#french… finnish… whats the difference am i right? | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

catboymingi · 4 years ago

Text

the dragon’s appearance - veninder chap. 4

navi/masterlist

story masterlist

pairing: mingi x reader

genre: somewhat crack, a little angst, fluff (FLUFF in caps); eventual best friends to lovers

word count: 7.1k

warnings: slight language

a/n: i’m back on my bullshit and also making y/n’s background way more specific than it has to be but it's about the ~storybuilding~. also i am running out of lyrics to summarise the chapters with :(( recycling?

hun er gal, hun er syg, den pige - that girl’s crazy, she’s sick

mingi didn’t even need to ask who this was, the way she spoke up telling him all he needed to know. and if there had been any doubt, feeling you tense up next to him immediately after hearing her voice was confirmation that it was one of the girls that had dared to call themselves your friends despite how they treated you. he was, in all honesty, fuming at her audacity, but this wasn’t about him, it was about you and resolving the situation as quickly and easily as possible. so instead of giving in to his emotions he replied, voice raised just enough to guarantee the professor would hear him: “oh i’m so sorry, i didn’t know there was fixed seating! i just don’t know anyone but y/n, so i thought it’d be okay, sorry again!”

now it was the girl’s turn to fume, and even though you still refused to look up from your papers you could imagine how the steam was shooting out of her ears when the professor told him that it was okay, that seating was free and that he could stay right where he was. she left, sending him a look that could kill, but he didn’t care. this wasn’t his issue - he’d be able to deal with whatever she’d have planned for him. he was just worried about you, because even though she’d left to sit at the other end of the class by now you were still tense, staring at your desk as if you weren’t even really there. the redhead placed a hand on your knee, squeezing gently to comfort you and let you know he was there, that you’d be okay as long as he was there, but before he could say some reassuring words the professor started speaking, and he knew he had to be on his best behaviour because he wasn’t actually enrolled in this class. so he just squeezed again before listening intently to whatever was going on right now. he didn’t actually understand much, but when he saw that you still seemed so taken aback that you didn’t even seem to have realised that class already started he began writing down every single word the professor said, sometimes having to guess just what exactly the word was when it was some scientific term, but trying his best.

it took you a little while to snap out of the state of shock your ex-friend had caused you, and when you did you realised you had no idea what was even going on. your eyes turned to mingi, who was taking notes as if his life depended on it, and who, when he noticed you’d returned to the here and now, moved his arm slightly so you could see what he’d written down and hopefully catch up enough with the topic to participate from now on. your eyes widened when you realised he’d taken your notes for you and was still doing so right now until he could be sure you’d actually be able to decently concentrate, and now it was you who squeezed his knee, an act of thankfulness, before you shuffled a little closer to get at least a rough overview of the topic of this class.

his notes were taken meticulously; you were certain he’d written down every single word the professor said simply because he couldn’t tell whether or not something was important or not. and these notes managed to get you back on track after maybe a minute or two of reading through them and listening to what was going on right now, and another minute later you were able to be your usual, question-filled self. mingi still didn’t exactly understand much of what you were discussing, but he felt like you had a much more straightforward way to talk about concepts, which didn’t make your points any less valid, though. you weren’t dumbing down anything, you just left out the unnecessarily elitist terms that he knew were so common in academia, so even he felt like he got a rough grasp of what was going on. it didn’t take much to see that you were a teacher’s favourite, and rightfully so - you brought up a lot of concerns, different points of view on what had just been talked about, and even to him, someone that had no idea about the topic, it was clear that you had a very diverse way of looking at the problem or topic and actually thought a lot about what you learned rather than just learning it by heart to pass the course. you seemed excited, interested, fully immersed in the topic, and it was through these discussions that he found out that you spoke at least three languages well enough to offer a different perspective on sociolinguistics based on their cultures and how the cultural norms found realisation in the respective language. he wasn’t sure if this was the average for this course, though, and he was the only odd one out, or if you were actually extraordinarily skilled in the language department. though it didn’t matter much to him, because either way he felt like you were a genius and he was a mere peasant watching two experts talk. not that he minded - this wasn’t his major, so of course he wouldn’t be able to engage in the same kinds of discussions as students who’d studied this for roughly a year already. he was just very impressed.

before you knew it (and before he knew it, which was maybe more surprising) class was over, and the redhead gave you the notes he’d taken for you earlier since he wouldn’t need them anyway.

“thank you so much for that”, you told him, smiling shyly because you were still kind of embarrassed that he’d had to take notes for you.

“i just hope they help” was all he replied, because it wasn’t a big deal to him at all. when you packed your things he noticed that the girl from earlier was staring at you, and to prevent you from looking around to see if she was he put his arm around you, guiding you out of the classroom like that while distracting you by asking just how many languages you even spoke.

“depends on how you see it?” not the reply he’d expected - you could speak a language but not speak it by matter of definition? it was probably a language major thing.

“give me the biggest number you can with a definition that makes you happy”, he told you, because he wanted to be impressed. not that three languages wasn’t already impressive, but you’d made it sound like there was more, and he was curious to find out more about that.

“if we count just being conversational, and we also count classical languages… like, eight? though my parents are immigrants so that doesn’t really count, because two of those eight i didn’t really have to learn, we speak them at home. three, actually, now that i think about it. i was the only kid in first grade that barely even spoke korean.” you laughed at the memory, but mingi looked at you wide-eyed.

“which ones do you speak?”

“finnish and swedish from home - my father is finnish, we moved here because he got a job at the embassy. and my mother is finnish as well, but with swedish as her first language, and she made it a hobby to annoy my father by speaking swedish with me when she was plotting something. then english, korean, i took japanese in high school but i think everyone did? some classical chinese because there was no way i’d be able to figure out hanja without that, latin from my mother because she thought it was important for whatever reason, and german just for fun. how about you?” and even though he was a little embarrassed about his in comparison depressingly low amount of languages spoken he told you, because you seemed excited to know, because he could tell languages were a big passion of yours.

“korean, obviously, and english, and i took some chinese in high school but wasn’t the best, so i’m pretty sure i forgot most of it.”

“is there any you’d really like to learn?”

he furrowed his brows at that question. was there? it wasn’t something he’d thought about, and now he was desperately searching his brain for any language he’d ever been interested in even when it wasn’t mandatory. you noticed his expression, though, and chuckled a little.

“it’s fine if there isn’t, you don’t have to make one up.”

“sorry. how about you?”

“there’s too many”, you laughed, “i’d learn all of them if i could, and i’m trying my best to actually at least start with that. but if i have to pick just one… maybe russian? or arabic? i’ve been interested in french, too. and spanish. this is too hard!” you were whining, unable to pick just one, and mingi thought it was adorable. he was grinning like some kind of idiot because he’d managed to distract you, to seemingly entirely remove the fear from your mind at least for now. you were either smiling or pouting, your eyes wide and excited, and he felt like he’d gotten to know you a lot better just through this conversation already.

when you arrived at the table the other boys were already sitting at for lunch you were still talking about languages, rambling on about your childhood and how weird it was to realise that on top of the three languages you were already frequently speaking with your parents there was a whole other language that everyone else spoke and that, while you could understand it, you had no idea how to speak. he was just listening, sometimes humming in acknowledgment, sometimes commenting or asking about a story, but mainly happy to hear about your experiences, and you were so immersed in the conversation that you didn’t want to stop, because he actually seemed to care about what you were saying.

“hey!” was the only acknowledgment anyone that wasn’t mingi got before you resumed your story.

“when they taught us about hanja, i thought i was going to die. hangeul was already so hard to write because everything is so small and then the new characters were even smaller!” the boy nodded in either acknowledgment or agreement, you weren’t sure, but it didn’t matter all too much to you, anyway.

“how is hangeul small?”, jongho asked; your comment had apparently piqued his interest.

“you put so many sounds into where a single letter goes in latin script!” you sounded so exasperated, but the others didn’t have the context of you not having grown up with korean as your first language yet, so they didn’t understand where the problem was. to them, hangeul was the regular character size and it seemed like it didn’t even occur to them that it might have caused problems for you.

“she speaks eight languages!”, the giant next to you offered as an explanation, and while it didn’t exactly clear up your distress about the korean script it did make it a little more understandable, considering how most languages (that they knew of) did offer a little more space for their sounds or letters.

“my mother read to me in swedish, and my parents taught me how to read and write swedish and finnish before i ever even realised that there’s more than one alphabet”, you clarified further, and now it seemed like a lightbulb had been lit above the boys’ heads.

“you’re not korean?”

“technically i am? i have dual citizenship. but my parents aren’t born here, if that’s what you meant.” the faces around you all bore the same expression of surprise at the information they just got, six ‘o’ shaped mouths and six pairs of wide eyes looking at you.

“say something funny!”

“jokin hassu. or något roligt, in swedish.” their eyes got even wider and san asked you what you’d just said.

“something funny?”

“yeah, but what does it mean?” it seemed like he was impatient, not realising that ‘something funny’ was in fact the translation of what you’d said.

“it means ‘something funny’. that’s the translation”, you grinned. “i didn’t know what else to say, so i just translated it.”

now oohs and aahs could be heard from around you, and they soon gave you sentence after sentence to translate, watching you as if you were an interactive tv programme.

seonghwa put an end to the fun when he reminded them that you hadn’t even started eating yet, and everyone started apologising immediately, but you just waved it off. it was nice to get to speak the languages you grew up with again, because you certainly didn’t do so with your parents, with whom you barely had any contact anymore at all. but now you should probably eat, if the growl in your stomach was a sign to go by - you could always do this again later.

“how was class?”, hongjoong asked with a slight hint of worry in his voice while you were eating, but he was surprised when you smiled at him without even the slightest hint of any negative emotion.

“it was good! though mingi really saved my butt.” you sounded a little embarrassed, and reasonably so - everyone was once more looking at you wide-eyed.

“you went to class with her?” it seemed like it was impossible for wooyoung to control his volume when he was excited or surprised, so he was near yelling the question at mingi, who by now seemed equally embarrassed as you.

“yeah. it was kinda fun, actually.” now the number of surprised eyes staring at him increased by another pair, because you hadn’t expected him to actually like your class when he didn’t even understand the topic.

“she’s a teachers’ favourite”, he then informed the others teasingly, and you playfully hit his arm.

“i’m not!” you genuinely didn’t think you were. you just asked questions when you wanted an elaboration, and participated in discussions when the professor started them. but you weren’t trying to make the teacher like you by acting a certain way; you were just genuinely interested in the topic, and it was hard for you to shut up when you got so invested in something.

“she is”, the redhead said in an exaggeratedly conspiratorial way, “and she’s a genius, too.”

now you yelped out his name - you didn’t like it when people praised you like this, because you didn’t feel like you deserved it and because it made you a little uncomfortable, made you feel like you were now expected to live up to the impression others had of you even when you couldn’t. but those feelings quickly subsided at his next words, being replaced with a mixture of shock and disbelief.

“do you think you could teach me the basics so i could take that class as extra credits?”

“you’re joking.” you absolutely would not believe that he meant it, no way. he had no reason to mean it. sitting in a class where he didn’t have any idea about what’s going on while you all but ignored him in order to talk with the professor couldn’t possibly have been nice enough for him to want to do that weekly.

“it’s your choice, obviously, but i think it’d be fun.” a smile accompanied his words, a smile that wiped out any doubt you’d had.

“i can try? no promises that i’m a good teacher, though.” and while you appreciated the bright grin you got in response the boy appreciated his friends’ reactions a lot less.

he felt his phone buzz and saw it was a message in their private group chat, from yunho.

[saint bernard]: someones WHIPPED

and everyone was quick to agree, which awakened the carnal urge to commit a crime in mingi, a crime that would reduce the amount of people in ‘hyung hate club’ to him and you only. he stopped himself before any blood was flowing, though, both because crimes are illegal and because he didn’t want you to witness that. but no promises could be made for when they were home alone, no one there to witness and frame him.

“put your phones away, it’s rude”, he ordered in a desperate attempt to get them to stop grinning at each other the way they were now before you’d notice anything, and because his attempt was a success he considered maybe leaving them alive. maybe.

the rest of lunch break was spent joking around and teasing each other, and ended with mingi asking you to text him the room where you’d have your last class so he could pick you up. and even though you were still anxious about being in class by yourself, with the people that obviously wanted to ruin your life, the fact that your first class had gone so well reassured you a little, making you feel like maybe it’d be okay for the rest of the day as well.

and it was, surprisingly. you were shot angry glares and had insults whispered at you in passing, but nothing bigger than that happened, maybe owed to mingi’s obvious protective attitude earlier. while they knew they’d easily be able to take on you, the giant was a whole other question. he hadn’t seemed intimidated at all, calm and collected, so they couldn’t even turn his reaction around on him. and the new situation required a new approach, which meant that they’d have to cut you some slack until that new approach had been developed. you knew this, too, knew that the current somewhat peaceful situation was a mere side effect of them having to adjust to the change in circumstances, but that didn’t mean you couldn’t enjoy it while it lasted. you were very aware of the fact that this could all too soon be over again.

still, you managed to enjoy the rest of your classes as well, and when you left the room after the last one had ended and saw a certain redhead waiting for you, as he’d promised, you smiled at him, and first when you saw his shoulders drop a little did you notice that he’d been nervous as well. but at least for now there was no need to, you were okay and nothing had happened. you still wanted to get away from the girls as soon as possible, though, so as soon as you’d said hi to him you took off, him following you quietly until you’d left the building.

“you’re okay?” it had seemed like you were when you came out of class, but your quick exit had sparked some worry in him again.

“a little anxious”, you let him know, “but nothing happened. it’s more being scared that something will happen.”

he nodded in understanding, wrapping his arm around you without thinking much about it and once more somewhat embarrassed when he noticed what he’d just done, but you just moved a step closer to him so it’d be more comfortable for him. then, you sighed, but he decided to ignore it, not sure if you wanted to talk about whatever had caused that sigh. when you sighed a second and a third time, however, each time louder than the last, he decided to ask.

“what’s up?” the way it sounded like the worry had sneaked its way back into his voice had you feeling a little guilty, seeing how there wasn’t actually anything up. you just wanted to tease him.

“you’re just so unfairly tall, i feel like i’m your arm rest.”

since this wasn’t at all the reply he’d expected it took him a moment to fully realise what you’d said, but when he did he started laughing before walking on with his knees somewhat bent, reducing not only his height but also his speed. now you were laughing as well, enjoying his awkward crouching walk more than you maybe should.

“i really hope you appreciate this”, he interrupted your laughter, “because this does kind of hurt my thighs.” you didn’t stop laughing at this, but you crouched down a little as well now, readjusting his arm on your shoulders before pulling him up with you when you stood up straight again.

