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ayellowcurtain · 4 years ago

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Can you write something about Robbe and Sander hanging out with Robbe's friends and one of them mentions that one time Robbe said he'd kiss Jens.. and Sander isn't too happy to hear about it

Sander knows he should keep his mouth shut, just enjoy his night right next to Robbe. He’s invisible here and he’s not complaining about it, at all. He’s not in the best mood and so he’s okay with just listening to Robbe and his friends be dumb and horny when drunk.

His ears are making the hard work of hearing whenever they want and turning it off when he’s tired of the boys talking over each other about things Sander doesn’t care right now.

He looks at Robbe, smiling, saying something that Sander doesn’t really hear, playing with his boyfriend’s hair, wanting so badly to be alone with him.

Sander smiles thinking about how much they’re basically glued to each other since they started dating and still, he can’t seem to get enough.

“What?” He doesn’t hear it, but he sees Robbe’s mouth moving - lips shinning from all the beer he’s been drinking and his tongue constantly wetting his mouth - and then he lets himself hear again, looking at Robbe instead of his soft hair.

“Nothing...”

“You were smiling.” Robbe tells him like Sander didn’t know, putting his head back to lie against Sander’s arm.

“Yeah, but it’s just because you’re mine.”

“Is he though?” Sander hears that loud and clear, looking around, meeting Aaron’s drunk, half-closed eyes, smiling so brightly.

Jens is clearly whispering for him to shut up, throwing a pillow in his face and Moyo rolls his eyes, also talking low.

“Aren’t you?” Sander decides to ignore the others, asking to the one that matters. Robbe is clearly uncomfortable, trying to look at Aaron and at Jens. He stutters and Sander is a little bit confused, and very annoyed now.

“Of course I am! Aaron is dumb and shitfaced.” Robbe holds his shirt, pulling him closer for a kiss, but Sander can read a room when he wants to. There’s something he doesn’t know.

“When I found out-” Aaron is hiccupping, but that doesn’t stop him from talking, “Robbe was...gay, I thought he and Jens were hooking up for months then. Robbe chose him that day!”

“Aaron, shut up!” Robbe asks not very nicely all of a sudden and Jens is clearly uncomfortable, avoiding to meet Sander or Robbe’s eyes.

“He’s just drunk, man. And it was a joke.” Moyo is the one to explain, but Sander is still a little surprised. He doesn’t know what Aaron is talking about. He knows it’s true because the other three wouldn’t be so bothered about it if it wasn’t.

Jens sighs, annoyed, drinking his beer, suddenly knowing how to talk again, “It wasn’t like that. We were talking about you guys. We were talking about girls, about Amber and how fuckable Aaron was. They forced-”

“I didn’t force anything!” Moyo makes sure to cut Jens’ to explain his side, at least.

“Aaron forced Robbe to make a list, between the three of us. He didn’t want to, Aaron insisted-”

“And Robbe said Jens would be his pick. If they were interested, which none of them were. Or is!” Moyo completes right away and Sander is sure it’s because Robbe is probably giving him a death stare.

Sander looks at his boyfriend again and Robbe comes closer, kissing him again.

“It was a stupid joke. Jens gave Zendaya some ridiculously low score.”

Sander doesn’t know how Zendaya and Jens’ score came into their conversation and he doesn’t care. He always knew Robbe used to have a crush on Jens, it wasn’t exactly a secret Robbe kept from him.

When he told Sander, he also didn’t made a big deal out of it and so Sander didn’t make a big deal out of it, but this it new.

Robbe always sounded like whatever he felt for Jens was as platonic as a crush could be. But the way they’re all explaining themselves, the way Jens is suddenly very quiet, constantly rambling when he feels like he needs to.

“Don’t worry.” He decides to say, letting Robbe enjoy his night and they’ll talk afterward, when nobody is there anymore. Sander doesn’t stop thinking about it though. It was when they got together, so it hasn’t been that long.

Robbe actually would pick Jens over other guys and that realization never crossed Sander’s mind. Jens was actually close to the top on whatever list Robbe had inside his head of interesting guys. Robbe still finds Jens attractive, even if he doesn’t have feelings for him anymore.

Jens!

Sander gets up from the couch he was sitting with Robbe. The boys were back to normal, talking about Kato, whoever she is. And Sander thinks nobody notices him leaving when they keep talking as he has to walk between them to get to the door. Robbe probably notices, but hopefully he doesn’t think much of it.

Robbe’s bedroom is down the hall and Sander goes there, the rest of the apartment still feels a little unfamiliar to him so he tries to stay where he knows he can chill for a while, hopefully the rest of the night.

The bed is made tonight and so Sander pulls Robbe’s chair to sit on it instead of the bed, looking at the freshly washed sheets. Robbe took the other ones out this morning, Sander helped him with it and his boyfriend quietly walked to the laundry, putting everything inside and already turning it on to wash right away.

His mom probably made his bed when she got home from work, before going to her parents’ place.

Sander looks up from the bed when someone opens the bedroom door, the loud boys talking bleed into his peaceful silence, but Robbe closes the door behind him, walking to Sander, sitting on his lap.

“Sander...”

“What?”

Robbe inhales, looking all around his face, exhaling, “It didn’t mean anything. Aaron sees things where there’s none, I swear.”

“I didn’t say anything.” Robbe looks at him, not buying his words at all and he sighs, sitting even closer and Sander wraps his arms tighter around Robbe’s slim waist, making them both a little more comfortable.

“You don’t have to. You just leave me alone there and comes to hide.” Robbe’s feather-like touch in the back of his head is making him relax a little bit, forget about what he found out earlier.

“I’m not in the mood for parties, that’s all.”

Robbe nods his head, leaning closer, resting his forehead against Sander’s.

“I want to be with you, just you, for the rest of my life. Not Jens.” His boyfriend says with a certain that’s not always there. Robbe is so soft, so gentle that he never says things so sure of himself like he is now.

“Robbe...”

“You think you can hide from me, but you can’t. I won’t let you get rid of me that easily.” He raises his eyebrows and Sander knows where he got that line from.

“I don’t want that. To get rid of you.”

Robbe smiles, putting both arms loosely around Sander’s neck. “Good. I’m glad to know we’re on the same page...”

“If Jens-” Sander looks at him, relaxing against the back of the chair.

“Even if he was in love with me, begging me to give him a chance. I would still be here, sitting on your lap, asking for your attention.”

Sander snorts, looking up to meet his boyfriend’s gaze, even softer and cuter when he’s tipsy.

“Cutie.”

Robbe comes closer again, bumping their noses together. “And now you’ll stay here while I ask nicely if they can go drink somewhere else.”

Sander gently slaps the side of his thigh, not wanting to be the jealous boyfriend that ruins every party or every comment. “It’s still early, go have fun with them, I’m just gonna chill for a little.”

“No. You’re right, it’s still early and my mom is not home so I wanna enjoy my time with you. Only you.”

“Okay...”

“Okay!” Robbe brushes his lips against Sander’s, smiling, “I’ll be right back. Don’t go anywhere.”

Sander sighs, taking his arm off of Robbe’s ass - they slipped down while they were talking - and watches his handsome boyfriend walk away, kick his friends out to go party anywhere else.

#wtfock #robbe ijzermans #sander driesen #robbe x sander #sobbe

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tobeornottotc · 4 years ago

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There was no need to shrink yasmina's role just bc she has a diff personality than sana. Imo she could still have the screen time while exhibiting her own unique personality. With regards to the alcohol situation. They took the heat out of it. It wasnt a drunken party. It was a gathering (common during Iftar) and a friend's bf left his unopened alcoholic beverage. Tell the truth. Now this Ibiza thing with Britt who? Britt can be easily removed from the equation. The stakes are so low

Um I’m not saying they should have shrunk her role, I’m saying that even with her shrunken role people still waited and looked forward to her season not just because of Robbe. You’re free to whatever you think but that’s my opinion. two They fleshed out the alcohol, situation it didn’t need to be a drunken party because that was not the point of it, the point of it was that during Iftar someone who’s already been tied to the narrative and themes of the show left alcohol when he shouldn’t have , Yasmina is already feeling tired and stressed out in trying to make her parents see her friends aren’t going to pull away from her religious beliefs, and so yeh it was massive that this time it was Aaron (bff boyfriend) who ignorantly brought alcohol and caused an issue because he forgot it, they’re clearly having a a plot link to flesh out more about the relationship with the boys squad and Elias and why there would be an issue later.

They even used the alcohol situation to showcase more representation for traditions with Islam, and it was amazing to see that, the OG did not do this, they did not state the significance of Iftar, but this season did. Again the focus is on Yasmina, her issues, her problems, her situations, its fleshed out and even more representative. Again Yasmina is torn between her friends/the allures of teen life, vs her religious/traditional beliefs. She’s torn between her parents/sibling and her friends/friends boyfriend squad. She feels dissiocated/connected to both at the same time. It completely lines up together in an interesting way to upgrade the OG story. They didn’t have to change the OG story they just had to upgrade it and so far that’s what they’ve done. they also upped the stake for Elias who was also suffering the actions of Aaron yet again and also being torn between being responsible and eldest of the family (which is why he was trying to absolve the blame on himself as an elder sibling I understood his frustration but also hated his actions but it was flawed, it was realistic it was human of him to do so) and at the same time losing the time/freedom he has to hang out with his genuinely best friend who had taken the blame understanding the pressure both he and yasmina were going through at that time. Elias’s actions are valid, his frustrations too, however its also flawed. But that’s why it’s complex, an interesting way to look into the alcohol plot etc, tell me again how they didn’t upgrade the alcohol plot? they fleshed out more scenarios with each main character of the season, built up more incoming hints of whats to come, and showed deeper the themes/narrative of the season.

