#MANGO AND HEART SHAPE TWO OF MY FAVOURITE THINGS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[odetolovers]

WE ACCIDENTALLY GREW A HEART SHAPED MANGO IN OUR ORCHARD

DUMMM THIS IS AMAZING

[absolutepokemontrash]

You don't need to write this if you dont want too because it's up to you but this is something wholsome

WHAT IF L!MC M!M & BBY A!MC BECOME BABIES AND THERE EVEONES HAS TO CARE FOR THEM,

I apologize for having such horrible writing and grammer. I never payed attention in school, nor could I afford to pay attention 👉😎👉

Bro I feel you on the not paying attention in school thing. Fear not, dearest asker, ask for demon babies, and since I am a merciful writer, you shall receive.

Oh Shit, Half-Demon Babies are Running Amok Send Diapers and Help-

Mini summary for the casual reader, L!MC is Lucifer’s half demon child who got summoned into the Devildom to be one of the human exchange students, M!MC is Mammon’s half demon kid, and A!MC is Asmo’s. Let’s get to the fic!

Ah, what a relaxing day... Lucifer was sitting back in his desk chair, enjoying a nice glass of Demonus and listening to one of his favourite cursed vinyls. He had done a damn good job on his work earlier and Diavolo had insisted there was no more work to be done and he could have the weekend all to himself.

Of course, his brothers were still a factor that could have ruined his me-time... on any other weekend! Satan had just gotten a new encyclopedia to read, so he wouldn’t be causing any trouble, Beel and Belphie were going to take that Devildom food tour, Mammon and M!MC were planning on spending the entire weekend shopping, Asmo and A!MC were going up to the human world on Saturday and staying until Sunday, and Levi... He got a sudden burst of inspiration for his Animal Crossing Island and most likely wouldn’t be leaving his room for the next month. Lastly, L!MC wouldn’t be causing any problems, his child would probably spend their time with him rambling about musicals or anime they had seen, and Lucifer found their intense interest very adorable.

Ah... peace and quiet...

...

...why did Lucifer hear crying?

There, standing in the entrance hall of the House of Lamentation, was Solomon, holding three screaming babies.

What, and I cannot stress this enough, THE HELL?!

“Ah, Lucifer,” Solomon attempted to wave hello, but needing to continue to bounce one of the babies on his hip kind of hindered the gesture, not that Lucifer wanted a wave at that moment. “I’m sure you have questions.”

After everyone had gathered into the living room, Solomon explained how a spell gone awry had hit L!MC, M!MC, and A!MC with the effect of turning the three into the screaming infants that stood (or... awkwardly sprawled out) in front of them.

On the bright side, the spell only had a timespan of roughly two days, so they wouldn’t be stuck like that forever.

Everyone sat in silence for a few minutes (save for the babies, who were still either crying or incoherently babbling) as they processed that information. Lucifer, ever the flawless older brother and leader, stood up and clapped his hands together once.

“Alright then, everyone cancel your weekend plans, we need to deal with this.”

Lucifer’s dearest little brothers all whined in protest, Satan in particular. “They’re not our kids, why do Belphie, Beel, Levi, and I need to cancel our plans?!”

“Satan,” Lucifer said sternly. “You don’t remember this, but it took six people to take care of one of you. The kids may only be half demons but there are three of them. We need all hands on deck. Besides, if you all want someone to blame, blame Solomon.”

Everyone turned and levelled their practically murderous glared at the sorcerer, who suddenly pulled baby A!MC into his lap and began to rock them back and forth.

“I have never felt more unsafe.” Solomon laughed nervously. “But you wouldn’t kill me while I’m holding my not-child would you?”

Asmo stomped over and snatched A!MC away from Solomon. “I can’t believe you- ACK! A!MC! Stop drooling!”

A!MC had a long trail of drool coming out of their mouth which caused Asmo to shriek and hold A!MC at arms length away. “Stop that! That’s gross, A!MC, you know better.”

The adorable baby continued to babble and drool.

Mammon picked up M!MC, who almost immediately stopped crying upon seeing Mammon’s watch, they began making grab hands at it. “Ah, ya want the watch?”

M!MC squealed in delight as Mammon dangled the watch above them, Mammon was delighted that his little brat still had their expensive taste, even as a baby. “Hey, look at me! I’m doin’ pretty good! Suck it, Asmo!”

As Asmo and Mammon bickered, Lucifer took the time to look at L!MC, they pulled at Lucifer’s tie and hummed to themselves. They were mind numbingly cute despite the screeching they were doing earlier. The sight tugged at the cold spot where Lucifer’s heart should have been, he had missed this part of his child’s life... maybe just that weekend he’d get a chance to-

“Solomon where do you think you’re going?” Lucifer was pulled from his thoughts when he noticed the shifty bastard trying to make his escape. “You’re staying to help manage this nonsense.”

—————

A!MC may have been an absolute ray of sunshine normally, but as a baby, they definitely lived up to the term demon-spawn.

A!MC would scream, cry and pitch a fit if they didn’t get what they wanted immediately, not that they had any way of articulating what they wanted because they were a god damn baby! Asmo and Solomon were at the point where they were just holding stuff out to A!MC to see if it would make them stop crying.

“Come on butterfly, don’t you like this... antique perfume bottle?” Asmo asked, A!MC took one look at it, then burst into flames and started wailing again. “For the love of my father WHAT DO YOU WANT FROM ME?!”

Now there were two sobbing messes in the room, and one was on fire. Solomon quickly magically took care of A!MC’s little fire problem (the baby was fiiiiiiine, demon babies light themselves on fire all the time!), picked A!MC up, sat down on Asmo’s bed, and snapped his fingers. Tiny balls of light gently floated into the air around the three, Asmo looked up from his pity party upon hearing A!MC stop their crying.

“See, you still like my magic, even as a baby, right A!MC?” Solomon asked, A!MC looked around in silent wonder, trying to reach up and touch the lights.

“Oh Solomon, this almost makes me forgive you for screwing up my weekend plans...” Asmo sighed in relief, he sat next to Solomon and pulled A!MC into his lap. “Not very colourful though, is it? Let me fix that.”

Asmo smiled as his own magic added streaks of colour, it was like their very own private showing of the northern lights. A!MC had on one of those goofy baby smiles that can make even the grumpiest person smile back.

Solomon and Asmo shaped some of the lights into shapes and animals, Asmo let a pink butterfly land on A!MC’s nose, much to their adorable delight.

“And that one’s a bird, and that one’s a giraffe,”

“That’s an alpaca.”

“Sorry, an alpaca with a weirdly long neck, oh! And a sheep!” Asmo looked down at his lap where A!MC sat and tickled their sides. “Everyone likes sheep!”

He then quickly shaped a ball of light into a scorpion and made it scuttle into A!MC’s lap. “But I have to say, scorpions are the best.”

The fifth born sighed in contentment as their sweet little hellspawn continued to watch the magic show. Never in his life did Asmodeus ever think he’d be this happy holding a baby, usually babies were things he thought should be handled with hazmat suits, but not at that moment. His little butterfly truly did have him wrapped around their finger.

“Asmo, hey, Asmo,” Asmo looked over at Solomon, who had a glowing triangle over one of his eyes. “Would you like to join my secret society?”

“Solomon, you are ruining the moment.”

——————

“C’mon kiddo! Eat your damn food!” Mammon once again tried to shove the spoon into his kid’s mouth with the same result as the 50 previous attempts.

“YUCKY!” M!MC shouted and slapped the spoon away.

“Here,” Beel took the spoon from Mammon. “Maybe it’s yucky like they said.”

Beel ate what was on the spoon, then smiled brightly. “You can really taste the mango!”

“See bud..? Beel likes it.” Mammon gestured at Beel, who was eating the entire jar of baby food as Belphie watched in amusement. He was such an asset to the team. “Beel! They need to eat!”

“Fine, let me try.” Belphie grabbed another spoon, and waved it in M!MC’s face. “Here comes the airplane... whoosh... whoosh...”

M!MC didn’t budge, Belphie knitted his eyebrows and rolled his eyes. “Okay, fine, be that way.”

Levi pushed open the door to the kitchen, and upon seeing the scene before him, immediately turned and tried to leave. “Nope! Food isn’t worth getting spit up all over me-”

Mammon lunged forward, grabbed the back of Levi’s jacket and practically yanked him into the kitchen, he slapped a spoon into his hand and smiled. “C’mon, do a favour for your super great big brother!”

The third born looked at M!MC, who defiantly stared back at him, the baby had the upper hand and the little brat knew it. Babies were so much cuter in anime...

Levi nervously stepped forward and held out the spoon like a weapon. “O-okay M-M-M!MC... you need to eat your food... pls... pls eat.”

M!MC said nothing, they only did what most babies did.

...

They spun their head 90 degrees until the back of their head was all Levi could see.

Everyone in the kitchen stood in complete silence, until Mammon jumped a foot in the air and started screaming bloody murder. “MY BABY!”

He dove forward and scooped M!MC up in his arms, the baby, obviously freaked out by the sudden loud noise, had begun to cry.

“It’s okay! It’s okay! Uh... uh...” Mammon looked around frantically. “Hush little baby don’t say a word... papas gonna buy you a mockingbird. And if that mockingbird don’t sing, papa’s gonna buy you a diamond ring... and if that diamond ring is brass, butitwon’tbebecauseyouroldmanwouldn’tgetcheatedlikethat-”

M!MC spun their head back to its correct position, but their crying sounds were now several octaves lower... It sounded like if someone put a baby in the Darth Vader mask but without the weird breathing sounds...

Mammon looked to Belphie. “I’m blankin’ on nursery rhymes! Ya hafta know some kid songs!”

Belphie, after being put on the spot, suddenly forgot every single nursery rhyme and lullaby any of his brothers had ever sung to him. Oh! A song popped into his head! He could sing that!

“Lizzie Borden took an axe, gave her mother forty whacks, when she saw what she had done, she gave her father forty one-”

“Not that one!” Mammon squeaked, holding M!MC closer to him. M!MC’s voice had returned to normal, the next problem is that they were only speaking in infernal. “Somethin’ else!”

“There was an old lady who swallowed a fly,” Beel began to sing. “I don’t know why she swallowed that fly... I forgot the rest of the song...”

“Dammit... Leviiiiii!” Mammon wheezed, desperately trying to calm the angrily growling M!MC. “Sing! Sing anything!”

“A-anything?” Only one song came to mind. “Uh um... With the doors of heaven and Hell barred, there is no other but the guard, Master of the Hellish Yard...”

Mammon lit up and nodded like Levi had just offered him a million Grimm. “Aw hell yeah! This song!”

He handed M!MC to Beel and began to dance and sing next to Levi, who had really gotten into the song as well!

“With those sins that you've committed, If you pay you'll be acquitted, and your crimes all permitted,” the two paused for dramatic effect before both belting out the best line in the song.

“ONLY ONES WITH CASH DO WELL, WELL AT LEAST IN HELL!”

As Levi and Mammon continued to sing, M!MC became so entranced by the dance, that they stopped their demonic babbling and just watched the second and third born dance and sing the English cover of an old vocaloid song. Belphie and Beel made brief confused eye contact to make sure the other twin was seeing the same thing.

The duo finished the song and took a bow, Beel lightly tapped M!MC’s chubby baby hands together to make it look like they were clapping. It was enough for Mammon and Levi.

“Thank you, thank you,” Mammon said. “We’ll be here forever, next show ain’t free.”

“We should sing The Tailor on Enbizaka next!”

“Levi! No! That song is like... seven minutes long!”

“Hey, morons,” Belphie stuck his thumb at M!MC. “They still haven’t eaten.”

Mammon’s triumphant expression dropped right to the floor. “Ah fuck...”

——————

“Satan, where’s L!MC-” Lucifer looked up at the ceiling of Satan’s room and his jaw dropped. “WHAT ARE THEY DOING UP THERE?!”

“I can’t get them down!” Satan hissed back.

L!MC. L!MC the BABY. They were on the ceiling. They were sitting upside down on the ceiling like it was an average Friday. Lucifer was too old for this shit...

“L!MC.” Lucifer held out his arms, L!MC squinted at him, that’s when Lucifer remembered L!MC was practically blind without their glasses. “L!MC, it’s your father, come here.”

“Don’t you think I’ve tried calling them down like that?!” Satan spat as he quickly ran a hand through his hair.

Lucifer shot a glare at Satan, then Lucifer heard something that nearly made his (lack of) heart stop. Oh no- L!MC was yawning-

L!MC yawned and suddenly detached from the ceiling. Lucifer and Satan both dove forward to catch L!MC, which culminated in one of Satan’s piles of books falling down, but with L!MC safe and sound.

“Damn it.” Satan grumbled as Lucifer shifted to properly hold L!MC. “This is going to take forever to clean...”

“That was clean?” Lucifer raised an eyebrow as L!MC began to fuss slightly.

Satan growled and rolled his eyes. “Yes, it was clean thank you very much. I knew exactly where everything was.”

The cat that unofficially ruled the House of Lamentation pranced into Satan’s room like it didn’t have a care in the world, it began to bat at one of the loose papers that had been scattered around the floor. Detective Toe Beans, you’re an esteemed detective, and technically RAD’s mascot, stop that!

Satan scooped up the cat and began to put the books back in the pile, when Lucifer noticed a familiar, beat-up old book lying near the bottom of the pile.

“Ah, I remember this book,” Lucifer leaned down and picked it up, showing the cover to L!MC, who didn’t seem very interested and continued petting the fur part of Lucifer’s jacket. “It’s good for a bedtime story, right L!MC?”

Lucifer tucked the book under his arm and turned to leave when Satan practically shot upwards. “If you think you can just take that out of my room, you’re completely delusional.”

“Are you seriously going to whine about getting a bedtime story for L!MC?”

“CAT!” L!MC looked over Lucifer’s shoulder and reached for Detective Toe Beans. “CAT!”

“Yes L!MC, cat.” Lucifer whispered to them, then turned back to Satan. “And if I’m remembering correctly, I used to read this to you. Do you really want to deprive poor L!MC of bedtime stories from me?”

“Pff... deprive...” Satan rolled his eyes and huffed. “I’d be saving them. You were the only one who never did any voices for the characters, I was bored to sleep.”

Satan walked forward and swiped the book from Lucifer. “If anyone’s reading L!MC a bedtime story, it should be me. I’m twice the storyteller you’ll ever be.”

Lucifer scoffed. “Ridiculous. We’ll both read L!MC a story and they can tell us who did best when they get back to normal.”

“Fine by me.”

The three (four if you count Bean) were soon seated on the couch in Lucifer’s room. Lucifer took the first story.

Satan listened along and absentmindedly pet Bean, hearing a story he had heard over and over again had managed to bring back memories of a time where he had significantly less control over his wrath. Every night he’d demand a bedtime story or he’d throw a tantrum unlike anything the Devildom had ever seen.

The eldest was always there to swoop in and read Satan a story whenever the little ball of seething rage looked ready to kill the unfortunate brother who told him it was bedtime.

