#in russia and now that she lives in italy she's so confused about places being closed on sunday or on christmas or during lunch

[sinnettini]

the fact i won't be able to wish happy new year to most people bc they stole my phone on the fucking evening of the 30th of december and today every place where i could go to replace my sim card is closed and tomorrow they will be too lmfao free from the new year's wishes burden i guess

[my2phetaliaheadcanons]

If possible... Headcannons/fanfic from 2p Germany and 2p Russia, separately, taking interest in a friend from one country? Context: The country's friend is immortal, because of problems she went in her country's replacement at the meeting with the other countries. She has a very affectionate and outgoing personality, so she quickly picks up romantic interest from the attendees.

Sorry it took so long. Here it is!

2p Russia

A lone tall man walked through the basement halls of the United Nations building. His large, long blacked coat protected him from the chill of the A.C. and in his left hand was a simple black briefcase. His steps were quiet along the concrete, but his momentary silence would not last for much longer.

A set of steel doors sat closed and was located at the end of the hall. The sounds that lied within warned of chaos and death. Viktor blew a hard breath through his nose, as much as he wanted to leave, this meeting was important. It was the first time in a long time that all the 2ps were meeting and to avoid it could be costly.

Opening the door Viktor noticed that many nations were grouped together. The Nordics were in the back corner of the room talking about business. Germany and Italy were near their seats, both seemed to be scanning the crowd. Viktor guessed it was to see the missing member of their trio. Once Viktor found his seat, his eyes wandered around again.

This time his eye drifted over to the FACE family. Normally there were shouts and the clink of coins hitting glass, but today it was much quieter. As Viktor looked closer at the four, he realized something. Allen wasn’t there. Instead, there was a woman among them. She was (Y/H) and had (S/C) skin. The strange woman was leaning against the sitting blond Canadian. Both were talking and were smiling. Viktor did note that Matt seemed to have a small blush on his face. His observation was interrupted by a voice.

“All right-a everyone. Take your-a seats and shut-a up!”

Viktor grunted and looked over as the woman moved to take Allen’s seat. His eyebrow rose, this would take some investigating. But that would have to wait.

The meeting went almost as Viktor had expected. Various nations would present an issue, try to make it seem that their homes were thriving, and others would say their piece on an issue. During each part of this song and dance, some nation would then distract everyone. The main offender this time happened to be Macau. He had been going around attempting to piss of Italy so that he could win a bet.

Overall a normal meeting, but Viktor could not help but be distracted by the (E/C) beauty. She had been outgoing the entire meeting. Asking questions to the presenters, offering solutions, and overall being pleasant. It was cute, but there was one habit that stood out, pet names. Each person was given their own.

Despite the cuteness, Viktor was getting annoyed. It was not at the charming lady, but rather at his fellow nations. Their infatuation was apparent in the blushes and sudden smiles that came from their interactions with her. Viktor was not pleased with how others looked at her like a meal or a treasure. He also wasn’t pleased that he was feeling this way over a stranger, better yet a stranger attached to Allen.

With the end of the meeting came the desire for answers. Viktor rose quickly like a weasel looking for prey. He moved calmly and quickly over to the stranger. There he stood, in front of her but unnoticed, while she giggled and affectionately was playing around with England. Viktor felt his ire increase when she gave the killer baker a kiss. His blush made Viktor’s stomach twist in a painful way.

Before confronting her, Viktor looked over to the Canadian that seemed to be looking over at the pair jealously.

“Kaнaдa, who is this?”

“That’s (Y/N) (L/N). An old friend of Al’s, we’ve known her since childhood and since Al’s buried under work, he asked her to step in for him.”

Viktor just hummed in response. This woman was becoming more interesting. With two steps and a cough, Viktor stood in front of the playful pair.

Their attention turned to him quickly. The Brit did not look happy to be interrupted, while the woman smiled at him. Using his practiced grace Viktor reached out and took her hand. A gentle kiss was placed upon it.

