#i'm a haole

[sepdet]

Sorry, one more reblog: here's the local news from Hilo Monday evening, which gives you a better sense of how the locals are taking the eruption in stride, and even enjoying it. If you see fearmongering reports from non-Hawaiian sources, eff 'em.

[Nov 28, 2022] With that mixture of OH SHIT and OH WOW that one so often feels about mother nature at her most powerful, I see that Mauna Loa, the largest volcano on Earth, has started erupting.

Screengrab from summit webcam just now, dawn in Hawai‘i:

(Not sure how wide this field of view is, but Mauna Loa is unimaginably vast, about 75 miles /120 km across and much taller than Everest if you remove the Pacific Ocean.)

Thermal cam from last night showing the lava pouring across the summit caldera floor:

Latest update from Hawaii Volcano Observatory says lava hasn't yet left summit caldera. Let's hope it doesn't. Hawaiians know better than I which emergency services to listen to for updates. Praying for y'all that Pele puts on a show without choosing to come makai.

See HVO's Mauna Loa Updates for latest observations as well as emergency maps, information, FAQs, links, and more.

[hawaiianhapa]

Hi! I am mainly of european descent but my grandfather is native hawaiian, would it be okay for me to use the title of Kānaka Maoli or Hapa?

Absolutely! Blood quantum is a tool made by colonization to try to deny natives rights, don't let it tell you how Hawaiian you are. The most important part about being Hawaiian is loving the islands, your people, and your culture, not how you look or what a 23andme says.

[possumteeths]

ive kinda not said shit about the maui fires because everyone's already said everything, but I'm kinda tired of like a million million negative posts just absolutely shitting on idk celebrities donating and stuff. Like i don't give a shit lol. Who the hell cares wtf oprah is doing, being pissed about it won't bring peoples houses and loved ones back.

The government failed us, the world failed us. Everything sacred that native Hawaiians ever held dear has been ruined and trampled on. This is just another tragedy that could've been avoided if hawaiian land was in hawaiian hands. I understand the anger, but its sorta strange and disconcerting to see non hawaiians ranting and raving about celebrity drama and their opinions on donating or how to even view the tragedy. The fire made hawaii's struggle more visible to people, but it's upsetting that people are speaking about how fragile hawaii is only nOW after 200+ years of hardship and bullshit.

It all just makes me feel empty. Thanks so much for talking about rich people donating and whether or not they gave an appropriate amount, thanks for being angry about issues you should've already been mad about. Thanks for the thoughts and prayers but our islands are dying and this isn't anything new. this was a tragedy waiting to happen and it was set in motion years and years ago. It's tragic and horrible but it's bEEN tragic and horrible.

The anger and sympathy comes across as crocodile tears. Why did a bunch of people need to literally die before people started talking about hawaii's struggle. Thanks so much for your sympathies but we have been fucked for a long, long time. maui has been fucked for a long long time and so has every other island. Your anger just doesn't matter because we have been angry since we were illegally forced into becoming a part of America. We have been angry ever since the first goddamned boat that landed on our shores. We live on a ticking time bomb and all number of disaster is eventually going to happen. Please don't wait for people to DIE before you start caring.

[basuralindo]

Me: "It's so weird that some people just Won't eat food from other cultures. Like wtf what are you scared of??"

Also me: Trying a western(??) sweet potato for the first time in my life at 30 years old because my grocery store has been out of japanese sweet potatoes for over a month and I got desperate. Realizing I've never actually considered eating one before because the color and texture looks weird.

[manipulatedstars]

My god this had me swooning

GOODNIGHT N GO

18+ / mdi

summary: having always seen minghao from afar, you always considered him unattainable, with him never interacting with you while his friends brought you around. unbeknownst to you, he had similar thoughts about you, constantly keeping his distance, thinking you must've been interested in his members instead. luckily for you, you had two very meddling friends, too fed up with your mutual idiocy.

content: idol!minghao x hybeidol!reader, reader is mingyu and seokmin's bestie, afab reader, reader is implied to be a 97 liner but its not a huge plot point, acquaintances to lovers, very adorable crushes, assume minghao is a little shier and less social than he seems irl pls, reader is mentioned to have some family troubles, minghao literally courts reader aaahh he's too cute, smut, fingering, oral (f receiving), overstimulation (kind of), dry humping, mentions of pregnancy, penetrative sex, etc.

wc: 9.3k

a/n: this is one of my works im least proud of so pls have that in mind as u read<//3

masterlist | patreon

"C'mon, one more drink."

"Yeah, you can't leave yet, it's too early."

"I have a shoot early tomorrow. I can't be hungover for it," you said for the nth time in the past five minutes.

Currently, you were situated in Seventeen's dorm rooms in the Hybe building.

It wasn't too common for groups to stay within the building, seeing as most people had their own individual apartments or homes outside of the premises, but Seventeen would often frequent their own dorms for hanging out purposes, only ever spending the night if they were too tired to make it home.

As per usual, you were hanging out with Mingyu and Seokmin, with Wonwoo and Seungkwan having decided to also make an appearance. It was quite usual for them to keep you around after work (and even to occasionally steal you during working hours). As expected, the overly extroverted 97 liners of the group had taken you under their wing early after your debut, debuting you as a the only female member of the friend group.

Along with you, there were guys from other groups who had also been blessed with a birthday within the year 1997. This, of course, included Xu Minghao, though he was mostly an honorary member, as he mostly kept to himself and never actually joined in with the group. Even after years of being best friends with multiple members of the Seventeen, you were yet to really get to know Minghao. The man remained a mystery to most of those around him.

This was quite unfortunate to you, seeing as you'd developed a bit of an unrequited interest in the guy. There was something about his calm and confident aura that drew you in. Unlike most of his other members, he had a tendency to keep to himself and keep outside social interaction to a minimum. This had at some point caused you to hold the belief that maybe he didn't like you, but your friends had informed you time and time again that this was simply his personality. However, that didn't prevent you from wanting to seek him out (though never actually going through with it).

This was why despite your previous excuse to leave to sleep in early for tomorrow's schedule had been thrown out the window the moment you spotted certain boy with a mullet walk into the room, rubbing at his eyes as if he'd just been awoken.

"What are you guys still doing up? I thought you'd all be gone by now," mumbled the pajama-clad boy, approaching the couch Mingyu was currently leaning back on and taking a seat next to him.

Subconsciously, you straightened your posture, attempting to appear casual at his sudden appearance.

You could count the times you'd been in Minghao's proximity with one hand. Being honest, you weren't quite sure if he even knew who you were past the general knowledge of your role as an idol.

"Sorry, Hao. We forgot you were staying here tonight," apologized Seokmin as he absentmindedly handed the boy an open bottle of soju.

Minghao was joining in on the drinking, it seemed. Naturally, this caused you to comfortably snuggle into the couch and forget all thought of leaving before having that last drink you had been offered just moments prior.

In front of you was a coffee table and two boys sitting on the couch opposite; Mingyu and Minghao. Surrounding you were Wonwoo and Seungkwan, while Seokmin remained standing and leaning against the counter to your right. Despite your distance to Minghao, you had the privilege of having a seat in which you could stare at him without it seeming unnatural.

"Oh, you've met Y/N, right?", Seungkwan suddenly remembered, taking his usual role as mood-maker to make an introduction if need-be.

Minghao finally laid eyes on you for the first time, giving you a polite smile and a subtle bow of his head, "I think a few times. Hi, Nice to see you."

Returning his gesture, you responded similarly, taking your eyes off him right after and giving your attention to the large boy sitting next to him who was now speaking.

"So, staying for that last drink?", he asked you, holding out a glass for you, giving you the option to take or deny it.

"Sure. Just this one," you insisted, grabbing the glass and taking a sip. Cheers erupted from your friends at your agreement to stay, with all of them seemingly tipsy enough to get excited at such a minuscule act.

On your peripheral, you missed how Minghao continued looking your way, smiling softly to himself as he stared.

-

"Well, that's the last of them," chuckled Minghao the moment Seokmin began slouching back on the couch, clearly falling into deep slumber.

Only an hour later and all four boys had either fallen victim to their drunken state and lost to the battle to slumber, or had made their way to bed before their dignity left them.

In front if you laid a snoring Mingyu as a passed out Seokmin subconsciously attempted to cuddle into him in his sleep. Not too far earlier, the two other boys had left, leaving you and Minghao as the last standing of the night.

As the night had progressed, rearrangements were made to your sitting accommodations, resulting in Seokmin joining Minghao and Mingyu on their couch right after Seungkwan's departure, leading to a peeved out Minghao making his way onto your couch to avoid the two large men bugging him as they got progressively more drunk.

At that moment you wanted to think it might've been an excuse to sit closer to you, but you knew that was just wishful thinking. It was something that made you giddy regardless, as you now found yourself side to side with him, practically alone in the boys' dorm's living room, — ignoring the two sleeping men across you — nursing drinks as your mutual tipsiness accompanied you.

"They were never good drinkers anyway," you responded with a chuckle, resting your back against the back of the couch as Minghao followed along, head slightly turning to face you.

There was a moment of comfortable silence as you both enjoyed your current buzz. Similarly to you, Minghao had chosen to not drink much through the time he'd joined you and the guys, choosing to nurse a single drink through the night. You'd had two, but found yourself still fully lucid.

"I don't think we've ever formally met, huh?", he mused, nodding in your direction.

"A few times, but you never hang around enough for me to get a word out," you agreed.

This pulled a chuckle from him, "Sorry, despite popular belief, I'm not as much of a social butterfly as my bandmates."

"I don't think anyone could possibly be as social as those two," you gestured to the two boys sleeping across from you, "What? You don't enjoy drinking til losing your inhibitions?", you joked.

"I envy them sometimes. I mean, clearly I've been missing out on a lot," he revealed, giving you an unreadable smile.

"Yeah? Like what?"

"Haven't made too many friends in the industry so far. I keep to myself too much sometimes, I think."

"Well, you could always join us more often. The guys are always inviting you. We'd all love the company," you encouraged, offering him a smile back.

He hummed at you, "Yeah? I'll take your word for that, then," he leaned over to the coffee table in front of you, putting down both of your drinks before pouring two shots and handing one over to you.

"Here," he clinked with you, "To my new friend," he gave you a confident yet appreciative smile, taking his shot afterwards.

"Oh? Okay, then. Sure," you followed along and took your shot, giggling at how easily he turned up his charm, "So, friends, huh?", you asked after you'd both downed your shots.