It had gotten to the point that Satan could recite most of the stories in the book completely by heart. He chuckled under his breath as he remembered the time he matter of factly told Lucifer that he’d be reading him the bedtime story that night and proceeded to pretend to read the story of The Hydra and the Pufferfish. He hadn’t actually learned to read, much to Lucifer’s dismay, Satan just memorized what to say and when to turn the pages.

Though, it was apparently impressive enough at the time to warrant a head pat from Lucifer.

The fourth born leaned closer to Lucifer to get a better look at the book’s illustrations. They were always slightly off and strange looking, much like the pictures in the Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark book that L!MC had given Satan for his birthday.

Lucifer abruptly stopped reading.

“Why’d you stop?” Satan looked up at Lucifer, then over at L!MC. Aw... Satan didn’t even get a chance to read...

“Our audience has fallen asleep.” Lucifer stifled a yawn and prepared to close the book, Satan quickly shoved his hand on the page to stop him.

“You started reading,” Satan looked away and grumbled. “So at least finish the story...”

Lucifer smirked and opened the book back up. “If you insist, Satan.”

————————

Yayyyyy! Babies! I’m sure the three get back to normal by Monday... hopefully...

Here’s a link to the song Levi and Mammon are singing!

I hope you all enjoyed! As of the time I’m posting this, the next set of Lessons 1-5 Headcanons will be out tomorrow at 8:30 pm EST.

[ningningsplushie]

Bookstore Rivals

Pairing: Namjoon x reader

Word count: 2171

Genre: Used bookstore, cold to clueless to cocky Joon, rivals but in a cutesy way, strangers to lovers, meet cute, reader likes to tease Joon

Summary: Walking into your favourite bookstore, you don’t anticipate to come across the new, handsome cashier. To say the least, the two of you don’t kick it off right away

Warning: minor descriptions of blood, nothing intense.

Y/N’s Wednesday schedule was planned out to a tee. Wake up, attend class, work for four hours, and visit Mr. Kim’s bookstore. As organized and strict as her Wednesdays were, the rest of the week was fairly inconsistent, which was precisely why she enjoyed the middle of the week most as it allowed her to take control for once, not to mention that going to the bookstore was like attending weekly Mass, an occurrence that excited her without fail. 

Before the doors of the bus could fully open, with the energy of a thousand men, Y/N leaps through, almost getting her bag caught on the handles during the process. Y/N paused on the sidewalk, tilting her head up towards the high buildings of apartments and stores in the downtown area of Seoul, she closes her eyes and takes a deep to inhale, relishing the smell of the air right after it had rained. The walk from the bus stop to Mr. Kim’s store was only ten minutes but during the ten-minute expedition, she was skipping, flinging her arms back and forth. 

In about no time, she arrives, already pushing open the glass door and grinning upon hearing the chime of bells signaling her entrance. 

“Per Aspera ad Libros!” Y/N yells out, spreading both of her arms wide. She wasn’t sure why but she greeted the shop like this every time and it just felt right. Through hardships to the books. “Mr. Kiiiiiiim! It’s me, Y/N!” she calls out, peering through the endless rows of brown, nearly rotten shelves.

  “Y/N you come here every week like clockwork yet I never tire of your presence,” he greets, exiting from the back room, “how have you been, dear?” 

“Oh, I’ve been great, sir. Classes are interesting, I meet new people at work, and my brain is still sucking up thousands of words,” she replies, clasping both of her hands atop her head. 

The Fifty-something-year-old man chuckles, the deep-set lines of his mouth accentuating when he reveals his grin, his crow's feet growing stronger as his eyes close in joy. “Good, good, I’m glad you’re enjoying life.”

“I try my best to, but, you know, it can get hard at times.”

“That’s true enough. Just keep your head high and the things you love near.”

“That’s what I’m planning on. Oh, I nearly forgot! The store didn’t have any strawberry smoothies so I got you a mango one. I know those are your second favourite,” she acknowledges, shrugging off her backpack, bringing out two small bottles of smoothies, one for Mr. Kim and one for herself. 

“Thank you, dear. Let me just put a few more books away and we’ll get to talking.” 

Not even a minute later, he returns, and the two stand by the large window next to the entrance, talking as they usually do about books, life, and Y/N’s school. 

“I’m really glad I switched majors. Business was such a bore and-” Y/N stops in her tracks, eyes glued to the cash register when she spots a tall man sitting while reading a book with brown hair that was pushed back, revealing his forehead. She couldn’t quite tell if he was good-looking or not as his face was impassive, too engrossed in his book. From what she saw, he was easy on the eyes. Y/N frequented this bookstore on many occasions and she had never seen this guy before and she was worried that he was a suspicious character, attempting to steal. “Uhhhhh Mr. Kim,” Y/N says at a low frequency, making sure the stranger doesn’t hear, “I think that guy at the cash register is trying to steal.” 

Mr. Kim’s eyes go wide and whips his head toward the counter. He's about to yell out but then rests his eyes on the sitting figure and begins to laugh. “You had me worried for a second.” he croaks out, chest heaving from laughing too much. “He isn’t stealing or anything like that. Y/N, meet my nephew Kim Namjoon. He’s just moved here from Ilsan and started working with me while he attends university.” 

Now it was Y/N turn to laugh, hand slapping her forehead as she leans forward, shoulders vibrating. “Oh wow, I’m really stupid.” She composes herself and straightens her back, offering a bow to the tall man. “Hi, I’m really sorry about that. I’m Y/N, by the way.”

She expected the guy to close his book and smile, introduce himself, or even offer a small nod, but definitely not, “It’s Per Aspera ad Astra, not per Aspera ad Libros.” 

Mouth hanging open in shock, she finally takes a nice look at Mr. Kim’s nephew. As handsome as this guy was, he certainly wasn’t nice. He had a heart-shaped face of some sort, his cheeks being his widest features before tapering down to his chin. His eyes, best described as puffy monolids, were wide-set and made him look intelligent. If he’s trying to correct my Latin then he certainly is, she thought. Y/N tries to detect any sign of him joking but is only met with the limp rest of his plump lips. 

“Namjoon!” Mr. Kim gasps in shock. “We don’t treat customers like that.”

Y/N recovers from...whatever that was and simply questions, “Oh? Is that so?”

“Yeah, I should know.”

Nodding, Y/N takes a look at the book he was reading and ignores his answer, replying with, “How disappointing. Have fun with Fitzgerald.” Y/N then turns to Mr. Kim and says, “Alright, I won’t be here too long, I’ll just see if you have anything of interest.”

Walking towards her favourite section, she hears, “What is wrong with you, Namjoon? You choose now, of all times, to be a smartass?” This was followed by a sharp thump, which Y/N assumed was from Mr. Kim’s hand meeting with Namjoon’s head. 

Y/N browses a few sections for ten minutes before noticing Namjoon standing on a ladder from the other side of the shelf. Hearing him grunt, obviously struggling with something, she peers up from between the shelf and cracks of old books and sees him trying to push a book between a tight crevice. Y/N stifles a giggle at how different this guy looks, from the cold, impassive face at the counter to the one with brows furrowed and cheeks puffed up. He was...kinda cute. She keeps watching him from the other side of the shelf and he finally succeeds in nudging the book on the shelf. That, however, came at a price. When he forcefully pushed the novel between two other ones, it came in contact with one on Y/N’s side, sending it tumbling down, hitting Y/N on the forehead. 

“OW!” Y/N’s eyes close in pain and her jaw clenches at the sharp and immediate pain. Namjoon, meanwhile, jumps from the top of the ladder and rushes to her side. 

“Oh god, I’m so so sorry. Please, I really didn’t mean to hit your head I was just-”

Wanting to tease him, she interrupts him, whining out, “I didn’t know you hated me this much. First you criticize my Latin now you hit me with…” she bends down to pick up the fallen book and does everything in her power to not laugh at the coincidence. “Fitzgerald! You hit me with Fitzgerald! Unbelievable. I’ve been here for thirty minutes and you already have a personal vendetta against me. And here I was thinking that the two of us could be great friends.”

Namjoon tilts his head back and groans. “Great, I’ll never live up to this. I really didn’t intend to hit your head. Are you alright though?”

Y/N playfully nudges his shoulder. “Relax, I’m fine. I’m still in one piece, aren’t I?”

She wasn’t. Blood dripped down from her forehead onto her nose. “What-” Y/N crosses her eyes to inspect the drop and says, “Oh wow, I guess I’m not. You got a tissue?”

This only urged Namjoon to panic even more. “I'M SO SORRY!”

“Hey, it’s fine.”

“It hardly isn’t,” he yelps back, eyes shooting up. “My uncle’s gonna kill me.”

Faking dejection, she hangs her head down and looks up at him through her lashes. “So you’re more worried about your uncle and not me?”

“What?!” Realizing his mistake, he winces, given himself a facepalm. “Just ignore me, please. Let’s get you fixed up before he comes back,” he murmurs, gently pushing Y/N to sit on the counter. 

Y/N dangles her legs off the counter, swinging them around like a restless child as Namjoon goes to the backroom, trying to find the first-aid kit as fast as he can. A few seconds later he returns to Y/N, fumbling with the latch of the kit with his large hands before Y/N snatches the white box from him and opens it. 

“Don’t be so nervous, Doc, it isn’t life and death. Or…” she tracks off, suddenly grabbing her chest with one hand and holding Namjoon’s shoulder with the other. “Namjoon… I don’t feel so good. What did you do to me?”

“Stop that! Don’t worry me even more.” He sputtered, glaring at Y/N.

“Alright, alright, I’m sorry. Just do your thing.” 

Namjoon starts with cleaning up her wound with alcohol, carefully applying pressure so as not to hurt her even further. Y/N winces at the burn on her forehead, causing Namjoon to flinch. “Sorry if I hurt you,” he apologizes, offering her a sheepish grin, revealing the dimples she hadn’t seen up until now. Wow...he’s really handsome. 

All the confidence that Y/N flies out the window, becoming increasingly flustered at his adorable features. “It’s alright,” she mumbled, drawing her eyes to the ground. 

Namjoon resumes wiping her wound clean and Y/N decides to tease him even further. “Did my comment about Fitzgerald sting you that bad that you had to throw one of his books at me? Or was my Latin that bad?”

Namjoon groans, clearly embarrassed at his own actions. “Can we pleaaassseeee not bring this up again? I said I was sorry. What more do you want from me?” 

“Hmmmmm,” she considers for a while. “No. My Latin wasn’t wrong, by the way. It was 100 percent correct.”

“But the phrase is-”

“I know what the phrase is. I changed it because I’m talking to the books, not the stars. Through hardships to the books. No matter what I go through, I always find myself with a book or at your uncle’s store. It’s always been that way. You’re not the only smart one here, wiseass,” she finishes, trying to contain her grin. 

Namjoon clamps his mouth shut, opens it, and closes it again, all before spitting out, “I’m really sorry, I didn’t realize-”

“It’s alright, Joonie.” He pauses his actions upon hearing this. “Hmmm, Joonie. That’s a cute nickname. I’ll call you that from now on.”

“Oh...alright. That’s-that’s cool.” He’s done with cleaning her forehead, now rummaging through the kit for a band-aid. “Wait. What do you have against Fitzgerald?” He questions, finally finding one of the appropriate size for the cut. 

Here’s the kicker. “Absolutely nothing. I quite enjoyed Tender is the Night and The Great Gatsby. I just wanted to get a rile out of you. That’s what you get for trying to correct my Latin.” She taunts, sticking her tongue out at him. 

He applies the band-aid and smirks. Now it was Namjoon’s turn to tease her.  “And look where it got you.”

“Hey! You said...wait,” she sidetracks, hopping off the counter. “Go out for coffee with me.” 

“What? Where’s this coming from?” Namjoon asks, bewildered. 

“You said, and I quote, ‘what more do you want from me?’ I’d like to go get coffee together.”

“You really are smooth, huh?” he muses, crossing his arms.

“Yeah, I try my best. So what do you say...Joonie?”

“I’m not sure. You could be a psycho murderer for all I know.”

Y/N drops her mouth open and scoffs. “Are you kidding me? You’re the one who almost killed me. Listen, You’re new in the city, I can show you around and guess what? I’ll let you pay for the drinks. As an apology for my gorgeous new bump. How’s that sound?”

 Namjoon stares at her for a few beats, basking in her features. “You’re really cute when you’re defending your case.”

“Uhhhhh, I know I am, now please, stop beating around the bush. Would you, or would you not like to buy me coffee and allow me to show you the hottest spots in Seoul?

He considers his answer and asks, “Promise not to kill me?”

“I can’t protect you from my good looks, Joonie,” Y/N quips, twirling a strand of her hair with her finger, causing Namjoon to let out a cackle.

“Alright, I’m down. Just make it worth my while, Y/N.”

“Oh, I promise.”

[paneerlajwanti]

HOW DID YOU CONCEPTUALIZE THAT MANDALA PLS TELL id love to hear how you come up with the way you decide to draw a mandala if you want to talk abt it

aaaAaa so the minute you said "your heart is a mango" i immediately had concepts popping up in my head the mandala was an afterthought

i wanted to draw a background and a katrina kaif type hand with a mango in it for scientific purposes and like how heart bleeds there's mango ka ras just flowing coz you know im stupid like that and that was when i read your tags and i was like yes gonna do that sometime soon

so to also inform, i have started using a new tool on the app that is a fill type brush. imma show you the difference and a screen-recording of how it works so it's cool like that okay?

so i started with the fill in tool, i don't know how to explain it, it's different from the regular brush, it's almost like a reverse lasso tool?? if that helps to make things better?

1. the first half is regular usual run of the mill drawing and colouring

2. the second is using the fill tool

so i used the fill tool to make a mandala, not THEE mango mandala, i was just casually experimenting and drawing, using my favourite colour ie deep yellow after i drew the inner circle like detail and all, i thought let me add this mandala thing to the idea of ze mango idea and then i started drawing random paisley shapes which are canonically called kairis?? so i did that and was like what's mango without leaves ans then created a design around that?? so that was how the mandala was happened,, i just now remade the mango design ans screen-recorded it so you can see the process

and i can't post two videos in one ask because tumblr is like that ;-; ouch anyways so i will just post the image only :(

so i made that and then i went on pinterest and searched for references of hands (happy fimmf to those who celebrate)

and then i used those as a reference and drew and slightah traced the hands and then i used the same fill option ans did the green creeper leaves around the blue arch and then the thing of the dotted design for contrast too??

and then i used actual mango photos in the basket?? wanted authenticity like that :')

i don't have a "process to conceptualize", mostly it's just head empty no thoughts and symmetry tool magic

thank you for the ask, beloved

[loulougoingsolo]

Majestic mix of...oh man!

The pint of B&J in my freezer is no more. I ate it. I feel no shame. But I also decided against reaching for the ice cream maker I have somewhere. I can follow the GMM Ice cream taste test tournament without actual ice cream. I’ll just add some frozen fruit to my yoghurt, and call it a fro-yo. But, now that we are talking about frozen fruit, let’s talk about today’s GMM, in which Rhett and Link find out which fruity ice cream is the fruitiest of them all - or at least, the best.