“Hello, Ms. (L/N). I am the Russian Federation. Is there a chance you have a moment to discuss some things with me?”

(Y/N) covered her mouth and giggled. To Viktor, and many others it sounded like silver bells.

“Of course, I have some time before I have to get these notes to Al.”

Being the gentleman, he offered her his elbow. She responded with a bright smile and (Y/N) hooked her arm into his and followed the red eyed male out.

It was not long before they found a spot to sit and discuss. Their conversations soon left the topics of business and became more personal. Viktor was intrigued, despite the difference in the centuries she had lived, he couldn’t help but feel connected to her. To him her presence felt like a balm for his soul.

A beeping turned the chatting duo into silent statues. It was (Y/N)’s phone. She glanced quickly at it and grimaced.

“I’m sorry Viktor, I have got to get going. Al’s waiting for me and these papers.”

Of course. Allen just had to cut their time short. Standing alongside (Y/N), Viktor offered to give her a ride. Just something to give him more time to bask in her glow.

Being the true optimist, (Y/N) accepted with an enthusiastic yes!

The trip to his car and then to Al’s apartment felt too fast for Viktor. Before (Y/N) could leave the car. Viktor looked at (Y/N), he felt emotions that could not be explained easily, but he knew one thing. He needed to get to know (Y/N) better. So, he was going to take a chance.

“Would you care to go on a date with me? It is nothing serious, just a chance for us to get to know one another better.”

(Y/N) was not surprised. She just smiled and looked back at Viktor while getting out of the car.

“I would love to, but you need to realize one thing. I have noticed quite a few nations giving me the same goo-goo eyes that you have. So, be prepared for a fight for my heart.”

With a wink and giving Viktor a small sheet of paper, (Y/N) was gone. She had waltzed into Allen’s apartment building like a dream.

Looking down Viktor saw that the sheet was her phone number. Despite his cold heart, Viktor smirked to himself. He would figure out these feelings and if God willed it, he would secure her heart.

2p Germany

It was too loud and cold in this basement. The chaos had decided to get started before the meeting. Nations were yelling and weapons were flying. The A.C. was blowing like it was the reason for the next ice age. It was all annoying. All Luther wanted to do was sleep, maybe people watch, but that wouldn’t happen if these conditions continued.

With a deep groan Luther sat up straight and stretched. The sound of a satisfying pop alerted him that his stretching had relaxed muscles.

Luther glanced at the clock, and his head tilted to the left like a confused puppy. It was about ten minutes after the hour. That means the meeting should have started ten minutes ago, why hadn’t it started? He glanced around and understood one thing. Luciano, aka Italy, was not there.

Luther felt a little embarrassed he should have realized that earlier, but in his defense, the exhaustion and the beginnings of a headache ate at his awareness. Before he could wonder about the location of his missing Genosse, a (Y/H) woman ran over to the podium at the front of the room.

Her hair was wild, her face was flushed, gorgeous (E/C) looked around excitedly. She carried a smile as she reached forward and tapped on the microphone.

“Hello everyone, I apologize for being late. But I am (Y/N) (L/N) and I’m stepping in for Italy today. Sadly, he is out due to getting grounded and he has asked that I lead this meeting.”

Luther raised a brow and smirked. How cute. This pretty little vixen was now attempting to lead the meeting. The next few hours would be fun, well for him anyway.

For many nations the meeting was considered normal. Interruptions and fighting, before the more business-oriented nations took back control. This included the lovely (Y/N), but try as she may to keep the focus, many nations shattered her attempts like already cracked glass.

For one thing, Austria could not leave (Y/N) be. He was constantly interrupting presenting nations by breaking in rock ballads, mostly singing about (Y/N). While Norway was asking her whether or not she wanted to see a flaming heart, no one was quite sure what that mean. Since it was Norway, everyone knew that fire and pyros should not mix, except for (Y/N). Luckily Denmark stopped him by confiscating his lighter. Lastly, Luther joined in. He was dropping pickup lines and teasing (Y/N). Other nations did some stuff too, but it was not as entertaining as those three.

