#also my brother (8 months younger than me) apparently doesn’t know The Game

[skellebonez]

Did someone ask for fluff?!?!

How about some brothers bonding (Sandy, Pigsy and Wukong) with 1 and 9?

YEAH brother bonding time! This also has a follow up fill here because I like adding a dash of angst with my fluff (and then finishing it up with even more fluff) and I had two ideas that were similar enough I wanted to keep the flow going. They both ended up rather long as well.

Do not give me that look./ How long have you been standing there?

It was odd to have company on Mount Huaguo again. Not “Xiaotian over for training” company but “oh actual guests and more than one oh boy hope I can handle this many people” company. A “three day bonding trip” Xiaotian had called it, time for them to get reacquainted with each other. The fact it was two people who he had initially believed to have moved on with their lives to the point of reincarnating... made it even more odd.

But Sun Wukong would admit, though he had not recognized them at first due to how much they had changed, it was nice to see Zhu Bajie and Sha Wujing again. Or, rather, Pigsy and Sandy. That’s what they went by now. New names to go with their new lives.

The first day he kept staring at them, afraid they would disappear now that everything was out on the table. Their anger at his disappearance, his assumption they had left him behind when he heard they had left their positions, his reasoning for leaving so long in the first place. Everything had come out when Pigsy had cornered him the day he chanced coming by the shop when Xiaotian hadn’t shown up for training (turned out he was sick and had forgotten to inform him) via email. He was pissed that Wukong hadn’t said a word to either of his younger brothers at the Lunar New Year festival and had just run off again.

He’d only stopped yelling when he realized that the monkey’s face had starting streaks of angry tears from holding himself back and the way his face fell when Wukong responded “I like pranks but pretending to be my dead brother isn’t funny” was more than telling enough. Telling enough that Wukong realized it wasn’t a cruel prank. His “you thought I was dead Wukong?” pushed him over the edge and those angry tears became “soul crushing disappointment and relief” tears because his brother, no both of his brothers were alive and he had wasted so much time mourning them when they were right here the whole time.

It was very awkward. Especially when Wukong couldn't stop himself from grabbing Pigsy and holding onto him.

But that was then. And again when he saw Sandy. But that was then! This was now. Now was bonding time. Now was the last night of this trip and it was such a far cry from the first day.

The first day, again, was awkward and tense before the few immortal monkeys he had managed to scratch out the names of in his one trip to... well, he didn’t want to think about that, had recognized Pigsy and flocked to him. The first night had him showing them how he had been living and them telling him of their exploits in becoming normal modern day citizens. He listened intently, asking questions when his curiosity couldn’t wait but otherwise holding himself back with great self control and focus. The second day they talked and talked and played games with the monkeys and Wukong showed them how he cared for them (and if he was right he saw soft glimpses from both of them in his direction and a thwap and laugh from Sandy after Pigsy heard him say “you’re both dads now that’s something you have in common”) and Sandy showed him how his boats work and introduced them to all of his cats on his houseboat (there were many and Wukong immediately loved all of them)

While that first night they had just eaten basic food Sandy and Pigsy had brought, that second night he had decided to show him his own cooking. He’d only been cooking for a years, since he had started his search for a successor and tempted a taste of some food at a festival that he happened upon, and he was nervous. Pigsy had always been very eager to eat anything before but even then he would judge the food with a shockingly insightful pallet. Wukong worried that his attempts at adding extra seasoning on their dishes had gone overboard since they overwhelmed him too much to try them.

Pigsy’s “You’ve only been cookin for a year? This is really good!” put all his worries aside. Ironically he had still under-seasoned his dishes, but the fresh vegetables he had used were such high quality that Pigsy assured him they more than made up for it.

Now was when he watched Pigsy show him how to prepare fresh homemade noodles in his own kitchen as Sandy regaled them with stories of the stuff the cats got into as he prepared fresh tea.

It was better than he ever hoped for.

"So Pigsy was stuck there for 3 hours?” Wukong laughed, grabbing the baby monkey that was about to leap off his shoulder before they could careen into Pigsy. “No, no jumping on guests!” He laughed, gently running his fingers through their fur before letting them leap out of the kitchen and back into the living room where the others watched TV (a livestream of kittens Sandy had put on, they absolutely adored it). He looked over at the chef with a smirk. “And here I thought you had a temper.”

“Do not give me that look,” Pigsy said with a warning tone, but Wukong could not tell it was almost all bark and playful to boot. “I’m the one making you a separate pot of soup so your tongue doesn’t hate you for trying to eat too much pepper.”

“And I thank you for that, younger brother,” Wukong said with a smile that Pigsy returned after a moment. It was odd, still, saying that again. But it felt good.

“Elder brothers,” Sandy chimed in, and that was odd and good as well, placing the dinner ware and fresh pot of tea on the table. “Everything is ready!” Mo meowed on his shoulder, a content purr sounding from the cat who looked a lot like his owner.

“Perfect timing! The soup’s just done too,” Pigsy announced as he grabbed Wukong’s smaller pot and carried it to the table. “Lemme ju-”

“I’ve got it,” Wukong said as he grabbed the larger pot effortlessly and placed it beside his own, closer to his brothers. “I can’t make you both do all the work now can I?”

“Not what you would have said 1 month into our journey together,” Pigsy playfully ribbed, earning a mock offended gasp from the monkey.

“I have you know I was a very different person back then, why I would have almost offered to do it 8 years in I bet!” Wukong joked, earning good natured laughs from his brothers as they all helped themselves to the amazing meal. Even as under seasoned as Pigsy had to make his own helping Wukong could only describe the taste as “nearly divine”.

This was... amazing. Nearly perfect, even.

“Sound like you’re all having fun!” Xiaotian’s voice suddenly rang out, scaring the three into jumping in their seats. Wukong had become so content and comfortable in his brother’s presence that he hadn’t even realized they now had two more guests. Tang stood beside his student, holding back laughter as he looked at Pigsy specifically.

“Geeze, kid, you nearly scared me to death!” Wukong said as he took exaggerated breaths. “And I’m immortal!”

“How long have you been standing there?” Pigsy questioned as he relaxed, sending a slight glare over his shoulder to a now laughing Wukong.

“Long enough to hear you having fun,” Tang answered with a laugh, sitting down next to Pigsy and picking up one of the extra bowls to ladle himself a portion of soup once Pigsy nodded his ok.

Xiaotian took a seat next to Wukong, smiling as he grabbed his own bowl. “We just wanted to see how things were going and since I have training tomorrow we thought maybe we could stay the night?"

"Tang too?" Wukong asked with a raised brow.

"I didn't want him to feel left out with Xiaojiao training for her next race," Xiaotian explained with a chuckle and a shrug. It was sweet, the way he wanted everyone to feel included now... but Wukong had a sneaking suspicion he brought Tang so he would also have some time with the Monkey King since he was, you know, Tang’s hero apparently.

“The more the merrier, then!" Wukong said as he leaned back and sipped the broth left in his bowl, eyes closed as he savored the rich flavor. “You were right, by the way, this was a great idea. Everything’s been perfect so far.”

He was so engrossed in his meal that he missed how Xiaotian tensed beside him.

[p1harmonyofficial]

[📰] Get to Know the Members of K-Pop Group P1Harmony With These 10 Fun Facts! (Exclusive)

P1Harmony is a rising global K-Pop troupe, but we wanted Just Jared readers to get an exclusive chance to know them a little better!

The talented six-member boy group first arrived on the scene back in October of 2020, embarking on their international music career with the release of their first mini album DISHARMONY: STAND OUT and feature film, P1H: A New World Begins, which positioned the group as a force to be reckoned with in the music scene.

Amid the pandemic, the group continued to make new music for their fans with the release of their second mini album, DISHARMONY: BREAK OUT, including their slamming, hip-hop infused title track “Scared,”” along with an accompanying music video full of street-style dancing and intense visual effects.

Watch “Scared” and check out these 10 Fun Facts about P1Harmony inside!

INTAK

1. I have more eyelashes on my right eye than my left. Right after my debut, I didn’t really know how to remove eye makeup, so for a while, I used to just rub my eyes really hard with soap and now, I have more eyelashes on my right eye than my left. 2. I used to love oysters, but now I cannot eat it. I was an oyster fanatic, until very recently. I ordered raw oysters after watching a TV show at night with JONGSEOB, and after one bite, I couldn’t eat it anymore. The taste of the “sea” was so pungent. Now, I’m too traumatized! 3. I saved a man’s life. I went chestnut picking with my dad, and found a guy hanging on a cliff and struggling to get back up. We immediately helped him get up. He was really grateful and I remember feeling so proud to have saved someone’s life! 4. I have a small horizontal scar on the right side of my face, and I kind of like it. I got this scar when I was about four or five, and although it’s not that visible now, sometimes I like it because it makes me feel like a charismatic, bad guy! 5. I love dogs. I love dogs, so I have been watching a lot of dog-related videos but I’m terribly allergic. I can’t stop myself from petting them when I see them on the street, and always regret it afterwards because I turn all puffy and itchy! 6. I fantasize a lot about time travel. I even tried and feel like it can really happen one day! I lie down in my bed, put my blanket over my entire body and focus really hard on the idea, but this brings me nowhere but to the future. [Laughs] 7. I have a gold tooth. 8. I have a brown spot (mole) on my middle finger. 9. I love my Crayon Shin-chan character earphones. I get happy just looking at it. 10. I go to the convenient store so much that there isn’t anything I have not tried!

THEO

1. My right shoulder is more developed than my left. I used to play volleyball and would strike with my right arm, so my right shoulder is more developed than my left. 2. I have a red mole. I recently got a red mole on the side of my right neck, but I have no idea where it came from and why but it’s not going away! 3. I can’t burp, literally. I don’t know how to burp and have never burped in my life 4. I only drink carbonated drinks. I rarely drink anything that is NOT carbonated. 5. I don’t like lettuce and tomatoes in my burgers. 6. I had a burst appendix and didn’t know it for a while. I was hospitalized for two months, because they couldn’t find my appendix. Apparently, my organs are shaped and structured differently. 7. I love slippers. Unless I am going to an official engagement or doing promos, I am always in slippers, (even during winter)! 8. I have never cried in front of people until I turned 20. I was watching a very emotional episode of “Animal Farm,” and got caught crying in front of KEEHO, SOUL and JIUNG. Since then, I think I’ve gotten more emotional. I once cried watching JONGSEOB cry, too. 9. I can’t stay still when I’m on the phone. I have to walk around or do something when I’m on the phone. 10. I love singing songs to my friends over the phone.

JIUNG

1. I love Tonkatsu (pork cutlet). I have been addicted to tonkatsu these days and have been eating it almost every day for the last few months. 2. I have the same birthday as my younger brother. My younger brother and I share the same birthday, which is Oct. 7. We were also born around the same time. 3. My younger brother and I have a similar birth time as well. I think he was born like 8 minutes before me or after! 4. I love raw garlic and don’t like kimchi. 5. I only drink flat coca-cola. I purposely decarbonate my coke by shaking it and letting the air out multiple times until the bottle doesn’t expand anymore and the coke is completely flat. 6. I still fit into my hats from my adolescent years. My head is so small that I still fit into all my hats from elementary school. 7. I think too much. I make daily memos and write down almost everything to organize my thoughts. 8. I like to dance and sing when the streets are empty. When no one is around and I’m in a good mood. I love walking down the empty street thinking I’m shooting a music video. I sing, dance and act. Last time, I bumped into someone and I ran away in full embarrassment! [Laughs]. 9. I have a scar on my eye. 10. I may look picky, but I’m not a picky eater! I love trying a lot of different cuisines.

KEEHO

1. I love collecting sunglasses and glasses although my eyesight is near perfect. I love wearing glasses even though I don’t need them to see. I also have been collecting a lot of sunglasses lately. 2. I talk during my sleep, apparently! According to my members, I sleep-talk a lot (almost every night), but I don’t remember any of it and I never have dreams. 3. I have the same birthday as my dad! 4. I can eat salads all day. I love salads! I love eating vegetables, especially celery and carrots, and prefer dressings like ranch and oriental. 5. I am not good at smiling. I have a hard time smiling so I’m still in the process of learning how to smile naturally! I have to make sounds out loud to smile [during photo shoots]. 6. I used to hate wearing sweatpants. I don’t know why but I hated sweatpants and never wore them when I was younger― even if I had to wear something more uncomfortable like slacks or jeans.. Now, I wear them all the time! 7. I rarely cry alone or in front of people. The only person who has seen me cry is INTAK. I was going through something heavy and was alone at a park by myself when INTAK came to pick me up. He started crying as soon as he saw me, and that made me cry. 8. I used to pull all my loose baby teeth. I hated having something loose in my mouth, so instead of waiting to go to the dentist, I used to pull them out on my own. 9. I have a light (barely noticeable) mole on my big toe. 10. I have curly hair, so unless I blow dry it, it goes wild.

SOUL

1. I used to collect beetles. I think I had up to 30 beetles in one big box. 2. I only wear Air Jordans. I only wear Jordans and my favorite design is the Air Jordan 1s. 3. I love dolls! I love buying and collecting dolls. I like anything that is cute and fuzzy. 4. I don’t like taking pictures of humans except KEEHO. I only take pictures of nature, architecture or like a beautiful scenery. The only time I would take a picture of a human is of KEEHO. 5. Me and my younger sister found an important historical stone artifact. We were just digging stuff up and found a stone artifact. We later learned it was a historically valuable artifact, so we donated it to a museum. 6. I wear my pants backwards. 7. I don’t like electric fans. I don’t like when wind blows in my face 8. I once had the same dream three times in a row. I had the same dream three times in a row, but every ending changed depending on the choices I made [in my dream]. 9. A bird pooped on my head while I was on my way to school. Without having much reaction, I just walked to school and waited until I had to go to the bathroom to wash. 10. I don’t get scared or surprised easily. I used to get yelled at for bowing down and saying hi to all the actors playing zombies, monsters or ghosts at haunted houses in theme parks.

JONGSEOB

1. I like books that are thick and with small letters for no particular reason. I tend to buy books that are thick, whatever the genre is. I think it’s because I’m a fast reader. 2. I never had cavities! I love eating sweets like jellies and candies. I can go through a whole pack in one sitting, but I’ve never had cavities! 3. I have something called a “knee hyperextension and/or back knee. My knee bends backwards in a straightened position unlike many people. 4 I love the dark. I usually don’t turn on the lights unless I really have to. 5. I could sleep for long periods of time. I once slept up to 16 straight hours, and I barely have dreams. Maybe like five times a year?! 6. I don’t like/eat seaweed or seagrass. 7. I love walking into a room that is super cold. I turn on the A/C and close the door for about 30 minutes so it can be ice cold before I walk in. 8. I want to learn how to play bass guitar one day! I watch random videos of jam sessions, and one day would really like to play bass guitar. 9. My eyesight is different on both eyes. I am near-sighted on one, and far-sighted on the other. 10. I am pretty good at playing games on my phone.

[redsector-a]

AO3 Ask Game

I was tagged by @themarshalstale which, thank you so much! I feel like I always get missed on these (I know why, it’s been 84 years since I published anything but still). 1. How many works do you have on ao3?

46 it seems. Which...look I’m slow man so that’s not surprising. lol Also crippling depression does not make for much production, at least for me.

2. What’s your current AO3 wordcount?

309662 according to the stats.

3. How many fandoms have you written for and what are they?

So do I could only AO3 or in like life? lol I suppose it should only be on AO3 since this is an AO3 ask game. Hrm. Basically AO3 can be summed up as: Marvel (in several iterations - all Avengers related) Torchwood Highlander But isn’t it more fun to consider my entire fandom life, which, I’m sorry, I’m old so...yeah. Not all of this is was published and beyond that a lot is not available anymore...which is likely for the best. Highlander Star Wars Babylon 5 Ronin Warriors/Samurai Troopers Marvel (again, several iterations also of note Avengers and X-Men both count) Torchwood Star Trek LOTR Stargate (SG-1, SGA) Mortal Kombat I dabbled with the idea of Potter fic but never got past the ideas stage.

4. What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

1: You rearrange me till I’m sane Clint finds himself spiraling into a deep depression after the Battle of New York...until the Winter Soldier ends up saving him and inadvertently giving him a new purpose – to save the man that the Soldier had once been – Bucky Barnes. Not one to be outdone, the Soldier decides that his new mission is to ensure that Clint remains alive himself. Protecting a blonde man with a self-destructive streak is somehow very familiar to him. Through the back and forth of who is saving whom they cross the country and learn more about themselves and each other – and perhaps find a reason for living. 2: Five Dates Bucky Didn’t Realize He Was on And the One He Planned Himself To say that Bucky was surprised when Clint kissed him was an understatement. But it was nothing compared to the shock he felt when he learned they'd been dating for months without him realizing it.Clint gets whisked away for a mission before they have time to talk and Bucky is left to figure things out on his own - hindsight being 20/20 he can't help but wonder how he missed things the first go around.

3: Puck Luck Bucky Barnes is used to the ups and downs of an NHL season. He's used to the unpredictability of the game, knows that bounces don't always go your way, but that doesn't make a broken hand in the final third of the season any easier to deal with. Especially not when he ends up with an impromptu roommate/personal assistant in the form of one Clint Barton - his agent, Natalia Romanova's (rather attractive) friend he hadn't known existed before his injury.

It's just for six to eight weeks - what could possibly happen in that span of time?

4: Loose Lips Launch Ships

Based on the following prompt: “We go to school together and I think you’re cute and apparently you’re also the pizza delivery guy and my little sibling opened the door screaming hey sibling! you know that kid you’re in love with? you really weren’t kidding when you said his jawline could cut steel holy shit-” Bucky is the pizza delivery guy. Clint's younger (foster) brother has a big mouth.

5: Indelible Bucky Barnes has a pretty decent life – a good job, good friends, a cat that adores him - but something is missing. He’s always found body art to be beautiful and inspiring, and on a whim (and with the hope that maybe he can find what he’s missing) he decides to take the plunge and get a tattoo. That's how he meets Clint Barton. Clint's talented and compassionate and there is an instant spark between the two of them. It's not long before Bucky finds himself wondering and wanting more from the relationship despite the ghosts of the past that crop back up. Because Clint makes him feel normal in a way he truly hasn't for years...

(this was pre-Alpine so I was totally chuffed when canon confirmed Bucky’s status as a crazy cat lady (affectionate).

5. Do you respond to comments? Why or why not.

I really really really want to do it but I often times don’t end up doing it. There are a few reasons. First, I am akwward AF and bad at interaction adn I feel like just saying thank you would be...not enough? Second - I often times tend to like...turtle (aka retreat into myself) when life gets Too Hard/Busy which happens a lot to me (sigh) and then I miss the vague window in my mind in which it would be okay to respond and then it’s even more weird. I do love and cherish all of them. Like there was one months ago that made me go “hmm...I didn’t think I was going to do a sequel to that fic (You rearrange me till I’m sane), timestamp glimpses sure but a sequel hadn’t come to mind” but then the comment made me think! So...who knows? lol Anyway, I literally have been rereading some in an effort to try and get myself going again. Know that if you have commented, I love you.

