented, “You look like old mates” and Mike, without missing a beat, replied “We are!”. At some point we caught Pete and asked him to join the group photo everyone was planning. I told him he had to come too, because he is part of the gang. Pete happily obliged and only Jeremy was late again. We took a massive group photo that barely fit everyone on there.

Jonathan told us that they will be here until 1 am and was like, “No don’t go, stay here”. Well, I guess, if you say so... So Amechi, Gabriele, Fabian and I stayed there near the beverage cart and tried to process what the fuck had just happened. We had an universal agreement that this was the best fucking gig we have ever been to, even those of us who have seen the band several times already.

By now it was around midnight, and we really needed the time to exchange stories, grab a drink and exchange numbers. It turns out, Amechi is quite the language talent because he can already type in phone numbers if you tell him them in German.

Amongst this, N suddenly sent a Tweet by Jonathan:

I showed it to Amechi and he nearly got a heart attack, because it was clear that Jonathan meant him, who had come all the way from Canada. What a way to show appreciation to fans! Meanwhile N was still processing her video: “My mind became an error, I don't understand anything and rewatching Jonathan xD“.

During all of this, I felt like another person. It was as if all the existential dread, the awkwardness, the fear of meeting new people and somehow being all wrong and unlikeable, as if all that noise had just disappeared from my body and I could just breathe and be. I did not have to be a lunatic, or an error, or a prisoner of my terror. Instead here I was, making plans to go for brunch together with three new friends, having drinks and chatting and feeling for once like everything was good.

Shortly before 1 am we decided it was time to say goodbye to the band and go to catch some trains. So we went to first say goodbye to Jonathan. He proceeded to be extremely sweet and give out hugs to all three guys. For some reason we got to the topic of his t-shirt again and he remembered buying it at HMV and someone remarked, “Wow it still exists!”. He talked about the interview they gave in which they thought HMV is going to shut down entirely and that now he is embarrassed because it is not true at all.

The guys then moved on to say bye to the others and I was left with Jonathan. I told him “Thank you again for the video and Nikol has seen it and she is completely overjoyed”. He loved that and said that she should take a photo of herself in the coat so he can see it. I thanked him for everything and said that I hoped to see him again soon and he surprised me by generously giving me a hug as well. Now I felt truly honoured and happy.

I proceeded to say bye to Alex and Mike, and because everyone was giving out hugs I received hugs, too. Mike was a bit awkward and also I somehow haven’t had the chance to talk to him as much as to the others, but he was very nice to me nevertheless.

Then it was again Jeremy’s turn. I was like, “Goodbye to you again, I guess!” and he just decided to go for another hug. Although he is incredibly tall, he made the effort to bend down a bit for a proper hug and I don’t know how I deserved all of this. He asked when I will go home and I told him that I will go tomorrow. Then he did the sweetest thing, because he kind of put his hand on my shoulder and was like “Aw, I will be thinking of you on the journey and hope you arrive home safely.” Honestly, that did it for me, what kind of alternate reality have I arrived to and why is everyone so incredibly nice to me?

On our way out we discovered that the U-Bahn stopped working and we had to take a night bus or tram. Only Gabriele could walk to the hotel nearby. We hugged and he left us at the entrance. Amechi and Fabian decided to walk me to the tram stop and call an Uber to share. That was very sweet of them, so I didn’t have to walk the deserted street alone. The tram would take me almost to the doorstep. They did not have to wait for very long and we said goodbye with more hugs.

Then I was alone and started to catch up with N who could not believe what has happened (same here, girl) and wanted to be filled into every little detail. She also didn’t believe quite how nice they all were, especially Jeremy. We really did not expect him to be this sweet. We joked this was the only day I got more than the allegedly needed eight hugs per day for survival. I concluded, “Ok, so I will love this band now forever I think”.

