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josephquinnn · 1 year

Text

Alias

part one - part two

Joseph Quinn x Fem!Reader

Summary: You were supposed to guide David Harbour during the launch of the Stranger Things game that the company you work for created, however, he cancels at the last minute. His replacement? Joseph Quinn.

CW / disclaimer: rpf (don't read if it's not your jam), fem!reader, fluff

Author’s note: This is the kick-off fic for this page, so please be kind. I have several ideas in mind that I'm currently working on, so stay tuned for more!

“Ladies and gentlemen, Corendon Airlines welcomes you to Amsterdam. The local time is 9 P.M. For your safety and the safety of those around you, please remain seated with your seat belt fastened and keep the aisle clear until we are parked at the gate.”

While this hadn’t been your first time visiting Amsterdam, the reason why was very different this time. Or perhaps not that different, were it not that you had a very personal reason why it was so different for you. The company you worked for, GED International, had developed an immersive multiplayer game to kick off the fifth and final season of Stranger Things. Aside from your love from the show, you also had a huge admiration for the cast. And while being a part of the release of Stranger Things: Invading The Upside Down was really cool in itself, the fact that you were pointed to be the guide of the one and only David Harbour had you jittery for weeks. It made sense that an actor would fly over to promote it, but you hadn’t expected it regardless. It just wasn’t how your luck usually worked. Not this time though. This time, you were the one who was going to show Jim Hopper around Amsterdam, as that was where the event would take place all around the city. You were well acquainted enough with the city, having spent several years working there on and off. It always felt like a weird coming home, although this time you would reside in a hotel for a couple days. One day for the event, two leisure days.

After waiting for a good twenty minutes, you were finally able to get up from your seat and out of the plane, on your way to get your luggage. Your colleagues already arrived earlier to set up several things, but since your task was literally getting David from A to B and entertaining him a little during, you didn’t have to be earlier than the evening beforehand. The wait for your luggage to show up was as stressful as ever, but thankfully the rollerband hadn’t disappointed you once and quietly (not really) provided you with your suitcase after some time. On your way to the hotel you decided to grab a quick bite from the popular fries shack that was quite literally on your way towards The Dam, along with what the Dutch call a “frikandel”, which was essentially a lengthy meat stick. It was a craving you had whenever you visited the Netherlands, which your colleagues thought was the funniest thing after you described it to them for the first time. The Dutch had more things you had a weak spot for though, such as “stroopwafels” and their delicious tiny pancakes that they called “poffertjes”. You’d probably indulge and get it the next day, if you had the time. Your hotel wasn’t far removed from The Dam, which was still bustling in the late summer evening, with their street artists keeping up the crowd. You had to unpack, iron your clothes and get ready for bed though, so there was no time to stick around.

You nearly bumped into a guy on your way into your hotel, who was so focused on holding his head down that he hadn’t noticed you and apologized with a quick and very British “sorry”, though not even glancing in your direction. You had been too busy saving your suitcase from falling down the stairs to whip your head around in time. The guy had already gone and with him, the familiar voice that left you wondering whether your mind was just playing tricks on you.

The event had just gone to your head. Of course you had hoped it would have been him to promote the game. His character’s return had already been announced in a subtle teaser that had the world in their grasp at the moment, so soon before the release of the last season. Besides, with him residing in London it almost felt like it made the most sense. You shook your head, it hadn’t been him. It was just a random Brit with a similar voice. They were out there. You realized you had been standing in the middle of the lobby where the receptionist had been looking at you with her eyebrow raised for a moment now. Time to check in.

Just as you came out of the shower, you received a call. It hadn’t been the first time they had tried to call you according to your phone and you were only just in time to pick up this time around.

“Deniz, hi, sorry I was just in the shower,” you explained quickly.

“All good. Listen, change of plans.”

“Change of plans?”

Now?! The evening before the event? You groaned inwardly, already dreading whatever changes he was about to inform you with. You sat down on your bed, dressed in the hotel’s bathrobe and waited.

“Yeah, so… David Harbour canceled. I know how excited you were about that, I’m sorry,” he said apologetically. You felt your heart sink. There it was, reality coming right back to kick you in the face as usual. Of fucking course.

“I see, so… what’s going to happen now?” Were you just going to have a little vacation then? Would they let you join the event differently? Maybe it would mean you could sleep in. That would be nice.

“Well, miracles happened and another actor agreed to come. We just got the memo way later. David canceled earlier this week apparently so they’ve been making calls and such.”

“Who is it?” It was time for Deniz to drop the information you actually gave a damn about. Your mind immediately went back to the guy who had bumped into you. It couldn’t be…

“Joseph Quinn? I googled him quickly while I called you but I have no clue. Is he one of the smaller actors?” You had to bite your tongue not to lecture him on how Joseph Quinn was anything but. It didn’t matter. Deniz didn’t give a damn about celebrities, and since Joseph looked quite different from his character Eddie, you weren’t surprised he had no idea who he was based off of that.

“No. He plays Eddie Munson.”

“Hold up. The guy who died but then didn’t?”

“That’s the one.”

“That’s actually pretty cool. Looks nothing like him though. Insane.”

Tell me about it, you thought. You had spent enough hours ogling both his character and his regular appearance, still unable to grasp at how they were the same person.

“Okay so, I’ve emailed you the details of his PA Leah, she’s been briefed on when and where he’s expected. You’ll meet after breakfast in the lobby at ten sharp, same as the original plan. Just make sure you’re a little early, yeah?”

“Will do.” You continued your convo casually but eventually you cut it off because you really needed your sleep. And before you could do that, you needed at least an hour to silently scream into your pillow because you were going to meet him. Chances were that the hand that had quickly searched for balance on your arm earlier had been his. You felt a little lightheaded. This was a nightmare cocooned in a dream. Undoubtedly you were going to make a fool of yourself and he would hate your guts. Or he’d laugh at you. You didn’t know what was worse. All you knew was that while the change of plans theoretically would have been a dream come true, a nightmare had never felt more realistic.

The next morning you were fidgeting with the hem of your blouse as you waited in the lobby, half an hour too early. You had barely managed to eat breakfast due to your nerves but had forced a few things in your system because a grumbling stomach would be worse. Maybe you should have just eaten a bit more slowly so that you didn’t have to wait ridiculously long. It was killing you, perking your head up at every movement and often receiving an odd glance from the stranger who you’d been so eager to look at. Not with Joseph though. His voice alerted you long before the man even came into view. Laughter had escaped his lips and it sounded all too familiar. Granted, you had a bit of a crush on the man you had only seen through a screen so far. You were relieved he sounded chipper, as you had noticed that he hadn’t been so delighted at some other events he had attended. Those were all just assumptions, but you liked to think that your people skills gave you enough knowledge to assess someone’s body language at least a little. You turned your body in his direction at the right timing, where you wouldn’t have to stare for too long but had enough time to grab his attention. It looked like his assistant had received a photo from you, because recognition flashed her face and she walked up to you before Joseph had even noticed you. With a quick B-line, he followed her.

“Hi, you must be Y/N?”

“That’s me, nice to meet you,” you said politely as you shook her hand.

“Leah, you as well.”

