#australian accent required

[sapphicshart]

joke for australians

courteney cox: paul vault bar: yes

[imbaebi]

 The girl at a coffee shop.

ִֶָ࣪☾. B.C x femoc —

tags: idol!chan, coffeeshopowner!oc, sweet fluff, crushes

warnings: light swearing

wc / cc: 4.8k / 27.5k

Synopsis —---

Lollapalooza, a rather famous music event brings two people together. Fate you should say... Will the Idol really pursue a relationship with her?

—-- ⪩⪨⪩⪨

   “Hyung, we've been walking for like hours” Jisung complained. Chan rolled his eyes, it hadn't even been thirty minutes.

    They were currently in Chicago for Lollapalooza. The festival was tomorrow so the boys were doing their own things, being tourists. Chan was with Jisung who was already trying to get Chan to buy him a coffee. Luckily for him, there was a shop up ahead that said "Eggy's coffee", so he would be able to shut the kid up.

    Chan sucked his teeth. “We'll get you your coffee, Jisung-ah. There's a coffee shop right there.”

    Jisung made happy noises, losing all the tiredness that he was portraying making Chan shake his head.

⪩⪨

    Dina had this coffee shop for about three years, so the decorations were to her liking. There were lots of anime posters around and it had a overall cool vibe to it. Most of her regulars around knew her as Eggy, that's what she went by. Only some people, close people knew her as Dina. Like her staff for instance; Jazzy, Shanda and Bee. They were all close friends after working together for three years—except Jazzy, she's been working here for two years.

    Dina wiped down the counters, today was a bit slow. They only had five people come in, but it was still pretty early—it being 9 am—so it was fine.

    “Shanda, could you refill the sugar packets on table three?” Dina asked, still wiping the counter.

    “On it, Egg.”

    Bee and Jazzy were in the back, baking muffins, croissants and fruit tarts. They didn't have many baked goods since this placed was solely based on coffee but it was nice to have a few things.

    Dina had finished wiping the counter when the little bell indicating customers rang. She wiped her hands on her cute Rengoko  apron. All the staff had to wear Demon Slayer themed aprons, it was required. Dina looked up and almost froze when she saw the man in front of her. Wow... That was an understatement... Who was this pretty Korean man and why did he have to look like he stepped off a cover of a magazine? And he looked like he worked out. Damn, God are you trying to make me kill myself? Dina blinked remembering that time did not stop when this man walked in.

    “Welcome to Eggy's coffee, I'm Eggy. What could I get for you two?” She tried to speak as pleasant as possible. But it was quite difficult when someone so attractive suddenly came in with no warning and now you have to try to keep your voice as even as possible.

    “Ehm. One moment, please.” He smiled softly. Damn she just melted. She took note of his accent. Australian, perhaps?

    He turned to his friend, or possible partner? She wasn't homophobic that's for sure. He spoke to him in a language which she assumed was Korean. His friend had a slight smug look, she could only wonder why.

⪩⪨

    Chan and Jisung entered the coffee shop. It was decorated in anime posters, two sofas with different anime pillows and Jojo bizarre adventure themed rug. This place was so Jisung, he could already feel the excitement bouncing off Jisung.

There was a woman in a Shinobu themed apron, refilling the sugar packet despenser at a nearby table. Chan had only knew it was Shinobu because he watched a couple episodes of Demon Slayer with Felix.

    Jisung was staring around, he was probably in heaven right now.. Chan noticed another woman, working at the counter. Her apron was Rengoko themed. He couldn't help but watch as she wiped her hands on her apron. There was something about her that was drawing him in.. She was quite pretty. Him and Jisung head up to the counter and Chan got a closer look and realized pretty was a whole understatement, she was beautiful. Her box braids had beads at the ends, matching her apron completely. He thought that the apron complimented her dark skin perfectly. He could of stared at her all day but she spoke up.

    “Welcome to Eggy's coffee, I'm Eggy. What can I get you two?” She spoke making him remember that they were here to order some coffee and not stare at pretty women.

    “Ehm. One moment, please.” He smiled awkwardly. He turned to Jisung who gave him a teasing grin. Jisung had definitely caught the way he looked her, totally mesmerized..

    “What do you want?” He asked in Korean.

    

    “What's with that look?” Jisung raised his eyebrows a bit, in a teasing way.

    “What are you talking about?”

    “You know what I'm talking about.”

    “Dude, shut up. You have to choose something. Wait why am I even bothering?” He remembered that Jisung was fluent enough to order himself a coffee. “Order yourself.”

    He turned back to the woman who was watching them curiously. He was kinda glad she didn't understand.

    “Uhm sorry about that..” Chan said sheepishly. His ears felt red. They probably were..

    “No, you're good.”

    Chan turned to Jisung, who still had that look on his face.

    “Hello, Can I have a iced caramel latte?”

    Chan usually was one to get an Expresso but today he was willing to try something different.

    “What do you recommend?” Maybe it was just a sorry excuse to get her to talk again...

⪩⪨

    Dina was a little surprised to hear the other guy speak in a British accent. She hadn't been expecting that.

    She was kind of put on the spot when he asked her what she would recommend. Um. She started to panic inside.

    “Cloud matcha latte?” Her voice sounded so uncertain. Why was Bee's go to the first to come to mind?

    And, it was like the mention of her favorite coffee summoned her or something; Bee came from the back, surprisingly no flour on her Muichiro apron like she usually had. Her hair was pulled back in a half up due. She raised her eyebrows and tilted her head, a way of asking if Dina needed any help. Dina slightly nodded. She quickly told Bee to make an iced caramel latte. She turned back to the two men.

    “Or I can suggest a frosty vanilla bean latte.” That was her go to.

    “Which one's your favorite?” Was he flirting with her? It was like his dark brown eyes were dazzling her. Oh my gosh. Maybe I should just kill myself right here right now.

    “Frosty vanilla bean latte..” Dina basically murmured. Get a grip girl.

    “Then I'll have one of those.” He smiled. He looked so cute. She noticed one of his dimples was more prominent than the other, extra cute.

    “Sure.. Name for order?” She remembered to ask. She could literally forget how to do her job since this man was making her feel fuzzy.

    “Chris.” He answered. It suited him quite well.

    “And would that be together or separate?” Dina asked, moving closer to the register.

    “I'll pay for both.” Dina put in the price.

    “That'll be fourteen eightie-five. Cash or card?”

    “Card.” He pulled out his wallet, pulling out a credit card. He held it out to her and she took it. She also took note of his arm, she could see the vains popping out a bit... Oh wow now she was wet. Not good.

    She couldn't help but look at name on the card, Chahn Bahng. That was his Korean name, Chris was his English name she assumed. Chahn Bahng, the attractiv— no. She gave him card back.

    Dina got started making the frosty vanilla bean latte and the two men went to sit at a table. Shanda came up to her, her curly afro bouncing a bit.

    “Someone looks a little whipped for a certain customer.” Shanda teased her.

    “Do you want me to kill myself?” Dina hissed. “Shut up, he might hear you!”

    Shanda giggled and headed to the back room, probably going to tell Jazzy about their manger making heart eyes to one of their customers. To be honest she was quite disappointed when she finished making Chris' drink and when Bee finished the other guy's drink. They probably weren't going to see them anymore.. From the looks, they seemed like tourists since they didn't have Chicago vibe. Probably came for that music festival, Lollapalooza.

    “Chris?" His name fell delicately off her tongue, he looked up from his conversation. Usually she wasn't this bad at giving customers their drinks. “Your order's ready.”

⪩⪨

“Chris?” Her voice soft. His name sounded amazing coming from her. He did notice that she didn't have that Chicago accent that everyone else seemed to have. He couldn't help but wondered where she was from. “Your order's ready.”

Him and Jisung got up to take their coffees. Chan didn't want to leave just yet.. He didn't know if he would ever see her again due to his busy schedule and him living on the other side of the world.

    “You're not from here, are you?” He asked before taking a sip. It was quite sweet, not something he'd usually enjoy but for some reason he was enjoying it today.

    “No. How'd you guess?” She asked with furrowed eyebrows.

    “You don't really talk like the people who live here.”

She chuckled, it sounded beautiful to his ears. “I was born and raised in Florida. Bee and I moved up here three years ago.” She gestured to the woman that made Jisung's latte. “And what about you?”

    “I was born and raised in Australia. But I've been living in South Korea for some years now.”

    “ah. So what brings you to Chicago? Lollapalooza I assume?” He almost froze. Did she know who he was? He chuckled and scratched the back of his hair.

    “You could say that.”

    She looked a little curious but she didn't pry. How could he even tell her that he was part of a Korean boy band, that millions of followers that were his babygirls? That's not something you could casually bring up, especially with a stranger you met not even an hour ago. He did wish though that they could be more than strangers...

    “Your coffee shop is really cool, mind if we take a couple of pictures?” He knew Jisung was itching to take pictures for his insta, so might as well ask just to keep the conversation somewhat going.

    “I don't mind at all.”

⪩⪨

    She felt giddy, he thought her coffee shop was cool. A lot of customers thought the shop was cool but hearing it come from such a gorgeous man made her feel butterflies. She watched as the two men took pictures for each other. She noticed his friend—she found out his name was Jisung, since Chris asked Jisung where he wanted to take a picture—mostly took of himself whereas Chris took pictures of the cafe. She wondered if he had a social media account, but she wasn't going to ask since that was too straight forward. When they were done taking their photos, Chris came up to the counter again.

    “Thanks for letting us take pictures, Eggy.” He smiled his cute dimpled smile.

    “Dina...” She murmured. He looked at her a bit confused, which made her snap out of her dreamlike state. “Erm. Just call me Dina. And it's no problem.”

    She could already feel the knowing look from Bee. She heard the door leading to the backroom open and then close. Dina knew the second these two left, she was gonna get bombarded with questions...

    “Yeah, thank again Dina.” He said. “When do you guys close?”

    “Eight am to eight eight pm. But that's only Monday through Saturday. And on Sundays it's 11 am to eight-thirty pm.” She had wishful hope that he would come visit again... “Thinking about visiting again?”

    He chuckled sheepishly. “Maybe. Are you here through all open hours?”

    “God, no. I usually work the afternoon shifts but I'm only here this early is because we had a big shipment and I needed to supervise.”

    “Ah, I see. Well I guess I'll have to come back here in the afternoons before I have to fly back.”

    Her hopes went sky-high, he definitely wanted to see her again. Was he interested in her? Oh what luck if that was it.

    “When are you flying back?” She asked before she could stop herself. Why did she have to ask such a question. Before she could say he didn't have to answer,

    “Monday.”

⪩⪨

Why was he telling her so much? She could be a fan pretending to not know him and so that she could sneak onto the plane. But for some reason, he felt like he could trust her with anything. He and Jisung unfortunately had to say their goodbyes because they had a last minute fitting today. He watched as she smiled her pretty smile and waved at them.

    Jisung and Chris made their way back to the hotel. On their way to the hotel, Chan pulled out his phone and saw on his notification wall that he had a bunch of messages. That was strange. He unlocked it and found that their group chat that was for him and his bandmates was currently going crazy. This usually happened when there was a fight or a something serious was going on. Chan opened it up and read the messages. Oh my God he was gonna kill Jisung.

    “Jisung-ah, what the fuck!” He whined. Jisung only responded in giggles.

    Jisung had told every about his new crush. Now everyone was at-ing him, asking questions of this girl. Dammit now he had to deal with everyone once they reached the hotel. But unfortunately for him...

    

    “Chan-hyung!!” Across the street, Felix and Jeongin were waving at them. What fucking luck.

    The two younger ones jogged over with raised eyebrows and smug smiles.

    “Chan hyung has a crush~” was literally the first thing they said. They two started taunting him and Jisung joined in. Chan's ears turned red. He started walking away, towards the hotel and they followed him like annoying puppies..

    “Who was she?” Jeongin asked. But he already knew that she was the owner of the coffee shop they visited. Jisung left out no details.

    “I'm pretty sure Jisung already told you.” Chan muttered, his ears still tinted red.

    “Was she pretty, Hyung?” Jeongin teased.

    “Very.” Chan answered truthfully.

    “Did you feel butterflies, like how they portray in the movies?” Felix asked.

    “Maybe.”