Thursday - Brunch and Bahn

When I came to the hostel, it was already quarter to two in the morning. The girls were sleeping, so I only washed my face and brushed teeth and got into bed to chat to N until the early morning because we could not calm down in the slightest.

In the morning I woke up very early at eight already and could not fall asleep again. So I proceeded to shower and started watching the videos from the concert, munching on some cheap bread and banana until my roommates woke up. Maja had left early for her train to Venice and the new two girls also moved on further to see a bit of Wien and then start their journey to Barcelona.

Amechi, Fabian and I met up at 11 am to get some brunch. Gabriele wanted to join them later but of course I would not be there anymore. We found a real Wiener Kaffeehaus and sat down in a corner to have breakfast. Amechi was a bit late and joined us after we already ordered English and “Feel Good” breakfast. It was impossible to find anything vegan in this city when you don’t have a lot of time, so I ate some porridge and cream cheese, what to do.

The conversation with the boys was amazing. Fabian talked more about his work at the radio and Amechi told us he is actually an architect who controls buildings and oversees the construction process. He also talked about many different languages and we overall had a wonderful time. After the brunch we strolled around to see a church nearby, but there was a currently a service inside.

So we ended up at palace Belvedere again, where I had to say goodbye because my train would arrive at 1:15 pm already. I was sad to have to leave them, but hopefully we will see each other again at another concert.

The train was packed but thankfully the air conditioning did work. I sat at a table with four seats and on the other side were two women with a cute dog. Still, time stretched endlessly until we finally arrived at Nürnberg. I was already very sore and sleepy. When I got out of the train the heat hit me like a wall and I was happy not to have to be outside.

Then a stroke of genius told me to go to the very end of the platform and get into the first carriage. That was the best idea I had all day. It turned out, this was the only compartment that was not overfilled and had a well-working aircon. I found a seat and could conclude my journey in peace. When I arrived in my home town, it was already 11 pm. One hour later I fell into my bed like a dead person.

The next day I had to work from eight to half past four and then immediately rush to my riding lesson. The stroke of luck didn’t end though: I got my favourite horse Püppi, whom I get very very rarely. N was very nervous in the meantime because she had posted photos of herself in the orange coat. But the nervousness was unfounded: When I came back from my riding lessons, Jonathan had already liked the post and I bet he was happy to see his famous orange trenchcoat being appreciated.

And this is how the adventure concludes with a very happy ending. If you as a reader got here, I admire you because that was a hell of a novel. But how to leave out all the amazing little details? I hope this helps me to remember a very special day and treasure it forever.

#everything everything #ee #jeremy pritchard #jonathan higgs #michael spearman #alex robertshaw #jeremy #jonathan #mike #alex #ee vienna #my concerts #vienna #raw data feel

[softnasty]

you ever have the worst day at work and it's only jan 2? i'm at the combination

- couldn't wake up for an hour and when i finally rolled out of bed i had a 5th sense instinct to check my laptop before going to the office and [our reporting system] wasn't available for all company stakeholders 🙃 on the most important reporting day of the year 🙃 had to fix (and stress tf out) before heading

- literally 4 people in the office, the deadest most depressing vibes

- new joiner in my team with not good vibes i'm not feeling it..... sometimes ppl keep interrupting you when you speak, don't do the one simple onboarding task you ask them to do, are so comfortable on their first day they don't ask you what they should do and just hang out on their phone (???? couldn't be me??? at least ask if you're done for the day and i let you leave at like 3pm lmao) fucking hell

- bloated af all through the day because??? idk?? stress?? leftover of hangover??

