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ya-boi-haru · 4 months

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You know what, I like you, let me share my headcannons/thoughts on an AU I recently mentioned...

Fable smp Coffee Shop AU...

• Sherb runs a 24/hr (or late opened) Cafe, The Alchemist Brew. They specialise is mixing different coffee flavours to create a new taste and can even create one for a persons specific need or even mood.

The people that have often come in say it was exactly what they needed; students coming in to study found they work best with Icarus' creations - jokes that they put a focusing chemical drug in it. People on first dates say they added an ingredient that was a big ice breaker for them to bond over. A few cases come in home sick and the drinks taste like home somehow.

• Rae runs another cafe in a different part of town. It's a more traditional place, more old fashioned, rustic aesthetic.

Rae got to take over this place a lot sooner than he thought.

His mother went missing when he was young and his step-dad, Fable, left a few years ago. Icarus' was supposed to take over the buisness but they wanted to do their own thing, especially since Rae and Icarus had different ideas on how they should run the place.

So Rae runs the Gilded Cafe. While keeping the more traditional things on the menu, Rae also explores the history with Coffee. Makes ones how they would make it 30, 50, 100 years ago and happily, shares it with their customers.

• Athena is learning how to open their own bakery (Flour Garden) with Jamie. They offer their goods as a trial to both Gilded and Alchemist Brew Cafe. This way they get to try new foods and have people taste test them and both Cafes get a unique item on their menus each week. The feedback from customers is always appreciated and it sparks new ideas for foods and types of foods.

• Momboo runs a flower and tea shop, The Pink Tulip, both as a seperate transaction but has a talent for getting sweet tastes out of nature's prettiest petals

• Which is a dramatic comparison to her sister, Ocie/Kai, who runs a bar, Sea Dragon, iconicly known for its underwater sailor/pirate aesthetic and strong drinks to match

• Wolf is a business analyst and has helped with the businesses as well as a few others around town

• His partner, Centross, helps manage the Sea Dragon. A couple years ago, he tried to start a buisness with Icarus and Easton (who is a real estate agent), but it crashed and burned real quick. Wolf talked to Kai and she was generous enough to help Centross get back on his feet and they ended up working really well together.

• Aax works in the Gilded Cafe with Rae. He came to Rae looking for work - one in a new town with no connection to the Telchin company. They were awful, treated their employees terribly, and they would use special artificial chemicals in their drinks to make it taste like flavours (Hazlenut, vanilla etc), never the real thing, even their machines were designed to cut corners with brewing.

• Ulysses is still with Telchin, casual, but is still in the town with his Partner. He used to be able to do beautiful coffee powder art, but since the accident in the shop he can't even hold a cup steady.

• Will runs little a Cafe - The Traveller - based on flavours around the world, some places he's been lucky to actually travel to. Seven helps him run the place and really good with machines so they never have to worry about things breaking.

• Now all these businesses have their challenges, but Icarus feels they have an extra one...

A night club across the street 2 doors down, "The World Port". It's an exclusive place and Icarus had heard a few things about it.

It's a jack of all trades types of place, has accommodation for any events, Bachelor party's, birthdays, buisness meetings, heck even wakes.

Icarus' problem is that - for some reason - the owner recommendeds The Alchemist Brew to their customers as a place to sober up. Which would be fine if that didn't mean nights of drunks coming in, making a mess and passing out. They somehow get their mail mixed up as well, and The World Port is loud and makes it hard to focus on work.

• The World Ports concept is to be a place for everyone. It's main area is a bar with a dance floor and great music. They have sectioned off rooms, identified by colour, each room can accommodate for certain events. You could hold 3 different events in once.

• Smaller Headcannons/Notes:

• Caspian comes into the Gilded Cafe as a place to write his stories. He started going there for the nice coffee and cozy vibes, but the manager seems really nice and passionate about his work, so he kept coming in and is now a regular. And the Barista working there is cute nice to talk to as well

• Rae grew to appreciate the small talks with Capsian while on shift. He's even made it into a few pages of Raes sketch book - that will never see the light of day - but that has nothing to do with anything! Rae always draws random customers for practice! Despite Aax pointing out that he draws Caspian more.

• Aax and Rae are dating and are peeking interest in Caspian.

• Wolf and Centross are dating, though Centross is showing interest in Kai. He would deny it to hell and back even though everyone can see it.

• Icarus gets new ingredients/inspiration from their friends. Athena and Jamie's creations, Momboos flowers etc

• During the business Icarus, Centross and Easton tried to run, Icarus made a purple drink that turned out to have an addicting side effect. Part of the reason thee business failed.

• Since the World Port is exclusive, Icarus can't get in to talk to the owner. However, there have been times when they've come into the Alchemist Brew, and Icarus has just not been in there at the right time to see them.

• If they don't want to deal with maintenance companies, the other owners ask Seven to come over and fix their equipment, especially if it should be a simple fix.

• Galahad works at The Traveller and suggested their own mix of a spicier blend

Feel free to add onto or suggest things!

#i kinda wanna cosplay from this-#partially cause i cant draw #itd be cool #fable smp #fable smp headcanon #fablesmpblr #fsmp #fable smp au #fable smp coffe shop au #coffee shop au

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jimmy-dipthong · 11 months

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罠英語・Trap Words pt 1

和製英語（わせいえいご）are Japanese words that have some origin in English, but have been appropriated by the Japanese speaking community. Often, if converted from katakana to English, they won’t be real English words (which can sometimes lead to funny mistranslations on signs).

シャーペン → shar-pen?? ❌ → mechanical pencil ✅

トランプ → trump?? ❌ → playing cards ✅

ベビーカー → baby car?? ❌ → stroller/pram ✅

However, there is a subcategory of 和製英語 which is particularly insidious, as a japanese learner. I’m gonna call them 罠英語 - trap words. They appear to be a normal English word simply converted into kanakana, but although they look like a regular old loan word, they are actually a Japanese misinterpretation or reinterpretation of an English word.

マンション → mansion ❌ → condominium/apartment ✅

The most well known example is probably マンション. Each of these words has a history which explains how they became trap words. In マンション’s case, it was business. In the 1960s, Japanese developers were building luxury housing complexes, but wanted to differentiate them from other housing complexes that had a low-class image, like public housing.¹ As far as I can tell, it wasn’t just one company, and マンション wasn’t a brand name. They created a whole new word, borrowing from English. Since then, the word マンション evolved to have a wider and wider scope, now including not just luxury housing complexes but any housing complex.

ジュース → juice ❌ → juice/soft drink/sports drink/mixer ✅

This one drives me up the wall because of how different it is from English. ジュース is a huge umbrella term which includes Coke, Aquarius, ramune, flavoured milk(!!), and actual orange juice. It does NOT include coffee, tea, anything with alcohol, or lemon juice(!!). Why not lemon juice? Because ジュース kinda means “beverage”. You don't usually drink lemon juice straight, so it’s not ジュース. Instead, you call lemon juice レモン汁. There are plenty of recipes on the japanese recipe sharing website Cookpad for レモンジュース, and most of them involve diluting actual lemon juice in carbonated water and mixing it with sugar or honey.²

Apparently, up until the 1960s (〜昭和40年), the word ジュース was not regulated, which meant Japanese brands were free to label fruit flavoured drinks as ジュース, even if they had no actual fruit juice in them. This changed in late 1967, when, thanks to pressure from consumer groups, the Japanese Agricultural Standard Law (JAS法) was revised to include a regulatory definition of the word ジュース: 「果汁100%のもの以外は、『ジュース』という名称で販売できない」(100% fruit juice).³ Even the wikipedia article for ジュース defines it using the JAS definition.⁴ However, the word ジュース had already entered common usage before the law came into effect, and it’s still used today to mean any non-coffee, non-tea, non-alcoholic, sweet beverage, especially ones sold from a vending machine. I believe the prevalence of vending machines may have led to the spread of this word. Another reason ジュース has not been adopted in common use may be that Japanese already has a word for fruit juice - 果汁. Languages dislike redundancy, so it’s natural that one of the two would have changed to have a different meaning. Many native Japanese speakers are unaware of the regulatory definition⁵, (and even then, regulations shouldn’t and don’t dictate how language is used in everyday conversation) so it’s important to be careful!