My ideal fruity ice cream is something that has loads of real fruit instead of artificial flavouring. I think most store bought fruity ice creams have too much sugar in them. I actually used to eat more sorbets earlier in life, rather than actual ice cream, because I love everything sour. I don’t quite know if sourness is what Link calls tang - but if it is, I want my fruity ice creams with tang. But if Rhett only manages to keep his fruit taster intact through his opening speech, it’s time to let the guys do the tasting.

I’m still a little sour about B&J discontinuing my favourite, non-dairy Chunky Monkey, and I’ve never tasted the dairy version - and I can safely say we do not have anything in Banana Pudding flavour in Finland - but I made the bold assumption that the guys would prefer Blue Bell Banana Pudding in the first round, just because they’re Southern. I’m with Link on not really liking bananas on their own, but something happens to the flavour when you turn it into a full dish, and apparently, that applies to ice cream, too.  I love how Rhett completely disses everything about Texas before trying the Blue Bell.

Well, if the first round went well with my predictions, the next two rounds went quite the opposite. I assumed the guys would go for strawberries over oranges, and it was so close, darn it. And I was absolutely certain that Rhett would persuade Link to choose Cherry Garcia over the Blue Bell Strawberry. What happened? Rhett just ditched his college sweetheart, to whom he made sweet love in their dorm room, for a big hunk of Texan strawberries and vanilla? Not that I’m complaining - I knew Link wouldn’t like Cherry Garcia - I was just so sure Rhett would have enough devotion to choose B&J. This wing on my bracket is all wrong, it seems.

As Rhett so finely puts it, Link has underestimated how fruity he is. The decision between H-D Mango and Baskin Robbins Rainbow sherbet proves to be too difficult without some help, as Link goes with rainbow, and Rhett with mango. My own choice to go through in this round was the mango, even though my life philosophy is, when in doubt, go with the rainbow. But fortunately, the guys have a way to solve this dilemma, in the best way possible.

I already confessed my eternal love for Cuddle Queen Jean Franzbaum earlier today, and my feelings haven’t changed in the past few hours. After seeing her, I don’t really care which ice cream goes through. Like Link, I’m going to be happy either way. But I might be a little happier with mango.

Mango was my choice to win this region, but how was I supposed to know that such thing as a turd shaped strawberry ice cream was a thing? I am a bit concerned about how things go in the finals after seeing how much the guys liked the banana pudding.

In GMMore, Jean comes back to react to movie cuddling scenes with Rhett and Link. I already know from personal experience that dog (and cat) friends are fun to cuddle with, but I think someone should tell Link that there are other ways to see when a dog is about to poop which don’t require you to look at their butthole.  But, to each their own, I guess. I just love it when Jean asks Link if Jade’s anus winks at him.

I wonder if this episode was filmed when Rhett tweeted about always being the big spoon (the tweet is from January 7th)? This episode would explain his tweet perfectly.

Why did Rhett telling about his friend who ended up spooning his friend in a survival situation sould almost like one of those “asking for a friend” things? Like...I have this one friend who once had to spoon with his buddy. And then he goes to add after Jean says they are either not talking after that, or best friends, “or more”. Why was Link in such a hurry to move on to the next movie clip?

Surprisingly, I’ve actually seen the movies from which these cuddles are from. I don’t think the first clip is cuddling, but more like first aid, but I love the scene from E.T. A comforting cuddle is kind of the best, really. I’m not much of a cuddler, but who wouldn’t want a little comfort every now and then. But I agree with Jean, birds can’t really cuddle. I think at least someone in the cuddling moment needs to have some kind of a limb that can wrap around another creature - an arm or a leg...I guess scissor hands work, too. But I can’t believe Link hasn’t watched Edward Scissorhands!

What an interesting talk they had about Rhett wanting to cuddle a bigger man than him. Is that a dare - because I’m pretty sure the crew can find a big man who’s willing to do it.

Okay, I’m not sure if the Twillight clip is from the first one - which I have seen - but I don’t think the biggest problem with cuddling vampire Robert Pattison is that he’d be cold. I admit I was too old to get into the Twilight craze, but I just don’t get why anyone thinks he’s a heartthrob. It might be that I’m the problem, but he gives me the chills. And that most definately isn’t a platonic cuddle session.

Planes, trains and automobiles is, in my books, the best comedy ever made. I’ve watched it enought times to know it by heart, and the cuddling scene is hilarious. It makes me happy to hear Rhett likes the movie - and I think he wasn’t being sarcastic like he was with Edward Scissorhand.

I loved this episode, and especially the More. I think Link is going to hear about him looking at Jade’s butt for many years to come. But now, I’d really like to see Rhett and Link vlog about attending one of Jean’s cuddle classes. How do we make that happen?

[vanderlindemangofarm]

The Van der Linde Gang - Pancake Day headcanons

Seeing at it’s Shrove Tuesday/Pancake Day today, I thought it might be fun to write some headcanons for the modern!AU gang and their pancake habits! 

In this scenario, I’m imagining everyone living in a big house together. It’s not practical or realistic, I know, but I think it’s cute. 

General

It’s one of the few days of the year in which everyone is home for dinner at the same time.

Pearson tries hard not to care - or show that he cares - but he’s been secretly staying up at night for weeks browsing the best pancake recipes online in order to make the perfect batter. 

He goes grocery shopping with Jack earlier in the day to buy all the ingredients and toppings - Jack dashes around the supermarket aisles grabbing flour, eggs, milk, butter, every type of spread you can think of, fruit, syrups, chocolates...

Pearson considers asking him to reel it in a little, but decides against it. He actually adds a few extra treats himself. 

At home, Sean announces to anyone who’s in ear-range that he’s going to beat his all-time record of eating 25 pancakes in one sitting, tonight. 

He says this every year. No one is really sure if ever truly ate 25 pancakes in one sitting, as the number fluctuates every time he tells the story. 

He, Uncle, John, Lenny, Kieran and Karen are already breaking into the sweet pancake toppings. Susan scurries around the house after them, snatching back the snacks and scolding them for their gluttony. John almost chokes to death from trying to stuff a fistful of M&M’s in his mouth at once, in a panic. 

Abigail, Mary-Beth and Hosea all ask if they can help in the kitchen, but Pearson won’t hear of it. “You leave me to my kingdom, thank you.” he says, only half jokingly. 

Jack sits under the dining table and watches Pearson cook, hypnotised. 

When it comes to pouring the batter into the frying pan, he’s acquired quite an audience. Arthur joins Jack under the table, sitting cross-legged, cracking jokes to make him splutter and giggle. 

Dutch swaggers in, demanding to be allowed to flip the first pancake. Pearson wearily obliges - it’s the same show every year. Hosea sips his coffee in the corner, side-eyeing profusely. 

Of course, the pancake ends up on the floor, where it’s immediately devoured by Cain. 

Dutch insists it was intentional - that was Cain’s pancake, he explains to Jack, who raises an eyebrow. 

After a couple more failed attempts, he manages to toss one perfectly - the entire kitchen breaks into applause. 

Arthur offers to make Dutch a t-shirt saying “World’s Greatest Tosser”. Everyone except Dutch (who’s thrilled at the idea) gets the joke. 

Sadie surprises even herself by being the best at flipping the pan - she can’t help but grin. 

Sean’s attempts stay impressively glued to the ceiling. 

Soon, several plates are stacked high with golden, fluffy pancakes. Everyone is drooling. 

Trelawny appears at the back door ten minutes into the meal, claiming to have just been passing by and thought he’d stop in...and what’s this? You’re all eating? Well, perhaps he’ll join you...

Everyone rolls their eyes - this is another yearly occurrence. 

Swanson ends up eating the most - a whopping 26 pancakes. Several gang members are certain they heard Sean sobbing in the bathroom later. 

There’s plenty of bickering - and as a result, a lot of dropped food. Cain has to be watched like a hawk in case he tries to eat any chocolate. 

Tilly cuts all of her pancakes into animal shapes, glaring when Susan snaps at her not to play with her food. 

Mary-Beth practices singing her name in maple syrup. 

Javier saves one of his pancakes, secretly cutting out holes for his eyes and mouth. He wears it around the house like a mask, nearly giving poor Strauss a heart attack as he’s coming out of the bathroom. 

The inevitable food coma takes it’s toll on everyone - and everyone agrees that the washing up can wait until morning. 

Toppings

Arthur: butter, maple syrup, bacon. Exactly as you’d expect. He licks the plate clean afterwards. 

John: peanut butter and Nutella. The topping-to-pancake ratio is way off, with the Nutella almost double the volume of everything else. 

Dutch: whipped cream, fresh mango slices and peaches. He likes to think it’s how the Tahitians would eat their pancakes. No one bothers telling him otherwise. 

Hosea: lemon and sugar, no fuss, nothing fancy. He sits back in contentment after finishing each pancake, patting his belly. 

Javier: apple slices and cinnamon. He’s still trying to convince Bill to do the cinnamon challenge. 

Sadie: salted butter, possibly a bit of sugar. She isn’t one for complicated toppings or combinations - why can’t people just eat the darn thing? 

Abigail: blueberries and maple syrup. She loves rollings it up like a cigar and eating it with her hands. 

Susan: lemon and sugar, just like Hosea. She subtly sucks her fingers clean, eyes closed, her lips pursed together at the bitter lemons. 

Micah: bacon, bacon, and extra bacon. Sugar is for the weak. Yes, he says this multiple times over the course of the dinner. Arthur decides to secretly give him vegan bacon next year and see if he notices. 

Charles: banana, peanut butter and cinnamon. He only has two or three, preferring to savour them.

Kieran: butter and honey. He makes the cutest noises of contentment as he eats, his eyes closed. He doesn’t care that everyone’s giggling at him, not one bit. He’s in heaven. 

Sean: everything on the table. He piles the toppings high, his eyes shining, placing a second pancake over the top like a sandwich. He insists it’s good, and that no, it most certainly was not him being sick at 1am. 

Jack: he wants to have everything, like Uncle Sean, but Abigail won’t let him. He settles for Nutella and M&M’s, arranging them in colour order. 

Bill: whipped cream and chocolate chips, with bacon on the side. The cream gets caught in his beard, making him look like a terrible Santa Claus impersonator. 

Mary-Beth: blackcurrant jam. She loves the colour, the tanginess, but always manages to stain her blouse with purple. 

Tilly: strawberries and whipped cream. She piles the cream high, so it looks like a fluffy white castle on a hill. Probably the first to initiate a food fight. 

Karen: glace cherries, strawberries, blueberries, cream and maple syrup. She has a massive sweet tooth and loves the way the berries burst in her mouth. There’s also prime opportunity to make lots of inappropriate cherry jokes. 

Molly: brown sugar and cinnamon. She eats her pancakes daintily, cutting them into tiny bites. But she’s enjoying them immensely, her eyes shining. She extends a finger to wipe around the plate, gathering any sugar she might have missed. 

Lenny: M&M’s, peanut butter, Nutella, whipped cream and sprinkles. This boy wants to make a cake, not a pancake. He layers two or three of them on top of each other, with all the toppings in the middle, slicing it proudly. 

Strauss: butter, with a little spoonful of cherry jam. He eats them quietly, sat in his corner of the enormous table, thinking of the way his mother used to make them in Austria. Maybe one day he’ll give Pearson her recipe. 

Swanson: butter and sugar. As we’ve already established, the man has a bottomless pit of a stomach when it comes to pancakes. He has a little sleep after dinner, curled up in his favourite armchair, but after that he’s back to normal, barely even bloated. No one understands it. 

Trelawny: whipped cream, an enormous mountain of it. He uses up the rest of the can - his face perfectly serious, looking around in surprise when he realises the whole table is staring at him. 

Uncle: bacon and maple syrup, with added M&M’s. Everyone tries hard not to watch him slurp up the combination, his chin covered. It’s rather off-putting. 

Pearson: plain, perhaps with a drop of lemon juice. As head chef, Pearson got first dibs of toppings, but refused them. It happens every year - he wants no distractions from his perfect batter. Yes, this year was the best batch yet. But next year it’ll be even better. 

[the-worlds-the-limit]

Okay. I’m JUST doing this one single thing, and that’s it. I appreciate the tags of these but I don’t do chain mail things ^^”. Take it if you want it but don’t tag me? My notifs will BLOW UP.

➡ five things you’ll find on Bio’s person.

1. Her phone/communicator. She usually has it with her, it’s specially made for her thanks to the claws and large hands she’s got. When she’s not got that, she’s got an earpiece and a mic communicator, standard GUN issue.

2. Her life support. Self explanatory.

3. Her GUN ID. She’s required to keep it with her at work, but she’s got it with her thanks to slotting it down a seam on her chest piece. It’s not meant to be used as a slot for a card but it’s worked so far.

4. Some rings. A small heart shaped locket with an image of Maria and Gerald inside it. It was the only thing left of Maria’s left when he returned to the Arc years after her death. He rarely wears it for fear of dropping it or losing it during battle, so he normally keeps it in his leather pouch or wrapped around his wrist underneath his glove.

5. A Chaos Drive. If ever there’s a case where her natural and the surrounding Chaos cannot sustain her life support, Bio has a backup Chaos Drive in a compartment on the front. All she has to do is flick a small button and it’ll help her until she can get to a safe place.

➡ five things you’ll find in Bio’s bedroom.

1. The first photo she took. The picture she first took when they were on earth is a polaroid in a frame too big for it. There’s plenty around the house of that first day, but Bio remembers when they went on a picnic and saw the fireflies. She asked Gerald to take a picture when she wasn’t expecting it. It’s natural and they all look peaceful.

2. A beanbag. She’s got the attic room, but her favourite thing is a HUGE beanbag. It’s right in the window’s light and she- as a lizard- will often sun herself there. It’s great.

3. Her certificates. Her certificates of citizenship and other such achievements like her one stating she passed the tests to be an agent with her brother and Rouge hang on one wall. She hopes to add more, and they remind her how far she’s going to help people.

4. A small workbench. She often will do maintenance on her legs or minor things on her life support if she’s got time. The bench is there to help. There’s tools, a magnifying lens and other stuff to assist on it.

5. A box of comic books. She has a little bit of fondness for comics. And more than a few are about things she’d been helping with. She might not be IN them, but it makes her smile.

➡ five things that make Bio happy.

1. Saving the world. Her friends and family give her plenty of happy memories, and she wants to protect them and anything that keeps them smiling.

2. Mangoes. She loves her fruit and there is nothing better to bribe her.

3. Movie night. Nuff said.

4. Checking in with Eclipse and the Dark Arms. Her most recent family addition is always a mood-lifter to see. The Arms adore their new family and she does too! Plus Eclipse is fun to mess with, and she’s always happy when she sees him looking so much better than before.

5. Meeting up with her friends. Bio doesn’t often have a day where she’s got free time the same as her other friends, or she doesn’t know them all that well. But when she gets the chance to have a girl’s time out in town with Amy and Rouge, or just hang out with any of the others, she makes the most of it.

➡ five things Bio’s currently into.

1. Naps in the sun. She wants to enjoy her time off and naps in the sun are the best thing to relax and read a book falling asleep to.

2. Practicing . She can do a lot on her own but she does spend some down time seeing if her abilities are getting any better.

