#ELECTRONICS AND MY FLATMATE BUT!

[absynthe-mind]

Western PA Anon here

It's been a very interesting couple of weeks, but hey I'm allowed to use my electronic devices. Wanted to let you and anyone else who saw my post know that I'm alive and O.K. Also ensconced in the Ultramarine Quadrant of the Greater PGH Loyalist base at the moment.

You were absolutely spot on about having a Primarch move into my house. I was pretty much on lockdown with him. At least until a few days ago. Apparently the various bases check the various astartes tags periodically. Primarch sightings are looked into but taken with a healthy dose of salt unless there's corroborating evidence. Like someone reporting the charred remains of what was left the ECs warband in my general vicinity. Since that matched with my post, it bumped investigating the post up to the top of the priority list.

To give scale of how important Primarchs are, Greater PGH apparently rounded up the highest ranking Astartes from their chapter and successor chapters from the North American continent. I kinda gather that he's some kind of Father-King of his Legion and their off shoots.

So yeah... let me know if you want more updates because that was an experience and a half.

(First Part)

Woo hoo! You’re alive!

I was beginning to get a little worried for you (well more than I already was), so it’s great to hear an update, make sure to keep them coming, yeah?

Hopefully being ‘secured’ by the Ultramarines hasn’t been too harsh on you mentally, I can imagine it’s a lot to take in. At least you’re probably getting the best treatment they can offer considering you have in fact bonded to their primarch.

You’re pretty spot on about him being a big-shot of the legion and of loyalist space marines in general really.

I can just imagine the reactions you got when they came over to check out the scene, what with all the false primarch sightings they probably thought it was a routine visit to a primaris like I did at first (at least I can say ‘I told you so’ to my flatmate, he was convinced it was just a primaris - plus since we bet on it he has to do dishes for a week >:D ). 

Must be crazy meeting all the high ranking astartes especially since you came from an area without a big space marine presence - have you had any funny or weird encounters you can share with us? How’s the big guy himself acting now he’s had a chance to settle in and have stuff explained to him?

Once again thanks for stopping by and updating us, be sure to keep us in the loop :p

[fracturedfaultline]

Now that I’ve appropriately recovered from the chaos that was visiting my family for a week, Laneway and then getting sick after my birthday - I can post about Laneway!

Honestly it was a really fun experience, even with the stupid amount of people and the lack of clear guidance (I say that as someone on the autism spectrum who likes to have clear guidelines and scheduling).

I am so glad I went for VIP because I would not have had a good time at all if I hadn’t. It enabled me to sit quietly for the first two and a bit hours in the shade, have time to apply sunblock, get some food and watch the first couple of acts without being crushed by hundreds of people and the heat.

After the first two to three hours, there was definitely an increase of people that made it a lot harder to deal with, but I used that time to roam around a bit and see what else was there. I opted to not get anything from the merch stall or Real Groovy until after Djo’s set as everyone had started heading to the main stages around then.

I ended up chilling in the VIP area until after Olivia Dean (who while very talented, wasn’t my vibe) finished and then I made my way up to the stage whilst Remi Wolf was performing. I actually quite enjoyed their set, they had really good stage presence and I enjoyed their music.

I managed to get a spot quite close to the barricade, although I was on the side of the stage so didn’t get the best view. Djo was running a bit behind due to the heat (it was about 26°c or more) and it was causing some issues with the electronics. It was well worth the wait though as Djo was amazing! He looked like he was having a good time on stage performing and I got to hear a lot of my favourite songs from both Decide and Twenty Twenty as well as Gap Tooth Smile!

I did the very Gen Z thing of filming his entire set but I have no regrets as I now have an amazing video to look back on as well as countless photos from his set. There were a few people being a bit cringe and shouting “where’s season 5” and “Chrissy wake up” (which if you know anything about Djo you know he doesn’t like only being known for Stranger Things) but it was a really good vibe even if not everyone knew all the songs in his setlist.

Getting to hear End of Beginning live was so incredibly amazing and I’m so happy with how much attention that song has received!

After his set, people had already started to pack in at the main stages for Clairo so I headed off to the merch stand and Real Groovy, where I got a Decide tee and three records (Alan Parsons Project, Led Zeppelin and a Boston record for my flatmate) as well as writing a message on a card that would be passed along to Djo.

I had promised a couple of friends that I would record some of Charli XCX’s set for them so I waited in line at one of the food trucks to get a truly delicious burger and then went and sat in a shady corner of Lakeside with a free Maccas ice cream to pass the time.

Charli XCX had a good set, again I made use of the VIP area which had become quite packed and managed to get a solid 20 minutes of her set before I scrambled my way out of the VIP area to Real Groovy to grab my records and I got out of there to go catch a bus back to my parents house.

All in all, it was a lovely day, if very sweaty and hot and sticky from sunblock. I thoroughly enjoyed it and would go again if there were artists I knew and liked performing.

TLDR: Laneway was hot, sweaty, very busy but very fun with good music, food and people. 9.5/10 would maybe do again.