ノート → note ❌ → notebook ✅

In Japanese, it’s rare that a common word will be longer than 4 kana sounds long (aka morae). Similarly in English, we don’t end to use words that are over 4 syllables long very often. In English, the word “notebook” is 2 syllables, nice and short. But when you convert it into Japanese, it becomes ノートブック, a whole 6 morae! No one has time to say all that! Since English can fit multiple consonants into a single syllable but Japanese can’t, when converting to Japanese, lots of additional vowels get added in, which extends the word. That’s why loan words in Japanese tend to get abbreviated: ビル for building, リモコン for remote control, ティアキン for “Tears of the Kingdom”.⁶ It’s only natural that ノートブック would get abbreviated to ノート. It’s just an unlucky coincidence that “note” happens to be an English word as well. The word for "note" in Japanese is メモ!

This is why the Death Note is called a note, even though it’s not a note, and also gives us this slightly おかしい translation.

I’m keen to post more about these trap words since dictionaries are often quite prescriptivist about the meanings, and it’s hard to get a good idea of what the word means without talking to Japanese people. I also find the histories quite interesting. Let me know if you’re interested! I have a feeling these words (besides ジュース) may be kinda common knowledge, but I hope the explanations were interesting! I think next time I'll talk about some ones that are less commonly known.

[1]: https://www.homes.co.jp/cont/buy_mansion/buy_mansion_00137/ [2]: https://cookpad.com/search/レモンジュース [3]: https://www.meg-snow.com/customer/center/communication/pdf/center12.pdf [4]: https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/ジュース [5]: https://macaro-ni.jp/36654 [6]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_abbreviated_and_contracted_words

#langblr #japanese #language acquisition #language learning #linguistics #japanese language #learning japanese #language #jimmy blogthong #trap words

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boinin · 2 months

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Blue Lock in Japan fandom diary

I was in Japan for my holidays, which was incredible—it's somewhere I dreamed of visiting for a long time, and it lived up to every expectation.

I'll talk a little bit about my experience from a Blue Lock fan perspective, as it's something that interested me prior to going. April 2024 was a good time to visit, thanks to the Episode Nagi film coming out. There was a lot of pop-up cafés/collabs open, and no shortage of merchandise.

In Harajuku's Takeshita Street, there were a series of banners/pendants for the new film, featuring all the main characters. There were also digital ads for Episode Nagi in a few places—I recall the trailer playing at Shibuya Crossing (which is exactly as surreal and overwhelming a place as I'd imagined).

Rambling and pics under the cut, including gacha machines, stores, general anecdotes and my merch haul.

In case anyone's uncomfortable seeing IRL pics, be warned there's couple shots of my hand below. No face reveals 😛

Gacha

So, gacha machines are EVERYWHERE in Tokyo and other cities, often randomly in the street, but also in dedicated stores. The biggest selection tended to be in arcades or shopping centres. Akihabara had a few big ones (Gigo comes to mind), but I found multiple. And Blue Lock is really well represented! There's loads of stuff to waste money on, from little acrylic keychains to small figures to... tiny cushions with characters' faces on them 👀

One minor annoyance is that the gacha merch for a fandom doesn't tend to be grouped in one place, so you spend a lot of time wandering around stacks of machines squinting at their content. Only one store I visited in Osaka had all the Blue Lock stuff grouped together.

In general, most of the machines are priced between ¥300 and ¥500 a spin (€1.80 to €3.00 at time of writing), so it's reasonably affordable unless you're a completionist set on collecting ALLL the merch.

Much of what's in the gacha machines is seasonal, so it's worth snapping up anything that you like while it's there. That said, I found a few stores selling same season or older gacha merch at a markup. The most expensive ones were older merch/limited edition, which can cost many multiples of what you'd pay originally. Other places (like Ani Ani) sell current gacha merch at a small markup. I was able to buy a Rin to finish a seasonal collection for only ¥100 more than I'd pay at a machine, which saved me whatever multiple of ¥300 I'd have paid on spins to get him in addition to the four others.

Throughout the trip I saw the same gacha content over and over again in various places. Specifically for Blue Lock, you don't generally have to worry about throwing money at the first set of machines you find or risk missing out. That said, one regret of mine was passing on some really cute gacha figs of the Bllk boys in casual clothes on a street on Akihabara, which I never saw anywhere else.

There's also heaps of claw machines in similar locations, which mostly had figures of Nagi and Reo in their Hakuho uniform.

Pop-up stores/collabs and merch stores

Blue Lock is well represented in cafés/pop ups. This is likely due to the EpiNagi film releasing this month, but with some research beforehand, you'll likely find a venue should you wish to get some Bllk themed food/venue exclusive goodies. Be warned—many of these will require a reservation, and they book out quickly. That's the case for most of the fandom cafés. If it's a must-do for your trip, research a venue before you go and try booking a slot if you can.

I only went to one myself, which was a place in Harajuku that did Blue Lock themed drinks. I chose Nagi's, which looked mysteriously black on the menu. It turned out to be tea with lemon flavoured jelly—tasty and canon inspired! I also got a free card of Bachira, which the store assistant handed to me at random. This was overpriced at ¥800 (€4.77) compared to what you'd pay normally in Japan for a drink, but that's the branding mark-up. In comparison, a bottle of soda, tea or coffee from a vending machine costs on average around ¥150 (€0.90).

Regarding stores, there was a Blue Lock pop-up in Ikebukuro in an electronics store which had SO many acrylic stands and plushes. A lot of this was bishounen/pretty boy appreciation material for each of the characters. Think stands of the boys smiling handsomely at the camera in various outfits.

At time of writing, merch tends to feature just the characters from season 1 of the anime, specifically the Egoist Four, Nagi, Reo, Rin and Sae. I saw little for the other characters, and next to nothing for manga-only charas. My favourite manga character find was a sticker of Hiori, which has subsequently gone missing amidst the chaos of unpacking 🥲 If it turns up, I'll add a picture. Found it!

In terms of spots for Blue Lock merch, Ikebukuro and Akihabara were the best and most concentrated. Akihabara gives tourist trap vibes, but if you're willing to navigate every nook and cranny plus the crowds on the hunt for blorbos, you'll almost certainly find merch to your taste.

Ani Ani in Akihabara was pretty good for BLLK, and excellent in general for its selection of fandom merch. Smaller shops have more niche content, which is great if you favour side characters.

Ikebukuro has a more chill vibe than Akihabara (less tourists) but still a decent selection of fandom merch. Hands down the best spot for Blue Lock on my trip was the Animate store there (pictured above), which had five or six shelves just for our favourite football prisoners. Lots of plushes as you can see, but also things like clear files, acrylic stands, keychains, stickers, pins and more. Again, big focus on pretty boy appreciation, but there were also cutesy things like chibi figures/stickers. There's also heaps there for other animanga fandoms.

Animate Ikebukuro had the Blue Lock fragrances! I only sniffed a couple of these—both Isagi and Kunigami's were reminiscent of blue shower gel, but with woody notes in Kunigami's case. Chigiri's fragrance was more floral and fruity. They cost somewhere between ¥7000 to ¥8000 I think (around €45ish).

In addition, Harajuko has a lot of anime stuff along Takeshita Street, but the selection can be hit or miss. I found two shops there that were reselling Blue Lock goods (things like gacha figs and limited edition merch). These could be pricey, but these were the best for cute/older Chigiri and Kunigami merch IMO.

Snacks

Again, availability may relate to the timing of anime releases etc, but I tried a bunch of BLLK snacks in Japan. The most common type were these chocolate wafers, which you could get cheaply in convenience stores for loads of different shounen fandoms (I recall seeing One Piece, JoJo and MHA). The wafers themselves were mid, but the packaging was cute and you get a free sticker or card in each. I managed to get a Kunigami card on my first try 🥹

"Slowbar" is like a protein or granola bar. Again nothing to write home about taste-wise, but I saw a few with Bllk packaging. Go figure, I bought one that had Kunigiri. No freebies, but it was a more substantial snack than the wafers.