- fucking annoying tasks to do, more [reporting system] login troubleshooting like i'm a goddamn help desk

- spending 2hrs debugging a query when it was justttt a fucking != condition fucking it up. spending another 30mns not seeing a column in a table and losing my mind over how to join it

- wanting to go home and the u1/u3 is broken when i've walked 10mns under the rain for it?? after deciding to be reasonable and head home instead of going to buy wine at larger supermarket? anyway needless to say since my u-bahn line isn't running now I'm going to buy wine 🙃

#AU BOUT DU ROLLS #almost cried several times ngl it was a shit show i wanted to barf #pérégrinations #je crois je rentre j'achète une place pour ce festival random à THONON LES BAINS pour voir orel en juillet #i'll figure out how to get there later lmao self-care ✨

[bahnloopi]

Sento Lore Bit

Therapies do sing and harmonize chirps or melodies. They have a tune that's pitched to hypnotize the Oozarus when they're in the process of calming them down.

As opposed, Offense Troopers have a deafening yell attack called "Drum Buster" that will quite literally burst the opponents ear drums if used at point-blank face range. Orran, Sheeri, and Roube are known to use this move commonly.

Roube may spam it just to bm.

#bahn hell up #sento saga #lore bits

[theheadgirl]

31 Days of Fear, hosted by @hp-fearfest

Day 18: Memory (read on AO3 here)

Coming here was a mistake. Not because he doesn't know where he's going (there's a very handy book of maps for that) or because he doesn't speak the language (people hear the heavy brogue before he can finish saying sprechen Sie Englisch? and immediately switch languages), but because this was a place he and Percy had talked so much about traveling to. It had always been Percy's dream. Sure, they'd talked about visiting other places, but the conversation had always circled back, eventually, to Berlin. 

And now Percy's dead nearly three years and Oliver is here, in Berlin, alone. Part of him wants to leave before the holiday's over, because spending all day thinking about how much your dead boyfriend would enjoy the sights you're seeing, then crying yourself to sleep in the hyper-efficient hotel room (on the nights he can sleep, anyway, and doesn't just end up staring at the opposite wall all night) is, frankly, a pretty shitty vacation. But he's stubborn, and he paid for the week in the hotel, and he's not going to waste his money. 

Oliver looks down at the guidebook. He's coming up on Potsdamerplatz, and he looks around, taking it all in. According to his guidebook, it's only been about ten years since people could come and go freely through here, and it's still a growing area. Picking an empty spot, he turns, looking for a building his book describes, and freezes.

His heart leaps into his throat, then crashes into his stomach. 

Walking towards him, looking extremely alive and well despite having been murdered three years ago, is Percy Weasley. He's wearing a neatly-tailored suit and holding a black briefcase, and the young woman next to him is taking two strides for every one of his to try and keep up. 

"What the fuck?" Oliver bursts out. It's too loud, too abrupt, and heads turn to cast judgement on him - including Percy's, who looks at him in surprise and disbelief, without a shred of recognition in his eyes. He says something in German to the girl with him, and she laughs.  

Oliver feels rooted to the spot, and he can't seem to get a full breath in. He watches Percy and the young woman pass by like he's watching something in the cinema, like it's not happening to him. Then, like a tidal wave, all that rage and grief and fear crash over him and he yells, "HEY! Weasley!"

A few people turn to look at him, not including Percy. Oliver takes off and catches up to the pair, grabbing Percy's arm just before he starts down the stairs into the U-bahn station. "Hey! Excuse me! Percy Weasley!"

Clearly startled, Percy shakes Oliver's hand off, moving so he's standing between Oliver and his companion. "Sorry, do I know - wait. Wood? Oliver Wood?"

"Yeah, it's me, and you've got a hell of a lot of nerve showing your face considering you died - " To his horror, he can hear tears starting to choke his voice, and he cuts himself off. 

"Eddie, do you know this guy?" the young woman asks. Her nose wrinkles slightly as she takes him in, like he's something she scraped off the bottom of her sensible black pump. 

Who is Eddie?

"Yes, he was my roommate at Hogwarts - Wood, are you feeling all right? Do you need help?"

Like hell had Oliver single-mindedly pursued and then dated the crankiest, fussiest person alive to be relegated back to 'Wood.'

He takes in a breath, realizes he's about to start yelling again, takes a second. He exhales, slowly. 