He shrugged, "Maybe we'll be the best of them, who knows."

After that night with Minghao, — which was spent drinking and reminiscing on your own personal memories with the two idiots you liked to call your best friends — you began to see him more frequently. You didn't get to know each other too much that night, being far too tipsy and sleepy to make it past an hour of alone time with him. However, his frequent presence helped you grow accustomed to him. It was nice to see the contrast between him and Seokmin and Gyu.

The two of you still didn't talk too much, usually sticking to comfortable silences more than anything else. His company was still always welcome, and very much encouraged by the three of you. Seokmin and Mingyu never questioned his sudden desire to begin taking them up on their offers to hang out, simply accepting his newfound presence as a gift.

You hoped that your crush on the boy wasn't too obvious, but as of now, you were pretty sure you were in the clear. Had those two known of your crush, they would've already ambushed you with a million questions about it. There was also the fact that you didn't want to get in the way of what Minghao clearly wanted to be a friendship and nothing more. Sure, he was very courteous to you, but nothing he ever did or said ever gave you any signal that he meant for your interactions to be anything but platonic.

Any outing between you and Minghao was always crowded with your two other friends. Even if any part of you wanted to act out on your crush, it was practically impossible due to their constant presence. The dynamic you'd quickly formed had been nice, though, as it usually consisted of Seokmin and Mingyu as a duo while you and Minghao stuck to one another. Your calm and introverted demeanors went very well together.

Walking side by side during any outing whilst your two friends led the way, too lost in their own shenanigans, you and Minghao smiled softly to yourselves at the other's company. No words were needed as you enjoyed the breeze of the night. You knew all to well that there'd be news articles on your outing, — yet another sighting of the 97's of SEVENTEEN with Y/G/N's Y/N — but it was such a common occurrence that no one truly paid any mind to it anymore.

"Hey, how about we rent a karaoke room to end the night?", Seokmin had suddenly halted his movements, causing Mingyu to bump into him at his abrupt stop.

Turning to face everyone, he looked around to see who agreed with his proposition. You'd already spent most of the afternoon at a restaurant nearby and walked through the streets of a populated clubbing area, so karaoke was not too out of the question in the context of the night.

Mingyu expressed his enthusiastic agreement, turning to you to see if you were down for it too. You noticed Minghao's eyes on you too, giving you an encouraging smile that let you know that he was interested in hearing your response before giving his own.

"How about we head back home and do karaoke there? There's probably already a ton of pictures of us hanging out today," you reasoned, not wanting to end the night just yet but also taking in mind your role as an idol.

Mingyu boo'd at you, "That's boring! I don't wanna go home yet," he pouted, clearly demonstrating how tipsy he currently was.

Seokmin agreed, "We can buy those fruity drinks you like at the norebang, c'mon," he insisted, "Myungho, what do you think? You've never tagged along to the norebang with us, I'll pay," he offered, tugging at Minghao childishly.

Minghao turned to look at you, "Be gentlemen," he scolded, walking over to your side to face them, "If she wants to head home then we head home," he affirmed, rolling his eyes at his friends' exaggerated groans of complaint.

"Thank you, Hao," you nodded at him with a smile, sticking your tongue out childishly at the other two boys.

Seokmin headed over to your side to hold your hand whilst Gyu now stuck by Minghao, walking in pairs of two once more as you turned back to head over to the car you'd arrived in. Looking back, you caught Minghao's eye, also catching sight of a subtle smile thrown your way.

It took you very little to arrive to your apartment, with the two boys making their way in ahead of you as if they owned the place. You couldn't blame them, knowing they were very used to coming over quite frequently. Minghao, on the other hand, stayed behind with you, waiting for you to welcome him in. He was very cordial and reserved, something which endeared you to no end.

Entering, you lost sight of your other two friends, who were probably already situated in the large living room located upstairs, ransacking you of any alcohol and entertaining themselves with your karaoke system. Meanwhile, Minghao continued to follow your slow movements, waiting by your side as you locked the entrance door. His hands remained intertwined on his back, giving him a posture you would only really expect from royalty.

Smiling at you, he nodded silently as if to encourage you to move forward so he could follow you along the length of your home.

"Show me around? Looks like the guys are already really familiar with the place," he suggested with a smile.

"Yeah," you chuckled, "They're here a lot. Wonwoo banned any group hangouts at his and Mingyu's, and Vernon sleeps early, so we never really go to Seokmin's. I live alone and the place is pretty big, so they crash here a lot," you explained, beginning to walk into the entrance hallway, "I'll show you around. It's uselessly big. I mostly have spare rooms for leisure," you explained, walking by the various rooms of what could very well be called a mansion due to its size. Large homes like these were common amongst idols, though many of them usually shared with other members.

"It's pretty," he said as he looked around, stopping by a certain painting hanging on your wall.

"My place or the painting?", you asked, standing to his side, "Mingyu made it," you gestured to the painting.

"Yeah, it looked familiar," he nodded, eyes still on it, "You're pretty close with Gyu," he stated, though it gave you the intonation of wonder.

You nodded at him, "He was my first friend when I became an idol. I probably wouldn't have met most of my current friends if it wasn't for him. He's too outgoing for his own good," you shrugged, reminiscing on how you'd met Mingyu and consequently every other member of what came to become the 97's squad, along with most Seventeen members.

"I can relate to that," he began walking further into your home, with you following along, "He was my first friend in Seoul. Didn't care about the language barrier at all, always tried to make me feel welcome," he seemed to reminisce too.

"Yeah, that's Mingyu," you joined with a smile, "I'd say I'm equally close to Seokmin, though. You? Any favorites?", you joked.

"Hmm, those two? Not really, but like I told you, I'm interested in getting close to someone else," he subtly bumped shoulders with you as he walked, chuckling when you did it back.

"Yeah? Well, maybe I'll have to rethink my favorites also," you smiled back with suggestion in your eyes.

This came to be a common occurrence between you — silent yet comfortable smiles.

Making your way upstairs, you made a stop by a balcony located just before the living room, from which you could already hear Seokmin and Mingyu taking liberal use of through the karaoke you had installed. Sharing a laugh, you and Minghao walked over to the veranda and took in the night's breeze.

"I'm going back to China soon," he suddenly said, "We're mostly on a break for two months while Wonwoo and Jeonghan hyung go through their comeback. I'm sure the guys must've told you?"

You nodded, "Yeah, I went to visit them during rehearsals once or twice. How long will you be gone?" you couldn't help but show your disappointment.

"Sad? We barely met each other," he nudged your shoulder again, "Just two weeks. Been wanting to see my parents for a while."

"Aw, that's nice. I'm sure they must miss you," you coo'd, sniffling at the chilly weather.

"Cold? Wanna head back inside?" he asked, nodding when you shook your head in negation, "Yeah, I miss them too. Love them more than anything. It's the one downside to our career," he went on to respond to your question.

"That must be really nice. I'm glad you get to see them soon," you expressed your genuine happiness at him being able to go back to his home country. He truly seemed like the type of guy who lived and breathed for his family — at least going by how he treated the second family he found with his members.

"How about you? Gyu told me you're on rest. Visiting family any time soon?", he wondered, suddenly shoulder to shoulder with you, continuing to look forward as he leaned on the veranda.

"Uh, nope. I don't really see them often," you mumbled, "It's been a while, actually," you continued, sure your body language told on you. Minghao must've caught on to this, allowing the hand he had resting on the veranda to slide over and next to your own hand, gracing the back of your palm with his pinky.

It was such a small gesture, yet entirely too sweet for you to take in without blushing to yourself.

"I'm sorry," he murmured, letting a moment of silence pass before continuing to speak with that soft voice of his, "You don't have to talk about it if you don't want to, but ... you're always welcome in my home. My mom would love you," he assured.

You chuckled, "Yeah? You sure? You barely met me," you teased by mirroring his earlier statement, returning his gesture and letting your fingers trace his own absentmindedly on the veranda.

"Just a hunch. If I like you, then she'd love you," he reaffirmed.

"Oh, so you like me?", you finally turned to face him, smiling teasingly.

"Thought I was clear about that," he cocked his head in mock curiosity, smiling back at you, "Gotta be more assertive, got it," he murmured mostly to himself afterward, finally disconnecting himself from the veranda and beginning to walk away, stopping to gesture you follow him.

"C'mon, they'll get too drunk if we don't go babysit them," he reminded you, holding out his hand to guide you into your own home — it was a bit ridiculous, but you could tell soft touches and stolen glances were a big thing with him, and who were you to complain?

As expected, the guys ended up staying the night, too exhausted to get themselves off your couch until the following morning. Minghao, unlike them, did not reach a drunken state that impeded him from leaving, but it was silently agreed between the two of you that you did not want him to leave, nor did he want to be deprived of your company.

While the guys stayed passed out on the couch, you offered Minghao one of your spare rooms, something which made you feel slightly excited. Sure, you weren't sharing a bed or anything like that, but you'd still be waking up to Minghao in your home, and that was a win in your book.

Waking up, you headed to the kitchen, finding all your friends gathered in the interconnected dining room as they nursed their hangovers. Minghao had taken the liberty of making tea, smiling at you as he bid you good morning.

Heading over to where he leaned against the kitchen counter, you took the cup from him with a 'thank you,' blushing to yourself when his hand made contact with your hip as you turned around to lean on the counter next to him. The contact had clearly been with the intention to prevent you from hitting yourself against the counter, but it had still been to par with the cordial and charming persona Minghao carried with him, resulting in you swooning over him yet again.

Distracting yourself, you chose to make conversation with the two boys in front of you, chuckling at how exhausted they seemed (though out of their own volition).

"Do you guys have to drink yourselves into a coma every time you come over?" you deadpanned, earning a chuckle from Minghao.

"It'd be more fun if you joined us in blacking out," groaned Mingyu, "Not fair we're the only ones singing karaoke while drunk."

"Did I hold a gun to your head and tell you to chug or you'd die? You're just a sore loser. Not my fault Hao and I beat your score cause you were too drunk to sing," you retaliated, earning a hesitant hum in agreement from Seokmin, who was still silently suffering on the table in front of you.

"Anyways, what do you guys want to do today?", Mingyu changed the subject, "Norebang? Wanna call up Kook and Jaehyun? Or we could go to that Bruno Mars concert Jihoon suggested? Thoughts? Opinions?"

