#but like. why are they all in finland

[onrainynights]

apparently 93 people in finland listened to one of my songs. hello why are you guys here what is happening

[ratatatastic]

If you could be anyone of your teammates who would it be and why? Panthers Cut.

[drev-the-procrastinator]

Like. ok

ok 15 12s from the juries and zero (0!!!!!) 12s from the public taking the win from 2 12s from the juries and 18 12s from the public. ok. ok. sure

[valoale]

My current address is in Silent Hill

[council-of-beetroot]

I had a silly thought of Francis and Feliks getting into a catty fight with each other and Feliks claps back at Francis with, "At least I'm a natural blond. Box dye really does you wonders huh?"

(I love the hc that Francis is more of a naturally light brunette/dirty blond and dyes his hair constantly)

True! Feliks is more blond naturally than Francis but here's my hypothesis is that he's the type of blond whose hair gets quite dark in the winter so he's nearly almost blond but not quite and since the sun disappears for half the year in Poland, it's not going to get more blond, and Feliks has to get highlights but don't tell anyone that.

In the latest volumes of Hetalia Feliks' hair is like way more blond than normal

[lordbrezel]

ESC shouldn't have jury votes. Just let the people vote. We don't need some boomer "music experts" to tell us some bland song is good.

[twpsyn-who]

Talking a little bit about 'boycotting Eurovision' under Keep Reading, feel free to scroll down if is not what you want to see.

The most used argument on the matter of banning Israel from Eurovision is the fact that Russia got banned from Eurovision, which is the worst argument anyone could bring.

Kindly reminder that Russia didn't get banned because of the war with Ukraine. Russia got banned because many countries has threatened to withdraw from the competition. Sadly, that's a big difference.

Yes, the countries has threatened to withdraw because they support Ukraine and see Russia as the party in the wrong. That was their reason. EBU's reason for banning Russian was because those countries threatened to withdraw, not because the war was bad and Russia must be stopped.

This situation isn't the same. Why? Because many countries support Israel in their genocide. Because this time around Palestine is the party in the wrong. Because we're taught to believe that Israel isn't in the wrong here.**

Boycotting Eurovision won't work. There are people out there who don't know the truth and want to watch Eurovision. There are people out there who don't care and will watch Eurovision regardless of the situation. There are people out there who, despite having the facts, still don't see Israel as the bad guy in this situation and will watch Eurovision. Sadly, boycotting won't work unless everyone does it.

The only way Israel will get banned, in my opinion, is by going through the same thing as Russia. If other countries threatened to withdraw- and not any countries, but the ones investing the most in Eurovision, then yes. That will get Israel banned.

Otherwise? The only thing we do is hurt artists that don't deserve it. Artists who use Eurovision as a way to get more exposure and experience. Artists who deserve to be heard.

Don't vote for Israel's entry. Don't stream their song either. Heck, turn off the TV when is their turn to perform.

**This whole situation (the war, not Eurovision) isn't only black and white. Civilians die daily because of this, all of them from both sides. Innocent people who has no fault. Let's not forget that

[comradecowplant]

so things are not going well with my new elderly socdem friend unfortunately.

[aroaceofthesea]

Ok so today was kinda crazy over here (in barcelona) so here's a bit of an explanation of what happened bc i have nothing better to do: (apparently its been in the news in quite a few places outside spain too but like most of the articles were wildly in favor of spain on this so this is like. what it looks like from the other side. some context and then what happened and some personal commentary lol)

Ok so Catalunya is a part of Spain that for a long time has been oppressed so a considerable amount of people want independence. In fact it has always been a very important factor when voting etc for some people even more than right wing or left wing (we used to have nothing like your republican party here now there is but thats not the point)

Ok so today's drama actually started on 2017 the 1st of october. The democratically elected catalan government for once kept their promises and organized a referendum to see if the majority wanted independece or not, even though the spanish government declared it illegal

Anyways a lot of shit went down, a lot of police brutality and an overwhelming 97% yes (though thats mostly bc the people against independence were generally against the referendum and didn't vote but that's on them) then the government declared independence like a week or so later (then they took it back after 8 seconds💀)

Okay so then like 1 hour after that the spanish government applied an article from the constitution (which has been around since the dictator which most people in power were supporters of died) that allowed them to override the democratically elected government and put whoever they chose in power which you know. very democratic thing to do (the party the spanish president was from had literally 8 of 135 representatives in catalunya just so you get an idea)