6. What’s the fic you’ve written with the angstiest ending?

At the moment? Probably: Look at you look at me Bucky's in love with Clint - problem is he's really not supposed to be. For Winterhawk Week 2019 - Forbidden Love (I really don’t want to give away the spin in the fic but...if you’re familiar with the Secret Avengers Vol 2 run circa 2013ish (aka when SHIELD initially ‘took control of the team’) that’s a bit of a hint as to the spin). Were it done, Torch Song would be up there. ;) Torch Song Clint is sent back in time, via an alien device, to 1938. While he tries to figure out how to get back home, he takes up singing and entertaining to make ends meet and does his best to not disrupt the timeline.Then he meets a 21 year old Bucky Barnes. --- A torch song is a sentimental love song, typically one in which the singer laments an unrequited or lost love, either where one party is oblivious to the existence of the other, where one party has moved on, or where a romantic affair has affected the relationship.

7. Do you write crossovers? What’s the craziest one you’ve ever written?

Does *wanting* to write crossovers count? lol I want, so badly, to do more crossovers and fusions (which...are kinda deeper versions of crossovers in a way). The only one I do have posted is a crossover between Highlander and Torchwood -

The Immortal Mr. Jones A series of vignettes (some long, some short) in the life of the newly immortal Ianto Jones. My most ambitions project that I have been working on since late 2011/early 2012 is a fusion of the Avengers with Stephen King’s the Stand. I will get that done at some point *shakes fist*  The Stand, for those who don’t know it, is an epic 1000+ page novel about a flu epidemic (I know) that wipes out over 99% of the population and then two figures representing Good and Evil pull the survivors in two directions for a showdown. So basically it’s a non-powered modern AU set in that universe. It’s a passion and comfort project. lol

8. Have you ever received hate on a fic?

Yes. Well, minor bitching back when I was in a prior fandom because I tagged a pairing in a fic but it was pre-slash and not labeled as pre-slash. I got hate on...I think it was Torch Song? And I’ve gotten hate on tumblr re me and my fic in general as well. Fandom! *jazz hands* Oh! And I’ve also been hit by those reviewers within Winterhawk (among general Clint pairings actually) who like rate you on either number scales or the “meh” scale. Which isn’t hate exactly but...it’s passive aggressive bullshit because I can’t believe none of them realize at this point that the authors can see their bookmarks - you know?

9. Do you write smut?

Yes. Do I write it well? I have no idea. lol

10. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

Not that I am aware of. Well...there was, I think, one of those reposting sites that had a few fics on it but I don’t think it was being passed off as someone else’s? I can’t quite recall. It’s why I have a note on AO3 about reposting my work anyway.

11. Have you ever co-written a fic before?

Not entirely, but sort of. Let me explain - I am part of a PBEM game; which for those unfamiliar since it’s a term that was most heavily in use 15-20 years ago, in which you basically do a round robin type writing thing but rather than everyone writing the same characters you write your own characters and you play off what other people have done. Another way of looking at it is  it’s basically DnD without dice and written down rather than done out loud. You also don’t have to all be around at the same time. It’s a lot of fun and yes I have been in it for 20 years even though there aren’t many of us left but they are some of my dearest friends and fabulous writers. Wins all around.  One of the other writers and I have actually toyed with the idea of doing a co-written fic actually, mostly because we work super well together and keep getting ideas for things but can’t really do them as rpgs since the pbem style isn’t used much anymore.

12. What’s your all time favorite ship?

Winterhawk probably. Though, let’s be real - Han & Leia are epic and amazing as are John & Delenn (from Babylon 5).

13. What was the first fandom you wrote for?

Does wanting to expand The Black Stallion books as a wee child count? lol Not much of that was written save for world building ideas but there was a great oral tradition of telling stories to my friends. Otherwise...maybe a tie between Star Wars and Highlander. Star Wars was a love since I was super young but the writing bug didn’t hit me until around the same time Highlander was a thing as well.

14. What’s your favorite fic you’ve written? You rearrange me till I’m sane for sure. Though Torch Song, if it were finished, would be tied I imagine (I suck at picking favorites). Honorable mention to Puck Luck and Indelible. Tagging: I have seen this like a million times (okay 5) so I feel like everyone has been tagged already that I know. But...I guess... @vexbatch @crazycatt71 @heartonfirewrites and @disruptedvice sorry if anyone has been tagged before.

[hanniiesuckle17]

i would like to bless your followers and dash, sooo can you give me a crash course in noir 😊😊

OMG YES OFCCCCCC💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖

OKAY SO HERE IS THE DEAL

NOIR is a nine-member boy group under Luk Factory

(Not really pleased with how they are promoting my boys but imma get over it one day!)

Our fan name is Lumiere (or Lumi) and we don’t have any official colors or a lightstick yet.

Noir debuted on April 9th of 2018. With the mini-album Twenty’s Noir. Their title debut song was Gansta (SUCHA GOOD VIDEO) 

They also had a predebut song called As a Star and it makes me so soft.

Their next comeback is on the 27th (THIS MONDAY!!!!!!) The album is called Up the Sky and the title track is called Lucifer

IM SO FUCKING EXCITED YOU HAVE NO IDEA

MEMBERS 

Shin Seunghoon

Shin Seunghoon is our precious leader!!!! 

(He was what got me into Noir. I saw a video about the best leaders in kpop and I was like)

He is 27 years old. His birthday is May 30th, 1993 (He is a Gemini)

Boy is tallllllllllllllllllllll

like he’s 5′10.

but in pictures by himself he for real looks like he is 6′2

istg he is like 65% legs.

ALSO MAN AS A RIPPED CHEST SORRY BACK TO REGULARLY SCHEDULED NOIRING

He is the leader, main rapper, and also sometimes a vocalist (but the rappers in this group pretty much fo everything)

HE SPITS FIRE when he wants to. 

Really good at freestyling 

He makes mixtapes on youtube on Noir’s channel. (I think he has 5 out now)

He is a college-educated man!!!! (He went to Korean National Open University

He took taekwondo when he was younger

The man trained for 8 years

He and Hoyeon compose and format a lot of their songs with a team of producers from LUK

(I often think he and Chan from skz are really similar.)

Seunghoon is legit a father of 8 soft crackhead kids. istg he is so done with them most of the time

We call him our koala because he looks like one <3

Seunghoon is obsessed with accessories and wearing them to the point where stylists literally have to take them off of him. (I have never not seen picture of him not wearing jewelry. )

he is actually in the military right now and i miss him so fricking much TT

All in all hot boy on screen and soft dad in real life

Kim Yeonkuk

this boy I cant

Kim Yeonkuk. Damn.

he was on Produce 101 season 2

he was eliminated on ep.5 :(

He is the lead dancer and a vocalist

Yeonkuk is 25 years old. His birthday is February 8, 1995 (An Aquarius)

is totally the aegyo king but denies it

he seems cold at first but has a big ass bright personality its so freakin adorable

my personal favorite clip of him is and the boys dancing around on vlive to big bang and him saying fantastic baby (its sounds so cute when he says it)

He is also a 5′10 tall boy

he trained for 3 years

THIS BOY IS SO FREAKING SKINNY SOMEONE PLEASE EGIVE HIM A HAMBURGER OR SOMETHING TAKE HIM TO TACO BELL

not kidding

his waist is so fucking small its scary.

Yeonkuk=stringbean

literally a walking meme.

pause in any interview and he is pretty much gonna give you a memeable face

this boy is so loveable and goofy 

also if this boy doesn't post like 8 photos of him doing something on insta im convinced he thinks that it just didn’t happen

he never posts just one photo its always like 6-8

also I was highkey afraid he was gonna go bald last comeback when they legit turned his hair into smurfs pubes

Lee Junyong

Lee Junyong. When i say i love this man with my whole heart

also 25 years old

his birthday is March 1st 1995 (Pisces)

another 5′10 king

Main vocalist.

he is a former member of INX

his brother is Seungyong from N.CUS

he trained for 4 years

THIS MAN IS TOO ATTRACTIVE FOR THIS EARTH

vocals for days. VOCALS.FOR.DAYS.

Did a cover of BTS’s The Truth Untold with Siha and literally gives me chills.

He has little crooked front teeth so when he sings he has this tiny little breath in some of the words so his voice is even more distinct

BUT LIKE JUNYONG HAS THE CUTEST SMILE EVER (I love his teeth in that's a weird thing to say but i think they are so cute)

he is 1/2 of the Highnote Belting Club

talks. all. the. freaking. time.

he goes live alot

boy is obsessed with Yunsung someone save yunsung from him

total crackhead when not doing real interviews

never fails to make me smile

he is said to be the moodmaker of the group

APPARENTLY HE WAS IN ONE EPISODE OF MY FAVORITE DRAMA AND I HAD NO IDEA

he was in episode 6 of The Liar and His Lover

overall he is just so sweet and funny and its so easy to love him

Nam Yunsung

Yunsung is the Lead vocalist and Visual

24 years old His birthday is August 29, 1996

He is a virgooo

MAN IS 6FT EVEN

lead vocalist and LOOKS IT

he is the king of intense eye contact with the camera 

he looks like legit prince charming

2/2 of Highnote Belting Club

weird af

istg he is the biggest crackhead

very extra. (as you can see in gif)

he calls himself a vampire because of his super pale skin

he trained for 4 years

he raps part time

HE ACTUALLY ENJOYS EXCERCISE

he hides snack between his bed and the wall but apparently daewon and junyong steal them

I think he rooms with junyong? not sure

Someone save him from junyong. boy is going to be smothered to death

ngl their relationship is really cute

he was also in Produce 101 S2 but left bc of health issues.

cutest thing ever and then turns into a devil onstage

a literal puppy

he is big fan of ateez and he and another member actually went to the groups first concert in korea

he is just so precious and weird 

Kim Siheon

oml this smol bean

Kim Siheon god damn

He is 23 years old

Birthday is December 23, 1997 (Capricorn like meeeee)

also 5′10 babyy

Vocalist but also a rapper (he rapped suga’s part in their remix of BTS Fake Love)

LIKES TO BIAS WREKC FREAKING EVERYONE

Beware the Siheon

He has a hot older sister, Hanbit, from a group called Hot Place (Their debut song is called TMI and its pretty good.)

HOTNESS RUNS IN HIS FAMILY

he trained for 5 months

he really likes drawing and does caricatures of his members

he is the eyebrow king

idk his eyesbrows are just.... 

stylists do things to his eyebrows anf it just fucks everyone up

high key has the best fashion sense

others boys willshow up to vlive in like hoodies and he is wearing a freakin casual suit

BOY PLAYS TO WIN’

he is like a boss at every kind of game

claims himself to be sweet like “Heonie”

“Hi! I’m siheon! Heonie Heonie Siheonie!”

he is a litter quieter than the other guys 

BUT he is so funny 

he doesn't like spice on his food for some reason

yeah he's crazy

he trained for 5 years

he's just precious and hot and hot and really hot

Ryu Hoyeon

THIS MAN HAS GIVEN ME SO MANY PROBLEMS

Ryu Hoyeon.

So he is my bias wrecker. Boy climbed up my bias list so freaking fast

He is the main dancer, vocalist, and a rapper (he also composes and arranges with Seunghoon)

He is 22 years old

His birthday is February 6, 1998 (Aquarius)

anontherrrrr 5′10 babbyyyy

cheekkkkkbooonnneeeessss

SHARK BOYY

He says he looks like a shark and i agree

HE HAS A NICE FUCKING TORSO

There was a predebut photo of him half shirtless it was awesome

he was also on Produce 101 S2 

eliminated on ep.5 :(

he trained for 2 years

He, yeonkuk, and seunghoon were in the Japanese tour of the musical Altar Boyz with Teen top’s Niel,2PM’s Chansung, and many others

he has a semi viral video of him

when he was a trainee / on produce 101 he was dancing to nct127 cherry bomb and had an unfortunate but quite hilarious accident (just look it up its funny)

sucks ass at games. every game. ever.

he is a low-key crackhead. he is a calm crackhead lol

VERY ATTRACTIVE

he used to have a youtube channel

you can still see his insta (leaderyoo) its so freaking cute and has predebut stuff of all the boys

he made their entire remix of fake love

he choreographed their song Diamond and also their cover of Taki Taki (which was very hot)

becomes a beast when dancing

he has an original chore to WEight in Gold that is very.......(insert eyebrow wiggle here)

has that dorito torso

(tiny waist and broad shoulders)

also thighs god damn

He is also a HUGE Vixx fanboy

Alter ego is DJ Ironman

He is very close with Siha, Siheon, and Yeonkuk

they turned him into a traffic cone for the Doom Doom comeback

he speaks a little bit of English (just a little bit)

all in all I'm completely in love with this man

Yang Siha 

THIS MAN IS SO FINEEEEEEE (he's my bias btw I have never been so in love with a man other than jisung)

Yang Siha is just uugghghhh god damn

22 year old babyyyy

Birthday is March 9, 1998 (Pisces)

Lil baby is 5′7″ oml i love him

MAIN VOCALIST AND DESERVES IT

he likes watching youtube videos and anime

He trained for 1 year and 1/2

looks good in every freaking hair color

his voice does NOT MATHC HIS FACE 

but not like in a Felix level way

He says his most attractive features are his “feminine features” (he says his unpronounced Adams apple and his small noes and doe eyes

HE HAS SMOL EARSSSS and i lovethem

close with Hoyeon and Siheon

but like his voice though

its so freaking pretty

it gives me chills

everything about him is perfect

he has tiny lips lol

he can play guitar

legit i swear his entire closet is black he rarely wears color

legit EVERYONE LOVES HIM

if someone is hugging anyone in a vlive or something

its siha

its always siha

everyone cuddles siha

i wanna cuddle siha. fuck.

for some reason I've just noticed this

the boy likes to wear long sleeves idk why

he also always seems to wear this one necklace Idk why but its so pretty and i really love that he does idk

he says his favorite song by NOIR is Travel (its also my favorite. its on their debut album and omg his part <3)

he is just so pure oml everything he posts on insta just makes me so soft

he is just so freakin cute and makes me switch lanes so fast

Kim Minhyuk

ooooof this cutie

Kim Minhyuk is something else

i just don't know what he is lol

Lead rapper and lead dancer

22 years old

His birthday is March 18th, 1998 (Pisces)

5′11 boy yes sir

ALSO A COLLEGE EDUCATED MAN

He went to Seoul Arts College

he has an older brother

apparently he cooks in the dorms

he trained for 1 year

he likes to play basketball

he really loves taking photos on his camera

he HATES bugs. its kind of funny ngl

he also is deathly afraid of balloons (i will not apologize for laughing at this one)

He and yunsung loooove ateez. they went to their first concert.

HE SERVES LOOOOKKKSSS

I think he is the most versatile member (look wise) because sometimes its hard to recognize him with each comeback because they change his style

he has these really cute big circle glasses he wear and just uwu

he kinda looks like Simon or Theodore from Alvin in the chipmunks in the best way.

he has a thing about jumping

like whenever he gets excited or happy he just starts jumping

he smiles like sunshineeeeee

even though he is the second youngest a lot of the members say that they go to him for advice 

(probably cause he has permanent hold of one of the 3 braincells noir has)

he looooves girl group dances 

especially twice 

TIKTOK KING 

He owns Noir’s tiktok pretty much. also their insta

he's a precious chipmunk

Kim Daewon

Thhis baby oml

Kim Daewon is the cutest thing since that fluffy little dog whose name i cant remember

20 years old 

Birthday is April 18th, 2000 (Aries)

Lead Dancer, vocalist, maknae

PROTEC THIS BABY BOY

In pictures he looks tall af

actually...

5′7″ but looks like 5′4″

the cutest thing everrrrr

HIS CHEEEKS

the biggest fluffiest cutest cheeks

everything about him is smol except for them thighssss

trained for 1 year

he has one older sister

THE BOY NEEDS MORE LINESSSS LUK FACTORY GIVE HIM MORE LINESSSSSS

he goes off in the chorus of their b-side track “Between” though like fuuuuuuucccckkkk (lowkey one of my favorite songs by them)

literally one of the funniest people you will ever see

extra crackhead energy

makes all the boys laugh

he loves chicken and snacks (gotta keep those cheeks in top shape)

literally the softest boy

he's good at everything i swear

he likes to shimmy.

has a cute butt lol

he talks in tiny

literally the cutest maknae ever oml

I hope this helped guys!!!!! I really hope you can stan noir and support them in their comeback this Monday! I hope this helped @distrikt9 if you need videos or anything feel free to ask! I love sharing my boys. They really are so underrated. I did this so fast ngl. I've never typed so fast

[courage-a-word-of-justice]

Maou-jou 9 - 12 (FINAL) | Idolish7 s2 10 - 15 (FINAL) | SLS 2

I’ve been holding off new seasonals because of other things, but after I post this I’ll have enough time to get around to them. That’s why I can’t guarantee winter 2021 seasonal tags on this post...maybe the next one will have them...

Maou-jou 9

…it seems shopping channels even are the same in the demon world.

Now even the demons have quests! (The frame is different to the princess’s, though.)

Oh! The quest failed.

Neo Alraune: in flower language, “the 2nd coming of happiness”. The worry from a little while ago was, “I’m worried about my brother.” The worry from recently: “I didn’t think about being happy that the princess didn’t kill my brother.”

The penguin demons are pretty cute!

Don’t you know how parents forbid children from sleeping until they finish all their homework? Must be something like that.

Yoku ganbarimashita! – Syalis worked hard!

LOL, mental age: 3. Poseidon likes cute things…I can’t read a lot of this…the hardsubs cover the JPN text.

They…both succeeded! (…LOL?)

Maou-jou 10

Owarinocity = Endopolis. It’s a good equivalent, if I do say so myself.

…oh yeah. What happened to Alraune? Update: There she is!

Also, that blonde guy in the infomercials doesn’t look too bad…*makes chef’s kiss gesture with one hand* Nice.

I wonder, was Twilight once human…?

LOL, there’s a goat symbol on the cleric’s pyjamas. Also “first time”, LOL.

I think they were playing shiritori at one point.

Hanamaru saikou yoku dekimashita!

Maou-jou 11

…How does one “sleep cheerfully”, anyway?

I think I saw Twilight drop something��some kind of paper…

Aw, Twilight blushing is kinda cute!

LOL, 70s shoujo style. Also, “It cannot be!”

Whoa, she cancelled it?!

I read up on this series on TV Tropes…and apparently the Demon King captured the Princess in her sleep.

Kagemusha? Like a ninja or something?

Apparently the Demon Cleric is much older than he looks.

