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scalingsvt8thusiast · 23 days

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Skin-Deep chapter 12

summary: The one where you fall for Seungcheol amongst all the protests and insecurities. The one where you don't know that he's fallen for you too.

a/n: Enjoy! :)

Ensconced in a velvet armchair, you sat surrounded by your friends who were howling with laughter.

“They said what?” Yunjin said in between tears, clutching her stomach from the pain of laughing too hard.

“I cannot FATHOM anyone saying that to you,” Shuhua cried, wiping the tears from her eyes, trying her best not to smudge her mascara.

“God, what is up with her ceiling?” Somi laughed, imagining a bunch of naked people on the ceiling, “New money people, I can never understand.”

“Talk about bad taste, who the fuck puts stained glass in their dining room?” Jihyo added, sipping on her tea.

You had just finished relaying the drama from the past month to your friends whilst jewellery shopping at your favourite store. The five of you sat facing one another with a bucket load of jewellery spread out on a coffee table in the middle. The shop assistants constantly bringing out all of their best jewellery for each of you to inspect.

“You should have slapped her!” Shuhua commented, mimicking a slapping motion in the air. “I know I would have! Insulting my bestie like that.”

Shuhua was your most outspoken friend. Her father was renowned as the Grocery King of Taiwan, owning almost all of the supermarkets and groceries store in the country. She always made sure to send out boxes of the best fruits and vegetables to her best friends. Their mothers appreciating the present more than any of their daughters.

“And his father! ‘You need a right girl by your side’.” Jihyo mimicked, “Go back to the 70s, old man! No one wants you here!”

Jihyo, who was extremely appaled by backwards thinking, was the daughter of the Gold Kingdom. Her family held monopoly over the trade of gold globally. Jihyo was regularly decked out in gold, but she didn’t mind shopping for other sorts of jewellery.

“How does your son’s choice of girlfriend affect your company’s survivability?” Somi said, rolling her eyes, “does he know nothing about business?”

Somi, your ever business savvy friend, had just returned from completing her MBA. This was to prepare her to inherit her mother’s massive cosmetics empire. In fact all the makeup on your face right now was a gift from Somi.

“I literally just looked up their company while you were talking. They’re worth what? 20 bil?” Yunjin turned her phone to show you a report. “And they’re so bloody arrogant!”

Yunjin, who was more interested in people’s net worths, hailed from a family who ran the world's most successful banking co-operation. This grants her access to all the secretive reports of various companies and high net worth individuals around the world.

Where Seungcheol had Joshua and Jeonghan, you had Shuhua, Jihyo, Somi and Yunjin.

The five of you had been friends since you were children, your parents all knew each other so naturally you grew up together. Majority of your youth was spent flying all over the world for shopping trips and holidays together. The only reason you separated was because you wanted to experience life without your parent’s money for once. You’d regularly keep up with them while you were at uni but it wasn’t the same as seeing them face to face. You missed the support your girlfriends gave you after being surrounded by boys for months.

“Guys, it’s honestly fine.” You said, holding your hand up to the light, inspecting the massive diamond around your finger. “I’ve left and I’m not looking back. That part of my life is over.”

“Which part of your life is over?” A voice sounded from behind you.

“Vernon!” Your friends chorused.

Your brother, waltzed up to the table. Giving each one of your friends a wave.

“Oh, you’re here early.” You said, placing the ring back on the table. Large stones attracted unwanted attention, not your taste.

“Yea, we should probably leave now, you know how mom and dad get when we’re late.” Vernon said, motioning to the door.

You sent your friend’s an apologetic smile, “Sorry guys, let’s continue another day?”

A wave of goodbyes came from your friends as you and your brother left the shop, his Mclaren Senna parked at the main doors.

Once you were comfortably seated in the car, you began running through your activities for the night.

“After dinner, are we going over to Gyu’s place?” You said, your freshly manicured nails tapping against your phone.

“Yea, it’s just going to be the few of us I think.” Vernon answered, driving carefully around a crowd who was snapping photos of his car.

“How long do you think dinner with mom and dad will be?” You questioned, still replying to messages on your phone.

“Probably like 2 hours tops? We might be a lil’ late to Gyu’s place.” Vernon replied, “Gosh, sis, your nails are giving me a headache.”

You turn to your brother with an evil grin. You reached your hand out and grabbed his arm, digging your nails into his skin.

Vernon yelped. “HEY! I’m driving!”

“That’s what you get for being annoying,” You say with a smirk before continuing to tap on your phone.

Vernon’s eye twitched the entire ride home.

You hopped out of the car and skipped up the steps of the front porch. Vernon trailing behind you with hands in his pockets.

“Young sir, young madam.” The maid had come out to greet the two of you, bowing as you passed her. “Dinner is ready.”

“Thanks!” You called out over your shoulder and made your way to the dining room.

This bungalow was your parent’s most recent acquisition. It had gone on the market quite recently, some Duke who had fallen from grace was looking to make a pretty penny so he sold it to your mom. She had been eyeing the property for awhile now, claiming that she thought about you immediately when she saw the massive walk-in closet in the main bedroom. It was added to the list of properties you were set to inherit when you were older.

In the dining room, your parents sat next to each other at a sensibly sized round table.

“Hi mommy,” You say as you gave her a side hug. Your mother gave you a kiss on your cheek before continuing to read her magazine.

“Hi daddy,” Doing the same to your father who was immersed in his newspaper.

“Mom, dad.” Vernon greeted with a nod.

“Oh finally the two of you are back, we’ve been waiting forever.” Your mother said, putting away her magazine as she peered at her children from the top of her reading glasses.

“Your mom’s just hangry.” Your dad flashed you a mischievous smile, ignoring his wife’s warning glare.

The maid entered with a trolley of food, proceeding to lay it out on the lazy susan. You much prefer these sort of meals than all those pretentious fine dining restaurants. Food was meant to be simple and identifiable, some people clearly did not understand that.

Dinner was filled with idle chatter, you father was talking about the new venture he was thinking of in Thailand while your mom updated her children on the coming events they had to attend.

“Aunty and Uncle Yoon are coming to town to visit.” Your mother announced. “I expect both of you to make yourselves available.”

“Sure mom,” you and Vernon chorused.

“I think they’re bringing their son eh?” Your dad said in between mouthfuls of rice. “Maybe you two could show him around.”

And that is how you found yourself face to face with the one and only Yoon Jeonghan.

“Y/N my dear!” Mrs Yoon gushed, holding your hands, “Every time we see you, you get prettier and prettier!”

“This is Jeonghan, my son. I don’t think the three of you have met.” Mr Yoon said, gesturing to Jeonghan who was currently giving you a shit-eating grin.

“Y/n!” Jeonghan cried, giving you a hug.

“Hannie!” You quickly returned his hug, you weren’t expecting to see Jeonghan at all. “This is my brother, Vernon.”

Vernon politely shook Jeonghan’s hand, exchanging quick greetings.

“Oh? Have you met y/n?” Mrs Yoon asked her son.

“Yes, we met at uni.” Jeonghan said, giving his mom a reassuring smile.

“Ok, we’ll leave you kids alone now!” Your mom said, giving your arm a squeeze.

“Unless you guys want to sit through a meeting with us?” Your dad offered.

The three of your faces contorted into a look of disgust.

“I think we’ll pass.” Vernon said, scrunching up his face.

Jeonghan waited until his parents disappeared from the room before giving you an excited look.

“So this is where you were the whole time!” He chirped. “I thought you had been kidnapped when you fell off the face of the earth like that.”

Vernon narrowed his eyes at Jeonghan, “Is this the guy you were telling me about?”

You shook your head, “No, this is his friend.”

“Ah,” Vernon crossed his arms, giving Jeonghan a disapproving look. “Guilty by association.”

Jeonghan chuckled nervously, “I promise I’m harmless.”

Vernon continued to eye the older man suspiciously.

“I’m sorry for disappearing like that, Hannie.” You sighed. “Trust me if I had it my way I would have said good bye first.”

“Hey, it’s fine.” Jeonghan waved a hand, dismissing your apology. “If that happened to me, I would leave too.”

“Did you guys hear about what happened?” You asked, wondering if Seungcheol was the type to gossip.

“Not in the way you’re thinking.” Jeonghan quickly replied, as if reading your mind. "Shua had to pay some people to find out.”

“Oh,” You paused, “Why didn’t you just ask Seungcheol?”

“I-,” Jeonghan paused, glancing wearily in the direction of your parents. “Let’s not talk about it here. There’s a lot I need to update you on.”

The three of you found yourselves having tea at the Mariott. You had called up Mingyu beforehand, who insisted on coming as well, to secure a table.

“Mingyu’s on his way?” Jeonghan said, excited that he finally got to see his friends in their natural habitat.