    “Are you going to see her again?”

    “Probably..”

    “Are you going to ask her out?”

    Why was he even answering their questions? Chan flushed. He probably could ask her out since their dating ban has been lifted for almost two years now. But how would he? He wasn't even sure if she was interested in him. And besides he hadn't been in the dating game for years now so he probably lost whatever game he had before.

    The whole walk back to the hotel, these three were bothering and teasing him. But he ignored them, which caused them to eventually leave him alone by the time they got to the hotel..

⪩⪨

    Once Chan and Jisung left, the back room door opened and her friends came out. They all have her knowing looks. Dina sighed knowing what was coming.

    ““call me Dina”? Wow, that was fast. It took our loyalest costumers two years before they got to know your actual name,” Jazzy teased.

    “You were staring so hard, your eyes turned into hearts like in the cartoons.” Bee giggled, while making hearts with her fingers.

    “Someone's in love.” Shanda smiled. “Can't blame her, he was fine.”

    “And he was totally making heart eyes at you too!”

    Dina looked at Bee. “Really?”

    “Yeah! You didn't notice?”

    “She obviously didn't notice, she was too much in the clouds, couldn't even take his order properly.” Shanda joked.

    “Hey. I took his order, I didn't make any mistakes!” Dina frowned. “You guys are bullies. This is out right bullying.”

    Shanda, Jazzy and Bee just laughed.

    Jazzy leant against the counter. “So, did you get his number or anything?” she asked.

    Dina shook her head. Maybe she should have been bold and at least ask for any socials. And the disappointed looks on her friends faces didn't make her feel any better.

    “Well that's unfortunate.” Bee pouted. “He was really cute too. And so was his friend.”

    The girls didn't have time to sulk for costumers started to show up. Back to work for them...

    It's was a busy day after that. They had quite a lot of people coming to order and taking pictures. Dina was quite confused by the lots of tourists that came, but she wasn't complaining. But she and Bee had to stay for the whole day since there were too many people for just Shanda and Jazzy to take care. Soon the day came to an end and they all were exhausted. The girls were chatting and cleaning, getting ready to lock up. It was quite crazy how busy today was. It was a great day although her friends were still sulking over the lost opportunity. 

    “Didn't he say he'll try to visit again?” Dina nodded, answering Shanda's question. “Then if he does, you better ask for his number or something!”

    “He seems quite familiar to me.. can't seem to place him though.” Bee asked, pausing her mopping.

    “Maybe he looks similar to someone you know.”

    “Yeah.. maybe.”

    The girls quickly finished the chores, wanting to go to their beds and lie down after the busy day. Then Dina locked up the shop. She already knew she was going to sleep until the afternoon, an hour before her shift starts...

⪩⪨

    There were lots going on around him, vocal warm ups, the kids getting their makeup on, last minute fitting, staff preparing things and casual conversations this Friday night. Chan was sitting, getting his makeup done. His thoughts, he tried to keep them in track on the performance he was about to do. But Dina somehow kept coming up. He thought about her every waking hour. It's like he couldn't forget about her. Always interfering in his thoughts. And always, a rosy feeling following after those thoughts and that said feeling was quite foreign to him. He was deep in thought when his stylist told him she was done with his makeup. He thanked and took out his phone. The stylist noona gave him a concerned look, so he pretended nothing was wrong by going on his phone. I mean nothing was wrong right? He needed a distraction... He went on TikTok, stalking STAYs since that's what he liked to do during his free time.

    He was quiet surprised and confused. STAYs had somehow found Dina's Coffee shop. He hadn't even tagged the location neither had Jisung... Wow that was quite scary actually. Yeah maybe TikTok wasn't a good distraction.. Chan turned off his phone with a sigh. He decided to finish drinking the rest of the coffee his manager got him. He had specifically requested coffee from Eggy's coffee. He got another frosty vanilla bean latte. Yeah yeah go ahead and make fun of him. Even his manager gave him a weird look for asking for the drink earlier since it wasn't something he typically ordered. The last of the sweet drink was all gone. He sighed once again. His bandmates looked at him, a concerned look on their faces.

    Fortunately, their manager called. 10 minutes till stage. Chan had an excuse to ignore their concerned looks and went to go check on everything with the staff. There were cameras again. They usually had cameras recording, for their lollapalooza BTS video or for any event in general. While Chan got up to do finally check ups, Jisung spoke to one of the cameras, Seungmin and Felix goofed around, Minho did vocal warm ups, Hyunjin did breathing exercises and Changbin got some makeup touches. He could tell everyone was a little nervous since this was a pretty big show. But he knew they'd do amazing like always. And sooner than they all thought, it was five minutes till stage. Chan gathered the group together, giving them all a pep talk and going through last minute things.

    “Okay, we're going to crush the stage. You'll all do fine, I'm confident. Have fun, go crazy and make sure you don't get hurt, stay safe. We got this everyone.” and to end, they did their group cheer.

    They all got into position. Chan took a deep breath. He was confident, and his secret motivation;

pretend she was out there, watching.

⪩⪨

    Just like she assumed yesterday, she did wake up an hour before her shift started. She quickly ran around her apartment getting ready. She didn't bother getting breakfast since she owned a coffee shop and could easily get breakfast there.

    When she arrived at the coffee shop, she found Bee already at the counter, taking an order. Dina quickly went to the back room and tied her Rengoku apron on. The back room kitchen smelled of muffins, both blueberry and cinnamon. She took a muffin right of the tray, it was warm. Bee or Jazzy must of baked these earlier... Dina quickly ate the muffin, gaining a tad bit of energy from the sweetness. She washed her hands and went out to the front to help Bee.

    The shop kept her busy. She had hope that he would show up today. But as the day went on, she lost some of that hope. She didn't have that usually ray of color to her personality with the costumers. Bee noticed and so did the regulars.

    “You okay?” Bee had asked her when the shop was quiet.

    Dina quickly nodded and gave her a smile. And before Bee could pry, Dina gave her an excuse having to go check on their emails. When Dina was in the small office by herself, she frowned. She made her way to the computer, might as well check on the emails...

    

    Dina sighed as she locked up for the night. He hasn't showed up at all. Oh well. There was always tomorrow.

    He wasn't there next day. Or the after that. Maybe she had gotten her hopes up too high. He'd be leaving tomorrow, that's what was repeating through her mind all the way back to her apartment. She really was mad at herself for not taking the chance and getting his number. He seemed really cool too.

    Dina unlocked the door to her apartment. She had barely stepped into her home when her phone started blowing up. She fumbled in her tote bag, looking for the device. She pulled her phone out, it was the group chat.

Bee had been spamming TikTok links and sent an insta post.

Beechrio <: DINZ I FOUND YOUR MAN😵‍💫😳

Beechrio <: NO WODER HE LOOKED SO FAMILWR

shanobu <: OMG IT IS HIM 🙀

Jazziko <: NO WAY

Dina stared in shock, the instagram post was Chris in her coffee shop. The post had over 900k likes! Who was this man? She couldn't help but stalk his ig... He had to be a model or something... With shaky hands she searched up his name. She read the first thing that showed up, He was in a kpop group called Stray Kids and he was also the leader of that said group. She couldn't believe she just casually met someone this famous and that he possibly had been flirting with her.

    She went back on the group chat which was still going crazy with her three friends raving about the group. She clicked on the first link that Bee has sent. It was an edit, from Lollapalooza. So that answered her questions to his vague answer... She went through the other links Bee had sent, watching with semi wide eyes. She also went through the comments, and found out he had a pretty wild fanbase... She didn't realize she had been scrolling through edits for about ten minutes now until she glanced at the time. Her head felt empty at this new found information. She needed to get ready for bed... She quickly got something to eat, heating up some leftovers from yesterday. She snarfed it down and then got something to drink. Then she went to her room and started getting ready for the night, puting her phone on DND since her friends were still chatting about in the chat. She went through all the steps of her night routine carefully. Once she was under her sheets, she sighed and hugged the pillow besides her. Just when she thought she could be in a relationship. She buried her face in the pillow, flustered from all those edits she had watched earlier. She remembered how his vains went up his arm as he handed her his card, his dimpled smile and laugh. She was sad and a little annoyed at the thought that there was no way he could be with her. She knew how crazy kpop fanbases were...

    That night she couldn't sleep, he was in every thought of hers...

    Dina had come into the shop late, this Sunday afternoon. She felt annoyed by the lack of sleep, she could barely function. It was unfair that he swirled everywhere in her thoughts but there was nothing she could do about it. Dina was mostly silent during her shift, Bee didn't even pry, letting her have her space. She just wanted to go home and sleep. The hours went by slowly. It was nearing the closing time. The coffee shop didn't have many costumers on Sunday evenings. She frowned as she looked out the window. Evening... He should be flying back now. He hadn't come visit once more. It was never a guaranteed he would visit the shop again... Yet why did it kinda hurt?

    “Hey.” Dina jumped slightly at Bee's voice. Where had she even come from?

    “Yeah?”

    “You look tired. Maybe you should go home early. I can lock up.”

    “Are you sure?” Dina tilted her head.

    “We barely get any costumers during this time on Sunday.. I can handle the shop, it's only an hour before closing. I'll be fine. Go home. Rest.”

    Dina looked at her, she felt bad leaving Bee alone when she had come into work late and now she was going to leave early?

    “Just go, Dina! You need rest!” Bee said pushing her towards the back room to get her stuff.

    “Alright, alright! I'll go home. No need to shove me, you prick.” Dina went to get her stuff and put her apron away.

    To be honest, her bed did sound nice right now. Dina said a goodbye to Bee before she exited the shop. The sun had set a few minutes ago. Dina looked up to the clear sky, the waxing crescent looking down on her. The air was cool on her exposed shoulders, it being 73°F.  Time to go home...

    “Dina!” A voice called out to her, making her stop in the tracks she barely began.

⪩⪨

    “Dina!” He called out to her. It seemed she was nearing to leave. But they don't close until eight-thirty on Sundays... Was something wrong?

    Dina turned around, a puzzle yet surprised look on her face.

    “Chris?”

    Chan jogged up to her. He smiled at her, he was glad he caught her before she left, he didn't know when he would ever see her again if he hadn't.

    “What are you doing here?” Her tone matched her puzzled face.

    “Do you not want me here?” He couldn't help but tease.

    “What? No I do... That's not what I meant. Didn't you say your flight leaves this evening?”

    “Yeah, I did.. but it got rescheduled to tomorrow.”

    “Oh.” She simply said.

    A bit of silence loomed over them before Dina spoke up again.

    “Did you come here for a coffee? The shop's not closed yet. I could make you something.”

    “Thank you for the offer. But I actually came here to see you one last time before I go. There's something I want to tell you. And there's something I want to ask you as well.”

    She looked at him, curious of what he wanted to say.

    “Well. Uh. You see, I'm in this group called Stray Kids—”

    “I know. I found out yesterday.” She interrupted softly.

    Well, it was bound to happen...

    “Oh. Well that makes it a tad bit easier...”

    Confusion appeared on her face again, he knew she had no idea what he was talking about.

    “You said there's something you wanted to ask me as well?”

    “Yeah.” He scratched the back of his neck. He had rehearsed what wanted to say at the hotel but his mind went blank. Damn, time to wing it.

    “I know we kinda just met.. but you're really pretty and I wanted to get to know you better. Truth be told, I can't stop thinking about you.”

    She was silent for a little bit before she spoke, her voice soft as the night's cool air.

    “I can't stop thinking about you either. And I'd like to get know you too.” Her dark brown eyes sparkled by the lights that shone from the shop's windows.

    Chan felt his heart flutter. Maybe this was the start of something amazing...

...

Should I continue this? :]

[rwrbmovie]

the category is journalists writing the intros to their pieces about their interviews with both nick & taylor:

(text version under the cut)

EW | The Awardist:

Teen Vogue:

GQ:

EW | The Awardist:

From the moment they both enter the virtual video chat to talk about their 2023 smash-hit rom-com Red, White & Royal Blue, Nicholas Galitzine and Taylor Zakhar Perez are roasting each other, throwing out playful jabs.Their friendship and connection are undeniable, and it's immediately evident that the bond they share in Matthew López's movie, based on Casey McQuiston's enormously popular book of the same name, extends off camera as well.