The stakes may be low to you but for people who relate to Yasmina’s struggle, the stakes are very high, the stakes are fucking difficult to deal with as a teen, the stakes are relatable and understandable. I’m not saying everything they’ve done is perfect but I like that they again included Britta someone outside of the friendship group that still has stakes to the story for Yasmina, yeh Britta may not seem important but she’s a recurring teenage girl that once again did what is expected of a gossipy teenage ignorant teenage girl. Yasmina is hurt by it because Britta is connected to her friends whilst she’s not connected to her. (again representing her dissiocation from something she feels connected to) It could have been someone else but who exactly was goanna take this role? Who else could have replaced this bitchy white ignorant girl who has to say these things and give more strife to Yasmina for the plot that is still connected to the universe of wtfock? It can’t be the other girls, especially since even if we hate Kato, she’s seen as part of their group. It might be lazy, might be an annoying choice to have but it still adds up to the narrative, the narrative has been upgraded and I’m allowed to feel that way. If you feel the stakes are low then that’s sad for you. I’m here saying that people are exaggerating reasons to dislike this season, when to me and a lot of other POC religious people it doesn’t add up. Again we have different opinions.

#wtfock #sigh #reviews

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szamsson · 4 years ago

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omg pls write about sander arriving at the flat share one night when they’re having a party and taking care of drunk robbe pls

(Okay I’m gonna use this prompt to interpret some sort of a Luca surprise party setting)

Luca was so excited to have a girls night tonight. It seemed during the day none of her best friends really gave a shit that it was her birthday, so being invited last minute round to Zoe and Milans place for a couple (off bottles) of wine with the girls had her practically dancing up the stairs. She had a whole bottle of vodka, as well as a couple of different wine varieties in her bag. She knew obviously, between the three of them who would actually be down to get drunk tonight this was way too much alcohol. But it was her birthday goddamn it and she was going to drink to her hearts desire.

She approached the door, pounding on it in a melodic rhythm. Zoe had said to arrive at 19,00, but of course, she hadn’t even notice the clock tick over to 19,21 before she darted out the door. The front door swung open and she was greeted with a grinning Milan. She hadn’t seen Milan since their last group zoom chat during lockdown and she had to admit he looked good. His hair was shorted and he had an intense tan going on that Luca knew could not be natural. Nonetheless, she was just glad to see his grinning face in person after all this time.

“Happy Luca Day, birthday princess!” Milan said with a laugh, engulfing her in a huge hug. As he did this, the bottles in her bag clanked together noisily and Milan raised an eyebrow at her. “I hope you plan on sharing”

“Of course!” She said happily, slipping her backpack off her shoulders and fixing her glasses which had been tussled during the hug. “I assume we are pretty much going to be the only two drinking tonight, so I have plenty for us.”

Milan’s smile grew wider for a second then he schooled his features and not so subtly nodded with a concentrated look on his face. Ok weird, Luca thought, but also, classic Milan. It was then she noticed how goddamn quiet it was in the house. That really confused her because she was a good thirty minutes late. She was sure she would at least hear the quiet chatter of her friends, or the loud chatter in the case of Amber.

“Am I early...?” She asked Milan anxiously.

“Nope! Right on time.” Milan steered her into the dark hallway and as they entered the living room her jaw dropped and her eyes went wide.

All of a sudden there was so much chaos and noise and a very unharmonious chorus of “Surprise!” “Happy Birthday” rang out. It all ended up jumbling together so all she caught was the 15 of so people yelling “SurHapBirtpriseDay!” as they jumped out from behind the furniture.

She loved her friends, she really and truly did and suddenly she was so so so excited looking around at all the faces who were there to celebrate her special day. Zoe sat with Yasmina, Kato and Britt, whilst Amber sat with Aarons arms around her shoulders. The Broooerrrs already looked kind of wasted as they stood together in the corner. She narrowed in on Robbe’s glassy eyes and goofy smile and assumed the boys had gone a little too hard during pre drinks. Even Noor was there, with some of her college friends, as well as Senne and his mates. The rest of the blonde ambition were sitting in the far corner sipping on wine, looking entirely out of place, but what the hell! she thought its a party!

“WOOOOO!” Luca yelled in happiness as the music started again and she basically ran to her friends, practically knocking Zoe and Yasmina over as she gave them a giant bear hug. She couldn’t stop smiling.

“You guys -- I can’t believe you did this!” She gazed around at the tacky streamers and balloons everywhere, then at the table that was FILLED with all different assortments of alcohol and party snacks. It was basic and last minute and absolutely perfect.

“Of course,” Amber said, leaving Aaron to give Luca a hug. “You really didn’t think we were going to celebrate your birthday?”

“We told everyone to bring a different type of alcohol as a present because we thought you’d appreciate that more,” Yasmina said with a smirk as she gestured to the table Luca had already zero’ed in on.

Luca let out another little scream and the girls laughed at her as she began making what was bound to be a disgusting but very alcohol heavy cocktail.

As the party continued, Luca walked throughout the groups, saying hello to everyone and thanking them for coming. The blonde ambition were polite but quiet, whilst the brooerrs were definitely next level drunk. And Robbe, who was tiny and probably trying to keep up with his friends, was next next level drunk. She could tell this as when she walked over to them to say hey, Robbe clung onto her shoulders and gave her a big kiss so close to her lips.

“This was so my dream two years ago,” she said jokingly as the other boys laughed at her and Robbe just gazed happy and intoxicated.

About an hour in, she was sitting with the girls chatting and laughing at everything and nothing when suddenly, Britt sat up straight, rolling her eyes and letting out a groan. All the girls looked up at her and followed her eyes to see a tentative Sander being led into the room by Milan. He seemed happy chatting with Milan, almost like he was using the older boy as his safety blanket before he had to face the wolves.

“Who is that?” Kato asked with a frown. Confused by Britt’s reaction, having not seen the boy in school before.

At the same time, Luca and Britt both answered her.

“Robbe’s boyfriend”

“My cheating ex”

Zoe and Yasmina rolled their eyes at Britt. The girl could just not let it go. Kato’s eyes widened and she nodded, feeling like there was a story behind that which she would ask Luca about at another time.

Sander spotted the girls and hesitantly walked towards them, eyeing Britt as if she was going to jump up and slap him across the face. They all waved and said hey as he approached, shoving what looked like an expensive bottle of tequila into Luca’s hands.

“Happy Birthday,” he said, “I didn’t really know what you drank, but I mean, you need tequila on your birthday.” He smiled shyly at Luca.

“It’s perfect! Thankyou!” She said, wrapping her arms around him. He seemed to startle at the contact. She didn’t know Sander that well but she liked the boy. And she knew he treated Robbe like a king so that was good enough for her.

Britt got up in a dramatic huff and stormed off towards the Blonde Ambition girls, grabbing a bottle of wine off the table on her way. They all watched her go, Sander rubbing anxiously at the back of his neck.

“Sorry,” he said quietly, to which Luca simply brushed her hands in a motion as if to say, don’t even worry about it.

“Anyway,” Sander said clearing his throat, “Has anyone seen my--” He was cut off by the sound of a voice shrieking “JENS.”

They all looked over to see Robbe, jumping up and down, trying to reach the bottle of beer Jens was holding above his head. Robbe’s wobbly legs lost their footing on one of the jumps and he fell onto his butt with a huff. He looked up dazed and confused as all the boys broke out laughing at the drunk boy. Robbe’s face then started to crumble and his lower lip shook as he whispered “ouch.”

“--my boyfriend,” Sander finished, trying to hide a laugh at the pitiful exchange he just witnessed. “I’m gonna go deal with that,” he said with a final wave before heading in the direction of Robbe who was still sat on the floor sulking.

The girls watched as Sander put his hands under Robbe’s arms and hoisted him up from behind. Robbe whirled around and when he saw who it was, all sadness and frustration from his face left and he threw himself at the other boy, trying to climb him like a tree.

“Hey baby,” Sander whispered, “Let’s go get some fresh air yeah?”

As they walked towards the door, Robbe turned from under Sander’s arm, and like a 5 year old, snuck his tongue out at Jens.

#wtfock #wtfam #wtfock fic #myfics

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lucidpantone · 4 years ago

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Wait but a Yasmina, Moyo, and Robbe trio seems like the dream team

similar anon: What's Moyo's contribution to helping Yasmina through this trying time? Or is that something we'll find out later...bc his only advise to Yasmina would be to show tolerance and have a whole hearted embrace of the people who throw microaggressions your way since he went official with Kato and his best friends is Aaron. The same Aaron who is in the process of destroying yasmina's last nerve

It may be that both of them discuss how they allow micro aggressive behavior slide. I mean Yasmina does take off her hijab at school and tho this is the law of the land it doesnt mean its right and there is an abuse of power that is being allowed by society to be inflicted onto her person. There is an argument in here concerning submission right? I am sure they are options in which she could home school and avoid the situation but I dont think yasmina continuing to allow this racist behavior be thrown in her direction is embracing it. In many ways she is not allowing this abuse of power to go unchecked as she is a visible marker to her peers of whats happening. Her peers may not understand it now but hopefully down the line they dont see Yasmina’s act of “submission” not one of submission but of protest. Also most poc have to embrace micro-racist behavior to survive. Racism is systematic and i dont think you will meet one poc who hasnt “submitted” at one point. Thats sorta of the standing issue; that conditioning happens at an early age and contextualizes alot of yasmina and moyo’s decision making.

