#and then proceeded to wander around and look at 80 more books

[lesbienneanarchiste]

Went to the new BooksAMillion grand opening and not to sound dramatic and pretentious but *overstimulated on the verge of a meltdown voice* I think maybe literacy and modern publishing was a mistake

[moonlitmeeks]

wilde about you - jess mariano

summary: jess wasn't made for small town life, and he certainly wasn't made for stars hollow. but maybe, he finds himself liking it a little bit more upon meeting you.

warnings: very brief food/drink mention

words: 1.6k

a/n: also known as the fic where becca tries to nail jess's characterisation; ending is a little bleh but nevertheless, hope you enjoy<33

with every stride, jess scuffed the toes of his already worn shoes against the ground. his hands were shoved deep into his jean pockets, shielding them from the slight chill in the air. judging by the not-so-subtle reactions of those he passed, his face likely mirrored the less than pleasant feelings he harboured towards the small town of stars hollow he now was expected to call ‘home’.

jess mariano was a city kid, born and raised, and now he’d been thrown head first into an eclectic small town where everyone knew everyone, knew every little detail about their neighbours’ lives, and were way too protective over their garden gnomes. it was suffocating, and all he wanted was an escape, a chance to breathe before he was swept under the current of yet another overly annoying quirk.

at the time, storming out of his uncle’s diner had seemed like a good idea. but now, as he aimlessly wandered the streets with no sense of direction nor purpose, his cloud of rage has dissipated to a pathetic mist of annoyance that hung shamefully over his head. he refused to swallow his pride and head back to the diner, so instead turned down path after path, searching for something that would save this small town from being utterly hopeless.

and that was when he spotted it.

just across the street from kim’s antiques stood a little bookstore, bursting with charm. the faded olive letters painted above the door read ‘stars hollow books’ and, though he deemed the name a little uncreative, he had to admit that the store itself looked pretty appealing.

driven by a mixture of sheer curiosity and incitement, jess found himself crossing the street - the need to look before doing so, he quickly discovered, was a rare one in stars hollow - with slightly higher spirits than he had previously held.

the worst outcome of his trip was that the shop, much like the rest of the town, was horrifically boring, thus condemning him to a tragic - but not fatal - future, one void of any chance of fun.

the tinny ring of the bell hanging above the doorway made the boy jump slightly as he entered. his nerves shot up for a moment before he realised the source of the sound was nothing to fear, but rather quite the opposite. he cursed silently at himself, shaking his head at his own foolishness before proceeding further into the shop.

once he was inside, he deemed it practically deserted, though it was hard to tell thanks to the labyrinth of bookcases stacked top to toe with so many titles it made jess’s head spin. the soft afternoon sunlight dappled the floor, sending fractured golden rays through the leaves of miscellaneous plants that littered the large windowsill. jess couldn’t prevent the slight smile that tugged at the corner of his lips as he heard the distant sound of an 80s rock song coming from somewhere in the store.

it was promising, that was for certain.

jess was so immersed in the slice of heaven he had stumbled upon, that your perplexed frame sitting behind the counter had gone completely unnoticed by him. it was quite endearing, the way his focus lay solely in the contents of the towering walls of books. his lack of awareness, however, granted you the perfect opportunity to observe the unfamiliar boy as he browsed the spines of the shelves.

stars hollow was seldom blessed with new faces, but on those rare occasions, it never failed to add a little more excitement to the town. especially so, when the newest resident was undeniably attractive, seemingly around your age, and clearly shared your interest in books.

you had worked at the bookstore for a few years, always happy to organise the many overflowing bookshelves, or dish out recommendations to rory gilmore whenever she came in searching for a new read. over time, it had become a little home to you.

it was the place where you felt most at peace, able to sit behind the counter with a cup of coffee as you read, sometimes indulging in easy conversation with a customer. it was your own small slice of the world to treasure, to call your own.

and now, it had brought you this enchanting stranger.

he seemed to possess good taste, as he lingered slightly around the ‘classics’ section with a purposeful air. gentle fingers ghosted over a few different books, before he plucked one from the shelf and scanned the cover. instantly, you recognised it to be ‘the picture of dorian gray’, a novel you’d read more times than you could count.

“i love that book.” you spoke, immediately prickling with regret at your newfound surge of confidence.

the boy looked up, meeting your gaze quickly. his eyes returned to the book he held in his hands as he flicked through the pages, humming lowly.

“well, it’s no hemingway, but it’s a nice read.”

“ah, you’ve read it before?” you enquired, a wave of relief washing over you as your attempt at starting a conversation proved to be fruitful.

“around three or four times.” he shrugged casually, the hint of a smirk appearing on his face. “guess they call it a classic for a reason.”

“i suppose.” you agreed, wracking your brain for something that would continue this conversation you had sparked. “if you’ve read it before, can i ask why you’re buying another copy?” your tone was light, hoping not to insult the boy before you had the chance to get to know him. “not that i’m judging, i have like, three different copies of the virgin suicides at home.”

“i wrote a little too much in the margins.” the boy mimed a scribbling motion with his free hand, smirk growing. “it sorta turned into writing all over the pages and, well, next thing i know, it’s illegible.”

“got a lot of thoughts about wilde?”

“you could say that.” he hummed, approaching the counter and placing the book lightly on top of it.

“and will this copy escape the same doom?” you joked, delighting when the boy let out an amused snort.

“can’t make any promises.”

as you worked to put the price into the register, you laughed at his remark, shaking your head in amusement. this time, it was his turn to admire you, and the way your eyes crinkled slightly when you laughed, or how easily you navigated the buttons on the cash register, like it was second nature.

“that’s six ninety-five.”

he fished the appropriate change out of his pocket and dropped it into your hand, careful not to let your hands brush. you couldn’t suppress the swelling disappointment at the back of your mind as you slid the book back across the counter.

“hey, i don’t think i’ve seen you around here before. you just move here?” you asked, praying he didn’t think you were trying to pry into his personal life.

“yeah. got here the other night. it’s an… interesting place, that’s for sure.” his nose scrunched slightly as he declared this and you couldn’t help the laugh that slipped past your lips at his poor attempt at masking his true feelings.

“you get used to it, promise. soon enough, you'll willingly attend the town meetings listening to taylor’s exciting news of a traffic light, and feel right at home.”

again, he scoffed lightly, a gesture which made heat rise to the back of your neck. you changed the subject once more, hoping talking would distract your mind from just how quickly you were falling for this stranger.

“you’re one of the first people i’ve seen around the classics section in a while. apart from rory, but she’s rory, and i realise that means nothing to you, but believe me, i think she’s single handedly keeping this place running.”

“well, most people are boring and stupid.” he spoke, raising an eyebrow.

“did you just quote oscar wilde to me?”

“maybe.”

it was undeniable. you liked him. a lot.

“i’m y/n.”

“jess.”

“nice to meet you.”

“so y/n, i’m guessing you know where luke’s diner is.”

“that i do.” you nodded.

you frequently went to luke’s as everyone, especially lorelai gilmore, could attest to the fact that he made the best coffee in town.

“good. rumour has it, if you go there after your shift, there may be a free coffee and pastry of your choice waiting for you.” jess gave you a crooked grin, turning to leave.

biting back a large grin of your own, you called after him.

“cherry danish, i get off at six!”

“i’ll keep that in mind.”

the door shut behind him and you smiled foolishly, burying your warm face in your hands as you willed the clock to tick by faster. though three hours later, after closing up the store in record time, the rumours proved to be true.

you ignored the odd glances you got as you burst through the entrance, running a hand through your hair to tame it before approaching the counter and shooting a smile at luke. the man simply sighed slightly, pushing a hot cup of coffee and a fresh cherry danish across to you.

“i believe this is for you.”

the coffee and pastry themselves were enough to make you dizzy with excitement, but it was the number scrawled on the loose sheet of paper tucked under your coffee cup that surrendered you to your joy.

never had you loved oscar wilde more.

like i say, not the biggest fan of the ending, but consider this my attempt at getting jess's character down whilst trying my hand at more dialogue - something i realised my fics kind of lack in?? feedback / reblogs are much appreciated angels<33

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[angelarmitage98]

Harry Potter preferences...

How he asks you to be his girlfriend:

Harry:

His P.O.V:

She was sat quietly in the library reading a book about magical creatures to kill time as she had nothing better to be done for the rest of the day. When suddenly, BANG! A loud noise was heard throughout the entire library, I could see her wondering where that noise came from. I hope she doesn't notice it was me, not just yet anyway. She stood up searching for where that sound came from. So, I stood still behind the old, dusty shelf, waiting for her to come wandering around the corner to find the surprise, I have on my invisibility cloak so she doesn't see me yet. Finally, I see her trotting along to where I made the noise. She looked around as she noticed the little box I placed there for her, waiting and anticipating for her to open it.

Your P.O.V:

I heard a loud noise coming from behind the shelves in the library and before, I knew it my feet took me towards the sound. When I got here, I saw nothing but a tiny little box wrapped in a nice mint green wrapping paper and a golden ribbon. I picked it up wondering who's it could be when I saw a tag attached so I made the decision to check and see who it belonged to. Once I looked I noticed it had my name on it, hmm how peculiar I thought but yet it was so exciting, so I opened it to which a whole bunch of confetti and fireworks flew out, BANG! WOOOSH! WOOO! I looked up to discover the fireworks spelling out, 'WILL YOU (Y/N) (Y/L/N), DO ME THE HONOUR OF BEING MY GIRLFRIEND? - HARRY POTTER' wow, how beautiful I thought, I could not help but have the biggest grin on my face. Suddenly, I hear a noise from behind me, "so, will you?" it was Harry, I just looked at him with the biggest smile ever, this was the best day of my life. Obviously, I nodded my head frantically because of course who wouldn't, it's THE Harry Potter, every girl loved him, and of course, I was one of those girls, and I am still one of those girls.

Ron:

Your P.O.V:

I've just finished my last lesson of the day and have now decided to go find Ron, I haven't seen him the past couple of hours and I'm worried about him, what if he's sick. I saw Harry and Hermione walking my way and who better to ask about Ron than his two best friends, am I right? "Harry, Hermione, have either of you seen Ron anywhere?" I politely asked. Harry was looking at me in this weird way, and it began to make me feel as though I had something on my face. Hermione elbowed Harry in the ribs which to me was rather odd, but nevermind that I need to find Ron. "Oh, Ron is in the kitchen with the house elves, feel free to go find him," Hermione told me. I could tell she was trying to hold back a huge smile but I wonder why. Hmm, oh well I'll just talk to her about it later. "Ok, thank you," I replied and set off walking towards the kitchen. It took me ten minutes to get here but at least I finally arrived. I walked through the doors to see Ron covered in what seemed to be flour. 'Huh, I wonder what he's been up to.' "Ron, what are you doing? You look like a complete mess." I spoke. "Oh, (Y/N), you're here, erm I was just making cupcakes." The minute I heard the word cupcake, I rushed over, grabbed one and took a bite. "Bloody hell (Y/N), you were supposed to read them first." 'Oops,' I thought. "Ronald, seriously? How was I supposed to know that? And besides, its cupcakes how can I hold back from eating one." I said. "Look, I'll put it back and read them," I spoke again. Lucky enough I only took a small bite and the letter was still written on the cupcake. "Good." He replied. I placed the cupcake back where I got it and look at them to see it said '(Y/N) WILL YOU DO ME THE HONOUR OF BEING MY GIRLFRIEND?' as I read it I felt a small tear drop onto my hand. I then turned to look at Ron with a huge smile on my face. "Ronald Weasley, I would love to be your girlfriend," I spoke ecstatically, knowing that this is the start of a beautiful relationship.

Draco:

Regular P.O.V:

You were sat at the Gryffindor table when you felt someone tap you on the shoulder. You turned around to see Crabbe stood there with a beautiful white rose. 'Hmm, my favourite.' You thought. "Follow the roses." Was all he said and pointed towards the Great Hall doors. You arose (no pun intended) from your seat and began walking towards the doors. There stood Goyle with another rose in his hand. 'How peculiar' you thought. "Keep going." He said. So you walked through the doors and heard Fred and George shouting your name. "(Y/N), This way, come on (Y/N), move those legs." Which caused you to laugh at them. 'Oh Merlin, these two are strange' you soon arrived in front of them and the boy gave you a rose each. "Just a few more to go." then pointed in the direction in which you're supposed to walk. You looked at the end of the hall and saw Ron standing there and began to make your way there. "Almost there, just head that way," Ron said nodding his head in the direction in which you're supposed to go while handing you another rose. You were so confused as to what was going on but you felt so intrigued to find out what was going on and how it all ends. You continued your walk and came to find Harry with another rose. "Just one more of these and you're there." 'Huh,' you thought. You then began to quicken your pace to see what was lying ahead. You came to a stop when you found Hermoine with the last rose. "Just there." She spoke in her soft voice and pointed outside towards the Whomping Willow, you took the final rose and made your way there. You came to a halt when you say 'Be Mine? - Yours Truly, Draco' written in rose petals. You heard someone say "ahem" from behind you and turned to see Draco. "I would love to be yours." You told him. "Good, and don't say anything about me asking Potter and his friends to help. I did it for you and that's all you need to know." You giggled at what he had said and thought to yourself. 'Best. Day. Ever'

Neville:

His P.O.V:

So, today's the day I've finally decided to ask out my crush. Her name is (Y/N). She's so beautiful, she has (H/L) (H/C) hair that frames her face perfectly. Her smooth (S/C) skin is radiant when the sun hits it just right. And her li- "Hey Nev, you ok?" A voice pulled me from my thoughts, it's her, oh Godric I'd know that angelic voice anywhere. "Ugh, erm, yeah. I'm good. I'm just getting a couple of books to study. Are you ok? And what you up to?" I already know what she's doing, I know her schedule better than my own and I know she's here to do a bit of light reading but I wouldn't want to say that out loud I mean she will think I'm a complete freak just like everyone else already does. "Oh, ok. You look a little a pale and I thought you might be feeling a little sick, but anyway I've just come for a bit of reading, would you care to join me?" I could listen to her talk all day. "Oh, sure. I'd love too, that would be great, I mean only if I-" "Nev, you're rambling, now just come on, let's go find some seats." "Yeah, sure," I told her as we began walking, we walked all the way to the back of the library and sat down on the seats further back. 'Ok,' I thought 'time to put this plan into action' "Nice book that, how far have you got?" I asked, trying not to let the nerves get the better of me. "I'm just on chapter thirteen, and honestly it seems pretty good so far." "That's good. Can you do me a favour? Go to page five hundred and twenty-one, line seven." I asked her, god I hope this goes well.

Your P.O.V:

Huh, Nev seems to be acting a little strange but that can wait. I've decided to do what he's asked and went to the page and look at line seven. The words 'This was his moment, it was time to ask her, but will she say yes...' Wait. What. Is he... Oh my gosh... He's asking me out. "Oh Nev, yes, yes, yes thousand times yes." this is the cutest thing anyone has ever done for me, and I'm glad it was Nev, I mean I've adored him since we met each other in my compartment of the train.

Seamus:

Your P.O.V:

I was walking down the hall when I noticed if I didn't hurry up I would be late for my next class. I parted ways with my friends and scurried off down the hall towards potions. There's no way I can risk being late considering the fact that I have Professor Snape for a teacher, he's so heartless and doesn't even give you a chance with anything if you're not Slytherin and guess what I'm not Slytherin. I walked into the classroom and realised that he wasn't here yet, phew, I thought. I took my seat next to Seamus as I usually would but for some reason he looked extremely nervous, I wonder why? But before I could ask Professor Snape walked in. 'Great' I thought. The class proceeded as normal and halfway through making my potion, I heard the usual bang come from the side of me, which usually meant Seamus messed up his potion, so I turned to the side to help him fix things as I'd normally do. Only this time I noticed something different. I saw the words 'Will you (Y/N), please be my girlfriend' written within the smoke. I looked at Seamus who said "Will you?" with a nervous smile etched on his face. "Yes, definitely yes," I spoke with excitement laced in my voice. "Miss (Y/L/N), Mr Finnigan. Detention." I heard Professor Snape say The one thing I didn't want to happen today, happened. But in all honesty, it's definitely worth it.

Fred:

Regular P.O.V:

Today's the day for the Quidditch match. It's Gryffindor VS Slytherin to see which team shall win the final match of the year. Yet even though you should be cheering for Slytherin you're not. In fact, you're actually cheering and screaming for Gryffindor instead, all you keep doing is cheering for Fred Weasley, your crush and George. All you want is for them to win but at the moment they only have 70 points and Slytherin have 80, which of course you're happy with because it is your house team but you'd be so much happier if it was the other way around. You're pulled from your thoughts when you saw a bludger come your way but before it had the chance to get close enough you saw Fred fly down to save the day, he hit the bludger away then turned to you to give a sly wink. You couldn't help but let the blush form on your face. Then all of a sudden they called for a time out and everyone began chattering among themselves confused as to what was going on. Then suddenly Fred was in front of all the players with a microphone at hand "So," you heard him say, you looked right at him to see what he was about to do next. "We all know this gorgeous girl that I always have by my side, she's my partner in crime, well my other one, I also have George." You couldn't help but laugh at that. "Well, anyway, she's perfect and I've been crushing on her for a long time now and well I have this for her." And randomly the team started flying around to spell out. 'Will you please go out with me?' and then Fred began flying towards you. You stood shocked. He arrived right in front of you and said: "So, (Y/N) will you be mine?" You stood nodding your head vigorously not knowing what to say because you felt as though you couldn't trust your words. Fred smiled at you as though he'd won the lottery and screamed through the microphone 'she said yes' and the whole crowd began to go wild. You felt as though you had never been happier in your whole entire life than at this moment right now. This is the start to a beautiful life to a guy you've been in love with for quite a while now and you can't wait to see what the future has in store for you both.

George:

Your P.O.V:

I was sat with Fred in the Gryffindor common room waiting for George so that we could go get dinner, but I wonder what's taking him so long. Suddenly Fred stood up and told me to follow him. "But what about George?" I asked, "Don't worry, we're off to find him." He replied. So I stood up and began to follow him, we had a small conversation about his pranks and how good he feels his and George's prank will be. Next thing I knew we had arrived in the middle of the Quidditch field and saw a beautiful picnic laid out. "Fred, what's going on?" I asked but when I looked up he was nowhere to be seen. "Fred... Fred..." I kept shouting but he wasn't anywhere near here. I sat down on the blanket, wondering what was going on when all of a sudden I felt someone grab my shoulders while screaming boo. I jumped, feeling frightened. I turned myself around to see George stood there, I picked up a pillow and began hitting him with it while screaming at him, telling him how much of an idiot he is for scaring you like that. "Ouch, ouch, stop it, woman, I'm sorry." He said while laughing. "Yeah, you better be, now what the hell is all this you idiot?" I asked. "Well, this dear is a date." He replied. "Oh," I said. "So, erm, (Y/N) how about I teach you to fly." George suddenly said. "Ok," I replied. We got up and he began to teach me how to ride a broom. We had now been doing this for about an hour when all of a sudden I began to lose my grip. I began to fall off my broom and screamed for George and he swooped me into his arms. "Why thank you for saving my life. You're my hero, my very own Superman." I said while laughing "Well if I'm Superman can you be my Lois Lane?" George asked with seriousness laced within his voice which caused me to stop laughing. I stared straight into his eyes and replied with "Nothing would make me happier than being Lois Lane to your Superman." And with that, he flew you back toward the ground where you sat and finished your picnic while waiting for the sunset to come. (You told him about Superman because you're muggleborn and know all about him, so you thought it would be fun to tell him about superheroes and anything related to them).

[crimeculturepodcast]

Hispanic/Latino horror movies

In honor of Hispanic Heritage month, this week we talked about horror movies out of Latin American and Spanish speaking countries. There were some we couldn’t get to so here is the full list:

Spain

The Devil’s Backbone (2001)

Rotten Tomatoes: 92%

Audience Score: 89%

Google Score: 85%

IMDb: 7.4/10

Critics Consensus: Creepily atmospheric and haunting, The Devil's Backbone is both a potent ghost story and an intelligent political allegory.

Description: “Set during the last years of the Spanish Civil War, The Devil's Backbone is a Spanish gothic horror movie that follows Carlos, a young orphan boy who is deposited at Santa Lucia School among several other children who have been displaced by the conflict. Though he finds friends in the professor and the head mistress, he is plagued by a wandering spirit with a link to the violent caretaker's secret past.”

Trivia: The movie, which he wrote in college and was in development for 16 years, is strongly inspired by Del Toro’s personal memories, especially his relationship with his uncle, who supposedly came back as a ghost. It is also included among the "1,001 Movies You Must See Before You Die" edited by Steven Schneider. Although filmmaker Guillermo del Toro is Mexican, this film is set in the Spanish countryside (largely filmed in Madrid) that’s why it’s on the Spanish list. The Devil’s Backbone has all of the impactful elements of spirituality, horror, and the supernatural that come up again and again in Del Toro’s work. This film has been referred to as the “brother film” of one of Del Toro’s best known works, Pan’s Labyrinth. 

[REC] (2007)

Rotten Tomatoes: 89%

Audience Score: 82%

Google Score: 85%

IMDb: 7.4/10

Critics Consensus: Plunging viewers into the nightmarish hellscape of an apartment complex under siege, [Rec] proves that found footage can still be used as an effective delivery mechanism for sparse, economic horror.

Description: “Late-night TV host Angela and her cinematographer are following the fire service on a call to an apartment building, but the Spanish police seal off the building after an old woman is infected by a virus which gives her inhuman strength.”

Trivia: The movie was filmed chronologically in real locations (no sets were built for the movie). The actor’s were never given the script in its entirety and didn’t know what was going to happen to their characters until the day of filming. The movie is also a big inspiration for the horror survival game Outlast.

Considered The Blair Witch Project of zombie movies, REC had a lot of competition in the found footage style (it came out the same year as George Romero’s Diary of the Dead and the first Paranormal Activity movie). It more than holds its own among them, so much so that an American remake called Quarantine came out the next year. Director Jaume Balagueró keeps the movie disturbingly real and doesn’t fall prey to jump scare after jump scare.

Veronica (2017)

Rotten Tomatoes: 88%

Audience Score: 49%

Google Score: 80%

IMDb: 6.2/10

Critics Consensus: A scarily effective horror outing, Veronica proves it doesn't take fancy or exotic ingredients to craft skin-crawling genre thrills. 

Description: “During a solar eclipse, a teenage girl and her friends want to summon the spirit of the girl's father using an Ouija board. However, during the session she loses consciousness and soon it becomes clear that evil demons have arrived.”

Trivia: Based on the true story of 18-year-old Estefanía Gutiérrez Lázaro. I won’t go too far into it because we may do an episode on it in the future but if you want spoilers, watch the movie (if you dare).

Directed by Paco Plaza (same as REC), the possession theme is done over and over again in horror but this movie is a terrifying and fresh take. 

The Bar (2017)

Rotten Tomatoes: 88%

Audience Score: 55%

Google Score: 75%

IMDb: 6.3/10

Description: “In bustling downtown Madrid, a loud gunshot and two mysterious deaths trap a motley assortment of common urbanites in a decrepit central bar, while paranoia and suspicion force the terrified regulars to turn on each other.”

