#didn’t even have to give the presentation bc the map was so impressive

[psychoticwillgraham]

randomly reminded of a history class project I had to do in 9th grade where I had to pick a European country and do a presentation on it but the biggest component was to hand draw a map of said country with the major rivers and cities labeled and my autistic ass took that as a challenge and picked Russia and ended up making THE most detailed hand drawn (and I mean like I tried to get the shape EXACTLY right to the point it looked like I’d traced it) map that my teacher had ever seen anyone do for this project and I hand wrote out all the unpronounceable names (in Cyrillic btw) and every. single. river and mountain range in the EXACT spot it’s supposed to be in and COLOR COORDINATED the map with a legend in the corner of all the different colors and symbols.

it was probably the size of a full sized dinner table long and wide regular map. just for Russia btw. got it in two weeks late and got a C for it bc of how late it was but he literally kept it for future classes as an example of what it should look like. that’s how autistic i was lmao

[meetmeatthecoda]

(star emoji) for Grifting With The Enemy :D

Pumpkin!! 🧡🧡🧡 Hello, my dear friend, thank you so much for your endless interest & support!! 😍😍 And for giving me a reason to re-read GWTE, which I haven't done for a loooong time!! 😂😬 (But, the good news is, it low-key got me inspired to hurry up & finish it!! 😏) BUT - in the meantime - here's some BTS info from my re-read under the cut, which is a lot - fair warning - since it's a 4 chapter fic & counting!! ❤️

LOL I forgot how stressful it is coming up with names for random extra people in fics, I hate doing that LOL But I did think it was important to open with Red NOT being a merciless crime lord who kills anyone who displeases him, cause - while he does have that side to him when necessary - that's not who Red is or wants to be.

I liked including that little moment with Red & Dembe about the parallel parking. I love those father/son & brotp moments for them, they're just the best. I tried to sprinkle those in wherever I could in Red's POV in this fic.

I loved the mental picture of Liz - with glasses & beanie a la The Harem - just leaning casually against a bookshelf the first time Red sees her... & he's immediately captivated, just like in canon. Especially with her eyes, I can't NOT write any version of Red that is not completely blown away by Liz's eyes, I mean, come on I also thought it was important that he thinks she's much younger than she is (intentionally part of her persona) & I'm looking forward to writing the reveal of her true age in a later chapter.

I loved writing a Liz that instantly challenges Red, already having heard about him (& more than that, as revealed in chapter 2) & point blank telling him she may refuse the job bc she has a say too. I liked keeping - & even amplifying a little - that dynamic from canon!Liz of always surprising Red & keeping him on his toes, all while he's trying so desperately to stay ahead of her & impress her.

I LOVED writing the brush pass scene - that moment where Red realizes he has officially underestimated her - & LOL I completely forgot I wrote that part about the condom LMFAO wow past!Coda, mighty daring of you 😂😂😂

Plus, I couldn't help the bonus bit about her stealing his phone & tossing it to him to end the chapter, that was just so fun to throw in there!!

I liked opening chapter 2 with Red still thinking about Liz, just to show how she captured his attention, even before he finds out she's been stealing from him. And I liked writing that revelation without any anger on his part, with him understanding it wasn't a full-scale attack on his empire, she's just a thief taking well paying jobs where she can get them, & instead it just shows him how talented she is. I thought that was an important thing to clarify before moving forward.

I LOVED writing Red & Dembe surprising Liz in her apartment, especially the part with Red's snooping & being confused & surprised by what he sees there. I loved kind of creating/designing Liz's apartment to showcase her true self, not her "young thief" persona that Red falls for at first. I wanted it to be clear that Red is fascinated by her seeming duality from the start (canon LOL) as well as just straight-up attracted to her (also canon LMAO).

Also I gave Liz a loft apartment cause I've always loved those!!

And I LOVEDDD writing Red super confident about surprising her & looking forward to taking her off guard by settling in on the couch & all that macho man stuff, only to be rendered fucking dumbstruck when she comes downstairs with no pants on lmfao & I included that little detail of her usually wearing a knife on her leg to show she's not to be underestimated 😏 & I couldn't help but throw in there Dembe kicking the back of the couch, that made me cackle lmfao

I think the truce was important to establish asap bc I didn't want any secrets or lingering animosity between them. That's for canon 😒 Only flirting & sexual tension here, thank you very much.

I had to include Red being a gentleman & asking if she wanted to get dressed, but I also couldn't resist Liz being confident & careless about it, while still hiding tactfully behind the counter. I thought that was a cute exchange.

lmfao of course, I included their coffee preferences being noticed by the other, I think that's an obligatory thing in any Lizzington fic ever, I'm so guilty of that lmfao

I loved the idea of Red being ready to start on a classic Red's Blacklister Presentation but Liz once again stops him in his tracks (while still secretly being impressed by his presence, of course, & I even accidentally switched POVs for no reason to include that?? nice Coda lmfao) as well as trading barbs & quips with him while Red feels awful & guilty at any accidental slights bc he can't bear to insult her.

AM&R vs. AR&M whoops typo lol

I liked the little snippet of dark!Red we see in their conversation of consequences for his enemies, that way Liz sees a little bit of what he's capable of & Red sees how she's not phased by it.

And that last little flirtation & wink to finish the chapter - lol can't resist

Ooooh, I loved switching to Liz's POV (fully ha) for chapter 3, I enjoyed describing how head over heels she is for Red already, that was fun. I liked writing about her lil movie day & chores she's completed, as well as fleshing out her AU past a little with Sam & her young grifting experiences. And her burning her popcorn while daydreaming about Red cause... same 😏

Ooooh, phone conversations are always so fun to write between them, I love trying to get that perfect mix of joking & sincerity & flirting & pining & pressing the phone close to their ear.

I thought it was important to keep (or rather re-invent, since TPTB seemed to drop it like a hot potato 😒😒😒) Liz's intense interest & respect for psychology, especially as a reason for being attracted to Red, since it kind of mirrors one facet of his interest in her. Not to mention Red thinks at first that it's just a useless, do nothing degree for her LOL

Ohhh, I loved establishing that mutual respect & friendliness between Liz & Dembe early on, that's such a fave of mine, I've always loved their friendship & thought it had a lot of potential. Liz loves & respects Dembe for keeping Red safe & Dembe loves & respects Liz for being so dear to Red.

Ugh, I LOVED writing Liz so completely disarmed by Red's relative state of undress at his safe house (paralleling her pants-less parade in chapter 2, of course) bc sameeeeeeee girl.

I also had fun writing Red blabbing on about some story as he often does, meanwhile Liz has already picked the lock on the safe, once again impressing & surprising him while she admires his different passport pics. That was so fun.