#lucidpantone anons

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itubainaretro · 4 years ago

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the thing is... they completely failed in making kato look like an influencer, so that’s why her making an apology video on her insta is absolutely pointless. they just had amber freak out over her and then completely dropped it, there were never other things that showed her influencer life so this public apology is just so weird and embarrassing 💀

similar ask: i can’t stop thinking about kato making an apology video like that’s literally so fucking cringe i can’t even believe they did that,, like what kind of narrative is that?! and youtube apology videos are the most mocked and hated ones why would they think it was something cool to do i’m 😭

E X A C T L Y

they never explored her “influencer side” besides having amber and some of the boys (mostly aaron) freak out over her being an influencer/famous, have her make some ad posts and have her look at her posts being liked as soon as she posted them and that was it. they could’ve explored her anxiety regarding exposing herself and her life for other people to see (if they had a strong social media game, that is), her fear of people only aproaching her/wanting to be friends with her because she’s somehow famous and known, her not being comfortable with being recognized in public, how she deals with trying to keep things separated like her living her life outside of instagram and her “glamorous” life as an influencer, having to think about meetings with sponsors and dealing with school at the same time, even how the fucking pandemic affected her work.... idk they could’ve done SO many things if they developed that aspect of her life, but they never digged deeper into it and it was all so shallow that by like ep 3 people didn’t even remember she was an influencer anymore and that’s one of the reasons why her making an apology video doesn’t make any sense

another reason would be that the people that she owes apologies to are the people she knows in real life aka her friends, the very real people that she hurt, offended and was unfair to, not her thousands of followers. she never told any of them what was happening in her life and it’s not like she was involved in some major drama with other influencers that made her followers expect some kind of statement from her because she said or did something that people saw and called her out on it publicly, so her going public with something that was supposed to be private with an apology video that should only be aimed at her friends makes absolutely no sense???? like,,,, imagine following someone you know nothing about and only follows because of the ~aesthetic and then out of nowhere they come up with an apology video when as far as you know (based on what they share with you) they have nothing to apologise for???? we know she has a bunch of things to apologise for, but that’s because we’ve been following her life for 10 long weeks but her followers haven’t???? or was that their way of trying to break the 4th wall and be like “yeah i know you’ve been following me for 10 weeks and we both know i fucked up so i’m apologising now” because that wouldn’t make sense either.........

anyways, this season is the worst and has never made much sense but it seems like it keeps getting worse and i have no idea how that’s even possible considering how much shit we’ve already seen happen

#anon #i’m sorry for this long ass answer i just needed to rant

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formal-gxrl · 4 years ago

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I just rewatched everything bc the last clip reminded me of this one girl that is kinda getting in my nerves and oh god what did I find. 1) In the first episode when Yasmina talks to Kato about Amber and said that their encounter was probably awkward, Kato said that it was funny to her which is kinda mean if you ask me because why would someone that is showing they’re your fan be funny to you?

2) when they released the dancing clip and amber said how aaron told her that moyo was mean, kato said that its okay because the guys kind of forced him to do it which sound like she cares right? But if she did, why did she not even once say that if moyo doesn’t want to do it they don’t have to. She just went with it.

3) she is nice to moyo when they’re in the group of people (except that one time where she showed him a middle finger when he insulted her) but when they were alone, she was mean to him (the scene in the coffee shop)

4)i’m not even going to mention her comments at the picnic but I will mention the look on her face at that picnic when girls started talking about zoe and senne

5) i have a feeling that she will try to replace zoe (i think todays clip was foreshadow to it)

6) this isn’t a clue ab her possibly being mean this just annoyed the shit out of me: when she said she’ll pay for dance school herself because its her dream. Every other excuse would of made more sense. Paying herself because its her dream just sounds super pretentious and like she’s hiding something. Even though Yasmina opposed Zoe on that, I think she thought the same thing because when Kato was talking about it, both Zoe’s and Yasmina’s reaction was showed.

These are all reasons why I think it will turn out that Kato is mean and if I’m wrong then wtfock writers really fucked up her character

MMMMMMHM i think many of these could be written off as the character being “awkward”, which can come across as unlikable or mean. But if we think the first episodes are to set up the drama, we might see this unfolding in these little things. Point 1 has me thinking, it was mean lol didnt realize.

Its so hard to get her because she literally doesnt have any defining dialogue yet. Personally, the paying for herself and all that motivational bullshit she has on her insta gives me off such capitalist vibes which lol, she IS an influencer. It annoys me too... it maybe has to do with her mom? and her being the classic upper-class kid?

About point 5, omg I have many theories, we are clearly seeing the girl squad challenged this season. More if the looks Yasmina is throwing her way persist. It would be cool to see this drama now rather than in season 5, with Yasmina being the conflict.

This is hard since we have other stuff they have been clueing on: the autism tag, the teacher thing, the sexting, etc. I wonder how they will intertwine it in one big plot. If it ends with her pissing off to blonde ambition I think many will be happy

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bigtinyworldtravel · 5 years ago

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How does one see Namibia? Full of wildlife, massive sand dunes, and vast distances, there’s really only one way to see it all: renting a car and driving yourself. Just be prepared to drive on the lefthand side of the roads, and be ready for very little pavement!

But then, where does one stay in this developing country? You might find some resort-style lodges near the larger towns, but if you’re on a budget like we are, the best option is a campground. Even in the winter, desert temperatures are mild, and precipitation is nonexistent in such an arid climate.

As adventure types, we don’t shy away from camping when we travel, but that activity requires quite a bit of specialty equipment – extra gear we didn’t exactly want to lug all the way around the world with us. Fortunately, there’s a popular solution in Namibia to the needs of both transportation and accommodation.

Hop aboard and see what life was like spending three weeks in our 4×4 camping truck!

About the truck

First things first, let’s talk about the truck that sustained us for 20 days in the Namibian desert.

Our vehicle was like any other truck: four doors, manual transmission, diesel engine, two spare tires, two batteries, two gas tanks, and – of course – four-wheel drive. Aaron was our brave driver for the entire duration. By this point, he was quite practiced at driving on the “wrong” side of the road, and he wasn’t as preoccupied as I was with photography. I spent most of my time in the passenger seat up front… unless I was scouting for wildlife, in which case I sat like the awkward third wheel in movies: dead center in the back (seriously, no one chooses that seat – especially if they’re the only one back there!).

All our gear could be safely stowed in the bed of the truck, secured by a hard canopy with convenient locking access panels on each side. Aside from the occasional need to fill up and restock on food and water, we had all the necessary basics.

About the roads

Driving from the airport into Windhoek, proper, is misleading. The entire route is tarred roads and highways, and the city appears to be quite developed. Even driving several hours north to Etosha, we never left pavement. But once you get into the park and venture elsewhere in the country, you’ll find nothing but dirt and gravel.

We quickly learned that the letters in the road names denoted (more or less) the quality of that road. B roads are generally tarred highways; we really like these roads. C roads are usually fairly well-graded gravel roads. After enough D roads, we learned to look forward to these C roads.

And D roads? Those are the ones we dreaded… small, bumpy, and less-frequently maintained. They often traverse regular river and creek beds. Though these were all dry when we were there (July), I could see these being rather treacherous in the wet season. These are also best described as washboard roads (this is an interesting simulation on how they form), and some got so bad, we had to take breaks to combat motion sickness. We groaned whenever Google routed us to a D road.

Now, some C roads are also washboarded – particularly the more frequented ones and those with faster traffic like the route into Sossusvlei – and some D roads are better than C roads. And yes, there are E and F roads (these are usually barely paths across the desert).

Is a 4×4 necessary?

When deciding on a vehicle for Namibia, we debated back and forth on whether to get a 4×4 truck or an everyday (and far less expensive) car (or some combination of the two). Most roads are dirt that a car could handle (albeit less comfortably), and we weren’t intending to do much off-roading. In fact, we only used four-wheel drive once the entire time we were there. So was the extra expense worth it?

Yes. For a few reasons.

First, it was comforting to have the peace of mind should we get stuck anywhere. We didn’t plan to do anything so extreme as to suspect we’d run into trouble, but in a place as unpredictable as Namibia, we felt better prepared.

Next, while roads could mostly be navigated via car, they’re almost all rough gravel (see above). Four-wheel drive isn’t always necessary, but high clearance certainly came in handy on more than one occasion!

Third, we liked having the option of 4×4 for the one situation where we *really* needed it. The road to Sossusvlei was deep sand and absolutely required four-wheel drive. Being able to drive it ourselves meant we could skip the expensive and time-restrictive shuttle provided by the park.

And finally, it served not only as our transportation for our duration in Namibia; it was also our lodging. While we theoretically could have slept in a car, the tent that came with our truck was far more comfortable.

What comes with the truck?

Every company will be different, of course, but ours came fully equipped with everything we needed to live out in the bush: pots, pans, kettle, dishes, can opener (for our favorite Koo Chakalaka), propane, chairs, table, lighter, spare water, a powered refrigerator/cooler, and even a braai (grill).