“maybe i’ll just have to start wearing platforms again instead”, you thought out loud, your laughing faded into a grin now. then, changing the topic entirely, you asked: "do you actually want to join my class? you'd have to catch up with a lot."

“if you’re willing to waste all your time helping me try to catch up?”

“if you’re ready for me to never shut up ever?” this wasn’t an exaggeration; you’d annoyed the girls more than once by studying with them and being way more immersed in the topic than them, even though you all shared similar majors and the class was relevant to all of you. so you couldn’t help being scared that he’d get annoyed with you as well, seeing how this class wasn’t even relevant to him, and you tried to test the waters by joking like this. but he grinned at you, saying that worst case he’d just feed you fruit loops to buy him a few seconds of silence.

“no but the more you talk the more i learn, that’s how it works, right?”

“mm, maybe? i haven’t tried teaching anyone yet, so we’ll have to see”, you admitted a little anxiously. you’d be happy if you managed to help him catch up enough to join the class, but you weren’t exactly confident in your teaching abilities.

“wanna start today?” mingi’d noticed that you were almost at the train station now, so if he wanted to spend the evening studying with you he’d have to ask before you got in your trains going opposite directions.

“i can’t offer you any decent dinner, though. i forgot to get groceries this week so the options are limited to toast, fruit loops, and instant ramen. in case that makes you change your mind.” you wanted to tell him now before he got disappointed by how little you had to offer even as a host, and because if you told him now it’d be less embarrassing to reveal your pathetically empty cupboards when you were at your place.

and he could tell that you were a little embarrassed about the apparent lack of food choices, so he tried to cheer you up.

“is it even a study session without instant ramen?” he genuinely meant it, too - studying and instant food kind of belonged together, the instant food being an important part of what made a study session feel like a real study session. it was about the vibes, not the nutrition.

“okay”, you laughed, then added: “next time we can go somewhere else, too, i just obviously don’t have all my materials with me right now.”

“your place is fine”, he was quick to reassure you. if anything, he was worried that you might feel awkward about having him there again. it wasn’t exactly like you were close, though it sometimes felt that way to him and he had to remind himself that you’d only met half a week ago.

you were once more being prevented from paying for your own ticket by mingi, who’d already paid when you just got your wallet out, and you scoffed at him playfully.

“you know i can pay for myself, right?”

“but i’m being a gentleman.” and with that, he considered this discussion done.

severe buzzing from your phone startled you when you were sitting next to the redhead on the train, because you’d forgotten you’d just muted the girl chat for 24 hours rather than fully leaving it, and your 24 hours were up now. it was as active as ever, and though it seemed like the current topic was unrelated to you just the thought of still being in this kind of space with them made you feel sick with anxiety. but you were too scared to leave the chat, so instead you just stared at your screen.

“it’s them again?” of course he noticed. you just nodded, leaning against him in exhaustion with him gently rubbing your arm.

“we have a group chat and i want to leave, but i can’t.” it was absolutely stupid to feel this way, you knew it was, because what was scaring you wasn’t no longer being in the group chat, it was the act of pressing the little ‘leave group’ button with your own finger.

“you can’t leave or you can’t not be in it?” he surprised you with how he actually seemed to understand your struggle, the very important distinction between the conscious act of leaving and the passive state of not being in the chat.

“i can’t leave. this is our stop.”

he didn’t reply when you left the train, but once you’d started walking towards your dorm he asked you: “do you think i could leave for you? would that work?” you told him you didn’t know, because you really didn’t and you also didn’t really want to think about this at all right now. you wanted to be home, in your bed, with instant ramen and focusing on nothing but how to make mingi understand, remember and internalise the basics of sociolinguistics. it was an act of escapism, definitely, but sometimes you just needed to pretend your problems didn’t exist until you were ready to deal with them.

the rest of the walk was spent in silence, though not uncomfortably so. you both seemed to be in your own thoughts, arms brushing against each other every now and then as if to remind each other that you were still there, even when you weren’t talking. it was nice to know that you didn’t have to talk when you were spending time with mingi, that just being near each other was already enough sometimes.

and just this being silent with each other was what managed to in a way comfort you enough for you to be able to fully concentrate on your materials once you’d reached your place, asking him whether he wanted to eat first or study first as you unlocked the door.

“let’s start with studying, and when i feel like my head’s exploding we’ll eat?”

“deal. make yourself comfortable, i’ll hunt for all my notes.” and with that said you proceeded to ignore the giant that had now settled on your bed in favour of groaning and sighing while you tried to gather all the relevant material from the last year, a task made more difficult because he most likely didn’t have any linguistic background, so you also went through your notes from other courses to find those that had the basic linguistic terms explained on them, because there was no use telling him about phoneme variations if he didn’t know what a phoneme was, and you wanted to be sure to give a 100% right definition.

once you’d found everything you needed you sat down next to him, now trying to divide the notes by topic so you’d have a better overview over what you had to teach him and how much it’d be. he whined quietly next to you at the sheer amount of paper you’d spread on the bed - how was he going to learn all of that?

“we’ll start easy”, you laughed out at his desperate expression. “you can pick the topic that seems most interesting to you, and we’ll start with that.”

then you listed the topics available, along with a short summary or explanation of just what was hidden behind a term like chronolect, which he decided to go with because he thought that might be easiest to a total beginner, because he obviously knew how people of different ages talked, right?

not right. he soon found everything to be much more complicated than it sounded, but he was determined to learn, and you really appreciated how hard he was trying. you knew it had to be hard for him, but he didn’t seem to want to even take a break until he understood, and it was actually you who told him it was time to eat.

“i didn’t think it would be so hard when we’ve barely even started yet”, he groaned while you were waiting for the food to be done, and before you could stop yourself a ‘that’s what she said’ escaped your lips, which made mingi look at you in shock before he burst out laughing.

“i didn’t know that’s what you were thinking about while i was trying to learn!”, he said in feigned indignation, and you hit his arm playfully as you pretended to be equally as scandalised by his implication as he was by yours.

“i don’t know if my memory is giving up on me here, but wasn’t it you who asked me to spend the night together? twice?”

you heard him gasp loudly in reply and grinned at his expression.

“i didn’t know you’d use that against me!” there was a mixture of shock and hurt in his voice, though very obviously playful, and you immediately started apologising in an exaggerated manner, pleading him to please forgive you for your careless words. and even though he tried to stay serious the pout on your face and the fact that you looked like the pleading face emoji made that impossible, stern expression turning into a small smile turning into a grin turning into laughing with his mouth wide open and head thrown back in a matter of seconds. and then you were lost, too, joining in and laughing until your stomach hurt and the instant ramen demanded your attention.

when you found him looking through the notes you’d used for studying by himself it surprised you, though in a positive way. you were glad to see that he at least seemed to have caught a genuine interest for the subject now, glad to see that he was eager to learn. still, you asked him to please move the notes away so you could eat without the risk of them getting dirty and, consequently, unusable. he did as requested and you sat down next to him as soon as you’d handed him his plate - past experience had taught you that shuffling to comfortably sit on the bed when you had an open container in both hands was a very bad idea.

the two of you ate in silence and went back to studying right after, and it was first when you heard thundering outside that you realised how much time had passed. it was fully dark now, heavy rain hitting the window and lightning lighting up the sky every now and then. neither of you looked pleased at the weather, though mingi a lot less so, considering he was the one that somehow had to get home. and it really didn’t seem like the rain would stop anytime soon.

“i’m gonna be so soaked when i get home”, he whined out, making you feel sorry for him because he was right, not even a minute outside in this weather would have him drenched to the bones.

“you can stay over if it’s still like this in an hour”, you offered, not thinking much about it, your main thought being less about him staying with you specifically and more about him not having to go out when it would most likely result in him getting sick. you came to regret your offer when he looked at you with a teasing glint in his eyes, though.

“so now you’re asking me to stay the night? when you called me out for having improper thoughts earlier because i’d offered you the same?”

you rolled your eyes in reply, grabbing his wrist and attempting to drag him out of your bed.

“you know what, forget it, if you get pneumonia that’s not my problem.” at your threat the redhead did a 180 on his behaviour, now begging you the way a little child begged for an extension on their bedtime, except he was begging you to not send him out into the cruel, unrelenting, cold harsh wind. and even though you pretended to be considering doing so you knew that if he actually wanted to he could most definitely spend the night. it was just fun to tease him back.

“fine”, you finally gave in, “you can stay. but behave!”

he sighed in relief (as if there’d ever been any doubt about that), promising you he’d be on his best behaviour, and, as if to prove it, went to do the dishes for you. you knew you wouldn’t be able to stop him because he was at least half a head taller than you and without a doubt much stronger, but it was still worth a try. you should have known it’d barely even bother him, though, pulling on his shirt and trying to drag him back towards the bed, to no avail. he walked on as if he couldn’t even tell that you were trying to move him with every ounce of strength you had in your body, but the grin on his face told you that he knew, and that he was enjoying this too much for your liking. you decided to let him get away with it either way, this once, because truth be told you hated doing the dishes, hated the sensory hell it proved itself to be, time and time again.

you watched him ‘be on his best behaviour’, trying to come up with a way to prevent the situation from turning awkward should the weather not magically turn around, but the only thing your brain could come up with was watching a movie; that’d have to do then. he didn’t seem displeased with the suggestion, finishing washing up quickly and once again sprinkling some water onto your face.

“‘best behaviour’ my ass”, you huffed under your breath, but of course mingi heard you, sending you a smile that with a lot of benevolence could be interpreted as apologetic, but if you were feeling unrelenting might also be a teasing one. he was on your bed and patting the space next to him as is this were his place, though, before you had a chance to threaten him with kicking him out again, and, even though you would deny it if anyone were to claim it, the way he looked so comfortable and somewhat domestic made you a little soft. not very, but just enough to let his teasing slip as you settled next to him.

that position was soon neglected in favour of you sitting between his legs as you found that that was more comfortable for watching a movie. one of you had been complaining no matter where you’d placed the laptop before, because it always gave the one that wasn’t currently complaining a better view. but when you were sitting like this you could just place it right in front of you, and because your friend was so tall he could easily rest his chin on your shoulder without it being uncomfortable at all, and now you both were able to decently see.

you hadn’t decided on a movie yet, though, scrolling the ‘popular right now’ section to get any kind of idea. there was one that seemed interesting enough, kind of dramatic (which was needed because you were not about to watch a romcom with the unfairly attractive redhead pressed against your back like that), and you clicked on it to see the preview since it had sparked your curiosity. as soon as you saw the description you noticed it was a horror movie, though, trying to exit out before anything scary would actually appear on screen.

you succeeded, but your frantic clicking had confused the boy behind you - your netflix was set to finnish, so he didn’t actually understand the caption, but when you told him you’d accidentally chosen a horror movie’s preview rather than a regular dramatic movie he sighed out in relief.

“thank fuck you closed that.”

“not a fan of horror movies either, hm?” you weren’t trying to tease him, and the question sounded like more of an observation. you absolutely hated horror movies, with every fibre of your being, hated the jumpscares and the gore and how you wouldn’t be able to sleep without light for at least a week after. so you found yourself relieved when he told you that he’d have to have his eyes pried open forcefully if someone wanted him to watch one, because at least this way you could be sure he’d never suggest watching one, nor would he make fun of you for being scared.

your thoughts were momentarily guided in a whole other direction though when your partner in being a coward leaned forward, chest pressed even closer to your back and also forcing you to basically fold yourself in the middle underneath his weight as he pointed towards a section title he would in no way be able to pronounce.

“choose from that one.” it was the kids’ movies section, but you had no objections. it was neither a romcom nor a horror movie, the only two genres that were a hard no for you right now. still, you found it hard to do as asked because the way he was leaning forward had your chest almost pressed against your legs and greatly limited your arms’ moving range.

“it’d be easier if you weren’t crushing me”, you whined out, trying to get him to lean back by pressing against him with your back, and with a surprised ‘oh!’ he did lean back, finally giving you room to move again.

“let’s see”, you hummed out, now scrolling the kids’ movies section. you didn’t really know which one to pick, though - kids’ movies weren’t really your usual kind of movie, so it wasn’t like you had a go-to favourite. it seemed like mingi noticed, because he decided to interrupt your aimless scrolling by speaking up, surprising you with his question.

“is there anything you watched as a child? something that’s not korean.”

you didn’t need to think long about this - the moomins immediately shot to your mind, something you’d watched up and down as a child.

“i’m not sure if they’ve ever been dubbed to korean, though”, you informed him, “but i can see?” and without waiting for his reply you abandoned netflix in favour of google, where you hoped that your phonetic interpretation of how moomin would be spelled using hangeul was at least close enough for the search engine to do the rest for you.

you were both glad and somewhat astonished when you did actually get results for your search, clicking on the first video that seemed about as long as you remembered the movie to be and leaning back against the taller one’s chest as you felt nostalgia wash over you. and it was the actual movie, though not dubbed - someone had added korean subtitles, and the finnish speech only made your nostalgia stronger. you were comfortable, head leaning against mingi and his arms around your waist because that was the least awkward place for them to be, underneath your blanket in the dim light coming from your laptop, warm and cosy and, before you knew it, lulled to sleep by the comfortingly familiar sounds of your childhood.

the red-haired male didn’t even notice that you’d fallen asleep, thinking that you were simply just as immersed in the movie as he was, until he tried to tell you that he needed the bathroom and you didn’t reply. peeking over to your face he saw that your eyes were closed and your mouth slightly ajar, and a fond smile made its way onto his face. still, his bladder wouldn’t let him not wake you up, and he felt incredibly guilty when he had to disturb your slumber.

“sorry, but i got big girl business to do”, he told you quietly, and even though you were slightly annoyed at being woken up you laughed at the memory of how that was the first thing you’d heard from him, that his business was big girl business. you paused the movie and shuffled to let him get up, but before he went to the bathroom he asked: “do you want to go to sleep now or finish the movie?”

your heart said movie but your other heart, the one that regularly had you give in to your body’s wicked desires (such as an entire bag of crisps in a single second) said sleep, and once more that heart won. you mumbled out a sleep and he smiled at you, telling you to get ready while he was in the bathroom, then.

getting into your pyjamas was an act in and of itself, because you absolutely did not want to move at all. you did it, though, forcing yourself into the admittedly much softer fabric before plopping right back onto your bed.

when the boy returned (once more shirtless, and you weren’t sure if that was to your dismay or your delight) he would’ve guessed you hadn’t even moved, had it not been for the fact you were wearing something else than when he’d left you. the laptop was closed now, though, placed in the empty space underneath your bed so stepping on it would be avoided even if someone had to get up during the night in a half-awake state.

you shuffled to make room for him as he made his way towards the bed slowly, room lit only by the street lamps outside now. he laid down next to you, looking at you for a moment before the drowsiness-induced desire for cuddles and warmth won over the embarrassment that would have securely prevented a less tired mingi from saying what he said next.