[gaijin-fujin-resonance]

TIKI TIKI BOOM

I was trying to remember the last time I stayed up until midnight to buy or listen to a new album. Honestly, not since 1997? I certainly never have during the streaming age. And yet the night before Subrosa was released, I set my alarm clock for 23:55 and put on a pair of sleep headphones to listen, the second that it became available in my time zone.

Half asleep, face mashed against my pillow, TIKI TIKI BOOM was probably my single most instantaneous “OMG I LOVE THIS!” reaction of overwhelming aural buzz from the whole album. Just a straight blast of pure Imai serotonin joy. It’s just sheer bubblegum bliss, one of those songs that scratches an itch you didn’t even know you had until you find yourself listening to it 20 times in a row.

What is it with this song? With my music journo head, I’m aware that it’s such a silly little snippet. Musically, it’s hardly there. It’s just one chord all the way through the whole verse. There’s barely a melody. Even the chorus only adds suspended harmonies, rather than actually shifting to a different chord. Yet it's that stompy, swaying RHYTHM that lights up my pleasure receptors like a flight control deck!

The beat is basically Diwali Riddim, a Dancehall backing track originally derived from a brief snippet of Indian handclaps. The full album will likely drive you insane (I had a former flatmate who used to play it on repeat, so it is burned into my brain) but probably the most successful pop song based off it was Lumidee’s Never Leave You. It’s just such an irresistible dance beat that you could basically recite a shopping list over the top of it, and still fill a dancefloor.

The track starts with a bouncing bass, and an electronic whistle like a radio tuning in, then it’s just one hammered chord and that irresistible beat. And over this tight tension, Imai drizzles one of his signature tongue-twister raps. Honestly, Imai’s singing voice has always been far more about personality than technique, but his sense of flow is undeniable. His quicksilver words tumble out like slippery fish, evocative of the playful wordplay of Mona Lisa - the same burst of surreal rebel imagery wrapped up in doublets and triplets, filled with clever rhyming, consonance and assonance.

The sonic landscape really rewards close listens - although it may sound like a simple march of drums and distorted bass, there are so many bursts of slithering insect noises, machine gun samples and gorgeously grating groans of industrial gears woven through the propulsive beat. The chorus is an absurdly catchy nursery rhyme nonsense with a cute story behind it: Yokoyama-san revealed that the “Tiki tiki boom” riff was originally just a temporary vocal filler on Imai's demo before he wrote proper words. But since the manipulator loved it so much that he sampled it to use it for a rhythm loop, Imai decided to keep it as the main riff.

There’s an instrumental break around 2:00 where Imai just throws all of his weird space noises, industrial samples and mechanical squeaks and groans into the mix, panned playfully about the stereo field. And then it gives way to a heavily flanged-out 3-note guitar solo, scratching away like an infected mosquito bite. It took me ages to work out what it reminded me of: I Hate Pretending by Secret Machines.

I would be surprised if Imai had ever heard of the psychedelic Texan space-rockers, but (the sadly missed) Benjamin Curtis was one of the few American guitarists I ever witnessed who could match the sheer freeform inventiveness of Imai’s distinctive heavily-processed, melodic-noize guitar style. (That band also had a classic rock-obsessed drummer who Toll would probably really appreciate, too.)

Best moment: around 2:36, at the end of the break, where all the instruments drop out, there’s a sudden sample of a deep, pitch-shifted “TIKI TIKI BOOM!” which flies across the stereo field from left to right like a hand grenade. It’s so silly, and yet so absurdly satisfying.

[robsheridan]

Members of London’s 1981 electroplasm scene, a fusion of extreme body modification, mortality edging, and electronic music, where specific frequencies generated by custom modular synthesizer hardware were found to stimulate spectral wavelengths enough to generate ecloplasm and control its psychokinetic growth into electronic wiring, creating sounds unlike anyone (living) had ever heard before.

The most hardcore electroplasm musicians, flatmates at a warehouse space they called The Cortex, began fusing their nervous systems to the hardware such that the electroplasm could flow through their bodies, syncing with their biorhythms, turning them into electronic posthuman processors in a chain of spirit-charged flesh modules. As the ectoplasm rewired their brains and warped their forms, they were no longer technically “alive” by standard definitions, but held on the bleeding edge of the mortal plane by the spirits trapped in them, howling supernatural tones they shaped with their body instruments.

As the niche scene grew, more devotees joined the chain of spirit vessels in The Cortex, giving their bodies to the rhythm, building the beat, forming new otherworldly sounds with each new human instrument. These “beat zombies,” as NME coined them, could only continue “living” as long as the sonic frequencies continued through the chain, and so the beat at The Cortex ran 24/7, their “musical life support.” Hundreds of fans gathered to dance at the undead rave, the most unique performance art ever seen; some predicted the sound would last forever, growing so big that one day every human who ever lived would become connected to it, a jam session across all souls, here and beyond.

Unfortunately, the entire electroplasm scene ended abruptly just a few months after it had begun, when the power was cut to the warehouse space, killing all 78 posthuman vessels instantly and releasing all of the spiritual energy trapped within them at once in a psychokinetic blast that razed four city blocks. It turned out that when the musicians gave their minds & bodies to electrically-charged ectoplasmic sound, they never thought about who would pay the utility bills.