Teen Vogue:

Red, White & Royal Blue stars Taylor Zakhar Perez and Nicholas Galitzine couldn’t be less serious. In conversation, the banter is endless, the charm off the charts. They’re currently embroiled in a discussion about New Zealand vs. Australia. Zakhar Perez refers to New Zealand in conjunction with the “naur” meme and H2O Just Add Water, famously an Australian show, and it sets Galitzine spinning into laughter — before he schools his costar in the dynamic between the two countries.There’s something of a schoolboy zest, darting wherever their brain cells move them in conversation, that makes you think of the cheeky conversations had over the trash can at school, sharpening pencils over and over again to gossip. They jokingly narrate the opening of our interview, even though we’re on a Zoom: “This is Taylor and I’m done talking,” Zakhar Perez throws down, and Galitzine picks it up, “Hi I’m Nick, I’m about to start speaking.”

GQ:

Afternoon tea requires a level of decorum. But in a South Kensington hotel so posh there’s no sign outside, Taylor Zakhar Perez and Nicholas Galitzine gleefully ignore the unspoken rules of etiquette when the latter pulls out his phone. “I need to find this video!” Galitzine says, feverishly swiping his screen. “I’m sorry, it’s my favourite video on TikTok.” Given the international nature of the story, we’ve been talking about accents – specifically, about whether Galitzine, who is British, had to adopt a more aristocratic inflection – when he turned the question around. “Are you Scottish?” he asked. (I am.) The revelation ignited something in his brain, and soon he was scouring TikTok. Galitzine is practically vibrating when he finally finds his prized clip. In it, two enraged young Scots lose it when a countryman claims that they pronounce “pie” as “peh.” “SHUT YOUR MOUTH, I HATE YEEEH!” one guy yells, face vermillion. It’s so, so dumb. It’s also hilarious. Zakhar Perez, 31, and Galitzine, 28, fold over and giggle, far too occupied to realise that the phone is on full blast in a tiny room filled with rich tourists. A group of suited Italians not-so-quietly mumble their annoyance from the next table, and Galitzine quickly offers an embarrassed apology.

[charliedawn]

so since I know now that Kevin is Australian. What about the Hannibals with a reader who really loves their voice? Like just loves hearing them talks and it makes them a little flustered sometimes. i vaguely remember a similar ask being sent in but I don’t know if I just imagined that or not.

Peter beamed at you.

"You like my voice ? Aww…Thank you so much. I like your voice too. It’s really cute."

Peter would blush and be very happy about it. He would also compliment you back and go on and on about how you have the best voice in the world. When he was little he had a very high-pitched voice that made him sound like a girl and he used to get self-conscious about it. He was rather quiet back then and it’s only when he hit puberty that he started gaining confidence and talking more. So any compliment about his voice would make him really happy.

Kevin stared at you as if you had just told him the earth was flat.

"You kiddin’, right ? I sound like a drunken sailor whose already got three children and who nurses his beers at night…You seriously find my voice attractive ?"

Kevin is really insecure about his voice. He has a really pronounced accent. A very noticeable one that he is working hard to get rid off. It is not easy to be the only Australian in a family of British or American-English speaking people. Especially since he thinks Morgan has a perfect-sounding voice compared to his. If you complimented his voice, he would think you are making fun of him and be defensive immediately.

"Arg Arg. Yeah. Bugger off, yeah ?"

Morgan smirked smugly when you told him.

"Do I ? I have never noticed…" He replied in the most nonchalant manner possible, even though he perfectly knows how perfect his voice is. Morgan is a high scholar. He is a genius. He is confidence incarnate. His main concern in life is to learn as much as possible and to reach the Hannibal-required level of perfection. Hannibal Jr. is the first son and a model to all. Morgan dreams of becoming him. So he would exercise his voice to sound as smooth and beautiful as possible…you attract flies better with honey, don’t you ?

Hannibal Jr. knows he has excellent diction and a poised voice—calm and serene. But because he trained his voice to sound the way it does. He had personal trainers hired by Hannibal Sr. and various speech lessons when he was little. Besides, he is a psychologist. His job is 90% knowing how to keep his cool and to sound as reassuring as possible to his patients. When you told him you liked his voice, he smiled and without looking up from his notes he replied:

"I know, love. My voice is the main reason why I still have patients."

…Even though he obviously killed a lot of them.

"Thank you, little lamb. Voice is quite important…" He winked at you and chuckled.

Hannibal Sr. has a deep and gravely voice due to his age. He also knows that being quiet is important so he may not talk a lot, but because he knows that talking too much is a disadvantage. He likes to leave people guessing and when he uses his voice—it is usually to read to himself. He likes books and knows that the best way to do a book justice is by using one’s voice to make the words come alive. He would be more than happy to read to you and enjoy having conversations with you if you want to hear him speak some more.

[resi4skz]

THE CONTEST (Pt 1)

Synopsis: you discover skz in 2023 and you life hasn't been the same. You enter a contest and your life takes an exciting turn.

Pairing: idol!Chan x fem!Reader

Warnings: none for this one!

It had been just over a year that you had become a STAY. And you had loved every new things about Stray Kids. To their smiles, their handsome looks, learning their names and who was the oldest to the youngest, and watching all of their music videos. You tried to catch up from their pre-debut but there was so much content to watch that you had to put a pause on the watching and mainly focused on the new content.

You also changed your twitter into a fan account, sharing, reposting and posting about how hot or cute the members were. You found their music healing, in a way because a year ago, you weren't in the right state of mind. You were mentally exhausted by life giving you shit, so much that you were actually thinking about ending it all. Even your life at one point.

Last year in April, you were crying one sunday early morning and decided to browse youtube because that's what you did when nothing else worked. You were going down the live broadcast list when someone caught your eye. 'Chan's room ep. 208.' A young man sitting on a chair with a black couch in the back, looking very handsome as he talked to, what seemed like were his fans. You immediately picked on the language he was speaking because of the amount of korean dramas you had watched.

You snuggled back into your blanket, his words of encouragement soothed your heart as you watched him through your laptop screen. Your eyes lit up as you heard him talk in english. And was that an Australian accent? You watched him talk about the next comeback him and his group will have, sometime in June. You were curious to find more about the group and luckily one of the comments displayed 'Stray Kids.'

You picked up your phone and searched for the name. Immediately, a group of 8 men popped up as one by one you searched each of their names to know who was who. And for some reason you went from youngest to oldest without realizing. So when you typed Bang Chan in the search bar, the same man popped up from the youtube livestream. "It's him," you said, flicking your eyes on the laptop screen just as he smiled and laughed. Your heart skipped a beat and it has never done that.

And then you watch as he stands up, saying 'big hug' hugging the screen. It tugged at your heart as he sits back down. "Bye stays, baby stays, see you next time!" He holds up a peace sign by his eye, does a winky face and clicks his tongue before the livestreams ends.

Fresh tears flow down your cheeks as a sob escapes your lips. That hug felt warm to you and yet distant which the thought of it now had you bawling your eyes out. You search up Stray Kids on youtube and start watching a bunch of videos.

An hour later, you were clutching your stomach from laughing so hard. How did you ever go about your day without knowing these boys? You even watched their music videos which blew your mind at each one. You went on your twitter and searched up the name and a bunch of posts about their upcoming comeback and where to buy the albums.

Your eyelids fell heavy and soon darkness enveloped your mind. This time no nightmares occurred, except a certain black haired man with dimples.

------------------------------------------------------------

There had been a rumour going around that for their second comeback for 2023, they were going to be doing a contest for a lucky STAY (while others did fancalls). The only requirements was how many albums or merch you had of Stray Kids. But you had done neither which put you in a tough spot.

You had very badly wanted to participate but you were a 23 yr old trying to save up for a solo trip to South Korea. Maybe even scout areas for a permanent move. So far you had saved up about $2500 and planning to save up more. As for the contest, you had put your phone number down in the category of being picked randomly in case you got a call.

You were on your lunch break at work when your phone rang. Putting your sandwich down, you glance at the screen as it showed up a number you didn't recognize. "Hello?"

"Hello, is this Y/N?" A female voice asked.

"Yes, who's this?"

"This is Yu Won from JYPE."

You blinked. "Sorry?"

"You put your phone number to get licked randomly for a fancall and for the contest?"

"Oh my g...yeah, did I get picked?!" Excitement filled your veins.

"Yes. We would like to invite you for a fancall with one of the Stray Kids members and at the end of the call, you will be asked which option you prefer to do."

"Okay! Thank you!" You smile.

She gave you instructions over the phone plus sent you an email too. The fancall would happen after the comeback in November. It was end of October so maybe you didn't have to wait long.

------------------------------------------------------------

You sat waiting patiently in front of your phone, hair in loose waves and light makeup. Your dog whined at your feet. "Nora, not right now, okay? I'll take you out later." Your dog, a golden retriever, laid down beside your feet. You rolled your eyes. "Okay, drama queen. Come on," you tapped your lap and she excitedly jumped in lap.

You look up and see Chan beaming, a smile on his lips. Your eye widen. "Oh! I'm sorry! I didn't realize-"

"It's quite alright. I just came on and you were talking to your dog, I didn't want to disturb."

"Sorry, she gets anxious if I'm doing something that doesn't involve her," you nervously explain. You notice his hair was turning into a copper color.

He laughs. "It's quite alright. My dog is the same."

"I've seen Berry from your vlogs and she seems such a nice and obedient dog. Very cute."

"That she is."

"Just like her dad," you giggle.

He covers his mouth, giggling also. "Thank you for the compliment."

"Congrats on the comeback! I love all of your songs!"

"Thanks! Which was your favorite?" He asked, genuinely curious to know.

"Hmmm, if I had to pick, I nwould say all of them but if I had to choose, it would have to be Cover Me."

"Why that song?"

"The melody is quite soothing. Plus the vocals are top tier," you replied.

"Yeah? I think my vocals could use more work."

You gape at him. "Are you kidding? Your vocals are very exciting to hear! Those high notes aren't easy to do."

He chuckles. "Alright. I'll take your word for it, Y/N.'

Y/N. He said your name. It was like hearing it for the first time. Your heart tugged again and you mentally scolded your brain to shut up. "Ever been to Korea?"

"No. But I'm planning to save up for a solo trip!"

"Solo? Oof. That's going to be difficult especially if you don't know the language."

You smirk. "Dangsin-eun naega ihaehaji moshandago saeng-gaghanayo? (You thibk I don't understand?)."

"Oh, wow. Neohante yeogijeogi boyeojugo sip-eoseoyo (I would love to show you around)."

"That would be lovely but it's not happening anytime soon."

He nods and you suddenly feel bad. "Maybe next year I'll see."

You say your goodbyes and end the call and go into your email. You pick the "buy a plushie" option and choose wolf-chan. Smiling widely, heart content to the max you finally smile to yourself. Maybe life wasn't bad after all.

Your phone pings and without looking, you unlock it and you scream briefly upon seeing the screen.

XX-XXXX-XXXXXX: hey this is bang chan. I stole your number from my manager.

Y/N: did you just commit a crime?

You save his number as Chris.

C: i would never

Y/N: uh huh...

C: hey give me a break here :(

Y/N: are you....being cute?

C: is it working?

Okay. Who is this guy?

Y/N: .... are you the same bang chan I know from my laptop screen?

C: wait you watch us? 😱

Y/N: yeah, i do. 🤨

C: i meant it you know

Y/N: what

C: showing you around seoul

"Is he being funny or actually asking me out? Is that even allowed for him?" You wonder before typing an answer.

Y/N: right now, i'm saving up for the trip

C: well you have my number so just holla at me when you're here

What the absolute fuck?

A/N: this was sitting in my folders and thought why not? Hehe. Pt 2 may be delayed by whole lot as I'm working of 4-5 stories at a time. But do lemme know how ya'll like this one?