“can i hug you?”

and because you were at least equally sleepy and in need of a warm embrace you just ‘mhm’ed in confirmation, resulting in both a long arm and an even longer leg wrapped around you immediately after. you turned to your back because it was slightly uncomfortable like this, laying on your side facing him, and he didn’t waste a single second before he placed his head on your shoulder, the arm on that side holding on to him now, too. you felt warm and cosy (and soft at the thought of the giant cuddled up to your much smaller frame like this) and it didn’t take long for you to fall asleep again, once more unnoticed by mingi, who had almost immediately fallen asleep as well.

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sensenoi · 4 years ago

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Rating Every Single Name of the Wind Cover

Why? Because I can. I am not a graphic designer, just a person with opinions.

Criteria for consideration: Must be a cover in a published edition of The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss. Hardcover, paperback, and ebook are all fair game, as are foreign language editions. Some editions reuse the same cover art, in which case I only rate one cover. Some editions modify cover art from another edition. If the differences are substantial, I’ll rate both.

Kindle March 2007 Edition

Ah, the famous shirtless redhead cover. This cover is a bit infamous in the fandom for being both bad and cringey. This is not good art. It’s cheesy. The shirtless aspect is silly, and the windswept hair is so windswept, you’d think Kvothe was in a tornado. Nice balance with the title and author text, although it looks like the title and author text are slightly off center.

3/10

Hardcover April 2007 Edition This is just a zoomed in crop of the above cover, which is a little lazy. It does make for a better cover image, except the creepy goat man bust has nothing to do with the plot of Name of the Wind. So I suppose they cancel out.

3/10

Mass Market Paperback April 2009 Edition

I despise this cover. It’s a lazy design, and the photo manipulation is terrible. Points I guess for good title text placement. But the photo manipulation is so! So! Bad! This is also the start of the trend of a hooded, cloaked figure with his back to the viewer staring out into the void. It is a bad trend.

2/10

Paperback UK June 2008 Edition

We’re still with the hooded, cloaked figure, but at least he’s facing front this time. I like the embellishment on the ‘W’ in the title text, although it gets a little pumpkin viney. Overall, it’s an ok cover. It doesn’t make me cringe, but it doesn’t grab the viewer’s interest, either.

4/10

Paperback Spanish May 2009 Edition

Same image as the previous cover, but this one is uncropped and has a different plant border. I’m not sure how successful the changes are. On the one hand, shrinking the image of the figure makes the figure look more mysterious, which is good. But on the other hand, this is a bad plant border. I thought there was some corn on the right side for a minute.

4/10

Hardcover 10th Anniversary October 2017 Edition

10th Anniversary edition got fancy, and it shows. I love the ruin influence in the title text, which is a great callback to the use of ruins in the novel and also a more creative and unexpected choice than making the title text leafy. That being said, the “of the” in the title text is very oddly formatted and doesn’t fit the style. The cover illustration is pretty great, with lots of symbolism for old fans while still maintaining visual interest for new readers who are browsing and happen to pick the book up. The Cinder statue is delightfully creepy and much more relevant to the novel than the dumb pan statue from the earlier cover.

9/10

Paperback Turkish March 2007 Edition

Another trend starting here: Cloaked figure staring out at a city in the distance. I like the painting, at least what I can see of it. I find the choice to crop out most of the painting really bizarre. Is this supposed to be a telescope we’re looking through? And the leaves look like lily pads. The title and author text leaf embellishments are quite nice here, but I don’t know why there’s a metallic color shift. Overall, a poor use of space.

4/10

Hardcover German March 2007 Edition

Oh look! A cloaked figure staring at a city. What a surprise. I rather like the title text design, which is pretty creative and a good way to make the title visually appealing. I wish the city in the painting weren’t so damn faded and distant – I think it’s a mistake to keep the visual focus on the figure exclusively and only hint at the city beyond.

6/10

Paperback Portuguese September 2009 Edition

This cover is terrible. I would say the worst, but there’s more still to come. Anyways, this is incredibly bad. We’re once again with the hooded, cloaked figure with his back to the viewer, which is a lazy and uninteresting pose. The image is badly photoshopped and looks like an alternate movie poster for The Blair Witch Project. There’s nothing interesting about the image, nothing that interests the viewer. The title font isn’t boring, I guess. That’s the only good thing I have to say about this. 1/10

Paperback Portuguese July 2009 Edition

Still another cloaked figure staring off at a distant city, but this is one my favorite versions of this trope. The city is far enough in the middle distance that the figure is the main focus, but we can still see enough of the city to see that it’s cool looking. I’m glad to see the bridge from the books, which is a nice detail. The title text does a good job of filling in the empty space of the painting without crowding the other elements.

9/10

Paperback French November 2009 Edition

This is the same cover image as before, but it’s been cropped so that the figure is centered. I don’t like the change – the balance is better when the figure is off center. Also, the title text is way too big and dominates, which is unfortunate because the Spanish cover had such a lovely balance throughout. 7/10

Hardcover Dutch July 2007 Edition

Yet. Another. Hooded figure. Staring. At a city. Wow. This one has a tree, at least. The image is… fine? I might be kinder to it if I hadn’t seen several better iterations of this right before. Because so much of the image is shrouded in fog, there’s very little to go on in terms of visual interest. And while I don’t mind the shadowed, muted color scheme, it also means that there’s very little to distinguish the cloaked figure and make him intriguing. The shadow initials behind the title text is horrific and obscures the title somewhat, so docking a couple of points for that. 5/10

Hardcover UK January 2017 Edition

Ahahahaha. This looks like the My Neighbor Totoro edition of Name of the Wind. It’s very silly and lighthearted, but wholly inappropriate for a book whose reading level is above first grade. If this was a kid’s book, I’d give it full marks. But Name of the Wind is very much for adults, and this cover is way too young and childish.

1/10

Paperback Polish August 2008

YIKES. I cannot figure out which scene or location from the book this image is trying to evoke, which makes me think the cover artist did not have the book or a text excerpt to work from. What the hell are those weird horse skulls? Why is this taking place in a desert? Why is the texture so bad? So many questions. And the effect on the title text is bad.

0/10 YES WE CAN GO LOWER THAN 1

Hardcover Russian 2010 Edition

This looks like the cover to a Dungeons and Dragons manual. I suppose that’s supposed to be from the Dracchus scene with Denna, but the image doesn’t look quite right for Name of the Wind. It’s just so generic fantasy. I also don’t like how the image is cropped top and bottom to make way for a very generic marble background. Still, the image is colorful and exciting, even if it could be the cover for any fantasy novel ever.

5/10

Paperback UK 2011 Edition

What the FUCK happened here? Who let this shit happen?

-10/10

Hardcover Finnish August 2010 Edition

Ooooh, more Miyazaki fanart! This is actually quite lovely, and it fits the tone of the books much better than the kids book cover from before. I love how soft and gentle the painting is. Notice the color balance. I don’t know if this cover really ‘grabs’ you or draws interest, but it’s one of my favorites of the bunch.

10/10

Paperback Bulgarian October 2010 Edition

I reserve the right to change my opinion later, but this may be the worst contender in the cloaked and hooded figure from behind category. I actually had to double check that this wasn’t a reused image from the mass market paperback edition, but nope! This is a brand new cover image, and it’s absolute shit. The lighting is so dark it’s impossible to make out details, the balance is way off, and the cover and title text are placed over the figure (aka the only object of interest) instead of the boring, generic storm clouds.

0/10

Hardcover Lithuanian 2011 Edition

YIKES times two. This cover art is truly awful in ways I didn’t know could still happen. Kvothe’s face looks ‘off’ because the facial proportions are all wrong. The blue mystical katana is bizarre because there’s no magical sword, much less a katana, in the story. And is that a photo of Stonehenge in the background? With yet another hooded figure?! I do like the gold foil of the title and the golden dragon embellishment, but the rest of this is such shit.

0/10

Paperback Serbian February 2011

And we’re back in the safe territory of a cloaked figure staring off at a distant city! All these covers are starting to run together, but this is a new cover art. It just looks like all the others. Once again, it’s fine. The city is a little too distant and greyed out to hold interest, and the figure is kind of generic.

5/10

Paperback Italian 2008 Edition

I do not know what happened here. Who is this figure supposed to be? I cannot for the life of me figure out which character this is. It’s a shame, because it’s well-done art with a cool character and costume design. The title and author text obscure the image, though, and the shadow on the text is so extreme it’s hilarious.

0/10

Hardcover Hungarian 2009 Edition

This is just boring. There’s no information conveyed here, nothing interesting or arresting to attract the viewer’s attention. The translucent overlay on the title is an odd choice.

2/10

Paperback Persian 2016 Edition

I believe this was originally a fanart of Kvothe (correct me if I’m wrong please), but it’s a good one. The tree shadow in the back is distracting and obscures the handle of the lute on his back, though. I wish there was more here – it feels very spare in an unintentional way.

6/10

Hardcover Georgian 2016 Edition

Cloaked and hooded figure staring off into the distance, check. I’m not crazy about this one – the art is very soft in a blurred kind of way, and it reads as a little humdrum. The tower in the distance is quite dull – it looks like a modern office building.

4/10

Hardcover Italian October 2016 Edition

The title text is a little too high – I don’t like how it covers the figure’s chin. It’s not a bad idea to make Kvothe’s green eyes a focal point, and it’s certainly more of an original idea than most of these covers have shown. But the muted color pallete drags the whole mood down. It’s not evocative, just kind of damp.

5/10

Hardcover 10th Anniversary French November 2019

I LOVE this cover. It’s gorgeous. I love the gold foil, love the text, love the clouds. It’s stunning and timeless. Amazing.

10/10

Hardcover Latvian October 2013 Edition

It’s a cloaked figure with a city in the distance, but he’s NOT looking at the city! What!! I’m rather surprised at how few covers feature Kvothe actually playing the lute – this may be the only one, actually. I don’t like the bottom fade, and I think the design is a little generic fantasy. But it’s a nice balance, and the title text is fancy and eye-catching.

7/10

Paperback Polish 2017 Edition

This cover artist also clearly wasn’t working off an excerpt from the book. The character design is so off and unlike Kvothe, except for the cloak. Wall texture looks like a photo manipulation, which is cheap. This whole thing is bad.

0/10

Hardcover Russian 2015 Edition

What is with the Stonehenge imagery? And why is that guy floating off of Stonehenge in a modern hoodie? Why is that one leaf in the top right so huge? Why is the title text red and difficult to read? At least there’s a broken lute, I guess.

1/10

Paperback Chinese May 2012 Edition

This is incredibly lazy and the photoshop job is terrible and generic. Zero effort was put into this cover.

0/10

Hardcover Russian 2011 Edition

I’ve been pretty harsh on Russia, mostly because the Russian covers have been terrible. This is ok-ish. It’s very generic fantasy, and the castle looks like Hogwarts. But it has visual interest, even if the title text color is garish.

2/10

Japanese 2017 Edition

I quite love that they turned Kvothe into an anime character. And he’s doing stuff, too, and not just staring out into the middle distance. There’s so much imagery of the broken lute in these covers, so it’s refreshing to see the other part of this scene – when Kvothe loses his shit and finally calls the name of the wind. Fun cover, good artwork. The red title text works here because it matches Kvothe’s hair.

9/10

WORST:

BEST:

#The name of the wind #kingkiller chronicle #patrick rothfuss #book cover art #books #apologies for poor image quality i was working with what god and goodreads gave me #which was variable image quality i guess #I've been told I'm very judgemental so I decided to put those judgey skills to good use

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aaltjelng · 4 years ago

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so the lovely @languagessi sent me an ask with the numbers for the ask game but i managed to accidentally delete the ask:)) well, i decided to try to answer anyway, hopefully i remembered the numbers right haha... so here are the answers!

12. Vocab or grammar?

It’s a tough question! I guess it kind of depends on the language... I am utterly in love with Korean grammar! It might sound strange but I just find studying it so fascinating and rewarding. It also feels really nice to finally be learning a language that shares some traits with Finnish (no articles, a lot of suffixes...) I find studying Korean grammar a lot nicer than for example French grammar (although I do like that too!), mostly because I struggle a lot with remembering the genders of nouns and that makes me frustrated, and articles and genders feel kind of unnecessary to me as a Finnish speaker whereas the nuances that can be expressed through Korean grammar are really interesting.

I don’t have such strong opinions on vocab. In the beginning I did find it hard to remember Korean vocab and I still struggle with that a bit, but it’s getting better and better all the time. I think I like learning vocab the most when studying Swedish! I don’t know why, but I guess it just feels like it sticks more easily. I do love some Korean, especially native Korean words with all my heart... And learning vocab can feel super rewarding: that feeling when you spot a word you just learned in a random text and realize you can actually understand what it is saying is really the best feeling.

23. How did you get into languages?

Honestly I have loved languages for as long as I can remember. When my brother started learning English at school at the age of 9 (I was 7), I secretly listened to him and our mom studying. I also stole his English books and secretly read them by myself and tried to study.

After that I did have some time that I was just studying at school, I was always good at it but not as enthusiastic as I am now. It clicked in 2017 when I was 13 years old and I just started studying Swedish on my own. We had it in school too, but I was frustrated with how slow we were going. Somehow I just thought about the idea of studying and speaking this language and languages in general and it just made me really excited and happy. It is really difficult to explain but languages really bring out this certain feeling in me and that feeling has stayed with me since that year.

24. Why are you studying your target language?

So I actually have four target languages right now: French, Swedish, Italian and Korean. English is also a foreign language for me but I am not really interested in improving my English level as of now.

Out of these four languages, I am now actively trying to improve my Korean, while the other three are more or less on “maintenance mode”. I study those three at school as well so I am still using and studying them, just not with the same intensity as Korean.

Anyway, here’s a little bit about each of these languages and why I am studying them!

French: I started it at school at the age of 9. It was quite a clear decision for me back then, I was really interested in the language, I had been to France many times and the Dutch side of my family actually originates from France (like hundreds of years ago my ancestors fled persecution from France to the Netherlands). I really loved studying French and my interest has only grown over the years. I love speaking French, I love reading French, I love listening to French and writing in French, and I really want to get my French to an advanced level. I will probably work on my French more actively next year and really try to bring it to C1 level before my matriculation exam. Now my French is somewhere between B1 and B2.