Throughout it all (Y/N) just giggled and responded with affection. In some cases, it was a compliment, other nations got gentle gestures. Those that received her affection either blushed or looked a little shocked.

Luther knew (Y/N) was gorgeous before, but her outgoing and sweet nature made her much more lovely. He thought he might be developing a crush, but Luther didn’t dwell to long on that thought. Mostly because everyone was getting up to leave and some of his rivals were closing in on (Y/N).

Without thinking it through, Luther quickly moved to take a spot by (Y/N)’s side. (Y/N) was surprised but didn’t seem to be against his presence. Luther gave a side smile and asked to walk her out. Somehow (Y/N)’s smile got even bigger, and she nodded.

Together they walked out of the cold, basement room. Luther gave dark glares at nearby nations while (Y/N) smiled and waved at the nations that walked by.

As they walked, Luther decided to get to know this little beauty more.

“So, how long have you known Luciano?”

“Since the third century, after all we grew up together in a way, though I am still way younger than him.”

This comment caused Luther to stop walking. Was she like them or some other thing that he didn’t know existed? Any way Luciano has some explaining to do later.

Luther watched as (Y/N) slowed, stopped and looked back at him. Her eyes seemed to be full of mischief and a cat-like smile rested on her face.

“Luther, if you don’t want to walk me to Luci’s I’m sure some other nation would be more than happy to take your place.”

Luther’s eyes went wide. He wasn’t expecting this sweet woman to be an observant and playful tease. It was hot.

“Liebling, why call someone else when I’m the only one you need.”

Both let out a chuckle as they stepped through the door that led into the stairwell. This seems to be the start of a classic love story.

[hetalia-has-a-secretary]

Axis and Allies when they run in to their s/o who just dipped out one day 7 years ago with no warning or explanation, except she’s a mom now! And hey that kid looks... uh... kinda familiar... and they’re how old now?

(Basically Axis and Allies find their ex and meet their child who is a dead ringer for their country parent)

Mmmm angst *slurps the spilled angst off the floor*

Ffff- I need to come up with reasons as to why their S/O do this~ (• J •;)

Oh and C/N means Child's Name.

Allies and Axis see their S/O with their kid of 7 years.

Allies:

America:

His S/O ran into him on their way home, and the store they were in had something extremely specific they couldn't find anywhere.

So they took their chances, not really expecting to see America again.

But they did, and it was a long pause in silence.

S/O could physically how hurt he was, but the sight of a child, even if it was obviously his, made him turn around to walk off.

His S/O didn't know what to expect, but him walking away was not one of them. They picked their kid up and went after him.

"Alfie- He's yours..."

He stopped in his tracks, eyes already red, but scrunched in confused anger.

"Why didn't you tell me? After all this time... Why?"

His S/O walked closer to him, not wanting to stir up unwanted attention.

They explained that they were scared their lives wouldn't work out. They were worried he'd be so busy traveling and enjoying life, a new family would weigh him down.

Giving another hard swallow he went to walk away, only for the kid to be eyeing him from his S/O's shoulder.

Neither of them meant to act like this in front of the kid, but none the less America found a way to console them, promising to do what it takes to show how much he cared. About both them, and their child.

Even if it took a few akward phone calls.

England:

His heart shattered. Standing right across the road was his S/O.

And in a spur of the moment he ran across beeping traffic, and stopped barely 10 steps away as he notices the kid.

Part of him hated the fact they ran off, and was happy they crossed paths again. The other part of him wondered if running across a busy road was worth it.

He looked at his S/O, then at the kid, silently asking if it was really his.

A quick nod from his S/O and he immediately knelt down to talk to the kid, making his S/O tear up.

"Hey kiddo. I'm... You must be S/O kid right? I'm an old friend of theirs... My name's Arthur..."

The kid looked up at S/O for approval to interact with this 'stranger', to which they agreed.

"Hi... I'm C/N... How are you?"

England had to fight back tears at this point.