We were also given essentials like an air compressor, tire gauge, axe, spade, and extension cord.

But what about the tent and sleeping bags?

These come on top of the truck! Yep! No fears of a wayward hyena coming to sniff at tasty human burritos just laying on the ground for the taking in the middle of the night. Sleep in comfort atop your truck!

The tent was surprisingly comfortable. As it’s permanently installed on the roof rack, it can afford the luxury of a real foam pad as insulation. Paired with military-grade canvas above, the inside is quite cozy.

Our truck came with two cool-weather sleeping bags, two full-sized pillows, and a couple of spare blankets should we get cold (we did a few times). This all just stayed in the tent, waiting for us for when we next stopped for the night.

How do you set up the tent?

The setup was a breeze! Far simpler than any other tent I’ve worked with. Come nightfall, we just had to remove the cover, release the tie-down straps, extend the ladder, unfold the tent, and insert the support poles. Boom!

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Teardown was similarly easy, effectively doing the same in reverse (and adding some fabric tucking action as you fold the tent).

It was all quite convenient!

Some tips:

The poles could be a bit tricky at times. I sometimes found it easier to insert the bottom of the pole into the frame and then bend the pole to hook the other end onto the canvas (while we mostly saw everyone doing the opposite).

Climbing the ladder to insert the poles on the ladder side makes it far easier to do so.

Be careful that the ladder doesn’t come apart. If the tabs that lock it into place get stuck in the up/open position, you might find you get half the ladder in your hands when trying to extend it (we did this a couple of times).

Mind the ladder that you don’t accidentally scrape the vehicle while setting up the tent.

Don’t try to drive the truck while the tent is deployed 🙂

Secure the cover inside the truck or somewhere out of the elements at night. The wind often picks up a bit in the middle of the night, and having that thing slap against your tent in the pitch darkness is one of the most terrifying ways to wake up… trust us.

About renting

Renting one of these trucks is much like renting any other vehicle. However, since roads are particularly rough, you should definitely have full insurance (either already covered by your policy at home or as an add-on with the rental). And due to the strenuous conditions on the vehicle, you’ll have more paperwork to sign, promising you won’t speed (seriously, please don’t; it’s quite dangerous to do so) or go recklessly off-road.

It is customary for companies to charge a deposit on the truck. This covers incidentals like any scrapes you might acquire while driving through bushes (which you really shouldn’t do because you should stick to the roads) and a gas top-off. You could also be held liable for any accidents, flat tires, or cracked windshields (depending on your insurance coverage).

Some companies (including the one we went with) will even offer an airport pickup/drop-off service. We had an extra day on either side, so we didn’t take advantage of this, but it is useful to not need an extra rental or taxi into Windhoek (where you’re most likely to pick one of these up).

Our experience

We rented our truck from Travel Namibia in Windhoek. This is a small company, owned by a husband and wife team who are incredibly nice people. They were in the process of relocating their office, so we picked up our vehicle from their residence.

When we arrived, Kato welcomed us into her home and offered us tea while we filled out the paperwork (standard liability agreements, fees for additional damage, etc.). We talked about our travels thus far, and she was fascinated with our journey. In fact, she ended up following our very sporadic social media posts of Etosha pictures while we were about and had a lot of compliments for the pictures upon our return.

She and her husband gave us some pointers on where to go within Etosha, and they insisted we call them straight away if we had any issues setting up the tent, if we broke down, or if we otherwise needed help or advice with any aspect of our excursion. We even scraped a bush one of our first days in Etosha, and I was certain they’d use that as an excuse to charge the polishing fee (any other mainstream company would have). But they looked at the paint and deemed the light scrape superficial. I felt like we were borrowing a truck from a good friend rather than renting from a business.

The truck itself really did become our home during those three weeks. It ran well and never let us down, despite the rough conditions we subjected it to. And against all odds, we didn’t get a single flat (Kato said we were the first!).

The tent was remarkably comfortable, and we looked forward to crashing each night in its cozy interior. All in all, it wasn’t a bad way to live for those weeks.

We loved renting from Travel Namibia, and we happily recommend them. You can find their booking details here.

A day in the life

06:27 – wake up to the birds beginning to stir, along with some of our early-riser neighbors

06:36 – finally drag ourselves out from under the warmth of our comfy sleeping bags, apply some deodorant, throw on some extra layers, and don a hat or a buff

06:42 – Aaron pulls out the propane tank, a pot, and a couple of bowls to start heating up some breakfast: the usual chakalaka or beans poured over rice and spruced up with our all-purpose seasoning, paired with rooibos tea with honey. Meanwhile, I pack up as much of the tent as I can without his assistance

06:45 – Aaron helps pack in the excess fabric of the tent while I slowly fold it up, and we get it all strapped down and covered. Breakfast heats on the stove

06:51 – we scoop up breakfast and pack up everything else into the truck

06:54 – we take our bowls and tea cups up to the watering hole to hopefully catch some early wildlife while we eat; nothing comes

07:26 – we drive out to the camp gate to await the new day

07:28 – the gates are already open, so we’re off!

07:49 – we pull over to take some pictures of an early morning jackel

07:55 – we reach our first watering hole, where we spy a few hyenas

08:37 – we stop to photograph some wandering wildebeasts, ostriches, and the ever-present springbok

09:23 – we spot our very first lions! thanks to the help of some other stopped vehicles

09:37 – we stop to hang out with a giraffe for a little while

10:08 – we see a lone elephant off across the field

11:50 – we arrive at another watering hole and park for a bit

11:52 – a huge herd of zebras come into the watering hole, and we take loads of pictures

12:12 – another watering hole; this time, springbok and oryx

12:18 – we notice a hornbill in the trees!

12:51 – wildebeasts and zebras on the side of the road

13:10 – a new watering hole with lots of black-faced impala chasing each other around

13:21 – elephants race into the area, scattering the impala and taking over the scene

13:43 – giraffes finally have a go at the water as the elephants disperse

14:08 – we finally leave the watering hole

15:26 – we stop in at one of the campgrounds to break for lunch: some leftover rice and chakalaka

16:02 – we start to head back in the direction of our campground

16:26 – we spot another lone elephant in the distance

16:38 – we come across a single rhino nearby!

17:03 – we arrive early back at our campground, well before the gates will close at sunset at 18:30 and set up the tent

17:13 – we take a fast shower (only if it’s warm enough, as most showers are open-air)

17:39 – we heat up some quick dinner: mixing it up with some potatoes and beans with our special seasoning

17:58 – we walk over to the watering hole inside our campground for the evening show and see a herd of elephants are already there!

18:14 – a rhino also shows up on the scene

18:31 – the rhino gets a bit too close, sparking a confrontation with one of the larger elephant bulls

18:41 – a small feral cat skitters across the area surrounding the watering hole

18:48 – the elephants finally depart, leaving the rhino alone at the water

19:17 – a flock of birds invades the watering hole, raising a boisterous chorus where it was silent only moments before – a nightly occurrence

19:41 – we call it a night and return to our campsite to get ready for bed, the early sunset training us to tire much earlier in the evening

20:01 – we wind down the evening with a quick episode of anime on our iPad, at the perfect height when draped over one of the bungee supports inside the tent

20:42 – after what actually ended up being two episodes of anime, we finally turn off our solar-powered puff lantern (also conveniently hung from another bungee support) and snuggle into our sleeping bags to crash and get up early the next morning to do it all over again!

General truck tips

Stay alert while driving. Distances in Namibia are quite long, and it’s easy to zone out. Take regular breaks to take in the scenery and rest your mind for the next long haul. This could also save you from making costly mistakes that could lead to rolling the vehicle or hitting something in the road.

Watch for wildlife. There aren’t many fences to protect the roads, and you’re likely to encounter anything from springbok and warthogs to cows and goats. They can appear suddenly, so always be on the lookout.

Don’t drive at night. The abundance of wildlife is the primary reason. There are no street lights, and animals are more active at night. Besides, it isn’t much fun to drive at night (or have to set up the tent after dark). It’s much more enjoyable to spend this time stargazing, instead.

Keep your windows closed while driving through cities. Sadly, petty crime is quite common, particularly in the populated areas. Open windows are an invitation for quick grab-and-run. Even in smaller towns, many poorer citizens will take every opportunity to convince tourists to purchase their wares (usually handmade bracelets and other trinkets). It’s easier to say no with closed windows (and only open them if you’d like to actually buy something from them).

Be mindful of areas where you can get out of your vehicle. This is particularly true in Etosha National Park. With the abundance of dangerous wildlife, you should stay inside your truck at all times. Only exit in designated areas.

Resist the urge to speed. With the road conditions in Namibia, this should be a no-brainer. Washboard roads already aren’t pleasant at high speeds, and speed on gravel is a recipe for an accident (or a punctured tire). Besides, the views are worth taking in – not passing by.

If someone passes you, slow to let their dust clear. Don’t be that person who insists on being the fastest on the road (see the point above). If someone wants to pass, just let them.. and then let their dust clear. Hanging out in someone’s dust cloud reduces visibility and could increase your risk of a rock in your windshield. We seldom even encountered other drivers on the road (usually other travelers), so it wasn’t an issue to just slow down when we did.