“Yup, there he is now.” Your eyes darted to your best friend who jogged into the restaurant.

“Have you started?” Mingyu said breathlessly, “Tell me you guys haven’t started.”

“No, bro, sit down.” Vernon gestured to the chair before making a face. “You’re sweaty as fuck.”

“Gym.” Mingyu replied still clad in gym clothes, he wiped the sweat off his forehead before sitting down.

“Alright, now that we’re all here,” Jeonghan began, leaning forward, “you should know, Cheol hasn’t been himself these days.”

He recounted all the events that happened, starting from the day you and Seungcheol broke up and all the way to them confronting him at his apartment.

You didn’t know how to feel. Part of you was happy that Seungcheol was just as upset as you, part of you was sad because you knew things between you and him would never go back to normal. Was he considering getting back together with you? Did you want to get back together with him?

“It’s great he’s suffering and all. But that doesn’t give him the right to be an asshole.” Mingyu voiced out. His eyed the table of sweets in front of him as if he was strategising for war.

“Why didn’t he talk to y/n first before disappearing and breaking up with her?” Mingyu continued with a look of contempt.

“Because he’s an idiot.” Jeonghan replied, in between mouthfuls of pastries. “Not an excuse, I know.”

“I think you two should have a proper conversation,” Vernon sipped on his tea.

“Well obviously not you,” He gestured to his sister, “I mean like he should have a conversation with you.”

“Yeah, well.” You shrugged, “I want to talk to him, but he’s clearly intent on keeping me out of his life so-”

“When we told him about well, you.” Jeonghan gestured to you and his surroundings, “He looked really relieved.”

You placed a Madeleine into your mouth and looked out the window, lost in thought. In the background you could hear Mingyu arguing with Vernon and Jeonghan.

Mingyu rolled his eyes, “Honestly, I don’t trust Seungcheol on this. If you ask him to choose between y/n and his family, who would he choose? My money is on his family.”

“Actually, I think it would be y/n.” Jeonghan said with conviction. “You should have seen him. It was like armageddon had arrived on the choi family home.”

“I don’t know the guy, but I think he would choose you, sis.” Vernon said, nodding vigorously.

a/n2: I'm actually quite unsatisfied with quality of my writing. but i hope you all enjoyed it all the same.

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zhuzhudushu · 10 months

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Practicing Traditional (Taiwan) Mandarin while brewing my favorite tea!

Let me tell you all about my favorite tea of all time. Also figured I'd use this as an excuse to practice Chinese and read the instructions.

大禹陵茶 / dà yǔ líng chá / Dayu Ling Tea

This is an oolong tea that comes from a specific mountainous area in Taiwan, called 大禹陵 (hence the name of the tea) in Taichung at a high elevation (2600m+). It's also called 大禹嶺極品烏龍茶, which is literally: Dayu Ling Highest Quality Oolong Tea.

It's considered a "premium" quality tea. Therefore it's quite expensive, usually $50 (USD) for 2-3 oz of it.

Honestly, it's the best oolong I've ever had. It's no joke, and it worth this price.

Side Note: typically oolong tea is brewed at a temperature lower than boiling, however these instructions imply boiling the water. Online websites recommend brewing this type of tea at 190-195ºF which is typical for oolong teas. My container (that I'm translating from) is directly from Taiwan and says 100ºC (which is 212ºF). However, traditional Chinese tea-making also involves infusing tea 2-3 separate times with special tea sets that I don't have access to. If anyone has more info on this I'd love to learn more!

The Instructions:

壹：茶具用沸騰的熱水沖洗加溫後，放入適量之茶葉再以沸水沖泡即可。貳：一次的茶葉，可依個人喜好連續沖泡約3～4次。參：若可便用陶土製之茶具泡茶，其風味更佳。

生詞 / New Vocab：( HSK 5 / HSK 6 )

茶具 / chá jù / tea set, teapot

沸騰（-腾）/ fèi téng / to boil (liquid)

沖洗（冲-）/ chōng xǐ / to rinse, to wash, to develop (film)

加溫（-温）/ jiā wēn / to raise temperature, to heat (up)

適量（适-）/ shì liàng / the appropriate amount

茶葉（-叶）/ chá yè / tea leaves

沖泡（冲-）/ chōng pào / to infuse or brew tea

即可 / jí kě / then can do...; to suffice; equivalent to 就可以

連續（连续）/ lián xù / continuous, consecutive

陶土 / táo tǔ / clay (pottery)

泡茶 / pào chá / to make tea

風味（风-）/ fēng wèi / distinct flavor

Also note that 壹貳參 are archaic/traditional forms of 一二三！

My (very rough...) translation below:

1 : After warming up the tea set by rinsing with hot water, add the appropriate amount of tea leaves, then you can add the boiling water.

2 : (You can brew) tea leaves once, if an individual would like to, (you can) continuously add water and brew 3-4 times.

3 : If a clay tea set is used to make tea, the distinct flavor will be enhanced.

#chinese langblr #mandarin langblr #chinese learning #chinese #langblr #mandarin chinese #language learning #mandarin #learning languages #tea #oolong #oolong tea #乌龙茶 #taiwan #taiwanese

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discluded · 9 months

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Man Suang x Song Wat festival

I give BOC a lot of shit, so I feel obligated to give them credit where it's due and when deserved.

Locations:

PLAY art house - A space for art lovers located in an old district of Bangkok where art is alive.

CASA FORMOSA - Taiwan tea house

MESA 312 - Directed by Myriam Rueda, MESA 312 Cultural Lab is multidimensional project which offers graphic design services and visual arts.

F.V - F.V Cafe sells beverages made from Thai ingredients and Thai desserts

ARTEASIA - The cafe of History, Architecture, & Culture

HOR FUN (หอฝัน) - Home cooked fusion concept and bar.

POTONG (OPIUM BAR) - Potong restaurant is a 1 star Michelin, No35th Asia 50 best restaurant and No88 th world best restaurant of 2023.

Choosing and then coordinating with seven different business, including a Michellin star restaurant, for promotion with your movie is no small lift.

This is very impressive on-brand tie in with their movie, a one-of-a-kind experience for people in to Bangkok to experience the release of the film as it promotes Thai culture and soft power.

This is a particularly thoughtful and interesting marketing plan, and I'm sure will drive business to these seven participating companies as well as movie-goers to the cinema. Kudos.

Now if only they could tell us international fans when and how we can see the movie 🥲🥲🥲 please i want to give you my money so bad

#man suang #man suang promo #soft power #thai culture #thailand soft power #be on cloud

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loveyouanyway · 4 months

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Hiii Naomi 💕💕💕

I thought this would be a fun ask!

Tell me your favorite:

-sight

-smell

-taste

-touch

-sound

And why! :)

saturn <3 hi!

ahh i love getting random asks, thank you :)

sight: my bunny <3 i'll leave a pic of him at the end he either looks super adorable or has the biggest bruh face (which is also adorable) and it's the best. sadly i haven't been able to take a pic of him yawning (he's also dark grey so if he's under his fav sofa-chair whatever u call it lol which means it's hard to see him sometimes) but one of my 2024 goals is finally get a pic of him yawning haha

smell: hmm idk i really love the smell of oranges lol and apparently many years ago, my daycare teacher asked my mom if i used some orange scenting thing bc i smelled like them but i didn't, i naturally smelled like oranges??? asjdjd idk man but yeah oranges <3

taste: this isn't a food but i love bubble tea. especially oolong tea and wintermelon tea. it also reminds me of taiwan (my parents are from there) and i miss it! (and the cheap and authetic bubble tea haha) my family is thinking of going back to visit next winter tho :)

sound: this is really general and boring but my fav songs (buzzcut season by lorde is my absolute fav) as for a non-music one, my lil brother's laughter is really contagious and we get along so well which im very thankful for so yeah i'll say that too!

yes, he has a double chin. it's called a dewlap! asjfks my family and i use the word dewlap so much after we got him :)

btw his name is bernie haha

#saturn 🪐#bernie the bunny #nolan nonsense #thanks for the ask <3

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gothicbarbie · 1 year

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MY TOP 15 BL SERIES OF 2021

I did one of these for 2022, so figured I should do one for 2021, 2020 and then one for the shows before that. I started watching Bls seriously at the start of 2021, and its been such a fun journey. These lists are probably more so for me than anything else but maybe someone will find them helpful when trying to decide which ones to check out... let me know what your favs are!

1. We Best Love [Taiwan] - To date, my favorite BL series thus far. IMO it really has everything. Great premise and storyline, great acting and dialogue, and amazing chemistry between the main two, plus decent enough intimate scenes and kisses. It really ticks all the boxes for me. Plus, I love a good rivals to lovers storyline and samyu are pretty darn sweet.