Ooh! Hypnos is back!

A-whatsit really is abysmal levels of stupid!!! (LOL)

Maou-jou 12 (FINAL)

Who’s that one tiny guy occupying one of the Ten Kings’ seats?

*watching after Christmas, about a week after the anime finished* This is not seasonally appropriate!

…*thinks for a second, then spits* That’s the 2nd Nemu in the fall 2020 season!!!

Ooh, the head paladin doesn’t look that bad, either.

“…is it good to be…”

“…has seized the princess!”

“…that demon king is rather cute.” – See? Someone agrees with me.

Anyways, that was a fun series. See you soon!

Idolish7 s2 10

…Back at it after so long…(I can’t help it though – Crunchyroll, per month, is about double the local Funimation sublicensor’s fees, and for much less content that’s worth my money to boot!)

I’ve always thought Momo was like Sasara (HypMic), so seeing him anguished hurts me in the kokoro too…

I know Banri was involved with Re:vale somehow…this must be it.

…Male idols are also popular among men? Is this why there are 8 (!!!) idol anime in winter 2021 alone…? (Also, that’s why HypMic became popular? Multidemographic appeal crossed over with obvious merchandising opportunities?)

It’s kind of scary how Momo stepped the formality towards Yuki like that (to -san).

I guess in his heart Momo still reveres Yuki, some way or another.

The rakugo curtain really sold the moment that they (current Re:vale) were acting like an old married couple.

Yay! Silver Sky is such a cool song! Of course I recognised the intro when it came on.

…I see. The elder Kujo is entrusting his dream to Tenn, so that’s why he banned Aya from seeing Tamaki. However, it’s hard to know what to feel when Aya speaks in the vaguest terms possible.

I think that was a special ending for only this episode. I don’t know what its name is, but I guess I might recognise it on Spotify one day.

Idolish7 s2 11

LOL, Nagi’s reaction.

Considering the ‘rona is getting worse outside our very windows as we speak (type?), I think it’s correct to be concerned about your future right now.

Looking at these narrow streets reminds me of going to eat hotpot at the end of my Japan trip…only Japanese streets look like that, I think. Hong Kong’s streets are more crowded than that and America likes their suburbia.

Of course, when you say hajimemashite (nice to meet you), someone’s gotta say it back, hence the reply.

Considering there are people all over the world watching the Idolish7 anime, I would say you are telling the world about I7, Riku.

Oh! Restart Pointer! There was an MV for that one…I think it was around the time Idolish7’s MVs started getting better.

So this is the context around the new outfits! Cool!

There have been way too many puns about “idol” being…y’know, “ai (love) doll” and stuff like that…

I have one Twitter person who I follow (DejiNyucu, part of the creative team for Autumn’s Journey) because I don’t get much I7 content and they keep mentioning this “Haruki” person…and suddenly a “Haruki the Betrayer” showed up in the graffiti…they might be the same person, I think. Not Deji, but Haruki. Update: Sakura Haruki, perhaps…?

Sougo’s such a bad liar…

Sometimes, the best way to deal with things is to be direct…(I’m not very good at that, I naturally talk in a very roundabout sort of way.)

Sougo with long hair like Yuki would be really pretty… (<- has an obvious thing for guys with long hair)

Idolish7 s2 12

Nagi’s stupid accent is generally what he’s best remembered for (for me), so seeing him speak normally, and do a press conference on top of that, is…impressive.

A kabedon on top of all this! Whoa!

Shibuya 109 parody…? (I’ve seen that once or twice – parodying that means people know their stuff about Shibuya.)

I think the “it’s overflowing!” is referring to the hype in the “room”.

…this dejected Momo is worrying…(well, he is worrying and I am worrying about him.)

Oh, I see. The person responsible typed the letter so that they couldn’t be traced back. Kind of like those old movies where the culprit would cut letters out of newspapers to make threat mail, but…with even less traces than that, because cutting letters out leaves evidence.

…wow, it took a while for this ep. to have an intro…

…LOL, I just spotted Kenjiro Tsuda cited as the “fake Zero”, meaning the real one might never show up this season.

There’s something really stupid and infectious about these managers’ enthusiasm for drinking energy drinks. It puts a goofy smile on my face.

Is Musubi Tsumugi’s mother…? Update: Yes, she is.

…Wait, so the Chiba Shizuo guy is actually important?!

Idolish7 s2 13

Whenever someone says “by the way”, it means they’re changing the subject. I hate to state to obvious, but Sougo is clearly deflecting the topic of conversation from being about him.

I wonder if this guy (Haw9) is the actual Zero graffiti vandal…?

Hmph, I didn’t realise Tenn doesn’t refer to Kujo-san as his father, but…like that (“Kujo-san”) instead.

Oh hey! These are shots from Vibrato!

Most dramas can be solved with the power of Good Communication. That includes this one.

I feel like “he has a dark side” describes both Tenn and Kujo-san.

“Everyone, remember to wash your hands and gargle thoroughly.” – This is always a good thing to remember in the time of ‘rona. Reminds me of Jakurai’s line in ARB (<- this game started just after the ‘rona came down).

What did Sougo go to uni for (what specialisation)?

Idolish7 s2 14

I just realised Banri calls Momo -kun. Hmm…

Denki = electricity, LOL.

I feel like Tenn is basically Ramuda, give or take actual pink hair…guys in musical groups with pre-existing angst that they become the “centre” of. The fact Fling Posse have Saito Soma and so do Trigger strengthens the connection.

I would watch the heck out of a musical like that! Make it come true, Idolish7! (Also, today is I7 day! I’m not much of an I7 fan outside the anime, but…that’s cool!)

That shot of them jumping! I remember seeing it on the official site before!

Idolish7 s2 15 (FINAL)

There you go! I was wondering where Banri’s injury was – that was the only bit that didn’t add up for him to be Yuki’s old partner.

Hmm…Momo is 4 years younger than Yuki but 2 years younger than Banri…

This episode has a real concert vibe to it, to the point where I got startled by how loud the yell was at one point. (Even if it is mostly stills.)

LOL, lookit Okazaki!

Apparently, if you’re a hako oshi, you like all the members of a group. Someone with a green light and a pink light likes both members of Re:vale.

LOL, Usagi for Asahi beer.

…I forgot Nagi is 19.

…Ooh, I think that’s the kid from ZOOL. No wonder they needed a season 3!

That’s all. See you next time!

SLS 2

“fine and upstanding person” – That’s…hard to believe, Hayato.

I wonder how many bois Toboso designed for SLS…?

…The episode title is actually “Blank”. Not “Break”.

One of the guys’ shirts says moteki on it. That’s a period in one’s life where one enjoys more romantic attention than usual, literally “popularity season”.

The subs missed an I, so initially I knew Kiriyama’s name as “Kiryama”.

There are meant to be 2 wings, right…?

“He who controls information controls everything, right?” – For once, I’m surprised Hayato is right (and not just in that smug way of his).

“…I’m being treated like a manager.” – But Hayato is a manager! (In a sense.)

The plait guy jumps to nicknames really fast…also, why do I get the feeling Maeshima will lose the key?

I hate to say this Maeshima, but I side with your childhood friend (Kiriyama) here. As much as the anime wants me to back you, I’m watching for everyone else at this point.

That blocky building looks pretty cool. I think Zel (Archi-Anime) would like it.

Sasugai’s setup looks pretty cool, including his chair.

…hmm, Maeshima’s like me in a sense. I learn best by copying others, but memory is my best asset. If I don’t regularly train the fundamentals, I suck at everything. That said, I don’t have an eidetic memory. Also, I didn’t quite figure out Ken = Ken(sei Maeshima) until I watched long enough to connect the dots.

LOL, Derry’s. (<- reminded of a word for “butt” <- derriere)

Well, the guy’s (Souta…?) shirt does say moteki…

Kiriyama kinda looks like Jyuto (HypMic), come to think of it…Right down to his angry streak (although Jyuto has a reputation to keep as a “cool dude”, while Kiriyama is more of a Manza (Boueibu HK) and he’s more angry than he looks).

…This ED is nothing special.

…Hmm? Is that a small Terauchi and Maeshima…?

I think I’m sold for now, but I’m rooting for the other team, not Maeshima’s…not yet, anyways.

[project-stormblessed]

1-50

Alrighty!

1. What color are your socks?

All of my socks are either completely black or black and gray. Lol.

2. Have you ever lied about your age? Why?

Only once when I was like, 12 or 13 making a second Youtube account lol.

3. What is something you regret in the past month?

Becoming distant and isolating myself from most of my friends. Quarantine has not been good for my mental health tbh.

4. Do you believe in love at first sight?

Honestly? Not sure. Part of me doesn’t, and part of me does. Can’t really get either part to agree one way or the other.

5. When was the last time you wrote someone a letter on paper? Definitely well over a decade ago. Honestly can’t remember.

6. How old were you when you first learned how to ride a bike? Who taught you?

I was 11 or 12, and it was my older brother Jack who taught me. He also taught me how to drive lol.

7. Do you get along with your parents? Why or why not?

We get along well enough. Now that they’re retired the house is a much calmer environment.

8. What’s your favorite season?

Spring. I love seeing everything in bloom—the colors are very pleasing to me. I love seeing lots of green, and lots of lush plantlife.

9. Do you currently like someone?

Hmm, not entirely sure about that one. I guess I don’t really have any strong feelings for anyone in particular. Maybe. 👀👀

10. Have you ever used an Ouija board?

Nope, and I don’t plan on it.

11. What’s the last song you sang?

It was a song for choir this past semester, though I don’t remember the title that well or the composer.

12. What’s your favorite scent?

Never really had a favorite scent, honestly. My sense of smell has been pretty dull/weak for as long as I can remember and I’ve never really given much thought to any favorite scent.

13. What’s your favorite urban legend?

The Roswell UFO incident of 1947. It sparked my interest in aliens and UFOs at a very young age, and is probably responsible for a good deal of my love for sci-fi.

14. What’s a bad habit that you have?

Poor self control when it comes to time management. I tend to let myself get absorbed in things.

15. What’s a strange habit that you have?

Hmm. Totally blanked and could only come up with “making noises and pretending to be a mech of some sort when moving around my house”. That’s all I got.

16. What’s the first instrument you learned to play?

Piano. I started learning at 8 years old.

17. How would you describe your ‘type’?

Y’know funny enough I’ve never really thought I had a type. However reaching my mid-twenties has made me realize that my ‘type’ is kind, compassionate, goofy, and nerdy/geeky.

18. Would you rather stay in or go out?

Depends on the company, I guess. Though, usually I prefer to stay in anyway.

19. What was the last thing you said to your mom?

“I’m taking Dax out.” When I went for a walk with my dog lol.

20. Do you want to get married someday?

Definitely didn’t used to. I’m at the point where I’d be down if my partner wanted to, though I’m not sure I’d wanna spend a shitload of money on a wedding. Guess it depends on financial status at the time and the preferences of my partner.

21. Have you ever snuck out?

Nah, though I never needed to. My parents typically let me leave house whenever I wanted to as long as I told them who I’m with and when-ish I’m going to be home.

22. Can you sing well?

I can match pitch pretty well, but I can’t produce pitch un-aided. Usually. So kinda. I’m ok at best, all things considered.

23. What’s an embarrassing thing that happened this week?

I went off on some of my friends over something kinda silly because my mental state as of late hasn’t been all that great.

24. When was the last time you went sledding?

Uhhh, definitely more than ten years ago.

25. Have you ever liked/do you like someone you know you can never be with?

You kidding me? That’s like, all of my crushes ever. Maybe that’s an exaggeration but honestly it’s certainly FELT that way each time.

26. Do people often mispronounce your name?

No, though I have known a few people throughout my life that said “Bin” rather than “Ben”. I eventually realised it was an accent thing and stopped giving a shit very early.

27. Would you like to live in another country?

Yes, actually. For no small number of reasons. I’ve always wanted to live in Italy ever since I visited when I was 15.

28. Do you like to watch ghost hunting shows?

I definitely used to. I don’t really watch tv much in general anymore, though.

29. Who was the last person you said “I love you” too?

My mom.

30. What’s something you’d like to be better at?

Social interaction. Speaking in general. I’m MUCH more articulate in writing/typing than I am speaking.

31. Have you ever stayed up with someone who was sad?

Yes, and I’m always willing to do so.

32. What was the last thing you cooked?

I helped my good friend prepare some bomb ass ramen a few months back. I guess that counts.

33. Do you think you’d make a good parent?

I’d like to think so, yeah. I would make sure my children know I’m always there for them and will support the hell out of them.

34. Do you have trouble sleeping at night?

I don’t, but my dipshit body does.

35. Where is your best friend right now?

All of them are either playing video games or asleep.

36. How long does it take you to get ready in the morning?

Factoring in every aspect of the morning ritual, about 40 minutes. That’s if I’m going somewhere like work or school. If I’m staying home then there’s no getting ready for anything but sitting on my ass lol.

37. How late do you usually stay up at night?

Depends on the time of year/what I’m doing the next day. Right now during quarantine I average anywhere between 2am and 6am. I’m trying to fix that currently.

38. When was the last time you cried and why?

The last time I truly cried was sometime in 2015. I was listening to Breaking Benjamin’s latest album and feeling exceedingly lonely/depressed. It wasn’t a great day.

39. Have you ever won a contest?

None that I can remember, honestly.

40. Can you draw well?

Lol. No. I have very little visual artistic talent or skill.

41. Would you ever date someone you met on tumblr/the internet?

Definitely, though obviously I wouldn’t just jump right in. I’m down for long distance relationships, too. But obviously mutual trust and emotional connection would have to be established first.

42. What was the last thing you ate?

Some brownie fudge M&Ms lol.

43. Do you think you’re/you’d make a good boyfriend?

I don’t really know. Never been in a relationship so I don’t have anything go off of. On the one hand I’m super understanding, laid back, and accepting of boundaries. I just want to make sure people feel comfortable and safe around me. On the other hand I’m also forgetful and very selfish when it comes to my time. I also obviously have plenty of emotional trauma/baggage (who doesn’t?) that tends to impede how I interact with people, so. 🤷🏼‍♂️

44. Have you ever had a near death experience?

Not that I can remember, and I hope I never do. The closest I think I ever came was when I fell off a ropeless bridge into a dry riverbed at 4 years old. Got a concussion from that.

45. What do you think people think of you?

Well, my anxiety tells me I’m annoying and boring. The logical side of me tells me most people in my life enjoy my company, so I guess there’s that.

46. What is your middle name and do you like it?

Don’t feel like sharing my middle name here, but I will say I don’t dislike it. Kinda neutral.

47. Are you close with either of your parents?

Kinda. My parents were often emotionally distant/abusive to my brothers and me growing up, and it’s left me rather stunted emotionally, and generally unwilling to establish a deeper relationship with them. We’re a bit closer than we were when I was a teenager, but honestly not much.

48. Do you like yourself?

Generally speaking? No. There are parts of me I’m proud of, but honestly I often find myself wishing I was someone else. I’m far from the self-loathing I experienced when I was younger, though.

49. State five facts about your appearance—

1. I’m 6’1”-ish.

2. Definitely just a bit chubby.

3. Blue eyes.

4. Currently sporting longer hair because I haven’t had a haircut since about September.

5. I have a number of faded scars on my arms from various self inflicted/work related injuries. All of them were caused by extreme clumsiness/poor spacial awareness.

50. State five facts about your personality—

1. I’m super goofy—I make lots of weird noises and motions.

2. I tend to ramble about things I’m interested in, particularly hyper fixations.

3. I like to think I’m a pretty compassionate human being.

4. Extremely awkward, but strangely that doesn’t show because I’m apparently a social chameleon.

5. I’m an observer, but also an overthinker.

Whew, that was a lot! Thank you, friend!

[tleecacc]

Virginia Lee

My mom came into this world on November 11, 1922. She loved that she was born 11/11/22. And she loved that it was something genuinely unique. That it held all the axioms of synchronicity. 

She often proudly told the story of when she was born, how she was so tiny the doctor’s did not expect her to live. As a last resort, a last ditch effort to save her life, the doctor gave my mother horse serum. Apparently that was a thing. And when she made it through the night, the doctor came in the next morning to tell her mother and father that miraculously she was gaining strength. He said to her parents, my grandmother Eulalia, and grandfather Daniel, ‘this little girl is a fighter’ …That she was.

She was born into an era that included the great depression. She lived through a world war, and so many incredible changes that the 20th century presented its almost unfathomable. Some of which she out right rejected, others she eventually either accepted or adopted. Her first microwave oven was used as a bread box for years before she agreed to learn to use it properly. She was the original, ultimate minimalist. She saved wax paper, rubber bans, bread bags and aluminum foil. She abhorred the idea of just throwing things away after one use, which culminated in receiving food gifts wrapped in layers wax paper, encased in at least two bread bags, held tightly together with six rubber bans. She was also a vitamin freak and insisted on a well balanced diet. We were not allowed to leave the house without drinking orange juice that was kept in as air tight a container as possible, so as not to lose its rich life giving force. She detested impracticality. We’d by her gifts to make her life easier but she would eventually admit to one or another of us, ‘Its so unnecessary, I don’t need it’ ‘I’ll never use it. My old (fill in the blank) works just fine’ etc. 

I thought she was the most gentle person ever to touch her feet to this earth. And I believed she couldn’t possibly love anyone as much as she did my brother’s and sisters and I, until she met her grandchildren. My mother held an extraordinary amount of love in her heart for each of them.

She found her spiritual path in the love and devotion she exhibited towards her family everyday of her life, and to every person she encountered, with few exceptions. She prayed for all of us everyday. Harder if she thought we were in special need, a heart was aching, someone's health was in question, a soul was at risk… or you spent time in bars which is the same thing…  so yeah, she prayed a lot. 

My mother was one of 11 children born to Daniel and Eulalia May. When you come from large families such as ours, you can spew out the names of your offspring or siblings in successive order as if it were one name. For my Mother’s family it was

BobDorthyVirginiaMaryRitaBillLoraineDaveDanBarbaraTom. And by the time my mother was 14 years old, she was a mother to her 8 younger siblings, as her mother was rarely well. She never complained about that role. She loved her brothers and sisters and was devoted to their care. She loved each of them and their individual take on life. She was very proud of the life they each garnered for themselves and their children. She was happy to see them living in a world less harsh than the childhood they endured. She held an extraordinary capacity of love in her heart for each of them. And she took their needs on without the least bit of resentment or regret. 

My mother’s family moved 17 times in her years at home. In a family with six gorgeous women you can imagine the stir it caused within each neighborhood they were adopted into. They were the May girls. With their flowing red, auburn and black heads of hair, their Miss America smiles and that undeniable May sense of fun loving humor. To say they were gregarious almost doesn’t do their personalities justice. 