And I loved the quick shift to just a little animosity between them with Red insulting her lockpicks & Liz flaunting her thefts from him. I think those little spats give a little electricity & tension to the relationship, even if they blown over quickly, which they always do. And the fact that Red apologizes & they shake hands & make up is very refreshing to me (since they never fucking do it in canon lol fml) & also it's an excuse to write a little teasing physical contact & sexual tension 😁😁😁

And damn, I forgot how fun it is to throw a little teasing jab in there at the end of a chapter, just for fun - probably bc I'm allergic to multi-chapter fics & never write them lmfao wow

Ahhhhhhhh. I remember how much fun I had writing this whole restaurant scene, partly bc it was a difficult & long process (trying not to make all the flirting & physical movements repetitive while fitting in all the necessary dialogue in a semi-non-boring way lol) but also bc it was so fun writing their back-and-forth while seated at a table alone with nowhere else to go & nothing to distract them. I also wanted to take the opportunity to show Red's genuine interest in her as a person & let them spend some quality time together for the first time. I loved the idea of them losing track of time & Dembe having to come interrupt them with a knowing smirk. Also I def referred to the Olive Garden website for the food they ate cause I'm lame lmfaooo

I thought it was cute to throw in that Liz almost couldn't find Red when she arrived but for the fedora marker he placed out for her & then when she's leaving, she can feel his gaze on her the whole way out. Little parallels like that are my guilty pleasure 😁

Omggg I forgot about the end of this chapter, I remember I wanted Red to surprise Liz yet again & I thought the dessert snuck into her bag was a cute touch. Plus, tiramisu is a favorite of mine 😋 I also tried to make the vibe of this phone call a little softer & more tentative, not so much on tender hooks with lots of tension as the previous ones have been, showing how they're getting used to each other & falling in love at a break neck pace lol

Welp, that's all 4 chapters that are posted buttttttttt a sneaky look at my document that I haven't opened for an embarrassingly long timeeeeeee shows my sketch for the rest of the fic which revealssssss....... a detailed 10 chapter map with an epilogue!! Wow, I forgot I sketched everything out in such detail, this isn't too bad, maybe I should actually write this 😂😂😂 And I promise I will, hopefully sooner rather than later!! ❤️❤️❤️

Well, there you go, Pumpkin, I hope that didn't take you too long to slog through & there was something enjoyable in there for you!! 😂 Thank you so much for your interest again, my lovely friend, & getting me excited about this fic again!! 🥰 Much love to you, always, Pumpkin!! 🧡

Fanfic Writers: Director's Cut

[mirrorthoughts]

Wolf Heart 2/7 - AO3 - Steter

(On AO3)

(Teenwolf, Steter, AU, CW: Stalking, As in Peter stalks Stiles, Werwolf Mates, Not Beta Read)

Part 1

Today a little bit earlier bc I wanted to :3 Hope you like it!

______

Stiles let the card fall into his lap and stared against the ceiling.

The card didn’t answer any questions for him. Only one: Wolf definitely knew where he lived. How Wolf figured that out - even up to Stiles front door! - he didn’t know.

He hadn’t seen the man again after loosing him in the supermarket the evening before. Or at least he’d thought he’d lost him. But it seemed like Wolf had followed him to his door without him noticing.

Alright, he didn’t really like to admit it, but he kinda was impressed.

It might be creepy as hell to have a stalker, but Wolf's skills were surprising. In particular that he’d noticed Stiles at all. That still was the main thing Stiles didn’t understand. He hadn’t tried to be seen by Wolf. Even the thought of him trying to made him laugh bitterly. Why should a celebrity notice him if his own father couldn’t? If everyone else couldn’t when he didn’t want to be noticed?

He wasn’t used to being seen like that, to be in someones focus. Even if it was only one person. No, especially if it was ‘only’ one person.

He could be the center of attention if he wanted to. Though that was mostly for a whole group, like when he was giving a presentation. And shortly after he was done, everyone had already forgotten him.

Stiles breathed slowly in and out. Once. Twice. A third time.

He’d stay calm. He’d stay calm.

He wouldn’t get hysterical, just because someone noticed him once!

He collapsed into himself with a quiet sob, shaking his head in an effort to clear it. He would not have a fucking breakdown because someone finally noticed him for the first time!

He took a last deep breath, rubbed his hands over his face and stood up. Feet on the ground, shoulders straight, chin up. He would show this guy what it meant to focus on Stiles Stilinski! He would find out what was wrong with Wolf!

Stiles leaned down and picked up the card from the ground to put it onto the coffee table. Then he reached for the card in his pocket and for his mobile to save the number on the card into a new contact, labeled “STALKER - H.P. Wolf”, just to be safe. He wanted to get a warning if the guy somehow got a hold on his number. He didn’t know how that would be possible, but better safe than sorry. Then this card too landed on the coffee table.

Stiles went over to the desk on the other side of the small room. He didn’t have much, but he didn’t need much either. His two-room apartment was more than enough for him. A bedroom with everything guests shouldn’t immediately see inside and his living room and kitchen combination for everything else. He didn’t have enough money for more anyway.

He sat down at his desk and opened his laptop to use Google maps to look up what ‘Maria’s Garden’ was and where he could find it. Soon he had his anticlimactic answer: It was a café right next to a park. Exactly what the name had made it out to be. It was kind of disappointing, really. He’d imagined the invitation would send him to some kind of sleazy part of the city, a prettily named brothel, something, well, more dangerous than a park.

He snorted, amused by his own thoughts, and looked at the clock.

It was past 6 pm. If he’d want to, he could be at the café in about half an hour. Even walking wouldn’t take longer than an hour. Wolf had written he would wait a few hours, so he assumed the guy would be staying at the café up to at least eight or nine.

He could just go there and confront the guy.

He could also just leave it be and ignore him.

Alright, who was he trying to fool?

Stiles sighed, closed his laptop and stood up to reach for his shoes right next to the door, putting them on his feet and collecting in short order everything else he had taken off after coming home.

At least almost since he wasn’t insane enough to take all his books with him if he wanted to stay inconspicuous. Instead he poured everything from his bag onto his couch, only putting his mobile and wallet back into the bag. In the end he left his apartment again way earlier than he’d planned today.

He knew he probably played right into Wolf's hands.

But he also knew he had to do this.

Sue him.

He was curious!

It didn’t take an hour until he regretted his decision.

Wolf looked directly at him. And that despite Stiles spotting the man only just seconds before, himself.

He stood on the other side of the street inside the bounds of Maria’s Park, staring through the metal fence at the café he’d found with the help of Google and his smart phone. He felt like a deer in headlights. Hed deliberately taken the route through the park to stay invisible and even now he was half way hidden behind a tree, but Wolf still looked directly at him, a smug grin on his lips, sipping his cup.

Then, he raised his cup in a greeting towards Stiles, winking at him.

Stiles flinched and hid behind the tree.

What the hell?! How. Just how had the guy seen him??

Had he expected Stiles to take the way through the park? Had he seen him through sheer luck?!

It had gotten late and it hat started to get dark, but still the guy had seen him immediately!