2. Utsukushii Kare [Japan] - This one is a bit messy and there are definitely some problematic elements, but gosh, it's so entertaining. From start to finish I was hooked into the storyline and the relationship betwene the main two. And I think it was a well-rounded story with a good ending, so it left me pretty satisfied. For a Japan series too, it had a nice kising scene in the finale.

3. Light on Me [Korea] - Adore this series, and finally we get a longer Korean BL. The main characters were adorable, and the show was light enough and funny but had some good drama as well. Not the best kissing scenes ever but the main two's chemistry made up for it imo. Very sweet series.

4. To My Star [Korea] - This one took a few watches to grow on me but in hindsight its one of the better BL's out there (lets not talk about season 2)... the storyline was fun and it was one of the first Korean BL's that I watched, so it was a good one to start on! Korea goes unmatched for me with their BL's.

5. Kieta Hatsukoi [Japan] - Not a lot to say about this one tbh, I would have to rewatch to really give some better insight but I remember really enjoying this one. Japan BL's can tend to be a bit dramatic and sometimes a bit dark, but this one was so light and fluffy. It was a nice change of pace.

6. Don't Say No [Thai] - Okay, storyline wise, this BL kind of dragged for me. I didn't find the premise overly interesting. HOWEVER, Jafirst and their chemistry really made up for it. It's obvious how comfortable they are and their kissing scenes were one of the best scenes from this year. (We won't bring up THAT scene with FIAT in episode 2 (or was it 1?) because I lost my brain there.) But yeah, we'll just say this series was very enjoyable haha.

7. HiStory 4 [Taiwan] - This was a solid season. Not the best the series has ever done but I love that each season is different. The brothers storyline was a hot frickin mess but the main pairing was cute. Overall, I just found it very enjoyable.

8. Peach of Time [Korean] - Is this Korean or Thai? Not really sure, but it was a cute season that felt like a bit of both worlds. Not the most amazing chemstry or storyline of all time but it was sweet and interesting to watch. It had a certain charm to it.

9. You Make Me Dance [Korean] - It's hard to find a korean bl I dislike. And while this one is not that memorable compared to some others, it was still a nice watch.

10. Tale of a Thousand Stars [Thai] - People go crazy for earth+mix... they aren't really my cup of tea. Nothing against them, they are sweet, I just dont go crazy for them. The setting wasn't really my thing either but I did like the energy between the characters and all their cute moments and scenes, so it kept me entertained. Wished they had a better last kiss though.

11. Lovely Writer [Thai] - Found parts of this boring and the storyline didn't really hold my interest all that much but I did enjoy the scenes between the couples. I wish the side "pairing" had gotten more focus cuz that kiss on the street was great! But it was nice.

12. I Promised You the Moon/I Told Sunset About You part 2 [Thai] - Part 2 was nothing compared to season 1 at all. Season 1 imo was masterpeice and season 2 was just like a typical bl series imo. I hate cheating storylines so this series made me pretty mad haha but it wasn't UNWATCHABLE and I still liked the chemistry between the main 2.

13. Nobleman Ryu's Wedding [Korean] - The time setting wasn't really for me, but it was a cute and fun series. Not much else to say!

14. Fish Upon the Sky [Thai] - TBH I don't remember a WHOLE lot from this series and am planning to rewatch for pondphuwin, but I do remember enjoying it.

15. The Tasty Florida [Korean] - Again, can't go wrong with SK for me. But, compared to the other Korean series, this one wasn't AS good. Still enjoyable.

Honorable mentions: (Won't go into detail on these, but overall I found all of them nice and pleasant to watch, but they didn't grab me in the same way as some other series.

BxJ Series - (still have yet to see it but I did enjoy season 1), Bad Buddy - (watched a reactor watch this so technically couldn't add it to my list, but will try to watch it eventually), Be Loved in House I Do, Tinted With You, My Sweet Dear, The Man Who Defies the World of BL, The Novelist, Behind Cut, Stuck on You

Also check out my lists from other years! https://gothicbarbie.tumblr.com/post/705678223200174080/my-top-bls-of-2019-and-earlier https://gothicbarbie.tumblr.com/post/705674738528354304/my-top-15-bls-of-2020 https://gothicbarbie.tumblr.com/post/705139242020618240/my-top-20-bl-series-of-2022

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transboysokka · 2 months

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Zukka Drabble Taiwan au you say…. Hmmm. Them going to a cute trendy café 🧋 . Maybe Sokka is newly immigrated…So Zuko helps him move in and they have a convenience store run and Zuko introduces him to the best Taiwanese snacks. Or them celebrating Taiwanese holidays ? Them going to a restaurant and seeing who can eat the most spicy food. (Cue Zuko literally breathing fire) 🤍 I have too many ideas. Enjoy your time writing. I hope your day is easy, your meals are filling and you sleep peacefully.

Woohoo thanks! I'm trying carefully to fit this in with the existing "canon" of the au that will make sense when hifthah posts *cough* in august. all will be revealed muahahaha

"Are you telling me you never had Coolish?" Zuko says into the phone pressed to his ear as he grabs all four remaining bags in the freezer and carries them to the register, trying to shift his grip so as not to freeze his fingers off. "No? Should I have?" Sokka's voice echoes from inside the phone, "I was always the guy who jumped for the bubble tea waffle. Or the Haagen-Dasz popsicle on a payday." Zuko set the ice creams on the counter and removes the phone from his ear to tell the cashier his phone number so his receipt can be sent to his account. He picks the phone back up as he motions to ask for a bag and hands over a 500 NT note. "I'm just saying, as a guy who's lived in Canada, I thought you'd have wanted the closest thing you could get here to a Wendy's frosty experience." "Well in Canada, it's a little too cold most of the time for me to want ice cream. And the closest Wendy's to me was probably like a twelve-hour drive away anyway." Zuko takes the bag and his change from the cashier and walks out of the 7-Eleven where Sokka stands waiting for him. He hangs up his phone. "Whatever." Sokka laughs, also noticing how little the conversation even matters, choosing to move on. "You got the joss paper, right?" "Yeah, I picked it up across the street, don't worry. We'll go do your offerings." Zuko pats his pocket where he managed to squeeze the small packet of paper, starting to walk alongside Sokka. "Nice! Do you think you can try to fold them like little paper airplanes today?" Zuko sighs, nods, and smiles.

#and youre literally the sweetest all the time omg #idk if it seems like it but i did get a lot of inspiration from your ideas AND you gave me ideas about a major plot point ehehehe #quesTian #hifthah

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putschki1969 · 1 year

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2022/12/31 Instagram post by Hikaru

Once again, I was happy to be able to make wonderful memories with everyone this year🍀 ⁡ A year in which I reconfirmed that singing is a way of life for me. A year when I decided to take a step in a new direction. A year that made me realise once again that life is a series of lessons. A year in which I really wanted to cherish everyone who always supports me. A year in which I wondered what I could possibly do just to be able to keep singing. ⁡

This is what I've been saying all along... The important thing for me is "singing". I'm happy to have opportunities to “talk” with everyone through singing🍀 ⁡ Perhaps other people who have a job in my field of work aspire to become popular and sing in big venues , but personally, I haven't had that goal for a long time😅 So whenever I am asked in interviews, "what is your goal?" I always answer, "just keep singing”.. ⁡Maybe I will get the chance to sing in big venues again if the environment is favourable, maybe some people will feel uneasy with some of the future work I do. But no matter what I do or where I sing, I'm always the same person *laughs*. I will continue to do my best to have a "conversation" with you! ⁡ If I get the chance to sing in a big place, I'm happy to be able to "talk" with many of you☺️ If I get the chance to sing at a small and intimate place, I'm happy to have a more personal “talk” with everyone ☺️ The amount of heat and passion does not change 💪🏻 ⁡ I always do the best I can. But I think there's a limit to what one person can do, I hope I can continue to go step by step with you and everyone who supports me by my side 💫 ⁡Together with everyone who supports me I want to live challenging myself, exploring new things and shaping my life. ⁡Thank you very much for this year! I hope to see you next year as well!

Source

youtube

【Bubble Tea】Recommendations【Shinjuku】

Hello, this is Hikaru. Thank you for watching! This time I visited my favourite bubble tea shops🧋 There are too many recommendations, so this time I will be introducing places in Shinjuku! Many of those shops have local branches in other places as well so please be sure to check them out ♪ I would appreciate it if everyone could enjoy those recommendations🍀 I am also always accepting video requests so if you want to see anything in the future, feel free to comment 📝 [Stores I went to] ・happy lemon ・ Sao Dou Hua ・THE ALLEY ・Taiwan Ten Café

#kalafina #hikaru #hikaru on intstagram #hikaru ch.#video #freelancer hikaru

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deercharles · 3 months

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Thanks for tagging me @petitcharless 💗💗💗 it’s fun doing this! And I’m sooooo so so so sorry for only answering now

last movie: The Talented Mr. Ripley. I watched years ago. It messed up my brain. I watched it again recently bc I want to feel something and yea, I feel a LOT.

last song i listened to: 披星戴月 by Hins Cheung. Every once awhile I will listen to Hins Cheung on loop.

currently reading: A book for my school called Worlding Cities… if you want a quick intro to urban development it’s pretty decent…

currently watching: I’m not really a fan of television shows… I watched an episode of the new season of Single Inferno with my frd about a month ago!

currently consuming: Iced Thai Milk Tea! What am I going to do without the sugar

currently craving: Fried chicken filet. Taiwanese style. Just bc I saw an Instagram reel that ranked the best Taiwan fried chicken yesterday.