Swedish: I started it at school when I was 12 years old. In Finland Swedish is an obligatory subject so I didn’t actually choose starting it haha but I have always loved Swedish so I was motivated from the start. My aunt lives in Stockholm and I have been there for about 20 times. My mom also loves Swedish and I think she has also been a factor in my love for Swedish. As I said earlier, Swedish is actually the language that inspired me to start actively self studying languages. I just felt so frustrated with the pace we were moving at at school and I just thought to myself: “I learned English more or less fluently mostly with my own effort. Why couldn’t I do that with Swedish too?”. English I had learned because of other factors, not really my enthusiasm about the language or language learning but more because I needed to understand English in order to understand fandom things and books and bands I loved. So I thoguht that, well, books were really the thing that brought my English to a new level, so I should probably do that with Swedish. And so I did that and studied hard and got my Swedish to an intermediate level. I studied actively for about 5 months, after that I’ve just been mostly relying on school. This spring & summer I am planning on taking the next step and bringing my Swedish to an advanced level before my matriculation exam.

Italian: I started studying Italian at school last year with my best friend. She is part Italian and I thought that because I love learning languages and I love her and there is a possibility take Italian, why not take Italian? I also love Italian history and art and Italian is a very significant language in classical music (I am studying to become a classical violinist/violist). So I have been taking Italian for a bit more than a year now and I am around an A2 level. Next year, before the matriculation exam, I’d love to get my Italian to a B2 level or at least a B1 level.

Korean: In the summer 2019 I stumbled across some videos and heard my first songs by BTS. One of them: Paldogangsan or so-called “Satoori rap”. I heard it and just instantly fell in love. It’s a song about Korean dialects, and the way the rap showcased the different sounds of the Korean language... It really inspired me. Well, other things happened in my life, I got depressed, my other psychiatric and neurological issues got worse and so on. Through that time I discovered some truly amazing and touching songs that had lyrics that really moved me to my core, some by BTS but most by Agust D, and I knew I had to learn that language, at least a little bit. At first I just learned hangul to make sure that the lyrics I was scribbling to my diary weren’t complete nonsense. During the following six months I didn’t actively study Korean, I just played with Duolingo here and there, listened to a few beginner TTMIK lessons, acquired some vocabulary I was hearing in songs...

But in May 2020 something just struck me and I just got this sudden burst of inspiration. I realized that if I really wanted to learn this language, what better time to start than now? I guess I had been feeling kind of intimidated, because I knew that learning a language, any language and especially one like Korean would take a long time. But I still remember this one post that I saw on tumblr. It said something about how usually when we think about how long learning a language will take, we feel weirded out about thinking ourselves being that much older. But the thing is, we will get older anyway. Might as well be older and know this language that you deeply love. That idea has stayed with me since. Let’s take one estimate: getting fluent in Korean will take about 4 years. In 4 years I’ll be 21. So? In 4 years I’ll be 21 anyway, why not be a 21 year old who knows Korean. And I also realized that I am still so young. I have so much time to learn so many languages. Might as well use it.

So I have been actively studying by myself for about 6 months and would place myself somewhere around the A2 level. This October I made this challenge for myself: for 100 days, study as hard as you can. Learn as much as you can and do not give up. I really want to see how far I can come if I give this my all! I’m wishing on getting to a B1 level at the end of this challenge but we’ll see. WIth Korean, and I guess with any language, it’s quite easy to get discouraged by thinking how much you still don’t know, so it’s important to also realize how much you already know. I have come so far already during these past 6 months, and I am really proud of myself. That motivates me to keep going: I learned all that, so I can learn these other things too!

Okay hahaha sorry for my very very long post and making you listen to my ramblings in my incoherent English. I just love languages so much and I could talk about them for forever!

Thank you if you read this far, I hope you have a wonderful day. <3

Aleijd

#langblrs unite #langblr #target language #language learning #language #korean #french #bilingual #swedish #italian #polyglot #polyglot problems #français #svenska #한국어 #italiano #finnish #suomi

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soymimikyu · 5 years ago

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Food in Netflix’s Series of Unfortunate Events: Season 3

It is over. I finally finished season 3 about 2 hours ago and needed the time to recover and process the ending. While I have only faint memories of the ending in the book, this ending seemed very different (and I want to say I liked it more? I just recall being let down by the way the books ended; however, I was quite young at the time...).

Here is the final set of food notes from the show. The final season was comparatively sparse, but there were some interesting culinary choices. I hope you enjoy!

(Also, since this is the final installment, if anyone enjoyed my rambling carefully curated notes on food in TV shows, I would happily take requests to do this for a different show in the future. It was fun and gave me much to think about in the kitchen.)

Today’s notes are brought to you by Glassworks - Opening played by Ólafsson (because that I what I’m listening to).

Food in The Slippery Slope

Sarsaparilla

What Olaf drinks and discards while driving. It is flat. The bottle helps Violet and Klaus determine which fork to take.

Coffee and Tea

What pretentious people drink according to Olaf

Absinthe

A random beverage that popped into Olaf’s mind.

Marshmallows

Made Brucie the Snow Scout Leader sick after eating too many.

I really want to make these! Gelatin is such a fun platform for cooking so many things! The real goal would be blooming marshmallow flowers with whiskied caramel hot chocolate!

Rutabaga

What the circus freaks plan on growing on their farm.

Hot Dogs

What Olaf’s cooks with this troupe.

Brandy Sidecar or Coffee

What Esme wants with Breakfast.

A Brandy sidecar is a cocktail of cognac, cointreau (orange flavored liqueur), and lemon juice. Sounds pretty tasty -- I think (I know next to nothing about drinks...).

Frozen Orange Juice

Found by Sunny in trunk.

She uses this to make Sorbet.

Salmon

Caught in the stricken stream by Hook-handed man and given to Sunny. She prepares Sashimi with this.

Hot Cider [X]

Quigley’s last meal with his mother. What saved him from the fire.

Canned Peaches

Quigley’s meal at Montgomery’s.

Montgomery had a lot of canned peaches (or just two cans) because the Hook handed man in season 1 is also eating canned peaches when posing as a detective. Nothing wrong with this -- canned peaches are delicious.

Poisonous Berries

Mr. Poe tries to help by finding Breakfast.

I often see poisonous berries as red in TV (I am thinking mostly of a specific seen in the Netflix Witcher series) and it made me curious if real poison berries are always red. Nope: nightshade (duh) is black, and several other harmful berries are also black/blue. Some are orange. Given the brightness of these berries I am going to guess they were Mezereon or Elderberry.

Granola Bar

Mr. Poe has these. Kit has some.

Poe always has granola bars.

Lox

Sunny’s idea for dinner

Pistachios

Lemony is saying something and thinks they are for everyone one.

Parsley Soda

What Sunny gets when she requests a fizzy drink.

Boysenberry Jam

The darkest Jam in the VFD fridge.

This really makes me want good jam or to try jamming. Roasted lamb and jam...not sure where I would easily source lamb right now and is likely to be a far greater headache than I care.

Olives

There were 5 green olives filled with pimento in the jar. It indicated the gathering was on Thursday.

Mustard

All I wrote is the last safe place. I don’t recall the details -- but it was probably a clue.

Mustard is my favorite condiment. I can (and have) eat it plain.

False spring rolls

What was prepared for a meal for Olaf’s troupe by Sunny and Hook handed man.

How did they get wraps on a mountain...maybe you can repurpose a part of a fish to use as wraps. The skin or various internal linings? Seems less appetizing / food safe.

Rutabaga (again)

What Olaf’s troupe wants to grow.

Food in The Grim Grotto

Chewing Gum

Phil only cooks meals with chewing gum.

Chewy Casserole

Chewing gum casserole.

In my experience heating gum or gummy like things often goes very poorly. You can add them towards the end of the cooking process to create some sort of layer -- but definitely not from the start.

Potato and Cod Chowder

Non-gum based meal that Sunny and Phil prepared.

Calamari

What Sunny thinks Olaf’s sonar symbol is.

I fully accept that the children are seriously smart, but where is Sunny learning all of this? Did the books have cooking books (I think so..)? I shall assume that Sunny demands to be read only cooking books as bed time stories.

Soft Pretzels

Olaf wants these. I do too -- I should make them!

Turmeric

In one of Esme’s evil laughs.

Cabernet

Olaf wants wine and gets lost in the octopus submarine looking for some. He pronounces it as Caber-NET.

Horseradish

Cure for the Medusoid Mycelium.

Taragon, Wasabi

Contents of kitchen cabinets while Sunny is sick.

The wasabi is what is used as a culinary substitute and cure. Interestingly, it is Mr. Bobby brand. Would anyone know if this has significance? Brand names in this universe are interesting.

Lemon Lime Soda, Gorgonzola Cheese, Birthday cake for Violet

Contents of the fridge while Klaus and Violet are looking for horse radish.

That is a damn impressive cake. Fondant is really well done. Can you make fondant from gum? Probably not, but Sunny is resourceful and likely found a suitable culinary substitute.

Sub Sandwich

Prepared by Hook-Handed man to delay Olaf form assisting in torturing the children.

Looks like a pretty standard sub on a softer baguette. It appeared to have sliced deli meat.

Chef Salad

Fernald’s analogy for people to emphasize that categorizing people as noble, good, bad, or evil is invalid.

Pig Eating Pork

Ok -- this one is not food, but I was amused by Olaf’s simile to describe his joy.

Food in The Penultimate Peril

The Picnic Basket

I absolutely lost my mind with this scene. We only briefly see the contents of the picnic basket as Violet removes the top layer to reveal the concierge disguises Kit prepared. I paused and replayed this seen maybe 10 times to examine what was in that top layer. I then needed to cross reference some incomplete descriptions with two large pastry books (thankfully they have an entrement section...). I feel reasonably successful:

Millefeuille [X]

This is napoleon. Adding a flavor to the custard is a great way to modernize this dessert.

Cream Puffs (Might be a profiterole) [X -- I’ve done eclairs]

Choux pastry is very forgiving and a good entry point into fancier pastries. It forms the basis of eclairs, cream puffs, and, if you are crazy, croquembouche.

3 Layer cake

Unclear what more to say. Since these are all french pastries, perhaps the sponge is genoise?

Mini Opera Cake

Opera cake is layers of Joconde sponge (almond sponge) flavored with coffee syrup, layered with italian butter cream, and then topped with chocolate ganache. It was something I planned on making before everything closed down (I can’t eat it myself X.x).

Madeleine or Beignet [X]

Since this was a picnic basket, I am leaning in favor of Madeleines. They fit the other set of deserts better than a Beignet.

Nut Entrement

I think is this another cake, but it is unclear. I can’t seem to source this one either. Maybe it is carrot cake! That often has nuts around the perimeter.

Sauvignon Blanc

Olaf’s wine of choice

Aqueous Martini

Jerome’s drink of choice.

Indian Food

Larry, in his last waiter position, poses in an Indian Restaurant. Poe orders a glass of milk.

The Barking Gin Distiller Dry Goods

Interesting brand on the bag belonging to a lady on the trolley during the sequence when Justice Strauss is searching for the Children.

Tea

In flash back with Kit and Esme. Kit likes her tea as bitter as worm wood and sharp as a double edged sword.

Sausages

Crow meat and an analogy for learning the Law (you don’t want to know how the sausage is made, just like you don’t want to know how the law works).

Too much pepper and makes the court audience cough.

Food in The End

Root Beer Float [X]

Lemony has one. It is his thirteenth.

Waffles

Partially consumed by the man following Lemony at the diner.

Mixed Nuts

All that is left to eat on the boat. Sunny offers some to Olaf, but he knocks it into the sea.

Ceviche

Since the islanders don’t have any spice, they eat raw fish.

I have never had this, but recall reading in a book about sushi how it was integrated by some sushi chefs in South America into more traditional Japanese cuisine.

Fermented Coconut Cordial

I have no idea how you could get anything resembling an opioid from fermenting coconut water. Unless Ish is adding something, this seems suspect. Fermenting something sweet and earthy also does not really sound appealing.

Wasabi and Wormwood

Sunny’s suggestions on how to treat the Medusoid Mycelium.

Wormwood and related foods appear often.

Apple

Modified by Bertrand and Beatrice to contain the sugars giving immunity to the Medusoid Mycelium.

Chocolate Cake [X]

SQUEEE this was adorable. Sunny makes a cake for Beatrice II’s first birthday.

Salad

Shared by Fiona and Fernald.

Root Beer Float

Shared between Lemony and Beatrice II as she tells him the remaining story.

I want to believe that this is his 14th root beer float.

Black Bean and Mango Salad

Sunny makes this during the Finnish Female Pirates incident as told by Beatrice II.

This sounds amazing! Slightly ripe mango with a citrusy black bean mixture would be delightful!

#netflix asoue #asoue #food in asoue #food in television

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thatbanjobusiness · 4 years ago

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Early 1920s Non-English American Records by OKeh

I’ve only begun researching the history of the early recorded music industry. From the beginning, I’ve been interested learning about certain series of records sold by OKeh, a company (of course not the only one) which sought out musicians from a variety of cultural and ethnic groups to appeal to North American and American immigrant demographics. OKeh was one of the first companies to regularly conduct field trips locating musicians in areas that previously lacked recording studio access.

OKeh is responsible for tapping into multiple demographics that had been underrepresented or absent from early commercial music records. In 1920 OKeh recorded Mamie Smith’s “Crazy Blues,” in which Mamie Smith was the first African-American female singer to lead a commercial recording. It was “unexpectedly” successful and broke open the doors for major recording companies to produce materials specifically for African-American audiences. This song alone is worth a ton of research, discussion, and analysis regarding its social background and its bold, hard-hitting lyrics like, “Get myself a gun and shoot myself a cop.”

The same individual who supervised Mamie Smith’s recording, Ralph Peer, is also credited with bringing us the first successful country music record, that of Fiddlin’ John Carson in 1923. It was almost the first country music record, too, but A. C. (“Eck”) Robertson recorded in the summer of 1922 for Victor and saw his music released in April of 1923; John Carson was recorded on June 13, 1923, and his music released August 3, 1923. Even though Peer considered either Carson’s singing or the recording quality “pluperfect awful” (different accounts say different things), this record sold like hotcakes.

To be clear: the motivations behind OKeh and Ralph Peer were that of profit, not representation. And Fiddlin’ John Carson, despite being an integral part of country music history, is no personality to celebrate. But it is nevertheless a unique and informative area of music history to explore for both the good and bad residing in it.