Carry your passport. You should do this anyway. But it’s particularly important in Namibia, as you might encounter periodic checkpoints on the roads. Officers (sometimes pretty imposingly armed) might ask for your destination, identification, and if you’re transporting any produce. Some larger vehicles were even stopped and inspected, though we weren’t really subjected to this.

Know the names of the places you’ve left and where you’re going next. We were asked this everywhere we went: every new campground, park, attraction, and checkpoint. Should you go missing, there is a paper-trail log of where you’ve been and where you intended to go next – much like a through-hiking registry.

Memorize your license plate number. This goes with the above. Every campsite we checked in at asked for this, and we were caught, on more than one occasion, needing to dash quickly outside to remember the elusive digits on our license plate. It wasn’t until one of our last days that we realized our helpful rental agency were kind enough to jot this down right on the keychain.. doh!

When driving on dirt, open the canopy vent. Thats right: open the vent on the back of the truck. This sounded entirely counterintuitive to us; wouldn’t opening it let more dust in? But no! This actually breaks an otherwise vacuum situation, which would suck in dust kicked up from the rear tires. We made the mistake of forgetting to open this only once, and our things were simply covered in dust. There’s honestly no preventing dust, but this reduces the intensity.

Use four-wheel drive only when you need to. This should be very rare. We only used it once; two-wheel drive was sufficient for almost all conditions. I could see our needing this more during the wet season, but we were fine during the winter. And even if you do need it, familiarize yourself with how to engage it and which situations require which gears.

First, only switch the drive mode while the vehicle is at a complete stop. Use four-wheel low when driving very slowly (generally over very uneven and solid, boulder-road situations), and use the high gear if you’ll require more speed (like the soft-ground situations we had going to Deadvlei). Don’t push the engine too much while in these gears, or you might wear out the clutch.

Fill up as soon as you see the gauge beginning to drop below the F(ull) indicator. Our truck had two gas tanks. This meant we could fill up less frequently, but with gas stations being sparse on the desert roads, you really want to take advantage of them. Our truck burned the spare tank first, so the indicator only moved once we started using the fuel in the second/primary tank. We filled up every time we noticed the needle falling below F, which ensured we never ran out of gas.

Regularly check your tire pressure. This is important to monitor for any impending flats. If you notice the pressure declining, get it checked out (many gas stations offer tire repair service) before it becomes a more costly repair. And as desert temperatures fluctuate drastically, maintaining your tire pressure within the optimal range could protect your tires from punctures.

Final thoughts

Fair warning: renting one of these trucks is expensive. All in, our truck cost us about N$1586 ($110 USD) per day (for two people). They’re very popular, and you will see countless others on your journey through Namibia. But it’s clear to see why. The places this truck took us, and the fact that it served as both our transportation and lodging (not including campsite fees) for the three weeks, it was well worth the cost.

Have you ever stayed in one of these trucks? Tell us all about your experience in the comments below!

We were not offered any discounts or free services by Travel Namibia in exchange for a positive review. While we later agreed to provide them some promotional materials and a mention on our blog – for which we are being compensated – we do this because we genuinely enjoyed our experience with them and would wholeheartedly recommend their services to our friends and family.

Like this post? Every like, comment, and share helps us grow, travel more, and continue to share amazing stories like these with you!

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We spent 20 days in a #4x4 #camping truck. Click to get the inside scoop on all you need to know about #renting and driving one of these trucks in #Namibia! #drivenamibia #desertcamping How does one see Namibia? Full of wildlife, massive sand dunes, and vast distances, there's really only one way to see it all: renting a car and driving yourself.

#4X4 #Africa #driving #Namibia #off-road #Travel #travel couple #Wildlife

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fuckyeahjohnlockfluff · 7 years ago

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Lord of the Rings dreamcast

So I saw this comment on how Channing Tatum or Jason Mamoa would have made a better Legolas. Both would have been too young (they’re even younger than Orlando, and he was 19) when LOTR was made, but that gave me the idea of imagining what a perfect LOTR cast would look like today if the series was remade.

So here goes my dreamcast for a new LOTR - a bit more diverse than the powers-that-be would like - and hopelessly expensive, but a girl can dream!

Bilbo: Martin Freeman. Well, can't be anyone else.

Frodo: Jon Stewart. Frodo was middle-aged you guys! And Jon has Frodo's philosophical, inward looking persona.

Sam: Oscar Isaac. Cause he can do stoicism. And cause he's pretty.

Merry: Felicity Jones. She has both cheekiness and gravitas. Watch Northanger Abbey if you don't believe me.

Pippin: John Boyega. Pippin is wayyyy younger than Sam and Merry. And Boyega does the "lost" look quite well.

Hamfast Gamgee - Rita Moreno. Remember West Side Story? Totally believable mom for Sam.

Rosie Cotton - Yuki Kato - Cause she’s pretty, and cute, and does this adorable thing with her eyebrows.

Sauron: Benedict Cumberbatch. Witch-king: Benedict Cumberbatch. The Voice.

Gollum: Andy Serkis. Some things are eternal.

Aragorn: Richard Armitage. Cause he'd bring a tragic humanity to the role. And cause I love him.

Theoden: Amitabh Bachchan. Right age, and he'd have the role hogtied before he even stepped on the set.

Eowyn: Zoe Saldana. Nuff said.

Eomer: Hrithik Roshan. Action star. Looks fabulous. Would face down Jason Mamoa's arrow with suitable menace.

Wormtongue: Nana Patekar. An expert at looking creepy. And I mean that in the very best way. Hugely respected actor.

Boromir: Aaron Kwok. Action star. Can do repressed and angry beautifully. Will make millions cry in the death scene.

Faramir: Maggie Cheung. Same age as Aaron, but what the heck. And Eowyn deserves a strong, beautiful wife.

Denethor: Lucy Liu. Cause nobody chews the scenery quite like her.

Gandalf: Morgan Freeman. Who else?

Saruman: Michelle Yeoh. Saruman is the epitome of restrained power. So is Michelle.

Radagast - Whoopi Goldberg. Cause she’s zany perfection.

Gimli: Benicio Del Toro. Cause I want to see him as Gimli that's why.

Gloin - Peter Hambleton. Cause he’s so beautifully grumbly.

Dain Ironfoot - Olu Jacobs. Cause we don’t want no CGI no more, and Olu Jacobs has played the king in roughly two million Nollywood movies. And cause they better include the Erebor battle or I'll be very cross.

King Brand of Dale - Oded Fehr. I mean, look at him. He’s even more gorgeous now with the gray hair.

Galadriel: Ana María Orozco. She was gorgeous as "Betty la Fea" and is even more beautiful now. And she took home all the awards for that role.

Legolas: Jason Mamoa. Cause Legolas is the Arnold Schwarzenegger of the elves. Not my own idea... from this post on Tumblr that started me down this train of thought. Heh.

Celeborn: Denzel Washington. He's hot, he has gravitas.

Haldir: Rosario Dawson. Can she do action? I dunno, but she has the figure for it.

Isildur: Hugh Jackman, cause we need someone with a family resemblance to our Aragorn.

Arwen: Anushka Shetty. The Bahubali girl. She can act, she can fight. And she looks flawless.

Elrond: Tabu. Serious acting chops, plenty of gravitas, really long hair, and she can rock the gold lame look. Maybe too young to play Anushka’s mom, but hey, they’re elves.

Diversity numbers:

White 9 Black 5 East Asian 5 South Asian 5 Latino 6 Other 2

Men 17 Women 12

US: 10 UK: 6 India: 5 Hong Kong: 2 Indonesia: 1 Malaysia: 1 Puerto Rico: 1 Columbia: 1 New Zealand: 1 Australia: 1 Nigeria: 1 Israel: 1

Trans/Other: 0

LGBTQ characters: 2 LGBTQ actors: Not sure, tbh.

Not perfectly diverse, as you can see, cause it’s a personal list - only actors I have watched and liked. But a bit more diverse than the original LOTR, yeah?

What do you think, people? Do you like my choices? Which ones would you change? Which characters have I left out?

I would say “Leave your comments below”, but this isn’t Youtube, so... please reblog with your comments?

#Lord of the Rings #LOTR #dreamcast #lotr dreamcast #too many names to tag

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jgfiles · 8 years ago

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Howard Marks’ character profile (Joker Game Universe)

(Tentative version. For the info on the novel version I must thank @kyuukancorbie)

Surname: Marks - マークス Name: Howard - ハワード Full Name: Howard Marks - ハワード・マークス Rank: Army Lieutenant Colonel (陸軍中佐- Rikugun- Chūsa), though in the Live action movie he is an Army Colonel (陸軍大佐 Rikugun-Taisa) Nationality: English Job: Spy master of the British intelligence agency (英国諜報機関のスパイ・マスター- Igirisu chōhō kikan no spy master), In the live action movie he is the spy master of the British military intelligence department (英国軍諜報部のスパイ・マスタIgirisu-gun chōhō-bu no spy master) Affiliation: Secret Intelligence Service (SIS) (秘密情報部, Secret Intelligence Service, SIS) Appearances: Novel: Vol. 1 Chapter 3 “Robinson” (ロビンソン - Robinson) D no Maō: Vol. 2 chap. 1-2-3-4 “Robinson” (ロビンソン - Robinson) Anime: EP 5 “Robinson” (ロビンソン - Robinson), EP 10 “Pursuit” (追跡 – Tsuiseki) Joker Game The Animation Manga: Chap 8-9 “Robinson” (ロビンソン - Robinson) Live Action Movie: Joker Game Voice Actor: Ōtsuka Hōchū - 大塚芳忠（おおつかほうちゅう） Live Action Movie actor: Richard Shelton - リチャード・シェルトン

Brief introduction

He’s the English spymaster. Thanks to his spy network he manages to find out, from Sotomura Hitoshi, a Japanese diplomat, that Izawa Kazuo is actually a Japanese spy, working for D Agency and arrests and interrogates him. He then tries to turn him into a double agent and to use him to send a false message in Japan, and tests his loyalty by giving him a chance to escape, knowing that Izawa Kazuo saw the wrong map of the place he was in and would end up on a dead end if he were to try to escape. He’s not aware of having a sleeping spy in his own ranks though, so Izawa Kazuo manages to escape his trap.

