#I got like 30mins of sleep before suddenly waking up and needing to write this down

[anarchypumpkincowboy]

Okok so like first off, I need y’all to know that this idea only came to me because I’d been watching ballets and the Indian movie I’d mentioned earlier Natyam (which is really really good I really do recommend it) but anyways one of those ballets was Swan Lake. Where the prince looks like this

Let us all take a moment to imagine this being Jace… okay moment over onto the au

So Jace multiclassed into bard in secret like when he was in college. His parents wanted him to become a wizard, and he tried he really did, but he failed and dropped wizard courses right after the second semester. He’s always enjoyed dancing, and he’s very skilled, but he’s always known that he could never view dance as any sort of viable life path. His parents would disown him. Not because they necessarily dislike dance or him dancing; they just believe he could do better, more important, things in his life.

He obviously goes to every recital he can, and damned if he doesn’t want to be up on stage with them. He goes back to his apartment after the performances and practices the moves as best he can. Sometimes when at night the moon is bright he’ll go to the spot he found by the lake nearby that’s slightly hidden from view, and get lost dancing to nothing but the music of nature. He’s not really religious, not like his mother, but he does find that dancing under the light of the moon helps to calm his mind and magic.

When he fails out of wizard classes he decides that maybe it’s a sign to go for something he’s passionate in. But he CANNOT let his parents find out that he’s switched from wizard to bard classes. They’re the ones paying for the university, his apartment, and they control his trust fund. If they find out he’s pretty sure they’ll disown him unless he goes back to wizard classes.

So he signs up for them in secret. He gets Corvin, a rogue and one of his best friends/fuck buddies, to sneak into the offices and make sure that there is no way his parents could find out.

And Jace fucking loves his dance classes. His teacher tells him he’s a natural, a prodigy, it’s still hard work and he’s sore and exhausted both physically and mentally at the end of every class. But it’s more than worth it. He’s never been so happy and at peace than he is when he’s dancing and performing.

As time passes it gets harder and harder to hide that he’s not learning wizardry from his parents. He just barely makes it out of having to go back home in the summer break, tells them that he’s still struggling so he decided to take up summer lessons this year. His parents are proud that he’s putting in the effort. And he is taking summer lessons, just for his dance class instead.

This pattern continues for another year. He’s slowly been working his way into more important roles, he’s even had a few solos this year. His teacher tells him that if he keeps this pace then by the fall semester he should start auditioning for some lead roles, that he’s near guaranteed the lead in a most.

Unfortunately that summer his parents decide they’ve missed him, and to surprise him with a visit. Three guesses as to what they end up discovering when they go to wait for his summer “wizard” lessons to get out for the day… They are of course furious. And when they see his name on a poster about a recital happening the next day, well, they decide to surprise him there.

Jace is the lead, and he’s incredible, and it’s so clear how much he belongs on the stage. His mother is almost moved by his performance, almost, and his father is thinking they should’ve stamped this out of him as a child.

By the time the performance ends, Jace is exhausted and riding an after performance high. His plans are to go out and have a few drinks with some of the other dancers before going home and crashing. That is of course immediately thrown off course when he leaves the building and sees his parents waiting for him. They don’t exactly give him a choice but to get into their car and ride in a painfully uncomfortable silence all the way back to his apartment. Where his parents make it very clear that he’s had his fun but it’s time start being serious. And that they aren’t accepting no for an answer.

But he is serious about dance, he shows them articles written about his latest performances, tells them about how his teacher calls him a prodigy, how he’s guaranteed the next couple lead roles. They don’t care. His father tells him if he doesn’t give up these ridiculous dreams they’re pulling away all his funding and taking him back home. Jace just barely manages to hold his tears back till they leave.

Okay, okay so he has till the end of the summer to figure out how to pay for his apartment, his schooling, and everything else. Not too hard right? Except that he can’t get a job that’ll pay enough for everything. And he already devotes almost all his time practicing. So he asks around his group if anyone has any advice.