My momma was beautiful, physically and spiritually. She loved her life. She was radiant in the outdoors and pushed us daily to be out in the fresh air. She was athletic. Mom made the varsity field hockey team as a freshman. She never drove a car and so walked everywhere. And I mean everywhere. Which may explain the athletic prowess of her children. As toddlers, when the newest sibling took over your spot in the stroller, we had to run along side her to keep up. Although she only stood four foot eleven, she had legs that moved incredibly fast. This tiny, feisty, determined woman walked everywhere and loved every minute of it, so it was hard on all of us to see the loss of that freedom in the recent months when her health finally took that joyful ability away. 

According to my mother, the advent of television was humanities downfall, and she was determined to get us children out of doors in the fresh air. She loved picnics in the park and spending time in our large back yard (‘you can’t find a back yard like that just anywhere’). She took us places on busses when my dad did not. We rode to the Art museum, Steinberg, downtown, the Muny free seats, all of forest park really and of course Cardinal Glennon Hospital. A place I believe they new her by name. She made sure we learned to swim, rode bikes, and spent as much time as possible at Jamieson park. She ensured we ran, play ball of any and every kind. All of which we each embraced and learned to love. And to this day we, each of us appreciates her love of nature, because she instill that same love in each of us.

We woke every morning to a good, most often hot breakfast. We were not allowed to escape without first downing a glass of orange juice. Our nutrition was high on her list. Good food on our plates was something she did not often have as a child and often went hungry. I think she is the only person I know who actually did walk uphill to and from school…in worn-out clothes and ill fitting shoes. So to my mother, giving your children what you didn’t have meant that we had everything that was important. Sometimes more, but never less. 

She made Christmas Eve our best family celebration every single year. And the tradition goes on today, and will never fade if most of us have our way. It was one occasion that brought us together without fail with all of our clashing personalities, boisterous voices, our loud laughter, and our undying competitive spirits. And an occasional cartwheel from Uncle Laurie. It wasn’t always easy. It was always crowded. And nothing gave her greater joy than to see us all hugging and joking and telling stories, especially if they were about her. She never once let us for a minute question her deep abiding love for us, and she laced all of it with her Irish, indelible May family sense of humor. 

My mother was hilarious and she’d be the first one to let that be known. Her sense of humor was one of her great attributes and oh so contagious. My mom instilled in us a basic truth, that one can get through any hardship with prayer and an ability to laugh at ones own foibles. Besides, they made for better stories. And she was the ultimate storyteller, often laughing harder than everyone in the room. She’d sometimes be laughing so hard you couldn’t make out the punch line. And she loved a good practical joke. She once turned off the kitchen lights and laid herself out on the floor, playing dead, to scare my brother Scott, after he and my brother Chris had just spent an hour telling my sisters and me scary stories in the dark. Stories and antics that made us scream with fear and laughter, except maybe Laurie. She screamed alright but then burst into tears….of course…Because Laurie cries at everything so, grain of salt. But man she got him good. And laid there on the floor laughing so hard her belly shook.

She had the most contagious smile. Broad and genuinely warm and engaging. Her laugh was the most incredible music I’ve ever known. If she was telling you a story that she found particularly hilarious, it was all she could do to get the words out as she could hardly breathe. In those moments it didn’t matter that you might not be able to understand her, her joy was a gift.

She made our life so amazing. Nine kids in a 2 bedroom house with a 1/2 story attic big enough for 5 girls to share, like a dorm room. A finished basement where we could roller skate when it rained, or play ping pong or pool and a room that held a zillion board games, blocks, bats, balls, snow suits and boots, a record player, dart board, and the electric trains we set up every Christmas. She taught us to play cards, and never complained when we turned up the stereo or radio when we girls were doing dishes, or dad was out of the house. 

She pitched whiffle balls, set up our croquet game or let us use her clothes line for badminton or volleyball. She let us dig in the dirt, play with the hose when it was hot, had my dad build us a sand box and a swing set. She taught us how to cross stitch and made paste with flour and water to stick our construction paper cutouts together. She was unstoppable. She was the ultimate mother. I am who I am today because on 11/11/22, the day God took his wand and cast stardust across the universe and breathed life into my sweet sweet mother, the tiny infant that was not expected to live. She fought for her own life and that of her children and grandchildren with love and prayer and sheer determination. She fought with a deep love for life and heart felt prayer from her soul, for each of us.

The last day she was awake, she gave me a message to pass on to her children. It was a moment I will never forget for the remainder of my own days, and worth repeating often.

‘Tell the children I said goodbye. 

Tell them that I love them so much.

Tell them to be good to their mother’s and dads, they love them so much

I love them so much’

I said, I promise momma, I love you so much

She said, ‘I love you more.’…I love you more. How could I ever argue that.

Addendum:

Since the funeral, I have wanted to finish my acknowledgments of the remainder of my siblings that I did not mention at church. Sorry, I lost if after Peggy…

To:

My brother Christopher Dennis, for all the quiet stoic patience that my mother instilled in you. I remember how you always got on your bike and ran errand for mom as a kid. How you took on babysitting duties and made those times fun for us. How you rarely, if ever, complained about life in the middle of 9 kids. How much joy you gave her with the attention and love you gave to our brother Mark. It made her so happy. Mom loved you so much and I could always see her appreciation of you and your gentle way of being. When I look at you, I see that part of her in you.

Mark Joseph, wish you could read and understand me so I could tell you how incredibly much she loved you. Words could never convey.

James, I’m happy she is finally able to bestow all of herself on you now.

Carol Lee. Mom loved you so so deeply. She worried about you constantly, and was so grateful to be able to be there for you in the hard times you suffered from a disease doctors knew very little about in your younger years. She was always so happy to hear your sweet voice on the phone, and to know you were okay. I know she hated leaving you. Thank you for always staying so closely connected to her.

Laurie Lee. She thought she was finished having her passel of children, but as she was apt to reminded you, she decided she had room for just one more, and that was you. I love how much you loved her. How you kept in contact with her and worried about her. You were her last and she enjoyed spoiling you with her time and attention in the years when you were the last be at home with her before grade school. She always noted your generous heart, and you are more like her in that way than many, you just cry more…then again maybe not. She was so proud of you and how hard you worked for the sisters. You are so devoted to your own family, and working for the nuns is almost as good as having a priest for a son…, but not quite so don’t get a big May head about it. Lucy I am so grateful to have been there, to bare whitness, as you, her youngest child, knowing this would probably be her last meal bravely spoon feed her, through tears of course, that last bit of ice cream. I will never forget it.

Finally I come to Scott David. This one, will get to me the most. I spent many hours over my lifetime watching my mom with her own struggles, for her strength to take care of her brood with little sleep, for her ability to keep going after a particularly difficult day with the Bear, which were many, to fight her own depression from being overwhelmed with the enormity of the load she bore everyday from the sheer logistics of her life. But you Scottie were my hero in that. You could make mom laugh with just a one liner as you came barreling through the door. You were a true angel in mom’s life and therefore all of our lives. You brought her more joy with your own May sense of humor than all of us put together. You made her day, everyday that you were near her, and for that I could never repay you. I relished every single moment of watching you, with your quick and whitty sense of irony, make her laugh, make her smile, make her silently giggle. Thank you for all the Johnnie Carson nights you spent with her. I enjoyed watching the two of you at that hour more than any other hour of the day, because you could always bring her relief with your own joy of life. Thank you for all the practical jokes you put up with from her. They were the best and I was always on board with being in on them. You as much as mom taught me that with a humor, everything, no matter how difficult, can be made better, could be eased. I can never find the words to express how much hope you brought back to us when you lifted her spirits. Thank you for giving her so much joy. I don’t know what she would have done without you in her life.

Love you Momma,

Theresa Lee 

[rickyriddle]

20 details you might have missed in AnR

“Hello! So here’s a list of details you might have missed from AnR, either the anime, manga, official doujins KnR or any official sources.

1) AnR had a social game called Akuma no Riddle AK released in 2012 and shut down in 2015 where several AnR characters have a profile card. Those guards revealed the age of those characters: Tokaku, Haru, Hitsugi, Chitaru, Nio and Banba are 15, Isuke 19 and Mizorogi 25. 

2) Otoya’s age is revealed in the fifth official doujins, she’s 16. It’s also implied that Shiena may be 16 too.

3) According to an official sketch, Yuri Meichi is 30 years old and her height is 168-170cm.

4) It’s stated that Suzu is born during the Meiji Restoration era (1868 to 1912), so if the series took place in 2014 like the anime does, she would be between 102 and 146 years old.

5) Isuke’s birthday (June 29th) happened during Class Black, she turned 20. It’s confirmed that Haruki is younger than her. She’s not the only one who has her birthday during Class Black. Since Japanese school years starts in April, it’s possible that Otoya, whose birthday is April 1st, happened when she was at Class Black. Suzu’s birthday also happened during Class Black (July 14th) and possibly Banba too (May 30th). It means Otoya turned 16 at the start of Class Black and Banba turned 16 during Class Black. Yuri’s birthday is April 29th, meaning that she also turned one year older during the series (so should be 31 now). Kouko too (July 25th) but she wasn’t at Class Black anymore.

Speaking of birthdays, it’s possible to establish how long Class Black lasted. School started in April. When Isuke had her birthday, Haruki was still there. Which means that between the first attempt and Haruki’s attempt, there were almost 3 months. Since Suzu did her attempt on her birthday, there are less than two weeks between Haruki’s attempt and hers. Banba and Isuke’s attempts happening during typhoon season, which is July to October in Japan. Since it seemed to be the first one we can assume their attempt happened in July, so right after Suzu’s. It’s implied that Sumireko went right after them, so either end of July or beginning of August. So overall, Class Black lasted approximately 4 months, April to July/August.

6) Haru’s hair may look like pigtails, it’s actually not.

7) It’s mentioned that Isuke likes men older than 40, but she ended up dating Haruki, meaning she’s bisexual.

8) According to characters’ info, Suzu’s least favourite food is meat, meaning she might be a vegetarian. Shinya’s hobby is crosswords while Yuri’s hobby is going to the gym. To see all the characters’ info click here: Characters guide.

9) In the manga, we can see Suzu’s underwear and they have floral motif on them. Foreshadowing that she was actually a granny? And speaking of underwear, apparently, some of Shiena’s bra had a lot of paddings. Hm...

10) In the manga, Suzu showed a newspaper to her classmates, about Jack the Ripper of the 21st, telling them it’s Otoya’s doing. The number 29 is written on it and the wiki incorrectly said it’s the number of victims while actually, it’s the age of the victim. In KnR during the news, we saw that Otoya’s victim was a 27 years old hairdresser. Looks like Otoya has a type.

11) In KnR 7 it’s revealed that Haruki doesn’t have a father.

12) KnR implied twice that Chitaru and Hitsugi might have slept together during Class Black. Whether it’s canon or not is up to debate.

13) In the manga Tokaku claimed to not have a family, meaning that her grandmother might be deceased.

14) Isuke actually had a brother when she was still living with her biological parents, but Eisuke arrived too late to save him and he died.

15) Kaiba is actually a psychology teacher, he doesn’t teach technical assassination, which means he may not be an assassin.

16) Yuri and Kaiba actually know each other as shown in the manga, and Kaiba was Mizorogi’s senpai at school. If Mizorogi is 25, then Kaiba must be 26-28 years old.

17) In the anime, we saw the characters’ reaction to their test and for some of them, their result. Kouko (98) had the best grade of the class, followed by Haru (94) and then Hitsugi and Chitaru (91), meaning they are all academically good. Shiena looks at her test and said “guess that’s it”, implying that she might be average. Isuke had the worst result, Nio didn’t want to look at her result meaning she might know it’s bad, Banba said that they didn’t have to give her back meaning it’s bad, Suzu said the biology test was profound (which doesn’t really said if she did well or not), Tokaku had 80, Sumireko only said “oh my” while seeing her result.

18) In both the anime and manga, Kouko is implied to be good at drawing.

19) Each time a student was expelled, a flower was put on their desk. The flower is only shown in the anime, but in the manga certain characters (especially Suzu) explained the meaning behind the flower. Otoya is mountain lilies, which means “the joy of life”. Kouko is red spider lily, which Suzu said it means “I’m waiting to meet you again”, but it can also mean death. Haruki is verbena flowers, which symbolize family love. Shiena is s thistle flower, which symbolizes revenge. Chitaru is red roses which symbolize love and Hitsugi is white roses, which  symbolize innocent or childlike. Suzu is a red tulip, which means “declaration of love”. Banba is moonflowers and Japanese bindweeds, their Japanese names mean day face and night face and mean strong bonds. Isuke is red carnations which means mother’s love, and Sumireko is Iceland poppies which symbolize comfort.

20) Yuri as the same past as Haru and also went through Class Black, but in her case, she won it in only 6 days. Wow.

That will be all for this list, if you have any comments or other details you think should have been on the list please let me know! Thanks for reading ^^

[caladhel-iarian]

Talking to Dhel is like going to dinner at Dick’s Last Resort

General Information—— —

FULL NAME:  Caladhel Ia’rian.

NICKNAME(S):

Dhel.

Dek.

Hardass.

The Ice Prince.

Smokestack.

Ladle.

Daddy. This is an excellent way to ensure he never talks to you again. Use with caution. And by caution, probably don’t ever call him this if you like his company.

Various other silly, syrupy endearments his brothers come up with on the fly.

TITLE(S):

Crown Prince Caladhel.

Master Caladhel.

Professor Ia’rian.

AGE:  305. Roughly the equivalent of a human in his mid-to-late 30′s.

BIRTHDAY:  October 29.

RACE:  Highborne. Yes, he has distinctly Sin’dorei colouring. But take a look at his ears, his height, his build, his face--he is not Sin’dorei. 

GENDER:  Male.

ORIENTATION: 

Heteroflexible.

Sapiosexual. 

Demisexual.

MARITAL STATUS: 

Married to his work.

(He’s single. Good luck changing his mind.)

Physical Appearance—— —

HAIR:

Thick, black as pitch, and silky. Mostly straight, though the jagged ends tend to swoop in all directions. He has two long strands that drape over his shoulders and touch his abs, long bangs (often swept to one side in a ponytail), and the rest is a choppy mess.

EYES: 

The irises are a rich chocolate brown with gold flecks. If they didn’t glow lime green, they’d resemble a deeper, darker tiger’s eye stone held up to the sunlight.

His eyes are narrow and almond-shaped, and they slant up at the outer corners. They’re also rimmed in black lashes thick enough and long enough to make many women envious.

HEIGHT:  8′ even. He’s a big boy.

BUILD: 

Many students express surprise when first confronted by this professor. They expect withered, hunched old men with beards longer than table runners, or frail, fragile dolls who would shatter in a stiff breeze. Instead, they get an enormous, broad-shouldered elf who looks like he could probably swim the entire Great Ocean without getting winded.

While he’ll never resemble a walking refrigerator, if you catch him naked, you’ll find plenty of lean, defined muscle. Dhel has a swimmer’s build.

DISTINGUISHING MARKS: 

A lip piercing that he doesn’t always wear.

Glasses. If he’s not wearing contacts, he’s wearing his glasses. Otherwise, he can’t see his hand in front of his face.

Tattoos. Many, many tattoos.

Knotty scars around his ankles, his heels, and his soles.

He has a birthmark on the tip of his right big toe; it resembles a bird with wings spread.

Both cheeks dimple when he smiles.

His smile is crooked; the left side of his mouth pulls up higher.

You’ll rarely see him without a cigarette and a cloud of purple smoke hanging around.

TATTOOS:  Left arm:

Family crest on the inside of his forearm (a massive tree on a hill with the sun rising behind it).

Infinity symbol curling around his wrist. It looks like a musical staff.

Musical staff around his bicep. The staff contains notation and a few lyrics.

A trio of fox kits chase a red butterfly down the outside of his forearm.

Right arm:

Azure cloud serpent Ouroboros on the outside of his forearm.

Marionette with cut strings on the outside of his bicep.

Words from his favourite poem on the inside of his forearm.

Fleur de lis on the inside of his wrist.

A Punch ‘n Judy stage with the titular characters on the inside of his bicep.

From his neck down, he is covered in runic tattoos that are only visible when he uses magic. They glow a vivid violet during his spellcasting. 

PIERCINGS:  A lower lip piercing. He doesn’t always wear it.

COMMON ACCESSORIES: 

Cigarettes.

Pen and paper.

Eyeglasses.

A mithril ring on a simple silver chain around his neck. The ring is shaped like an ivy vine set with emerald leaves and tiny moonstone flowers.

A string of jade prayer beads wrapped around his wrist like a bracelet.

Books.

A briefcase and/or messenger bag filled with folders. The folders contain assignments he needs to grade and outlines for future assignments he can give his students.

Personal Information—— —

PROFESSION(S):

Crown Prince and Heir Apparent.

Vocalist, pianist, and lyricist for the rock band, Dysphoria.

Adjunct professor for the Sunfury Spire (Silvermoon) and the Violet Academy (Dalaran). 

He teaches World Mythology, Ancient Runes, and Advanced Evocation for the older students during the fall term, and general education for the kiddies during spring and fall terms. 

On occasion, he also teaches ballroom dancing as an afterschool elective.

HOBBIES: 

Collecting books.

Reading everything he can get his hands on.

Writing poetry and short stories he never publishes.

Ice sculpting.

Working on the book he does plan to publish.

Traveling and urban exploration.

Baiting people with harsh banter.

Tutoring kids.

Tea ceremony (both teaching and indulging in).

Making paper lanterns.

Solitary walks.

Playing piano.

Pointing out all your faults.

SKILL(S): 

Natural inclination for frost magic.

Conjuration.

Evocation.

Singing.

Playing piano.

Undefeated champion of hide and seek.

Making people upset.

Making people cry.

Born to teach.

Martyrdom.

Being an asshole. He’s real good at it.

Likes to think he’s great with words.

Despite how acerbic he is around adults, he’s fantastic with kids. 

Observant. Probably too observant.

Analytical to the point of paranoia.

Pointing out your flaws.

Hypocrisy.

Scrying.

Making a damn good cup of tea.

He’s a walking, insulting bag of dicks, but he’s surprisingly good at picking out gifts for people.

Getting pissed off faster than you can blink.

Fashion. The man’s a snappy dresser. Just as snappy as his mouth.

LANGUAGE(S): 

Thalassian.

Darnassian (ancient and modern).

Shalassian.

Gutterspeech.

Taurahe.

Common.

Zandali.

Pandaren.

Orcish.

RESIDENCE: 

He owns a penthouse apartment in Silvermoon. It’s located near the Court of the Sun and he shares it with both Lin and Bren--and the rest of his family whenever they come to visit.

He also has a penthouse apartment in Dalaran, smack in the middle of Runeweaver Square.

In the Brydydd Theatre outside Tranquillien (Ghostlands), an entire suite of rooms has been set aside for him.

