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emotionally-damaged-carrot · 8 months

Note

Charles leclerc x male reader

Reader is sneaking around with Charles (while madly in love with him) and he's carlos's little brother

Possible f1 car fucking while in the garage after a race or at night

Charles Leclerc x Male reader

"Brother's teammate"

Holy fuck this pic makes me go feral, just legit gives me the horny hormones. Makes me want to "NGHH~" every time I see it, I want him to devour me.

Anyway sorry it took a while, been very busy lately, and sorry if it's kinda messy. It's honestly a lot longer than what I had in mind, hope you still enjoy tho 🙏

Warning: smut, kinky car smut or something, obviously hard core cause rawr

(also I used google translate, don't come at me 🙏)

Holy fuck I was busy last week and the week prior, sorry it took so long. I didnt proof read cause it's too long and idk what I even wrote, I just wanted to get this out cause it's been bugging me for some time now. Hope you lot still enjoyed even though it might be shit 🤷‍♂️. You get what you get and you don't bitch about it, jk, might not do anymore f1 ccar fucks holy shit. Peace ✌️

I was never interested in motor sports, until Carlos joined ferrari and got a demi god for a teammate. I never attended any of his races and until he went to ferrari.

"You've attended every race ever since I joined ferrari, what happened?" Carlos asked me as we were walking through the paddock.

"Can't I support my older brother in his passion?" I asked feigning annoyance while also looking around for a certain monegasque driver.

"When your brother hated something suddenly take interest in the thing he hates, is quite concerning, no?" He asked me with confusion laced in his voice.

"And? Come on, Carlos, people change, you know this." I say as I spot the monegasque, my eyes lighting up. He was talking with Lando, he briefly looked up and we made eye contact giving me a smirk.

"Y/n. Y/n. Y/n." I look up as I get cut off from my starstruck sate, seeing Carlos a few feet infront of me.

"¿Qué diablos pasó? What happened y/n?" Carlos says approaching me.

"N-nothing, just, uhm, r-remembered something." I say, looking down to hide the blush crawling up my neck.

"Doesn't seem like nothing, you okay?" He asks confused and concerned, as he put the back of his hand on my forehead.

"Yea, yea, I'm fine." I say as I removed his hand from my forehead. 'He knew what he was doing, if only he wasn't so sexy with that smile and that french accent.'

"What happened here, Carlos?" The light pink of my cheeks now getting redder as I recognized the accent of the person speaking, and the familliar smell. 'Charles'.

"I don't know, he says he's fine but suddenly stopped and blushed while looking down. I have to go now though, so can you watch over him for a bit?" Carlos says, still worried and confused.

"I think he's just dehydrated, I'll take him to get water, you go ahead and do what you need to do." Charles says as he wraps and arm around my shoulder, with his body a bit too close.

"Good to know I have that effect on you." He says as I look up, to see Carlos gone.

"You're a dick, Leclerc." I said with a chuckle and finally standing up properly and leaning my head on his shoulder.

"I know you love my dick, but, keep it for later, bit hassle here in the paddock, no?" He says in a whisper as he leaned down to my ear.

"I swe- I-I wi- I hate- I loathe you." I say as I bury my head further into his shoulder.

He just gives a chuckle and leads me to the caf. I look around, I see George, Alex, Lando and Danny sitting at a table. 'Perfect'

"Let's sit over there with the rest of the quartet and dan." I motioning to them with a wicked smile on my lips.

"You'll regret it, darling." He says as he laughs. We made our way to the table, greeted everyone and sat down beside each with Danny to my left and Charles to my right.

"Thank God, y/n, we have a question, and only you can fix this at the moment." George says with a serious look on his face meanwhile the others had smiles on theirs.

"What is it?" I say now a bit curious.

"Did Carlos really understand Lando when he said "soy lago"? Did Carlos understand what Lando meant or no?" George asked looking directly at my eyes.

"If I'm honest, I didn't bother to ask him. He probably needed Lando to explain it tho." I say with a huff, and looking at Lando who looked happy.

"I will take that as "Carlos did not understand what Lando meant." I guess I was right then, Lando is still shit at spanish." George said now laughing at Lando.

As the other two bickered, I felt Charles sit down next to me now with a tray of food.

"When did you get that?" I asked confused, surely my interaction with George wasn't that long.

"As soon as you sat down I went to get food." He says with a smile while handing me a sandwich, and orange juice.

"Sure hope you're not as fast later." I whispered to his ear giving it a bite.

"I like taking my time when it comes to you, you know, I like savouring the moment. The way you would moan my name and beg for me, it's honestly hot. Especially the way you look all red and gasping under me." Charles whispers to my ear, accent heavier and teeth grazing my ear.

'He knows I love it when he does that, fuck.'

"Y-you're not allowed to do that unless you're about to fuck me to next week." I say a bit loud and hitting his shoulder.

"Excuse me, what?" Lando says surprised with wide eyes, same with George.

Charles laughs loudly, bending forward and burrying his face in his arms on the desk.

"You're excused." I say sarcastically and blushing way too hard now, that it's comparable to Charle's shirt.

"W-w-wait, you two are... a thing??" George asks more like shouted, surprised.

"You might as well put out a PSA while you're asking, George." I say annoyed and even more embarrassed now, as almost everyone was looking at us, it's not helping that Charles is still hysterically laughing into the table.

"Sorry, was just surprised, like, when? How? Why? What??" George asked looking a bit excited to hear the answers.

"Hola Amigos, what's happening?" Carlos said beside me, putting an arm around my shoulder.

Charles lifts his head up a bit, looking at me and starts to laugh even more, seeing that I am now very red, redder than before.

"Carlos, mate, n-nothing, really h-happened I g-guess y/n is just feeling a b-bit warm r-right now." Charles answers, trying his hardest to stop his laughter even for a bit.

"I fucking hate you." I said silently but audible enough for both Carlos and Charles to hear.

"Okay, I'm just gonna grab some food then I have to go back for testing." Carlos says skeptically still not fully convinced that nothing was happening. As he went to get his food I grabbed Charles' hand and dragged him outside. Leaving a giggling Lando and George behind.

As he exitted Charles was calmer now and ceased laughing as he saw my face a bit angry.

"I can change your mood." He said out of nowhere and then taking the lead, walking us both to a secluded enough part of the paddock where almost no one goes. Stopping as we arrived, he took both my hands and stared at my eyes, green orbs meeting mine. After a few seconds, we dove right into each other, lips sliding past the other smoothly. His tounge licking my bottom lip asking for entrance, I obliged eagerly while letting out small moans. His hands now on my hips and mine tangled in his hair, pulling from time to time to hear his groans. Our tounges fighting for dominance, which I obviously lost, and now his tounge is exploring my mouth, like his mapping out the places in case he got lost, or simply to memorize the crevices of my teeth, the texture of my cheeks or the feeling of my tounge gently poking his.

Our heated kissing caused him to pin me against a nearby wall, slamming me against it with a bit of force, but his hand was already at the back of my head tangled in my hair, providing cushion. The hand that remained on my hip squeezed tight, making me open my mouth wider.

"There we go, all gone, you look much better now." Charles says with a smirk as he rests his forehead against mine. Both of us breathing heavily, in need of air after that intense make out session.

"I fucking hate you." I say, now in a daze, lazily resting my body against the wall and looking at his eyes. Admiring his eyes, like they are gems of unfathomable beauty that only a God can comprehend.

"You know you don't."

"No, I don't."

We both chuckle as we fixed ourself and walked out in the open, and headed to the garage for him to get ready for the race.

—

After the race, Carlos got P2 and Charles got P1 with Lando getting P3, what a surprise, no Max on the podium. Probably because of the crash with yuki.

As they spray each other with champagne, I stand on the side with the rest of the ferrari team, waiting for them to get down.

—

After all the media and partying, I found myself alone with Charles, walking back to the garage.

"What exactly did you forget?" I asked confused as we were the only ones left in the garage when we walked in.

"This." He said, and I turned to look at him in confusion, only to be met by a pair of lips on mine and my back against the door. His tounge immidiately went in for the kill, no teasing, and he was in no mood to fight a battle he would always win. He pushed my tounge down everytime I tried to move it remotely close to his.

"You're kinky, Leclerc, I guessing you want to fuck me on your car?" I asked as I pulled back, I needed to pull his head back as well to prevent him from chasing me. Which I succeeded hearing a disappointed groan from him.

"You're my lucky charm, and of course I wanna bless my car with luck as well." He mumbles as he dove into my neck, biting, sucking and kissing every part he can reach. I moaned as I felt him lick a few drops of sweat.

"I drank pineapple juice earlier, incase you wanted to know." He said now biting harder, one of my legs get held up by his strong arms, I peak down to his biceps. Seeing them bulge and seeing the veins from his hand up to his arm, brought me arousal that I didn't know was even possible. Slowly my hands began to wonder into the hems of his jeans and shirt, caressing his abs and teasing his boxers.

"You're a fucking tease, mi amor. And I'm in no mood for that, do me a favour and get on your knees." He says giving one last hard bite on my neck making me pull on his hair, surely leaving teeth marks on my neck. I do as he says, he let go of me completely and I kneel infront of him, my hands on my lap and my eyes trained on his green ones thst are now darker.

"You look so pretty like that, all eager and ready for me. You like that don't you?" He says in a low tone and squatting so we're face to face once more. He put his hand on my chin, his thumb playing with my bottom lip.

"You know this is where you belong right?" He asks in a loving manner, and I nod to answer his question.

"This is what you were meant to be, my fuck toy." He said now smirking as he let go of my chin and stood up.

"Remember how I told you I drank pineapple juice earlier?" I didn't need to be told twice, as soon as the words pineapple juice left his mouth, I immidiately unbutton and unzipped his pants. Now standing in from of me with only his shirt and boxers that can barely contain the monster of monaco.

"Wow, eager." He says as he smiles down at me. I removed his boxers letting it fall on the floor along with his pants. My hand snapped to grab a hold of the beauty that's inches from my mouth, I opened my mouth to devour his meat. As I slowly take it in he suddenly jerked forward and put his hand behind my head to pull me in, making me deep throat him.

"Fuck, I always miss your mouth whenever I'm racing, remembering how you like it when I fuck you after working out or after racing." He says as he looked in bliss and letting out small gasps of air. I full on choke, tears running down my cheeks. I tried to pull back, but he kept me down for a second longer before pulling me back. His cock now covered in my spit some of it dripping down to his balls and falling on his pants.

"I'm sorry, I just needed that." He says as he steps out of his boxers and pants. His hand running through my hair as I continue on coughing, my face turning a bit red.

"You always looked good when you're red." He said as he grabbed my hair rough and making me look up at him, tears running down my cheeks, spit dripping down the sides of my mouth.

"You look fucking delicious right now, amour. If only you could see how you look." He says as he pushes his cock against my lips, my mouth opening on instinct, and letting him push it. But now he does it slowly and more gently than earlier.

"That's it, good boy. You've always been my good boy, haven't you?" He says as I slowly suck his cock feeling the veins against my tounge. I look up at him to see how much pleasure I bring him, my own cock hard as a rock from the groans and moans his letting out.

"Fuck, if you keep looking at me like that, I will hold you down and cum down your throat." He says in between groans and his hips stuttered a bit. A sign that he's close. I keep sucking in a slow and steady pace, taking my time.

"I'm gonna cum." He suddenly says and pushed my head down, making me choke again. I feels his cum going down my throat as I cough around his cock.

"Fuck." I heard his say under his breat as he pulls my head back and making me look up at him, a string of spit and cum connect my lips to his cock.

"You're fucking beautiful, darling." He says, his thumb caressing my bottom lip, feeling and smearing the mixture around.

"Now I want you to be a good boy, strip and bend over the side of my car." I do as he says with eagerness, as I strip down to nothing I feel his eyes on me. I feel his lust filled gaze staring at me, specifically, my ass. After stripping I so ceremoniously took my time to walk and bend over the side of the car. Making sure to sway my hips making my ass jiggle.

"You are such a fucking tease."

"You love it."

"I'll detroy you the moment I get to you, I will make sure you will feel whose dick it was that made you unable to walk for a week. I will make sure you won't forget that ache inside you whenever I fuck you, I will make sure you won't forget who it is that can do that to you... I will make you, you forget your name and only remember mine as you moan it for the world to know. That I am the one you belong to."

Charles said as he approached me slowly until he is right behind me, his tip gently probing at my hole. He slowly wrapped himself around me as he whispered the last parts to my ear with the rasp and growl that I love.

"I will make you beg for me to stop."

I said as he entered me in one swift motion and biting my ear. I out loud surprised by his actions. My legs almost gave and but my arms already did, I lay my torso on the side of the car my face in the cockpit 'it still smells like him' I thought to myself as I breathed deeply, inhaling his musk. He continued to fuck into me roughly, one of his hands now on my hair pulling it hard making me moan in pain. I can hear him breathing heavily the other hand on my waist is gripping it hard, leaving marks. Being overwhelmed with pain and pleasure I came unannounced on the side of the car a few drops managing to get on the seat.

"D-did you just cum?"

He asked with pauses in between words to catch his breath.

"F-fuuuck, S-sorry."

I apologized as his grip on my waist tightened, he continued mercilessly fucking into me like I am a toy. Tears now streaming down my face dropping on the seat mixing with my sweat.

"Y-you should've a-atleast told m-fuck."

He couldn't finish his sentence as he came deep inside me. Painting my red walls white. He continued to fuck into me slowly.

"Since, you came without even telling me. How about you won't cum for the a week, starting now."

He said slowly breathing normally as he started moving fast and hard, pulling me up against his chest I can feel his sweat on my back and the ones dropping from his hair. I laid my head on his shoulder as he buries his face on my neck: kissing, licking, biting and leaving marks. My hands go to his hands that are holding me tight against him.

"You always taste good and sound heavenly."

He said against my neck as he breathe heavily. He continued to fuck into me, dropplets of sweat dropping on the car and the floor, I can feel his previous load being pushed out of my as he came again deep inside me. This time not stopping or slowly down, i tried to hold down my own orgasm so as to not disobey him and make my punishment worse.

"I'm still hard and ready to go, I can do this all night y/n. You better not cum or I'm putting a cock ring on you."

He said on my ear as one of his hands snaked up my body and wrapped around my neck. My hands gripping the side of the cockpit and he continued to fuck into me without stopping, his heavy breathes against my neck my ear and his grip on my neck is too much. I couldn't hold back anymore and I came again.

"You are really naughty tonight."

He said in between heavy breathes and he gripped my dick, and pumping it up and down, that combined with his heavy thrusts and the feeling of being full to the point his cum is overflowing was too much. I tried to push his hand away and push his hips away, pushing against his abs.

"P-please, C-c-charlessss, too m-m-much."

I said in between moans and labored groans.

"You're my toy, y/n, and toys don't talk back to their owner, do they? They just sit there and let it happen."

He said breathing in-between words and he grabbed both my hands in his right and held them tight not letting them move. And his left hand continued to stroke me.

"Be a good boy and take what I give you, you don't have a say in this, amor."

He said against my ear as my moans turned to screaming of his name and begging him to stop.

"Do you really want me to stop, hm?"

He asked me as he slowed down a bit, already missing the pain and ache. I shake my head and asked him why he stopped as tears streamed down my face.

"Well, people might hear you begging me to stop, I guess I have to do something as that mouth of yours."

He said between breathes as the hand that was holding my return to my neck as and slowly went up to my mouth, putting his middle and ring finger inside.

"Suck."

He commanded and I immidiately obeyed, moaning around his fingers as he continued his previous pace.

"F-fuck."

He whispered after a bit, I felt him cum inaide my again, my cock now all ready begging to cum as well.

"If you cum I won't fuck you for a week."

He said with a chuckle. I just whimpered and pushed back against him, feeling his sweaty body sliding against mine.

"P-p-please, I n-n-need."

Only a few words came out of my mouth as he continued again, my hole now very sore. And his thrusts became more and more painful, I bit his fingers that were inside my mouth.

"F-fuck, I'm tired."

He said as he removed his fingers from my mouth and stopped stroking me. I immidiately came as he pulled out. I leaned heavily on the car as I couldn't feel my legs.

"You okay?"

He asked in a soft voice and he made me face him and wiped the tears that were still running down my face and moved the hair sticking to my forehead.

"T-tired."

I said sleepily.

"I know, amor, d-did I go too far."

He asked me worried that he hurt me in a way I didn't like.

"N-no, just perfect."

"Good, we should get dressed so we can return to the hotel. I will clean up you can get dressed first, can you dress yoursel?"

He asked as he carried me gently putting me down on the floor next to our clothes.

"C-can't my body hurts."

I said as I looked at him he already put on his boxers.

"I'll help you, let me just clean up the mess first."

He said as he looked at my lovingly.

"T-thank you."

I said as I passed out from the exhaustion on the floor.

"Sorry if I tired you out, it's just I we haven't done it in weeks and I miss you."

I heard him say before sleeping.

Holyshit it took so long idk what happened to the ending.

#x male reader #x reader #y/n #gay #formula 1 #f1 x male reader #f1 x reader #formula 1 x male reader #formula 1 x reader #formula 1 x y/n #charles leclerc x m!reader #charles leclerc x male reader #charles leclerc x y/n #charles leclerc x reader #charles leclerc #bottom male reader

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4ltrd · 11 months

Text

See Update in Reblog Below!

I've futzed around with a bunch of machine translation over the years, and here's what I've landed on (for Android and Windows).

Note: For both of these, the translations are wildly imperfect. Having some knowledge of the language you're translating obviously helps, or you're going to be confused when Google or DeepL decide to infer the wrong pronouns because they aren't people and don't understand context.

EverTranslator

When I'm purely on my phone, I use EverTranslator. It's free and much better than it used to be once you make a few changes in the settings. I have it set to . . .

Joiner between text blocks: Space

Remove ending dashes: On

Remove line breakers inside text blocks: On

Remove spaces in Chinese, Japanese, and Korean text: On

EverTranslator: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=tw.firemaples.onscreenocr

UGT (with a controller)

Mirroring Your Screen on your PC

I cast my phone to my laptop via Windows Phone Link or ScrCpy when I use UGT.