How was that possible?!

“I have to admit, I was not expecting you anymore .”

With a surprised shout, Stiles stumbled away from the voice, getting stuck with his trainers in the near bushes, and painfully landed on his ass a moment later. Though he didn’t just stop there. As soon as he was able to, he scooted back, farther away from Wolf who watched him with a raised eyebrow and a grin.

“Wha- How- You were just- how?!”

He waved his arm vaguely towards the café Wolf had sat in front of just moments before.

“I walked across the street when the pedestrian lights showed green”

Stiles lowered his arm and stared speechless at the attractive man, whom he would love to throw a book against the head. If he’d had one in his reach. Alright. Maybe not a book. But something that would hurt!

“No shit, Sherlock,” he hissed through clenched teeth when he got a grip on himself. He surely was witty right now, oh wow. But how else was he supposed to react when he suddenly faced his stalker without any warning?!

And he was still being watched.

No, he didn’t think that the arrogant grin on the guys face was cute!

And then Wolf held out his hand to him to help him back on his feet and Stiles didn’t know if he wanted to take it or just knock it aside.

“Come on, darling. The ground can’t be that comfortable.”

Stiles swallowed. God, why did he have to have such a pleasant, deep voice? Not that he hadn’t known that after hearing Wolf on his reading.

He was pulled back on his feet and stared surprised at his own hand that had grasped Wolf's without asking Stiles if he wanted to. Startled, he let go of the hand, taking a step back to put some distance between him and Wolf.

“What the hell do you want from me?” he hissed again defensively and shoved his hands in his pockets, pulling his shoulders up to make himself small and invisible. The guy would surely soon loose interest in him. Any minute now.

The attentive eyes of the other man stayed on him and made him swallow.

Aaaaaany… minute now.

“I want to buy you a tea. Just as I wrote you.”

Alright, the guy had way too much fun with mocking him.

Again there was this teasing grin on Wolf's lips when Stiles eyes automatically jumped down and back up to Wolf's eyes.

“Why?”

The question seemed to surprise the man. Wolf's eyebrows rose, then he very obviously checked out Stiles body from top to bottom. Stiles blushed.

Oh.

Oh.

Oh no.

“I wanted to get to know you” was the public-friendly answer Stiles got. It made him laugh and shake his head.

“Yeah, sure. What do you really want from me? If you are looking for a booty call or something, look somewhere else! Sorry you went through all this trouble, but what the fuck, I never asked to be stalked by you!”

He flailed wildly with his arms, shaking his head, before he turned away. If that was everything the guy wanted from him then he was out.

And disappointed.

The fuck, why was he disappointed?

Who was disappointed when they could leave a stalker behind and close a creepy chapter of their day?!

“Hey!”

A warm hand grabbed him by his wrist and pulled him back.

With a startled sound, Stiles stumbled back, this time right into the arms of a certain attractive, nice smelling man.

Oh shit.

“I don’t intend to let you leave so soon, now that I finally got you, darling,” Wolf said with a smirk that lived up to the mans name. And no, no, Stiles didn’t think that expression looked hot as hell! Fuck!

He had to get out of here!

“And I don’t intend to let myself get kidnapped by a madman! Let me go!”

He tried to step back, to loosen Wolf's grip on his wrist, but Wolf's hand didn’t move an inch. How strong was the guy?!

“And what if I don’t?” Wolf almost purred, leaning closer to Stiles, his smirk getting wider.

Stiles swallowed.

Then he kicked Wolf between his legs.

[creativemessbyvd]

Worldbuilding in my Mamma Mia! Hobbit AU!

Hello! Thank you for taking some interest in my fic! Now, some explanations if you happen to be wondering how I incorporated the story of Mamma Mia into the world of Middle Earth! Specifically, where in Arda (or Middle Earth) our story will take place. If you don’t want to read so much nonsense from me, there's a TLDR at the end which I hope summarizes everything nicely!

In the movie and play of Mamma Mia!, the story is set on a little island in Greece, but that didn’t work for me for two main reasons: 1) I wanted the characters to remain in Arda, not be in our world and 2) I wanted them to also remain their original races. So, I had to move the story from a Hotel on an island in Greece to Arda, but where? And how to incorporate them being far enough but also within a small community as the hotel in Mamma Mia was?

After the War of The Ring

My headcanons, just so we are clear, are that not all Elves left Arda after the Ring was destroyed in LOTR, and with time, their world developed much like our own. So now, they have cars and technology and most cities that previously only had one race in them, now have most races living in harmony, even Hobbits!

After what Saruman did, Hobbits became more interested in the world outside, and many left the Shire to live out with their families elsewhere. And now, most cities aren’t only Elven, or Men, or Dwarrow ones, now you can find all the races in the cities of Rivendell, Lorien, Dale, even Erebor!

The World in LAYLOM

So, there are major cities with many jobs, people, cars, technology, etc., etc., but that doesn’t mean that all of Middle Earth had completely changed. Nop, most still the beautiful scenery we see in the movies, just the major places got upgrades but never at the cost of destroying their ecosystems. You could say that they didn’t fail their world as we did by destroying everything in their paths.

Now, I want to thank LOTR PROJECT for giving us a wonderful map and many more things on their site! If you haven’t check it out, you should bc it helped me out in picturing everything and of course is from where I got the next images I will present of where everything is in my version of Modern Arda.

That blue line you see? It’s the path that Thorin and Company took to Erebor, bc these wonderful peeps at LOTR PROJECT have got this mapped out! And also got all sorts of notes and other character’s journeys! You can even see family trees, timelines, and much more!

Here’s the link for the main site! And This Link is for the interactive map!

Now back my version of Middle Earth, while many things remained the same as we see from the map we know of, some places did come to be born in my version which I have marked here:

Rhosgobel (Blue Dot!)

Rhosgobel is, in LOTR lore, the place where Radagast the Brown lives. In the movies, we know it’s a little hut house in a forest, but it’s never actually specified and can’t be found in the maps we have of Arda.

I decided to set it closer to the Old Forest Road, so with time, it became a city after Radagast left for the Grey Heavens with all the elves. It’s very quiet and not all that impressive, and has mostly Hobbits, Elves and Men. Very few dwarrow, but some can be found around too. Now, it should be noted, that the Old Forest Road is not just a road anymore, bc Modern Times and all that, led it to be a train that can go the whole distance that the Road is in the maps. It goes from the Iron Hills to the Blue Mountains, and Rhosgobel is one of its stops (Red Dot!). So that is how Thorin and Dwalin managed to get to Rhosgobel. Now, our next new place.

The Halls (Green Dot!)