Anyways eventually they judged the representatives in the democratic government and it was clear they were going to get a lot of jail time. Some of them stayed here and got up to 9 years of jail i think it was? but some of them didn't want to risk this and also recognition from other countries mattered a lot to us at the moment so they went to different european countries each. Spanish judges of course sent euroorders which basically is they judge them in that country and decide if they should send them back

Off the top of my head, they've been in belgium, the uk, switzerland, denmark, finland, austria and germany and they were found not guilty in each. of. them. however meanwhile the ones who stayed got so many years of jail..... sus huh

Anyways that was many years ago during this time the president at the time traveled around those countries, became a MEP (he was in the eu parliament) and got immunity then gave that up to be in the catalan parliament this spring

And like, all these years the big campaign for his political party was like okok i promise this time im not lying uwu hes really gonna come back this time and it was always a lie but like this time apparently it wasnt :)

So today was the day they were supposed to vote for the new president, and he was supposed to vote bc he was elected etc anyways they were like not clickbait!! he's really coming this time!! Go protest in front of the parliament for when they detain him!!

And ok so the protest was supposed to start at 8am but until like 9am nothing happened then they were like everyone welcome the president!! And the motherfucker appeared in front of everyone (this man was supposed to be arrested like. the minute he set foot in spain) and gave a speech like oh im back they will probably detain me today but dont let that stop you blahblahblah anyways eventually they were like ok make a path and let's all bring the president to the parliament together!! (this guy will always be president in our hearts)

So anyways we created this path they came etc we all knew they werent going to detain him then but we were all kinda hoping they would bc it was better than them detaining him later and all the members of his party went through there all the cameras etc except. it was just a decoy

So no one knew this except probably the members of his party and the 3 or 4 ppl that helped him escape but the man just. disappeared like legit no one knows where he is yet

And like at first it was weird like i havent seen him but i must have missed him and thats it right? except it was this for everyone but still it seemed like a conspiracy theory yet when we talked about him maybe having left anyways the police didnt even know something was wrong until the session started and the guy just. wasn't there. after giving a speech in front of everyone in front of the parliament

Anyways who knows what happened and in what order but we kept protesting they arrested a policeman who had helped the president escape with his car, they even activated the fucking terrorist protocol and started what's apparently called operation cage where they just. Check every single car (including the trunk bc they are traumatized by a joke that last time he left it was on the trunk of a car) coming in or out of the city and in or out of the country. Read that again. The terrorist protocol for a politician from 7 years ago on an 8 of august around 11 am causing massive retentions fucking everywhere at infinite degrees celsius (idk who looks more like a terrorist in here man)

And like. What they wanna judge him for isn't even legal now? Like a couple years ago they approved a law that idk exactly what it said but basically if they hadn't kept the money for themselves it wasnt a crime (and yes it was retroactive) but the judges decided that since their capital hadn't decreased bc of it then it had obviously increased (it didnt it just. stayed the fucking same) so yeah they could still obviously go after him

Anyways i hope he makes it out of the country and gets the fucking pleasure to mock the entire country laugh at their faces as he somehow makes it out once again

Puta espanya i visca catalunya thanks for reading lol

[thermodynamic-comedian]

everytime i get even slightly sick i like to take the opportunity to start acting like im actually losing my mind, like any semblence of coherency and sense that i had is just completely gone.

[mitamicah]

.

[ratatatastic]

scare the hoes more and keep yapping about ekky (& others) getting used to maffhew, it delights me. and say even more about how sasha handles this feral and sweet omega that gets dropped into his orbit. smth smth “feels like i’ve known him 10 years” or whatever vows sasha recited to the press, cameras, and god

apparently we are taking more tumblr user ratatatastic abo yap thoughts for 500 may god hear our screams up wherever he is. big man in the sky you fuckin owe me one.

i think theres so much in particular to say in concerns of 1619 and how quickly they gelled irl but even more so in an abo au

ive always enjoyed when people assign matthew stronger scents that take getting used to if you don't like it already and i know ive read a fic where his scent notes did skew towards stronger cinnamon foods/drinks

anyways on that note it wouldnt surprise me that sasha takes so easy to this spicy little omega.

Like of course he does, he smells like the pastries he used to eat back at home, the pastries he eats now because he's found an established Finnish bakery down here that makes them homemade every morning, the bakery he likes to frequent with the other Finns when he can.