Directed by Álex de la Iglesia, it’s labeled as a horror-comedy. You can watch it on Netflix.

Who Can Kill A Child? (1976) - Tells the story of a happy couple, two English tourists who decide to vacation on a secluded island in the Mediterranean. There they discover – almost too late- that the island has been taken over by a group of murderous children.

The Baby’s Room (2006) - Featured on Six Films to Keep You Awake at Night. A new family renovates and moves into a grand old house. Nervous first-time mom installs a baby monitor but hears mysterious sounds on the other side. Once they install a high-tech video baby monitor, what they see chills them to the bone.

Sleep Tight (2011) - Apartment concierge Cesar is a miserable person who believes he was born without the ability to be happy. His self-appointed task is to make life hell for everyone around him, a mission in which he has great success. It has big home invasion/stalker vibes. 

Timecrimes (2007) - A man accidentally gets into a time machine and travels back in time nearly an hour. Finding himself will be the first of a series of disasters of unforeseeable consequences. It sounds like a “Happy Death Day” type of plot (but proceeding it by a decade).

Thesis (1996) - Angela is doing her thesis on the effect of violence in the media when she discovers a snuff film. This discovery leads her down a dark path where she must confront her greatest fears and question everybody around her.

Witching and Bitching (2013) - One article I read said it perfectly, “What Shaun of the Dead did for zombies and What We Do in the Shadows did for vampires, Witching & Bitching essentially did for the cinematic depiction of witches, albeit on a less visible scale.” Great pick if you’re looking for something a bit more lighthearted.

Mexico

Pan’s Labyrinth (2006)

Rotten Tomatoes: 95%

Audience Score: 91%

Google Score: 90%

IMDb: 8.2/10

Critics Consensus: Pan's Labyrinth is Alice in Wonderland for grown-ups, with the horrors of both reality and fantasy blended together into an extraordinary, spellbinding fable. 

Description: After the Allies invade Nazi-occupied Europe, a sadistic captain sends a troop of Spanish soldiers to flush out rebels,bringing his new wife and her daughter along on his exploits. While his family resides in the countryside, he leads his men on a murderous rampage, much of which is witnessed by his step daughter. In an effort to escape her reality she plunges into Pan's Labyrinth, a mystical world at the border of her own.

Trivia: Guillermo del Toro is famous for compiling books full of notes and drawings about his ideas before turning them into films, something he regards as essential to the process. He left years worth of notes for this film in the back of a cab, and when he discovered them missing, he thought it was the end of the project. However, the cab driver found them and, realizing their importance, tracked him down and returned them at great personal difficulty and expense. Del Toro was convinced that this was a blessing and it made him ever more determined to complete the film. Del Toro also repeatedly refused offers from Hollywood producers, in spite of being offered double the budget, provided the film was made in English. He didn't want any compromise in the storyline to suit the "market needs" (he even did the English subtitles himself). The film received 22 minutes of applause at the Cannes Film Festival and in 2007, it became one of the few fantasy films ever nominated in the Best Foreign Language Film category at the Oscars. It’s another on the list "1,001 Movies You Must See Before You Die" edited by Steven Schneider with The Devil’s Backbone. It was on more than 130 top 10 lists in 2006. It is also the 5th highest grossing foreign language film in the US.

The Similars (2016)

Rotten Tomatoes: 95%

Audience Score: 49%

Google Score: 75%

IMDb: 5.9/10

Critics Consensus: A smart homage to genre filmmaking, The Similars is a fun and frightening film that balances socio-political issues with aplomb.

Description: A monstrous, once-in-a-lifetime thunderstorm strands passengers in a remote bus station outside Mexico City in 1968. As they listen to the radio, they realized that the storm has spread all over the world. As they look at each other, they also realize that everyone’s faces are slowly changing, and not for the better. 

Trivia: The film used make-up and special effects techniques never before done in Mexico. Director Isaac Ezban was influenced by B-movies of the 50s and 60s as well as TV shows and movies like “The Twilight Zone”, “The Thing”, and “Invasion of the Body Snatchers”.

We Are What We Are (2010)

Rotten Tomatoes: 72%

Audience Score: 48%

Google Score: 77%

IMDb: 5.7/10

Critics Consensus: We Are What We Are is elevated horror that combines family drama and social politics, with plenty of gore on top.

Description: After a family patriarch dies, his survivors are tasked with continuing the rigid family rituals that involve hunting meat, preparing it for consumption, and eating it. The “meat” in question is human flesh, since they’re a family of cannibals. With two detectives hot on their tail, the family of cannibals strains to maintain their family traditions in a modern urban environment.

There was an English language remake in 2013 (86% on Rotten Tomatoes) with Wyatt Russell and Odeya Rush (Lady Bird, Dumplin’, and Goosebumps)

We Are The Flesh (2016) - A joint French-Mexican production released in Spanish as Somos la carne, this post-apocalyptic nightmare involves a brother and sister who roam the land desperately seeking food until a kindly old man takes them in under the condition that they help him renovate an abandoned building. Oh, and they also have to have sex with one another while he watches. And after he breaks their will by getting them to do that, he makes them do all sorts of other things. This film was one of only four in Mexico to receive a “D” rating—which is reserved for subject matter that is considered extremely disturbing and/or pornographic.

The Witch’s Mirror (1962) - An abusive and cheating husband kills his wife so that he can be with his mistress. The woman’s godmother was a witch who originally tried casting a spell on a mirror to protect her from domestic violence, but the spell failed. Still, she is able to bring the woman back from the grave, and the two witches set out to destroy the evil woman-beater.

Here Comes The Devil (2012) - A married couple lose their children while on a family trip near some caves in Tijuana. The kids eventually reappear without explanation, but it becomes clear that they are not who they used to be, that something terrifying has changed them.

Chile

Downhill (2016)

Rotten Tomatoes: 60%

Audience Score: 22%

Google Score: 43%

IMDb: 3.5/10

Description: Deeply upset by the passing of his best friend, a professional BMX rider accepts to partake in a race in Chile. Everything goes as planned until he stumbles upon a man who is infected by a mysterious virus and becomes the target of local assassins.

Trivia: Filmed in 13 days

Post Mortem (2010)

Rotten Tomatoes: 88%

Audience Score: 61%

Google Score: 70%

IMDb: 6.5/10

Description: In Chile, 1973, during the last days of Salvador Allende’s presidency, an employee at a Morgue’s recording office falls for a burlesque dancer who mysteriously disappears.

Aftershock (2012)

Rotten Tomatoes: 39%

Audience Score: 24%

Google Score: 61%

IMDb: 4.8/10

Critics Consensus: Aftershock hints at an inventive twist on horror tropes, but ultimately settles for another round of mind-numbing depravity that may alternately bore and revolt all but the most ardent gore enthusiasts.

Description: In Chile, a group of travelers who are in an underground nightclub when a massive earthquake hits quickly learn that reaching the surface is just the beginning of their nightmare.

Trivia: Horror icon Eli Roth wrote and stars in this film.

To Kill A Man (2014) - An attack on his daughter leads a mild-mannered family man to take revenge on the vicious street thugs who have tormented him and his family for a long time.

Columbia

Out Of The Dark (2014) This is in English

Rotten Tomatoes: 24%

Audience Score: 22%

Google Score: 77%

IMDb: 4.8/10

Description: A family moves to Colombia to take over the operation of a manufacturing plant, soon they learn their new home is haunted.

Trivia: Starring Julia Stiles (10 Things I Hate About You, Dexter) and Scott Speedman (The Strangers, You) 

The Squad (2011)

Audience Score: 53%

Google Score: 82%

IMDb: 5.3/10

Description: After a secret military base ceases all communications, an anti-guerrilla commando unit is sent to the mountainous location to discover what exactly happened. The squad expects to discover that the base was attacked and taken over by guerrilla units, but instead find only a lone woman wrapped in chains.

Trivia: In one scene where the actors are shooting guns, one actor accidentally picked up a real gun instead of the prop and fired a real shot (no one was hurt).

Cord (2015) - On a post-apocalyptic world of never-ending winter, a sparse cast of outsiders live underground. Due to their unsanitary conditions, sexual contact has become dangerous. Masturbation has become the paradigm of sexual experience and an array of low-tech devices with this purpose has come into existence. In this bleak reality, a dealer of such machines a sex addict make a deal: she will allow him to experiment new devices on her body in exchange of pleasure. Soon however, their relationship goes out of control.

The Hidden Face (2011)

Rotten Tomatoes: 80%

Audience Score: 72%

Google Score: 86%

IMDb: 7.4/10

Description: Shattered by the unexpected news of their irreversible break-up, an aspiring orchestra conductor is puzzled by his girlfriend's mysterious and seemingly inexplicable case of disappearance. But, can he look beyond the facts?

Trivia: There is a Turkish version of this movie and a 2013 remake out of India called “Murder 3”

At The End Of The Spectra (2006)

Google Score: 83%

IMDb: 6/10

Description: A young woman who has become agoraphobic due to a traumatic incident is holed up in her apartment, she begins to suffer from hallucinations, paranoia and an obsessive neighbour.

Trivia: There is a Mexican remake called “Devil Inside” and there were once rumors of an American remake starring Nicole Kidman but that’s the end of that.

Uruguay

The Silent House (La Casa Muda) (2010) 

Rotten Tomatoes: 68%

Audience Score: 37%

Google Score: 63%

IMDb: 5.4/10

Critics Consensus: Shot in a single take, The Silent House may be a gimmick movie, but it's one that's enough to sustain dread and tension throughout. 

Description: A girl becomes trapped inside a house and becomes unable to contact the outside world as supernatural forces haunt it.

Trivia: The plot is supposedly based on a true story that occurred in the 1940s in a small village in Uruguay. With a budget of just six thousand dollars, it was filmed using a handheld high-definition digital single-lens reflex camera (the Canon EOS 5D Mark II), 2 handheld lamps, and a couple of lightbulbs over a time period of just four days. The claim that the movie was filmed in one continuous take are suspect. The Mark II camera can only record up to 15 minutes of continuous video at a time. Uruguay's official submission to the Best Foreign Language Film category of the 84th Academy Awards 2012.

Monos (2019)

Rotten Tomatoes: 92% 

Audience Score: 85%

Google Score: 69%

IMDb: 6.9/10

Critics Consensus: As visually splendid as it is thought-provoking, Monos takes an unsettling look at human nature whose grim insights leave a lingering impact.

Description: On a faraway mountaintop, eight teenaged guerillas with guns watch over a hostage and a conscripted milk cow. Playing games and initiating cult-like rituals, the children run amok in the jungle and disaster strikes when the hostage tries to escape.

Trivia: Moises Arias (Hannah Montana) and Julianne Nicholson (I, Tonya, August: Osage County) most of the other actors had never acted before. The movie draws inspiration from Lord of the Flies. Included among the "1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die", edited by Steven Schneider. It was selected as the official Colombian entry for the Best International Feature Film at the 92nd Academy Awards.

Peru

The Entity (2015)

Google Score: 66%

IMDb: 4.3/10

Description: A group of students decide to study 'reaction videos' and are led toward an old film, hidden in the archive room of a cemetery. It appears that everybody who has witnessed the film has met an untimely demise under suspicious circumstances. When the students view the footage, they discover first hand, what the demonic spirit is capable of. Fulfilling the ancient curse of a woman cruelly killed during the Spanish Inquisition.

Trivia: The Entity has been billed as Peru's first 3D horror film and to have been loosely based on true stories. Review websites Flickering Myth and Nerdly commented that the movie suffered from being too overly familiar to pre-existing works (Blair Witch, The Ring).

The Vanished Elephant (2014)

Rotten Tomatoes: 89%

Audience Score: 72%

Google Score: 88%

IMDb: 6.5/10

Description: Crime novelist Edo remains obsessed with what happened to his fiancee Celia after she disappeared during an earthquake. When an enigmatic woman brings him photos that may help him solve the mystery, he senses he is being drawn into a dangerous game.

The Secret Of Evil (2014)

Google Score: 65%

IMDb: 5/10

Description: Video footage depicting a supernatural encounter is all that remains of a filmmaker and his crew who disappeared while exploring a haunted house.

When Two Worlds Collide (2016)

Rotten Tomatoes: 91%

Audience Score: 69%

Google Score: 93%

IMDb: 7.6/10

Description: An indigenous environmental activist takes on the large businesses that are destroying the Amazon.

El Vientre (2014)

Google Score: 81%

IMDb: 6.1/10

Description: Silvia, a beautiful 45-year-old widow, is obsessed with having a child and finds in attractive but naive Mercedes the perfect candidate to bear it. Silvia kindly offers her a job and a room in her house, and then manipulates her into seducing a young man named Jaime. They soon fall in love and Mercedes becomes pregnant. Silvia will do anything in her power to keep the baby, even if it means leaving a couple of bodies behind.

Argentina

Terrified (2018)

Rotten Tomatoes: 77% 

Audience Score: 65%

Google Score: 82%

IMDb: 6.5/10

Description: Paranormal researchers investigate strange events in a neighbourhood in Buenos Aires.

Luciferina (2018)

Rotten Tomatoes: 83%

Audience Score: 25%

Google Score: 69%

IMDb: 4.6/10

Description: Natalia is a nineteen-year-old novice who reluctantly returns home to say goodbye to her dying father. However, when she meets up with her sister and her friends, she decides instead to travel the jungle in search of mystical plant.

Francesca (2015)

Audience Score: 67%

Google Score: 73%

IMDb: 5.3/10

Description: Two detectives track a serial killer who has been targeting the impure. To catch him, they'll have to solve the case of a girl who went missing 15 years ago.

Cold Sweat (2010)

Rotten Tomatoes: 75%

Audience Score: 

Google Score: 58%

IMDb: 4.8/10

Description: The movie follows Román, who stumbles upon his ex-girlfriend Jackie, who has somehow gotten caught up in a torture cult run by two sadistic, old men. The aging political radicals have managed to put Jackie’s life in incredible danger. But when Román and his friend try to help Jackie out of her confines, the elderly psychos prove to be more than meets the eye.

Penumbra (2011)

Rotten Tomatoes: 50%

Audience Score: 26%

Google Score: 75%

IMDb: 5.5/10

Description: A woman desperate to find a tenant for her decrepit apartment apparently finds the perfect candidate, unaware of a sinister plot involving an imminent eclipse.

Venezuela

The House At The End of Time (2013)

Rotten Tomatoes: None 

Audience Score: 72%

Google Score: 91%

IMDb: 6.8/10

Description: Dulce encounters apparitions in her house and unleashes a terrible prophecy. Thirty years later, Dulce, now an old woman, returns to unravel the mystery that has terrorized her for years.

Trivia: Winner of the Audience Award at Gävle Horror Film Festival 2016 (Sweden). Not only is it Venezuela’s highest-grossing horror film, it’s also the most distributed film from the country. By August 2016 it was announced that the American studio New Line Cinema acquired the rights of the film to make a remake for the American public. Hidalgo is still at the wheel so its chances of success are high.

Ecuador

Cronicas (2004)

Rotten Tomatoes: 71%

Audience Score: 77%

Google Score: 80%

IMDb: 6.9/10

Critics Consensus: An unsettling and absorbing cautionary tale with John Leguizamo playing an unscrupulous TV reporter who uses the medium to further his own goals.

Description: Reporter Manolo Bonilla (John Leguizamo) goes to a jail in Ecuador to interview Vinicio Cepeda (Damián Alcázar, Narcos, Narnia), a hit-and-run driver whose crime incited a riot. After Cepeda tells him he knows where a murderer called the Monster of Babahoyo buried a young female victim, Bonilla posts bail in the hopes that he'll learn more about the crime. Bonilla finds the girl's body, but, as he nears the scoop of his career, it looks as if Cepeda might be withholding some key details.

Trivia: Inspired by a true story? As well as being both a Cannes and TIFF favourite, Cronicas is the official submission of Ecuador for the 'Best Foreign Language Film' category of the 77th Academy Awards in 2005, it was produced by Guillermo del Toro and Alfonso Cuarón (Children of Men, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban) This is John Leguizamo’s first film in Spanish. He said he felt awkward talking in Spanish while acting, like he didn't know the language. 

English Language Horror

The Silent House (2011) This is in English

Rotten Tomatoes: 43%

Audience Score: 

Google Score: 72%

IMDb: 5.3/10

Critics Consensus: Silent House is more technically proficient and ambitious than most fright-fests, but it also suffers from a disappointing payoff.

Description: Sarah is working with her father and uncle to renovate an old family home to prepare it for sale. Long vacant, the house has no utilities, forcing the trio to rely on battery-operated lanterns to light their way. Sarah becomes separated from her relatives and soon finds she is trapped inside the cabin, with no contact with the outside world. Panic turns to real terror as the young woman experiences events that become increasingly ominous.

Trivia: Elizabeth Olsen (Wandavision) The plot is based on a true story that occurred in the 1940s in a small village in Uruguay. Contrary to the marketing's claim that the film was shot in one uninterrupted take, the entire movie was actually shot to mimic one continuous real-time take, with no cuts from start to finish, as a result the time span of the film's plot is exactly 86 minutes. It was shot in roughly 10 minute segments then carefully edited to hide the cuts.

Night of the Living Dead (1968) - This along with the rest of the Dead series are the work of George A. Romero, whose father is from Cuba.

Ash vs. Evil Dead - I love the Evil Dead movies and although this series wasn’t perfect (I’m sure die-hard fans will say it's far from it), I still think it kept to the heart of the main story. Bruce Campbell is obviously perfect and the addition of Lucy Lawless is amazing, it’s really Puerto Rican actor Ray Santiago that steals the show.

The Others (2001) - Directed by globally renowned Spanish director Alejandro Amenábar, The Others starring Nicole Kidman is a Spanish gothic horror movie that combines elements of the supernatural, psychological, and mystical. It focuses on the strange events that occur at the estate of a woman and her young children, plagued by spirits in the aftermath of WWII. It has the distinction of being the only English-language Spanish movie to be given the Best Film Award at Spain's national film awards, the Goyas. In total, the movie has seven Goya Awards, including for Best Director. Although it might not read as particularly “Spanish,” it was produced, written and filmed all in Spain, shooting in Cantabria, Northern Spain and Madrid.

[toscrollperchancetomeme]

Lestat de Lioncourt - A playlist

So, guess who made a Lestat Playlist (like there aren't enough already) and decided to sit down for 4-6 hours to find some excerpt corresponding with each song? Featuring 80s and 90s music (clearly showing my age...) as well as many european songs and showtunes. Enjoy!

1. Cathedrals – Ramin Karimloo (Original by Jump, Little Children)

In the cathedrals of New York and Rome There is a feeling that you should just go home And spend the lifetime finding out just where that is

And that was not a good year for me. I was wandering aimlessly. I was sick of things. I was furious with myself that the „beauty“ of life wasn't sustaining me, wasn't making my loneliness bearable.

I wanted to join them. Always do want to join them and never do. „Go home,“ he whispered. - Prince Lestat

(I actually feel like there are quotes that would correspond to this song in every one of the books and indeed have not yet found any other song that captures the general spirit of The Vampire Chronicles as perfectly.)

2. Edge of Seventeen – Stevie Nicks

Well, I went today Maybe I will go again tomorrow Yeah yeah, well, the music there Well, it was hauntingly familiar Well, I see you doing what I try to do for me With the words from a poet and a voice from a choir And a melody, and nothing else mattered

He sat next to me, hugging me and asking me why I was crying, and though I couldn't tell him, I could see that he was overwhelmed that his music had produced this effect. There was no sarcasm or bitterness in him now. I think he carried me home that night. And the next morning I was standing in the crooked stone street in front of his father's shop, tossing pebbles up at his window. When he stuck his head out, I said: „Do you want to come down and go on with our conversation?“ - The Vampire Lestat

3. I ain't scared of lightning – Tom McRae

No I ain't scared of lightning And thunder never killed I was born in a summer storm and I live there still

I wasn't part of the world that cringed at such things. And with a smile, I realized that I was of that dark ilk that makes others cringe. Slowly and with great pleasure, I laughed.

And the labor that brought it forth was rapture such as I have never known. - The Vampire Lestat

4. Junge Roemer – Falco (Young Romans – Full Translation)

Don't ask for new old values See white light, see only feeling The night is ours till morning We play every game Don't ever let this journey end The doing comes only from the being Only from dimensions, that Are worth illusions and sensations Give me more, give me more, give me more...

... and again she laughed. „Ah, but we are splendid devils, aren't we?“ „Hunters of the Savage Garden,“ I said. „Then let's go into Paris,“ she said. - The Vampire Lestat

5. Running up that hill – Candy Says (Original by Kate Bush

If I only could, I'd make a deal with God, And I'd get him to swap our places, Be running up that road, Be running up that hill, Be running up that building,

„Not even with Nicolas?“ „No, god, no!“ I looked at her. She nodded slightly as if she approved of this answer. „Why not with Nicolas?“ she asked. I wanted this to stop. „Because he's young,“ I said, „and he has life before him.“ - The Vampire Lestat

6. Florence – Notre Dame de Paris (Full Translation)

The little things always triumph over the large And literature will kill architecture The school books will kill the cathedrals The Bible will kill the Church, and man will kill God This will kill that

„I never lived in it. I push against the glass. But how do I get in?“ „I can't tell you that,“ I said. „You have to study this age,“ Gabrielle interrupted. Her voice was calm but commanding. He looked towards her as she spoke. „You have to understand the age,“ she continued, „through its literature and its music and its art. You have come up out of the earth, as you yourself put it. Now live in the world.“ No answer from him. Flash of Nicki's ravaged flat with all its books on the floor. Western civilization in heaps. - The Vampire Lestat

7. Go your own way – Fleetwood Mac

Loving you isn't the right thing to do How can I ever change things that I feel

If I could maybe I'd give you my world How can I when you won't take it from me

You can go your own way You can call it another lonely day

„Keep your promise,“ she said. And quite suddenly I knew this was our last moment. I knew it and I could do nothing to change it. „Gabrielle!“ I whispered. But she was already gone. - The Vampire Lestat

8. Désenchantée – Olympe (Original by Myléne Farmer - Full Translation)

If death is a mystery Life isn't exactly tender If heaven has a hell Then heaven can still wait for me Tell me how to handle this headwind Nothing makes sense anymore, nothing's fine

Laughter. That insane music. That din, that dissonance, that never ending shrill articulation of the meaninglessness... Am I awake? Am I asleep? I am sure of one thing. I am a monster. And because I lie in torment in the earth, certain human beings move on through the narrow pass of life unmolested. - The Vampire Lestat

9. A kind of magic – Queen

The bell that rings inside your mind Is challenging the doors of time It's a kind of magic The waiting seems eternity The day will dawn of sanity

And quite completely I understood that it was looking for me, this sound, it was seeking me out.

Blood like light itself, liquid fire.