"I'm doing good... Very good. It seems S/I taught you well, you're very polite..."

The kid nodded, saying thank you.

Only later did he find out that his S/O left, thinking he wouldn't want a kid, and it was going to ruin the relationship.

From them on he did everything he could to make up all the lost time, silently worrying over why they'd think he'd wouldn't want a family with them.

France:

He was brutality heartbroken the day they left. Like, this is a HUGE no, no to do to him.

At first he thought they were missing, but when it finally became clear they just left him, he got really cold.

Right up to the point of seeing them in public, on the streets.

Eyes locked, and his S/O expected him to be romantic about, fully preparing to reconnect.

Not what happened. He walked up to them, a crunched up face, obviously smitten with them.

"Why are you showing your face around my home?"

Pain on both sides of the party. His S/I wouldn't be able to get a word in as he assaulted them with questions and accusations as to if they even loved him.

Only when the sound of a small kid calling out for S/O did France freeze.

He was shocked, and looked at his S/O wise eyed.

His S/O gave a vague explanation.

"I'm sorry... But I wanted to raise them outside of a busy city. I told you were I was going to be, didn't you get my letter?"

He shook his head no. Watching his S/O silently cry in front of them.

And in one forgiving swoop he held them close, tears falling from his own eyes as he gave apologies.

After he was done with his S/O, his child was next, he spun them around, immediately repeating the fact he was their father, making the child giggle as well.

China:

Even though he felt close to his S/O he got over it quickly, also being use to people leaving him for whatever reason.

He never expects relationships to last.

But seeing a familiar face, I should say familiar faces, standing at his door made his heart pond, and ache all at once.

He wanted so badly to hold them, but he needed answers.

S/O ride broke down near by, and they needed a place to stay. This was the only place they could think of.

Once the kid was put to sleep, both adults doing an amazing job of keeping their cool, things started to unravel.

He asked about the kid, and why they left. Being told his S/O was simply a bit overwhelmed finding out they were pregnant, so they decided to leave made him almost laugh.

To him it was a ridiculous reason to leave, so he was the one to ask them to stay.

Russia:

He did not do well when he realized his S/O wasn't coming back anytime soon.

He felt their relationship was at its peak, only for them to disappear? Yeah, not going to happen.

His S/O might think they were better off but Ivan, had other plans. He wanted to know why. Was there someone else involved, more specifically.

He hired people to watch them, and when he learned there was a kid involved it angered him. He had to fight every nerve to not go find his S/O himself.

Only when he saw the kids eyes, a brilliant purple, did it click for him.

The reason why they left didn't matter, and he gave them time to change there mind.

When those 7 years past (if even) he went straight to where they were, demanding answers.

His S/O had to explain they were scared having a child around could complicate things. Especially when Ivan himself was trying to change as a person.

That news turned his anger into hurt. He wanted nothing more than to be family with his S/O, and having a kid as well? He already made vows to change, so he became a little more self aware after this event.

He went great lengths to learn about parenting, to the amusement of his S/O.

Though he won't admit it, he is kind of bummed out over the fact he was never able to hold his own kid as a baby.

Axis:

Germany:

Heartbroken wasn't the word to use.

He got a bit more, pig headed for a month or so, but got over it. Assuming it just wasn't meant to be.

However, after seeing a child that looked like a splitting image of him hanging on his S/O's hips said it all.

He literally walked up and straight up asked if the pregnancy was the reason they left.

His S/O sheepishly agreeing.

He gave a sigh, asking them if they'd still be interested in being together.

From there the next few months were spent patching up their relationship.

Japan:

He had to be convinced several times, to leave his room.

Eventually he moved on, but still missed them

So the look on his face when he finds them at an old restaurant they use to meet at, was quite the look.

He cursed himself for the sensation of meeting for the first time.

It was like his body moved on it's own. Up until he spots the kid. Then he tried to backpedal.

Not Because he wasn't happy about being a father (possibly), but he wasn't ready for the news.