§ Windows Phone Link

Upsides of WPL:

It should be natively included in your version of Windows (you'll need to get the app on your phone, though).

(Usually) sound will come through your PC instead of phone.

USB connection not required--you can connect wirelessly to a PC on the same internet connection. Great if your phone is charging across the room.

Downside:

Can't rotate the screen manually for apps that are weird about rotating (AKNK).

§ BlueStacks

This method ought to also work with BlueStacks, but I haven't ever used BlueStacks because I'm paranoid about where I allow my Google data to be accessed.

§ Samsung Dex

Samsung Dex doesn't rotate apps at all, so that method is straight out.

§ ScrCpy

Scrcpy via USB Debugging mirrors your Android to your PC without having to root your phone. This is a little more advanced than using Windows Phone Link or BlueStacks, but you're using your own phone without granting anyone your Google credentials AND you can rotate the screen easily (unlike Dex or Windows Phone Link).

Upsides of ScrCpy:

You can rotate the ScrCpy window on your PC by holding alt and pushing the left arrow key. Great for AKNK's outings and sleep support.

Downside:

Getting sound through your PC rather than phone via ScrCpy is less reliable. Though it supposedly ports audio to your PC natively with the latest release, I still need to use the dev's SndCpy: https://github.com/rom1v/sndcpy/blob/master/README.md

Setting Up UGT

UGT requires more work than EverTranslator, but once you've set it up, it's worth it. You can use it for anything on your PC. Congratulations, you can now play any untranslated Japanese otome game via emulator.

A walkthrough on how to set up UGT: https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2741318181

You'll need to futz around with the config file a bit, especially with the autoglue, even when you move from game to game, but it's worth the hassle.

UGT normally supports controllers to make it easier/faster to translate (and save your wrists/fingers), but that feature is broken at the moment. The dev knows. So, I cobbled together a script in AutoHotKey for my Xbox controller . . .

Autohotkey: https://www.autohotkey.com/

The script: https://vatnalilja.neocities.org/UGTAHK

Once you load this script into AutoHotKey and run it, the buttons on your Xbox controller will work as follows:

UGT's normal functions will work; consult the program

A will translate the active window (use ctrl+F10 to set a translation rectangle so it's not unnecessarily translating everything onscreen—you can always use ctrl+F10 to set a new rectangle)

B will clear the translation (the equivalent of spacebar in UGT)

Y will act as the left click of a mouse button

Left joystick will act as a mouse, so you can move around the screen to select things without touching the mouse

I updated the above AHK config file so its set back to UGT default (ctrl+f12), allowing you to run it out of the box with UGT. My original version was tailored to my modified hot keys.

These AHK settings may conflict with games that require these buttons on a gamepad, but you can look up AutoHotKey's instructions and easily change them in the script. I promise it isn't hard. Otome games are usually point-and-click, though.

This is what my setup looks like on Windows with my Android phone cast to my laptop via Windows Phone Link using UGT and a controller (not that you can see the controller part). It's so big. Good for my old eyes!

Here's my setup via ScrCpy:

DeskTranslator

Another option besides UGT is DeskTranslator, which won't require you to connect Google or DeepL in the settings or set up anything in Google Cloud Dashboard, but will require you to know some Python, access PowerShell, etc.

The installation directions for DeskTranslator and its requirements are available on each repository page, and if you need help installing Python packages, you can very easily search Google for the right commands to copy/paste into PowerShell.

One nice thing about DeskTranslator is that it will give you reasonably real-time translations without having to push any keys/buttons. Use this combined with Windows' captions in a foreign language and you can have translation of spoken dialogue that has no built-in captions in your game.

You can also drag the translation box over a normal dialogue box and use it that way, too (like UGT or DeepL's app--see reblog below for more on DeepL's app).

When used with ScrCpy, you can simply hold your phone in your hand (connected to your PC by USB) and tap the screen like normal. No controller or keyboard hot keys are needed.

ScrCpy + SndCpy with Windows Captions and DeskTranslator

ScrCpy + SndCpy and DeskTranslator

If you use Apple products or a controller other than an Xbox controller, YMMV. There is a version of UGT that is on Linux and experimental on MacOSX: https://pypi.org/project/pyugt/. Godspeed.

#akuneko #devil butler with black cat #otome game #ainana #idolish 7 #ensemble stars #enstars #twisted wonderland #twst #otome #real-time translation #foreign captions #foreign subtitles

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yuurei20 · 1 year

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EN vs JP: Firelit Sky

Original Jamil: I’m just a servant who doesn’t like hassles.

EN Jamil: Just a dedicated employee who hates cleaning up other people’s messes.

Original Malleus: As to be expected of a servant of the merchant family, Asim.

EN Malleus: You're a credit to the merchant family that employs you, Viper.

Original Jamil: I have a generous master...

EN Jamil: Kalim is a big spender.

Original Vendor: You're not on an errand for Kalim-sama, right?

EN Vendor: You're not on an errand for Kalim, right?

Original Jamil: I must apologize for when Kalim-sama did that.

EN Jamil: I must apologize for when Kalim did that.

Original Jamil: ...this person is a friend of my master...

EN Jamil: You're speaking to a friend of my employer...

Original Jamil: I have been assigned to showing my master's school friend around town today.

EN Jamil: I'm showing my employer's friends around town today.

(It is not unusual for Jamil's role to be changed from "servant" to "employee," and Kalim's role changed from his "master" to his "boss.")

Interestingly, Jamil does not refer to other people in the Asim household with the same word!

He uses 使用人 when referring to the other people that Kalim’s parents employ, which is closer in meaning to employees or staff, so no problems here.

For himself, however, he uses the word 従者, which is closer to the English word “servant” (personal attendant / follower / body servant / etc).

Original Jamil: The lord of the manor asked you to wear your dorm uniform for the unveiling, right?

EN Jamil: And that’s why your father told you to come to the party in your uniform, right?

Original Jamil: Word reached the Lord and the Lady, and they told me they wanted to try some…

EN Jamil: Work reached Kalim’s mother and father, and they told me they wanted to try some.

Jamil uses extremely formal speech when speaking about Kalim’s mother and father.

Original Cater: Our cute guides of the Scalding Sands increased by one!

EN Cater: Yeah, why settle for one guide, when we could have two?

This is a difficult sentence to put into English, but Cater isn’t just saying that now they will have a cute guide, in reference to Najma; he is specifically calling both Viper siblings cute.

Removing (or replacing) the word “cute” from Cater’s dialogue is not new for the EN server.

Like most languages you are generally supposed to avoid repeating the same words over and over again in written Japanese, just like in English. Whenever it’s done in Twisted Wonderland it is generally on purpose and for a story- or character-related reason.

Cater, for example, intentionally refers to everything around him as “cute” as a remnant of the environment in which he was raised.

The “-sama” honorific gets localized into multiple different words for EN.

If Jamil’s expression here was kind of confusing for you, this might be why: he originally says “DOKKAN!”, which is kind of like “boom”? The sound of something exploding/breaking.

It is a direct homage to what Jafar yells in the Japanese-language dub of Disney's Aladdin, during his version of the "prince Ali" song.

It was also a shout-out to Book 4 when overblot-Jamil sent everyone flying into the desert with an explosion (where “DOKKAN!” was translated as “WHOOPEEEEE!” for EN.) Jamil’s DOKKAN is infamous amongst JP server fans, and he is often referred to as Dokkan-senpai.

In the original, English-language Aladdin, Jafar's line there is "whoopee", making the Book 4 use of the line a direct homage, just like the original game :>

#Character Dialogue Comparison #twstdialogue #firelitsky #twst translations #twisted wonderland

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billerak · 1 year

Text

Minami gay discussion (Part 2)

something something part 1

So Minori is scaring Ami with some shitty ghost stories, but then

MOOD'S CHANGED.

Sis is flabbergasted. Because she does not yet understand what the fuck Minori is talking about. This doesn't stop Minori, who knows Ami will understand her and pick it up.

Minori is telling essentially "people are attracted to people who understand them". She says this, btw, while using her analogy about ghosts and love. The one thing she had only ever told Ryuji before. While TRYING TO MAKE AMI UNDERSTAND HER.

YOU CANNOT COMPREHEND HOW FUCKING RABID THIS MAKES ME. IT'S SO GOOD. AND SO GAY.

And so, Minori ditches Ryuji to go tell this to Ami. Ami, who has no idea of the chat they had at the beach. She's trying so hard, in her own way, to make Ami understand. Understand that she's moved on.

But Ami's caught on. And she aint picking up what Minori's lying down.

As established: Ami has no patience for bullshit. Minori being this roundabout is just more of that. It pisses Ami off, and she tells it outright.

She also probably does this because, as she's caught on, she doesn't really wanna hear what comes next.

But Minori insists. She's like... really desperate for this. She wants Ami to understand so hard. AFTER JUST STATING THAT GHOSTS (her love metaphor, I repeat) SHOW THEMSELVES TO PEOPLE WHO UNDERSTAND THEM

WHAT THE FUCK IS THIS SHOW

Anyways, here's where Ami shows her cards.

She's projecting. She's guilty and she thinks Minori is gonna blame her for everything that happened. So she tries to take one step forward, trying to pretend she doesn't care.

But we all know Minori. Minori would never do that. And she has no reason to blame Ami, either. Ami's comments wouldn't have changed the outcome, because Taiga still likes Ryuji and vice-versa.

But... Ami doesn't know that Minori witnessed Taiga's breakdown, and that that was the moment she gave up for real, despite everything.

But Minori's just confused. And surprised. This is the first time she's heard of Ami's guilt and I fully believe she was taken off guard by the sudden counter-argument to something she hadn't even thought.

But Ami's got no time for bullshit, so she starts to leave.

I'd make a joke about 'head straight' but this is just japanese translated so too bad.

Anyways, Minori knows she has no time to explain now so she tries to get to the point. She's thinking 'clearly' now. She's not full of doubts anymore (lies) and she wants Ami to know this so hard.

But Ami misunderstands all of this as her still blaming her. And also... she doesn't wanna hear it. She doesn't wanna hear that Minori is giving up romance, love, happiness.

She'll make her own decisions moving forward. As stated in a future episode, her new philosophy is that only she can gran herself happiness. So she'll 'settle everything', that being, making sure Taiga and Ryuji stay together.

But whether she gets it across correctly or not...

Ami still doesn't wanna hear it.

She's upset, and guilty, and feeling like shit. And now she's half certain Minori is giving up all romance due to her actions and all she can do is walk away and try to ignore it (learning from the best, of course).

The text of the scene is crazy good, but the subtext? This is almost an anti-confession. Ditching the guy you like to go close off your emotional arc with someone arguably unrelated to it, and wanting them to truly understand you? And you want them to know, so hard, that you're ignoring romance because it's a hassle?

Why Ami? If she was angry with Ami, she wouldn't have started this conversation. Please, bear in mind: They're not even friends. Up until this point they have only ever interacted because they're both in the Ryuji/Taiga circle of people.

Why do they care so much about each other? Ami goes constantly out of her way to try to get her to be more honest, even at her arguable detriment. Minori being here, trying to get Ami and herself on the same page. What did she hope to achieve?

Think of it from her perspective. She tells Ami this story about ghosts and she'll finally understand how she feels and... then what? What happens if she's like "oh, I get it" and accepts your feelings?

An apology? That's not what Minori is after. The only thing that can spar from this is... well, a relationship. Platonic, of course. Mutual understanding, getting rid of their grievances.

But Ami's idiosyncrasies stop this from happening. Because despite everything, they're not on the same page. Minori's roundabout way of expressing herself gets on Ami's nerves and Ami can't help being pissed.

IT'S SO COMPLICATED AND SO FUCKING GAY AND I LOVE IT SO MUCH

ANYWAYS THERE'S THAT FOR NOW. Them bitches gay.

#Toradora #Toradora!#Ami Kawashima #minori kushieda #minami #aminori

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riddlerosehearts · 2 months

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🐍 same, there were many things i did not enjoy about HoO but leo is one of the highlights i will always treasure from it. in fact I made my OC just so I could make them be friends with him bc it's like an old childhood dream of mine 😭 it's several years late but i will do it anyway. have u ever made any pjo ocs?

I read your post and i agree with you so much!! EN did jamil so dirty and just the few changes they made to his lines flipped the entire dynamic between him and kalim and basically completely erased how tragic and difficult their situation is, and portrayed jamil as basically just someone throwing a fit over something easily changeable when it isn't. I play on JP so I was so surprised to see the changes EN made, it sucked seeing so many ppl hate my fav

oh nooo yeah if both riddle and jamil are in the athena cabin i have no clue who'd become the head counselor... this is so hard, if only we could have more than one :(. Kalim'd def be in a different cabin at least, but just him being around camp would make it so much harder for jamil to be himself, it hurts my heart. there are so many ways you can write this and it all has so much angst potential. on the other hand you're so right abt the missed leo nico friendship bc i always intuitively felt they could've be good friends without knowing why, but your analysis puts everything into words and makes me even sadder we had such a missed opportunity... like cmon rick....

idia labwear groovy but nico is actually so funny - nico ominously approaching cats with his hands out like the grabbing emoji when nobody is looking and completely unaware how scared the cats feel, meanwhile all he wants is to spend some time with kitty before the chain sneezing sets in

I love your ideas abt the outfits I think they fit super well!! if i get around to doodling the characters in a twst au i'd like to reference your ideas if that's okay with you! They'd both probably attempt to wear the uniforms as a full set in the beginning then decide it's way too much of a hassle/feels too stiff (totally not an excuse to want to draw them in the full outfit), then begin modifying things so it felt more like themselves, though at least I think they both would like the ignihyde uniforms better than the other dorms, igni's seems more casual and practical than the other ones imo. for some reason i feel like the savanaclaw colours would look good on leo, i just picture yellow being a nice colour on him - but leo in savanaclaw would just be like him stuck with a ton of jocks feeling confused why he's even there lool

also imagine leo meeting ortho, he'd be so fascinated that something like ortho was possible and be inspired to make a robot of his own (twst festus origin story?) idk if there's a robotics club but i could see that being leo's club of choice, nico maybe board games... which means he'd meet idia and azul omg, what do you think?

sorry it took me a bit a longer to answer this time. i haven't!! i don't make OCs super often in general, i don't even really have one for twst haha, but i love seeing all the creativity other people put into their OCs.

yeah exactly!! i do keep up with the JP main story updates and have read most of the JP events through fan translations, but i started by playing on EN. and i feel really lucky that i recognized the words for master and servant and could tell they were mistranslating some things, because i can imagine that otherwise i would've come out of it hating jamil for "betraying" kalim too. instead i loved him and was a little annoyed with kalim until book 5 showed more of his growth. i don't ship jamil and kalim but i do love both of them and it's sad that the complexity of their dynamic got watered down so much... i will note, though, that the app is rated E10+ on the google play store and 4+ on the iOS app store, so my guess is that higher-ups at disney thought the actual story wasn't kid-friendly enough.

something else to keep in mind with athena kids that i actually sort of forgot about until recently, is that they're all claimed from birth and therefore are pursued by monsters from birth :( and then also the fact that athena is a virgin goddess who just sort of gives babies to people who might not have been prepared to have one... i bet that would make things so much rougher for riddle and jamil. some other ideas i had are that if jamil's parent was a minor god, it could be nemesis (goddess of revenge) or terpsichore (muse of dance). and for kalim, if his parent was an olympian it would be either dionysus or apollo and if it was a minor god it'd be tyche (goddess of luck and fortune). like you said, there's so many different ways i could see their story going in an AU like this and they'd all be so angsty.

if you wanna see more analysis on how nico and leo fit together there's some stuff i've reblogged from others in my valdangelo tag! not all of it is necessarily romantic, i just basically use that for anything about the two of them--and a lot of the reasons why people like the ship are reasons why they'd work platonically as well. but yeah one of my biggest criticisms of HoO is how even though i like all the new characters for the most part, i feel like their relationships to each other were largely defined by romance (and i don't just mean the actual couples, but also the frank-hazel-leo love triangle for example) and a lot of potential was missed because of that!

oh yeah go for it!! feel free to use pretty much any of these ideas we've been brainstorming as basis for your own headcanons and stuff, i don't mind at all. and like i've been saying, if you did draw anything for this AU i'd love to see it. i can definitely see that about leo and nico both trying on the full uniform and then quickly deciding not to bother with it anymore lol. i imagined them both not wearing the tie because i just think nico wouldn't really want to and that leo might not even know how to tie one AFSKJGHDF. do you think leo would add any other accessories or personalization to his school uniform? also, i was thinking, i totally agree that they'd both like the ignihyde uniform, especially nico because it resembles the bulky jackets he normally likes to wear! but i wonder what nico would wear for a dorm uniform if he transferred to ramshackle... according to one of silver's voice lines at least, they canonically don't have one, so maybe he'd just wear, like, a my chemical romance shirt and call that a uniform lol. or keep his ignihyde uniform and confuse everyone.

omg, i love the thought of leo meeting ortho and being inspired to make festus because of him. he'd definitely be so fascinated by everything ortho could do. as for the clubs, i saved this excellent post about NRC's clubs for reference a while back, and since no other existing clubs were mentioned in either of the camp vargas events, i assume that that's all of them. but afaik there's nothing that says leo couldn't start a robotics club, and i'm sure there'd be people willing to join! out of the existing clubs i can totally see nico being in the board game club, i think that'd be a lot of fun for him.

#asks #anonymous

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fkmt-promotional-stuff · 3 years

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I think fkmt was fucking with us when he decided to make his cartoonish villains meant to represent capitalistic greed collaborate with adobe but it happened.

In early to mid 2017, Adobe Creative Cloud did a collaboration with Tonegawa that included a comic, an "overwhelming" 20% discount until June 2nd 2017, and a bonus animated zawa screensaver one could get by answering a questionnaire.

It has a storyline to it, with Teiai facing troubles with long working hours using their own in-house tools, finding it more efficient to use the creative cloud.