Then, it was Joseph’s turn. Your smile faltered only for a second when he shook your hand and it was a good thing you already knew the man’s name, because his eyes were so distracting that you could only see his lips move and not hear a thing he said.

“Nice to meet you,” you managed to say to him as well and he let go of your hand with a subtle squeeze to finish off the greeting.

“The car should be up front soon,” you said as you checked your phone for the time. The nerves, which you would have had just the same if it had been David, we’re eating you alive from the inside as a silence pursued. All you had been briefed to do was getting them from location to location and you had no idea how much they had been told about the game already. To your relief the silence was cut short when you received a message that your ride was there. After announcing that, you went ahead and led Joseph and his PA to the car waiting outside.

“Are you from here?” Joseph’s voice perched your ears and you turned your head to look into his curious brown eyes.

“I’m not actually. I’m from Y/B/P.” You had to bite your tongue to automatically ask the same question in return because you knew.

“Oh! That’s cool. I’ve been there once, on vacation,” he told you. “Would love to go back sometime.”

I’ll gladly take you back home with me, you thought, but instead you nodded.

“What about Amsterdam? You’ve been here often?” You asked to keep the conversation going. He told you about the two times he visited Amsterdam, how he hadn’t managed to visit any museums because his mates had wanted to get high and go out most of the time. Fun times, still, but he wanted to see if he could squeeze in a museum or two before he left again. Once you arrived at The Dam, a noticeable crowd had already gathered and their heads all turned towards the car. Oh boy.

“Alright, let’s go this way,” you decided and Joseph shifted in the seat to get out on your end, his assistant following suit. Phones were shoved into your faces and Joseph took the time to take a few photos and sign some things before he followed you towards the stage. His assistant stood on the sidelines, leaving Joseph alone with you and the host who would present the game.

“I had no idea what to expect but this is pretty big,” Joseph mumbled, gesturing at the game setup. There was a platform on which you could walk continuously without moving, a round treadmill so to say. It had a railing around the front and VR glasses hung over it.

“It is. They found it important that walking around felt natural, hence the big platform. It’s pretty cool.”

“Have you played it yet?”

“No, I’ve only seen some test runs.”

“The concept sounded pretty cool, like working together and all that. I believe it’s also available on other stuff right? PC and everything?”

You nodded and went into detail about how the PC version would be different, in terms of VR and without VR, but also the general difference in running around physically versus only digitally. Joseph seemed very intrigued at everything you had to say while they set him up with a microphone on his shirt. So much, even, that he nearly missed his announcement for coming up the stage.

“My bad. Hi everyone.”

You watched the conversation from the side between Joseph and the host, who explained the game again in detail and held a little presentation about it. Then, it was time for Joseph to actually join the game. Throughout Amsterdam there were several setups like this one, and a few lucky fans had been selected to take part in the immersive game together with Joseph. Each wearing a headset and being in a party together, all with a different task ahead. The people on the Dam could watch Joseph’s gameplay on a big screen behind him. Joseph seemed to enjoy it a lot, completely into the game as he stepped and jumped over things, running over to clues and communicating with his party. It was his task to gather camouflage to bring over to the others, who each had their own task to explore as well. It all went down on a timer and it was important that everyone finished their task in time. Of course, there were enemies as well which would progress into severity the closer everyone game to the middle, also known as their meeting point.

You loved watching Joseph do his thing, with his tongue darting out and making wild gestures at creatures that tried to attack him. He shouted, did his best not to swear and often went into a giggle fit when he did something silly. It was the most endearing thing to watch and while you thought David Harbour would have been a very funny candidate to watch as well, nothing could beat Joseph being Joseph.

“It says I can pick up an ally? I want an ally!” Joseph suddenly exclaimed, looking around as he perked his head up. “Can I?” He then asked a bit unsurely. His VR headset was soundproof, meaning he wouldn’t even be able to hear the answer unless he took his headset off. You watched the guy monitoring the screen discuss something with one of the developers and then nodded over to you. What? When the developer approached you, holding another VR headset, you felt dread seeping into your shoes. Oh no. You enjoyed playing the occasional game but you weren’t any good, and you definitely didn’t have a wide experience with VR games. This was doomed to make you look like a fool. Great.

“We’ll set you up if you want to join as his ally?”

You weren’t going to say no, of course.

“Sure. Just tell me what to do.”

The developer briefly explained that you would join the game as an extra help during fights, making your health double up. You were handed a stick that represented a bat in the game and were put on a similar platform like Joseph was. After connecting the two together, you would be launched into the same spot he was, and you would be able to play once you entered a nickname.

IN GAME: Your ally Y/N has arrived, Joseph

“Hello? Y/N?” “Hi, it’s me.”

“Oh! Hi! I didn’t expect them to insert an actual person, I thought they meant like an NPC or something. This is even better!” Immediately, he got back to business, as he took the game quite seriously. “So. We have to find our way through this forest, but there are demobats trying to kill us. And apparently wild dogs.”

Joseph turned to you in the game, and it felt surreal to have a pretty decent looking Eddie avatar look at you and communicate with you in a British accent. You had no idea what your character looked like.

“Alright, we’ve got to get… Oh! You’re Robin, that’s cool. We need to go this way, it seems.”

You discussed your options and decided to look around first for any clues if you were going in the right direction. When a demobat attack forced you to run into the forest, you knew you had been right. It was pretty fun to use your bat to slam the demons away, but the VR aspect of it all was harder than you expected. It was a good thing you and Joseph were about two meters apart from each other in real life, or you would have played whack-a-mole with each other’s heads. At one point you had to run, which meant physically running in real life too. As if you wanted to be sweaty! Luckily, you soon met up with the other players, who had all achieved their tasks and slayed some enemies like you had. Now it was time for the final battle: Defeating Vecna. While you had expected things to be pretty hectic with at least four other voices outside of you and Joseph, it wasn’t all that bad. If anything, it made it feel more realistic to have several people shout their battle cries. It required working together and using each other’s strengths, timing them perfectly after one another. The person with Nancy’s character would shoot at him, while you threw bottles lit with fire, and Joseph had to use his catapult to distract Vecna and weaken his sight. Eventually, you managed to defeat Vecna without having to replay the game or anyone dying. You always liked how the developers made Eddie an available character as well, regardless when they knew if he was going to return or not.

Finally, you took off your headset and quickly fixed your hair, stepped away from the platform and found that Joseph joined you immediately.

“That was fun,” he grinned, clearly wanting to share his experience with someone. His hair was a bit of a mess now, his curls no longer as tamed as before. After he noticed you looking he quickly ran a hand through his hair and you wondered if you had made him self conscious. For whatever reason his PA was nowhere to be found. Joseph was called over to give a quick review on the game and after that it was time to acknowledge the fans who had long since gathered at the barricades for some selfies and photographs. You could tell that he was in a good mood by the way he wore a relaxed smile on his face as he interacted with the fans. All you could hope was that it would stay the same after visiting the other locations. You never really understood why they wanted him to visit all locations, instead of just having everyone come up to one, but apparently they didn’t want to overcrowd any spot and considering people had to buy tickets to even get to stand near the barricades, it started to dawn on you. Of course these money hungry bastards took the opportunity and ran away with it in ten folds.

Joseph seemed to handle it all perfectly well until you were back in the car and he slumped in his seat. As it turned out, his PA had suddenly gotten sick and had gone back to the hotel. It was just you and him now, for the rest of the day.