3. Having walks. Though she’s happy to stay at home Bio does take the time to walk. It helped her build strength in her legs before and she’s never stopped taking them out of habit.

4. Messing around with Shadow. She likes to make sure he’s not wound up by racing him or play-fighting and such.

5. Doing her job. She’s doing her bit for the planet, and it’s a lot of her time taken up, and some missions she comes back with a scrape or two, but Bio wants to make that change in the world with her team no matter what.

➡ five things on Bio’s to-do list.

1. Find a way to heal herself. She’s aware she will end up with a lot of health issues without her life support and die, but she’s always wondered what it’d be like without the stuff on and in her. Though it’s not a priority to her, she’s quite happy without healing.

2. Learn how to perform a Chaos Blast, or Spear. She’s not jealous. No. She just thinks it looks really cool. Yup.

3. Learn to drive. She’s not driven before and frankly, she’s been looking into a way for her to drive in a car that can hold her and get a license. She’s heard about Sonic doing races and Shadow too, she’d love to join in.

4. Find out where Infinite went. The Infinite in Bio’s world is MIA, presumably even KIA. She’s quite keen to get her hands on him and give him a good slap for almost killing her and everything else, then try to see if she’s able to reform him and if not? Put him in a cell.

5. To bring Eclipse into the family proper. She wants the world to be at least okay with Eclipse’s existence. She just wants people to see the same good in him and actually get to know him.

Tagged by: @shadow-ultimate-lifeform

tagging: Take it if you want it but don’t tag me? My notifs will BLOW UP.

[authorlmfletcher]

For Adrien AUG-reste: Day 30

For @adrienaugust

Warning in advance: This story may require a supply of tissues.

If you prefer, you can follow along on Ao3 or on FFnet.

Tumblr: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 | 29

                        __________________________________

TROPICAL ISLAND

The book was getting scarily close to the last entry. Marinette didn’t want this to end. His voice, his memories, his life were too important to her. For a few days, she tried not to read the next entry, instead, flipping back and starting from the beginning again. She took in the words over and over, hiding them in her heart, pulling him as close to her as she possibly could.

But inevitably, she found herself face to face with the reality that it was nearly over. That he had been forced to stop writing. With a resigned sigh, she let herself read.

My work as a model as a teen allowed me the privilege to travel. I’ve been all kinds of places: Italy, the US, England, Spain, Germany. I’d even gone to Australia a few times, did a show or two in Dubai and Hong Kong, and did some photoshoots in Iceland.

But I’d never visited the Caribbean before.

For our 25th wedding anniversary, I surprised Marinette with a trip to one of the islands there, leaving the children in the care of her parents so we could enjoy a getaway together.  

It really was paradise - warm weather, white sand and blue-green ocean as far as the eye can see, friendly people, delicious food. Have you ever eaten a mango or coconut right off the tree? Ah, heavenly.

We spent our days relaxing in the sun, walking down the beach hand-in-hand, or swimming in the ocean. I discovered that the Caribbean sun was much more potent than I’d experienced before and got a wicked sunburn - I’m not sure I’ve ever really had a sunburn before. Those things hurt!

I tried to romance the heck out of that woman - taking her to restaurants, giving her a diamond necklace, daily love notes on her pillows, drawing her bubble baths, showering her in roses, foot rubs, walking together in the surprise rain storm that appeared one afternoon, watching her favourite romantic movie during a thunderstorm all snuggled together on the couch in our suite.

And you know what she did? She upped me.

On our actual anniversary, I had made reservations at the best restaurant on the whole island, got myself dressed and waited patiently for Marinette to get ready in the bathroom. The minute that door opened I just about died.

She had designed and made the most stunning dress. It started at her shoulders with thick straps, a plunging neckline that dropped all the way to her belly button, back bare, with the length of the dress ended just above her knees. Three thin neon green bands wrapped around her waist. The dress itself looked black, but it shimmered and when the light caught the material, it shifted to tones of green. Her incredibly high heeled shoes were the same colour of neon green to match both the bands on her dress and her small clutch. Her hair was simple - just draping over her shoulder softly and around her neck was the diamond necklace I’d given her.

She stood there with a Chat Noir approved smirk as I died slowly, knowing exactly the effect she was having on me by wearing such an outfit in my colours. I was actually afraid to take her to dinner because I figured that everyone would try to steal my wife away.

I love that woman - more than I think she even realizes it. She’s beautiful, strong, caring, talented, determined, sweet, and most amazingly - loves me back. I still have no idea why. But I’m grateful. Every day. She’s the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen.

Our getaway was something I will never forget - the chance to spend time together in appreciation of our commitment to love each other forever.

With a soft sigh, Marinette felt herself flash back to that evening. The dress itself had been somewhat of a nightmare to make since she’d been so determined to make it perfect for him but the look on his face when she’d opened the bathroom door all dressed up in that dress had been pure appreciation. It made her feel that, even in her 40s, she was still beautiful - despite having had 3 children and not being the same shape she was before. He’d loved her so much that he never cared about any of that.

That whole evening, he’d fluctuated between pride and protectiveness - and at one point, she wondered if he was going to go completely feral and tear a man’s eyes out for daring to comment on the dress.

That whole trip had been magical - a bubble in the middle of a busy and chaotic life.

                      ____________________________________

AUTHOR: Brace yourself. Tomorrow is the final chapter and one that had me in an uncontrolled sob-fest. (Maybe it won't affect you the same way, but just wanted to give you a heads up!)

[ultsracha]

Flowers and picnics w/ Felix (skz)

Request?: This wasn’t requested but I wanted to work on it for my lovely friend Valentine who deserves the world! I hope you like it and this is something you can go back to and read whenever you get sad or lonely <3  Genre: Fluff fluff fluffy goodness :) non-idol boyfriend type of thing Warnings: Absolutely none 

It was a beautiful sunny day with hardly any clouds in the sky when Felix called you asking you to come on a date

Obviously, you said yes! 

He explained to wear something comfortable and to bring a bag of some sort and you were so confused 

About an hour later he showed up, little basket in hand ready to go 

He was practically glowing with happiness when he explained where you were going 

“I found this field, it’s full of so many flowers and it’s so beautiful I really wanted to show you it” He beams, jumping up and down like a puppy 

Of course your boyfriend would know your favourite thing in the world and find it for you to enjoy 

You hopped in his car and he asked you to plug his phone into the aux and press play 

The songs that played were ALL of your favourite songs, ever 

Like he literally made a 3 hour long playlist with every song you guys enjoyed together or you’d mentioned had meaning to you

The windows were down as he drove down some country lanes, singing along with you as he drove 

It was so nice and warm and his freckles were darkening by the second in the bright sunlight 

His smile didn’t falter as he pulled into a small lane and the smell of flowers hit you 

It was truly beautiful 

He parked by the entrance to this field and all you could see all around you were beautiful brightly colour wild flowers covering the whole field 

Felix took your hand and lead you up to the top of the hill 

Underneath the tall oak tree that was at the top of the hill he laid out a soft blanket and started to unpack the mysterious little basket he brought with him 

Your eyes welled up with happy tears when you saw what was in the basket 

Little heart shaped cookies, heart shaped sandwiches with your favourite filling in them

He filled a little box with mango's, strawberries, cherries and peaches all cutely sliced for you 

As well as little cartons of strawberry milk 

“Felix you really didn’t have to do this” you exhale gently as you sat down opposite him 

He was just grinning ear to ear as he replied “I love you and wanted to treat you so I just wanted to give you all your favourite things” 

Little does he know that just him on his own is your favourite thing in the entire world

Your heart was full as you ate together 

Felix insisted on feeding you the fruit he brought on a cute little fork because it’s “cute” 

When you’d both eaten your fill of the lovely and surprisingly tasty food you ended up sat in between his legs as he played with your hair 

“You’re so pretty” He mumbles, twirling a piece of your hair between his fingers 

“You can’t even see my face right now Felix” You giggle, twisting round to face him 

“I don’t need to, I know you’re beautiful” He replied, smiling before kissing your forehead and continuing to play with your hair 

You sat in peaceful silence taking in the view of the vibrant field and blue sky. Basking in the summer sun together 

Suddenly Felix gasps and stands up

He takes off running down the hill, arms swinging 

“Where are you going?” You yell, giggling at how he was skipping through the flowers 

“A QUEEN NEEDS A CROWN! SO I’M GOING TO MAKE YOU ONE” He yells back before plopping onto the floor and picking some flowers 

You wandered over to him and watched as he started joining all sorts of wild flowers together 

He spent 20 minutes crafting a BEAUTIFUL flower crown for you 

He made sure it had 1 of every single flower in it 

Honestly who would’ve thought he would have had such crafty hands that could make such a masterpiece 

Once he’s finished he proudly asks you to dip your head so he could place it on there 

“It’s perfect” you blush as he starts beaming with pride

“Not as perfect as yOooOooOoOOoOoOu” he replies, dragging out the last word and leaning back into the flowers dramatically

He took out his phone and took a few pictures which just made you blush even more so you ducked down to the floor

You lay with your head against his chest in the field for hours after watching him set a pic he just took of you as his lockscreen

Just talking about your future together, weird dreams you’ve had and debating on what you guys are going to call all the dogs you want to get together 

Every time you glance up he just looks like an angel 

His freckles are dotted across his face perfectly and even darker than before because you’d spent the day in the sun

His skin was practically gleaming 

He would catch you staring and kiss the side of your head lovingly while rubbing his hand up and down your arm 

The smell of his clothes and the flowers around you was something you wish you could bottle up forever 

It’s serene 

Perfect. 

Eventually the sun begins to set and the crickets start singing as the sky turns into cotton candy 

The glow making Felix’s eyes twinkle 

You continued to lay there together, watching the sky change colour and the clouds float further away from you over behind the hills 

Eventually the sky was dotted with stars so you decided to head home 

Of course Felix was reluctant to let go of you so you could go gather the picnic basket and blanket but once you’d persuaded him by agreeing to let him hold your hand ALL the way home he gave in 

You were packing the leftover food into the basket when you turned to see Felix standing behind you, a handful of daisies in his hand

He always knows how to make you love him even more

“I love you so much, thank you for such a lovely day” He whispers, handing you the flowers and bringing you in for a tight hug 

“I love you too Felix” You mumble, voice muffled by his shirt because he was hugging you so tight 

You slowly walked back to the car, hands swinging back and forth tightly clasped together 

He opened your door for you and let you hop in before jogging back to his side and turning on the playlist again 

The drive back was just as beautiful as the drive there 

Every star seemed to be twinkling extra bright and the moon was beaming just for the pair of you

The air was still warm so you had the windows down to feel the breeze 

Felix made sure you kept your promise of holding his hand the whole way home 

Your other hand was draped lazily out of the window gently hand surfing as he drove through the lanes 

There was no need to speak, you both just absorbed the music and last lights of the sun dipping behind horizon 

Sometimes he would softly sing a line or two of a song (usually the ones about love) and then just glance at you lovingly 

You slowly drifted off to sleep as the gentle bends of the road and warmth of Felix’s hand holding yours made you feel so safe 

Honestly you fell asleep while smiling 

That just made Felix fall in love all over again 

You woke up to him gently lifting you out of the car 

Instinctively you wrapped your arms around his neck and legs around his waist 

It always surprised you how strong he was 

He carried you to your door and then put you down 

“I had the most perfect day” you whisper, blinking sleep away 

“Me too, you deserved it and I wanted to show you how much I love you” He whispers back, looking deep into your eyes 

You just giggled and hugged him, too overcome with emotion to say anything back 

Honestly who could ask for a better boyfriend? 

He kissed you gently and said his goodbyes, walking down the path to his car backwards, shooting you little hearts as he walked 

When he was in the car you turned to go into the house, heart full of love for the most perfect boyfriend in the world 

[sweetcatmintea]

The Little Fox

It’s technically not Friday here, but the prompt dropped at midnight so I hope you’ll forgive that. I wrote this in an hour at one in the morning, but hopefully it’s still enjoyable ^u^; (I should be asleep so I can keep working on essays tomorrow but when the bug bites) Feedback is appreciated!

Prompt: Street Magic

Words: 999

I’m a liar. It’s true. Can you blame me? Cake is so much more fun than bread. That isn’t important right now, I just thought I should let you know. Still here? Wonderful. I have a fantastic story to tell you. It happened today as a matter of fact.

While I enjoy train rides, motion sickness leaving no option but watching the world change as I moved from one land to another, I don’t terribly enjoy missing my bus because it was scheduled to leave before the train had arrived. I know, I know, I should have checked the website earlier, but I honestly thought the night before would be sufficient. Who works after ten anyway? My bus looked rather uncomfortable with everyone packed in like a classroom crayon box. Still, if I was part of the set instead of watching it drive away as the train pulled to a stop, I wouldn’t have missed my class. Well, I hadn’t missed it yet. I would by the time another rolled around. I had three options. One, I could wait for the next bus and catch the tail end of the lecture. Nothing gets the heart pumping like creeping into the theatre mid-sentence. Two, I could reverse the journey and get some cleaning done. I mean, who needs matching socks really. Or three, I could blow off the rest of the day and poke around the city. You can have a good time with ten dollars, a notebook, and a coupon for half-priced juice, right? I’m sure you’ll be surprised when I tell you I picked option three.

The city is a great place to be. Everyone’s got somewhere to be. They move in waves roughly coordinated to avoid mass injury – or worse, delay. Snippets of conversation let you peek into lives as you carry on with your own, innocently party to a person’s newest favourite song, or their frustration with the divorce that still hasn’t gone through, or their fluttering account of that new person they met on the weekend, no not that one, That one. Colours and styles that swirl around you, making your heart leap seeing all the creativity. My stomach growls just thinking about fast food places begging your patronage through enticing scents. Mmm following your nose can lead you to the best places – or it can choke you as cigarettes dangle from the lips of women propped against no-smoking signs, coffee cup in hand.

Yes, I love the pulse of the concrete jungle. But what I love most of all, is the street art. Massive murals spanning the entire side of the building, tiny stickers rewarding your attention, clever graffiti you can’t not chuckle at. How wonderful. And there I was, liberated from my responsibilities by a two-minute scheduling error. It was only natural that my feet sought the colours that entranced me so. Ambling aimlessly, I found myself in a sleeping street. Just a little off shoot from the main shopping centre and the noise was near absent. A hip café zone, judging by the late open hours scrawled on blackboards tacked to brick. It was a good thing they were closed, I haven’t any place there. Standing beside a locked door, someone had painted a little fox. He was quite dapper in his coat and hat. I was terribly embarrassed when he caught me staring. He didn’t seem to mind, or politely ignored it if he did, bowing a greeting to me. Naturally, I returned it. I hoped my apologetic smile said enough without undermining his display of manners. A little black paw, or rather, a black gloved paw, my mistake, beckoned me to follow. Had I known how to do it, I would have taken his paw in my hand. Unfortunately, he was quite two dimensional. An awfully happy chap, he waved his tail with each step he walked. A lovely travelling companion to be sure. We travelled further and further into the street – quite past the point that the end ought to have been. It stayed ahead of us until we turned a corner, then it was beside.