[botanphal]

THE VIVIBELLA BIBLE IS HERE AND IT’S QUEER

ENJOY

PREFACE

so you’re probably wondering. What is this weird sapphic tirade of 3K words? Well, this “note bible” was originally something I was going to keep for myself but figured others may want to see it too. This document is similar to a character bible, hence the name, except it’s more of a deep dive into two particular characters, strung out like notes. Please keep in mind that this document does not go into every idea I’ve had about these two but is more or less the basic ideas for the sake of consistency. This goes over canon and non-canon information which are separated so you know what’s true vs my own interpretations, though depending on which version of this post you’re reading, you may notice that there’s only canon information—which is more or less to let you have your own ideas from their purely canon-selves without the inspiration of my own non-canon ideas—the cut version of this document is also considerably smaller (1.7K). If you’re not on the canon cut version, then obviously the previous statement can be ignored. Regardless, I hope you have fun reading!

BOTANPHAL/PALIN’S VIVIBELLA BIBLE

LINKS

Just some links to their actual profiles for ease of access, as well as quotes and their theme music

Goombella:

https://www.mariowiki.com/Goombella

https://www.mariowiki.com/List_of_Goombella_quotes

https://youtu.be/1EmkKFaT7V4?si=erWshNwVBU5sfbo_

Vivian:

https://www.mariowiki.com/Vivian

https://www.mariowiki.com/List_of_Paper_Mario:_The_Thousand-Year_Door_quotes_by_character_(S–Z)

https://youtu.be/6WubRL1mPlQ?si=cY_tWs5TwyKZsr39

ESTABLISHING THE IDIOTS

let’s get down the gist of these sillies!

Goombella:

A junior at the university of Goom majoring in Archeology and seems to also consider herself a historian

- sassy, genuinely seems like she’d bite people’s fingers off sometimes

- nerd (but would backfire if you called her that given the note above)

- confident (of course, there are moments where she loses this but most of the time she seems rather self-actualized about things)

- kind, but does tend to poke fun at others (I can’t believe she called Koops cringe)

- curious

- knowledgeable (though she does make her mistakes regarding things like being fooled by Doopliss)

- excitable (after reading her dialogue over and over she uses a LOT of exclamation points. Girl calm down)

- kind of a hot head at times and jealous type, especially with how Ms. Mowz goes after Mario (Goombella definitely had a crush on him as well) and snaps back a lot though this could just be related to her mentioned sass

- this isn’t so much a character trait but she says “totally” a lot as well as “oh my gosh” which this one may be a catchphrase

Non-canon interpretations:

- has ADHD, needs meds or she loses her mind and becomes scrambled (top of the line “gifted” kid)

- possibly has a fear of heights given her comments at Hooktail’s castle making her nervous

- most Goombas seem to have two prominent fangs so I assume she’s missing one

- half Australian and half Maltese (has slightly an Australian accent but mostly sounds American)

- intersex, given Goombas are based off of mushrooms (and also chestnuts but I digress) and mushrooms are intersex, took estrogen to appear more feminine and identifies as a woman (this still applies to her gijinka, just that her species of demi-human is also all intersex)

- futch (femme/butch, will wear either or-or dress equal)

- has a lot of (unsuccessful) relationship experience which adds to her anxiety about her feelings for Vivian, specifically having dated three other people

- Full name is (Goom)Bellami Alessia Bones (Goom is a family title and not actually required to say, though she prefers to be called Bella than Bellami)

- 21 years old (while she has no confirmed age her being in her early 20s makes the most sense given she’s a Junior at university)

- has an earthy/dirt yet flowery scent

- has a cut on her right eyebrow

- loves savory flavors but occasionally enjoys spicy and sweet (Goombas have a main diet of meat so she tends to eat a lot of that)

- executive dysfunction sometimes causes her to not clean herself, but if someone complains then she will (she tends to carry around a perfume bottle)

- pansexual (possibly a coping lesbian)

- (gijinka) is missing the majority of her right forearm though she has a prosthetic for it (was born like that) and is missing almost all of her left arm aside for the shoulder (incidental)

- swears fairly often

Vivian:

Youngest of the three shadow sirens/sisters with the ability to use fire magic

- shy/somewhat reserved (opens up more later on, still shy but less reserved)

- cutesy (how the fuck did she speak with a heart symbol in one of her quotes)

- graceful

- polite

- sweet/kind (there should be no mistake to how far Vivian’s forgiveness goes considering she’s willing to forgive her own family that abused her for years—Vivian disowning them is not something Vivian herself would do)

- empathetic/sympathetic (I think about her random glitz pit dialogue a lot and how she worries if her and Mario did a bit too much on the enemies. But also she sometimes says “NO MERCY” she’s so silly)

- curious (moreso about most things being new to her due to being sheltered by her sisters for so long)

- submissive, though gains some confidence later on (this is just my own take but I feel like it’d take her longer than it does in-game to be more confident given the severity and length of abuse she experienced)

- struggles with an inferiority complex (this is actually a canon thing and made mention of) at the hands of her sisters abuse

- says “gee whiz” a lot, might be a catchphrase

- tends to stutter when nervous (possibly easy to fluster, especially considering she likely has not received a lot of compliments in her life)

Non-canon interpretations:

- possibly has athazagoraphobia (the fear of being forgotten) or just has general struggles with the concept

- given her trauma (mental/emotional abuse, unsure if there’s ever been physical though in one of the translations of the game Beldam apparently starved her, neglect from Marilyn), she probably would struggle with depression, anxiety and PTSD

- dysphoric, obviously feels better about herself the further into her transitioning (something about Vivian makes me feel like she’d struggle with dysphoria—it’s already a lesser discussed topic among fictional transwomen and given Vivian’s upbringing I think it’d make sense that she particularly has this and would make mention of it)

- she’s autistic and I can’t exactly explain why but someday I will (this very well could be projection uhhh. Anyway she probably doesn’t even know she has it or what it is, has had struggles to learn magic as the ways her sisters were trying to teach her weren’t working for her)

- demisexual-biromantic (I feel like it just makes sense for her to be this way given how she warms up to Mario and the same would apply to Goombella)

- has a beautiful singing voice partially learned from vocal training herself, however she is also called a shadow siren

- a piece of the Shadow Queen, her future

- has no exact ethnicity hc aside for being black as a gijinka, she’s something else entirely and can speak all languages (including sign language and braille) but mainly speaks English and Latin (if she were to be an actual human she’d be Eritrean and Sammarinese)

- femme (specifically loves to wear flowy things like dresses and skirts, the most “masculine” thing she’d wear is a suit)

- Has no full name, simply known as Vivian (if her and Goombella were to marry then she’d be Vivian Bones :flushed:)

- 20 years old

- has a smoldering lavender scent

- (gijinka) actually lost one of her legs while learning to veil, simply conjured up a convincing new one that she can freely remove

- can swear, refuses to do so (she’s too nice and polite the silly thing)

- is a pure-magical being so she requires frequent mana consumption to live, fire flowers are her favorite thing to use for this

- unaffected by fire and heat, can touch it without pain, body temperature is always high, only sweats when she’s sick, it’s very unusual for her to feel cold

- loves sweet, spicy and hot flavored things

- very clean, loves to shower or bathe (sometimes very atmospheric about it with hot water and candles)

- I like to think that she becomes a bookworm and wants to learn more about magic, but also reads up on psychology after the things she’s been put through

- shadow’s eyes are extremely sensitive to light, their hats have magical properties that keep them safe and shadow over them, without it she can only open her eyes in complete pitch-darkness, otherwise she keeps them closed (their gloves also work as buffers for their magic to make spells less intense, they’re sorta limiters in a way, Vivian especially has to wear them due to having fire powers and well… fire is commonly seen as destruction more than life)

- left handed, can use right okay

- knows how to cauterize wounds using her magic

- during new moons her appearance changes to more resemble the Shadow Queen, gaining more shades of purple and little stars speckling all over her, as well as having her eyes always shown

HOW THE FUCK DID WE GET HERE?

vivibella stems from Goombella’s tattle dialogue during the first battle with the three shadow sirens as shown:

note that this dialogue varies from the original GameCube version of the game compared to the Switch remake above:

unfortunate how the dialogue was nerfed compared to the original, making her seem jealous rather than having some kind of sapphic awakening but now I think of it as she’s deflecting what she’s feeling

DYNAMICS

- has a sort of opposites attract kinda thing going on, Goombella being the more open and expressive one while Vivian is the shy and reserved one

- enemies to friends to lovers

- love triangle (for the fact they both had a crush on Mario at one point but Goombella never seemed to be bothered by Vivian’s feelings for him unlike how she’s felt about the other women pining after him, she probably respects Vivian’s feelings for him given what he meant to her)

- the studier (Goombella) and one to be studied (Vivian) idk if there’s an actual name for this dynamic but I went into this concept a bit in this tweet:

- yapper x listener (I don’t think I have to explain who is who)

THAT ITALIAN GUY

Before we get into the meat of vivibella, it must be understood what Mario meant to these two. As it goes in TTYD, Mario for some reason is just a MAGNET for ladies and Goombella and Vivian are no exception to this, most of the female characters seem to express having a crush on him but let’s take a look at them individually:

Goombella particularly seems to fall under having a crush on him but she’s rather dismissive of it/acts like she doesn’t in a teasing way. She expresses jealousy whenever other female characters pursue him (think of Flurrie and Ms. Mowz, even speculates on Lady Bow post-game) but doesn’t with Vivian, likely due to the fact that Vivian doesn’t express her feelings for him around anyone (aside for the finale) considering during Chapter 4 it’s only her and Mario together when she kisses him—we don’t exactly know how Goombella would feel about Vivian’s feelings for Mario, but I think she’d probably be the most respectful to her given the things she’s been through and how Mario helped her open up and improve. During her letter to Mario at the end of the game, she talks about a “secret” which I imagine has to do with her crush on him, but she doesn’t follow through with it likely due to Mario’s pursuit of Peach

Vivian and Mario have a much deeper relationship compared to all the female characters that fall for him. Vivian definitely has a crush on him but also seems to actually be in love with him given the events that transpire; Mario helping her through her trauma and accepting her without question and also being a lending hand to someone in need despite his own troubles at the time of having lost his name, body and trusted companions. Even after realizing who he is and leaving given that he was her enemy at a certain point, she comes back upon realizing what he showed her and valued that over everything else as being the first person to EVER be kind to her. She turned her back on her family for him. During the final battle Vivian attempts to confess to him as well as during the end of the game when he’s leaving, but hesitates again due to the fact that she knows that he’d choose Peach and even thinks that the two would make a great couple. I’m sure it would be hard for Vivian to move on from him, he’s probably the first person she’s ever loved in such a way and again, he’s the first person to show her real kindness

THINKING TOO HARD

Goombella is obviously the one to crush first given her tattle dialogue, she may be kinda sassy about her feelings for her when teased by others but when she’s actually around Vivian she’s more reserved and anxious due to her shy and gentle nature, in some ways I feel like she may fear possibly scaring Vivian away by being too forward and is also afraid of the possible rejection as she’s aware of Vivian’s feelings for Mario despite him eventually not being in the picture (and of course possibly being unaware to the fact that Vivian is bi). Goombella’s probably very likely a girlfail and a fumbler when it comes to flirting but god if she isn’t confident about it and Vivian finds it endearing. I think it makes the most sense for her to confess later on as I’m sure she probably reaches some form of boiling point and just drops all her words out after being unable to hide it anymore (Vivian doesn’t like to assume things about others typically so that’s why I don’t see her confessing first instead)

Goombella falls first but I feel like Vivian would fall harder as the two of them grow closer, Vivian already experienced rejection from Mario so in some ways she probably wasn’t expecting to find successful love anytime soon nor in a more similar way to how Mario was with her. Of course, Goombella isn’t exactly like him at all but the kindness and patience is still there, albeit with some attitude which Vivian doesn’t mind. I think it would take a bit for Vivian to catch onto Goombella and her own feelings given her experience with Mario. This being her second experience with love, she’s definitely very inexperienced regarding all of it which is why she holds back. With my hc of Goombella having been through her own form of transition, a lot of comfort is to be found there for Vivian as they’re somewhat similar due to that. I don’t think Vivian really knows how to flirt but she’d give lots of compliments and do gestures, she’s also a girlfail but in a graceful way and tries not to show it, she’s kinda a secret dork (and I mean. With the fact she stutters when nervous. There isn't anyway this girl isn't also a girlfail of her own like come on now)