“That was intense,” Joseph said softly, unsure whether he should even be sharing his thoughts with you. All you could do was nod.

“It was. I’m surprised you have to visit so many spots if I’m honest,” you admitted and Joseph nodded in agreement.

“I hadn’t expected that either. I just figured it would be one location and go, until we received the schedule yesterday.”

“That gave you little time to prepare then… I’m sorry about that.”

“Oh it’s alright. Can’t complain, it’s a great opportunity.”

You smiled softly.

“It’s fine to complain a little, even if it’s a great opportunity,” you assured him. That granted a smile out of him as well. You could imagine it was hard to cut yourself some slack when you had been so lucky, yet incredibly overwhelmed by it all. And he wasn’t even allowed to call it luck according to people because it was talent, but to him it sure had felt like luck.

When the driver stopped the car, you were surprised to see you weren’t at the next location yet.

“Roadblocks all around. You’ll have to walk from here,” he said apologetically. The thought alone filled you with dread. Joseph had been stalked in every place he had been and Amsterdam was about to become the next. They knew what he looked like down to the shoes he was wearing at the moment, so the watchful eye would definitely notice.

“Alright, not a problem at all,” Joseph told the driver before turning to you. “Is it far?”

“Ten minutes max, I think,” you replied, getting your phone out to find a route. Once you got it, you both left the car. The driver assured you he would be in the same spot in time for the next one, but you exchanged numbers just in case.

The first couple of minutes went fine. No one batted an eye. Not until one teenager shouted his name.

“Oh fuck,” you mumbled softly, watching as the many heads turned around frantically in search of the man next to you.

“It’ll be fine,” he assured you, as if you were the one who needed assurance. You were very ready to elbow these people in the head if they were behaving like idiots. It would cost you your job if you caused a scandal, though.

“Where do we have to go?” Joseph asked you, sounding a little hurried. You showed him the route on your phone and watched how he scanned the area quickly.

“Alright. Come.” Before you realized what was going on, he had grabbed your hand and guided you through the masses who were dawning in on you, taking photos and trying to get their picture taken with him as well. He greeted them kindly, effortlessly. Apologized for moving on and explaining you had to get to your destination quickly. You wondered if anyone else noticed how draining this seemed to be for him. His frown deepening, his lips disappearing into a thin line. His hand squeezed yours tighter every now and then, although he often relaxed it shortly after and grazed the top of your hand with his thumb, as if to apologize.

When you finally made it to the next stage, you let out a breath of relief. This unorganized shit show was a drag. Joseph let go of your hand and listened to the host of that location, who guided him to the fans where he could do his service of taking photos and interacting with them shortly. Then, he met with a handful of people who had won a meet & greet with him for a good five minutes and after that it was time to move to the next. Two down, four to go. It wasn’t until the transition from the fourth to the fifth that you and Joseph decided to skip the car and just walk all the way. You had been hopeful the other times that the car would actually be able to drop you off at a good spot, but it had become clear that Amsterdam wasn’t great to go through by car, especially not on a day like this. When you asked him about security, it turned out that he had turned them down as he hadn’t expected the getting from one location to the other would have gone so hectic.

“God that smells delicious,” Joseph exclaimed softly as you were walking through crowds, trying to blend in as well as you could. You had smelled it too, or at least you thought you did. If you were honest, you were pretty hungry after that lousy breakfast, considering it was way past lunch time already.

“The bakery, right?” You ask as you point into the direction of a bakery on the other side of the street.

“Yes. Mind if we make a quick stop? I’ve really got to eat something.”

“Not at all. Some more delay isn’t going to matter at this point,” you pointed out. You made your way towards the bakery that luckily wasn’t too crowded, and got yourselves a pastry , two in Joe’s case. He had been eyeing the croissants but decided against it because of the crumbs. Not that these pastries were any better. They were delicious though, you concluded, and Joseph seemed to agree judging by the sounds he made.

“Right, I needed that,” he said as he cleaned off his fingers with a napkin. Once you got closer to the last stage, he turned to you.

“Am I good?” He asked, gesturing at his face so you could tell him if he missed a crumb. He had, so you pointed it out with words, until he didn’t catch it at the third try and you lifted your finger to his face instead and gently took it off.

“You also have some…” he started, brushing his thumb over the corner of your mouth, “right there. All good now.” His gaze lingered longer than it should have and you blamed your burning cheeks for it. He probably noticed your shift in attitude right away. Despite that, he seemed unbothered and you entered the last stage, where Joseph did his thing again and you watched him do it all effortlessly.

It was already way past dinner time when you finally made your way back to the hotel. That was it then, you thought. You had had fun, and it had been great to get to know him briefly, but you would have loved more. Somehow it made you feel greedy, though you blamed the man himself for being the exact way you had imagined him to be. All sweet and nice and gentlemanly. So annoying.

“Would you like to join me for dinner?”

The silence that hung in the air got way too much time to spread when you looked at him like a deer caught in headlights. God, please act cool for once, you thought to yourself. To top it off, he smiled softly at you and even seemed a little nervous. Why in the world would he be nervous?

“I�� Yes! That sounds lovely, where would you like to go? Just here at the hotel, or…”

“Oh no. I’d prefer to get into the city if that’s okay. I heard you can get dinner on a boat, no idea if you have to book a spot for that though. We could check? I just want to change into something else once we’re back at the hotel, freshen up a little. Is that alright with you?” His eyes darted away as he spoke and his hand softly scratched behind his ear in a repeat motion until he finished his sentence. Absolutely endearing. Your conversation briefly paused as you left the car and headed back inside your hotel.

“Dinner on a boat sounds…” Romantic as hell. “Great! And if it’s not available I’m sure we can find a nice spot somewhere. At the canals maybe?” You offered, wanting to throw in your two cents as well instead of just completely going along with what he said.

“I’ll give them a call. The canals would be nice as well!” He agreed, and shifted his weight from one foot to another as he looked at you. “Meet down here in an hour?”

You agreed and both went opposite ways towards your rooms. His was in a much more luxurious area of the hotel, which made sense. Once in your hotel room you quickly turned your suitcase upside down in search of something appropriate to wear. Would a dress be too much? The rest all seemed too casual and you had no idea how fancy that boat restaurant was. The dress would have to do. It was a simple, black, a-line dress but it looked very elegant on your figure. You freshened up in the bathroom and reapplied your makeup, hoping it all looked fine.

Miraculously you had some time to kill, which basically meant you sat alone with your thoughts. Those that hadn’t stopped running the same sentence over and over after he had said it. Would you like to join me for dinner? You were genuinely confused why he had asked you. Maybe he just didn’t want to eat alone because it would attract extra attention to himself. Yeah. That must be it. And you guessed you were deemed nice enough to have a chat with. Which was great, but everything else was just confusing and slightly stressful. When you finally allowed yourself to go down ten minutes early, you found that Joseph was already waiting there. Dressed in black pants and a dark blue blouse, he looked incredibly handsome. He immediately noticed you as you exited the elevator, his neutral expression lighting up into a smile.

“Y/N, thank god, you made it. I managed to get a reservation in twenty minutes, so I was secretly hoping you’d be early too. They happened to have a cancellation. Our uber is ready too.”