---------

NOTE: This alternate reality horror story is part of my NightmAIres narrative art series (visit that link for a lot more). NightmAIres are windows into other worlds and interconnected alternate histories, conceived/written by me and visualized with synthography and Photoshop.

If you enjoy my work, consider subscribing to my free newsletter to stay up to date on my projects, or supporting me on Patreon for frequent exclusive hi-res wallpaper packs, behind-the-scenes features, downloads, events, contests, and an awesome fan community. Direct fan support is what keeps me going as an independent creator, and it means the world to me.

[uhbasicallyjustmilex]

Have some song recs! I suspect we have a lot of crossover in terms of music taste so I tried to include some out-there choices as well (I promise I won't be upset if they're not your thing 😉🥰):

A Hero's Death - Fontaines D.C.

The Girl is Crying in her Latte - Sparks

Forloveren - Kaizers Orchestra

Маяк - The Hardkiss

Cha Cha Cha - Käärijä (couldn't resist 😅💚)

Hope you're having a lovely week too 💖

hellooo 💓 thank you so much for these 🥰 i do always love getting to listen to music i’d probably never come across on my own, so thank you for including the out there choices as well as the ones that you could probably pretty safely bet are to my usual taste!

a hero’s death - fontaines dc

couldn’t listen all the way through | not my thing | it’s okay | kinda catchy | ok i really like this | downloading immediately | already in my library

i think you must have read my mind on this one because i've just recently started listening to fontaines dc after YEARS of everyone telling me i'd love them, and yeah. they're pretty damn cool from what i've heard so far, and this song has only pulled me in more!

the girl is crying in her latte - sparks

couldn’t listen all the way through | not my thing | it’s okay | kinda catchy | ok i really like this | downloading immediately | already in my library

i can appreciate that this is a really cool song (and it actually got stuck in my head on a loop after hearing it lol), but it's just a bit too electronic for my taste

forloveren - kaizers orchestra

couldn’t listen all the way through | not my thing | it’s okay | kinda catchy | ok i really like this | downloading immediately | already in my library

oooooh this is so atmospheric and full of layers and unexpected surprises, i really liked it and i've never heard anything quite like it!

mаяк - the hardkiss

couldn’t listen all the way through | not my thing | it’s okay | kinda catchy | ok i really like this | downloading immediately | already in my library

this is not my usual taste, but i actually really liked the overall feeling and vibe of it - it's really powerful

cha cha cha - käärijä

couldn’t listen all the way through | not my thing | it’s okay | kinda catchy | ok i really like this | downloading immediately | already in my library

aghhhhh i'm sorry i know how much you love him (and i can totally see why, whenever your posts about him pop up on my dash i think he looks SO cool, and also i've heard only the loveliest things about him), but this is just not really my vibe, it's too electronic for me 😅 that being said, i was listening to these in the living room and my sister (and flatmate lol) was there and the moment this song started playing she looked up from her phone and said "oh my god, turn it up" and that's how i found out she's a käärijä fan 😂

thank you so much for these, this was really fun! hope you're having a good week so far, sending you all the good vibes ✨💗

[bravecrab]

I got into a conversation with my flatmate about my hatred of "AI" tech, and I want to share some of my points.

Before I get into it, Artificial Intelligence as a term is used to describe many kinds of technology, from machine learning tools to large language models, encompassing many use cases. It goes without saying that my beef is not with the technology that can be used to identify cancer cells, or other altruistic actions. The problem usually isn't as simple as the tech in itself being "evil", it's more connected to the use of such technology under the existing systems of capitalism, sexism, and racism.

1) Environmental impact - Much has been said about Generative AIs use of water in the cooling of data centres, as well as their energy usage. They are concerning to me, but let's talk about some other stuff. In the same vein as the current energy usage, is the scaling energy usage. Currently the Global usage of AI is relatively small, the use cases haven't quite been found yet, but that hasn't stopped companies from trying to integrate it everywhere. There is a belief that all the information that is constantly being mined from the general public must be a money making insight, they just haven't been able to work through the massive amounts to find that gold. So not only do you have an increase in more electronic surveillance sources (more on that later), you also have more energy usage of AI software running constantly to interpret the freshly captured data. And that's just one use case. We're adding more and more Always On technology into our grids, on a planet struggling with climate change (more on that later) in which we've been told to try to reduce emissions/carbon footprint (both personal and corporate).

Also with the use of Generative AI images, online opportunists are going to make the trash heap of fast-fashion/needless merchandising worse by making huge amounts of product without the time and skill it would have previously taken to make those images.

2) Surveillance. Being able to label and interpret information caught on camera quickly, means that not only will more cameras be installed for security reasons, but also by employers trying to force more work out of employees (known as the Reverse Centaur model of AI workplace integration), and more cameras in consumer goods, both home Smart Devices and wearables. The world is already so full of surveillance devices but that is not a reason to accept more, especially devices that are owned by private enterprise Tech Oligarchs.