I’ve known the stories of Mamie Smith, Ralph Peer, and John Carson for some time, but I haven’t delved as much into OKeh’s early 1920s music in which they recorded many other cultural groups in North America. Today, I’m peeping into their early catalogue, which is excitingly available online, and contains occasional digital files of the old records.

From 1918-1934, OKeh designated entire catalog series numbers to music and comedy from many people groups and languages. These were, as designated by OKeh itself: Race [that is, African-American] (8000 and 20000), Italian (9000, 84000, and 86000), German (10000, 81000, and 85000), Polish (11000, 67000, and 87000), Hungarian (12000 and 86500), Roumanian (13000 and 83500), Finnish (13500), Jewish (14000), Porto Rican (14000), Russian (15000), Ukranian (16000 and 81500), Mexican (16000, 16400, and 88000), Bohemian (17000), Slovak (18000), Scandinavian/Swedish (19000), Danish (20000), Irish (21000), French (22000), Serbo-Croatian (23000), Slovenian-Krainer (24000), Croatian (25000), Norwegian (25000), Lithuanian (26000), Swiss (27000), Welsh (27500), Greek (28000), Portuguese (29000), Chinese (29000), Spanish (33000), West Indian (65000), Bulgarian (69000), Armenian (77000 and 78000), Hebrew (80000), Portuguese (80500), Greek (82000 and 82500), Turkish (83000), and Bohemian (89000). Think I got all that right.

I’m not here today to seek out the most famous songs that have come out of OKeh’s early 1920s, but I am here to have fun, and I hope it’s fun to share with you songs in different languages I’ve found, looked up, and listened to. Because what’s cooler than what American immigrant and minority populations listened to 100 years ago?

Do note: lots of the audio files are quiet, so you’ll need to crank up. Also note: since this was a hundred years ago, sometimes the record label’s language choices can get... wonky... from a modern perspective. I don’t think here anything’s weird, but I want to give warning because I’ve Seen Things before.

S-70969 OKeh 14054 Mein Griner Cosin / Ich Bin A Border Bei Mein Weib

Tenor Morris Goldstein, singing in Yiddish and backed by an orchestra, was recorded November 1922 in New York, New York. As you can see on the label above, OKeh has it labeled as a “Jewish Comic Song.” Both Morris Goldstein and the composer of this song, Morris Rund, have their names appear on many other records. In fact, looking at Morris Goldenstein, he appears on a large number of records from five companies (Victor, Columbia, OKeh, Brunswick, and Edison) between 1916 and 1929. I desperately wish I could find more information about him, especially given how well-recorded he was, and at such an early time, indicating some level of prominent singer, but regrettably the internet is turning me up dry. I will say, even with this audio being nearly 99 years old, his voice sings out wonderfully.

I actually just stumbled across a copy of this record on eBay, which is fun to see floating around. And reliable discogs has this listed, too, albeit to no surprise, there’s no copies for sale.

8440 OKeh 26024 Pamylējau Vakar / Vai, Varge, Varge

Lithuanian! I found a hundred songs in the OKeh matrices in this language. This recording by baritone singer Kastas Sabonis was recorded in Chicago, Illinois, in July of 1923. Unfortunately, I have less on Sabonis than I do Goldstein, but I noticed Sabonis reappears on Columbia in 1925 and Victor in 1926.

One of the things I am fascinated by is how the main label material (song title, performer) is in Lithuanian, but the rest is in English. In some ways, you could say this makes sense... non-Lithuanian consumers can understand the gist of what it’s about, and Lithuanian people can potentially recognize the title of a song they’re already familiar with. And like, it’s always better to keep the title of the song in its actual language.

Also ironically, one of these records was sold online in late January 2021. So these do float around, still.

S-7310 OKeh 4801 Kuu Pua Loke / Mauna Kea O' Hawaii

We have records of Prince Lei Lani between 1913 and 1928. He started with Victor and switched to OKeh in 1920. This song, Mauna kea o' Hawaii, is the second song he recorded with OKeh; he was recorded in New York, New York. It’s a beautiful recording.

He was born in 1887 in Hawai'i as Edwin Kaumualiiokamokuokalani Rose. Sometimes you’ll see his name as Prince Leilani, Edwin K. Rose, or E. K. Rose. He was in three movies: Waikiki Wedding (1937), Hawaiian Nights (1939), and Bird of Paradise (1951). Lest you forget how nascent the recording industry is, Prince Lei Lani died in 1971. I’ve found one blogger, a relative of his, who’s translated articles and advertisements from Hawaiian to English and collected information on him, in case you’re interested seeing photographs of him and learning more. There’s some fun stuff here.

73798 Odeon 18056 Prychod Z Krčmi Na Svite

Comedy! Slovak comedy! Although the database tells me this is a “Male vocal solo, with accordion,” there’s clearly two singers, and the majority of the recording is speech. The singing duet backed by accordion seems to be, to my untrained ear, an opener and a closer to the act. Comedy recordings are a fun element of early records I need to get more into, and while I can’t understand Andrej Gellert’s speech, the fact he’s intentionally interspersing his speech with hiccups makes it clear to me this is a humorous sketch.

This was recorded November 1925 in New York, New York.

There are more digital files of Andrej Gellert on this site. These ones are music. That’s probably why he got listed as “Male vocal solo.” You can hear Mlynské kolo tosa toci, from the same recording session as Prychod z krčmi na svite. There’s also Lístie opadlo (this one’s really cool) and Na ćo som na svete?, and Veselý pastier recorded May 11, 1925. Frankly his list goes on forever. He did quite a lot for Victor and OKeh between 1923 and 1928.

And to again emphasize these things can be found: there’s a copy of one Andrej Gellert record for sale on discogs for $7.67 + shipping.

That’s about all the time I have today to screw around with early recordings. If I come back around again with more tidbits like this, don’t be surprised.

#thatbanjobusiness #that banjo business #old tags--#Americana Deep Dive #I need to fix my tags on this blog so bad I'm sorry #music #General Banjo Business #long post #Haddock Deep Dives #Country Music History #Collectors Corner #Playlist #sorta a bunch of things at once I s'pose

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chocolate-parfait · 4 years ago

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Since I have a platform, despite it being rather small compared to other blogs', I have to do this. I want to speak about the current situation in the USA.

My heart goes out to all the victims of this protests and supporters of the BLM movement. I am terribly saddened by the fact that there are people who are scared to go outside of their houses, who have to be left out and who have to fight for their lives just because the color of their skin is cause of discrimination by both citizens and the government of their own country. We are ALL humans, we all feel feelings and think thoughts. It is true that we are all different externally, but we have to understand each other's differences and create an environment where we all can be ourselves despite our peculiarities.

I strongly believe that what the American government is doing right now is terribly wrong and that it is time for change. There are myriads of videos and proofs of peaceful protestants being beaten, shot, pushed, etc. by those who are supposed to be in charge of protecting them. (Without mentioning the use of tear gas that is forbidden in warfare and bullets shot directly into people's heads). What people should prioritize right now is not the fact that private properties are being burned or looted, but the fact that THERE ARE PEOPLE LOSING THEIR LIVES because of racism.

The Black Lives Matter movement does not say that Black Lives are more important than other people's, it states that black people's lives are more important AS OF NOW because this is a fight to gain the equality they have never been given. White people have always lived their lives graced by a privilege given by the color of their skin and most of us don't know what it means to be discriminated or left out because of it.

I have seen a video of a little black girl CRYING because her skin will get her killed. In what kind of world are we living in? A world where even children know they will not be treated equally as everyone else because of something they have absolutely no control over. Is it just that a society that prides itself of its equality and freedom denies these very rights based on skin color? It. Is. Not.

Lastly, just because something does not concern you directly it does not mean the problem doesn't exist. This problem has been here for a long time and people have finally had enough.

This said, I will leave here the links to the carrds in different languages with everything you should know about this situation and with petitions to sign + a youtube video that you can watch (without skipping the ads, x1 speed, watch it whole, you'll find more info in the comments) that supports black artists and all the money is given to charity in order to support BLM.

(p.s. if you want to know even more I suggest you download Twitter. Most of the news is there but be careful of fake news please)

#blm #blm protests #blm resources #important #black lives matter

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fabianocolucci · 4 years ago

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Language family VS Sphere of influence: comparing Europe with East Asia

I’m a student of East Asian languages and cultures at the university of Naples L’Orientale. Most specifically, I study everything about Japan and China, with standard Japanese and Mandarin Chinese as the center.

However, I am also an Italian who has been studying English since preschool and, during high school, got to learn more and more about Latin and Greek, which got me into my passion for languages.

In fact, Europe and East Asia are basically my biggest points of focus when it comes to language history, development and influence, and I love how we can see different aspects of these points.

For instance, what do we find in those regions, when it comes to languages?

EUROPE

The majority of Europe speaks a language from the Indo-European family. The only European countries where the main language does not belong in this family are Turkey and Azerbaijan (both languages are Turkic), Georgia (because Georgian is a Kartvelian language), Malta (their language derives from Arabic, and it’s the only Afro-Asiatic language among the official ones in the EU), Finland, Estonia and Hungary (their languages are Ugro-Finnic) and the Basque countries between Spain and France.

Excluding the Indo-Arian branch (where Persian, Hindi, Urdu and so on come from), the Indo-European languages are divided into:

Romance languages, the ones deriving from Latin. Main examples include Portugues, Spanish, Catalan, French, Occitan, Italian and Romanian;

Celtic languages, once spread throughout the continent, but now confined to the British Isles and the French region of Brittany. Gaelic Irish is even an official language in the European Union;

Albanian, Greek and Armenian form three branches on their own. Studies have tried to pair at least two of them together, but with little to no results;

Latvian and Lithuanian are Baltic languages, often paired with the next ones;

Slavic languages, spread throughout the majority of Eastern Europe. We can find Russian, Polish, Ukranian, Serbian, Bulgarian and many others here;

Germanic languages, the branch English belongs to. Other important languages in this branch are German, Dutch and the languages from the Nordic countries (except for Finnish);

Europe has had a common history and culture, even though there has always been some division between East and West, ever since the Roman empire, where you could divide it into Latin culture and Greek culture.

Therefore, it should not come off as a surprise that languages from different branches went on to influence eachother. The Balkan sprachbund is often used as a modern example, with Greek, Albanian, Bulgarian, Romanian and other languages sharing common aspects that aren’t found in other languages of their branches.

Another example is found with Germanic and Romance languages. Ever since the Barbarian invasions of Rome, those two branches have come in touch and started sharing vocabulary, features and similar aspects.

For instance, the word bank derives from the Italian banca, which in turn derives from banka, the Longobardian word for bench.

Also, before English was considered the “lingua franca” of the World, this role was filled by French, which inherited it from Latin (kinda like a father passing the torch to his son). As other idioms have now plenty of anglophone words, it makes sense that, back in the day, Romance vocabulary made its way to Great Britain.

Okay, now let’s see the situation in East Asia.

EAST ASIA

For millennia, China has been the central power of this region, which is why the East Asian Cultural Sphere is often called Sinic world.

Said sphere includes China, the Korean peninsula, the Japanese archipelago and Vietnam. And that’s where we can see the main difference with Europe, as those languages aren’t probably even related to eachother!

All varieties of Chinese, such as Mandarin and Cantonese, belong to the Sino-Tibetan family. Then, we have Vietnamese, which is an Austroasiatic language. Said family can be found scattered throughout South-East Asia.

As for Korean and Japanese, those two languages derive from the Koreanic and Japonic families respectively, even though there have been theories that may suggest that these two are related. One believes that Japanese descended from Korea, but the other sees those two groups as belonging to the huge Altaic family, which includes other groups and languages such as Turkish and Mongolian.

However, as for now, we don’t know yet if those theories can be proved right.

Now, despite that, those languages all shared the same writing system at some point.

Chinese characters are still used in Chinese-speaking countries, with the sole distinction of those using Traditional ones and those using the Simplified.

Korea did use them, but switched to the hangul alphabet.

Vietnam still used them until about a century ago, but the huge rate of analphabetization meant a switch to the current variation of the latin alphabet they still use today.

Japan is the only other country that still uses characters, albeit alongside their two syllabaries, hiragana and katakana.

Chinese culture unified those countries to the point that a Westener could see them in a similar situation as Europe.

Now, let’s compare them.

A RELATIVE AND A MASTER?

When you compare English to a Romance language like Spanish, French or Italian, you may meet words that look and/or sound quite similar. However, there are two differences:

Some words are cognates, meaning that they originate from the same root. For instance, the Italian word for mother is madre;

Others are actually words that “jumped” from a branch to another. As I said earlier, English has plenty of Romance vocabulary, but the other way around is as usual;

In fact, you may compare Indo-European branches to relatives. Imagine you and a brother or a cousin of yours, and those traits you may share: how many of them derive from you two being from the same family? And how many are a consequence of the two of you constantly interacting with eachother?

Meanwhile, the Chinese cultural sphere makes China look like a master. For instance, Japan didn’t have a written system until the VII century, when Chinese (and Korean) buddhist monks came to the archipelago.

Therefore, when you see similar words in Chinese and Japanese, it’s usually because the second one is actually the first one but adapted to fit the local pronounciation.

As such, it comes clear how different the relationship between languages from those two regions of the World are, and I hope you can see why I love them.

#language sphere #east asian cultural sphere #sinic world #indo-european #China #Japan #Korea #Vietnam #Europe #ilblogvuoto

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glentheapprentice-arcanawriter · 4 years ago

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Been Busy, Here’s The Masterpost

So, I’ve been reblogging some ask ideas, and I will leave them up so the original posters and rebloggers are credited, but here is the masterpost so you can just look through them. I might do them in order if I have an idea for them, and I am open for asks. Just put them in, and what characters you want them to be centered on.

For future reference, the characters of the Slime Rancher AU have been affected by an age-old concept that addresses the fact that no human can pass another without impacting the other’s life in some way. The characters in the AU are different in personality (only somewhat in some situations) than the ones in canon.

And with that, let’s make the masterpost.

Masterpost under the bar.

Emoji Prompts

🎂 : A birthday headcanon.

💩 : An embarrassing headcanon

💀 : An injury headcanon

👄 : A kiss headcanon

💔 : A breakup headcanon

🌟 : A secret wish headcanon

💍 : A marriage headcanon

👶 : A family headcanon

💧 : A sad headcanon

🛁 : A bathing headcanon

🛏 : A sleeping headcanon

💥 : A fighting headcanon

😳 : A confessing headcanon

👔 : A clothing headcanon

❤ : A romantic headcanon

☁️ : A soft headcanon

🌑 : A dark headcanon

😜 : A random headcanon

🎃 : A halloween headcanon

😤 : A jealousy headcanon

⌛ : A final headcanon

🌡: A sick headcanon

🍺 : A drunk headcanon

🧨 : An unexpected headcanon

Beautiful Words Prompts

Waldeinsamkeit (German) - the feeling of being alone in the woods, solitude, and a connectedness to nature

Iktsuarpok (Inuit) - refers to the feeling of anticipation when you’re expecting someone that leads you to constantly check to see if they’re coming

Komorebi (Japanese) - sunlight filtering through the leaves of trees.