Not far from the city of Rhosgobel, we can find Beorn’s Halls or just the Halls. You guessed it, it used to be where Beorn the shapeshifter had his sanctuary with all his creatures. Beorn of course had his son and died many, many years ago, but his descendants never wanted their lands to become forgotten or to get too high-tech. So when some Hobbits looking for a new home came around, many were granted the chance to build a settlement that would keep the lands good and healthy with no changes to its ecosystem like it (had to for progress) happened in Rhosgobel. So, we have a mostly small, Shire-like new village that stands now as The Halls. Due to the promise to not let the lands be too changed, the only way to go to the Halls is via horses, ponies, carriages, or giant Eagle XD. No cars are allowed anywhere near The Halls, even if they are very eco-friendly. The Halls of course still need to have adequate food and other stuff not found in the village, so there’s the system of the carriages that uses the Rabbits to carry people and stuff to the Halls into Rhosgobel and vice-versa. And you know how that works if you read chapter two! So moving on to our last place!

The Carrock Hotel (Golden Dot!)

As I mentioned before, I wanted to have MM! blended into the Hobbit, so I choose the Carrock as the place where our main story setting is in, the Hotel owned and run by Bilbo. It is close to the Halls, but still it’s own place. It can also only be accessed by coming directly from the Halls via horse or walking, as Thorin and Dwalin are informed. It’s very much a blast from the past and is just getting into the technological aspect.

The people from the Halls and some from Rhosgobel also work and help out with anything that Bilbo might need, so they get food and supplies from both. Bilbo has made this place stand out all on his while raising a child, but it could still use some more guests. It would be a beautiful place if more people knew of it.

Thank you for reading and I hope you understood my ramblings! I love worldbuilding for my fics and being able to change things around while still keeping things relatively close to cannon materials! If you just stumbled upon this and are wondering what the hell I’m talking about, I recommend checking out my fic: Lay All Your Love On Me, a Mamma Mia! AU for the Hobbit!

 TLDR;

- Rhosgobel (Radagast’s old place, BLUE DOT ON MAP) is now in the Modern World of Arda a small city, serving as the port from which one can get to the Hotel like in the movie version of MM!

- The Halls (Beorn’s home before, GREEN DOT ON MAP) now a small settlement mostly of Hobbits that decided to settle there after the War of the Ring, keeping it pretty much the same, only with a couple of changes and nothing modern like cars. This is where most of the hobbits that work at the Hotel live.

- The Carrock Hotel (That Carrock from that scene, you know the one 😉, GOLD DOT ON MAP) Bilbo’s home and business, the Hotel is here in the middle of a vast forest and pretty far away from any major city, so everything is beautiful and green, but it is kinda unknown to everyone. Bilbo fixed it up and now runs it, and it is here our main story takes place.

If you know the story of Mamma Mia, then you have no problem recognizing how this goes, but if you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to ask me! Send me a message or post a comment! I’ll be happy to explain anything! I loved worldbuilding this here so the story would fit better in a Middle Earth setting!

[advernia]

the world in her heart, her heart in his hands

assorted sidenotes for the fic i made in response to an anon-sent aesthetic prompt! oooh boy, i sure took long on this one lmao...... _(:3 」∠)_

prompt #7: steady notes coming from a guitar nearby, fireflies dancing around the clearing, two sleeping bags close together, and a bright full moon briefly covered by a cloud.

so the core idea i had when i saw that prompt got requested was based on jonah’s say i do! route: he says that one day, he wanted to go to the land of reason + see the place alice was born and raised. tbh idk how the prompt even led me to that, but the imagery vibes i got from the prompt hinted of something like freedom. or something like lovers secretly meeting in the woods, which i sort of went by.

OKAY SO I SWEAR I FINISHED WRITING THE PROMPT (day zero!!!) EARLY (by my standards) LMAO.............. like, maybe a week after i got the ask or so? but then when i went about proofreading it i felt that it was... lacking??? i can’t explain it myself, but i didn’t wanna post it yet until i got that feeling cleared out - i tried revising + adding, but it didn’t help so i just started thinking about expanding the fic instead...

thinking about the scenes really took longer than i thought?!?!?! i wanted this request up early but i was stumped on what kind of scenes i wanted to see + how their lengths were gonna be.... plus i was thinking if i should go solely on narration + description........ or maybe more of dialogue...... then i jumped to holy shit what’s my timeline gonna be what cultural whatnot am i gonna emphasize and i think i fussed over those aspects rather than picturing the actual scenes LMAOOO.......................

great disclaimer: i have NEVER stepped into the uk..... or england + london for that matter ahahaha GET REKT tho i want to someday huehuehue....... i heavily relied my research on maps + history websites + train timetables to help me get through the touring parts so do forgive me if i messed up somewhere + butchered history haha..... i was thinking to make things vague, but since i’m always in for emphasizing the differences between cradle + land of reason, i decided to get a little technical with it......

i have to admit that i wrote most of the fic during breaks in work hELLA RAD........... i’m doing my job properly, i swear........ it’s just that when i already have a stable idea of what i want to happen, the scene becomes clearer in my mind. i wanted so! badly! to add scenes of jonah pronouncing words and looking at various things funny!!! jonah and his attempts to communicate with londoners!!! fussy jonah poking around a boutique, him being fascinated + studying displays of gun shops, or him accidentally offending the royal guard + constables LMAOOOOO but i couldn’t seem to write anything satisfactory involving those ideas........... ಥ_ಥ

back to the issue of timeline, i was picturing the london in this fic to be around the 1860s or smth.... but then i remembered that in edgar’s dramatic end letter, he mentions his fascination with electricity aka lightbulbs......... which were, like...... discovered early 1800s but only became common in 1882 ahahaha....... when i realized this i was already writing day 18 oOOPS so i just decided to go on and wing it I’M SORRY _(:3 」∠)_

on timeframe, i know that it’s very highly unlikely that jonah would take a vacation for two months. i bet the mere concept of a one-month vacation is enough to give him a heart attack LMAOOOO but let’s just say that red army told him to take his time in the land of reason, especially when they learn that jonah plans to formally meet alice’s parents. when he hears about this, lancelot tosses in the suggestion of proposing to alice while they’re in the land of reason, so that jonah can tell her parents about that too. jonah thinks it’s a fantastic idea..... so he decides to accept hot damn, a two month vacation!

whole route & lengths of stay (points streaked with red are mentioned within the fic minus nottingham whoops sorry):

london [16 days bc IT’S A BIG CITY LMAO (day 30 - 14). rides a morning train going to bristol on the 14th, arrives there midday.]

bristol [5 days (day 14 - 9). leaves bristol on the morning of the 9th to walk all the way to glastonbury, arrives there come late afternoon / evening.]

glastonbury [4 days (day 9 - 5). leaves midday of the 5th to walk their way to alice’s village, arrives there around sunset.]

alice’s village / ‘actual wonderland’ lmao [5 days (day 5 - 0). located somewhere in between bridgwater, taunton, and glastonbury. month 1 of vacation has ended.]

day log commentary!