Now, you may not believe this, and that’s all well enough, but the dear little fox, he led me under a ladder and through a wall. He was even so kind as to point out the half-filled paint tins scattered around so I didn’t trip. I hope I’ll be able to see the finished painting someday. It’s going to be beautiful. Under the ladder and through the wall, we walked through a park, rough brushstroke plants created with a tender hand and a sky not quite realism, but not far off. The little fox was shy about the stains on my hand but holding his paw was a treat. He introduced his friends, some bunnies playing hop scotch on pavement, an otter pleading with a dog to swim with him in the fountain, a crow who complained he had much more important things to do with his time but could find no motivation to actually leave, and a little tuxedo cat who invited us to join their picnic. I’d like to tell you the food was delicious – the effort they had gone to certainly was – but it was the strangest thing I’d ever tasted. The sandwiches, cut into triangles and crusts removed, had the idea of a flavour. I suppose it is what the artist had imagined their creation to taste like. The mango tingled my taste-buds with secret fruit heists with my dad before it could hit the party table.

We laughed, we ate, and we made merry until dusk dripped onto the sky. It was terribly sad to leave my new friends (the otter had managed to convince the dog if you were wondering) but I had to return home. The little fox led me back to where I started and we parted ways. It was a magical day I probably shouldn’t repeat. It’s a good thing I’m a liar then.

 Tag list 

@shaping-infinity, @cawolters, @inkovert, and @snobbysnekboi

[the-coconut-asado]

Oh Stumptown my Stumptown!

Portland likes to keep it weird. Officially. You could even buy the tee shirt if tee shirts weren’t so predictable.   

From a poster invitation to “Hear my TED Talk about DIY and Impending Doom” to the Big Legrowlski (sic) night club that hangs carpets on the walls -  not to balance the sound for the band but because they really bring the room together -  the City has an off-beat vibe that feels authentic even while it gets you scratching your head. And where else would you queue round the block for a voodoo-doll shaped doughnut with a pretzel stick through its ‘heart’?

You probably won’t be surprised when I tell you that Portland is  the Hipster Capital of the World. You know it’s hipster because it sells more coffee and has more microbreweries per head than anywhere else in the US.

We came for the food because People That Know told us to. It’s not simply that everything is delicious but that chefs, cooks, carts and food enthusiasts are trying to do different. It’s like Masterchef has landed in Twin Peaks. Entrepreneurs are making ice cream out of chickpeas and it works. A pastry chef has re-interpreted her favourite childhood book on a plate and you rejoice in the complex flavours of her tiny reconstructed bunny. So who’s the bunny boiler now?

One thing that puzzled me is why the City changed its name from the original Stumptown (pretty weird) to Portland (the Holiday Inn of city names). Devon, a local lawyer who we chatted to most mornings in Baristas Cafe, explained that Portland was never officially called Stumptown.  It became its nickname due to all the trees they had to cut down to build it, leaving the eponymous stumps in their wake. Stumptown is also the name of their iconic coffee brand, which I always assumed was NYC’s greatest invention. This is one of the many ways in which travel expands your mind.

Devon embodied something else about Portland: its friendliness. Even the passport officers are anxious that you have a good time. Full disclosure,  it wasn’t just Devon that we sought out each morning - it was Pepper, his cute little dog. I would eat Barista’s fresh, flaky rhubarb hand pie just to drop crumbs that Pepper would breakfast on. 

Devon put us onto a couple of great places to eat - one we made it to, one we didn’t. But more of that later.

Where to begin to describe this steel guitar food odyssey? Let me take you through our many highlights from the  mountain of food we consumed. Set it to the soundtrack of Chris Isaak’s Wicked Thing.

Our first evening, tired and hungry, we stuck to our guns and found Andina, the City’s Peruvian eatery. When you are both tired and hungry it’s easy to get seduced by posters boasting ‘Meatball Monday’ and forget your mission, but our persistence paid off. That legendary Portlandia hospitality squeezed us into a nook where there really wasn’t a free table, and we dined greedily on humitas, ceviche, lamb shank and seafood, washed down with Oregon’s finest home-grown Pinot Gris. I didn’t quibble that they brought something different from my order. In my fractured Spanish ‘Arroz con Pato’ probably did sound like ‘Seafood Risotto’  - and the risotto was obviously going to be delicious before fork met lip, so I didn’t send it back.

Next day, which coincidentally was Taco Tuesday, we hit the street food. 

Portland is big on street food (see: hipster capital of the world). Most food vendors have carts - permanent fixtures where the chef builds enough of a following over months or years to be able to open a small restaurant. Nong’s Khao Man Gai was just one of these. They do one dish - a Vietnamese poached chicken with a secret chilli sauce, accompanied by rice cooked in the chicken broth. You can also have a version with shrimp, pork or Tofu. We bought a bottle of the sauce to bring home. Life’s too short.

It’s not all carts - there are a fair few trucks too. 

One which specialised in cheese toasties challenged “ Come and relive the taste of your childhood. But if your childhood sucked, we’ll share the memory of ours”. Have you eaten a cheese toastie recently? I mean really felt the embrace of  a sandwich of molten cheese and fried bread? Maybe your childhood did suck after all.

That evening it was the turn of The Hairy Lobster restaurant, and that bunny dessert I mentioned earlier. Little Bunny Foo Foo to give it it’s full name. A delicate carrot cake, covered in cheesecake mousse, accompanied by a ginger crumb, caramel sauce and a marshmallow rabbit. 

Despite it’s show-stopping appearance and fusion of flavours, it was their roast squash with curry sauce and pumpkin seed praline that was the stand-out dish for me. The Lobster picnic for our main was pretty damn good too.

Friday brings me to Devon’s first recommendation, Pok Pok,  a teeny Thai eatery in the suburbs. Getting there had the added advantage of passing through a neighbourhood full of rambling old houses in the Amityville Horror style. I recalled the first time I had heard of Portland was from a TV thriller full of witches and jabberwocks called Grimm. They had definitely filmed it’s eerily beautiful moments around here.

If I had to single out a food highlight in a week of next-to-no food lows, I would choose Pok Pok. It gave me my first food coma in a long while. Something about it’s smoked aubergine, pork belly curry, marinated chicken with two dips, sublime mango with sticky rice and that rhubarb blush cocktail… I sense I am sharing my food coma with you now. Their signature dish is hot spicy chicken wings. The couple on the table next to us were too full to finish theirs so offered them to us. Maybe it was the wings that tipped me over the edge. I’ll never know.

And so to our last day, and the big daddy of Portland nights out: Jake’s Crawfish. Over 100 years old, walking into Jake’s is like walking into one of Sinatra’s memories. It has a justifiably stellar reputation, and seems to have maintained it for a century. I ate Steel-head trout for the first time, fished on their doorstep from Oregon’s Columbia River, coated with a horseradish crust, and preceded by half a dozen of the plumpest oysters I have ever eaten.

I haven’t yet mentioned Portland’s biggest hipster foodie habit: brunch. No matter what day of the week, the restaurants that brunch are always full. For most of our trip, we were waking up too early to really do brunch justice. Those rhubarb hand pies at Baristas had satisfied our hunger by around 8AM so a mid-morning banquet wasn’t really on. One day, however, we made it to Tasty & Alder in the Pearl DIstrict of the city and managed to sneak in a table for two before the queues built up. Worth it for their Green Frittata with salsa verde (who ever thought of doing that before?) and lightest, fluffiest American biscuits. We never made it to Devon’s second recommendation: Burmasphere, his friend’s Burmese cart on the other side of the river. And now we have an excuse to return.

When it came to rustling up some recipes that take me straight back to Portland weird, I whittled my list down to three: my version of Tasty & Alders’ green frittata with feta and salsa verde; a less labour-intensive version of Andina’s Arroz con Pato, made with chicken or guinea fowl; and in the spirit of weird, though by no means original, a cake inspired by Churros con Chocolate. The best possible end to a Taco Tuesday.

I messaged a friend of mine that had moved to Portland a few years back and asked why she had ever left. “ Too much rain and not enough art.” she said.  

You missed the point Sweetie. Great Food IS great art. And if you can’t stand the rain, get into the kitchen.

Green Frittata with Feta and Salsa Verde

A great little brunchy-lunch dish packed with flavour for the carb-conscious. If you want to add some carbs, slices of toasted sourdough will go down a treat. Serves 4

Ingredients

8 large free-range eggs

1tblspn, double cream

100g asparagus spears, chopped into 2 cm chunks

100g shelled garden peas or petit pois

50g feta cheese

Salt and freshly ground black pepper

For the salsa verde:

Small pack of flat-leaf parsley (around 15-20g)

½ a small pack of mint leaves

3 tbsp. Capers

7 anchovy fillets

1 clove garlic

1 tbsp dijon mustard

8 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

How to make:

Bring a small saucepan of salted water to the boil, then add the peas. After a couple of minutes, add the chopped asparagus and continue simmering for another 2 minutes. Drain and refresh under cold water. Put to one side.

Next, make the salsa verde. Put all the ingredients except the olive oil into a blender, season generously with pepper and go easier on the salt (anchovies and capers are already pretty salty). Then, add the olive oil and blend again. Don’t over blend at each step - it's nice to keep the texture a little rough.

Put a skillet on the stove and melt a knob of butter. Beat the eggs, add the cream and season. Lightly saute the green vegetables in the butter for a minute or two. 

 then pour the eggs over and crumble the feta cheese over the top. Cook for a couple of minutes until the bottom is starting to brown.

 pop under the grill to continue cooking, until the top is a light golden colour and the frittata has firmed up with a slight wobble (keep a close eye on this, probably takes 2-3 minutes).

Cut the frittata into 4 wedges and serve with a dollop of salsa verde on top.

Arroz con Gallina Picante

I never did get to eat Arroz con Pato in Andina, but while I adore the rich flavour of duck, devoting two or three days to confitting it before finishing the dish is only for the dedicated dinner party cook. This version with a spicy chicken and a feta-enriched herb sauce (based on a Melissa Clark recipe)  goes down just as well - or the richer Guinea Fowl, which I have used here. And Peruvian aji amarillo is now more available by mail order - substitute ordinary chile powder if not. Serves 4.

Ingredients:

1 medium-sized chicken or guinea fowl, jointed into 2 breasts, 2 drumsticks and 2 thighs (discard the back or freeze to make stock at a later date)

For the marinade:

6 garlic cloves, crushed

3 tbsp light soy sauce

1 tbsp paste made with aji amarillo powder and olive oil

Juice of 1 lime

1 tsp sriracha sauce

1 tsp. Dijon mustard

2 tsp ground cumin

Salt and freshly ground black pepper

For the sauce:

½ a large bunch coriander leaves, broken up

2 jalapeno chilies, chopped

75g feta cheese, crumbled

1 garlic clove, crushed

Juice of 1-2 limes

2 tsp chopped fresh oregano

½ tsp dijon mustard

½ tbsp aji amarillo paste (see marinade earlier for method)

1 tsp honey

1 tsp ground cumin

½ cup extra virgin olive oil.

For the Peruvian Rice:

3 tbsp sunflower oil

2 cloves garlic, crushed

1 onion, finely chopped

3 heaped tsp aji amarillo paste (see marinade earlier for method)

½ large bunch fresh coriander, broken up and blended till smooth with a tblspn water

500g fresh chicken stock

300g bottle of beer or lager

2 x small green chillies, chopped finely

500g basmati rice

1 red pepper, chopped into small chunks

100g fresh garden peas or petit pois

How to make

First, make the marinade. Mix all the marinade ingredients in a large bowl, cover the fowl of your choice in it, cover with cling film and pop in the fridge for at least 4 hours or overnight.

For the sauce: put all the ingredients into a blender, and blend till smooth. Pour into a bowl, cover and refrigerate, taking out about 15 minutes ahead of eating to bring to room temperature.

For the rice. Heat 2 tbsp oil in a saucepan, add the onion and garlic and saute until starting to turn golden. Add the blended coriander and chili paste  and cook for a couple of minutes until the paste has thickened slightly and smells delicious.

Pour the beer into the saucepan, cook for a few minutes then add the chicken stock. Bring to the boil, season, then take off the heat, cover and put to one side.

Heat the oven to 200C. Pat  the chicken or guinea fowl pieces dry, then pop onto a shallow baking tray, season and drizzle with olive oil. Put the tray into the oven and roast for 35-40 minutes.

While the meat roasts, finish the rice. Heat 2 tbsp oil in a medium sized saucepan, add the peppers and cook for a couple of minutes. Then add the rice and stir into the oil and peppers until it starts to crackle a little at the bottom. Add the peas and chilies and stir again, then add the stock, beer and onion garlic mix. Stir, season if needed, then cover and simmer on a low heat for 25 mins.

Fluff up the rice and spoon onto plates. Top with the chicken or guinea fowl pieces, and crown with a dollop of sauce.

Churros Bundt Cake with Dipping Chocolate Sauce

I love churros, and I love a Bundt cake. If you want all the flavours but none of the faffing or frying, then give this a try. The cake will keep, covered in a tin. Just remember to reheat the chocolate sauce for dipping or pouring each time. Serves 8-10

Ingredients:

For the cake:

2 ¾ cups plain flour

2 tsp. Baking powder

2 tsp ground cinnamon

½ tsp. Salt

170g unsalted butter

130g caster sugar

50g soft brown sugar

4 large eggs

1 egg yolk

1 375g punnet of sour cream

2 tsp. Vanilla extract

For the cinnamon sugar ‘glaze’

2 tsp ground cinnamon

4 tsp caster sugar

For the chocolate sauce:

½ cup cocoa powder

Pinch chilli flakes

100g dark chocolate (70%)

1 cup double cream

½ cup dark brown sugar

1 tsp vanilla extract

½ tsp cinnamon

How to make

Preheat the oven to 160C. Grease and flour a large bundt cake pan (make sure to get into all the nooks and crannies).

Beat the butter and sugar in a mixing bowl (ideally using an electric stand mixer) until light and fluffy. Add the eggs one by one and continue to mix between each addition, finishing with the egg yolk. Add the sour cream and vanilla extract and beat again until just incorporated.  Mix all the dry ingredients, add them to the butter and egg mix and fold in until smooth. 

Pour the cake batter into the bundt tin and bake for around 50-55 minutes until a skewer inserted near the middle comes out clean (I usually check the cake after 45 mins). Invert the cake onto a rack to cool.

Mix the remaining sugar and cinnamon in a small bowl. Melt the butter and paint all over the surface of the cake. Dust the cinnamon sugar over the buttered cake, making sure you pat it in places to stick.

To make the chocolate sauce. Pop all the ingredients into a saucepan, then cook, stirring constantly, on a low heat until the chocolate has melted, everything is smooth and custardy. Let it bubble slightly then turn off the heat.

Serve slices of the churros cake with warm chocolate sauce poured over. There are some who prefer their chocolate sauce served cold. That’s fine too.

[restlessmaknae]

Heartbreak Hotel; Jae

Take an aspiring song writer, a rebellious high schooler, a sassy English teacher, a passionate painter and an adventurous tour guide. What’s the same in all of them? They’ve all just had their heart broken.