One of his friends brings up how he could probably get a few scholarships. Another tells him that he should definitely apply for the House Sunstone Arts Foundation. It’s a pretty prestigious program, but even his teacher tells him he’s got a great chance at getting it.

About 2 weeks after he’s sent in his application he gets a response asking for a meeting with one of the members of the Sunstone family for an interview. The letter has the date, time, and address. It’s at a pretty fancy restaurant. One of those places with a dress code. And it’s only 2 days away.

He gets there. He’s nervous as hell. And as he’s led to the table he gets even more nervous because fuck he was not expecting the person he was meeting with to be so hot. Porter stands up to greet him, they introduce themselves, and Porter pulls out the chair for Jace. They both sit down, Jace apologizes for being late (he wasn’t, Porter had just shown up early). Porter says it’s fine, that he’d only just gotten there himself. They order food, Porter orders a bottle of wine for the table, and they begin talking.

Jace tells Porter about his accomplishments, his goals, his dreams, anything and everything he can think of to get him this scholarship. Porter nods and hums along before eventually asking why he’s applying for it. Jace tells him about how dancing has always been his passion, but that his parents envision a different life for him and cut off his funding. Porter tells him that he’s seen the videos Jace had sent in, that he can see the passion and talent Jace has, that he’s in the final list of applicants.

They finish dinner. And when they shake hands Jace tells himself he just imagined the caress of Porter’s thumb on his hand. He goes back home, tells his friends he’s made it to the final list. And life continues on for another 2 weeks before Jace gets 2 letters. One, from the foundation giving him another date, time, and address for a final interview in 3 days at the same restaurant. And the other from Jace’s parents stating they’ve cancelled his lease and he’s expected back home by the end of the month. He’s got three weeks of freedom left.

He goes to the interview. Once again Porter pulls out his chair. The conversation isn’t too much different from the last interview, but this time Porter’s asking him more questions. Mostly about his personal life unrelated to dance. And he keeps filling up Jace’s drink. And Jace keeps drinking. He knows he should stop, he’s already had a truly unprofessional amount, but Porter keeps filling it up. And Jace thinks it’d be rude to deny more, plus it’s good wine.

Jace knocks over his glass at some point, spilling it all over himself. He curses and grabs a napkin to try to dab it out but Porter’s leaning closer having already grabbed it and starting to dab Jace’s shirt. Jace is definitely not imagining how the dabs feel like caresses. And he’s definitely not imagining the look in Porter’s eye when Jace shivers from the touch.

They end dinner not too long afterwards, Jace can barely sit still in his seat now that he’s clocked Porter’s attraction. Jace is also far too gone to drive himself back home. So Porter offers him a ride. They go outside and Porter’s driver pulls up near immediately. Porter opens the door and gestures Jace into it. The back has plenty of space, but as soon as Jace has slid over to the other window seat Porter’s sidled up right next to him, draping his arm across Jace’s headrest.

Jace thinks he might actually explode. He knows there is no hiding how he’s practically vibrating out of his seat the whole drive. Especially when they come across a particularly sharp turn and Porter curls his arm around Jace to keep him from slamming into the window. And then just doesn’t move his arm back. Not until they pull up to Jace’s apartment building and Porter tells him to expect another letter soon. And asks for his crystal number. Jace gives it to him, obviously, and just barely refrains from inviting him upstairs.

More time passes with only the occasional texts between the two, and about 4 days before he’s due back home with his parents he gets the acceptance letter. Apparently not only will it be funding his schooling and dance specific items, it’ll also provide housing. Which is such a relief given he can’t renew the lease. Jace gets a text from Porter telling him congratulations, and that he can come by in a few days to take Jace to his new apartment.

Rumors spread eventually that Jace only got the scholarship because he seduced Cliffbreaker. But after he finishes his last performance before he graduates and gets scouted by 7 different companies those rumors start to die off.

[masterpieceavenue94]

9th August - 11th August

9th August, Wednesday.

On Tuesday night there was a huge storm. I even woke up because of the noise and I saw the lightnings. I cried too and I was on my off-mode. I didn’t want to talk to anyone. I just want to sleep. Or be lying on my bed doing nothing. Today I woke up too tired.