thirty. arrival in the land of reason through falling - routes where alice does go back don’t feature her falling down london’s sky, so maybe she’s just... spit out from the hole????? idk haha so i altered it anyway!!!!! the landing scene was initially like this: jonah lands first, he catches alice in his arms, they banter a bit....... and then they suddenly remember the suitcase only for said object to fall right on jonah’s head LMAOOO....... it’s a cradle magical object that looks like a regular suitcase but will always be as light as a feather despite it’s contents + it has GREAT CAPACITY so jonah is actually okay!!!!!! i decided to scrap that scene concept though haha!

twenty-nine. does the hole to the land of reason only open around midnight or smth???? i’m sure it doesn’t, but i went with jonah + alice leaving cradle minutes before twelve o’clock, so when they arrive in london jonah gets to see the big ben signal midnight. is that planned on alice’s part? maybe. on another note, i’m assuming that a high-ranking officer + noble like jonah is definitely used to traveling to other countries so he’s definitely not one for homesickness, but i like the thought of him always feeling all sorts of uncomfortable on his first nights away from home - he doesn’t make a big deal about it bc he gets better three days in or so. idk, it just seems fitting for someone very particular like him.

twenty-seven. if luka’s hair is fucking dyed, my god (no wonder i found those light ends of his hair sorta funny), then here’s jonah excuse to adapt another hair color with the help of magic crystals LMAO - i always stick with a reality ensues standpoint, so his ikeman looks aside, i’m sure londoners would find jonah’s hair color (heck, maybe even his eye color) very unique. alice can’t deal with all that sudden attention lol but she somewhat proud that the man who has effortlessly captured the attention of the people of her world too is the man she proudly calls her lover ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)

twenty-three. now that i think of it, what exactly does cradle mean when they say the land of reason? are they simply referring to the city of london, or earth as a whole??? most likely the latter, but i’m pretty sure no one except blanc (and possibly ray bc that globe in his room lol) know exactly how large the land of reason is. anyway, not gonna lie, i wanted jonah + alice talking about novels by maybe the likes of charles dickens, thomas hardy, george eliot or h.g. wells. heck, maybe jane austen and charlotte bronte too!!!! but i had to scrap that bc gaps in understanding cultural & historical references + use of language, figurative and non-figurative.... it’s a shame about the last two though - i’m sure jonah can somehow probably relate to the society depicted in their books since the red territory sounds like your typical breeding place of victorian era nobles lmao!!!!

eighteen. sometimes when people learn / gain a deeper understanding about new things, they have the urge to brag about said knowledge to others - of course jonah wants to show alice what he knows about her world so far haha! calling a train a mechanical beast tho lmao..... he refers to it that way, but i think it’s his target of fascination in london!!! noise and possibly environmental issues aside, it’s very convenient + efficient and can cater to all, but what he finds most impressive that it’s a man-made locomotive!!! that’s something worth incredible praise!!! ( ᐛ )و

fourteen. actual train ride!!! hmmm.... i think jonah only panics maybe a good thirty minutes in when the train starts moving??? alice tries to calm him down by pointing at the passing scenery out the window + idle chatter until jonah finally relaxes himself.... but then he starts to panic slightly again when alice suggests that they look around the train and he’s like: is that even remotely safe??? what about our baggages, can we leave them unattended??? hey, i saw you snicker - how dare you laugh at me!!!

nine. according to google, an estimate of a walk starting from bristol going to glastonbury is 8h 25min. that’s for the present time though - would’ve it been shorter or longer in the past??? idk, but definitely one’s pace during the walk affects the total time, lol. since railroads only started out around 1830s + i made alice a village girl, walking really is her way to go. pedestrianism was still a thing around the 19th century!!! her stamina in other routes tho lol (ﾟ⊿ﾟ)

six. here’s my self-indulgent thing of wanting to add a dance scene, pt. 1 LMAOOOO -   the steps in the scene aren’t really from a certain folk dance in england, much less from glastonbury itself... i did look up on england folk dances, but i couldn’t pick one that i wanted to incorporate into the scene so i went with describing some random steps on the top of my head _(:3 」∠)_ ..... maybe someday, i’ll write a proper one..... on another note though, i suppose jonah can adapt quickly to folk dances, but he may come off a bit stiff at first in line / column dances where there’s the switch of partners??? i mean, there are formal 19th century dances that have that same concept, but.... the finesse + personal boundaries are all there lmao -  he’s not against the casual intimacy + show of obvious joy in folk + common dances though, it’s just more of that he’s not used to the informality of it all, i think.

five. plot twist: alice does lead jonah to her home, the cottage on a hill like she always described, but what he doesn’t expect is when she solemnly says that she’d introduce him to her parents she leads him to the back of the hill and in the foot of the hill he finds himself staring at her parents’ gravestones as she’s smiling sadly with a bouquet of flowers in her hand OH WAIT WRONG GENRE WASN’T THIS SUPPOSED TO BE FLUFF LMAO - kidding aside, i do hope cybird catches onto the idea of a story event of chosen suitor going to the land of reason with alice to meet her parents or smth!!! they did do a travel event in the jp ver, after all.... but i’m not keeping my hopes up haha....... _(:3 」∠)_

zero. self-indulgent thing of wanting to add a dance scene, pt. 2 - tho it’s in the latter part along with the prompt lmao!!! hmmm, i’m pretty satisfied with how this one turned out tho i had a little problem arranging the first half - the rest i relatively left untouched even after i added the rest of the days to the fic. hopefully, does well as a nice end to the fic itself..... tbh, the thought of summer dress alice + casual shirt & pants jonah both barefoot & running around like children in moonlit woods (don’t do this in real life folks) made me smile a lot. give me more soft-and-not-so-tooth-rotting-fluff scenes, cybird

also!!! since the prompt involved a guitar, i had a certain track on repeat lmao - you can listen to it here, and it’s the second to the last track titled umibe ni yurete (swaying in the beach)! (ノ^∇^)

and that’s all that i’ve got today!!! thank you very much for reading + hope you’re staying safe & well wherever you are!!!!（｡��◇≦）ﾉ

[earthdeep]

right so, holy shit this game is fucking amazing and kept my interest throughout basically the entire thing which considering my game completion save marked FIFTY-TWO HOURS is a gd feat. the voice acting was top notch barring maybe a couple characters talking too slow for me personally, but I, the pickiest fucker in the world, just let it play naturally for most of the important dialogue and like... that’s the highest praise I can give. the artstyle is something I love, the music is great and I’ve been humming it to myself when not playing, I loved the flow of battle (and am so glad to see canto on my horsies ;w; they have a PURPOSE!) and while there were a couple things that tripped me up sometimes, they weren’t big. the menus were kinda a pain to navigate sometimes for equipment management, and I had trouble properly grasping the layout of some of the maps due to the aspect ratio of the switch simply not letting me see enough vertically (I know I have the wonders of rotation and the overall grid view has returned after echoes’ conspicuous lack thank fuck). but as I said, little things. thank you predicted lines of battle thingies for covering my errors there.