#coni.txt

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silverquillsideas · 1 year

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Hey can I ask you for some BL dramas recommendations? I watched Bad Buddy because of your reblogs and it's now one of my favorite things ever. Kinnporsche is on my watchlist but I'm saving it for last. So I was just wondering if you'd recommend anything else because I think you have great taste. 😊

Hello! I'm so happy to hear that!! I'm glad you liked bad buddy, and are planning to watch kinnporsche, saving it for last is probably for the best, because the brainrot is REAL for this show, once it grips you 😂

Here are some of my personal favourite shows, you can look them up on MDL! I'm not giving summaries here, bc I'm typing this from my mobile lol.... But all of these are shows I've loved very much (hearts indicate how much I loved a show lmfaoooo 😂)

J bl

Old fashion cupcake ❤️❤️❤️

Minato's laundromat❤️

Kei yaku❤️

Cherry magic❤️

Kieta hatsukoi

His (movie)

Thai bl

I told sunset about you ❤️❤️❤️

A tale of a thousand stars❤️❤️❤️

Not me❤️

180 degree longitude passes through us ❤️❤️

Manner of death

Why r u?

Ingredients

Theory of love

K bl

Where your eyes linger❤️❤️❤️

Semantic error

To my star ❤️❤️

Light on me

Bleuming

Taiwan

History 3 Trapped❤️❤️❤️

History 2 crossing the line❤️

Cn bl

Guardian❤️❤️❤️

The untamed❤️

Addicted❤️❤️ (you'll need to scour the Internet for this, bc it's been taken off of most sites, and also, this show has got some,,,,, sensitive tropes, not everyone's cuppa tea, but def was one of my favs lol)

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unifox · 1 year

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Morning~

~Pairing: non-idol!Jinho x reader

~Genre: fluff

~Warnings: food and college life

~Words: 422

~Summary: Waking up to that sweet smile is the best way to wake up... If it weren't just a dream...

a/n: Hi! I've been gone for such a long time so here's a little fic I had in my drafts to start fresh this year! Even tho it's short I hope you guys like it!

Here's a Scenario game! in case anyone is interested in asking for a prompt ~Foxy🦊

~Masterlist~

Slowly you opened your eyes to the light coming from your windows. The curtains made the room bright but at least the sun wasn't shining directly on your eyes. Turning to the side you smiled. There he was, looking lovingly at you with a sweet smile plastered on his face.

"Good morning beautiful" he whispered

You smiled back at him and your hand instinctively went to his face, stroking his cheek and admiring his beauty when suddenly

Your alarm starts ringing really loudly, making you jump

You open your eyes and turn it off, looking at your phone and the empty bed. It was a dream... a really realistic dream, but... you don't know who the guy in your dream is. You got up and changed knowing you had to go to college

- - - After your classes ended you decided to spend the afternoon with some friends to wind up. After all, it was Thursday, and every Thursday you guys went to a cafe close to your campus to chat and do some homework together

You sat on one of the tables to save it and also keep an eye on your bags while your two friends went to grab their drinks. You had told them about your dream on one of the breaks and they just laughed at your sad exaggerated expression saying that soon you'll find a boyfriend. It was a thing between you guys since you were all painfully single

When they came back to the table you went to the register to order your usual "Hi! I would like a medium Taiwan bubble milk-" You stopped mid-order staring at the barista you had never seen before in the store. What caught you off guard was that he was the guy in your dream

"Milk tea?" He questioned since you just stopped talking

"Hm, yes, milk tea... sorry" you laughed awkwardly as he smiled politely

When he was done with your tea he spoke up "Have we met before? Your face seems familiar..."

"I'm not sure but you seem familiar too" You smiled taking your tea. You wouldn't tell a stranger, even a really cute one, that he was in your dream and a really romantic one

"I'm Jinho... maybe we could hand out some time? I would like to know you" he said in a shy tone "Yes!... that... would be nice" you answered way too fast for your liking

At least you would have news to share with your friends and who knows... maybe a boyfriend as well.

#pentagon imagines #pentagon scenarios #pentagon fanfic #pentagon x reader #pentagon scenario #pentagon jinho #jo jinho #jinho imagines #jinho x reader #jinho scenario

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slayerkitty · 4 months

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BL & Me: 2023 Edition

To celebrate my full first year as a BL fan I decided I wanted to do an end of the year list. Something to commemorate the absolutely wonderful fandom year I've had. Prior to watching my first BL, I had not participated in any fandoms since 2015. Getting back into it reminded how much fun it is and I've met and followed so many amazing people in the last year (technically, I watched my first BL in October 2022, so it's been more than a year...).

These lists are going to focus on the BLs (and two Thai dramas that wanted to be and probably should have been BLs) that came out during 2023 (or their finales aired in late January through February). Since I'm still playing catch up on older BLs, there are several that I watched for the first time this year but I might do a separate post for that.

Total # of BLs watched this year: 42

Thailand: 38 Dramas, 1 Movie

Japan: 1

Korea: 0

Taiwan: 2

Clearly I need to watch more from Korea. Currently I'm making my way through Taiwan's BLs so once I am sufficiently caught up on those, I will be moving over to catch up on Korean ones. Until the last month or so, I had never seen a Taiwanese BL, so that's what started me on watching those - I'm almost done with the ones that have been recommended to me so far.

It's plain to see that I love Thailand's approach to BL's the most; they are what hooked me into BL and keep me watching.

Most Anticipated BLs: Bed Friend, Between Us, Cutie Pie 2 You, Moonlight Chicken, Naughty Babe

My Highest Rated Shows on MyDramaList: I Feel You Linger in the Air (10), La Pluie (10), Moonlight Chicken (10), Our Dining Table (10), Laws of Attraction (9.5), Midnight Museum (9.5), My Dear Gangster Oppa (9.5), Only Friends (9.5), Shadow (9.5) and Kiseki: Dear to Me (9.5).

It's a very interesting mix of shows here - one from Taiwan, one from Japan, and the two regular Thai dramas.

Favorite New Trope: Waltzing Gays. 2023 said, "Let the gays dance!" and they did.

Memorable Fandom Moments (The Good, The Bad, And The Absurd):

Altering the name of Moonlight Chicken. When we heard the name of the show, it was impossible not to make fun of it just a little. Many a nickname/play on words was created for this show and it was so much fun to see what others would come up with.

The ONN fandom protesting the O part of their ship landing a new BL and a new BL partner (complete with hiring a truck to drive around with a sign).

The Pit Babe Omegaverse post breaking containment and topping out at just over 69k notes (NOICE).

Playing "Spot the Cameo" during Midnight Museum and watching while GMMtv marched out practically their entire pool of talent for the show and yet still needed both Gun and Nannon to play more than one character.

Playing "Spot the Cameo" for Kiseki: Dear to me as they practically had all the major BL actors cameo in the show.

The fandom exhaustion over the marketing/casting announcements for Red Peafowl and the eventual fandom decision to just worship our lord and savior Kuhn Feathers instead.

Best/Worst Use of Product Placement: (you decide which is which)

Midnight Museum using the product placement car to hit and kill a character.

Oiishi Green Tea being used as part of foreplay/foodplay in Dinosaur Love

The random Toyota Service Center call during a highly emotionally charged moment in Bake Me Please

Every single 7/11 scene in Venus in the Sky. Every single one.

The spicy meals used as torture devices in Kiseki: Dear to Me

Shows That Started Great But Couldn't Stick the Landing: Dangerous Romance, Hidden Agenda, Only Friends, Our Skyy 2 (select episodes), Step by Step

Best/Favorite Kisses:

GunCher "challenge" kiss (A Boss and A Babe episode 2)

TinnGunn bed kiss (My School President episode 12)

WinTeam poolside "fall into each other" kiss (Between Us episode 2)

JokeZo balcony kiss (Hidden Agenda episode 8)

YaiJom rain kiss (I Feel You Linger in the Air episode 7)

PalmNueng rooftop kiss (Never Let Me Go episode 5)

LianKuea wedding kiss (Cutie Pie 2 You episode 4)

(I could keep going but I'd be here forever so I'm stopping myself)

Worst/Yikes Kisses:

DinoRak (Dinosaur Love) - just... almost all of them. THERE IS SO MUCH TONGUE. Normally this is not a bad thing. However, here it's basically Dino tongue-bathing Rak's face like a dog and it did not work for me. Yikes.