Regarding my own lore, I like to think that these two live together in Goombella’s Uni dorm after the events of TTYD. Vivian switches on Fridays to live with her sisters then back with Goombella the following Friday so on and so forth to help rebuild a healthy connection with them while with Goombella she explores herself given she’s been stuck with her sisters for so long. Their situation isn’t helped by the fact that they have to share a bed due to the limitations of Goombella’s Uni dorm size, though it is fancier as it’s more like an apartment with separate rooms, (basically consists of two small bedrooms, the other bedroom being her roommate’s, a living space and kitchen combo as well as a bathroom) still small though

Goombella tends to go to Flurrie for advice regarding her feelings for Vivian, while Vivian goes to Lady Bow after forming a friendship sometime after TTYD’s events. I also like to think that Flurrie and Lady Bow end up coming together to scheme about the two of them (neither are aware of this until they start dating)

Their relationship builds off of living together and Vivian learning about herself, Goombella there to guide her as someone who already knows her own life and the steps she took to get to where she’s at—the two spend a lot of time together obviously and Goombella strives to try and get something out of the two of them than just a friendship given her own growing feelings, even if it takes being more patient

Even on the weeks when Vivian’s living with her sisters Goombella tends to visit her and hang out, sometimes sleeping over as well. Vivian along the way starts to realize how Goombella’s care for her is much deeper than she originally thinks it is—in some ways Vivian already feels inspired by someone like her who is so confident and self assured, she could use someone like her to give her a nudge in the right direction

They probably even go out on adventures together which further strengthens their bond, which of course may stir up trouble and that leaves room for needing to rely on each other or help each other in such times of need (who doesn’t love some hurt and comfort mmmm)

CLOSING STATEMENT

Anyway, that’s really all I have though I have a feeling that even AFTER publishing this I’ll be still tweaking this until the day I die. I love these two very much if that uh….. Isn’t obvious at all. uh huh. I hope you gained some kind of enjoyment and understanding out of all this gay nonsense from these strange little sapphic creatures that have been rotting my brain for months :3

the canon version of this post will come out soon! This just took so long to do I’m going to explode rn

[lurkingteapot]

Free Thai language learning resources

I’ve been learning Thai for the past 20 months. This list is by no means complete or comprehensive, what works for me doesn’t have to work for you, etc etc. That said: I’ve used most of these and found them useful, I thought you might, too. Have fun!

Youtube channels with free video lessons:

There are tons of wonderful teachers on youtube; this is by no means an exhaustive list. The three channels listed here are comprehensive, long-running, and updated regularly; if you have other favourites, please reblog and append!

Comprehensible Thai is a channel that teaches Thai in Thai, from zero, via the comprehensible input method. They have videos from total beginner through upper intermediate/lower advanced levels available.

Learn Thai with Mod – Mod runs a language school that offers good, structured group classes; she and her co-teachers often upload short videos about specific aspects of Thai. The channel has been around for a long time and they cover a lot of topics, including grammar points.

Thai Lessons by New (Learn Thai one Word one Sentence) – lots of good vocabulary and situational phrases

Other channels I like:

Advanced Thai with Kruu Momm -- one of my favourites, Momm’s a star. Not included in the upper list only because this is definitely more of an intermediate-advanced resource.

Thai with Grace -- I knew of Grace via her polyglot channel and travel vlogs before I realised she also teaches Thai. Fun stuff.

Kat talks Thai -- I believe Kat is more active on instagram (@kattalksthai), but these are still really neat.

Perth Nakhun’s Basic Thai playlist

Honourable mentions because they’re interesting and can be nice supplements (yes, the video titles on these channels tend to be clickbaity, the content is useful, though):

Stu Jay Raj: Stu is a polyglot based in Thailand. His channel is a bit of a mixed bag, but he has a very interesting approach to languages and sometimes does foreign accent reduction / accent analysis sessions on his channel (with consent and participation of those whose speech he dissects).

Thai Talk with Paddy: Paddy is an Australian who learned Thai when he was a volunteer in Thailand, he’s kept it up. Fun things about language learning and culture

Listening comprehension

I’m assuming many folks on here who are interested in Thai already watch some Thai shows (yes I’m stereotyping but also this is tumblr), which means you’re spending time listening to Thai.

If you’re not:

Netflix, Youtube, WeTV, and Viki all have several Thai shows with English subtitles available. The Youtube channel of Thai broadcasting giant GMMTV has English subtitles on nearly all of their uploaded series, some series are also subtitled in languages other than English. one31 is another huge channel; they have English subtitles on some series and some series also have subtitles in Thai. There’s tons more – find a rec list and a Thai show that sounds like you’d enjoy it, chances are you’ll be able to watch it for free, legally, on youtube. You can use the youtube controls (or the ones on netflix) to turn the speed down to 75% —this can make it a lot easier to catch what’s being said. 50% gets so draggy that I personally find it almost harder to understand, but ymmv—give it a shot!

https://lingopolo.org/thai/ has real-life recordings for listening practice; sign-up is required but it’s literally just an e-mail-address, user name and password. Using the site is free.

https://www.activethai.com/ has a section dedicated to learning the tones (under “Overview of Thai Tones”) including a self-test for listening that I found very useful.

Learning to read

I will always, always, ALWAYS recommend learning to read the Thai script. All available romanisations for Thai have drawbacks, and besides, you learned to read English with its “though through thorough tough thought”, you can damn well learn to read Thai. I promise it will help you improve your pronunciation (yes, really) and overall understanding of how the language works.

Learn-to-Read-Thai resources that seem comprehensive and like they should do everything in one:

Anki decks “Read Thai PHASE 1 - The Consonants“, “Read Thai PHASE 2 - Thai Vowels“, “Read Thai PHASE 3 - Consonant Classes” and “Read Thai PHASE 4 - Tone Rules” by Khruu Gaan (ครูกานต์). Anki is probably the most powerful spaced repetition software I have ever used. It’s free on all desktops and android. These decks have sound.

Memrise course “Read Thai: A Complete Guide to Reading Thai“

Other resources I used (In hindsight, I feel like I should’ve picked one resource to learn to read from and stuck with it; I think I was rushing and made things more complicated than need be for myself with my hodgepodge mix-and-match approach. But hey, I can read now.)

https://www.activethai.com/ – the site I started with. Teaches the consonants separated by class and with sound. The only reason this is no longer my top recommendation is that I ended up using this alongside a resource that helped me memorise what the words used to represent the letters actually mean because the site itself didn’t tell me, and I wanted that easy way to have 44 vocabulary words ready as soon as you’re done learning your consonants, and it gives you access to neat mnemonics such as ไก่จิกเด็กตาย(เฎ็กฏาย)บนปากโอ่ง.

The chart on Wikipedia’s English article on the Thai Script

the reference section of Thai-Language.com

In order to better learn to read Thai written in different fonts (modern and handwriting fonts can be tough at first), the Thai Script typographical styles overview on Thai-language.com was a huge help, as was throwing simple phrases things into gdocs and messing around to see how different fonts made them look. This chart from sanukmaak.com also helped.

Speaking and pronunciation

The hardest one for any new language for most folks. For me personally, finding someone who speaks the language and is willing to correct me was an absolute necessity, but I know that’s not always an option. If you’re going it on your own, make sure you check out the resources above for learning to hear the tones and those sounds and sound clusters not present in your own language correctly first.

Things to try on your own:

shadowing: Whenever someone on a show utters a sentence you think might be useful, or provide a useful pattern, or something just sounds cool, rewind and try to speak along as they say it, trying to make it sound as close to their pronunciation as you can.

try to record yourself and listen back -- yes, it’s cringe af but it will HELP.

memorising short sentences and phrases: tying back to the section above, there's a ton of youtube videos that is "phrases to use in [situation]" that are great for targeted learning if you're up for it

self talk (cautiously! don't want to cement bad pronunciation habits)

if you’re linguistically inclined: looking up descriptions on how to make a sound correctly sometimes helps, as does watching videos of folks who’ve successfully learned the language.

once you’ve learned to read: find sentences to read somewhere (twitter, a textbook, whatever) and read them into your phone’s dictation engine. See if the software understands you correctly. Adjust as needed until it does.

Websites and apps to find language partners or (paid) tutors

Like any other app where you ‘meet people’, please exercise caution on these.

italki (mainly for finding tutors and teachers, but you can find language partners on the forums)

Preply (web/app) (for finding tutors/teachers)

hellotalk (app only, iOS/android) for finding language partners -- free to use basic features like messaging, voice rooms, etc; has annoying ads

tandem (app only, iOS/android) for finding language partners -- free to use basic features, has ads

any other app or website that’ll let you meet people, like local facebook groups (yes really), instagram, etc

(note: Neither hellotalk nor tandem allow users to sign up without selecting a binary gender. it sucks. I’ve seen people who managed to circumvent this on Hellotalk by signing up via apple ID (? I think), but it’s hearsay and I have not managed to do so myself.)

Books (a book) that are (is) worth spending money on imo

Higbie & Thinsan: Thai Reference Grammar. The Structure of Spoken Thai. Orchid Press: Bangkok, 2002. Yes, it’s ancient in textbook terms. It’s not perfect, but it’s still the best reference grammar for Thai I’ve come across so far, and I use it frequently.

Random bits and bobs

Stu Jay Raj has two videos in particular that I, as a phonetics-and-phonology-loving person, loved and found extremely useful and wished I’d watched before I started to try and learn the script: Thai Vowels for Dummies in 5 Min v2 - A System Impossible to Forget and Thai Bites Extended Edition - Transliterating Thai using IPA. I realise these may be overwhelming and less helpful for people with no prior phonetics or phonology training, but they helped me so much it’d feel amiss not to include them.

Resources I recommend AGAINST using when starting out

drops/hello words -- seems like their Thai courses have been created using machine translation that wasn’t sufficiently proofread. They will assign you nouns in places of the corresponding verb or false cognates, and that’s within the first 10 or so lessons. Might be useful once the level where a learner can tell “ah, yeah, that’s … not right” has been reached? idk.

transcription as generated by google translate: BURN IT WITH FIRE. it’s a transliteration, i.e. 1-to-1 representation of 1 Thai letter = 1 Latin letter (extended), it’s not phonemic, it’s not going to help ANYONE (and those who can make sense of it presumably already read Thai and would be better off with just Thai script). Just. Stop.

Google translate as a dictionary: still shitty but not AS bad as the transcription function. Still, for the love of all that you hold dear, please, save yourself the pain and confusion and just use thai2english or thai-language.com instead.

---

And that’s that from me, friends. Yeeting this into the void before I second-guess myself more. Please append additional resources!

Edited to fix a couple of typos and errors on 2023-06-15

[catsharky]

Wanted to post these separate from my Art Fight post because I spent too long on these references (really just Fallstreak's tbh) to keep them hidden away on the AF site. Also cause I love these guys and I haven't really talked about them much on here.

So for anyone who was curious about the previous art I posted of these OCs, have some actual information about them!

Nell

Full name Abnell Roache (will also accept 'Nella', but loathes being called 'Nelly'). A health and safety inspector for an interstellar cargo company, Nell becomes stranded on an ocean planet when the ship she's auditing- the ACS Endurance- experiences a catastrophic engine failure and tears itself in two.

Adrift on an endless alien sea with no guarantee of rescue and little emergency food, she has to survive with the help of Bas: an (illegal) AI inhabiting the chassis of her life pod's survival assistant. With her only goals being survival and finding any other survivors, she's unprepared to find herself making humanity's first contact with another sapient species; an alien biologist named Fallstreak who has also found himself trapped on the planet. 

She's thrilled to learn about Fallstreak and his people, as well as teach him as much as she can about humanity, and if she has an immediate, massively obvious crush on the tall faceless alien? Well, the only other person there to complain is Bas. Which he does. A lot.

Bas (Pronounced 'Baz')

An illegal AI inhabiting the chassis of a life pod survival assistant (though to clarify, in this universe all true AI are illegal because they require a human brain scan to be made and that's a legal rights nightmare). After years of only knowing his 'father', Richter (the engineer aboard the Endurance who purchased and programmed him), he boots up to find his home destroyed, his father dead, and himself in the company of a total stranger; Nell. 

He has a lot to deal with: keeping Nell alive, figuring out how to interact with someone other than Richter while also mourning his death, and acting as a middle-man/interpreter between Nell (who he has rapidly developed what seem to be romantic feelings towards) and Fallstreak (an alien biologist who's captured Nell's interest without even knowing what he has). 