Funny thing, I couldn’t wait for starting university, now I don’t want to start anything at all.

I went to this place to ask for the card I told you about. One man gave me a paper and I had to write information about me and the job and well he gave the paper to me and said “I’m on my break, when you’re done just give the paper to one woman” and with that, he left. I started to write my things but suddenly there was a bunch of things I didn’t know what to write and I felt so bad, because I couldn’t complete the full paper, I was stucked, didn’t know what to write, I didn’t understand what they were asking for…, I even asked two women there so they could help me but do you know what did they say to me? “I can’t help you” and “it’s not my problem”…wtf? YOU WORK HERE YOU SHOULD HELP. And I was there standing alone with the papers and afyer 10 minutes my dad called and I explained him everything, I even cried because I just couldn’t handle it anymore. So yeah, I started sobbing there because I didn’t know what to do and no one was there to help me. I felt so damn weak at that time, so vulnerable…Then after 30min, the man came and took my papers and said “it’s everything” and I was, I mean I was still crying, and I was like “no, it’s not done. I didn’t write these things” and he was like “it doesn’t matter” and he just wrote something and that’s it. He told on a week my boss would receive it or something like that and end of the story.

First of all, I don’t know if I did write everything right. Secondly, he didn’t even give a letter or a paper saying I’ve been there to ask for the card so I could say it to my boss or something. I just feel like that man didn’t want me there and just took the papers and that’s it. So as I said before, I just felt really weak and being on that position where you couldn’t defend yourself, where you know nothing…god…I just couldn’t. I felt useless.

10th August, Thursday.

Don’t know why, but this week I have always wake up around 6am, maybe I hear my dad going to work, maybe I’m thirsty and I need to drink water, maybe it’s too hot and I’m sweating,…Besides yesterday it was almost the whole day raining. Yesterday I felt so tired, I feel exhausted. Mentally.

Today I went to work, I gave Funda the contract and do my work. I only talked with Funda a few words and that’s it. I didn’t want to bother her anymore, so I think the best way to calm the situation is that, no talking just focus on what I have to do. One day I’ll talk about the people I work with as I did when I was on Burger king. The day was nice there, I did a bunch of things and when I came home I was really tired but I kinda felt that I was getting better than yesterday, like yeah, I was still upset about how things turned up but I assimilated what happened.

11th august, Friday

Friday finally came and I feel full of energy. I mean right now I just want to be on my bed doing nothing because I just finished working. I still don’t know why I keep waking up around 6am, well today it was 5:30 am and I tried to sleep again but after thirty minutes trying…I gave up. So at 6am I took my tablet and started watching YouTube videos. At 7am my mum came to woke me up (too late, mum) because we were going to Sweeden to buy and well we had to leave early. We bought and came back home at 12:30am, I took a shower, ate and went to work. I started at 4pm but I have to leave my house at 2:30pm.

The day was fine at work, at the end of the day Klaudia and I left together the restaurant and took the same train. She’s nice and I guess is with the only one I talk that much from work. She told me about how she got the job on the restaurant and her previous job. And well I have good news too! Today the university called me just to say congratulations because on Monday I will be starting classes. And well the good news are….remember when I was mad because I took a lot to create the best timetable for me a few weeks ago and then they just decided to move one of the subjects to the next semester and put another one from the second one? Well everything is fixed because they put again that first subject, right to its place. And well now it’s just about time to see if I got my classes the days I want, because they make us like…decide between three classes (from the same subject) and decide which priority we want the classes group to be.

[nachtangel]

Day 0

Travel day of hell. What a very very long day. Started off in Manchester, so my usual 30min drive to Heathrow was a 10 minute uber, 2hr10min train journey, 15 minute uber followed by a final 10 minute train journey. I had been dreading this journey for weeks, it was only once I was in London that I started to calm down. The train journey was on time and went pretty well, other than the fact I completely overheated. I got really hot and dizzy, but thankfully the train guard noticed and got me some ice which did actually help. Once I got to Heathrow getting through check in and security went pretty smoothly and I was sat in my usual food place of choice Eat. with my macbook passing the time on the phone to Izzy.