Back in his homeland, he still has his private suite in the royal palace.

BIRTHPLACE:  Sunset Palace on Skyfire Isle. It sits at the end of Morning Glory Lane in the capital city of Berl’din Mor.

RELIGION: He’s about as religious as a rock.

Relationships—— —

SPOUSE: 

Unmarried--whether by choice or because no one can put up with his acid tongue, who knows? 

If you’re interested in getting him down the aisle, best of luck to you.

CHILDREN: 

None at the moment. But he’d love to have a large family of his own.

Because his genes are just as dominant as the rest of him, if he ever knocked a woman up, she can expect that her first child will be children, either twin boys or triplet sons. His line has bred true in this fashion for countless generations.

PARENTS: 

Taenaran Ia’rian (father).

Sumire Ia’rian nee Ker’anith (mother).

SIBLINGS:  In order of age:

Calaglin Ia’rian (triplet and elder brother by two minutes).

Calabren Ia’rian (triplet and younger brother by two minutes).

Ylinderwyn Ia’rian (sister).

Kethian Ia’rian (sister).

Istaunna Ia’rian (sister).

Kouwin Ia’rian (brother and twin to Kouyuu).

Kouyuu Ia’rian (brother and twin to Kouwin).

Yenchul Ia’rian (brother and twin to Tevryn).

Tevryn Ia’rian (adopted brother and twin to Yenchul).

Phirayaela Ia’rian (sister).

OTHER RELATIVES:  Too many to name here. Suffice to say, he comes from an enormous clan and holidays are busy. Both his grandmothers are still living, as well as his many-times great-grandmother.

PETS: N/A

Traits—— —

•extroverted / introverted / in between.

•disorganized / organized / in between.

•close minded / open-minded / in between.

•calm / anxious / in between.

•disagreeable / agreeable / in between.

•cautious / reckless / in between.

•patient / impatient / in between.

•outspoken / reserved / in between.

•leader / follower / in between.

•empathetic / indifferent / in between.

•optimistic / pessimistic / in between.

•traditional / modern / in between.

•hard-working / lazy / in between.

•cultured / uncultured / in between.

•loyal / disloyal / unknown / in between.

•assertive / timid / in between

Additional Information—— —

SMOKING:  never / sometimes / frequently / to excess.

DRUGS: never / sometimes / frequently / to excess.

ALCOHOL: never/ sometimes / frequently / to excess.

Extra—— —

FACECLAIM(S):  Aoi of the GazettE (Shiroyama Yuu). But mostly, I just draw him.

VOICE CLAIM(S):  His own, I suppose.

ALIGNMENT:  Chaotic. 

NAME PRONUNCIATION:  Caladhel

CULL-uh-dell

CULL-ay-dull is also a possible pronunciation, but this is considered obscure and doesn’t really see use anymore.

Ia’rian

YAH-ree-ahn

IN GAME NAME: 

I don’t really play WoW anymore, but if you’re interested in him and you play Final Fantasy XIV, you can find him on Balmung under the name Kaito Fujiwara.

Otherwise, you can hit me up on Discord. Ask me for it. But be warned that I am slow to respond both because I have projects to work on and I make drafts of all my posts; I want to give you the best I can write.

OTHER:

You May Know Them If:

You’re a fan of music and you follow any bands around Azeroth and/or Eorzea. He and his band have been featured a few times in a popular music magazine called “Azerothian Axes.”

You’re a Magister/Magistrix. He’s part of the Conclave of Mages in Silvermoon and a decorated war veteran.

You ever attended classes at the Sunfury Spire or the Violet Academy; he’s taught there for several years now.

You also teach classes at either of these locations.

You’ve been to music concerts, including the concerts held each month in the Darkmoon Faire. He and his band have performed on this stage.

You’re friends with a girl who’s had her heart broken by this icy bastard and you’re out for some revenge.

You grew up in Silvermoon and played with the other kids. He’s probably kicked your ass at hide and seek.

Rp Hooks:

Find him in a bookstore and he’s more likely to be mellow enough to carry on a conversation with you. He likes books. Get him talking about them.

Find him in his favourite cafe in Silvermoon and he’s probably sitting at a table alone, grading student papers. Be smart in your approach and he’s less likely to try to bite your head off. Tea is a good way to get him interested.

If you’re a fan of his band/music, interact with him after the show. Approach him during the meet and greet. Just be sure he’s around his brothers or he’ll probably say some unpleasant things. And for the love of all that is holy, don’t bring him gifts. Or do, if you’re the sort of person who really enjoys conflict.

If you’ve ever taken one of his classes, talk to him. Ask him about his lectures. It’s a surefire way to get his attention and if you can speak with him intelligently, you’ll get on his good side. Or at least not on his “I wish you’d fall off the face of this planet” side.

Are you the adventurous, treasure-seeking type? Meet him on one of his journeys to collect ancient knowledge from ruined cities and tombs. Just be wary of his brothers lurking in the shadows.

Have kids who are fond of wandering off when you’re a little distracted? They are a bazillion percent safe with Dhel. Let your kid approach him and they’ll find a stern but gentle caretaker who will protect them while he helps them find their lost parent/sibling/nanny/governor. Just be ready for him to give you a tongue lashing for being an inattentive adult. And definitely do not call him “daddy” unless you never want to see him again.

Dhel is pointing out your flaws.

[nyalisa-landale]

in which i accidentally 2000 words about goddamn phantasy star

i ended up pulling up the phantasy star page on wikipedia to win a discussion with my brother wrt video game prices, and ended up finding out that

1) you can unlock it on the ps3 sega’s ultimate genesis collection (super easily, too) and

2) apparently it’s actually considered an Important Game and shit, ranking at 26 on a “top 200 videogames of all time” list as recently as 2006 - and i’m talking specifically phantasy star 1 the master system game, not the series as a whole. like, being one of the first, if not the first, rpgs to not be a dungeons and dragons clone and/or take place in a generic fantasy setting; “event scenes” which are basically the precursor to cutscenes; actual characters with, like, names and backstories and motivation and shit; and, also, one of the first games with a female protagonist. metroid did it first, technically, having come out two years earlier, but while everyone knows samus is a girl now, back in 1986 you only found out if you beat the game fast enough and got to see her out of her suit (in a bikini, because 8-bit graphics); in phantasy star you knew right up front and center that you were playing as alis, younger sister of nero, whose tragic death the game literally opens with. also pseudo-3d dungeons, animated monster battles, and three fucking planets you could travel between. 

(there’s a read-more after this; apparently i have a lot of feelings about phantasy star. rip anyone on mobile... including myself.)

don’t even get me started on phantasy star 2. you know what came out (in america) two months before final fantasy? this fucking shit. you know what pulled an aeris nine years before final fantasy 7 ever existed? this fucking shit. final fantasy was busy pulling a fifty shades on dungeons and dragons while phantasy star 2 was throwing characterisation and introspection and self-discovery and fantastic fucking worldbuilding and reversing the usual “humans vs aliens” plot (spoiler: we’re the invaders here) and just generally being amazing, well before final fantasy would start even thinking about it. did the sega genesis have a killer app? yes, and it wasn’t fucking sonic the hedgehog.

it’s not even fair to compare phantasy star 2 to final fantasy, what with them being from two different console generations and phantasy star 2 also being the largest game ever released at the time on any console (six megabits!), although for american audiences that’s the comparison they’d be making, since final fantasy came out so goddamn late here. ps1 vs ff1 is a fairer comparison, except that it isn’t, because everything i just said about ps2 vs ff1 still applies. (also - in japan, at least - ps1 came out literally two days after ff1.) 

the worst goddamn thing i can say about this series is that it is, afaik, super obscure now. if you look up phantasy star stuff now, most of what you’ll find is probably going to be phantasy star online-related (let me get to that in a bit). much like everything else about sega, phantasy star was too goddamn ahead of its time and ambitious. EXAMPLE: fucking phantasy star 3, widely regarded as the worst game in the series - so much so that when sega was attempting an updated ps2 rerelease it was a phantasy star trilogy consisting of 1, 2, and 4 - had multiple generations, branching storylines, and four different endings. IN 1990. it was a gaiden (side story) game before the actual phantasy star: gaiden came out, let alone fire emblem: gaiden (although not, i don’t think, before the phantasy star 2 gaiden games, of which there were several; i could be wrong on that but it’s within the same series so it doesn’t really matter). i was going to call zelda 2 a gaiden game as well - fe2 apparently got compared to it a lot, both of them being the second game in a series and both of them taking a decidedly different approach to gameplay than the first had - but zelda 2 is actually literally a direct sequel, so it’s not gaiden in the slightest.

ANYWAY, ps3 appears at first entirely unrelated to anything in the previous two phantasy stars - dark force, the series Big Bad, gets referenced near the beginning but i don’t know if they actually call him by name until much later - and appears to be a fairly basic fantasy romp, except then you get a fucking robot party member (followed shortly thereafter by a second) and the “passages” to different “worlds” are inexplicably mechanical-looking, and then in the second generation you GO TO THE FUCKING MOON (which moon depends on which 2nd gen character you’re playing) and find out that actually, your home with its tiny “worlds” and weird fucking “passages”? IS A GODDAMN SPACESHIP. 

you know what other game starts out super fantasy but, in the end, you go to the goddamn moon? final fantasy 4. a year later. my knowledge of super famicom games doesn’t extend that much farther than final fantasy and fire emblem with a side order of zelda, so i might be entirely off the mark on this one, but as far as i know the next game of that era to do a multiple generation thing was fe4, genealogy of the holy war, in 1996. six fucking years later.

unfortunately phantasy star 3 spent a bit too much effort being super innovative, because it literally is objectively the worst of the quadrilogy, but it is by no means a bad game? phantasy star 2 set a high fucking bar and phantasy star 4 picked up where ps2 left off (only not really, because it’s 1000 years later); 3, with its barely-there tie to phantasy star 2 (in an entirely optional town, at that) and weird-ass mechanics that only it has, gets forgotten pretty easily in the middle of that. you know. like a fucking gaiden game.

and speaking of phantasy star 4, it expands even more on the “event scenes” of previous games, as well as the script, and guess what? it did combination attacks two years before chrono trigger did. (or a few months, for us americans. still.) this is the phantasy star i have the least experience with, so i can’t comment as much on it, but i do know that it is a long fucking game, and not because it’s grindy as hell. because plot. STORY! (also apparently, in the us at least, it retailed for ~$100. yikes.)

also, i lied, because ps4 is not the phantasy star i have the least experience with; that would be everything that came after.* i, personally, love the quadrilogy to pieces and pretend that nothing else came after it, ever (which is really easy to do, because none of it is fucking related to the quadrilogy except for set dressing), but I CAN’T NOT MENTION PHANTASY STAR ONLINE, not if i’m talking about sega being tragically too ahead of its fucking time. it was literally the second online console game - i think the first mmo - and the first online console game - chu-chu rocket! - was made literally so that sega could figure out how the fuck to make pso work. chu-chu rocket! came out for the dreamcast in 1999; phantasy star online followed in 2000. ps2 online multiplayer wasn’t a thing until the year after that; followed another year later by the xbox. (final fantasy xi also came out in 2002.) attempts at online console capabilities were made as early as - i want to say as early as the snes and the genesis, with stuff like downloadable games, and a whole host of companies attempted to produce consoles with online capabilities, to compete with the pc market, but nothing actually took off until the dreamcast.

( * actually it’s gaiden and adventure, the two game gear titles. i have literally never touched anything related to them at all, ever, and i actually forgot they existed until i started looking shit up for this post. i do at least own a copy of phantasy star universe; i missed the bandwagon on pso, though as i understand it, if i were to emulate it, i could still play online with other people.)

hey, guess what phantasy star online was a direct inspiration for? the .hack series. SURPRISE, MOTHERFUCKERS.

unfortunately sega seems pretty content to forget that this franchise even exists; the most recent release was the japan-only phantasy star portable 2 infinity in 2011 (phantasy star portable 2, regular version, hit english-speaking audiences in 2010), but is part of the phantasy star universe line, a... spin-off, i guess? of phantasy star online, but for ps2 and 360, well after sega dropped out of the console race for good. the original quadrilogy? well, 2-4 get included on basically every genesis collection sega shits out for any console whatsoever, but ps1, having been for master system, usually gets left out - sonic’s ultimate genesis collection, mentioned way back at the top, is the outlier here, but even then you have to unlock it. (by... beating the first boss of sonic 2 with two active controllers - that is, with a second player joined but not actually in two-player mode. so two controllers. it’s not hard to unlock; you can do it in like five minutes. you still have to do it, though.) there were attempts to remaster them - i mentioned the updated ps2 rereleases, and ps1 and ps2 were actually released in japan; ps4′s never happened, though¸ and so neither of the first two were ever localised, though there are translation patches. (as i understand it, ps2′s is still kind of a work in progress.) apparently these new versions ended up scrapped in favor of a ps2 port of phantasy star collection for the saturn, both of which were released in japan only. the saturn version (1998) had all four games (and a few unrelated ones); the ps2 version (2008), phantasy star complete collection was... uh, exactly what the name implies: all four main games, all of the ps2 gaiden games (text adventures, apparently, previously exclusive to the sega meganet network service and also japan-only), and both game gear entries (gaiden and adventure); it also added the ability to make the games even harder, if you wanted to, as well as several different graphical filters you could use or not use as you preferred. this compilation was apparently also released over psn for ps3 in 2012. have i said “japan-only” enough times yet? it was japan-only.

there was also a phantasy star collection for the gba, in 2001/2; this consisted of the first three games - but not the fourth, as it wouldn’t fit on the cartridge - and no extras or improvements other than what was required to make them run on the gba. this version is notable for being the only goddamn one released outside japan. i have two cartridge copies and it is consistently the first game i play on any given gba emulator.

...and that’s how i ended up spending two goddamn hours writing way the fuck more about the phantasy star series, and specifically the original quadrilogy that is older the fuck than i am, than i ever actually intended to. idk, maybe there’s a huge active cult following for these somewhere on the internet that i haven’t found yet - yes, i’m aware of most of the fansites, they’re old as fuck and afaik mostly inactive, so they don’t count - but it sure as hell feels to me like everybody’s sleeping on these. what do people remember from the genesis? sonic and fucking ecco the dolphin. sega could totally pull a square enix and ff7-remake the shit out of these (except for real), but they could barely do it for the playstation 2; they’re sure as hell not going to do it for the playstation 4. so instead, all i can do is dream of what we could have had. (and, uh. play phantasy star generations 1 with the translation patch, the closest there is to “what we could have had”.)

i guess when sega saddled ps4 with the subtitle “the end of the millennium” they fucking meant it. 

[cosmosogler]

i got just about everything done that needed to be done today. i need to check if i’m actually registered for specific classes yet or not and continue with ongoing studies but other than that i got a lot done.

first thing i did was get up at 9:20, which is just a bit earlier than i’ve been getting up lately. tonight i’m gonna try for bed at 11:30 to see about getting up at 8 or 8:15. right now it’s 10:35 so i’m in the clear for now.

gotta let dad know i will be accompanying eve to the vet on friday.

i showered and got the final bandages off. my bellybutton actually only has a tiny cut. not into it, but around the inside in a semi-circle. there wasn’t any extra blood or anything, it’s all closed nicely. i’m guessing there’s just a lot of blood flow through that area of your body and that’s why the bandages looked a lot more severe. i even scrubbed off ALMOST all the residue at long last. there’s a little bit left around a scab i didn’t want to irritate too much. my stomach finally looks like i was lightly injured instead of operated on. taking off the tape helped a lot honestly. none of the incisions look like they will leave a noticeable scar.

modern medicine really is impressive. when my gramma had her gallbladder out just 10 years ago or so it left a definite mark along her side.

anyway after that i looked up a lot of finance stuff and compiled a list of resources to review again later. stuff explaining, like, what investment is and how it works and why it’s preferable to just putting everything in a savings account. and what a retirement fund looks like and the differences between all the varieties. i think i am going to have to actually have someone at the bank sit me down and explain how my accounts work though. and maybe how to tone down mom’s control over my finances. definitely want to do that BEFORE i leave, as there is no open branch in gainesville.

looks like i could even bring mom along on saturday if we need, like, negotiations or something. i’ll keep looking into it.

then i went to the grocery store and got some tortilla chips, and some dog treats since you get a dollar off (which is like 20%!) if you got a membership. i got the old favorite, bacon and blueberry. i’m gonna start giving them to the dogs after eve’s surgery. i’m hoping cookies will lift her mood.

then i ate an entire bowl full of sharon’s salsa and also heated up some leftover pizza. i was really full afterward but i’m glad i didn’t overdo it with the salsa. i didn’t actually fill up the entire bowl until it overflowed. i only reasonably filled it.

the pizza made me SUPER sick afterward. i spent a while listening to music while i looked at the rest of my finance resource tabs. then i downloaded an app that tracks how long you spend each day working on individual long-term projects and helps you pace yourself with timers and scheduled breaks and stuff. i even coughed up the five dollars for no ads. 

i spent an hour giving it a try! i added a few projects to work on over the next week, and stuff i thought would probably be important to keep up with at school like “study physics.” for now i just timed myself organizing some bookmarks. it was nice actually. i got all my folders where i want them, i cleared out my “general” tab into the appropriate folders, and i started going through one of the larger folders looking for dead links or things that were sorted incorrectly back when i made the folder like five years ago.

the hope is that if i streamline my folders enough i will be encouraged to actually look in them sometimes? at least my music folder is looking fantastic. i’ve got it sorted into genre and a subfolder for things i would like to buy when i have money for it.

i hope i can make good use of this app. it seems promising so far.

then i took care of some ufl orientation stuff and a survey i found in my email. and i signed and sent off some paperwork. then i went to dinner with gramma and grampa, my brother, and the cousins. this time my brother did invite my sister but she stayed home because she and mom wanted to go to the movies. (mom flaked out on the movie. but gramma is going with her tomorrow.)

i ordered a veggie burger, and the waitress wrote it down and read it back to me correctly, but when i got my food i took a bite out of the burger and got a mouthful of Double Beef Patty. 

i always feel like i’m put in a complicated situation when this happens. and it does happen a lot. like, on one hand, i really don’t want to eat meat! and i am very out of practice with digesting meat! and now i am even more unable to digest it due to the gallbladder thing!! but on the other hand, not eating the meat isn’t going to bring the animal back to life. it feels like if i refuse to eat it the animal died for nothing. no one else is going to eat it now that it’s on my plate sitting in front of me. 

i felt bad because i really did get sick. i wanted to avoid too much more fat because of the pizza for lunch. veggie burgers are usually pretty good about that, and i got a side salad instead of fries or anything. i dunno. the waitress was nice about it and it wasn’t her fault. i hope that didn’t affect the tip grampa gave her. mom said he tips badly in general anyway though.