My merch haul

Here's what came home with me! It's modest as far as fandom hauls go, particularly next to all the stuff I bought in the Pokémon centres. I didn't go as nuts as I thought I would, but the gacha machines definitely put a dent in my bank account. They're fun, but should be treated with caution by anyone who likes owning complete sets of things.

Close up of gacha figs, minus Rin + the bonus Chigiri I picked up on.

I ended up spending around ¥3000 (about €18) to get the full set of sleeping figs (including duplicates). Spent around the same to get the sleeping bag figs, then at least half that again on Chigiri's when I spotted him at a resale store (he's from a previous release).

As a result of my gacha spree, I have a bunch of duplicates 🥲 It would be a shame to bin 'em, so might do an interest check to see if anyone's interested in taking them off my hands.

These are the cards/Zantetsu sticker I got from the combini wafers, the Bachira card from the juice café, plus a random cushion of Rin from a gacha machine. It's way too small to be practical, but still cute.

I bought the two Kunigiri chibi plushes at a resale store for ¥3000 altogether. Chigiri was twice the price of Kunigami, lmao.

Kitty!giri came with a little sleepy eyemask. As soon as I saw him, I had to have him. Bought him at Ani Ani in Akihabara for ¥2500 I think? (€15 approx). They had kitty Isagis and Bachiras too.

Now for a story: there's a gacha series out now which has gold rings featuring the names of the main BLLK cast + Aryu. I swore not to buy any of these, cos it's a little self-shippy; no shame in that, but it's not really my bag. I also dislike gold jewellery.

Relatedly, partner and I just decided to get married, and half-talked about looking for a engagement ring in Japan before we travelled.

So. A few weeks later, while wandering around Harajuku, partner walks back to me after disappearing for two minutes. They hold out a gacha capsule with a shit eating grin—"Hey, got ya something!"

I shit you not: not only was it one of the stupid rings, but out of eight choices, they managed to pull Kunigami's 😭 I laughed/despaired for about five minutes. Partner was amused.

I don't have small hands (¥100 for scale); Ringsuke loosely fits my baby finger but gets stuck on my ring finger if I shove it on past the bottom knuckle. Based off my own measurements, the BLLK rings are probably around 50-53 mm in size (Japan size 12 maybe). It's surprisingly good quality for a ¥400 capsule machine prize.

So yeah: that's how this Kunigiri stan ended up with an ill-fitting engagement ring with her favourite blorbo's name on it 🙃 ...I'll get a proper one eventually, and Kitty!giri will inherit Ringsuke. Y'all are about the only people I'm ever admitting this story to.

Finally, my favourite purchase is these two acrylic stands of Chigiri and Kunigami, with pop ups of their stats. I'm not big on acrylic stands generally, but this was one of my favourite official art releases and I couldn't pass it up. They were ¥1800 (€11) apiece in a Harajuku resale store—probably more expensive than their original sale price, but I'm not complaining.

That's about it, I think! I've tried to recall as much detail as I can about places/prices here, but happy to provide more info if anyone's curious about anything—just ask!

#blue lock #bllk #personal #japan #kunigiri #long post #mine

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poetsconstellation · 7 months

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What I think each poet would do during Halloween

Neil

Ate halloween cookies for breakfast (he brought them because he can’t cook shit)

Was constantly talking about how excited he was for trick or treating

Put a fake spider in Todd’s bed

Pranked Nolan with glitter (it was Charlie’s idea, but when he heard the words ‘prank’ and ‘Nolan’ he was immediately sold)

In his free periods, he read and acted out Macbeth with Todd (Todd was just supportive because he is too shy to act)

He drew ghosts in Todd’s hand

His costume was either Sherlock and Lupin (matching with Todd of course) or uncle Whitman

He trick or treated every house he saw

He came back with a bucket full of candy and a frog

Todd

Stole one of Neil’s cookies

He put an orange sweater on after classes

He drank pumpkin-spice tea

Meeks, Pitts and Todd carved pumpkins together

He probably fell into a rabbit hole of poems about witches

His costume was either matching with Neil or Charlie Brown from peanuts

He only went trick or treating with the poets because he was promised caramel flavoured chocolate

He thought the frog was cute, but would never admit that

Charlie

He pranked each and everyone of the poets + Nolan

Could only talk about those pranks months after the day because “you should have seen your face! You were so scared!”

He interrupted Cameron’s study so many times that he threatened to fight him if he didn’t stop

He didn’t stop

Cameron was too scared to fight him

His costume was just his normal clothes. But when anyone asked him about it, he would just open his shirt to reveal a big drawing of a red lighting and say he was dressed up as Nuwanda

Dared Neil to catch a frog without his hands

Knox

Was invited to a party by Chris, but left in the middle of the night because “it was too boring” (in reality, he just wanted to be with the poets instead of a bunch of drunk people)

Spent his free time pranking people with Charlie

Until Charlie pranked him

Then he realized how bad he felt for the others

And they all pranked Charlie

Dressed up as superman

Named the frog Freddie

Meeks

Spent most of his school day studying with Cameron

As soon as his classes were over he and Pitts (and eventually the rest of the poets) pranked Charlie with a machine they invented

Had the brilliant idea of making a Goldberg machine with the pumpkin he carved

The pumpkin exploded

His and Pitts’s dorm has been smelling like toasted pumpkin ever since

He went as a robot for Halloween

Offered to make a house for Freddie

Pitts

Made bets with the poets to see who could get Cameron to get up faster

Knox won because he got into the room and yelled “I LOST YOUR TRIG ANNOTATIONS”

Cameron got up in less than a second

When Pitts got to his room from a study session, it smelled like toasted pumpkin

To this day, he is too scared to ask why

Helped Meeks with his robot costume, but didn’t have time to prepare his, so he improvised and went as a ghost

Convinced all the poets that it would be better for Freddie if he lived at the lake

Cameron

Doesn’t celebrate Halloween, so it was just a normal day for him

Except the pranks the poets pulled on him

Which made him loose at least 1 hour worth of study

Didn’t think it was a good idea to go trick or treating, so he didn’t go

He studied instead

Never knew about Freddie

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cheerycherrycandy-resurrected · 4 months

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Ghoulette Appreciation Week 8

Week 8: Coffee Shop AU & Sickfic

I've been excited for this one! Back to the Midwest Emo Ghouls AU, because they just won't stay outta my head for long!

When Mist doesn't show up to Aurora's coffee shop, she gets worried. Or, Mist and Aurora are hopelessly crushing on each other, but neither seems to realize their feeling are mutual.

Rating: G Content: Fluff, secret crushes, Rory taking care of Mist when she has a cold. Words: 2651

It would be remiss of me to write a Midwest Emo Ghouls Coffee shop AU and not mention @midnight-moth's ficlet (which I think technically they said is only adjacent to this AU? but I wrote this before double checking, oopsie!) with coffee-shop!Aurora and record-store!Mist, the og fic that had me sold on Mistrora! (go read it!)

As with anything I've written for this AU, all credit goes to @herbal-quintessence and friends for its creation, I've picked and chosen my favorite hcs for the ghouls when there are multiple, and for any other inconsistencies with the original creators's hcs and timeline let's just say I'm operating on a different branch at an indeterminant point in time, haha..!

Read below, or on AO3!

The screech of the coffee machine snapped Aurora out of her daydream. She shook her head slightly to dislodge her leftover thoughts, still drifting around about her favourite customer. Aurora kept expecting Mist to walk in the door any second, and she didn’t dare try to meet her eyes while simultaneously imagining herself staring into them under greatly different circumstances.

The door to the shop remained closed however; no tinkling of the bell to herald Mist’s arrival to the coffee shop, and the subsequent arrival of a swarm of butterflies into Aurora’s stomach. For the umpteenth time that day, Aurora squinted out the window to the record store opposite. The lights were still off, the sign still reading closed. Where was she?

Aurora had worked in the coffee shop for several years now. She had applied when she first moved to town as a broke student struggling to pay rent, and had loved every second of it. The coffee shop, it turned out, was the beating heart of this rural town: a social hub for almost all the denizens both ghoul and human. She had taken great delight in getting to know her new community and neighbours, and beginning to recognize people outside of the coffee-scented air of the café.