“Oh that’s great! I’m really curious about this restaurant. Is it just docked in one of the canals or does it actually fare?” You asked curiously, while trying to calm yourself down inwardly that you were going to sit in front of this handsome man for a whole meal. Oh god. What if you made a total fool of yourself?

They have a route that goes partially through the canals, so we’ll be able to do a slight bit of sightseeing if we’re lucky. It might be too dark outside already.”

He held the door open for you to slide inside the uber and then joined from the other side. Again. What a gentleman.

“Have you decided on what you might want to visit tomorrow?” You wanted to know. While you hadn’t made specific plans just yet, you wanted to check out some things as well before you had to go back. Your silly brain allowed yourself to hope that maybe you could do some sightseeing together. Not that you were going to ask him that, oh no. That was way too embarrassing. What if he said no?

“I have some time to squeeze in one or two things. Later tomorrow I have an interview through zoom with someone in New York though, and we leave again early the next day. So I have a bit of time but nothing too grand. Any recommendations?”

“I was thinking of visiting Anne Frank’s house. I’ve heard many stories about that. And Rijksmuseum, maybe. Those are things I’d want to do, but I can’t exactly recommend them because I’ve never been.”

“Those were on my list as well as the Vincent van Gogh museum. Haven’t decided yet.”

“I heard there was a special exhibition there, temporarily.”

“Oh, really? Can’t miss out on that now, can I? It’s not like I’m a very artsy person, I don’t necessarily feel things when I look at paintings, but I do appreciate the craft. And Van Gogh does have a nice style. I’ve got a small print of one of his works in my hallway. Sorry,” he winced and chuckled awkwardly.

“For what?” You genuinely wanted to know. He shrugged and avoided your gaze, disguised by looking out the car window for scenery.

“For going on a ramble.”

“Don’t be silly! I’m the same with art. Especially abstract pieces. I try to find a meaning in them but sometimes… a blob is just a blob.” You shrugged.

“Yes!” Joseph seemed happy that someone agreed. You briefly wondered if he was just always happy when he met someone like minded or if he simply had a lot of artsy friends. He seemed to relax after you didn’t make a fuss about him being talkative and suddenly mentioned how disappointed he was in the Mona Lisa.

“She’s just so small. I never expected a huge painting, but I also didn’t expect people to gather in rows and rows to catch a glimpse of this tiny painted woman,” he mumbled. When you arrived at the dock where the boat would set sail from, you both got out and Joseph gallantly held out his arm for you to take.

“I’ve noticed the streets can be pretty uneven here,” he used to reason as to why he provided his arm. You nodded, looking down at your low boots. There was a reason you didn’t wear heels. One, the streets. Two, Joseph wasn’t that tall and you didn’t want to be taller. Three, fine. Maybe you didn’t bring any heels.

“Careful, these stairs are a little slippery,” he warned you softly, making sure he held onto the railing tightly while continuing to hand out stability to you with his arm.

“You look really pretty. I wanted to say so earlier but words got away from me,” he told you right before you entered the boat. A blush tainted your cheeks and you smiled softly.

“Oh— Thank you. You look very handsome yourself.”

“Oh, stop it,” he chuckled abashedly as he let you go in first. After Joseph checked in with the waiter for your reservation under the name of Steven Johnson and sat you down near a window, you couldn’t help but smile at him.

“Should I call you Steven for the time being?” You asked him softly. Joseph covered half his face with his hand and groaned.

“I panicked when they asked for a name alright? I know it’s not the best.”

“It’s fine.”

When the waiter came over for drinks you decided on red wine, while he went with a dark beer. You discussed your food options thoroughly, with Joseph managing to get totally lost into his food related stories at nearly each one. You had had a short world tour of his experiences in several countries by the time you had both made up your minds, nearly able to taste it after Joseph’s detailed descriptions. His eyes lit up when the breadbasket was brought to the table and he eyed it eagerly, waiting for you to go first. You took the butter knife and added salty butter to one, looking up.

“Do you want one too?” You asked politely, holding the one you just smeared out for him to take.

“I’d— Oh, thank you,” he responded slightly flustered, accepting the slice from you and then watched you make another one. When the main course arrived, you were well into your third, maybe fourth topic of the evening. It all felt so natural that you sometimes forgot that you had been putting this man onto a pedestal for some time. Not that he didn’t deserve a pedestal anymore, he was an amazing guy still, but he felt more leveled. Equal. In reach. Quite literally so, but also figuratively. He was just Joe. That’s what he preferred to be called. Though you stubbornly kept the joke up and only called him Steven for the rest of the evening. Whenever there was silence, you would look out the window and admire the city, as far as the darkness allowed you to. The reflection of the windows in combination with the lights from both inside and out made it a tricky view, but a pretty one nonetheless. When Joe’s knee nudged yours, you turned your head to look at him but his eyes weren’t on you. After subtly nudging his leg back with your own, he kept it there. It seemed to be intentional. You decided it was late enough to go for a stroll on your way back to the hotel instead of getting a ride, and found yourselves admiring the pretty lit canals, where you were momentarily distracted by a stray cat. Joe watched you with a calm nature while he smoked a cigarette, passing the time until you had told the cat goodbye. Passing the Dam, you noticed it was still pretty lively, and you spent a bit of time watching a performer dance with fire.

“Oh, it’s my agent, hang on.” Joe excused himself and walked away from the small crowd that had gathered around the performer. While you were curious, you didn’t want to be impolite and stare, so instead you looked around the crowd. After what seemed like ten minutes, the crowd had thinned out and the performer was packing up his stuff. You stood there awkwardly, not wanting to ogle the performer who was clearly done, but also not wanting to bother Joe. Instead, you took some distance from both and sat down on a stone bench. It was obvious that Joe’s mood was sour when he returned to your side, slumping down next to you.

“Turns out I only have the morning left tomorrow. Change of plans. So I won’t be able to check out anything, not enough time. I was going to ask you if you wanted to join me but unfortunately I can’t even do that.”

“Oh I’m sorry, that’s a bummer. Where do you need to be?” It was hard to keep your expression in check. To not look too disappointed at this news while in reality you felt down to cry. The fact that he had wanted to go sightseeing with you possibly made it even worse.

“You can’t tell anyone, but I’ve got a photoshoot for this magazine thing in LA.”

“That sounds, uhm, cool,” you tried to say enthusiastically but failed horribly once you saw his expression.

“Yeah, it is. Just not so fond of last minute changes.” He rubbed his palms onto his knees, trying to shake off the uncomfortable feeling that welled up in his stomach.

“I get that. I don’t like them either. I guess I’ll have to enjoy tomorrow for both of us.”

“Please do.”

You would do anything to get that sad expression off his face. If only you knew how. A random idea sprung to mind and instead of thinking it through like you usually did, assessing the pros and cons and whatnot, you blurted out a question.

“Do you like reading?”

Joe frowned a little at the sudden topic change but nodded.

“I do, yeah, why?”

“Would you like to check out a bookstore with me? We could have breakfast somewhere and do just that, before you have to leave? Unless you don’t have the time or,” you laughed softly, “don’t really want to.” Joe shifted so he could turn for a better look at you.