after that we went back to gramma’s house and i had another klondike bar and played “village idiot” with my brother and austin and thomas. i lost only once out of the four rounds even with austin very carefully explaining each turn of the game to me constantly and telling me my options when my cards were face up. i teased him about it after the first round and he let me just play. i did get a lot better at it after the second round though.

thomas did the “kill yourself” thing again but it seemed to be more that he was very enthusiastic about the game and it had become his go-to phrase at some point before the first time he told me that.

after the game my brother and thomas and i were screwing around on austin’s computer. my brother knew most of his social circle so we were just goofing off on discord.

then my brother and i came across a channel where austin had posted pictures of my sister (taken from screenshots of her snap chat a few months ago) and had received some very... inappropriate comments on her appearance. i asked who the guy was and his age and he apparently is older than even me. that made me REALLY upset. when austin got back my brother looked at him and was all “what the hell is this?” and i told him not to show them pictures of us any more. he seemed confused? but he also said “ok.” 

i talked it over with asher when grampa was driving me and my brother home. asher was real nice about it at least. when we got home i took wiley on another lap around the neighborhood in 100-degree heat, and then i told my sister what happened. she thanked me for telling her and said i did everything i could already. 

it was actually kind of nice that she thanked me for once. i usually get a response more along the lines of “o....k....????” when i try to talk with my sister. or “that’s just how she is” when i talk about mom. i recognize that my sister has a very different (but just as complicated and stressful) relationship with my mother than i do.

what did i do after that... it looks like i just checked some comics and watched an episode of nostalgia critic and folding ideas. and watched another physics video. i’m kind of relieved that it’s coming back to me fairly easily. i’ll try to keep up with it tomorrow. tomorrow evening we are entertaining jamey and her kids (part 2!) it looks like the oldest one just got pokemon moon so i can finally give her the espeon i spent that one evening training up haha. hopefully in exchange for transferring all her pokemon up to the new game she will help me evolve my machoke. 

i’m a little nervous about how much i should really... talk to her or ask her about herself. she’s ten years younger than me. like what’s polite and what’s too much? will she think i’m being patronizing if i start explaining too much about pokemon or whatever? should i ask what kinds of tv shows she likes? would it be weird if we talked about steven universe or something?

i know i was just a kid a few years ago but i already don’t remember how they work. this is weird. i seem to remember telling myself i would never not understand someone my age but i don’t remember when that was. probably when i was like nine. i have a lot of “shower thoughts” style wisdom chunks to impart on a younger generation but i always figured it would be, like, my brother’s kids at some point in the far future. 

god. i’m babysitting my old babysitter’s kids. i want to treat them with the respect i would give an adult but at the same time there is a difference in how kids work compared to adults. i don’t know where i’d be overestimating or underestimating. underestimating kids is insulting to them, of course, i remember that, but i feel like overestimating is a lot more... stressful and dangerous.

i guess i’ll figure it out as i go. 

i’m worried about eve... she seems like she’s about ready to give up. she just seems so exhausted when i come over to pet her. she barely lifts her head. she doesn’t greet me at the door since she doesn’t spend time with the other dogs when i’m not home. so she doesn’t hear the front door open or close.

i need her to hang on for just one more day. i wish i could tell her that. one day before she can exchange this problem for a set of less insurmountable problems. i really hope that the amputation is helpful for her. even if she only lives a couple more months, if she’s able to “live” again, it will have been worth it. by “live” i mean stuff like getting around when she wants to. eating. wagging her tail. thinking a little more clearly. not being irritable and frustrated and confused all the time.

she’s sleeping right now. at least it passes the time i guess. i still get the feeling that she’s the one taking care of me instead of the other way around. i check on her a lot but when she’s not sleeping she’s usually watching me. she almost never leaves the room i’m in and almost always follows me as soon as i leave. she has gotten better at “stay, i will be right back” at least. i wish there was more i could do for her right now. 

[lifeisthemostwonderfulfairytalex]

Meet The Anderson’s: Chapter 11

Hey guys! It's been a while (very nearly 2 years!) and for that I'm extremely sorry. I've said it several times before in the notes of this story, including in Chapter 9 but I really need to learn to back up my stuff :/. Unfortunately after the last chapter my laptop completely died and I lost absolutely everything to do with this story an any other ideas that I had at the time. I did find the motivation to write some one shots and a story for the Blaine Big Bang but this story became a real sticking point for me. I couldn't seem to get the boys right and it was really annoying me which led to me losing any motivation I had to get this finished. Over the last few months though I've received a few messages about the fic and @forabeatofadrum wrote an awesome oneshot about the boys during the 2016 Klaine advent (go read it I've left the link at the bottom the boys are dead on!). Between that fic and the messages I've received I found my love for these boys again and have managed to create a timeline and remap out the whole story.

Hopefully there are some people who are still interested in this story even though it's two years later and Glee is long over now. Anyway I'm going to try and finish this off this time and I definitely have everything backed up several times over! Hope you enjoy and as ever let me know what you think.

Part 1   Part 2    Part 3    Part 4    Part 5    Part 6    Part 7    Part 8    Part 9    Part 10

Chapter 11: Sing It For The World

"That's it! I give up, it is impossible to choreograph these guys!" Bentley glared around the group of glee club boys in particular, Blaine's shoulders shaking with the effort to keep in his laughter. "Nationals is in one week and you still look like a bunch of uncoordinated bumbling idiots."

Finn winced, "Benny we have to get this right. We can't lose our nationals trophy, not now."

Bentley mumbled under his breath, gaze sweeping around the sheepish looking choir group as the bell rang shrilly for first period. "Fine. Sam, Ryder, Joe, Sugar, Unique and Marley meet me in the auditorium as soon as lunch starts. Then all of you will meet me there after school and we will run through the entire choreography…again." Grabbing his bag from the floor he ran his hands through his fly away curls. "Look I can't sing for shit, but choreography? That's my game. I can dance up a storm and damn it I will pull all of you kicking and screaming along with me if I have to. We'll go all night if we have to."

"All night?" Artie whimpered watching Bentley and Kitty sweep out of the choir room door.

Blaine shrugged, well aware of how serious Bentley could be when it came to choreographing. He had watched numerous 'dance troupes' that Bentley had thrown together fall apart due to Bentley's growing frustration with their inability to pick up the moves fast enough. His brother never did quite understand why other seven year olds weren't also natural dancers. Sighing he grabbed his own bag, heading for his AP History class with Tina and Artie in tow. One more week and they would be in LA. One more week and Glee club as they knew it would be over forever, only the seniors last Nationals competition currently stood in their way.

Blaine trembled slightly as Jean Baptiste and the members of 'Throat Explosion' marched past the New Directions, each of them smirking and hollering as they went. The rest of the glee club stood in shock, mouths dropped open, watching their competition stride confidently for the elevator bank that would take them to the hotel rooms they were staying in.

Mercedes was the first to recover, coughing loudly and levelling each of the younger New Directions with an intense stare. "We have got to beat them."

"And we will…looks like we have our own cheerleader," Artie sniggered, watching the tall boy saunter across the lobby towards them, pulling off a pair of black Ray Bans with a grin.

"Kurt!" Blaine yelled, launching himself at his boyfriend and instantly locking lips with him, shooting Bentley the finger when the boy started fake gagging behind them.

Mr Schuester cleared his throat quietly, eyebrows rising when the two boys ignored him. Shooting Finn a look, he motioned towards the two teenagers. Finn raised his own eyebrow looking from his brother to Mr Schue and back again. Finally understanding what the older man was asking he shook his head vehemently, marching to the desk to check the group in. Mercedes shook her head fondly at the two lovers before following Finn to ensure he checked everyone in to the right rooms.

"Blaine, you're erm, you're going to have to erm, share a room with the rest of the glee boys," Mr Schuester said firmly, finally gaining the attention of the duo when Blaine pulled away from Kurt with a pout.

Kurt glared at the older man, glad to no longer call him a teacher, before pulling away and sighing, wrapping an arm around Blaine's waist. "No good staying with me anyway," He smiled squeezing Blaine's waist lightly before releasing him.

"Why not?"

"Blainey! Benny!"

"Oh dear god no," Blaine groaned, whipping around to see a hoard of his brothers enter the lobby. Quickly doing a head count, he frowned when he noticed three missing.

Kurt laughed gently, "Yep the second I said I was coming I suddenly had an entourage gate crashing my room."

Tilting his head he turned to Kurt curiously, "Why aren't they staying with Cooper and Austin?"

"Cooper kicked me out," Austin's voice boomed across the lobby as he and Pippin rounded the corner wearing matching Hawaiian shirts and board shorts, completing their outfits with large wicker hats. Blaine shook his head when his head count now showed only Cooper missing.

"I wonder why," Bentley muttered under his breath, eyeing the older twins outfits up and down with a horrified look. He yelped when Blaine elbowed him in the side and glared at him.

"Why?" Sam asked, grinning at the twins and high fiving them each separately.

Austin rolled his eyes and crossed his arms across his chest, dropping onto the arm of the armchair Marley was sitting in and winking at the girl to make her laugh, Blaine smacking him round the head and glaring at him steadfastly. "Apparently he has a super important audition and I'd just be distracting him," Austin grinned at his twin and rolled his tongue over his lip ring. "That and Pippin landed last night and we may have pissed him off a fair bit."

"There we go," Kurt muttered rolling his eyes and kissing Blaine's temple quickly before going to greet Finn and Mercedes at the counter.

Bentley frowned, eyeing each of his brothers as they filled out the relatively large lobby. "That still doesn't explain why you're all staying in Kurt's room though."

Noah beamed and slung an arm around Bentley's shoulders. "In the defence of your older brothers Sunshine," Bentley stomped on his foot and threw him a dirty look shrugging out of his hold when Noah laughed. "Lijah, Luc and I have our own room."

"Why don't the rest of you have your own rooms anyway?" Elijah asked, glancing around at each of his younger brothers and Ollie with a raised eyebrow.

"To be honest we weren't going to come. We managed to catch the flight with Kurt last minute," Jude grinned.

Reed, Pippin and Austin glanced quickly to each other with twinkling eyes, "Ditto."

"Because you losers couldn't afford to get your own rooms at any hotel in this city last minute," Blaine grumbled rolling his eyes.

Pippin chuckled softly pulling Blaine onto the couch with him. "But little brother this is just so much more fun!" Blaine laughed softly, allowing his head to fall to his big brother's shoulder.

"At least we let Kurt have the bed!" Reed grinned bouncing down on Blaine's other side and snuggling into his younger brother.

"Thank the lord for small mercies," Kurt muttered returning to the group with Finn and a bunch of room keys.

"Okay so boys you're in 1012 and girls you're in 1007," Finn smirked, "And Mr Schue, Mercedes and I all have rooms between you so don't try anything." The glee club grumbled lowly collecting all of their belongings and starting to head for the elevators.

Kurt glanced to the pile of brothers curled up on the couch and on the floor surrounding the couch catching up. He grinned at Blaine still snuggled up between Pippin and Reed looking half asleep but happier than he had during the last six weeks of their Skype sessions. Kurt could easily say from experience that Skype sessions made no comparison to an in person catch up, especially for someone like Blaine who responded to physical contact. Tossing his room keys to Austin he shot him a grin and followed Mercedes to the elevator bank, planning to help her pick out her outfit for the competition.

Kurt yawned and stretched in the early morning LA sun. He had fully been intending to sleep in after his first night in the City of Angels. This should have been his first day with no early morning dance classes or early morning shifts at the diner, or early morning flights to New York from Ohio, in almost two months. Sharing a room with Blaine's brothers though it had quickly become evident that Pippin and Austin's synchronised snoring, coupled with Jude murmuring in his sleep, was going to leave no chance of sleeping late before the competition. Kurt attached his iPhone to his armband and placed the ear buds in his ears carefully. He took a deep breath of warm salty air before starting to jog along the beach, the shimmering Pacific Ocean crashing on his left hand side and the 'Wicked' soundtrack blasting in his ears.

Spotting a familiar head of spiked up black hair a mile into his run Kurt glanced to his watch, raising an eyebrow when he noticed it was still only seven thirty. Veering to his left, he jogged towards the young man and dropped onto the warm sand beside him chuckling as Reed jumped a mile into the air.

"Jesus dude. You gave me a freaking heart attack," Reed sighed, running a hand through his hair as Kurt pulled out his ear bud.

"I'm sorry what?"

Reed just glared at his brother's boyfriend, muttering to himself and returning to running his hands through the sand. Kurt eyed him closely, taking in the deep purple circles under the newly turned twenty year olds eyes and the paler than normal complexion.

"So do you want to tell me what's going on Reedy?" Kurt smiled softly, nudging the slightly older boy gently with his shoulder and lifting his sunglasses to the top of his head. "You look like you haven't slept in a week at least."

Reed chewed his bottom lip nervously eyes, staring out at the endless water stretching out before him, the waves muting the noises of the wakening city that lay beyond the beach. Sighing loudly, he turned to face Kurt, smiling softly when Kurt followed his lead, their crossed knees touching as they looked at each other.

"Is it seriously clichéd if I say that I'm confused?" He asked, eyes boring into Kurt's, hands twisting together on his lap.

Kurt reached out and took one of the young mans shaking hands in his, "I would say confused about what but I'm pretty sure you've been battling this for the whole six months I've known you."

"Has it really only been six months?" Reed asked wryly, tearing his eyes from Kurt's when the blue eyed boy raised an eyebrow at the attempt to change the subject.

"Sebastian?"

"Yeah," Reed murmured, releasing a breath he didn't realise he had been holding. He placed one hand over his heart, feeling it racing at the simple mention of the Dalton boys name while his chest felt like it was starting to untangle from the knots that had built up over the last few months of his worrying and fretting. "Sebastian."

Kurt smiled gently, squeezing Reed's hand. "And what about him?"

"I think I'm in love with him Kurt." Reed's lost coffee coloured eyes, so much like Blaine's that Kurt felt the tug on his heartstrings, searched Kurt's understanding ones pleading silently for help. "I don't understand." Reed pounded the sand in frustration, "And we had a hell of an argument two weeks ago and I haven't spoken to him since. I miss him Kurt." Reed's voice cracked with the last statement and he blinked rapidly trying to clear the tears flooding his vision.

Kurt reached out and carefully took hold of Reed's other hand. "What did you guys fight about?"

Reed shook his head laughing harshly, "It was stupid really, well probably not I guess." He drew in a shaky breath, "Bash asked what he was to me and I couldn't give him an answer. He hung up and hasn't picked up the phone or answered any messages since, but I know he was over at your house the other day because Benny messaged to ask why he looked like shit."

"Much like you," Kurt smirked, grinning when he earned himself a sharp chuckle from Reed. "If you think you're in love with him what's the problem?"

"I've never felt this way about a guy before," Reed ran a quivering hand down his face. "I've only ever been with girls up 'til now, not that any of those relationships ever lasted long at all, or that there have been many of them."

Kurt tilted his head to the side, "Have you ever found guys attractive before now?"

Reed snorted lightly, "I was fifteen when Blaine came out to us and I had Jude and Ollie around not long after that. If you don't think I've heard every argument you could possibly hear about why Zac Efron or Leonardo Dicaprio are ridiculously hot you must be dreaming." Eyes flickering over to the ocean Reed smiled softly at the memories of arguments that had floated around the dining room table once Blaine and Jude had both come out, each of their brothers more than eager to give their own opinions on the celebrity of choice that month. He was definitely thankful that at least some of his family was as progressive as the brothers were.

"And your opinions on that?"

Reed shrugged, "Not my type." He smiled softly, "But I did always have a slight thing for John Mulaney from SNL... and maybe Andrew Garfield if he had green eyes."

Kurt chuckled softly, well aware of who both of those celebrities looked like. "You know your brother taught me something once Reed. It pissed me off completely at the time and caused a massive argument between us but that was only because I was jealous and he was going on a date with Rachel Berry." Reed's eyebrows shot into his hairline and Kurt chuckled softly, shrugging good naturedly, and ignoring Reed's unasked question, "All I wanted at that point was for him to be mine."

"That's all you still want now."

"Oh absolutely," Kurt nodded, fingers finding the necklace around his neck and fiddling discretely with the ring attached to it, "forever if I get my way, and I make sure I get my way these days." Reed laughed softly and Kurt beamed at him. "But he told me 'you fall in love with a person, not with a gender' and he was right. I mean sure there has to be attraction and I guess that's what truly ends up separating everyone at the end of the day. I mean some people are attracted to men, some to women and some to both. It's as simple as that. It's people butting in with opinions that really shouldn't matter that complicate everything." Kurt frowned slightly, his own fingers running through the cool sand. "I don't try to understand it but you know I can't say that if Blaine were a girl I'd love him any less than I do. I may not be attracted to him, but I'd still love him and he'd still be my best friend."

"I kissed him at the twins birthday," Reed whispered with a small smile.

"Uh-huh and how was that?"

"Magical."

Kurt laughed softly, "Boy you've got it bad."

Groaning Reed fell backwards onto the sand. "I know. That's part of the problem."

"Honestly Reed, I'm not sure I'm the person you should be talking to all of this about but I'm honoured you did choose me and I think you guys should give this a shot," Kurt grinned standing up and dusting the sand from his shorts. "I honestly don't think I've ever seen the two of you happier than when you're together."

"I need to talk to Bash." Reed sighed taking Kurt's hand when it was offered letting Kurt pull him to his feet.

"Yep you do, but right now we have to go and wake everyone up and watch your brothers kick some ass at Nationals."

"Damn straight," Reed chuckled, "And Kurt?"

"Yeah?"

"Thank you."

"Don't mention it," Kurt grinned, tying his sneaker and throwing Reed a look, "Race you back to the hotel!" He shouted before taking off, Reed hot on his heels feeling lighter than he had in months.

"We won, we won, we won, we won!" Bentley and Sam chanted bouncing around the tiny hotel room and nearly hitting the entire Glee club and Anderson clan on the head with the large Nationals trophy they were tossing back and forth.

Elijah grabbed the trophy as it sailed through the air again, placing it on the ground and glaring at the two teenagers until they sulked off to the corner pouting and pulling faces at Elijah. Rolling his eyes, Elijah barricaded the Nationals trophy against the desk and threw a dirty look at the pair. "You guys may have won but we're going to end up in the ER with somebody's eye poked out if you keep throwing that around." The duo stuck their tongues out at Elijah and went back to pulling faces at him when he laughed.

"I can't believe how good you guys were," Noah grinned, reaching over Tina and attempting to ruffle Blaine's gelled hair. Blaine squeaked and dove behind Kurt and Brittany, glaring at his smirking older brother.

Lucas yelped as Blaine accidentally pushed him into Jake and Marley. "Okay this room is way too freaking small to handle all of these people."

"No kidding," Finn muttered glancing around the overcrowded single room filled with extra blankets and pillows for all of the boys currently sharing the small room.