Aaron Price will later be informed of what happened between Kaminaga/Izawa Kazuo and Howard Marks.

In the live action movie Marks’ role changes slightly. The men under his orders penetrates in a German base were researches were being made but find the German dead and no trace of what they were researching (the info on what they were researching will end up on what will be called the Black Note). They report to Marks that this might be the Americans’ work. Marks goes to the international city of Hung Yang (虹楊), actually a fictional place created for the movie, have Ono Mariko and Kato Jiro captured and also have a bomb put on Jitsui and Odagiri’s car, attempting to kill them. He might also be behind Graham’s sudden heart attack which killed him. He tortures Ono Mariko and threatens Kato to have info on where is the Black Note from him. Kato hands him the Black Note and volunteers to work for him as a double agent. Marks has him send a false message to Japan which is meant to worsen relationship between Japan and Germany. Kato agrees and send the message but, same as it happens with Izawa Kazuo, Marks doesn’t let him free until he can check if the message sent did actual harm to Japan or so he claims. Actually he orders to kill him once they’ve confirmation his message did damage Japan. Kato escapes and takes Marks as hostage so as to have the black note back. Once he gets it back he tries to escape but Marks and his men chase him. Again it looks like Marks triecked him with a fake map but Kato still escapes him due to the Sleeper’s help. Kato however comes back for Ono Mariko giving Marks another chance to catch him. Ultimately Marks manages to catch him but remains caught up in the fire caused by the explosion Kato caused and dies while Kato manages to escape.

Personality

In all his versions he likes to smoke a pipe and he’s very smart, smooth and gentlemanly. He doesn’t trust people easily and can manipulate them.

In the live action he cultivates carnivore plants which he personally fed with flies and seems to enjoy drinking tea and classic music. He likes to brag and he’s much more cruel and murderous than his other counterparts, more similar to an evil boss than a fine spymaster. He’s not subtle at all in his handling of the ones he captures, threatening them more than psychologically manipulating them.

Physical appearance

In the novel, D no Maō and the anime Marks have a visible scar on his face. In both D no Maō and the anime he looks sort of creepy with huge eyes and he is shown wearing a suit, a two piece one in D no Maō and a double breasted, three piece one in the anime.

In the live action Marks has no scar on his face but he’s on a wheelchair and wears an English army uniform.

Relationships

Kaminaga/Izawa Kazuo

Izawa Kazuo is captured by Marks and interrogated by him, with the intent to turn him into a double spy. The two both play a mummery, Marks pretending to be friendly and willing to trust Izawa, Izawa pretending to be willing to betray Japan.

Interrogator

The interrogator is just Howard Marks’ underling and likely obeys to his instructions, even when those are expressed with just a slight motion.

Sotomura Hitoshi

As far as we know Sotomura Hitoshi never interacts with Howard Marks but the latter was keeping him under surveillance and used the info he tattled out to arrest Kaminaga/Izawa Kazuo.

Sleeper

There’s no real relation between the two that we know of. The sleeper is just one of the Military Policemen who’re working under him.

Katō Jirō

In the movie fundamentally the two are merely antagonists. Marks captures Katō Jirō and threatens him in order to get the Black Note. Katō hands it to him and then volunteers to become a double spy working for him only to create for himself a chance to escape. Ultimately Katō will cause Marks’ death.

Ono Mariko/Rin

In the movie the two don’t really interact. Marks captures and tortures Ono Mariko/Rin thinking she has the Black Note, then uses her to threaten Katō Jirō.

Campbell

In the movie Campbell is just Marks’ violent underling. Campbell obeys his orders and Marks uses him to do the action jobs.

Abilities

Extremely clever and manipulative.

Trivia

In the novel Marks is the one questioning Izawa Kazuo from the start while in the anime they had Izawa being questioned by an interrogator first. Also he gives him the truth serum not to make him talk but to make sure the info Izawa gave him were trustworthy as in the novel he was instructed to start exchanging harmless information after a while if captured and interrogated, instead of just continuing to insist he wasn’t a spy.

In the Live Action Movie Marks claims being a spy is a work for gentleman, a sentence that in the novel was said by Graham (who originally was English but who, in the movie, was turned into an American).

For unknown reasons the Live Action Movie turned Marks into a Colonel instead than a Lieutenant Colonel as he is in the other media.

Miwa Shiro himself made fun of Marks’ light bulb shaped head by drawing his face on a real light bulb and by drawing a comic strip in which the light bulb of the lamp the interrogator pointed toward Kaminaga’s face had Marks face drawn on it (or was Marks’ head itself, do your pick…)

#Joker Game #Joker Game The Movie #Joker Game Character Profile #Howard Marks #JG Robinson #JG Pursuit

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nolabballgirl · 4 years ago

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trying to decipher a little more background about yasmina because we haven’t been given much backstory via prior seasons:

it’s so tricky to define someone’s level of religiosity because it’s all relative (once i was called both a conservative and liberal muslim in the same afternoon 😅). but i do think when it comes to her practice of islam, yasmina seems to hold fast to the spirit of scripture and doesn’t live so much in the gray with religion (contrast: elias). for example, yasmina generally avoids big parties and gatherings with alcohol; and she stays away from actions like lying and fighting during ramadan. she’s going above and beyond the basics.

and just making some educated guesses here, but based on her moroccan heritage and nora dari’s background (btw, i’ve prayed in that same mosque in Casablanca and it is gorgeous!), i’m guessing yasmina is sunni muslim (probably maliki as morocco is majority maliki). for our purposes, that means she was most likely raised with a practical, middle of the road approach to islam. that‘ll probably factor into her relationship with younes down the road. 😊

she’s not afraid to speak her mind and call out racism or hypocrisy when she sees it. in doing so, yasmina pushes people out of their comfort zones (see: aaron), but it’s not done with meanness or to humiliate. and she’s empathetic and perceptive towards her friends (apologizing to robbe in s3 after the evolution discussion rattled him; immediately clocking kato being behind amber’s sponsor deal in s4).

finally, yasmina holds her cards close to her chest/isn’t quick to wear her emotions on her sleeve. basically, she has a decent poker face (peep her reactions to luca’s lightning speech at first; being relatively unbothered during the sex talk in the first ep of s2). and i guess that will play into the inevitable miscommunications later this season.

#wtfock #yasmina ait omar #some headcanons

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ayellowcurtain · 4 years ago

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I think it's slightly worse when people know what they are doing is wrong (Aaron) but still find themselves doing the wrong, as opposed to the obnoxious, ignorant, harmful and obtuse (Kato) of us that can't even wrap their heads around anything that doesnt directly affect them. Aaron knows better and should do better or she might need to put up some boundaries for her own well being, while kato is just toxic and should have been pushed out from the moment she arrived

My thoughts with that post were only to explain how it blows my mind that there was an entire season showing where she was doing wrong and it seems like she’s still in the very same place she was when s4 started. She’s still dating Moyo also, and they made a huge thing out of her apologies on insta but she didn’t learn a single thing. By the way Yasmina and Luca looked at each other, it seems like this is a normal thing for Kato to do: say hurtful, racist things.

With Aaron he’s suddenly racist, they made it seem during s3 that he was dumb and sort of went with what Moyo said about Robbe but then he did his research once he saw he was in the wrong.

They’re both in the wrong, I’m in no way trying to find excuses or explanation or to make it seem like what they both did during the clip isn’t horrible because it is. And I was only talking about the girl squad pushing her away but I’m pretty sure I already also mentioned how I don’t think the boysquad will stay friends after school.

I hope Yasmina puts some boundaries, and I’m pretty sure she will later in the season when these hurtful aggressions keep happening and people keep finding excuses for it.

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audiofixationnews · 7 years ago

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#OverloadMonday: And it Begins...

#OverloadMonday is back! Check out what happened the first week of 2018, 1/1-1/7.

Singles

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Following some big news, you can find below, TDE label mates Kendrick Lamar and SZA have dropped a new track for Marvel’s Black Panther movie titled “All The Stars.” It’s your typical Kung Fu Kenny bars with vocals by SZA - some magic has been made. Check it out above.

Raekwon starts off 2018 with some new music as well. Two tracks, in fact, “The Biz” and “The Sky.” Check them out.

We also have new music from Lloyd Banks, Cozz, Dessy Hinds, Kid Ink, and Lucki.

Formerly known as Rich Chigga, Rich Brain wants you to see the real him on his newest joint of the year, “See Me,” as it serves as the first track under his new stage name. He also had another announcement outside his name change, check it out below.