From her connections at the shop, Aurora had learned about the existence of the dark church, and in particular its close community of ghouls. She had found many of her new friends here, and even her new home. Aurora had got talking with two lunchtime regulars she recognized from the church: one the owner of the hardware store down the street, the other his husband joining him in town for lunch. She had quickly learned that they farmed the fields east of town, and when Aurora had mentioned in passing that she was looking for a place to stay over the summer semester break to keep working, they had offered their spare room. They were looking for a lodger, anyway.

Another regular was Zephyr: church organist, GP surgery receptionist, and one of the first people Aurora connected with in town. They always came in during the afternoon slump, and happily tried the newest and strangest flavours of tea the shop had ordered. Aurora would scribble notes on their thorough yet honest reviews, before they left with an extra-large, extra-strong black coffee for Omega, the surgery’s GP.

It was through Zephyr that Aurora had learned of their lodger Mist, who had recently opened a record store directly opposite the coffee shop. Mist was cool. Seriously, effortlessly, cool. Throughout the weeks that she had started coming to the coffee shop at Zephyr’s suggestion, her visits had become longer more regular. At one point, after Aurora brought over her third drink of the morning, her curiosity had got the better of her, and she had asked Mist if she actually sold any records, seeing as she spent more time in the café than her own shop.

It turned out that Mist had not only been an art student at Aurora’s college several years previously, but had also taken several courses in online business and marketing. She made most of her sales from her website, explaining how her shop kept running with seemingly few customers. Aurora thought she was amazing: smart, arty, stylish, cool... She felt like a schoolgirl with a crush on the homecoming queen. Mountain and Swiss thought this was adorable and frequently teased her about it, reminiscing on their own tentative courtship many years previously.

Mist had started bringing her laptop to the café, sitting by the window to keep half an eye on her own shopfront for customers while being plied with coffees and “free” cakes. She had quickly realized that no café had that good of a loyalty scheme, and that Aurora was instead buying them with her tip money. Secretly, she had started keeping track of what Aurora was spending on her, the notes tucked into the tip jar at the end of each day always covering the pastries, and then some.

As the frequency of Mist’s visits increased, Aurora had become deeply attuned to her presence. Mist was a welcome sight in her window armchair, a source of charming smiles and words which made her heart flutter. And so, on this day in the middle of a cold February week, Aurora had felt Mist’s absence before she consciously noticed it. All day, she had been distracted; one eye on the door or the conspicuously dark record store opposite.

She was so distracted, in fact, that Zephyr had cottoned onto it immediately when they entered for their afternoon break. They caught her eyes flickering to the empty shopfront opposite three separate times while ordering.

“Missing Mist today?” Zephyr asked kindly. Aurora blushed deeply; was it that obvious? “She’s at home sick today, she’s feeling pretty under the weather.”

Aurora’s concern must have shown on her face, and she started pressing herbal teas and cake upon Zephyr to bring to her.

“You could bring them yourself, if you want?” Zephyr smiled warmly: young love was such a precious thing. “She’s not contagious, Omega took a look at her this morning. She just needs some rest and TLC.”

Aurora nodded earnestly, not trying to hide how keen she was.

“You could meet us at the surgery after you close here? I can give you a lift once the Omega sees his last patient.”

“Thank you Zeph, that would be lovey. I’ll meet you there–”

Aurora’s eyes instinctively flickered to the door again as the bell chimed the arrival of a customer. She waved Zephyr and their good-natured smile goodbye, heading back behind the counter.

Before Aurora cashed out and locked up, she also gathered a selection of coffee beans and teas to bring for Omega and Zephyr. She closed the door the minute the clock hit six pm, and resisted the urge to run down the road to the Doctor’s surgery. They were a ten minute walk away at best, and Omega’s last appointment was at quarter-to-seven.

She decided to make a quick detour past the small grocery store. Tea and pastries were fine, but nothing beats the winter lurgy like hot soup. And crackers. Oh, and maybe chocolate, Aurora thought, throwing everything she could think of into her basket. At least with Mist living with a doctor, she would be well taken care of with painkillers and cold medication.

Her bag weighing heavily on her shoulder, she greeted Zephyr as she got to the surgery, perching on a chair in the waiting room while Omega finished seeing his last patient. Her feet swing nervously beneath her.

Aurora sat in the leather backseat of the silver saloon car, as Omega drove back to their house in the suburbs. As they pulled off the road, she saw Mist’s familiar ice-blue bicycle leaned against the side wall of the garage.

“Let me know when you want to go home, I can drive you back.” Zephyr offered, before directing Aurora to Mist’s room at the top of the stairs. She knocked shyly, it was too late to be scared of overstepping now.

“C’m’ in!” a croaky voice called from inside. Aurora gently opened the door, smiling cautiously at Mist and offering a small wave.

“Rory?” Mist’s eyes were rimmed with red, matching the colour of her nose, but they seemed to light up as the smaller ghoulette hovered in the doorway. “What’re you doing here?”

“Oh you poor thing!” Aurora cooed, dodging the question of why Mist’s casual workplace acquaintance was suddenly knocking on her bedroom door. Mist really did look terrible; her face was tired and haggard and her skin even paler than usual. “Can I come in?”

“’F course.” Mist sniffed, hauling herself upright in bed.

“I’ve brought you cake, and tea, and you’re not going to sneak money into my tip jar for once,” Aurora chattered nervously. “Can I run you a bath? Or fluff your pillows? Are you hungry, I brought soup?”

Mist smiled weakly at Aurora’s enthusiasm, a little overwhelmed at the small ghoulette’s whirlwind of fervent hospitality.

“A bath would be nice, this cold’s making me feel disgusting. So would some soup, I haven’t eaten since yesterday night…”

“A bath is is then!” chirped Aurora, “And I’ve got tomato, chicken noodle, or vegetable broth?”

“Tomato, please.” Mist rubbed at her red-raw nose with a tissue. “Zeph could do all this y’know? Or Meg. Did Zephy drag you here?” Conniving scoundrel, Mist thought to herself, anything to win that silly bet with Omega.

“I wanted to.” Aurora shrugged, trying to conceal just how eager she’d been to visit, “Zephyr just drove me.”

Mist struggled to pull herself more upright and swing her feet out of bed, and Aurora made a move to assist her. As she did so, she looked down at the armful of goodies she was still clutching, before whirling around to find somewhere to put them. Mist’s room wasn’t at all how Aurora had imagined: every available surface seemed to be covered in clutter and trinkets, the opposite of the cool, minimalist personality she exuded. The walls were plastered with artwork, lending everything a warm and cosy feeling. Aurora eventually made space on the desk, moving a few mugs – some with pencils in, some with leftover tea – and stacking the assortment of sketchbooks into a rough pile.

While Mist sat on the edge of the bed, waiting for the dizziness in her head to abate, Aurora headed into the en-suite and turned on the taps to warm up and begin to fill the bath. She looked around at the bottles on the windowsill, and poured in some blue bubble bath alongside the stream from the taps. Ocean Breeze, whatever that was meant to smell like.

“Thanks, ‘Ror,” rasped Mist, as she leaned against the doorframe, clean pyjamas in hand, “I can take it from here, unless you want to stay?” The exaggerated wink as she spoke told Aurora that she was only joking, and that despite Aurora secretly longing for more, this was just Mist’s normal flirtatious banter. At least she was feeling well enough for her usual wit to come through.

Aurora closed the door behind her as she left, and hovered in the bedroom until the taps turned off and the splashing sounds of Mist getting into the bathtub safely and without falling had quietened down. She grabbed some of her care package from the stash on the desk and headed back downstairs to make some tea and heat the soup.

Entering the kitchen, she found Zephyr at the table with a mug of the tea she gave them, grinning like a Cheshire cat. Omega paused where he was slicing vegetables and directed her to the kettle and microwave, grabbing a bowl and mug for her too. Aurora hovered awkwardly as she waited for the various liquids to heat, aware of Zephyr’s eyes burning a hole in her back the whole time. Out of the corner of her eye, she even thought she saw them making a gesture at Omega, like rubbing cash between their fingers and thumb. She put the bowl of soup and mug of tea onto a small tray Omega also presented, adding a few napkins and a spoon, before escaping back upstairs.