"We're going to be switching to... Creative Cloud....!" "eh....?" "These guys.... Have no idea what I'm talking about......!!"

And so he elaborates on the benefits of using creative cloud for explicitly evil deeds.

They bring up 10 particular points, which will be roughly translated under the read more:

Reason 1. "Mobile is quite the force to be reckoned with......!" "Get ready for mobile production! It's now possible to take a photo with a smartphone and finish it with Illustrator."

Reason 2. "I can feel the joy in my heart.... The pleasure of being able to use the "Morisawa" font collection...!" "You can also use font services! Fonts and materials that can be used for commercial purposes (*restrictions may apply, depending on the plan)"

Reason 3. "Mac? Windows? We don't need to choose.......!" "Whether you have Mac or Windows, you can install on two different PCs! An individual license can install on two PCs (*they cannot be run simultaneously)"

Reason 4. "If you use CC...... You can also use CS6....." "All versions of CS6 and later can be used! All versions of CS6 and later are available for usage. You can still use the package product that you're waiting for."

Reason 5. "Replacing members.... Can be done freely!" "Corporate licensing is a breeze! In the group version, the license ownership belongs to the company rather than the individual, so members can be replaced freely"

Reason 6. "You can update on your own time....!" "Updates can happen whenever you like. There's no forced updates, they happen according to you."

Reason 7. "No additional charges....!" "Support and updates come at no additional cost. There is no additional cost for upgrading versions. The same goes for technical support through phone calls or chat...!"

Reason 8. "The library of materials...Can't be ignored...!" "Hassle-free management and sharing of materials: Images, color themes, text styles, etc. Are automatically synced among apps and members for easy sharing."

Reason 9. "CC Projects..... Can be submitted..... From anywhere...!" "Can be printed out to any printing company nationwide! Works can be sent from InDesign CC and Illustrator CC to printing shops."

Reason 10. "Only buying Illustrator....! That's a possibility....!" "A variety of plans including standalone plans are available! Standalone plans for illustrator are available as well"

On a printed ad for this collaboration, Tonegawa brought up the first 5 points listed above. However instead of the original 4th point, it was advertising a 41% discount up until June 2nd of that year. I don't recall a 41% discount being mentioned anywhere else, I'm not sure if they changed their mind, the discount changes depending on the plan selected, or if it was part of the reward for the questionnaire like the screensaver.

The event seems to have been received very neutrally or with mild excitement and confusion when it was acknowledged at all, with one blog user casually commenting on the matter of the Morisawa font group being among the top 10 reasons to use Creative Cloud, believing it to be too mediocre to be worth advertising. Another asked if there even were fans of FKMT's works who would benefit from this or what kind of decisions led to this collaboration. I believe the disconnect comes from the way this collab targets corporations rather than individual manga readers. From the perspective of people who don't care or wouldn't benefit from Adobe, it's just like... Yeah this is a thing that happened I guess. My favorite quote from someone on twitter was one along the lines of “Just as Teiai extorts money from debtors, you can pay the Adobe tax! What a well done collaboration”

#tonegawa #Middle Manager Tonegawa #collaboration #adobe #illustrator #2017

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xcziel · 3 years

Text

get to know me

tagged by @vishcount (thank you!!) and i'll follow her format bc making two posts seems a little much - i'm not that interesting!!

(hilariously, this post shows up as blocked for me bc of the tag 'joker' which? tumblr?????)

Part I

name: i'm an internet old, so i never use my real name online, mainly because it's spelled in a very unique way (thanks mom & dad) - i mean like, if you googled it you could find my home address in a few seconds kind of unique - but also, though i do enjoy the spelling, i actually don't like it very much when it's said out loud? (is it weird that my name written down is 'me', but my name aloud has never felt like 'me'?) always wanted a nickname but never acquired one :/

at any rate, i've had the username xcziel forever and i go by that 😊 (pronounced ex-SEE-zee-el, similar to etc. or ex-SET-er-ah! thanks @xia-xueyi for pointing out that it can be confusing to guess!)

rest behind a cut because it got long!

pronouns: she/her

star sign: i don't ... really *do* astrology? but technically saggitarius

height: 5'4" (162.5cm for the intl folks)

time: 5:43pm but these thing take me forever to type out so ... ???

birthday: playing the 'internet old' card again .. but it floats around american Thanksgiving depending on the year

nationality: american

fave bands/groups/solo artists: lumping these together because i just .. don't really do music much anymore. if you had asked me this back in my 20s i'm sure i would have had all kinds of opinions and things to share, but these days i actually mostly prefer to listen music from when i was a kid. part of it is also that as an old, i prefer to buy my music, even digitally, and i don't really use spotify - which does so much to enable diverse music exploration i admit! but i mostly have earplugs in all the time and music does not work for me as background noise, so...

so i guess my answer would be 70s disco and classic rock and 80s new wave artists? i've never liked any artist's entire discography and prefer greatest hits-type compilations, but i guess duran duran and def leppard and depeche mode would be considered formative? i love new order but specifically late 80s new order, NOT joy division. the only concert t-shirt i've ever worn was the cult? i loved sonic temple but i can't listen to most of it anymore though i still adore love removal machine. i think maybe if you get old enough, for some of us there's TOO MUCH good music and we can't pare it down anymore

song stuck in your head: jamiroquai's canned heat

last movie you watched: re: the above, i re-watched center stage, the 2000 one with zoe saldana and the mandy moore soundtrack, bc it's a happy comfort movie and i just got a digital version

last show you binged: i can't really "binge" very often bc after a couple of hours i need a break, so i guess i'd say the tgcf donghua on netflix since it was short enough to get through all in one go

when you created your blog: in 2012 i stopped lurking so i could post about the avengers movie

the last thing you googled: 5'4" in cm? lol before that it was chinese wrapped street food

other blogs: everything is here! i discovered i compartmentalize about as well as i tag reliably (😓) but i do have several automated ao3feed-tag style sideblogs. and i did, very briefly, have a *winces* hockey sideblog too

why i chose my url: ooh i know i've done this before, sorry if it's repetitive, basically it was the username i picked back when my family first got aol: short, unique combo of letters - 14-year-old me really thought about it! and then it wouldn't let me use anything other than my name. thirty-some-odd years later, trying to come up with a livejournal username that wasn't already taken and getting fed up, i plugged it in and went: good enough!

how many people are you following: like 760-something last i checked? although many, many, many of them are deactivated

how many followers do you have: idk i don't like looking at that stuff, but way fewer than i am following

average hours of sleep: it varies too much day by day, my sleep schedule is too wonky, i have no idea what the average would be

lucky numbers: 7? cliché i know, and again not really buying into it, but somewhere in my hindbrain i like it that my first, middle, and last names all have seven letters

instruments: none. i like singing

what i'm currently wearing: giant black t-shirt and baggy black drawstring shorts, standard sitting around the house gear

dream job: don't have one. if i did it would give me something to be working towards *sigh* this is how you end up in retail for decades, kids! but also, to quote a random post i saw in true tumblr fashion "i simply do not dream of labor"

dream trip: covered this one before but: back to the uk and some railway daytrips, or a really fancy northern cruise, atlantic/pacific either one

fave food: uhhh, don't really have a favorite but i'm almost always in the mood for pizza

top three fictional universe you'd like to live in: none really, if i had to still be me..maybe some kind of actually utopian future? but the pandemic has confirmed for me that i do NOT like living in interesting times, so most fictional story universes are RIGHT out. my favorites to read about like discworld or diana wynne jones' worlds would be way to chaotic for my comfort. possibly diane duane's young wizards universe would be safe enough to be okay?

Part II

last song: watching center stage made me think of my dance playlist so sunrise by simply red

last movielast stream: i don't watch streams or youtube often, so it was the same as you, vish! liu chang's birthday stream was SO enjoyable i screenrecorded the entire thing just so i could play it back (and maybe gif sometime if i ever get the drive to actually do it)

currently reading: well i just finished the translated quan qiu gao kao or global university entrance exam novel, which was sparked purely from catching a single rec post here on tumblr and basically just *falling* into this 166 chapter epic that is *amazing* and not coming up for air until i got to the end, which is typical novel-reading behavior for me (yes i was the kid who read through lunch period and got hassled by people who kept pestering me with "what're you reading" questions and yes i realize probably a lot of you on tumblr were too) plus, the new murderbot novel is out tomorrow!!!!! so that'll be where i end up next!

currently watching: the entire dmbj verse (that i can get my hands on) but ... sporadically and stopping at random different parts because the thing is ... this type of show is not really the kind i enjoy so much? so since it's more for "research" and learning character arcs (and let's be honest: shots of liu sang), etc. it's easy to get distracted by other stuff. i'm also watching the sleuth of the ming dynasty, mr queen, bromance, the expanse, re-watching farscape and stargate sg-1, just finished the falcon and the winter soldier, and then anytime something new and short gets introduced it jumps the queue. there are just. so. many. things. to. watch! (now i have to look into anti-fraud league too!? you all are cruel ...)

what is antipoetry to you: i ... don't really think much about poetry? i know what i prefer is usually the more basic rhymed kind like lewis carroll, emily dickinson, poe, coleridge, etc. so i suppose i don't have much use for classifying non-rhyming verse? i can appreciate stuff like rupi kaur which i guess would qualify? or that william carlos williams plums poem? but it doesn't really stick with me the way lyric-like verse does

currently craving: i never know what exactly this is meant to be in reference to ... hmmm, i would love a new high-concept, high production-quality movie like say, pacific rim, to be released, just for that massive, excited energy that comes with something new that hasn't already got tons of disappointing or conflicting history behind it - that would be so fun!!

other than that, right now, i mostly kinda want some fried fish? but that will have to wait until i go to get my second vaccine shot on wednesday since it's on the way there. i'd also like my internal body parts to settle down and fly right but it's been more than a month and they don't seem inclined :(((( maybe once i'm fully vaxxed i'll think about consulting somebody about it

tagging @foxofninetales @xia-xueyi @momosandlemonsoda @memorydragon @thewindsofsong @elvencantation @mylastbraincql @hesayshesgotboyfriend @aurawolfgirl2000 @smaragdine-galaxy and anyone who wants to! but never feel obligated and if you don't get around to it for like half a year that's totally fine, i am still interested!!!

#xcedit #is my only like 'me' tag #tag game #long post #i wanna do one of these with more unusual questions but not like those themed ones ...#tell me if the cut doesn't work i'm still not used to having them on mobile!

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raspberry-arev · 4 years

Text

And they were roommates! (Snowbaz fic)

My writer self is back, armed with a cringe title and a whole lot of angst. Ladies, gentlemen, and nonbinary folk, I bring you a second part of the only fanfic I have ever written: And there was only one bed! (full of me projecting onto Baz because I can)

Summary: Baz and Simon have been sharing a bed for quite a while now, but their relationship is not progressing at all. Who will make the next move? Can they just talk to each other like normal people? Find out for yourselves!!

Word count: 7,5k

Tags: sharing a bed, kissing, unholy amounts of angst, heartbreak, oblivious gay energy, Penny the emotion translator, eventual fluff, Baz being a tortured soul x10

BAZ

What followed was silence.

Approximately five weeks passed since the time Snow exploded at me – this time in verbal form – and demanded we keep sleeping in the same bed, for no better reason than he wants to. (Look at pretentious I am, saying “approximately” like I haven’t been counting every single night.)

Each sunset marked the time Simon Snow would come from the bathroom, breath smelling of peppermint toothpaste, and lay down in my bed. Sometimes I wasn’t there to witness it, as I was at football practice or feeding underground, but I assumed it would always happen like that. I could see him there, waiting for me, every time I closed my eyes.

I didn’t even have the energy to call myself pathetic at this point. I was too far gone.

The issue I had with this was that we – upon previous agreement, you could say – didn’t ever talk about it. At first, that seemed ideal. Wouldn’t it be dangerous to get too close? We might as well avoid it. Not give anything we were doing a name. What an adventure,I thought like the idiot I am. We would be secret lovers that didn’t call themselves secret lovers for the safety of it.

Now, I desperately wanted something defined. Something I could name and understand.

Snow and I… were stagnant. Each night was the same as the last. He was there, and however late I came, I sunk into the strange familiarity of his arms. (I hated the way I adored him even if he was snoring next to me with his mouth open.) But there was nothing else happening – just the sleeping, as he had said before.

Was I hoping for, at the very least, weekly make out sessions? Yes. Like bloody hell I was, who do you even take me for?

Admittedly, I was hoping he would say something, too. I was hoping he would try to give me more hints at whatever he was feeling when we were together. And he did not. Night after night, he did not, and I am a coward, so I surely wasn’t about to go first. Contrary to what it looked like sometimes, I did not have suicidal tendencies.

One thing did change, and I felt like it would be only a matter of time until people got suspicious. We stopped fighting. After all, rowing all day and cuddling all night was too great a contrast. I wouldn’t be able to keep that up. All our name-calling, playing tricks and consequent bursts of anger were replaced by strange, polite indifference. Snow mostly ignored me outside our room, perhaps besides the occasional staring across a room that I reciprocated as soon as he looked away. And I attempted to ignore him, painfully aware of the weird looks Dev and Niall were exchanging when they thought I wasn’t paying attention. I dreaded the day they would start poking their noses into it.

What pissed me off then was that even when we were alone, our conversations were never more than small talk. Not more than asking about when the other was coming back as he was one foot out the door. “You’ll have to spell the bed again, I think.” Asking whether you can open or close the window. Maybe a couple of: “Sorry, am I laying on your hair?” Or: “Can you move, my arm is asleep.”

And, who could forget, talking about fucking homework.

I distinctly remember this one time when I laid down next to him and he hid his face in my shirt, arm thrown over my body. I got comfortable and pulled him closer, just a tiny bit, so I wouldn’t look too desperate for contact. As I was thinking disgustingly gentle thoughts at him, he suddenly pushed me away just a little so he could look at me from under his heavy eyelids. “Baz?” he said, his voice deeper than usual. I swallowed. “Yeah?” I whispered almost without moving my lips. I thought I knew what was going to come next, and my stomach did a flip. Nay, three flips at once.

And then he asked, “Was there homework for Greek?”

I thought I would slap him. That was the closest I came to yelling at him – I called him stupid and lazy at the very least, because of course there was, firstly, and secondly, how dare you be so ridiculously oblivious, Simon Snow? How dare you?!

He didn’t understand why I got so upset.

I didn’t care to give him lessons in taking a hint.

I tried to think of it like this: what we had was already more than I ever thought I was going to get in my life. And thinking about that usually made me smile just a little. Who would have thought, right? Tell that to my younger self and he would probably pass out. In a good way.

(Can one pass out “in a good way”?)

(Do vampires have to worry about fainting? I didn’t get around to testing that out just yet. Maybe if Snow kissed me…)

These days, I kept thinking about all that the two of us could be. About… about “together”. And I knew I must be delirious, yes, but oh Crowley, it all must’ve meant something, right? Maybe, just maybe, Simon was thinking the same things I was. Maybe neither of us was brave enough and we were just playing this charade of “casual” because we thought the other didn’t care. Maybe we were bothclueless idiots and we couldn’t take a hint.

I felt myself growing more hopeful.

I felt like with all that life was throwing at me since my early years, this would be the one good thing that happened to me. This would save me and outweigh the tragic rest. If I just took the chance.

Soon.

Soon, I would.

Maybe not today – or tonight – but when I felt the time is right. On Morgana, I would.

***

Another day. Another day just like the others, full of schoolwork, stolen glances and talking about nothing of importance.

I was gathering my things for practice, while simultaneously burning a hole in Snow’s scalp with my eyes. Why wouldn’t he just talk to me? He was usually friendly with people. But then you let him sleep in your bed and he pretends you don’t exist…

Well, actually, no. I was being unreasonable. It’s not like I knew what to talk to him about either. Nothing seemed important enough to even hassle with. I wanted to talk about the two of us, about kissing, about dates, about more, morethings than just schoolwork or who uses the bathroom.

I couldn’t stall any longer. It wasn’t like Coach would be mad at me for coming late; after all, I was one of his best players, and if all else failed, a single mention of Mother would put him back in line.

But why would I wait here? What for?

Just as I turned my back to him, he glanced at me from his bed. (The only time he used it was when he was lounging during the day.) “When are you gonna be back?” he asked me. His tone was about as intimate as a landlord’s. I fought the sinking feeling in my chest.

“Late,” I replied. I needed to hunt today.

“Ok. Bye then,” he murmured, and I closed the door behind me without a response. I had to stop in the middle of the corridor to take a few deep breaths. I was so, so annoyed with him. And with myself. What was it I even expected him to do? A dramatic declaration of unyielding affection as I was off to practice? Was I stupid?

Yes. Stupid in love. There was no use in pretending I wasn’t. I thought of Simon Snow, as I did most of my waking hours, and let the warm feeling spread throughout my body as I descended from the stairs and walked on to the school grounds.

I cared so much. And I felt so alive for it. But I was also… frustrated? Sad? Desperate? All of the above.

Was I ever going to have him? Oh, I so desperately wanted him. I missed those days when I listened more to my sense of rationality than my heart. When I could see that to keep him safe at least a bit, I had to keep away from him. And to keep myself safe, too.

Now, I wanted to battle the odds.

Fuck the odds, fuck all prophecies. I only had limited time. “Saving the world” would get in the way. Someone else would get in the way – what was the deal between him and Wellbelove now, anyway? I didn’t know! Or maybe we would both live to graduate… and he would go out into the world doing Crowley-knows-what and I would be out of chances.

I refused to let myself run out of chances. Not this time.

Stood directly in front of the changing room, a couple of lads trailing behind me, I stopped. I turned on my heel and stomped back toward the dorms, waving off all confused shouts that came after me. None of them was Coach. Not that I cared. There was something I had to do.

My legs brought me back to the Mummers House, up and up and up all those stairs. Ran to the door. Swung it open. The impulse that brought me here was buzzing in my body. What was I doing? Who knew. Not me.

Snow didn’t move from his bed in those ten minutes I was gone.

He sat up straighter, his eyes asking me tens of questions. But before his mouth could ask some too, I was looming over him.

