#casual cafe jobs sydney

[n-ctarinenga]

Best Friend [ luke hemmings ]

surfer!luke au | pt.1 | word count: 5,222 | masterlist

If anyone had been your bestest friend in your life so far, it was definitely Luke Hemmings.

Since day one, when you ran into him looking at skateboards in your friend's store not far from Venice Beach, you've been somehow cosmically tethered to him. 

What started out as an offer to help him pick a board and learn to skate, him telling you he's always been more of a surfer than a skater, soon turned into hanging out without your respective boards, going to shows together, being at the same parties, both of you being on your friend Michael's exclusive dinner party guest list, basically, you guys hit it off.

After hanging out with Luke more over time, you learned that he had moved to California after dropping out of university in Sydney, not happy with the path he could see his life was on and following his passions instead, which led him to the same place it led you when you left your hometown, California.

You had been one of the first true friends Luke had made after his big move, and even though you told him to lay off, he would often remind you that you were the one to help him settle into the life he has now, your friend group quickly adopting him not long before he ending up running the surf section of your friend's shop that you'd met him in all those years ago.

It started out like any normal day for you, getting up, getting ready, and heading to your job at the cafe you'd been working at for a few years now. It didn't take you long to make friends, evident by the way people greeted you like an old friend as they came in for their morning coffees or lunch break meals. You were a generally sociable person, and enjoyed the daily interaction with the regulars and new customers that would come through the doors.

It was just a little after the lunch time rush that Luke came strolling in the door, knowing well how busy you would be at the peak of rush hour.

"Afternoon handsome, what can I getcha?" You ask with a grin, leaning forward and putting your elbows on the counter to prop your head up on your fists as you looked to him.

Luke lets out a laugh as he copies your pose, him having to bend down a lot more because of his height, the small space of the counter meaning you were pretty much face to face with him.

"Coffee and a apple cinnamon muffin please, knucklehead." He responds, his accent all over the place as normal.

You give a nod and slap the counter as you push yourself up, walking to the espresso machine on the bench behind you.

"Michael came in today." Luke announces, still leaning on the counter.

"How is he?" You ask, scraping off the coffee grounds to make it level and putting it in to brew before turning back around to see him.

"Good, we've got dinner with him on Friday."

You raise your eyebrows with a nod, pleased at the news.

It wasn't unusual for you or Luke to make plans involving the other without them there, your friends joking you've been a package deal as long as you've known each other. Besides, how could you be upset considering Michael's food was involved?

"What's the theme this time?" You ask curiously. 

Since Michael had become an apprentice chef at a local restaurant, he had been hosting dinner parties for his friends every couple weeks, his vegan cooking some of the best you'd ever had. To spice things up a bit, he started giving each night a theme, everyone showing up dressed in costumes to fit. It was one of your favorite nights of the week when it came around, and you were already excited at the thought of this Friday. 

"Pina Colada, the song. Apparently dress code is hawiian shirts and lei's at the door." He says with a laugh. 

You hold your tongue as you put the lid on his coffee, placing it on the counter in front of him. 

"Go on, say it, I know you wanna." He sighs with a smile on his face. 

"So are you looking forward to finally getting lei'd?" You ask with a sly smile on your face as you grab the apple cinnamon muffin from under the glass cover beside the till. 

He groans dramatically, but his grin still covers his face. For the whole time you'd known Luke, while he had been on a couple dates here and there during your friendship, he hadn't been in an actual relationship since you met. Neither had you, the reason unknown to him, but it did mean you would casually poke fun at each other because of it. 

"You're really on fire today y/n/n." You roll your eyes as you hand Luke his muffin and coffee, ringing up his order. 

"You try getting sleep while Calum and a special guest is in the next room." You say with a raised eyebrow. 

Getting what you mean, Luke laughs, putting his hand on your shoulder and giving it a supportive squeeze. 

"You're a stronger person than I am. But if you do want a break, my door is always open." 

You smile at him, letting out a light sigh as you pat his hand, thankful for his offer. 

"I appreciate it. Now go get back to work before Sierra kicks your ass." You smirk, referring to your other best friend, and his boss. 

"See ya later, sweetheart." He says with a wink, picking up his food and walking towards the door. 

"Will do, darlin'." You smile. 

Feeling her presence behind you, you roll your eyes as you can practically already hear her comment. 

"You guys are cute together." Ali, your workmate and committed work wife says as she returns from her own lunch break. 

"Ma'am." You say in a warning tone, and she brushes you off with a light laugh. 

"What? I'm right." 

"Yeah, you are." You think to yourself. 

With Ali back, you busy yourself grabbing a muffin, before you turn to walk out back and take your own lunch break. 

After replying to texts and watching too many tiktoks while you ate, you went back out front until closing, where Ali offered to shut up shop so you could get home a little earlier since she lived closer than you did. 

After thanking her so many times she broke and finally told you to fuck off, you offered to return the favour whenever she needed it and made your way back to the apartment you shared with Calum.

Calum was like a brother to you. Him being a year older and around you basically since you moved to California, as not only did you end up having the same friend circle, but his sister Mali was also your boss, being the owner of the cafe.

Sighing in relief as you pull your keys and lanyard out of your pocket, you unlock the door to your apartment and quickly regret it when you hear loud moans and banging coming from Calum's room yet again. 

With a frown already set on your face, you refuse to put up with another night of disrupted sleep, putting your airpods in and turning them up before venturing down the hallway to your room. 

Pulling one of your bigger bags from your closet, you set to work putting some things together in a makeshift overnight kit. Grabbing a couple outfits you could wear to work tomorrow depending on your mood and the weather, as well as all your other basic items, you write a post it note message for Cal, still being able to hear the sound of the action in his room over Awsten Knight loudly trying to drown it out. 

"Safe sex or no sex, you two!!" You call out as you stick the note to his door. 

You collect the last of what you'd need from the bathroom, before walking out and locking the front door again behind you. 

The walk between your place and Luke's wasn't that bad, it's close proximity being one of the selling points to you when you and Calum were first looking for somewhere new after your last lease ended.

You already knew that Luke would be home at this time, him finishing an hour and a half before you and spending most of that time at the beach until it passed golden hour, which was just fading as you walked out of your apartment. 

Climbing up the exterior steps that lead to his apartment unit, you could already see the light on through his window, his silhouette being framed for a moment as he walked past it letting you know he was home. 

Readjusting the bag over your shoulder, you step onto the "welcome" doormat you brought him as a housewarming present, knocking twice, then once, then three times. 

It only takes a second for you to hear his footsteps coming towards the door, and as he opens it, a smile appears on his face as he realises who it is. 

"Hey stranger." He greets with a slight grin, but you could see he was slightly confused about why you'd shown up. 

"Hey, do you ah, is that offer still on the table?"

Luke's face softens as he remembers what he told you earlier in the day, raising an eyebrow. 

"He was at it again huh?" He asks, and when you nod, he shakes his head as he steps aside, letting you in. 

"Of course the offer is open, but you are gonna have to help me cook dinner." 

You smile as you look up at him while you pass through into his apartment. 

"Sounds like a plan to me." You laugh happily, making yourself at home and dropping your bag at the end of the couch as you hear Luke shut the door behind you. 

Turns out veggie stir-fry is on the menu for the night, one of your favorites. You both take a knife and chopping board each, chopping up ingredients and adding them to the fry pan before Luke takes it to the stove to get the garlic and onion started while you get going on the carrots and bok choy. 

You and Luke move around each other easily, naturally. You'd been in his kitchen enough times to know where everything was, and even with music playing from the corner covering the sound of your movements, you both seemed to know where each was the whole time. 

Taking a deep breath and inhaling the gorgeous scent of the cooking food, you lean up against the counter, crossing your arms casually and looking over to Luke. 

He stood with spatula in hand, moving the food around while slightly swaying to the music. You felt a small smile come to your face, getting to admire him for a minute while he was distracted with the food in front of him. 

There was a part of you that very much wanted to ignore and deny the warm feeling that would bloom in your chest around Luke, but an even bigger part of you that knew it was pointless to even try. 

The feeling wasn't a stranger to you, in fact you'd been living with it nearly since the day you'd met him, even though it was a lot less back then, the seed was still planted. 

But, you knew that the feeling would remain just that, a feeling. At this point in your life, you couldn't imagine what you'd do if you lost Luke. While yeah, he was your best friend, and you would regularly flirt with each other casually, there was still part of you scared that if you did let him in on the secret you hadn't told a soul, you would lose him completely. You knew the possibility of losing him was there no matter what, but you'd be damned if it was gonna be because of something you had done. 

A change in song brings you back to reality, and your eyes snap to the ground, clearing your throat before speaking. 

"So how have you been? We haven't caught up in a minute." 

With summer fast approaching, this was peak season for Sierra's store, meaning you'd been missing out on both of your best friends lately to tourists and hobbyists coming out of hibernation. 

Luke shrugs slightly, looking to you for a moment with a perplexed expression. 

"It feels like we get busier every year, which I'm not complaining about at all, but it's just…. draining I guess." He sighs. 

Frowning, you turn towards him more, waving slightly to let him know it's okay to keep going if he wants to. 

"I end up missing things more than usual. Sleep mainly." He says with a hint of humor to his voice and a small smile on his face. "And the sea, and you, and the guys. All my favourites."

Never really being one to comfort with words, you place a supportive hand on his, as it rests on the counter beside the stove, propping him up as he stirred with the other hand. You let your thumb brush over the back of his hand, understanding exactly what he meant. 

Luke smiles as he looks down, wordlessly moving his hand slightly so he can hold onto yours. 

You ignore the way your heart skips a beat as you look up from your joined hands to his face, a kind smile on yours as you speak. 

"We're not going anywhere hun. I know I won't be." You say softly, clearing your throat as you realise there's a small chance he could read into the last part of your sentence. "I'm pretty sure the sea isn't going anywhere either." You add on quickly. 

Luke takes a deep breath, his gaze lingering on you for a moment before he laughs, turning his attention back to the food as you slip your hand away from his. 

"Yeah, good point." 

You nod, holding your hands together in front of you and looking down at your socked feet against the tile of the kitchen floor. 

"Hey, uh, can you grab some plates? I think we're nearly ready to go here." Luke asks casually, diffusing the tension you could feel had built in the room. 

You agree with a nod, moving around the kitchen and collecting together what you'd need. While Luke dishes up, grabbing you both drinks as well, you grab some cutlery and place mats for the table, setting them out and helping Luke carry everything the couple feet journey from the kitchen to the table before sitting down, taking a quick picture of your combined efforts before picking up your fork. 

You both dive into the meal, singing your praises to his cooking skills as you complement the food in front of you. You smile as you see Luke turn a slight shade of pink as you do. 

Distracted by your conversation, your empty plates sit on the table beside you as Luke pokes fun at you for what happened on some random day you'd mostly forgotten, one where you both had ended up nearly getting your friend group kicked out of a club a few months ago. 

You're both laughing as you recall the details when Luke's phone starts vibrating closer to the edge of the table, him quickly catching it before it can fall. 

"Shit, I'm meant to be calling my mum in ten minutes." He frowns, mad at himself for losing track of time. 

"Okay. You get set up, I'll do the dishes, you should be good to go in ten if you start now." You say, jumping into action and stacking the dishes as he looks up to you to protest. 

"You don't have to do the dishes, I'll just stack them and get to them later." He fights, but quickly loses the battle when you point to him, then his laptop, silently instructing him to get going. 

He looks at you defiantly before deeply sighing and getting up, grabbing his laptop and setting it up on the other side of the open plan room on the coffee table in front of the couch. 

"You're too good to me." He sings while he does as he's told, you smiling to yourself as you run the water. 

"Enjoy it while it lasts." You sing back. 

The familiar chime of the Skype call ringtone emanates from the other side of the room, and you look over to see a bright grin covering Luke's face as the call connects. 

Luke loved his family, and especially his mum. You knew he would still go through bouts of homesickness from missing them, which is why you knew any contact he did have with them was extremely important.

"Hey mum." Luke grins. 

"Hi bub, how are you?" You hear his mum ask though the speakers. 

You do your best to zone out of the conversation, wanting to give him privacy. Instead, you focus on the music still playing in the corner, though it's playing more softly than before.

Doing your best to stay quiet, your ears perk up as you hear your name from across the room. 

Realizing it came through the speakers instead of from Luke, you fight your better judgment and try to eavesdrop, having no success when Luke starts to talk a lot quieter. 

Why would Luke's mom ask about you? Sure you were best friends, but you didn't see yourself as that important. 

Lost in your thoughts, you lose your grip on the plate in your hand, flinching as it drops back into the sink with a loud clattering noise. 

"Are you okay?" Luke asks, bolting up with a concerned look on his face, ready to help in an instant. 

Looking in the sink, you see the plate still fully intact and nod as you take a deep breath. 

"Yeah it's all good, just lost my grip." You explain, giving him a thumbs up. 

He examined you for a moment before sitting back down with his laptop, but instead of picking up where he left off, you hear his mom asking who that was, referring to you.

"Y/n is staying over, loud roommate issues." He explains with a slight laugh. 

"Why are you hiding her?! I want to see the pretty girl I've heard so much about." You hear her reply, your cheeks growing pink as you do your best to smother a laugh at the light telling off he was getting. 

Looking over to Luke, he raises his eyebrows at you, silently asking if you wanted to come over and say hi. Looking between him and the laptop, you silently mouth "you sure?" to him, receiving a small smile and a nod in return. 

You dry your hands on a kitchen towel hanging on the oven door, nervously wringing your hands as you walk over to the couch, sitting down beside Luke and waving to the webcam. 

"Hi Mrs. Hemmings, it's nice to finally kinda meet you." You smile as you laugh slightly. 

"Nice to meet you too love! Luke's told me a lot about you, all good things I promise." She laughs lightly. Even through a screen, you could feel the warm nature of the woman who'd raised your best friend, though it did make sense his mom would be a sweetheart if he was. 