"How are you not dead right now? You drank twice as much as that guy and he's practically dead?" you gaped at him, pointing at the shell of a man that Lee Seokmin seemed to become during hangovers. Meanwhile, Minghao watched you with amusement, quietly enjoying your banter with his friend.

"Hao leaves soon, so we need to take advantage of all the time we have left!" he insisted, "We start promotions almost as soon as he returns and you'll probably be off your break by then. C'mon!"

"What do you think?", you turned to Minghao, "Concert? Norebang, again? What did you wanna do?"

He shrugged, "Whatever you want, I'm down," he sipped at his tea.

Seokmin began to gain consciousness again as he joined the conversation, "Jihoonie only has three extra tickets to Bruno Mars and Nonnie is going, remember, Gyu?", he stressed toward his friend, "And we already agreed we'd go, so you two are gonna have to find something else to do," he frowned, "Sorry, Y/N."

"What do you mean? Jihoon said he had five ti- ow, fuck," Mingyu groaned halfway through his statement, wincing as he hunched over on his seat in what seemed to be pain. Looking over at Seokmin for half a second before responding, his facial expression went from annoyed to normal as he responded again, "Right, I forgot, uh, he already gave out the tickets, sorry. I forgot I already made plans with Min and Jihoon for that," he rasped.

"Yeah, Hao can probably keep you company, though, right, Hao?", interrupted Seokmin, Mingyu nodding along, "We can meet at the afterparty after the concert. Jihoonie can probably get you guys in," he suggested.

As odd as the sudden lack of insistence that you join them at the concert was, you ignored it, opting to just take advantage of the opportunity to get some alone time with Minghao. Turning to your side, you could notice the remnant of a scowl on his face directed at Mingyu, but it immediately turned into a smile as soon as he faced you.

What you didn't notice, though, were the dumb smiles exchanged by your two friends as they watched you and Minghao for the rest of the time spent in your home, often removing themselves from the conversation if it meant you and Minghao got more alone time with one another.

Having any time spent without Minghao after that was practically unheard of. Being mutually on a break of sorts, it was easy to see each other quite often. The guys always enjoyed your company, and even more so that of Minghao's due to how rare it had been for him to join them in outings prior to this, so it was common for you to find yourself near the duo (+ Minghao) a few times a week.

Although you'd sometimes be joined by other 97 liners in the industry or various other members of Seventeen, it was hard to not take notice of the way in which Minghao would gravitate to you almost immediately. He gave you his utmost attention, opening doors for you, ordering your meals for you (with surprising knowledge of your taste), texting you good morning and good night, and even insisting he and the guys drop you off at home any time you hung out.

If you didn't know any better, you'd assume he was trying to show romantic interest in you. However, you had quickly caught onto Minghao's courteous behavior towards everyone in his life. This was something he had even let you in on, telling you about his upbringing and even sometimes apologizing if he appeared too formal for his age. You always encouraged him, however, letting him know how much you appreciated how much of a gentleman he was — it was a nice contrast from your brotherly dynamic with his groupmates.

Trying not to visibly swoon at every act of service Minghao did for you proved to be a feat. Sometimes you'd have to take a breather to hold yourself back from throwing yourself at him. It was pathetic, really, how into him you were within such a short time of becoming his friend. But this was something you had to keep to yourself, not wanting to ever make him uncomfortable or halt his behavior.

It only became worse with time as you spent more and more time together. Mingyu and Seokmin were quite popular amongst idols, each having various friend groups to hang out with during their time off. You were sure Minghao must've also had many friends (despite his claims otherwise — he was too likable to be friendless), but he had chosen to spend most of his time before going to China with you. Claiming your hopes were up would've been an understatement. It was impossible to not want nor hope for Minghao to make a move and explicitly ask you out, but he never did. What he did do, however, was choose you to be the last person he saw before leaving Korea for the following two weeks.

Inviting you over to his place that night, Minghao had let you know that this was his last night in Korea before heading to China for the next two weeks. After having gotten close to you for the past two months, he had decided that you'd be the best company possible for a quiet evening in before departing. You didn't have it in you to even question why he'd pick you over his own groupmates, simply happy to spend time with him with the knowledge that you wouldn't get to do so for a while.

"Sorry for the short notice," he apologized as he approached you on the couch with a glass of wine, "But we've been hanging out so much, it felt natural to ask you over."

You hummed in agreement, "Should I ask why Seokmin and Gyu weren't invited or should I ignore it and take advantage of the extra wine?", you asked as you took a sip of said wine.

"They're too loud," he groaned exaggeratedly, "You're quiet, like me. Your company's too nice to pass up while I can have it," he added, joining you in your drinking.

"You can always just call me while you're there," you reminded him, "The guys call me all the time when they're overseas."

"I will be calling you," he affirmed, "But it's different in person. I'll still miss your company," he shrugged.

"I really did become your favorite, huh?" you teased, "Beat them all for first place in just two months," you were joking, but he still nodded in affirmation, chuckling along with you.

Grabbing onto the wine bottle he had laid in front of you, you went to top him off when you realized his glass was almost empty, only to be stopped by him.

"My plane's in a few hours, I can't drink too much. Being tipsy on a plane is one of the worst feelings."

"A few hours? You said tomorrow," you gaped at him.

"Well, it's 11:38, so it technically is tomorrow," he shrugged.

You sat up straight, "Dude, you should be leaving already. Why are we even here? Should I drive you? I can call my driver, he'll be here in-"

He grabbed onto your shoulders, halting your movements, "Calm down, my manager already had all my things sent over and the airport is only like twenty minutes away," he started with a calm voice, "Sorry I called you so late, we had a short promo to do earlier today, so my day got taken up at the last minute and I really wanted to say goodbye," he explained.

"Minghao, it would've been fine if you just left, I don't want to make you late."

"I didn't want to leave with no warning. It'd be rude of me to neglect saying goodbye to someone I care about," he said in the plain and cordial way in which he always spoke, grabbing onto your hand and tracing it like he had grown a tendency of doing.

Once more, it was hard not to swoon at such a small detail — the insistence in complicating his day only to make sure he didn't somehow make you feel neglected. Most people would've settled with a simple phone call or even just contacting you incessantly he returned, but Minghao wasn't like most people.

You looked down, nodding, "Thank you. That's sweet of you to say."

"I know it's only two weeks, but I'll still miss you. It's rare for me to really get close to anyone in the industry," he explained.

You nodded in agreement, "Yeah, me too. It kind of sucks since I'll be off my break by the time you come back and we probably won't be able to hang out as much anymore," you mumbled.

"I'll still be free. I'll come to you," he reassured, "Maybe we can finally hang out without the guys getting in the way," he smiled, "Just you and me?"

There was a slight suggestion in the background of your conversation. It was somewhat clear to you that you weren't speaking of mere friendship anymore. The moment was tender and suggestive, leaving room for something more. If you were mere friends, Minghao probably wouldn't have insisted in seeing you or been as communicative as he been so far. He wanted to make sure he preserved the friendship through his absence, however short it would be.

However, this was too much to get into knowing he'd be leaving likely within the hour. Instead of getting into it, you simply nodded along, cracking another joke about how loud and all over the place your friends could be. Despite offering to go with him to drop him off at the airport, he declined, insisting his driver drop you off home before he left for his flight. With a hug goodbye, he left you there, promising to call once he arrived and expressing that he'd miss you once again.

After two months of spending almost every day together, you felt genuine sadness at his sudden absence. Maybe it was dramatic of you to feel sad over such a short period of separation, but Minghao just had that effect on people — or at least you. He had taken such a quick interest in you that made you feel like the only girl in the world. It was specially bothersome to know that you'd both be too busy to see each other by the time he came back, but you were happy he'd get to see his family after so long.

With these thoughts, you went to sleep, waking up the next morning to a call from Minghao informing you of his arrival and of how content he was to be with his family. Being the last person he saw and first he contacted made your heart soar, whilst also making you frustrated at the back and forth that had been going on between you since you met him.

You needed him to make a move soon, or else you'd grow insane.

"You know he likes you, right?", asked Mingyu quite abruptly one day.

Only five days after Minghao's absence and you found yourself hanging out with your favorite dynamic duo yet again. Any time you had off was usually spent either with your own group or with them; it was the same for Seok and Gyu, who would always seek you out if possible.

"Who?", you asked despite having certain idea of who he was talking about.

"Boo, don't play dumb, its boring," joined in Seokmin, sitting next to you on the couch whilst the three of you engaged in a somewhat intense game of Mario Kart in Mingyu's living room. Wonwoo had decided to join in this time.

"Who are we talking about?", murmured Wonwoo distractedly as he annihilated the three of you at the game.

"Minghao," they both responded at once.

"Oh, yeah, absolutely," he agreed nonchalantly.

Suddenly you fell off a cliff in the game, having your character be fished away from the precipice and placed back on the race track as you widened your eyes at the statement.

"What? You know? How would you even know?," you rasped, completely caught off guard by the sudden (yet somewhat expected) revelation. You had hoped Minghao would confess to you at some point, or even occasionally convinced yourself it was all in your head. What had been low in your list of expectations had been your friends informing you of his feelings in his absence.

"He talks about you any time you're not around," Wonwoo began with a monotonous tone as most of his attention was taken up by the game, "He never leaves home, yet he's been doing it every day since he met you, he has that dopey smile all the time now. I don't know, it's just kinda obvious," he finished, chuckling when he realized he crossed the finish line.

"If Wonwoo can tell but you can't, we have a problem," said Seokmin, groaning at his loss in the game.

"I don't know," you shrugged, completely ignoring the game now, "We're friends. I know he acts a certain way, but I think he would've already said something if he liked me like that."

"He's just shy. And he's very particular about who he lets in. The fact he keeps coming back means he must really like you," emphasized Mingyu, sitting back against the couch with you.

"We've already been trying to get you guys alone as much as possible, but you're taking too long to tie the knot," added Seokmin, followed by nods from the other too.

"So what am I supposed to do with this information? Do I ask him out or-"

You were met with a chorus of 'No!'s, making you immediately shut your mouth.

"Distance makes the heart grow fonder," quoted Wonwoo, "He'll ask you out once he's back for sure."

Mingyu nodded in agreement, "He wasn't super direct about it, but he implied to us that he would, so yeah, be ready."

The thought made your heart race. How were you supposed to speak to him again after this without becoming a mess at the thought of your crush being reciprocated? Fuck, you even went as far as to wish you'd followed him all the way to China. The two wait week for him to come back suddenly felt like too much.