“Get up!” I ordered.

There was a flash of wariness in his expression. He did what I asked. Slowly. I noticed his hand hovering over his hip. That bloody sword of his. Yes, Snow, get it ready, I’m fine leaving this world like this. After this.

I let go completely. Sometimes, the crashing of all the walls you built to protect yourself can sound like a single sigh escaping your lips.

I grabbed his face and kissed him. Shut my eyes as tight as I could and leaned into him, and he was burning hot, so undeniably, amazingly real. I was kissing Simon Snow and I didn’t care that I didn’t know what to do with my lips now that they made contact with his. It… it seemed easier in my head. I had never kissed anyone before this. Like whom? Who could ever be enough to replace him?

For a split second, or maybe split ten years, nothing happened. And then his lips moved against mine. Took the lead. I let him. I felt him grab a handful of my shirt and I was ready to melt, ready to burn –

Movement.

Something moved at the door.

I opened my eyes, which was precisely when his hands pushed me away so hard I almost landed on my ass. All disheveled and confused, I looked around.

And I met with two eyes opened wide, in utter disbelief.

The eyes of Penelope Bunce.

There are and never will be no words to describe the terror I felt.

Fuck. Fucking shit, I was dead. The world was positively over.

I glanced at Snow in panic, as if asking him what to do, how to handle it, how to lie, what to say, please Simon just–

It wasn’t an exchange of glances. It was me looking and him trying not to vomit, I’d say. His face was wild with emotion. I couldn’t identify it, but it wasn’t a good one. It felt like he had shattered every bone in my torso, just like that.

His head whipped around towards Bunce.

“It’s not like that at all,” he exclaimed, reaching out to her as if he was urging her not to run away.

It’s…

It was not like that. Like that. At all.

Crowley, I was a fool. I was a fool. Somebody shoot me. Burn me and put a stake through my heart. My life was over anyway.

Don’t cry. Just don’t cry, you stupid fuck, don’t cry.

Bunce was just opening her mouth to say something, but I already dashed forward. She jumped to the side with a yelp as I pushed through the door and left. And almost rolled down the stairs. And slipped onto the school grounds and I ran, I ran, I ran for the forest as fast as I could, as if I had a horde of villagers with torches behind me, which would probably be a better fate than the one that was awaiting me.

My chest was aching. As if somebody was stabbing little pieces of glass into it.

I didn’t think it would feel like that. I hadn’t thought about anything at all, period. I never would have done it if I had.

As I stumbled between the trees into the eerily dim woods, everything was screaming in my head, everything was so loud, every sight and memory so bright, but the brightest and loudest… that would be his face. The one he made after he pushed me. When he said… When he denied everything…

Suddenly, my legs gave in and I collapsed onto the ground. My chest was so tight. It hurt so much, Crowley, what was happening? It felt like my heart was actually, physically ripping in half. Could it? I might be the first person – creature– to experience it. Violent sobs came out of my throat and I was not just crying, I was screaming like an animal into my hands, and the sound was so foreign as it echoed in the misty forest that some part of me found it unlikely that I was making it.

I stayed there until dark and then hunted and cried and hunted again. And the entire time, at the back of my head, I was thinking: I didn’t know it would feel like this. I didn’t know he could break me any more than he already has.

SIMON

Days continued to come and pass, and I was mostly carrying on as usual. But I couldn’t really escape the obvious: something was very wrong with Baz.

I lived with the guy my whole teenage years, you know. He always had this air about him, like he’s something better than you and he knows it really damn well. He was posh and graceful and unbothered; I was never totally sure if it’s just an act, or a genuine, unrehearsed thing about him.

Suddenly, all of that got lost. After… well, after.

I didn’t really try to talk to him or anything. Didn’t know what I’d say. But he wouldn’t even meet my eyes when we passed each other, anyway. It felt like he was hiding inside of himself, if that makes sense. From me, or maybe from everyone. He skipped meals and afternoon tea, nobody had seen him at the pitch for weeks. He looked like a beaten dog most of the time. Something told me it was my fault. Although that seemed impossible. He always looked like he couldn’t care less about what I said or did. I was pissing him off by just breathing, basically.

But then… The last month or so, I didn’t know what to make of him.

I didn’t know what to make of myself, either. I solved that by just doing what I liked doing and not over-analyzing why I want to do it. Case in point, sharing my roommate’s bed. As long as he was up for it… (It’s not like anything gets solved by just thinking about it until you go crazy. You gotta let things go.)

However… I caught myself way too often staring into the distance and absentmindedly touching my lips. The kiss was still pressed into them.

I… look, I really don’t understand what happened there! Or rather, I somewhere deep in my soul I did, but going down that road positively terrified me. A week ago, a bloke kissed me like it was the end of the world and then ran away. No, wait – Baz kissed me, not just “a bloke”. That was, somehow, different.

But that’s where I would have to start asking myself questions. And honestly, I didn’t have that kind of time.

Of course, then there’s the situation with… Penny just… walking in on us. Like that. I kind of wished she would tell me what was going through her head, but I also desperately prayed to never have to talk to her about it. Maybe she would spare me and we could forget about it…? Penny wouldn’t tell anybody. I knew she wouldn’t, but I… I never talked to her about the whole thing. I promised Baz I wouldn’t tell anybody about what we were doing. It’s not like we did anything, anyway, but I couldn’t even imagine the chaos that would take place if the word got out… Everyone would start assuming things and…

It’s understandable that I didn’t want that, isn’t it? As if I didn’t have enough issues to deal with.

Penny didn’t say a single word about it for a very long time. I almost got my hopes up, almost allowed myself to carry on like usual.

Until one afternoon, when we met up for a study session. As in, Penny helps me with my schoolwork and I tell her whether her essays make any sense, although they are always very well-phrased and generally perfect.

(We used to bring Agatha, too. But she didn’t really talk to us anymore, since we took our “break”. Just a fancy word for a breakup, basically.)

(Did I even miss her?)

(See, another question I wasn’t keen on answering.)

After she managed to cram some of our Political Science study material into my head…, she made a vague comment about the “last time she came to my room” being “interesting”. I could see curiosity bubbling just below the surface of her face.

Oh no, please don’t, Penny, I thought. Out loud, I said: “I really don’t know if Baz has reported you know how to get to the boy’s dorms, sorry. I hope he hasn’t.”

She gave me a look, like I see right through your bullshit.

“I understand if you don’t want to talk about it,” she assured me, “but you know I’m not talking about myself here.”

I felt my cheeks getting hot. I hunched and started picking at my uniform.

“Simon? Are you okay?”

Did I really want to tell her? I could feel she truly wanted to listen… she was Penny after all. We were a duo. A team.

“Look, I just…”

And then I spilled. Like an idiot, stuttering and getting tangled in words that had just too many syllables to be mumbled at an extremely high speed, I told her about everything. About my nightmares and the damn fire that I lied to her about out of embarrassment, about Baz’s offer to sleep in his bed, about how long it’s all been happening. I left out the kissing… I didn’t know what to say about that.

Penny was usually a pretty stable person. Not the type to get over-excited or freak out. But this time, her mouth was gaping open. She couldn’t believe her ears, and I didn’t blame her. It all sounded like a fever dream.

“So… that’s that,” I concluded and put one of my hands in my hair. “We’ve been sleeping together until… well, until that time. You know.”

“Wait,” Penny almost slammed the table. “Wait, sleeping together?!”

Sleeping…Oh god. Oh god, why can’t I talk like a normal person? “No!” I waved my hands, ears burning. “No, I mean literal sleeping. Literally!”

“Oh. That makes more sense, to be honest. Although I don’t judge…”

“Penny! For Crowley’s sake!”

She chuckled. There was a bit of silence. But then she looked at me with her kind eyes. Like she was looking at a kid. “But there was kissing?” she nudged me.

I looked away. “Only what you saw.”

“Oh. Oh, I’m so sorry.”

“No, no…” I shook my head. My brows furrowed as I tried to think of what I wanted to say. I just knew I wanted to say something. To not give her the wrong impression. Although, I didn’t know what impression would be right. “I don’t even know… whyhe did that, you know? To be honest, at first I thought he was going to punch me.”

And then he kissed me. And he was cold and firm and grabbing my face and nothing like anything I felt before.

Penny smirked and clicked her pen.

“Not really surprising,” she assessed. “Baz seems like exactly the guy to be mean to his crush.”

“Wait, uh… Crush? You… you think he likes me like that?”

She gave me an absolutely bewildered look and leaned towards me.

“Simon! He made out with you!”

All blood started boiling inside of me. I sunk into the chair. It… yeah, it made sense, but to think of it like that was…

Was I his crush?

Was he my crush? How would I know? Like, how can I be sure?

“Simon… have the two of you talked about what happened yet?”

I just shook my head.

“I don’t want to get nosy or anything,” she pushed up her glasses, “but I think it would be better if you did. Clear communication helps a lot, you know?”

Yeah?

And what would I tell him?

I didn’t have any answers. What was I feeling? Why exactly did I like when we shared a bed? Would I kiss him again? Did I feel something for him? Did I feel something for a boy?

What did I want from him?

I buried my face in my hands. I heard Penny get up immediately and rush around the table to my side. Before she could say anything motherly and soft that would just make me hurt from the inside, I confessed to my empty hands:

“I have no idea who I am anymore.”

BAZ

I was sure this was where I would stop loving Snow.

Up until now, I would have thought that was impossible to achieve. That somebody would have to kill me in order to stop me from loving the boy… I had been wrong about plenty other things before this, it was no wonder I was wrong about this, too.

Dear Morgana, I felt ashamed of myself for how utterly shitty I was feeling.

I thought I would be… well, sad at best if I were to be rejected. I had expected it, hadn’t I? I thought I’d be quietly, promptly devastated, and then not anymore, just to stand tall and undefeated when the inevitable backlash comes.

There was no consequence for what I had done, surprisingly. But I couldn’t relish in the thought, because…

Well. As previously stated, I felt like shit.

I could not sleep. Contrary to popular belief, even undead creatures need sleep to function, and I would get four hours of shallow slumber a night at best. I was being haunted by… well, not nightmares in the traditional sense… just dreams. Bad dreams. Bad, because Snow was in them, bad, because whenever I saw him, awake or not, my chest started hurting again (which was completely of a psychological origin, yes) and I genuinely felt like crying. But I could not, not even when I woke up sore and exhausted and with an overflowing fountain behind my eyes. I could not cry, because after all, the person who caused this was my roommate. And I had my pride. To the extent that I wouldn’t let him see me break down completely.

If sharing a room with him felt impossible before, I don’t know what it was now.

Absolute hell. My personal brand of it.

I couldn’t even look at him. I couldn’t bear being in the same space as him. Golden boy. “It’s not like that.” I wasted so much of myself on him. “At all.” Not that I was worth much to begin with, but still.

I hated him. I hated him, I was hurting, I was crying my eyes out when nobody could see or hear me, I hated myself, I kept hurting and not sleeping and not eating and I wished I would just stop existing too.

It’s been a while since it’s been so bad. The way I felt.

But maybe it was for the best. Because with all the hate and hurt that was filling me, how could there ever be space for more affection?

Maybe this would really be when I broke free from him.

If I survived to see the day, that is.

***

Time seemed to happen to everybody else, but not to me. I was not even sure how on earth I was keeping up with all of my assignments. I didn’t remember finishing them or turning them in, but there they were. Guess I had been working on autopilot.

But one of these identical, bleak afternoons, something ominous happened.

First of all, it was all a fault of bad timing on my part. I was passing the dining hall when afternoon tea would be coming to an end. I realized my fault as soon as I turned into the corridor and saw my classmates slowly leave the room. Chatting in groups. Everywhere. I tensed up – I knew hewouldn’t be far, as he wouldn’t miss an opportunity to ram cherry scones into his mouth. Just the thought of him made me ache a bit…

Then I caught a glimpse of rapid movement.

Unfortunately, I looked.

And Crowley below, it was Penelope Bunce. Waving at me. I didn’t even try to look over my shoulder to see if she means somebody standing behind me... Her gleaming dark eyes were fixed on me alone.

Cold fear gripped my lungs and squeezed the air out of them. This was it. The consequences were here. Invasive questions. Possibly ridicule or threats, who knows? My mind was giving me plenty of possible catastrophic scenarios. But I couldn’t not pass her in the hall – there was nowhere else to go, besides run in the opposite direction as if my life depended on it.

What did she want?

I would ignore her. I would just walk and ignore her.

I did make an honest attempt… but Bunce caught my elbow when I was trying to squeeze through a group of younger students. My try at the “get your filthy hands off me” glare went in vain.

“Hey!” she said to me. She knew damn well how weird it was to pretend that we just casually greet each other like that, but went on anyway: “I just hoped we could talk for a minute.”

“Well,” I retorted and yanked my arm out of her grip, “I definitely didn’t.”

Bunce let air out of her nose. Not exactly like an angry bull. An exasperated bull would be more like it.

“Just keep it civil for once, will you,” she looked up at me. “It won’t take long, I promise.” And then, as if she had been reading my thoughts: “Simon’s gone to Ebb’s today, you know.”

Crowley bless the weird-ass goatherd.

I jutted out my jaw. I was still feeling very defiant, but maybe hearing her out would make her leave me alone sooner. And as much as I didn’t like to admit that, Bunce was always sensible. Slightly terrifying and intense… but yes, sensible.

“Alright?” I reached up and put my hair behind my ears. It was greasy. Bleh. When was the last time I washed it…? “Go on, then.”

“Not here. Come,” she ordered and simply started walking. Her audacity was almost impressive. The only interactions we ever had was when she was breaking up fights between myself and Snow… she was in no position to tell me what to do, and yet, there she was.

Commanding. Bossy.

I followed her because she reminded me of a part of myself I couldn’t really find and dearly missed.

After turning a few corners, she tried to open a door of a classroom, seemingly at random. The door was unlocked somehow. She let me in first. I made sure to stand very close to the exit, in case I needed an escape route.

Once she was facing me, I made a simple gesture in the likes of “what is it”.

“Okay, so,” she started, “it’s about that time you saw me come into Mummers House.”

My hand twitched toward the door. I had to admit, she phrased it quite nicely though. As if her breaking the Watford code was a graver situation than me and Snow… No, I couldn’t even finish that thought on the inside without feeling my chest tightening. Fuck.

“What about it?”

“Well, I thought that we could just make an agreement here. Since it looks like you didn’t go and report me.” She hops onto a table and swings her legs back and forth. “I won’t talk if you won’t, that sort of thing.”

I snarled. What a sneaky little…

“Mutual blackmail? I’m touched.”

Bunce looked at me in a very strange way. “No, I didn’t mean it like that at all,” she assured me. “I can magically swear it if you want. It’s not my thing to tell, anyway. I would never.”

Tell the tale to someone who believes it, I thought to myself.

But I couldn’t really say anything out loud. This was the one person – apart from Snow – that knew what happened. Nobody else could ever know. But… but she did know already. By accident, but she knew.

Something in me was meekly calling out to her.

Say more. Please. Let me… I don’t know, let me break and spill all over the floor like broken shards of a porcelain figure. Please, could I…? Just once, could I stop holding myself together…?

Except I couldn’t stop. I couldn’t rest. The pretense was all that I had left to do in life. Always acting, always hiding, always keeping everything locked in.

“Other than that, I…” Bunce added and I kind of jumped, not really realizing she was still there and it wasn’t just me, lost in my own mind. “I wanted to ask if you’re feeling alright?”

I gave her a quick look before turning away.

“That’s honestly none of your business.” The tone of my voice was all wrong. Too fucking vulnerable. Bunce replied simply: “I know that.”

We looked at each other. Two completely different people who existed only in the background of the other’s life. But it felt like now, we were connected. However insane it sounds. Maybe we were connected by knowing I kissed Snow and got my heart broken. Maybe by more than that, whatever that “more” would be.

Bunce sighed and tapped the other end of the table with her hand. My eyes fixed at the window behind her, I approached and lightly leaned on the desk, still leaving a few feet of space between us.

“Look,” she said, looking straight ahead, “don’t get me wrong. I love Simon to bits. But the truth is, my best friend is often quite a dumbass.” Then she corrected: “Usually.”

That, I could agree with. But I said nothing. I was busy biting my tongue and refusing to look at her.

“He reacted pretty badly then.” She crossed her legs at the ankles. “But just… wait it out. Simon will come around as soon as he’s done figuring out… well, all of it. He is on a good way.”

I felt a lump rising in my throat. I swallowed. So they were talking about it? What else did the girl know? And was I even mad about it at this point?

What I was more interested in was…

“Bunce… why are you even telling me that?” I asked, giving her a puzzled look (mixed with my general despair look, I presumed).

But really. What good was it to her to tell me all of this?

Not to mention she was giving me hope. I could not afford that. Not again, not ever again.

She smiled at me. Way too kindly. It hit me all at once how odd this tête-à-tête was. “Well, Pitch, that’s simple,” she retorted. “I know that you care about Simon a lot. In your own way. That includes pushing him down the stairs from time to time.”

The corners of my mouth twitched upward.

Nothing like the memories of good, simpler times.

“And don’t get me wrong,” she suddenly continued, “but you’ve looked like absolute hell lately. That was a factor too.”

That actually made me smile for a second

“Thanks,” I told her, and when we looked at each other, she was grinning. “Pleasure,” she nodded at me, then jumped down onto the floor and formally extended an arm towards me. I rolled my eyes, but I gripped it and shook it a couple times, as if we had just concluded a business meeting. She put her hands in the pockets of her blazer and, instead of a goodbye, wished me: “Good luck out there.”

That created another crooked smile on my lips. I decided to mark this experience as less ominous than previously expected. As she turned her back to me and reached for the door handle, curiosity started growing in my mind. I couldn’t keep it all in.

“Bunce?” I called out to her.

“Yes?”

“This wasn’t… He didn’t send you to talk to me, did he?”

“No, he wouldn’t. But I figured, since I was already guiding one idiot through his love life, I might as well help another.”