Is it ever a wonder that the cute omega that sent him such a terribly sweet text when the trade news broke out (you know, after the initial excitement worn off because Sasha does chuckle at memory of the brash "Fucking, right!" that pinged on his phone the very first time from an unknown number) smells like... home... No matter all the rumours that have swirled around Matthew, the rumours Sasha has personally experienced himself playing against him...he smells nostalgic. Like Sasha could be at home right now—you know, home home—lounging outside his cottage with tea and pastries on the little table that he's set out. The warm cinnamon that wafts from the typically sterile room they've assigned for pressers smells divine, for lack of a better word. It smells indulgent. Because Sasha can't have those homely pastries all the time, what, with his training regiment.

It's why he doesn't quite believe it that Matthew's the one that's the centre of it all. He's absolutely convinced he's hallucinating because the season is about to start and he's had to cut back on all his favourite sweets as much as it pains him to but for the betterment of the team? He'd do anything. And yet despite the way he rubs at his nose to at least try to clear it, he smells that cinnamon. That cinnamon that's definitely coming from new omega they traded over who's laughing so obnoxiously at the lectern they have set up that if his scent didn't catch your attention, his loud mannerisms certainly did. His voice is practically bouncing off the walls in big loud echoes that should hurt Sasha’s ears. Emphasis on should. As it is he finds his heart melting more than it should instead.

It's been quite a long time since someone's scent has moved him this much. All the people that have, have been in his life for so long he's forgotten what it's like to feel instant scent compatibility. His nostrils are flaring and he's trying his best not to open his mouth to huff in big gulps of it because it's rather impolite to be so obviously scenting the new guy. It could be misconstrued as Sasha taking offence to the new presence in the room.

Some part of his brain is still trying to catch up to the idea that Matthew even smells at all because the first time he met him (down here for some joint offseason ice-time) he didn't particularly smell like much, if at all really. Whether it's because he put on blockers to not intrude on pack territory until he smelled more like them, or he was still on suppressants even in the summer, Sasha wasn't sure and he definitely wasn't going to ask about it.

Known him for 10 years? He feels like he's known him his whole life. But 10's a safe number, 10's a number that won't scare off this new omega, right? 10's a number that conveys "As Captain I want this to work out, I'm opening up my pack for you, I won't shun you, you're welcome here," and not "If I stick my nose in your neck right now to scent you, they're gonna have to forcibly evict me from the new home I've found in you, and it's not gonna be a pretty outcome."

It's also why he's a little nervous when Media Day is over because despite how much it dragged along in years past it practically blitzed by and now Sasha has to—

You know, properly scent the new addition. Give them the purring acceptance of their Pack leader's scent to carry with them. And it's nothing big, it's just some chaste wrist rubbing... something subtle and not too overwhelming for everyone: the pack, and the newcomer alike. It's not like Sasha is going to mouth at Matthew's neck glands. He doesn't think he can even handle that right now but that's a problem for future Sasha—for when Matthew is really part of the pack and not like a goldfish in a plastic bag being dunked into an aquarium to get used to the water temperature. He just has to rub his wrist against his, it's like basic Alpha etiquette. It'll be fine, mostly. He hopes.

And it's as anticlimactic as he thought it'd be: gentle reintroductions and reignited chatter of excitement about the new season that's about to start... maybe just with the new lingering scent of sweet and spice in the background as if someone lit up a candle without Sasha even noticing it. It's a struggle to keep his eyes from closing from how heavy they feel, from how relaxed he feels in the presence of this new omega he knows has pissed him off on several occasions as composed as he was about it.

Matthew presents his wrist in a flourish successfully managing to divert his attention back to what they're supposed to be doing all alone like this in the dressing room like this, "I'm sure you've been dying to do this huh, Cap?"

Sweat starts to break out at the back of his neck. He knows? Sasha doesn't think he's been sending off any signals that could've hinted otherwise but Sasha admits that he's well out of practise, he hasn't had to reign in his scent this much in such a long time, and maybe Matthew picked up his weird fixation—

Matthew waggles his eyebrows for extra effect an offbeat later when the joke doesn't seem to land the way he wanted it to.

Oh, thank Christ, he's just teasing him. It's a joke. He doesn't actually mean it in the way Sasha thought he meant.

"Yes. Yes, I have," Sasha chuckles in relief, shaking his head at Matthew's attempt to lighten the mood.

"10 years, or so I've heard, bud."

"You heard? Uh, listened to the..." he trails off.

"Kinda hard not to when the setup made it sound like you were in the middle of the Earth, my guy. I don't think my ears are ever gonna recover from that."