“I’d love to.” His voice was sincere. Much more sincere than you had heard him be all day. Apart from during dinner, maybe. It was a relief to see his clouded expression had lifted almost instantly.

You decided that you both wanted to be well rested for the day after and headed back to the hotel, though there was a reluctance on both sides to work towards the end of today. It was obvious when the two of you parted ways, at the elevators, and even more obvious when you both stole glances from each other at different moments, convinced the other hadn’t looked at all. Even more obvious was the fact that neither of you could fall asleep, not until you accepted that the other person was going to be on your mind all night.

The last morning

Joe met you in the lobby dressed in black jeans, a white tucked in blouse and a coat that was already on his arm, his smile lighting up at the sight of you.

“Good morning,” he greeted you softly, his voice a little hoarse still. He cleared his throat and reached for his vape, as if that was going to make it better. You smiled softly.

“Morning, Steven.”

“Oh stop it,” he groaned. “I’m never gonna get away with that, am I?”

“Nah. Especially not after accidentally telling me Steven is actually your go to alias and not just one slip up. From Australia, no less!”

“Think of a better name then, on the spot. Go. Go!” He urged you on with a youthful grin.

“Legolas.” You responded deadpanned.

Joe snorted and shook his head, already heading to the exit. “Oh come on, you didn’t even try,” he protested.

“I did! I was trying to think of an easy to remember name for you and couldn’t help but think about that massive cardboard you told me ab—”

“Now you’re just taking the mick,” he sighed. “I need more leverage to do the same to you, this is unfair.”

“I’ll think about it.”

“Thank you.”

You and Joe made your way into the city to find a nice place to have breakfast at and you were quite relieved that you weren��t spotted. You loved watching him devour his breakfast, which was three times as extensive as yours, and see pure joy on his face at each bite he took. Time flew by as you shared more about your lives, and before you knew it you only had half an hour to get to the bookstore before Joe would be picked up to go to the airport. He was apologizing profusely, feeling guilty for messing up your nice idea to spend your morning, and you had to assure him it was okay.

“Honestly, don't worry about it. We had a great time at breakfast too, did we not?” You told him.

“Yes, but now there’s so little time left—”

“Would it be better if we skipped it altogether? I don’t want you to feel hurried,” you offered, as much as you would love to check out some books with him. Joe simply refused.

“No, we’re going to the bookstore. Even if I can only stick around for ten minutes.” He was steadfast and you decided it was best not to argue and lose more time. His concerned face was not something you liked to see on the man. The bookstore had several levels and wasn’t too crowded, but you noticed Joe wasn’t exactly relaxed either.

“Were you looking for something specific?” He asked after you reached the top level. You shook your head and shrugged.

“There are some books I still want to read, but… nothing specific in mind. Maybe The Midnight Library. It’s been out for a few years already but I still haven’t gotten around to it,” you explained. Joe hummed to let you know he heard you and the next moment, he had disappeared. For a hot second you worried that he had ditched you. Maybe for having a bad taste in books, or him suddenly realizing the time and not bothering to say goodbye. Neither scenario sounded very sensible, but your brain loved to make up scenarios that weren't sensible. You shrieked softly when he suddenly popped up next to you again, holding a paper bag with a book in it. The Midnight Library.

“A parting gift,” he said with a small, nervous smile. “A little hurried and a little lame, but there’s no time for something better. I had a great time with you so I wanted to give you a token of my gratitude.”

You stared at him, his big brown eyes peering nervously into yours to figure out your expression, when you suddenly hugged him.

“But I didn’t get you anything,” you mumbled next to his ear as you felt your cheeks grow warm when he wrapped his arms around your waist.

“We weren’t exchanging gifts, so there’s no need,” Joseph said softly into your hair, his hand coming up to the back of your head. There were so many things you wanted to say to him at that moment, but no words came out. Eventually you uttered a thank you as you held on to the embrace that was lasting way too long for it to not be awkward.

Except it wasn’t awkward at all. And you didn’t want it to end. Neither did he, it seemed, when his phone went off and he reluctantly let go of you to pick up.

“My ride’s here,” he announced sourly. You followed him outside, wanting to properly send him off despite the growing lump in your throat. You wanted to say something. Exchange numbers, or whatever, but your fear of having him reject you was too big of a risk. This was it. You should be happy, having gotten to spend so much time with him already, right? So why did it feel like you lost a part of you when he finally stepped into the car after one last, quick hug? When he looked at you through the window and smiled a smile that didn’t meet his eyes? You felt simply horrible. This wasn’t how it was supposed to go. It was always much better in fiction, you thought. With their sappy happy endings and people running out of cars or going to airports to confess their love to each other after spending a mere day together. You hated the unrealistic part of it, and yet you craved it like nothing else right now.

A week later

Things had gone back to normal again. All but for one thing. He was on your mind all the time. It distracted you from everything you had to do. Stupid man. With his stupid handsome face and his stupid pretty smile and his stupid gorgeous hair. You never expected to suddenly fly off into the sunset with him, but man did you wish it had gone exactly like that. Instead, you had watched him leave in a car with a sad expression on his face that told you he didn’t want to leave you either. Or maybe you had just imagined it. You never even brought yourself to do more than hold the book, only to put it back in the paper bag that you didn’t want to throw away. It was all you had to go with your memories. To remember it was real. That, and some photos on Getty Images that you found highly unflattering. You had saved them anyway. Deniz had comforted you when you told him about what had happened and he was convinced that you would meet him again.

“He likes you. It’s obvious from what you’ve told me. He invited you to dinner right away, didn’t want the evening to end, wanted to spend his only other free day with you as well and did so until the last minute? Come on. I’m sure the asshat just forgot to give him your number and is eating himself up over it. I promise. I’ll eat my keyboard if you don’t end up dating him.”

You laughed softly and shook your head at him, and you loved him for trying to make you feel better.

“Please don’t eat your keyboard, I am busy enough as it is without getting your tasks piled up on me as well,” you joked. Deniz wanted to respond but suddenly got distracted by a view that was coming into your direction.

“Who do you think that’s for?” Deniz asked, gesturing at the bouquet of flowers that was definitely larger than your head. You shrugged.

“Probably Melody’s. Or Petra’s,” you listed the two pretty blondes in the office. Deniz shrieked softly when the person holding the bouquet passed both their desks.

“Oh my god. Never manifested something so quickly,” he whispered to himself. When they finally stopped at your desk and handed it to you, you were at a loss for words.

“The card, check the card!” Deniz urged on.

You searched through a bouquet of beautiful gerberas, lilies and other flowers you didn’t know the name of and finally found a tiny card. You barely heard Deniz’s confused reaction about the name on the card, as all sounds seemed to die down instantly as you read the card.

Just in case the note I secretly put into your book didn’t make it safely to your hotel for whatever reason. - Steven x

Below his name was a phone number and you recognized the country code immediately. Definitely not Australia.

FIN

#joseph quinn x reader #joe quinn x reader #joseph quinn #joe quinn #fanfiction #rpf #dirtymartini writes

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bellatrixobsessed1 · 5 months

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Northern Skies & Airport Lights

For the winter prompt of @sokklasaturdays

Summary: Azula and Sokka meet at an airport after their flights get delayed due to winter weather.