Pippin and Austin glanced at each other eyebrows raised, "Party time!" They whooped, jumping in the air and nearly knocking out Kitty and Unique in the process.

"And where exactly do you idiots suggest we do that with a ton of minors in tow?" Lucas drawled with a shake of his head.

"Party at Cooper's!" Austin yelled, eyes sparkling.

Lucas sat up on the twin bed with a grin, "Let's get out of here."

"Sleepover at Cooper's!" Noah yelled, leading the charge back to other hotel rooms to pack a small bag.

"Cooper's going to kill us," Elijah chuckled, scrubbing his hands down his face, "He specifically said he needed quiet."

"Lighten up Lij," Bentley grinned, slinging his backpack over one shoulder and his other arm around his older brother, leading him from the room. "He said the important thing was today which is why he couldn't come to Nationals. SO anyway I need to go bitch him out for missing my awesome choreography." Elijah rolled his eyes and pushed Bentley out of the door laughing and chasing him up the corridor to his own room.

"Mr Schue's going to be mad," Finn sighed. "I was supposed to keep them all in line."

Mercedes snorted, folding her arms across her chest, "Like he's even going to notice Finn. Let's face it Mr Schue's a bit preoccupied in any case. I haven't even seen him since they announced the winners."

"I feel like that happens at every Nationals competition," Kurt muttered, pecking Blaine quickly and following the mass exodus from the boys' room.

"Bentley I need you to tell me everything you know about art!" Cooper yelled charging into the living room and screeching to a stop in front of his younger brother. Conversation in the room ceased as the gaggle of teenagers and young men turned to stare at Cooper staring at Bentley with wide eyes.

Bentley pulled his flannel trousers over his feet and looked at his eldest brother with inquisitive eyes. "Coop, I'm about to study art and photography at Colombia. What I know took a shit ton of time to learn and would probably take even longer for me to teach you."

"Can you give me a crash course? I'm begging you Benny," Cooper dropped down to his knees in front of his brother, throwing in the puppy dog eyes for good measure.

Rolling his eyes, Bentley leaned back against the overstuffed armchair and looked at Cooped through half lidded eyes, knees still drawn up to his chest, "Seriously Coop why the sudden interest?"

"I just really need to know, in particularly what you know about art forgery?"

Eyebrows raising into his curls Bentley smirked at Cooper, Austin and Pippin suddenly joining him on the arms of his chair. "Thinking of a career change Coop?"

Cooper sighed, growling in aggravation. "Please Benny. I'm desperate."

"Hey Pip, hear that," Austin grinned at Pippin over the top of Reed's head.

"Why yes Aus I believe I did just hear Cooper utter those fatal words," Pippin beamed back at his brother, Cooper groaning and placing his hands over his face.

"He's desperate," The twins crowed together.

"Benny boo our advice would be not to give in until you see how far you can get with this first…"

"Get him to drive you anywhere you want while you're here," Pippin interjected.

"Ooh or take you to all the theme parks in the area…"

"Do your laundry for at least a year…"

"Buy all your take outs for a year…"

"Aim for a holiday somewhere really far away…"

"I got a role as a world renowned art forger!" Cooper yelled, cutting the twins off before their suggestions could get more out of hand.

The room dropped into silence once more before all of the brothers let out whoops of joy and leapt on top of Cooper. Others present in the living room had the good sense to dive out of the way of the growing pile of laughing Anderson brothers.

"Seriously Coop?" Noah grinned.

"That's awesome!" Elijah frowned suddenly whacking Cooper's arm and glaring at him, "Why the hell didn't you tell anyone?"

Cooper chuckled softly, "I really, really wanted this one guys and I just didn't want to jinx it. Let's face it, I'm not the best actor in the world."

"So this is why you've been so much of a pain in the ass lately!" Austin snickered, ignoring Cooper's glare.

Blaine rolled his eyes, elbowing Austin sharply in his side. "Coop, you're better than you think you are," He paused, tilting his head to the side slightly, "Just don't try to teach it again, that you're not so good at."

"So…what does the role entail?" Bentley smirked eyes twinkling, "And yes I will try to teach you as much as I can before you start filming."

"Okay so the show's called 'White Collar' and I play a guy called Neal Caffrey," Cooper's whole face lit up as he lamented what the role would involve to his fully entranced audience, his brothers thrilled Cooper had finally found a show that would last beyond one episode.

Cooper slowly trailed off, after he had described everything he knew so far about the show, eyes blinking at the other faces watching him from around his living room. His brow furrowed in confusion and he tilted his head mentally trying to count all of the teenagers and young adults camped out in his living room. "Wait why are there so many teenagers in my house?" He questioned eyes searching the glee club members and his brothers curiously.

The brothers each just looked at each other laughing lightly and sending a barrage of pillows at Cooper as he yelped and dove out of the way yelling at them to stop.

Cooper's eyes darted around the airport, desperately trying to keep an eye on each of his brothers to make sure that they weren't getting themselves into yet more trouble. "Damn twenty odd year olds I should've stopped having to do this when they were teenagers." Watching Austin and Pippin commandeer a luggage trolley he raised an eyebrow at them, shaking his head when they sheepishly stepped back from it again. "I hate airports," He sulked, watching Kurt and Blaine whisper to each other in the nearby chairs.

"Hey Coop?" Jude smiled shyly appearing at his oldest brothers side.

Cooper smiled, patting the spot beside him on the floor with a smile. "What's up Twinkle Toes?" Jude rolled his eyes with a small smile, sliding down the wall and resting his head on Cooper's shoulder. "I haven't seen you around much while you've been here."

"I'm not the one who was avoiding his family for three days."

"Point taken," Cooper laughed softly, leaning his head on top of Jude's curls.

"Seriously though Coop, congratulations you really, really deserve this."

"Thanks Jude. Now what did you come over here for?"

Slowly unzipping his carry on bag, Jude pulled out an envelope and turned it over in his hands three times, chewing his lip nervously before handing it to a curious Cooper. Motioning for his brother to open the envelope, Jude watched Cooper's icy blue eyes widen as he read the ticket in the envelope.

"You want me to come to your graduation?" Cooper grinned, knowing how hard Jude had fought to get more tickets than the two he had been allocated. The twenty two year old had been fretting down the phone to his oldest brother for the last six months over what he would do if he couldn't get enough for his family to be there. "Jude are you sure?"

Jude nodded vehemently. "Ollie got first choice in all honestly, and I genuinely think he wouldn't have hesitated to murder anyone else to get a ticket if I hadn't given him the first one," Jude frowned, shaking his head fondly as Cooper laughed. "But Coop…you raised me. Let's face it, from a ridiculously young age you gave up so much to help raise me, to help raise all of us. I'm not even sure I'd have ever even gotten into Julliard without your pushing. You were the one who first signed me up for dance classes back in Ohio…"

"Well I needed some way for you to release all the damn energy you always seemed to have."

Jude glared but laughed gently, "I want you there Coop."

"I'd be honoured," Cooper grinned, pulling Jude closer and holding him tightly. "So June seventh huh?"

"Yeah," Jude beamed, "At that point I become a fully fledged member of the New York City Ballet Company."

"I'm proud of you Jude."

"Thank you," Jude whispered, leaning his head on Cooper's shoulder again.

"Kurt!" Reed yelled, screeching to a stop in front of Kurt and Blaine, cheeks flushed and eyes shining.

"Damn Reed where's the fire?" Blaine snickered sleepily, his head tucked into Kurt's neck. Smiling at his brother, he leaned closer into his boyfriend and closed his eyes again determined to catch twenty minutes sleep while he was wrapped up in Kurt's arms.

"Kurt I called Bash!" Reed beamed manically.

"And?" Kurt grinned, sitting bolt upright to look at the ecstatic young man. Rolling his eyes at Blaine's whine of discontent he wrapped his arms tightly back around the teenager, smiling when he felt him nuzzle the ring hidden under his shirt before looking back to Reed.

"He's going to fly to Atlanta for the weekend," Reed jumped when his phone vibrated chuckling softly at it and swiftly typing out a reply. "We're going to discuss everything. I mean it's not a solution but…"

"It's a start," Kurt said happily, chuckling when Reed jumped at the overhead announcing the boarding of a handful of the flights that the brother's would be taking out of LAX.

Pulling Blaine to his feet, Kurt chuckled as he watched Blaine instantly be swept up into bone crushing hugs by his older brothers. Glancing to the side and seeing Ollie standing watching the Anderson's affectionately Kurt headed over to join him.

"They may be complete idiots but they sure do love each other," Ollie smiled, laughing as Bentley tried to escape the group hug only for Lucas to grab his collar and haul him back into the middle.

"Wait! We're missing something," Austin sighed pulling back slightly.

Pippin smirked when his eyes caught on his twins, "Group shuffle!"

"Oh no," Ollie cried trying to dodge out of the way and failing as the brothers grabbed the two closest extensions of their family and pulled them into the cuddle.

Cooper chuckled stepping back, "Right let everyone go before they miss their damn flights and I'm stuck with them for longer."

"Well that's just positively mean Coop," Pippin pouted, "Maybe I should try the comedy circuit in LA."

"Yes!" Austin grinned.

Cooper's face went slack and he shoved Pippin's carry on bag into his arms, "Hell no. You are getting on that flight to Chicago if I have to march you onto the plane and strap you down myself. As for the rest of you I will see you in Ohio on June fifth for the twins graduation."

"Our babies are graduating," Pippin and Austin each faux sobbed grabbing the younger twins who valiantly tried to fight them off.

"We're going straight from there to New York for Jude's on the seventh right?" Reed said still beaming at his phone.

"Erm guys, I couldn't get you all tickets," Jude murmured sheepishly, leaning on Ollie.

The brothers all turned to look at him, identical mystified expressions on their faces making the Glee club and Kurt laugh. "Julian Alexander Anderson if you think that's going to stop us from cheering loudly for you in the middle of NYC or taking you out for a celebration you are seriously deluded," Elijah chuckled.

"Yeah bro, any excuse to embarrass each other right?" Noah grinned.

"You guys are idiots," Jude said, hiding his face in Ollie's shoulder when his voice cracked.

"Right let's go home time for you morons," Cooper smirked, trying to push them all towards security, "You've all wreaked enough havoc on my city and it needs time to recover."

Part 12

So my aim is to update at least once a week from now on until the end hopefully. As it's mapped out Meet The Anderson's is going to have 22 chapters so this is roughly the halfway point and I have definitely learned my lesson and have three back ups of everything so far. Anyway here's hoping that there are some of you still interested in this story and please let me know what you think. Also totally go and check out Forabeatofadrum's story about the boys it's awesome and some of what gave me the enthusiasm to start writing the boys again. Hopefully you guys enjoyed it and there'll be another up next week!

[fire-fira]

Tag game

I was tagged by @lovelylangst

rules: Write 92 truths about yourself then tag 25 people Long ass post.

LAST… [1] drink: Grapefruit juice [2] phone call: my fiance @radioactive-earthshine [3] text message: either my fiance or one of the other people in my class [4] song you listened to:  Novocaine by Fall Out Boy [5] time you cried: Night before last? I know I was laughing.

HAVE YOU EVER… [6] dated someone twice: Yeah, just my fiance. [7] been cheated on: Nope. [8] kissed someone and regretted it: Nah. [9] lost someone special: If you mean family, then yes. Otherwise no. [10] been depressed: Low level, never chronic, and I’ve been able to work through things on my own or with my fiance’s help. [11] gotten drunk and thrown up: I’ve never even been drunk. I can’t stand the smell of alcohol, to say nothing about the taste.

LIST 3 FAVOURITE COLORS: [12] Greens (usually a forest or jungle green is at the top) [13] Reds (the brighter the red is the more it has to be in combination with other colors) [14] Black, gold, or brown (kind of a toss-up for me)

IN THE LAST YEAR HAVE YOU… [15] made new friends: Absolutely. [16] fallen out of love: No. [17] laughed until you cried: Hell yes. See my earlier point about crying. [18] found out someone was talking about you: Yup. I tend to leave an impression. [19] met someone who changed you: Not within the last year, no. Well no wait, I lied-- I had an awful teacher at this time of year last year who was so terrible that she was the perfect example to me of what not to do as a teacher. [20] found out who your true friends are: Nope. I’m pretty close with all of my friends and I’m the sort of person who doesn’t put up with ‘fair weather friends’. [21] kissed someone on your facebook list: My fiance.

GENERAL… [22] how many of your facebook friends do you know in real life: Uh, most of them? I’m not on facebook all that much anymore, but most of them I’ve at least met face to face. [23] do you have any pets: My adorable ball-of-fluff cat known as Rainy Mazama. [24] do you want to change your name: lol Already did. It was a pain in the ass and I wouldn’t want to do it again. And I still occasionally get mail and things with my birth name. smh [25] what did you do for your last birthday: Went to lunch with my fiance, my mom, my grandma, and my older sister and then proceeded to be ignored by my mom and grandma for the majority of the lunch. It sucked. Red Lobster is garbage, and note just in case anyone is curious: it’s a shitty move to take someone out to lunch for their birthday and then proceed to act like that person isn’t even there. [26] what time did you wake up: 10-something? Daylight savings time, UGH. It would have been 9:00! [27] what were you doing at midnight last night: Just finished watching the first episode of the new season of Samurai Jack, and spent some time on tumblr before crashing. [28] name something you cannot wait for: Season 3 of Young Justice! (I am desperately hoping they bring Eddie in.) [29] when was the last time you saw your mother: x-mas, and she was just as garbage as ever. [30] what is one thing you wish you could change about your life: That my fiance and I weren’t so damned poor and that we had a house of our own built to our specifications. (I miss having easy access to my miniature library.) [31] what are you listening to right now: At the moment just random house noises and the sound of either the washer or the dryer going. [32] have you ever talked to a person named tom: My brother-in-law (my older sister’s husband). He’s one of the best brothers-in-law ever btw. [33] something that is getting on your nerves: People bigoted and/or abusive jackasses. [34] most visited website: Tumblr and Ao3 both. [35] elementary: Was one of the poorest in the district when I went. [36] high school: Was shit when I went there (though some teachers were really good), was also one of the poorest in the district, but now has improved so much that the New York Times apparently raved about it recently. [37] college: Working on my master’s.  [38] hair color: Darkest-brown, almost black, with random silver hairs scattered throughout. (I’ve been getting white/silver hairs since I was 8, and I’ve got this pale patch of hair near my left temple that is going to look really freaking cool whenever it finally goes white or silver.) [39] long or short hair: LONG. (Down past my butt tbh.) [40] do you have a crush on someone: Nope. [41] what do you like about yourself: I like that even with all the crud I’ve been through that I still do my best to do the right thing. I also like the fact that I continuously work to get past any biases I might have. [42] piercings: NOOOOPE. [43]blood type: I don’t even know. I just know that it’s not my mom’s blood-type. [44] nickname: Just my first name, Fira. Though there is my Salish name, in which case it’d be t̓ixʷlm nc̓icn. [45] relationship status: Engaged. [46] zodiac sign: Pisces-Aries cuspal, and for Chinese-- fire tiger. [47] pronouns: jhe/jhur or they/them, either way. [48] fav tv show: I have too many tbh. [49] tattoos: Not opposed to the idea, just haven’t thought of a design that I’d want to live with for the rest of my life. [50] right or left hand: Lefty!

FIRST… [51] surgery: I don’t know. I think there was something to do with my ears when I was a baby? But that might have just been something only my older sister had to deal with. Idk. [52] piercing: Never. [53] best friend: My fiance. [54] sport: Does roughhousing with your older sibling and beating each other senseless with padded fake swords count? [55] vacation: A camping trip when I was about 7 or 8. The instance I’m thinking of I’m pretty sure I’m mixing it together in my head with another time. Maybe one of those times I was 7 and the other time I was 8. Idk. XP [56] pair of trainers: I don’t think I ever had a pair of those shoes.

RIGHT NOW… [57] eating: Nothing (I need to go get something to eat. lol) [58] drinking: Nothing (Same) [59] i’m about to: Eventually get my butt completely out of bed. [60] listening to: An obnoxious room-mate babbling in the hall (and I really wish she’d just shut up). [61] waiting for: My obnoxious room-mate who my fiance and I have dubbed ‘Alfredo-gate’ to shut up. [62] want: To not have to think about homework or the fact of how this quarter has gone down the tubes, for Alfredo-gate to shut her freaking trap, and to have a month or two to just focus on nerdy things (it’d be nice to be able to pause time). [63] get married: To my fiance, absolutely. If it were anyone else, heeeeelllll NO. [64] career: Ideally? Teaching at the college level in gender studies. If I had some classes to focus on nerdy things that’d be cool though.

WHICH IS BETTER… [65] hugs or kisses: Hugs. Kisses are weird to me. [66] lips or eyes: Eyes. Always eyes. [67] shorter or taller: Doesn’t matter. [68] older or younger: Doesn’t matter just so long as the age gap isn’t too huge. [70] nice arms or nice stomach: I don’t care. I prefer the person. [71] sensitive or loud: Sensitive. Loud can have its uses, but there is a point past which it gets to be too much. [72] hook up or relationship: Eeeeeehhhhhh... Let me put it this way--if my fiance hadn’t been as persistent as she has been (not that I mind now), then I wouldn’t be in a relationship. There’s no way in hell I would get into any sort of relationship if the other person wasn’t @radioactive-earthshine. [73] troublemaker or hesitant: A little bit of both. I have my devious streak, but I usually think through the possible consequences before doing something, just to be certain that I think it’s worth it.

HAVE YOU EVER… [74] kissed a stranger? Nope. [75] drank hard liquor? Nooooope. [76] lost glasses/contact lenses? Thankfully no. [77] turned someone down: Yeah. [78] sex on first date? Pfffft. Never even had sex. [79] broken someone’s heart? I think so, but I’m not sure. [80] had your own heart broken? Nope, unless you count some of the crap I realized when I was in my own personal hell (things like my room not actually being mine and just being the place I was ‘allowed’ to occupy, etc). [81] been arrested? Thankfully no. [82] cried when someone died? I tend to go numb first. Tears do eventually kick in, but it’s not my immediate reaction. [83] fallen for a friend? I’m engaged to my fiance... who is my best friend... who I’ve known since high school... and who I love so much that despite being flamingly ACE and ARO (yes in all caps on both of those, I would be amazed if there was anyone more painfully ace and aro than I am), I am going to marry. If that’s not ‘falling for a friend’ then I’m awfully damned close.

DO YOU BELIEVE IN… [84] yourself? Most of the time. [85] miracles? Idk [86] love at first sight? Eeeeehhhhhh.... Debatable. [87] Santa Claus? The actual historical figure, yeah. [88] kiss on the first date? For me, no. For others, depends on the people involved. [89] angels?  Nnnnnnnyyyyyyeeeehhhhnnnnn.... Iiiiiiii dunno. This is one of those things for me of ‘I don’t know if it exists or not but if I saw it then I wouldn’t deny its existence.’