"I'm glad to know I've made such an impact." You bump your elbow into Luke's arm, his head down as he laughs to himself, blonde hair falling over his face. "I promise Luke's done the same for you. I probably don't have to tell you how family proud he is."

His mom smiles, a sense of pride about her for a moment before she looks to the side of the screen where Luke would be. 

"You wouldn't be able to tell with how he's trying to hide now." She teases, Luke shifting sideways so he's more in frame, your shoulders and knees now touching. 

"I thought mums had to be nice to their kids in front of their friends?" He asks with squinted eyes. 

"I don't remember that being a rule. Besides, you don't have the same accent I remember my son having so I'd say it's fair game." 

"That's because I spend too much time with this one." Luke says, nodding his head towards you. 

"Excuse me?" You say with a raised eyebrow. Luke just smiles at you, his teasing having the desired effect. You don't manage to hold onto your hard exterior for long, cracking and smiling back at him. 

Liz laughs at the two of you, dispelling the moment as you both look back to her. 

"Yeah we do spend a lot of time together." You say, Luke nodding in agreement as the three of you fall into easy conversation. 

You end up staying for the whole video call, Liz asking you about your life, what you do, all the story details Luke had failed to tell her himself. 

As you both say a lengthy goodbye, Luke promises to call Liz more between video calls, and you promise to keep an eye on him for her in the time in between those as well. 

After closing his laptop, Luke leans back into the couch with a sigh. 

"She likes you." He says quietly, looking over to you with soft eyes and a softer smile as you mimic his actions and lean back into the couch, turning your head to look at him. 

"You think so?" You ask, just as quietly as he spoke. 

He nods tiredly, wrapping his arm around your shoulder and pulling you into his side, his hand squeezing your shoulder as your rest your head against his. 

Ever since Luke had hit end on the call, you felt a wave of tiredness wash over you, which you half blamed on the time, and half on stressing yourself out trying to make a good impression. 

You can feel yourself falling asleep as you sit there, feeling comforted and comfortable as your breathing turns shallower, the scent of salt water and cologne clouding the front of your mind. 

"We should probably go to bed." You suggest, right as Luke covers his mouth with his spare hand as a yawn escapes him. 

"Good idea." He agrees. 

He gives your shoulder another squeeze before you both get up, him moving to get you a blanket and pillow and you moving to get something to sleep in out of your bag. 

Tiredly digging through, your hands pass your work uniform, toiletries, and a sweater, but not one of your old t-shirts you normally slept in. 

Seeing the annoyed look on your face, Luke frowns slightly as he returns to the room. 

"What's up?" 

You groan as you sit back on your legs, gesturing to your bag.

"All I packed was my uniform for tomorrow and a sweater in case I got cold. I was in too much of a rush to get out of there I guess and didn't pack a shirt to sleep in." You frown, mentally scolding yourself. 

"Hey, don't worry about it. You can just borrow one of my shirts." He says with a light shrug, like it's the obvious answer to the issue. 

"Are you sure?" You ask, and he nods, placing the pillows and blanket down on the end of the couch. 

"I'll go grab one and you can get dressed in the bathroom while I change in my room, then it's all yours." He says, and before he walks off, you call him back. 

 "What do you mean all mine?" You ask. 

"You can have my room for the night and I'll take the couch." 

You raise your eyebrow, standing up and crossing your arms. 

"If you think I'm making you sleep on your couch in your own house then you obviously don't know me." 

Luke sighs, well aware of your stubborn nature and already knowing he's fighting a losing battle. 

"You must not know me if you think I'm gonna let you sleep on the couch." He responds. 

You stare each other down for a minute, both of you not backing down on your point until you relax your face and stance, picking up your toiletries bag and shrugging.

"Guess we're sharing a bed then. I'm gonna go brush my teeth." You say casually, leaving Luke standing in the doorway of his bedroom open mouthed in shock. 

As you stared yourself down in the mirror while you brushed your teeth, your internal monologue was punching you in the face repeatedly. 

There’s a huge difference between passing out on the same couch together and actively choosing to sleep in the same bed together, and it was only one of those things you’d done with Luke in the past. Sure, there had been times where you had slept in Calum’s or Sierra’s beds, but with Luke, it had never been something to come up.

You remind yourself that it doesn’t mean anything. You and Luke are both grown adults, two stubborn grown adults, but adults all the same. You weren’t strangers to each other by any stretch, so you couldn’t figure out why the plan you’d put upon yourself made your heart beat a million times faster.

Little did you know, Luke was doing the exact same thing in the room over. As soon as you had stepped out of the room, his hands started to sweat. He was nervous, more so than he had been in a long while. 

That was the thing that scared Luke the most about you, apart from the fact he’d seen you take down a man twice your size after getting cat called on Pasific Ave, was the special type of nervous that you made him without even trying. He knew the reason why it happened, not that he was willing to admit it to you, or anyone else but Ashton and his mom for that matter.

How was he meant to spend the night in the same bed as the girl he’s in love with, let alone fall asleep at all? 

Mentally slapping himself in the face to make himself move, he pulls one of his favorite t-shirts from his closet, knowing that not only did you like it, but it was also one of the most comfortable things he owned.

To someone who hadn’t known Luke a while, they would be surprised to know how organized he is, clothing and home always organized just as well as the boards and gear he overlooked in Sierra’s store.

You rinse the toothpaste out of the sink, taking a deep breath as you hear Luke’s footsteps come closer. He knocks first, opening the door slowly just in case after you tell him to come in.

“Here, to sleep in. I know you like Guns n Roses.” He says with a cheeky wink as he hands you the shirt.

You scoff lightly as you take it, it being a running joke between you how much you disliked Guns n Roses, while he counted them as one of the all time greats.

“Thanks, you really know me.” You grin as you roll your eyes, lightly pushing him out of the bathroom and closing the door.

You hold the shirt up in front of you, looking in the mirror to see the difference in size between you and your best friend. While it fit normally on Luke, you could see it would graze your upper thighs, your height not all that different from his.

Taking your clothes off, you fold and stack them into a pile by the sink while you change your underwear and pull Luke’s shirt over your head, the smell of cologne and salt water hitting you again as you inspect yourself in the mirror.

Even though you had your reservations about the design on the shirt, you couldn’t deny it was one of the most comfortable things you’d ever worn.

Gathering your stuff, you open the bathroom door and walk back to your bag by the couch. Moving your uniform for the morning to the top, you put your old clothes in the bottom of your bag, calling out to Luke who must be in his bedroom.

“Bathroom’s all yours.” You call, zipping your bag again as you sit down on the couch to pull on your socks.

It was more out of habit than anything else, and consideration for the person you shared a bed with, knowing your feet always get freezing cold at night.

Luke walks out of his bedroom dressed in sweatpants and a black undershirt, pausing when he sees you. You see him take a deep breath in as you stand up, setting your bag back at the end of the couch again. 

"Alright hun?" You ask, frowning slightly in confusion as he seems rooted to the spot. 

He shakes himself out of it, nodding quickly before ducking into the bathroom. You stay in your spot, still confused as ever til his head pops out the door. 

"You can head to bed if you like, I'll be there soon." 

You nod as the door shuts again, ignoring whatever just happened as you walk to his bedroom, smiling at the sight of the glow in the dark stars you put up around the head of his bed still there from well over a year ago. 

Walking over to what you could tell was the lesser used side of the bed, telling by just the lamp on the bedside table instead of the books piled on the other, you pull the bedding back, sliding between the cold sheets and letting your head fall back onto the pillow. 

You let out a low groan as your body sinks into the bed, comfort washing over you as it felt like your bones sank back into the right place again after your long day. 

As Luke walks back to the room, you're still lightly groaning, making him laugh as he shuts off the overhead light, walking into the room and shutting the door behind him. 

"You okay there?" He questions, pulling back the bedding on his side and sliding in next to you. 

"Your bed is so fucking comfortable." 

Luke just laughs at you again, turning onto his side to look at you. You can feel him looking at you, so you decide to level the playing field and turn on your side too, your breath catching in your throat as you do when you realise your faces are now only inches away from each other. 

You both just lay there, smiling softly as you unapologetically take in his features so close, the curve of his nose, his lips, the shade of his gorgeous blue eyes. 

“Stop being cute.” He laughs, pulling your hair over your face.

"I will when you do too." You fire back. 

Luke just slightly shakes his head, letting out a deep breath before leaning forward, pressing a soft kiss to your forehead, lingering for a moment before pulling back. 

"Goodnight, y/n." He sighs, and as your heartbeat rings in your ears, you slowly lean forward, returning the soft kiss to his forehead. 

"Goodnight Luke."

-

taglist: @spicycal @softbabiestan

#luke hemmings #luke hemmings fanfic #luke hemmings blurb #luke hemmings imagine #5sos #5 seconds of summer #5 seconds of summer fanfic #5 seconds of summer blurb #5 seconds of summer imagine #surfer au #fanfic #imagine #blurb

[xyliane]

the many lies of kanzaki hitomi to her long-suffering best friend uchida yukari

summary: when hitomi is on time to their weekend coffee time, yukari knows something is up.

notes: because I utterly adore escaflowne in ways that I don’t know if I can truly describe, and the wonderful @wuzzyletoastermac​ recently finished the show, I couldn’t not attempt a post-series write-up about...the best friend who’s only in four episodes. (I just love van and hitomi so much). G, hitomi and yukari friendship, van/hitomi mention. 1450 words.

---

Yukari knows it’s something big when Hitomi makes time to meet for coffee on a Saturday. Normally, Hitomi—best friend since forever, national track star at the age of 18, certified social worker, truly wonderful person, etc. etc.—is off with her long-distance boyfriend, or coaching track, or coaching track with her long-distance boyfriend looking pleasantly befuddled at the whole proceedings. On a rare occasion, she’ll ask Yukari for help getting Van into what can politely be termed “normal people clothes,” and Yukari can spend most of the afternoon puzzling over Van’s absolutely bizarre accent and failing to get either of them to tell her where exactly in Greece she can find someone as hot as Van Fanel.

Hitomi swears up and down that they started dating while she was doing a study abroad in Australia her second year of uni, but that doesn’t explain why the poor man 1: doesn’t speak English at least on par with an average high schooler’s cram school classes, and 2: doesn’t own a single pair of jeans not currently in residence in Hitomi’s closet. The Greeks aren’t that weird. Besides, half of Yukari’s architecture clients are based in America. She knows weird. And even by those standards, Van is weird.

Not to mention there’s some nagging part of Yukari’s brain that seems to recognize Van. It’s bothered her since they first met, and the last three years have done nothing to assuage that feeling. How silly to believe that they met in a dream or a vision. That is certainly more Hitomi’s realm.

But he loves Hitomi. It’s impossible to unsee that deep unending well of affection in his dark eyes, the soft smile that makes him look ages younger whenever she’s around, how patient he is even when she’s determined to find the perfect sweater for a job interview or the exact right cafe she claims was there the last time she was in this part of Asakusa. Occasionally, he’ll even catch her before she wanders too far afield, hand tight on her wrist in a way that speaks both to his own nerves wandering around in a crowded city (again, Hitomi went to uni in Sydney, why is Tokyo that much different) and to the way Hitomi turns back to him like a flower blooming in sunshine, all blushing cheeks and bright smile and alive in ways Yukari only wishes she could feel.

So Yukari’s a little jealous. It’s hard not to be. If it weren’t for the occasional argument blowing Hitomi’s temper sky high and Van’s own anger coming out in blistering tension, or the way that Hitomi will sometimes spend more time complaining about the weekend she’d had with him than bothering to answer any of Yukari’s questions about where exactly they’d met up, she’d worry that Van actually was perfect.

Okay well, no one she has to force into jeans against their will is perfect. Especially someone who looks like that.

So Yukari has kindly deigned to meet with her best friend at their favorite cafe on a beautiful Saturday morning, despite everything (Hitomi’s boyfriend and Yukari’s desire to sleep until 3pm respectively). Something’s off.

And when she rounds the corner at 10am on the dot, Kanzaki Hitomi is already there sipping a latte with Yukari’s favorite sitting there, still steaming. Hitomi is never on time. For anything. Ever. If she is, it’s because of her long legs and bizarre luck.

Something is definitely off.

“Yukari! I got you coffee,” she says, bright guileless grin on her face.

Yukari sits and sips. Sweet, caffeinated bliss. She almost forgives Hitomi the hour.

Not enough to loosen her suspicions, though. “Hitomi, what are you up to?” she says once her brain is active.

“Ah, well.” Hitomi casually brushes non-existent lint off her jacket sleeves. “I wanted to tell you something.”

“Is it about Van?” When her best friend’s face turns a bright pink, Yukari’s eyebrows rise. “Is he moving here?”

Head shake no. Hm.

“Did he finally take his jeans home?”

Deeper flush.

“Are you pregnant?”

“Yukari!” Hitomi screeches, face luminescent and voice far too loud for the little cafe. A few of the other patrons, including some who clearly have had as much sleep as Yukari, turn and glare at them, and Hitomi clasps hands over her own face. Yukari tries to not laugh, really. “I’m—no. And if you’re gonna be a jerk, I won’t invite you to my wedding.”

Any and all feelings of malicious annoyance vanish in an instant. “You’re—Hitomi! Congrats! That’s amazing, when are you getting married? Where are you getting married? If Van’s not moving here, does that mean you’re—where is he these days, is it going to be big or small? What should my dress look like? Do you have the colors picked out?”

Hitomi giggles through her fingers, a little on edge and clearly overwhelmed. “That’s too many questions!”

“I can write them out in a list and email them if you’d rather.”

A high-pitched whine more like a tea kettle than a woman in her mid-20s erupts out of Hitomi, and she drops her face to the table in her best impression of a puddle of melted ice cream. “I wanted to tell you properly, you know,” she mutters.