3) Hype. To go back to the point about climate change, when I told my flatmate about my ecological concerns regarding AI, his question was "What if the AI finds a solution to climate change?" We already know the solution to climate change, it's to reduce emissions, stop corporations from chasing infinite growth, and attempt to live more sustainable lives by living in more balance with the eco-system of the planet. But what if our tech overlords creates an Artificial General Intelligence god like they keep saying they're going to make, and then the AGI tells the powerful people to do what I just said. They wouldn't let it. You've already got Elon clumsily getting Grok to stop being woke and talk about "White Genocide". Artificial Intelligence is a marketing term, playing off the general public's indoctrinated beliefs in that the future must adhere to sci fi tropes and aesthetics. The tech industry tells you that robot workers, flying and/or self-driving cars, and sentient AI must come into existence because the Jetsons fucking told us it's the future. You've got tech executives saying that AI will replace scores of workers, but that's because it makes their product sound capable, which until it actually replaces those workers, is just more marketing.

3) Speaking of workers, AI is a digital scab. Not just against unionized labour, but against any worker who wants better working conditions, wages, or rights. You already have media executives dangling AI over the heads of Union Workers in Film, TV and Animation. It's already being used to lower the bargaining power of illustrators and other artists. There are too many platforms and publishers who disrespect workers and consumers enough that "Good Enough" AI slop gets released so workers will have to accept lower pay.

4) The Information Eco-System. It's not just the hallucinations in synthetic text. It's not just the AI posts on Facebook that trick Boomers. It's not just the AI bot comments in the comment section. It's not just the public humiliation of non-consensual deep fake porn. It's not just the bias of data training models ripped from social media who already have over-represented demographics (please read the Stochastic Parrots paper). It's not just people using ChatGPT as a search engine and accepting the summary as the most accurate source. And it's not just the students actively choosing to de-skill themselves by using corporate owned software to "cheat", while leaving them reliant on that same corporate owned software going forward. It is all of these and more.

5) The human touch. There's been talk of using AI to make personalized movies and other media, based on your likes and dislikes (data harvesting/surveillance) and made from all the media they continue to steal from actual creators. Do people actually want media that nobody made from their own creative passion, that doesn't challenge the viewer, and that the viewer can't discuss with anyone because the other viewers have their own personalized media? There's already use of generative AI to replace train announcements instead of human voice actors. There's more AIs used when you need to call companies, and chatbots on their websites, and self-service in businesses, and bots on our social media, and AI girlfriends, and if THIS is actually accepted, and rolled out across more and more of our society, we're getting more and more starved of human to human experience. Hyper-individualistic and isolated.

I hate "AI" because it severes human connection, and we desperately need human connection. While these "AI" tools are not nearly as beneficial to the general public as these salesmen promise, they are useful as a Trojan Horse to sneak in more surveillance. To convince consumers that they are getting a better product because it's wrapped in sci fi wrapping paper, while it separates us and reduces our rights as workers, consumers, and citizens. It offers us convenience in exchange for less education and personal autonomy, as well as mindlessly plundering resources and worsening climate change. We cannot organize with our community or form unions to fight back against fascist governments and the corporations that benefit from them, if we allow "AI" technology to further isolate us from each other.

[flavor-aid-sekt]

Käärijä Concert Kraków

18.12.2024

I've been watching the Eurovision Song Contest regularly for a while now. It's great fun to watch performers from all over Europe; you also get to experience some really great music this way. My flatmate Ola is a huge fan, she seems to know all the performances and we watch the contest together. Eurovision 2023 had great representatives and it was hard to predict who would win. We were instead captivated by a musician from Finland, Käärijä. He came second but got the most votes from the audience. The audience loved him for his charisma and distance from himself. I had been following his career for a while, he was releasing new songs. That's why I was excited when I found out that Käärijä was going to perform in Krakow. I immediately bought tickets. His concert was great! Let's face it, he's not a great musician, he doesn't sing brilliantly. He raps to electronic music, which has a beat similar to Rammstein. But he has a great rapport with the audience and is hilarious on stage. He dances and talks between songs. He doesn't speak English well, but he tried and it was lovely. He was happy that so many people came, he was very grateful. Of course, he said that Poland was crazy and that he would like to come back here again. Someone threw his underwear on stage and he laughed that such a situation was happening to him for the first time. Likewise, when someone gave him an apron with regional patterns on it, he wore it and performed one song wearing it. I had a great time. I didn't know all the songs, I couldn't sing them through the language barrier, but I had a great time. He performed his biggest hit up to two times towards the end because everyone was shouting so much. As a souvenir of the concert I bought myself a mug with him on it, and I also have a ticket. If he comes again, I will definitely go again.