SIMON

In the course of the following weeks, I had more deep emotion-related conversations with Penny than I had in my entire life before that. I mean… when it comes to feelings and relationships, she knows way more than I ever will, I think. I told her she was wise once. She laughed at me.

But basically…, I had been thinking.

And I was not ready to say anything definitively… I had no labels or anything yet, that stuff was just too confusing and I didn’t really need a label on my attraction and whatnot to function. But I settled on one thing: I so had a crush on Baz. And in a weird way, I think I had had it for a long time, but I just didn’t realize what it was.

I just kind of thought that I did not like boys, period. Because that was different. And if you were feeling that different, you would just know immediately, wouldn’t you?

Turns out that liking Baz is a very normal, right, non-dramatic feeling.

That reminds me… earlier that week, I went to see Ebb again. She was in quite a good mood that day, and she was concerned about how quiet and lost in thought I seemed. I started this vague conversation about “what if you liked someone that you maybe, uh, shouldn’t date or anything”. After a while of letting me spout absolute confused nonsense, she quietly asked: “Could this be about Natasha Pitch’s son, Simon?”

I almost choked on the stale pastry she gave me to munch on. I demanded to know how she got that so fast, and she just assured me that nobody is that obsessed with another person without a good reason. “I remember when you came to me once in your third year,” she laughed, “and talked about the boy for full two hours. That’s when I started to have an inkling.” Her eyes got misty. “You were so cute back then. And look how you’ve grown…”

My mind racing, I pushed on: “Why didn’t you talk to me about it then?” And Ebb answered with her own gentle question: “Were you ready to be talked to?”

No. No, I wasn’t, not then. And I still fully wasn’t now.

But maybe I just had to dare.

Ready or not, here I come.

***

Just like that, it was evening. Baz had quietly slipped into our room after dark and went straight to the bathroom.

I turned on the light.

Couldn’t sleep, anyway. Also, this felt like a giant déja vu.

Breathe, Simon, keep breathing…

I stood up as soon as Baz returned into the room, twisting his wet hair in a towel. How could he look so hot with wet hair? It wasn’t fair.

Baz stopped in his tracks and took everything in. Me in just my pajama bottoms standing there… the nightlight dimly lighting the room… me again, this time like he was calculating what was the catch here. Then he threw the towel over his chair (weirdly disorganized of him) and went to get to bed.

“Baz?” I spoke to him.

He twitched, as if he couldn’t decide between turning to me and ignoring me completely. But when I made a step towards him, he suddenly whipped around. I noticed the wary, hurt look in his eyes before he was able to conceal it. Crowley. I really fucked up, haven’t I?

I hated the way he was coiling up and leaning away from me, inch after inch. I didn’t know him like that. Oh please, let me fix this. All of this.

At first, I meant to just talk to him… as Penny said, open communication and all that… But being here with him, I made a quick change of plans and reached out to him. To cup his cheek in my palm. He almost turned his head away. But then, he closed his eyes and let me touch him. I wanted to erase all the tension in his face. I slid my hand to the nape of his neck, fingers brushing his wet hair, dark like the night sky outside…, and stepped closer.

Not as close as I would like, but closer.

Baz refused to look at me.

“I would tell you to get up,” I teased him lightly, “but you’re already standing, so…”

Then I tilted my head, to the side and up, just so I would reach his pursed lips.

BAZ

He was going to kill me. I didn’t want to make it so easy for him… I didn’t want to just let him waltz back into my personal space like he hadn’t made me feel the worst kind of way before this. But…

But as soon as his lips touched mine, the electric impulse brought me back to life. I felt lightheaded. He kissed me again and my lips turned soft and welcoming in a millisecond. I had no dignity. None. I kept myself from intertwining my limbs with his, from pulling at his curls. I wouldn’t give myself too easy… I wouldn’t…

Who was I kidding?

I didn’t have much of myself to give. He already had me.

SIMON

We pulled away from each other, breathing just a bit quicker than usual. Baz’s face was still difficult to read, but his eyes were wide, almost childlike. I couldn’t keep myself from smiling.

“Sorry,” I said. “It took me too long, didn’t it? Penny says that I should hire an emotion translator.”

He smirked. “She did say something along those lines, yes.”

I dropped my hand from his face and blinked about a hundred times. “Wait. Wait, since when do you two… I mean, she talked to you? Or youto heror… what?”

Baz cocked an eyebrow. “Well, Snow, I’m stealing your friends one by one. Watch out.”

Morgana help me, he could be so arrogant sometimes… I was annoyed just listening to that tone. And attracted. Somebody should explain the science behind all that.

“You’re an ass,” I pointed out.

He gave me a slow stare-down.

“Is that all you were going to say to me?” he wondered.

I felt my palms start sweating immediately.

No, I’m fine, I reminded myself. This is fine.

“Ah. Yes!” I nodded. “I, uh. I like you? If that’s not obvious by now. I didn’t really know before, but I like you a lot and… Yeah. I don’t know what we will do with that, but… Yeah. I mean…” I stammered. “If you… Do you?”

Not smooth. Definitely the least smooth confession in the history of confessions. I should have stayed at the kissing. That’s clear communication enough, I think.

Baz looked at me without blinking. At the last two words, he gave me this absolutely confused look, as if he didn’t know what language I was speaking to him right now.

“Crowley, Snow,” he sighed. Absolutely done with me.

Then, he grabbed my shoulders and hauled me back first into a wall. Before I could even think “he’s attacking me” out of habit, he was already pressing his body into mine and kissing me like there was no tomorrow. He always kissed with intent, like the whole fate of the world depended in it.

I could do this all night. I would if he let me. I broke away only to whisper: “You are confusing the Anathema, I think.”

His cheeks turned a bit pink. “Shut up,” he snapped and went for my lips again. I turned my face away, just to tease him.

“No, but really,” I laughed. “You’ll have to be nicer to me now, won’t you?”

Baz looked me in the eyes.

His were beautiful. So damn beautiful. Like storm clouds.

“Snow…” he whispered gently.

BAZ

I couldn’t handle it. He made a stupid joke about the Anathema… and we were standing there in the soft yellow light of the night lamp and he was laughing so sweetly, he was like the damn sun, so warm and bright.

And I loved him.

I loved him so much I felt like it was going to rip me in half.

“Snow…” I managed to breathe out.

And then I felt tears rolling down my face.

He was about as startled as I was.

I immediately turned away from him and tried to breathe, but lately it was difficult for me to stop crying once I started. It was… it was all just a lot. Simon Snow came back to me. I was kissing Simon Snow just now. I didn’t deserve this, did I? I bet he didn’t mean it. I bet something would take him away from me again… and I would just be alone, completely alone again. I was so scared. Scared to be happy, because once you find that happiness – especially if it’s a person– it can be taken away from you.

“I… Baz? Did I say something? I’m sorry.” He tried to take a look at my face, but I tried just as hard to hide it.

“No,” I blurted out and looked up at the ceiling. “Crowley, no. I am sorry. What the fuck is even wrong with me…” I staggered sideways and leaned on the writing desk. I covered my eyes with one hand and pushed my fingers into my eyes, as if I could physically push the tears back.

“Hey, come on,” Snow cooed. I didn’t even have the willpower to try and fight him off when he put his arms around me. Making sure I wouldn’t start openly sobbing took all I had. “Really, did something happen?”

I tried to answer normally. But what came out was a half-sob, half-laugh, before the words began rushing out. “I just… I never thought this would happen,” I admitted. “All these years, I thought I could just never have you and… Now look at me. Crowley. Way to ruin the mood, right?” I felt like I could die.

“I didn’t… You’re not… You haven’t ruined anything,” he shook his head and rubbed my back to comfort me. But I could feel him not being sure what to do. Then he apologized: “Sorry, I’m rubbish at this, too.”

I dared to lay my forehead on his shoulder.

“We’re both pretty rubbish, I think,” I croaked. “And I’m the one making things awkward.”

“Well then, you could just push me against that wall again. Would that work?”

“Ha ha,” I said sarcastically, but then, I couldn’t help but laugh just a bit.

He brushed my hair out of my face.

I slipped my arms around his waist.

“Baz?”

“Yes?”

“Just… just wondering. How long have you liked me for, exactly?”

Funny you should ask.I lifted my head up to press a kiss to the corner of his mouth. The answer was simple. Straightforward.

“Always.”

He looked guilty for some reason. He pressed his forehead against mine. “Sorry it took me so long, then,” he almost whispered, and I couldn’t help but smile the widest smile in… Well, in years, I think.

“It’s okay,” I told him. “I think it’s okay now.”

#snowbaz #baz grimm pitch #simon snow #snowbaz fic #carry on fanfic #part two #angst #fluff #penelope bunce #anyone ever had a heartbreak so bad they were physically in pain?#yes? no?#projectiooooon #fanfiction #my fanfiction #writing #my writing

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dakesmoke · 4 years

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Migraine- Meaning, Confusions, And Remedies

MIGRAINE HEADACHES

A chance for a migraine headache could become the most peculiar panic of somebody who's suffered out of you. These painful pains are thought to result from fluctuations in the amount of dopamine from your mind. In the event the ranges are excessively low, then this also results in the arteries to swell, also this swelling induces a significant lot of ache. The degree of dopamine your brain generates is dependent on several matters, for example, light, foods, estrogen, blood glucose, and even blood glucose.

People who have problems with migraines are aware the soreness may get incredibly extreme, practically avoiding them out of moving about their daily lives. Various men and women experience varying degrees of soreness by making use of their migraines - no 2 will be alike.

Outward indications of the migraine headache could incorporate nausea, nausea, blurry eyesight, irregular vision, sensitivity to light, noise and scents, intensive throbbing discomfort at numerous places in your own face, emotions of fatigue, confusion, and being overly warm or too cool, acquiring a rigid neck and buttocks, nausea, or feeling light led.

A lot of individuals additionally report that movements or becoming relieved raises the annoyance radically. A few folks have problems with migraines often they understand that when one really is going to start off - well until it really starts. They can undergo exhaustion, possess mood swings, even crave foods that are certain, or else they might even knowledge greater energy which is maybe not'ordinary' to these.

There are various kinds of migraine pain. Vintage Migraines are clarified as migraines which have been indicated by fluctuations in the manner one sees. Lack of irritability, depression, and migraines could indicate such migraines. Frequent Migraines commonly commence little by little and long-lasting for more than grey Migraines. Vintage Migraines and Frequent Migraines will be both the most frequent kinds of migraine pain.

Migraines may result from means of a number of matters, including as for instance excessive lighting, which results in the mind to create more dopamine than it's essential. Food items could induce migraines, and this also changes from one individual to another. Unbalanced estrogen degrees would be just another significant source, and also more ladies than guys suffer from migraine pain. Migraines could persist anywhere from a couple of hours as much as 3 times or even longer.

For a number of folks, within the counter pain relievers can help alleviate the discomfort of the migraine. For many others, more powerful painkillers pain-reliever is demanded. Again, the treatment ought to be initiated in the very first indication of the migraine as a way to fix it more faster. Some pharmaceutical drugs used to take care of acute migraine problems might be custom forming, thus care needs to be properly used.

Aside from drugs, in the event that you're dealing with a migraine, then you should step into a darkened room that's extremely silent and lay. If a signature will not disturb you personally, massaging your temples can provide help. Make certain you just apply stress into the woods, also you also need to continue to keep your eyes shut and set an awesome moist fabric or chilly compress over your eyes or onto your own mind or even both.

Migraines might be averted in quite a few means. For common ailments, drugs could possibly be approved to aid avert migraines. Wearing sun shades, notably, those created for hassle sufferers must additionally be utilized in glowing lighting. When particular foods often attract to your own migraines, then those food items should, of course, be averted. You also ought to be certain you obtain lots of rest also that you just avert pressure.

All over again, migraines are often quite painful. Prevention of those aches is critical, and also anybody who've one of these simple sorts of headaches is going to do whatever they are able to do in order in order to protect against the other individual out of arriving on. Prevention, nevertheless, does not necessarily do the job, once, be certain that you get started handling your insomnia aggravation in the exact first indication this you have been coming to get faster aid.

THE FOUR PHASES OF MIGRAINES

Migraines are a neurological disease, of which the most common symptom is an extreme and disabling episodic headache. Migraines usually are seen as severe pain on one or each side of the head and tend to be followed closely by hypersensitivity to light, hypersensitivity to sound and nausea.

The indicators and signs of migraine vary one of the persons. So, just what exactly a man experiences prior to, during and immediately after an assault cannot be identified exactly. The four"signs and symptoms" beneath are common among men but Aren't always experienced by all of the migraine victims:

1. The prodrome, which does occur days or weeks until the aggravation.

2. The aura, which immediately precedes the aggravation.

3. The aggravation phase.

The postdrome.

The first stage or prodrome

Prodromal signs or symptoms happen in 40% to 60 percent of migraineurs. This period consists of changed feelings, irritability, depression, depression or euphoria, fatigue, anxiety, and extreme sleepiness, urge for many meals (e.g., chocolate), and also other vegetative symptoms. These signs and symptoms usually precede the aggravation phase of the migraine attack by many hours or days and experience instruct the person or observant family in which the migraine attack is near.

The second stage of the Aura

The migraine aura is comprised of adrenal neural phenomena that precede or accompany the strike. They look slowly over 5 to 20 minutes and normally deteriorate just before the headache starts. Signs of Candida aura are usually sensory in nature.

Visual aura has become easily the most usual of the neurological occurrences. That was a disturbance of eyesight consisting mostly of unformed flashes of white or infrequently of multicolored lighting (photopsia) or formations of sparkling zigzag lines (arranged like the battlements of a castle, so hence the definition of fortification spectra or teichopsia).

Some men complain of either fuzzy or shimmering or cloudy vision, as though they're appearing through thick or smoked glass. The somatosensory feeling of migraines consists of digitolingual or cheiro-oral paresthesias, a feeling of pins and needles experienced at both the hand and arm in addition to from the ipsilateral nose-mouth area. Paresthesia migrates the arm up and then extend to involve the face, lips, and tongue.

The next phase: The Headache

The most normal migraine aggravation is unilateral, throbbing, mild to intense and can be aggravated by physical exercise. Not each one of these functions is required. The soreness might be bilateral at the onset or commence one side and also become excruciating, usually alternates sides from one attack into the following.

The onset is usually slow. The soreness peaks and subsides, and usually lasts between 4 and 72 hours in adults and 1 to two days in kids. The frequency of strikes is extremely changeable, from several in a day to several times a week, along with also the average migraineur undergoes from a few liters per few months.

The mind pain changes tremendously in seriousness. The annoyance of migraines is always followed closely by other features. Anorexia is ordinary, and nausea occurs in nearly 90 percent of men, although vomiting occurs in roughly 1 / 3 of persons.

Many men experience neural hyper-excitability exemplified by photophobia, phonophobia, osmophobia and seek a dark and quiet space. Blurred vision, nasal stuffiness, diarrhea, polyuria, pallor or perspiration may be said throughout the headache period. There might be localized edema of the scalp or face, scalp tenderness, and prominence of a vein or artery at the temple, or even swelling and stiffness of this neck. Impairment of concentration and mood are all common. Light-headedness, in place of authentic vertigo and a feeling of faintness, may arise. The extremities tend to be moist and cold.

The next stage: postdrome stage

The individual might feel tired," cleaned out", irritable, listless and could have impaired concentration, baldness or feeling changes. Some people feel unusually refreshed or euphoric after an attack, whereas some others note melancholy and malaise.

The info offered here must not be translated as professional medical information. In the event that you or someone you know is affected with migraines, then please seek professional medical advice for your most recent treatment options.

Permission is given to reprint this article provided that no adjustments are all created, along with also the entire source box is contained.

NATURAL TREATMENT OF MIGRAINES

That clearly was really a very big controversy involving pure solutions for migraine one of gout victims and sufferers. Are there any all-natural choices that perform? The response isn't just a straightforward 1.

For most of the all-natural remedies which are normally handed from 1 creation to the next, they've been considered to insufficient scientific evidence and also to simply apply the placebo effect for a way of supplying aid for sufferers. In spite of the aforementioned simple fact, natural solutions for insomnia are frequently dispersed and persons appear to dismiss technological allure.

An Individual will comprehend that organic treatments exist for Sure motives:

1 ) The vast majority are predicated on normal chemicals that can easily be offered.

2 ) Normally the all-natural treatment options are treated a lot better compared to the prophylactic prescription drugs a migraine victim regularly needs to carry regular to stop migraine attacks from taking place with fewer unwanted results.

3) The price of all-natural remedies would be of those changing times less compared to one of insomnia prescription drugs, notably the contemporary types.

4) They could work all things considered!

Among the absolute most often occurring all-natural solutions for migraine headache is really apple-cider-vinegar. It's thought to normalize your overall body's pH in order that constipation might be avoided. It isn't clinically demonstrated to get the job done but a few folks utilize drops of lemon cider inside their own water or inhale the portions of tepid to warm water which has an apple.

Feverfew is a normal herb that supposedly will help prevent migraine attacks and also to diminish the frequency of those. The migraines which happen are assumed to survive significantly less and also have less and not as intense uncontrollable indications like nausea and nausea. Feverfew was analyzed securely in search of studies for up to 34 weeks. No scientific evidence is present to get a time of usage more compared to this.

Aside from the two herbal remedies for insomnia that there are several coordinated techniques by which a combo of tactics is traditionally utilized in the treatment of migraines. Regardless of what you are doing, just before choosing any nutritional supplement consult with your personal doctor since a few chemicals can socialize to your present drug or health care requirements you may have.

COMMON QUESTIONS ABOUT MIGRAINE

How can I understand if that really is gingivitis?

This really could be definitely the most frequently encountered question the majority of individuals are not sure concerning the identification of gout. Though most of the migraines have been still headaches, all headaches aren't migraines. There may be a number of factors such as hypertension, cervical spondylosis and inadequate eyesight currently being truly a couple. Thus every person with pain shouldn't think he's afflicted by migraine. The Extensive grade of identification will be Should You possess two or even more of the next signs through an attack It's likely You're Afflicted by sleeplessness:

A. Throbbing headache, usually on a single facet of their mind just.

B. visible disturbances (blink areas, twisted vision, flashing lights or zigzag styles ) those signs have been commonly referred to as air.