"Answer me," he says, voice hard with the effort of holding back tears, "just one thing. Are you Percy Weasley?"

"No," Percy says, and Oliver feels the water starting to push at the dam, the foundation starting to crumble. "It's Grace. Edmund Grace. Wood, are you sure you're- "

"And this," Oliver continues, "isn't you?" He flips to the back of his guidebook, where he's taped a picture of the two of them. Percy had hated it, said the way he was smiling made him look 'unconscionably toothy,' but it's Oliver's favorite. They're at a pub, Oliver's arm slung over Percy's shoulder. He's pressing a kiss to the corner of Percy's mouth, and Percy is laughing and pushing him away. They loop in a silent dance: in for the kiss, laughter, back away. 

"I," Percy says, and he winces, pressing a hand to his temple like he's got a headache. "No. That's not - I don't remember that - we never-"

"Is this some kind of sick joke?" the young woman demands. "I don't know what the fuck is wrong with you, but leave my boyfriend out of it. Let's go, Eddie."

"Ilsa - " Percy hands the guidebook back to Oliver, then looks between her and Oliver before grimacing, pressing a hand to his head. "Sorry, I've got this massive headache all of a sudden - "

"Go down to the train," Ilsa says. "Get some water. I'll be along in a minute."

Mutely, Percy nods, then vanishes down the stairs of the Potsdamerplatz station.

"Wait, don't - " 

He's cut off as Ilsa grabs his arm. "If you know what's good for you, if you know what's good for him, you won't speak a word about this to anyone, ever," she hisses. "There are powerful people out there who still want to find and hurt Percy Weasley. No one is looking for Edmund Grace in Berlin. Do you understand?"

"No, I- "

"Do you understand?"

Oliver blinks and feels hot tears starting to track down his cheeks. "No, I don't, why - "

"Here. Take this." She presses something into his hand. "Meet me tomorrow at seven. I'll explain then. I hope you didn't fuck up the Memory Charm too badly."

She hurries down the stairs after Percy. For a long second, all Oliver can do is stand there, choking on tears, and he looks down at the card. 

It's a card for Ilsa Ganser. Oliver doesn't recognize any of the words on it except  Zaubereiministerium. The Ministry of Magic. He flips it over. There's an address on the back in blue ink. As he watches, additional words appear underneath it, in the same writing. Tomorrow's date, and 7:00. The words blur, and he shoves the card into his pocket before his tears can smear the ink.

Coming here was a mistake. 

#hpfearfest2022 #31daysoffearfest #harry potter #harry potter fanfiction #percy weasley #oliver wood #percy/oliver #original female character #percy/ofc

[acatwithstockings]

One thing i will never understand in the ST fandom is those old fans that have nothing better to do than to hate on new Trek...

I get it, old Trek is nostalgic and cozy and for fucks sake my fav is still TOS for exactly the same reason STILL i will always get excited if some new Trek comes out. It might not be the best thing ever but it is still something new in the Trek univers. But some people out there just see new Trek and instantly snap to "BuT tHiS iSn'T TrEk".

They grew up with Trek but so did I. Heck when I was a baby my dad made it a habit to watch TNG (his fav) every night with me and even made an episode ranking based on which one i fell asleep to the fastest . He eventually brought me to fanclub meetings and I listened and made 'very insightful' commentary to their discussions. TNG, DS9, VOY and ENT was my childhood Just as TOS was theirs.

And yhea THIS might not be such a huge problem on Tumblr (form what i have seen over the years on and off lurking) however most of my fandom experiance for ST is not here on Tumblr it's with those very people who practically raised me and their weird little pockets they have carved out even before I was was born. And while my dad's fanclub is luckily not one of those, other branches are just a complete sass pool and it kinda breaks my heart everytime their discussions bleed over to us. It's just people pretending as if old Trek was perfect (which no and the constant 'it only gets good with season x' proofs that they are aware of that) and just not giving new Trek a chance.