Heartbreak Hotel is a DAY6 angst one-shot collection with 5 members & 5 songs & 5 stories.

Sungjin | Dowoon | Young K | Wonpil | Jae

V. Jae + It Would Have Been

English teacher!Jae x OC’s story in 1033 words. Angst & drama. Triggers: death. I would like to wrap up this angsty series with Jae’s story because the birthday boy deserves more love (and more stories). *-*

The traces of you are all over the flat.

Your favourite pink sweater with that cute little emoji on the front that you’ve always wanted to see on me. The half-open bottle of your smoky night nail polish that you’ve once used to paint my own nails in secret while I was asleep. The bookmark that you’ve made with your own hands using heart-shaped beads and purple ribbons. The frames that you’ve purchased a week ago, so that we can put our pictures somewhere and not between the pages of your favourite books or between the listening tasks for my English classes. The sweet little messages on the fridge that we’ve left for each other saying plain old I love yous or the funnier ones like I know you’ve said that I shouldn’t eat the last cookie but the temptation was too much. The leftovers of your delicious mapo tofu that you’ve made last night because you know it’s my favourite and I had a pretty rough day and you just wanted to cheer me up. The jokes that I’ve told you and that you jotted down every single time, collecting them in a notebook because you said that you would like to save them for later.

Your pink toothbrush that you bought in a package along with a blue one, so that we can use it as a couple thing. The pictures of you and me that you’ve taken with your polaroid camera and which was my birthday present for you the year before because you’ve always been interested in photography but you never had a decent camera. The keychain with a Kumamon figure on it that you bought for me last Christmas and that I’ve always wanted to put my hands on because that was the only missing piece from my collection. All the essays that you’ve written for my English classes because I kept them all in a folder, organised and neat just like their owner. All the tests that you’ve taken during my classes, so that I can see your handwriting over and over again and start missing your handwriting more and more. Your lovely letter after you had got the results of your CAE exam, thanking me because you had passed and it meant that you had the chance to apply for a scholarship in the UK.

Your phone number that you’ve written down on a piece of paper, your handwriting’s a mess but that’s okay because you were in a hurry and I was after another difficult lesson. The pencil on my desk that I gave you and you never once gave it back face-to-face but still secretly returned it, put it in my drawer and bought a new one alongside the old one. The mug that you had given me for our 3rd anniversary which says that I’m the coolest guy on Earth (and the luckiest too because I have such a girlfriend like you). The mug that I had given you for our 4th anniversary that says that you are the most beautiful girl on Earth and the luckiest too because you have a fiancé like me.

Your vanilla and cinnamon scented candles that you adored to light up no matter the season, the weather or our mood. The scent of your mango and passionfruit perfume that lingers around the bathroom because you always spray so much that the whole room smells of you. The voice message that you recorded for me when I was away for two weeks for a training and the one that can still send shivers down my spine every single time I listen to it. The oversized grey hoodie that is my favourite item and the one you always wear after we sleep together. The sight of your worn-out training shoes that you wouldn’t throw out for the world because those are the ones that you wore when we first met.

The traces of you are all over our flat.

Your plants that you brought with you when we decided to move together. Lucky, our dog that we picked out at an animal shelter and whom we took care of as if it was our own child.

The traces of you are all over our flat. Like you never wanted to go. Like you’ve never even wanted to leave. Like you’ve just got home from work, put your clothes on the coatrack and your shoes on the rack in the hallway and headed to the living room to put on some music – one that we both liked because we could argue over music for hours. Like you’ve never wanted to do anything else but to spend time with me and make this whole place feel like home, feel like our home. Like you’ve never wanted to put an end to this fairy-tale that we were currently writing.

Your beloved clock was still hanging on the wall. It was the one that you bought as soon as we moved together because there wasn’t a single clock around and the one that hits midnight at the moment. The same time I received the news yesterday.

The news of your accident.

The news of your death.

It would have been different… oh, it would have been so much different if I hadn’t let go of your hand after lunch and you wouldn’t want to buy medicine for me because I came down with a flu and we had nothing at home to make me feel better.

I should have said that you were enough, your presence was the only medicine that I needed but you still insisted and went out late at night. A drunk man didn’t stop at the red lights and hit you with his car. You died on the spot with a bag of medication in your hand.

I still can’t let go of the our before the word flat.

I don’t want it to be just mine again.

I don’t want Lucky to be just my dog, I want it to be ours again.

It would have been different but I can’t help it anymore. You aren’t here and you never will. Not again.

[yasbxxgie]

'Gil Scott-Heron saved my life': After a traumatic childhood Abdul Malik Al Nasir seemed to be heading for jail or an early death. Then, at the age of 18, he met the famous poet and musician – with remarkable consequences

My brother Reynold introduced me to the music of Gil Scott-Heron. Little did I realise how it, and more importantly Gil, would go on to shape my life.

I was 18, had just come out of a childhood in care, was traumatised, illiterate and had no prospects. Reynold, who was older, showed me an album called Moving Target, which had a picture of Gil running through the streets of Washington seen through the telescopic lens of a gun. Reynold was politicised and well-read – unlike me. I didn't take life too seriously, partly because I couldn't face up to what had happened to me. He made me sit down and listen to the song Washington DC and the lyrics summed up so much of my life: "The symbols of democracy pinned up against the coast, the outhouse of bureaucracy surrounded by a moat./ Citizens of poverty are barely out of sight/ The overlords escape in the evenings, brothers on the night."

Gil was talking about the White House surrounded by the urban ghettos, the bits the tourists don't see – the reality of the city's ghetto life. My brother explained what the song meant. He drew a parallel between what Gil was talking about in Washington DC and what we, as black people, were facing in Toxteth, Liverpool, in the run up to the riots of 1981.

Reynold was trying to wake me up to consciousness. I had already got in with the wrong crowd, and he was concerned that if I didn't dissociate myself from them it would only be a matter of time before I was incarcerated again – and this time not in a care home.

Why had I been put in care in the first place? My name back then was Mark Trevor Watson, and when I was eight years old my father had a stroke. Dad was black from Guyana, my mum white Welsh. All the family (there were four kids, and mum and dad) were the butt of racist abuse. Dad, a former merchant seaman, was a real worker. Nothing could stop him. He even volunteered to work on Christmas Day 1974 for the Netherley Property Guards, who patrolled the warehouses on the Liverpool docks. It was a horribly cold winter. He left the house at 5am to wait for the bus to take him to work. It never came. Dad waited till 10am and eventually trudged home defeated. That was the only time I saw this big strong seaman cry. He didn't open his Christmas presents, he just went straight to bed. He had a stroke in his sleep and when he woke up he was a quadriplegic, paralysed from the neck down. He stayed like that for the rest of his life, in and out of the geriatric ward until he died four years later.

Mum, who worked in the Meccano factory, continued to struggle with the four of us. But she couldn't really cope. I was a handful – dyslexic and dyspraxic, but undiagnosed. I hated school. We were virtually the only black kids there, and the pupils used to be brought into school assembly to the sound of the headmaster's favourite recording – Black Sambo: "Black Sambo, black Sambo, living in the jungle alone, except for Big black Mumbo and Big black Jumbo." No one considered it a problem. After that everyone would turn to me and my sisters and call us black sambo. There were fights, and everyone called us troublemakers. At nine I was expelled from that school, which resulted in me being taken into local authority care in 1975.

I was "sentenced" to nine years under a care order having committed no crime. They didn't see it like that, of course. They labelled me maladjusted and told all of us that we were menaces to society; that society needed protecting from us. On the night they took me into care, they put me in an admission unit where they locked me in a room with bars on the window for 14 days and 14 nights. This practice later came to be outlawed following the infamous pin-down scandal in Staffordshire, but in the 70s it was common. It was the most traumatic experience of my life, for which I would later seek justice in the courts.

Just before Christmas 1975 I was taken to a place called Woolton Vale assessment centre, otherwise known as Menlove. It was a large, Victorian prison with bars on every window, locks on every door and an isolation cell inside. It had previously operated as a remand home for prisoners. In 1974 it had been converted to an assessment centre for kids, but still operated illegally under the old rules. Confinement might not have been permitted, but it didn't stop them. Meanwhile, the local remand centre, Risley, was full, so Menlove became an overspill for prisoners. This meant they were mixing children from broken homes with hardened criminals – and locking them up. Another matter over which I would later sue.

From there I was moved to several different community homes where I suffered varying degrees of physical and racial abuse over the years until I was 18 and my care order ceased. I was visited by my social worker who gave me £100, made me sign a form to say I would never come back for more money, and within a few months I was living in a hostel for homeless black youths.

That was when Gil changed my life. He was playing at Liverpool's Royal Court Theatre, and the gig was sold out. It was 1985, Gil had a record in the charts, and was at the peak of his fame. A friend of mine, the late photographer Penny Potter, got me in – she had a backstage pass and told his team that I was her assistant. I watched the show and was mesmerised. It was hard to describe what he did exactly – he rapped, he played jazz, he was a poet, he educated – he was just singing a song, but it was as if he was part of a collective soul that existed in the room.

After the show I went backstage with Penny. Gil was standing there with a bunch of people around him – photographers snapping away, reporters stuffing mics under his nose, promoters with bags of money, and the band members trying to get paid. Everybody seemed to want something from him. I shook his hand, thanked him for the performance and turned round to leave. He said: "Hold on a minute brother, what's going on round here? I heard you had some riots". I told him about Toxteth and how the black communities had rioted across the country in the long hot summer of 1981. He said: "Yeah we had some of them back in DC". He wanted to know about the people of Toxteth so I offered to take him to the scenes of the riots. The next day we toured the area and I gave him a running commentary of what had happened in each place, all the places that had been burned down and what had happened as a result.

Now if there's one thing they taught us in care it was how to cook, and I offered to feed Gil and the band. The trouble was I didn't have a place to live. So I asked my friend Dobbo if I could borrow his flat, cashed my giro cheque, and spent my two weeks' money on food. Gil bought his whole 17-strong entourage back to the flat and I fed them all. Entrees, starters, mango juice, the works. He tried to pay me £100, which was a lot of money then. I wouldn't accept it; he tried again and I refused again. When he realised there was no point in trying to pay me, he said to his promoter: "We'll be back in England in a few weeks. Give the brother the details of the hotel where we'll be." Then he said: "I'd like for you to join us on the tour." To do what, I asked? "Whatever the fuck you wanna do, carry some drums, whatever you want," was his response. And that's what I did.

Gil took it on himself to spend whatever time he could in the evening mentoring me, giving me encouragement and trying to foster in me a sense of self-worth. I had been indoctrinated by the care system to believe that I was maladjusted and useless from the age of nine, but Gil refused to accept it. He saw something in me that I did not see in myself – my potential.

I had told Gil everything about my life. Except for one thing – I could hardly read. I was just so ashamed. It was 1988 and I'd been on the road with him for four years. This time we were touring America with Richie Havens and Gil passed me a book and asked me to read a page back to him. I felt like my heart was going to stop. I'd always had the attitude that if Gil asked me to do anything I'd do it, and for the first time he'd asked me to do something I couldn't do. I'd always made myself useful by doing anything, from the band's laundry to flogging Gil's books at gigs, to helping the roadies, to navigating for the driver. I was always conscious of not trying to be a burden because I was aware he was paying for my flights and hotel rooms, and when he asked me to read and I couldn't I felt cold, and fumbled and fumbled, to the point when he said "What's the problem? Are you not fluent in reading?" That was the first time I ever knew a person could be fluent at reading. Being a child of the streets, fluency was something I'd always associated with talking; talking was my survival mechanism. Gil made me take stock of the fact that illiteracy was something not to be ashamed of, but something to address. I told him I'd never been taught – that was the first time I'd admitted it even to myself. In the care system education or literacy weren't encouraged, and most people came out of it like me.

Not many people know that Gil was a teacher – he had a Masters degree in English from Lincoln university. Despite not having a first degree he was accepted on to the Masters programme on the strength of two books he had written as a teen; The Vulture, a murder mystery, and The Nigger Factory, which was about life on black college campuses. I'd been running with the wrong crowd and he took it as a personal challenge to turn me around; to take me away from a life of hustling and make me productive. If I'd ended up like most of my peers in care I'd be dead or in jail by now. Gil's intervention saved my life.

He used to introduce me to people as his son, despite the fact that he has his own children. It was so touching. At the age of 12 I lost my father, and when I met Gil at 18 he took on that role and took it on seriously.

Back then, I had so many problems; my mind was like a spaghetti junction. There were so many narratives going on in my head that I couldn't unravel them, and Gil would listen to them all. At the end he'd invariably say one or two sentences that would sum up what it had taken me so long to say, and also direct me to what I should do about it.

In 1987 we were on tour and Gil suggested it was time for me to get a job. For two years I went to sea, working as a steward on a ferry, then on oil tankers, scrubbing decks, cleaning toilets, serving food. Every night from 6pm to midnight I taught myself to read and write. I started experimenting with language by writing poetry and songs. When I got to port I'd write to Gil, and enclose poems or songs for his appraisal. In between stints at sea, I would go on tour with Gil and he would appraise my work. By 1990, at the end of a period at sea, I had a considerable body of work; poetry, prose and songs. But I just put them in a box in a cupboard in my mum's house and left them for years

Gil then encouraged me to go to college and university and educate myself. The problem was, I didn't have any qualifications. So in 1990 I took a job with Littlewoods on a positive-action training scheme where they took on four black kids a year and trained them in management, and through that they sponsored me to go to college to study business and finance. I got a degree in sociology and geography, which seemed appropriate for a seaman with my background, followed by a postgraduate diploma in social research and a Masters degree in media production.

I continued to tour with Gil when I could. He was so proud of me. My degree was the culmination of everything he had invested in me and I'd invested in myself. What Gil gave me was a reason to live. At the age of 18 I couldn't see anything to live for.

In 1992 I met the Last Poets, a band that had been Gil's mentors and who are often credited as being the first rappers. Gil's famous song The Revolution Will Not Be Televised was inspired by the Last Poets' Niggers Are Scared of Revolution. There was a yearning in my soul for spirituality. I had lots of questions about religion, but Gil was more spiritual than religious. Jalal and Suliman from the Last Poets spoke to me about Islam, it struck a cord and in 1992 I became a Muslim and changed my name from Mark Trevor Watson to  Abdul Malik Al Nasir and started managing The Last Poets' leader Jalal. I later started my own record company and worked with the likes of Public Enemy, Run DMC, Wyclef Jean, Sly Dunbar, the Wailers and Steel Pulse.

Over the years things took a toll on Gil. For many years he had preached against the evil of drugs, but he became an abuser himself, and in 2001 he was sent to jail in New York State for possession of cocaine. When he got into trouble, it reminded me how much he'd helped me. So I flew to New York and visited him in jail – he'd been pumping iron, eating three square meals a day, which he rarely got when we were on the road, and looked more relaxed and fit than I'd seen him in years. I went through all the security checks, and they told me to take a seat in the visiting room while they got the prisoner. He didn't know who was coming, and when he saw me he had a huge smile on his face. The guard called him over and said: "Ah, the famous Gil Scot Heron . . . tuck your shirt in." It was just an attempt to humiliate him. I bit my tongue.