[tabby-shieldmaiden]

i want to study at a chinese university

i will use 汉字 instead of the Latin alphabet and use 度 instead of farenheit. i would watch C-Dramas on CCTV all night while drinking oolong tea with my flatmates. i'll have egg fried rice every day that's worth ¥100. i would go to electronic raves every night. i am also more likely to meet 帅人, Zhao Wei, Yang Yang and Fan Bingbing.

i wish i was chinese :(

It's really funny that redditors convinced themselves that the stupid Tiananmen Square copypasta is going to get chinese people forcefully disconnected from their internet service or something while the UK government will get your ass if you complete the sentence "Soldier F is ___" and has actively worked with google and with social media websites to censor posts or search results about Soldier F

[twistedlittlenightmare]

So I've put off making this post because my brain is still vibrating but as is so fucking typical my bad luck is never ending

Our flat was broken into on Friday while we were all out and they've taken my laptop that I currently can't afford to replace (amongst alot other electronics belonging to my flatmates) and I'm just.. at the point of being totally hopeless honestly

After my dad dying, my house going on fire and my mental health being at absolute rock bottom this was the last thing I needed and I feel so bad for my friends as well because they don't deserve any of this bad luck either

My car is sitting unable to move because I can't afford to take it to a garage to get fixed and now I need a new laptop for work and studies, I'm having to request more student support on top of already asking for accommodations for my mental health and I'm scared they're going to think I'm bullshitting at this point and I'm not. Also alreadybhad to apply for hardship funding to even pay my rent so like wtf am I supposed to do at this point?????

[immortalsins]

what is tumblr good for if not to turn up out of the blue and rant

am trying so hard to survive&thrive at uni but my course says no - lost count of the number of times we’ve been neglected or looked over and the stress of it is not what u need on top of the ordeal of ... doing this course. got a lab session on tuesday on opamps, but we are the 11 out of 200 people who have not covered them (scheduled to do that after easter) and yet!! we have to complete 3 hours of preparation for a 3 hour lab about opamps! yes i can teach myself this stuff (how-hard-can-it-possibly-be mentality) but this is far from the first time we’ve been forgotten about and i can’t carry on like this i do Not have the time or energy

[mumintroll]

i went 2 a charity shop i havent been to yet today and it was sooo good they had such a massive book section i got 1 by doris lessing which im excited to read and they also had a really good french section (they were all classics so i didnt get any bc im not good enough to read stuff like that yet but its good to know they r there once i am at a better level 👍) they also had loads of electronics i think i'll get a cd player from there once i have more money. then i went to the supermarket and ran into one of my flatmates in the bread aisle. pretty good day so far

[lifeafterpsychiatry]

Sorry my question was too broad earlier (group home & anxiety). I’ll try to be more specific. What made you decide to join a GH (or if you were made to join one)? How much privacy do you get in a GH? Do all GHs have carers/social workers or is it more like having flatmates? Can it be motivating to be in a GH (e.g. for me personally, when I’m living with someone else I can do the cleaning since I share a space but if I’m on my own it’s harder for me to get myself to do that)? Thanks in advance

What made me decide to move into a group home was the fact that my illness was becoming a burden on my parents whereas in a group home there'd be professionals available who actually got paid to deal with it. The main reason why I let myself institutionalize was to remove the responsibility for managing my illness from my parents shoulders.

The level of privacy varies a lot from place to place. Currently I have my own apartment with an electronically locked door separating me from everything else, but in other places I've lived in a room I couldn't lock while sharing bathrooms and kitchens with fellow residents. So it varies a lot.

All group homes I've lived in have had carers/social workers available. That's the whole point - that there's people available to help out the residents with their daily responsibilities. But that being said, you can easily end up sharing a flat with other residents.

I definitely think having people available to guide you through tasks and hold you accountable while you perform them can be motivating. Having another person involved in doing your chores can make it a lot easier to stay motivated in my experience.

[bts-hyperfixation]

Never Such A Blizzard Before

This is real long for a drabble, hope you like it @madygswich

Also I've posted this like 3 times now, it does not want to show in the tags man 😭

Packing for the holidays was not your favourite thing. All of your flatmates had already left for home, and from what you could tell the rest of the dorm had cleared out too. So naturally you did what anyone would do when they thought they were home alone… you turned up your Christmas music as loud as you could and danced around, clearing the rest of your mess from around the communal spaces. You were midway through a tango with the mop when you spotted him watching you from the apartment opposite yours. His nose is scrunched from the giggles you can’t hear through the glass. Heat rises to your cheeks as you quickly abandon your inanimate partner and duck into the safety of your bedroom. Of all moments for Jeon Jungkook to notice your existence, it had to be this one.

Jungkook was fairly well known around your dorm as the quiet cutie. Everyone wanted to talk to him, but he tended to stick to a fairly small friendship circle, much to all of the girls’ dismay. He was stunning. And there he was laughing at you.

You go to the turn your speaker down when it cuts out of its own accord. Frowning, you attempt to get it working again, but its no use. Then you notice the lamp on your desk had also gone out. Before you get a chance to test any of your other appliances, there’s a knock at the door. An equally puzzled looking Jungkook is now at your door. You open it for him to come in.

“Sorry to intrude on your… dance class? But nothing in my apartments working and you are the only other person I know is still here.” He states

“Yeah, my stereo and lights have all gone out too.” His brow furrows.