He only got so far before his S/O called out his human name. To which he froze and turned around with a bright red face. Obviously understanding the situation.

Surprisingly enough the three of them seemed to connect and get along like it wasn't a super akward moment.

He almost all forgot to ask about why, but saved that question when C/N wasn't around.

He was glad to hear it was just because they were scared. Now he's more than happy to try again, and actually kind of excited to teach this small being about anime... And life things but mostly anime.

Italy:

He's the kind of guy to never get over it.

Even though he's fine on the outside, literally everything I'm his home reminded him of S/O

The amount of whiplash he experienced when finding them in his home town made his skin crawl

To him, it was like seeing a ghost, and it was honestly a bit much. Especially with the tiny clone of him.

Naturally he fainted on the spot.

Later on, in the hands of a medical staff, he and his S/O had a long conversation about the why's, and how's.

His heart still sunk hearing the reason they ran away, was because they didn't want to take away his freedom.

Thing is, his S/O was his freedom. So he listed all the reasons why. Freedom to be him, freedom to admit his fears when others would laugh at him.

They were his source of strength, and safety net. So yeah, he wanted them back. Kid was an added bonus.

[ahopelessromantic]

Florence ➳ S. Reid

Pairing: Spencer x Reader (It’s mostly neutral except for one mention of a dress)

Word count: 2k

Warnings: None, Hotch is awesome

Your job isn’t exactly the easiest and you always knew that sometimes, it was going to interfere with your personal life. But when you and Spencer slowly start turning into strangers, you begin to worry.

„You know, if you take a picture it might last longer. “ Your head whipped around just in time to see Emily throw her head back in a cackle. Feeling the slightest bit ashamed you lowered your head to hide the blush spreading across your cheeks. “I can’t help it he’s gorgeous, okay?” You mumbled with a pout. Your gaze had been fixated on Spencer all day or, to be precise, on certain… features of his. Emily rolled her desk chair closer to yours, a teasing grin still on her lips. “What’s got you so interested in your boyfriend though? You’re not normally this… tense.”

You were about to snap back that you weren’t tense at all when Spencer clenched his jaw in concentration and your breath quite literally hitched in your throat. “Is it really that obvious?” You sighed; you gaze once again following the movement of his hands. Prentiss patted your shoulder in the sisterly manner she always displayed around you. “Honey, at this point I think even Hotch noticed. Your eyes have been lusting after Spencer all week as if you hadn’t been dating for a year already. Has it, uh… been long?” You almost choked on nothing but thin air. “Shit, it really is that obvious.” You coughed out once you had remotely recovered. “It’s not easy, you know? Whenever I’m done with my paperwork, he has a geographical profile to get to, and whenever he’s free I’m out kicking down doors with Morgan. And then, in the little downtime we have anyway, we’re either catching up on sleep or interrupted by another emergency. I think it’s been weeks since I’ve even seen his bellybutton.” Emily grimaced. “Okay, weird picture in my head right there. But I get what you mean.” You smiled weakly. “Somehow it felt easier when we had just started dating. We were always so afraid of accidentally losing each other that we didn’t really care about anything else besides ourselves, but now that we’re an established couple it’s like we’ve got these roles to fulfil. Especially since we’re also constantly afraid that Hotch might make a full one-eighty after all and forbid us from being together or something.” “What about the downtime on the jet though? There shouldn’t be any disturbances there?” You gasped. “What the hell Emily?!” There it was again, that devilish grin on her face. “You know what?!” You hissed, trying to fight the smile on your lips. “Forget I ever talked to you about this. You know nothing, Emily Prentiss.” With that, you returned your full attention back to your boyfriend’s hands writing down coordinates on a whiteboard. But of course, now you were watching him with the hint of a grin.

