#Second Place is Ireland

[azuresins]

Some English people can be so god damn arrogant about tea. Big talk and opinions for England when the wholeass United Kingdom ranks 3rd place, in the top ten tea drinking "countries" in the world... like. You needed Scotland and Wales' help to even make the list??? Turkey and Ireland drink more tea than you. Sit down!

[la-cocotte-de-paris]

Young Lady on O'Connell Bridge, Dublin, Ireland, 27 March 1956.

[mwagneto]

okay google how do i move out of eastern europe but stay in the eu but go somewhere i speak the language but somewhere that has healthcare and somewhere where i dont need to become a construction worker and also somewhere that is not germany. thanks

[liones-s]

a bench in the Poison Garden, Blarney Castle

[princekirijo]

Europeans when someone was born 3 kilometers away from them

I NEARLY SPAT OUT MY DRINK ITS REALLY LIKE THIS 😭

[dullahandyke]

Was at a conservationalist talk n the presenter said "Yeah so Cromwell put bounties on Irish wolves because they were a huge part of Irish folklore and culture and he hoped to break the Irish spirit by hunting the wolves to extirpation and because of this the last native Irish wolf was killed in 1786" and then she just continued giving the lecture as if that wasn't a huge bomb to drop

[beneathtreemomo]

As the others went about stripping of their water-logged clothing, complaining about the heat as well as the fact everything was soaked. Phoenix kept an eye out for any pursuers and tried not to wince when he heard the faint rumble of thunder in the distance.

Great. More water.

He was starting to think Earth wanted him gone as much as he did.

Arguing broke out behind him. Phoenix turned-- whether to watch the show or make it worse, he wasn't sure-- only to freeze as he caught sight of Ace, his thoughts screeching to a halt.

In the time it'd taken for Queen, Joker, and Spade to strip their outermost layers, Ace had wrangled the top half of his catsuit into a bunch around his waist, the arms twisted together to tie it in place. Phoenix was shocked to see not only a crop top, but also a cut shard of amethyst hanging from his neck; he had been under the impression that Ace wore nothing beneath, but clearly, he'd been wrong.

Phoenix's heart stuttered. Ace was... surprisingly pretty. He wasn't sure what he'd expected to see beneath the suit, but lean muscle, pastel nail polish, and scars in the vague shape of a hand on his arm had not been it.

Ace, who'd been silent since they'd climbed out of the water, looked like he wanted to push the others back into the lake, his jaw tight and annoyance clear on his face. But he didn't. Instead he sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose. When he lifted his head, the annoyance was gone.

"In any case," Ace said in a voice loud enough to be heard over the arguing. Joker, Spade, and Queen all froze. "We need to figure out where we're going to camp for the night. Staying here would-- Phoenix, you okay?"

Only then did Phoenix realize he was staring, his cheeks suspiciously warm. "Fine," He said, looking away and hoping his shocked hadn't been obvious on his face.

Was he... blushing? Over a human?

Phoenix hadn't thought that was possible. Sure, he'd found some humans to be appealing in their appearance, but this was different.

Phoenix had never, ever looked at a human he didn't trust and had his brain go blank and his heart skip a beat. Yet it had with Ace.

He followed along behind the others, eyes finding their way back to Ace. His back was covered in scratches, probably from the fall into the river.

It meant nothing. Ace just surprised him, that was all. Another surprise in the enigma that was Ace Clover. If it had been Joker stripping, or even Spade, he'd have had the same reaction.

He pointedly ignored the fact he kept stealing glances at Ace, even as he kept an eye out for a place to weather the growing storm.

Multiple Phoenix variants (including a different outfit) under the cut!

[rachiller]

Listen my friend painted pretty designs on my nails while we drank cocktails and watched law and order I cannot be harmed by any psychic attacks right now

[talesofwhimsy]

"As we hang up the map on the motel wall Count up the places that we've left behind, add the distances between them all All the bridges that someone's burned down for us All the chances that we burned all by ourselves

Makes us wonder what we were thinking then 'Cause we will never see Ireland again"

[doyoulikethissong-poll]

Faithless - Insomnia 1995

"Insomnia" was released as the second single off of Faithless' debut album Reverence (1996), and became one of their most successful songs. It has, dare I say, one of the most famous drops of its era.