And this is a long standing problem too. Back when ST09 came out I was super excited and couldn't wait to talk about it at a regional fan meetup my Dad took me to only to have older fans sneer at me (a fucking 13 yo) for anticipating it. Seriously grown ass adults just bitching about a teenager for looking forward to something ... It even got worse with DIS and PIC. Even tho I have to admit those discourses where good indicators for weeding out some bad apples, you know those you just have to ask yourself why they liked Trek in the first place.

SNW isn't officially out yet where i am at (we are just always behind pffff) but it's soon schedule to be available for (legally) streaming it. And more reliable than the deutsche Bahn ever could older fans started bitching about it like there is no tomorrow. It just ruins the mood honestly. And the worst part is even fans my age start to chime in. They will make incredible fanprojects and have surprisingly deep conversations but can't fucking accept that ST will go on and evolve with time?!

Srly new generations will learn about Trek and will get into Trek bc of the new material is coming out. Just take PRO! It got my oldest nephew interested in Trek. Or LDX which got my gf to finally give the other Trek series a go (or maybe she just really got annoyed with me constantly sending Trek memes to her who knows) . But now those old fans who build a whole infrastructure around Trek are gatekeeping the hell out of it for nothing and then have the gull to complain about the lack of new fans in their circle.

It's just such a shame honestly. I really like the oldtimy feel they have going with their email lists (and absolute inability to use discord correctly), fan meet ups in shady bars and run down gymnasiums, the constant stream of page long essays analyzing electronics and programming somehow based around the shows and their complete adoration for ship models. It's quirky and weird and fascinating and a part of why I love Trek.

They want new fans to experiance Trek and some of the culture based around it but also drive them away for liking the 'wrong' Trek. In all honesty It just baffles me completely. It's not as if they have to love new Trek, heck you can have legitimate criticism of something in the franchise you love but for the love of the warp drive that doesn't mean it takes away from the things you do like or makes people who like the things you don't your enemy.

And then again hating on the new shows coming out is also kinda part of the Trek culture I mean have you heard about some of the complaining that was going on when TNG came out? Ehhhh it's currently 6 am and i just had to vent sooooooo sry abt that.

#star trek #6 am vent #i should sleep #probably #anyway #nobody is going to read this #it's just so frustrating if you try to be nice and set up a group view of SNW for those old farts #who can barely understand how streaming works #and some of them just have to start bitching #like shut the fuck up i am trying to be nice here #besides i probably have never really talked to them before that but NoOOo00o HoW dARe I TrY tO WaTcH nEw TrEk wItH mY WeIrD UnTiEs #You weren't even invite #ok you were but like you couldn't have just said i am not interested instead of subjecting us to a word vomit

[iwannarunawayandbeapirate]

i hate having to depend on unreliable public transport with no alternatives.

this morning, my bus was late. when i arrived at the train station, the train was already leaving. i had to wait twenty minutes for the next train, and it stopped for like 10-15 minutes halfway through because of an emergency on the tracks. i was late for school.

when you try to explain this kind of situation to teachers, they will tell you to just "take an earlier bus" so that this kind of thing doesn't happen. but that's not really an option for me. there's only one bus every 40 minutes, so i'd have to get up at 5:30 every morning just because there's a chance i might be late otherwise. if everything had worked correctly today, i would have arrived at school 20 minutes early. i don't have the option of going by bike because it's too far. my parents don't have time in the morning to drive me to the train station.