The plane journey started off not so great as we had a delay getting onto the plane (no idea why, police were involved?) so we actually took off 40mins late. I had no one next to me which was great and the food was pretty good. I broke the law and turned my phone on to take pictures.

I’m not sure if I’ll travel with Air China again, as much as I like the service and the food, they are a little behind the times with technology, i.e they fucking hate it and will send you to prison if you have anything turned on. So bringing my DS and macbook was a bit of a waste. (On the way back I did actually use my 3DS, its just phones they hate, I should have asked)

I had hoped to sleep for the majority of the flight and by some miracle I did actually fall asleep before the lights even went down to signal nap time. Alas that only lasted a couple hours at most as some dick walking up and down the aisle knocked my head and jerked me awake.

It took me 3 hours to get back to sleep. Dick.

Breakfast was okay, the tv choices were minimal compared to last time. I watched a few episodes of Community, and an episode of Project Runway and America’s next top model. That was basically it for TV I was interested in and the screen was so crap I didn’t really want my first time seeing Dr Strange being on it, so I opted for a film with Kris (previously in EXO) in it, it was so bad. I could barely read the subtitles but I didn’t need to to be able to understand what was going on and that it was really bad acting. I hope you were better in XXX with Vin Diesel Kris.

Finally time to land, woo, or not as the case may be. We started descending and everyone started looking out the window going ooo Beijing (it still looks really brown, the airport is surrounded by like wheat fields or something) and then suddenly the plane started going back up?? We then flew in a circle for about 15 minutes while I tried not to pee myself, I had prepared myself for a 10hr20 flight not a 10hr35min flight. Anyway we finally landed and only 5 minutes later than expected despite the late take off, which is pretty good.

Getting through Chinese security was scarily quiet. Last time I had to queue for a while and then join another really hectic ‘queue’ for security. This time I waltz past as there was literally no one there. No one going through international transfers and barely anyone going through security. It was really weird. Once I was through I grabbed a trolley for my hold all (Heathrow please take note, this is SO handy) had a quick look around some of the shops, failed at joining their free wifi and then got a Starbucks. Then I sat by the gate and played Civ beyond earth on my mac before we boarded the 2nd plane.

This journey was much better, I actually managed to sleep for most of it and the food was again pretty good for airplane food. We had quite a bit of turbulence (and my belt didn’t actually fit oops) but this just seemed to rock me to sleep. 3hrs later we were finally in Tokyo.

Our story does not end there though, oh no, after 2 ubers 2 trains and 2 planes I needed to get another train and ride the monorail. After getting through customs. The monorail was like a dream, I waited an extra 3 minutes to get the rapid train and grabbed a pocari sweat to try to vaguely revitalise myself. I was a dead man walking by this point. The aircon and sights of Tokyo managed to wake me a little and it wasn’t too much hassle getting to the final train (though if you’re going to have elevators please have them all the way, don’t add 8 steps for me to then fumble down with 2 suitcases).

Finally onto the Yamenote line what could go wrong? Oh yes I get on the only train to have a delay, with of course all the free wifis not actually working again. My hosts were waiting for me at Ootsuka station and didn’t seem to mind too much about me being a little late. They walked me and my suitcases back to their house, it was lovely seeing Ootsuka again, I do really like this part of Tokyo, and I remembered the way! Though it was lovely having a helping hand.

The only hiccup we had was when I slipped on the slope down to their house and later found I had grazed my knee. Nothing broken but even now when I’m writing this (Day 2) it still stings.

They left me to it saying we’d catch up tomorrow after they had gotten me a plaster to which I was very thankful. I could barely keep my eyes open but I forced myself to have a shower so I could be clean and did pop to the conbini for a snack. My final hiccup of the day where I managed to buy the one thing I really don’t like. A very fishy bento box and a cafe au lait instead of hot coco. After eating some rice I headed to bed at around midnight and promptly passed out. 30 hours (28 of that travelling) after I had set off the day before.