“You wouldn’t be you if you didn’t let it slip on accident,” Yukari says. As much fun as it is to mercilessly toy with her best friend who completely deserves it, there are more pressing matters, particularly Yukari’s own calendar that she is going to completely shuffle around. “But before I spend the next three hours getting you to spill every detail, at least tell me when and where.”

Without moving her face off the table, Hitomi rustles in her purse, pushing a pair of envelopes at Yukari. The first is a classic wedding invitation, cream colored envelope brushed with elegant black kanji. It’s exactly what Yukari would have expected from Hitomi’s mom, who has handled the years after her husband’s death with astonishing grace. But the second…

The parchment—it’s too thick to be paper, fibrous and off-white and flecked with gold—is about as wide as Yukari’s hands spread apart, and covered in a mix of runes and curling symbols that spread across the top of the invitation like wings. In the center of the whole thing is burnt a diamond-shaped emblem with a winged dragon. It doesn’t look like any Greek Yukari has ever seen.

“Would you be the host for my reception? It’s in a month and a half,” Hitomi is asking, which under any other circumstance would send Yukari into delighted peals of laughter. She’s a planner by nature, and organizing something as momentous as Hitomi’s small wedding will be worth every moment of her best friend and her boyfriend making sappy eyes at each other.

“Of course I will,” Yukari says, distracted. Social work doesn’t pay enough for an invitation this fancy, and Van can’t even afford his own clothes. And it’s not in Japanese, or English, and is that real gold? “What is this?”

Hitomi rubs nervous circles around her latte mug. “Since Van’s not from here, and the only person who can travel is his sister, we thought, you know. One wedding here for me, one there for him.”

“Sounds great,” Yukari says, turning the parchment upside down and over onto its back, hoping that the meaning will magically appear. “Hitomi, I can’t read this.”

“Oh, right. Sorry, Yukari.” Hitomi passes a hand over the parchment, the ring on her hand glimmering bright pink in the sun, and the runes curl and shift before Yukari’s eyes like…like magic. Yukari resists the urge to rub her eyes. Magic isn’t real. Just like dragons aren’t, or friends vanishing into pillars of light.

Your presence is requested at The marriage of Van of Fanelia and Hitomi Kanzaki White, 12th Moon Present invitation upon arrival

“It’s almost like a destination wedding!” Hitomi says. “Will you come? Please? Only Mom and my brother can come, and you know Sota hates this sort of thing.”

The things Yukari does for Hitomi. “Of course I will,” she says. But before Hitomi can relax too much, she reaches across the table and grabs her best friend’s hands, digging in just a little too hard. “But Hitomi, for once, don’t lie to me about this: where on earth is Van even from?”

Hitomi gives a little hiccup of a laugh and refuses to meet Yukari’s eyes. “So, funny story…”

——

“You owe me so much cake, Kanzaki Hitomi.”

“I promise, at least one at the wedding!”

“Each wedding.”

#the vision of escaflowne #escaflowne #kanzaki hitomi #uchida yukari #van/hitomi #hey guess what I'm gonna write the rest of this fic later #but I am writing and posting this in one night because I feel like it #look I tried to fix the center text but lol #my writing

[kisskissbanggang]

Standby pt. 3

[<15Min. Read/3.6K Words – Bang Chan x Female Reader – Idol!AU – NSFW/Some Smut, A Suspicious Amount of Plot – Unfortunate Pining, Long Flights, Passing Notes, Blowjobs, Exhibitionism, Edging, Risky Situations, Acting Professional]

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Masterlist | Feedback

So, if I’m not going to finish, we at least definitely have more than enough time to talk now, right?

You stared at the words Chan scrawled in the margins of your meeting notes from two days ago. He casually set the pen back into your hand. As if getting on the damn plane wasn't hard enough, now you had to deal with this.

Chan simpered and pulled his jacket out of his carry-on and zipped it on, snuggling into the hood now that he was safely on the plane. He saw your shaking eyes and merely shrugged. Your move, he seemed to say.

You grabbed your pen.

I'm not playing this game, you wrote, there's nothing to talk about.

Chan rolled his eyes, scoffing under his face mask as he plucked your pen back from you. What game? It's a long flight, he scribbled, I'm sure we'll find something to talk about.

Impatient and fuming, you snapped your notebook shut and chunked it into the seat-back pocket in front of you before bundling yourself into your jacket. You rifled through your bag and dug out your eye mask and, shooting Chan an indignant glare, snapped it on, pulled up your hood, and promptly tried to catch some rest on your dumbly long flight.

However, what you really wanted to do was face the more pressing matter at hand and take any time to process your feelings here as you shuffled in your seat to face away from him. Who were you kidding? Chan, or Chris, or whatever you wanted to call him -- was just a guy. Despite the wings you'd been plucking off the butterflies in your stomach, more hatched each day. You were being unreasonable. There would always be another boy with a nice laugh and a cute dimple. There would always be another boy with an adorable nose and a long neck. Just like there would always be another boy that always brought you coffee from the corner store when he went shopping for the band, or another boy that would kiss you as if he was meant to and insist on eating you out while on standby for your flight and --

You shook yourself out of it, sighing as you resettled in your seat. Who were you kidding? Maybe there wouldn't be other guys like Chris, or Chan, or whatever you wanted to call him, but this was so much trouble that you felt like the deck was on fire while you were bailing out the boat. All you knew was how much more difficult ignoring this was becoming. The first day at the cafe was simple -- he was just a customer. The first day with the group was easy -- he was just an idol. The day back at Inkigayo was a little more difficult -- he was alluring in a way you weren't sure he even meant, but he was in need of your help and even that got you going in a way you hadn't predicted before. This was a fine hole you'd dug for yourself, the perfect size for a premature casket. In fact, from all the stress and introspection, you managed to get distracted by actually falling asleep.

Some time had passed by the time you woke up, but you couldn't be sure if it were hours or minutes. You checked your phone: only one hour had elapsed. You sighed, daring to roll back over and see how Chan was doing. By now he was turned away, curled up with his headphones on as he presumably rested. You slipped off your sleeping mask and sat up, looking down to see what you were wrapped up in: one of those blankets you'd marveled to Chan once about how much comfier they were than the ones in business class. Sighing, you attempted to un-blanket yourself, nearly knocking over a coffee and a ginger ale set on your tray table: your usual order from the beverage cart on long flights. You tasted the coffee. Dammit. It was perfect with your right amount of cream and sugar. You sighed, letting your head thunk back against the headrest. Out of the corner of your eye, you spied Chan's notebook sitting on his tray table, open to a page with choreo notes and bites of lyrics he'd been mulling over when he couldn't sleep. You surreptitiously grabbed the notebook, sliding the pen out of the spiral binding and, making sure he hadn't been roused by your secret mission, set to task on a fresh page.

It's hard to say exactly what has been going through my head, other than, clearly, I really like you and this is dangerous for both of us, you wrote.

You're being nice like you're nice to everyone but I keep thinking it's about me and it drives me crazy. I like my job, and I need it. I graduate soon, and I'll be that much closer to making this a real career. I'll be able to go back to my apartment once we get back home, and maybe that'll be good for both of us, to get some space. I always said I'd do right by you, and right now that means getting back to the way things were. You're terrific, and that makes it that much harder to not want you like I do. I'm sorry I can't really find the words to say this in person, but you're so good to me. I'd rather be frustrated and have to get over you than lose you altogether.

Before you could chicken out, you set the notebook back on Chris' tray table and resumed looking like you were sleeping, momentarily terrified as you noticed him shift beside you before a short rest caught you again.

It felt like no time had passed, when in fact it had been another hour and a half according to your phone. You took a sip of your cold coffee before glancing over at Chris' notebook. A response. Checking to see if he was still resting, you gently grabbed the notebook and pulled it close.

You don't think I know how dangerous this whole thing is? For me, too? Believe me, I wasn't expecting this either, so this is amazing and awful all at the same time. I'll say what we're both thinking and I'm surprised you haven't said yet: I wish it wasn't you but here you are and this is what we're working with. I think you're right about getting some space. It's the smart thing to do. I'd rather be frustrated than not have you around.

You went to grab the pen off of Chris' tray table, not noticing he had woken up and was currently reaching for his drink. Startled, you gasped out a quick laugh before settling, fully taking off your eye mask and slipping it back in your bag. You set the notebook back on his tray table, this time just penning the quick response right there, leaned a little into his personal space over the arm rest.

Thanks for the drinks.

He grabbed the pen back from you with a smile. No problem.

You pulled your own pen back out from your notebook. So, you scribbled, we're keeping it professional.

Yeah, he replied, professional is really the only way to go if we want to survive this.

It was nice while it lasted, though.

I wouldn't trade it for anything, he responded.

Could you imagine? Secret gifts and dates and the whole shebang.

You were almost writing in tandem now, each of you filling up a column on the page.

Right? Bad secret names for KKT. "Princess" or "Boo" or

"Babygirl?"

Shut up.

You both let out a quiet laugh, settling in next to each other and just writing back and forth like this. You'd never really had a chance to talk to Chris like this before, really getting to know him and just hang out, and it was surprisingly easy to fall into line with, as if you were returning and not just trying it out for the first time. However, each period punctuated how hard reality was going to hit you once this plane landed, and according to your watch that was creeping closer and closer. Filling time on your stupidly long flight turned out to be so much easier when it was with someone you enjoyed this much. Naps filling the spaces between movies and eating and work and more talking all the while left you dumbfounded as the captain announced your upcoming descent.

Here it was. Reality. Being professional. Being able to keep each other around while keeping the careers you both worked so hard for. Was it the change in altitude or your stomach crowding your lungs from the growing pit inside you? You grabbed Chan's notebook one more time -- your exchanges filling nearly ten pages of notes in various sizes and lengths, the blank spaces filled with doodles and games of tic-tac-toe.

I'll miss this, you wrote.

Me, too, he replied.

You shared a meaningful look as the plane touched down. This feeling was familiar. You stood up straight once the plane pulled into the gate, shaking it off and getting the hell over it. You were smart. You were professional. You were capable. You were right back in management mode, getting the two of you through customs with ease and arranging for an Uber with your international phone booted up and ready to go. Quickly, you sent a quick text to Hyun-Jae-unnie to let her know you'd arrived. No replies came except for a memo in your inbox letting you know rehearsal was thankfully postponed by a couple hours. You really had to pat yourself on the back: you were going to get to the hotel with plenty of time to change and settle and head to the venue for rehearsal. You could already hear the modest praise as your Uber pulled up. Your driver offered you the front seat unless, of course, you wanted to sit in the back with your "boyfriend". Just as you were about to politely correct him, Chan slid up, thanking him and pulling you into the backseat by the hand.

You stared at him wildly before digging out your phone and tapping out a quick message.

>What the hell are you doing?

>>Oh calm down would you? I'm enjoying myself for a couple more minutes. This guy has probably never heard of k-pop and definitely doesn't know who I am. Loosen up... Babygirl.

>Shut UP.

You watched, flabbergasted and quietly impressed as Chan gladly made flawless small talk with the driver involving an entirely untrue story that he had to have been telling off the cuff: you'd met at university in Sydney, you'd been dating ever since, and you'd always wanted to travel to the States together. You nodded along dumbly, never once letting go of Chan's hand. Was this something he'd thought of already? Some alternate universe where this would not only be fine, but encouraged? Feeling so smitten felt like staring into Oblivion now. You thanked your lucky stars as the car pulled up to the hotel. You tersely thanked the driver before nearly sprinting out of the car and into the lobby to grab your room keys, not daring to look back at Chan gleefully trotting behind you.

Running into the elevator on the outskirts of the lobby, the doors barely closed before you wheeled Chan around, shoving him up against the wall. You punched the button for the top floor, well past where you were heading, but you had more important business to take care of first.

"What the hell was that about?!"

"What?" Chan laughed, "I can't have one more nice little memory between the two of us?"

You agitatedly smacked his arm. "No, Chan, you can't! It's reckless and selfish and wrong and I hate how much I want more of it! We can't just do this because we have an opportunity."

"Oh, so I'm 'Chan' again now?" You'd expected a few responses, but that hadn't been one them.

"Yes, Chan, because that's exactly what I'm talking about," you huffed, "I'm not about to treat you differently anymore just to get your rocks off." You poked a finger into his chest, shocked as he grabbed it and pulled you close. Struggling for only a moment, you found yourself soothed as Chan only wrapped his arms around you; a simple embrace that would normally be entirely innocuous. You sank into his hold, selfishly taking one more moment as he stroked your hair.

"Sorry," he said quietly, "I just realized that while we've made out, and you've jerked me off for God's sake, we've never just done... This? I just wanted to do it before we really have to stop."

"I... Okay." For once, you had no words, content to just let this be for a second.

"You have to slow down one of these days," Chan laughed softly, "I can take care of you, too, you know. Or, at least, I could've."

At this, you looked up at him, gloriously, stupidly infatuated with him as ever, and found him gazing with that same expression right back at you.

And your lips met. You weren't sure who leaned in first this time, but you seemed to silently agree that anything this stupid worth doing was worth doing until the very last second. Both your carry-on bags hit the floor of the elevator, your arms wrapped tight around each other as you kissed. You were both rudely awakened as the elevator chimed for the top floor, and you impulsively leaned over, punching the button for the bottom floor of the parking garage. The elevator doors slid shut once again and lurched into its descent as you grabbed Chris' face closer once again. This trip seemed to go by twice as fast, Chris out of breath and nuzzling your neck as the elevator chimed. He reached for the button and you stopped him, your hand on his and leading it back around your waist.

"Did you have to pick the most inconvenient place on the planet?" He laughed right below your ear.

"If we play our cards right," you breathed, "we won't be interrupted much if we just let the elevator sit. At worst we'll occasionally have to deal with an interruption if someone gets on."

