#idk man. maybe I'm just discouraged because of last night.

[perereiii]

.

[sunnysideoflucie]

August 19, 2024

I stepped in floodwater while commuting back to my condo. I'm a first time commuter, so this reminded me of a tweet about how humiliating it is to commute in the Philippines when raining. Also, apparently you're supposed to take a medicine within the next couple days to avoid leptospirosis. But I gotta get a prescription first... idk man. But then, I'm in a medical course.

Anyways, first day of college. But apparenlty, everyone else had met beforehand. We even got a batch representative already!

Also idk but it was lowkey off-putting to see the teacher hosts being casual and using current slang, maybe to keep the students engaged? Also how the leaders kept referring to us as freshies.

The professors kept saying how special the university is and how it is a leader in medical studies in the country. But how come my high school batchmates, some of which definitely will be studying pre-med courses, never talk about it? How come that when the university system is mentioned, it's always one of the two bigger ones on our island? How come other universities are mentioned first when it comes to medicine?

Tbf, the dean said that they only accept around 100 new students per year in our college. Idk about other colleges. Also there are said to be rats here, ironic.

Lowkey feels discouraging at first to make friends when it seems that the others know each other already, while I literally just met them. But I was able to talk to a few of my block mates, and they seemed nice. I hope we can become friends.

Now, I feel like my life will be like Šta Bih Ja; I'm alone in a big city, and only the internet connects me to my family (the faces I love). It's crowded, noisy, and chaotic. But I'm not super sad right now. I miss my siblings for sure. Maybe my parents too, a bit. Also, I haven't seen any women who seem to like me...

There are a lot of pretty girls in my batch though. Hehe. (Not that I've gotten any crushes, and I don't want any romantic relationships anyway. And I'm not just saying that because i'm not allowed to have a boyfriend, or because I knew the last crush I had didn't like me back in that way. I don't want to be in a romantic relationship.)

Anyways, I'm tired. I might sleep early.

Good night!

[chimerical-caracal]

:/ 

[kalliasofakielos]

17 for Jord and Nikandros?? (Idk if you ship them or not but I'm actual garbage so)

17. Marriage proposal. 

First of all, you sweet beautiful anon, thank you for your patience. I had every intention of getting this and the other prompts in my inbox done earlier today, but instead I ended up having lunch with the squshiest cutest most poop-filled baby in the whole word. Also I ended up doing a canonverse thing– the modern au idea because this Whole Thing that I may or may not get done writing within the next decade. 

It was the first night of Damianos and Laurent’s wedding ceremony.

The carefully blending of both cultural traditions had been a painstaking process, and Jord and Nikandros found themselves toasting more to the fact that they would no longer be subjected to drawn out wedding rehearsals and nervous kings than the marriage itself. Though no one among the crowd was celebrating more than Makedon, who had happily made two toasts during the celebration feast alone.

Laurent and Damianos had slipped off without much formality not too long after the post-dessert palate cleanser had been served, leaving the wedding guests to continue the festivities themselves. It wasn’t too long after that when Jord realized he hadn’t seen either Lazar or Pallas since the pre-feast reception in the main hall.

“Do you think they’ll ever get tired of it?” Jord asked as Nikandros laughed drunkenly at the observation. The warm summer air buzzed around them in tune with the buzz of good food and even better wine. And though there was still so much danger and uncertainty waiting for their empire just around the corner, Jord felt happiness and something like peace settle into his bones for the first time in what felt like forever.

“Tired of what?” Nikandros returned and passed Jord the half empty griva bottle they had been sharing with Makedon before the older man retired.

Jord thought for a moment, then shook his head. “Nevermind.” He handed the bottle back to Nikandros without taking a drink from it. He watched as Nikandros drank, his eyes watching the way his lips wrapped around the bottle’s opening.

“Of what?” Nikandros asked again, an amused edge to his voice.

“It’s nothing– it’s not any of my business anyway– but,” Jord said, his words little better than a half drunken ramble “things just seem so casual between them still, even after all this time. I think that would get boring– I know I would get bored anyway– but maybe that works best for them.”