It seemed beneath the roar of the flow he spoke. He said again: „Drink, my young one, my wounded one.“ I felt his heart swell, his body undulate, and we were sealed against each other. I think I heard myself say: „Marius.“ And he answered: „Yes.“ - The Vampire Lestat

10. La quête – Bruno Pelletier (French version of „The Impossible Dream“ from Man of La Mancha)

To try when your arms are too weary To reach the unreachable star

This is my quest To follow that star Ooh, no matter how hopeless No matter how far

I would remain in New Orleans if New Orleans could only manage to remain. Whatever I suffered should be lessened in this lawless place, whatever I craved should give me more pleasure once I had it in my grasp. And there were moments on that first night in this fetid little paradise when I prayed that in spite of all my secret power, I was somehow kin to every mortal man. - The Vampire Lestat

11. Wicked Game – Chris Isaak

What a wicked game you play, to make me feel this way What a wicked thing to do, to let me dream of you What a wicked thing to say, you never felt this way What a wicked thing to do, to make me dream of you

Yet Louis gained a hold over me far more powerful than Nicolas had ever had. Even in his cruelest moments, Louis touched the tenderness in me, seducing me with his staggering dependence, his infatuation with my every gesture and every spoken word. - The Vampire Lestat

12. Do I disappoint you – Rufus Wainwright

Do I disappoint you, in just being human? And not one of the elements that you can light your cigar on Why does it always have to be fire? Why does it always have to be brimstone?

„And suppose the vampire who made you knew nothing, and the vampire before him knew nothing, and so it goes back and back, nothing proceeding from nothing, until there is nothing! And we must live with the knowledge that there is no knowledge!“ „Yes!“ he cried out suddenly, his hands out, his voice tinged with something other than anger.

And then I sensed it. He was afraid. Lestat afraid. - Interview with the Vampire

13. Ordinary World – Duran Duran

What has happened to it all? Crazy, some'd say Where is the life that I recognize? Gone away

But I won't cry for yesterday There's an ordinary world Somehow I have to find And as I try to make my way To the ordinary world I will learn to survive

I do not remember when it became the twentieth century, only that everything was uglier and darker, and the beauty I'd known in the old eighteenth-century days seemed more than ever some kind of fanciful idea. - The Vampire Lestat

14. I'm still standing – Taron Egerton (Original by Elton John)

And there's a cold lonely light that shines from you You'll wind up like the wreck you hide behind that mask you use And did you think this fool could never win? Well look at me, I'm coming back again

But after the third night up, I was roaring around New Orleans on a big black Harley-Davidson motorcycle making plenty of noise myself. […] I was the vampire Lestat again. I was back in action. New Orleans was once again my hunting ground. - The Vampire Lestat

15. Catch my fall – Billy Idol

I have the time so I will sing, yeah I'm just a boy but I will win, yeah Lost song of lovers, fellow travelers, yeah Leave me sad and hollow out of words

It could happen to you so think for yourself If I should stumble, catch my fall, yeah

I've survived, obviously. I wouldn't be talking to you if I hadn't. And the cosmic dust has finally settled; and the small rift in the world's fabric of rational beliefs has been mended, or at least closed. I'm a little sadder for all of it, and a little meaner and a little more conscientious as well. - The Queen of the Damned

16. I want it all – Queen

I'm a man with a one track mind So much to do in one lifetime (people do you hear me) Not a man for compromise and where's and why's and living lies So I'm living it all, yes I'm living it all And I'm giving it all, and I'm giving it all

It is not enough any longer that my little rock band be successful. We must create a fame that will carry my name and my voice to the remotest parts of the world. - The Vampire Lestat

17. Let me entertain you – Robbie Williams

Hell is gone and heaven's here There's nothing left for you to fear Shake your arse come over here Now scream

I'm a burning effigy Of everything I used to be You're my rock of empathy, my dear

So come on let me entertain you

"I AM THE VAMPIRE LESTAT!" I shouted at the top of my lungs as I stepped way back from the microphone, and the sound was almost visible as it arched over the length of the oval theater, and the voice of the crowd rose even higher, louder, as if to devour the ringing sound. - The Vampire Lestat

18. La bien qui fait mal – Mozart l'Opera Rock (Full translation)

I can feel a violent urge I feel like I'm sliding towards the ground If I don't find out where this plague is coming from I adore having it under my skin Bewitched by mad ideas Suddenly all my cravings take off The desire becomes my prison Until I loose my mind

Yet I was in her arms in this chilling darkness, in the familiar scent of winter, and her blood was mine again, and it was enslaving me. When she drew away, I felt agony. - The Queen of the Damned

19. Tainted Love – Soft Cell

And you think love is to pray But I'm sorry I don't pray that way Once I ran to you Now I'll run from you This tainted love you've given I give you all a boy could give you Take my tears and that's not living, oh

„What do you think I am that I am so easily swayed? I was born a Queen. I have always ruled; even from the shrine I ruled." Her eyes were glazed suddenly. I heard the voices, a dull hum rising. "I ruled if only in legend; if only in the minds of those who came to me and paid me tribute. Princes who played music for me; who brought me offerings and prayers. What do you want of me now? That for you, I renounce my throne, my destiny!" What answer could I make? - The Queen of the Damned

20. Dancing in the Dark – Ruth Moody (Original by Bruce Springsteen)

They say you gotta stay hungry Hey baby, I'm just about starvin' tonight I'm dyin' for some action I'm sick of sittin' 'round here tryin' to write this book I need a love reaction Come on now, baby, gimme just one look

"I want you to put the book aside and come join us," he said. "You've been locked in here for over a month." "I go out now and then," I said. I liked looking at him, at the neon blue of his eyes.

"Do you love me now?" I asked. He smiled; oh, it was excruciating to see his face soften and brighten simultaneously when he smiled. "Yes," he said. "Want to go on a little adventure?" My heart was thudding suddenly. It would be so grand if- "Want to break the new rules?" "What in the world do you mean?" he whispered. - The Queen of the Damned

21. I want you – Savage Garden

Oh, I want you, I don't know if I need you But oh, I would die to find out

"You don't think you'll be back?" he asked. "I think you will, whether I call or not." Another little surprise. A little stab of humiliation. I smiled at him in spite of myself. He was a very interesting man. "You silver-tongued British bastard," I said. "How dare you say that to me with such condescension? Maybe I should kill you right now."

I thought of David Talbot's face, and that moment when he'd challenged me. Well, maybe he was right. I'd be back. Who said I couldn't come back and talk to him if I wanted to? - The Queen of the Damned

22. Lay your hands on me – Bon Jovi

I'm a fighter, I'm a poet, I'm a preacher I've been to school, oh baby, I've been the teacher If you show me how to get up off the ground I can show you how to fly and never ever come back down

I sat down on the bed beside him. And then I bent down and kissed his face again gently, as I had in New Orleans, liking the feel of his roughly shaven beard, just as I liked that sort of thing when I was really Lestat and I would soon have that strong masculine blood inside. I moved closer to him, when suddenly he grasped my hand, and I felt him gently push me away. „Why, David?“ I asked him. He didn't answer. He lifted his right hand and brushed my hair back out of my eyes. „I don't know,“ he whispered. „I can't. I simply can't.“ - The Tale of the Body Thief

23. 20th Century Boy – Placebo (Original by T-Rex)

I move like a cat, charge like a ram Sting like a bee, babe, I wanna be your man, hey!

He drew back with a speed that astonished me, cleaving to the wall. „Don't do this, Lestat.“ „Don't fight me, old friend. You waste your effort. You have a long night of discovery ahead.“ - The Tale of the Body Thief

24. Way down we go – KALEO

Oh, Father tell me, do we get what we deserve? Whoa, we get what we deserve And way down we go

„In chains, to my friend and my scribe, I dictated these words. Come with me. Just listen to me. Don't leave me alone.“ - Memnoch the Devil

25. Personal Jesus – Depeche Mode

Reach out, touch faith

"Don't tell me," Gabrielle said slurringly, "that it's a matter of faith." She sneered and shook her head. "You come like doubting Thomas to thrust your bloody fangs in the very wound." "Oh, stop, please, I beg you," I whispered. I put up my hands. "Let me try, and let him hurt me, and then be satisfied, and turn away." - The Vampire Armand

26. Papillon – Editors

Darling Just don't put down your guns yet If there really was a God here He'd have raised a hand by now Now darling You're born, get old, then die here Well that's quite enough for me We'll find our own way home somehow

"And if I spill my blood down into this coffin now," Lestat asked her, "what do you think will come back? Do you think it will be our Louis that will rise in these burnt rags? What if it's not, chérie, what if it's some wounded revenant that we must destroy?" "Choose life, Lestat," she said. - Merrick

27. Sunday Light – Choir Boy

Why, why, why, are you silent on the ride home? I'd love to see the temple with you Heavenly and bright, golden angel twisted scathing You were one of us, one of us, one of us, you were one of us

"Then come, Little Brother, take me to where you want to talk," he said, and I felt the soft squeeze of his fingers on my arm. "Why are you so kind to me?" I asked him. "You're used to people being paid to do it, aren't you?" he asked. - Blackwood Farm

28. Für mich solls rote Rosen regnen – Hildegard Knef (It should rain red roses for me - Full translation)

It should rain red roses for me All wonders should encounter me The world should rearrange itself And keep its worries to itself

I want to be a saint. I want to save souls by the millions. I want to do good far and wide. I want to fight evil! I want my life-sized statue in every church. I'm talking six feet tall, blond hair, blue eyes- Wait a second. Do you know who I am? - Blood Canticle

29. Constant Craving – K. D. Lang

Even through the darkest phase Be it thick or thin Always someone marches brave Here beneath my skin And constant craving Has always been

I was hunting, thirsting though I didn't need to drink, at the mercy of the craving, the deep agonizing lust for heated pumping human blood. - Prince Lestat

30. Kalte Sterne – Jan Ammann (Cold Stars from the musical Ludwig² - Full translation)

Get up, ride home, on your horse, through your land Across the morning with your reins trailing behind you Build a castle like a dream, build it with mighty hands And it shall be named „future“

Build a castle like a dream Up from the ashes and close to the heavens Build a castle like a dream And realise the future as king

If we wanted to survive, if we wanted to inherit the millenia […] then we had to meet the future with respect as well as courage and count fear and selfishness to be small things. - Prince Lestat and the realms of Atlantis

31. C'est une belle journée – Mylene Farmer (Full translation)

I'm going to bed To bite eternity With my mouth wide open It's a beautiful day

And I felt the cold numbing shell of alienation and despair which had imprisoned me all of my life among the Undead – I felt that shell cracked, broken, and dissolved utterly into infinitesimal fragments. - Blood Communion

32. Princes of the Universe – Queen

Fly the moon and reach for the stars With my sword and head held high Got to pass the test first time, yeah I know that people talk about me, I hear it every day But I can prove them wrong 'cause I'm right first time

„I know that you meant full well to bring Rhoshamandes down, of course you did. But you had no way of knowing that you could. And no one would have predicted that you could. And with the willingness to die, you gave yourself over into his hands... and you disarmed him and destroyed him.“ – Blood Communion

And finally, because I can, a bonus track:

33. Primadonna – MARINA

And I'm sad to the core, core, core Every day is a chore, chore, chore When you give, I want more, more, more I wanna be adored

[ofcoursetheyrefictional]

Kakashi Lemon

It was raining as I ran out into the street. "You! I can't believe you. After three years you do this to me."

"Y/N, I can explain."

"No, you don't get the chance. I thought you loved me, I loved you."

"Loved you? I never actually loved you, you were just too hot to pass up. You know what, I just played the long game just to get in bed with you."

"I can't believe you."

"Believe it, I just finally found someone better than you."

I stood up straighter and took a deep breath. "I guess I was wrong then. I'll come to get my stuff tomorrow."

"You do that." My ex turned around and walked back into his apartment leaving me standing alone.

I dropped my head and took another deep breath trying to quell the tears pooling in my eyes. I looked at the sky and let the rainfall on my face washing away the tears and red in my cheeks. I couldn't tell if I was being torn up from the inside out or if I was relieved. The truth is that I felt lighter, 80 kilos lighter.

As the rain-soaked further into my clothes my anger, hurt, and any other emotion that I couldn't clearly identify subsided and a new predicament settled on me. I had no idea where I was supposed to go. I had been living with my ex for the past two years, two years that seemed like an entire waste. The only place that I could think to go was to my long time friend's, Kakashi's.

By the time I stood facing Kakashi's front door I was fighting to suppress the shivers that were beginning to rack my body. I held a shakey fist to the door and knocked.

I hadn't expected the door to swing open as soon as it did and I stumbled backward. A hand shot out and caught my wrist before I could fall. I looked up at Kakashi with wide eyes before righting myself.

Kakashi shot me a closed eye smile, "As clumsy as ever I see." This brought a smile to my puffy face.

"Only when I get startled, Kakashi, I'm not that clumsy."

I guess Kakashi was just now noticing the state of me because when my face relaxed I could see the concern in his furrowed eyebrows. "Y/N, what happened?"

Everything came back crashing down on my head. "I-uh, could I stay with you for a while, Kashi?"

Kakashi's face softened seemingly understanding what had happened. He nodded and opened the door wider to let me in the small apartment. "I'll grab you some clothes and you can get a shower, you look like you're freezing."

"Thank you."

I stood in the entry and waited for Kakashi to come back, my head was still running wild and I didn't even hear Kakashi come back in. He hugged me tightly against him before handing me a shirt, a pair of sweat pants, and a towel. I looked up at him and my face relaxed, I smiled.

The hot shower water felt incredible, I stood and let the coldness seep out of my bones. I lathered up and rinsed off all the while breathing in the smell of Kakashi's soap. It was a familiar, warm, and comfortable smell. It made me think back to the schoolgirl crush that I had developed for the young silver-haired boy in academy. Truth be told that crush never subsided, it had turned to love long ago and it never went away. For three years, I let it eat me up inside. I felt guilty for so long, but I thought that I would never have him, I never thought I could have him. The memory made everything clear, that was the relief that I felt and it was swelling larger in my heart. I had settled for someone that I thought loved me and I did love him, but I decided that never again would I settle. If Kakashi would have me I wanted to be with him.

I turned off the water and dried myself off before pulling on the shirt and sweatpants. I hadn't been this comfortable in what felt like forever.

I walked out to find Kakashi sitting on his bed leaning back against the headboard. He looked up at me and set his book to the side and made space for me to sit on the bed.

"What happened, Y/N?"

"It's over, I caught him cheating."

"Y/N-"

"And he told me that he never loved me."I could feel Kakashi tense without even looking up from my hands in my lap.

"It's ok though."

"No, it's not. He shouldn't have ever-"

"Kashi, let me finish. It's ok because I feel relieved. I feel lighter and the best part of all of this is I feel like I can finally tell you the truth."

"What do you mean?"

"Do you trust me?"

"Of course I do, Y/N."

Tentatively, I reached up and moved Kakashi's characteristic mask down away from his face. I cupped his cheek and ran my thumb over his soft skin.

I smiled softly and moved to softly press my lips against Kakashi's. I pulled away and opened my eyes to see Kakashi staring back at me wide-eyed. I pursed my lips and furrowed my brow sheepishly,  fearing that I had made the wrong move.

"I'm sorry Kashi, I-"

Kakashi cut me off tucking a finger under my chin and capturing my lips with his own. His lips were warm and soft and I felt as though I could melt into them and stay right there for the rest of my life.

We pulled apart and I rested my head against Kakashi's. "I love you."

"I love you too. I have since we were in academy."

I pulled away, I couldn't contain my laughter, "That long for you too, huh?"

"So, so long."

I pressed my head against Kakashi's again, savoring his presence and finally feeling at peace.

Kakashi pulled away again and scooted down the bed before laying back and pulling me with him. I cuddled into his chest and draped an arm across his abdomen.

The warmth of radiating off of Kakashi had almost completely lulled me to sleep when Kakashi hooked a finger under my chin and moved my face to look at him.

I hadn't gotten to take him in without his mask before, he had been wearing it since we were kids so it always just seemed like a part of him, but now that it was pulled away he was breathtaking.

Kakashi moved his hand to the nape of my neck and pulled me into a deep kiss. I hummed against his lips and pressed myself closer to him.

The kiss got more and more intense as it continued. Kakashi ran his tongue across my bottom lip and I let him in, roaming around my mouth, I sucked lightly on his tongue eliciting a moan from the silver-haired ninja.

Kakashi flipped us halfway over so his upper half was hovering over me on the bed. He moved his hand from my neck under my shirt to rest on my hip and I moved my arms to wrap around his neck bring him as close to me as I possibly could. His lips came crashing back down on mine. The kiss was fervent, sucking, biting, and pulling each other's lips as our hands wandered over each other.

It got to the point where all I wanted to do was feel his skin under my fingertips. reaching down I grabbed the hem of Kakashi's shirt an started tugging it upwards. Kakashi sat up and pulled it off the rest of the way, flinging it on the floor and reattaching himself to my lips. I ran my hands over his smooth toned chest, over his shoulders, and down his back before tangling one hand in the hair at the nape of his neck. Kakashi's large warm hands trailed up my side from my hip before coming to cup my breast, softly kneading.

I moaned softly and Kakashi's lips moved from my own to kiss down my jaw and the side of my neck. As soon as Kakashi hit the soft spot in between my neck and my shoulder another breathy moan fell out of my mouth. Kakashi seemed to enjoy it as he grinned against my skin. He bit down lightly and sucked, for sure leaving red spots that would bruise by tomorrow morning.

"Fuck , Kakashi." I pressed my self even closer to him trying to fill any gap between us.

He hummed in response, his lips left my neck and he pulled the hem of my shirt higher. I arched my back to let him finish pulling it off over my head. Before I could even get the chance to realize that my upper half was fully exposed Kakashi was sucking and nibbling at my collar bone and his hand returned to its place on my breast, grabbing and squeezing tighter than before.

I tangled my finger back into his hair and gave a slight tug as he came to hover over me fully. Kakashi's kisses became sloppier and wetter leaving red, wet circles across my chest and neck.

Everything felt like I was on fire, the way that Kakashi's skin felt pressed against mine, the heat in my face, and deep in the pit of my stomach. It was an intense burning and I didn't want it to end.

Soon enough Kakashi replaced his hand with his mouth and began sucking and licking at my nipples, at the same time his hand that wasn't supporting him slid down to the edge other the sweat pants he had loaned me. He brushed his fingertip along the edge, tickling my skin, and when I saw tickle I mean it tickled.

I squirmed underneath him, laughing my head off, and tried to get out from under him. "Kakashi, that tickles!"

He didn't even flinch and instead of moving his just dug his fingers into my sides earning a squeal out of me and he hadn't let go of my boob yet either. I was a little impressed.

He finally let me breathe and released his mouth to grin at me with his perfect face. I took the opportunity to flip us over straddling his waist and holding his hands down above his head.

"I win."

"No, I definitely think I won." I forgot I didn't have a shirt on. I dropped my head in defeat and Kakashi laughed at me. "I have to say the overall position isn't bad either."

My head shot back up and I stared at him for a minute, before I could make my move he had freed his arms and cupped my face kissing me once again. I wrapped one arm around his neck and the other tangled itself in his hair.

Effortlessly, Kakashi had us flipped back over, only breaking the kiss to pull the sweatpants off my body. He quickly replaced his lips on mine licking across my bottom lip. I parted them and let his tongue roam my mouth, gliding my tongue across his as it did so.

I could feel Kakashi growing hard against my dampening center. I let the hand around the back of Kakashi's neck slide down his chest and down his abs before tugging at the elastic of his sweatpants. He proceeded to rid himself of his pants and underwear as well as removing my panties.

Returning to his earlier position, Kakashi caged my head between his arms, supporting himself on his elbows and coming back to my lips with more fervor than he had before. I raised my hips to press myself against his erection and he moaned into my mouth.

"Kakashi, I want you."

"Are you sure?"

"One hundred percent."

Kakashi lined himself up and slid in slowly, giving me time to feel every inch fill me up.

"Oh, Kashi."

"You feel so good, Y/N." Kakashi slowly started to thrust going tantalizingly slow, every movement every variation in his length was addicting.  He slowly picked up speed angling himself to hit the perfect spot every time.

Time felt like it was bending around us, letting us exist in a matrix where everything slowed to the most sensual rate. The small room was filled with I love you's and praises as we both climbed to our peaks sweaty sticky and covered in each other.

"Oh god, Kashi."

"Ah- I know beautiful-mmm-me too."

I could feel him twitch inside of me and a warmth spread throughout my body, the most intoxicating and releasing sensation.

Kakashi laid down next to me on the small bed and turned to me, moving some hair out of my face. "I love you."

I turned on my side to look him in the eye. "I love you too. Can I ask you something?"

"Always can."

"Will you stay with me?"

"I won't ever leave you." He pressed a kiss to the middle of my forehead.

He pulled me in close to his chest and wrapped his arm around me holding me tight.

[argylemnwrites]

It Couldn’t Wait Another Moment - Chapter 17

Pairing: Drake Walker x MC (Riley Liu)

Book: The Royal Romance (Canon Divergent from Book 2, Chapter 15)

Word Count: ~5100

Rating: R (language, implied inability to consent)

Summary: Drake goes to Ramsford while he figures out his next steps, Leo has something to ask Liam, and Hana is at her wit’s end

Author’s Note: I’m just gonna throw a trigger warning here that there is an interaction in this chapter where a man is clearly looking to engage in sexual activity with a woman who is not able to consent at that time. There is no actual sexual assault or violence, but it’s the type of thing that may hit close to home, so I thought I’d give some warning. It’s in the third and final “section” of this chapter if you wish to avoid it.

This series diverges from TRR canon, where instead of waiting to discuss his relationship with Riley until their last night in NYC, leaving her a note while Liam is proposing to her, Drake tackles this topic as soon as possible after Tariq makes his statement and Riley’s name is cleared. To catch up on this series, you can find the previous chapters in my masterlist (link is located in my bio).

“Hello?” Drake called out, glancing around as he stepped into the foyer of the Ramsford estate. He wasn’t surprised that there wasn’t any staff to greet him, given the Beaumont’s current financial situation, but he figured he should announce his presence somehow. Not just lurk around until someone found him. He was pretty sure he was the only person invited for dinner tonight, after all.

He hadn’t really wanted to come for this dinner, but when Savannah had called him, excited that he was still around and inviting him over now that she was settled at Ramsford, he just couldn’t bring himself to say no. He’d seen so little of his sister over the past couple of years, and even before then, he’d always found it hard to tell her “no.” So here he was, hoping that Maxwell and Bertrand had enough whiskey to get him through the evening.

“Drake, is that you?” Maxwell’s voice called out, echoing through the halls as he rounded the corner, “Hey, glad you could make it!”

“Yeah…” Drake trailed off as Maxwell came over. Maxwell was clearly going in for the hug, but thought better of it when he saw the look on Drake’s face. 

“So, yeah. Dinner might be a bit yet. Savannah is cooking but Bertrand has decided to ‘supervise’ as this is ‘their first dinner party’ as a couple or whatever. I wandered through the kitchen about 20 minutes ago, and it was not exactly going great.”

Drake just shook his head, “I hardly qualify as a dinner party.”

“Yeah, well… try telling Bertrand that. Do you want a drink while we wait for whatever the hell we’re gonna get for dinner at some point?”

“What do you think?”

“Right, stupid question. Come on, I’ll get you some whiskey.”