“I miss you, you know that?” You whispered into the darkness of the room, leaning your head against the wall behind you to give Spencer more access to your neck. “Honey, I miss you more. God, has your perfume always driven me that crazy?” You grinned and pulled him against you to capture his lips in a scalding kiss. But of course, like always recently, fate wasn’t kind to the two of you. Your little make-out-session was interrupted by Morgan hammering against the door of the BAU’s bathroom. “We’ve got a case, you two. Wheels up in thirty and please, for the love of God, get your stares under control at least for tonight, okay?” You looked at Spencer, who had a sheepish smile on his face. “Morgan’s been on my case all week because he keeps on noticing me staring at you.” You groaned and buried your head in your hands. “Prentiss has been on mine. She keeps on having to pull me back into reality because I keep getting distracted by you.” For a moment a proud grin hushed across his features at the prospect of being the reason for your distraction, but then he visibly deflated. “I feel like we really need a break from all this.” You nodded sadly. “We really do. I fear what’s going to happen to us otherwise. Am I going to faint at the sight of your ankles like a Victorian lady?” He breathed out a laugh, but the sombre mood remained. “I’ll ask Hotch if we can have a few days off.”

It had all sounded so amazing. You, Spencer, a remote cabin in the mountains and all the time and space to reconnect again. You had both prepared by packing your favourite books, to read to each other, card games, to cheat on each other with, and oversized sweaters, to borrow to each other. You had even already gone grocery shopping to get that out of the way for the short trip into the mountains. But two children had been abducted, and the BAU needed its Team’s full capacities to handle the case. So the reservation had been cancelled, the groceries stored away and the comfortable sweaters exchanged for work-appropriate clothes in your weekender bags.

“I’m exhausted.” Spencer sighed while leaning against you on the jet. The circles underneath his eyes ran deeper than ever before and you couldn’t help the gnawing feeling of worry in your chest. You didn’t just need a break to give your relationship some of its old life back, you needed a break to really recuperate and finally sleep again. “I know, honey.” You murmured and played with his hair. He was knocked out in a matter of minutes, your heavy gaze never lifting from your lover’s tired face. “I’m sorry again, you two.” Hotch quietly spoke after sitting down across from you. You smiled weakly and shrugged. “It wasn’t your fault, please don’t feel like it is. This is just… how our lives are, right?” His ever so worried look wandered from you to a sleeping Spencer leaned against your shoulders. “I used to make excuses that this was just how things were going to be sometimes. But it helped neither me nor Haley nor our marriage. Don’t… let this become your lives’ sole content, okay?” You looked at him a bit helplessly. “But how, Hotch? At this point, I feel like I don’t even know what private time is anymore. The most intimate moment I’ve had with Spencer this month was when he saved me from a bullet. Literally. How are we ever going to balance that?” The smallest of smiles fleeted across his lips. “You can start trying to tomorrow.” You frowned in confusion. “Tomorrow?” “Starting tomorrow, if I see either of you in the BAU, I’ll have to fire you. Sorry. Don’t come back before the week is over.” You were about to protest, but he was already getting up from his seat and you couldn’t move due to your boyfriend being asleep on you. Aaron Hotchner was either the worst or the best boss in the world, you just couldn’t really decide yet.