C. Nausea and nausea or nausea.

D. Improved sensitivity to moderate.

E. Boost sensitivity to noises.

The 2nd overall principle would be that should a hassle and also other connected indicators keep you from continuing with activities it might possibly be considered a migraine.

Which will be the usual causes?

Migraine is thought to result from the discharge of the compound known as serotonin or 5HT into the blood from the own storage websites from your system, leading to fluctuations in hormones and bloodstream at the mind. What can cause it to take place is not clear: Yet selected factors are identified that can cause attacks in vulnerable individuals:

a. psychological pressure, e.g., anger, and stress, shock, and melancholy.

B. physical exercises including more effort/fatigue vary in sleeping patterns and travel.

C. menstrual changes such as puberty and puberty phase, menopause, puberty.

D. Environmental such as mild, loud sound, intensive scents, transform or smoking or climate

Spicy Diet such as deficiency of foodstuff or meals that are infrequent, special foods such as chocolate, citrus fruits, alcohol, cheese, particularly red wine. Other factors such as the utilization of sleeping pills hypertension, toothache or other health difficulties, eye strain, congested sinus, and noise issues.

Migraine activates are varied and numerous and come about in mixes odd to one person. For many there clearly was maybe not simply 1 cause however also a blend. These are able to be taken separately nevertheless if a few come about collectively, a threshold will be passed along with an attack that will be brought on. Assessing and averting personal cause factors may provide help.

If a lot among my mother and father is affected by migraines, why could it be mandatory I will have it?

Although it's been found that sleeplessness does operate in families, it's perhaps not essential that kiddies of gout patients may have it. This holds the case the other way around. We frequently express that due to the fact nobody family had bothered they may not consume. That is likewise not correct. It's feasible that individuals who possess gingivitis even though nobody else at your household needs got it.

Migraine isn't easy to treat?

Migraine is quite a curable disorder as every additional disorder.

#Lifestyle

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sugar-petals · 5 years

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Sorry if this sounds really dumb but I'm new to BTS … if Yunki and Jeongguk are the actual spellings why do they use Yoongi and Jungkook because when I watched a video on how to pronounce their names the pronunciation is more like the first spelling so its more confusing if you understand lol???

The short answer: Giant dilemma. Bighit’s marketing was a bad move and people are lazy, we’re stuck with the Yoongi/Jungkook variation unless more understand the alphabet.

The long answer: It was supposed… to be easier to pronounce. But they couldn’t possibly have used consonants and vowels that resemble their original Hangeul names in every language, written and (!) spoken. Take German. We easily see “Yoongi” as “Jongy”. Even “Yunki” reads as “Junky”. Wholly incorrect, looks ridiculous as well. It was meant for English speakers as a target group (hence also “V”, “J-Hope”, “Rap Monster”) — the irony, they get it wrong the most. Have yet to see an American nail JK’s name with the pronunciation aid of “Jungkook”. The original hard G sounds aren’t done justice with the soft Ks. Lost in translation. Add that nobody listens closely when BTS introduce themselves. Would have been better to use the exact romanization in the first place. But even that one has a lot of room for phonetic variation with any speaker. Romanization is tricky as hell, this shit is a cultural battleground. Take the monikers: We don’t call Namjoon “Al-em” (RM) either. If we did, it would still be faulty. Because the Korean ㄹ does not really sound like an actual English L or R! But we think it does, which bighit tried to pick up on for our convenience. But it’s only a loose approximation and thus goes… awry when mixed with willful ignorance 💀

News anchors be like. BÄngtÄn SonyEAUönDóNG... JunSóoK… SOOGE

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The only proper way would be to write say 정국 for JK every time which I think would be respectful anyways. And only fair since Koreans learn English and are expected to get our names right that way, too, vice versa. BTS become excited themselves when somebody learns; it should be a given, especially for habitual fans. But to many, it is an arguable hassle with copy paste, accessibility concerns, foreign keyboards, and for people who don’t have a grasp on the Korean alphabet in the first place: Which I wish they did because it’s quite fast to learn and a must if you follow K-Pop for longer, just to find fancams alone. But the issue is, and I see the point: every single newcomer fan would have their eyes collapse seeing a wall of 김태형 민윤기 전정국 김석진 정호석 박지민 just about anywhere like in chats with fellow English speakers. Some people would also go full Koreaboo with other words when it’s not appropriate. Add xenophobia x white priviledge and it gets even more difficult. Korean is not an internationally dominant language, English is, and everything must be geared towards it, everything must conform. Be very mindful that this is racist at its very core. Bighit and Namjoon have been serving English native speakers everything on a silver plate while they didn’t do half as much for them even if learning 24 basic characters isn’t too much to ask, 40 for the extra mile. The fandom uses Kim Taehyung out of habit, feasibility, and because they market it this way, not Gim Teh-hyeong or 김태형. It’s a mutual dilemma. I don’t think bighit will ever rebrand and the fandom will change their habit of Yoongi, Jungkook, and so on, because they see it everywhere and don’t know it’s wrong. Jeongguk — it is closer to Hangeul— remains the only variation that has prevailed in some corners. Which again has a downside, since one name is not consistently used you have to search for things twice, and it’s been Jungkook from the very start in the Debut MV. The solution for all this mess, long story short! Is going back to the root of the issue to dodge the romanization troubles. Before we do just about anything else, at least checking out the Korean alphabet is the first basic step so the pronunciation is accurate.

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And this is how it plays out:

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#languages #korean #bts #hard candy #anon #ask

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dondake · 5 years

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[mistagio] roman holiday

rating: t summary: Mista doesn’t target tourists, but he’ll make exceptions. AO3 Link

It wasn’t that Guido Mista was homeless, except - ever since he was evicted for not paying three months worth of rent (“I’ll have it next week...or the week after that, promise on my grandmother’s grave.”), he had been flitting from couch to couch to keep a roof over his head. And it wasn’t that he was penniless and couldn’t afford even a bare bones efficiency, as his stars shone over him and let him move from part time job to part time job as he pleased, but it was a hassle to negotiate lease terms and bicker with new landlords. After Bruno politely kicked him out after two weeks and Fugo forbade him from taking advantage of Narancia’s generosity for more than two whole months, Mista had taken to honing his charisma to charm his way into the beds of those who would take him. But now the girl he had been staying with, a trusting assistant baker, had hesitantly asked him when he thought the plumbing at his place would eventually be fixed and he knew his days on her borrowed patience was coming to an end.

Taking some money from her counter, he told her he would go check on his apartment and come back with pastries and espresso and trotted down the alleyway behind the building with no intention of returning. The sun was beginning to peek through the tops of the trees sparsely littering the street; the weather was going to be nice for the next few days, which was fortunate if he struck out and had to resort to sleeping in the park for the night. Of course, that was not preferable, so he did go to the closest shop and buy buttery cornetti and three cups of hot coffee.

Narancia was outside his store when Mista came up, keeping his gait casual. While Narancia was not one to notice the mood, he did not need the boy tipping Fugo off about his intentions before he had properly launched into his petition. “Oh, it’s you, Mista.” Setting up his sign, promising accurate models and other handcrafted figures if one would just step inside, Narancia straightened up and grinned. “I was wondering if you’d gone ahead and got married! That’s got to be the longest time you’ve overstayed your welcome like that!”

“Good morning to you too,” Mista said, choosing to ignore the backhanded commentary. “Have you eaten yet? I thought about you when I was getting breakfast; there’s some for the sour thistle too, before he chases me out for not being an accommodating guest.”

“Well, I’m not going to say no to food! Come on in.”

What he needed, Mista thought, was a reliable source of income. Narancia had been every bit of a blue collar, bullet-nosed kid raised on the streets like he was, but now he was the proprietor of a humble little toy shop on one of the main streets of Naples. While it was no fancy boutique, the wooden shelves were neatly painted, polished, and sturdy, holding the metal miniatures of airplanes and trains that were imported from Spain. The shades were drawn closest to the stuffed animals on the west wall, and the middle of the floor plan held the delicate tables where the carved wooden pieces Narancia whittled and tinkered with were displayed. Narancia was good with his hands, good with a blade, but he would have been any ordinary craftsman were it not for the scowling man who glowered at Mista as he approached the back counter.

“What do you want, Mista,” Fugo said. Heir to a wealthy import company, he had since wrested his share of the family fortune to co-own Arrowsmith with Narancia as the shop’s bookkeeper and sales liaison. “No, you cannot stay the night with Narancia. Have you cycled through your little black book of friends already?”

“Oh, what’s it to you,” Mista scoffed, putting the coffees down on the counter and pulling his hands away in time to avoid Narancia’s grabbing for his share. “You’re not Narancia’s roommate and you aren’t sleeping with him, so I’m not displacing you or anything.” Only Narancia was oblivious enough to think Fugo had no ulterior motives for providing the capital for his shop and staying behind after closing to teach him how to accurately calculate his profits for the day. The comment made Fugo’s mouth twist, a mortified shade of pink coloring his ears.

“You got kicked out? Do you need a place to stay?” Narancia said, between bites of pastry.

“Maybe. I’ll get back to you. You’ll lend me your couch for a night or two, won’t you? Can’t you help your pal, who’s down on his luck?”

Narancia opened his mouth to say yes, but Fugo spoke up first and louder. “Just find your own place already, Mista. Aren’t you tired of moving from place to place? I can’t imagine what this is doing to your sleep cycle. You do know that people’s brains don’t fully settle when they’re in new surroundings for the first time, right? You’re not feeling well rested because your body is in a state of alert since you keep changing bedrooms.”

“You could have cured cancer if you weren’t playing with toys,” Mista said, waving a hand to dismiss him. “How about it, Narancia? Only if I can’t find someone to room with. You know I stay out; you won’t even know I’m there.”

Narancia opened his mouth again, before closing it and glancing at Fugo. For a horrified moment, Mista thought he had lost his closest ally to the clumsy advances of someone younger than both of them, who insisted that his clothes weren’t raggedy, they were worn and lived in. But Narancia shifted the weight in his feet anxiously and said, “Well...maybe, okay. Only for a few days. Fugo got us a contract with the tourism board so I’ve got to make some miniatures of the Duomo di Napoli that they’ll sell in their offices. You know a ton of people go through them, so it could really put...put Arrowsmith on the map.” This was Fugo’s script, for sure. “But...and don’t take this the wrong way, but when you’re around, I won’t get them all done in time. I mean, I like hanging out with you, but you really go all out sometimes and that’s fun, but…”

“I get it, I get it.” Mista shrugged. Perhaps he had taken the wrong gamble and should have visited Bruno first with the breakfast money; now he would need to needle the bureaucrat empty-handed. “That’s great, though. Can you imagine the things you make sitting in the houses of someone from across the ocean?”

“Yeah! And I won’t need to make Fugo translate for me to sell them.” Fugo, with his knowledge of several major languages, was invaluable for a little local shop that attracted tourists with artisanal tastes; Narancia was a favorite with the kids in the neighborhood, but he let Fugo do the talking for the rest of their clientele.

Mista raised his brows. “Then you’d better look for another job, since Narancia won’t need you anymore soon.”

Fugo was finished with his espresso or else he would have probably thrown it in Mista’s face. “Just get out, you freeloader.”

Bruno would most likely be busy at this point in the morning and would not be particularly generous while he was at his office; Trish was probably sleeping and her wrath at being deprived of her beauty sleep would make Bruno even less inclined to do him any favors. The shipping company he was with would not be receiving any deliveries until later in the week, so he was waiting on his heels for his next paycheck. His best bet was to linger in the marketplace and do any odd jobs and run errands for pittance to get a bed in one of the back alley hostels. If he was lucky, he’d find his next victim - he was good at scoping out someone who was good natured and trusting of his sob stories, even if they weren’t always convincing.

The marketplace was becoming busy, with older women making the rounds to snatch the freshest produce before the latecomers arrived. Hanging back, Mista took stock of the girls running the stands; he had fooled around with Maria’s sister, so she would be wary around him; Felicia was friends with two girls whom he had parted with on bad terms, so she was also a no go. He doubted Anna would want to pick up her brother’s sloppy seconds, and he was not eager to reintroduce himself into Antonio’s household anyway. There were a few fresh faces that Mista did not recognize; they were most likely tourists by the way they were looking around with careless awe. Their pockets would be picked before the sun set. Mista did not usually try to pick up tourists; they became too cautious when he suggested they return to their hotel and he had to admit he did not really look the part of a good, upstanding Italian citizen.

While most of the tourists were traveling in tight packs, there was one person wandering by himself. Holding a piece of paper, the blonde stranger walked down each aisle with careful precision, examining each table’s wares. He was dressed too well to be an American and his features were decidedly European, though Mista would not be surprised if he was biracial with his less severe cheekbones and a lighter skin tone than the Italians in the region. In fact, Mista had been about to write the man off as a native until the man came closer and Mista saw through the paper what looked to be an address and a crudely drawn map. Naples was big, but not big enough to confuse someone who had lived in the area for years. “Hey,” he called, leaning back against the fountain to expose his neck and appear open and unthreatening. The man turned to him, startled but not jumpy; this was a tourist who had been to Italy before or had a good enough head on his shoulders not to be fooled by more basic swindlers. “Are you looking for something? Do you need any help?”

The man stared at him for a long, silent moment. “I’m looking for a particular dried goods store. I was told that they sometimes sell here, but I can’t seem to find them. I’ve just recently arrived, so I’m still figuring out my directions.”

“Oh? Let me see; I can probably point you in the right direction.” Speed Wagon was an old establishment, well known despite not being on a very public street. “It’s pretty close, maybe a ten minute walk. Just go up until you get to the seamstress, then bear left and go diagonally across the square and pass the newspaper stand and the butcher. But not the butcher with the hog’s head plaque; you need to go further to the one with the wreath of grain. It should be down the cobblestone side street.” He was being purposefully vague with his directions, practiced in casually using his hands to talk. He would not offer to take him there; it had to be a request, so he knew he was not wasting his time with someone as vigilant as Bruno.

The man took back the paper with the address and terrible map and stared at it for another long moment. “I suppose you won’t help me out any more without a price. I’m a sitting duck, with how I’ve told you that I’m new to the area. But I’m Italian, just like you are; I can navigate my motherland even with that convoluted explanation.” He began to walk away, only pausing when Mista began to laugh.

“Alright, alright. I’ll help you out. For free, and you can hold that on my good name.” The stubborn ones were fun; the prideful ones made his conquest even better. This tourist could appeal to his nationalistic side all he wanted, but he was still new to Italy and Mista had no loyalty to someone who had chosen to call somewhere else home.

“Then you should share your good name,” the man prompted. Mista laughed again; everyone here knew of him, and he had done most everyone a favor once or twice. His enemies would be the enemies of any tourist, prepared or not, so he had no fear of revealing himself.

“Guido Mista. Call me Mista; that’s what everyone else does.” The man did not volunteer his name, but Mista looked at the piece of the paper with the address that had an elaborate letterhead. “I’m going to assume that GG are your initials; care to return the favor?” A nice letterhead - and the man was wearing nice leather shoes and a nice pressed shirt. Tourists with money were hard to crack, but the payoff was always worth it.

“Giorno. Giorno Giovanna.”

“Alright. Matches your hair.” The sun was just as bright a gold as Giorno’s head, a neat plait as perfect as a meticulously shaped challah. It was appropriate, Mista thought; he appreciated a good looking man when he saw one. It was natural that those who were blessed with classically beautiful features attracted people to themselves. Bruno was polished and put together and Trish had good proportions; she might have had inherited roots in government with a politician father, but Mista always thought they would have had their names in the papers by look alone. To contrast, Abbacchio was a peace officer who operated alone because he was just too gloomy.

“So how long have you been in Naples?” Tourist marks got nervous if you were too quiet. And frankly, Giorno’s guardedness and understated privilege suggested that Mista might get the jump on if he wasn’t careful himself.

“Only a few days. My...father has a few affairs he wants me to take care of at his house.”

“Your family house is in the area? How can you say you’re new? Where are you coming from?”

If Giorno was put off by his questioning, he did not show it. “I’ve spent some time in Florence and Rome, but I’ve returned from Japan after visiting my mother. It is unfortunately time I cannot get back.”

“Tell me about it! My mother will never get off my case when I go home; she’s always asking what I’ve done with my life. Nothing, apparently, since I’m still alive, huh?”

That made Giorno chuckle, though level and restrained. Still, the sound had a funny way of sticking in Mista’s ear. A passing thought wondered what Giorno’s genuine laugh would sound like. He felt Giorno’s eyes case over his head at the hog’s head sign over the first butcher and then at the grain wreath over the second butcher’s door. What a little fool - only a novice thief would lie about everything from the start. They arrived at Speed Wagon, tucked away in a back street with only a flickering light illuminating the spoked wheel crest. “Thank you,” Giorno said. “For helping me find this place.”

“No problem. Actually, now that I’m here, I guess I’ll grab some jerky for a snack. May as well, since I’m never over here.” Again, Giorno’s apprehension of Mista sticking around didn’t show on his face, and he held the door open for Mista. Wandering into a back corner, he kept his ears alert as Giorno approached the counter.

“Pick-up? Under what name?”

Giorno paused. “Dio,” he murmured. Mista heard the crumple of the paper in his hands and looked between the shelves at Giorno pushing it into his pocket.

“Ah...our least favorite regular. Will he be visiting the house soon?”

“I guess so. His business is none of mine.”

There seemed to be some unspoken understanding between Giorno and the shopkeep. Mista had never heard of the Giovanna name, nor of a Dio, but he was not one to rub shoulders with the elite. He’d keep the names in mind to ask Bruno, who had his hand to the pulse of the city. “I only ask because...his order was three cases of red wine. Now, I’m not doubting your strength but this is a tall order for a single person and I know your father is...particular of who fetches his things and enters his house.”

“Wine? I thought this was a dried goods shop.”