Drake followed Maxwell through the halls to the private lounge and took a seat on one of the couches as Maxwell wandered over to the bar cart and preparing a whiskey on the rocks and a glass of white wine before he joined Drake on the opposite sofa.

“So, has Riley been having a good time with Hana?”

“What?”

“Hana told me they were going to check out Riley’s favorite place for Chinese take out today and that she was going to see how it stacked up to authentic Cantonese cuisine. I was wondering if you’d heard the final verdict.”

“Maxwell, what the hell are you talking about?”

“Hana’s in New York,” said Maxwell, squinting slightly as he took a sip of his wine. “Drake, did you not know that?”

“No, she uhh… didn’t tell me that.” Drake downed his whiskey in one, pushing himself up off the couch and stalking over the liquor. That information warranted another drink.

Hana was in New York with Riley. Riley couldn’t be bothered to text him, but she was taking Hana out and keeping Maxwell posted about everything they were up to, apparently. It just was him she wanted nothing to do with. 

It was like every other time, and this time, he knew it was his own damn fault that she left him. He’d fucked everything up. He drank his second glass in one swig. He just wanted to go back to his quarters and be alone with his pain, but he could hardly duck out of a family dinner where he was the only guest. Pouring himself one more whiskey, he took a deep breath and rejoined Maxwell. He was gonna have to get through this night somehow.

Maxwell glanced up, tapping his finger on the side of his wine glass as Drake sat down. The silence was tense for a few moments before Maxwell broke it. 

“Drake, I wasn’t trying to pry, I swear. I’m just worried about Riley and I thought maybe-”

Drake jerked his head up and stared at Maxwell, “Why are you worried about Liu?”

Maxwell tensed for a second, “Look, I’m not trying to butt in where it’s not my business or anything-”

“Really? Since when have you had any sense of boundaries?” Drake snapped

“Hey! I’ve given you plenty of space! I get that you and Liam had to work through your… issues, or whatever. But she’s like my sister, and I have a right to be worried about her, too!”

“Yeah, I get it. It’s all my fucking fault. I already feel like shit about it so-”

“Oh come on, that’s not what I’m saying at all.”

“Then what’s your fucking point?”

Maxwell let out a sigh, “I’m just trying to make sure that both of my friends are doing okay and not isolating themselves and being all lonely and mopey and deciding that it’s better if no one knows that they are actually hurting.”

Drake took a deep breath, “Since when did you get so fucking insightful?”

“My greatest strength is that everyone underestimates me. It let’s me see things,” he said with a shrug.

“Huh,” was all Drake could muster, taking another sip of his whiskey.

“So, if you can promise not to jump down my throat, I’d like to ask how you are.”

Drake grimaced, “I’ll be fine. It just sucks right now because all I can do is wait for the other shoe to drop.”

Maxwell frowned at that. “What do you mean?”

“Well, as you could probably guess from my reaction, Riley’s basically ghosting me. I’m just waiting for the inevitable breakup text.”

“Or, she’s mopey and isolating herself, you know, like I said,” countered Maxwell.

“I don’t know. She won’t talk to me.”

“So go back and talk to her. The people behind the attacks are behind bars and you, Liam, and Olivia all said that things are looking good from that standpoint. You took care of what you needed to here, time to go take care of things with one Riley Liu.”

Drake shook his head, “It’s not that simple, Maxwell. I don’t even know if she wants me there.”

“I never said it would be simple. But you don’t know what’s going through her mind right now, right? So maybe she wants you there with her or maybe she doesn’t. There’s really only one way to find out.”

Drake bit the inside of his cheek, willing himself to keep calm. He couldn’t let Maxwell know that he didn’t know if he could deal with the possibility of face to face rejection from Riley. Not now, after he’d come to think that she might be the one woman who would stay. When Savannah left, it had nearly broken him completely. If he had to watch Riley leave him, too… well, he didn’t know if he could handle it.

“Hey,” called out Maxwell, forcing Drake to divert his attention away from his spiraling thoughts, “for what it’s worth, I don’t think she wants to leave you. But even if she does, wouldn’t it be easier to move forward knowing you did everything you could to try and make things right?”

After a few seconds, after processing the fact that Maxwell could apparently read him like a book, all Drake could say in response was, “Damn, you’re right.”

Maxwell smiled, “I’m fucking insightful, remember?”

Drake laughed at that, raising his glass to clink against Maxwell’s.

After taking a sip of his wine, Maxwell pulled out his phone, “Speaking of being insightful, what do you think the odds are that dinner preparations have completely fallen off the rails?”

“I’m going with about an 80% chance.”

“My thoughts exactly. So shall we preemptively order some pizza?”

Drake smiled and nodded as Maxwell called the restaurant he always used for late night sustenance at Beaumont Bashes. It was strange to think that Maxwell was now a close enough friend that he felt okay about talking with him about anything he was feeling. More than that, he realized that he had misjudged Maxwell a lot over the years. But if the past year had taught him anything, it was that Maxwell had pretty decent awareness when it came to a lot of things. He’d seen the value in Riley before any of them, after all. 

Drake knew he probably should apologize for some things he’d said in the past, both to and about Maxwell, but maybe bringing up his past intolerance of the man was not the best way to go. So instead, he waited until Maxwell finished placing the order and hung up the phone before he got up and walked over to the liquor once again.

“You need a refill, best friend roomie?”

The subsequent shriek of joy was loud enough to bring Savannah and Bertrand running.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Liam sighed, rubbing his eyes as he scanned through the final reports on all the interrogations. Starting tomorrow, some the initial hearings were happening in public court. Liam had pushed for expedited trials, knowing that the people had been through enough with these attacks and didn’t need the court proceedings to drag at a glacial pace. Of course, this meant he was giving himself less time to develop a firm grasp on the details of the three men whose trials were starting this week for when the press inevitably asked for comments. Still, he knew the prosecutors had it worse, and he was grateful the team of attorneys had agreed with his plan yesterday, even agreeing to meet with Bastien’s agents on a weekend.

He’d slept in his office last night, reviewing the files well past midnight. When he woke up with his head hanging over the arm of his sofa, he’d scurried off to the Monarch’s Quarters, quickly getting freshened up before heading back to his office. He chose his desk this time, hardly able to risk drifting off to sleep again, but it was still hard to stay focused. The reports were full of so many conflicting details, it was hard to keep who said what straight, and he’d been at if for hours at this point. He was about to get up and stretch his legs for a few minutes, but heard a couple of knocks on the door. Before he could call out a greeting, the door swung open, Leo walking straight in and over to the side cupboards.

“Why hello, Leo. Please, come in.”

Leo paused to turn to Liam. “Why, thanks brother!” he said in an exaggerated manner, winking as he looked back towards the wall units, “I was thinking of fixing myself a drink; would you like one?” 

Liam glanced at the clock on the wall. “Leo, it’s not even noon,” he chastised, “and you won’t find the whiskey in that cupboard.”

Leo stopped rifling through to cupboard and walked over to Liam’s desk, a wide grin spread across his face. As he plunked himself down in one of the chairs facing Liam, he raised his eyebrows and cocked his head to the side. After a moment, Liam sighed and opened the bottom drawer of his desk, pulling out the Highland Park whiskey and two glasses.

“Keeping it close at hand, nice. I have to say, I like your style. Dad always kept his booze tucked behind the books. Your way is much wiser,” Leo said, accepting the glass from Liam.

“So what brings you by my office? We haven’t seen much of you around the palace the past couple of days.”

“Well, it seemed like things were pretty hectic around here. I thought I would give you some space while you dealt with all the official business. Besides, the casinos worry that something has happened to me if I’m around for more than two days and don’t make an appearance,” he joked. “Anyway, I just came by to let you know I’m flying out tomorrow.”

Liam took a sip of whiskey and nodded. He’d been expecting this since the funeral. He was actually kind of surprised Leo had stuck around Cordonia as long as he had. “Where are you heading this time?”

“I’m spending the next week in Havana, then it’s on to Rio.”

“Of course. Well, you know you’re welcome back anytime. Keep in touch, okay?”

“Yeah…” Leo said, trailing off and looking down at the surface of the desk. It seemed odd to Liam. Usually, when Leo said he was leaving, he appreciated a light-hearted goodbye. Liam figured years of Father attempting to guilt him into staying had taken their toll, so he always tried to show Leo that he understood his need to explore, to go elsewhere. But today, that seemed to bother him, and Liam wasn’t sure why.

“Is something wrong, Leo?”

Leo paused for a moment before he spoke, “You’re doing okay, right?”

“Of course.”

“I mean, you’re okay with the fact that I don’t spend much time in Cordonia, right?”

“Where is this coming from, Leo?”

Leo shook his head, “You don’t have to pretend you didn’t hear what Drake said to me the other day. I know you overhead us.”

Liam nodded slowly. He hadn’t heard everything, but he’d heard enough. And while the fact that Drake had mentioned being torn away from his life had been of more interest to Liam at that time, the fact that Drake had told Leo that he was a bad brother was also something that had stuck in his mind.

“It didn’t seem like the type of statement you’d put much stock in, if I’m being honest.”

Leo tensed at that. “He called me a shitty brother, Liam! Of course it stuck with me! Do you think so little of me that you thought I wouldn’t care about that?”

“Of course not. I just thought that you knew better than to hold Drake’s anger as a source of universal truth, not to mention you never seemed to mind being told you weren’t living up to expectations in this building.”

Leo gave Liam a small smile, “So, you don’t think I’ve been a bad brother to you?”

“No, I don’t feel that way.”

“But Drake was right. I haven’t really been around, I tend to get caught up in my own interests. I definitely have failed you in some ways.”

Liam shook his head, “I don’t expect you to care for me in the same fashion as Drake. He has his way of doing things, you have yours.”

“He called me your drinking buddy.”

Liam chuckled at that, “That’s an interesting perspective. It lacks some nuance, but yes, I suppose you do get me to let go of certain stressors temporarily by encouraging me to indulge in a variety of vices. It’s helpful at times, so I wouldn’t be so dismissive of it.”

Leo just shook his head, “Come on, you don’t need to shield me. If you need to get pissed at me, I get it.”

“Why would I need to get pissed at you?”

“I abdicated, for Christ’s sake! I left you with all the responsibility.”

“And didn’t I encourage you to take that course of action?”

“Yes, but Drake said-”

“Forget what Drake said. His interpretation of our relationship is highly irrelevant, and Drake is going to think what he’s going to think. I am telling you, I do not resent you for abdicating. Being Crown Prince was killing you; you were miserable. I love you, and I want to see you happy. How could I ever hold you taking an action that greatly improved your happiness against you?”

“But I want to see you happy, too.”

“I know you do. I presume that’s why you are very willing to take the full blame for indiscretions conducted by either of us.”

Leo scoffed a little, “Sure, when we were little.”

“And now. I heard Regina had some choice words for you after our night of drinking before the funeral.”

“She said she was amazed that after all this time, I still found a way to be a bad influence on you,” Leo said with a little smile.

“Exactly, and you let her believe that. Leo, you’ve always shown you care about me in your own way. I’ve never felt like you didn’t love me just because we want very different things out of life.”

“Still, the weight of the crown-”

“Is something that I don’t see as a barrier to my long-term happiness. It’s a responsibility, sure, but I am honored that our people trust me as their leader.”

Leo stared at Liam for a few seconds before throwing the whiskey back and finishing his drink. “You’re a good king, you know that right?”

Liam smiled gently, “Thank you, Leo. I appreciate that.”

“And I don’t just mean better than I would have been. You are a good leader. Cordonia is lucky to have you.”

“Thank you. But I think you would have been a better king than you give yourself credit.”

Leo just laughed, “We’ll have to agree to disagree on that point.” He stood to leave and strolled over to the door, but before he opened it, he spun back to face Liam.

“Do you mind if I give you a piece of advice?”

Liam inclined his head, “I would be a bad king if I couldn’t handle friendly advice.”

“Right, well this more personal than professional.”

“If it’s about Madeleine, give your history, that seems like a rather awkward topic-”

“Nah, it’s more general than that. Just... you need to be selfish sometimes. Not often, let’s say once a week. But you need to do something, no matter how small, that’s just for you.”

“Leo…”

“Promise me you’ll at least consider it. Remember, I love you, so that means I like seeing you happy. And I know you well enough that you might forget about your own happiness if things get hectic. So add it to your schedule or something, but remember, once a week, one thing, just for you.” And with that he was out the door.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Hana felt... well, the only way to describe it was gross. She knew that her plan for the evening was not something that was completely acceptable, morally speaking. But she hadn’t known what else to do.

All weekend, Riley had been completely uninterested in talking about anything of substance. She’d listened to Hana just fine and told plenty of amusing anecdotes. However, anytime Hana asked her how she was doing or if she needed to talk about anything, Riley had just brushed her off, saying she was fine before suddenly remembering a story about a funny customer or something of that sort. It was always lighthearted and superficial. There was never one iota of depth to anything she said. It had been shopping and restaurants and tourist attractions before Riley scurried off to get ready for work both Saturday and Sunday, and Hana was done with it. 

Maybe she wasn’t being fair. Both Saturday and Sunday evenings, when she’d been alone, trying to devise a strategy to encourage Riley to open up, she’d come to the realization that most of the weight that she’d felt in their friendship had come from her opening up, not so much the other way around. While Hana had discussed her distorted dynamic with her parents, her failed engagement and romantic inexperience, and her very lonely and isolated childhood, there was very little Riley had told her. She briefly mentioned that her father was long gone and her mother dead, but it had been Maxwell who told her that her mother had died of a heroin overdose. She wasn’t even sure if Riley had any family beyond that, any aunts, uncles, cousins, or grandparents. And Riley certainly hadn’t confided in Hana about her growing feelings for Drake at any point during the social season or Liam and Madeleine’s engagement tour.

The fact that her friendship with Riley appeared to be fairly lopsided filled her with both pain and guilt. It certainly hurt knowing that the first person in her life she saw as a best friend had probably not felt so connected with her. But more than that, she felt guilty for depending so much on Riley for emotional support and strength without offering anywhere near enough in return. But tonight, that was going to change.

Hana had tried being friendly and open. She’d tried asking gentle questions. She’d point blank asked Riley if she’d heard from Drake while they were at the Guggenheim. But Riley had deflected every single attempt. So tonight, Hana was getting her drunk. She hated thinking of it that way. It sounded so predatory, so malicious. But her intent was merely to use a bit of alcohol to help Riley feel comfortable enough to actually let her guard down and communicate openly. 

Her plan had been simple to execute, at least initially. Riley was off Monday, and given her apparent desire for all things fun and frivolous, it had been very easy to convince her that while in New York, Hana really wanted a little taste of the nightlife. Riley had been thrilled, offering to lend Hana club wear and taking them to a small little lounge after dinner before they headed to a nightclub. She hadn’t been out dancing in ages, apparently, and was very enthusiastic about the idea.

At first, it had gone exactly as Hana had hoped, with Riley downing vodka sodas while Hana just sipped on an amaretto sour as they sat in a little booth at the lounge. When they’d paid the cover to enter the nightclub, the bass from dance tracks resonating through Hana’s entire body, Riley appeared to be tipsy. Hana figured a couple more drinks, an hour or so of dancing, and then they could head out and actually talk.

What she hadn’t accounted for was the swaths of men who didn’t seem content to let them dance without butting in, invading their personal space without even saying hello. All of these men came with offers to buy them drinks, and while Hana always declined, Riley seemed keen on taking every single one of them up on it, wandering over to the bar time and time again, dragging Hana along with her.

Currently, Hana was standing there, watching as a tall man with very blond hair ordered Riley yet another Long Island Iced Tea. Riley was well passed the point of tipsy and was incredibly intoxicated, leaning heavily against the bar, the words she was practically yelling over the loud music slurred into a giant mess. The man in question didn’t seem to mind at all, though, handing his credit card over to the bartender.

“Excuse me!” Hana called out, the bartender pausing to look at her.

“Sorry!” yelled the blond man, leaning close to Hana so he could speak directly into her ear, “I didn’t know you were drinking. What do you want?”

Hana just shook her head and rolled his hand off her shoulder, leaning over the bar to speak directly to the bartender, tugging her skirt down as she did so. The length was not something she was used to, and she was feeling self conscious of how high it would ride up her thighs with her movement.

“Cancel that Long Island Iced Tea, please. She and I are leaving.”

The bartender glanced between the three of them, but after just a couple of seconds, he nodded with understanding. Hana then spun towards Riley,  hoping that she would be a cooperative drunk.

“Riley, sweetie,” Hana said, leaning to speak directly in her ear. 

Riley spun to face her, stumbling slightly on her heels as she moved, grabbing Hana’s arm. “Yeah?” she said, a concerning glazed looked to her eyes as she seemed to struggle to meet Hana’s eyeline.

“It’s time for us to leave.”

“I think she can decide if she wants to leave for herself.”

Hana rolled her eyes. She had hoped that the blond man would have moved on, but it seemed like he had set his sights on Riley. Ignoring him, she linked her arm through Riley’s and started to navigate them toward the coat check, but the man grabbed Riley’s wrist and tugged her back towards him.

“Riley, why don’t you tell your friend you’re having a good time and that I can get you home.”

Riley just looked dazed, her gaze unfocused, so Hana stepped forward and tugged her towards her side. “Riley, come on,” she said before looking at the man, “You are a disgusting excuse for a human being if you think that she is in any state to go anywhere with you.”

“Bitch!” the man spat out, but he seemed to decide that having this fight with Hana was not worth his time as he turned away and walked away from the two of them, probably looking for some other woman to ply with alcohol. Shaking her head, Hana wrapped her arm around Riley and moved them towards the exit. When they were waiting for their coats, Riley seemed to gain a little awareness of her surroundings.

“Where’d Peter go?”

Well, Hana had a name for the blond man with ill intentions now. “He had to go, and so do we,” she said, trying to guide Riley’s arms into her jacket.

“Oh,” said Riley, “Is Peter, I mean, where’s he, yeah, you know?”

Hana just blinked, not really having any clue what Riley’s drunken ramblings were supposed to convey. “Come on, sweetie. Let’s get a cab back to my hotel.”

Hana was able to shepherd Riley out onto the sidewalk, but when she attempted to flag down a taxi, Riley batted down her arm, almost falling into the gutter in the process.

“No taxi, only three blocks,” she slurred, stumbling away from Hana and down the sidewalk with surprising speed.

“Riley, wait!” Hana cried out, “Where are you going?” But Riley didn’t give any response, so Hana took off after her. Any efforts to redirect her were met with groans and slurred grumbles and complaints, so after a few attempts, Hana just followed along. Riley was clearly on some sort of drunken mission, and Hana was going to be along for the ride, apparently.

It was a tricky route to wherever Riley was going. There were numerous other bars, clubs, and restaurants in this part of the city, and even though it was after midnight, there were still many people on the sidewalk, many of them just as drunk as Riley. Trying to prevent collisions, dodging cat callers, and keeping Riley upright was taking a lot of effort. Hana barely felt like the sidewalk was any less of an overwhelming place of noise and bodies than the dance club. Her ears were ringing and she was exhausted. She just wanted to get Riley safely into a bed and then go to sleep herself.

After a couple of blocks, Riley stopped in front of a small market, veering towards a side door. Hana was about to correct her that not only was the market closed, but that she was trying to enter what was clearly an employee entrance, but Riley fished a set of keys out of her pocket and fumbled with them, trying to unlock the door. At that moment, Hana realized that this door wasn’t to the market, it was to Riley and Drake’s apartment building.

After a couple of tries, Riley got the door unlocked and open, so Hana followed her into what appeared to be a mailroom for the building and then up a flight of stairs. Hana didn’t know what she had pictured for where Drake and Riley lived, but it certainly wasn’t this. She was trying hard not to be judgemental, but she’d never been inside a building so run down. It had probably been an adjustment for Drake compared to living at the palace.

As Hana trudged up several flights of stairs behind Riley, catching her from falling twice, she couldn’t help but think about Drake and Riley, not only living in this building, but in this neighborhood, in this city. Riley she could kind of imagine, out at a different bar or restaurant everyday, trying new foods and drinks, charming different people left and right. She was so bubbly and outgoing and had a definite wild, impulsive streak.

But Drake? Nearly agoraphobic, routine loving, scoffed at the new and unknown Drake? She just couldn’t see it. He would have punched at least five people on their walk back from the club alone. Try as she might, she couldn’t picture him in a place that was so loud and with so many different people. It seemed like the type of thing he would avoid at all costs. She didn’t know what to make of that. Did Drake have some secret, social side that he only let Riley see? Or was he just miserable and surly all the time? Hana felt like it was probably the latter. It made her sad to even think about. Here he had made a grand romantic gesture, moving to be with the woman he loved, and it was probably draining and stressful beyond his wildest dreams.

Eventually Riley turned down a hallway and made her way to a door labeled 4B. She tried to use her keys, but was struggling to figure out which key went into which lock. After a few seconds, Hana stepped up to grab the keys herself, but before she could even offer her help, Riley started crying, sinking to the floor.

“Riley!” she cried out, crouching down and grabbing her shoulders and rubbing circles against them. “It’s okay; I can unlock the door. It’ll be okay.”

“S’not that,” Riley mumbled. “I jus’ wanted t’forget t’night… T’not feel so bad…”

“Shhhh,” hummed Hana, sitting down on the floor next to Riley, wrapping an arm around her shoulders.

“I’m so lonely. But no one cares,” Riley slurred, head thrown back against the door, “He’s never coming back and I’m gonna always be alone.”

“Riley, plenty of people care about you,” Hana said, trying to provide words of reassurance, but it was like Riley was just giving some sort of emotional speech, and she just kept mumbling the same thoughts over and over again. That she was alone. That she had no one. That everyone would always leave her. So Hana did the only thing she could think to do. She sat there with her, letting her ramble and release her pain. She wasn’t going anywhere, and hopefully that fact would provide at least a little comfort.

Permatag: @mfackenthal @lilyofchoices @thequeenofcronuts @jamesashtonisbae

The Royal Romance/The Royal Heir: @kingliam2019  @sirbeepsalot  @texaskitten30  @princessleac1  @ladyangel70  @dcbbw @yaushie @octobereighth

Drake x MC only: @jovialyouthmusic @iplaydrake @gibbles82 @drakewalkerisreal @riley–walker @notoriouscs @butindeed  @addictedtodrakefanfic

It Couldn’t Wait Another Moment: @wickedgypsymoon @thesumofmychoices @cosigottahavefaith @thequeenchoices @katedrakeohd  @feartheendlesssummer  @ao719  @ooo-barff-ooo​ @sunnyxdazed

[asterinjapan]

Peach cental

Good evening from the city of peaches!

Today was a travel day, but it was the least cumbersome of all my travel days, so I still had time to Do Stuff. So I’ve been busy, and I’m definitely going to bed early considering I have already reserved a train ticket for tomorrow at 8:30, haha.

So, from Fukuoka to Okayama! Here we go. As it turns out this entry got long, so apologies in advance...

I got up early to have breakfast in peace, had a very quick check-out, and proceeded to make my way to the station. I think this might be the first day my legs are legitimately protesting, and that’s mostly because I had to drag my suitcase with me. Thankfully, my hotel is pretty close to the station, and the entrance for the shinkansen trains is nearby as well. Of course, I was way too early, so I watched the Nozomi (the fastest of the shinkansen, which I can’t use with m JR pass) come and go before my train showed up, the Sakura.