KanghanSailom bathroom kiss (Dangerous Romance episode 6?) - I've tried to like it. I have. It's Perth. It's Chimon. It's AWKWARD. Yikes.

DanNai "locked in a room all night" kiss (Shadow episode 9) - it's bad because it's not reciprocated and IT HURTS DAMN IT.

Most Surprising/Memorable Show Production Moments:

Our Skyy 2 x Bad Buddy x A Tale of a Thousand Stars crossover announcement.

Finding out while watching Pit Babe episode one that it was Omegaverse after being told that aspect had been removed for the show.

Pixelated Butts/Genitals in The Sign

Mame landing McDonald's money for Wedding Plan

Gun Attaphan playing not one, not two, but three separate characters in Midnight Museum.

Feel free to use any of these categories if you're doing an end of the year list too; I can't wait to see what others might come up with.

#BL & Me: 2023 Edition #Thai Bl

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late-to-the-magnus-archives · 7 months

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Pedantic, chapter two - a Malevolent AU

Arthur Lester is the best IT architect in the world, and the reason Carcosa, Inc. has its fingers in every pie. Government, medical, everyone in the world uses its systems. Arthur is also going blind and nearly gives up… until a deeply annoying cybersecurity programmer prods him into trying something new.

Chapter Two: It’s too much trust with too little information.

AO3

----------

The alarm was bad, and he felt bad.

Good morning, Arthur, said Cassilda, responding to his consciousness.

Damnable consciousness. Nobody needed it. Arthur grunted.

Do you wish for coffee?

Coffee; his grandmother would have lost her mind to see Arthur drinking it now instead of tea, but years working in Italy and then in San Francisco had made him something of a coffee fanatic. “Yes.”

He lay still while the smell filled his massive penthouse. Open concept taken to extremes, this place was one enormous square with specially coated glass floor to ceiling on all sides, so he could see everything and not be seen. The only actual opacity was around the bathroom, and while Arthur had still been able to see, that column of darkness in the middle of his precious, fading view was an affront.

He’d needed to see as much as he could, everything, everywhere, all the time.

It was pointless now, though. At night, he could no longer see, not even the nearest city lights. It was darkness. In day, it was blurr.

This disease wasn’t fully understood. It was genetic. Arthur’s family had handed it to succeeding generations like a toxic heirloom for hundreds of years. The doctors (Hastur ensured he had the best, no matter what country of origin) told him he was one of twelve known cases in the world.

The upshot of which meant that going blind happened to many people, but doing it like this had no cure.

Optical implants did not help; something was interfering with the actual signals in his brain. A full eye transplant did not help; poor Zhao had gone through that in Taiwan, but because the cause was somewhere else in the body, her new eyes still went dark.

Arthur knew he didn’t have much time left being able to do this all on his own. He’d been fighting since he was seventeen, doing everything he could to maintain his ability to see. The focus paid off, and the drive. He was fine, financially. He could retire right now, if he wanted to—as one of the best systems architects in the entire world, the jewel of Carcosa, Inc., he’d been paid very well.

But Arthur didn’t want to retire.

He would be making these systems even if he hadn’t been paid. He had to; he was driven, focused. Obsessed. He needed to keep working, creating, crafting better and better ways to handle the massive amount of data passing through Carcosa’s servers.

Damn near every country that could afford it used Play (a silly OS name, but Arthur liked it because it implied things like a closed structure, heavy editing, and trustworthy intention from beginning to end). It was flexible enough and secure enough for both military and political needs. Excellent for education and medical systems both. A person’s entire life was safe within Play.

(And he had said absolutely no to any lesser version of it being available for “just folks.” It was the full version or nothing. There would be no bastardized, trimmed down, pitifully gutted version of his masterpiece, thank you very much.)

He loved making things that just worked. Interfaces that were never confusing. He loved restraining and properly utilizing AI, loved tweaking those tiny, barely noticeable details that kept his GUI beautiful and sleek and made everyone who used it feel safe and well-regarded.

Arthur always made sure it met every damned security protocol. It wasn’t like he didn’t care about security. He just lacked Doe’s crystal ball or captured pixies or whatever the hell he used to predict whatever was coming down the pike.

Doe. John. He still didn’t know what to do about this bet. He rolled over and hid his face in the pillow.

Coffee’s ready, Arthur.

She made it sound divine.

He checked his feed as he staggered into the kitchen area (an island with a tiny stovetop and two refrigerated drawers—someone with the money for a penthouse like this was expected to eat out more than in) and listened to notifications and messages as he indulged.

Praise, mostly, of course. The new system had slid into place perfectly without disrupting anyone’s work-flow (which was his design ), and security was already reporting a significant decline of bad actors. Two countries had already needed Lullaby to save themselves from being digitally invaded.

Arthur checked. Yep, they’d invaded each other with malicious code. Unreal.

The last email was from Hastur. All it said was, Well done. Let’s talk about your next project.

There wouldn’t be one, no matter what John Doe said.

Arthur was young. He knew this. Thirty-four was hardly retirement age, especially when he didn’t want to, but… it wasn’t really an option, was it?

He’d been trying to work with Cassilda to code without being able to see, and… he couldn’t. He just couldn’t. It was trying to make music while deaf. It was trying to paint a portrait while colorblind. He could see what he wanted in his head, understand how to achieve it, but on the bad days…

On the bad days, he squinted an inch away from the screen, unable to make anything out at all.

Arthur switched off his feed and pulled up some old classic panel shows instead. A little David Mitchell ranting—beloved but long since deceased—could always get him in a good mood.

The commute was dull. His car drove itself. Arthur refused to engage with Doe.

Boring.

More congratulations as he got into the office, which was to be expected. He smiled, shook hands, took it as best he could, and finally retreated to his personal office space.

Glass, all around. Of course. And he could see… colors. Some shapes. The world made Impressionist, but he would not give up this hard-won office any more than he would his penthouse. Damn it. He’d cling to it as long as he could.

Hastur was calling.

Arthur sighed. “Pull up the video.” Because Hastur… Hastur really liked to see him, whether or not Arthur could see him back.

The three-dimensional image appeared over Arthur’s desk, full-size, beaming down from on high, and Arthur gave it his best smile. “Good to see you, sir.”

Even with fading vision, he could tell Hastur was having a great time. Blue sky rose behind him, and he was framed by figures in slinky gold. Faint music wafted through—strings, some instrumental version of classical music, Arthur thought by the Beastie Boys. And Hastur himself…

The old man was always a vision. Handsome, preened in that particular way only the very rich could be, he claimed to understand Arthur because of his own special needs: Hastur had lost his arms and legs as a soldier fighting in the war for Ythill. His disabilities, however, could be fixed with technology, and Hastur had gone hard.

Very few humans had the required intelligence and coordination to manage more than four limbs. Hastur managed ten: eight bionic tentacles below the waist, and a mere humble two above. He’d struck Arthur like some kind of wild, ancient god from the moment Hastur had recruited him; something out of myths and legends, who’d built an incredible company fulfilling incredible needs like a deity’s blessing.

Right now, Arthur could see several of the bionic limbs moving, doing who knew what off screen; Hastur was always multitasking. “Arthur. Brilliant. I have been instructed to give you presidential thanks.”

“Presidential? Which?”

Hastur smiled. “Several. It seems you’ve already stopped multiple ransomware attempts. You’ve done it again. You’re a boon to this company, Arthur.”

Relief. He would go out on a high note. “Thank you. Thank you, sir.” Arthur had not admitted he was going to quit after this. He had phrased it as taking vacation time.

Hastur knew, though. “Your next project.”

“Hastur, we… I told you I need a break.”

Hastur knew. “I know. You deserve vacation, and the rolled over days give you a while. But I want to know your next plan. Where can Carcosa be improved?”

And Arthur knew what he was doing. Trying to get him hooked on an idea, a project, a challenge—knowing all too well that the moment Arthur got truly invested, he could lose months in the planning and programming and execution. It was like blinders. It was like being driven by a vengeful muse.

And Arthur knew he couldn’t pull it off. There would be more errors, possibly dangerous ones like today. He couldn’t. “Hastur, we…”

Even from here, the old man’s face was hopeful, warm. Even if his eyes were like knives.

Arthur hated to disappoint him. He swallowed. “I’ll have an answer when I get back from vacation. As we discussed.”

“Yes, of course,” said Hastur, who clearly did not want to wait at all. “In the meantime, think of whatever you need for your new project, and I can supply it.”