It was originally released in 1995 and reached number 27 on the UK Singles Chart, topping the UK Dance Chart in the process. "Insomnia" reached number one in Finland, Norway and Switzerland. Additionally, it managed to climb into the Top 10 also in Austria, Belgium (number 2), Denmark, France, Germany (number 2), Iceland, Ireland, Scotland, and Sweden, as well as on the Eurochart Hot 100, where it hit number 3. Reverence reached number 26 on the UK Albums Chart. The single also reached the top spot on the RPM Dance Chart in Canada and the Billboard Dance Club Songs in the US, number 16 in Australia and number 39 in New Zealand. After Maxi Jazz's death in December 2022, "Insomnia" charted at number four on the UK Singles Downloads Chart.

MTV Dance placed "Insomnia" at number 22 in their list of "The 100 Biggest 90's Dance Anthems Of All Time" in November 2011. It was voted by Mixmag readers as the fifth "Greatest Dance Record of All Time" in 2013. It was certified triple platinum by the British Phonographic Industry (BPI) in 2023.

Faithless member Rollo is the brother of singer-songwriter Dido, featured on poll #120.

"Insomnia" received a total of 43,9% yes votes. :'(

[slippingbetweenthestars]

How goes writing on your fanfic? How goes next chapter? How do you come up with stuff? Writing process?

Wow! My first unsolicited fic ask! I'm going to assume that this is in reference to Growing Where Planted, as Black and White are Also Colors is a fairly niche story and hasn't been updated for a while.

It goeth fairly well! I've been busy with a lot of life stuff lately but I have a chapter almost drafted (mostly finished, really—I just need to add a bit to the conversation).

After that it gets slightly trickier because I'm having a hard time balancing different characters' perspectives. Specifically, whose perspective is relevant enough to show and how much should be shown? I get easily bogged down in tiny details, so it's hard to move the plot forward when I'm tempted to show each scene in its entirety from 2-4 perspectives. When I focus on one character, inevitably I ask myself what another character is doing during that time period, and the problem compounds.

Related to that challenge is the fact that this story is a bit of a grab bag of different tropes that I enjoy, but when you come at a story with "I want to include almost everything I like," scope creep becomes a problem. That this fic is so self-indulgent is hard because it means I'm tempted to just include everything, and not just tropes, but each of the 4 perspectives on one scene, etc.

I've also been toying with adding yet another subplot (*sigh*). Yes, I know that's a bad idea, given the challenges I've laid out. The problem is that I included a never-shown-on-camera four-year-old child by fandom default, and it's been a long time since I was regularly around kids of that age so I have no idea what to do. I can't even watch him to imitate a kid actor's mannerisms, because he exists in dialogue references only. No matter WHAT I do with Tony, I'm going to have to do a lot of research, unless I just decide to ignore him (hard to do—four year olds are not potted plants) or vamoose him away somehow. So I'm currently dealing with some mental resistance on that front, and since anything I do with Jackie or Pete involves Tony and the subplot would need setting up soon, I need to make a decision quickly.

Re: How I come up with stuff/writing process

While I do have a rough outline of major milestones in the story, I tend to be more of a discovery writer when it comes to characters, and a plot-hole filler when it comes to everything else. When the story was very young, I did a fair amount of brainstorming and wrote that down, so I have many pages of worldbuilding/plot bunnies to mine. At the brainstorming stage (though it still happens occasionally), the show's dialogue provided many odd little inconsistencies and unusual details that served as a jumping off point.

So, for example, how on earth did alternate earth circa 2006/7 get technologically advanced enough to produce direct-to-brain streaming? Forget airships (though that does give me some suggestions about how far back in the timeline changes extend to), wearable tech that interfaces directly with the brain suggests a massively different 20th century.