It was a little under two hours to Okayama, passing Hiroshima and Fukuyama on the way. Fukuyama castle is a literal stone’s throw from the station, but I noticed the main tower was partially covered, so I’m glad I went to see that one last year already!

After a smooth trip, I arrived at Okayama station and all but went deaf upon exiting, because there were all kinds of events going on. Today is a national holiday (Health and Sports day I think), so I guess that had something to do with it. Also, it’s hot! I was already regretting my warm pants, but what can you do.

I’m staying in the same hotel as last year, which is very easily found from the station anyway, so that was only a quick trip. In the lobby, I took out the necessities for my ‘daily backpack’ and then asked if I could leave the rest of my luggage here, as I was too early for check-in. Thankfully I could, haha, because I had Plans that would be significantly troublesome if I had to drag my suitcase with me.

So, out of the hotel I went, following the Momotarou street down to Okayama castle! Okay, two things: Momotarou is everywhere here. He’s a character from a folk tale, in which an elderly couple found a giant peach in the river and upon cutting it open, a boy jumped out. They raised the boy as their own and he ended up becoming a hero, as he teamed up with a dog, pheasant and a monkey and went on to defeat ogres. His name is Momotarou, which basically means ‘peach boy’. The story is more or less set in the region – there’s a prince called Kibitsuhiko whose story might have inspired Momotarou, and the shrines dedicated to him can be found in Okayama. I talked about this for a bit last year too, when I stayed in Okayama for the first time. Anyway, this has a predictable result: peaches and Momotarou everywhere. So down from Peach boy Road, onto the castle!

I visited the castle last year with my friend, but there was a little something we didn’t get to do, so I was taking this chance to rectify that.

Upon arrival however, it turned out there was a festival of some kind going on. Fun atmosphere, but it did mean it was pretty busy, hmm.

Into the castle I went anyway! They want you to start the tour on the top floor, so I meekly followed that advice and made my way down. The Thing I wanted to do would start again at 1 PM, so I took my time exploring the different floors and reading the Japanese signage (not a lot was translated except for titles, but I found the general guide boards pretty easy to follow). There was also a special exhibition with works by Masago Kimiya, who has an affinity for drawing historical figures from the Three Kingdoms and Warring States eras. I had no idea what to expect, but these works were beautiful! They look more like glamorous photos than the stylized portraits from back then, and to top it off, the hall told the story of Ukita Hideie, who completed the castle after taking over from his father. He was a big name, actually. (History lesson to follow!)

The little states making up Japan until 1600 were at constant war with each other, called the Sengoku (Warring States) era. Attempts to unify the country were made by Oda Nobunaga and then Toyotomi Hideyoshi. Hideie sided with them and ended up being one of Hideyoshi’s five counselors, along with a guy called Tokugawa Ieyasu. Yeah, there he is again, That One Guy. Anyway, after Hideyoshi was assassinated, Ieyasu took control and two camps emerged: the one on Ieyasu’s side, and the loyalists to Toyotomi, including Hideie. At the decisive battle of Sekigahara in 1600, Ieyasu’s side won, unified Japan, and Hideie was to be punished. He fled to what is now Kagoshima until he was eventually betrayed and exiled to the island of Hachijojima, Tokyo, where he lived out his life until his 80s (!). His wife, princess Gou, stayed loyal to him and kept sending him support (like food, since rice barely grew on the island) until she passed away.

Later the castle went to the Ikeda clan, and it was being maintained until the Meiji Restauration in 1869. The Meiji government wanted to break with the samurai era and actually tore down a lot of castles, although it left Okayama castle alone, filling the outer moats and leaving the rest as it is. In 1945, bombers destroyed the castle as yet with the exception of the Tsukimi Yagura (watch tower for moon watching), and so the current reconstruction is from the 1960s. The lion-fish on top are gilded now, but in the old days, the main keep had gilded roof tiles too. It was thus also known as the Golden Crow castle, since the exterior is mostly black.

Whew, so far for a lot of history, haha. Can you tell I really like this castle? I definitely do. So much so that I read up on it, haha, although the exhibition hall was also very informative and had information in English.

On the second floor, there were some photo spots and the Thing I wanted to do: dressing up as a feudal era princess! Okay, look, the kimono on display is really pretty and the dress up is free, come on, I’m not gonna pass up on that opportunity. I had to hang around here for quite a while, as I was about an hour early, but once it was time, I was first in line! And wow, they’re not playing cheap here even though this is free. I got dressed up in a fancy kimono, got to pose all over the special room, got a wig on, got dressed up in another fancy kimono, and overall really got to make the most out of this experience. I checked my camera; there are literally a hundred pictures on there! One hundred! Wow.

So that was a really fun activity and I’m really glad I came back for it. I got a castle parfait at the café (with peach, of course, I was surprised they even offered strawberry as a different choice), and then went back outside again. I think the festival had a stage for a Momotarou something or another, geesh…

I made my way back to the station, foregoing checking into my hotel as I had another destination in mind: nearby Kurashiki!

You might remember last year’s floodings which hit Japan hard. Kurashiki was one of the cities hit, and so we didn’t end up visiting despite how close it is. So now for a second attempt, I took the local train bound for Kurashiki, which took like fifteen minutes. Told you it was close, haha.

Kurashiki is mostly known for its Bikan historical area, which is the old merchant quarter from back when the city became a river port and was so important it was placed under direct control of the shogunate. Many of the buildings are 17th century style wooden warehouses, now filled with restaurants and shops for the most part. There are also some curious museums nearby. (There was also a little shop with a board outside for figure skater Daisuke Takahashi, and that’s how I found out that both he and Keiji Tanaka hail from Kurashiki, haha. The more you know!)

I mostly went for the views, which were definitely a treat once I found the Bikan historical area: the description ‘Venice of Japan’ is surprisingly apt. There are tourist boats going through the canal area and they’re beautifully framed by the willows here. It’s also apparently a very popular backdrop for cosplayers, since I saw a TON of people dressed up as their favourite characters and posing for pictures here, haha. Guess that’s what I get for going on a holiday. It was fun to see though!

Nearby was Ivy Square, also aptly named as it contains buildings overgrown with ivy. It was the area where the first modern cotton mill of Japan was built, and the company from back then is actually still active.

I only wandered around here for a short bit though, and then found one of the little museums I mentioned. I hopped into the Momotarou Karakuri museum! Yep, peach boy strikes again. Karakuri apparently refers to a type of doll, which I did indeed see here, but the museum itself as a strange mix between optical illusions and a museum of Momotarou memorabilia. Not the first combination I would have thought of myself, but the staff was enthusiastic and led me through the illusions (all Momotarou/peach themed of course), encouraging me to try them out and taking a picture with my head through a giant peach, so now I can pretend I’m Momotarou myself, haha. Granted, the illusions weren’t super new, but they were very open about that (‘trick first invented 150 years ago’ listed), and it was still fun going through them. Next was a delightfully trippy little maze full of ghosts and ogres, since Momotarou had gone on a quest to defeat the ogres after all. I got better scares out of this one than out of the self-proclaimed haunted house in Huis ten Bosch, Sasebo some years ago, haha.

I was then led upstairs, which was very interesting as this was the museum part, showcasing all knids of Momotarou goods dating back hundreds of years in some cases. There was also a little English book with the story on display, and apparently they made a Mickey Mouse set at one point with Donald, Goofy, and Chip and Dale as the animal companions, haha.

This was a nice little break. Parts of it were definitely aimed at kids, but that didn’t make it any less fun.

 I had another museum planned, but I was getting rather tired, so after a quick round on Ivy Square, I walked back to the station. This time just taking the main road, because I had tried to take the shopping street route on my way here, but I somehow managed to – uh, mess up on going right ahead and had to google Maps my way out, oops. So the walk back to the station was significantly shorter, ahem.

After a matcha latte at the station, I went back to Okayama and decided to reserve some tickets for trains. Of course I had to secure my one-way trip to Tokyo, as that one will take about 4 hours, yikes. I should arrive at Shinagawa station around 12:30 now, plus half an hour added to get to Ikebukuro, so at least that’s not the entire day wasted on trains, haha. Although the shinkansen are super nice. There’s enough space for me to put my luggage in front of me, although it can get a little cramped for hours on end.

And then my second ticket: tomorrow, to Matsuyama! This is also quite the trip, over 2.5 hours, but it’s just one train, so I can hop on, doze off, and hop out at the terminal station, haha. I wanted to visit Matsuyama last year, but due to the same floodings, it was impossible at the time. And so I wasn’t going to wait much longer and made it my first daytrip from Okayama this time.

Anyway, after checking in to my hotel, I went back to the station for dinner, lamented the fact that one of my favourite restaurants from last year was closed for renovations along with a big part of the food court, found a different restaurant, and promptly ordered their super cute Halloween plate, haha. And now I’m back at the hotel for tonight!

 I suspect my report and photos will be up a little late tomorrow, ahem. Have a good evening, see you!

[justeverythingprettymuch]

High School AUs (based on real experiences I’ve had) pt. 2

So, here’s another fifty weird prompts, since people seemed to like the first ones...

(Part 1)

51. You're twice my size and have huge muscles, but you got told off by our teacher for going on your phone, so she took your phone and placed you next to me. I was super nervous, but then you began whispering to me about how the only reason you kept using your phone was because you work at an old age home, and one of the nurses there is sending you updates on the residents. I think I just melted.

52. My friends and I have been calling you "Muscle Man Mark" for the good part of the last two years, but we don't actually know your name or anything about you. All we know is your biceps are the size of your head. One day, you overhear us talking about you and buRST OUT LAUGHING WHEN YOU FIND OUT YOUR NICKNAME.

53. You and your best friend are Russian exchange students and you're in my art class. You are at least a head taller than me and look like you could crush my skull with one hand, but your best friend is the scrawniest motherfucker I've ever seen. You glare at everyone, while he smiles like sunshine. I kind of ship you together... but I'm pretty sure you overheard me say that to my friend, because you both keep looking at me now.

54. Some freshmen stole my group's usual spot and they woN'T LEAVE. You see me getting increasingly irritated because this has been our spot for the last three and a hALF YEARS AND I WILL BE DAMNED IF I LET THEM TAKE IT NOW. You stroll over and tell the freshmen to leave without even explaining why, and they just get up and walk away. Turns out you're their class' assigned prefect, so you pretty much own them AND I AM AWED BY YOUR POWER.

55. My friend and I went to a department store after school. We were apparently more rowdy than I thought because the store manager is coming up to us, looking really angry, but he's wearing a purple shirt and I just blurt out the first thing that comes to mind when I'm nervous... so I say "Doctor Banner this is not the place to Hulk out" and he fucking loses it.

56. Everyone in our friend group knows that we're no longer welcome at the comic book store down the road. There are some crazy theories as to why, but in reality it's because you bought a sword from there and forced me to ducktape it to your arm, then proceeded to try picking a fight with everyone in the store.

57. We were walking through a park in the middle of the night and saw a really weird light in the distance, and our conspiracy-enthused asses immediately assumed it was something crashing to Earth. You turn to me and say; "If this is it, I need you to know... (insert whatever you want)." ... Turns out it was just a weirdly shaped paper lantern.

58. You're my best friend and you've just realized you aren't as straight as you previously thought, but instead of coming out to me in some quiet sort of nervous way, you just turn up at my house one day and throw open the door. Without even checking who was home you yell out; "I'm bisexual, bitches!"

59. We've been friends for years, but we've never been that close. One day you get drunk before school and a teacher noticed, so you get suspended for the rest of the week, and for some strange reason you only told me about it??

60. We were on a school trip and you asked if anyone had a pair of scissors, but no one did. Instead, my best friend pulled out a craft knife and I pulled out a pocket knife with a four-inch blade. You're a little bit concerned.

61. We've been out all night walking around and we've just wandered on to our school's grounds. You insist on climbing up onto the roof - and no, of course we can't just use the stairs, we have to climb a tree and scale the second-storey wall because you're fucking hardcore like that - just so that we can watch the sunrise.

62. You're this really scary-yet-super-smart kid that never really talks to anyone other than the teachers, but one day it's really, really cold and you turn up in a Christmas sweater, and I just... can't compute?

63. You were sitting next to me at lunch while I was searching through my bag for my house keys. I absentmindedly unpacked all the little trinkets I've collected over the past few weeks and just haven't taken out, while you become increasingly curious and simultaneously afraid. I've just taken out 3 lighters, a pocket knife, lip balm, a bus card, a first-aid kit, a small flashlight, a box of matches, like 6 pens, and what looks like it might be a wooden cube covered in blood.

64. We sit next to each other in our music class. I don't know a damn thing about music, while you're pretty much the top student. You're literally in the orchestra and three different bands, all at the same time. I'm barely scraping by in the class, so you take pity on me and teach me a few things.

65. Since sophomore year, you've always been followed around by the younger kids at lunchtime. No one has any idea why, but it always happens. Every semester of every year, you pick one of the students to pretty much become your protege. By senior year, the challenge of becoming your protege has pretty much become our school's Hunger Games and it's absolutely hilarious.

66. Most of our friend group is staying the night at your house, so we've been drinking some beer and playing random games. You and your best friend then decide to put on all your goalie gear and wrestle in the garage, while the rest of us sit on the pool table and question why we're friends with either of you in the first place.

67. I just moved out of my parent's house and into an apartment. You and your best friend are my new roommates, but I only meet you after four days of living there. You call a house meeting as soon as you walk through the door, but when we find you in the living room you've got branches in your hair, mud on your clothes, and you're only wearing one shoe.

68. I had a huge fight with my parents, so I packed some things into a bag and walked out the door. Three hours later, I'm wandering aimlessly through a park and decide to call you for advice, since you moved out of your parents' house for similar reasons. You pick me up twenty minutes later and offer to let me take your couch for as long as I need.

69. I was sitting in the library before school when you came past me and hit me on the head with a pile of paper. When I turn to look at you, you're showing off a twelve-page essay and say; "'Can't do it the night before,' my ass."

70. You had six shots of espresso one after the other right before lunch, then came to sit with our group. You spend the entire hour asking us weird philosophical questions, until eventually you just start asking us what would happen if we laminated certain things. Now we're going around the school asking every technology teacher we find if they have a laminator so that we can test some of these theories. It's for science!

71. You took one of the freshmen under your wing this year, so you go to check up on him at least once a week and insist on buying him food. You have dubbed him your son and will literally tell anyone willing to listen about how great your 'sweet summer child' is.

72. We sit together in class, but we never hang out outside of that class. One day, my friend buys four tickets to a movie premiere for us and a couple of our friends, but one of the people who were meant to go had to cancel, so I ask you if you want to go 'cause I know you've been looking forward to seeing the movie too.

73. We went to go ask a teacher a question, but he gets side-tracked because I'm wearing an Iron Maiden t-shirt and he wants to talk about the band. You keep giving me exasperated looks and whispering; "Stay focused, we're on a mission."

74. I was walking down one of the hallways, when you suddenly pulled me into an empty storage room. Before I can even ask what is going on, you shove $70 in my hand, and then push me back out. Why in the hell are you just giving me money???

75. We were on a school field trip, but you were only there when they were taking the roll (at the beginning and end of the trip), so the next day you ask me to give you a quick summary of everything we saw and learnt for when the teacher inevitably asks us what happened.

76. You came in to a meeting for a club we're both in carrying three bags stacked up with apple crumble in little foil trays. And everyone is just like ???? Why?? Turns out no one in your hospitality class likes apple crumble, so you got 30 trays of it for free.

77. We both take the same bus all the way to the exchange every day, but you usually just get on another bus, while I leave the exchange 'cause I live nearby. One day you have to go to a store that's in the same area, so you ask me what street you have to go down to get there and I'm like "How would I know?" and that's how you find out I don't even know the name of the street I LIVE on, I just walk there through muscle memory alone.

78. I was at the grocery store with my mother. I saw you staring at me, so I smiled and said 'hi' as I passed you, but then you tried to say something back, while still walking, and ended up walking straight into a display. I feel really bad for laughing, but that's honestly the funniest thing I've seen all day.

79. You and your girlfriend just broke up, so you come over to my house to distract yourself. We end up watching all the Godfather movies, drinking a 24 box of beer and most of a bottle of vodka. By morning, we are both somehow passably fluent in Italian, though we have no idea how that happened.

80. You stay the night at my house and sleep on my bedroom floor, but you get woken up at three in the morning by my cat who is not happy about you taking up his pile of blankets.

81. We have a movie night/sleepover with our group of friends. We are each other's wing-people with our respective crushes, but neither of us sleep that well and we seem to be the only people who can put up with each other for extended periods of time, so now it's about four in the morning and we're trying not to wake everyone else up while we're giggling about random inside jokes we have.

82. I came for a sleepover at your house, but you have two siblings who are much younger than you, and for some unknown reason your 8-year-old brother is up at six in the morning playing with fuCKING BEYBLADES ON WOODEN FLOOR BOARDS AND IF I HEAR THAT GODDAMN THING GO OFF ONE MORE TIME, I SWEAR TO GOD.

83. Your best friend, my best friend, and the two of us are passing a relatively small bottle of 'water' (it's vodka, guys) between us, while we walk with the rest of our group through a super posh neighbourhood in the wee hours of the morning. Given that one of our friends lives in the neighbourhood, we've been ordered to be on our best behaviour and not bring any alcohol to this party. Unfortunately, turns out you are the lightest of all the lightweights and now we're trying our best to hide the fact that you're drunk from the rest of our friends.

84. We're walking around our neighbourhood, just trying to explore a little, but we're also drunk and there's this buff as all-hell guy taking his very small dogs for a walk. The first time we pass the guy, we just coo and tell him he has cute dogs, before continuing on our way, but then we pass him again on our way back around the block. The guy lets us pet his dogs, so we end up just sitting on the side of the road petting these tiny dogs while this big-ass guy just laughs at our weird drunk asses.

85. We met at a party a while ago and exchanged numbers, but we've never really spoken much since. One day, you text me out of the blue asking if I want to come to a family BBQ on Saturday. Apparently your parents are super conservative and literally don't approve of anyone that isn't prim and proper. You want to scare them into leaving you alone when it comes to who you date, and I'm the only person you know that a) wears Iron Maiden and Megadeath t-shirts, b) is very openly queer, c) does not give a single fuck about what others think of me, and d) has a reputation as someone who likes to piss off overbearing parents. So... you think I'll be perfect for the job.

86. We both live really far out of town, so we usually get dropped off really early and have to bus for hours to get home. Because of this, we usually end up spending like and extra 3-4 hours a day together, and so we've sort of gotten super close and know way more about each other than anyone else does. Including your strange obsession with making the perfect whiskey.

87. We've been on-and-off frenemies since freshman year, but we've been hanging out a lot lately. Like, almost the entire school day and then we meet up outside of school to watch movies, go to parties or have sleepovers. In the past week or so, this guy in one of my classes has been trying to hit on me and hang out with me whenever I've got a spare moment, but he keeps getting shut down because you're always with me. Now, practically everyone we know is convinced we're dating.

88. You and your best friend sometimes spend your lunchtimes with my group of friends, and you are both super intimidating, but super cute underneath. Most people don't realize this until they see the two of you together because that's almost the only time you guys let it show. Like that time you hand-fed each other pizza, or that time you were trying to sing together but you kept getting distracted and laughing. I ship it SO HAAARD.

89. We were in class and our teacher knew that none of us would be doing any work today, so she gave us a short quiz to do and then started just chatting with us. She is a really adorable and sweet old lady who is always friendly and supportive of us all, though she thinks partying and smoking and stuff like that is horrible. The conversation somehow got onto this fact, and you called me out as being someone who parties relatively often, so I called you out by saying; "Well, you smoke all day every day, so let's focus on that." And our teacher thought I meant you smoke marijuana, and that's how we ended up finding out that this adorable tiny lady doesn't mind people smoking weed as long as they’re responsible about it. AND she once accidentally threw out $300 worth of her son's weed because she didn't realize what it was.

90. One lunchtime you brought up some kind of fact about the Soviet Union, and it reminded me of the story of Lyudmila Pavlichenko... and that's how we found out we were both obscure history buffs and we ended up spending four hours talking about all the random stuff we knew.

91. You're an art student and your folio is due in a few hours. You haven't slept in two and a half days and you've had so many energy drinks that you can hardly even see straight, but you're still really determined to get things done. I come to the art studio at lunch time to keep you company, but I end up having to stop you from drinking dirty water and walking into a wall, since apparently your brain isn't doing the job for you.

92. We're frenemies, so we don't always get along, but we live nearby each other and are usually free at the same times because we have our free period at the same time and often work the same hours. Because of this, we are often the only members of our group of friends that can meet up regularly. One day, I owed you some food so I bought you a 6 for $5 pack of muffins ('cause I'm cheap and don't like you) and came over to your house to watch the Breakfast Club. Your sister and her friend are also there, and they think they're being quiet, but I can hear them talking about how they think we're dating.

93. We went to the beach to hang out with a bunch of people we were friends with, but who were not in our immediate group of friends. Because of this, we weren't as comfortable around the other people there, so we mostly stuck to each other for the night. Anyway, around 9PM a large group of college students sort of stumbled in to where we were all sitting around a fire, and asked if they could join us. By the end of the night, all of the college students are convinced we're dating, won't believe us when we say we're each other's wing-people, and have dubbed us 'Star-crossed Lovers'.

94. You're house sitting at your neighbour's 50 acre farm and invite me over for a few days because the farm has goats on it and you know I love them to death. By the time I have to leave I'm genuinely considering just stealing one, while you think my love for goats is the cutest thing you've ever heard.

95. We went to the beach for a party, but at one point I managed to somehow hurt my toes. I don't remember how it happened, only that you were there and I ignored it at the time. In the morning my toes are kinda blue and I can't bend them, and we later discover that I somehow managed to break two of my toes. You feel really bad since the whole night had been your idea, and you had been involved in how I got hurt, though you won't tell me what happened.

96. You broke your nose twice within a couple weeks, so you have to get surgery to fix it since it's so bad that you can't breathe properly anymore. After the surgery, you aren't allowed to really do much of anything for a while, so I come over with some of our friends to keep you company and make sure you're okay.

97. It's waaaaay too hot outside, but we're supposed to hang out so you come over with ice cream. You find me lying down on my kitchen floor, feeding my cats ice chips.

98. We have our birthday on the same day, so we decide to throw our party together. We invite all of our friends, mutual and otherwise, to your house for the day. By the end of the night, there's been at least three fist-fights, one guy climbed on your garage's roof in nothing but his underwear, and we're both questioning why we ever thought this was a good idea.

99. You're my ride home from a friend's house, but you have to stop at your house to grab something before we go. Once we get there, you make me hot chocolate and leave me alone with your dog, while you go get ready. When you come back, your dog is sitting on my lap - despite being huge as hell - and refuses to move.