“Right okay, I’ll call the accommodation office. Hopefully, someone will still be there, and we can get this sorted soon.” Jungkook takes out his mobile and you take the chance to look at him up close. His new undercut does wonders for his jawline, the soft curl just adding to the effect. His lose-fitted black jumper and black skinny jeans suit him well, a signature style you’ve noticed. Despite his good looks Jungkook didn’t seem to like bringing too much attention to himself. Unfortunately, by concealing himself it just left more people wondering what was underneath. You are brought out of your thoughts when he scoffs at his phone before putting it back in his pocket.

“What did they say?” You ask trying not to stare any longer.

“Powers out.” You roll your eyes at the blunt answer.

“Did they say how long?”

“Nope.” He says popping the p. “They didn’t seem to give a shit to be honest, looks like we are just going to have to keep ourselves entertained until it hopefully comes back on its own.” He shrugs and starts looking around your apartment. “I’m Jungkook by the way, your Y/N right?” he sits himself down at your kitchen table, swinging his legs on to the chair next to him.

“Um, yeah Y/N… Aren’t you supposed to be going home for Christmas?” you moved to feel the kettle and are relieved to find it’s still warm. “Drink?” you try to avoid his gaze as his eyes follow you around the room.

“I’ll take tea if you have it… but, yeah I’m going home but not for two days. My family aren’t even home right now so there wouldn’t be a point. Why are you still here?” it really feels like his eyes are going to bore a hole in the back of your head as you busy yourself.

“My family all work running up to the holidays, if I went home, I’d just be alone for the next week, at least this way I get to be alone without my mom yelling at me to wake up as she leaves in the morning.” You shrug and try not to dwell on it any longer. Placing the tea in front of Jungkook, you take a seat opposite him before taking a sip of your own drink. You savour the warmth in silence for a little while. Every so often one of you will catch the other looking, he starts pulling silly faces when you catch him, making you giggle in return. Eventually you find your way into an easy conversation, you tell him about your course. He listens like he actually cares about the mundane inner workings of your course work. You return the favour, asking intricate question about his film course, the only difference being you find his genuinely interesting.

“You got a pack of cards, and some torches?” He asks, sitting up right.

“We’re at university… of course I have a deck of cards, as long as you don’t mind the beer stains that is and I think there is a big torch in the place” You point to a cupboard by the door and he fetches them back.

“If we can’t use anything electronic, we might as well do some good old fashion gambling” there’s a mischievous glint in his eye as he shuffles the deck. “How about strip poker?” the look on your face must’ve been quite the picture as he starts laughing immediately. “Okay… how about alcohol? We can bet sips and shots, that’ll help warm us up too.” You nod and leave the room.

You return with a bottle of vodka, lemonade, and two red solo cups. You watch as he pours a dangerous amount of liquor into both cups followed by about a thimble of mixer. For someone who kept to himself so much, he sure was eager to get drunk with a stranger. You snatch the lemonade from his grasp and pour more into your cup. You start with blackjack, a civil game, 1 or 2 sips bet at most. You can’t help but giggle at the face he pulls trying to swallow his almost straight vodka. You then switch to schlumpf, a game with six rounds: the first four involve guessing the next card in the deck, the fifth is trying to get rid of those cards, the sixth involves only the person with the most cards - they must face the pyramid (climb up four layers of cards without turning a face card).

You find yourself fairly tipsy after a few rounds. Fairly tipsy and extremely cold…

“Hey, did we check if the heating worked?” Jungkook seems surprised by your question.

“No… we really should’ve huh?” the boiler is hidden in a cupboard in hallway, you rush from the room to check.

“Nothing” you sigh “Heating’s broken.” You call behind you, just to find Jungkook had come with you. You nearly smack straight into him as you turn back towards the kitchen. Your lips a hairbreadths away from his, tension building between the two of you. He glances at your lips and then back at your eyes, asking for permission, but you’ve already lost focus. Something catches your eye out of the large window and the end of your hallway.

“OH MY GOD!” you pull back from him a rush to look outside. He lets a frustrated breath out through his nose before following you to see what was going on. “It’s snowing!” he watches you as you watch the snow, admiring the adorable grin that has taken over your face. He takes in the way your eyes sparkle with the light from the streetlamps reflected in them.

“Wait what time is it?” he asks, suddenly aware of how dark it’s gotten outside. You hadn’t noticed the world dimming around your games. You glance at your watch and your eyes go wide.

“3am…” you look up at him and notice how close he is again. Stood directly behind you, if you took half a step back, you’d be in his arms. “Did you want to stay here… I mean it would be warmer if we stayed together… I mean if you want…” you stutter through stupid excuse to try to get him to stay the night.