but obviously well presented gameplay isn’t enough to satisfy me on its own! no, I’m here for the story and characters and world and... >:)

I chose black eagles as my starting route, bc edelgard seemed cool and I knew is canon wlw and also she wears trousers (well, breeches with tights, but close enough) and BOY was I not disappointed with my decision! if u read my rant on echoes a couple months back, u may remember my complaints abt how the story accidentally reinforced its world’s beliefs in aristocratic divine right to rule. but it’s as if the writers saw that rant I did and crafted the black eagle route in response. they set up the usual fe “some ppl are descendants of some other ppl and thus are magically endowed and Better Than You”, then made it abundantly clear the system that sustained was absolutely terrible and made everyone miserable, now have fun dismantling the aristocracy with ur emperor friend! and like it actually confronts its own world building and how at a base level, nobles are straight up more powerful bc of their blood (tho from a gameplay perspective I only found 3 of the crests useful: flame, cethlaenn, and indech, and I’m not sure if I spelt that second one right, oops) and then proceeded to have characters devote themselves to changing that or at least divert their properties to smth that’s not conflict. and I’m so glad the game didn’t turn around and punch me in the face with any surprise “actually the nobility is a good thing!” and let the characters be Good. no sudden power hungry edelgard as the final boss, she continued her campaign for a better world into the epilogue and ended her story on a happy and hopeful note. and sometimes u need a story where the revolution goes well and people live happily ever after.

and it helps when all those people are people you love and want to do well. bc that’s how I feel abt this cast. there are a LOT of ppl in it, but I’m amazed at how many I care about. even fucking sylvain grew on me. post timeskip. once he grew up a bit. honestly the students really did mature post timeskip and seeing that fills my heart with joy just thinking about. and the WAY they grew actually impressed me. it would’ve been easy for the writers to pull the ~war changes you~ card and paint grimdark over them all but they didn’t do that. instead u had them go from immature teenagers (and uh... straight up child soldiers in hindsight and THAT was a fucking fridge horror moment for me lol) to emotionally put together adults. hell, I’d argue hubert and edelgard got SOFTER over time! it was lovely going round and seeing edelgard snapping less, ferdinand backing away from his competitive streak, bernadetta being out of her room, linhardt considering his future, caspar considering his actions, ignatz gaining confidence- just holy shit this lot felt like they’d been developing themselves during the five years my character had been away. even if the only gameplay thing they’d done was fix up their weapons. and edelgard got a new axe I guess. that almost counts as training (u lazy fucks).

but I guess that leads up to what I’d been most worried about coming into the game, the romance. y’all know I’m partial to anti on main. but like... I didn’t really have that many red flags come up. there were a couple for dorothea and sylvain since they flirt from the word go, and manuela I don’t know how old either of us are but I am SURE I am too young for you. but barring that, the game really did handle it well. supports between byleth and students were trapped at low levels pre timeskip and felt very appropriate and aware of the power dynamics at play. and then post timeskip the dynamic really does massively change. everyone still calls byleth professor but it feels in name only. all other units function as faculty at that point and can train byleth in skills they’re good at, instruction periods no longer take place in a classroom but instead more of a boardroom. byleth effectively goes from a professor to the head of HR, and THAT is my hottest three houses take, thank you and goodnight. 

*panting* I have briefly emerged from three houses hell! but like, a good hell? a fucking amazing hell? srsly I've finished my first route and this might actually be my fave fe game so far

[temporiludi]

The Twelve Labors of Herakles and Overwatch (Long post)

So with the recent speculation about the 24th hero not being Doomfist, and the vague rumors surrounding a Greek hero coming to the roster, I decided to take a look at the Ilios maps in the hopes of finding something worth discussing, and I think I found something interesting. 

So if y’all aren’t familiar with the Labors of Herakles (Romanized and often referred to as Hercules, but I’m going to stick with the Greek spelling), I’ll give a brief summary. One day, Herakles was driven mad by Hera, the Queen of the Gods, and in his madness he slew his wife and children. As penance, he was instructed to serve under King Eurystheus for twelve years, performing whatever tasks were asked of him. After his service, he would be rewarded with immortality. So begins the famous Twelve Labors (originally ten, but became twelve because Eurystheus is an asshole), and where the connections to Overwatch begin to surface.

The Ilios maps are covered in Greek, mostly in the form of street and shop signs, so I decided to do some translating to find out what they actually say. While tons of them are words you would expect to find on restaurants and other retailers (such as cheese, wine, flower shop, baths, etc.), a good portion of them make connections to Greek mythology, the Twelve Labors of Herakles in particular:

The first labor was for Herakles to slay the Nemean Lion, a ferocious beast that captured women and devoured whomever tried to rescue them. On Ilios, we see Οδός Νεμέας, “Nemean Street.”

The second labor was for Herakles to slay the Lernaean Hydra. On Ilios, we see Οδός Λέρνης, “Lernaean Street.” (Because Herakles' nephew Iolaos aided him in defeating the Hydra, this is the first of two labors that “didn’t count.”)

The third labor was for Herakles to capture the Ceryneian Hind, a golden stag of Artemis. On Ilios, we see Οδός Κερύνειας, “Ceryneian Street.”

The fourth labor was for Herakles to capture the Erymanthian Boar. I couldn’t find any analogue for this on Ilios, but there is Τα βαρέλια του Ηρακλή, meaning “The Barrels of Herakles,” which may have to do with the scene where Herakles returns to Eurystheus with the captured boar. Eurystheus is so afraid that he hides in a storage jar (πίθος), which is almost like a barrel?? It’s a bit of a stretch to be honest, but at the very least it mentions Herakles, so that’s worth noticing.

The fifth labor was for Herakles to clean the cattle stables of Augeias in a single day (a rather mundane task at first glance, but these stables held over 3,000 immortal cows and hadn’t been cleaned in over 30 years; 3,000 cows x 30 years = a lot of poop). On Ilios, we see Οδός Αυγεία,  “Augeian Street.” (This was the second labor that “didn’t count,” due to the fact that Herakles rerouted two separate rivers to clean out the stables instead of using his own hands to clean them himself.)

The sixth labor was for Herakles to slay the Stymphalian Birds, dangerous creatures with razor sharp feathers that resided in a swamp in Arcadia. Unfortunately, I couldn’t find anything on Ilios to match up.

The seventh labor was for Herakles to capture the Cretan Bull, the bull that fathered the Minotaur. I couldn’t find anything referencing Crete or a bull in particular, but there is a steakhouse (Ψησταριά Σελήνη, lit. “Moon Steakhouse”). I’m not sure about the connection to the moon, however, so this is another stretch.

The eighth labor was for Herakles to steal the Mares of Diomedes, four insane, flesh-eating (and possibly fire-breathing) horses. Yet again, I couldn’t find any connections to Ilios for this one.