Kilig (Tagalog) - the thrilling feeling of butterflies in your stomach when something romantic happens.

Hiraeth (Welsh) - homesickness mixed with grief and sadness over the lost or departed, or a type of longing for the homeland or the romanticized past.

Hyggelig (Danish) - warm, friendly, cozy, delightfully intimate moment or thing.

Mamihlapinatapai (Yaghan, Tierra del Fuego) - the wordless, meaningful look shared by two people who both want to initiate something, but are reluctant to do so.

Utepils (Norwegian) - to sit outside enjoying a beer on a sunny day.

Tidsoptimist (Swedish) - a person who is always late because they think they have more time than they do; a time optimist.

Bhava (Sanskrit) - when you’re in a mental state of bliss or peace, a oneness that flits into you, especially when you’re listening to music.

Samar (Arabic) - staying up late and having conversations with friends or family.

Cafuné (Portuguese) - the act of tenderly running one’s fingers through a loved one’s hair.

Retrouvailles (French) - a reunion (e.g., with loved ones after a long time apart).

Naz (Urdu) - assurance/pride in knowing that the other’s love is unconditional and unshakable.

Fargin (Yiddish) - ungrudging and overt (expressed) pride and happiness at other’s successes.

Apnapan (Hindi) - having a quality where you accept people, think of them as your own, take care of the ones you love, not for anything in return.

Meriggiare (Italian) - to rest at midday in a shady spot.

One Word Ideas

A aeipathy (n.) - an enduring and consuming passion aleatory (n.) - relying on chance or an uncontrolled element in the details of life or in the creation of art alharaca (spanish, n.) - an extraordinary or violent emotional reaction to a small issue anacampserote (n.) - something that can bring back a lost love antiscians (n.) - people who live on opposite sides the world, “whose shadows at noon are cast in opposite directions” áoyè // 熬夜 (chinese, n.) - to pull an all-nighter appetence (n.) - an eager desire, an instinctive inclination; an attraction or a natural bond aranyhíd (hungarian, n) - “the golden bridge”; the reflection of the sun as it shines on water aspectabund (adj.) - letting or being able to let expressive emotion show easily through one’s face and eyes asterismos (n.) - “marking with stars”; a word that gives weight or draws attention to the words that follow aswium // 아쉬움 (korean, n.) - the mingled feeling of disappointment, frustration, and regret that results from an unsatisfactory situation atermoiements (french, n.) - distractions or hesitations leading to procrastination avos’ // авось (russian, n.) - blind trust in sheer luck

B balter (v.) - to dance artlessly, without particular grace or skill but usually with enjoyment basorexia (n.) - the overwhelming desire to kiss bilita mpash (bantu, n.) - the opposite of a nightmare; not merely a good dream, but a blissful state where all is forgiven and forgotten brontide (n.) - the low rumble of distant thunder brumous (adj.) - of grey skies and winter days; filled with heavy clouds or fog b’shirt // באשַערט (yiddish, n.) - “destiny”; referring to the seeking of a person who will complement you and whom you will complement perfectly

C cafuné (portuguese, n.) - the act of tenderly running one’s fingers through someone’s hair caim (scottish, n.) - an invisible circle of protection, drawn around the body with the hand, that reminds you that you are safe and loved, even in the darkest times casuistry (n.) - deceptive or excessively subtle reasoning chéngquán // 成全 (chinese, v.) - “to become whole”; to selflessly help someone achieve their aim chimerical (adj.) - created by unchecked imagination; fantastically visionary or highly improbable commuovere (italian, v.) - to stir, to touch, to move to tears consenescere (latin, v.) - to grow old and grey together; to stay too long in an occupation; to decay, to lose respect, to fade convivencia (spanish, n.) - living together, in the sense of living or working closely with other people with whom you share feelings, desires, or a common purpose

D defenestrate (n.) - to throw someone or something out of a window dépaysement (n.) - the feeling that comes from not being in one’s home country dérive (french, n.) - a spontaneous journey where the traveler leaves their life behind for a time to let the spirit of the landscape and architecture attract and move them desenrascanço (portuguese, n.) - the improvisation of haphazard but completely sound solutions or plans at the last minute dormiveglia (italian, n.) - the space that stretches between sleeping and waking dustsceawung (n.) - reflection on people, and on the knowledge that all things will turn to dust

E eigengrau (german, n.) - “intrinsic grey”; the color seen by the eye in perfect darkness erlebnisse (german, n.) - the experiences, positive or negative, that we feel most deeply, and through which we truly live estivate (v.) - to be inactive or asleep through the summer’s heat and then come awake and alive in the winter eudaimonia (n.) - a contented state of being happy and healthy and prosperous

F fanaa // فناء (urdu, n.) - destruction of the self; “destroyed in love” fernweh (german, n.) - feeling homesick for a place you have never been to finifugal (adj.) - hating endings; of someone who tries to avoid or prolong the final moments of a story, relationship, or some other journey firgun // פירגון (hebrew, n.) - the act of sharing in or even contributing to someone else’s pleasure or fortune, with a purely generous heart and without jealousy fisselig (german, n.) - being flustered to the point of incompetence; a temporary state of inexactitude and sloppiness that is elicited by another person’s nagging fuubutsushi // 風物詩 (japanese, n.) - the feelings, scents, or images that evoke memories or anticipation of a particular season

G gezellig (dutch, adj.) - cozy, nice, inviting, pleasant, comfortable; connoting time spent with loved ones or togetherness after a long separation gibel // гибель (russian, n.) - not death, not suicide, but simply ceasing to exist; deteriorating in a way that is painful for others gibigianna (italian, n.) - the play of light reflected from water or a mirror; a sunlit area gigil (tagalog, v.) - to grit the teeth in order to resist the urge to pinch or squeeze something extremely cute gökotta (swedish, n.) - dawn picnic to hear the first birdsong; the act of rising in the early morning to watch the birds or to go outside to appreciate nature guanxi // 關係 (chinese, n.) - a network of social connections based on mutual trust and the balancing of debts by returning favors so that the relationship’s benefits are shared by all

H hanyauku (kwangali, n.) - the act of walking on tiptoes across warm sand hifistelyä (finnish, n.) - something sophisticated, luxurious, and expensive, which is however a very minor improvement and is not needed hiraeth (welsh, n.) - a homesickness for a home to which you cannot return, a home which maybe never was; the nostalgia, the yearning, the grief for the lost places of your past honne // 本音 (japanese, n.) - what a person truly believes; the behavior and opinions which are often kept hidden and only displayed with one’s closest confidants hüzün (turkish, n.) - a melancholy resulting from inadequacy or failure and weighing so heavily that it becomes communal, resigned, and even curiously poetic

I ichariba chode // 行逢りば兄弟 (japanese, phr.) - “though we meet but once, even by chance, we are friends for life” iktsuarpok (inuit, n.) - the frustration of waiting for someone to turn up ilunga (tshiluba, n.) - a person who is ready to forgive any abuse for the first time, to tolerate it a second time, but never a third time incalescent (adj.) - growing hotter or more ardent; set ablaze induratize (v.) - to make one’s own heart hardened or resistant to someone’s pleas or advances, or to the idea of love

J jaaneman // जानेमन // جان ِ من (persian, n.) - “soul of me”; gender-neutral word for sweetheart or darling jiāoqiǎnyánshēn // 交浅言深 (chinese, v.) - to have a deep and intimate conversation with a stranger jīlè // 雞肋 (chinese, n.) - things that you have no use for, yet still don’t want to throw away

K kairos καιρός (greek, n.) - the perfect, delicate, crucial moment; the fleeting rightness of time and place that creates the opportune atmosphere for action, words, or movement kalopsia (n.) - the delusion of things being more beautiful than they really are kalsarikännit (finnish, v.) - to get drunk alone at home in your underwear karōshi // 過労死 (japanese, n.) - death from being overworked katzenjammer (german, n.) - a bad hangover or a general state of depression or bewilderment kawaakari // 川明かり (japanese, n.) - the gleam of last light on a river’s surface at dusk; the glow of a river in the darkness kilig (tagalog, n.) - the feeling of butterflies in your stomach, usually when something romantic takes place kintsukuroi // 金繕い (japanese, n.) - “to repair with gold”; the art of repairing pottery with gold or silver lacquer and understanding that the piece is more beautiful for having been broken koyaanisqatsi (hopi, n.) - nature out of balance; a way of life so unbalanced that you need a new way kruschteln (german, v.) - to look for an item in a disorganized pile of stuff

L la douleur exquise (french, n.) - the heart-wrenching pain of wanting the affection of someone unattainable l’appel du vide (french, n.) - “the call of the void”; the instinctive urge to jump from high places latibule (n.) - a hiding place; a place of safety and comfort lethe (n.) - oblivion or something to make you enter oblivion and forget lítost (czech, n.) - regret and remorse and repentance; a state of agony and torment; sorrow said to be created by the sudden sight of one’s own misery livsnjutare (swedish, n.) - one who loves life deeply and lives it to the extreme

M mamihlapinatapei (yagán, n.) - the wordless, meaningful look shared by two people who both desire to initiate something, but are both reluctant to do so matutine (adj.) - just before the dawn mbuki-mvuki (bantu, v.) - to shed one’s clothing spontaneously and dance naked in joy meliorism (n.) - the belief that the world gets better; the belief that humans can improve the world mellandagarna (swedish, n.) - “the middle days”; the days between christmas and the new year meraki // μεράκι (greek, n.) - the soul, creativity, or love put into something; the essence of yourself that is put into your work metanoia (n.) - the journey of changing one’s mind, heart, self, or way of life mono no aware // 物の哀れ (japanese, n.) - the gentle wistfulness at the transience of things, and the awareness of the sadness of existence mudita // मुदित (sanskrit, n.) - sympathetic, vicarious joy; happiness rather than resentment at someone else’s well-being or good fortune mutterseelenallein (german, adj.) - utterly alone, as of refugees torn from their home country

N nakhes (yiddish, n.) - the satisfaction gained from life’s gifts; proud pleasure, especially in one’s children or grandchildren and their successes, however small ñáñaras (spanish, n.) - the free-falling sensation in the body caused by an unpleasant situation, fear, anxiety, insecurity, or other intense emotions natsukashii // 懐かしい (japanese, adj.) - of some small thing that brings you suddenly and joyously back to fond memories, not with a wistful longing for what’s past, but with an appreciation of the good times nazlanmak (turkish, v.) - pretending reluctance or indifference when you are actually willing or eager; saying no and meaning yes nefelibata (spanish, n.) - “cloud-walker”; one who lives in the clouds of their own imagination or dreams, or one who does not obey the conventions of society, literature, or art nemesism (greek, n.) - frustration, anger, or aggression directed inward, toward oneself and one’s way of living nemophilist (n.) - a haunter of the woods; one who loves the forest and its beauty and solitude nepenthe (n.) - something that can make you forget grief or suffering noceur (french, n.) - one who sleeps late or not at all; one who stays out late to revel or party noctuary (n.) - the record of a single night’s events, thoughts, or dreams novaturient (adj.) - desiring or seeking powerful change in one’s life, behavior, or situation numinous (adj.) - describing an experience that makes you fearful yet fascinated, awed yet attracted; the powerful, personal feeling of being overwhelmed and inspired

O offing (n.) - the deep, distant stretch of the ocean that is still visible from the land orenda (iroquoian, n.) - a mystical force present in all people that empowers them to affect the world, or to effect change in their own lives ostranenie // остранение (russian, n.) - encouraging people to see common things as strange, wild, or unfamiliar; defamiliarizing what is known in order to know it differently or more deeply oubliette (n.) - a dungeon with a door only in the ceiling; a place you put people to forget about them

P palinoia (n.) - the obsessive repetition of an act until it is perfect or mastered pareidolia (n.) - the instinct to seek familiar forms in disordered images like clouds or constellations; the perception of random stimuli as significant peripeteia // περιπέτεια (greek, n.) - a sudden or unexpected reversal of circumstances; the point of no return pretoogjes (dutch, n.) - the eyes of a chuckling person who is up to benign mischief

Q quaquaversal (adj.) - moving or happening in every direction instantaneously querencia (spanish, n.) - a place from which one’s strength is drawn, where one feels at home; the place where you are your most authentic self

R ranço (portuguese, n.) - the inexplicable feeling of disliking someone without a proper reason rantipole (v.) - to be wild and reckless rasasvada // रसास्वाद (sanskrit, n.) - the taste of bliss in the absence of all thoughts recumbentibus (n.) - the knockout or ending blow, physical or verbal; the final, winning argument redamancy (n.) - the act of loving the one who loves you; a love returned in full resfeber (swedish, n.) - the restless race of the traveler’s heart before the journey begins, when anxiety and anticipation are tangled together retrouvaille (french, n.) - the joy of meeting or finding someone again after a long separation; rediscovery

S sankofa (akan, n.) - “go back and fetch it”; to look back on the past in order to understand how we became what we are, and move forward to a better future sarang // 사랑 (korean, n.) - “i wish to be with you until death” saudade (portuguese, n.) - a nostalgic longing to be near again to something or someone that is distant, or that has been loved and then lost sciamachy (n.) - a battle against imaginary enemies; fighting your shadow scintilla (n.) - a tiny, brilliant flash or spark; a small thing; a barely-visible trace sehnsucht (german, n.) - a yearning for a far, familiar, non-earthly land one can identify as one’s home serein (french, n.) - the fine, light rain that falls from a clear sky at sunset or in the early hours of night setsunai // 切ない (japanese, n) - the feeling between bittersweet, painful, and wistful sillage (french, n.) - the scent that lingers in air, the trail left in water, the impression made in space after something or someone has been and gone smultronställe (swedish, n.) - a special place discovered, treasured, returned to for solace and relaxation; a personal idyll free from stress or sadness soigné (french, adj.) - possessing an aura of sophistication in dress, manner, or design; presented or prepared with an elegance attained through care for the finer details sophrosyne // σωφροσύνη (greek, n.) - a healthy state of mind, characterized by self-control, moderation, and a deep awareness of one’s true self, and resulting in true happiness sturmfrei (german, adj.) - the freedom of not being watched by a parent or superior; being alone at a place and having the ability to do what you want susurrus (n.) - a low, soft sound, as of whispering or muttering or a quiet wind súton (croatian, n.) - the approach of death or the end of something