How did earth get advanced enough to create cybermen? To have an existing Geneva Bio-convention governing the creation of new life forms?? AKA a presumably internationally ratified agreement governing new life forms? That suggests cybermen have precedent.

From a Doylist perspective, Pete's world just had to sound right enough for the show, so when plot demands a reason that Cybermen aren't permitted, a big authority is needed, and so Geneva conventions are referenced but now with reference to bio-conventions. But from a Watsonian perspective...FOR THE LOVE OF SUSPENSION OF DISBELIEF, HOW???

Because the Geneva Convention isn't just a name for "high-falutin' government rules" that you can just swap around and have nothing change. It's a specific agreement made in the aftermath of a truly awful war (much like the earlier Geneva Conventions and the Hague Conventions), and they exist in the form that they do because of the specific horrors of the second World War. It's like "war crimes"—it's not just a name for 'bad things,' it means something specific, including conscripting children, using poison weapons, and torture (among other things).

So, if a bio-convention exists, when was it made? Why was it made? What does it contain? How does it fall short? What ramifications does that have? How does it affect my characters? How does it affect the sociopolitical landscape of Pete's world in the wake of the cyber crisis? Those are the kind of questions that prompted the plot of Planted.

So this particular fic was a whole lot of "how can I fill these worldbuilding holes?" combined with some favorite tropes, "huh, Rose looks a lot harder than we last left her," and some extrapolation from her s4 cameos, then working from there. It's a lot of silly things treated seriously :)

[facts-i-just-made-up]

In honor of the moon landing's anniversary, we need a fact 👀

The moon landing took place in 1969 when the moon grew tired of running circles around the Earth and finally landed for a break.

Having touched down in a field near Topeka, Kansas, the moon rolled briefly before coming to a stop against the wall of a barn belonging to Neil and Louis Armstrong. Neil became the first man to "walk" on the moon when he mistook it for a grey beach ball and kicked it over into the field of his neighbors, Buzz Aldrin and Michael Collins. Collins was away in Ireland declaring independence so Buzz became the second man to walk on the moon when he kicked it back toward Neil's farm. It bounced off the roof of their lube silo however, and resumed its place in the sky.

Armstrong, Aldrin and Collins soon forgot the events, but resumed their orgies the next week with renewed vigor. As Neil straddled Aldrin's sturdy figure and kissed his neck, the lust overwhelmed him and he began to- Eh, never mind I'm not doing this again.

[queeranarchism]

Maybe this is a 'water is wet' statement, but: putting the Holocaust on a pedestal where it can never be compared to anything else doesn't just serve zionism, it serves the individual agendas of a lot of colonialist powers too because it ensures that their history of atrocities is never compared to the Holocaust and remembered in the way that our culture remembers the Holocaust.

The transatlantic slave trade? The deliberate British Great hunger in Ireland? The deliberate British Famines in India? The Holodomor? The multiple acts of ethnic cleansing and mass murders committed by the Netherlands in Indonesia and its other colonies? Leopold II's reign of terror in Congo? And countless others.

All of these exist in the relatively ignored field of 'lesser evils' and aren't remembered and used as national moral anchors in the way the Holocaust is. They're not at the center of our collective memory because this one great horror takes center stage and it is deemed morally unacceptable to place other horrors near it. The only exception I can think of is the US, where thanks to the endless hard work of African Americans, slavery is sort of kinda almost recognized in the collective consciousness as a second great horror. But it's still second fiddle and disputed, and meanwhile in the European countries that engineered the transatlantic slave trade and profited from it, the space it takes in the collective consciousness is tiny.

The Netherlands has over 70 World War 2 museums. It is yet to open its first museum about slavery and has no museums dedicated to it's other colonial atrocities. The budget of the national World War 2 commemoration is 35 times larger than that of the national slavery commemoration. Holocaust education is important, but something is out of whack here. And it's easy to see why colonial powers don't want to change that.