100. We jokingly proposed to each other because we're the only people we know who want to have a pagan handfasting ceremony instead of a 'normal' wedding, and one day your mum came up to us while we were at your house and asked you, "Well, have you asked her yet?" And when you asked what she meant she sarcastically said; "To marry you, obviously." Caught off guard, you immediately blurted out; "How did you know about that?" ... turns out your mum actually wanted to know if you'd asked me to come camping with the family yet, but she was suddenly much more interested in "WHat do you meAN YOU PROPOSED?" which led to an awkward hour of us having to explain that you hadn't actually proposed, it was a joke. We swear.

Hope you like my rollercoaster life. Like before, if you happen to use these for a story, I would love it if you could tag me or send me a link or something. I’d love to read them!

[sapphired17]

It feels surreal to me that we have passed the 2010s already. Time went ahead like an express train without a single stop. What’s more shocking, the first half of 2020 hasn’t  even come to an end but the hassles have been getting out of hand. It was peaked with the news of corona virus (COVID-19) outbreak since the beginning of January 2020 and is still an ongoing issue up to the present time, albeit, thankfully, we have also seen a lot of recovered cases. One of the biggest aftermaths of the outbreak is in the tourism department, in which most governments would put a temporary travel ban as a means of preventive measures.

And have I told you about my yearn of traveling, haven’t I? I wrote a post about my first-time-backpacking-experience in Singapore last year, and my journey didn’t stop there. I’m making my itineraries for my upcoming trips to Japan and South Korea already just to showcase my utmost excitement upon discovering brand new things. Unfortunately, the trip schedules are still on hold as I’m waiting until the whole pandemic comes to an end. As an self-comforting attempt, I decided to write about my previous one-week vacation in Malaysia last December 2019 so that I could reminisce a bit about the lingering feelings.

Day 1: Mind-cleansing and peace-making attempts

By the time one enters the pit of adulthood, there are endless things to do, and I really mean my words. Working earnestly, either to fulfill your or your parents’ desire; adjusting with the workplace and making sure to get along well with everyone; getting the work done without skipping meals or sleeps; socializing with friends even if it requires you to be present in tame parties or gatherings; building new meaningful connections while maintaining the existing ones; finding a lover and deliberating whether you both will make a great match, then proceeding to marriage if it is, or starting over if you are doomed; and also making more money; not to forget about looking after your family and attending family occasions to meet with relatives who might shower you with ruthless curiosities; also taking part in side volunteering activities in case you are a social person; then definitely making sure that everything goes well in between. Whoa, being a social being is surely busy, isn’t it?

Just like how humans need sleep everyday in order to stay alive, breaks are also needed so that we may keep living. I didn’t think too much on my way to Malaysia, only overwhelming excitement within. And my crazy journey slowly began.

I booked a direct morning flight with AirAsia without extra-baggage to save cost, then went straight to my friend’s apartment from KLIA2. There is a Skybus service that departs every 30 minutes on weekdays (and 60 minutes on weekends) from KLIA2 to various routes available daily, and I left for One Utama stop for MYR 15. It’s one of the biggest and most popular shopping centres in Klang Valley. My friend stays in a condominium nearby along with her co-worker, leaving a one-room space for me to sleep for the next three nights. Later that evening, another Malaysian friend took me to Tanjung Bungah Nyonya in Petaling Jaya’s SS2 area, known as an authentic restaurant to grab essential Nyonya dishes.

As for the public transport, Malaysians mostly use Touch n Go card to commute with train or bus services. You need to buy the card for MYR 15 with a purse value of MYR 9.80. This reusable card can easily be topped-up in convenience stores.

We had sweet fried chicken, fried tofu and sayur Paku, a vegetable dish known in English as wild fern shoots. I didn’t think I had ever had one in Indonesia but that one was pretty pleasant to my tongue. They all reminded me to my mom’s home-cooked meals.

We stopped by at Restoran Kayu Nasi Kandar SS2 nearby for this delicate roti canai and roasted chicken with dip-in curry sauce, not to mention this sweet roti tissue. Thanks to her, I went home with happy tummy and smiley face. 

Day 2: Fun trip, group trip

Haven’t I told you about the superb Couchsurfing app, have I? So basically I managed to gather more people for a one-day trip. Long story short, there were five of us going to popular tourist attractions like Batu Caves and Genting Highlands.

The history of Batu Caves is affiliated with Hinduism, and this is one of the most popular Hindu shrines outside India, which was built in honor of Lord Murugan. If you are familiar with a huge statue at the entrance of Batu Caves, yes, that is the statue of Lord Murugan. Batu Caves itself is always swarmed with visiting tourists.

It cost me my bloody sweaty t-shirts and tanned complexion to reach the huge cave on top of the stairs.

The next destination was Genting Highlands. With the entrance fee of MYR 16, you can roam around the French village, Japanese village and also many other awaiting attractions. We stopped by Colmar Tropicale, a gorgeous Medieval French Village in Berjaya Hills. The cold wind was mild but humid and I indeed felt like leaving for a far far place.

One of the most fascinating experiences was visiting Amber Court, a 23-story apartment building known more as a haunted hotel in Genting. Legend said, a lot of gamblers committed suicide there after losing everything in the casino. If you look up on Google, you might find several interesting testimonies from people who once visited Amber Court. We, too, entered one empty room once and felt something creepy inside. It definitely isn’t a place you’d be comfortable roaming around.

To wrap up the visit, I visited Sky Avenue Shopping Mall and entered the Sky Casino, known as the largest casino in Genting Highlands. In order to make an entrance, you need to register the membership to receive a membership card. As part of the regulations, you are allowed to enter the gate unless you are underage, a Muslim or wear slippers. Photo-taking is also forbidden inside the casino, but it is definitely a huge-scaled casino. You can top-up the balance of the card in order to play the game. Machines are everywhere and people are busy gaining money under the supervision of CCTV cameras and security guards.

Later that night, my local friend took us to Restoran Tiong Hokkien Mee (non-halal) located around Damansara Utama to try the oriental Hokkien Mee there. The texture of the noodle is thick and coated with greasy seasoning, also added with seafood and samcan chops. Definitely a great meal to end day for only MYR 45 (a big portion for 3-4 moderate servings).

Day 3: Lone wanderer in Malacca

The days ahead were pure solo traveling for me. I took off at 7 in the morning to catch the bus to Malacca, a historic state located in the southern part of Malay Peninsula. There is a plenty of bus services that depart from TBS (Terminal Bersepadu Selatan) every 30 minutes with particular operating hours. I bought a TBS – Melaka Sentral bus ticket for MYR 11.4 (including TBS Passenger Insurance Protection for MYR 0.40). The trip approximately lasts for two hours, but the seats were comfortable to sleep on so it didn’t matter. December is still on the rainy season so I was told to bring an umbrella with me in case of any drizzles, which did happen upon my arrival there.

One of the most popular tourism spots in Malacca is Jonker Street, known also as the centre of Chinatown. Although it is mostly packed in the evening for the fabulous Night Market, some shops are also open during the day to welcome local or foreign visitors. Snacks, full meals, handicrafts and souvenirs are available along the long wide alley.

This is the widely-known chicken rice ball that I tried at Famosa Chicken Rice Ball outlet. the savory rice ball cost MYR 1.20 each and tasted like the Japanese onigiri. Added with a steam otak-otak for MYR 13, they made a mouth-watering palatable lunch menu to my mouth. 

In Malacca, you may discover gorgeous ancient landmarks and fortresses that spark British, Dutch and Portuguese vibes. It is a relatively small city but I only had half a day to roam around. Thus, I managed to witness several ancient churches and other buildings upon walking down the road from Jonker Street. Some buildings of walkable distance are Christ Church Melaka, St. Paul’s Church and A’Famosa Fort. No entrance fee required.

I ended my solo trip in Malacca at around 5 and went back to KL using the same means of transportation and the same bus fare as well. Upon my arrival, my local friend took me to Big Big Wantan in Damansara Uptown, Petaling Jaya for a bowl of warm wantan mee for MYR 6.5. I would say that it was one of the best wantan mee I have ever tasted with great thin mee’s texture and yummy pork dumplings, 10/10 lah.

*Not exactly a photogenic angle, if not an atrocious one, but yeah.

Day 4: A fresh start in Penang

I wanted to experience another side of Malaysia after spending some days in KL, and my choice fell on Penang, or known also as Pulau Pinang. It is a state located in the northwest coast of Malaysia Peninsula. Many people, including myself, probably have heard of Penang because of the prominent advanced hospitals. You can ride a bus, take a train or fly with a plane from KL to Penang. I flew with AirAsia airline for around MYR 80 and stayed with a host from AirBnB. It was a cozy room in an apartment located in Bayan Lepas, about 5-minute distance (by car) from Penang Airport. The rent cost about MYR 13 (including the service fee) per day. I think AirBnB does a great job in accommodating single or group travelers with clean cozy budget rooms in strategic locations of the town.

The capital city of Penang state is a city named George Town, or officially the City of Penang Island. It has it all; good signature cuisines, entertainments, night markets, malls and cultural heritages. Bayan Lepas, however, is a free industrial zone that contributes to the financial improvement of Penang as the financial centre of the northern part of Malaysia. It roughly takes around an hour or more to reach George Town from Bayan Lepas by bus. I had to go past more than 30 bus stops in order to get there, but staying close to the airport surely has its own perks.

The astounding breath-taking view from the window of my AirBnB room during the day.

And the rest of day was all about food-tasting experience.

This is the authentic hokkien mee from the Three Road 888 Hokkien Mee at Presgrave Street, George Town, and dawet cendol from the stall in front of the store. It comes with yellow noodles, bean sprouts, half a boiled egg and pork. The soup is thick and robust and everything else perfectly fits into places. 8.5/10 for me. And the dawet cendol makes an awesome fresh dessert.

There is this popular place to eat Nasi Kandar, a northern Malaysian dish that comes with well-spiced curry broth. Nasi Kandar is originally brought by Tamil Muslim traders from India that settled in Malaysia. Restoran Deen Nasi Kandar is quite well-known in George Town and the queue is crazy. I waited for around 20 minutes before being able to finally sit down and have a proper dinner. It is somewhat similar to Nasi Padang, one of Indonesia’s signature food from Minangkabau, North Sumatera. Regardless, if I have to compare the taste between Nasi Kandar and Nasi Padang, I’d say that Nasi Padang is more on the spicy side and Nasi Kandar is richer in spices. Both are delicious in their own ways. Prices are affordable depending on your choice of add-ons.

Lastly, my final culinary experience ended with a koay chap from a regular street stall in George Town’s night market. Made of hard-boiled egg, mushrooms, pork belly, pig intestines, pig skin, this is not a kind of food I would like to eat on a daily basis, but still acceptable as a culinary choice. It probably cost around MYR 10.

Day 5: A lost day in George Town

The next day was another solo adventure to George Town. Penang isn’t as advanced as Kuala Lumpur in terms of public transport, but they surely provide a lot of buses to hep people commute from here to there. However, the biggest downside of public transports in Penang is that they accept cash but do not give change.  I only  had the RapidKL  card with me, surely non-usable to tap in the buses in Penang. There is this Mutiara card which local people use as a top-up card, just like the RapidKL card. However, I believe that it’s only applicable for locals because you need to register with your identification card. Thus, I spent lots of coins and banknotes more than I should have done because they offer no change.

Another point to note if you are about to travel around Penang by bus is to pay serious attention to the bus stops mentioned by the loud speaker or written on the screen because there slight differences might occur with the guideline written in Google Maps. One time I received quite a backlash from a bus driver for being accused as a free-loader. I initially planned to visit Snake Temple so I checked the location via Maps and even memorized the stops. Unfortunately, I missed the stop because the names of the bus stops were unfamiliar (I was sure I did check the route of the correct bus number, though). I wanted to get off soon but the driver saw my bus ticket and he thought I purposefully checked in for Snake Temple for a cheaper fare. It was indeed a baffling situation for me and I ended up putting in more coins and got off in George Town. Nonetheless, that experience left a bitter taste in my mouth.

George Town is a beautiful town surrounded by classic yet historical buildings and polished by modern infrastructures. The weather was relatively hot but also quite windy, so walking down the long street is not exactly devastating. The sky and floating clouds offered a marvelous view along the horizon. And my first quest was all about food.

I found Yeap Noodles Cafe by accident while walking down Lebuh Chulia street. This is Yeap Noodles in Herbal Soup with pork slice, crab sticks, fish ball and beancurd skin for MYR 11.9. Not aesthetically pleasing, I would say, and it tasted quite bland in my opinion. Maybe I should’ve ordered different menu like the ones with thicker broth or the fried noodles. 7/10 since I was starving at that time, but I believe that the price was quite overrated.

And of course I didn’t want to miss the view of Batu Ferringhi Beach while in Penang. It took around an hour to reach the beach from George Town by bus (I took the bus from Komtar Terminal, where nearly all local Penang buses make a regular stop). Sky was disgustingly bright and clear at that moment, definitely a great place to clear your mind and rest for a bit. They offer banana boat and parasailing activities too!

If I had to mention a recommended noodle place in Penang, this is it. Hong Kee Wan Thun Mee (also known as Hong Kee Bamboo Noodle) in Lebuh Campbell, George Town. They seriously serve one of the most authentic Chinese mee in town. Thick and chewy in texture, added with yummy dumplings on the plate. I’d give 9.5/10 on this one, really. Spent MYR 8.3 and it’s really worth-it.

In the end, my lost day was impressive enough albeit I did spend hours roaming from here to there even with the guide of helpless Google Maps, or helpless me. I walked from here to there, even went as far as visiting Batu Ferringhi Beach by myself and made an entrance only to sit on the sand for hours with blank thoughts. I was exhausted and my legs almost gave in but somehow I managed to catch the bus and rest my body for an hour before I reached the apartment by 10 PM local time. It marked my last day in Penang and I felt that time flew too fast but I was fortuitous to have seen good things, eaten good food and met good people. I believe that I have found the true joy of traveling, which is all about good experience. And although getting lost was not exactly a pleasant experience, it has told me that as alone as I might have been, I still have myself and this self will never leave me in whatever mess I have gotten myself into. And that being said, I should take a really really good care of myself, and so do you.

Day 6: A Medan day

I didn’t have a particular reason for visiting Medan other than a short escape in an unfamiliar place. Medan is merely an hour away from Penang by air transportation, so why not? Coming back to place where people speak the same language as I do after quite a long time was finally breathing a fresh air after suffocation. There weren’t many things to do other than eating good food and sight-seeing good things. I booked a room for a night with a cool budget price from AirBnB.

I found Rumah Makan Tabona upon surfing on the internet to look up iconic food and places in Medan. It was established in 1983 with curry bihun as their signature dish. I ordered curry mee and it’s heavenly-tempting and rich in taste. The curry broth surprisingly matched well with the mee and I was really in awe. 9.5/10 and I believe everyone should have a try!

In the evening, I was recommended to try Kwetiau Ateng by a friend, to which I welcomed with an open hand. I mean, who doesn’t like kwetiau and the chewy texture that digests well in your stomach?

The complete set of kwetiau dish includes fishball, lapcheong, chasio, shrimp and egg. It’s inarguably 10/10.

Indeed one of the best kwetiau I have ever had in my life. A legit 10/10!!

Day 7: A night at KLIA2

In order to fly back to my hometown, I took multiple flights as following; from Medan back to KLIA2, then KLIA2 straight to my hometown. It had been planned beforehand as I had calculated lots of different options and this one was the cheapest, if not counting the extra-baggage cost that I paid later.

I woke up quite early in the morning and prepared myself for a brief adventure before an evening flight to KLIA2. The weather was great and the sky was as clear as crystals, so there wasn’t any reason to be dispirited.

As a choice of breakfast, I tried Soto Kesawan Medan, another prominent culinary option for tourists and locals. Usually soto is served as clear chicken soup, but soto kesawan comes with thicker broth (but different from curry broth) and is served with shrimp as the main menu (but chicken is also available so you can choose anything that goes better in your mouth). Personally, I don’t find soto kesawan mouth-watering enough to be willing to come over for the second attempt. 7.5/10 is enough. Not my cup of tea, I guess.

Before my flight back, I visited a historical place named Tjong A Fie Mansion, a classic residence located in a neighborhood called Kesawan, West Medan. It is registered as a historical landmark as well as one of Medan’s cultural heritage. Entrance fee is IDR 35k including tour guide-service to go sightseeing around the two-storey mansion. Tjong A Fie is a successful Chinese entrepreneur who literally built an empire in Medan that employed over 10,000 workers at that time. He became a prominent figure of Chinese leader respected by the people.

When the time was close to a farewell, I got back to the airport and waited for my upcoming flight. It was only like a short two-hour flight that I was already back in KLIA2 at around 5 PM local time. The upcoming flight to my final destination was early in the next morning, which marked my first attempt staying out in the airport. It was bothersome, anyway, to leave the airport and commute again so early, so I’d rather hold out until the final straw. It was a brand new experience beyond shadow of a doubt. I kept walking here and there without direction like a lost puppy.

The stores inside KLIA2 generally close at midnight and reopen at dawn, but there are a few food shops that open 24/7. When I was extremely used up after a long walk, I sat down on the floor near a charging outlet so that I may recharge my smartphone. There were also people beside me who did the same so it didn’t feel weird at all. I waited for a long time trying to stay awake amidst the fatigue and cold room temperature. Finally, I visited a food shop at 3 AM named Ah Cheng Laksa to digest something warm to my stomach. The one i ordered was Asam Laksa without any meat, and it turned out to be one of the worst food I had ever had all my life.

The distateful laksa that burned down my MYR 21 huft

Didn’t know exactly how an Asam Laksa is supposed to taste, but this one definitely made me lose my appetite. Thin soup with highly sour taste, bland laksa and fresh-looking veggies. Not gonna give any score because of how bad it was, sorry.

It’s an unfortunate thing that I haven’t been able to experience the real Malaysian laksa (that fits well to my appetite) during my visit to Malaysia.

Some traveling tips which might be useful for beginners (like myself lol)

Budget airlines are not exactly budget-saving if you plan on buying souvenirs, this is the most important thing I realized after I spent extra cost on over-baggage fee on the spot, which was almost twice the regular fee. AirAsia, for example, offers super affordable airfares compared to fellow airlines. However, they don’t come with baggage facility unless you add baggage to cart during the purchase. Not necessarily making the airfare pricier, but baggage cost does make a difference, so pay attention more carefully on it.

Bring yourself an umbrella when you travel around the end of the year. It rained occasionally in December when I visited Malacca, and securing an umbrella in the bag is surely much better than spending extra cost on buying one, isn’t it? Frankly speaking, I was lucky that my host was thoughtful enough to remind me to take her umbrella when I went out.

Always prepare extra small-denomination banknotes if you plan on taking public transports. Just like what I experienced in Penang, it would become an utter hassle if you run out of money just because you spend large bill only to be notified that the bus service doesn’t provide change money.

Anyway, let’s pray that the pandemic shall end soon so that traveling and face-to-face interaction no longer become impossible and let’s not take any relationship for granted. Stay safe people!

Total budget spent: around MYR 1,400k to 1,500k

Go Backpacking: 6D5N in Malaysia It feels surreal to me that we have passed the 2010s already. Time went ahead like an express train without a single stop.

[wizardswithin]

Wizards Within brings you Cosmic Leaping by Jan King

https://janais.wordpress.com/

FULL MOON in Aries, October 13, 2019 – Transforming power

Hello Dear Ones. Welcome aboard to Cosmic Leaping. The days are getting shorter and the world is getting more insane. What else is new? .Did you know that peace is a good thing? Oh, I know it makes no money. Oops!  I saw a spider working its way down from an awning to a hedge the other afternoon. It says the reality in my life is created by me so if I do not like it dig deeper and change it.  And things are not as they seem. A ha! “The time has come,” the Walrus said, “To talk of many things: Of shoes—and ships—and sealing-wax— Of cabbages—and kings— And why the sea is boiling hot— And whether pigs have wings.”. (Lewis Carroll, Through the Looking Glass) Full Moon in Aries is just about ready to show its face and it may bring a feeling of being stuck. What can you do? Stop being entranced by the Matrix and start to take a major look within. What do you think? Are you ready to do that for a new beginning? Something came to me this morning as I opened my eyes ready to start my day. Something said stay still. I did and a whole scenario came to me and it was about astrology and how it is a basis for looking at oneself and one’s life. Many have no interest because they say it is against the Divine. In my life my mother who was a very spiritual church-goer presented me with a hardback book about astrology when I was ready to graduate from college. She said I needed to read this book so I would understand life and others who were in my life. I took the book and just went on. About 10 years later it showed up buried in a box, I opened it and my life changed. I was already seeing this but my brain was doing something else. I worked on charts with a pencil (remember them) and a notepad and proceeded with logarithms and calculations by hand. No computers back in the 80s. And my point is this. What do you know about the individual who you say you like or do not like? Did you know that by looking at a chart you can see anything about anyone? Just to give you an example—Donald Trump has his rising sign (Leo) in an anaretic degree (last degree of sign). That is fated. His Sun sign is in Gemini which means his mind is constantly working whether in a positive or negative depending on aspects to it. All those who hate him see him differently. His career is secure in Taurus. He needs no one since he is quite independent. And he will go after anything that matters to him in a concerned way. And beneath it all he has a deep knowing which he at most times he does not let out. Astrology does not lie. That is why the elite use it. A few items — Did you know that the entire human genome can be sequenced out of an MMR shot. Can that be part of what is causing AUTISM? Seattle public schools have stated there is no correct answer in math…and you are a racist if you claim that there is. Pope Francis wants to combine religion and it will be called Chrislam. Are you kidding me? How much crazier than someone asking “Why do we need 8 inch or 10 inch kitchen knives with points?” Where am I? So they shut down the power in parts of California and it isn’t because there are wildfires pending. If that is the case they could cut the tree branches away from the lines. And they are saying that Ham Radios will be outlawed. The Full Moon in Aries is upon us. And it is about bringing the harmony back into your life. Of course there are many aspects which will affect that process. The Full Moon in Aries comes in on Sunday, October 13, 2019 at 5:07pm EDT; 2:07pm PDT; 9:07pm GMT in 20 degrees 13’. The Sun is in the exact degree in Libra. The Full Moon and Sun are square to Pluto in Capricorn within minutes. The Full Moon Aries is trine to Jupiter in Sagittarius. Here we go with a conflict that can actually turn from fearing something to the betterment of your life and a new beginning. Watch for emotional confrontations as you wander through life at this time. Pluto is the transformer and at this time it will take you from the depths of your fears. Are you feeling threatened? It will bring you to a type of rebirth that will help you stand in your power. The bottomline is that you need to let things go. It is a time of rebalancing relationships and letting that passion flow. It is all about emotions which are deep so will you go with the expression of them or will you blow up and blame? Weathering more storms may be on the horizon. And any ideas that were rejected before may come to pass since Mercury in Scorpio is sextile to Saturn in Capricorn. Think before you speak. Also, Neptune in Pisces is sextile Saturn in Capricorn which talks of blurring of boundaries which in the case of the world today can indicate some kind of cover-up or it could be about changing perspectives. It is not a hard aspect so it may not be as unusual and hard as it can be. With Pluto going direct on October 3 and Saturn also in Capricorn in forward motion this may be a time that you reap what you sow for better or worse. That includes beyond the scope of the personal too including on a bigger scale. Keep that in mind dear ones. If you are looking for a civil war you may get what you are wishing. This is a great time to make positive changes since Jupiter in Sagittarius is semisextile Pluto in Capricorn and is also good for spiritual growth and creating more wealth and advancing in your career. Kozminsky Symbol for degree of Full Moon – A man is struggling with a fierce serpent whilst others armed with large knives are hurrying to aid him. Victory is temporary in a dualistic world. Those who are affected most intensely are: 16-23 degrees of Sun signs/Rising signs of Aries, Cancer, Libra and Capricorn. If you have any personal planets (Moon, Mercury, Venus, Mars) at these degrees they will be influenced. Birthdays included are: April 7-14; July; 9-16; October 10-17; and January 7-14. Aries- Good fortune may come about. Relationships and partnerships in forefront. Yet it truly is all about you this time around. Take that energy and be you for once. Taurus – No matter what others tell you as to what is going on it is about your intuitive feelings that make the difference. Pay attention to this in your life and it is beneficial. Gemini – Someone new may enter your life. Look for people who share your ideals. New ways of thinking may come to you. Watch for problems in a friendship. Cancer – You may get charged up as usual and it may just take you to a new direction/career. Right now you need to hide nothing. You came a long way. Be you. Leo- Good things may show up on the travel front along with education and creative gifts. Stop for a moment before a big step forward. Find a way to keep your energy going. Virgo- Use your common sense to make any choices now!  Do not take any big risks at this time. Even though the money may be tight, you do know how to do it. Libra – It is a time for tact when broaching a topic so no one takes it personally. Good fortune may show up through those you know or just meet. Light the fire within. Scorpio – Before you open to someone and trust them take a good look at the connection first. If you believe in something even if there is a risk, you know what to do. Sagittarius- If you are looking for an opportunity, then now may be a good time to open to it. Also it is a time for sharing yourself and your gifts with others. Be generous. Capricorn – Forget the emotional issues that are now bombarding your life. Look at those achievements that you have. Let others know you care and put them at ease. Aquarius- Looking for a new friend then get yourself out and about in the next few days. You may even want to start planning a trip so you can do something different. Pisces – No need for emotional urgency even though this is a fiscal type energy for you. Enjoy getting out there with others. Moderation is the key. That ship coming in is close. Thank you for reading and sharing. I would love to hear your experiences as the Full Moon takes place.  Stay in balance even when any shifting takes place. And stop letting the energy of those who are not in your favor stop you from leaping forward. Keep your heart open to love. May you be blessed. Until again, love Jan https://janais.wordpress.com/ Read the full article

[mypkshop-blog]

Top 12 Best Classic Toys | Buy Classic Toys Online at Cheap Price

Puzzled for blessing thoughts for your children? Before you select the most recent prevailing fashion toy, consider one of these 12 exemplary toys. Check your loft or grandmother's cellar before you purchase these blasts from the past! 