"It's the first day for everyone," Sasha lightly chastises, not particularly aggrieved at all but wanting to keep up the banter to stall for time, so he can prepare himself. Quite honestly he feels like travelled back in time to the young anxious Alpha he was breaking out into the league for the first time.

"Be gentle, I bruise easily."

"Right, gentle. I'll treat you better than my clothes on the delicate cycle."

"Is that supposed to be a line?" Matthew says in glee, his voice pitching into incredulity.

"Line like fishing?"

"Oh, come on! You know what I'm talking about! You've been in this country long enough to pick up on that!"

"Yes, yes, that."

Matthew shoves at his shoulder playfully. "Just go on and do the thing already."

"Doing the thing."

Matthew snorts but his wrist is limp in Sasha’s hold. And as much as it was a dumb joke he does feel delicate between his fingers like that. So delicate that when he rubs his own wrist against his—to transfer over their pack scent—he feels like he's going to break it if he holds onto it for too long. It's why he drops it as quick as he took it, hands scrambling to his sides in an effort to remain polite but also to get a handle on himself so his pheromones don't go haywire with the new stimulus. It's a bit of a losing battle because he knows his scent just. But he can play it off as the excitement of an Alpha being able to claim another member to his pack, it's a possessive kind of thing.

"Well, see you around! Call it a hunch but I have a feeling we'll be seeing more of each other." And the joke wasn't funny the first time, truly the equivalent of leaning on the office fax machine and going "You come here often?" to your coworkers who just want to get their work done—and just as sleazy too with the greasy grin Matthew has permanently stuck to his face but Sasha still laughs like he did the first time he heard it.

And it's only now that Matthew is gone that Sasha realises the room smells strongly of cinnamon, so potent that anyone with a working nose would be able to tell that. Like Matthew was doing his best to ease Sasha’s obvious nerves when Sasha should've been the one to calm the omega who's been uprooted from their own pack and thrown into a completely new environment, himself.

"Jesus, it reeks in here. Smells like cinnamon," Aaron wrinkles his nose, wandering back in after his own media duties were done, finding Sasha all alone in the locker rooms.

"It does?" Like he can't tell the room smells like the equivalent of someone knocking over a Yankee Candle into an open fire.

"Yeah, like an awful lot." Aaron scrunching up his nose, trying to fight off an incoming sneeze. "It's strong," he says without thinking, swallows before his eyes shift over to Sasha and then to the floor, "Not bad just... strong..." The I can get used to it is left unspoken between them.

"I like it," Sasha admits because if Aaron is confessing to things without thinking then he might as well too. They've known each other long enough.

"I can tell." Aaron snorts, "You reek too."

Sasha lets out a questioning little noise, tilts his head to the side as he silently urges Aaron to continue.

"You have no idea what cinnamon and cardamom smell like together, do you? I feel like I walked into a bakery when I should be at the gym right now."

"Is that bad?"

"For you? No, of course not," Aaron's eyes soften, and while his scent wasn't anywhere close to abrasive, it does lighten up just a tad bit in the presence of his pack Alpha. "For me? I'd rather dunk my head in a bucket of coffee beans." A bit of an exaggeration on Aaron's part but the wry grin he has on really adds to the fact he's just joking—just a little, maybe there's some truth hidden in there. He knows how Aaron is, the way he tries to downplay anytime he bristles about something. Peace and vibes, and all that.

So Sasha can joke as well, "Forsy's stall is over there," and motions his head towards it across the room.

"Oh, hilarious."

"If I was funny I would say jock."

"You know, what? I think I will hit the gym today, thanks for reminding me."

"Mmm, anytime." And when Aaron's half out the door he adds, "Ask the staff where they put the jerseys we used today!"

"I'm going! To the gym!" he echoes back, not bothering to turn around as he shuffles down the hall in a hurry, and decidedly not going in the direction of the gym. It's not surprising when he hears chatter pick up and shoes scuffing briskly into the direction of the laundry rooms.

[hussyknee]

27°C/ 80F + impending rain -> excellent! thank you!

90% humidity -> what the FUCK

Real feel 32°C/ 89.6F ->

[mita-vittua-olivia]

okay apparently i’m going to finland in two months !!

[twistedappletree]

i’m in that part of youtube again

[twpsyn-who]

Ok, but we all agree that Finland actually won, right? I mean, have you heard the public?! The hosts literally couldn't speak because of them chanting 'Cha Cha Cha'. And during Finland's performance???? The way everyone singed along????? Beautiful. Truly beautiful.

Is, you know, the jury once again fucking everything up. Like every year. I mean, if it were only our votes, Finland would have been the winner.