Both your thoughts and conversation were interrupted by the sudden vibration of your phone, leading three sets of eyes to turn to your direction.

"Let me guess," laughed Seokmin, wiggling his eyebrows at the implication of who may be calling at that moment.

"He never calls me, yet you've known him for two months and you get a daily call," Mingyu sulked jokingly as you went to pick up, ready to leave the room so you could answer the phone, "If you don't realize he likes you, then you're dumb."

"Don't tell him we told you," rasped out Seokmin before you were out of his line of fight, earning a nod from you before you picked up and left.

Walking into the room next door, you sat on Mingyu's bed as you finally responded, "Hello?"

"You looked beautiful today, you know," were Minghao's first words in response, "Gyu sent me some pictures you guys took yesterday. God, you look breathtaking."

You were unaware that Mingyu had sent Minghao the pictures he'd taken of you the day prior in which you went clubbing, something you were yet to do with Minghao as of yet. The implication of Minghao asking Mingyu for pictures of you made you blush.

"Stop flattering me," you groaned, attempting to keep control of your voice, knowing your nosy friends likely had their ears to the door.

"What, can't I appreciate beauty? I'm kind of jealous the guys got to see you all dressed up," he mumbled with amusement in his voice.

"Well, maybe don't leave the country next time," you teased, "I'll tell the guys to take you clubbing as soon as you're back," you promised, "Then maybe you can see me in a dress."

"Oh, is that a promise?", you could hear the teasing lip bite from your end, "Nah, not really a clubbing person. How about I make you dinner? Then you have another reason to wear a dress for me," he suggested.

For him. God, he wanted you dead.

You internally groaned at how smooth he was, "I feel like I should be the one cooking you dinner. As a welcome, you know?," you suggested instead. There was something about Minghao that made you want to throw everything away just to husband him up.

"You don't have to go out of your way. I should be the one treating you, it's what's right," he argued softly, "All you have to do is meet me at my place in a pretty dress, okay? I'll take care of the rest."

"Okay, you wore me down," you whined, "Damn you, Xu, you're good at this."

"Only with you," he murmured back.

The rest of the conversation went as your talks usually did. It was filled with updates from his day to day with his family and your own occurrences with your groupmates and friends. You kept him up to date with the happenings with Seok and Gyu, knowing he was more privy to calling you than them. The unspoken suggestion of you being of his utmost interest remained there, though nothing was ever explicitly said. Even as he asked you to go over to his place, you were unsure if it was meant as romantic date or if that'd come later. It made you giddy, but also far too excited to wait.

The two weeks passed faster than expected. Minghao's absence was barely felt, specially due to how constant his communication with you remained. The good morning messages, pictures, updates and lengthy phone calls never ceased, even consistently interrupting your time hanging out with your two shared friends. Any time you were on the phone with Minghao, you'd be met with teasing looks and exaggerated kissy sounds coming from either Seokmin or Mingyu (occasionally even Wonwoo or any other member who was present at the moment).

You had been completely worn down by both Minghao and his friends. The constant back and forth was enough to make you completely defenseless to Minghao's charm, but his friends' open teasing only made you more and more certain in Minghao's feelings for you.

Today was finally the day of his return, in which you found yourself getting ready to go meet him at his place. You'd insisted in picking him up (knowing Mingyu and Seokmin would also be getting him), but Minghao insisted you stayed behind, telling you he wanted to wash himself up and cook dinner before seeing you — Mingyu would be helping with the cooking.

You were anxious yet excited as you knocked on his door, though unsure if you'd be walking into a group meeting or a one-on-one between you and Minghao.

As soon as he opened the door, he offered you a soft hug, burying his face in your neck before even speaking, "Missed you," he mumbled, humming when you parroted the words back at him.

Disconnecting from him, you blushed when his hand immediately went to your own, leading you into his apartment with ease. His thumb played with the back of your palm whilst moving towards his couch, which had two plates of what looked to be like a luxurious meal — courtesy of Mingyu's cooking.

Sensing your eyes on the food, he spoke up, "Mingyu helped me make it. It's my mom's recipe," he informed you, "I'll let you eat soon, okay? Just ... There's something else I want to show you first, wait here," he let go of your hand as you stood in the middle of the living room, leaving the room for a few moments before returning with a small box.

Walking towards you with an excited smile, he became a little shier once he made eye contact with you. Your hands went up to receive the small box from him, his fingers gracing your own as he handed it over. A slight meeting of shy gazes was shared, but both your eyes went back to the box mere seconds later.

"You got me this? Hao, you really didn't have to," you murmured, opening it and gasping lightly at its content — it was a golden necklace; a little worn, but beautiful.

"It's my mother's," he started, enveloping your hands as they held onto the necklace, "I, uhm, I told her about you, and she insisted I bring this back to you," he explained, smiling down at you as you gaped at him, surprised he'd tell his mom about someone he'd just barely met, "She said I should give it to someone special. My dad gave it to her when they first started dating and she's kept it ever since."

"What?", your eyes widened attempting to hand back the piece of jewelry, "Hao, I- I can't accept this, it must mean a lot to your mom, I-"

He chuckled, interrupting you as he enclosed the necklace in your hands, "Please, Y/N, it's fine," he murmured once securing the necklace in your hold, "Here, at least try it on," he suggested as he gestured for you to turn around, now grabbing onto the necklace himself.

You followed along wordlessly, removing any obstacle from your neck and baring it for him to secure the necklace around your neck. His nimble feelings traced the back of your neck softly, leaning down to practically breathe you in as he adjusted it to perfection. Slowly, his face approached the back of your neck, nose and lips tracing your skin silently. You could feel the breath of his touch grace against your skin, forming goosebumps in its wake.

"You're so special to me, which is why I wanted you to have this," he breathed out, "But you already know that, right? How special you are to me?", he slowly turned you around, face still semi-buried in your neck. It was impossible to make eye contact due to the close proximity between you, but you could tell his eyes were heavy as he stared down at the skin of your neck.

Just as slowly as before, he separated from you, noses practically touching as he finally looked down into your eyes. His hand went up to your chin, making sure you were facing him just like he was you.

"Hao, I-"

"Sorry I waited so long," he chuckled lightly, "I wanted to make sure you liked me back before I made a move. Wanted to make you comfortable and get to know you, but it was hard to hold back sometimes," he explained, eyes going from your eyes to your lips, "Did I already tell you how beautiful you look tonight?", he interrupted his confession with a breathless chuckle as he allowed himself to look you up and down.

"Not yet, but-"

"Sorry, you look amazing. Is it all for me? Or is this reserved for friends too?", he asked as he bit a smile back, letting it break through when he registered your confusion, "I, uh, I used to think maybe you liked Mingyu, but that's not the case right? This is mutual. The guys see it too, I think. I know I haven't been too forward, but you understand my feelings, right?", he questioned, practically breathing you in.

Your breath was heavy at the confession, eyes trapped between locking on his eyes and lips, but eventually remaining stagnant on his lips. At some point, his hands went down and hesitantly made their way to your waist, pulling your body towards his when his act met no resistance.

"Hao, I- I like you too, I thought-," you cleared your throat and tried again, "I thought maybe you only liked me ad a friend, but, fuck, you like me too? I- I need to hear you say it," you let out, shocked any words could possibly come out of your lips when your brain kept screaming at you to kiss him.

Minghao appeared to have a similar idea, choosing to let hid actions speak for him rather than his words. The minute space between you became nonexistent when he kissed you, sighing softly into your lips when your mouth instantly opened for his.

The kiss wad soft and innocent; simply a demonstration of his feelings for you. He breathed out an 'I like you; so much,' into your lips after a few moments, but no response from you was permitted as he locked lips with you once more.

Any softness or innocence left the kiss soon after. It wasn't filthy by any means, but it was unexpectedly intense. Minghao seemed to be reading into your reactions, drinking in any sighs and moans coming from your lips and acting on them by kissing you harder, by slipping his tongue in your mouth, by softly pushing you against a wall and trapping you with his touches.

"Ha-hao," you moaned out between kisses, unsure of what you even wanted to say.

"Is this okay? I'll stop, just-"

You shook your head, cutting him off with a kiss, "Don't stop. Take me to your room," those were the last coherent words to leave you that night, earning a breathless chuckle from Minghao as he held your hand and led you to his room, food completely ignored.

Once in his room, you were led to his bed, though he stopped you before you could get in it, turning you around to kiss you again. His hands went back to your waist, rubbing up and down your back almost innocently. Your hands were the ones to become braver, going from playing with his hair to the front of his dress shirt, toying at the buttons and undoing the first few.

This silent demonstration of need made Minghao's hands become bolder, going down to your ass and kneading it. It was a back and forth. Any time you did something bold, he did too, going from your unbuttoning of his shirt to him throwing off your dress. You quickly ended up in your underwear while he stood in front of you shirtless and with unbuttoned pants.

His lips finally left yours, kissing down your neck and collarbones, heavy breath fogging against your skin while his hands explored your body. Your sighs occasioned groans from him along with mumbles filled with praise.

"You're the most beautiful girl I've ever seen," he sighed as he rested his forehead on your chest, taking a moment to breathe you in. Disconnecting himself from you, he finally looked you up and down, smiling softly at you before biting his lip from preventing his smile from growing any bigger, "You're gorgeous ... You're art. The most beautiful thing I've ever seen, and ... and I want you so bad," his voice grew deeper by the end of his statement.

He gently pushed you down, allowing you to lay back on the bed while he knelt before you. His hands felt the expanse of your legs, mouth gluing to the side of your knee and laying a soft kiss there. Upon noticing your reaction, more kisses joined the first one, trailing up and down your thighs while you looked down at him with a pained look in your eye. He seemed troubled with what he wanted to do first, needing to touch and kiss you all over.

"Can I?" he asked when his lips came far too close to your center, eyes hooded with desire.

No words left you, just a nod, but it was enough for Minghao to push your panties aside and go to town.

With a single lick, he went from slit to clit, groaning at the first contact. No more tentative touches came after that, only a mess of his tongue and lips drowning in you as his arms held your legs to prevent the incessant grinding of your hips against his face.

He ate you out expertly, moaning liberally against you as if the pleasure was all his own. His lips trapped your clit, sucking it in while his eyes rolled back. As much as your eyes attempted to close, you couldn't stand a single second in which you didn't get to see him as he gave you pleasure.