Balancing the tray in one hand, she knocked on the bedroom door again, entering when she got no response. The gentle sloshing sounds of water told her that Mist was still enjoying her soak, so she set the tray down on the desk and took a seat.

“I’m back!” she gently called at the bathroom door, “Let me know if you need anything else!” Mist hummed in acknowledgement.

Aurora took a look around the room while she waited, admiring the mishmash of colours and styles. Each item so clearly told a story, she wished she could ask about every single one. A small photo on the bookshelf made her smile: a younger Mist, probably round Aurora’s current age, was dressed in dungarees and pulling an uncharacteristically silly face at the camera from her seat atop a hay bale. A handsome dark-haired ghoul she recognised as the previous youth pastor Ifrit leaned against it, while Mountain and Swiss stood to one side, arms loosely around each other’s waists. Aurora couldn’t help the pang of jealousy she felt looking at the picture. Even though she knew they had only ever been friends, she was reminded that Mist had lived a life before she moved here, that there was no way she would ever fall for her young barista with a silly crush.

Abruptly, Aurora stood up and walked to the bed to straighten the duvet and fluff the pillows, perhaps with a little more force than was necessary. As she was tucking the foot of the blankets back in, Mist finally emerged from the bathroom in a cloud of fresh, ocean-scented steam. She looked to have more colour in her cheeks already, the worst of the pallid complexion she had worn before now gone.

“Feel better for that?” asked Aurora, smoothing the duvet with a final flourish, and moving out of Mist’s way.

“Much, thanks Rory,” Mist climbed back into bed, sighing as she sat up against Aurora’s carefully arranged stack of pillows. Once she was settled, Aurora brought over the tray, moving the mug to her bedside table so it didn’t spill. She tried not to stare too intently as Mist ate, smothering the protective fire that burned in her belly at seeing her devour the soup.

Instead, Aurora distracted herself by chattering at Mist about the daily gossip from the street. How Mrs Bloom from the flower shop had come in half an hour earlier than usual, coinciding with Mr Phipps from the jewellery boutique, and did this mean the elderly shopkeepers were finally getting together or not? And the teenager with the purple hair had been back to remove her Missing flyer from the noticeboard, as her pet cat had just been hiding in her neighbour’s garden shed the whole time, much to everyone’s relief.

As Aurora nattered away, she took Mist’s tray back to the desk once when she finished the soup and moved onto the tea, before lying back down under the covers. Aurora continued quietly recounting the day’s events until Mist’s breathing gradually slowed and evened out. Asleep. Aurora silently returned the empty mug to the tray, before grabbing a pencil and a scrap of paper to leave Mist a note in case she woke up wondering where her visitor had gone. She debated for a few seconds, before finally scribbling her mobile number on the bottom of the paper. Given how much time they spent together during the day, it was strange they hadn’t exchanged them yet, right?

She propped the note up on the bedside table and, in a moment of impulsivity, kissed two of her fingers before pressing them into the pillow, feeling Mist’s cool breath curl around them. Aurora shook her head, and grabbed the empty tray to leave before she made any more reckless confessions.

Zephyr drove her home in a comfortable, yet knowing, silence. Aurora felt slightly like she was the punchline to some joke she wasn’t aware of, but tried to think nothing of it. Surely spending your evening taking care of your favourite regular customer who might also be your friend but also might not be wasn’t that weird?

Aurora thanked Zephyr for the lift, choosing to slink off to her room as Swiss immediately invited them inside with promises of a fresh jar of honey from his bees. As she settled down for bed herself, mind still racing over the events of the day, her phone buzzed. Aurora felt her heart skip a beat as she read the message: Hi, it’s Mist. Thanks again for coming today, I’ll have to repay the favour sometime. xx

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ahockeywrites · 2 months

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one

link to main masterlist pairing: lila rogers (ofc) x arber xhekaj warnings: none in this chapter authors note: chapter one is here! let me know how you guys are finding it :)

Lila didn’t speak French. Well, not much French. Not enough to hold a conversation with patrons so in the bakery, she was the one creating the baked goods. Bread, croissants, doughnuts, brownies. You name it, she made them with their traditional flavours following family recipes but each week there was a limited-edition delicacy that the shoppers loved. The role in the back of the store allowed Lila baking creativity and freedom that she had never had before.

The Montreal sun basked down on Lila as she made the short walk from Jessica’s house to their bakery. It was an early start for Lila, but she didn’t mind as her finish time was earlier than her aunt’s. A travel mug was a staple in her hand, and she sipped the coffee, savouring the hot liquid as it travelled down her throat.

Her morning routine was always the same. One: heat up all the ovens. Two: make a batch of sourdough, white, rye and wholemeal bread, shape them and leave them in the proving oven. Three: defrost the doughnut dough and start making the filling for them. Four: take out the pre-shaped croissants and other buttery items and put them in the oven to bake for the early morning visitors to the shop. Five: clean out the coffee machine and the front of house so that when her aunt arrived, they could open their doors immediately.

By the time Lila had wiped down the coffee machine and refilled the beans, Jessica arrived through the employee entrance at the back. It wasn’t really an employee entrance because only two of them worked there but that’s what a proper restaurant or bakery would call it so that’s what her and Jessie called it.

Jessica was only a few years older than Lila and were more like close cousins or friends than a traditional aunt and niece. They both shared their family’s blonde hair, green eyes, and shortness with neither of them being taller than five foot three. Lila just pipped Jessica by half an inch and the older woman refused to accept it, even though she knew.

The women worked in tandem until both of their alarms went off to signify that it was seven am and time to open the store. Jessica started welcoming in the early customers and making various types of coffees for the commuters who were on their way to their jobs on the centre of the island. Lila took the opportunity to hide in the back and begin preparing dough and batter for the following day.

The phone rang, probably someone requesting a custom cake or a supplier who wasn’t able to get something they usually requested, and Lila popped out to the front with a fresh tray of bread and doughnuts to restock up the counter. It was almost the lunchtime rush so Lila was pretty sure that it would be quiet as she sat on the stool in front of the cash machine. She made herself a cup of peppermint tea and sipped on it, hoping no customers turned up.

Her phone buzzed and she noticed that the latest post on the bakery’s Instagram had been posted on a travel account and now the following on that account had started going up by the minute. An idea popped into Lila’s head, and she quickly went through her photos to find one she took outside the store with the opening times on the outside. It was perfect because it would give all the new followers information of when the bakery would be open and should increase the profits.

The bell above the door rang and Lila jerked off the chair, almost dropping her phone onto the floor but very thankful that she didn’t as the bakery didn’t make enough for her to replace one just yet. She would need to save for at least another two months to be able to afford that.

“Bonjour,” Lila’s limited French was coming in handy, but she didn’t know how much more of the conversation she could hold up without changing to English.

“Anglais, merci,” the customer asked, and Lila sighed audibly. A chuckle escaped the man’s lips. Thank the heavens that this customer didn’t want to speak French or that they noticed how bad her Quebecois accent was, they felt bad and spoke English to her. One or the other, Lila didn’t mind, it calmed her anxiety down tenfold.

The customer was tall, had shaggy, dark hair paired with chestnut-coloured eyes. His chin and upper lip were dotted with a sparse coating of stubble but not enough to fully cover his light skin, but enough for him to go a few days without shaving before he needed to sort it out.

His face looked familiar to Lila, but she couldn’t place it. She welcomed the customer in English and took his order. Vanilla latte, two apple fritter doughnuts, two croissants and a loaf of sourdough. He didn’t look like a sourdough type of man, but who was Lila to judge.

She was thankful for the regulars who came in every other day for a bread restock, the couple who came in every weekend to get two americano’s with cream and two croissants before going on a walk in one of the local parks, the tourist who had found her Instagram account and wanted to try a speciality doughnut. Lila was thankful for every person who walked through the door and took a chance on a family bakery.

Lila packaged up the items for the customer and even gave him one of their branded tote bags for free. She hoped that by him carrying it, he might become a walking billboard and inadvertently advertise the small family bakery. He was attractive, so it wasn’t an impossibility, Lila thought.