By 2004, I had received substantial compensation for what I suffered in care. I dug out my old poems from that box in my mother's house, and showed them to my wife Sarah. She said I should do something with them, so I set up my own publishing company, Fore-Word Press, and published my first book, Ordinary Guy, in my original name Mark T Watson. Gil was elated when I sent him a copy. Not simply because it was dedicated to him but also because he knew without his mentoring, I wouldn't have been able to read or write.

In 2008, I was producing an album at Wyclef Jean's studio in New York and there was a huge commemoration concert at Radio City Music Hall for Martin Luther King Day. Wyclef was performing, and he introduced me to Stevie Wonder. Now Stevie and Gil had been integral in fighting for a national holiday to celebrate Martin Luther King, and I told him about my relationship with Gil. "Is Gil out of prison?" he asked. Yes, I said. "Well, bring him here now." So I phoned Gil, and brought him to the show. When we arrived at Stevie's dressing room and I announced Gil to Stevie, Stevie Wonder stood up, and said: 'Gil Scott Heron y'all', and the whole dressing room burst into rapturous applause.

Last year Gil made a comeback album, I'm New Here, which got great reviews. I joined him on what would be his final tour of Europe.

It's three weeks since Gil died, and I'm still in shock. I'm 45, married with five children, and Gil has been the most important person to me throughout my adult life. His funeral in Harlem was a sombre affair. What touched me most was all the love in the room. After the band played a beautiful tribute and Gil's ex-wife Brenda delivered a eulogy, the rapper Kanye West took to the pulpit and sang Lost in the World, a song that contains a sample from Gil's poem Comment #1. It was a beautiful tribute.

After the service, I told Kanye my story and asked if he would take part in a tribute concert for Gil in Liverpool, the place where we met all those years ago and he took me under his wing. This is my way of saying: "Thank you Gil. You saved my life."

[tumblunni]

okay im gonna just try and write down all my damn pokemon i can remember from every generation fuck fuck i know i could never get ALL OF THEM cos it was at least 100 each gen but i can hopefully remember my main teams??

~ Sun and Moon Team ~

Pulcinella the male Primarina (Egotistical smarmy jerk-with-a-heart-of-gold celebrity boy) Herald the female Mimikyu (nice grandma + amateur newspaper reporter, sends them back to the other ghosts at the thrifty megamart) Charlene the female Golisopod (never really thought of a personality for her? I didnt originally intend to use her but then she was really good and i love golisopod’s design?? so i just named her randomly after charon cos wimpod is kinda shaped like his hair, lol) (i think maybe one of those cowardly characters who’s brave when she needs to protect her friends? like eduardo from foster’s home for imaginary friends) Suspenders the female Lurantis (stoic samurai type, but also very sweet, naive and a little ditsy. easily gullible to pulcinella’s pranks cos she just takes everything seriously with samurai honor.) Ampere the female alolan Raichu (sweet mom friend of the group, makes everyone pancakes and mitigates all the conflicts. you’d think herald would outrank her in mumsiness but she’s more like the eccentric grandma who encourages her kids to misbehave, lol) Sherbet the male Muk (super chipper cuddly little toddler type fella who luv and support he friends) (OH GOD i caught a shiny muk in bw2 and i was gonna say they were cousins and i was so excited to have them finally meet.. aaaa... T_T) (THE COUSIN IS NAMED NOUGAT AND HE IS ALSO A SUPER CHIPPER CUDDLY BABY AND NOW HIS WHOLE FAMILY IS FUCKIN DEAD) (god that gives him a plotline to differentiate him from his alolan version but GEEZ i didnt want it to happen like that...)

and honorary member Neopolitan the Kadabra who was on the team early on but got replaced with Charlene cos when SuMo first came out there was a dumb glitch that prevented kadabra from learning one move in its learnset and it was just STUCK WITH NO ATTACKING MOVES FOR 20 LEVELS GEEZ but neopolitan was still a supportive friend yes possibly personality like that monk robot guy from overwhetch?

also honorary member: that leavanny that my friend Beezah traded me and i spent ages training it up to level 80 to rematch her and i NEVER GOT TO DO IT I think his name might have been cedric?? or some other c name??

~ X and Y Team ~

Didnt really think of personalities for these ones or have any big attatchment to them, except that the game came out on my birthday by some strange coincidence. funny how we’ve gone from that to losing games on my birthday! the xy birthday was like the only time my birthday hasnt been GIANT MISFORTUNE in the last seven years, and the only time i managed to meet up with any irl friends and have some sort of a party. so i guess i’ll remember that fondly about XY even though the story was possibly my least favourite in the series.

Namaqua the male Greninja Jayus the male Aromatisse (named for an OC of mine at the time, who’s also my steam handle!) Dwedd the female Gourgeist (who was actually my most powerful pokemon in sun and moon competitive?? god im gonna miss her now)

and I’m seriously struggling to remember if there were any others :P

~ ORAS Team ~

I played both versions of this so my team was kinda huger? Still not super memorable as a generation, tho. one of the ones im least depressed about but more depressed than xy. but still depressed about all of them. AAAAA

York the female Blaziken Roquefort the female Swampert (a duo! i played with both of them as my starters cos i only played a little bit of alpha sapph before switching to omega rube for the main playthru. i just love tabitha!) (oh and they were named for some of my ocs at the time.) Wesley the male Charizard (actually got him in XY but never used him there) Seraphim the female Salamence (REALLY sad about this one cos she was a gift from my friend Zoe whom i’ve now lost contact with, same one who gave me the birthday party when xy came out, same one who traded me like EIGHTY OTHER POKEMON ACROSS ALL MY GAMES and LITERALLY SAVED MY LIFE ONCE and WAS AN AMAZING PERSON) Nick the female Gyarados (also traded from zoe. it was named after her fish who died :< I LET HER DOWNNNNNNNN) Tanka the female Gardevoir (just a shoutout to the one i had back when i first played the original rse as a kid, but lost along the way. it was also my username and the name of like forty different ocs for every fandom i had as a kid? i just thought it was a cool word. its the name of a type of poem i heard in class once) Pascal the female Ludicolo (Only one who i gave any sort of personality to. I kinda liked her so much she was more like my starter? i felt like she was a super chill badass. repurpose all those old chuck norris memes for pascal!) Lockjaw the female Banette and Hex the male Mismagius (actually pokemon i made as ocs for a team galactic fanfic i never wrote. usually i make pokemon ocs based on mons i caught, but these ones i went out and caught them to match the story. spent so long chaining mons to find a story-fitting nature for lockjaw that i stumbled onto a shiny shuppet along the way?? i was like “fuck but that isnt what i asked for, but i’ll take it anyway” XD) (oh and i named the shiny shuppet Chuckie) (oh and lockhjaw and hex were meant to be the rest of charon’s pokemon team to give him enough for a decent boss battle)

~ BW Team ~

Anotehr generation i didnt really enjoy? honestly there was a large gap between sinnoh and sun and moon where none of the main plots grabbed me. i still enjoyed the gameplay and the increased graphics for all the cool areas and stuff, tho! im just a plot lover so SuMo bumped the series back up from “just consistantly good” to “the best game ever” But strangely enough I did get really attatched to these guys, even if i didnt really think up personalities and backstories for all of them

Shogunkora the male Samurott (Back when i was in highschool i drank so much caffeine it was like a running joke i was ‘that cola kid’ so i just named my starter after a dumb attempt at ‘cola in a japanese accent’. Ugh, past-me!) (But Shogunkora was actually a casuality long before this! I lost him during the time i was transferring pokemon using a friend’s BW cartridge. I actually had to sell my BW game cos i was preparing to run away from my abusive parents and live in a homeless shelter. Thankfully i did indeed survive that! i had to pick on only one game to keep and of course it was sinnoh. But then i ended up losing the cartridge when i moved house and then finding it earlier this year and then causing me to buy bw2 and put the sun cartridge down and.. well, you know the rest.) Boku the female Leavanny (named as an in-joke cos my roselia was Ore in sinnoh. also a casualty who got lost in that hectic transfer.. alas...) Alviss the male Roggenrola (I was very fond of that pun. He managed to survive, and i even got to pet him in sun and moon! I miss him... gahh.. he survived so much and it was all for nothing...) Flint the male Lampent (i only just finally was able to evolve him in sun and moon, thanks to beezah’s help! i miss him tooooo... fuckkkk...)

~ DPPT Team ~

THE GOLDEN ONES god that was back when i was so extra into pokemon, aaa it legit helped me survive thru abusive dad times i got so atattched to sinnoh and all of these lil guys... fuckkkk...

Ore the male Roserade (Personality was like a cheerful and goofily oblivious typical shonen action hero, but like.. eight. He had a sad backstory where he was befriended by a kind old blind human back when he was a wild pokemon, and then some sort of tragedy burned down the forest and killed both that human and all of his family. And also burned off his hands. I mean, he’s a plant so he can grow those flowers back, but it was still super traumatic. So he took up his trainer’s sword in his burnt off hand stumps and promised to avenge him, and thus gained a magical girl style transformation into a human, somehow...??) (the theme for this party was ‘gijinkas’ and i thought it would be cool if there was a different reason behind it for everyone. he was the more magical type.) (oh and he really liked sandwiches) (oh and he was comic relief a lot cos he was a pokemon who turned into a human instead of vice versa. like ariel in the little mermaid where she combs her hair with the fork. HOW DOES HUMAN WORK) Mangos the female shiny Luxray (traded to me by another best friend that i lost touch with long ago, Clash. I miss her too, it sucks that now all i have is one well-protected drawing of an oc she gave me in high school to remember her by..) (anyway, Mangos fit into this random plotline by being the opposite to Ore. she was a human who got turned into a half-pokemon through an evil genetic experiment. And she balanced him out by being an ultra stern and serious mom figure. She was actually a policeman as a human, so she kicked a lot of ass!) (I know that this whole serious personality doesnt really fit with a name like mangos but shiny luxray looks like mangos) Zene the male Infernape (another shonen hero type comic relief guy?? but he was a teenager and comparatively buff, i guess? i didnt realize these two were so samey despite being opposite elements lol. i guess just the difference is that zene did more comic relief and ore did more cuteness factor) (he was also the least developed one in terms of backstory for being in this half-pokemon heroes team. I just knew that he was some sort of martial artist trainee who wanted to be the best, and that was still his goal after he got superpowers, rather than actually saving the world and all. he’d always recklessly get into fights and have no sense of danger, just HEY THAT THING LOOKS DEADLY LEMME PROVE IM DEADLIER) (oh but i did think way too much about how the law would work in this situation?? like, he was depressed and ended up joining this travelling group cos he got banned from the martial arts tournement he was in. having pokemon superpowers would put him at an unfair advantage.) (oh, i think actually his powers were just genetic or something? like it was a mystical power his whole family line had, but he was an orphan so he didnt know until he hit puberty and started breathing fire. but comedically he thought it was because he ate a magical riceball instead. “it was supernaturally yummy!”) Gaspar the male Haunter (Actually came from that one memorable trollish trade in sinnoh where that lady offers you a haunter and it doesnt evolve into gengar, DAMN YOU. i was determined to love him forever to spite her!) (oh and he eventually did evolve into gengar in xy due to a friend trade and me forgetting to tell her not to evolve him. i’d gotten really attatched to him as a haunter so i was sad for a while before realizing it was dumb and that i might have made my friend think i was mad at her?? thankfully we worked it all out!) (Gaspar’s gijinkaness was literally just... i Died.) (He was a human from the 1920s or something who died horribly and came back as a ghost to avenge his own death. but then after he avenged it he continued to exist, and he floated around aimlessly for a long time before learning to appreciate his second chance and form a new life and a new family. He was like the goofy sitcom dad of the team!) (oh, and he liked candy. i still maintain the headcanon that all ghost pokemon like sweet things!)

~ RSE Team ~

These guys actually were also part of my sinnoh team, but they originated from RSE. I didnt really get attatched to my pokemon in rse or gsc cos i was still salty over having my yellow cartirdge stolen and losing my starter raichu that i loved. TOOK THIS LONG FOR IT TO HAPPEN AGAIN, EH? *cries forever*

Reaper the male Sneasel (My honorary starter and oldest pokefriend. I miss him the most.. fuck..) (He was like.. kinda sirius black from harry potter? but teenage? and like.. trying to be serious? like, a total goober prankster loveable uncle figure but he wants everyone to think he’s a brooding dark antihero, and gets flustered whenever his true cuteness slips through. He looked like squall from ff8 except with dark skin and sunglasses??) (He was also someone who was a pokemon with human powers, instead of a human with pokemon powers. But he adapted a lot better to human society, he was just like.. pride at being wild? He hated the idea of being captured by a trainer, or now the idea of losing his true self and becoming like those humans he hated. So all his moments of failing to pass as human were more cos he refused to lower himself and do [insert normal thing here], rather than cos he was oblivious like Ore. But he actually did end up getting a soft spot for his trainer and becoming like a dad figure to her, like how mangos was a mom to ore and zene, and gaspar was the grandpa/dad to everyone in general. I had quite a complex set of relationships worked out for everyone!) (oh, and yeah, they had a trainer! cos i mean i was playing the game, of course they did. but it was more like the one token powerless human on a team of magical girls and boys. she just pretended to be their trainer so they could travel around pretending to be normal pokemon when necessary. and they were all bffs and protected her cos she didnt have parents. she was kind of a self insert..) (oh, and reaper’s backstory was that he was one of the shadow pokemon captured by team cipher, and then when he got rescued and purified it somehow gave him superpowers too or something. he was blessed by celebi and was like the chosen hero of that legendary. But he didnt wanna, he just wanted to use his new human feet to go buy booze and stuff XD) (i actually did get him in collosseum and he was my fave and best and i kept him forever and now he’s fucking gone) (fuck) Nether the male Sableye (Basically my oc Malachi?? its been all these years and i just suddenly recently revived his plot concept as his own character in his own original story. I hope maybe now i could do that with all the others in some way, so i dont forget them..) (he was all the same back then, down to dying from being bricked up inside a basement. except he became a magical gijinka instead of a more normal ghost.) (oh and this version had him as an adult instead of a child, and his personality was... vague? he started off as a loki-ish trickster and then was a complete jerk and then was the comic relief and then was a gym leader and blablabla. At one point he was even Reaper’s boyfriend, which is ridiculous now this character is a kid instead! (tho he’s still remained bisexual in honor of that) Funnily enough he was also Reaper’s sworn enemy gary oak rival at some point too!) (Basically he was the least developed personality-wise, so i dont feel bad that i changed him quite a bit as malachi. it doesnt feel like a change and more like i finally figured out what i originally wanted to do with him.)