"When we're trying to get off?" Chris quipped.

"Oh, is that what we're doing?" You smirked in reply.

His hands eagerly squeezed your hips. "I don't know if you're keeping score, but I didn't get to finish--" he quickly checked his phone "-- yesterday. I've been thinking about this since yesterday."

"Awh," you cooed, "is that the case? Maybe I can help you out." You hazarded a cursory grope of his stiffening member in his jeans. This had quickly crossed back into "too far" territory as Chris' head immediately leaned back against the wall of the elevator, a low groan escaping him.

"More," he begged under his breath, his hands clutching onto the hand rail as you snuck your fingers under his briefs to more firmly massage his length. You couldn't help but marvel at how much had changed since this moment weeks ago at Inkigayo, entirely awkward and tense -- to right now, halfway across the world and foolish enough to feel invincible. Chris' hand gently traveling up your arm to feel your warm breast brought you back to the present time, making you hungrier for even more.

"Hey," you offered with a sly smile, "didn't I show you something nifty the last time we did this?"

"You mean that perfect finale?" He replied, trying to keep up despite the blood draining from his head straight to his cock.

"How about an encore?" You laughed.

Chris groaned. "Oh my god," he smirked, "I thought I was the cheesy one."

"I figured you'd know as well as anyone I'm a sucker for competition." You playfully shrugged as you lifted the hem of his shirt for better access to his waistband. You carefully dropped to your knees in the elevator, now resting in the parking garage until it was called again. Chris was stuck looking for a comeback as you pulled out his erection, pressing a sweet kiss just below his navel before tentatively licking a short stripe up the underside of his cock. He cursed gruffly, his knuckles white where he clung to the handrail. "This is what you wanted?" You asked sweetly.

"Please fucking do it," he pleaded and you gladly obliged, your eyes flitting to the digital display on the wall as the elevator lurched back into motion. You had ten floors to make him suffer, and you savored every second of it as you wrapped your lips around his length. The soft head of his cock dipped further into your mouth, happily taking your time and enjoying his whines. The second the elevator hit the ninth floor, you wiped your mouth and shoved him back into his jeans. You strategically stood in front of him as he impatiently tapped his foot behind you. You made friendly small-talk to the new occupants of the elevator as you typed a quick message to Chris on your phone. You half-turned to show him.

>You alright???

Chris grumbled behind you and you felt him tap his phone against your hip a moment later. You looked down and grabbed it to read.

>>You know those things that people joke about musicians getting to enjoy? Well this is very much that and I'd really really really really like to get back to it

You barely held in a giggle. The poor guy was doomed and you'd hardly started. You both gave a friendly wave to the passengers of the elevator and he actually beat you to punch the button for the bottom floor again. He let out a heavy sigh as you eagerly dropped back to your knees and resumed the slowest blowjob you'd ever stood to give.

The elevator routine repeated two more times and by now, Chris was sweating. It had reached the point where you were now gently ordering him to keep his hands to himself, you know, so you neither of you would get distracted.

"Please, baby, come on," he urged, his eyes squeezed tightly shut. He cursed thoroughly as you bobbed him into your throat, lightly gagging for just a moment.

"I wouldn't beg too much if I were you," you warned, "I might not have that much more patience for it."

"You're right," he struggled, restraining himself from thrusting into your mouth, "you're right, baby, I'm sorry."

You grinned at the compliance as the elevator chimed. It was ringing for your floor. You quickly checked the clock on the other side of the doorway; you'd had plenty of time to play. One more trip and you'd reward Chris for such a good time. You wondered what else you could get up to as the elevator rose, making sure to back up each time it sounded like he was getting close. You teasingly kissed the tip of his cock before slipping it back into his briefs as the elevator neared your floor. Chris finally caught his breath as you dusted yourself off and got up. You pressed a nice kiss to his lips and shared a small smile just before the doors slid open.

Hyun-Jae-unnie was down the hallway, making her way with the boys toward the staff member who had rung up the elevator. She was inspecting her itineraries for the day in a folder she cradled in her arm.

"Unnie!" You called excitedly, giving a wave. Chris cursed quietly behind you. His orgasm just got postponed indefinitely. Unnie's head snapped up at the sound of your voice and charged towards you.

"Unnie, I--"

"You wretched, horny, stupid girl." She growled, lunging into the elevator and getting a solid hold on your hair at the root and began tugging you out into the hallway despite your shocked scream. Chris tried to intervene, shocked as Hyun-Jae pushed him off. She was a good bit shorter than you; you'd never expected her to be so strong.

"Noona--" Chris tried weakly, still attempting to let the blood flow back to the right places.

"I'll deal with you later," she replied sharply with a glare.

"Hyuna-Jae-noona, it's not what--" he tried again.

"Oh," she laughed, crazed, "It's not what I think? Not much left to think. I leave you two idiots alone for a day and look at this forest fire I have to put out." She let go of your hair and shoved her folder into your hands. You opened it, nearly dropping it in shock.

Photos upon photos of the both of you from the past 24 hours. Naver and Twitter screenshots printed out, fans wondering who you were and picking you out from photos and footage since the beginning of your internship. Wild conspiracies that you took a separate flight on purpose. Wilder conspiracies that you got the job just to get closer to Chris. Had you really been standing that close together the whole time in the airport? Had you really looked that comfortable together? There were ten or so photos of you both in the airport lounge -- you should've known it was too crowded to be normal. Hell, there was even a photo of Chris pulling you into your Uber by the hand from just a couple hours ago.

"Noona -- " Chris started meekly.

"Not now, Chan. Go to rehearsal."

"But, Noona, I --"

"Rehearsal. NOW." She shot him a severe look. Changbin reached forward to gently pull Chris into the elevator. Everyone watched you, stares ranging from sympathy to contempt as the doors began to slide shut. You turned back to face Hyun-Jae's rage.

"You. Get in our room right now. We have to talk."

[To Be Continued.]

#bang chan #stray kids #stray kids smut #bang chan smut #kpop smut #kpop fanfiction #stray kids scenarios #stray kids fanfiction #stray kids imagines

[harlowkng-blog]

meet HARLOW KANG

{ adeline rudolph / 23 / cisfemale / she/her } I know Atlas City is a big place, but have you seen HARLOW KANG around here. Gossip says she can be HARSH, but she’s redeemable because she’s also PROTECTIVE. When ever I hear her name I think of FRESHLY BAKED BREAD, MESSY JOURNAL ENTRIES, and WOOD FIRE SMOKE. If you asked her one thing she couldn’t live without she’d probably say HER SON. If you hear MEDEA BY BIRDTALKER blasting you know harlow is near by. { penned by - raine, 20, pst, she/her }

she is my commitment-phobe daughter that would rather bury herself in work than let herself stand and breathe because then she might break down huh

BACKGROUND

 harlow grew up everywhere and nowhere all at once -- her father does international banking and investment while her mom is a famous actress/model who was always traveling for shoots so she stayed with her dad more often than not. but even he moved around a ton so she lived all over the world - milan, seoul, tokyo, sydney, paris. you name it. most of her childhood was spent being homeschooled by her nanny and chasing after her brother in their new hometowns.

around when she turned 14, her dad bought a family house in atlas city along the bay. her and her brother jason were able to finally put down roots in a city and make friends that they could actually keep. this is when she first met adrien, possibly her first best friend beyond her brother.

she went through high school and just kept her walls up -- figuring it was easier since it was only a matter of time before their dad decided to move them again. 

when jason went on to college (university of kyoto), harlow was absolutely crushed because he left her behind and she didn’t have anyone left in atlas city. she begged her dad to move them back to japan, but she was stuck in atlas city.

while traveling and moving around so much, harlow fell in love with food. she’s eaten so much street food, it’s insane. each place they lived, their father would hire a cook to keep the kids alive and they would each teach harlow how to cook in their local styles. this would inspire everything she would cook.

when she graduated high school, she didn’t go to college, but instead managed to get a job at a michelin star restaurant that gave her the training she would need to crack the food scene. during this time, she was living with adrien and she found herself falling in love -- something she didn’t expect at all. but he was her best friend and knew her better than anyone so everything made sense. so when she got pregnant, she was unbearably happy.

but then work became more demanding and she found herself missing out on both leo and adrien’s lives and that filled her with so much guilt and dread. rather than just continuing to hurt them, she decided it was best to remove herself from the equation entirely and moved to france to complete her formal culinary training.

now she’s back in atlas city to be close to her son. she opened a casual bakery/brunch/cafe place called beacon last year and it’s extremely successful. her donuts? insane. try the honeycomb one. but this year she has opened a more formal, fancy restaurant called hearth in the orchard district. she’s also looking to open a pizza place with roger so keep an eye out!

end of the day, harlow is a little competitive, mean, sharp, and cold. but she’s fiercely protective and passionate about what she does. sometimes you can spot the crack in her armor when she lets herself relax and be free.

she’s bi because we love fluid sexuality so much

WANTED CONNECTIONS

restaurant partner -- maybe another chef? baker? collaborator? something fun and food based

roommate/housemate ?

wait staff! literally anyone from a college student barista at beacon or a new waiter at hearth, they could be staples in her life and could be v fun. your muse need a job? harlow’s hiring tbh

SOMEONE TO GET THIS WOMAN TO FUCKING RELAX like even if it’s like a fuck buddies thing or smth she just needs to. stop thinking.

that one friend she can turn to since she ruined everything with adrien so she’s so lonely wow cry

mean food critic?

ex fling? current fling?

i want someone that will make her want to get her shit together lmao

tough love friend that get’s so frustrated with harlow and her self-destructive nature -- explosive fights and arguments but it’s because they love each other!!

#whatever.intro

[laughingupfromhell]

My Gillette Experience + Pre-Show M&G.  7.28.18 -- Extended Edition

I’m sorry this has taken so long to post, but it’s literally so hard to get my thoughts together because I’m still so overwhelmed by the fact that this even HAPPENED to me. I’d convinced myself it wasn’t in the cards, that Taylor didn’t know me, and that I needed to find a way to be okay with never meeting her. But then, IT HAPPENED. (I’m going to write the whole story from the time I got the DM and it’s going to be really long, so if you just want to read the Taylor part, I’ll write it in bold so you can skip to it easily. Just keep scrolling. I’m just posting the long version so I can look back on it whenever I want and never forget anything. I’ll post just the Taylor part individually too in case you don’t want to hunt for it.)

Friday, July 27th, I had the worst day at work. I work in a cafe, and the AC was out in the kitchen which made the entire place SO hot. Literally, it was 92 degrees in the building and we had the ovens on. I live in Florida, so it was disgusting and I felt so sick. We were shorthanded, I was stressed out about my flight, dealing with some pretty intense anxiety about meeting people I had never met before because I’m shy af, and just overall feeling kind of bleh despite being so excited for the concert the next day. I found out as I was on the way to the airport that my flight had been delayed nearly three hours and that set me into panic mode, because it would put me in Boston around 2 in the morning instead of 10pm. Eventually it got pushed back to only an hour delay, which made me feel a little better, and I passed the time in the airport just walking around the shops and scrolling tumblr. Jaime @cages-boxes-hunters-foxes texted me to tell me that one of my best friends Meredith @meredithswift had just met Taylor and I was SO excited for her because I’ve known how much she wanted this since we started talking in 2008. Jaime was like “you next!” and I was like “noooo, it’s not going to happen for me.” Taylor was intent on making me look like boo boo the fool.

Right before I boarded the plane, around 8pm, I took a selfie at the gate because I was bored and tagged Taylor in it on tumblr and said “I’m coming for you, Taylor!” I didn’t even know she was online, and she never liked the post, so I didn’t think anything of it after that.

 I boarded the plane, but there was a RIDICULOUS thunderstorm going on so we sat on the tarmac for nearly two hours, and I had been DMing back and forth with Jeannine @it-feels-like-a-perfect-night all day, so when I saw a notification on tumblr, I thought it was her...until I opened it and it said taylornation. All of my internal organs came flooding out of my ass in that moment and landed on the plane floor beneath me, not clickbait. I literally didn’t believe it was real for a whole hot ass minute because things like this do not happen to me and I was LITERALLY sitting on a plane about to go to Boston so WHAT WAS HAPPENING??? I open it, and they asked for all my information, and when the best time to call was. I was like????!!!? I’m LITERALLY SITTING ON A PLANE LESS THAN 24 HOURS BEFORE MY SHOW AND YOU WANT TO KNOW WHEN THE BEST TIME CALL IS???? YESTERDAY???? I ALREADY HAVE MY BAG CHECKED, I DON’T HAVE TIME TO BUY ANOTHER OUTFIT, I LOOK LIKE A RAT!!!! So obviously I said “I don’t land until midnight but anytime after that, thank you so much!” 

At this point I’m in such shock I literally have no reaction other than to stare unblinking at the seat in front of me and go into full body tremors. I’m pretty sure the girl next to be me on this flight thought I was scared of flying or something, because I was literally shaking so hard I could hear my teeth chattering together. My heart rate shot through the goddamn roof. If you don’t believe me, here is a helpful graph from my Fitbit. I hit 117 BPM from 58 BPM. I’m pretty sure that is indicative of an actual heart attack.

I didn’t know what to do, so I immediately texted my mom and I KNOW it says the message is confidential and you’re not supposed to tell anyone but I needed my mother to know that if her only child died mid-flight, it was taylor nation’s fault and to tell Taylor I loved her. It was VITAL. The southern jumped out -- I literally haven’t called her mama since I was 10, I don’t even know. 

I also told my friend Lindsey @lskbe because I once promised her she’d be one of the first to know if it was ever going to happen and she was a GEM even though she DIDN’T ANSWER ME RIGHT AWAY BUT ANYWAY!!!! (screenshot provided by her). She made me a playlist titled 7.28.18 on spotify and everything for the occasion because she is extra and I love her. 