Alley Boy makes a big return with “The Interview.” After staying under the radar for years, since footage surfaced of a violent confrontation. The Atlanta rapper continued to make music but took a step back until he could make his big return, and here he is. Also, watch him in an interview talking about that very altercation. Stay plugged for updates. Hopefully, this means he’ll drop more music.

Ronny J teamed up with Lil Pump over a smooth hypnotic beat for their track “TRIXXX.”

These artists also started off 2018 with new music: FLACO, Lil Uzi Vert, K Camp, Ski Mask, and Misogi.

Jadakiss teams up with Nino Man on “I Hate You.” Jeez, tell me how you really feel. Glad to see them join forces again. Check out their newest joint where they get to flex their lyrical abilities.

Reese LaFlare clearly has been working hard in the studio. After just days from dropping Maybe Later, he joined forces with PartyNextDoor on the London On Da Track-produced single “They Don’t.” The track is a sure fire banger. This collab flows effortlessly, let’s hope they team up again.

We also got releases from Nef The Pharaoh, AD, Mathaius Young and Chloe x Halle.

Visuals

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Apple | Spotify | TIDAL

Cardi B starts off her 2018 making headlines and breaking records. Literally, the second day! Following up the good news - you can find below - with a new record under her belt, she teamed up with Bruno Mars with a remix of his 2016 “Finesse.“ It’s her first track of the year that just might make it on the chart. Check out the “In Living Color” inspired visual above.

We also have new visual offerings from Justin Timberlake, who just announced new album is dropping February 8th, A Boogie, Chris Orrick, Boosie Badazz.

Quavo and Nicki Minaj release a video for their track “She For Keeps.” After the track was rumored to appear on her upcoming NM4, the single actually appeared on Control The Streets Vol. 1, Quality Control’s compilation project. With no warning, they released the video exclusively on Apple Music.

Spacejam Bo released a video for his “Ashy to Classy.” Watch as he hits the New York streets for the first time, roaming through the city celebrating his rise in the industry.

London Jae, B.o.B’s signee from his No Genre label, linked up with Tokyo Jets and has released a visual for their joint “Not Locked Down.”

Projects

Apple | Spotify | SoundCloud

Since his The Vibe Is Heavy 2 that dropped this past summer, Tdot Illdude announces that he will be dropping his stage name for Thomas Jude. Now the Jersey spitter has released his final project under the Dot stage name, perfectly titled The Last Illustration of Tdot Illude by Thomas Jude. Produced by the likes of Charlie Heat, Mando Fresh, Young N Fly, BNYX and more, check it out Tdot’s final project as he transitions into Thomas Jude.

Moneybagg Yo starts off 2018 with a new compilation project, MoneyBagg Yo Presents: NLESS ENT x Bread Gang. Among the features, he’s teamed up with T.I. on the remix of his 2017 track “Silverware." Cop it on iTunes.

A compilation project perfectly titled One Week Notice features the likes of seven artists who put this project together in a matter of seven days. The 13-track project is brought to you by Jarren Benton, Dizzy Wright, Audio Push, Demrick, Emilio Rojas, Reezy, DJ Hoppa, and Kato. Producer Kato had this to say:

"Where else would you put seven really dope artists and four really dope producers together in the same studio at the same time, and challenge them with creating as much music as possible in a week. That's something that doesn't just happen. So, to give fans something new and fresh that would come out of that experience, I think it's important for hip-hop, period.”

One Week Notice is available on iTunes, but of course, it’s available on Apple Music and Spotify.

The first week of January also saw releases from Mila J and cupcakKe.

Coming Soon...

While Marvel’s Black Panther movie will hit theaters February 16th, it was announced that Kendrick Lamar and Top Dawg Entertainment will entirely produce the movie’s soundtrack. Black Excellence, indeed. Check out its leading single “All The Stars” starring Kenny and SZA above. Black Panther the album is available for pre-order via iTunes, and is set to release February 9th a week before the movie.

Not exactly announced this past week but it’s worth a mention. Nipsey Hussle announced last month that his long-awaited debut, Victory Lap, will drop February 16th.

After just releasing his debut album Luv Is Rage 2 this past summer, Lil Uzi Vert teamed up with producer Wheezy and finished a new project in a whole 12 hours. Yes, 12 hours. No release date revealed or even a name, but once they figure out the logistics I’m sure the project will be released soon. Stay plugged.

Jeremih linked up with Ty Dolla $ign for a collab project, MihTy, that’s slated to drop February 18th. The 21-track project will feature the likes of Chris Brown and PARTYNEXTDOOR, all which was confirmed when Joe Budden called Yung Berg on his podcast. He also went on to say that he and A1 produced the entire project for Jeremih and Ty Dolla Sign. Stay plugged for updates. Also, check out Ty Dolla $ign’s interview with Pigeons & Planes, super dope.

Maxo Dream has been pretty consistent all of 2017. To start off the new year, he as just announced his new album Punken, is set to release Friday, January 12th. Let’s hope this gets him the recognition he deserves. The Houston rapper went on to reveal the album’s artwork, and some of the album’s producers which consists the likes of Tommy Kruise, The Wilderness, Beatboy, Teddy Walton, Sonny Digital (who also had news of his own), and more. It is now available for pre-order via Apple Music, go cop that!

Producer TM88 has been very chatty this week. He began the week, actually the year with revealing that a collaborative project was in the works, teaming up with Young Thug and fellow producer Southside. It seems as if the project is done, so watch out for that.

The year of dropping stage names it seems. Rich Brain, born Brain Imanuel, started off 2018 with a name change he’s been wanting to make for the last two years. Previously known as Rich Chigga, he’s stated in interviews and via Twitter that he hated the name, wasn’t sure why he chose it and felt like he was stuck with it with his recent notoriety. The 18 year old had a great 2017 with a collab with 21 Savage, a viral moment with Post Malone, and more. He went from internet sensation to a legitimate artist, and now he wants people to take him serious as Brain. Shedding his old stage name, he dropped his first single as Brain (above) and announced his new project, Amen, which is set to release February 2nd.

Sonny Digital, who first made a name as a producer, has announced his new project, Woke You UP, is set to release January 26th. Early last year, he noted that as a producer he wasn’t getting any credit for the work he put in: “They wasn’t giving me credit for this shit. Now with me rapping, I got my own voice and shit.” He’s dropped a couple singles here and there, but stay tuned for the release of his debut EP.

No release date in sight, but Joyner Lucas and Chris Brown certainly have a lot of “heat in the oven.” Making my list of “Recapping 2017: Standout Debuts,” Joyner had one hell of a year, especially with his controversial visual for “Im Not Racist” that flooded social media. He recently tweeted, “You ever heard Michael Jackson rap? Lol well Me and @chrisbrown got a lot of heat in the oven. No bullshit tho, breezy mite be my new favorite rapper.” And with Chris Brown fresh off a 45-track album release, who knows what they came up with. Stay plugged for more updates.

After the release his critically acclaimed second album, All-Amerikkkan Bada$$, last year, it looks like Joey Badass has a lot more in store for his fans in 2018. First, when not previously available, he will take his debut tape 1999 on Apple Music, Spotify, and TIDAL: “I’ve heard the prayers.” While it’s still in the process of getting on these streaming services, you can find it on SoundCloud. Then he went on to announce via Twitter that we should be seeing more music from his Pro Era label this year. The label consists of CJ Fly, Kirk Knight, Nyck Caution, Aaron Rose, and more. The first release will be from Dessy Hinds, who Joey Badass tweeted: “Been getting a lot of request lately.”

Hot 97’s Peter Rosenberg has announced that he will be releasing a full-length project. In 2013, he dropped New York Renaissance that featured the likes of ASAP Rocky, Troy Ave, Joey Badass, Smoke DZA and more. Currently the host of the Ebro in the Morning, and shows for WWE and ESPN radio, Rosenberg is now working his debut album. No actual release date in sight but it should drop sometime this year. Listen to the rest of his announcement here.

Rich the Kid made an announcement via Twitter about his upcoming project Rich Forever 4. No release date, but he revealed the cover art. Stay plugged for the release date.

After dropping two albums back to back early last year, and both landing high the charts, Future seems to be ready for another release. Before the release of FUTURE and HNDRXX, Future wiped his Instagram clean and he’s back at it again. It is highly possible that he has new music on the way. Future does has a thing for surprise projects, so keep your eyes wide open.

Check This

"The Breakfast Club” hosts Charlamagne The God, DJ Envy and Angela Yes grace the cover of The Source to celebrate their success at being No.1 in The Source Power 30. Let’s not bypass that they have been holding their position for five consecutive years - damn. Not only are they the most syndicated, but they have nearly 4 Million listeners weekly in 150 countries. The three celebrate their accomplishments by recreating a very iconic cover from 1997 of The Firm (Nas, Foxy Brown, AZ). Yes, The Firm - talk about a throwback. Check it out!

Names have been dropped, some of our most notable music festivals are announnced their lineups. So far we have Coachella, Governors Ball, and Boston Calling. You may see some familiar names across the board, check it out.

As if 2017 wasn’t enough, Cardi B continues to take over 2018. At the start of the year, Cardi makes history with being the third artist, following The Beatles and Ashanti, to have three singles simultaneously chart the Hot 100. And if you didn’t notice it, she is the first rapper to do it: No. 4 “No Limit,” No. 7 “Motorsport,” and No. 10 “Bodak Yellow.” She followed up the news with a new release, check it out above in visuals.