The pressure was heavy. He owed Hastur everything. They both knew it. Arthur squirmed. “I haven’t taken a vacation in four years, sir.” Since his eyes began to really degenerate, and Zhao’s transplant had failed. Time off felt dangerously wasteful.

Hastur sighed. “Of course, Arthur. Whatever you need.”

“Thank you, sir.”

And then Arthur had to smile and nod through twenty-five minutes of business gossip and stocks and purchasing opportunities and business rivals.

It was fine. He didn’t have to respond—just listen.

All the while, Hastur’s limbs worked, mixing drinks for his guests, doing who knew what with his contracts and his followers. The man never did just one thing at a time.

Arthur’s phone buzzed. Cassilda read it off: Gonna answer me, coward?

That asshole Doe! Why did he always have to be so damned aggressive?

But was he?

Was it… humor, again? Abrasive, like a dog that always bites when playing, but… “Never a day in my life,” Arthur answered, murmuring.

“I knew you’d agree,” said Hastur, who was talking about short selling.

Then take the bet. Coward.

Arthur considered.

“This will allow us to expand,” said Hastur. “The Mnomquah moon base first, obviously. But if we can get Play to work for the Martian colony…”

An enormous challenge. So far, it had been impossible to achieve fast, secure connectivity between Mars and Earth because, you know, space. “It seems risky,” said Arthur to John.

“But a risk worth the reward,” said Hastur.

Don’t take it and you lose a chance at continuing the thing that gives you joy, said the voice in his head. Take it, and you risk nothing.

“I risk failing. That’s loss of hope,” said Arthur.

“Oh, son, not at all,” said Hastur lightly. “If it fails, you will try again.”

So then you only lose the thing you already fucking threw away, said John Doe with the gentle delivery of a linebacker. But at least you tried.

Arthur wanted to argue with them both, but one of them was actually right. He was giving up. Throwing hope away. “I guess it comes down to choosing to have more hope, then?”

Now you’re getting it.

“Now, you’re getting it,” said Hastur in eerie approximation of that digitized voice. He leaned in, and Arthur had the impression he was being studied. “I hope this isn’t a repeat of that moment of weakness two years ago.”

Two years ago, Arthur had considered quitting. Considered leaving and enjoying the world while he could still see it. Maybe going nuts and taking one of the ridiculously expensive civilian trips to the Martian Aihai base, or something.

Hastur had convinced him not to do it. To spend what time he had left creating instead, building his legacy—and Arthur didn’t mind that. This was what he loved, and he suspected he’d only have lasted a week without architecting something, anyway. (He’d had the thought of completely redesigning the entire Aihai base just out of twitchy need, and it made him laugh.)

Still. Hastur would push him to do something he didn’t want to do if he admitted how he felt right now, and Arthur did not like to be pushed. “No, sir,” he lied, knowing Cassilda would understand sir meant absolutely not John Doe.

Fuck!!!

Arthur jumped. The reader had been interpreted that as a yell.

Exclamation point, exclamation point, exclamation point, Cassilda helpfully read off.

Hastur seemed to be studying him again. Maybe his lie hadn’t been good enough.

Sorry. Spilled coffee approximately the temperature of the fucking sun all over hell.

Arthur’s lips twitched. “Are you all right?”

“Only if you are. You’re the soul of this company, Arthur,” said Hastur.

“What, not the heart, too?” Arthur teased.

“A heart without a soul is dead and unbeating. I need you, Arthur. Your innovation.”

It’s on my lap, not my chest. Weirdo.

How could this completely busted three-way conversation make him want to laugh when he really wanted to cry. “Sir, I…”

“You’re worrying me a little. In the wake of such a success you should be happier.”

Arthur sighed. “I just don’t know if I can do this.”

Both the other two were briefly silent.

“You will,” said Hastur, and it sounded almost like a threat.

You know what? Maybe not. But maybe you can. And I wanna be there either way.

“Why?” said Arthur.

“I believe I’ve already answered that,” said Hastur, low.

Maybe I don’t want to see the most brilliant man I’ve ever tangled with give up without a fight.

“I…” whispered Arthur, unsure whom he was responding to.

“You know what? You’re right, Arthur,” said Hastur. “You need a break. You’re burned out. I’ll have Kayne set up a vacation for you.”

Oh, he did not want that. “Sir, with all due respect, I can do it myself.”

“Nonsense. And put more on your clearly overburdened plate? You’re a tender soul, Arthur. I will see you taken care of.”

Arthur sighed. It wasn’t as if he had to do whatever bonzo-loco coo-coo-manic thing Kayne suggested. The man was just so fucking hard to say no to. “Sir…”

“No, no, I’ve taken enough of your time. Go take your break. I look forward to seeing you revived and ready to innovate.” Hastur toasted him with a weirdly shimmering gold drink.

“Thank you, sir. Have a good day.” He made the hand gesture to shut the call off.

Arthur slumped in his seat with a moan. This was going to be so hard. How the hell could he get Hastur to understand? Hastur had plucked him from obscurity when he was fifteen, based entirely on a project Arthur built for a contest to redesign the local waste facility’s system. He’d believed in Arthur. Always supported him. How could—

Still haven’t answered me. Coward.

“Still thinking. Prick.”

I await your graciousness’s response with eagerness, said the reader with none of the sarcasm that Doe surely intended.

Arthur snorted. “You’re serious about this?”

Completely.

Was there really anything to lose?

More pain to gain, maybe. A second loss of hope.

But… he would have tried. Surely that mattered. To be able to enter full darkness with no regrets…

Arthur took a deep breath. “All right, Doe. You’re on.”

John. And fuck yeah.

“John.”

Took you long enough, Just Arthur.

John Doe may be a bitey dog, but he wasn’t, maybe, a mean one. “I’ll let you know what the project will be. Do we need a contract, or something?”

If you want. I don’t feel like I need to be protected against you. You’ve got a good rep.

John didn’t have enough of a rep for Arthur to make that guess regarding him. “I’ll let you know.”

I’ll be waiting.

It was time to make a call.

It hadn’t been a bad breakup. It really hadn’t. Parker had never been pushy, even when Arthur was at his worst. They just… hadn’t worked as lovers.

They were better friends. And Arthur didn’t have a lot of those.

He usually didn’t call for business, though. “Hey.”

“Hey.” Parker sounded surprised. It was only about five in the afternoon in San Fran, and he was probably still at work. “Everything okay?”

“That obvious I need something, huh?”

Parker’s chair creaked as he leaned back. Arthur could imagine it all too well—his office, papered in clues and letters and reports and photos, analog to the core because he believed seeing it all jogged the human brain in a way digital renditions didn’t. “You’re not in the middle of a project, which is when you usually call to bitch. Congrats, by the way.”

“Thanks,” Arthur said, smiling a little.

“It’s not the weekend, which is also when you usually call after you’ve had a bunch to drink alone,” said Parker.

“Hey, I’m not always alone,” Arthur protested.

Parker ignored that lie. “So what’s up?”

“Can you look into someone for me?”

Another creak as Parker leaned forward. “Professionally or personally?”

“Parker, what the hell does that mean?”

“I mean do you want to date the guy, or is this a business venture?”

“What the hell difference does it make?”

“One means I tell you anything I can find about the guy. The other means I elaborate on his resume.”

This was about trust. It had to be personal. “I’m not dating anybody, but I want the former. I’m giving this guy access to my code as I write it, Parker.”

Parker understood that. “Shit. You sure you’re not dating him?”

“I’ve never even met him. He lives in New York City.”

Another creak. “Okay. I’ll do it. Name?”

“John Doe. Head of cybersecurity for Carcosa.”

Parker paused. “You realize I won’t be able to learn a lot about a guy who’s that into security.”

“Just everything you can. He came out of nowhere a year ago. That’s not good enough.”

“All right. Yeah, I can do this. When do you need it?”

“ASAP. I’m paying your expedited rate.”

“Arthur, you don’t gotta pay me nothing.”

“Double negative. So we agree.”

“Arthur.”

“I’m paying you. Shut up.”

“Fine.” Parker’s voice betrayed his smile. “ASAP.”

“Thanks.”

“Sure.”

They said their goodbyes and Arthur got to work, answering questions from the press, turning down interviews (he always did), choosing charities to put money into, choosing schools to fund for their IT programs.

His legacy. He knew it mattered. One such program had given him everything he now had.

The time passed slowly; it always did, after a project launched, and no matter how tired he was, he hated the sluggishness of downtime. He handled office requests, signed off on a few smaller projects still under his mantle, and by the time he was done with all of that, he knew what his next project would be.

A new idea always felt so damn good. Now he had to wait for Parker to do his own magic.