 I spent the next 2 1/2 hours literally trying not to pee myself with anxiety and excitement because then of course I start thinking WHAT IF THEY FORGET TO CALL? What if it’s just merch? What if I’m boo boo the fool? What if this isn’t real life? Then we hit turbulence and my thoughts turn darker like WHAT IF THE PLANE CRASHES AND I DIE BEFORE I MEET HER? I literally had to make Jaime reassure me multiple times that turbulence wouldn’t make the plane crash and that I would survive. We love her logical brain. So obviously now that I’ve stopped panicking it’s time to take selfies to post later.

 I finally make it to Boston and at this point I think I’ve dissociated because I just can’t even think about it anymore. My brain was on overdrive and I didn’t even know how to process. It was either shut it down or shout it from a rooftop and I COULDN’T TAKE THAT RISK. 

I got to meet my sweet honeys @straightlinedownx and @heypay FINALLY and it’s up there in my top ten best moments of life. They’d just gotten home from Night 2 so they were pretty spent and it was 1:30 in the morning, so we all headed to bed, but if you thought I was sleeping, you’re WRONG because I was literally peeing every half hour because I was so nervous and excited. I was like a chihuahua I swear to god. I was talking to Brittany @messthatuwanted for most of the night trying not to be suspicious and I guess I did a pretty good job because she NEVER FOUND OUT until I wanted her to. Which is what her snake ass deserves tbh. I literally didn’t get to sleep until 4:30 in the morning and then I woke up at 6:45 am and was like...well they said they’d call me in the morning, and technically it is morning, so I should stay up. Clearly logical. Obviously. We love anxiety. I couldn’t turn the ringer on for my phone because I was sharing a room with people and I didn’t want to wake anyone up so going back to sleep was a risk I wasn’t willing to take. 

I spent most of the morning internally exploding, and I eventually told @heypay because I needed someone to tell me I was being crazy and that they would call and she did a very good job at this, so thank you Paige, you’re the love of my life. We were all laying around, relaxing, watching Lejla and Liana’s pet rabbit eat a salad, you know...typical things friends do, when I got a call from a NYC number and shit my pants. I got up from the floor so fast and ZOOMED to the kitchen and Paige followed after me and practically shoved me out of the apartment door so I could have some privacy lol. It was Sydney from Taylor Nation and she was a sweetie and asked how my flight was and and rambled on about delayed flights and I was like....I literally do not care, I’m so sorry, please tell me what I NEED TO KNOW WOMAN I AM DYING!!!! Eventually she cuts to the chase and is like “have you ever had an opportunity before?” And I was like um...hehe..it depends on what you mean by an opportunity because I REALLY JUST WANTED HER TO SAY THE WORDS and she was like “have you ever met taylor before?” and I was like NO!!! I HAVEN’T!!!! At this point I’m shaking so hard I had to lean against the wall for fear of falling down the stairs because THIS IS REALLY HAPPENING, HUH? Then she asks if I’m going to the show with anyone who hasn’t had an opportunity before and I said YES, my precious baby Emily @straightlinedownx. So she asks for Emily’s information and thank god I had checked her facebook to find out her birthday before just in case they asked (since they asked for mine) because IT WAS A STRESSFUL TIME. So she tells me I’ll get a DM within the hour letting us know when we’re verified and where we should pick up our envelope between 4 and 5 pm and I’m just saying thank you over and over and over again because WHAT ELSE AM I SUPPOSED TO DO LIKE WTF IS EVEN HAPPENING RIGHT NOW!!!!!!! 

So in my head I had this beautiful thing planned for how I would tell Emily she’s meeting Taylor, but it turns out beautiful plans can’t happen when your brain is literally exploding, so instead of doing this elaborate thing where I filmed her reaction and everything, I just went over to where she was lying on the ground and kicked her. As friends do. She turns around and I’m like “Come. Here.” I was probably terrifying, I’m so sorry Emily, but I didn’t KNOW WHAT TO DO. So she follows me out to the kitchen and WHAT DO YOU SAY OTHER THAN WHAT IS HAPPENING???? SO I JUST SPIT IT OUT AND SAID “We’re meeting Taylor” and she deadass goes “No we’re not.” Just so casual.  And I’m like “We are. We’re meeting Taylor tonight. I got a DM on the plane and they just called me. I’m bringing you. We’re meeting Taylor.” AND THIS DUMB BICTH GOES “ARE YOU SURE YOU WANT TO BRING ME????” AND I’M LIKE “BICTH YES????? OF COURSE I DO???” And then she just kept doing this the rest of the day and it was my favorite thing. Here she is in Starbucks ten minutes after finding out. 

So we spent the rest of the day obsessing over make up and hair and we headed to the stadium around 2 PM because we wanted to make sure we had plenty of time to meet up with people and buy merch etc. Here’s us waiting for our ride (photo credit to angel @iknowplacesclean and a big thank you for letting me stay at your apartment spur of the moment!!!)

 We met up with Steph ( @thesethingswillchange), Leyton, Jess ( @jtmaster13) , and Sammi (@slytherinraven13) and I got to tell them all what was happening and they were SO happy for us because they’re literal angels on earth.

 Once we made it to will call and gave them our names, THEY DIDN’T KNOW WHAT WE WERE TALKING ABOUT so I started to panic, naturally, but it was chill because they found it eventually and we immediately started taking pictures with the paper. Some nice lady offered to take one for us, bless her, because the struggle was so real. 

By this point I had told all of my friends but Jaime @cages-boxes-hunters-foxes and Brittany @messthatuwanted because I was planning on snaking them the way they snaked me when they met Taylor, and it brought me the greatest joy in life since they both thought I was incapable of it. Little did I know that Jaime was on her way to SURPRISE ME AT THE SHOW which was a MESS since I was in REP ROOM WHEN SHE WAS LOOKING FOR ME! But more on that later. So we met @ninetay89 at will call and we were all so excited for each other because honestly it’s what we all deserved and we just kind of hung out, waiting in line for the gates to open and that’s when Meredith @meredithswift came RUNNING towards me full force. Meredith and I met when we were 13 and 15. We were each others first online friends, and we became full blown stans together. She was the one that convinced me to make a taylor tumblr blog in the first place way back in 2010. We’d never, ever met before that moment and it was honestly one of the highlights of my entire life. I love her with my whole entire heart and it was one of the best hugs I’ve ever gotten. We didn’t let each other go for like 3 minutes. It was great. 

The gates finally open and me and Emily ZOOM up to the 100 level bathrooms to fix our make up because the humidity was KILLER and we were legitimately melting. Then we had to run back down the stairs to meet at the bottom of 129/30 and met up with @sunflowershealing and she was SO sweet! I’m so glad we got to meet! 

So a security guard comes up to us and tells us we’re actually supposed to meet at the TOP of 129, which isn’t what the paper said but it’s FINE, so we go up MORE stairs and it’s honestly beginning to feel like gym class now but it’s fine because I will do hours of cardio for Taylor Swift if need be. So we go up only to be told to go back down the stairs AGAIN because what is organization and they give us our wrist bands and we’re GOING TO REP ROOM BITCHES. 

Let me just say that I was chill literally the entire day. I was excited, yeah, but I wasn’t nervous or anything. Even when we got to Rep Room, I was totally fine. But when I saw the Rep Room doorway, I was jumping up and down like a five year old because how was this REAL LIFE? I never in a million years thought when Taylor shared the fact about Rep Room and showed us the inside that I would ever see it in PERSON. And here I was, walking through the arch??? SOUNDS FAKE. So we get in there, and there are three polaroid cameras sitting on a table next to the throne, but I wasn’t sure if we were allowed to touch them since I’ve heard that a lot of pre-show meet and greets weren’t allowed to do much in rep room. So Emily and I just kind of hang out next to them and hope for the go ahead, which Steph from Taylor Nation eventually gives us and then she has to help our dumb asses put film in them because we’re USELESS. But it’s fine. We take pictures on the throne first, and they came out so iconic honestly I will never take a better picture. 

Obviously I had to take a picture with the iconic rainbow dress.

My one singular complaint about the polaroid idea is that rep room is SO dark and it doesn’t really work well with the film. 

There was water, coke, diet coke, and sprite available to us, but not the booze or the cookies that were in previous rep rooms. Probably because it’s pre-show or because there wasn’t media that night, I’m not sure. Anyway, we’re able to mingle for about 8-10 minutes maybe? Maybe shorter than that, but Steph tells us to put the cameras up and line up. We were third from last to go in of about 5-6 groups. I’d say there were about 10-12 people in there. I’m pretty short, so  I couldn’t see Taylor when they opened the curtain to let the first group in, but I heard someone say “She’s wearing the purple Olivia shirt” and I was like...I literally hate her. Everyone keeps talking and I just wanted them all to shut UP so I could HEAR HER SPEAKING. Eventually, we’re a few groups from going in and I hear her laugh and that’s when it really started getting real. This was really happening. I was about to meet Taylor. Surprisingly, I managed to STILL hold it together. Right before we went in, “Type” by Todrick Hall comes on and I was screaming because I KNEW that would be her favorite song on Forbidden. 

So they open the curtain and she’s standing RIGHT there and she opens her arms so wide and goes “oh my god hiiiiii” and without hesitation I just go right into her arms and wrap her up so tight and said “Hi, I’m Megan!” and she starts laughing and goes “I know! I picked you last night, I see your posts all the time, I saw your selfie like I’m coming for you...and I was like I’m coming for you, I sent your post to TN and was like I need her, bring me her.” Literally I wish I could describe in detail the noise that came out of my mouth when she said I know, because it definitely wasn’t human. I was like “YOU KNOWWWWW???” But i literally growled it like some kind of rabid animal, I’m SO sorry, Taylor. That was the first time I lost my chill, which surprisingly only happened twice. 

As soon as she drops that bomb on me she turns to Emily to hug her which is what she DESERVES but I was so shook by what she said that I was leaning in for another hug but her back is to me now so I kind of halfway climbed her back I HATE MYSELF. Like my hand was gripping her shoulder and my other hand was pressed against her back and I had to physically talk myself off the ledge like BE COOL BITCH, BACK UP, DON’T BE WEIRD! So I just subtly slide my hands off of her and step back...only to embarrass myself further by stepping closer to Emily, aggressively rubbing her back and shouting “THIS IS EMILY! WE LOVE HER!!!!” Honestly what the fuck is wrong with me? She goes “Thank you guys so much for coming!” And I literally PANTED out “THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR INVITING ME!” Literally I was malfunctioning. I needed to be rebooted.

She turns back to both of us and shimmies her shoulders because she clearly wants me dead and goes “Sooooooooo....” and without hesitation I go “We need to talk about ‘Look What You Made Me Do’” and she’s like “okay, what do we need to talk about?” And then...I did it ladies. I literally told her I didn’t get the joke when it first came out, it flew right over my head and I thought she was being serious about the old taylor being dead and I was so worried about her that I threw up in a parking lot. She goes “Oh my god WHAT? That makes me so sad!” But she was laughing so hard, she threw her head back and covered her mouth, and for a split second I’m like DID I HURT HER FEELINGS??? DOES SHE THINK I HATE THE SONG??? So I was like “NO NO BUT I LOVED IT!” and she goes “You threw up!” And I’m like “BECAUSE I WAS WORRIED ABOUT YOU! I WAS LIKE IS SHE OKAY????” And she literally can’t stop laughing, she’s doing that stupid dolphin laugh she does and I literally wanted to smoosh her face between my hands because I adore her so much and she is so fucking cute and GOD I WANT TO DIE. So she goes “I was literally climbing out of a grave dressed as a zombie, you didn’t get how that was supposed to be funny???” And I was like “NO, I understood it was a joke when the video came out but for a whole week before I didn’t get the joke!” And she goes “Ohhhh, when the single dropped and you listened you were like WHAT IS WRONG WITH HER???” And she just kept laughing like honestly what the fuck is my life? I made Taylor Swift LAUGH? ME??? (Emily said everyone in the room was laughing, like the security at the door and everything I literally want to jump off a cliff.) So I was like “YES EXACTLY! I was like is she okay? I’m so worried about her, I need to know that she’s okay!” And she like...touched my arm and goes “But you’re okay now, right?” and made the most INTENSE eye contact like...if there is one thing I will say about meeting her, it’s that she keeps eye contact with you the WHOLE time and you know she’s hearing everything you say, she’s paying attention to every word and you KNOW she cares. And I’m like “yeah! I get the joke now, I get it, I swear!” And EMILY GOES “I don’t think she’s okay...” like honestly... drag me.

So I attempt to change the subject and the bitch CUTS ME OFF and leans in to me, looks down at me with this smirk on her face and goes “....do you need me to explain the joke to you?” like she was TEASING me, but I was being DRAGGED. I was like “NO, I get it now! I get it!” BUT SHE EXPLAINED IT ANYWAY. She explained that the whole concept of the line came from how people were saying Taylor Swift is over, she’s dead, and she was making fun of the whole cancellation culture that social media and media in general has, so she decided to just be like “Ohhhh, cause she’s deaaaaaad” (and she said it in the funniest, whiniest mocking voice I literally can’t stand her) to show them all how stupid they sounded when they said things like that. To paraphrase because I don’t remember exact wording, she said that’s really just the whole tone of the album, reputation, itself. That there are a lot of things that go into building a reputation, but that a reputation isn’t real, it’s a perception that can be formed by any number of things, true and false, but isn’t always based on what is actually happening. It’s fake, just like the old taylor being dead is fake, it’s a joke. I think the entire time she was saying this I kept repeating “No I get it, I get it” because I wanted to be sure she knew that I got it, but I think she really just wanted to explain it in general and I’m so glad she did, because I loved the insight. And then she goes “BUT IT’S SO FUNNY NOW because they’re like ‘What is she doing with the snakes? Why is she doing that? She’s so annoying!’ And I’m just like BECAUSE YOU TWEETED IT OVER AND OVER AND OVER AGAIN EVERY SINGLE DAY! YOU’RE JUST MAD BECAUSE IT DOESN’T BOTHER ME ANYMORE!” And I shit you not, she was literally screaming this in my face, and acting like she was scrolling through her phone and laughing like...I was scared lmao. I just kept saying “I’m so proud of you, you just took it back, it’s what you deserve!” God, she’s so pretty when she laughs I can’t stop picturing it and hearing it and I don’t know where I could possibly go from here, I’ve peaked. 