Your first orgasm came quickly, but it never fully subsided as his lips continued to lick and suckle at you, with his fingers even joining in to open your lips up for better access for his tongue. The wet noises were too explicit for you to process, but they only added to your sensitivity. Minghao ignored any whines for him to stop, taking note of how your words contradicted your actions. — your hands kept pushing his head back in while you whined 'it's too much!' at him — Your body clearly wanted more, and Minghao seemed too pleased to provide.

"Cum again," he rasped, "Wet my face and cum," he practically demanded, "You're so beautiful when you cum."

His hips would occasionally cant against the mattress, which made your eyes roll back any time you felt it. It wasn't a conscious nor active action, seemingly only happening every so often when he was too distracted to hold back. It made your stomach cave in, only able to picture how those same hips would likely be hammering into you in just a few moments.

With only a few more seconds of exploring your cunt with his tongue, Minghao happily claimed your second orgasm, licking into you throughout the entirety of your high as he had done the previous time. This time, however, you pulled him away, silently encouraging him to make his way back to your lips and trapping him in a wet kiss.

He practically fed you your own juices, murmuring praise into your mouth as his hips began grinding into your sensitive cunt.

"You were so good for me, sweetheart."

"Tasted so good for me, fuck, taste just as beautiful as you look."

"Yeah? Too sensitive, baby? 'm sorry, angel. Couldn't help myself."

"Do you feel that? I'm- I'm gonna fuck you with that. Is that okay, beautiful? Hmm? You want it, huh?"

He took advantage of every whine and cry of his name that came after each statement, sucking into your tongue any time your mouth would open for him. His hips took no rest either, grinding directly against your swollen cunt as the zipper pressed up against you in such a painful yet pleasurable way.

Pulling away with a low chuckle at your whines in complaint, he threw off his pants and boxers, smiling down at the thirsty look in your eye upon seeing him.

"Want it, pretty?", he coo'd, bringing your hand up to his cheek and turning his face to kiss the back of your palm lovingly, "I'll give it to you, beautiful. Don't even have to do anything, just stay right there, okay, angel?", he said as he reached back to his pants, taking out a condom and wasting no time in putting it on.

He teased you no further, likely very sensitive himself after granting you two orgasms and dry humping you against his better judgment. You made him lose control, and you enjoyed it greatly despite being such a mess under him at that moment.

Entering you, he kissed you, swallowing your gasp of pleasure. He gave you a few moments before silently asking for permission to move, humping into you the moment you nodded in agreement.

As per usual, his gallantry showed once more as his hands found your own and intertwined above your head. His hips moved expertly yet at a pace that could only be described as sensual. The only time his hands left you was to remove your bra, but immediately went back to holding your hands while his lips found their way to your nipples, calling you every synonym of beautiful as he made love to you.

"Like you so much, beautiful," he breathed, his lips finding your own again, "Want to keep you all to myself. Can I? Wanna take you back home and- fuck, and introduce you to my parents," he rambled breathlessly as his hands wrapped around your waist, bringing you impossibly closer, "Wanna give you a ring and a house ... Make you a mom," he groaned at the mere mention, "Is it too soon? Just ... Like you so fucking much."

You wanted to reciprocate so badly, but your mouth would not emit any noise that wasn't an incoherent whine of his name. You opted for nodding enthusiastically, dragging your nails down his back as your orgasm approached.

Like the perfect man he was, he knew when to bring his fingers to your clit, causing your back to arch against him and rob you of the last bit of your voice that remained. You cried his name as your high arrived, gasping hiccups of pleasure that drew him into his own orgasm. Confessions of care and affection for one another were had, though no proclamations of love were made. That would come later, you were sure. Your shared words were enough for you to know the feeling was there.

He gave no time for you to move as he slipped out, throwing away his condom and tucking you next to him as he nuzzled against you whilst attempting to regain his breath. Kissed were laid against any bit of skin available to him, hands pressing you up against him.

"I'll clean you up and let you go pee in a second, just let me keep you for five minutes," he sighed with contentment.

"No complaint from me," you responded, equally in need of his affection, "We still have to talk about what you said, though," you giggled, earning a loving bite from him.

"I meant it," he mumbled, "I know it's soon, but I also know how much I like you. And I know you like me just as much," he said with certainty.

"You'll have to wait til at least the third date for further discussion about impregnating me," you joked, "But I'm not against it," you whispered the last part, earning a squeeze from him as he chuckled along with you.

"Go pee," he said when he finally separated from you, "I'll keep the bed warm for you and then I can finally give you that meal I made you."

Reluctantly, you got up, looking back at him from the bathroom door as he smiled with unfiltered happiness in his eyes.

You practically squealed with giddiness as soon as you closed the door, far too happy with today's events. Unbeknownst to you, Minghao had a similar reaction on the other side of that door.

to read short 2.3k word continuation (+ all other previously written bonus content) you can go join my svt monthly tier on patreon!

content: newbf!minghao, idol!au, hao is down bad horribly, teasing from his members, afab reader, smut, body worship, very soft!!, fingering, penetrative sex, etc.

wc: 755 (teaser); 2304 (full drabble)

sneak peak:

"So, how long did you guys plan this?", you asked as you mindlessly toyed with Minghao's hair, his attention likely in another dimension.

"Since the first time you guys met," responded Mingyu nonchalantly, continuing to press at the buttons of his controller and paying you almost no mind. Similarly, his gaming partners Dokyeom and Wonwoo had their focus at least 90% on the screen rather than on the conversation.

"What, so years ago? We've only really known each other for like five months," you questioned, not believing your relationship with Minghao had truly been orchestrated by the three dummies sitting one couch away from you.

"Six months and two weeks," corrected Minghao lazily, humming at your fingers running through his hair.

"He knows the exact date? God, he's whipped. Kyeom was right about setting you guys up," commented Mingyu with a chuckle.

The conversation felt entirely one-sided, though you knew your friends had developed a finessed skill at gaming whilst still giving you just enough of their attention for a conversation.

Currently, you were the main character of the conversation at hand, seeing as Seokmin had let it slip that he and the rest of your friends had designed a plan play Cupid and form a relationship between you and Minghao. You believed them to be too disorganized and impatient for such a thing, but decided to question them regardless — for entertainment if for any reason.

"Oh, so now it was Seokmin's idea?", you asked with amusement, shuffling to the side of the couch when you sensed Minghao getting up from lying on your lap. Without much effort you morphed into another comfortable position, this time with your legs on top of Minghao's as he cuddled into you, face buried in your neck to nuzzle into your skin.

Your friends had gotten used to your couple-y disposition quite quickly, only gagging at the sight occasionally but never truly bothered by it.

"Yes, ma'am," responded Seokmin in a jokingly formal manner.

"How did this come about?", you continued with the questions while Minghao continued to remain completely disengaged in the conversation, his only interest being the quiet and occasional pecks he could land against your skin.

"Well, it was obvious he liked you from the first time we brought you back to the dorms," started Seokmin, having given up on beating his friends at the game and instead leaning back against the couch to converse with you as he watched the match play in front of him, "He was a little more shy back then, so he never said anything, not even to us," he continued up until you interrupted him.

"Wait, back when?", your surprise went unnoticed by Seokmin, but not by Minghao who subconsciously tightened his arms around you, now actively listening to the conversation.

"2016? Maybe 2017?," Kyeom wondered out loud, turning to Mingyu for confirmation and receiving a hum and a nod from both him and Wonwoo, "Yeah, late 2016, I think. Anyways," he continued, "We never said anything, but we all knew. We'd always try to get you guys in the same place, but he never budged. It wasn't til a few months ago when we mentioned you might be dating someone that Minghao decided to—"

The commotion from your side of the room prevented Seokmin from continuing, followed by the landing of a pillow to his face, resulting in a whine from the boy. Unexpectedly, Minghao had gotten up, pulling you up with him and accidentally causing a remote to fall in the process.

"Seokmin, shut up!", he demanded, a shade of red you'd never seen on him invading his ears while he attempted to avoid your widened eyes.

Three sets of eyes were set on you now, with some being amused while others confused. The game was mostly forgotten as they all stared at the usually quiet and put together Minghao make a commotion as he attempted to leave.

"We have to go, come on, babe," he urged, dragging you away from the room.

"But I wanna hear the end of the story," you let out as he pulled at your arm, not truly dragging you away but still struggling to convince you to leave. Giggling, you waved your friends bye as you finally allowed him to finally lead you out of the room, giving the guys a death stare to express his displeasure with them. It wasn't genuine anger, you could tell, but it was still amusing to see him embarrassed at his years-long crush being aired out.

...

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[itachis]

Sorry, Cheng Xiaoshi. I'm always telling you not to change the past, but I couldn't follow my own words. Even if I know death is an unchangeable point, I still wanna use the last chance to return to the beginning and save you.

LINK CLICK / 时光代理人 (2021-) 2.12 | dir. Li Haoling

[three--rings]

Most people don't have any understanding of what has been lost in Lahaina Town. Not just lives and property, but an entire town.

Most people hear "a city/town in Hawaii" and they picture probably resorts. And there are plenty of resorts nearby. But those are all fine.

Lahaina was an old whaling town dating back to the original colonization by white settlers. Before white people arrived, it was the capital of the island, where the high chief ruled, including Kamehameha the Great. The buildings are old, wooden, and crowded together. Obviously that was a problem in the face of the insanely fast wildfire.

But these weren't mansions, Mc or otherwise. It was a tourist town, a destination for cute, spendy shopping and dining, full of art galleries. (OMG THE GALLERIES. There was so much ART lost. There was original Dr. Seuss art in one gallery when I was there in January. That's gone now. Etc.)

But the people who lived and worked in Lahaina were mostly working class, working retail and restaurant jobs, living in old apartments and small houses. Lots of elderly, lots of non-white in a wide range of ethnicities, old hippies who have been there since the 60s and 70s. Yeah they were probably a little better off than people who drive in from other places to work in West Maui, at least because their property was high value, if they owned. But they lived without A/C, hung their laundry on lines, biked to work, called in sick to go surfing when the waves were up. There was a Chinese cultural center and a Buddhist temple, two different structures, if that tells you anything. Multiple museums housing historic items and cultural centers.

And the town will be rebuilt, in some form, I imagine. Or re-developed, more likely. People who are now homeless, who can't afford to rebuild or pay for two residences while the recovery happens will be bought out by deep pocketed developers. If they rebuild Lahaina Town I'm afraid it will be Lahaina Town tm by Disney.

Another fake paradise for tourists with lava rock from the Big Island. Another bit of Hawaii swallowed by capitalism and climate change.