------

CHAPTER THREE

#john x arthur #arthur x john #malevolent #malevolent podcast #malevolent fic #malevolent fanfic #john doe malevolent #arthur lester #kayne malevolent #malevolent au #pedantic fic

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siodium · 7 months

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asdklasjdlsks maximum late trip update post bc i completely forgot about it in my drafts. 💀 i was too occupied with grinding mapes events for cosmetic items aha.

better late than never i guess??

anyway, here's my long-awaited post about my short 5D4N trip in taiwan with luwi and shoron!! i decided to condense all five days into one post this time bc i didn't take a lot of good pics. :/

DAY 1: TAIPEI

nanjichang night market (南機場夜市) - highly recommended!!!

sumikko gurashi themed 7-ELEVEN (角落小夥伴主題商店)

first thing we did when we landed was to run to a 7-ELEVEN to grab a small bite. i got a strawberry cream sandwich with a mixed fruit/vegetable juice and the sandwich was so tasty... nothing special but so homely. we also picked up an easycard so that we could ride the mrt and omg the designs were all so cute?? why can't we have cute transport passes in sg too!!

after checking into our hostel, we went to nanjichang night market for dinner. i was told that this was the night market that locals would go to, and to avoid shilin night market bc it was more of a tourist attraction/trap?? no regrets tho. the food was great and so affordable. i got deep fried squid (coated with some kind of peppery and salty seasoning powder and spoilers: pretty sure all the fried stuff i ate in taiwan had the same seasoning LOL), shrimp dumplings, and a fermented vegetable baked pepper bun. waaa,, even though i ordered a shrimp dumpling, there was meat in it!! and i cannot handle the taste of meat in taiwan. it's too strong...

i also got an osmanthus tea from one of the bbt stalls there and it was the best bbt i had in taiwan?? unfortunately i didn't catch the name of the stall but there was a catto sitting on the counter!!

ended our day with a trip to the sumikko gurashi 7-ELEVEN. the decor was so cute!! i was hoping there'd be some exclusive merch being sold but there weren't any. idk why but i was determined to find some merch and i kept going into every 7-ELEVEN that was in my sights LMAO spoilers i didn't find any exclusive merch in the end. disappoint :-(

thoughts about the accommodation:

we stayed at the beimen wow poshtel for most of the days. it was reasonably close to the taipei main station and super affordable (~$20 per night) but idk it was giving me major School Camp flashbacks. we got the top bunks so every time we forgot something on the bed, we had to climb up the ladder to get it. it was inconvenient and i found out that i'm terrible at going down ladders bc i just jump off from the highest rung of the ladder and i gave myself quite a few bruises from that.

the rooms were also very tiny. we couldn't all have our luggages open at the same time so we'd go down to the communal area in the basement every day just to move things around. i wouldn't say that this was a massive con bc we got used to this arrangement rly fast. the real bAD THING is that we can't leave our things lying around in the room without locking them up in the lockers (also very smol). i have to clean and dry all my toiletries every day before i go to bed and before i leave. one time i accidentally left my clean clothes bag out and i woke up to find a single dirty sock inside. >:/

but other than that it felt pretty safe?? and i did enjoy our nightly hangouts at the communal area for supper or to plan our next-day activities.

would like to try out a capsule hotel next time tho. like one of those space pod thingies.

DAY 2: SHIFEN AND JIUFEN

shifen old streets

shifen waterfall

jiufen old streets

zhang ji traditional fishballs

a gan yi taro ball - it's nice but nothing special?? if the queue is too long then don't bother with it

jioufen teahouse - the queue for the famous a-mei teahouse was insane so we decided to try another teahouse

we spent the second day at shifen and jiufen!! took a train to shifen in the morning. walked along the streets and got some street food for lunch. i got brown sugar mochi paw-shaped pancake pops from a stall and i personally wouldn't recommend that flavour bc it was so dry. we also ate some taiwanese-style takoyaki. i watched luwi and shoron make their sky lantern (i couldn't do it bc it's ghost month and my mum said no :/) and release it into the sky. luwi added some good wishes for chi. stay 白 uwu

after walking around for a bit, we ran out of things to do and still had plenty of time to spare so we decided to rent electric scooters to see the shifen waterfall. i was shooketh that they didn't require any license?? and the shop didn't provide any helmets or safety gear?? so sus... i didn't dare to ride one of my own so i pillion'ed behind luwi.

the waterfall was a distance away from the parking lot and so the rest of our journey had to be on foot. i was sweating so much and thought i was gonna hallucinate from the heat and strong sun rays. somehow we made it to the viewing deck. i was expecting to be a lot closer to the waterfall but eh the view was pretty nonetheless. got chi and cha out so they could take in the sights too!!

we went through another round of suffering to get back to the parking lot and i, after seeing shoron ride the scooter so breezily on the way there from the old streets, decided to try riding one for the funsies. despite having barely any bicycle experience. as you would expect, that was Not A Good Idea bc i didn't even move 3 metres when i lost control, panicked, revved the accelerator thinking it was the brake (both were on the handles so idk i'm not a driver), went up the curb and fell over. ok but i fell off on purpose bc i thought the scooter was moving on its own (and not bc i mixed up the brake and accelerator) and my only way of survival was to just get off the bike before i crash into something or something crashed into me. surprisingly the only injuries i sustained were some bruises on my upper thigh that i landed on, and pinpoint scratches on my hand that i got from breaking my fall. i was very lucky that nothing was broken or bleeding. well, that was An Experience...... that i wouldn't want to go through again. anyway i'm banned from driving after this~~~

↓ btw this photo was taken moments before the disaster. apparently a lot of foreigners who rented scooters there also crashed their bikes. now that i look at it, our scooter had a chunk of it broken off at the front. ummm,,, what is safety

our next stop was jiufen!! jiufen was sooo scenic and beautiful with all the lanterns and slopes but climbing up and down all those narrow and steep stairs just to get to the main street was just deaTH. 💀 i have no idea how the elderly can do it.

had an early dinner at the zhang ji traditional fishballs. got a mixed fishballs noodle soup and it was so tasty!! i actually like the handmade fishballs with meat inside. they were sweet.

when it got dark, we visited one of the teahouses there to have a tea experience. the staff taught us how to brew the tea and we did the rest ourselves after that. it was fun!! we also ordered an oolong tea cheesecake to share and it was definitely more cheesecake than oolong but i'm not complaining.

we stayed at the jiufen kite museum for a night and i was so glad to finally have a room to ourselves. it was a good thing we didn't bring our luggages with us bc there were no elevators there!! it was all just stairs.

DAY 3: JIUFEN AND BACK TO TAIPEI

jioufen breakfast restaurant

D+AF女鞋南西旗艦店 - super nice and trendy shoes!!

kura sushi

ximending

the nighttime view in jiufen was amazing with all the lanterns lit up but bc it was so crowded and you absolutely could not get a shot without someone blocking the view, we decided to come back the next day at 6 am just to take pics. and also to eat a traditional taiwanese breakfast!! i love the soy milk and youtiao combination. 💕

when we were back at the taipei main station, i chanced upon this bakery (semeur 聖娜) that was holding a kanahei's small animals collab?? if you spend a certain amount, you can buy merch at a cheaper price. so ofc i picked out four breads just so i could get a cute cooler bag with usagi and piske on it~ kinda regretted not getting the handheld fan too. it would've been so useful bc it was sO HOT. btw i ended up bringing one bread back to singapore (take note of this info for later) bc i couldn't finish all of them LMAO. the breads were all tasty but i particularly liked the melon bun.

day 3 was our Buy The Things We Have To Buy day. luwi went to check out a motorcycle gear shop by herself while shoron and i explored the zhongshan area. i got the $370 wall clock that my colleague rly wanted from a department store there. we also went to this shoe shop that shoron wanted to check out and like,, i wasn't planning on buying any shoes but man,,, they were all so nice. you can call them clown shoes for all you like but i just rly like the wide, squarish toe box designs. i only bought a pair in the end but aaa i would've liked to get more if i didn't have space/weight concerns.

bought osmanthus oolong tea from yi pin tea (一品茶苑) and it was mid. very strong tea flavour tho.

we had kura sushi for lunch and it was amazing. the gacha system was fun and the food was great and i got to eat my beloved taiyaki for dessert. it was cheaper than any sushi place in sg too.

my stomach was acting up when we went to ximending in the evening so i didn't get anything to eat or drink there but i did try a bit of the vermicelli noodles from ay-chung flour-rice noodle and it was pretty good. peppery and kinda tastes like shark fin soup. aside from food, we didn't rly check out any of the shops there. i did go to a stationary store on my own and it was a feast for the eyes!!