She turned to Emily then, and I’m not going to share what happened there because it’s Emily’s story to tell, but I’m literally so happy that she gave her the love she deserves. The moment they shared touched me so much. 

When she looked like she was stepping into position for a photo, I suddenly flashed back to everything my friends who had met her already told me -- that if you stop talking, the M&G will end, but if you keep talking, so will she, so I sort of side stepped and started talking to her about how I’ve dealt with some pretty toxic relationships in the past couple years, and how it breaks my heart to think she’s ever felt the same way as I have in those moments of vulnerability and hurt, but that I was so thankful for songs like Dear John and Better Man because it made me feel less alone. And she goes “it’s always nice to know that you’re not alone in feeling the way you do, I totally get it. But that’s why we’re all here, isn’t it? That’s why we come to a stadium and we sing and dance and cry (we said cry at the same time, what kind of shared brain bullshit?) with each other, because we understand each other. We have that connection.” 

From there it got a little personal for me, and I want to keep that for myself, but she gave me the biggest, tightest hug and said some of the sweetest things anyone has ever said to me and I’ve never felt more loved in my entire life than I did in those few minutes in a room with her. She said “I love you sooo much” and I said I loved her too, and then she asked what we wanted to do for a picture and Emily goes “I wanna do a smoosh...” because she’s the cutest person that has ever BREATHED and Taylor looked so confused so we both said at the same time (at the suggestion of Paige) “Can we do a Taylor face sandwich?” and she got so excited and was like “YEAH, I’ll smoosh your faces to mine!” So we got in position for that I knew I grabbed onto her, but I didn’t actually know what part of her I grabbed, I think I was reaching for her hand forgetting that her hand was on my face LOL. 

Anyway, we got our picture, she told us she loves us and hopes we have fun at the show and that she was so happy we were there and Emily manages AT THE LAST SECOND to go “CAN YOU PLAY COME BACK BE HERE.....please” and I’m like “Yeah, like....tonight.” And I felt so bad because I know I sounded so forceful and I DIDN’T MEAN TO. And she goes “Well, I can’t tonight because I promised someone else I’d play a different song, but I promise I will play it at a show soon, I know how much you guys want that one, I promise.” And we thanked her and told her we loved her and took our autograph and our dignity and got the hell out. 

I remember I was shaking when I came out of rep room, but I wasn’t freaking out really. I was still pretty chill. Chiller than I expected to be. We got about halfway back to her seats and I screamed “WHAT DID SHE SAY???” because for about five minutes, I blacked out completely. It was such a whirlwind of emotion that I don’t think I’ll ever be able to feel again. When we got back to our seats, the sweet angel that is Steph came over to me and asked how it went and I managed to get out “I said Hi, I’m Megan and...and....and...” and then I completely LOST MY SHIT and started SOBBING in Steph’s arms. I literally could not process that she KNEW WHO I WAS! I’M A LITERAL GARBAGE CAN! WHY DID SHE KNOW ME??? WHY DID SHE LOOK AT ME LIKE THAT? WHY DID SHE LAUGH SO MUCH? I COULDN’T PROCESS!

Steph: Meg, Taylor wanted to meet you, how do you feel?  

 The sobbing didn’t last long and I recovered just in time to meet my sweet baby Lauren @iknowplaces13 which I was SO EXCITED FOR! She was so happy for me and such an angel BUT THIS WASNT THE END OF THE ANGELS because JAIME APPEARS OUT OF THIN AIR TO SURPRISE ME (even though Dani @screamedsooloud ruined the surprise by accident but it’s FINE) and at this point, I still haven’t told Jaime that I met Taylor and I’m squirming trying to get out of the vice like hug she’s giving me so i can pull up my sleeve and show her my wristband LOL. Eventually she lets me BREATHE and I yank my sleeve up and go “SURPRISE, Snake!” and she literally is the blinking man gif, just no actually expression, raises her eyebrows, looks down at it and back at me and just goes “....when?” and then LAUNCHES herself at me because she is the sweetest, purest bean on the planet and was so genuinely happy for me. She’s listened to me cry about how I was sure this would never happen for so long and she kept telling me she was sure it would happen in Tampa and it was SO fun to outsnake her for once. I started telling her the story and every time I’d tell her something new, she’d tackle me again, it was so PURE. I love her with my entire heart.  Here’s a picture after I’ve cried all my eyeliner off. 

And then I snaked Brittany @messthatuwanted for snaking me because it’s what she deserved: 

The show was obviously amazing and we had great seats near the B stage and were able to make it to barricade, which was such a highlight to an already amazing night. I danced so much and sang at the top of my lungs and had a full on breakdown during long live that Emily the angel had to hold me through because I literally could not cope. Just full on sobbing for half the song. I had so much fun with Emily, Steph, Jess, Sammi, Leyton, Lejla, Sarah, Paige, and everyone else I spent time with this weekend. I’m forever grateful to Taylor for bringing so many amazing people into my life, I don’t deserve any of you and I can’t wait to reunite with 99 percent of the people I met at Gillette in Nashville. 

I quite literally had the time of my life with you, @taylorswift. Thank you so much for loving me like I love you, thank you for loving my friends and for bringing them into my life. I’ll never forget you as long as I live.

#7.28 #rep room #rep room story

[lealerma6647-blog]

10 Signs You Made A Great Impact On Best Vpn 2019

If you're searching for the best VPN for torrenting, personal privacy, bypassing censorship, staying anonymous online, navigating geographic constraints, or just area shifting, you have actually got a great deal of confusing choices. Keep reading as we help you choose the best VPN for you. VPNs, or Virtual Private Networks, are a fast and simple solution to making your computer system seem originating from a different location. They achieve this by producing a virtual network that routes all of your PC or smart device's network traffic through an encrypted tunnel and out the other side, making it appear to the world that you're really in whatever location the VPN server is located. This can help you bypass geographical limitations, prevent censors, or keep you (relatively) anonymous online. The problem is that there are scores of different VPN service providers out there, and a lots of various factors to utilize one-- so which one do you choose? Do Not Seem Like Reading Whatever? Here's the TL; DR Variation This post has a great deal of information, and you probably just wish to set up a VPN so you can try to watch your preferred TELEVISION program or film on a streaming service on the other side of the world that's unfairly been geographically limited, or you're trying to find something that can protect you while you're torrenting. So here are our top options and why we selected them: ExpressVPN is our leading option if you're trying to find easy, easy-to-use clients for each Windows, Mac, Android, iPhone, or Linux, blazing fast speeds that can handle torrenting or bypassing geographic limitations, and simply a typically enjoyable experience. They have an one month money-back warranty also. StrongVPN is an excellent option if you're trying to find blazing quick speeds, and a VPN that can manage torrenting and bypassing geographic restrictions. 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Ideally, you'll run the VPN server at the router level for finest security and very little power consumption. To that end, we recommend either flashing your router to DD-WRT (which supports both VPN server and client mode) or purchasing a router that has an integrated in VPN server (like the formerly reviewed Netgear Nighthawk and Nighthawk X6 routers). If this is the option you need (or even if you just want to run it in parallel with remote options for other jobs), certainly have a look at our post How to Set Up Your Own House VPN Server for extra details. Do You Required Secure Casual Surfing? Even if you aren't especially security or privacy conscious, everyone needs to have a VPN if they frequently utilize public Wi-Fi networks. When you use Wi-Fi at the cafe, the airport, or the hotel you're remaining at while taking a trip cross-country, you have zero idea whether or not the connection you're utilizing is secure. The router might be running outdated and jeopardized firmware. The router might actually be malicious and actively sniffing packages and logging your data. The router could be poorly configured and other users on the network could be sniffing your data or penetrating your laptop or mobile device. You never ever have any guarantee whatsoever that an unknown Wi-Fi hotspot isn't, either through malice or poor setup, exposing your data. (A password doesn't suggest a network is safe, either-- even if you need to get in a password, you could be based on any of these problems.). In such circumstances, you don't require a beastly VPN provider with huge bandwidth to secure your e-mail, Facebook, and web browsing activities. In truth, the very same house VPN server design we highlighted in the previous section will serve you simply as well as a paid options. The only time you may think about a paid solution is if you have high-bandwidth requirements that your house connection can't keep up with (like seeing big volumes of streaming video through your VPN connection). Do You Required to Geo-Shift Your Place? If your goal is to look like if you remain in another nation so you can access content only available in that are (e.g. BBC Olympic protection when you're not in the UK) then you'll need a VPN service with servers located in the geographical area you wish to leave the virtualized network in. Need UK gain access to for that Olympic protection your long for? Make sure your service provider has UK servers. Need a United States IP address so you can see YouTube videos in peace? Pick a provider with a long list of United States exit nodes. Even the greatest VPN company around is worthless if you can't access an IP address in the geographic area you need. Do You Required Privacy and Possible Deniability? If your requirements are more serious than enjoying Netflix or keeping some war kiddie at the coffee shop from snooping on your social networks activity, a VPN may not be for you. Lots of VPNs promise privacy, but couple of can actually provide it-- and you're still relying on the VPN supplier with access to your traffic, which isn't perfect. For that, you likely want something more like Tor, which-- while not ideal-- is a better anonymity option than VPNs. Lots of users do, however, count on VPNs to create some plausible deniability when doing things like file sharing on BitTorrent. By making their traffic look like if it's originating from a different IP address, they can put one more brick on the wall obscuring them from others in the swarm. Again, it isn't perfect, however it is useful. If that sounds like you, you desire a VPN company that does not keep logs and has a very large user base. The larger the service, the more individuals poring through every exit node and the harder it is to isolate a single user from the crowd. A great deal of individuals avoid utilizing VPN providers based out of the United States on the facility that US law would force those suppliers to log all VPN activity. Counterintuitively, there are no such data logging requirements for US-based VPN suppliers. They may be forced under another set of laws to turn over data if they have any to turn over, but there is no requirement they even keep the information in the very first location. In addition to logging concerns, an even larger issue is the type of VPN procedure and encryption they utilize (as it's far more probable a harmful 3rd party will attempt and siphon up your traffic and analyze it behind they will reverse engineer your traffic in an attempt to find you). Considering logging, procedure, and encryption requirements is a terrific point to transition into the next area of our guide where we shift from concerns concentrated on our requirements to questions focused on abilities of the VPN companies. Selecting Your VPN Provider. What produces a VPN supplier? Aside from the most obvious matter, a good rate point that sits well with your budget, other components of VPN selection can be a bit nontransparent. Let's take a look at a few of the aspects you'll wish to consider. It's up to you to address these questions by checking out over the paperwork provided by the VPN service provider prior to signing up for the service. Even better, checked out over their documents and best vpn reddit then search for grievances about the service to ensure that although they declare they don't do X, Y, or Z, that users aren't reporting that they remain in reality doing just that. What Procedures Do They Assistance? Not all VPN protocols are equal (not by a long shot). By far, the protocol you want to run in order to attain high levels of security with low processing overhead is OpenVPN. RELATED: Which is the Best VPN Procedure? PPTP vs. OpenVPN vs. L2TP/IPsec vs. SSTP. You wish to skip PPTP if at all possible. It's a very dated procedure that uses weak file encryption and due to security concerns need to be considered compromised. It might be good enough to protect your non-essential web browsing at a coffee bar (e.g. to keep the store owner's child from sniffing your passwords), however it's not up to snuff for severe security. Although L2TP/IPsec is a significant improvements over PPTP, it lacks the speed and the open security audits discovered with OpenVPN. Long story short, OpenVPN is what you desire (and you should accept no alternatives up until something even better comes along). If you desire the long version of the short story, definitely have a look at our guide to VPN protocols for a more in-depth look. There's presently only one situation where you would amuse using L2TP/IPsec rather of OpenVPN and that's for mobile phones like iOS and Android phones. Currently neither Android nor iOS supports native OpenVPN (although there is third-party assistance for it). Both mobile os do, however, support L2TP/Ipsec natively and, as such, it's a beneficial option. A good VPN supplier will offer all of the above choices. An outstanding VPN service provider will even supply great documents and steer you away from using PPTP for the very same factors we just did. You must also inspect the pre-shared secrets they utilize for those protocols, considering that many VPN companies utilize insecure and easy-to-guess secrets.). The Number Of Servers Do They Have and Where? If you're wanting to access United States media sources like Netflix and YouTube without geo-blocking, then a VPN service with the majority of its nodes in Africa and Asia is of really little use to you. Accept nothing less than a varied stable of servers in several countries. Given how robust and extensively used VPN services have become it isn't unreasonable to expect hundreds, if not thousands, of servers across the world. In addition to inspecting the number of servers they have and where those servers lie, it's likewise smart to check into where the business is based and if that location lines up with your needs (if you're using a VPN to avoid persecution by your government, then it would be wise to avoid a VPN service provider in a nation with close ties to your country). The Number Of Concurrent Links Are Allowed? You might be believing: "I only need one connection, don't I?" What if you wish to set up VPN access on more than one gadget, for more than one relative, on your house router, or the like? You'll require numerous concurrent connections to the service. Or, possibly, if you're especially security oriented, you want to configure several gadgets to utilize numerous different exit nodes so your collective personal or home traffic isn't all bundled together. At minimum, you want a service that enables a minimum of 2 concurrent connections; practically speaking at the more the better (to account for all your mobile devices and computers) and with the ability to connect your router to the VPN network is more effective. Do They Throttle Connections, Limit Bandwidth, or Restrict Solutions? ISP throttling is one of the reasons lots of people rely on VPN networks in the very first location, so paying additional for a VPN service on top of your broadband bill simply to get throttled all over once again is a terrible proposal. This is among those subjects some VPNs aren't completely transparent, about so it helps to do a little digging on Google. Bandwidth limitations may not have been a big offer in the pre-streaming era, but now that everybody is streaming videos, music, and more, the bandwidth burns up truly quickly. Avoid VPNs that impose bandwidth constraints unless the bandwidth limitations are clearly extremely high and planned just to permit the company to police people abusing the service. In that vein, a paid VPN service restricting you to GBs worth of data is unreasonable unless you're only using it for occasional, basic browsing. A service with small print that limits you to X variety of TBs of information is acceptable, but truly limitless bandwith ought to be expected. Finally, checked out the fine print to see if they limit any procedures or services you want to use the service for. If you wish to utilize the service for file sharing, checked out the fine print to ensure your file sharing service isn't blocked. Once again, while it was typical to see VPN providers limit services back in the day (in an effort to minimize bandwidth and computing overhead) it's more typical today to discover VPNs with an anything-goes policy. What Kind of Logs, If Any, Do They Keep? Many VPNs will not keep any logs of user activity. Not just is this of advantage to their clients (and a fantastic selling point) it's likewise of big benefit to them (as detailed logging can rapidly take in disk after disk worth of resources). A lot of the largest VPN providers will tell you as much: not just do they have no interest in keeping logs, however given the large size of their operation they can't even start to set aside the disk area to do so. Although some VPNs will keep in mind that they keep logs for a very minimum window (such an only a few hours) in order to help with maintenance and best vpn reddit guarantee their network is running smoothly, there is very little reason to go for anything less than absolutely no logging. What Payment Approaches Do They Deal? If you're acquiring a VPN for securing your traffic against snooping Wi-Fi nodes while taking a trip, or to path your traffic safely back to the United States, confidential payment approaches aren't likely an extremely high top priority for you. If you're acquiring a VPN to prevent political persecution or dream to remain as confidential as possible, then you'll be considerably more interested in services that permit payment through anonymous sources like cryptocurrency or gift cards. You heard us right on that last bit: a number of VPN suppliers have systems in location where they will accept gift cards from major merchants (that are totally unassociated to their business) like Wal-Mart or Target in exchange for VPN credit. You could purchase a present card to any number of big box shops using money, redeem it for VPN credit, and avoid using your individual charge card or checking info. Do They Have a Kill Change System? If you are depending upon your VPN to keep your activities even slightly confidential, you require some complacency that the VPN isn't simply going to go down and dispose all your traffic out into the regular internet. What you desire is tool known as a "kill switch system". Excellent VPN suppliers have a kill switch system in place such that if the VPN connection fails for any reason it automatically locks down the connection so that the computer system doesn't default to utilizing the open and unsecured internet connection. In case you beloved this short article and you want to acquire more info regarding best vpn reddit i implore you to pay a visit to our own internet site.