[dduane]

Hello! Do you think your conception of magic in YW is influenced at all by computer code? Between High Wizardry and some of the website admin stuff you discuss here, I'm guessing you've coded at least a little.

I'm an actor-turned-librarian who's cobbled together a little bit of coding competency through goofing off. The other day I tried to explain how I conceptualize a coding project and, well, first you need to figure out something's name -- and make sure you're properly specific for the context, you may need a lot of detail in how you name it -- and then you can start figuring out how to persuade it to do what you want ....

So I guess it's sort of a chicken-and-egg question: have I conceptualized coding in the image of my favorite fictional magic systems, or have I been generally drawn to magic systems with a sort of code-y, process-y inspiration?

I wouldn't like to second-guess your in-brain structure. But I can talk about my historical processes a bit, as they may apply to this.

Let me step back slightly. Before* I was a writer, I was a nurse. Before I was a nurse, I was studying to be an astrophysicist. Both of these arts/sciences require a certain sense of the hard structure of the universe—of the ways it requires you to put bits of it together if you're going to get anything useful done. This general outlook has determined, to a certain extent, how I interact with the nuts and bolts of the online world.

More historically speaking: I'm one of an unusual stratum of computer users who were technologically orphaned by the (bankruptcy) failure of the Osborne computer company in the mid-1980s. Those of us who had these machines, and who were at all techie-oriented, quickly became WAY more so in an attempt to keep our Osbornes running after the company went under. We learned how to keep our babies going without any available support, and when we moved on to other machines, we quickly became expert in fixing them... having learned the bitter lesson that when your computer fails, most of the time you're the only one you're going to be able to rely on to keep it going.

We learned to do things for ourselves, from the bottom up: hardware to programming. That mindset has remained with me from then until now.

After my Osborne, I moved from an early Apple (lent by our old friend Michael Reaves) to various early DOS/TRS machines when I moved over to this side of the Atlantic. I wrote Star Trek: The Kobayashi Alternative on a TRS-80 Model 100, gods bless its gentle hardworking heart. (I can still see in my mind the pale, pine-panelled interior of the ancient creaky London hotel, just south of Notting Hill Gate Tube, where I did most of the Trek work while I was in town on other business. I'd hooked the computer's modem to the hotel's phone system with alligator clips.) While Peter and I were later sorting out where we'd live on this side of things, for a long time—before portable computers, except for the TRS—the big machines lived in the boot of the Volvo while we migrated from place to place. And always the alligator clips were there.

Finally we settled in Ireland, and not too long after us, so did the Internet. (But not before I had to go up to Dublin one time, with the alligator clips again FFS!, and show the adorably clueless national telephone company guys how to hook up/in. ...I never pass that building without thinking of it: once Telecom Eireann, then Eircom, then Eir. Now it's a Starbucks. No matter. I remember where to hook the alligator clips in.)

And then, with the internet, lo, there came the (net-oriented) coding. Our first household web site went online in 1995. I handcoded our site's HTML. (Because what's a girl to do: wait for the techbois to make such work accessible or affordable? Bwahahahaha.) I continued to do that until the early 2000s, at which point I moved our sites to Drupal and learned its obscure ways. These days—having decided that Updating Damn Drupal Core Every Week is not what my mom raised me for—I've migrated all our household sites to WordPress, and I like it. I still pay a lot of attention to them, but at least I don't have to custom-code every whole damn page. I'm happy enough to let Elementor do that, while inserting occasional custom CSS, because (a) I have other writing to do, and (b) Life Is Too Short.

(I also used to hand-build our household computers, because (a) money was short and (b) why not know exactly what all your hardware is? But more recently I've started letting Scan in the UK do that. It's another Life Is Too Short thing... and Scan does good work. Lovely tight builds, and good customer service when needed.)

So: yeah, I code. :) Is the Young Wizards universe’s spell structure influenced by that? Uh, yeah. Inevitable, I’d think. Habit is such a taskmaster.