“Maybe,” Nikandros said evenly. He moved so he was sitting even even closer to Jord. “Wedding got you feeling sentimental?”

“Hmmm.” Jord let himself lean against Nikandros. “Maybe.”

They sat in peaceful silence for a moment, the sounds of the party and summer bugs echoing around the section of the courtyard they had hidden away in.

“I always knew Damen would get married before me,” Nikandros commented. “Not only because of his romantic history, but because of his social position. He is– he was– the crown prince to a country. Even if he didn’t marry for love, he would have had to marry for political reasons sooner or later, and he had plenty of men and women who would have been more than happy to be courted by him.”

“Damianos didn’t have any courters?”

“No, only people who wished to be courted by him.” Nikandros said, then added with a small smile: “You don’t court a man like Damianos.”

Jord nodded with a fond smile of his own. “His Highness had a great many suitors.”

“I have heard as much,” Nikandros laughed at the idea of anyone attempting to court Laurent in the traditional sense. “And what of you?”

“What of me?”

“Did no discouraged nobleman catch sight of you after his failed attempt at his highness and attempt to bed you instead?”

Jord laughed and swatted Nikandros’s shoulder. “Hardly.”

“You expect me to believe that no one attempted to pursue you during all your time in Arles.”

Jord’s mind quickly traveled to thoughts of Aimeric, but he pushed them aside and leaned further towards Nikandros. “Well, there was this one man. An Akielon Kyros.” He said, a teasing edge to his voice.

“Is that so?” Nikandros played along with a smile and a fake scandalous edge to his voice.

“Yes, it was a very illustrious affair. I was quite fond of him.”

“This Kyros should consider himself lucky to be able to bed someone as exquisite as you,” Nikandros smiled, his hands finding their way to Jord’s waist.

“I think he does,” Jord smiled and placed his hands on top of Nikandros’s in a nervous gesture. “You know I still keep in contact with him.”

Nikandros closed the rest of the gap between them, and with their lips just barely touching said: “You keep him strung along, you mean?”

A mixture of wine, griva, and exhaustion finally caught up to Jord and he couldn’t think of anything clever to say. He leaned forward instead, brushing his lips against Nikandros’s. Nikandros responded by pressing further into him, placing a chaste kiss on his lips.

Jord pulled back to look at him, a slight frown on his face.

“It would be improper of me to bed another man’s lover,” Nikandros bit back a laugh at the disappointed expression on Jord’s face. “And I have heard that that Kyros of yours is the jealous type.”

“That is pure rumor. If he were truly as possessive as people claim, he would have made an honest man out of me by now?”

Nikandros’s eyebrows shot up in surprise, his smile returning to his lips. “Is that so?”

Jord felt his face flush. He hadn’t meant to say that– he certainly didn’t know what on earth possessed him to, but he had already begun blaming the abandoned half empty griva bottle that sat next to the two of them. Once more he found himself at a loss of something clever to respond with.  

“I didn’t- I, uh-” He started then stopped.

Nikandros laughed. He removed one hand from Jord’s waist and cupped his chin with it, lifting his face so that they were looking at one another. “Jord, my Veretian rose, are you trying to hint at something?”

“No,” Jord said suddenly, his face still flushed.

“Because if you were, I have it on good authority that the Akielon priestess from the first half of today’s ceremony is still awake.”

Jord pulled back to look at him once more. He couldn’t be serious. “You can’t be serious.”

“I am,” Nikandros said, his voice and his face both turning so as if to prove his point.

“Nikandros, you’re drunk.”

“I am also very in love, and very uncertain about the future. Jord, anything could happen at any moment. We could be blindsided by anything.” there was the unspoken and I could lose everything as well as the unspoken just as I lost Damianos once before.  

“How–” Jord said unevenly, his throat was thick and his head was swimming “how do you know what the priestess will even be willing to perform such a ceremony so last minute?”

“Because I have already asked her, and she had already agree.”