Mr. Potato Head Classic Toys Mr. Potato Head 

Whenever Mr. Potato Head appeared, it was simply a gathering of plastic facial highlights. You really needed to supply the potato. Throughout the years, Mr. Potato Head has experienced a few changes: He wedded, had little spuds, and in the long run increased a plastic body. What's more, despite the fact that he's spun himself off into programming, books, and a featuring job in the Toy Story arrangement, his appeal continues as before. 

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Radio Flyer Classic Red Tricycle Classic Toys Radio Flyer Tricycle 

In the event that you had one of these - or if your folks had one of these - odds are, it's still in the storm cellar some place. That is on the grounds that the metal edge and strong development implies this bicycle never bites the dust. This is an extraordinary method to hurry around the area. It's anything but difficult to control and looks incredible with a little ringer on the handle bars! 

Barrel of Monkeys Classic Toys Barrel of Monkeys 

It was a straightforward, however unendingly disappointing idea: A lot of monkeys lived in a barrel and could be snared onto one another. Would you be able to snare them all together without breaking the chain? Nope, you proved unable. All the monkeys snared together were taller than you, all things considered. However, what an incredible method to rehearse persistence and dexterity! The present monkeys arrive in a bigger size than you recall – without flaw for little hands. 

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Wooden Blocks Classic Toys Wooden Blocks 

Without a doubt, a great arrangement of wooden squares can be costly, however recall the intricate structures you worked as a child, with mystery rooms, taking off towers, and brave extensions. Youth simply isn't the equivalent without those accomplishments of structural grandiosity? Squares stand the trial of time, as well, keeping your kid intrigued from the little child years through evaluation school.  

Lincoln Logs Classic Toys Lincoln Logs 

Proceeding on a subject, this is another extraordinary structure toy. Keep in mind every one of the wall, dividers and...well...log lodges you set up together with these? You could make whole towns for your activity figures and carports for your Hot Wheels vehicles. 

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Hot Wheels Classic Toys Hot Wheels 

Furthermore, talking about these little metal vehicles, recall dashing these along those little orange tracks? You'd construct them over the sofa and down the stairs to see who's vehicle could go the quickest? All things considered, they're still near, orange tracks what not! There are a large number of vehicles to browse, and they come in a wide range of multi-packs. Snatch some track sets and you're ready! 

Twister Classic Toys Twister 

Get you children's squirms out with this great game. Allow them to wander aimlessly until their prepared for bed! Furthermore, why not hop in and play, as well? Presently that you're greater, the hues are much simpler to reach! 

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Wooly Willy Classic Toys Wooly Willy 

Got a vehicle trip later on? Try not to need to hand over your telephone to keep the children involved. Toss two or three these in the vehicle and let your more youthful children have a great time giving Wooly Willy hair on his head, his jawline and ...in his nose? Please, you realize you did it, as well! 

Simon Says Classic Toys Simon Says 

Pursue the lights and sounds and do what Simon says! Correct, this game is still near. It's not just an extraordinary 80s great, it likewise shows hues, examples and dexterity. In this way, you're not simply getting a toy you can sneak after the children go bed. You're getting something instructive! 

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Tinker Toys Classic Toys Tinker Toys 

Discussion about a great toy! Tinker Toys were made in 1914. They've been utilized to make everything from basic structures to complex machines, and even a tic-tac-toe-playing PC. Think about the every one of the things your splendid child could make with these!

Operation Classic Toys Operation 

Keep in mind all the close cardiovascular failures you got when you contacted the edges and heard that buzz? Blessing your kid a similar endowment of complete stun! The organs have changed a piece from when you were a child, however the game is as yet the equivalent! 

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Spirograph Classic Toys Operation 

This is a fun, inventive toy that gives kids a chance to investigate shapes, examples and plan. They can utilize it to make cards for loved ones, or simply mess about with various spiraling shapes. You may even end up taking this one to remember your own adolescence.

[keepingupwithfundies]

On blanket training and the Duggars...

Trigger warning: The following topic covers issues related to corporal punishment and abuse at certain points. Consider carefully, if you want to read into the practices of the Pearls. For my uneducated eye it is clearly child abuse.

Here we go, I have spent a few hours researching, I have dug through countless FreeJinger threads and read many newspaper articles and watched a handful of videos.

What is “blanket training”?

From my research, blanket training is a form of training, to get you child to stay on a blanket for a longer period of time, without getting off the blanket or disturbing you. Methods used to ensure that behaviour is kept up are widely different. 

Who are the Pearls and what is the book “To train up a child” about?

The Pearls (Mike and Debbie and I think 6 kids) are a fundamentalist family who wrote and published the book “To train up a child”, that is supposed to “help” your kid, to become a happy and obedient child. How is that achieved? Via spanking/switching aka training the child.

Here is the full copy to read. Please be aware, that many real cases are described in the book, they are very disturbing: http://web.archive.org/web/20070206184100/http://www.achristianhome.org:80/to_train_up_a_child.htm

Later-on a few cases of children dying of horrible abuse were linked to this book, since the parents of the dead children owned and used that book.  Graphic violence is described, please watch with caution!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t5vGHOOzokI

Here is also a very long “webinar” of the Pearl family defending their methods and denying their connection to these murders:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0RAEa2ORFbg

Here are also a few chapters from the book, that I think are particularly disturbing!!

“OBEDIENCE TRAINING--BITING BABIES One particularly painful experience of nursing mothers is the biting baby. My wife did not waste time finding a cure. When the baby bit, she pulled hair (an alternative has to be sought for baldheaded babies). Understand, the baby is not being punished, just conditioned. A baby learns not to stick his finger in his eyes or bite his tongue through the negative associations accompanying it. It requires no understanding or reasoning. Somewhere in the brain that information is unconsciously stored. After two or three times of biting, with the accompanying head hurting, the child programs that information away for his own comfort. The biting habit is cured before it starts. This is not discipline. It is obedience training.”

“NEVER TOO YOUNG TO TRAIN The parents who put off training until the child is old enough to discuss issues or receive explanations find their child a terror long before he understands the meaning of the word. A newborn soon needs training. The child needs holding, loving and lots of attention, but the mother often has other duties. As the mother, holding her child, leans over the crib and begins the swing downward, the infant stiffens, takes a deep breath and bellows. The battle for control has begun in earnest. Someone is going to be conditioned. Either the tender-hearted mother will cave in to this self-centered demand (thus training the child to get his way by crying) or the infant is allowed to cry (learning that crying is counterproductive). Crying because of genuine physical need is simply the infant's only voice to the outside world; but crying in order to manipulate the adults into constant servitude should never be rewarded. Otherwise, you will reinforce the child's growing self-centeredness, which will eventually become socially intolerable.

“Just last night while sitting in a meeting, I looked over to see a young mother struggling with her small child. He seemed determined to make her life as miserable as possible--and destroy her reputation in the process. She had the "Why me?" look on her tired face. He kept defiantly throwing his bottle on the floor (assisted by her picking it up and handing it back to him) and making angry noises that forced the preacher to scream louder and louder. With threats of increasingly embarrassing displays, he forced her to put him down on the floor where he proceeded to audition for circus clown while insisting on procuring a neighbor's property. When she tried to prevent his thievery and rescue the stolen goods, he kicked his feet like an eggbeater and screamed his protest. It was enough to make you believe the Devil started out as an infant. I am just thankful that one-year-olds don't weigh two-hundred pounds, or a lot more mothers would be victims of homicide. It causes one to understand where the concept of a "sinful nature" originated.”

“SINKING FEELING When our children were coming along, we lived in a house with a pond in the immediate yard. As they grew to be toddlers wandering around outside, we always watched them closely. Yet, knowing the possibility of one getting out of sight, we cranked up the training. On a warm spring day I followed the first set of wobbly legs to the inviting water. She played around the edge until she found a way to get down the bank to the water. I stood close by as she bent over reaching into the mirror of shining color. Splash! In she went. Girl, it was cold. I restrained my anxiety long enough for her to right herself in the water and show some recognition of her inability to breathe. When panic set in (mine as well as hers--not to mention her mother's), I pulled her out and scolded her for getting close to the pond. She didn't swallow any water, and there was no need for resuscitation--except on my wife who took several hours to begin breathing normally. We repeated the same process with all the children. It took only one time for each of them to learn respect for the water. And it got easier on us. We did have trouble with one of them. She is the one who became mobile early, crawling at four months and walking at seven. She always had marvelous coordination. She just wouldn't fall in. I got weary taking walks to the pond. So, to bring the class to graduation, I pushed. Oh, she didn't know it. As she was balanced over the water, I just nudged her with my foot. To this day, I still believe that if I had left her alone she would have swum out. But, it distressed her enough to make her not want to play around the pond. No, they didn't stay distressed of the water. My children were all swimming by the time they were four. We still closely watched them, and we never had a close call. The training worked. Do not try this unless you are sure that you can maintain full control of all the circumstances.”

How are the Duggars and Pearls connected?

The Duggars not only use the same terminology and apparently the same methods (see further below) as the Pearls, they even actively promoted their teachings on their own website:

Duggars on corporal punishment:

We already knew before, that the Duggar(senior aka JB and Michelle) were spanking their kids with a rod:

http://keepingupwithfundies.tumblr.com/post/161236886344/do-the-duggars-believe-in-corporal-punishment 

The girls, questioned by the police for the molestation by Josh, stated they were in fact hit with a rod. 

Blanked training described by Michelle:

I found very old posts about someone who was on the same Christian mother forum as Michelle, who shared what Michelle apparently posted:

She also described the practise in her book “20 and counting” (if anyone were to look into the chapter about child training and give us a review, I’d be incredibly thankful, but I understand, if nobody is interested in reading about abuse):

Later on she gave an interview, to well known owners of the duggarfamilyblog, Lily and Ellie, where she calls it “Quiet and still”, maybe because by then, the words “blanket training” had a negative connotation due to a few deaths of children linked to the Pearl’s book. Here is the audio to it.

Also from an old version of the Duggar website:

The Bible on spanking:

The bible actually seems to encourage spanking of you child and even the use of a rod. Check out this website:  https://www.openbible.info/topics/spanking_children

Knowing that the Duggars take the bible seem to adapt the bible as literally as possible to their lives, this shows us, why they spank their children.

I think it is pretty safe to say the the Duggars (senior) not only spanked their kids with a rod (proven fact) but it also seems very likely, that they did use tools such as a ruler for blanket training (still no proof to that though, just a statement by a person claiming to have been there. Seems likely though with the connections between Duggars and Pearls) .

How is Jill connected to all of this?

The discussion heated up again, when Derick stated in this video that 2yo Israel was manipulating him:

Jill grew up with blanket training. Michelle said, she started, when the twins (Jed and Jer) were 17 months old, so Jill was only 9 years old (and already had Joy as a buddy). There is no evidence, but always the possibility of her being taught by her mother how to train Joy and now using this practice on Israel.

We have seen a few pictures of Israel in distress:

But how I see it, pic 1 and 2 is not blanket training but swaddling (another controversial method, but this would need another post) and I would have been rather upset, if she let Izzy play on a stone-cold tile floor instead of the nice blanket (pic 3).

Here are also 2 threads on FJ discussing exactly this subject:

http://www.freejinger.org/topic/21012-do-you-think-jill-derick-will-do-blanket-training/

http://www.freejinger.org/topic/22770-will-jill-blanket-train/

So my conclusion?

I think imo the Duggars did use blanket training before the TV show started (4 years after she started with the method). I am unsure, if Jill is doing/did blanket training with Izzy the way the Pearls teach it in their book, or the way her mother played it down later-on. I will not go into much more detail, there is a lot of information gathered now, form your own opinion on it! Stay critical guys and believe in facts! (Annie) OMG what a monster post.... TLDR: Read it, don’t be lazy, inform yourself  💗

[biofunmy]

Snakes on an Astral Plane

No one could understand why I wanted a snake massage. “That sounds like some kind of punishment, like ‘You’re sentenced to 30 minutes of snake massage,’” my father said when I told him I was getting one. Over dinner, my friend Rachel asked, “Are you afraid of snakes?” I told her I didn’t think I was, but then, I had never held a boa constrictor, let alone had a few of them slithering along my body.

There is a macho element of wellness that we don’t often talk about, a performance of the wildest or most extreme treatments, for bragging rights — or, better, a picture shown off on social media. There are so-called vampire facials, LED light masks that make wearers look as if they’re in a slasher film and fish that nibble your dead skin during a pedicure.

I am not immune: I’ve applied a face mask partly made from colostrum, braved the extreme cold of cryotherapy and gone to a beer spa.

So when I heard about a woman in Los Angeles who did some kind of ritualistic snake encounters, I wanted an appointment. But she was on maternity leave, so I started searching online to see if there was another modern-day snake priestess around. Which is how I found Serpentessa, a woman who lives outside of New Paltz, N.Y., and who offers massages with her 10 snakes. She even comes to Brooklyn about once a month.

I signed up for a massage on a Sunday afternoon and got several emails explaining the benefits of snake massage. She wrote that she was inspired by the Asklepios and Hygeia snake sanctuaries of ancient Greece. Snakes were said to have the power to help us see how we react to stress, and to have the ability to find parts of the body that need some extra physical or spiritual T.L.C.

“Welcoming the Serpent to merge with you will deepen & clarify your connection to the Divine within You!,” she wrote.

The allure of a snake massage could be the sensation of snakes against skin, or it could be seen as a more spiritual experience about letting go.

Or it could be simply about confronting fears. I was sent a form that included the lines: “There are NO GUARANTEES that you will never get hurt by a snake. No one ever has in any of my work with my Snakes and clients.”

When the day came, I wasn’t nervous until I showed up at a multiunit space in Prospect Heights that appeared to house masseuses. I wandered mistakenly into what looked like a dance studio. “Hi, I’m here for a snake massage,” I told a woman who greeted me. She looked aghast and asked me to repeat myself and then said, “I think you’re in the wrong place.”

I eventually found Serpentessa, who led me to a treatment room with a massage table that she had covered in skins her snakes had shed for me to touch and to think about regeneration and letting go. I took off all of my clothes save for my underwear and positioned myself face down.

She began taking boa constrictors out of a box and placing them on my back. First Ember, a male, and then two females named Shanti and Oracle.

I felt a little tense as I heard them hissing (which Serpentessa said is from exertion) and felt the flicking of their little black forked tongues on my skin. All three immediately headed for my head, where they proceeded to wrap themselves around my crown. I was Medusa!

At this point Serpentessa began to sing in a soft, slightly reedy voice. “Face to face, skin to skin, you and snakes and earth are kin.” She invited me to think about what I wanted to let go or an image I wanted the snakes to bring to the earth for me.

Snake massage would likely be more accurately described as a snake ritual. If you’re looking to have your muscles worked, you’d be better off finding someone with hands.

There were moments when having the snakes on me felt not unlike being in a massage chair at a nail salon — that same undulating pressure. Every so often, as one of the snakes would tighten a bit around my head or my neck, I’d remember that they could probably kill me if they felt like it.

After 20 minutes of snakes on my head, Serpentessa moved them to my back, and all three slithered down my legs and wrapped themselves around my left ankle, which I had broken last summer. About 10 minutes later, they really started to warm up to me and started to slither under and around my knees, over my face and lips, and one parked herself about an inch away from my crotch and just hung out there.

At that point I took a few selfies in my new role as snake goddess, and Serpentessa, who has long gray hair and wore silver snake-themed jewelry, told me about how she got her start belly dancing with snakes in the 1980s and about how the snakes feed on rodents she buys frozen every three weeks.

When my 80 minutes were up, I said goodbye to each snake as they were placed back into their box. I like communing with serpents, although I’m not sure I’d ever get a snake massage again. I think regular old human hands are what I prefer. I couldn’t wait to take a very long shower.

Serpentessa told me I might dream of snakes, which I haven’t, yet. She also gave me a plastic bag with a few pieces of their shed skin from the tail and the belly to tuck under my pillow or place on an altar.

Instead I forgot all about it until I got out my checkbook at therapy the next day. Perhaps that was my reminder to talk about transformation and to start shedding some of my own skin.

We Tried It

Who Serpentessa, a modern snake priestess who was previously a belly dancer and made Grateful Dead T-shirts, will facilitate a personal encounter with her snakes.

What A few of her 10 boa constrictors will slither all over your body, wrapping themselves where they want, which some people credit with bringing relief (be it physical or psychic). If you feel fear around snakes, this would be a very intense way to confront it.

Vibe References to the yoni, songs about being kin with snakes, visualizing letting go — this feels like an old-school New Age treatment.

Cost From $297. For more information or to book a snake massage: serpentessa.com.

Sahred From Source link Fashion and Style

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[jacewilliams1]

You did everything absolutely right, and you could have been absolutely dead

July 5, 1999 was another beautiful mid-summer day here in Northern California. In the San Francisco Bay Area there was no marine layer to speak of, being held back by a mild offshore flow in the early morning hours. By mid-day, a mild onshore wind would return, but there was no forecast for the ubiquitous coastal stratus. It was absolutely perfect flying weather everywhere in Northern California. It was warm, with light winds, and excellent visibility.

I had arranged with two friends from Europe, Gary and Allie, a husband and wife, to go flying with me in a Cessna Cardinal RG. Destination was to be determined, but they both wanted to see Lake Tahoe from the air, and have a nice lunch somewhere. That sounded good to me, but I wanted to get a thorough weather briefing before committing to flying over the Sierra Nevada Mountains. You never know what you’re going to encounter up there.

The weather briefer painted an interesting picture for me. Everywhere north and east of the Sierra Crest, roughly along the California/Nevada border, was forecast to be quite hot, with temperatures in the 100 F range, and offshore winds. Truckee (KTRK), at the northern end of Lake Tahoe was mid-90s at 10 am. Tahoe Valley Airport (KTVL), at the southern end of Lake Tahoe, was about the same. Reno was already 100, with wind out of the northeast at 15-20 kts. To me that’s a big red flag. I decided right away that a landing at Tahoe Valley or Truckee was out of the question. They were both too high, too hot, and too windy, with the wind direction being the perfect setup for turbulence, updrafts and downdrafts of a magnitude greater than I cared to tangle with.

Quincy has a nice airport at a lower elevation than most airports around Lake Tahoe.

The briefer and I started to look at alternate airports to the northwest. There’s no food at Sierraville or Nervino. They’re both at 5000 ft and were very hot like Truckee, about 40 miles to the southeast. Next we looked at Gansner Field (2O1) at Quincy. Quincy was forecasting temps in the low 80s, and light wind out of the southwest. 3500 ft field elevation, 4105 ft runway, on the edge of a broad valley. Walking distance to town, and lots of good food. We had a winner!

We launched from KCCR, Buchanan Field in Concord. I put the Cardinal in a slow cruise climb as we traversed the Central Valley past Sacramento, on our way up to South Lake Tahoe. Our planned route was over KTVL, then right over the middle of Lake Tahoe, over KTRK, and a turn to the northwest direct to Quincy. I was paying particular attention to the climb performance. At 5000 ft, we were still doing about 500-600 FPM and the OAT was about 30 C. Pretty similar to what I expected to encounter on takeoff after lunch.

The flight up over Lake Tahoe was beautiful and uneventful. Just the way I like it. At 11,500, we just had a few bumps here and there. I called in a favorable ride report to Norcal Approach. As we got closer to Quincy, it smoothed out entirely. It was my first time landing at Quincy, so I got the lay of the land as we maneuvered for the downwind. I flew a right downwind over a low hill for Rwy 25. Base and final were over a broad, flat valley, mostly cow pasture. We landed without a hitch, parked the plane, and proceeded to have a great lunch at a local deli with outdoor tables.

After lunch, we wandered around town for a while, perusing the shops, and around 2:30, we headed back to the airplane. As we got back to the airport and stood out on the ramp at the plane, I started to go through the usual mental checklists, most notably the enVironment part. What had changed was the wind. It was still out of the southwest, but it had increased about 5 knots since we had landed to about 8-10 knots. Not much, but enough to make me sit up and take notice. It was a little gusty, give or take a few knots. But what made things somewhat irregular was that due to rapidly rising terrain beyond the departure end of Runway 25, a downwind takeoff on Runway 07 was in order. It just made sense to me, taking off into a broad valley, several miles wide where we had room to maneuver.