T tacenda (n.) - things better left unsaid; matters to be passed over in silence tatemae // 建前 (japanese, n.) - what a person pretends to believe; the behavior and opinions one must display to satisfy society’s demandsv. temerate (v.) - to break a bond or binding promise toska // тоска (russian, n.) - ache of soul, longing with nothing to long for tsundoku // 積ん読 (japanese, n.) - buying books and not reading them; letting books pile up unread on shelves or floors or nightstands

U uitwaaien (dutch, v.) - to take a break to clear one’s head

V vagary (n.) - an unpredictable instance, a wandering journey; a whimsical, wild, or unusual idea, desire, or action velleitie (n.) - a wish or powerful desire for something that nonetheless is not or cannot be followed by actions meant to pursue it venters (scots, n.) - what the wind or tide drives in from the ocean upon a wave vernorexia (n.) - a romantic mood inspired by spring videnda (n.) - the things that should be seen or visited, especially if because they mark the character of a person or place volta // βόλτα (greek, n.) - a leisurely stroll along the main street or the seashore as the sun is setting, to meet and talk with friends and neighbors vorfreude (german, n.) - the joyful, intense anticipation that comes from imagining future pleasures

W wabi-sabi // 侘寂 (japanese, n) - accepting the natural cycle of growth and decay wēijī // 危機 (chinese, n.) - crisis or critical moment; from risk 危 and opportunity 機, the idea that there can be a positive result in a wisely handled risk

X xibipíío (pirahã, adj.) - of experiential liminality; of a being in the boundaries of experience and the act of entering or leaving perception xuānxiè // 宣泄 (chinese, v.) - “to let accumulated water flow”; to emotionally unburden oneself

Y ya’aburnee // يقبرني (arabic, phr.) - “you bury me”; wishing for a loved one to outlive you because of how unbearable life would be without them yakamoz (turkish, n.) - the reflection of the moon as it shines upon the water

Z zugzwang (german, n.) - a situation where every possible move or decision is a bad one, or one that will result in damage or loss

Sensory Prompts

cold, smooth slate

smell of smoke in icy air

a shimmer of water droplets in the sun

mint leaves

cold mud

the squeak of an old wooden staircase

paper tearing

light on the bottom of a clear pool

radio static

wind chimes

light reflected on puddles

the green iridescence of a beetle’s wing

slipping into warm water

a glow stick being snapped

night wind carrying the scent of freshly baked bread

wet, rotting leaves

dice against a table

the taste left in your mouth after a dentist’s appointment

a bite of an apple

people talking a room away

walking barefoot on sidewalk

dark, bitter chocolate

dryer lint

plucking a peach off the tree

calloused palm

pine needles

aloe being slathered on a sunburn

eggshells cracking

a dog’s cold nose

porch light in the distance

pouring something into a glass

soft cat feet

scraping at a scab

a deer darting away under the trees

jumping into a cold pool

a paper cut

a too-rich dessert

putting on clean underwear

an unpleasantly damp handshake

sweaty socks

the soft fur behind a dog’s ears

crunching ice at the bottom of the glass

licking your fingers while eating Cheetos

fighting against the urge to cry

floating on your back in water

soreness after exercise

the smell of an elderly relative’s house

bowling alley carpet

fresh paint

fireworks close enough to feel in your chest

the radio playing in the background at a restaurant

watching aquarium fish

a toilet flushing in a public restroom

your breath coming out in clouds in the cold

putting accidentally way too much salt on your food

poking at a bruise

rain on a metal roof

scent of a damp basement

the weird green afterimage after coming in from the snow

getting scratched by briars

a popsicle stick against your tongue

opening a window

walking on gravel

cold pizza

blowing out a candle

a swallow of a carbonated drink

packing peanuts

a bleeding mosquito bite

trying to fall asleep in a too-warm room

loud laughter somewhere else in the neighborhood

a round rock in the palm of your hand

putting your hair in a tight ponytail

steam rising from a bowl of soup

gum with all the flavor chewed out of it

the feel of banana peel

heavy boots

latex gloves

cold coins

an earthworm squirming in your palm

someone pulling away from a hug you wish would last longer

cloudless summer sky

ripping up a tuft of grass

getting water in your eyes

clean sheets

the packaging of snack food you’re eating late at night

cold water down your neck

nasty-tasting medicine

cleaning dirt from under your nails

holding your breath underwater

flies buzzing

thick fog

aluminum foil

the smell of stagnant water

the light of a full moon

bending a green twig in your hands

another person touching your skin with cold hands

motion sickness

tufts of shed fur

hard candy dissolving in your mouth

a feeling of acceleration in your chest

Enjoy! Ask away!

If you want a certain character, don’t be afraid to ask, and if you don’t know what character could fit, but you want to see it anyhow, I’ll use a character I think might fit for you. 😊

#the arcana #slime rancher #rancher au #slime rancher au #writing prompts #creative writing prompts #creative writing #the arcana writing prompts #slime rancher writing prompts #drabbles #prompt #prompts

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starker-stories · 5 years ago

Text

An Accord (WIS), Chapter 10

Okay, let's try this again.

I posted this chapter Friday, like it was supposed to be, and then found an absolutely massive amount of serious mistakes. So I deleted it and spent the day fixing them.

So here's Chapter 10, take 2...

This fic is on a weekly update schedule. Every Friday.

Tumblr Chapter Links: ch1, ch2, ch3, ch4, ch5, ch6, ch7, ch8, ch9, ch10, ch11, ch12, ch13 AO3 Chapter Links: ch1, ch2, ch3, ch4, ch5, ch6, ch7, ch8, ch9, ch10, ch11, ch12, ch13

Tags: Post-Captain America: Civil War (Movie), Post-Spider-Man: Homecoming, Anal Sex, Oral Sex, Polyamory Negotiations, Polyamory, Cheating, Past Bucky Barnes/Steve Rogers, Domestic Nightmare Tony Stark, Reconciliation, Nightmares, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, WinterIronSpider, Happy Ending, Clothed Sex, Domesticity, Peter Parker is legal age in the state of New York, College Student Peter Parker, Takes place about 2 years after Civil War. Closeted Character

Summary: “My boyfriends are super-villains,” Peter said giggling. “I’m the only pure innocent one in this place.” ——————————————————————————————

Chapter 10: Brooklyn

“I hate being the only person in this house that gets hungry,” Peter said, breaking their post-kiss snuggling session.

Bucky laughed. “I’ll cook.”

“Menus. By. The fridge. I am not waiting for one of Pretty’s delicious, but time consuming, Depression meals.”

Bucky climbed out of bed and started pulling his shirt on.

Tony shrugged. “If you want,” he said, climbing out of bed and not bothering to put his clothes back on. Bucky didn’t either.

Peter pulled his jeans on. “Not all of us are exhibitionists, Tony.”

“My body is a fuckin’ gift and you are blessed to see it,” he answered as he headed to the kitchen. To get the menus.

Bucky raced past him for the bedroom door, poking him in the stomach as he passed. “My body is a fuckin’ gift. You need to work out with me.”

“I’m going on fifty,” Tony defended.

“I’m in my second century. I’m cooking. I can only eat so much Asian food and pizza in a month.”

“Don’t let the teenager order dinner. He refuses to let any restaurant that doesn’t normally deliver make an exception for the billionaire in the house.”

“It’s not fair,” Peter argued, speeding past both of them using his spider abilities. He settled on the kitchen stool, waiting to see who would get to the kitchen next: Tony to the menu drawer or Bucky to the stove.

“You are depriving whatever poor waiter Molly sticks with bringing me dinner of a ridiculously huge tip,” Tony said, tossing the menu for Marea on the counter. “Touch that stove, Bucky, and I swear…”

Bucky picked up the menu. “So what’s Molly’s Place have to offer?”

Tony sputtered. “I’d tell Michael what you said, but I value my permanent reservation at his restaurant too much. It’s Marea and it’s the best restaurant in the city.”

Bucky looked at the menu. “Billionaire, right?” he asked, grinning.

“Leave me a few pennies in the bank account,” Tony said.

“Il branzino, il caulini e l'antipasto, il di manzo.”

Tony’s eyebrows headed for the ceiling.

“I’m fluent in Italian, Spanish, Catalan, French, German, Finnish, Hungarian, Romanian, Czech, Serbian, Russian, Chechen, Chinese, Korean, Vietnamese, and Arabic. Oh yeah, and English. All accentless except for English. Now that I’m me again, I can’t get the Brooklyn out of it.”

Tony hooked his arm around Bucky’s neck and kissed him. “I can live with the Brooklyn,” he said, happy that Bucky wouldn’t ever speak unaccented English again.

“And I was impressed by your Italian, French, Spanish, Russian, and Chinese!” Peter said.

Bucky shrugged. “He wasn’t involved in the overthrow of as many governments as I was.”

Peter burst out laughing, then caught himself. “I shouldn’t find that funny, huh?”

Tony chuckled. “Yeah, Pete. It’s fuckin’ hilarious.” He winked at Bucky. “Maybe not as many, but it’s a non-zero number.”

“You’re both awful!” Peter said, a smile still on his lips. “Wait. You didn’t,” he asked Tony, more seriously.

“Sometimes privatizing world peace is a less than honorable pursuit. And do you think the same people are running Afghanistan as were before my visit there? Not an official government on that one, but it counts.”

“Sorry. That mess was my fault,” Bucky said sheepishly.

“I’m sure he did a lot for Russia there, Pretty, but not arm the damn Taliban. That would be Howard and then me after your dead twin brother put me in charge. So yeah, Pretty,” Tony smiled, “a non-zero number.”

“My boyfriends are super-villains,” Peter said giggling. “I’m the only pure innocent one in this place.”

“Why do you think we keep you around,” Tony said.

“That’s why we keep you around,” Bucky said, almost in unison. They high-fived. And found their hands stuck together with webs.

“Where did you…” Tony said in shock.

Peter chuckled. “Bucky… how many guns do you have hidden in the penthouse?”

“A… lot,” Bucky said sheepishly.

“Tony,” Peter said in a sing-song. “How many of those bracelet thingys do you have laying around in case the micro-repeaters stop working?”

“Um… like he said.”

“Do you think I only have two webshooters?” Peter laughed.

“Get us out of this,” Tony said, irritatedly. “I have to call and order dinner.”

“I can do it.” Peter picked up a phone.

“I am not going to listen to you mangle the Italian language, kid. Get your super-villain boyfriends out of this. Or we’ll kidnap you and take you to our secret lair.”

“Wait,” Bucky said, “that sounds like fun.”

“It does, doesn’t it?” Tony grinned.

“Yeah. It does,” Peter chimed in. “When I’m not fuckin’ starving! Karen, hit them with the dissolving fluid.” He aimed his hand at Bucky and Tony’s joined wrists.

Tony’s left eyebrow questioned him.

“Tony… of course I can move Karen to my webshooters like you move FRIDAY to your glasses. If you want your proprietary tech to stay proprietary, stop letting FRIDAY do everything for you.”

“He’s…?” Bucky started, incredulously.

“A genius? Yeah. Gonna put me out of a job. Give me the goddamn phone.”

“Nope,” Bucky made a grab for it. “I am not gonna listen to you mangle the Italian language.”

Which led to a string of cursing in said language as Peter facepalmed. “I am never going to eat.”

~~~~~

“That wasn’t Italian,” Bucky said as they finished dinner.

“Of course it was. I mean I am fond of Gargulio’s for old times sake, but Marea’s better.”

“Not the food,” Bucky said, making a dive for the last of the desert.

Tony laughed. “Not exactly Italian. But you didn’t speak it when you went to Gargulio’s did you?”

“Italian? Fuck, I could maybe manage proper English.”

“You would’ve heard the difference. It’s Napoletano. Like your English can’t lose Brooklyn? My Italian can’t lose Naples because I learned it from my mom.”

“She was actually from Italy?” Bucky said, still hesitant to bring up the subject.

Tony nodded. “She came here to go to university. An unexpected me put an end to it.”

“I’m sorry,” Bucky said quietly, looking down.

“Why? Did you kill her?” Tony asked.

“Yeah.”

“You gotta stop taking credit for his bullshit, Pretty.” Tony reached out and brushed Bucky’s hair back then lifted his chin, turning his face to him. “When those words were said, were you you?”

“I did it.”

“Not what I asked. Before 1945, would you have done that?”

“Never.”

“You didn’t kill her, Bucky.”

Tears welled in Bucky’s eyes. His jaw clenched as he tried to keep them back. Tony ran the backs of his knuckles lightly across his temple and his tears fell.

Tony scooted his chair next to Bucky’s. “You didn’t kill her.” He leaned forward and pressed his forehead against the side of Bucky’s head. He closed his eyes and his own tears silently fell.

Peter watched the moment pass between them. Tony’s mom’s death was something that had weighed heavily on him his whole life. He was finally getting closure. How could he be jealous of that? They needed each other right then. Peter stood and both men looked at him. He walked around the table and put kisses on top of, first Tony’s, then Bucky’s heads. “Take Bucky to bed,” he said tenderly. “I’m gonna go study.”

“Baby,” Tony said, looking up. He pinched the bridge of his nose after sliding his fingers over his eyes to wipe the tears. “Do you mind?” he asked Peter quietly.

“Not even a little,” Peter said. “Take him to bed.” He paused and brushed his fingers through Bucky’s hair.

~~~~~

“C’mere, Pretty,” Tony said. Their tearful moment past, he felt playful. He turned Bucky and pushed his back gently against the closed door. He draped his arms around Bucky’s neck and chuckled. “Peter’s shorter than me.”

Bucky stood straighter.

Tony rolled his eyes. “Fine!” He pulled himself up on Bucky’s shoulders, stood on tiptoes, and kissed him.

“Not used to taller guys?” Bucky grinned.

“Not in awhile, no.”

“Problem?”

“You’re shorter than me laying down, Pretty,” Tony said with a smirk, standing flat on his feet. He dropped his voice to a whispered purr. “And when I’m on top of you.”

“Fuck,” Bucky said on a long breath.

“Problem?” Tony asked as he grabbed Bucky’s hands and led him to the bed. They rolled facing each other, Tony on his left side, Bucky on his right.

“I’m used to being the most charming, smug, and seductive one in the bedroom, that’s all,” Bucky said laughing.

Tony kissed the laugh off his lips. He brushed Bucky’s hair back. “I love that sound, Pretty.”