I'm not painting everything about Lahaina as it was as perfect. Front Street was an often gaudy display of brand names and hucksters out to shovel in the tourist dollars. And of course the politics of Hawaii are incredibly complex and fraught in so many ways. I'm just a mainlander haole. I will never live on the islands, despite my family there constantly asking me to move. But I've spent more time there than anywhere I haven't lived, almost all of that time in West Maui.

My mom works in a building that is not there anymore. She just described that job to me as "the last job she'll ever have" as she's 79 and very happy with working two days a week selling t-shirts to cruise ship people. My brother has worked in a gallery on front street for the last ten years.

I don't know. A city of almost 15,000 permanent residents is just gone. 50 or so are confirmed dead, in some horrific circumstances from what I hear.

My mom says people are just walking around with thousand-yard-stares, aimless, clutching cell phones trying to get signal (there isn't any, but you can get lucky and get a call through. Some texts are going in but not out.)

So I don't know folks. Keep those people in your thoughts. If you can donate, I think this may be a good place because it's going to lots of local orgs on the ground: https://www.hawaiicommunityfoundation.org/maui-strong

I keep thinking of new sad things.

Anyway I'm going to leave you with a picture I took while strolling down Front Street one evening.

[heavens-roses]

A long rant related to some takes I've seen from anons from hotsystemtakes that are genuinely just racist. Hi, I'm a Native Hawai'ian + Asian mixed POC, and today, we are going to talk about cultural appropriation within the system community. For reference I was raised in a predominantly white city and moved to a small US city that's still predominantly white. While my small city does have at least 2 other hawai'ian families, it is still hard to ever see my culture. Whether it be through our names, our tattoos, traditional dances, our chants, or simply seeing other families and people who look like me. Now you might be wondering what does all of this have to do with me a random system on the internet who thinks telling to stop using closed names is stupid? Here is your answer.

For decades starting in the in 1860 my people's king Kamehameha signed a law to regulate our names. This law was not repealed till 1967. This meant our names that have a very deep spiritual and familiar connection to who we were as people was ripped away from us. Next we have laws against Chinese and Japanese immigrants who were often targeted for hate and bigotry. There is a reason #stopasian hate became a thing in the first place as we experience racism and culture appropriation too. There are also many other minorities who likely have had similar experiences such as having your voice not heard in the conversation of racism within the CDD community, having their cultural names stolen, microagressions, and many others. I mainly mentioned my culture as well as Asian culture simply because those are the groups I typically fall under and I have a closer connection to.

You see all of this was not because our people were bad or because our cultures were wrong in any way. It's because our cultures, our lives, our beliefs were a threat to white folks. You now praise and love to fetisize each of us in your own way. You think now that we have a bigger population that it's ok, you can use our names that have genuine deep meaning to our people simply because you are an introject and have CDD. I've talked to many of my aunties and uncles*[1] about having haoles*[2] name themselves our names. We not only find it extremely disrespectful but to us shows the true lack of understanding for our culture. Our names are not simply given to us for no reason. Each was created us as individuals, we might be named after our grandparents, be given names after big parts of our lives, have names are also linked to our mana*[3] and who we are.

You claim you care about POC and to have our issues heard, yet when it comes to your own racism you are ignorant. You throw out that Kai is a name from many cultures and while while it's true. You should not use Kaimana as a name because it's not open for haoles to use freely. Yuri, a common name in both Japan as well as Russia + Ukraine, does not mean it is now suddenly open for non Japanese, Russian, and Ukrainians people. You still need a tie to those cultures in order for you to use it.

If you are white, I'm not sorry to say you're not allowed to have any conversation in our cultures names and who is allowed what. There are plenty of open culture names, whether they are Irish names, Scottish, Latin, Italian, French, and many more. Stop your damn bitching about but but my name is apart of your identity as a part/alter when you are literally ignoring our culture and history. Suck it up all you sound like is a whiney coloniser, an appropator, and most of all, someone who gives no respect for cultures that you were never a part of. I've seen this argument for the last 3 years of being out as a system. If you even as another minority can not respect someone else's culture and traditions, you can shut up and keep it to yourself. Also yes even if you are apart of a different minority group you are suddenly not exempt from being racist and appropriating cultures.

[1] not literal uncles/aunts - in my culture to refers to those older men/women who are hawai'ian or are apart of our culture

[2] a hawai'ian word for foreigners often times white people

[3] Mana is a Polynesian word for energy, spirit, power, and many more words. It's often spiritual in nature and is all around us.

[sleepingdeath-light]

s/o who is half hawaiian hcs ; main cast

requested by ; yesthetrashbin (09/05/23)

fandom(s) ; black butler

fandom masterlist(s) ; hub | specific

character(s) ; baldroy, our!ciel phantomhive, finny, mey rin, sebastian michaelis, snake

outline ; “Hi! After seeing your "mixed race hc" for Black Butler, may I pls request the main cast (of your choice) with a mixed race s/o from Hawaii? (Male or gn reader pls) I'm just self projecting rn, I was born and raised in Hawaii for a very small portion of my life but since I was a military brat, I lived in many different places. Now as an adult and living back in Hawaii, I have major imposter syndrome and for a whole year I never felt like I belonged here and ppl treat me differently for acting more haole... but feel free to disregard this request! Hope you have a good day/night!”

note ; this may not be a perfect portrayal of the reader’s requested experience as i (a) am not a part of this culture and had to do a lot of research, and (b) had to try and adapt whatever i could find to the time period bb is set in — apologies if any part of this piece feels off because of this

warning(s) ; brief references to period typical racism and feeling disconnected from one’s heritage, but mostly fluff!

Baldroy

bard tries his best to help you reconnect with your culture and heritage — namely through food and language — but he’s far from perfect and his pronunciation might just make you wince at first (he’s trying, really, he’s just also really not good with accents)

do not let this man hear about dishes like loco moco or kālua pig because he will try and recreate it for you and it will go horribly wrong — please, please, if you must, ask sebastian to oversee everything because otherwise you will be eating some charcoal (made with a lot of love and good intentions, but still definitely charcoal)

he calls you ‘ipa’ a lot, alongside his usual rotation of pet names like ‘babe’ and ‘hun’, and his pronunciation gets better and better over time — and if you comment on that improvement then he’ll get the cutest smile on his face and mention that he has ‘the best teacher’ (between you and the books he’s been studying, of course)

he practises a lot independently in the hopes of being able to impress you and your family in the future (a habit ingrained in him from his upbringing — the need to gain approval from the relatives of whoever you’re dating before marriage), but let it be known that he is struggling his way through the syntax and grammar as best he can — but of course he’ll end up coming to you for guidance when he’s truly stuck or realises that perhaps that’s not how he should be pronouncing that word (sometimes it just feels wrong, even to a new learner)

he has punched someone out cold for being cruel to you for your heritage before and he will do it again if the need arises — he has a temper and he can use it to his advantage (sometimes, anyway)

(our!) Ciel Phantomhive

he’s highly empathetic to you feeling out of place in your culture does whatever he can to help mitigate that uncomfortable feeling for you — usually by having sebastian do something or another

he uses a great deal of his sparse free time to learn the specific dialect your family uses, either from you or alongside you depending on how much you can recall, and whilst his pronunciation is imperfect the effort is definitely there (and you’ll often find him practising his annunciation and sentence structure in the late evenings between working through the startling pile of paperwork on his desk)

more hawaiian dishes and desserts are incorporated into the manor’s menu — thanks to sebastian — based on ciel’s research and your own memories of food you grew up with (his personal favourites are lomi salmon and malasada)

if you ever wanted to wear something closer in design or pattern to what you wore back home, then he’d happily commission you some garments from nina — granted they’d probably not be perfect replications of what you grew up with, but he’d make sure that they were as close as they could reasonably be

he’s not afraid to leverage his reputation, connections, and staff in order to protect you and threaten anyone who tries to make you uncomfortable or discriminate against you due to your heritage (his peers, usually) or, conversely, your disconnect from it (other members of your community back home)

Finny

finny finds everything about your heritage and culture to be so very interesting — whether that’s the food, the celebrations, the language, the clothing, or just the island that your family hails from itself (he did grow up in a lab after all, so an environment like that is one that he’d jump at the chance to go and visit)

he’s shockingly quick at picking up the spoken side of your dialect just from hearing you speak it, but reading and writing is a very different story — but he’s so very eager to learn and he wants to be able to help you reconnect with that side of your family in his own way (trying his best to start and maintain conversations in hawaiian throughout the day with you, occasionally pausing mid word to shake his head and correct his pronunciation slightly and asking you if that was right — grinning so broadly it reaches his eyes every time you let him know that he did good)

loves all of the food you grew up eating and will happily devour it and ask for a second helping — his personal favourites are the sweeter things like haupia and kūlolo but he also enjoys the more substantial/proper foods and will just eat whatever you put in front of him

doesn’t quite understand the concept of being ‘haole’ but gets deeply upset by the way you’re treated by some of the people on your island because you happened to travel a lot growing up, which in turn makes him more protective over you and clingy (likewise he gets very emotional and affectionate after someone mistreats you back in old blighty because of your heritage, apologising for how you’re being treated and angry that people could ever be so mean to someone he loves so much)

if he had the opportunity to go visit hawaii with you then this man would be in heaven, exploring the terrain and learning about all the new native plant life (even trying new fruits like lychee, papaya and pineapples, which are far too expensive for him to even consider looking at back home) — you will definitely struggle to get him indoors during your visit and he might just sleep outdoors if you let him

Mey Rin

mey rin can definitely relate to feeling disconnected from her heritage given that her parents passed away when she was young and her only exposure to anything from her home country was the gang that treated her terribly — so the journey to reconnect with your roots would be something she’d happily support you in

she’d join you in relearning the hawaiian language whilst she learns mandarin (well beyond the cusses and insults and derogatory terms that were tossed around in the gang) — exchanging terms of endearment like ‘ipo’ and ‘xīn gān’ as you each become more familiar with your own languages and each other’s

she’s happy to try any of the foods you grew up with (especially anything involving meat), but she’s not exactly the best cook and far too clumsy to be trusted in the kitchen, so you’ll have to take on most of the actual cooking — she’s happy to help fetch ingredients, though (and she’s yet to drop anything… key word being ‘yet’ but it’s a big achievement for her)

if you ever manage to scrape enough time off to go back to your home island then poor mey will be fretting and practising her hawaiian near religiously for weeks leading up to the visit (even practising to herself when she’s working) — she wants to leave a good impression on your family, after all, and is really anxious about getting their approval

she’s not afraid to stand up for you with brits or other hawaiians who try and look down on you because of your heritage and your relationship with it — she knows what ‘haole’ means and she does not like hearing you get insulted (and, as many people could tell you, she can be very intimidating when she wants to be)