OTHER… [90] current best friend’s name: Angela. [91] eye color: Hazel green. [92] favorite movie: It depends on my mood, but for the moment I’m going to say the ‘80s movie Enemy Mine.

I tag: @radioactive-earthshine, @weirdnonsensefandomstuff, @dizsasqua, @mr-mustache-penis, @coredesignixandnekonee, @puddingmcmuffin, @kitsuberry, @crashtacular, @sounddrive, @hookahpop, @linzerj, @embracesadness, @lifeofblink, @shadowboxmind, and anybody else who cares to do this, just say I tagged you.

[pojkflata]

My emo ass backstory

This was originally the script to a draw my life video, but I realized that it was becoming so ridiculously long that it could only work in text form

Nevertheless, I wanted to get this out of my system. I don’t think I’ve ever truly told anyone about my past in more detail than “I was bullied”, and just getting in depth about it for the first time in my life felt. Good.

CW for bullying, abuse and animal death

I was born in 1998, in a city called Helsingborg in southern Sweden, actually only a few miles away from Denmark by boat. My father worked as a cashier at the time, and my mother was unemployed. She used to breed dogs, but had to give it up when my big brother, Jakob, was born in 1997 in order to be able to raise him, and later me and my siblings. We still had some dogs around though, including one named Bandit who I adored.

During my early years, my family was struggling financially, because the only one out of my parents who had a job (my dad) had a pretty poorly paying one, and not only did my parents have me, my big brother and dogs to care about, I also had a little brother, Filip, and a little sister, Klowbi. We very rarely got things like toys or games, since my parents couldn’t afford them, so Jakob and I early showed interest in the internet as a nice way to spend our free time. The internet was a much more empty place back then, but we still found a lot of fun things to do, moreso than with the few toys we had.

When I was maybe five years old, my parents got more well paid jobs, my mother as a politician and my father in the advertisement industry, and my family’s economical situation became a lot better.

I began 1st grade in 2005, and oh jeez… I was bullied for nine entire years, and most of it stems from the fact that I was an undiagnosed autistic. Worth noting is that I was dfab, and presented as a ”girl” at that time, but it’s not like nobody noticed my symptoms just because of that. A lot of people noticed actually, but my mom did not believe them when people expressed concern.

I changed schools a lot, but I always ended up bullied, and my teachers would never support me, instead saying it was my fault for various reasons. A lot of the bullying was about harrassing me to the point that I would get meltdowns, because my classmates thought that was hilarious. I was a circus animal, in every sense of the word. Other fun stuff that happened to me in school was being asked out as a joke, being assaulted in gym class and being threatened with assault and bloody murder.

One particular story I remember takes place when I was in 7th grade. One of the popular girls asked me if I were a lesbian, and me, not knowing when to keep my mouth shut, said that I was not sure of my sexuality, and that there was a possibility I was not het. It quickly became the hottest meme that ever hit the school, and I was very heavily sexually harrassed over my statement. After four days of no peace, I decided I’ve had enough and attacked the girl. I ended up cracking her phone’s screen, and she promptly threw a fit and started playing the victim. Of course, she played the entire school, teachers included, like a piano, and I was demonized yet again.

At the time, I trusted my mother a lot, so you might wonder how she reacted to the whole thing… not ideally. She completely ignored that I was being subjected to homophobic harrassment, and instead just talked to her friends about how brave I was for being too autistic to know how to avoid giving my abusers ammunition. And yes, she chewed me out for cracking that phone screen. That was when I first realized my mother might not be as fantastic as everyone in my life had told me, and it would only get worse from that point on.

So how did I cope with being so heavily bullied? Not very well, mind you, but I still somehow survived. And I, knowing how pathetic this sounds, owe my life to the internet and my pets. I had a lot of wonderful animal friends. Those I loved the most include a Cocker Spaniel named Tim, a really fat mackerel tabby cat named Pikachu, a white cat with yellow/blue heterochromia named Kitty, and a gray tux cat named Pyret, who is still alive, actually! There was a time where Kitty was my absolute best friend. Kitty was a really antisocial and hissy cat, so it was all the more heartwarming that when no one really cared for me, at least I had a friend in a grouchy hissy cat who hated everyone else but me.

Unfortunately, that meant that Kitty despised other cats too, which became a problem when my family was forced to take in a new kitten back in 2012, the aforementioned Pyret. Kitty attacked Pyret whenever given the chance, and Pyret’s presence put Kitty in such a bad mood that she ended up attacking my at the time 9 year old sister. That was the point where my parents realized that the situation was going out of hand, so we took Kitty to the vet, and she was diagnosed with gastric cancer. The vet speculated that Kitty became unusually aggressive because she couldn’t handle her pain. There was nothing the vets could do, so Kitty had to be put to sleep.

Tim the Cocker Spaniel also suffered a similar fate: I was his very best friend, but one day, he got a disorder that affected the nerves in his eye area. That meant that slowly, his eyesight became much worse, and eventually, he recognized everyone as a threat, and reacted accordingly: aggressively. I was the only one who he could still recognize as a friend. Because of this, as well as the fact that he was clearly suffering, he had to be put to sleep as well.

Both of their deaths caused me great grief, but I’m still glad that I got to know these wonderful pets who helped me during the worst time of my life.

When it comes to coping using the internet, some of my fondest memories come from the website KPWebben, a website for a Swedish magazine directed at kids in the ages 8-15. From 2007 to 2012, the website had a community with a forum. I created a name around myself on said forum. I was spunky, snappy and not afraid to call the BS when I saw it. I was frequently questoning the authority in the moderators at the site, and I loved to make people think and question the reality around them. In many ways, on KPWebben I was allowed to be myself without facing consequences (from peers, mind you: the moderators loathed me). To some extent, I may have taken it too far, because I would often end up doing questionable things and create discourse around myself. I didn’t mind that much, though: I would much rather be known as the really cool and well spoken person that was a little too confident at times than as the human waste of space most people in meatspace saw me as.

This attitude actually gave me a lot of friends, including the person who is now my best friend and favorite person. I may have mellowed down a bit since my KPWebben days, but I still adore her.

Eventually, I graduated 9th grade and began secondary school, and somehow, I was bullied no more. But gradually, another problem surfaced in my life. My mother. Long story short, she was abusive to me. She isolated me from my friends, insulted me, and she expected me to have all the responsibility of an adult but none of the benefits. She was neglectful, as mentioned before, she wouldn’t listen to people who suspected I was autistic, and she never really cared about how I was suffering from being bullied. At times, she would even blame me for being bullied, much like my teachers would do. During this time, I realized that I was non-binary, and I had come out to my family, but my mother aggressively refused (and still refuses) to use my preferred pronouns, saying that ”it’s so hard :(” whenever I corrected her, and would scold me for correcting other people about my pronouns, because apparently me wanting to be referred to using my correct pronouns was embarrassing and annoying.

My mother also showed heavy favoritism towards Jakob and constantly compared me to him. Now, it is true that there’s only a 15 month age gap between him and I, so we are twins in everything but name. But Jakob is not me. Jakob is neurotypical and has not suffered the trauma I have. Jakob is an aspiring musician and while he hasn’t technically made a hit, he is talented and he probably will make it big. Being constantly compared to a person like that really hurts, especially when the people making these comparisions know you can’t become anywhere as good, and that they are just making these comparisions to make you feel bad about yourself.

While the bullying from my classmates was technically worse, what made my relationship with my mother so bad was the sense of betrayal. When I was younger, I thought that my mom was a real life super hero. She worked in politics and all of her motivations stemmed from her wish to make children’s lives better. She had made an extremely good name around herself, and she is a really likable person on the surface. So I didn’t know what I did wrong when she suddenly turned on me and all her talk about wanting to improve children’s lives went out the window. And her good reputation acted as a safety net as well, because no one believed me when I told them about what was going on beneath her facade.

My father was just not there. He was physically there, but he lacked a spine. He constantly enabled my mother’s disgusting actions, and always told me that she cared and that she doesn’t know how to raise me. Because a person with the kind of positive reputation my mother has cannot possibly raise an autistic child, right?

A lot of things happened to me in 2015. I was run over by a bus, for starters. I was on my way home from school, on my bike, when a bus appeared and ran over my left foot. The bus driver was breaking several traffic related laws, but they never faced any consequences despite me pressing the police to do so. The accident led to some minor fractures in the bones in my foot, but I was really lucky in that accident. It could have been so much worse. I’m still here, and able to walk, and that’s nothing short of a miracle.

I was also finally diagnosed with autism later that year, and I was enrolled on a boarding school for autistic people. This was a massive turning point in my life, because it let me move out at the age of 17 and escape the clutches of my mother. It’s far away enough from Helsingborg that my family can’t just visit me randomly, and I have my very own apartment. I still visit my family every other weekend and on breaks and such. I do miss my cat a lot while I’m here, but it’s a small price to pay for the peace and quiet and a place where no one really abuses me anymore.

There are however two downsides to this: I had be held back a year because my autism was making my studies suffer in 10th grade, before I moved to the boarding school, and I effectively won’t graduate until 2019. And Klowbi, my little sister, seems to be affected negatively by this change. We were pretty close to begin with, and me moving so far away when she was only 12 meant that she lost an otherwise ever-present friend. On top of that, she appears to be neurodivergent, but as I’m writing this, she has no access to therapy. And if that wasn’t bad enough, my mother appears to have moved on to abusing Klowbi instead of me. I don’t know too many details, since I don’t spend a lot of time with my family (and my mother seems to act as nice as she can in that slimy abusive way whenever I’m visiting). I try my very best to help my sister, because in my age, I did not have anyone who cared about me or my situation (that wasn’t an animal that couldn’t do a lot to help me), and I don’t want Klowbi to experience what I did.

[dancingingold]

c and t

July 6, 2019

I've wanted to write this for a long time… I know technically, Tyler and I have been married less than a month. But I knew almost as soon as we "officially" started dating, AKA actually putting pictures together on social media together, that we would get married. I wanted to write this because we live in the South, where basically you are deemed a cat lady by 25 if you aren't married with at least one kid on the way by then. I always thought something was wrong with me, I had too high of standards, or that I had been destined to not be married because I was 28 and had never even come close to actually loving someone, much less get married to them. I also wanted to write this to say that marriage is not your problem-solver. It isn't like the fairytales you grew up watching, where you were this lowly woman striving to seek out a man your entire first part of your life and then when you find him, you're automatically complete and you never have problems at all. LOL, spoiler alert, it doesn't work like that. And I seriously think I did think that a large part of my life. That's not to say Tyler has not made my life fuller, happier, and added even more meaningful memories and days, but he is not the solver to all my problems or the one who completes me. That is left to God alone, which is where I had finally laid all of my problems down when I met Tyler. 

So let's rewind to age 16, the first time I actually truly thought about being married. I'm in my car, driving. I remember distinctly that feeling of being scared about never getting married. I started praying about it, worried at that young of age that I would never find someone. I also remember listening KLOVE in this same time. A lady called in and told a whole story about waiting for the right man. I know it was her second marriage she was describing, but she talked about praying for the right one to come along after her tragic first marriage and after she prayed, there he was years later, exactly the kind of man she needed and God ended up giving her.  Since I had just been freaking out and praying about a future husband, I remember thinking, "Okay, God, this is your sign to me that one day I will have a husband." And that was that, for the time being.

August 4, 2019

Now, I'll spare you the college years (it amazes me that anyone finds a husband in that time based on the ones I knew) and fast forward to my post-college years. I spent a large part of my 20's looking, and sometimes even unknowingly searching, for my husband. I am a bit of a walking oxymoron, as my best friend Anna Rose has called me. In this case, it is no different. On one hand, I was always extremely independent and "didn't need no man". I loved being able to date around and just look after me, myself, and I without having the responsibility of being in a relationship. But on the other hand, I could get very sad and discontent with being single, and because of that, I would let guys come into my life who had no business being there. I would keep them around because I was bored or wanted attention or fulfillment of someone telling me I'm pretty, fun, worthy. That lifestyle is pretty empty, if I must say so myself. I spent a lot of years in that one spot, talking to a lot of guys, none of who had any potential of being the husband I had prayed for. I was more obsessed with the IDEA of who I wanted these guys to be rather than who they actually were. I created, in my mind, our relationship and what it would be like, how they would treat me, and who he was. That idea I created enabled me to keep them around. At times, it was very exciting having some new boy to talk to and question whether it would ever go anywhere. Let's get real - women love the excitement of the unknowing. But 9 times out of 10, it was just a letdown for me. I remember so many times my mom telling me that I needed to cut off ties with these guys, and stick to what my plan was for my husband, which was to trust the Lord, get closer to Him alone, and pray for what I wanted and only date men that had the qualities that I prayed for. Now, I did get few good guys along the way, even one or two great ones, but in the end, they were not who God had for ME or me for them, and it was apparent. From all the ones I have dated, and it has been a lot since I was single for pretty much all of my life before 28, I never once felt settled or "okay" with any of them. It was strange - I  would always feel like something was wrong or off, and I couldn't truly enjoy being with them because I always had that nagging feeling that something wasn't right, and now in hindsight, DUH. Obviously, that was the Holy Spirit being like, "Nope, sorry sis, he's not the one." I always LOVED that picture that shows a little girl and Jesus. She's clinging to this small teddy bear, and Jesus is holding out is hand, asking her to give it to Him. She's near tears and is scared to hand it over. On the right side of the picture, Jesus is smiling because He holds a much larger teddy bear behind His back, ready to give it to her as soon as she releases the small teddy bear and gives it up for Him. And that's exactly what happened to me in retrospect. I had to completely give up MY own dreams of how I wanted MY life to be like and how I wanted it to turn out. I had to get to the *literal* point of saying aloud, "God this part of my life is yours. I will be okay with however it turns out, because I know you are in control." BOOM, like 2 months later, cue the future husband.

August 19, 2019

If you know me personally and/or were at my rehearsal dinner, then you've probably heard this part of my story. But sharing God's faithfulness never gets old to me… About 4 years ago, I read this book called Fervent Prayer by Priscilla Shirer. In her book, she talks about specific prayer. I think oftentimes, and I'm certainly guilty of this, I will start praying words but not necessarily having a plan for specific things I really want and am asking Christ for. Her book not only applies for my prayer of finding the husband God has for you, but for specific things in your job or finding a job, relationships you want (with your parents, brother/sister, coworkers, children), or finding your lost keys, even. I decided to write mine down after I finished reading it. So I get to work, listing out every single thing I want in my husband - character traits, how he treats me, special things I would love for him to do for me, relationships he has with his own family, what I want our relationship to be like, etc. You name something specific to pray for, I asked for it. Now this prayer didn't get answered in the next couple weeks, few months, or even the next couple of years. 2 years later, I met Tyler at CrossFit JXN. My sister Mag knew him already because they're closer in age. (Those who know me, y'all knew I would always marry younger, lol). We didn't start dating then. I had absolutely no clue he would be my future husband. We were acquaintances and later friends over the course of a year. About 8 months later, we hit it off hanging out with a group of friends one day. Two weeks later, we had our first date. I really, really liked Tyler. He had all the good characteristics you would ever want in a boyfriend or husband. And on a positive, refreshing note, he didn't do all the "games" guys do. He liked me, and he made sure I knew. About two weeks before we officially started dating, I got really scared. I had been single for basically my entire life. It was pretty much all I knew. I didn't know if I wanted to keep seeing Tyler, NOT because of him, but because of my own issues. Strangely enough, with all my hopes in finding a husband, I have some commitment issues of sorts. I told my mom about it, because she knows everything - poor her. She tells me she wants me to pray about it first. I was like…. Okay… but after a month, if I'm still freaking out about it, I think I will have to break it off with him. See, Mom is wise - she knows what I (and she) have prayed for my whole life. She knew the prayer would work. I'm telling you, after two days of praying, I completely and one-hundred percent changed my mind. I knew I didn't want to be without him now. It was a complete change of heart. Something inside of me clicked and I knew that committing to him would be the best thing I ever did.

August 22, 2019 After we have been officially dating about a month, cue Allison Hughes once again - she prompts me to dig until I find that prayer I wrote 3 years ago. I had moved the previous summer, so there was no telling where I had put it. I started praying to find it. I wanted to compare Tyler to that prayer. About 3 weeks later, I found it stuffed inside the pages of Fervent Prayer. As I began reading that 3-full-pages-long prayer, I began to cry. Every single thing I wrote on those pages was exactly Tyler, from the character traits he possessed that I had prayed for to the special things I wanted him to do for me (that he had already done in our month-long relationship) to the nitpicky things like being way taller than me (HARD to come by, ladies), athletic, and always being up for anything. I mean, what a testament to God's faithfulness. What I also noticed was how this didn't happen immediately. But it was answered nonetheless, on God's timing, not mine. He waited until my relationships were given completely to Him. I praise Him for that, because honestly, I don't think I would have been ready even a few months before that. God's timing was absolutely perfect.

August 27, 2019 While I'm writing about waiting for the one God has for you, I can't help but also write about what makes Tyler a husband more than I could have even thought of. I have had guy friends joke with me about how Tyler needs to simmer it down, because he makes the rest of them look bad. But I think he is a role model for what all men should be to their wives. He helps with chores around the house, takes it upon himself (most of the time) without ever having to be asked - laundry, yard work, cleaning the shower, etc. He still gets me flowers from the store on the way home when he feels like I've had a bad day or just needs some sunshine in my classroom. He sends me texts almost daily telling me how much he loves and appreciates me or how much I mean to him. He makes sure I'm safe at all times, calling me to make sure I set the alarm when he's not at home or to double check I'm not left at the gym by myself. He always shows affection to me and has never shown less when he is around his friends. He asks me questions about my day, my successes, my concerns, or about my other relationships with people. He asks me if I have anything I need Him to pray for - he actually makes me stay in bed for 1 minute longer in the mornings to pray over me before I start my day, even if he is still half-asleep. He encourages me and is always on my side but also shares with me when he thinks I am wrong or need to see something from a different angle. He asks me out on dates at least once a week, from our favorite spots, Edo and Bravo to Newk's or Subway. He opens my car door for me when he takes me on those dates or when we are just going down the street to Walgreens. He shares with me his dreams and goals and asks me to hold him accountable. He prays with me when we need it, often being the one to suggest it. Obviously, I can say even more great things about the man I married, but I think you get the picture. Never settle for less than what God has for you. We don't deserve what He does give us, but He shows us grace and mercy every day. I thank God all the time and tell Him I don't deserve this man He placed in my life that I am lucky to spend every day for the rest of my life with. But I see God smiling and saying, "I told you I had better plans." Thank you, Father, for your faithfulness. I pray that our story encourages someone who needs to hear it. I pray that in all we do, we remember the faithfulness you have shown us. I love you, forever and always. And thank you so very much for giving me T.