The ninth labor was for Herakles to retrieve the girdle of Hippolyta, which signified her authority as the Queen of the Amazons. On Ilios, we see  Οδός Ιππολύτης, “Hippolyta Street.”

The tenth labor was for Herakles to steal the cattle of Geryon, a three-headed Giant. On Ilios, we see Οδός Γηρυόνη, “Geryon Street.” Interestingly enough, the Sun God Helios (Ἥλιος), from which Ilios gets its name, is mentioned in this labor. Herakles is frustrated with the heat from the sun, so he shoots an arrow at it. Helios is impressed at his courage, and gives him use of his sun-pulling chariot to cut across the Libyan desert.

The eleventh labor was for Herakles to steal apples from the Hesperides, a collection of sunset Nymphs that tend to a garden in the far western corner of the world. On Ilios, we see Οδός Εσπερίδων, “Street of the Hesperides.”

Finally, the twelfth labor was for Herakles to capture Kerberos, the multi-headed guard dog of the Underworld. On Ilios, we see Οδός Κερβέρου, “Street of Kerberos.” This is probably the most famous of all of his labors. And it was with this final labor (which Eurystheus believed to be impossible in the first place) that allowed Herakles to be freed from his service and be forgiven for his crimes.

And while that’s the end of the labors, there’s an addition connection to be made between Herakles and Ilios. Some sources state that Herakles joined Jason and the Argonauts in their search for the “Golden Fleece,” which is also present on Ilios (Χρυσόμαλλον Δέρας). 

The connections between Herakles and Ilios end there, as far as I can tell. Other references worth mentioning (and references that I couldn’t figure out how to fit into the Herakles narrative) are: Ταβέρνα Ρόδος, “Rhodes Tavern,” which may have something to do with the Colossus of Rhodes, a gigantic statue of Helios that fell in an earthquake in 226 BC (the connection between Rhodes, Ilios, and Helios being obvious); and Ο Γνωστός Κόσμος, “The Known World,” which doesn’t have anything to do with antiquity that I can find, but is the title of a novel by Edward P. Jones set in the late 18th century having to do with slavery. I don’t know what that has to do with Herakles or the new hero, but it’s what I got.

So, with 8 of the 12 labors being clearly referenced on Ilios, plus several other references to Herakles and Helios scattered throughout, I feel that this evidence enough to claim that Blizzard may be planning something related to Herakles and/or Helios in an upcoming hero. While I’d love to continue on about other parts of the Ilios maps that could suggest more information about a future Greek-inspired hero (the Colossus, the Juno/Minerva statues, and the absence of the Venus statue that completes the trio, etc.), I think I’ll leave it for now. 

Let me know what y’all think, and feel free to share your theories and/or add to this one! Hopefully someone out there can take what I’ve found and go even further with it. I’m excited to see what news, if any, we’ll be getting about new heroes in the coming weeks.

[shakesonaplane]

Life, Love, and Music…on the Road Through Southern France

Bonjour (again)! With my most recent road trip through Le Midi (aka Southern France) with my friend / colleague (frolleague?) Rohan, I’ve decided to try something a bit different to recap. This was one of the more unique trips I’ve taken as of late, with very little planning, but somehow with just as much wonder and discovery. As a result, I felt that it warranted something a little more unique than the regular trip recap: an actual, written story. So without much further ado, I hope you enjoy the musings, theories, thoughts, and prose of our time in Le Midi.

The view got much, much better as we trudged along

“Airport lounges are like my new home,” says anyone who travels as much as we do. When at an airport in Europe I usually find a Priority Pass lounge, but with Rohan’s crazy Qantas status, the BA First Lounge is our first stop. I usually forget to act like I belong when I go to these, since Johnny Walker Blue Label is just free to pour at your own desire and there’s better food here than in most restaurants in London. Let’s just say, since we had an 8pm flight, we might’ve gotten to Heathrow earlier than planned just to partake in some libations. Along with coffee, pie, scones, dinner, I found myself making friends at a lounge by randomly making up drinks as they come to pour their standard G&Ts and Whiskeys. I haven’t decided of a name for the drink I came up with at The Lounge, but boy did I ever feel like James Bond when I explained it to someone and even said “add a twist of lemon at the end”.

The only real explanation for what’s going on here is that I have so very little shame in life

It almost felt like boarding the flight was a drag, though it was the whole reason we were at Heathrow. The actual travel to France was basically non-consequential, though. I think we talked about work or something, I can’t much recall, since I was still in a whiskey haze. Arriving to Tolouse airport at 11pm afforded us a fairly late start to our first real task of the weekend: a 2hr drive through the night to Béziers, where we’d secured a cheap hotel to crash in before the “real trip” started. To say that Rohan is a life saver for travel in Europe is an understatement: the man more easily drives stick than most Americans (regardless of the side of the road) and can magically stay awake with the right mix rocking in our rental car aka Ford family van. We really should’ve upgraded…

Pay no attention to the playlist names, most of them were entirely to stay awake / seduce each other

Around 2:30am, we made it, weary and (me somewhat hungover), to our tiny B&B Béziers. One restless night of sleep later, we embarked. I say restless, bc the dreams that plagued me would consume my mind for the first part of the day, and even be a great topic of conversation between Rohan and I. Given our histories and our cultural backgrounds, this dream I had about the future of my family and love life caused me some anxiety when I awoke, and inevitably stirred up a conversation. Love’s a funny thing to talk about in this situation, but when considering the state of the “new life” you both have in a country far from home, you can’t help but wonder what life has in store. I won’t get into details, but will leave with this overarching theory I came to: love is about sharing your happiness. No one owns it, but people affect it, whether they be family or friends or your partner. Love, in the end, is an attempt to find joy with someone, but never to give it up to someone else. We trudged along that Saturday morning to Agde for some breakfast, both caffeine and food-starved from the night before. In my classic traveling ways, I figured I’d look something up and eat there based on reviews. Little did I realize that this kind of trip didn’t need Yelp or Google or anything, just a knack for “finding the next thing…”

The quintessential French-shake look, brought to you buy a mix of Uniqlo, H&M, Adidas and baguettes

Control is a funny thing, because we aim to have it so much. In finding meals, we always want to “choose” a place. But how often do we ever just stop at a spot that looks good and eat there? I found this to be something I struggled with because I wanted to have the best meals and the best experiences in places I go (a relic of past traveling and relationships). Rohan is a different traveler looking for what experience fits the need at the moment and not fussing much, finding little gems that no online service could ever know about. In a trip like this, his way wins almost all the time, so we spotted a small bakery made our breakfast of whatever we fancied before venturing east to Montpellier. When we arrived, I can’t say I was impressed. Montpellier felt run down, old, and absolutely covered in graffiti. The beauty of it seemed limited to me…but as we walked through the rundown town to a place I had “yelped” (I’m told by Rohan I remind him of Aziz Ansari in Master of None when I say stuff like this), we came upon what can only be described as the most quintessential French scene ever. There was a square. There were people eating galettes. There was wine. There was smoking. There were people looking out of their Juliet balconies into the square. And there was an accordion player serenading everyone in a classically French way. I can’t make this up, and had to snap a quick “opening credits shot” for posterity.