“We are. But you must understand we also have connections and will carry what we’re asked of.” The man brought out each case of bottles and set them on the counter with a significant weight behind the sound of them settling on the wood. “You could carry them individually but I suspect it will take time for each…”

“I’ll help,” Mista volunteered, stepping out from where he had been watching. Giorno did not seem surprised at his suggestion. Mista thought that Giorno had been aware of his whereabouts the entire time they had been in Speed Wagon. “I’m currently working out at the docks; two cases should be no problem.”

The shopkeeper turned to Giorno. “A family friend?”

“That would be generous.” Giorno studied the wine. “I suppose I have no choice but to rely on you again, Mista.”

Upon leaving Speed Wagon, Giorno did not return to the main road, where most of the cars were parked. Hitching the crates of wine under his arm, Mista hoped whatever penthouse suite Giorno was returning to was far enough away that he could really flex and show off his muscle definition to sweeten the deal. But Giorno merely continued walking, a crate of wine in his hands, and walked right out of the center of the city. Mista was no slouch, he worked out in his spare time, but he did not usually carry heavy items for significant distances. Just as he contemplated asking Giorno for a break, they emerged from the road to a grand villa on the outskirts of Naples, right where the buildings began to move further and further from each other. “Welcome to my father’s house,” Giorno said, gazing up at the gate in front of them. He turned back to Mista, quietly and expectedly.

“You aren’t going to invite me in, give me a drink or nothing?”

Giorno sighed, but he allowed Mista to follow him into the main house. Mista had gone to a nice house like this once, when he was temping for a catering firm, but the constant flow of guests had kept him from really taking in the extravagance. The pillars bordering the little courtyard inside, where a red clay fountain bubbled in the center surrounded by lush shrubbery, had to be made from stone straight from the source, smoothed by hand. The floor was marble tile, with barely a scratch. Giorno’s shoes were real leather, but Mista’s sandals were almost dirt cheap and boldly striding across enough stone worth a month’s paycheck. They bypassed the kitchen and Giorno led him to a small, cool wine cellar at the foot of a flight of wooden stairs. The three crates of wine seemed insignificant against the already impressive collection displayed around them. Giorno set his crate on the ground and Mista stacked his on top, casually rubbing his biceps with as little expression as he could muster. He would be sore tomorrow, for sure.

“Thank you again,” Giorno said.

“Sure thing.” Mista stared up at the dirt ceiling, his voice sinking into the soil and brick around them. “Do you wanna fuck?”

“Here?”

“Uh, no, unless you want to. I’m sure there’s got to be a bed or something in this huge house.”

Giorno blinked his beautiful blue eyes at him. The adrenaline was really coursing through his blood if he was being this reckless, calling Giorno beautiful despite knowing the man for less than half a day. Mista knew his way around many a beautiful Italian, but there was something different in the way Giorno carried himself - ethereal, yet the gold around the edges could be pure and soft or gold plated pewter. Mista wouldn’t know, but he did want to take the risk and sink his teeth in. “I thought you said you wanted to come in for a drink,” Giorno said, finally. He cradled his arms in front of his chest, defensively, but it wasn’t a no.

“We can get a drink and then we can fuck. What, do you have an order you like to do these things in?”

Giorno poured two tall glasses of water, as they had been lifting wine in the sun, but they were left mostly full on the table next to the window. Mista doubted the bedroom Giorno brought them to was his own, personal one, but with the different rooms they had passed, Giorno could sleep in a different bed for each night of the week and it wouldn’t matter. Tourists scrambled to explore Naples on a budget, but lucky boys like Giorno only had to to book a flight and fall right into his father’s house for a quick holiday. It made Mista feel less guilty fucking Giorno right into what felt like expensive sheets, paid for by a faceless older man. Giorno’s skin was hot in his hands, a flash of fire, like the setting sun. He hadn’t timed it right, Mista though, wiping his brow with his wrist, buried halfway into the boy beneath him. If had bided his time and waited until the sun was completely below the horizon, he could spin a tale that it was just worth it to stay the night.

“You’re distracted,” Giorno said, reaching back and pulling Mista close by the hip. “Finish what you started.”

Afterwards, they returned to the city for dinner. Giorno was leaning against the wall, the buttons on his shirt done low so Mista could see dark red hickeys where neck met shoulder, staring out the window of the pizzeria when Bruno walked up to the table.

“I heard from Fugo that you would be looking for me, but it looks like you won’t be needing my help.” Bruno was not one to judge openly, but Mista knew he had seen them from a distance and had studied Mista, hunched forward in his chair over his plate, and Giorno, practically sprawled along the booth. “Who is your acquaintance?”

“Bucciarati, this is Giorno. Giorno, here’s the man who practically runs all of Naples. Effectively.”

“A pleasure,” Giorno said, taking the hand Bruno extended to him. “Bruno Bucciarati. I’ve heard of you. If you’re here, then you must also be with--”

“We should order pick-up next time,” Trish said, sliding up to Bruno’s side and wrapping an arm around his arm. “Ugh. They’ve got a new girl taking orders and she’s seen me perform before. I could not get in a word edgewise. She’ll get her mother, or her father, so be careful and don’t engage. We’ll be here until midnight if we let her chatty family catch us.” Trish let her complaint trial off, recognizing Mista, who had returned to eating. “Oh, hello Mista. Haven’t seen you in a while. Who’s your catch now?”

“Trish,” Mista said, giving her a look. Bruno clasped a hand over hers on his arm and squeezed - subtly, but Mista saw Giorno follow the movement with his eyes. “Giorno. Giorno, Trish.” He hated introducing the people he was sleeping with to the gang. Without labels, it became awkward and troublesome to describe. Not that there was a label for someone he had only slept with once, but he was regretting not going somewhere with a lower likelihood of running into someone he would know.

“A little...no, a lot out of your strike zone, Mista. Oh, I’m kidding!” Trish threw her hands up. “Can’t a girl make a joke! It’s nice to meet you, Giorno. Don’t mind me, but I hope you’re keeping Mista in check. He’s really not for everyone.”

“He’s not,” Giorno agreed.

“I haven’t seen you around,” Bruno said. “Are you new to Naples?”

“My flight landed two days ago. I’m just getting over the jetlag.”

“I see. I welcome you to the city. As Mista so generally put it, I do work in administration so it’s my duty to make sure your time here is enjoyable.”

“There’s so much more to see than Mista’s random assortment of haunts,” Trish said, laughing when Mista began waving her off. “I’m not performing until Thursday, so hopefully you’ll be free then and can come watch. Bruno always reserves a table, and I’m sure he’d love the company.”

“You’ll love his company until Trish is done performing, then you’re a third wheel,” Mista groused. “Hey, Bucciarati. I actually think I will come over. When will you be home?”

Giorno turned to him. “How long are you planning to be out? I’m a little tired as it is, so I don’t know if I can stay out too late.”

Closing his mouth before it was obvious he had let his jaw drop, Mista put down his piece of pizza. “You...want me to come back to your place with you?”

Trish leaned into Bruno’s shoulder. “I think we should leave them now,” she whispered, loud enough for Mista to overhear. Bruno offered a polite farewell before excusing the both of them. They sat a fair distance away, and for Trish’s credit, did not look back or watch them.

“I just,” said Mista, “didn’t think you’d...I mean - I had a good time, but you’ve only got so much time before you’ve got to go-” He was shooting himself in the foot; he wanted a place to sleep, and now he was talking too much. There had been others who had been enamored early, whom Mista had taken full advantage of, but it was the unlikely combination of Giorno’s means and options he was bound to have - and Trish was right, boys like Mista could be found on any block in any neighborhood.

“Go? Where am I going?”

“You’re on holiday, aren’t you? Staying at your father’s house?”

Giorno studied him. “I’m not on holiday. I’ve just moved here. My father’s gifted me his house, so yes, I’ve got some of his affairs to take care of, but I own that property. It’s big to be alone in, and while I must admit you wouldn’t have been my first choice…” He folded his hands, and Mista felt rooted in place, caught in Giorno’s snare. “Unless, you mean to say that you only slept with me because you were expecting never to see me again.” He wore a frown, but there was no real heat in it. Giorno could find someone else and forget him with a blink of an eye.

Mista felt able to breathe again, exhaling with a shaky laugh. “It would have been easier,” he admitted. He followed Giorno back to the villa, back to the same room, and they fucked again, lazily because Giorno was tired. What a brilliant stroke of luck, Mista thought. He had a roof over his head for the night. But more than that - he was known to be a bit laser focused when catching someone in his sniper scope, unrelenting until he’d gotten what he wanted. It had been a while since he’d been caught in the crosshairs of someone else’s aim, and the gaze Giorno had on him wasn’t besotted but one of conquest. Giorno had full intention of making him kneel, pledging his loyalties to a golden haired golden boy - and while Mista had no intention of bending to another’s will, the thought of submitting to Giorno made him shiver.

“I hope you won’t mind,” Giorno yawned, swadling himself with pillows as Mista laid next to him, staring at a curious star-shaped birthmark on his nape, “but I’ve offered board to one of my closest advisors while I’m here. Polnareff knows to be discreet, but I’d rather keep my private life private.”

“Is that all you think of me as?” Mista asked, grinning cheekily. “An on-call booty call, kept man that you can summon at any time, left to wander on my own when you don’t want me?”

Giorno ran his fingers through his hair, curly from the braid. “Is that such a bad life?” He rolled over, coming up so close that he pushed Mista onto his back and splayed his fingers out on his chest. “Tell you what - I know this estate’s been the place of many attempted break-ins while my father wasn’t around. You can be the hired muscle to keep my enemies away from me. In exchange, I won’t expect you to be at peak performance whenever I want you.” Giorno leaned in, and Mista remembered they hadn’t kissed - and in spite of himself, his breath caught in his throat. It was the kiss of death, and he was signing away his life to be in Giorno’s services. It wasn’t exactly what he had in mind for a carefree life, but as he kissed back, he thought it was excusable for now.

#mistagio #giomis #giorno giovanna #guido mista #jojo's bizarre adventure #jojo #canadino fic #ao3 link recommended since this is a long one

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theolivechickken · 5 years

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Come to Salzburg they said. It will be easy they said.

Brace yourself: here’s week 1.

Jan 15

Scarfed down an egg, cheese, and spinach cake-looking omlette before running upstairs for German. Katharina printed out little character cards and we had to translate them out loud to each other.

Hallo, mein name ist Brigitte (also had to spell my name out in German). Ich bin dreiundsiebzig Jahre alt. Ich komme aus Klagenfurt, Kärnten.

Oof why are numbers so difficult? Hopefully I’ll get the hang of it. It’s pretty easy if you know 1-10 but you have to know 1-10 and I don’t yet.

I like our Austria in Europe class. Normally, I think history is boring and it’s hard for me to stay engaged, but I thought it was really interesting how we opened the class. Wolfgang asked us, “What does history mean to you?” For me it’s a recollection of individual stories and how they play into the greater picture/shape society, as well as how society shapes individual’s stories. We also had a debate and discussion on how is identity formed. I’m glad we’re in a small lecture class. I almost never speak aloud in discussions/class, but I feel pretty comfortable speaking up in our group.

Remind me not to drink 2+ cups of black tea in one sitting. I was wayyyy to hyped on caffeine. Kinda felt like I shaking like that squirrel from Over the Hedge.

Oh my, our Sights and Sounds of Salzburg class was a looooooong one. Our professor has a thick accent so it’s hard to keep up and understand what she’s talking about. Sometimes she would ask a question and we wouldn’t know that she did until she just kept staring at us. We flipped through a thousand slides of historical art pieces.

Since we ended class at 15:30, there wasn’t much time to go out into the city before dinner. We ended up hanging out in the house to do homework or take a break before going out to Paul Stub’n. I had chicken, a baked potato, and a light salad.

Let me start by saying I have never seen any full length mirrors since we arrived here. So in the bathroom, you can understand that I was confused by the mirror and thought it was a weird hallway to another part of the bathroom. Only till I actually walked up to it and TOUCHED IT did I see my reflection and realized OH it’s a mirror and I’m dumb. Glad Aubree was there to witness it. We were dyiiing.

After dinner, we navigated through the city and found the lift on the other side of the mountain. We rode the elevator up since Aubree’s knee hasn’t been the happiest lately. Up on the Mönchsberg, we walked the scenic backway and found a museum as well as a stunning view of the city at night (photos will never do this place justice).

Jan 16

Had another egg, cheese, potato cake-looking omelette for breakfast and hiked up the stairs to German. For our Austria in Europe class this morning, we took a walk on the Mönchsberg and stopped at sites that had historical backgrounds and were essential to Austria/Salzburg’s development. He also pointed out the Eagle’s Nest and the church that was used in the Sound of Music (but the inside of a different church was used for interior scenes).

We trekked back to our building and had a potatoey crispy mac and cheese-esque dumpling casserole thing for lunch. I wished I knew the names of the foods Marcus cooked for us.

After this lunch break, we continued our Austria in Europe class and had a history lesson on the Habsburg family. My background on European history is rough/ basically non-existent since the last time I studied it was early-on in high school and I never retained any information because it was a butt-load of history to remember. So I’m happy to be getting another crash course. Turns out the Hapsburgs were a family who happened to be at the right place at the right time They managed to come into power and dominate the Holy Roman Empire for 600 years.

Nadia, Raine, Aubree, Patrick, and I went out to hang and do homework at a coffee house but ended up walking around town and stopping at Spar to buy chips and snacks. I need to learn how to ask, “Can I pet your dog?” in German. I keep seeing too many good bois, big woofers, and smol puppers that are all SO well trained and absolutely adorable. When we walked out of the grocery store, we found a little long-haired dog tied to a bench. Patrick went up to pet it while the rest of us stared and admired from a distance. We walked through the Hospital parking lot (and realized just how small this town is and how all these separate pieces of the city are finally connecting to a solid map) and then hung out at a little pastry shop before crossing the street to meet the rest of the group at the Aug (Augustiner braü).

Inside, there was a whole wall lined with small and large ceramic beer mugs (Steins?). You picked up a mug, washed it out in this grand sink station, paid 3-5 euros at the stand, and then walked over to the bar where the guy would fill your glass up from the tap. Honestly it was pretty good. 10/10 recommend and would come back- and the food wasn’t too bad either. I got a Riesen Käsekrainer mit senf (basically a giant sausage with cheese and mustard). Patrick and I also went to a stand to get some fries. I was confident in my German and ready to order and then I panicked mid-sentence but the lady still understood what I meant.

Jan 17

COME TO SALZBURG THEY SAID. IT WILL BE EASY THEY SAID. Our sounds of Austria professor just dropped a homework bomb on us. And the binders she passed out for our class are so unorganized (my OCD is killing meeeee). Why am I already overwhelmed with classes? I’m hoping this week is just chaotic from trying to adjust and process everything as well as from trying to establish somewhat of a routine. On the bright side, we had more comfort carbs for lunch (pasta with red sauce, bacon bits, and broccoli).

We ~finally~ ventured out to get our sim cards. Managed to buy a ticket and hop onto the bus (but am I supposed to scan my ticket or something?). Wasn’t sure what our stop was for the train station, but I was happily along for the ride (no need to stress yet folks). Salzburg is an interesting city. It’s always suuuuper quiet. People walking around town are silent. Individuals and families sitting on busses don’t talk. In restaurants, volume is kept to a minimum. I’m sure we all look crazy just existing out in the streets as Americans especially since we like to talk and travel in groups. It was quiet on the bus, but the ride was calming and it was nice to see parts of the city that we hadn’t seen before. Also, we saw some cute babies all bundled up and smiley. They look like miniature Michelin Tyre men.

We missed our stop for the train station?? So we just got off at the last stop which was the Europark (the large indoor mall). We stopped at the A1 store to get sim cards, but it was a hassle with such a large group and so many of us not really knowing what we need or what we’re getting. It sounds like we were trying to get one plan but ended up with a different one since the guy misinterpreted us? I’m still confused, and I feel like I spent a lot of Euros, but my phone works abroad now and it’s only a month plan so if it doesn’t work out or I don’t use/need all it’s perks I can just change it when the plan is up.

The mood drastically changed from when we went in, to when we came out. A lot of stress for both us, and the poor two workers who were trying their best to help us out. We hopped on a bus to head back to Old Town. Got off and scrambled to find a quick restaurant to eat at before attending a concert. Some split off to McDonalds, and some of us went to a fish food store. I ended up getting a fried fish sandwich thing, but it was either served cold, or cold from sitting too long. It was aight and definitely cheap. I’ve been missing fruit and veggies in my diet. I think Marcus does his best to include them in our meals, but I could really go for a smoothie.

How to save money by going out :)

don’t go out

get kids meals

fast food

street food

Also, here’s the rundown on the types of places to eat:

super fancy restaurants

sit down restaurants

sit down coffee houses

take out coffee houses

fast food

street food

We met up with the rest of the group in front of Haus für Mozart (Kleines Festspielhaus) for the concert: Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra. It’s quite an experience sitting at a concert. I think so many of us are used to having a lot of visual stimulation, but this was mainly a listening experience. Of course, you can watch the musicians playing their instruments or the conductor throwing his body into the music, but it’s a different kind of visual that we are not used to. The music was lovely, but it was also long. We were supposed to take notes throughout the concert, but I kept getting lost in thought or lost in the story of the music. Or maybe just lost. At some points it really was just music and I didn’t really know how it made me feel or think.

#Salzburg #Salzburg Semester #Studying Abroad

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nishantparihar-blog · 5 years

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Review Of Acousterr Music Transcriber

The music is divine. An individual interested in learning music can make it a profession or can learn it for fun. Albeit there are several ways through which you can stay close to music like learning instruments or singing. But after all it is you who have to choose, the way you want to opt.

Be it a song or an instrumental piece, musical notes play an important role. While listening to the song the expert and the already established learned musicians can make out the notes in that song, and write it down, converting into musical notes. A writeup of those musical notes can be represented in sheet music notation or tablature notation. This sheet music can help people play the song by themselves on their musical instruments. Tablature notation is more used by people learning stringed instruments such as guitar or ukulele.