Her body moved across to the cash register and started ringing up all his items as his large hands wrapped around his reusable coffee mug. That reminded her that she needed to put the one-dollar discount that they ran for not using a disposable cup. Save the environment and all that jazz.

“That’ll be twenty-two dollars,” Lila said, feeling more comfortable speaking English than French. The customer’s lips curled into a smile as he reached into his jacket pocket to collect his wallet and bringing out a credit card. He tapped it on the reader before wishing Lila well and waving before he went back outside into the Montreal weather.

That was one customer that Lila wouldn’t mind seeing again.

#ahockeywrites #nhl imagine #nhl fanfiction #hockey writing #nhl writing #hockey story #hockey fic #nhl fic #ax72

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whatthefishh · 1 year

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Merry, Happy

AN: self indulgent fic of the week #2. This is part one of three little blurbs of what I think a friendship with the moon boys would look like during Ramadan (and if reader has an inevitable, obvious, unmistakable crush on them). In no way am I trying to misrepresent the boys from their original presentation of Jewish, and if I have in any way please let me know. This is mainly just focused on reader’s time during this month, not to take away from anything the boys do on their own.

Tagging some people who might be interested but this is a no pressure tag ❤️ @looneytooz @marc-spectors-wife @copingchaos @romanarose @xbellaxcarolinax @in-between-the-cafes @melodygatesauthor @360iris @annautumnsoul @minigirl87 @my-secret-shame-but-fanfiction @kittyofalltrades @outlawsredemption

No warnings, just a very short fluff HC

Part I - Steven Grant x Muslim!reader ❤️

Steven and you have a little routine at work: you make meaningful eye contact across the gift shop floor, one of you raises your eyebrow and the other nods, signalling it was time to take your coffee break together

This usually consisted of him drinking one of his niche tea flavours that you’ve never heard of and you making your coffee with the machine in the break room

Then Ramadan came. Steven, of course, wished you, knowing about your religious views after having been work friends for so long

Not to mention the little crush he's been harbouring on you. And no, Steven doesn’t know you like him like that either because he thinks every time he catches you watching him it’s because he’s doing something wrong and you’re probably laughing at him

You came in to work that day with a sticky note on your locker with little drawings of the moon on it, and a hastily written note saying “Happy Ramadan” in his messy handwriting, and he made sure to tell you, too, when he saw you

His demeanour never failed to make you comfortable and happy around him. His soft nature easily coaxing smiles from you but this felt sweeter than any of those other times, your face heating up as you calmed your racing heart.

Nobody had ever gone out of their way to make you feel so seen in a workplace about your faith, and you were used to it. It was something you had come to accept a long time ago, but seeing your friend (whom you already had a hard time not fawning over) put in effort to make you feel celebrated made your heart melt. You had to hold back tears as you thanked him with a watery smile.

Steven unusually was missing during your coffee break that day, and the next, which was slightly disheartening after his sweet gestures but you told yourself he wasn’t your boyfriend and he didn’t have to report to you.

At first you assumed he just missed it because of Donna, or maybe he wasn’t in the next day, or maybe he got caught up overexplaining something to some curious kid who shoved garbage in the displays. Honestly, it could’ve very well been a lot of things. Regardless, you gave him the benefit of the doubt.

On the fourth day he missed your joined breaks, you hunted him down and found him sitting outside on the steps, drinking a tea he’d purchased from the cafe (not his preferred brand or flavour) and munching on a scone that, from the look on his face, wasn’t very good

“Steven? What… what are you doing out here?”

He almost choked on said scone

“Um, hi- uh. Thought I shouldn’t eat in front of you, since y’know… since you can’t eat ‘n all.”

The fact that Steven didn’t want to make you uncomfortable by eating in front of you so he sat outside in the chill March air, all by himself, made you melt. If possible, your crush on this adorable, dishevelled man grew even larger.

You then proceeded to yell at him (affectionately) to come inside before he caught a cold as he looked up at you sheepishly, muttering “alright, alright” while he dusted off his bum from where he was sitting

You vowed to bring him a box full of treats for Eid, and maybe a little extra gift depending on what you could find in East London for him

#steven grant fluff #steven grant imagine #steven grant fanfiction #moonknight fanfiction #moon knight fanfiction #moonknight fluff #moon knight fluff #steven grant x reader #steven grant x you #moon knight x reader #moonknight headcanons #moonknight hc #Steven grant x Muslim!reader #Marc Spector x Muslim!reader

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the-himawari · 7 months

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A3! Izumida Azami - Translation [SR] Lunch Break Fun (1/2)

*Please read disclaimer on blog

---

Azami: Hm… (What should I drink…) (Water’s the safe choice, but I kinda feel like drinkin’ something that has flavour.) (I know we’re at school, but I wonder if the vending machines here will take cashless payments.)

Kumon: Azamiii~!

*jumps*

Azami: Woah!

*presses button and drink falls*

Azami: Ah…

Kumon: Oh, did you feel like drinking strawberry milk? You don’t see that often!

Azami: You…!

Kumon: Ow, ow, ow! What the heck, Azami! What’s the matter!

Azami: This is your fault!

Kumon: M-me!?

-pause-

Kumon: —My bad!

Azami: I said it’s fine.

Kumon: But it’s because I jumped on you that you pressed the button beside the tea and got strawberry milk, right?

Azami: Well, yeah. But I already bought it, so it is what it is.

Kumon: I’ll take responsibility and chug it. Pass it here!

Azami: It’s fine.

Kumon: But…

Azami: It’d be even worse watching someone drink it in front of you while complaining it tastes gross.

Kumon: Wait, so you’re gonna drink it?

Azami: …We can’t afford to waste food and drinks.

Kumon: You’re not wrong… But you rarely buy stuff like that… I’m seriously sorry.

Azami: Lunch will be on you tomorrow then.

Kumon: Urk… n-no problem…!

Azami: (Even so, strawberry milk of all things.) (Back at the dorm, I’ve seen sweet tooths like Juza-san, Muku-san, and Hisoka-san drinking it.) (Does it really taste that good…?) *Gulp, gulp*… …!

Kumon: Azami? Are you okay? Does it taste horrible…?

Azami: No, it tastes… alright, I guess.

Kumon: Hehe. Did you just discover the tastiness of strawberry milk or something?

Azami: …

Kumon: Wait, for real!?

Azami: Tch, of course not.

*hits*

Kumon: Owie~! You hit my head again~!

Azami: Hmph.

---

| next

#a3!#a3! translation #izumida azami #act! addict! actors!

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nightlilly0110 · 1 year

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Phantom Thieves (and Sojiro) Coffee Preferences

Morgana: Milk. That’s it.

Ryuji: Hot chocolate. His hatred for coffee outweighs his dislike of sweets. You give him coffee, even with cream and sugar, and he will accuse you of trying to poison him. He’s lucky Boss likes him.

Ann: Probably flavoured coffee. Which flavour? Any of them, with whipped cream and some sort of drizzle on top. Drinks tea lattes like they’re going out of style. Prefers boba but will not admit that to Sojiro for as long as she lives. Doesn’t hate actual coffee but not her absolute favourite.

Yusuke: Whatever he can afford/is being offered to him.

Makoto: Her and Sae have one of those pod coffee machine and are constantly in debate as to which brands are the best. Often have this conversation when Joker is right there. Literally will drink whatever will keep her awake throughout the day. Doesn’t care what’s in it or how good it tastes.

Futaba: Her mom’s favourite blend and nothing else. Will drink it black or with cream and sugar, it doesn’t matter to her.

Haru: Didn’t like coffee at first but since she’s planning on opening a cafe, she needs to figure out what blends go with certain foods. Her and Joker are working their way through Leblanc’s various types of coffee, to Sojiro’s dismay. Cream and sugar are a must in her opinion.

Joker: Became a coffee snob after Sojiro taught him how to make coffee. Has a list of all the types of coffee in Leblanc organized from favourite to least favourite, further broken down into categories no one else has the attention span to follow. After explaining it, please do not ask him if he likes his coffee black or with sugar and cream - he has a whole separate presentation for that. Has very big Opinions and is constantly seconds away from breaking out The Chart TM.