I’ve always been one to seek out local knowledge, and I figured that this would be as good a time as any. I walked into a local flight school, and talked to a fellow who happened to be the proprietor, a CFI, a specialist in mountain flying, and he was a DPE to boot. Talk about hitting the jackpot! He was The Man at Quincy. Together he and I assessed the current situation. I calculated the DA, and went over the expected takeoff data with him, factoring in the downwind takeoff, and our expected climb rate. The book said that we should expect a takeoff roll of roughly 1200 ft, and an initial climb rate of about 500 FPM, which seemed like entirely reasonable numbers to both of us. My personal minimums, however, dictate that I double the takeoff roll number (in this case from 1200 to 2400), and then look at the runway length again. With 4100 feet of available runway, if I was not airborne by halfway down the runway, I would still have sufficient runway to stop.

We talked the whole process through. I told him I was planning on doing a full power run-up, leaning for best power. I would use every inch of available runway, and if not off by the first taxiway, about 2000 feet down the runway, I would abort. After getting airborne, I would make a left turn to a heading of about 050 to get some distance from the rising terrain on my right side. I would proceed to the far side of the valley and take advantage of the lift coming off the hills facing southwest. Sounded like a plan to me. We had thoroughly briefed every aspect of the run-up, the takeoff, and the departure, as well as the weather conditions, and expected aircraft performance. All bases covered. I was satisfied, and my impromptu advisor and local expert saw no compelling reason not to launch. The requirements of FAR 91.103 were met, without question.

The run-up was accomplished without incident, and the mixture leaned to 50 ROP at full power on the ground. We taxied into position and held. I ran the engine up to full power and did a three count, to ensure we were developing full power and the EGT was in the right place. I released the brakes, and the plane accelerated, albeit a bit slower than at sea level, considering the tailwind and DA. After about a 1000 ft ground roll, we had reached Vr, and I gently raised the nose. We broke ground smartly, and I elected to keep the nose a couple degrees lower and climb at a higher airspeed. Within a couple of seconds, we were doing about 90 kts, and I set the trim. I glanced at the VSI, and saw 400 fpm up with the landing gear still extended, which validated our expected book value. I decided to keep the gear down for a few more seconds and gain a little altitude before gear up, since there is a bit of a pitch excursion during retraction. This turned out to be a very fateful decision.

No more than 10 or 15 seconds had elapsed since getting airborne. We had just passed the departure end of Runway 07, and were climbing through about 100 ft. AGL. I was just about to make the turn to 050 then bring the gear up, when the plane made a violent lurch to the left, and we were suddenly descending very quickly despite the airspeed and nose up pitch. It was immediately obvious that we were in a huge downdraft, where milliseconds before we were in a stable climb.

In these kinds of traumatic situations, I’ve heard that most who survive express that it was as if they were in slow motion during the event. I can assure you that in this event the sheer violence and speed at which it unfolded was breathtaking. My guess is that no more than four or five seconds elapsed between the initial lurch and the impact with the grassy cow pasture beyond the end of the runway. During that time, I must have hit the throttle really hard with my right hand, but I don’t remember doing it. What I do remember was that I had the presence of mind to just keep the wings level, and not pitch up abruptly and stall the plane. We were either going to fly out of it, or not. Just before the impact, the stall warning chirped, and the plane rolled violently to the left. We impacted the ground as I was applying full right rudder and aileron, slightly banked to the left.

Down in one piece, but barely.

Damn! That was an impact. I’ve taken a few shots in my life, and this one was right up there with the best of them. The nose wheel and the left main gear sheared off and absorbed most of the energy of the impact. We slid along on the belly like we were in a toboggan for maybe 200 ft. and came to an abrupt halt.

Then everything was just so silent. Where there had previously been a tremendous racket and commotion, now there was just silence. I looked out the left window, and I saw the main wheel and tire (with about a foot of the gear leg still attached) slowly roll past the plane, and come to a stop right next to a cow.

Shock is a funny thing. I’ve seen my share of trauma, especially in my days as a ski patrolman. People with massive, life-threatening injuries such as compound fractures of the femur, were blissfully unaware of their plight. I don’t remembering actually being in shock, but I do remember that after we had stopped and I watched the wheel come to a stop alongside that cow, I kind of came to, and realized that I had a job to do, and should probably secure the airplane, check on my passengers, and evacuate them from the plane.

Gary was in the front passenger seat. Like me, he was conscious, and in a state of mild shock as well. The door on the right side was partially open, so I suggested that he get out immediately. He complied as I ran the shutdown checklist. After I had secured the plane, I glanced in the back seat to see Allie sprawled across both seats. She appeared to be unconscious. I called to Gary to help me get her out of the plane and away from the wreckage, where I could better assess her injuries. We lifted her out of the seat and still unconscious, laid her on her back with her feet elevated. I asked Gary how he was doing, and he said he seemed to be OK. No apparent injuries. Allie was definitely alive and breathing, also with no apparent injuries, just knocked out cold and unresponsive.

Now was the WTF moment. We’re sitting there like a bunch of doofuses, out in the middle of a cow pasture with the cows giving us a mildly perplexed look. We were about a half mile from the airport perimeter. I didn’t see or hear anyone immediately heading our way to help us, so I figured that nobody had seen us go down. What to do? I asked Gary if he was OK with keeping an eye on Allie while I went for help. He said he was, so I set out across the field towards the airport. I had only gone about a couple hundred yards when I saw the emergency vehicles rolling towards us.

By the time I got back to the plane, the emergency responders were already treating Allie and Gary. I walked up, and one of the firemen asked me, “Who are you?” I told him I was the pilot, and boy was I glad to see them! The firemen strapped us all to backboards and slid us into the ambulance. Allie, who was in the litter directly above me woke up and started calling for me and Gary. I told her I was right below her and she lowered her hand down alongside her for me to hold, which I did for the short ride to the hospital.

We were checked out at the hospital, and had remarkably minor injuries. We all had identical Anterior L1-L2 spinal fractures from the impact, a very typical crash injury. I had a bruised right hand, from whacking the throttle, and Gary had a small fracture of a bone in his left hand. Allie was unscathed except for the L1-L2. The doctor said she had just fainted from the shock.

After a couple hours of assessment and observation, we were released from the hospital, and driven to a local motel for the night. I made the appropriate calls, and arranged for us to be picked up by a friend the next morning who flew up in his Cessna Skywagon. I was wondering how we all were going to react to being in a small plane so soon after the crash, but everyone was fine. It was just kind of weird seeing our poor little Cardinal sitting out in the middle of the field looking all forlorn.

A couple days later, I received a call from a fellow at the Reno FSDO who was investigating the accident. He inquired as to how I was doing, and asked a few routine questions about the accident to aid him in his investigation.

Then he asked me the Big Question… Had I received a weather briefing? “Of course,” I said. “I always get a weather briefing.”

“I know you did,” he said. “I listened to the tape. You asked all the right questions. I also listened to the ride report you gave Norcal from over Lake Tahoe.” OK, alrighty then. 91.103 will not rise up to bite me in the ass.

The investigator requested I make a written report of the accident from my viewpoint and submit it to him as well as report the accident to the NTSB. I knew he would be comparing my account to other eyewitness reports as part of his investigation. I did so, and about two weeks later, I received another phone call from the investigator.

He told me he had examined the wreckage, and collected eyewitness accounts from at least six other eyewitnesses, including the fellow who I had consulted with prior to takeoff. Everything squared up with my account. As far as the FAA was concerned, it was being classified as an “Unforeseeable Weather Related Accident,” and more importantly, there would be no enforcement action against my certificate.

How did a well-planned flight end so badly?

What he told me about the weather-related part of it was really scary. As part of the investigation, he looked at the weather at the time of the accident, and found out that at exactly that time, there was an un-forecast outbreak of what amounted to very large “dust devils” and other phenomena associated with low level wind shear (LLWS) all along a swath of the Central Sierra Nevada Mountains north and east of the Sierra Crest and extending inland for about 100 miles. There was no AIRMET issued, since the forecast conditions were deemed to be relatively benign. Basically, he said, all hell started breaking loose at about that time from Lake Almanor in the north to Mammoth Mountain and Bridgeport in the south.

At old Stead AFB, just north of Reno, an L-39 Albatross was smacked down just short of the runway by the same weather phenomenon at roughly the same time as our mishap. The dead giveaway, he said, was that our plane was violently pushed sideways and down, betraying the presence of a clear-air vorticity, or dust devil, only there was no dust, since it was over a grassy field. There was no way to detect its presence when we launched. A million to one shot. The stall warning I heard just before impact was all that descending air going horizontal as it approached the ground and became a massive tailwind, probably 35 to 40 knots. LLWS on steroids.

One of the other things that he mentioned was that these conditions had persisted for the ensuing two weeks since we had last spoken, causing numerous accidents and mayhem. In fact, just several days earlier, the former FAA administrator, Donald Engen, and another pilot had died when their glider broke up while approaching Minden, Nevada, in similar conditions.

I took a couple of weeks off from flying. Upon my return, I booked a session with my flight instructor and mentor, Lou Fields, a former Naval Aviator since WWII, who was also a DPE at Oakland. Before we flew, we spent about two hours in Lou’s little office, dissecting every aspect of the flight, especially the performance calculations and the weather component.

At the conclusion of our discussion, Lou just shook his head and said, “The frightening thing is you did everything absolutely right, and you could have been absolutely dead.”

The post You did everything absolutely right, and you could have been absolutely dead appeared first on Air Facts Journal.

from Engineering Blog https://airfactsjournal.com/2018/06/you-did-everything-absolutely-right-and-you-could-have-been-absolutely-dead/

[iliketorantandstuff]

Wandering in Punjab

I think one of the biggest blunder my parents made was to let me go on that exchange trip back in 2015 to Romania, because since after then it has been almost impossible for them to contain me within the bounds of our house. You see, I got high, I got high on the intoxication of freedom, and solitude and the high got me addicted to it. In the last two and a half years, I have visited three countries, and almost over twenty cities and towns. The adrenaline when the plane takes off, and the train starts moving, and the sound of my own breath that I can feel when I walk for miles with my shades on, it’s fodder to the well-being of my soul.

I haven’t posted about my travels yet, but I believe this recent excursion demands me to write because this was an altogether a very different experience. The first time I traveled internationally on my own, especially that backpacking trip across Turkey where in 15 days, with no prior bookings, or plans which cities I wanted to see, I discovered my potential. I used to go to the bus stand, stand there, see which city seemed more favorable after hitting some Google tabs, I would hop on a night bus, saving my night stay cost of hotels, get off in the morning, explore the city, and hop on another bus by the evening. Convenient, no? Not as much as it sounds, it was quite hard; my parents had no knowledge that I was absolutely alone in a country whose 80% of the population does not even speak English. It was difficult, and I used to take that as one of my achievements. But believe me you, all those very cute “wanderlusts, and travelers”, travelling alone abroad is one thing, and travelling alone in our own country, which has very limited means of infrastructure to support your commute, people are alien to the idea of a non-foreigner travelling alone, and that too a girl. Haw haye!

When 2018 started off, a friend and I decided to maintain journals while having our chai sessions at Roadside Cafe. That journal had my to do list for the year, I thought if I’d write it down, I’d be able to achieve it since the need to check off will keep biting me. Travel to Bahawalpur this year! I saw Bahawalpur’s pictures in some Instagram post some two years back, and I planned it with my bae back then, “chalo jee, kisi din sath chal kar dekeingay”, bae turned out to be bae-wafa and I thought khadday mein jaye Bahawalpur, Akeley kia jaungi.. Adhooray khuwab. Until recently I was like screw it, let’s do it on my own. 23rd march luckily gave us a long weekend, which I noted down earlier this year; because that was the weekend, I decided I’ll go off. However, work came in between, and the plan got delayed. Somehow, I got lucky again. My boss came to me and said I should go for my field visit to Multan. Hain, kia? A little taken aback, but gleaming after a few seconds, it gave me another hope. All said and done and after having communicated with my boss who looked at me astonishingly that why of all places would I choose Bahawalpur for an excursion after my sales visit? I flew to Multan on Tuesday with my return flight on Sunday from Bahawalpur airport. Yay! Also, I’d like to take a moment here to highlight, that ladies and gentlemen, THAT’S how you manage your work life balance. Life doesn’t end once you get into corp life, it’s all about will and smart management. True story.

Ok, guys friendly advice, pls March onwards sochiyega bi mat to go off to Southern Punjab, especially if you’re from Karachi the hawadaar Jannat. MEIN TOU MAR GAI. it was very hot. Like dehydrated kind. Got off at the Multan airport, and woah, it definitely surpassed my expectations because it was a very well maintained airport, with a lot of usage of blue tiles, since blue pottery is big in Multan. The city of Saints, I sighed. I got out of the airport to hail my Careem and proceeded towards my hotel. As soon as I got off the airport premises, on my left side I could see some fields, while on the right side I could see red bricked, short heighted walls. That particular sight is what has always reminded me of where I am; Punjab. Call me stereotypical or throwing a generalization, but be it Lahore, Gojra, Sargodha, Rawalpindi, or Multan in this matter, short heighted red bricked walls is something you’ll commonly find around you. Heading towards the hotel, I see posters of different political parties, I could tell the area was heavily dominated by PTIs supporter, upon asking the driver he tells me that this is the city of Shah Mahmood Qureshi, which made sense. My hotel was at Abdali Road, named after Abdali Mosque, which was also dressed in Blue tiles, and kaashkaari, a contemporary mosque fused with the cultural setting of the city.

Next day, my sales visit was planned for old Multan, near Bohar Gate. My car only took me so far, I had to get off way before the gate, and the walk inside of the old city was all on my own, since the streets were more like arteries, so narrow, with vendors by the side selling all kinds of things. As I went on for my work, from the car I saw Haram Gate, Pak Gate, Delhi Gate, and Dolat Gate. Intrigued as I was, I asked my driver to explain me its significance, and he replied that the city of Multan used to be contained within these gates, with arteries connecting in the middle. It was built like a Qila, a fort, so whenever they’d have the khadshaa of a war, they’d shut it down, and protect the people and the city. Genius, I thought to myself. However, now the city has populated well, and has more territories, and peripheries, which makes the up city. 

The next day, after my sales visit, during my break, which was between 3 o clock – 6 o clock, I set out to see what the city is known for; to pay my regards to the saints. Now now, I am not a very religious person, but I am a very spiritual person, so these places were a must, but man, what a wrong timing I chose since jal kar raakh hogaii. Hailed a Careem for Shah Rukn I Alam, the driver dropped me at this gate, asking me to continue the journey on foot now since the car couldn’t go inside. Had to walk about a kilometer, but could spot the Shrine from miles away because of its giant figure. With my crinkle white dupatta wrapped around my face, and my yellow glasses popped in, I wasn’t fitting in well quite frankly, and hence the stares. I entered the shrine, had to take off my shoes, and it felt like my talwaay were rested upon dozakh, aag hi lag gai. Going around it, and inside, I paid my regards, and prayed to Allah. Took a few pictures here and there in the karak dhoop, but an interesting visit altogether. 

There I also found out that he was grandson to Bahauddin Zakariya, which was my next station. Like Shah sahib, I said salam to Zakariya sahib too, which was like two kilometers away from Shah Sahib. 

Walking all on foot, I felt liberated to a whole new level because a girl doing this on her own in Bucharest was one thing, but in a lesser urban city like Multan, where I knew no one, & vice versa, it was exhilarating. Next, I hopped on in my Careem, and headed to Shah Shams Tabriz, it was about 4.30 and I could still spare some time. Shrine of Shams Tabriz was near this famous bazaar called Hussainagai, which was a miniature version of Saddar, Karachi. Selling everything and anything, you name it and it was there. It was scorching hot, & so while I was ranting about it, my driver went on to say “baaji aurton ko dekhein, itni garmi mein bi inki shaaaping nai rukti,” I lightly chuckled, because it was so true.

Reaching the Shrine, I realized that most of the mureeds over there were Shiites. Said my salaam, and left, and the last stop I had to make was to the blue pottery shop where I bought a couple of small delicacies. Continued my work there, and the next day was the more awaited day where my official tour had ended and my own exploration had to begin.

So from there on, it was all on my own. It took me about two and a half hours reaching Bahawalpur from Multan on a rent a car, because the road is a little bit under construction. My father is an ex-army officer, so I had spoken to him and asked if somehow I could secure a room in the army mess, since first, I absolutely love the Cantonment areas because of the clean and isolated environment, which I can’t experience anymore in Karachi, and second, the army messes are quite cost effective. Driving up to my room, I was suddenly full of nostalgia and homely feeling. I spent most of my childhood in different cantonments around Pakistan, and the previous past ten years of my life, I was situated in Malir Cantt Karachi, until last year. Settling in my almost decent room, I took out my diary and started scribbling all the areas I had to see, and writing down all that I had learnt during Multan. Ali Sethi’s Mahi Mera playing on my JBL speaker, I started to nest in my little room. In the evening, I went out for a walk around the Cantt, covering almost two kilometers on foot while taking several photos of the beautiful vicinity, the sunset, the brown leaves on the ground fallen from the tree.

 I popped into one of the shops to buy mosquito repellent, and bottle of juice, I walked some more. There were stares, obviously, a girl with an urban sense of clothing walking all alone in the stranded roads, was not something people there were used to. TGIF, Thank God it was Friday. Idk why, but eh. Saw the moon come up, it was a full moon, short of one day. Went back to my room, ordered some food, and ironed my clothes for next day. Plugged in my Netflix & caught up on the latest episode of Riverdale (DON’T JUDGE) and slept.

Next day, I was ready by 9.30, I had hailed a rent a car earlier for the day, which helped me commute. My first stop was the Bahawalpur Central Library. Entering, & finding a Rolls Royce parked at the front to welcome the visitors was just the beginning. Words will fall short if I even begin to explain what the library was like. I am a book sniffer. I buy books, open them, sniff them as if they’re my drugs, and feel euphoric. Entering that library was my Amsterdam where I could just get high anywhere & everywhere. That old smell of books reminded me of the diary my grandma gave me in which she used to scribble things during her youth days. Hell, I really can’t put in words what that place was like. Since picture is worth thousand words, here are some few hundred thousands of words explaining that I possibly can’t.

History. I am a history person, there was so much there, I couldn’t fathom. I search for spaces in Karachi where I could just go sit, and enjoy my vibe while having a cup of tea and reading some novel thoughts of Ashfaq Ahmad, and here it was. This gigantic place where that’s all people were doing. Upon asking the librarian, I got to know that the books here are either donated, or are funded by the government. It’s the second biggest library in the entire province, and the pillars of it are made of daal maash, chaawal, and doodh, this is precisely why it still stands untouched, undamaged. I spotted students sitting outside, hogging over a book discussing some theorem, nostalgia from IBA days filled my mind, sitting in Tabba block, hogging over kitaabs and notes.

Next to the library was the Bahawalpur Museum, which charged about 10 rupees for entrance and 10 rupees more if I wanted to take pictures. As I entered, I see this very tiny vintage Fiat. Upon inquiring, I got to know that Nawab Sadiq used to take his mummy around the palace in this car since she couldn’t walk much. How adorbz, and insanely royal. Mahal ghumanay ke liye alag gaari, wah.

The wall was covered with historical pre partition pictures starting from Tipu Sultan, War of Independence, Siraj ud Daula, Shaukat brothers, and moving all the way till Shaheed-e-Millat was sworn in as the Prime Minister Pakistan. One of the caption of the pictures was hand-written, and so it got me suddenly. I immediately inquired where did these pictures come in from, and I was told that these are all the original pictures. I was shaken up a bit because all this time I had seen these pictures in my history books, but never knew where the original ones rested. Wow, I moved on and saw the ruins of civilizations, left overs of the lifestyles of people of Cholistan and Bahawalpur, ruins from Harappa, Moen Jo Daro, the stupas of Gautama Buddha, the currency of Bahawalpur when it was a separate state, models of Derawar Fort, and so on. Infinite many little things I learnt, that I probably could not have learned from the books. Spending almost 45 minutes at the museum, I came out and next I visited Darbar Mahal.

For Darbaar Mahal, you need to take permission, the perks of Army allowed me to enjoy this facility. As soon as I entered, I saw this not so tall, but nonetheless very royal looking wide handsome palace. I sighed a little and entered with light steps, because I really didn’t want to infiltrate the beauty I was stepping into. Finding large portraitures of Nawab Sadiq and his ancestors, the tour guide told me all about his family, the palace’s history, what, when, why and how it was built. To say the least it was about 200 years old. The architecture infused with Victorian style, Hindu arches, and Muslim Balconies, synonymous to our generation Z; an influenced mix of cultures. 

I took my time to explore the beauty of it, while the guide went on to narrate history of Bahawalpur, its formation, its adjoining with Pakistan, and its facilitation to Pakistan Army back in 1950s. Darbar Mahal, now hosts offices of Generals of the Army of the commanding and stationed unit in Bahawalpur, and sometimes hosts events for Corp Commander and so on. Infront of the mahal were the typical diwaan e khaas and diwaan e aam, baramdah for resting and musical events. The darbaaris would also come in with their faryaads there, and they’ll have a hearing session in those facilities. Near the mahal, there were two more mahals, which were named after the wives of the Nawab. Yahan humein ek kagaz ka phool nai milta, my thoughts to my own miserable self. (Self-deprecating humor is my self-defense mechanism)

I also visited Islamia University, Baghdaad campus which was like the first world version of Karachi University. With a radius of 7 km, the university holds about 52 faculties, with a mini zoo in between, some five girls and seven boys hostel, and numerous facilities. I was amazed to see a designated study area for girls which was an open air park with an artificial pond in between, basketball and tennis courts, and outdoor table and benches with lights fixed, so they are also able to study at night. A replica of the same was available for boys. Now, mind you I couldn’t avail these privileges even at a place like IBA. Feeling deprived of such a rich setting in an urban city like Karachi, I went back to my mess to rest for the remainder of the sunny day. 

My evening visit had to conclude with Noor Mahal, which was my last stop for the weekend’s exploration tour. Alluringly illuminated, Noor Mahal was open to public, and was bigger than I had imagined. From what I’ve heard, this mahal was a gift to Nawab Sadiq IV’s wife, however she refused to reside there due to its proximity with a graveyard. She only ever spent a night there. After being severely consumed by the architecture of the grandeur, I left the mahal with a heavy heart because I swear I could have just stayed there. 

Adding on to that, the realization of heading back to Karachi was sinking in too. I had my dinner at a local restaurant called Four Seasons, and headed back to my mess.

Next day, I spent working on my presentation and in the evening boarded flight back to Karachi from Bahawalpur airport, which by the way was like a mini hospital in Karachi. Sitting in an ATR plane was my first of experiences since I have usually flown in 777 or 707 Boeings, usual flights of Karachi, but this was like a tiny plane. Being the only woman in the entire plane, and sitting between two uncles adjacent to me, and one on each side, I could not have imagined myself being in a more uncomfortable place ever. Experience, I sighed, for these little things are what makes me bold enough to do all these wild adventures on my own. 

I finished off my book on Rumi’s teachings, and just waited to touch down Karachi. Getting on to the Drigh Road from Airport, I got stuck for some 40 minutes because of the traffic. Yup, I was back in my city and its hustle bustle, but this time with a lifetime worth of memories!