"take an earlier bus". let's consider that possibility. i come home at 5:00-5:30pm 2-3 times a week, and even later on wednesdays. i need to eat dinner, do my homework, and study. that's about 2 hours maybe. maybe even 2 1/2. so we're at roughly 7pm now. in order to get 8 hours of sleep, i need to be asleep by 9:30, meaning i have to go to bed at roughly 9pm because it takes a while for me to fall asleep.

that's two hours of free time. only two hours for hobbies, reading, doing stuff with my family, showering, tidying my room, whatever... and the only way for me to increase that time is by sleeping less or not doing my homework. it's not a great situation currently, either, but if i had to get up at 5:30 every morning just to get the earlier bus, my life would be basically hell.

is this the teachers' fault? no. i understand that they just want to get on with their lessons, and constantly having late students interrupting class can be very annoying. it's not the bus driver's fault, either. he didn't choose not to be on time. it's just that public transport needs to be widely available, especially in rural areas, so that it can be a viable alternative to cars.

every second train in germany is late. that's not okay! there are people, like me, who are relying on these services, and these problems are not being solved. in fact, they've gotten worse over the past few decades. on the one hand, it's great that more people are using public transportation instead of going everywhere by car. on the other hand, though, the DB (Deutsche Bahn) and other transport services have not done a good enough job at accommodating this increase in passengers.

i don't even know what i'm trying to say here. i'm just frustrated at the way all of this works. i would not have to be late if the public transport system worked like it's supposed to. thanks for reading i guess.

#personal post #public transport system

[bylightofdawn]

So my mother stopped by and kidnapped me to 'return' a few things which turned into a multi-hour, multi-store trawl where yes, she did return a couple of items and then bought MORE shit. I mean, the walmart trip was fine, she needed dog food and then she needed new sheets for the new bed she hasn't even bought yet. And then we found out Tuesday Morning is closing down which is kinda lowkey sad because that was a part of my childhood. My grandma loved that place, so does my mom, so we went there and got more shit and then it was off to Kohls. Theoretically to pay off her Kohls card but more shopping happened. She and her husband got their tax returns. How the fuck do they get like 5K between the two of them on retirement/social security and I as a single person working 40 hours a week get like 500 bucks?

She made the fatal mistake of asking me to start ordering her some vans tennis shoes which they didn't have in her size as Kohl's that she wanted and then stopped halfway through because she has ADD so I ended up purchasing them as a mother's day gift which she doesn't know about. It won't get there in time but she legit stonewalled me when I asked her what she wanted for mother's day.

All this to say I didn't get home till after 8 and I've been trying to edit but I've only managed the first pass through. This chapter is definitely NOT getting posted today. Which, that's fine. I also ducked out and bought a couple of pork bahn mi for dinner and lunch tomorrow while she was at Kohls.

I really want to finish editing this chapter but NGL I am in a lot of pain and am struggling to keep my eyes open at this point. Fuck waking up at 8am. I did it for years but hell it's so hard to go back to waking up early. And 8 is the max, I don't know how people can wake up at 6am. My insane brother wakes up at like 4am or 5am. I don't know how he does it. Of course, he's a nutter who is working full time doing 12 hour days at the hospital, has a wife and kids AND is putting himself through his masters program so that crazy fuck is operating on 4 hours of sleep a night for the past four years. I don't know how he does it. It exhausts me just thinking about his lifestyle.

I really want to finish editing this chapter but NGL I am in a lot of pain and am struggling to keep my eyes open at this point. Fuck waking up at 8am. I did it for years but hell it's so hard to go back to waking up early. And 8am is the max for me, I don't know how people can wake up at 6am.

Yeah I think I'm just going to admit defeat and throw in the towel tonight, I'm getting nothing meaningful done here. Depending on what time I wake up tomorrow I might do a second run through before work or over lunch. Or if not, I'll just do it on Sunday. It's not like I have this firm promise of which day I will post stuff. And I hate to say it, but like other people, the lack of people really interacting with my work is a tiny bit demoralizing. Sure, I'll get some kudos but no one really seems to be commenting so it definitely feels a bit like I'm just putting my stuff out into the void.

Which, a big part of me feels like you should write fanfiction expecting praise or comments. But another part does appreciate, I guess, the acknowledgment or validation I'm not just writing for myself, if that makes sense? I dunno, it's a weird thing to try and put into words.