[conceptci]

Which Color Psychology Better Fits With Your Cafe Fitout?

This ordinariness, notwithstanding, doesn't ensure the arrival of clients to your bistro nor the numbers expected to accomplish your main concern. So how would you be able to deal with giving your bistro a strategic advantage? This is the place where Office Fitouts Sydney can have an immense effect on your income. That is on the grounds that you can use the brain science of shading to impact the manner in which clients connect with your business.

Utilizing shading brain research in bistro fitouts

Alongside the area, cafe fitouts Sydney massively affects the achievement of a business, so it's nothing unexpected that tone is a major factor. Truth be told, shading is one of the most reasonable ways of changing the feel of a bistro and astute entrepreneurs utilize the brain research of shading to unobtrusively impact their clients. Would you like to build your turnover rate? There's shading for that. Need clients to unwind, wait and go through more cash? There's shading for that. Need to advance a sound menu? There's shading for that!

White, Beige

Light tones like white, beige cause the look and feel of an eatery design more extensive than it really is while hotter shading tones have fairly a contrary impact. Lighter tones have a mental effect of a quieter feel which thus causes your clients to wait on longer. Clients who stay longer may thusly arrange more and increment your marketing projections. This color code better goes with Office fitouts Melbourne.

Red and Yellow

These tones raise the pulse and circulatory strain and get individuals to move! So assuming you need to expand turnover in your bistro and there's a high footfall in your space, presenting components of red and yellow will get the job done.

Loosening up Colors: Green and Brown

Green is and consistently has been the shading to be related with nature, and it makes a casual climate in the café. It makes the clients lose and urges them to remain for some time. The main part of painting the eatery green is that the clients need to practice good eating habits and even food. Wellbeing based eateries ought to apply a quiet tone of green on their dividers, and a little trace of woody brown may help too.

Checking Appetite: Blue and Purple

Regardless of how unfathomable it might sound, the tones blue and purple have been related to poisons and consequently decline the hunger of clients. Regardless of whether this assertion is valid, the truth of the matter is that there aren't some normally happening blue or purple food things, which is the reason they are considered to restrict the hunger an individual has.

Letting The Customers Stay: Warmer Shades of Red, Orange, Brown

Dim, hearty tones, when painted onto the dividers in light shades and joined with a little lighting of warm shadings, assist the clients with unwinding and need to remain more. Hazier shades of red, maroon, warm orange and brown will in general lift the hunger of the clients, settling on them a suitable shading decision for high-end eateries.

Related Blog: Thinking About Cafe Fitout? Look Out Top Trends in 2021

Source: How color psychology impacts the impression of your cafe fitout?

[viteducation]

Opportunities with Advanced Diploma of Hospitality Sydney Management Courses

The hospitality industry in Australia is one of the most important industrial segments in the country, encompassing companies and jobs at all levels. Much like the tourism and travel sectors of most of the highest paying countries, the Australian travel and hospitality industry creates potential employment opportunities not only within the country but also outside of it. Of course, this Advanced Diploma of Hospitality Sydney requires professionals who can learn, network and experience different cultures.

In short, it is a significant export market as it also attracts large numbers of overseas students and professionals willing to enrol in travel and hospitality programs for careers. successfully.

The range of jobs in the hospitality industry attracts both young students and professionals looking for a career change to move on to hotel management. From entry-level positions in the front office to management and management positions in the hotel and restaurant industry, exciting positions in the segment of tour operators, member clubs, cruise ships, etc., the hotel job market is an attractive offer for many. Even for those who work unemployed and want to know what the hospitality industry is all about, or suddenly have an interest in seeing the world, the industry offers immense potential for part-time and casual work.

Enrolment in Advanced Diploma of Hospitality Sydney in Australia is suitable for both full-time study and gradual introduction. Students looking to extend the length of their studies gain additional flexibility by allowing additional time for training and development. Performance during employment. Planning of projects, volunteering as a substitute for vacation or injuries to regular employees in restaurants, hotels, etc.

The levels of enrolment to a Advanced Diploma of Hospitality Sydney Australia course would ideally be:

As Vocational Courses like, the Hospitality Management Diploma does not require you to be separated from the industry for an extended period of time. There are also several part-time degrees that allow you to pursue the specialization and your work at the same time.

The number of hotels, restaurants and cafes has increased dramatically as people have less time to spend time with friends and family. Like any other career option, it also requires a high level of commitment, commitment, and knowledge. If you are looking to open your own restaurant or hotel, a popular hospitality course is highly recommended, and nothing beats a degree in hotel management. According to industry experts, this Diploma of Hospitality Management Sydney course has taken the hospitality industry to a new level by inexpensively preparing potential individuals for the challenges and responsibilities ahead.

The management degree gives you the opportunity to learn about the latest tactics in today’s industry. From preparing delicious meals for your customers to managing your restaurant accounts, this course will teach you all aspects of hospitality. For this reason, more and more people are taking this training to begin a correct, growth-oriented professional course.

International Opportunities with Advanced Diploma of Hospitality Sydney Education

A world full of career opportunities

Do you enjoy working with people and do you make them happy? Are you interested in a career that offers challenge, variety and advancement? Would you like to see the world while you make a living?? A career in hotel management could then offer you a high level of professional success and personal growth.

One of the main reasons the multibillion-dollar hospitality industry is so popular is the wide range of career opportunities it offers to many types of businesses and organizations around the world:

It is no wonder that the hospitality industry, with its size, rapid growth and abundance of jobs, is attracting so much interest from a large number of students. And today the industry is faster and more competitive than ever. For those looking to pursue a career in the hospitality industry, a degree in diploma of hospitality management is essential.

This section gives you a brief overview of Diploma of hospitality management course jobs at all levels and an introduction to some of the skills and responsibilities required. Although the classification, scope, responsibilities and level of jobs can vary from company to company, the examples on the following pages will give you a general understanding of career opportunities.

After reading the overview for this section, you’ll learn more about how the hospitality industry works. You have a better idea of ​​which jobs are right for you. And you will probably be even more excited about a future career in the hospitality industry!

Why hospitality and design?

Exciting job offers await you in the dynamic and international hotel industry!

Understanding the principles of design is important in an industry where new hotels are constantly opening and properties are being renovated to create a more contemporary environment. With the increasing competition between hotels and the growing popularity of boutique and designer hotels, graduates and doctoral students respond to the demand for versatile managers with attention to detail and great interest in the design of facilities.

The skills learned in any hotel management school are applicable to a variety of roles in the hospitality Courses, luxury brand management, hotel design, and tourism industries.

The importance of luxury in the hospitality industry

The luxury and retail sectors are closely linked to the hotel industry and are becoming increasingly important, especially in four and five-star hotels. Hoteliers and luxury brand managers work together to capitalize on the synergies between their products, and students learn the concepts of luxury brand management.

A bright future for hospitality graduates

The hotel industry is experiencing massive growth internationally. The world tour organization predicts that its size will triple by 2020 and become one of the largest industries in the world. This growth has created many job opportunities for the right people with the right skills, and the institutions provide exactly the kind of training and skills future hotel managers need to be successful.

For getting more information visit here VIT – Victorian Institute of Technology

14/123 Queen St, Melbourne VIC 3000, Australia

1300 17 17 55 (or) [email protected]

#Advanced Diploma of Hospitality Melbourne #Advanced Diploma of Hospitality Australia #Advanced Diploma of Hospitality Sydney #Advanced Hospitality Management

[calypsopromo]

Bondi has something for everyone, whether you prefer to swim & surf or to bar & cafe hop. The beach town is picturesque - a small community just minutes out of the CBD! Whether you’re travelling to the sun-drenched town or you’ve lived here forever - you’ll never want to leave !! Postcard-worthy views are found on the bondi to bronte walk, or even from any of the apartments looking over the beach !! You can find a casual job at any of the dining precincts littering around the beach, or an office and retail job in the nearby central business district of Sydney central. With consistently high Australian temperatures, you’ll find no hassle swimming and surfing all year ‘round, whether it be in the ocean or the beautiful rock pools! There’s truly something for anyone and a place for every type of person !!

bondihq is an appless, oc & plotless town rp focused on character development and building connections !!

home - navi - plot - taken fcs

#oc rp #appless rp #beach rp #town rp #rpg

[jainnnnn]

HEY GUYS HAVE SOME MORE CECIL FLUFF I WROTE IN MY SPARE TIME HAHAHAHA

Coffee shop date

Cecil was nervously pacing around his apartment, his shadow seeming to weave around his floor. He had a new date which meaned he had to decide on a new form to meet them in. Ok, blue eyes and brown hair... What else? What else could I need? Umm just the essentials I suppose. Ok. Ok, I think I'm ready. He took the stairs down to the ground floor. "Hey miss I'm off, going on a date for the next few hours don't let anyone shady into my place!" he joked casually.

"Mmhmm..." she mumbled into her magazine's pages.

Cecil walked out the door into the nature of his realm, purple and brilliant, the vines grew over the sky in patches that resembled clouds in the other worlds. Cecil pulled at his bow for a moment before turning down the short path to the dimensional agency with a happy expression on his face.

"Which realm are you traveling to?"

"Realm 267b and the country, United States of Hetu. " Cecil spoke as evenly as he could while he figeted, nervous for his date.

"And will you be needing a human form for that? " she asked dryly.

"Oh of course I have it right here with the specifications and everything. " he said briskly with a swish of this tail. He produced the paper and gave it to her.

"Cecil, should I add this to your files? " She asked.

"Oh of course, yes please. " he figited with the small pen in his hands.

"Will that be all? "

"Ah, umm, yes thank you, " he stumbled over his words. As he walked towards the dressing capsule he fixed his bow.

As he walked out he admired what he could see of this new form before stepping in front of a long mirror put there for this exact purpose.

His hair was brown and curly, he met his eyes, they were a bright blue with darker blue streaks in the band of blue. He looked over his outfit, noting the gray vest that was still there as well as the smaller white bowtie he wore. He attempted to strut out of the door but of course stumbled and tripped over himself on the way there, much to the amusement of the service clerk behind the counter. He finally managed to make his way out of the door, and in a poof of purple smoke he was gone.

Cecil stepped out of the alley onto the sidewalk, he looked around in an attempt to find the shop where they were supposed to meet. Out of the corner of his eyes he spotted it. He walked over to the small coffee shop and looked up, confirming the name of the place.

He walked inside only to almost knock over some poor woman. "Ah, s-sorry mam, " he stuttered, still a bit unused to talking out loud despite the many times he had done this. She turned around to face him.

"Oh haha no problem, people bump into me all the time! " she laughed."

"Actually, what's your name, I happen to be waiting for someone, " she said and perked up, waiting for his answer.

"Actually I'm Cecil Sawyer, and who might you be? " he said already hoping he knew the answer.

"Aw sweet you're my date, I'm Sydney Kiso, nice to meet you. " she held out her hand with a half smile on her face.