The process to convert a song into musical notes is called transcription. A song is a delight to hear, nice and easy to sing, but when it comes in terms of musical notes and all, this song all of a sudden seems the utmost complex thing. Beginners may find it extremely confusing and frustrating to decipher a song note by note, and identify the chord changes and tempo. What if this process could be automated?

The Acousterr music transcriber makes a complex song into very simple musical notes. The application is so easy to use that any new music learner, will not be at all confused about how to use it. All the musical notes are so easily obtained that learning the particular song is fun, rather than any other difficult method. Plus it gives sufficient editing power to the user so that he can manually adjust notes and slow down a song without any pitch shift.

Notes Visualized In Spectrogram Editor

What makes Acousterr Music Transcriber so appealing?

Difficult task become easy:

When a new learning individual or a music student tries to play any song, they can find it very difficult to convert the song into musical ones. The difficulty can lead to him quitting learning music. So should one just quit, even if he loves music, just because he cannot jot down the musical notes? No, not at all there are various other options. One of the easiest is automatic musical transcription. This helps them in making music easy to understand by automating the process using complex signal processing algorithms.

This application helps the newly learning musicians to understand the song, and sing or play accordingly. There is no need to depend on the other people to prepare written music sheet or tablature transcriptions, and then play the specific music.

Modern technology for music lovers:

In this digital era, automation has come a far way. Anything is easily possible due to technology. By handing them the musical notes which in turn help them in playing music saves time as well as avoids dependencies. Once the audio is processed the person can easily get access to the musical notes and can play the song all by himself.

The app is very good for the artists as it very comfortable to use to make music, all the notes of music or other options are easy to find out by going into the specific section required. It even gives out the chords and tempo of the song, with precise location of chord changes. Eventually the results can be exported to tablature notation for guitar or piano, which is much simpler to understand for beginners. It’s useful for both rhythm and lead musicians as both chords and melody transcription is done. The main page of this app allows one to specify a youtube URL or an upload mp3 file or an on the fly microphone recording, for which you want the chords and tabs. The spectrogram editor shows all the options present in the app very clearly so that one can go to the track, visualize the note energies with time and can even listen to the track in slow tempo and keep on editing notes side by side.

When a song is played with the app an artist can obtain melody notes for sure, other than this:

➢ Replay in slow motion,

➢ View chord progression and precise locations of chord changes

➢ An useful visualization of detected notes on spectrogram

➢ Get tempo in terms of BPM

➢ Playing back for any number of times.

All these are available on the application to make music for a new learner. What is awesome is it is an end to end web platform without any need for a third party tool. Every tool is well integrated with the platform - be it a spectrogram editor or a tab player for playback and visualization of tablature.

Notes exported as guitar tablature - in Acousterr Tab Maker

Notes exported as piano tablature - in Acousterr Tab Maker

Fast and easy:

Its a web application, so no installs needed, no worrying about diminishing internal memory and having to clear up space for installation. This web app would truly simplify the process of transcription of the song into the musical notes. The app processes the audio within a span of 10 to 60 seconds, which can be revolutionary for the new learners as well as the pros in the music industry.

No hassle of going anywhere:

Acousterr is not only restricted to the music transcription, its also a community driven platform where people can contribute tabature for musical instruments like guitar, piano, ukulele, mandolin, bass guitar etc. There is an upvote downvote system just like quora which can help you select the best lesson to follow. The learner can learn the instrument of his choice without any difficulty and that too by sitting at home and in the timing preferred by the student.

No hassle of joining the music classes, no wastage of time in traveling and no need of paying heavy tuition fees, or learning in groups without understanding anything. The app has the user-friendly software that allows aspiring learners to learn any musical instrument of their choice.

A patient teacher, an app!

The results are eventually displayed in Acousterr Tab Maker - an amazing tablature editing and learning tool. It provides features for practicing along a tab on your guitar or piano. When a note is played with the app an individual or the student has to repeat it with the help of cues provided on screen. If the music played is right, the app automatically plays the next note, if not, then the notes remain displayed on the screen till the right note is played by the student. This allows the individual to learn slowly according to his pace, there is no need to hurry.

Not only for fun but beginning of a new career

A person can also create compositions in the form of tablatures and sell them on Acousterr nurturing the songwriting talent and providing an additional revenue stream for musicians. Contributing tabs to the community can help you get noticed by potential students. This can be a business opportunity for music teachers - much like what Youtube videos achieve for musicians today.

A new career, where a person loves the work he/she does, and plus make money so overall it is a win-win position.

What type of music can be transcribed?

Cean piano and vocal songs are transcribed best. Nevertheless the editing and visualization capabilities of the tools enable users to transcribe any song swiftly with ease. Its like ‘Google Translate for music learners’, so give it a try @acousterr.com

Link : https://www.acousterr.com/transcribe-music

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yonderu-bell · 6 years

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Navigating and Ordering from Suruga-ya with Tenso

Welcome to my updated guide to ordering through Suruga-ya using the forwarding service Tenso. I hope people don’t mind me taking the images out, but I thought that a text-based approach would be more helpful to people reading it over a range of devices.

If this sounds like a pain, you’ll probably be happier just using a proxy service, although this tutorial should still be of use for searching the site. However, once you get the hang of it, it’s not hard. Ordering yourself also eliminates the possibility that a sale will end before the proxy service is able to process your order, and at least reduces the possibility that an item will be sold out before you get it (Suruga-ya's items are available online and in-store, so there are no guarantees).

A couple of things before we start:

•Buy at your own risk. I’ve ordered from Suruga-ya numerous times without any problems, so it’s not exactly brain surgery. That said, I can’t stand over your shoulder and check your work, which means that any mistakes you make are your own and you’ll have to fix them yourself. So basically...

•...use common sense. Read all of Tenso’s rules, double-check your information when signing up for your account, think twice about buying something if you’re confused by the product description (you can’t return it after you receive it), and, overall, use a proxy service instead if you don’t feel confident buying things from a website in a language that you’re not proficient in.

•There may be mistakes because I am *not* fluent in Japanese (not even close).

•Suruga-ya takes PayPal from international customers, but I’ve read that they no longer accept international credit cards. I’ve also read that “adult” products cannot be purchased without a credit card, but you’ll need to do your own research on that topic (Tenso, for its part, prohibits buying “obscene articles” through its service).

•You should be able to use most of this guide if you’re using a different forwarding service, but you may have to do a little extra work

•This is accurate as of July, 2018. If you’re reading this several years from now, things may have changed (they’ve made several updates to their website just recently and will likely continue to).

Still here? Then continue under the cut to get started.

First, sign up for an account with Tenso, a Japanese mail-forwarding company. Make sure you read all the information about their fees, shipping options, prohibited items, etc., before you sign-up (I’ve seen people who were turned off by the identity verification part, in particular).

After you’ve done that, go to the ‘My Page’ section. There will be a box at the top that says ‘[Your Name]’s Tenso address,’ with a link at the bottom that says ‘How to enter your Tenso address.’ Click on that; there are several helpful examples, but all you need is the top one labeled ‘General Guide.’

Next, go to Suruga-ya. At the top of the page, to the right of the search bar, you’ll see a blue icon next to the word ‘サインイン (sign in).’ Click on it. [If you’re trying to do this on Suruga-ya’s mobile site, click on ‘マイページへ/to My Page’ under the logo.]

✸Creating an account/signing in:

On the right, you’ll see two boxes for signing in. The top says “e-mail address (メールアドレス)” and the bottom says “password (パスワード ).” Once you’ve entered those, you can click on the orange button and you’re in. If you’ve forgotten your password, click on the link below the password box (パスワードをお忘れの方はこちら) to reset it.

On the left, you’ll see two buttons allowing you to sign-in/create an account with either your facebook or Google account. If you’d like to do that, go ahead, but I can’t guide you. To create a wholly new account, click on the white button below those two (新規アカウントの作成) and follow the steps below. [mobile users: the white ‘new account’ button is right below the orange ‘sign-in (サインイン)’ button]

✸ Account creation: fill in these steps one-by-one. If an error occurs when you try to submit, copy the warning text and paste it into Google translate to troubleshoot.

Note: several of the text boxes specify that you must use half-width characters (半角英数). If you don’t know what that means, you probably don’t need to worry about it. If you do know what it means, you should use half-width characters when entering your e-mail and password (copy and pasting your Tenso address takes care of the rest).

✸メールアドレス (アカウント)=“E-mail address (account)”=your e-mail address

✸メールアドレス (確認)=“E-mail address (confirmation)”=re-enter your e-mail

✸パスワード=“Password”=must be between 6-12 characters (No mention of whether symbols or spaces may be used in addition to letters and numbers, so keep that in mind when creating your password)

✸パスワードの確認=“Confirm Password”

This next part is where things get a little more difficult.

✸お名前=“Name”=this line has two input boxes. Japanese users would enter their name in kanji, but international users can use the Latin alphabet here (or whatever alphabet you use, although I can’t guarantee the site supports all of them).

—姓=“Surname/last name”

—名=“First name”

✸フリガナ=“Furigana (i.e, not kanji)”=here, you’ll need to write your name in katakana. You can use this page to get the katakana spellings.

—セイ=“Surname/last name”

—メイ=“First name”

For the next several lines, you’ll want to refer back to your Tenso address. Tenso’s general guide and Suruga-ya use the same order and kanji labels, which is really handy in filling this out. I’ll also include the label translations, just in case.

✸郵便番号=“Postal code/zipcode”

✸都道府県=“Prefecture”=this one should auto-update after you input the zipcode

✸市区町村=“Municipality”

✸番地=“Address/unit number“

✸ビル・マンション名=“Building/Apartment name”

✸電話番号=“Phone number”

Hard part’s done! The next section is optional: it lets you sign-up for e-mails about product categories, which I never do, so I’m going to skip it.

Scroll down, and you’ll see a box containing the site’s terms of service. Copy and paste them into Google translate and give them a read; they’re pretty straightforward and it only takes a minute to go over them. Below that, it will ask you if you agree to the site’s terms and want to continue your registration (規約に同意してアカウント登録を行いますか？), followed by two buttons.

✸はい=“Yes”=click this button to finish your registration

✸いいえ=“No”=click this button to cancel your registration

That should do it, although you’ll still need to confirm your account by clicking on a link in an e-mail they’ll send you. After that, it’s time to shop.

✸Searching/categories: In most cases, you’ll need to search using Japanese characters (i.e., kanji, hiragana, katakana) to find what you want. Try checking wikipedia/fan wikis/Anime News Network, etc. if you want to find the Japanese title for a manga/anime. Searching for stuff is pretty easy; just enter what you’re looking for in the purple search box at the top of the page. The default is to search all categories (全商品), but you can refine that with the category menu to the left. The categories are games (ゲーム), DVD/video (映像ソフト), music (音楽ソフト), toys/hobbies (おもちゃ・ホビー), PC software (PCソフト), books (本), electronics (電気製品), food/food premiums (食品・食玩), miscellaneous goods/accessories (雑貨・小物), and doujin (同人).

Update: I’ve found that you can use romaji to search for many titles. For example, if you type ‘Naruto’ into the search bar, then ‘ナルト’ will indeed be the first suggestion that comes up. Convenient, no?

✸Advanced search (詳細検索): this link is to the right of the search box. I honestly don’t use it, and it would be a hassle to go over all the options, so I’m skipping it for the most part. It does, however, allow you to search by ISBN, JAN, control number (管理番号), or standard code (規格コ-ド), which is useful.

The next three setting are found right above the product listings.

✸R-18 products: you have three options for displaying adult (アダルト) goods---show (表示), hide (非表示), and show only (のみ). Please be aware that some forwarding and proxy services have rules against buying or shipping adult goods for international customers.

✸Show sold-out goods (品切れ): ON or OFF

✸Sorting (並べ替え): default is “開連順,” which is basically sorting by relevance. The rest are cheapest first (値段が安い順), most expensive first (値段が高い順), newly added/updated first (更新の新しい順), newest release date first (発売日の新しい順), and oldest release date first (発売日の古い順).

✸Item status: these appear in green next to the item’s category/right below the product image.

—“Newly arrived goods (新入荷)”

—“Price-cut (値下げ)”=; after an item has been at the store for long enough, they may lower the price

—“Increasingly popular (人気上昇中)”=this accompanies a price increase

✸Release date (発売日): self-explanatory

✸Sold out (品切れ): If you have “show sold-out goods” set to “ON,” this will appear in red below the release date. Sold-out goods will also be shown if they can be purchased through one of the new “other shops” that Suruga-ya is listing on their site,

✸Condition: these markers now appear before the price—”new (新品)”, “used (中古)“, and “pre-order (予約)”. The kanji directly after the price means “including tax (税込).” Sometimes, both a new and used version of a product may be for sale at the same time, so you’ll see two prices; be careful to add the version you want to your cart. Suruga-ya also includes the “list price (定価)” below the store price. If you see “Rank B (ランクB)” in a product title, that means that it has more serious condition issues, so pay attention to the description.

✸NEW “Other shops (他のショップ)”: Suruga-ya seems to be trying an Amazon Marketplace-type scheme where they also give you prices for items that are available through affiliated shops. This is below the “list price,” and it’s a link that takes you to a page to compare prices/see vendor ratings/etc. Even if you have “show sold-out goods” turned to “OFF,” you will still see items listed if they are only available through a third-part seller. I haven’t used this option yet, so I can’t tell you exactly how things work out,

✸Adding items to your cart/wishlist: On product pages, there’s a big orange button with a cart that’s for...adding the item to your cart. The button below it with a star is for adding it to your favorite list. If the item is sold out, you’ll see a green button that allows you to add it to your backordered items watchlist.

After you add an item to your cart, you’ll get a pop-up with two boxes. The blue one basically says “keep shopping,” while the orange one says “continue to check-out.”

✸ Cart/checking out: when you’re ready to check-out, click the big orange button (注文画面に進む/proceed to order page) on the right side of the page. You can also delete (削除) items or move them to your favorites list (お気に入りリスト). The shipping prices are in a gray box on the right. You usually get free shipping for orders over 1500 yen, but the threshold may be lower during sales.

The next page is a list of more of their site policies. Open up Google translate again and look them over. Most of it isn’t really important, but some of it you may find useful, such as how they package items for shipping or when they process orders. At the bottom, click “はい(yes)” to continue if you accept these policies.

On the next page, you’ll see your personal and shipping information displayed, followed by several payment options. Make sure PayPal is selected. Click on the orange button at the bottom (ご注文内容なにの確認へ /confirm the contents of your order) to continue. You’ll see another page with all the details of your order; if everything looks right, click the orange button (決済情報の入力へ /enter payment information) again to proceed to PayPal to authorize Suruga-ya to charge your account (they don’t actually charge you until your order is shipped). That should be it.

After your order is placed, you’ll get a confirmation e-mail as well as a notification on your My Page staying that your order was received. If any of your items are sold-out (their items are for sale in their physical stores as well as online) they’ll apparently send an e-mail asking you to contact them and confirm that you still want them to mail the rest of your order. This hasn’t happened to me yet, so I can’t say how that works, although I’ve seen people write that they just used Google translate to create a reply and it worked fine (probably best to write something short and simple). The e-mails that I’ve received have all been basic ‘here’s what you ordered, don’t respond to this’ messages that you always get when shopping online.

Now you get to play the waiting game. Orders can take more than a week to ship, so be patient.

Below are some additional bits of information that you may find helpful while shopping.

✸Time Sales

Suruga-ya often has "time sales (タイムセール)” that usually last 1-2 days and only apply to certain categories/items; the amount of money that you have to spend to get free shipping may also be lowered. If there’s a time sale on, there should be a banner at the top of the site with the date(s) and time range (usually 12:00-23:59 JST) for the sale. Items that are part of the sale will have ‘タイムセール’ written in green above their price on search pages.

✸My Page/account page (マイページ)

—お知らせ一覧=notice list (the most recent ones appear on your my page by default). The 3 types of notices you usually get are that your order was received, that your order is being prepared, and that your order was shipped.

—ご購入履歴=purchase history

—売却履歴=sales history. This applies to people who have sold items to Suruga-ya. Not applicable to people outside Japan.

—見積履歴=estimate history. This applies to people who have sold items to Suruga-ya. Not applicable to people outside Japan.

—閲覧履歴=browsing history

—入荷リスト=(backordered) goods received list. If you’ve added items to your backorder list, they’ll appear here if they’re now in stock.

—入荷待ちリスト=backorder list. You can add sold-out goods to this list so you’ll be notified if they’re restocked.

—お気に入りリスト=favorites list, which includes the following options:

••新しいお気に入りリストを追加する=add a new favorites list (click 新規登録する button to confirm)

••商品を追加するお気に入りリスト=add items to favorite list (use the drop-down list to select which list you want items to be added to by default)

••カートに入れる=add item to cart

••入荷待ちリストに追加する=add item to backorder list

••リスト名を集編する=change list name (click ‘変更’ to confirm change)

—速報メール確認·変更=confirm/change mail notifications

—登録クレジットカード確認·削除=confirm/delete credit card information. Not applicable to people outside Japan. I think.

—身分証画像を更新=update ID card image. Not applicable to people outside Japan.

—本人確認番号の登録·削除=register/delete personal identification number. Not applicable to people outside Japan.

—登録情報確認·変更=confirm/change registration information (name, address, e-mail, etc.)

—お知らせ機能設定確認·変更=confirm/change notification settings

—アカウント変更=change account. You can change your account ID (e-mail address) here.

—パスワード変更=change password

—お届け先確認·変更=confirm/change adress

—お振込先銀行口座=bank transfer bank account. Not applicable to people outside Japan.

—セキュリティ=security. Set up 2-factor authentication and check login history.

—アカウント削除=delete account

—ヘルプ=help

✸ Related Tutorials

—Buying from Sanyodo with Tenso by marry-me-ishida-sui

—Buying from Toranoana with Tenso by Memory’s Aria

—My tips for buying stuff from Japan, including Japanese stores that ship internationally, and proxy/forwarding service reviews

#surugaya #suruga-ya #buying from japan

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