“Yeah, you know what that seems like a great idea, sharing body heat or whatever.” His nose scrunches in the cutest way possible and he wraps an arm around your waist. “Anything to stay warm.” He whispers into your ear making you shiver. His embrace is gone as quickly as it was there. “Do you have enough blankets? Or do you want me to fetch mine? We could make a little fort to protect us.” There’s no way you’re turning down that offer. You settle in your bedroom and give him the torch and your door keys so he can go in search of more bedding. You sit there wrapped in your duvet a staring out the window and the settling snow until he comes back with more pillows than anyone should ever own in hand. He has also switch into a plain white t and grey sweats, a look classic enough to make anyone hot under the collar. You try not to focus too much on his pj’s focus the torchlight on your building site instead.

By the time you’re finished with construction, you are exhausted. You don’t really think about it as you cuddle into Jungkook amongst your mountain of pillows and blankets. All you know is you are cosier than you have ever been.

When morning arrives, you are all to aware of who you are snuggled up with, even more aware of his morning wood poking into your back. You wriggle a little, trying not to wake him, but he just sleepily pulls you back into him. You resign yourself to your fate and instead revel in the warmth his body provides.

“Good morning” he mumbles sleepily kissing your hair before realising where he is and who you are. “Oh um… sorry… that was weird.” He then swivels his hips as he realises what position you are in. He doesn’t, however, release you from his embrace. “Apparently I just can’t help myself around a pretty girl.” You feel the deep blush that creeps up your cheeks and try to hide it in his chest.

“It s’okay.” You mumble into him. He chuckles at your reaction and strokes at your hair.

“Y/N?”

“Yeah.”

“Look at me?” you pull your head back from your hiding spot and tilt your chin upwards, only to have your lips met with his. Slightly stale from sleep, but somehow still amazing. It doesn’t help the shyness you had been feeling, and it definitely doesn’t help the situation going on his sweats. He pulls away all too soon for you. “So… was that okay?”

“Yeah… yeah that was okay.” You’re a little breathless as you answer.

“Cool… so I’m going to go brush my teeth but, do you want to continue this when I come back? Or I can just not come back… completely up to you… although I do think it’s going to be really cold again today, and it did seem to work better with two people for heat and…” you cut off his nervous babble with another quick kiss before peeling back the covers and letting the cold air in.

“Continuing sounds great, but you better hurry because you’re going to get cold real quick, and if you think I’m going to let you back in here with cold hands, you’re dreaming.” You tease, gaining confidence in his sudden lack. His bunny smile shows as he leaps out of bed, practically running from your apartment to his. While he is gone you brush your own teeth and find your condoms (it’s been a while). You peel back the curtains a little and are shocked to find the snow still going strong. At least two foot covers sparkles on the floor as the blizzard continues.

You scramble back under the covers when you hear footsteps approaching. He flings back the duvet making you squeal as he straddles you and places cold hands under your shirt.

“What did I say about cold hand!” you cry as he warms them on your stomach.

“You said you wouldn’t let me back in… but I’m not in, I removed the blanket completely. Although I am now seeing the floor in that plan” he drags the duvet back over your bodies.

“It’s all well and good putting the blanket back now, but I’m already cold.” You pout.

“Oh… let me help you with that.” He dips down so his body covers yours completely. He kisses you deeply, much more passionately now that he is minty fresh. He waits until you can’t breathe properly and then moves on to trailing his lips along your chin and down your throat. “Willing to get a little colder to get a lot hotter?” he asks signalling to the hem of your shirt. You bite your lip and nod. “God your hot.” He bends to kiss you once more before doing away with the unwanted fabric. His hot tongue circles one of your nipples, playing with it until its stiff. When he’s satisfied, he moves to the other side doing the same while one of his hands plays with the abandoned peak.

You moan as he bites sensitive skin. He doesn’t leave you long to revel in the pleasure. His fingers dip into your waistband a tug. You lift your hips and allow him to shimmy your pants low enough to play with your core. His left-hand pinches at your clit as his mouth returns to yours, swallowing the desperate whines that tumble form your lips as he teases two fingers at your entrance.

“Tell me how much you want me babygirl.” You arch into his hand at the pet name.

“So…o mu...ch” you pant, not able to manage more. But it’s enough for Jungkook as he pushes both fingers into you. The stretch burns so nicely as he scissors and thrusts into you. It’s difficult to focus on him as he shuffles down your bed for his mouth to join his hand.

“Look at me Y/N” his voice is low and commanding. You use everything in you to meet his eyes as his lips wrap around your clit and suck. The sensation makes you squeal. His response is to go harder. The heat in the pit of your stomach grows until you feel like you might explode. Your orgasm overtakes you, coating his fingers and chin as he continues his endeavours. You ride his fingers until you come down, gasping hard from the release.

“Can you take me?” you meet his eyes and find nothing but lust within the deep brown. You nod enthusiastically, reaching for the condom you prepared. He chuckles as he slides his own pants down. He rips the small blue packet open and slides it easily on to his hard length. You kick your pants the rest of the way down your legs while he sorts himself out, freeing up your movement. Unable to hold back any longer, you wrap your arms around his neck and drag him back down to meet you. Your lips lock together, tongues exploring one another, you can still taste yourself on him. It takes you by surprise when he enters you.

You let a low whine as he gets thicker the further in he pushes. Your nails claw into his back at the small “fuck” that leaves his mouth when he’s all the way in. You wriggle your hips under him, desperate for friction and he groans.