"Ah you as well," he held out his own now human hand, which was slightly shaky from what he said was the cold but knew was nerves.

"Anyways let's go grab a table, yeah?" She began to walk in the direction of a table close to the window. Cecil followed in her steps still nervously shaky as he sat down across from her.

"What are you going to get Cecil? " she questioned with a bright smile on her face.

"Ah I think I'll just get some co-coffee"he managed to stutter out. He looked at the menu and for a moment forgot where he was.

"So, what can I get you two? " A waitress suddenly asked.

"Just a plain coffee please" Cecil ordered his drink quietly.

"Oh I'll have the caramel coffee please,"his date ordered. They sat in silence for a moment, looking across the small table where they sat.

"So are you from around here?"She asked shyly.

"Ah umm no, not really.Honestly I only moved here recently. What about you?" Cecil began to pick up speed with his words.

"Mmm yeah I've been here for a few years now but I'm originally from Askalia, beautiful place, ya know? " Her voice was tinged with a slight accent, probably from her home country.

They talked over the next hour as they drank their cooling coffees in the cafe. Cecil became more and more at ease until the two had a playful atmosphere around them. To Cecil it was heaven, he only hoped she felt the same in that moment. As their date ended the sky was darkening quickly due to the chill in the air that had announced winter from earlier. Cecil shifted on his feet outside of the cafe doors as the two said goodbye and exchanged numbers.

"Um, do-do you want me to walk you home, I m-mean it's really dark and cold outside and I'd

f-feel terrible if you got hurt because I kept you out so late, " he figeted with his bow.

"Oh, um not at all, if you really want to walk home with me," she said with a laugh.

"Oh, heh didn't think I'd get that far, where do you live not to s-sound creepy or anything like that, "Cecil said as a small blush spread over his face.

They walked down the streets as Cecil got increasingly nervous about what would happen when they turned every corner. A hand suddenly grabbed his and he let out a surprised gasp.

"Oh sorry is it okay with you if I hold your hand it's really cold out haha, "she moved a little closer to get a better grip onto him.

"N-no, no not at all Sydney, "he felt good saying her name, as if saying it had already warmed him up. His face was a bright red that slowly faded back to the natural pink hue in the cold wind. They walked in silence for a few minutes before stopping in front of an apartment building.

"This is the place. Thanks for walking me home, it was nice. Do you want to come inside for a bit to warm yourself up? "She asked with a small tilt of her head. They went inside the building and up to Sydney's apartment where they sat by a digital fire. Where they sat together and chatted about themselves. For however long it was, but to Cecil it felt like no time at all had passed, he was having too much fun to notice the time.

"Oh no! Look at the time don't you need to be home by now? "

"No I have all of a few hours more I need to leave at about five am, I think,"Cecil tilted his head mentally checking himself on the numbers.

"Oh well, it's so late, umm if you want you can crash on the couch until then, but I have to go to sleep. After all I have work in the morning tomorrow!" she said hurriedly as if in a semi-paniced daze. "Um, I am going to go sleep, you can stay or go I don't mind if you stay but don't make too much noise ok? "She nodded as if saying yes to herself and hurried out of another door into what was presumably her room. As the door closed Cecil decided to stay on the couch too tired to do much else.

Cecil woke to a dull yellow light filling the room. He got up to see if he could sneak out undetected from the small apartment.

"Oh hi sorry if I woke you Cecil, going home? " she questioned

"Yeah thanks for letting me stay but I really must be going now, important assig-jobs to do and all, yep, jobs. That's what I ment, definitely. " He all but walked outside her apartment and down the stairs to get outside to find an alleyway where he could go home without being seen.

He stumbled down into an alley and with a puff of smoke he was gone. Just in time as well as the second he teleported the strain it took on his human form broke it and he flopped back into his true form. He was exhausted from using the cloaking magic the agency had provided. Of course it would be easier if he had had it himself, but he was not that lucky so as to have that much power to himself. He tripped his way over to his room and called in sick to his work. Thankfully they understood. He put the phone down and went to his room where he quickly found the bed and snuggled under its piles of blankets. He pulled his tail in close and curled into what looked like a small ball of demon. Cecil sighed and fell into his usual pleasant comatose state as he slept off the effects of the magical drain.

#Just for reference this is before he met Jain #hes good for a whole lotta fluff

[porter-sydney-blog]

A Smile is Just a Note Away

WHO: Elise Chang @elisechangs & Sydney Porter

WHEN: Friday, February 17, 2017

WHERE: Java Jive Cafe

WHAT: After a long few days, Sydney finds herself in a small cafe just off campus that Elise happens to work at. They know each other, but not terribly personally. But when Elise notices Sydney’s demeanour, she takes it upon herself to brighten the blonde’s day.

WARNING: Depression TW.

Elise: Honestly, a shift at Java Jive was not something that Elise was going to choose to look forward to, especially after the more recent shifts she’d been having. She was getting more and more exhausted, more and more frustrated, and definitely was contemplating on joining Luna in her quest for a rich person to magically make all of her financial problems disappear. While the prospect of a fairy bankperson was slim, Elise was still pleased to know that she could, at the very least, make someone else’s day better by means of over priced coffee. She had the prospect of visitors, which was always something exciting, but her qualms lay mostly in the fact that she downright ​hated​ her job. So when a customer came up to the window, Elise did her best to paint on a bright, sunny smile, while she tried not to think about the fact that they were out of skim milk and one of the milk steamers was broken. Smoothing her hands over her blue apron and visor, she did her best customer service voice. ​"Hey there! Welcome to Java Jive. What can I get started for you, today?"​

Sydney: The last few days had proven to be surprisingly difficult for Sydney, despite the fact that she had skipped her classes two days in a row and barely paid attention to any of the ones she had gone to since. But ever since that night when Stevie tried to kiss her, Sydney had been feeling herself spiralling toward the dark and gloomy pit of depression she had clawed her way out of not long ago. It was long after she usually stopped by the cafe, but she knew that the pick-me-up that a good cup of coffee provided would hopefully help put her back on the right track toward feeling like her usual self. Fortunately the line wasn’t too long, and once she made it up to the front of the line, Sydney smiled warmly at the greeting - though anyone paying close enough attention could tell it was painfully fake. “Hi. Can I just get, like...a cup of your strongest coffee, please? Kinda need a bit of a boost,” she said, offering up an awkward chuckle.

Elise: Normally, Elise was a switch-on, switch-off kind of girl. She tried to be happy most of the time, but there was an inherent darkness in her. Her life hadn't exactly been easy, despite being surrounded by people of privilege, and it had made her quite bitter. Once she saw the look on Sydney's face, though, her smile went from "let me please my boss by being as chipper as humanly possible" to one of genuine concern. Clearly, someone was having a worse day than she was, which immediately caused guilt to ebb at her conscience. ​"You got it,"​ Elise began to type the order into the register, nodding her head. ​"How do you take your coffee? You can go ahead and sit, I'll bring it over to you."​

Sydney: “Perfect, thank you,” she replied softly as Elise began to punch the order in. Being out in public in this sort of state always made her feel incredibly awkward, as though people could sense the depression, or something. Even though logically, she knew most people wouldn’t pay much mind to her at all, let alone care if her smile was as fake as can be or not. Hearing the follow up question, Sydney perked up slightly. “Oh, um, just a bit of cream. Are you sure..? I usually just wait here for it...” she said, glancing between the tables strewn about the shop and the barista. 

Elise: Shrugging, Elise played it off casually. ​"There's nobody else after you, so don't worry about it. Go ahead and get settled."​ She offered up a smile before heading into the back to pick up a post-it and a pen. The coffee itself wouldn't take much to make, but Elise hastily scribbled down a note. ​Keep your chin up, gorgeous! This one's on the house, as are its refills. Hope something makes you smile today!​ Elise signed it with a heart and her name, attaching it to the bottom of the saucer of the coffee cup. Being extra careful not to spill, she made Sydney her coffee and delivered it. ​"Here ya go!"​ Elise chirped, before resuming her post back at the counter.

Sydney: She took another couple of glances between the tables and the woman standing on the other side of the counter before shyly nodding her head, a clear sign that she was going to heed the request. Sydney picked a table near the window, watching the people as they walked past, happily going on with their days. She was sure it was odd, but she often liked to analyze the way people walked, where they were looking when they did, and just their general appearance. She could spot depression in a crowd easily. It was the one that smiled often but didn't let it quite reach their eyes. It was the one who looked put together, but was always a few steps behind their friends because their wasn't as much pep in their step. It was the ones who acted like her - the ones who go through the motions to prove to themselves and others that they are fine. Sydney was startled slightly by Elise bringing her coffee over, but she was quick to offer up a warm smile and soft "Thank you" when it was placed in front of her on the table. She waited for her to head back to her position behind the counter before she wrapped her hands around the warm mug and bringing it to her lips. She hummed contentedly at the first sip, and just as she was going to set the cup back down she noticed the post-it attached to the saucer. Reading over it, Sydney smiled widely, ducking her head ever so slightly for a moment before she looked over at Elise and mouthed another quick 'thank you' to her.

It went without saying that the note had only further improved her not-so-stellar day. Once she had polished off the last of her drink, she gathered her books and made her way back over to the counter. She pulled a couple of five dollar bills out of her wallet and placed them in the tip jar. "That kind of made my entire week, just so you know," Sydney said shyly, sliding a post-it of her own across the counter to Elise. On it was written her phone number along with As cliche as this is, here is my number. Maybe next time we can have coffee together. She didn't give Elise much of a chance to read it before she was headed toward the door, throwing a quick wave her way before exiting the shoppe.

#privelise #elisechangs #p:elisechangs

[baristabuzz]

Barista Jobs Sydney

The coffee culture in Sydney is all about individuality – people simply don’t love large coffee chains such as Starbucks anymore (and it isn’t a big surprise, given how much they ask for a generic blend of coffee).  If you’re interested in succeeding in as a barista here, it’s better to look for  café jobs Sydney  which is offered by small businesses running in local neighborhoods – hey are a far better option than grinding forever doing hospitality jobs Sydney at a generic coffee chain.             //     Here is some advice to help you succeed at landing great  hospitality jobs  in the city:    Individuality is key : For most people in Sydney, coffee is a matter of great personal selection, which by extension, also applies to the coffee bar they frequent. How do you make the client choose you over the competition? By having a unique theme, design, menu and service. If your establishment has a unique feel to it, say, something that is harmony with the prevailing neighborhood culture, there’s a good chance you’ll attract a lot of local customers. Even if you choose to go against the prevailing culture, and create an unorthodox look for the cafe, it will be a nice contrast against a familiar backdrop, and will also serve to separate you from the competition. Right now, it’s all about having a casual, friendly outlook to set the customer at ease, because many of them are tired of stern, imposing looks of bigtime coffee places. Long story short, you can’t go wrong if you follow basic design aesthetics to create a unique theme for your café.   You should be able to make a snack besides coffee : Be it a spicy beef sandwich, or an exotic breakfast plate, most local barista jobs Sydney expect the applicant to bring something unique and valuable to their menu. In fact, this ties into the overall individuality focus that is popular with hospitality jobs Sydney nowadays. All the best cafes in town have a unique hot order which tends to bring a lot of customer loyalty if played right. Right now, if you can whip up a hot yummy breakfast, besides being able to serve up a huge variety of coffee, you’re highly likely to find  good  work at a Sydney coffee shop.   A good taste in music : Again, this is about taking your unique coffee house theme to the next level – the owner will love it if you’re able to synergize with the aura of their establishment and enhance it with thoughtfully selected music. This is also a huge hit with the customers, who are now beginning to see  coffee houses as personal clubs  rather than simple eateries.      These are things which can’t be learned by taking an expensive  coffee course Sydney  – they have to be picked up through observation and experience.  To sum up, being a successful barista in Sydney is as much about being creative, outgoing and adventurous, as it is about knowing how to make great coffee.       The post  Barista Jobs Sydney  appeared first on  Barista Buzz .

http://www.baristabuzz.com.au/barista-jobs-sydney/

#coffee #barista #australia

#coffee #barista #australia

[thelaxsalmon]

This week I was joined by Nathan Dalah - one of the young gun co-founders of Australia’s quickest growing healthy restaurant chain, Fishbowl. From the opening of their flagship Bondi store in 2016, Nathan and his business partners Nick and Casper set out with a bold goal - to change fast food and its culture. Specialising in made to order salads with a Japanese twist, the trio’s growing restaurant empire is arguably doing just that - at the time of writing, they have 13 stores; having just expanded out of Sydney and into Melbourne.   🎙 🎙 At university Nathan enjoyed cooking and hosting, but like a lot of people he didn’t really know what he wanted to do. He changed degrees several times, nearly bought a cafe in the heart of UTS and eventually dropped out altogether to move to America where he was exposed to a ‘new wave’ of quick casual restaurants. Inspiration from these restaurant experiences melded with his love for Japanese cuisine and when Nathan returned to Sydney, he teamed up with his two mates; bringing the sum total of their professional hospitality experience to one bar job; to make a go of it. The rest as they say, is (a very brief) history. 🎙 In our chat, Nathan walks me through the Fishbowl journey and offers an insight into what makes the business tick today; from working as a yacht cleaner to earn the first down payment on their flagship store, to the apps, systems, spaces and people that make up the rapidly scaling Fishbowl enterprise. We also talk about the culture the guys have built around their food - complementing their product with design-driven spaces, curated music, house sports teams, run clubs, events and more. Finally, Nathan leaves us with a tantalising glimpse of what’s on the horizon for the business. 🎙 🎙 I left this chat with Nathan feeling super inspired, so I hope it gives you a similar tingle too. If it did, please let me know with a punny food review and be sure to share the episode with a friend. (at Sydney, Australia) https://www.instagram.com/p/B5mXPGCgT8u/?igshid=6eed9f8r5iw5