Akechi: Leblanc house blend. Black. Preferably brewed by Joker. If there is so much as a single grain of sugar in it, he will Know.

Sojiro: Will give you a very obscure brand/blend. Will also inform you of the exact date, time, and coordinates he last drank it, and forever has a vendetta because the seller of those particular beans told him he would not sell to “some janky cafe in the middle of an alley.” Is of the opinion that flavoured coffee is okay “as long as you do it right” but also claims to have never had a good flavoured coffee. Suspicious.

#crow’s headcanons #crow grumbles #persona 5 #persona 5 royal #the phantom thieves #persona 5 joker #akira kurusu #ren amamiya #p5 morgana #ryuji sakamoto #yusuke kitagawa #ann takamaki #makoto niijima #futaba sakura #haru okumura #goro akechi #sojiro sakura

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cherise54 · 1 year

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Cherise - Automating the daily cuppa

Automating the daily cuppa From Cherise Global. The difference between the Cherise India machine and others is the kind of investment and manpower that has gone into its development and support, Shah explained. Shah added that he put together a team that included mechatronic specialists with a view to building, supporting, and maintaining their smart IoT and android-based vending machine which is an integral part of Cherise’s farm-to-cup ecosystem. Visit Website

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andmaybegayer · 8 months

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On Coffee

I, for one, do not know basically anything about coffee. However, if I had to trust one person to explain coffee to me it would be our beloved coffee nerd/machinist/librarian/man-about-town @morrak and he was kind enough to do just that, helping me pick some coffee from the local speciality shop.

Given the extremely rudimentary prompt:

My closest reference is probably tea, so like, I enjoy the texture you get from oolong, and the scent experience you get when drinking assams. As for dislikes, not a big fan of green tea.

We ended up with these

Square Mile's Filter Blend and Lady Marmelade Kenyan from Chroast. Brewed two 125ml cups on 7.5g of beans in an Aeropress.

I have tasting notes, which should be taken with a grain of don't know what I'm doing.

Just sniffing the beans, the filter blend is very neutral, smells very much like what you think coffee smells like. The Chroast beans smell strongly like something tagged in my head as aldehydes, whether that's an accurate association or not.

Square Mile Filter Blend

Mild flavour, very smooth texture, note here is "oily/buttery". Sweet, not very bitter at all, minimal aftertaste that wasn't just the taste slowly dying out. Citrusy, but in the way that the zest of an orange or a grapefruit is citrusy. Makes me think a little of what would happen if I made a kind of too strong black coffee and tempered out all the bitterness and astringency with milk without adding enough to actually taste a milk flavour.

Chroast Lady Marmelade

Much stronger flavour, drier texture but still less astringent than something like black tea. Not really coffee-like in my head at all, also very low bitterness, less than plain black teas by far. A very plant-y aftertaste, but in a different way from how green tea has a plant-y aftertaste, because I don't mind it here. Aldehyde thing isn't present in the taste, instead it is just kind of sharp. Aftertaste goes up the back of your sinuses in a nice way, tastes like it smells when brewing.

Conclusion

I have not done a comparative coffee taste before, although I've done it for teas. These two are quite different when directly contrasted and I'm certain I'd not have picked up on it without them side by side, the Square Mile is very smooth and sweet, while the Chroast is much more strongly flavoured and has that dry texture I like from black teas. Both felt better than what I had before this, so definitely good recommendations from Morrak here.

I do wonder if brewing half my usual amount here threw something off, the Aeropress drains real fast on only 7.5g of beans. I will try making full cups of these the way I normally would and see how that goes but this came out pretty good, I enjoyed and wanted more of both of these.

It's noticeably different from the coffee I get in the machine at work, which I also happen to know is all extremely old because they are using pre-pandemic coffee that is now hitting its end of shelf life and being dumped in the staff kitchen as freebies.

#coffee #thank you morrak #food

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lindyloosims · 4 months

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OC Questions Tag

I was tagged by @stargazer-sims, thank you.

I'm going to choose Dexter William Maloney and Evelyn Dawn Robertson, my OC's from my Love Drunk universe. I completed their story in TS3 and I started to do TS4 version but different and I got distracted (as I do) then I did Washed Ashore, which was an alternate universe story that I really need to finish. Anyway I did both of them because they are twin souls.

__________

NAME: Dexter William Maloney

NICKNAME: Dexy or Pretty Boy by his Lainie, Dex by everyone else.

GENDER: Male

STAR SIGN: Capricorn

HEIGHT: 5ft 11in

ORIENTATION: Heterosexual

NATIONALITY/ETHNICITY: Irish/White

FAVOURITE FRUIT: Pineapple

FAVOURITE SEASON: Summer

FAVOURITE FLOWER: Tulips, because they're his mum's favourite.

FAVOURITE SCENT: Lainie's perfume, Kylie Minogue: Darling

COFFEE, TEA, or HOT CHOCOLATE: Coffee, he has a machine that his best friend Drew made for him and he likes to experiment with flavour. His favourite is caramel syrup in his coffee.

AVERAGE HOURS OF SLEEP: He suffers from headaches now and again after an accident so it can vary. When it's really bad, he's nigh on an insomniac but Lainie forces him to drink chamomile tea before bed as she knows all about sleep problems.

DOGS or CATS: Dogs, he had one as a boy called Rosco and he was a Rhodesian Ridgeback. He has two dogs with Lainie, Trixie the yellow Labrador and Kizzy the Husky.

DREAM TRIP: Hawaii with Lainie, a lazy beach holiday walking by the ocean and collecting seashells. No kids, just him and his Freckles!

NUMBER OF BLANKETS: He's rarely ever cold, so I'd say one?

RANDOM FACT: Out of all of the numerous tattoos he has, only one is sentimental and that is his daughter Keira's name on his wrist in Irish Gaelic. The rest were a rebellion when his father suddenly passed away of a heart attack when Dexter was 24 years old.

__________

NAME: Evelyn Dawn Robertson Maloney

NICKNAME: She prefers Lainie and hates her name, Dexter calls her Freckles and her mother calls her Evie. Her father calls her monkey but that's a whole other story!

GENDER: Female

STAR SIGN: Leo

HEIGHT: 5ft 3in

ORIENTATION: Heterosexual

NATIONALITY/ETHNICITY: Irish/White

FAVOURITE FRUIT: Watermelon

FAVOURITE SEASON: Autumn for Halloween

FAVOURITE FLOWER: Roses

FAVOURITE SCENT: Dexter, he doesn't wear any scent it's just his natural aroma and it makes her feel giddy.

COFFEE, TEA, or HOT CHOCOLATE: Tea, all kinds but her favourite is plain old green tea, or cat's piss as Dex calls it.

AVERAGE HOURS OF SLEEP: She has bouts of insomnia so knows all the tricks for trying to get sleepy, however they rarely work with her. She suffers from severe anxiety.

DOGS or CATS: Dogs, she's not a great fan of cats but she did have one when she was a teenager but her older sister left the back gate open and she never saw little Socks again. She had two Labradors growing up, her favourite dog breed. She and Dex have a Labrador named Trixie and a Husky named Kizzy, they pretended to adopt them for the kids, but really they were for them.

DREAM TRIP: Anywhere with Dexy, although she would love to go to New Orleans during Mardi Gras, visit the cemeteries and wander around the French Quarter. She's a fan of The Originals and that's where her love for New Orleans began.

NUMBER OF BLANKETS: It depends, some nights it can be just the duvet, other nights it could be two extra blankets. She's inconsistent.

RANDOM FACT: She is a secret fan of The Prodigy, it's something only Dex and her best friend Roxy know about. They're not her usual taste of music but for some reason she gets so much housework done with their tunes in her ears.

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I tag @zosa95, @simmersofia, @babolat85, @silverspringsimmer, @akitasimblr and anyone else who would like to do it, feel free to ignore if you don't.