#life of el #el writes #fanfic related musing #this is a hot mess of a post #wow I rambled about a lot of different stuff

[jakestravels]

Europe 2022 - Day 17 - Munich

I was glad to get into Munich (München in German) on the final day of Oktoberfest, and I also just so happened to be here on one of Germany’s national Holidays, Germany Unity day! From Wiki:

It commemorates German reunification in 1990 when the Federal Republic of Germany (West Germany) and the German Democratic Republic (East Germany) were unified, so that for the first time since 1945 there existed a single German state. German Unity Day on 3 October has been the German National Holiday since 1990, when the reunification was formally completed.

I followed the signs that routed us through Theresienwiese and around to Oktoberfest, where I was treated with a lovely walk.

And before I even got in the gates, was greeted by this:

Look at that girl’s face. She does not want to be there.

And this place was huge. How big? I took a lap around the main thoroughfare (which is still inside the area, as opposed to the outer ring) and it was a mile long. It was very similar to the volksfest I went to in Stuttgart, but larger. In fact, if you are someone who’s claustrophobic, this would not the place for you. It was packed, and due to the carnival rides and food and such, is quite family-friendly. Turns out it’s not all about drinking beer. ;)

I took a few shots to try and show the immenseness, but it was tough:

Did you know at this event in 2014, 16.2 million pints of beer was drank? I don’t even want to know the bratwursts eaten numbers.

While it was cool to say I had been there, I found myself wandering around and not wanting to drink the high-priced beer or eat the food, so I left. I briefly thought about asking some folks to take some pictures of their spectacular lederhosen and dirndls, but the language barrier and just way too many people made it feel prohibitive. Still, I got to say I was here!

I meandered over to old town - I got lost trying to find the U-Bahn, so I just walked. I’ve never had such a directional orientation issue as I do in this town! I made my way to the hub of the city, and saw some beautiful sites.

Sorry for the photo dump: there was just a lot of pretty things.

I then went to Olympiapark München, home of the the 1972 Munich summer Olympics. It was eerie walking there - the streets were like a ghost town - I assume it was the holiday and last day of Oktoberfest - maybe everyone was somewhere else? Now if you know anything about the Olympics (at least the more modern ones), you will hear that usually hosting is actually a drain on the host cities. Not this one. These facilities are still used, and the park and architecture is fabulous. The park is celebrating its 50 year anniversary, and the facilities are still used. Upon entering, from the north, I was greeted with the signature canopy architecture - in this case, it reminded me of a scarab (Rhinoceros) beetle.

Here is the stadium, currently undergoing some light remodeling:

Oh, and if you’d like, you can walk across the roof and zipline off of it! That’s a big no from me, dawg...

I went to the arena, but they were warming up for a concert, so I couldn’t peek around, but guess who’s still out there touring?

I also checked out the Olympic pool, still in use, and still cool-as-hell:

The sun was getting low, and I had spied a hill in the distance (also turns out this is a place my current host, Moritz, had suggested), so I hiked over and watched the sun set, a got another view of the park, where the plexiglass panels now reminded me of a spider’s web.

One of my top 10 favorite parks, hands down. I walked back to the apartment (I logged more than 8 moles today) and had a well-earned beer. Since there are so many beers here, I have found myself being picky about the ones I like. Of course I love Hornberg’s own Ketterer, but I also found a new favorite:

And then is was off for food, or so I thought. See, I made a terrible choice in not packing a little extra food. Not only are stores closed on Sundays, but also bank holidays, as are some restaurants! It’s for sure ok if you live here and are planning for it - not so much if your diet subsists on daily grocery store visits. So it was too late for food, and I exhausted most of my backpack supply and rando snax I had picked up. It’s ok - shopping tomorrow, and more exploring!

#munich #munchen #oktoberfest #1972 olympics #olympiapark #olympiastadion #german unity day #augustiner