“You keep doing that and this isn’t gonna last long.” He bites down hard on his lip and tries to focus on controlling his thrusts. Each smack of skin is accompanied by a grunt, the speed dizzying as you feel your high approaching for a second time.

“Jungkoo..” you whine as you clench around him, just to be left empty as he pulls out of you. You pout at the loss, sad as your high disappears.

“Turn over baby girl.” He helps you flip and presses back into you with little warning. The new angle feels amazing. Never having felt so full. He pulls almost all the way out of you before pushing hard all the back in, hitting every nerve you have on the way. He supports your quivering form with his strong arms. You’re not sure when he abandoned his shirt, but you are pulled back against his sweaty chest. Your high builds back up so fast you nearly get whiplash. This one even more intense than the last. He drops your spent body back on to the mattress and grabs onto your bum for purchase as he goes harder than ever chasing his own high.

It doesn’t take long for him to cum, buried deep inside of you. It takes him a moment to recover, resting his hands on your back before pulling out and tying the end of the condom.

“I almost don’t want the heating to get fixed if this is going to stay an option.” He says collapsing next to you and recovering you both with the blankets.

“I’m sure we could do this again even if the heating comes back on you know…”

Masterlist

[louhearted]

i have a french softie, a spanish harry stan, and a german trans boy as my housemates. like.... goals or what

[pixuou]

With business traffic growing, Electronics Supercenter is expanding their staff. The new sales assistants are fresh college graduates (Aldric Davis, Jessie Pilferson, Mickey Dosser and Caroline Scott) who have not yet managed (or tried) to find jobs that suit their education level, but will hopefully enjoy working at the store despite first impressions of the boss. (Aldric hates it already.)

Jessie: Oh Watcher, they really don't have anything better for a uniform? Dark blue looks awful on me.

Mickey: I heard they're ordering some custom shirts just now, should be here by next week. The bad news is it's still definitely going to be dark blue. Have you even seen the company's logo?

Stephanie: Hey there, do I get a flatmate discount?

Mickey: Not unless you're Mr. Landgraab's flatmate, which I would know about.

Jessie: But you get the honour of being Mickey's first customer! I hope you're not in a hurry.

While restocking, Caroline is listening to her experienced colleague Tammy talk customers into buying stuff they don't need. She wants to learn.

Mickey: Aldric, your brother's here in the queue!

Aldric: Thanks, I've noticed, I'm kinda busy at the moment though.

Jessie: Hey, we're literally closing and you've got nothing else to do? You can take my register if you're so bored!

[fishmongeringstudies]

thirty three: meditations on giving it your all (you should save your heart for when it really matters, like when you are standing on a cliff and waiting for your dead lover to come back to you)

going to sleep is more effort than it's worth. i have to put my laptop away and turn off the lights and go to the bathroom and set my phone on airplane mode because this makes me feel better about my electronic consumption and go to the bathroom again just in case and turn on the lights to check that there's nothing in my closet and turn off the lights and then lie in the dark with thoughts of the end of the world as we know it and the blues clues theme song beyblade fighting each other in my head until finally, thirty-three minutes after i decided to go to sleep, i pass out from exhaustion and wake up without a shred of understanding of the last eighteen weeks. sentience is hard enough to maintain when you have it. but coming back to yourself? the process is tedious and contrived like trying to slide a dvd into your dvd player, which is breaking down.

i have three mosquito bites on my right arm and one on my left. summer.

the common argument for the slightly average storybook protagonist is that the reader needs to be able to project themselves onto and/or relate to them with as much ease as possible. but i propose a counterargument: people are far more interesting than they think they are. given a protagonist who inhabits the bizarre slightly insane thirty-five year old office worker role instead of the plucky teenager who can do most things with average skill, i think you would be surprised at how many people would find an aspect of themselves in there.

let's say people are mirrors. then i hold myself up to you and i say blink. you blink. you rub your eyes. what are you looking at? it is not you. but it is.

let's say we're alive. good morning, i say to the living person on the first floor of my college dorm as i step out of the elevator into the cool air conditioned lounge. recognizing a fellow living thing in front of them they smile at me and nod. good morning, they reply.

everything is annoying if you try hard enough. the opposite must therefore be true as well: everything is bearable if you try hard enough. i am currently trying very hard. i am unsure what i am trying to do. but i am trying.

today i had a subpar banana. my flatmates had a loud conversation about preferred quantities of facial hair on men in the living room. i was reminded of grizzly bears. i ordered some eye cream to bring back home with me for my mother and my sister, whose combined care for skin exceeds mine multiplied by eighteen thousand and who will probably always look like they just stepped out of an sk-ii ad. i took a nap.

i'm homesick. after five months of this shit i'm homesick. you wanted a revelation so here you go: a revelation. do what you want with it. it's so much effort to convince my eyes to stay closed but i think i'll go to bed now. tomorrow i need to call the embassy. life moves on, dragging you behind it like a sad tail. we are all standing in the shadow of something holy.

06.22.21