#oc questions #ts4 #sims 4 #the sims 4

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rianafying · 4 months

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i’ve turned my life completely upside down in the last week and a half. actually it is now the correct side up. if i thought things were fine before, they’re a gajillion times better now. i cannot stress the importance of what i’m about to say: i started taking care of my physical health. i can hardly believe the words as i type them out. not weight loss, or an aesthetic glow up, like my actual health, my insides, my bones, my muscles, my organs, the machine that actually keeps me running. had to spend a buttload of money at the gp and pathology and chemist tho. but it’s a necessary expenditure. i will come clean about one thing though, that that reason behind all of this, the catalyst, the final push wasn’t just my rock bottom, i actually, how do i say this, i’m not one to struggle with words, at least not when discussing my feelings. i have started to have feelings for someone. and this is entirely one sided, not that that’s a problem with me, in fact, it’s kind of a preference. i dont know a love more pure than the unrequited kind. that is not to say that i didn’t break down and cry about it more than a few times. anyway, so i’m taking all my potions and applying all my concoctions, and my health was so bad, that i’m already seeing huge improvements, after just one week of care. i’m inspired to be better. i’m inspired to have the life, happiness and health i wish for the ones i love.

i’m so hopeful that even jinxing doesn’t scare me. bring it on you evil planets. i picked myself up from rock bottom. i have intentionally found the good in the most horrible things. i am deserving of the happiness that comes my way.

i did overeat a little today and last night, a little bit stress eating, and a little bit extra hungry. and so i will go on a walk today inshaallah.

i’ve had a bit of creative energy lately, and i’m putting it to good use. sketching out a fashion collection, and i’m really liking the ideas and how they’re coming together so far. someday things are going to fall into the place i’m pushing them into. and i am most hopeful.

today was supposed to be my first day back in uni, but i am sick and coughing every 10 seconds, so i emailed the lecturer letting her know ill be joining the online repeat class this evening, instead of the on campus class this afternoon. missed out free gelato at uni today, they had some amazing flavours, but i’m sick anyway. so i couldn’t have had it.

someone’s gonna love me someday, when i am not so difficult to love. when i am ready to accept it. that someone might be me. a person i met recently told me to date myself, with intention and mindfulness. and that rlly stuck, because yes. also i’m happy that therapy has started again. since two days ago.

i’m drinking tea. i bought a pot to dedicate solely to tea making. and it’s been such a good little treat. i’m putting condensed milk in it, because i am not afraid of sugar. i’m going to build and rebuild my life. and things are going to be just fine. i’m going to be just fine.

#personal #journal entry #audio #goodness

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lennonhead · 5 months

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Japanese sweetened bottled lemon black tea. bear in mind this is not like Hong Kong style lemon tea. the ideal Japanese lemon tea flavour is adjacent to water

Kirin Gogo no Kocha ("Afternoon Tea"): this is basically the standard and the one you are most likely to see imported overseas. it's fine. they have a lot of other flavours and those are more interesting (the vending machine exclusive orange and mint tea is fun)

Suntory Craft Boss: I think this product line always tastes cheap. the lemon tea is no exception. it has a strange aftertaste. the bottle has more tea than the other brand's bottles, but is it worth it?

speaking of Suntory, you know what I miss?

this freak of nature. lemon tea FLAVOURED WATER. they had a milk tea version too and it was wild. BRING THEM BACK!!! also bring Ribena to Japan. scallywags

the 7-11 store brand: I feel like you don't see this much at actual stores, but they do sell it at their grocery stores, Ito Yokado and the gang. the quality of the taste surprised me

Lipton: they have a bottled lemon tea that is for some reason less good than their carton lemon tea. it must be some kind of preservation thing, because the tea that comes in cartons is my #1 most imbibed beverage in Japan. I buy a litre (well, it's 900ml now. life is so hard) every 2 days or so. but this post is about the ones in bottles. I don't think I've even seen one in Sendai but I know they yet exist

Coca-Cola has their own tea brand, and I know they have a lemon flavour, and I must have had it, but I have no recollection of it. I usually see the other flavours (their peach tea is good if you like sweet things, like myself). if I come across it, I will inform the public of my opinion. they also have a special one only in Okinawa. maybe the Okinawan store here will have it... but I would rather get a fancy tropical thing

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chuu-huahua · 1 year

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HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO CHUUYA

chuuya is so babygirl that he gets his own birthday post (dw dazai gets one too in june lol). slay ig

tw: fire? from a candle?? / dark era spoilers / mentions of alcohol because chuuya likes wine

he didn’t celebrate his birthday a lot, both in the sheep and in the mafia. prices weren’t low when he was younger, and he didn’t nearly have enough time to take a day off to relax from the bloodshed and fighting around him

so when he found a small cake sitting in his fridge that evening, with a small yellow sticky note with a handwriting he was way too familiar with, all he could do was smile. the stupid mackerel had gotten him a cake. it even contained alcohol. stupid bandage wasting machine…

and surprisingly, mori waved him off when he came over to submit his mission report that morning, telling him to take the day off and “enjoy his youth” (his words, not chuuya’s), slipping a paper containing red crayon marks wording something along the lines of “i’ll kill you”, whatever that meant, under his own piles of endless paperwork

so, he spent the rest of his day lounging around in his penthouse, savouring the rum flavoured slice of cake his ex-partner had gotten him (of course he checked for poison; it wouldn’t do him any good to drop dead on the floor of his house before he could even submit his mission report to mori), and nursing the glass of wine from a bottle he had stored away for some time now. the sun was starting to set, bathing the land with its warm oranges and reds and yellows, and the buildings around him were coated in golden light

his shoulders had finally loosened up from writing endless reports and tending to mountains of paperwork after a while, so when he received a phone call from kouyou telling him to come over for some business, his sigh cut through the comfortable silence that had mixed into the atmosphere of his living room

but when he arrived at the oh so familiar traditional japanese style house his ane-san resided at, the surprise was clear on his face when he slid open the door to come face to face with the ginger from the black lizard. kouyou was not too far behind him, going through the entire tea ceremony with grace akin to swans, the aroma of the fresh warm beverage now wafting through the entire estate. now that he looked behind tachihara, he could see higuchi and hirotsu, as well as the akutagawa siblings

his ane-san called him over, instructing him to sit down with her on the tatami mats that still bathed in the gold of the setting sun. a cup of tea was placed in front of him, as well as a small black box. blowing softly over the top of the cup before placing it to his lips, chuuya almost choked when he opened the box to reveal a brand new pair of black gloves. his current ones were worn and creased over the years of use, as well as the countless washings it went through to clean off the blood of his enemies. the people around him could only smile at the shock on his face, some giggling at his wide eyed look

so when he stretches the new leather over his hands and wiggles his fingers, the familiar warmth of his old glove is replaced with a new comfort that wraps his hand, and the warmth in his chest burns like an inferno

although he lost the sheep when he was younger, seeing the smiles on the faces of the people surrounding him as they bring out a cake from kouyou’s fridge makes the emotions in his chest swirl like the storms and tornadoes; if he had never met dazai, he would probably have never met the people who were singing him a birthday song (his very first one) and using the lighter from his pocket (when had they even got hold of it?) to light the tiny wax candle that stood proudly on the cream

as he made his wish and blew out the candles, he could almost feel the hairs at the back of his neck standing, as if they too could tell that there was a certain brown haired detective toasting a glass of cheap sake to him from his own apartment

some PROFESSIONAL SQUASH PLAYER DAZAI content too <3

a kiss on the lips.

that was what japan’s number one national squash player had gifted him for his birthday, right after he stepped out of the court, all sweaty from the movement and with his racket still gripped tightly in his hand.

sure, the frame of the eyewear had pressed against his forehead rather harshly; sure, the mackerel had sweat dripping all over him from the exhaustive game he just had; sure, their teeth had knocked together when their lips connected. but chuuya could not deny that his skin shone as bright as his hair, the back of his hand pressed to his pursed lips, sharp blue eyes following the taller figure as he skipped off to find his manager.

he continued to stare at the back of the exercise shirt that had gotten slightly see-through with the sweat running down the man’s back, but his shoulders visibly flinched when dazai turned to look back at him, eyes shining with mirth. happy birthday, he mouthed, before giggling cheekily and trailing after the man with sleek black hair that led him away, leaving chuuya to continue feeling the intense burn of his cheeks.

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