And to top it all off? He has a text-to-speech Australian accent.

Fallstreak

An alien biologist with a bio-mechanical body, named after the cloud formation (look up 'Fallstreak holes', they're neat!) that most closely resembled an event that occurred on the day of his birth.

Extremely curious and wants to learn everything about his two new companions, as well as share his knowledge with them. Verbal language is all but entirely unused by his species, however, so the language barrier between Fallstreak and Nell+Bas is a large one. Thanks to Bas' assistance, he's able to understand spoken communication fairly well, and speaks (in very broken sentence structure) by vibrating the membranes in his gill openings, resulting in a voice that sounds somewhat like early English vocaloids; understandable but clearly not a natural voice.

Living a fairly solitary life isn't uncommon for his species, and he hasn't had the opportunity to experience romantic interest before, so when he meets Nell and begins to fall for her, he's more than a little confused (oblivious) about what his emotions are doing. Unfortunately draws some jealous ire from Bas as a result, but is pretty oblivious to the AI's attempted rivalry. 

--

All three of these guys are from a WIP comic called The Rive that I hope to finish some day. I have most of the story figured out, and quite a bit of it scripted and ready to go, I just need to actually draw the damn thing.

[all-pacas]

I love the changes to Chase's background due to hiring actors. First,he goes from a 35 yo New England dude to a 20-something Australian. Then,he goes from the USA old money to being the son of a Czechoslovakian immigrant(played by a Belgian actor) for...reasons? Couldn't they hire an Australian old guy to play Rowan(and keep more or less in line with the initial idea for the character)? Why does Chase need to be half-slavic,since Rowan's actor is from Belgium? Is it more about skill and chemistry,nationality be damned? Or was simply a matter of hiring the first old white guy to show up,and toss in a random nationality to excuse the lousy Aussie accent?

It seems likely to me that they did decide "European expat" based on the casting, if only because there's no reason for Chase's father to not be Australian: that he was a famous doctor actually comes from the pre-casting Pilot script, but obviously that's not nationality based either.

As you mentioned, Bauchau is Belgian, not Czech, which makes me think the nationality choice was intentional: if they based nationality on actor, well, he'd be Belgian. This makes me think Czech is intentional, although I have no idea why: my best guess is they wanted a quick handwaving excuse on why this doctor moved to Australia to have Australian children, and Soviet Bloc is a good one that requires no elaboration.

-

I think the initial idea of the character of Chase (old money, New England) was abandoned with the casting. Not just because of Spencer's age and inability to fake an American accent, mind you.

In the original Pilot script, one of the throwaway mentions is that the hospital was in Boston. It was meant to be located in the old money New England capital, possibly associated with Harvard (they got a bit of this with Princeton, another Ivy League school). But that association? And Chase's New England routes? That's not a fucking coincidence.

I don't know how much non New Englanders know about this shit, but. Boston has / had this whole social elite class. There's this other group of vague… the Cabots. The Lowells. Thayers. Adams. Just these names associated with very rich old money families. Browse that list: there's famous politicians, famous everything. Very WASPy. Absolutely no Boston Irish Catholics in this group. (The Kennedys were also from Boston, but see 'no Catholics.') Chase, as a name, is very, very… it fits right in. Chase, a 35-year-old Old Money Nepotism hire from New England, working in a Boston hospital? He was absolutely envisioned as one of those.

And there's some fascinating subtext to that, too, because Chase was still a nepotism hire in the pilot. He's this rich, silver spoon old money guy with a Big Name… and he still needed his dad to get him the job in this reality. He's a fellow, and he's a decade older than Cameron and Foreman; hell, he's the same approximate age as House, pre-casting. He is pathetic. You know how Taub was slumming it? This Chase was way, way worse. Which could have been fascinating in its own right. Or he could have been a minor villain, the ur-example of someone Foreman has to overcome, even worse than the Chase we got in canon.

So aside from being younger and Australian, what else changed with the casting? The original pilot script doesn't have Chase's lines (from a deleted scene) about enjoying the job because he gets to date women: Chase's sluttiness came with casting. His daddy issues were implied in the original script, with the nepotism line and a line about Chase's dad being a famous doctor, but I'd say moving across the world away from him for a job has a different subtext than OG Chase's probable working in the same town as my father. It's also hard to say if OG Chase was Catholic: Boston is an American epicenter of it, but WASPS are pretty anti-Catholic by tradition; on the other hand, the Kennedys were from Boston and Catholic, and Damned if You Do was written fairly early (August 2004 according to the script), although after casting.

Spencer has also said about his audition that Chase was briefly envisioned as British (but he sucked at that accent, too), and that he helped develop the character a little and pushed for him to be Australian. We also know that Hugh Laurie and Omar Epps were older than their characters, and that the show was eager to write/rewrite things with actors in mind (I've seen it cited that Taub was made a team member specifically because the team liked Jaconson so much, and the same goes for them dragging Anne Dudek back onto the show by making Amber date Wilson and then be a ghost), so I don't think they were ever super sold on OG Chase or anything, although I do find the concept pretty fascinating.

[disturbingstar]

The last of us trivia

TV show

• Pedro Pascal agreed to play Joel within a day of being sent the script.

• Neil Druckmann (the writer and director of the games, and the co-creator of the HBO series) watched over 100 auditions for Ellie before seeing Bella Ramsey's audition, of which he said, “It didn't feel like I was watching someone acting like Ellie. I was watching Ellie.”

• The TV adaptation offered the opportunity to expand on characters' backstories like Marlene and Ellie's relationship - as they weren't limited to a first-person POV.

• Huge apocalyptic sets had to be made for the show that were only used once - like the interior of the Capitol Building, which was built on a soundstage from scratch. Matching the lushness of the game while making it more realistic was the end goal, and art books from Naughty Dog (the company that developed the video games) were used as a jumping off point.

• Tess is portrayed by Australian actress Anna Torv. She was aware of the games but had not played them and watched the cutscenes after her casting. Torv felt her performance required consistent truthfulness due to its subtlety.

• Anna Torv and Pedro Pascal who portrays Joel decided that Tess and Joel had been lovers for some time but, like in the game, were subtle about their relationship.

• Sarah is portrayed by English actress Nico Parker. Parker watched videos of the original game years before getting the role. She wanted to stay away from the game version and provide her own interpretation of the character.

• As the clickers were a “home run” in the games, prosthetic artists from Game of Thrones were brought on to make them look as close to the source material as possible.

• There was even a movement bootcamp to train extras how to move like infected.

• The art teams were given the direction to find the beauty in the fungus. As Neil Druckmann said, “When you see the beauty in these monsters, it somehow makes them creepier.”

• It was Bella Ramsey's suggestion to have Ellie sleep with a switchblade during her first night with Tess and Joel.

• Neil Druckmann always thought of Joel and Tess's relationship as romantic, and the TV show offered the opportunity to make that explicit.

• Neil Druckmann is open to a The Last of Us Part 3 game, but it depends on whether the team can “come up with a compelling story that has this universal message and statement about love.”

• Pedro Pascal was chosen to play Joel Miller because of his ability to portray a tough, tortured, and vulnerable character who suppresses his emotions until necessary.

• Pedro Pascal based Joel's voice on his own experiences growing up in San Antonio, Texas, paring it back from the Southern accent used in the games.

• Bella Ramsey was aware of the game before their audition, but was encouraged not to play it to avoid replicating Ashley Johnson's original performance, instead watching some gameplay on YouTube to get a sense of it. As of filming the series, they still hadn't played the game.Ramsey wanted their performance to be reminiscent of the games without copying them.

• Unlike his counterpart from the video game series, Joel is more vulnerable in the television series; he is hard of hearing on one side due to a gunshot, his knees ache when he stands and he also suffers from nightmares and panic attacks. Co-creator Craig Mazin felt Joel should be less resilient than in the game to show the toll that living in the post-outbreak world has taken.

• Tommy is portrayed by American actor and producer Gabriel Luna. About a month after the casting of Pascal and Ramsey as Joel and Ellie respectively, Luna was asked to submit an audition tape. He was familiar with the work of co-creator Craig Mazin and executive producer Carolyn Strauss, and had previously worked on HBO's True Detective. About a week after submitting his tape, he was offered the role and, according to Luna, they instantly knew he was the one. He was enthusiastic for the role, having lived in Austin, Texas—Joel and Tommy's hometown—around the same time as the show's setting. He was also given a PlayStation 5 during production to play the games as research.

[rae-and-mezo]

Life After Hogwarts: Ominis Gaunt

Summary: Headcanons for Yours and Ominis's life after Hogwarts!

Warnings:

A/N: I AM DOWN BAD FOR HIM MAN! I am thinking about making this a series with other characters. Let me know who you would like to see next!

First of all, I feel like you guys have been together since the end of seventh year ish? You really fell for each other the summer after sixth year when you both spent it with Sebastian and Anne. Either at your place or Feldcroft.

And he knew you were the one for him.

He flat out asks you one day in seventh year if you would ever like to be married (way in the future though,) and respects your answer either way. Of course, he would love to be called your husband, but he doesn't need a ring to know you love him.

He gets his training to become a ministry worker, taking up a desk job in magical Law Enforcement. It pays fairly well actually, and he enjoys it even if it comes with more paperwork than his liking.

Whatever your job is, he very much is supportive. He dislikes the traveling part if you chose a job that requires it and worries himself sick if you chose something like an Auror or Cursebreaker. But he would never hold you back from what you would like to do.

It doesn't take him long at all to break off from his family after graduation.

All it took was one meeting where he grudgingly took you to meet his parents for dinner.

It doesn't matter if your blood status or views, chances are his family will hate you. And if that's the case, it's the driving factor between Ominis and the rest of the Gaunts. After all, he will stand by you to the very end.

He actually asks you about marriage again, just to see if you are sure about your answer.

If it's no, that's okay! Just expect him to ask again a few years down the road.

If it's a yes, he plans his proposal right away! The man is Ecstatic to marry you.

He is a romantic soul, sure, but he isn't one for giant acts of love. So it's a quiet, sweet proposal in the back garden of your families home. After all, he asked your father for permission only moments before.

It's the same thing with the wedding actually. You both wear wedding attire, but not overly expensive or extravagant clothes. After all, he just broke off from his family and is trying to get his feet underneath him. The wedding is in Feldcroft, and Anne is one of his groomsmen. Sebastian is his Man of Honor of course, and he only invites his cousins that is more like family than his own parents. You only invite your closest family as well.

Instead of a honeymoon, you guys work on a run down cottage not too far from Hogwarts. This also counts for if you aren't married.

If you aren't married, he doesn't care for social rules. He doesn't mind the judgement from living with you out of wedlock! Not at all.

Sebastian is over at your cottage like all the time. He never overstays his welcome, but he might as well live there!

Ominis has always had such a cold and uninviting home, so he tries his best to make your house inviting! He does a good job too. Guests love visiting you two.

Now, you would think I would dive into the children part of this story. Not now.

No, instead, Ominis wants to experience things he never has before. He asks you to take him to muggle pubs, muggle concerts, etc. Even if he can't see, he adores experiencing a world so different from his own. Anything you wanna do, he does as well.

The two of you take a trip to Australia. With how much he loves magical creatures, he wants to see some muggle animals as well. And he thinks Australian accents are funny.

He wants a cat SO BADLY. Of course he would never ask if you don't like cats or are allergic. But if not? Oh boy, you're in for it.

That cat would be his best friend. You are not getting cuddles if the cat is there first, and he talks to it like it's a child.

Honestly the cat prefers you but loves the two of you so much!!

It's basically your first kid.

A circus comes to the small town closest to your cottage and you guys go see it just because you can. Why not? Ominis likes peanuts and finds the music and cheering amusing. Also enjoys a play by play by you!

There was a vendor selling exotic pets...and well one of them was a snake.

Normally Ominis wouldn't bat an eye but the snake started begging him for help because the vendor was abusing his animals.

How are you supposed to say no when your partner is almost in tears over a little snake?

So yeah, you get a new pet.

NOW I TALK ABOUT THE CHILDREN PART OF THIS STORY

I feel like Ominis is indifferent.