Azula watches plane after plane take off through the lightly frosted window. None of them are hers. She groans. Three hours and counting. Three hours and counting when she should have already boarded and been well on her way. Instead she is here with her carry on bags leaning against her chair eating a cup over overpriced, albeit decently tasty, airport yogurt.

She had plans for the day, a trip to Äkäslompolo Lake and a taste of what it entails; mostly the sauna and a daring dip into one of the ice holes. She has never gone ice swimming, and never wanted to. Not until TyLee had talked her into it. Frankly she had planned on going somewhere warm, somewhere like Dubai or Maui or maybe Toamasina. Some random lake in the Finnish Laplands was not on her list. But TyLee had begged and begged until Azula had caved. And now, several hours into her canceled flight catastrophe, she is desperate to get to Finland.

The prospect is exciting, an adventure ready to be taken.

She finds herself mourning the missed opportunities. One look at the clock tells her that she won’t be getting to Rovaniemi with enough time to make the four hour drive to Äkäslompolo. Be it via bus or a rented vehicle, odds are she will only have enough time to unpack and then attempt to sleep in spite of the day’s stressors.

And that’s if she is able to get there at all. All signs are pointing at a night in this airport in Kazakhstan.

She should have just went at the same time as TyLee and Mai but she just had to stay back a day and get ahead on her term paper. Not that she really needed to, she could hammer that out with no problem, she just didn’t want to have to worry about that while she was supposed to be enjoying her winter break.

She sighs and leans her head back, staring at the steady fluorescent lights. Her phone buzzes in her pocket, probably TyLee asking for her hourly update. She fishes around her pocket and finds the phone. Two messages flash across the screen; ‘Did they get you a new flight yet?’ From Tylee. And one from Zuko, ‘I told you to come with us but nOooOoo, you had to get a head start on your head start first.’

She rolls her eyes. And informs TyLee that all flights are still suspended until the weather clears. And so she is stranded here listening to crying babies and griping middle aged women that she has half the mind to join in their mission to get compensation from the airlines.

Instead she gives TyLee her update and fishes around her carry on bag for one of several novels. Zuko can make what he will of her silence. But it is terribly hard to read with that woman with the bob screeching about how, “it’s ChristMAS! How can you keep all of us stranded here on Christmas!?” Nevermind that it is only the 17th of December. The woman is lucky that she gets that gaudy, flashy Christmas tree in the corner.

She hears the thump of buttcheeks on the seat next to her and suppresses a groan—there are at least twenty other seats that this dolt could occupy and he has decided to place his buttocks here. She should have just put her bags on that seat. She has her sense of politeness to blame.

The young man waves. He looks to be about her age with a scruffy little goatee and a floppy dark blue beanie. Baggy gray pants and a baggier blue hoodie complete an extremely leisurely, comfortable look. One that leaves her jealous considering that she will be spending the night in her somewhat tight dress pants and her red and ruffled satin blouse. She can take her belt and some of the jewelry off and let her hair down but that still wouldn’t be nearly as relaxing as what he is wearing. “Hey so, you were on the delayed flight too?”

It is a stupid question. Everyone waiting in this lobby was on one of the many flights that couldn’t take off. “I was, yes. I would probably be in Finland now if not for this emergency weather related stop.”

“Where are you coming from?”

“Japan.” She answers plainly before specifying, “Kyoto.”

“That’s a long flight. Like ten hours right? There would have been a layover anyways.”

She has to admire his flippant, nonchalance. “Yes, but there wouldn’t have been a wait as long as this.” Azula replies stiffly. “I am going to miss my day trip to Äkäslompolo Lake.” She folds her arms across her chest. “My stupid brother is probably having the time of his life in the sauna right now…”

The man nods. “I’m coming from Deering, Alaska so I’m kinda used to this whole blizzard thing.” He rubs the back of his head. “I was supposed to be heading to Finland as well but there was some type of computer error and the wrong flight was booked. Suddenly I’m on my way to Laos.”

“Laos! That’s not even close to Finland. That is exactly incorrect. Are you certain that it was a computer error and not a moron wasn’t paying attention to what he was clicking error?”

He rubs the back of his head again and gives her a sheepish smile as his cheeks grow pink. “Yeah, it could have been that. My mom or sister usually book the flights.” He laughs but there is a flicker of hurt in his eyes that leads Azula to speculate that there might be some story there. “Imagine my surprise when the pilot announced our destination. I’m kind of glad that we made this stop. I was able to book the right flight this time around.”

She should just let the conversation conclude right here but some deeper part of her hopes that conversing with this stranger might take the edge out of her agitation. She clears her throat. “So…what part of Finland are you heading to?”

“I’m meeting my dad and sister in Rovaniemi to celebrate what would have been my mom’s 49th birthday. We lost her two years ago. She was fighting lupus and there were some complications at her last hospital stay.” He swallows. “Sorry, that’s a little dark to just unload on a stranger.”

Azula shrugs, “when I was fourteen they put me in an institution. My family was a disaster.”

“Was? Hopefully that means that things are better now?”

“They’re trying to be.”

He nods.

“Why aren’t you with your father and sister?”

“I’ve been away at college so I didn’t go with my dad and sister when they went to Canada to visit my Gran Gran—I’ll have to pay her a visit too, spring break probably—so I’m meeting them in Finland and then we’re all going to fly back home together.”

“If you booked the right flight, you will.” Azula quirks a brow. To her surprise, the man meets her dry humor with a somewhat booming laugh. “You’re not going to get offended?”

“It was just a joke.” His smile doesn’t fade. “It was a joke right? You’re laughing with me not at me?”

“I could be. Or maybe I’m just a mean person.”

“Hmm, I don’t think so. I like you.”

“You just met me.”

“I make friends easily.” He shrugs. “I mean we’re traveling to the same destination and we’ll be sitting next to each other on the new flight.” She follows his eyes to the new plane ticket that she had forgotten to slip back into her pocket. “That has to be a sign of something, right?”

“Except that you live in Alaska and I live in Kyoto. That’s not exactly within walking distance.”

“We have phones, the internet, video chat!” He declares. “And if you’re old fashioned you can send me a letter.”

“I suppose that, that can be arranged.” She opens her mouth to speak again but finds herself cut off.

“Excuse me.” He begins. “As an apology for the inconvenience of the delay, the airport is offering a free meal to all of our stranded passengers. We are offering beshbarmak, syrne, sopra, and koktal.”

“I will have the syrne, thank you.” Azula replies.

“I don’t know what any of that is.” the young man confesses. Azula listens to the other man summarize each dish.

“Hmm I think that I’ll try some beshbarmak.”

The other man jots the order down. “Your order numbers are 32 and 33. We will have them ready shortly.”

“My name is Sokka by the way.” He introduces himself and holds out his hand.

Somewhat hesitantly, she takes it. “Azula.

He grins. “It’s nice to meet you, Azula!”

She nods. If nothing else, she supposes that she might get a friend out of this. She could use more friends. She supposes that she wouldn’t mind making semi-regular trips to Alaska every now and again if the two of them have a particularly remarkable time together in what little of it that they have. “What hotel are you staying at? Perhaps if you are nice to me I can get you and your family a reservation for one of those glass igloos.”

Sokka’s face brightens, “for real!?”

Azula nods. “But you have to impress me. You have a few hours to do so.”