Meanwhile, summing up: I'm fluent in HTML. I'm nearly as fluent in CSS. I have enough PHP to be dangerous (to myself as well as others). I have memories of C that I can dredge up when necessary. I generated most of the Rihannsu language in MS-BASIC, gods bless it. ...And beyond that (as we say around here), deponent saith not. :)

*Or “while”, as I started writing when I was six or seven.

[gamergirl929]

It's Different With Her (Everything Is Different With Her) (Kristie Mewis x Reader)

Anonymous Request: So happy to hear you're going to be writing again!

Could you maybe write a Kristie Mewis x reader where they constantly get teased by their teammates for act sweet and domestic, the reader getting a majority of the teasing for acting uncharactisticly soft around Kristie.

You rub your hands together as you make your way out of goal, the whistle blowing loudly, signaling the end of the game against Ireland, a game the USWNT won 3-2, a number of shots on goal being easily blocked by yours truly.  

You move down field, making your way towards your girlfriend, Kristie Mewis, shaking hands with the Ireland players as you go.  

Kristie’s blue orbs widen momentarily as your lips meet her temple, it’s only when she realizes it’s you that she grins. 

Despite her height, you towered over her, your stature making you the perfect person to place in goal.  

That build made you very intimidating to say the least, but it was your attitude the exacerbated that intimidation.  

Your stoicism was off-putting to some, you rarely smiled, and spoke only when you felt it was necessary, these characteristics making you nearly unapproachable.  

There was one person however, who wasn’t put off by your stoicism, wasn't put off by the fact you rarely smiled and rarely spoke, and that was Kristie Mewis.  

Unfortunately, during your time with the North Carolina Courage, you weren’t utilized in any such way, riding the bench more often than not.  

Gotham FC approached you soon after, promising to utilize you to the best of your abilities, which was enough to get you to sign a contract, anything was better than riding the bench with the NCC.  

Though the team welcomed you with open arms, you could tell that you, much like you had everyone else, intimidated them.  

Kristie Mewis didn’t seem at all intimidated, the woman welcoming you with a beaming grin, something you didn’t return, choosing instead to stoically nod in place of a greeting.  

Your first interaction didn’t deter her, and soon she was breaking through your hard exterior, a friendship forming between the two of you. 

Your friendship quickly developed into a relationship after a shared kiss on your hotel room's balcony one night, and that relationship had been going strong ever since.  

Kristie is unable to bite back a grin when you slip around her, grabbing a fan’s jersey that she was attempting to reach for before passing it to her to sign.  

“Thanks.” She whispers and you smile softly, taking the jersey and passing it back after you too scribble your signature along the fabric.  

Much to her and your own elation, after a month as Gotham FC’s starting goalkeeper, you were called up to the USWNT alongside Kristie Mewis, Lynn Williams, Midge Purce and Kelley O’Hara.  

You quickly became a goalkeeper the team could rely on, only second to Alyssa Naeher of course. 

Kristie’s eyes widen when you drop to your knees in front of her, a smile stretching across her face when she realizes her cleat had come untied, the laces now in your hand as you tie a loose knot.  

“You guys are so domestic it’s disgusting.” Emily comments on her way by and you roll your eyes, shooting the blonde a glare as you move to your feet.  

“We are not domestic.” You mumble as you turn back to the fans, eventually working your way towards the locker room.  

Regardless of your hard exterior, you enjoyed interacting with the fans, specifically the younger ones, ones who would realize that women could do anything if they set their mind to it.  

You make your way into the locker room, taking a seat in your cubby beside Kristie’s the blonde turning to you with a grin.  

“Always the last one in, huh?” She teases and you shrug, unable to bite back a smile.  

Kristie made it almost impossible to keep your hard exterior in place when she was around, her smile crumbling the walls you’d built around yourself.  

Kristie scoots towards you, the woman taking your hand as Twila summarizes the game and the things the team needed to work on.  

You, however, can’t take your eyes off of Kristie, you rarely ever could, something about her commanded your attention.  