He really likes kids actually and would like to have some of his own. But it's not a deep desire. The two of you had talked about it before moving in together and so he already knows your preference.

If you wouldn't like to have children, he is A-OK with that! Just...don't let him turn into a crazy cat man. Because he will. He just can't say no to their fluffy little faces.

If you would like children, he is so happy! Of course, he would love you either way, but he just cannot wait to be a father once he gets the idea in his head.

Though, because of his genes, I am not sure he would want biological children. After all, he isn't proud of being a Slytherin descendant or the fact that his parents were cousins.

If you would like biological children, he could make an exception after some convincing.

If not, he is so excited to adopt! I feel like he would rather adopt an older kid rather than a baby but you know. Your opinion weighs heavily on his too.

Either way, he cries when he finds out you're expecting/adoption went through.

That night he cries himself to sleep on your shoulder and wakes up still crying and smiling so hard it hurts.

He lowkey wants to shove it in his parents' face that he's going to be a father with the most amazing person he has ever met and they won't get to witness any of it!

Of course he apparates to Sebastian's and cries again, to him, for what feels like hours.

He breaks once he meets his child. You've never seen him cry hard before, only silent tears and little sobs. But he's crying like a baby because he just is so happy and can't believe he is at this point with somebody he loves.

If you don't want children, he asks if you can raise Nifflers in the back garden, or maybe get a Unicorn? He would build the stable with Sebastians help. Boy loves his animals SO MUCH

Mornings with him where he makes breakfast and you set the table, both of you listening to his favorite record on the Gramaphone.

Ominis can be rather playful, so expect him to tickly your hips while passing through, or to jump out and scare you when you least expect it.

And after YEARS of living in the same house, he smacks his head on the doorframe of your kitchen. Because, like, he's tall and the cottage is not.

Yes, the bed is perfectly comfortable, but like naps on the floor or in the garden hit different.

You start a little flower garden in the back yard, and he really loves to sit in it. The smells are just so nice! But he would rather gouge out his eyes than ruin your garden so he never stays out there for long. No matter how many times you tell him he won't step on anything.

[preet-01]

K — Detective/Criminal for @witchywitchy19

It was a demotion. Lewis was absolutely sure of it.

How else would he go from undercover stings busting drug rings and mobs to investigating stolen art that he was 90 percent sure the museum was “losing” for the insurance claims? Though there were the benefits of being able to actually spend time with his husband now that he wasn’t always undercover for his job.

“It makes no sense, Seb,” Lewis groans as he rants about the latest developments in his case. The latest development being that there were no developments and Lewis was absolutely losing his mind having to deal with the museum’s art director — Nico Rosberg, a former friendship that had turned sour sometime during their college days.

He’d been able to avoid interactions with Nico and his petty remarks for so long, but with this case he had to deal with Nico everyday.

“Maybe take a step back and talk through the facts,” Sebastian advises. It’s a strategy Lewis knows that Seb loves to use with his patients. “What was stolen?”

“A rare Rembrandt painting that Nico so kindly has emphasized the importance of in every meeting we’ve had,” Lewis replies, cuddling closer to Seb.

“Anything else?” Seb inquires.

“Not according to the museum. Jenson is doing an audit with some of the museum guys to make sure nothing else was stolen,” Lewis says. To the naked eye, only the Rembrandt was missing. But the concern was that a reproduction had been hanging in the gallery as the actual painting was undergoing regularly scheduled maintenance inspections. So it was in the museum archive with a bunch of other stuff that wasn’t on display.

“Signs of breaking and entering?”

“That’s the thing, nothing is out of order. The cameras all worked with the exception of two — one that has been broken for the past three weeks and the one situated above the painting. The locks weren’t tampered with. And the reproduction wasn’t touched at all in the glass case. The thief knew to check the archive.” Lewis rants.

“Huh,” Seb says.

“Huh? What are you thinking of?” Lewis inquires.

“Well, you said the reproduction was hanging, right?” Seb asks as Lewis nods. “The only people who would know a reproduction is hanging in the museum while the original would be the museum staff, right?”

“They would know how to avoid the cameras, which ones worked, which one to tamper. They would have access to the building,” Lewis rambles off as pieces fall into place. There’s still more work to do, but things are starting to make sense and it’s a lead.

_______

“You’re late,” Mark says, “what took so long?”

“My husband was taken off of undercover and moved to robberies,” Sebastian answers with a sigh as he pulls out the Rembrandt that had driven Lewis crazy a month ago. “The Rembrandt robbery was his first case since that move. It requires caution when the detective trying to catch you is sleeping in your bed,” Sebastian adds.

“Considering you and the painting are here, I assume he didn’t crack the case,” Mark states as his guy checks the painting’s authenticity.

“He put away the museum’s art director,” Sebastian reveals.

“What did the art director do?” Mark’s guy — some pale twenty some year old with brown hair and an Australian accent just like Mark 1- asks.

“Nothing recently,” he answers, “years ago? Well that’s a different matter.”

“It’s a Rembrandt,” Mark’s guy tells them.

After making sure the wire transfer goes through, Sebastian returns home. A weight had been lifted from Lewis’ shoulders ever since the Rembrandt case had been closed which meant that Lewis could actually enjoy not being on the undercover unit.

And tonight was date night where he’s sure Lewis will bring up the idea of adopting. The Rembrandt money will help pay for a bigger home and the cost of raising a child. Not that Lewis would know it’s Rembrandt money, no as far as Lewis knew, Seb had a rich distant uncle in Germany that left his money to Seb.

He hadn’t intended for the blame to fall on Nico, but two birds one stone, gift horse, and all of that. The ghost of Nico and their college years couldn’t haunt them with the man locked away in a prison three hours away.

[docholligay]

When you hear an accent/dialect/we're not going to get into that debate here that sounds 'odd' to your ear, think about that! Not even in a "Wow, I hate that" way, or a "I need to examine my classism/racism/etc way I am a bad person way, but in a secret third way called, "curiosity and openness to experience"

I was EXTREMELY EXTREMELY FORTUNATE to have a required class in college called "History of the English Language" which was one of the 'weeder classes' for the English majors at my school. It was very very difficult, but the man who taught it had an INSANE passion for English. He LOVED IT, he would talk about it all goddamn day, and it taught me so much about how and why things get changed and said the way they do, and it made me so CURIOUS about why something is unusual or fun for my brain to listen to.

So now, anytime I hear someone pronounce something or verbalize something in a way I think of as "odd" I get so excited and curious*. What is it I haven't heard before? Sometimes my tongue will move around my mouth trying to figure out how they make that sound (I am REAL bad at this. Accents are in no no no way my forte, which is annoying because I'm very good at HEARING them and hearing the differences between them, I just can't DO it) because it is so interesting and cool all the different ways one fucking language has been DONE over so many years.

Anyway I so far off track I am no longer a train, but looking at dialects as you might look at an interesting bug instead of like a pop song on the radio or a sign font is a really good way to start opening your mind to language as something other than a value marker. And that doesn't HAVE to be another way of whipping yourself for being a piece of shit--I assume you have plenty of reasons--but a way of going, "Oh, something unexpected!"

*Also not to attempt to introduce nuance on the 'no nuance we die like men' website, but I think there is a big difference between loving teasing and mockery/cruelty. I don't actually mind if friends, especially ones with VASTLY different ways of speaking, imitate my accent I think it's fuckin funny as hell! Jetty has the WORST rural western accent on the planet, and I love to make fun of whatever the fuck she's got going on there, but it is FUN and there is a sense of LOVE that comes with it. And it's not even a "well yeah, Holligay, when you've known someone for a long time" No no, I once sat in a shitty pub on the east end, now closed (rip) and me and my mom ending up striking up a conversation with two old-school cockney guys, and as soon as he tried to say "Montana" the way I did, the race was ON, and it was FUNNY, and we all laughed and had a good time, it is about attitude.

And I know I'm gonna get something about "well how do you KNOW and that is why i turned off reblogs but come on y'all, 9 times out of 10 you can tell when something is done with deep affection or camaraderie or because even just something feels cool in your mouth it's fun to try. I can't do 87% of the linguistic features I think FUCK SEVERELY (intrusive R, the way a word that genuinely does not start with the letter h has a different sound than a word when the h is uptaken (this has a fucking word and I cannot find it it's making me nuts)) but I LOVE them.

Quick quiz to help though: Are you affecting this accent to in some way sound stupid/ridiculous? We can go back and forth about that a little: one of my buddies says "well shiiiiit" exactly the way I do, for funsies, but it just...feels neat. What I'm saying is you have to use some discernment here and I know we are all allergic to that but give it a shot/go/whatever the hell Australians say for this.

Post script: All of this reminds me also about how I studied the phonemes and linguistics of English with intense fervor in college, and got REAL COCKY, and then in the Orkneys had my very first ever, in life, "We are both speaking English but damn" moment. Normally I am The One for this. I am unruffled. My wife gets confused by the word takeaway (she is smart I swear) but I'm rock-solid. Until. Hubris.

This guy is rollin on up in his van, which is the 'bus system' on Rapness, and it's cute as hell as a system, but I ask him something stupid about the timetable, and he answers me in what I can only describe as a Nordic-flavored Scottish accent. It is actually really remarkable and I went on a weird deep dive of the Orkneys afterward because I had never heard anything like it but I digress. I DID NOT GET A FUCKING WORD. And so, because I panic, I do what I always do when I feel flustered or emotional or angry: I sound like Yosemite fucking Sam. So now he can't understand what I am asking him!

Good news is, we both give a little bit of a laugh, I go, 'Let's try that again" and I do manage to exchange that this van picks up outside of the Pierowall hotel in time for the ferry.

[quitealotofsodapop]

Assorted LMK headcanons cus im busy with new years stuff rn;

Macaque will deliberately use australian slang he's learned from Jade-Face and the Gold & Silver twins to torment Wukong. Especially if done in a fake aussie accent, he loves the pained look on Wukong's face as he tries to decipher what the heck Mac just said.

Red Son was a LOUD baby. Like, crying all the time colicky baby. PIF and DBK had many a sleepless, self-hating nights thinking they were doing something wrong. Later it was discovered that hosting the Samadhi Fire was like an intense chronic pain for baby Red. One of the reasons he lashed out at others as a toddler was because he was in physical pain from the power affixed to his tiny-underdeveloped soul. Once the Samadhi Fire was removed, Red Son canonically knocked straight to sleep - chronic pain do be making you sleepy.

+Sadly this also means that Ao Lie was riddled with chronic burning joint pain in his later life from absorbing a fourth of the Fire. He was very good at hiding it. Mei starts to develop odd burning aches in her mid-twenties and isn't sure why.

Princess Iron Fan and Demon Bull King did in fact have a huge break-up/separation prior to his imprisonment. It was a arguement over Red Son being trained in the Southern Ocean by Guanyin. DBK wanted to tear the place apart to get his son back and begin the glorious expansion of their domain. PIF knew that this wouldn't go down well with Heaven and the Bodhisattvas, and argued that they could just ask for Red Son and... settle down together, no royal fixings required (hmm, parallels to another pairing anyone >:3?). Be a happy old couple outside the Flaming Mountain. But DBK didn't want that (at least right then), he wanted the world to recognise that his family had been done great injustices by Heavens and others for too long. He wanted his Queen to recieve even a tenth of her birthright as a Celestial Princess, and wanted his child to be recognised as an heir of the Jade Throne. As her husband charged off to make his intentions known to the world; PIF called up a certain monkey to do something she would regret for many centuries to come...

PIF is a lot more perceptive of the cruelty that the Heavens can bestow than she lets on.

If Spider Queen had kept her husband captured on New Years for even a minute longer, than PIF would have called up old contacts to bring the wrath of the Buddha onto her. She didn't appear in-story because she was busy organising a raid party.

+Also the reason why nobody in the Celestial Realm said anything/pretended not to notice when the MKrew showed up. Many of the guards were on standby if the Spider Queen decided to do her own Havoc in Heaven once she had SWK captured. A lot of the royal family was hiding in their own palaces waiting for an all-clear.

[charliedawn]

Hello! How would Eddie Gluskin react to finding out that he has a daughter in her 20s who is dating Kevin Hannibal?

Thank you so much for your writing. It makes my day.