Sebastian Michaelis

sebastian is the type of partner who would go above and beyond to help you reconnect (or keep connected) with your heritage even though you’re stationed an ocean away in england

he makes sure the kitchens are stocked with the ingredients necessary to not only feed the master and his guests, but to keep the taste of home close — even memorising the steps to making the perfect lau lau, poi, or haupia (amongst many other dishes) for whenever you’re feeling homesick

being a demon he also has an excellent capacity to acquire languages and dialects without having to do the same amount of active learning that humans do, meaning that he’s more than happy and able to sit and talk with you in your native language (standard or in regional dialects like the niihau dialect) or help you relearn if if it’s something you lost or never quite picked up for one reason or another

it’s not like he randomly incorporates phrases or words from hawaiian into his daily life or work, as he has no reason to, but when the two of you are talking it’s easy for him to slip into it as a more intimate and private thing for the two of you

he makes a point to help you visit your home island and family whenever possible, even at times twisting the young master’s arm to do so — ensuring that you’re able to make any celebrations, festivals, parties, or holidays that you might have otherwise missed (whether it’s a more personal gathering like a luau, or something more communal like the merrie monarch festival)

as one could expect of him, sebastian is incredibly protective over you and intolerant of any attempt to judge or discriminate against you from either side of the debate (brits for being too non-white and your community for being ‘too haole’) and will make his disapproval known in the most aggressively polite way possible (unless he can get away with actively threatening them without repercussions for you or the young master, at which point he might just outright attack the offending party)

Snake

snake is mostly a very quiet and introverted person but that doesn’t mean he’s unsupportive of you and your want to reconnect with your heritage — in fact he offers all of the support he can (using his wages to buy books, food and materials in the same styles that you grew up with just to make things a bit easier)

he knows what it’s like to feel like you don’t quite fit in anywhere and he has extremely little patience for anyone who treats you poorly for your heritage or upbringing — using his snakes and appearance to his advantage in order to intimidate anyone who even tries (he doesn’t speak enough hawaiian to know what ‘haole’ means but based on your reaction he knows it isn’t good and he doesn’t like you being called it as a result)

he’s a big fan of a lot of hawaiian dishes and will easily clean the plate whenever something is made — but his personal favourites are ahi poke and lū’au, both of which he can happily have several servings of

he’d struggle a bit with connecting with your community if you ever managed to bring him back to your island for a visit — but that’s mostly because of his natural introversion and he’s otherwise fine with following you around, helping you prepare food, celebrating holidays with you, and so on

[ncmadsteve]

WELL i'm completetly satisfied with xiang liu's ending

he's such a sad tragic boy, all that he selfishly left for himself was one tear from a person he loved!!!!! im okay

thank fuck tumblr is one place you can actually hide the spoilers, so spoilers under the cut

xiang liu has long ago seen that he and xiao yao don't have future and that the ending he wants for himself is to die on a battlefield. he's been preparing for it all the time - all the poison that he consumed was actually a ticking bomb that would be activated the moment he died, taking as many enemy troops to the grave with him as he could. this was the path he chose and he didn't want to step away

his love for xiao yao was selfless and when she said that she had no strength to protect herself, no one to rely on and no place she could go to, he gave it all to her one by one. the ending montage lays it on quite thickly, but we get it, he taught her archery, he gave her tushan jing, and i guess made it so that the sea can now be her home

he didn't expect that his fate may come knocking so soon and thought he could enjoy a few more decades of life, but once it was clear that he won't get that, he started tying up all the loose ends to die in peace

first he says goodbye to the good memories of a simpler times in the qingshui town, where he first met xiao yao and where they weren't impossible yet, because back then she wasn't the princess of haoling and cang xuan's sister. he smiles as he recalls their shenanigans

he kills chishui fenglong (yeah im not sure if that's what he wanted or if he wanted to kill cang xuan, probably cx, but)

then he sets out to kill the love bug. when xiao yao passes out, he allows himself to mourn for the future that they will never have, kissing her wounds and embracing her

he wants xiao yao to live on without any burden on her conscience, so he lets her "repay" him for all he's done for her with her blood when she's conscious, and once she passes out, he sacrifices two of his lives to kill the love bug and to make sure xiao yao can live on when he dies. he doesn't let anyone tell xiao yao about it, so that she doesn't feel she owes him anything and can move on without any weight in her heart

then he saves that lukewarm noodle tushan jing and sends his soggy body straight in the arms of the search party, so that xiao yao can still have someone who is dedicated to her to share life with (even though he is an overcooked noodle)

then he sends mao qiu away :( bird is not allowed to die with him

in the end he dies in peace, but not because he let go of everything before his death, but because he held on to everything he cared about and gave it the best ending

he actually tried to let go! he kept a tear that xiao yao shed, and when he first threw her in the arms of tushan jing, he wanted to let go of that tear that symbolized xiao yao's affection for him, and dissolve it in the sea. but in the end he couldn't bear to part with it, and kept it with him

so he dies with a smile, because he's done all he wanted to do in his life to the best of his ability and considering the situation he was in. he weighed his loyalties and his heart to the army and to xiao yao, and made his choices. he chose to live and die with the chenrong army, giving his life for the cause and his soldiers, but not before he could arrange the best life for the person he cared about. even though he couldn't live with her by his side, he made sure she will have the best life she can have in her circumstances

the only thing of xiao yao's affection that he kept for himself was a single solitary tear. in the moment he dies, he lets it drop into his own eye, and it's a tear that xiao yao symbolically sheds for him (oh no, I'm crying again)

his plans were realized and he could die satisfied, and i'm also very satisfied with this consistent story line and ending for him. even though i'm sad that he died, i feel emotionally fulfilled

i'm also glad tan jianci got to play this role - it really wouldn't be the same without his skills and effort, his pretty face and sad eyes that can speak a thousand words. also his voice, in the end of the 22nd episode when he speaks out as a general to the enemy's general... chills!!!!

OKAY i think that's all I want to semi-coherently say about xiang liu's ending in lost you forever. even though he is dead now, he will stay in my heart <3

PS. okay and now nothing connected to the story, my roomie came in when i was writing this post and made me write down a randomly chosen quote from a book she just started reading:

"Besides these bands a less orderly and a worse-armed force, consisting of the Saxon inhabitants of the neighbouring townships, as well as many bondsmen and servants from Cedric's extensive estate, had already arrived for the purpose of assisting in his rescue" ~Sir Walter Scott, Ivanhoe

PS PS. IM NOT PROUD TO SAY THAT WHILE I WAS CRYING FOR XL DYING I ALSO HAD THE BRAINSPACE TO NOTICE AND APPRECIATE TAN JIANCI'S BEAUTIFUL EYELASHES. appreciate them with me:

[croszukis]

PLEASE i haven't stopped thinking about paniolo habs since you first mentioned it

i'm slowly adding on to the paniolo verse in both an au habs way and a original fiction way!!

but i did indulge in some drafting of nick + cole being reunited on the paniolo (after being in the usntdp)

and here's him experiencing his first island party

-

It turns out that dinner at Nick’s parents’ house is not just them and his mom and dad. There’s a bunch of Nick’s relatives there too: aunties, uncles, little cousins running around, and maybe even some neighbors. There’s a tent set up outside in their yard and plastic party tables and chairs and everything. 

“You said this was a family dinner,” he whispered to Nick after he’d gotten introduced to everyone. 

“This is a family dinner.” Nick smiled back, like he didn’t see the problem at all, but with the look in his eyes Cole could tell he was a little pleased to have caught him off guard like this. “You like people. Besides, you better get used to it. This is how we are here.” 

One of the little kids had run up to Nick, calling him Uncle, and Nick pointed them to the cooler that was filled with cans of juice. 

Cole still wasn’t used to seeing Nick like this, completely at ease in a way that he never seemed to be except on the ice. He looked like everyone else that seemed to live here, at least from what Cole had seen so far even in the brief time he’d been here. Tonight he wore an aloha shirt that was in a pale blue and white pattern, light khaki shorts, and another pair of flip flops. Slippers. Nick was already trying to train it out of him. 

“I can’t be having you around me and sounding like a haole.” 

“But I am a haole.” Cole had laughed at him in the car, when Nick was trying to teach him how to say Hawai’i properly. 

“No, but if you’re gonna live here at least play the part.” Nick shook his head, but a smile stretched across his face. He grew serious a moment later. “I want the fans to at least feel like the mainland guys are putting in the effort you know? Like they really wanna be a part of the community here, not just play hockey and collect their paycheck. If we’re going to have success here, they’ve gotta accept us and we’ve gotta accept them.” 

Cole was kind of breathless at that. He knew Nick cared a lot about his home, where he’d come from, where he first learned how to skate and play hockey before having to leave it to continue to play. But he’d never heard him so openly serious about it before. 

[saffronapplemanga]

Recent Read Manga Recommendation Round Up (plus anime!) - Part 3

Manga/anime I’ve been enjoying recently! Links to part 1 and part 2.

Twitter link to this post here.

~Links to my other manga posts~ My personal favs/ones I super enjoyed will have a ✨ on them :)

PLEASE LOOK UP ANY TRIGGER WARNINGS!

CRIME, ACTION, DRAMA

✨GANGSTA. by Kohske

(8 volumes + chapters released past vol.8, hiatus)

Available in English

Please check out my dedicated post I linked for this series. I worked super hard on it!

If you take one recommendation from this list, let it be GANGSTA. I’m begging… This series is going in my all-time favs. I have a whole “Why You Should Check GANGSTA. Out” section in my dedicated post, so definitely take a look at that! But in short: Do you enjoy great character writing? A diverse, adult cast featuring different races and disability rep (deaf MC)? A gritty setting? A FOUND FAMILY OF DORKS?

I'm obsessed and I'm making it my mission to take as many of you down with me as possible...

TIME TRAVEL, SUPERNATURAL

Link Click directed by Li Haoling

(24 Episodes - Season 2 Coming Soon)

Link Click is a donghua from Studio LAN and streamed on Bilibili — the Chinese streaming service that I do some subs for, if you're unfamiliar with them — as well as Funimation. I enjoyed the art, animation, and atmosphere. The premise is that two guys working at a print shop time travel through photos to help their clients. And who doesn't love a trio of kids with a big-hearted jokester, the quiet, mature one, and a feisty girl who reins them in? I think this is my first donghua and I enjoyed it!