“My family is going to be staying in a little cabin but it would be nice to stay at one of those igloos for at least one night.” He muses to himself. “Alright, deal! You’re going to have the best trapped-at-an-airport of your life.”

“I hope that this will be my only ‘trapped-at-an-airport.’” She rolls her eyes. But she can’t say that she is completely miserable anymore. There’s something about this Sokka. He’s got a good sense of humor and a way of making her goal of being less cynical seem possible to achieve.

#avatar the last airbender #sokkla saturdays 2023 #sokkla saturdays #azula #sokka #sokkla

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runwayrunway · 8 months

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No. 49 - Discover Airlines

You know, 'Discover Airlines' is kind of what some readers on this blog do when I review an airline they're unfamiliar with. Anyway.

Earlier this week I talked about Eurowings. To be honest, that was me laying the groundwork for another post in response to a new development in Lufthansa's quest to kill Eurowings.

I'm sure some but not all of you are familiar with the fact that Eurowings is incapable of going too long without a subsidiary-of-a-subsidiary. They were probably still feeling quite full from their main course of Germanwings when, in 2021, Lufthansa said it was time for another one.

Yay, new subsidiary! Just one problem.

Well, okay, that doesn't look like all that much of a change. But zoom in a bit closer. That's...yellow. That wasn't in the Eurowings livery at all. A seemingly minor change of logo disguises an actual new livery. Despite this, it hasn't stopped being quite...Eurow, if you know what I mean.

This screenshot contains multitudes. The fact that they haven't even changed the page title from Eurowings Discover. The fact that they call it the new leisure airline of the Lufthansa Group - yes, the only one, and it's new, it just started existing now, cross my heart and hope to die. The generally awkward phrasing even though this isn't my browser trying to translate it from German or something, this is actually the way it's written. Chef's kiss.

Happy to announce it, are you? I'm sure you are.

I'm surprised it took them this long. Honestly, I'm surprised they made another Eurowings to begin with. (Especially since Discover Airlines doesn't seem to be low-cost, given it offers business class. 'Cheaper than Lufthansa' is not the same thing as low-cost.) It's a pretty laughable and pathetic admission of their own failure, but to be honest it was obvious from day one that Eurowings Discover would be short-lived one way or another. Even on the old logo the 'discover' is about twice as large as the 'Eurowings', as if begging you to forget what airline this is. That's a reasonable thing to want people to do, since you'd probably like to not be stranded in Cuba for 60 hours during which you are technically an unauthorized arrival. Only one airline has ever provided that particular experience!

I did mention last time that it's weird Eurowings doesn't use any of that cyan up front, but here's the thing: if you just put it on white it's downright illegible. They may have realized this in their initial design of the livery. They then immediately did it anyway for Eurowings Discover! Some real mind experts on the job here. Anyway, I'm not going to comment on the Eurowings Discover livery because it's just the Eurowings livery with a word added.

Discover Airlines (the former Eurowings Discover) is a long-haul vacation airline, and they'd love to fly you to sunny destinations like Funchal, the Maldives, Corfu...Halifax... Alaska...or Tenerife, or maybe Gran Canaria if you're not feeling Tenerife for some reason. Or Ibiza!

youtube

Unfortunately Venga Airways has had its Air Operator's Certificate revoked and the Vengajet is currently in storage.

Discover Airlines' main competitor in this market is another German airline, condor. I said this before and I'll say it again - condor is worth a billion examples of Eurowhite dreck. There's a legitimate sort of fishhook theory where while I prefer a good livery to condor, I strongly prefer condor to an unsatisfyingly average livery despite the fact that I do think their planes are truly poorly designed. Sometimes a good concept just overpowers bad execution. And, to quote a friend of mine's quip about Unfriended (2014), a film with way too many good qualities to be Unfriended (2014), "it sucks but at least it does it well".

Surprisingly given this is the Lufthansa Group, the website actually contains a bit of insight into their creative process. Worryingly, this implies that there is something of a creative process and it's simply had these sorts of results. But let's dive into this and see if they've made any changes that aren't worse. Discover Airlines, like Icelandair, condor, Riyadh Air, and others, have included a page dedicated to the inspiration behind their livery and brand. All upcoming images, unless otherwise specified, are taken from this website.

Let's begin with the color scheme.

This palette is pretty interesting. Blue and yellow isn't unheard of, and blue with a yellow accent is the most common variant of this, but it's still a pretty uncommon color scheme. It helps that they're not common colors for flags, and even the countries that have it in their flags don't use it. Sweden is part of the SAS throuple instead of having its own flag carrier; Air Astana doesn't use yellow; and Palau and Barbados do not have flag carriers. This leaves Ukraine International Airlines as the only flag-derived user of this palette. I don't like yellow on its own, but I actually like it with blue for its distinctiveness. If you pick the right shades it can look pretty nice. Actually...

image: lufthansa bildarchiv

The most prominent user of this palette, in my own mind, is Lufthansa, back when Lufthansa had a livery I actually approved of, which I thought stuck out and which I miss dearly now. We've fallen so far since then, lost so much, but I wonder if this Discover Airlines palette is an intentional nod to the thing we were robbed of. Indeed, they mention at least the blue being an intentional homage:

Despite the distinctive character of the new design, our connection to the core brand Lufthansa is subtly indicated by elements like the dark blue and the wordmark in the Lufthansa font.

...and they're using Lufthansa's proprietary typeface, Helvetica Neuer. Joy.

At least when you make it larger and lighter colored it's not quite as cramped and you can sort of forget it's a hideous font. Something about the all-lowercase styling also cushions the blow by making it look intentional instead of, like I said when discussing Eurowings, not bothering to change from the default font on your word processor.

...well, it also uses the exact same livery layout as modern Lufthansa, that's for sure. Booo. I've gone on a lot about the eponymous Lufthansa Line and how abominably bad it looks on longer planes despite seeming deceptively decent on shorter ones, so let me just show you Discover Airlines's various planes.

Hmm, yeah. You can just see it getting less and less offensive from left to right. This is why this type of livery needs to adapt on different airframes to work, and airlines are so unwilling to do it.

This fuselage layout is so overdone I could probably end the post here, but I'm not going to, because I'm not done with their website. This is where this post actually gets a bit interesting.

Fittingly for an airline, it’s inspired by a view of the horizon. More specifically, by the various lines and color nuances that emerge when the blue of the sky meets the landscape. These “skylines” are the most important design element of our brand and arise from various blue tones as well as a sunny yellow.

(Why is all the copy on this website so awkwardly written?)

So, this concept...this is really good. I like this. I like something about Discover Airlines. This is a great idea for a leisure airline. And, like condor, a good idea won't spare you my wrath, but in this case, when it's so similar to so many Lufthansa Line liveries it does earn a few points from me. There's not much else to comment on, so you could be fooled for not realizing this, but there's actual lost potential here. It implies the Lufthansa Group is capable of some measure of improvement over time, which is disturbing.

This picture, featuring the deeply generic and sort of frumpy Discover Airlines cabin crew uniforms, represents me giving them a condescending high-five as a teacher might give a student aged in the single digits. Good job, sweetie!