You knew that something was love, but seeing as it was early in your relationship you weren’t ready to voice those thoughts, not yet anyway.  

Your eyes narrow when you catch sight of a number of your teammates smirking your way, their eyes darting from you to yours and Kristie’s joined hands and back.  

You growl, rolling your eyes as you turn back to Twila, though your hand remains in Kristie’s, the woman stroking your knuckles, aware that your hands may hurt after your time in goal.  

It isn’t long after that the team moves to their feet, everyone gathering their things to head to the bus, before Kristie can grab her bag however you scoop it up, a smile on your face as you sling it over your shoulder.  

“You know I could get that, right?” She teases and you smile, the woman’s fingers tangling with your own.  

“Oh, I know.” You smile, the woman giggling as she leans against you, the two of you making your way towards the bus under the watchful eyes of your teammates.  

Watching you turn to literal putty in someone’s hands was something they weren’t at all use to, but since you started dating Kristie, you smiled more often, something you did your best to fend off before your relationship started.  

You posted more on social media, pictures with the blonde during early morning runs, coffee dates and nights spent watching the sunset.  

You were a completely different person with her, and that meant relentless teasing from your teammates.  

“Oh, carrying bags now?” Megan teases as you make your way onto the bus, earning an eye roll as you slide into the seat beside Kristie, depositing your bags in the seats in front of you.  

“Shut up.” You mumble as you drop down into the seat beside your girlfriend, the woman taking your hand.  

“Ignore them.” She whispers, her cheeks flushing when you bring her hand to your lips, softly kissing her smooth skin. 

“She’s completely different around her, isn’t she?” Ashley whispers softly to Trinity, the younger woman smiling.  

“Love will do that to you.” Kelley comments, Emily’s lips splitting in a grin as she calls out.  

“Are you guys in loveeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee??” She snickers, and you roll your eyes, your cheeks betraying you as they flush blood red, thankfully, it goes unnoticed by your teammates.  

Instead of answering, the two of you choose to remain silent, unwilling to admit to anyone, including each other, that you were, in fact, deeply in love with one another. 

************************************************************************

It was no surprise to either of you that the teasing in no way relented during dinner, especially because the flirting between the two of you didn’t stop simply because you went to a restaurant.  

You grin as you lean towards Kristie, the woman leaning towards you.  

“I really like when you wear your hair down.” You whisper, the blonde giggling when you kiss the flesh behind her ear.  

“I’ll have to start doing it more often then.” She grins, turning to playfully kiss your jawline, your lips splitting in a grin.  

Kristie moves to her feet with a sigh, the woman’s head on a swivel as she surveys the restaurant.  

“I’ll be right back.” She smiles, giving your hand a squeeze before she moves out of reach, your hand and heart feeling empty without her presence.  

“You two are so gross.” Trinity teases, giving you a little nudge, your eyes narrowing as you shoot her a glare.  

“You can’t deny it Y/N.” Rose says from her place across the table from you, Lindsey who’s at her side nodding.  

“I’ve never seen you act the way you do when you’re around her.” She comments, earning a nod from Alex who’s sitting further down the table.  

“You’re a completely different person with her.”  

You hum, your brows furrowing as you stare down at the table, your heart fluttering in your chest, a smile stretching across your face.  

“Because it’s different with her.” You whisper, unable to hold back the smile that stretches across your face.  

“Everything is different with her.” You mumble, hoping your teammates hadn’t heard, but you knew they had.  

You jump when a hand settles on your shoulder, your eyes wide when you glance up at its owner, who smiles brightly as she takes her seat beside you.  

“What did I miss?” She asks and you shake your head, smiling softly as you take her hand.  

“Nothing.” 

************************************************************************

“It’s different with her. Everything is different with her.” 

Your words kept playing back in Kristie’s mind throughout dinner and even as the two of you entered your hotel room.  

What was it that was different with her, what was it about her that made everything so different?  

“Kris.”  

She stiffens, turning towards you, her brows arched.  

“Hm?” She hums as you make your way towards her, your brows knitted in confusion.  