~ RBY virtual console team ~

aaaargh only just got them and already lost them whyyyy

Chuppy the male Raichu (reincarnation of the first pokemon i ever got on my original Yellow cartridige, which got stolen because kids are ASSHOLES) (i cried for days and i feel like doing it again right now.. how little life changes...) Starlet the female Clefable Gumdrop the Nidoqueen

i didnt even have time to love you enouuuuughhh

i didnt love any of them enough aaaa

god this made me sad

but at least now i wont forget any of those memories

probably??

i dunno how to tag this so i dont forget

[tripstations]

5 beautiful destinations Pakistanis can travel to on a budget

From island escape­s, Easter­n Europe­an marvel­s and South-East Asian deligh­ts, inspir­e your inner wander­lust on a budget­

PHOTO: INSTAGRAM/GIRL WITH THE GREEN PASSPORT/ESLIMAH/AYESHA OMAR

KARACHI: The global travel industry is growing and it’s growing fast. Not only that, more people are travelling now than ever before, thanks to cheaper flights and the ease of planning and booking a trip.

Add to this the new batch of travel bloggers on Instagram and you’ve got hundreds of people jetting off to places they had never heard of before. After all, it’s a most human thing to explore new horizons.

And statistics don’t lie. The travel and tourism sector grew more in 2018 than all other economic sectors, adding a record $8.8 trillion to the world’s combined Gross Domestic Product – up from $8.3 trillion in 2017. It created some 319 million new jobs as well, according to Forbes.

While Pakistan is expected get higher numbers of tourists thanks to the government’s support, what about Pakistanis wanting to go abroad? Everyone is surely feeling the rupee’s present standing against the dollar and this can make travel for Pakistanis at home very expensive.

But don’t worry, we have you covered. Here are our recommendations for some pretty lust-worthy destinations across the globe that will allow you to indulge your wanderlust without draining your pockets. Bon voyage!

Istanbul, the transcontinental escape

Turkey really offers the best of both worlds. Straddling Europe and Asia, its capital Istanbul is hailed as one of the greatest cities in the world with lots of history, heritage, culture and beauty to offer. Not to mention, the Turkish and Pakistanis love each other!

A single entry visa will cost you around Rs8,500 and flight tickets will be roughly Rs80,000 return during peak holiday seasons. Decent 3-star hotels are abundant, right next to the exquisite Sultan Ahmet Mosque. And then, there is the AirBnB option.

Best places to go: Grand Bazaar, Hagia Sophia, Blue Mosque, Topkapi Palace, Dolmabahce Palace, Taksim Square…need we go on?

Maldives – the water wonderland 

This island nation is the picture of paradise. Think bungalows hovering over turquoise waters, golden beaches and lots of scuba diving. Oh, and seriously Insta-worthy sunsets! How could you not want to travel to the Maldives?

The best thing is that this dream can be a reality because it’s surprisingly reasonable and also Muslim-friendly.

Located in the Arabian Sea, the capital Malé has a busy fish market, restaurants and shops on the main road, Majeedhee Magu, and 17th-century Hukuru Miskiy (also known as Friday Mosque) made of carved white coral. No wonder it’s a honeymoon staple.

Cheapest flight: Around Rs60,000.

Eastern Europe – the new it place 

You may not think Eastern Europe is cheap area but it actually is! If you want a unique travel experience that truly captivates, this entire region is the place for you.

Take Romania for example. Whatever you think this country is, it probably isn’t. The Transylvanian region, in particular, defies expectations with its quaint medieval towns and spectacular Carpathian mountain range. Many travel bloggers reiterate that it’s a beautiful country with great food and friendly people. The cheapest flight is around Rs60,000 (not to mention once you’re there, eating and sleeping is great value!), making it one of the most inexpensive countries to travel to for Pakistanis.

And, can we please talk about Ukraine. It’s on every traveller’s bucket list as of late and there are raving reviews about it. With flights starting from around Rs50,000, Ukraine is possibly one of the cheapest options for Pakistanis wanting to go beyond the Middle East.

Hotspots: The coastal city of Odessa on the Black Sea is a favourite, while the beautiful city of Lviv (close to the Polish border) is widely tipped as offering some of the best values for money in Europe.

5 Muslim countries that are trending holiday destinations this summer

Azerbaijan and Georgia – easy on the eyes and the wallets

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I burnt my hand in Georgia. . I was rushing to catch the 10 am Mashrukta (intercity mini-bus) from Tbilisi to Signagi. When I reached the bus stop, there was a 10-minute window. I bought some bananas for breakfast & coffee in a flimsy, small cup from a tiny window in a kiosk. I got into the minibus with low roof, my back bent, backpack on, bananas, wallet & phone in one hand and coffee cup in another. As I sat amongst two strangers, and tried to adjust my butt, I shook the coffee cup, it spilled a bit on my hand, it was so hot that in within a second, my instincts had me drop the entire thing, and then it spilled it on my right palm all the way to my right thigh, splashes on left hand; and couple splashes on the stranger sitting next to me. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ I was first embarrassed on my clumsiness, then guilty for being late & rushing in the first place and then in pain. I had burnt my right palm and it was BURNING. The bus had started. It was a 2-hour ride to this small city, Signagni, reputed to be the city of love. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ And in burning pain I thought, holy mother of shits I need to see a doctor and finding a doctor in a small city I’m heading to for the first time! I was sure I’m gonna get huge blisters all over my palm and then I won’t be able to touch or hold anything and then the rest of the trip will be a waste. All thoughts crossed my head in the next 15 minutes. I felt like crying. The only thing that comforted me was the reminder that I was medically insured for such accidents, courtesy @jgi.pk (not an ad). ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ Anyway, I kept a bundle of tissue paper soaked in water, between the palm of my hands, the entire journey. Suggested by the stranger next to me. And that did relieve me to some extent. I reached Signagi, the burning had calmed & I didnt feel the need to see a doctor. I looked at my coffee-stained dress, felt sad; but then I looked at the terra cotta roofs, amidst lush green hills and cobblestone streets of Signagi and I forgot the incident. I headed ahead to explore this tiny quaint town & make the most of my day! Ever spilled coffee & burnt yourself? Outfit courtesy: @qnhstore #Signagi #Georgia

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Travel Lifestyle (@girlwithgreenpassport) on Jun 11, 2019 at 8:52am PDT

Speaking of Eastern Europe, take Georgia for example. Where is it? Right next to the latest Pakistani travellers favourite, Azerbaijan. So  consider going to both countries together and explore this stunning region.

Georgia small country in the Caucasus – one you’ll probably be hearing more about it in the years to come. It all starts in the eccentric capital of Tbilisi. From there, be sure to explore the stunning Caucasian Mountain range, dip your feet in the Black Sea, and visit ancient hilltop monasteries (a few of them are inside caves!) all over the country.

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Welcome to Georgia. Sitting at the crossroads of Asia & Europe, but unfairly, the less talked about country, compared to its neighbouring Turkey. It swept me off my feet with its expansive sights, sounds, experiences and tastes. All of which, I had a heart full of in my 10 days. Tbilisi, the beating heart of the country sits in the lap of lush green hills. It is dotted with old Eurasian architecture on the slopes and decorated with modern and artistic glass shaped buildings and bridges in the centre. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ Three hours north of the capital & I was in the midst of the Caucasus mountain. The tapestry changed. The little town of Kazbegi welcomed me first with its chilly mountain air & then warmed me with the hospitality. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ When I drove 2 hours east of Tbilisi, I was in Kaheti, the wine region of the country. Ask a local and they show you with pride, their traditional winemaking methods. With a curious set of eyes and ears, I learnt all I could about 8000-year-old Georgian winemaking tradition. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ Three hours west of Tbilisi, I reached one of the oldest cities in Europe, Kutaisi. The highlight was the locals I met; they were even more friendly and had all the time in the world for conversations. They enjoyed learning about Pakistan from me as I did about Georgia from them. Nature swayed me even more, as I visited the canyons nearby Kutaisi. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ The only thought I had throughout my visit, is that this country deserves more limelight than it has! There is so much I want to pour out, but I gotta save some for upcoming posts. Are you guys with me? Pls let me know what do you want me to tell about the country? . : Old town Tbilisi (picture taken via self timer & remote)

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Travel Lifestyle (@girlwithgreenpassport) on May 28, 2019 at 5:10am PDT

As for Azerbaijan, the capital Baku is an obvious must.  There’s so much you can pack in a few days, including the ultra-modern Heydar Aliyev Center.

Flights: Cheapest air-tickets to either or of these countries are around Rs45,000, usually with one stop somewhere in the Middle East.

Vietnam – a different kind of South East Asia

Forget Thailand and Sri Lanka right now because Vietnam is all that it’s about these days. And for good reason too. From the beautiful chaos of Hanoi’s Old Quarter to the serene Hoi An riverfront adorned with coloured lanterns, this is truly a country full of contrasts.

But Vietnam is not for the faint-hearted. If adventure is what you’re about, be prepared for crazy weather cycles and off-beat exotic scenery. Alas, it’s also among the cheapest places in Asia: eat local and you’ll struggle to spend more than a few hundred rupees per meal. A round trip ticket is around Rs87,000.

What to do: There are a myriad of pristine beaches, such as Mango Bay and Halong Bay. Don’t forget to explore rice-farming mountains where you can go caving. Adventure sports on the beaches are also a must.

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[yur-ahh]

Tagged by: @noonedefeatsme

rules: answer these 85 statements & tag 20 people

the last: 1. drink: pepsi (lol self medicating) 2. phone call: the only person i call is my grandpa 3. text message: "myth puppy" from @alma---vivo 4. song you listened to: believe me natalie by the killers 5. time you cried: yesterday morning

have you ever: 6. dated someone twice: nope 7. kissed someone and regretted it: once lol, that's why i was crying 8. been cheated on: nope 9. lost someone special: does potentially special count? i was too young to remember anything about her, but i know she was special to me already 10. been depressed: i'm getting better 11. gotten drunk & thrown up: nope

favorite colors: 12. purple 13. red 14. pink

in the last year have you: 15. made new friends: i have!!! and i've been so happy for the first time in a long long time 16. fallen out of love: obviously 17. laughed until you cried: on more than one occasion! 18. found out someone was talking about you: i'll take this to mean "talking shit behind my back" and yes, of course, have you seen the internet? people have been talking shit about my achievements since i debuted in juniors three years ago 19. met someone who changed you: interestingly enough, one changed me in bad ways and the others changed me in better ways than i could ever imagine 20. found out who your friends are: found out i had way more friends than i thought. i've got a problem with understanding my relationships with people 21. kissed someone on your Facebook list: i'm gonna be real right now. i don't run my official facebook account so i have no idea who i have added on there

general: 22. how many of your Facebook friends do you know in real life: okay i checked just for you and yes they're all the accounts of senior skaters, so i know most of them (also i finally remember who minami kenjirou is) 23. do you have any pets: my two kitties potya and mariska 💕 24. do you want to change your name: i was gonna be cheeky and say "uwu my last name uwuwuwuwu" but do you know how long that name would be??? Too Long. so i guess i don't have to call about changing all my merch 25. what did you do for your last birthday: had a movie marathon (note to self, start marathons earlier than 5pm) 26. what time did you wake up: 4am? it might've been 5. i have a hard time sleeping at night 27. what were you doing at midnight last night: watching youtube to help me pass out 28. name something you can’t wait for: getting married 31. what are you listening to right now: vitya snoring quietly 32. have you ever talked to a person named tom: i think there was an interviewer once named tom?? idk 33. something that is getting on your nerves: there's a fly in here and i have no idea where it is 34. most visited website: tumblr.hell, youtube, or netflix 35. hair colour: i can see there being discourse about this in the future (cause yall pick the dumbest things sometimes) but i'm a natural blond 36. long or short hair: my hair is past shoulder-length by now 39. piercings: here's a cool piece of trivia. i got my ears pierced a long time ago, i just rarely ever wear earrings 40. blood type: B. i'm not gonna lie, i had to check my own wiki page for that one 41. nicknames: you guys know most of my nicknames by now: yura, yurotchka, yusha, yushka, kotik, koneko, kitten, etc 42. relationship status: taken x4 combo! 43. zodiac: pisces 44. pronouns: he/him 45. favourite tv show: princess tutu or vampire diaries (both got me through hard times don't @ me) 46. tattoos: i love how they look but i'm not sure if i'll get any 47. right or left handed: right-handed 48. surgery: none.... yet, knock on wood 49. piercing: awesome this is on twice 50. sport: figure skating ofc. i would put ballet on here but i don't dance competitively so does it even count as a sport? 51. vacation: i had the wonderful opportunity of going to universal studios, epcot, disney's hollywood studios, and disney world all in the span of a week 52. pair of trainers: only for exercising

more general 53. eating: snuck outta the nest awhile ago to get some fruit 54. fav drink: fUCK i LOVE SMOOTHIES. STRAWBerry smoothies, mANGO smoothies, pour it down my throat you COWARDS 55. what you’re up to: being the middle of a vitya and seung-gil cuddle sandwich 56. waiting for: someone to wake up 57. want: seung to Move his Hand lmao 58. get married: yeah 🐱 59. career: jj wrote "Gold medalist ;)" so im gonna write "goldier medalist ;*"

which is better: 60. hugs or kisses: i love to be kissed. also, lemme point out it didn't say where the kisses are going 61. lips or eyes: lips, their shape, their color, lipstick, lipgloss (though, eyes are also fascinatingly beautiful) 62. shorter or taller: taller. tall people are easier to spot in a crowd 63. older or younger: young 64. nice arms or nice stomach: all tummies are perfect canvasses for me to write my name or rest my head 65. hook up or relationship: definitely relationship, i wouldn't have been able to do hookups i think 66. troublemaker or hesitant: the thing is, you need to have both. an impulsive, "spontaneous" person will make the cautious, "calculating" person open up to doing things they never would have done, but they also keep the impulsive person from doing anything dangerous

have you ever: 67. kissed a stranger: nope 68. drank hard liquor: noo 69. lost glasses/contact lenses: i-i don't have glasses! 70. turned someone down: pffff the amount of angels who were clearly in heat and on twitter (a bad combination already) and asking me to father their pups has been hilarious considering i physically cannot do so 71. sex on the first date: no 72. broken someone’s heart: not that i know of 73. had your heart broken: yes 74. been arrested: absolutely not, i'm a good boy 75. cried when someone died: obviously??? i'm a human being?? i cried when binx died in hocus pocus and he didn't even actually die 76. fallen for a friend: fuck off

do you believe in 77. yourself: only if i'm motivated by something else, usually proving to people that they shouldn't underestimate me 78. miracles: everyday is a miracle, like when i wake up and i see my pack wasn't just a dream, or every time i make them smile 79. love at first sight: no, and if you think it does you're going to have a bad time 80. santa claus: i havent believed in ded moroz since i was seven, grandpa used to say that if he was ded moroz, i could be snegurochka because if i grew my hair out i'd look just like her pfff he's right though 81. kiss on the first date: if it went well, go for it! 82. angels: ive never been very religious or spiritual but i do find comfort in the idea of guardian angels 83. current best friend’s name: aside from my pack, there's phichit/pchela (@justpeachyphichit), seung-gil (@alma---vivo), and of course mila (@milababaecheva) 84. eye colour: blue/green 85. favourite movie: besides the lion king, i really love the movie black swan

20 is way too many people to tag so if i mentioned you in this post you can count that as me tagging you? if you want? idk i'm so tired i spent almost four hours typing this