Joey Badass had a busy first week making all types of announcements. Joey recently announced that he will be joining the TIDAL team with his own podcast titled 47 minutes. Joining the likes of Elliott Wilson and B dot Miller, the Pro Era frontman tweeted: I have a podcast called ’47 Minutes’ coming to @TIDAL real soon. RT if you’ll tune in to hear me talk about shit from hip hop, politics, spirituality and whatever the fuck else I want.” Stay plugged for more updates on 47 minutes.

Spotify is among the top streaming services with over 140 million active users and about 70 million subscribers, which has squashed Apple’s 30 million, but it looks like they are starting 2018 on the wrong foot. According to the Hollywood Reporter, they were sued for roughly $1.6 Billion for using tens of thousands of songs without the proper licenses. Ouch! Right before New Years, Wixen Music Publishing filed the lawsuit, stating that they were not properly compensated. Spotify argued back that Wixen’s contract does not let them speak on their artists' or songwritters’ behalf, therefore they cannot take such legal actions. Let’s see how this plays out.

Thus begin the shit show for other streaming services. News came out that Jimmy Iovine is leaving Apple Music. According to unnamed sources, the mogul will be ending his high profile run with Apple sometime this summer, specifically August. In an interview with Complex, Iovine hinted at his departure, revealing that he promised the Apple executives that he would work hard:

“I would do everything I could to make Apple Music successful. And I’m going to do that. But at some point…I’m not young anymore. I’m 64 years old. You know, I’ll see what happens.”

What will Apple Music be like post-Jimmy Iovine? Who will replace him? Stay plugged.

And the shit show continues. Claims were made that SoundCloud had reduced the audio quality by 50 percent. It began when someone on Twitter had pointed out that the quality wasn’t clear and it usually is. SoundCloud reached out to several publications to clear the claim. Their spokesperson explain to HotNewHipHop, for one, that SoundCloud in no way had altered the audio quality and the claim made against them was completely “inaccurate.” They went on to say that they are always testing the streaming quality as well as encoding: "we're committed to offering listeners a quality audio experience and are investing money and resources on streaming, exploring a variety of ways to improve audio quality."

Lupe Fiasco went on a rant that um…well, let HotNewHipHop tell you. It evolved into a back and forth between TDE President Dave Free who had some choice words: “kick & push yourself into a tree.” Um, well I certainly have no words.

Atlantic Records are being scolded for not paying their properly producers. Supposedly, Atlantic was filing albums under the mixtapes, compilation albums, or even street albums in order to avoid paying the producers based off their regular rates. Sonny Digital went on to tweet: "If you gonna call out Atlantic then you might as well call out the labels because they all doing the same thing.” J.U.S.T.I.C.E League followed up with, “Been said this, but all labels do it…What angers me is the black executives that let it happen.” It sounds crazy, but it actually has been happening for years. It makes sense, record labels are always over up to something. They drain their creatives and milk their artists as much and as cheap as they can. Pigeons and Planes go more in depth into this controversy, check it out.

Stay Plugged

That about wraps it up for the first week of 2018. Stay plugged for the next #OverloadMonday.

#overloadmondays #new music #new visuals #new projects #news #writtenbysade

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szamsson · 4 years ago

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Can you write about Britt spotting Sobbe at a party (similar to the one in S4 opening). The couple is all 🥰, complete with Robbe lovingly feeding Sander cake. Britt’s trying to move on but the sight of them still hurts. She leaves but Noor goes after her since she’s been in the exact same position. Pls no hints of NoorxBritt, just female friendship with platonic comfort. Just the exes finding the strength to move on from the boys they had strong feelings for

The girls were getting ready at the flatshare, Zoe doing Ambers make up, whilst Luca and Kato chat next to them, flicking through instagram, Luca taking shots all on her lonesome. Zoe put the final touches on Amber’s lipstick and sat back to admire her work.

“There!” She said with a triumphant grin. Amber looked at herself in the mirror and her face lit up at her reflection.

“I look hot!” She exclaimed pouting her lips and turning her head from side to side. All the other girls let out words of agreement as they looked at Ambers face.

“Aaron is going to get hard just looking at you.” Luca exclaimed, taking another shot and screwing up her face.

“Luca!” Amber gasped scandalized, however she soon broke out into giggles as her cheeks turned red.

“Oh my gosh look at this.” Luca spun her phone around so the girls could she the picture she was holding up. In the picture Jens had just posted to instagram, him and Moyo were pointing and laughing at a stunned Aaron who had beer poured down the front of him, making it look like he’d wet his pants. The caption read, “You should never let the broerrrs hang out all together without a babysitter.”

Amber groaned as the other girls grabbed their stomachs in laughter.

“He better change those pant’s before we get there” She mumbled.

Kato stared closer at the photo, “Where’s Robbe?” she mused, wondering where the smallest little broerrr was while this was all going down.

“Probably getting laid in the other room,” Luca said with a snort. Kato just looked at her puzzled.

“Right,” she answered the look, “You haven’t met Sander yet.”

“Who is Sander?” Kato asked, confused again, trying to piece all the mismatched information together.

“Robbe’s boyfriend.” Zoe said with a small smile.

Oh. Well that took Kato by surprise. Not that she had any opinion on the boys sexuality whatsoever, she just hadn’t even thought of Robbe being in a relationship. Or any of the broerrrs for that matter, except Amber.

“Yeah and they are grossly in love, especially when you get a few drinks in Robbe. He turns into a literal Koala bear. You’ll see at the party.” Luca said with a grin.

“Yeah just maybe don’t mention it if--” Zoe was cut off by a knock at the door and two heads of short hair peering around the corner.

“Hello!” Noor said cheerfully as her and Britt entered the room, already ready to go, grasping bottles of wine in their hands.

“What are we talking about?” Britt said, sitting down close to Kato’s side, pouring herself a glass.

Before anyone could stop her, Kato said with confidence, “They were just letting me know that I’ll be meeting Robbe’s boyfriend tonight and to prepare myself for them to be all over each other.” She laughed but silenced as she realised no one else in the room was laughing. Her eyes darted around as Zoe cleared her throat awkwardly.

“What..” Kato said.

“Nothing,” Britt said, a sudden mask coming over her face as she gulped some wine, “I’m Sander’s ex and Noor is Robbe’s, can you imagine how they met and ‘fell in love’“ she said in a mocking tone, rolling her eyes.

Oh shit. Kato could put two and two together and mentally face palmed herself at being so oblivious.

“Anyway,” Noor said, seeming not as bothered as Britt, “Are we ready to go?”

Britt and Noor walked in the door together, eyes scanning the crowd. She saw a fair few familiar faces as they broke off from the rest of the girls to say hello to everyone. She watched as Aaron made a beeline for Amber, jaw dropping as he took in how beautiful she looked. Her eyes followed his path and saw Jens and Moyo, both seemed to be hitting on girls and desperately flirting, at which Britt rolled her eyes.

Noor grabbed her hand and pulled her into a couple of chairs against the wall. A couple of cute guys from Noor’s school came up to them and they all started chatting amicably. However, her eyes caught over one of the guys shoulder as she saw a bleach blonde head of hair against the wall not too far from where they were sitting.

She’d seen Robbe and Sander at parties before, of course she had. And she knew that when Robbe had a couple of drinks he became quite clingy. She also knew Sander loved this. However tonight, it seemed as though they were lost in their own little world, and for some reason her heart pinched.

Robbe was leaning with his back against the wall, smiling up at Sander with glazed eyes and a lopsided grin as Sander dipped his head down and whispered something in his ear. This made the smaller boy laugh and blush, shoving at his shoulder half heartedly. She then saw Robbe’s mouth go slack as Sander started kissing down his jaw and into the crook of his neck. She didn’t need to look down to know that Sander had shoved a knee between Robbe’s legs and things were heating up pretty fast.

She was over Sander. Kind of. But she knew the feeling. She knew how he could make you feel like the only person in the room. The way he muttered cheesy love lyrics in you ear and held you close like he wanted to protect you for ever. And she knew that even though she had all these things when they were dating. Seeing how much more connected Sander and Robbe were made her heart break a little.

Jens then walked behind the boys and slurred something along the lines of “Let’s keep this PG hey,” pulling at Sanders shoulder. Sander simply shoved him off and playfully gave him the finger. Even that hurt, both her exes being connected and friendly while she sat on the outside.

Sander looked back at Robbe and could clearly make out the ways his lips moved as her said “I love you.”

Robbe whispered it back and leaned in for a kiss, just as Britt watched Sander wrap his arms low around Robbe’s waist and lift him up, carrying him to the stairs as Robbe squealed and flailed in Sanders strong arms. That was it, she couldn’t watch anymore.

She quickly excused herself and ran out of the party, power walking down the street. Not long after she started walking, she felt Noor’s arm on her shoulder.

“What’s wrong?” Noor said concerned. And Britt couldn’t help it and started to cry a little.

“He was never that happy with me.” She said pitifully.

Noor sighed and hooked an arm around her shoulder. “C’mon, let’s go get some ice cream and more wine and just have a girls night in.”

“No, no,” Britt said, “I don’t want to keep you from the party.”

“Won’t be as fun without my best friend there.”

#wtfock #wtfam #myfics #robbe x sander #sander driesen

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