“Is something wrong?” You ask worriedly, the woman shaking her head.  

Your eyes narrow as you take her hand, leading her across the hotel room and onto the balcony, a place that had become sacred to the pair of you since you’d shared your first kiss on a balcony during a late night and heartfelt talk where you stripped each other bare to one another.  

“What’s bothering you?” You ask, knitting your fingers together as you lean against the balcony’s railing. 

Kristie thinks it over for a moment before she speaks, her voice soft, her heart racing in her chest, the thought that you might feel as deeply for her as she did for you making the butterflies in her stomach flutter their wings.  

“What did you mean?” She asks, your head cocked slightly to the side, the sight so endearing she smiles.  

“What did I mean?” You ask, confusion written all over your face.  

“You said it was different with me, that everything was different with me, what did you mean?” She asks, her breath hitching as you back her up against the railing, her upper back pressing into the cold railing’s bars.  

You exhale loudly as you cup her cheeks, the woman’s cheeks flushing beneath your touch, your thumbs gently caressing her skin.  

“I meant what I said Kris.” You whisper leaning in, your forehead resting against hers.  

“EVERYTHING is different with you.” You whisper, bumping the tip of your nose against hers.  

“I’ve never looked forward to waking up in the morning as early as you do, but with you, I look forward to it. I used to think cafes were overrated, but now that I’m with you, I can’t imagine not going.”  You smile, Kristie’s lips splitting in a grin.  

“I used to hate social media with a passion, but now, I would never miss the chance to show you off.” You blush, the woman leaning into your touch. 

“I see everything differently when I’m with you. The world’s brighter, my heart is fuller, life is worth living.”  

“I’ve never felt this way about anyone, everything is different with you, you’re different Kris, and I...” You stop midsentence, your throat bobbing as the words you’d been itching to say make their way up your throat.  

“I love you.” You whisper softly, caressing her smooth skin, the woman’s breath catching in her throat.  

“I’ve never loved anyone; like I love you.” You confess, the woman covering your hands with her own as she leans in, your lips meeting in a tender kiss, the kiss knocking the air from your lungs.  

“I love you too.” She whispers against your lips as you kiss, the world falling away around you as the two of you get lost in the kiss.  

You’re so lost in the kiss in fact, that you completely miss Lindsey and Emily standing on the neighboring balcony, the two sharing a glance.  

“I guess they really are in love, huh?” Emily asks, Lindsey’s lips splitting in a grin.  

“I guess so.”  

It would be years later that they would retell the story of your first I love yous during your wedding day, your cheeks flushing when you realized you’d been heard on the balcony that night, but neither of you cared, not as long as you had each other, everything would continue to be different, because the world was different when you were with each other. 

[directdogman]

Quick crosspost:

Hey, given the time of year, I wanted to say a quick somethin: Thank you dearly, for everyone who posts about Dialtown, has bought the game and/or the merch! I just moved into my very own apartment this month (1st time I've been able to afford living alone) & that's very special!

Ireland (the country I'm from/live in) has faced a severe housing crisis for *many* years now & finding a place of my own has been an arduous, years-long process... but, now, I have my own space, one where I can finally work + produce DT content - in peace... which is a first.

I'm very grateful to have a place that me and Salvage feel safe + can call our own (especially as a first time renter with a pet!) Without Steam sales + DT's merch revenue, I would NOT be able to afford my rent nor have been able to find an apartment (which I only moved into a week ago!)

I have a lot to be thankful for, but I wanted to say this explicitly: Thank YOU. If you've supported Dialtown in any way (including posting about it anywhere, drawing fanart or recommending the game to others), you've done me a great service, and it's one which hasn't gone unnoticed.

I'mma do my best to deliver you guys the content you want most in 2024! Even if I'm behind schedule (thanks to the second move I've had this year. I REALLY thought Roger's route would be out by the end of this year LMAO), I couldn't be more thankful for all that you guys have given me. Thanks, guys. For everything. :)