The day Eddie Gluskin found out about you—his daughter—everything in his world shifted. He’d always imagined the perfect family, but it had been nothing more than a twisted fantasy, shattered over and over by failed attempts to create it. Now, he had a second chance. You—his daughter—fully grown, in your twenties, standing before him. He had missed everything, but he saw this as his opportunity to fix it, to finally have what he had always wanted: a family to cherish, protect, and mold into perfection.

But then came the next shock: you were dating someone. Kevin Hannibal.

Eddie hadn’t heard the name before, but the weight of it hit him the moment you said it. His expression didn’t change much—he was always careful about that—but his mind was already racing. Who was this Kevin Hannibal ? A man close to you, someone who had taken the spot Eddie believed was his by right.

That wouldn’t do.

When Kevin Hannibal met Eddie Gluskin, he walked into the room with the same easygoing confidence that had drawn you to him in the first place. With his dark hair slightly disheveled and his casual, almost careless posture, Kevin radiated a kind of laid-back energy that usually made everyone around him feel at ease. He flashed a grin as he held out his hand.

"So, you must be the dad, huh ? Heard a lot about you," Kevin said, his Australian accent rolling off his tongue in a way that made his tone sound playful.

Eddie didn’t return the smile. His cold, blue eyes met Kevin’s with an intensity that seemed to cut through the room. He didn’t shake Kevin’s hand, instead letting it hang there awkwardly in the air for a moment before Kevin withdrew it, unbothered. Eddie’s face was calm, calculated, but his eyes…His eyes were piercing, the kind of gaze that made you feel like you were being dissected.

"Kevin Hannibal," Eddie repeated slowly, the name like a bitter taste in his mouth. He studied Kevin for a moment longer, then his lips curled into a thin, almost patronizing smile. "And what exactly is it that you do, Kevin ?"

Kevin shrugged, leaning against the back of a chair. "I’m an artist, mate. Bit of painting, sculpting…y’know, whatever strikes me. Pretty good at it too, if I say so myself." He shot you a wink, trying to lighten the tension that was thick in the room.

Eddie’s gaze flickered to you, then back to Kevin, as if weighing his words carefully. "An artist," he murmured. "I see." His voice was smooth, but there was something behind it, something unnerving. "And what exactly do you think you can offer my daughter ? Surely, it’s not just...paint and clay."

Kevin chuckled, leaning back with a smirk. "Mate, I’m not trying to sell you on anything. Your daughter and I ? We’re happy. She doesn’t need anything more than that."

The casual nature of Kevin’s response didn’t sit well with Eddie. Not at all. Eddie was a man who believed in control, in devotion—complete devotion. And the way Kevin spoke, the way he carried himself, was far too relaxed. Far too easygoing for Eddie’s taste. His smile faded as he took a step forward, his voice lowering, though no less calm.

"Happiness is fleeting, young man," Eddie said softly. "It’s a fragile thing. And people like us… we know how easily it can be destroyed." He let the words hang in the air for a moment before continuing. "You see, I believe in something far more permanent. Something stronger than happiness. Family."

Kevin’s eyes narrowed just slightly, but he kept his smirk in place. "Yeah, I get that. Family’s important. But don’t worry about us, mate. We’re doing just fine."

Eddie tilted his head slightly, his gaze never leaving Kevin’s. "Are you, really ? You know, family requires more than just a few laughs and smiles. It requires sacrifice. It requires understanding. And protection." His voice grew quieter, more dangerous. "Are you truly capable of protecting her ? Of doing what needs to be done to keep her safe ?"

Kevin’s smile faltered for the first time, and the room grew colder. He crossed his arms, his playful tone replaced with something more serious. "I’m not sure what kind of protection you’re talking about, but I’m not going anywhere. She’s safe with me. You don’t need to worry about that."

Eddie’s lips twitched into a humorless smile. "I don’t think you understand, Kevin. People like us—you and me—we know how the world works. The things it can take from us. I just wonder if you have the stomach for it."

There was a pause, and Kevin’s eyes darkened as he finally understood the deeper meaning behind Eddie’s words. "If you’re talking about what I think you’re talking about,"Kevin said slowly, "then yeah. I can handle it." He leaned in slightly, his tone turning more defensive. "Look, mate, I know what’s out there. I know what we do—what my family does. And I ain’t gonna force her into anything. I’m not afraid to do what needs to be done for her. But she’s happy with me, and I’m not letting anything happen to her. So why don’t we cut this whole ‘overprotective dad’ thing and call it what it is ? A pissing contest. You’re just pissed that your daughter has another man in her life. Makes her less easy to manipulate and control. But, let me remind you…Father of the year. You were absent for more than 20 years. Me and her ? We go way back. I have known her for even longer than you have. I have protected her. I have watched over her. Heck, at this point, she might as well start calling me Daddy."

Kevin smirked boyishly at the playful jab he had thrown back and Eddie’s eyes sharpened, and for a moment, his smile turned into something more sinister. "Oh, Kevin," he said softly, his voice almost a whisper. "This is no contest. I’m simply reminding you that no matter how much you think you care for her, I will always protect her in ways you can’t imagine. You may think you’re enough, but family…real family…is more than just protection. It’s control. It’s sacrifice. And it’s about knowing how far you’re willing to go."

Kevin’s jaw tightened. "I’d do anything for her."

Eddie suddenly took Kevin by the collar and yanked him so close that their eyes were inches apart. He wanted to see fear in that boy’s eyes. Maybe then, he’d understand. But when his blue eyes met Kevin’s dark ones, he only saw that same infuriating amusement…hiding his true feelings and emotions from sight…

"Dad !" You screamed in alarm and tried to get him off Kevin—but Eddie didn’t spare you a glance as he kept staring at the boy. Barely a man. Pretending to love his daughter better than he could…That weak pale and sickly-looking boy. That nothing. That nothing dared challenge him ? Eddie’s gaze lingered on Kevin for a long moment, as if testing the truth of his earlier words. Would that boy be capable of handling his daughter and protecting her from the world ? Their eyes stayed wide open as they observed each other closely. Then Eddie smiled—a smile that sent a chill down your spine. "Good," he whispered. "Because you’ll have to. One day, you’ll see."

He then released Kevin who took a step back. Eddie looked down on him with nothing but pure disdain. That weakling…

"You say you can protect her, young man ? How could you ever protect her when you are so weak you can’t even stay on your own two feet ?" He spat. He then walked away without saying another word. The conversation ended, Eddie had said what he needed to say, and Kevin gritted his teeth. That asshole !

After Eddie left, the air in the room felt heavy, the tension clinging like a thick fog. You glanced at Kevin, unsure of what to say. He was standing where Eddie had left him, his jaw tight, his hands balled into fists at his sides. The playful smirk was gone, replaced by a hardened expression you didn’t see often.

"Kevin…" You started, taking a tentative step toward him.

He blinked, seeming to come out of his thoughts, and turned his gaze to you. He gave a strained chuckle, rubbing the back of his neck. "Well…that went better than I thought."

You raised an eyebrow, crossing your arms. "Better than you thought ? He just threatened you."

"Yeah, I noticed that, princess." Kevin’s lips twitched, the Aussie humor kicking in as he tried to brush off what had just happened. But you could see it—the tension still simmering beneath the surface. "Your old man’s got a bit of a temper, doesn’t he ?"

You sighed, stepping closer and resting a hand on his arm. "You didn’t have to provoke him like that."

Kevin let out a sharp breath through his nose. "I wasn’t gonna stand there and let him destroy whatever good thing we got going on." His dark eyes met yours, the humor slipping away again. "I know he’s your father, but he doesn’t get to waltz in here after twenty-something years and think he owns you."

You knew Kevin had a point. Eddie had barely been a part of your life, and now he showed up, acting like he could dictate your relationships. But still…there was something unsettling about the way Eddie had looked at Kevin, the cold calculation in his eyes. You knew Eddie was protective in a twisted, possessive way, and it made you uneasy.

"He’s…" You trailed off, unsure of how to explain your father to Kevin. How could you ? Eddie wasn’t someone you could easily describe. He was obsessive, controlling, and yes, dangerous. But he was also your father.

Kevin sighed and offered you a weak smile.

"Hey. I get it,” Kevin said, softer now. He placed a hand over yours. "Family, right ? It’s complicated. Trust me, my family’s no walk in the park either." He chuckled bitterly. "You’ve met Hannibal Sr. You know what I mean."

You nodded, a small smile tugging at your lips. Kevin’s family—the Hannibals—were just as twisted, just as complicated. Hannibal Sr, the father figure to Kevin, was cold and calculated, much like Eddie, but in a different way. Where Eddie’s protectiveness came from a place of obsessive love, Hannibal Sr’s protectiveness came from control, logic, and detachment. It was almost eerie how similar they were, though they didn’t even know each other.

"Eddie and Hannibal Sr." you muttered, shaking your head—a small smile playing on your lips. "They’d get along disturbingly well."

Kevin snorted. "Yeah, well, that’s the last thing we need. Two control freaks plotting over our relationship. I’d never hear the end of it."

You both shared a brief laugh, but it didn’t quite erase the lingering tension. Kevin’s gaze softened as he looked at you, his hand moving to cup your cheek.

"I meant what I said," he murmured, his tone serious now. "I’d do anything for you. I don’t care what your dad thinks, or what he threatens. You’re mine. And I’m not letting him take that from us."

Your heart swelled at his words, and you leaned into his touch. "I know. And I’m not letting him take you from me either."

Kevin’s lips brushed your forehead, lingering there for a moment before he pulled back. His expression was still tense, but there was a fire in his eyes now, a determination that reassured you.

"I don’t care how many ‘fathers’ come out of the woodwork, princess," Kevin said, his voice firm. "I’m not scared of him. Not of anyone. He’ll learn that real quick."

You gave him a small, grateful smile. But deep down, you couldn’t help but worry. Eddie Gluskin wasn’t someone to underestimate. And now that he knew about Kevin, you knew he wouldn’t just sit back and let this go.

"I’ll talk to him," you said softly, almost more to yourself than to Kevin. "I’ll make him understand."

Kevin nodded, but the look in his eyes told you he wasn’t convinced. "Just be careful. That bastard knows how to play fiddle all too well. Don’t let him get into your head."

You sighed, knowing Kevin was right. "I will."

But as you stood there in Kevin’s arms, the weight of the situation pressed down on you. You weren’t sure how you were going to handle Eddie. You weren’t sure if you could make him understand. But one thing was clear—you weren’t going to let him tear you and Kevin apart.

[kaccvcate]

When I was growing up, my mom never told me I was native or Jewish. Even though the only Europeans in my family were dads who abandoned us (I come from an unbroken line of single mothers going back to my Muskogee great-great-grandma), I was only told about my european heritage, and my mom even taught me to hide my accent in public so people wouldn't know. She was so ashamed of where we came from because of how she was discriminated against in college and grad school. She was an anthropologist, and I'm sure other anthropologists will confirm how racist the field was until very recently - it was crazy how she would tell me these stories from her textbooks, which reflecting on later I realize were incredibly racist and condescending (especially whatever book they made her read on Australian Aboriginals.) She even gave me a German name specifically because she thought it would make my Jewish dad abandon me, she wanted me to be white so badly. And she wasn't afraid to abuse me in other ways to get me to act "civilized." She herself was very fair skinned and redheaded, and I think she felt that if only she wasn't native, then she would have been treated more kindly by people and given more opportunities in school and her career. When I ran away from home, I got to meet my dad, who is Choctaw and Jewish and grew up in New England, and he taught me to be proud of ALL my heritage, not just my white ancestors. If I didn't have him, I might have gone on to be a fakey wannabe nazi too, since my mom basically was one without the swastikas. I didn't learn she was native as well until I talked to my grandma about it after I got out of the mental hospital a couple years ago. I tried to kill myself like every young native person I know (I even know a few who managed to pull it off.) A lot of native people come from horribly self-racist, self-hating backgrounds, it is EXTREMELY common, especially in families that understandably never registered with the government to recieve reparations (requiring registration of minorities is something the Nazis did as well, and Native Americans were the first to be rounded up and put in camps.) Genocide is not just physical, it's psychological as well. I often read stories about Jewish people who had to go into hiding for many generations, like in Spain, how they recovered their culture afterward and learned to be proud again. It gives me a lot of hope.