Plus, the opening and ending themes are pretty slick ->

Season 1 Opening Theme - Adding it to the playlist.

MECH, POLITICAL, SCHOOL

Mobile Suit Gundam: The Witch from Mercury by Yatate Hajime

(12 Episodes + Prologue - Season 2 currently airing)

Let me tell you about me and Gundam.

I used to work at a translation company in Tokyo where I translated some Gundam figure commercials/interviews (which are currently privated on Youtube, unfortunately) amongst other things. I'm telling you guys, every time I walked into the office and saw an email from Bandai/TAMASHII NATIONS with a new Gundam translation request in my inbox, I would cry a lot little inside. I had never watched anything Gundam and didn't know what the heck was going on in the stuff I had to translate. There was this one interview with a figure designer where I was like, "Oh, you have to be a Gundam fan to understand what the heck he's talking about..." I remember me, another translator, and our editor staring at our screens exasperated. We managed, though. Big shoutout to the Gundam Wiki — not that I understood anything from it LOL.

If you told me back then that I would enjoy a Gundam thing, I would've laughed — but here I am, enjoying a Gundam thing. I'm not into mechs, even though I think robots/robot-adjacent stuff + space are cool. Still, I could never get into mechs for some reason. So if you're like me, try The Witch from Mercury. Our MCs are these two girls who end up engaged to each other in a rather hilarious way imo, with a colorful cast of supporting characters. The political themes I hear Gundam is known for really hooked me, and I LOVE how the kids handle a situation they end up in. I won't say more so as not to spoil it, but I think this is a great entry point for Gundam newbies!

Season 1 Opening Theme - Am I turning into a Gundam fan? Wild. Who would've thought the day would come? What if I start getting into Gunpla? A slippery slope, really.

SLICE OF LIFE, SCHOOL

✨Skip and Loafer by Takamatsu Misaki

(10 volumes, ongoing) + Season 1 Anime

Available in English

I remember seeing volume one of this series at the bookstore I frequented in Ikebukuro Station when it had just come out. Sooooo many times, I almost picked it up over the years. But I always passed because I was swamped with work, school, and current reads.

Now, I have a little more time on my hands, and the new anime adaptation has so much love put into it! A great coming-of-age story following young Mitsumi as she moves to the big city for school. This series is so wholesome, it's cavity-inducing.

This opening is the most delightful thing~

SLICE OF LIFE

Hotel Metsäpeuraan e Youkoso by Fukuta Seira

(5 volumes, ongoing)

JP only

In the mountains of Finland is a hotel run by two men. One day they see a young man outside in a snowstorm, and bring him inside. The men can tell that teenager Jun seems to have a heavy past and offer him a job and place to stay at the hotel.

Super cute, wholesome, and has great found family vibes!

SLICE OF LIFE, FOOD

Samenai Machi no Kisaten by Hasha

(2 volumes, complete)

JP only

A chill read with a touch of melancholy. At the end of each chapter is a recipe! The art is very cute and pleasing.

DYSTOPIAN, SCI-FI

✨Fool Night by Yasuda Kasumi

(8 volumes, ongoing)

JP only

In the future, the sky is blacked out, not allowing any sun through. To survive, technology has been developed to turn people into plants. The real horror is late stage capitalism though. I'm in love with the art and atmosphere of this series. I can't wait to read more!

ROMANCE

Gakusou by Tsurimaki Nodoka

(oneshot)

JP only

This is a super short one-chapter oneshot. Cute little read with lovely art! By the same author as 聖血の海獣/Seiketsu no Kemono, a 3-volume manga I've been meaning to read.

LGBTQ, DRAMA, COMEDY

To Strip The Flesh by Tooda Oto

(oneshot/anthology)

Available in English

An anthology that has some funny stories, and some that made me feel too seen...

DYSTOPIAN, SCI-FI, CRIME, ACTION, POLITICAL

✨PSYCHO-PASS by Urobuchi Gen

Check anilist for all content because the seasons, movies, manga, light novels, and watch order are a little all over the place.

The Psycho-Pass: Inspector Shinya Kogami manga is available in English from publisher Dark Horse.

Set in the future, Japan has implemented a surveillance state that measures people's psyche and flags anyone with the potential to do crime, even if they have not done anything or will never have done anything.

I watched season one back when it first came out in 2012. Since then, I would see ads for new content at the train stations in Japan and thought I’d catch up. There’s a new movie, PSYCHO-PASS PROVIDENCE, releasing May 12, 2023.

I've been having a lot of dumb, edgy fun with this series and its on-the-nose political themes. It's kinda camp-y? I do wish it spent more time on character moments, though.

I love me a trio (which seems to be a theme in this round-up lol) and this series has a good trio! Akane is such a great character, and Shinya and MY BOY GINOZA NOBUCHIKA!!! have been thoroughly entertaining me.

I love him. I wanna bully him and stuff him into a locker...

[basuralindo]

Do you have resources debunking the argument that "tourism is good for Hawaiians so by going to Hawaii you're supporting Hawaiian people" because I know that's going to come up if I try to talk to any of my relatives about it

Hi again, first off I really do appreciate you looking for advice and info. But I gotta level with you, I'm not the best resource for this. I am not coping well with this situation, my mental health is already only kinda ducktaped together with medication, and being frequently forced to think about all this since making that post about tourism has been threatening to make me spiral to an extent that is genuinely dangerous for me.

I can offer some resources for this, but I'm also going to use this post to hopefully boost my request not to use me as source in the future unless you have no other options (and for people to stop following me for activism, anything useful that I post can be found under the maui fires tag). I want to help, this issue is Very important to me, but I'm at my limit right now and need to be able to regulate my own exposure, if that makes sense? I hope you can understand.

Anyway, I went and found a couple articles ( 1 & 2 ) that do a decent job of summarizing some key problems, although the statistics cited are heavily skewed by the demographics asked. In Hawai'i, the main language spoken by natives and locals is Hawaiian Pidgin English, while almost all official documentation and reporting is done in standard american english. This means that for any kind of reports seeking local opinions gathered for legal consideration or targeted to a non-local audience, they predominantly ask people who a) are willing to speak with officials and haoles, and b) present their opinions in standard american english. Which results in the majority of opinions gathered coming from haoles that moved there or their descendents, who all benefit from Hawaiian exploitation and tend to either benefit from or not be as impacted by tourism. So, any statistics you see in articles that you can understand are automatically more in favor of tourism than the actual local sentiment.

As for further research from actual local sources, KaloHCC on instagram is an organization working to aid this crisis and provide information. If you can't find what you need there, try looking at videos from their followers.

Good luck, and thanks for your efforts.

[rapscallion-rumble]

Fish-uary Day 18: Pacific Ocean (Haole Girl)

I'm going to be honest, I don't know which kind of fish live where besides like freshwater, saltwater, brackish, etc.

SO I DECIDED TO DRAW HAOLE GIRL.

I mean, she was found near Hawaii, Hawaii is in the Pacific Ocean... Yeah...

I find Haole Girl to be quite interesting since, in photos taken, her dorsal fin is very pristine. Deep Blue has scars across her and bits taken from her fins, but Haole Girl seemingly doesn't. Makes me wonder how old she is and what she does all day.

[weirdestbooks]

Fuck Tourists (Wattpad | Ao3)

for @aloha-from-angel

"Hello?" America said as he answered his phone.

"Hello. I'm Alex from the Hawaii Police Department. I really hope I'm calling the right person for this. Anyways, uh...oh, this is so weird. Um, we have the State of Hawaii in custody. She beat up a tourist from California. She claims that the tourist started the fight, but the tourist's family claims they did nothing wrong, and Hawaii decided to attack them for being whi-"

"Imma cut you off there, Alex. First off, Wai doesn't fight people for no reason. If a fight happened, she wasn't the one who started it. Second off, 'attacking them for being white'? That's bullshit, and I think you know it. Thirdly, can you put Hawaii on the line? I need to talk with her." America said.

"Ye-yes, sir," Alex said. There was some movement before Hawaii's voice came over the line.

"Hello, Lika."

"Hey Wai. You have the shittiest fucking tourists ever, holy shit." America said.

"Yeah, I've noticed."

"Can't believe they arrested you. The police officer, Alex, who called me, sounded like he couldn't believe it either." America said.

"Well, when you beat up a racist haole tourist in front of more racist haole tourists, you tend to get arrested, even if you are the state," Hawaii asked. America could see her shrugging as she said that sentence, and he could tell she was smiling that bitter smile.

"I'll pay you bail and help you get out of this. I'm very proud that you have done this." He said. America heard Hawaii sigh in what he assumed was a relief.

"Mahalo Amelika." She said.

"No problem," America said as he walked to his computer and began to research how to make custom T-shirts.

"What's your shirt size?" He asked as he pulled open the website.

"Women's medium, why?"

"I'm making you a T-shirt that says 'Fuck Tourists' on it. Consider it a souvenir of your adventures today." America answered. Hawaii begins laughing her head off.

"They are making me give the phone and return it for the shirt. I am going to enjoy wearing it." Hawaii said. America then heard the phone switch hands before Alex's voice came on again.

"I thought you were going to lecture her?" He asked.

"I said I needed to talk to her. And by talking to her, I mean telling her how proud I am of her." America said.

"She beat up a tourist!"

"She beat up a racist asshole, the kind of person I really wished didn't live in my country. Now, I'll be over there in about five minutes, so then I can lecture those tourists to their faces. Good day, Alex." America said before hanging up.

He then proceeded to work more on creating that T-shirt for Hawaii. She needed it. And it would go with her coffee mug!

[queenofthegayships]

I'm not very far in Hawaii five o (three and a half seasons give or take), but something I've noticed is dispite steve being hawaiian, he seems to be missing some things. Google says he's fluent in the language, but Chin had to translate for him. And when Chin took Steve fishing, he needed to explain that they only caught what they could eat. (Assuming that's a cultural thing) But when Steve took Danny fishing, he knew and respected the culture enough to be offended at the idea of hitting a shark. I know he's not a native hawaiian, but from what I've seen so far, he's pretty into hawaiian culture. I mean, he's as native as a non native can get. And while some natives hesitate, he's not seen as a haole like Danny is. But he doesnt know things he should.