Bucky ducked his head, resting his forehead on Tony’s chest. Who was taller than him laying down. “You asked me something when we were all talking earlier.” He put a light kiss on the square inch of skin underneath his lips.

“Hmm? And?”

“Yes, I am.”

“I know, baby,” Tony said tenderly. He’d watched it happen, Bucky slowly fall in love. When he settled into it, it made Tony realize his own love. Feeling actual love for anyone was new, brought out by Peter. Feeling love for Bucky, just as deep but different and needing both, was entirely outside of his experience.

“Will Peter mind?”

“I’m pretty sure Peter already knows. He’s just scared because he’s younger.”

“You’re younger than me.”

“I mean, being an adult. He’s not, but he’s more than just a kid. I kinda toss an extra five years or so on him from the shit he’s been through.”

“About the same age I enlisted,” Bucky nodded. “That’s about how he feels.” He paused. “I love him, too.”

“I know that. And both of us love you. Not just because you give great head.”

“Tony,” he said in mock complaint.

“Most seductive and tallest,” he said, tilting Bucky’s face up for a kiss.

Bucky laughed. “And I thought you were tickling Peter when I heard you two laughi… Oh fuck… He can hear us!”

“Not yet, but I’m gonna fix that,” Tony purred. He ran his palm slowly down Bucky’s chest until he reached his waist. He stopped briefly at the button of his jeans before unfastening it.

It took some entirely unseductive wiggling around before they were both naked and in each other’s arms again. Bucky’s kisses were biting and hot. Tony’s were possessive and deep. Their hands clutched and pulled. It was very much closer, tighter, harder, now!

“I know you like riding me,” Tony said, struggling to catch his breath. “Do you like it on your back?”

“Doesn’t matter,” Bucky said, rather flatly.

“Not what I asked.” Tony rolled himself on top of Bucky. He reached his arms under Bucky’s shoulders and slid himself up along the man’s body. “Baby, that’s something you gotta get used to with me.”

“You talk too fuckin’ much during sex?”

“Okay, that’s two things you gotta get used to with me.”

“The leftovers of your fuckin’ Long Island accent make three?” Bucky grinned and bit again.

“All right, Brooklyn. Since you aren’t objecting…”

Tony found the lube under the pillow he always put it under and kissed Bucky through the awkwardness of doing so. One-handed he managed to squeeze enough of a dollop onto his hand to reach between them and stroke Bucky’s cock. He didn’t play, but directly went for things he’d discovered by rubbing him through his pants.

“Fuck,” Bucky panted, eyes wide at how fast he’d gotten so far.

Tony rubbed precome and lube over the head of Bucky’s cock. “Oh baby, that is… Fuck me, you’re gorgeous when you’re getting gone.”

“Getting? You’re gonna make me come.”

“I’m not gonna make you come before I’m ready to.” Tony took his hand off of Bucky’s cock, reached beneath his balls and slid his still-slick hand between his cheeks. The tip of his forefinger circled his rim and Bucky pushed down against it.

“Greedy,” Tony said, nipping his lip.

With only slightly less finesse than he’d done before — dammit! he and Peter were going to have to compare notes! — Tony coated his finger with lube and worked it inside of Bucky. “I’m not your fuckin’ child bride, Tony.”

“Ya ever think that I wanna do this because I…” Tony slipped another finger inside, “…like watching you?” He spread his fingers apart and slid his third in between them. “Fuck…” Tony moaned, watching the way Bucky moved when his fingers pressed up.

“What?” Bucky asked before he lost the ability to speak. From where he was lying… gasping… writhing… groaning… Tony wasn’t getting anything out of it.

“That, Pretty. That’s what I want. If I just want to get off, I can do that on my own.” Tony slid down a little which let his fingers push in deeper. They made Bucky gasp again. “This…” Tony breathed over his nipple before touching the tip of his tongue to it. Bucky’s breath caught. “…I only get with you.”

“From another person, you mean.”

Tony combined the movement of his fingers and the slow, wet drag of his lips across Bucky’s nipple. Bucky tried to move away from the overstimulation, but was held by Tony’s other hand on his shoulder. He could break free, easily, but he didn’t.

“I meant what I said, Bucky.” He dragged his open mouth down Bucky’s abs. The other man rolled his body up to meet his mouth. Kissing up the center of his body from his navel, Tony’s tongue swirled around the divot of his collarbone,

Bucky nearly came off the bed when Tony entered him. His back arched and Tony’s hands pulled him down, deeper onto his cock. He only thought about it after he’d cried out, but there was no way Peter didn’t hear that.

Tony pulled back with a long slow drag until he was almost entirely out of Bucky. Tony snapped his hips upward as he pushed hard and deep inside. Both hands on either side of Bucky’s head, his fingers tangled in his hair. He kissed him again, slow and soft, His thrusts were slow and long. He leaned up and whispered in Bucky’s ear. “I wanna learn you, Bucky.”

Bucky’s whimpers were nothing like Peter’s. Those were high, desperate, and pleading. Bucky’s broke into little short breaths, low and rising only at the very end. They started out demanding but Tony made them fall into begging.

Bucky groaned, his body broke out in a fine sweat, as Tony was managing to drive him fucking nuts with the way his thick cock scraped just the right way inside of him. Enough to get him hot but nothing more. Enough to make him need.

“Oh god!” Bucky cried out when Tony stopped playing and started fucking him hard. Not fast, but hard. He hadn’t realized that the two things could be separated. Bucky pushed down onto Tony’s cock. “Oh fuck Tony!” I didn’t…” His words were unintelligible. Broken on a rising moan. “That… could…” His attempt to make sense was lost to a loud cry. His cock dripped precome onto his belly.

“Around my waist now, baby,” Tony crooned and Bucky hooked his ankles across each other on Tony’s back. Tony stretched himself out over the taller man, pulling himself deeper as he slid up. Bucky’s heels dug in.

“Oh fuck, Pretty,” Tony moaned, his dark eyelashes fluttering. He snapped his hips sharply, seeking the depth that the new angle gave him. Tony reached up over Bucky’s right shoulder, and threaded his fingers into his long hair, holding his arm still, unable to move. But he said, “Hold me, baby.”

“Tony, no. I can hurt you.” Bucky realized that Tony meant for him to hold with his left arm.

He thrust in hard again. “Hold me, Bucky.” He kept Bucky’s right arm pinned with his elbow on the mattress under his arm, and Tony reaching up still into his hair.

Hesitantly, Bucky wrapped his left arm around Tony’s chest.

Tony kept a regular rhythm, deep and hard but not fast. He ached to go faster. Being inside Bucky was nothing like Peter. He knew Bucky could take it rougher. His body was used to responding to rougher. Tony hated knowing how that adaptation came about. He wasn’t going to blend himself into the body-memory that Bucky had of those times. So no matter how much his Pretty’s responses made him want to go faster, he stayed slow.

“Please…” Bucky moaned on a broken breath.

“Please what baby?”

“Faster. Please.”

“Mm hmm,” Tony purred as he dragged his lips, wet, open mouthed, across the stubble on Bucky’s sharply defined jaw. He went no faster.

“Tony,” Bucky drew out the name on a moan low in his throat.

“Mm hmm?” His thrusts were shallow, deep, and kept Bucky filled. The hand in Bucky’s hair lifted his head to where he could kiss him. It was Tony who bit, held Bucky’s lip in his teeth, and sucked. He nipped sharply and let go. As he did, the snap of his hips finally went faster. Tony felt the fingers of Bucky’s left hand dig into the muscle on his side. Then he heard the faint electromechanical whir of his arm’s strength being pulled back even as the man groaned, distracted with the pleasure of finally being fucked faster.

He released his hold on Bucky’s right arm and moved the man’s hand between them. He waited until Bucky wrapped it around his cock before he sucked his earlobe into his mouth. “Not yet,” he whispered.

Bucky’s eyes opened and he was about to say something when he saw Tony’s smirk. “Oh, fuck you,” he groaned.

Tony laughed softly. His words stuttered. “You can do it now… make yourself come… whenever you want. Or you can wait…” Tony’s smirk returned. “Gets better. Your… choice.”

“Fuckin’ hate you.” The whining moan Bucky made when Tony scraped his teeth along his neck and bit where it curved into his shoulder, proved his words a lie.

Bucky took his hand off of his cock entirely and out from between their bodies. He put it flat on the bed. “Now you have a lot to live up to,” Bucky said, Tony’s smirk transferring to his face.

Tony leaned back more on his knees and balanced his left arm near Bucky’s waist. “Gimme that hand,” he said, reaching behind himself, floundering around for Bucky’s left hand. He leaned forward, holding it by the wrist once he had it. He growled in Bucky’s ear. “I love you.”

Tony leaned back, pulling Bucky’s ass onto his haunches. When he rose up with his thighs, he fucked hard and deep. One hand was on his waist, urging him down to meet him. Bucky started pushing down to do that. Bucky was hot around him, the rocking movement and the man’s eagerness making him clench around Tony’s cock. Tony was groaning in pleasure, letting the powerful sensations distract him from the fear of what he was going to do. He took Bucky’s left hand and put it, flat palmed, on the center of his chest. The first test had been for Bucky. This one was for him. He was more deeply in love with Bucky than he wanted to admit. And Tony couldn’t love, not really love, without trust.

Bucky’s eyes went wide. He was going to object, but when he looked up at him; he saw Tony’s eyes tightly close. He watched as Tony pulled his lips into his mouth and bit them shut. He saw the wince of remembered pain and fear. He saw the struggle on the man’s face as the present warred with the past. He watched the two fight to reconcile. But Tony never moved Bucky’s hand away from the most vulnerable part of his body.

The man he’d betrayed so deeply, giving him that level of trust was unbelievable. “Oh Tony,” Bucky breathed out, overcome. He ground himself down on Tony’s cock, needing to be closer, and was rewarded with the man increasing his pace, pounding into him hard, but without anger or wanting to cause anything but pleasure. Bucky fell into babbling when Tony was at the height of his thrust and, more often than not, managed to hit his prostate. “Oh fuck oh fuck oh fuck…”

Tony kept his eyes closed as his hand held the back of Bucky’s hand. Instead of the metal fingers curling around the edges of the arc reactor, trying to hurt him, Bucky touched with nothing but the flat of his palm. He moaned, raised himself up and held in deep, feeling Bucky surrounding him. Tony’s fear finally broke and he let go of Bucky’s hand.

He listened to Bucky panting, fast and shallow — catching, holding, shuddering, letting go. Small deep groans that ended on another caught breath. Bucky’s legs dropped from around his waist and he pushed up with his feet on the mattress, adding his force that of Tony’s as they fucked. Tony pushed himself deeper, ground their hips together, filling Bucky with his entire length. He opened his eyes and looked down.

“Oh Pretty,” he moaned at the sight.

Tony lost himself in those blue eyes, dark with desire, eyelashes fluttering until his eyes closed. Bucky’s lips parted with his ragged breathing — full and swollen, flushed bright pink, wet and shining.

Bucky’s scream was low and loud. His eyes flew open as, untouched, his orgasm tore through him.

“That’s it, Bucky. Come for me, baby. Oh god… oh fuck!”

Tony groaned as his breath held. Both breath and release escaped at the same time. As he shuddered as he came and fell atop Bucky. He draped his arms over his shoulders, under his neck, and held on as the quakes passed through him.

Bucky wrapped his arms around Tony’s chest. They held each other as gasps settled into slow panting and then as their breaths evened out. Yet once they had, they still didn’t let go.

Tony took Bucky’s face in both his hands and kissed him tenderly. He saw the wetness on Bucky’s cheeks and felt it on his own. “You are in control of you, Bucky.” He kissed him again. “You did not kill my mom,” he said quietly

“How did you know I wouldn’t…” He looked down the space between them at Tony’s chest.

“I just knew,” Tony said, brushing the long, sweat damp strands from Bucky’s face.

“I could’ve killed you.”

“Uh huh.” He paused for another kiss. “So can Peter. But, Bucky, look,” Tony said, rolling onto his side. He took Bucky’s left hand and pressed his fingertips onto his side where he had grabbed him while they were fucking. “Are there any bruises?”

“No, but I didn’t try to hold you hard.”

“Yeah, you did. You didn’t hear it. You were too focused on something else,” he said with an over-confident smile. “But I heard it. I heard you pull it back. The way I can feel Peter doing the same thing.”

“I’ve torn the shit out of beds before. I could’ve hurt you.”

“And Peter breaks headboards and walls and shreds my sheets,” Tony said with a shrug.

“You’re crazy.”

Tony chuckled. “Maybe. I just have a fetish for guys who can break me into little pieces — and don’t.” Definitely a fetish. Definitely a power rush of truly epic proportions.

“You made me come even after I stopped touching myself,” Bucky said smiling.

“He does that,” Peter said, coming into the bedroom. “A lot.”

“You give me too much credit, babe,” Tony said smiling as he noticed that Peter was carrying his clothes instead of wearing them.

“I have a feeling he doesn’t.” Bucky, who was still on his back, more or less in the center of the bed, held his left arm open wide for Peter.

Peter crawled onto the bed and over to where Bucky was and settled in his open arm. Though he pulled part of a pillow under his head. Resting it directly on hard metal wasn’t exactly comfortable.

“God that was hot. I came so hard,” Peter said as he kissed Bucky’s chest. He ran his finger through the mess on his stomach. Looking first at Tony, then up at Bucky, he put his finger in his mouth, sucked it, and smiled.

Tony reached for the towel he kept under the same pillow as the lube. He wiped Bucky’s stomach clean. Both he and Bucky chuckled and shared a glance before turning to accuse Peter. “You were sitting outside the door, jerking off to us,” he said.

“Not through all of it.” He curled up closer to Bucky, tangling their legs together. “I did get my studying done. Fast,” Peter added with a grin. “It was so different only listening. Having to use my imagination to see.” He slid his arm across Bucky’s waist. “Bucky gets to be in the middle tonight. How do you like to sleep? Side, back, stomach?” Peter asked, looking up at him. “We used to sleep spooned,” he began, not saying who the other one of the ‘we’ was. Steve, obviously. “But on my back is more comfortable.” He hesitated. “Body habit.” “On your back then,” Tony said. He’d seen the container tubes in Siberia that Bucky would’ve been put in, to sleep on his back. “Until your body decides on another habit,” he added with another little kiss to Bucky’s shoulder.

He balled up a pillow under his head and stretched out along Bucky’s side. Tony reached across Bucky’s stomach to hold Peter’s hand. Bucky’s right hand slipped up from between his side and Tony’s front, to join them.

#Starker #WinterIronSpider #WIS An Accord #Von writes stuff

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