Coming soon to an Indie film near you

As we finished our delicious Tapas meal, we decided to keep going from here, really doing our best to cover some ground since we had a ways to go. This wasn’t the most beautiful part of the drive…in fact, it was kind of boring, so it afforded an opportunity to converse more. The first thing Rohan said to me that I remember is “dude, get off your phone, be present” (in an Aussie twang which I can’t replicate). I think I have a good handle on not being phone-y (hehe) regularly in London, but wow, put me in a travel scenario and suddenly I’m more curious as to what’s going on elsewhere than I am in front of me. Granted, we weren’t exactly inundated with grandeur, but had I not put my phone down I would’ve missed such amazing sites as the walled off city of Aigues-Mortes and the rare/vintage car museum as we sped by them. Instead, upon glimpsing something astounding and in classic Louis Hamilton fashion, Rohan pulled some maneuvers and we ended up with some great Tinder profile shots for him

Beep beep, who got the keys the jeep, vrooooooooooom

I realized we were losing sun, so I pressed us to make our move to Marseilles next and we effectively avoided the scenic route we had taken earlier. French roads in the region are very well paved, but they are 2-lane experiences that take a lot of patience to drive. Heading to the toll roads seemed smarter, to give us some unadulterated 120km jaunts, but far less to see from the window. So a lot of musical options for the car came about at this point, and Rohan and I realized while we share a lot of the same tastes, there are many differences. A question-Spotify answer game arose as a result, to see just how similar (or dissimilar) we would be with some really pointed questions. This is a good road trip game to play with someone, as it keeps everyone jamming and teaches you about the memories and effects music has for someone.

“Give me your best Usher song” (My Way) “Girl group song from the 90s” (Creep - TLC) “Setting the mood at home on a date” (Thinking Bout You - Frank Ocean) “Favorite Kendrick song” (How Much a Dollar Cost…Rohan is a newly converted Kendrick fan) “Song you used to enjoy, but you can’t listen to anymore” (Folding Clothes - J. Cole…bc being in love hurts) “Bhangra head banger” (All of Ankur’s Bhangra Playlist) “Old school Puffy/Ma$e/Biggie song” (Been Around the World…bc I’m the macaroni with the cheese)

Marseille aka French Hollywood, kind of? Actually not really, but the sign is nice

We arrived into Marseille before dusk and saw biggest city of our trip thus far. Marseille, to my eyes at the time, was flat out gorgeous; it’s views, waters, streets, all of it. I was blown away, Rohan was cruising through the streets jamming away and commenting on how cool this placed looked; we both then realized we wished we had more time to spend here. Prior to arriving, I chose a random spot to map to and I couldn’t have been more lucky in choosing the Notre Dame de la Garde. Driving closer and closer, we realized we were just getting higher and higher, and soon we figured this would be one hell of an experience. After some amazing parking luck (“carma”), we trudged and ran up the steep walk and stairs (scaring some tourists on the way) and caught the most insane view of Marseilles and the surrounding areas. Fun fact, in the Count of Monte Cristo, Edmond Dantes gets sent to the Chateau D��If. Turns out, that’s literally a short swim from the city, so his entire imprisonment was in a place just out of reach of his home, family, and betrayers. (How’s that for a little literary nerding out?)

Pictures rarely do this kind of view justice…trust me when I say you should just go there

In my experiences with Ayahuasca in Peru (a story for another time), I had a thought that leads to me fully appreciate these experiences. As far as my life goes, having my breath taken away by the grandeur of the world is one of the reasons to be alive. These situations, when you finally rock up to the splendor, are some of the few times your mind goes blank and all you can do is experience the same amazement you had as a child, before the heaviness of our everyday started weighing on us. That child-like wonder…I’ve been very fortunate to make the most of these scenes, and I wouldn’t trade them for anything. As the sun was setting in Marseilles, and as we walked away from some lovely new Morrocan friends we’d made at the top of the church, both Rohan and I wished we decided to stick around Marseilles for the evening. In the folly of our attempt to plan the weekend, we ended up with a beautiful hotel reservation in Saint-Tropez. While this is a beautiful place to see, this time of year is not exactly high season, so the town was quite quiet. We made the most of our time there, though, with a swim, a lovely dinner, and Rohan learning how to lose his student discount on the new Pink shirt he bought at Heathrow.

The amount that I know about French wine has increased by exactly 1 bottle If it seems like there was a lot that happened in day 1, you’re right, and our bodies felt it. But that was the intention. Our second day was meant to be quick and we aimed to do what we could quite quickly. A jaunt to Cannes to see the Film Festival site, a beautiful drive through Nice that afforded us very little sight-seeing because parking was a pain, and then the final stop of the trip and the 2nd highlight: Monaco. Both Rohan and I deemed it important to see The Monte Carlo casino bc we are both huge James Bond fans, and also because it gave us the opportunity to dress up and walk through the casino as debonair-looking as possible. You might not have noticed it since I didn’t call it out, but the views and weather of Southern France had taken a considerable turn for the better, and Monaco was the finale to a pretty amazing 2nd half. Also, if you haven’t seen Casino Royale, please do.

It’s still kind of amazing to me that I actually took this picture, because I swear I’ve seen it somewhere else

Walking through the casino is like walking into the past a little bit, and I have to say Vegas doesn’t even compare to this place. The class you feel while walking through is quite another thing. I loved that it wasn’t a casino in the creepy sense: there was a massive clock, windows, and very friendly staff that chatted with us the whole time. While I will miss that €100 I lost at the blackjack table, the value was more than made up with the mid-afternoon Vesper that Rohan and I enjoyed (followed by the not-so-subtle photo shoot we had outside right after). 

Aunties, please send all relevant biodatas to me for anyone you think would make a good bride 

With the end of our trip in sight, we headed back to our car, exhausted from the immense amount of travel we covered in such a short amount of time. From our start in Tolouse on Friday night, we drove around 800km (more than 550mi) and saw 10 different cities. Nice airport could not have been a more difficult situation to navigate after all that travel, and the fact that the Gatwick Express wasn’t running did nothing to ease our homeward travel woes. But, the silver lining to this all was a lovely French woman who sat next to us on the plane and, in our incredibly multi-cultural banter, offered us some CaramBars as we dove into the various hilarious French puns that none of us actually got. I think I’m more enamored by French accents than I was when I first moved here, and I think this whole trip had something to do with it.

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If you wonder just where we went, how we drove and what we did, I created a map of our travels here. It was quite the show, and each stop has a brief story of why we went there and what we saw. And, if you fancy more photos, take a look at the album here. Au Revoir! Abhishek