DAY 4:

wei chuan pushin ranch - there were capybaras and alpacas!! first time seeing them in person

mazesoba restaurant (東京油組總本店台北華山組)

1789 café pâtisserie

zhongxiao dunhua shopping district (Air Space, Le Gusta, The Ladywore)

kanahei's small animals themed 7-ELEVEN (卡娜赫拉主題商店)

li yuan dumpling restaurant

braved the scorching heat for the alpacas and sheep and capybaras!! i touched an alpaca and a capybara for the first time and i can confirm that the former was floofy like a cloud while the latter felt like bristles of a broom.

the pig race and sheep race were being held when we were there so we got to watch. the ones that i bet on didn't win.

bc the ranch was located in a more rural part of taipei and buses were infrequent, we only had two?? hours to look around. so we rented some kind of a buggy. shoron was the designated driver for this bUT i felt like i could drive it too cuz it was kinda slow yknow.

for lunch we had mazesoba!! super good but could do with less salt.

afterwards we went on a hunt for a cafe to chill at bc it was raining so hard. had to give matcha one a miss bc we didn't have a reservation and there were no tables for us (except the VIP rooms which were $$$). eventually we found this cafe called 1789 café pâtisserie that was relatively empty and hid there until the rain subsided. we shared two eclairs (salted caramel and mango passionfruit) and a raspberry rose st. honore (crispy mille feuille pastry topped with whipped cream and raspberry jam??). they gave us two macarons on the house, and one of them was wasabi-flavoured. the taste was... interesting.

when the rain stopped, we went to shop for clothes around the zhongxiao dunhua shopping district. there were a lot of blogshop-like clothing stores in that area. i got clothes from le gusta and the ladywore~

our last dinner was at a xiaolongbao restaurant. i was glad that they had prawn xiaolongbaos!! that didn't have surprise meat in them. they were not bad. also got a custard panda bun for dessert~

DAY 5:

luwi and shoron went out to dabao breakfast at yong he soy milk (永和豆漿) in ximending while i continued to laze around in bed~~~ they brought soy milk and youtiao back for me!! i miss the combination. the youtiao from yong he was so light and airy on the inside and so crisp on the outside aaaa the doughy and oily ones in sg can't compare.

after breakfast we packed up and left for the airport. i wanted to try the oden at 7-ELEVEN before i leave but we couldn't find one at the departure hall. maximum sadge. in the end, we settled for a fast-food chicken place after we checked in and i got a yoghurt green tea (which tasted like yakult btw) and sweet potato fries.

i wanted to be productive on the flight back home (and i wasn't rly that sleepy anyway) so i played 999 on my 3ds and watched a 2-hour movie. finally watched maquia and it made me cry lmao. tearjerkers are the best kinds of movies for a flight imo!!

oh oh i sat next to an elderly couple on the plane and they were so nice and friendly. the lady kept checking to see if i needed to use the toilet bc i got the window seat. 🥺 we also chatted a bit while waiting to get off the plane.

we were planning to have dinner at mos burg after we landed in sg but there was a luggage delay and by the time we all got our luggages, it was almost time for mos burg to close. aha but fortunately i still had one bread left. so that was my dinner, along with the milo and oreos that the staffs were handing out to apologise for the delay.

#log #rip chi shoes 2023-2023...... they did not survive in the rain

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novelelitist · 2 years

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Can I request some separate headcanons for Yan Qing and Robin who have a female master, master can't sleep and wants a midnight snack so they take her out and break into like an ice cream shop or a cafe or a boba tea shop, you get the idea. And help themselves (aka steal) to a late night treat with their beloved master

It's hot as fuckin' shit. 90° F and it ends up that warm inside my grandmother's house. I survive on ice cream and ice packs.

Master is having the worst time sleeping on a sweaty summer night. They're uncomfortably toasty and have a mighty need for sustenance. Yan Qing and Robin Hood come to the rescue. (Separately.)

This was available July 6th on Patreon.

Yan Qing

When Master asks Yan Qing for boba, he stops pacing mid-step. He turns to look at them. A look of confusion stretches across his face. There’s almost something comical about his apparent distress.

He dramatically recalls a recent game of paintball he played with Billy the Kid and Arash. They went for a snack afterwards. Upon hearing a young woman order "boba," Billy hooked his arms around both men's shoulders and asked if they wanted "boba these nuts." Arash asked what this meant. Yan Qing pretended he didn't know. Billy was mortified.

Yan Qing has a vague idea of what boba tea is. It's far after his time, but he does like when cultural artifacts from his home gain popularity. It gives him a sense of nostalgic pride (and dissonance, because he is conflicted about Taiwan).

Master has to drag Yan Qing out of his riveting conversation with himself and also his other self. He puts up a fuss at first, busy arguing over whether or not "boba deez nuts" was offensive. Master convinces him that he'll have to try said boba before he can decide whether or not Billy's dumb comment was worth kicking his ass over.

Unseeable, untouchable, he breaches the locally-owned cafe Master likes. Once inside he opens the back door for them to join him. There's a chill and a thrill that passes between Yan Qing and his Master. The satisfaction of doing something bad and getting away with it is overwhelming.

First they have to do something bad, though. Neither of them is interested in the till or the safe. Stealing goods that are packed as a donation to a food bank would be gross. Taking ingredients back to Master's residence would leave them with armfuls of materials they couldn't effectively use. It seems they have no choice but to make their bubble tea on-site.

Neither of them know how to make bubble tea. Master makes a face at this realization and Yan Qing cackles wildly at their misfortune. Thankfully they have the power of the internet and mobile data at their disposal. Master reads a few recipes and scans an article and Yan Qing looms over their shoulder as he so quickly catches up to their reading.

The recipe, he thinks, should be easy enough. It would be easier if he’d ever made anything like it in his life. The tea is easy. Yan Qing can brew tea. He can brew tea with the best of ‘em. But what’s with the tapioca balls? Why are they so squishy? What is he supposed to do with them? He wants to juggle them, or throw them. It’s very distracting.

Master pulls him out of his daze. They instruct him to brew the tea while they take care of everything else. Black tea is the common tea for boba, according to the page Master has pulled up on their phone. Yan Qing is not in the mood for black tea. He also doesn’t think iced coffee is appropriate at this hour. Chai tea, maybe? He likes chai tea lattes with soy milk. Milk isn’t necessary for one’s health, did you know, Master? There’s a conspiracy afoot in big dairy where decades have gone to advertising milk to produce more profits than—

Perhaps Yan Qing should acquire different friends.

Robin Hood

Master hobbles out of their sleeping quarters at about 05:00. Robin Hood is kicked back waiting for the sun to rise. When Master shuffles over to him, he nearly jumps out of his skin. Nobody needs to exist this early.

It appears Master cannot sleep, for Master has a mighty need that must be met: the need to fuckin' chill. They're hungry and whiny from being stuck unable to sleep all night. The likelihood of agitation in the morrow is too damn high.

This is not what Robin is contracted with his Master for, but he has a feeling this isn't the weirdest or least convenient thing they're ever going to ask of him.

Under normal circumstances, Robin would prefer to support a local stand or shop that makes and serves their own ice cream. He likes when the worker is connected to the output of their labor–when they own the means of production, as it were. This in mind, the logical course of action is for Robin to hit up Corporate Ice Cream Chain Location for Master's favorites.

He must correct himself on that, because Robin doesn't like calling…whatever-it-is Corporate Ice Cream sells "ice cream." It is "frozen dairy dessert" or something like it. It could be neither frozen, nor dairy, nor dessert, and still labeled as ice cream.

After a quick trip riding Robin's back like a sleepy koala, Master is sat down on the roof of Corporate Ice Cream Chain Location. He props them against the nearest clean-ish looking brick structure. While they listen to birds sing to sunrise (tweet tweet food caw caw sex), Robin condenses himself into spirit form and sprinkles into the building.

The weak security warrants no effort. He isn't surprised by how little there is. Between his cloak and the incompetence of the camera setup, Robin can say quite comfortably nobody is going to see him on the recordings.

Corporate Ice Cream's backrooms are dismal. They're pitch black save for blinking lights on whirring machines with ominous silhouettes. Robin is definitely not scared, but he is unsettled. It helps that he has Darkvision like any shifty rogue worth his salt. Super Secret Agent Spy music plays in his head. It's a playful tune from a movie he watched with Master. It makes him feel dangerous and sexy.

The current conditions are not dangerous, and they are also not sexy. It's cold as shit (a pleasant contrast to the outdoors, which are currently hot as shit) and that's about it.

Robin almost feels bad for potentially ruining some minimum wage worker's day. Almost. But he chose this location because it's an act against their employer. It's not his fault they're hostages under the milky boot of corporate ice cream.

He returns to the roof with four white plastic tubs with frost on the sides. He tries to peek around them and fails. Master takes two of them, and together they escape back to their base of operations.

#yan qing #robin hood #yan qing headcanons #robin hood headcanons #hc #fgo hc #fgo headcanons #fate series #fate series headcanons #fate grand order hcs #novelelitist #matcha leaf knight #assassin of shinjuku

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