No, seriously. The uniforms are fine to wear to summer brunch but very poor for cabin crew. I think you can buy this off-the-rack from Vineyard Vines. Also, that is the most pre-tied looking scarf I've ever seen.

youtube

I do like the use of the colors as well. The circular highlight, which keeps the tail stripes from being as boring as they might be, puts me in mind of the sun, or a lens flare. The balance of light and dark is tasteful, and I love the hint of yellow. My issue really starts and ends at the Lufthansa Line, that ever-present ruiner of liveries.

I think the solution was fairly obvious. And I'll probably do a Project Runway Runway on it, because I think I can make it happen with a mouse and keyboard - it's genuinely that simple. And that's about where the meaning the website offers ends, so that means it's time for my rating.

I find myself conflicted, much as I did with Eurowings. There's definitely enough here that I don't want to give it a D, but at the same time I do. I've given Lufthansa Line liveries grades as high as C+ in extenuating circumstances, and I stand by those, but I don't want to do it for concepts that don't translate to visuals, and I don't want to give it to liveries that I don't think are exceptionally good examples of adding elements which mitigate the archetype's inherent flaws. Given its modern relevance, at this point I despise Lufthansa Line adherents more than the old Deltalikes, and I think I'm going to make it a policy that they're all going to get D+ or below unless they really demonstrate something different. Or unless they only fly really stubby planes that the livery looks okay on, but basically no airline has that excuse. Discover definitely doesn't with their A330s.

But given this tangible improvement, given the visual interest added to the tail, given that they have an actual philosophy this time, is a D+ really fair?

...what am I talking about? I gave Saudia and Eurowings D+ for doing nothing despite actively liking how both of their liveries look. Discover missed the most obvious idea ever in order to toe the Lufthansa Line. They're not special and they're getting no mercy.

D+, for Discover

That's it for today! If I have enough time, I'll fit in a redesign as a bonus post later this week. It doesn't take a genius to know how to make this good. Maybe if they read my reviews, don't send me a cease and desist, and learn from my critiques, in the future the Lufthansa Group can Discover some decent liveries.

#tarmac fashion week #grade: d+#era: 2020s #region: west/central europe #region: germany #lufthansa group #discover airlines #eurowings #leisure airlines #galley gala #lufthansa line

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fatehbaz · 10 months

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The habitué of supermarkets, slot machines and credit cards communicates wordlessly, through gestures, with an abstract [...] commerce; a world thus surrendered [...]. [N]on-places are the [...] hotel chains, leisure parks, large retail outlets, [...] that mobilize [...] space for the purposes of a communication so peculiar [...].

The real non-places of supermodernity -- the ones we inhabit when we are driving down the motorway, wandering through the supermarket or sitting in an airport lounge waiting for the next flight -- have the peculiarity that they are defined partly by the words and texts they offer us: their ‘instructions for use,’ which may be prescriptive (’Take the right-hand lane’), prohibitive (’No smoking’) or informative (’You are now entering the Beaujolais region’). [...] This establishes the traffic conditions of spaces in which individuals are supposed to interact only with texts, whose proponents are not individuals but ‘moral entities’ or institutions (airports, airlines, Ministry of Transport, commercial companies, traffic police, municipal councils). [...] [L]ists of their notable features -- and, indeed, a whole commentary -- appear on big signboards nearby. [...] [S]o that an abstract space [...] can become strangely familiar to them over time [...]. There is more direct but even more silent dialogue between the cardholder and the cash dispenser [...]. ‘You may withdraw 600 francs.’ [...] Non-place creates the shared identity of passengers, customers [...]. [T]he user of a non-place is in contractural relations with it (or the powers that govern it). He is reminded, when necessary, that the contract exists. [...]

[T]he ticket [...], the card [...]. Proof that the contract has been respected [...]. Boarding pass and an identity document [...]. The supermarket customer [...] pays by cheque or credit card; so does the autoroute driver who pays the toll with a card. In a way, the user of the non-place is always required to prove his innocence. Checks on the contract and the user’s identity [...] stamps the space of contemporary consumption [...]: it can only be entered by the innocent.

Text by: Marc Auge. Non-Places: Introduction to an Anthropology of Supermodernity. 1992. Translated by John Howe.

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docgold13 · 4 months

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Batman: The Animated Series - Paper Cut-Out Portraits and Profiles

The Terrible Trio

Warren Lawford and his two friends. Armand and Gunther, were a group of trust-find layabouts. Each born into fabulous wealth, they lived the high life and wanted for naught. The three saw themselves as better than others and had grown bored by their leisurely lifestyle. Warren suggested that they turn to crime as a new challenge, a sport that could curb the tedium. His friends agreed and the threesome endeavored on a string of burglaries.

Warren’s family had made its fortune in real estate; he saw himself as lord over the grounds and thus chose the fox as his totem mask. Whereas Gunther Hardwicke’s wealth came from the shipping industry; he saw himself as lord of the seas and thus chose the shark. And Armand Lydecker’s family fortune was made in the building of airliners; he saw himself as lord of the skies and hence chose the vulture.

The trio’s criminal exploits were mainly harmless and they often gave away the money they stole. When they burgled Warren’s girlfriend’s home, however, her father walked in on them and Warren savagely beat him. Warren’s girlfriend was able to figure out what he and the others had done and they decided they needed to stage an accident to kill her in order to maintain their secret.

Fortunately, Batman had already picked up on the trail of the terrible trio and intervened before the young woman was killed. Batman made short work of the three cads and handed them over to the authorities. With rock solid evidence, no high-priced attorney was able to get the three men off and each were sentenced to long prison terms at Stonegate Penitentiary.

Actor Bill Mumy provided the voice for Warren Lawford; with Peter Scolari voicing Gunther Hardwicke and David Jolliffe voicing Armand Lydecker. The threesome appeared in the sixteenth episode of the second season of Batman: The Animated Series, ‘The Terrible Trio.’

#batman the animated series #Batman #Terrible Trio #cut-outs #paper art #DC Comics

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nexttravelstream · 2 years

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aviaposter · 8 months

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Boeing 747SP Corsair International

Registration: F-GTOM Type: 747SP-44 Engines: 4 × PW JT9D-7J Serial Number: 21253 First flight: Aug 27, 1976

Corsair International, legally Corsair S.A. and previously Corsairfly and Corse Air International, is a French airline headquartered in Rungis and based at Orly Airport. It operates scheduled long-haul services to leisure destinations in the French overseas territories, Africa and North America, as well as charter flights to other destinations. The airline was established in 1981 and started operations on 17 May 1981 as Corse Air International. It was founded by the Corsican Rossi family. In 1990 it was acquired by Nouvelles Frontières, a French tour operator, and the name was changed to Corsair. In 1991, the airline obtained worldwide traffic rights. The Corsair fleet operated only one Boeing 747SP aircraft (1996 – 2002).

Poster for Aviators. aviaposter.com

#boeing747 #QueenoftheSkies #jumbojet #boeing747fans #aircraft #avgeek #aviation

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dirtymartiniquinn · 1 year

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Alias

part one - part two

Joseph Quinn x Fem!Reader

CW / disclaimer: rpf (don't read if it's not your jam), fem!reader, fluff

Author’s note: This is the kick-off fic for this page, so please be kind. I have several ideas in mind that I'm currently working on, so stay tuned for more!

Word count: 8k