Aaron Hotchner was the best boss in the world. With a smile you rolled your shoulders, revelling in the warmth that hovered in the air. Spencer was dozing off on the balcony, his hands still clutching a copy of A Room with a View in them, a cup of honey tea standing long forgotten on a little table next to him. He had an innocent, serene look on his face, the slight tan of the Italian sun doing wonders for his complexion. “Amore.”, you whispered carefully not to shock him. He sleepily opened his eyes, the sun painting their colour a molten gold. “Hmm?” He hummed, placing his book next to the mug and pulling you onto his lap. “We have to get going if we want to make it to our tour through the Galleria Degli Uffizi on time.” He closed his eyes again and leaned further into his chair, pulling you with him. “Five more minutes, love. Let me enjoy the view.” You grinned. “You’ve got your eyes closed, Spence.” “Yeah.”, he smiled. “I’m thinking of you in the dress you wore to dinner yesterday.” You rolled your eyes but couldn’t help the heat rising to your cheeks. “Before or after I got scampi all over it?” “After it laid on the floor of our room.” You laughed and slapped his shoulder. “Pervertito.”, you hummed. His eyes were watching you now, a lazy grin on his lips. You had missed talking to him like this, without a rush or worry that your shared moment was going to be stolen any minute. As soon as you had realised that Hotch was fully intending on going through with his threat of firing you two if you showed up at work you had booked a short trip to Florence, something Spencer and you had been wanting to do for ages but never got around to do. You didn’t want to lose any more time stealing moments with him, you wanted the time to be yours again. So not even one whole day after the finished case you had already sat on the plane, ready to leave your work behind you for at least a week. And it had been one of your best ideas so far, if not ever. Florence was absolutely stunning. It had enough museums to keep you and your genius boyfriend entertained for months, enough amazing food for you to never get bored of it and a beautiful enough apartment for the two of you to never want to leave again. “What’s your plan?” You asked Spencer at dinner that night. He frowned, putting down his fork for the moment. “My plan?” “About what’s next.”, you elaborated. “I love this, us, here in Italy. And we really needed it. I want to know where we’ll go next, so I have something to look forward to. I thought taking it easy and living into the day was the best way to go for a while, but that way we’ll always allow work to get in the way. We need established times off like this.” He smiled and took your hand across the table. “Okay. Well then, let me see. I’ve always wanted to go to Russia, especially St. Petersburg for the Eremitage. Then Munich, probably. From there we could make a trip to go see Neuschwanstein Castle. Seoul and Busan, to try out all the amazing food markets. Now that I think of it, there are actually tons of places I want to visit with you.” You smiled, a warm feeling bubbling in your chest. “That all sounds amazing. Looks like we still have a lot to see.”

“There they are.” Morgan greeted you with a grin, enveloping you in a tight hug. The Team had all been waiting for your arrival in the bullpen, ready to be complete again. “How was it?”, JJ asked with a wide smile. “Amazing.”, you sighed, leaning back against Spencer who out his arm around you. “We saw Michelangelo’s David, and I’m still not over how gigantic that statue is. And the food, you guys, the food was incredible.” Spencer turned to look at you, and the way his attention was still on you in a room full of people made your spine tingle. “(Y/N) picked a fight with an Italian about wine, though.” You giggled. “I think it was a relative of yours, Rossi.” Rossi rolled his eyes and chuckled. “Probably. Did you bring me my truffle oil though?” “We brought something for everyone, actually.”, you said proudly. “I’ll go get it.” Spencer hummed and pressed a kiss against your temple before disappearing down the hallway. Emily grimaced. “Somehow it was funnier when you were still losing your minds over each other. I had forgotten how lovey-dovey you normally are.” You just grinned at her. “You’ll stop complaining once you see what I got for you.” The banter continued like that, the whole Team just glad to have its old dynamics back, Spencer and yours included. That night you all sat in the conference room and drank the wine you had brought with you, Henry and Jack fast asleep on the sofa with their new toys. Your trip to Florence had been short, but looking around you, you weren’t worried about you and Spencer getting to that point of craziness again. This had been your wake-up call, and you were going to seize it. Italy had been the first of your trips together, but certainly not the last. Soon, the BAU would have a whole wall of postcards from all over the world.

[queensdivas]

Peonies Chapter 1

soOkay so for those of you who didn’t know what the heck just happened. Tumblr decided to screw with the first chapter and not post it properly. Rude I know! 

So I jumped on my work computer and going to quickly post it so I don’t get in trouble. Teehee. 

Y’all ready for this though! I’m so excited for this one! The vocabulary that I’ve had to use is quite nice and fits the times perfectly! 

Next Chapter

masterlist

HERE WE GO!

Peonies a a charming lady 

She doesn’t like a spot too shady 

Likes to live out in the light 

Dressed in red or pink or white 

To Bloom brighter than the earth 

And to defeat all others

What is it like to be a Duchess who will be Governing a vast amount of Northern Italy? I’m not quite sure yet due to the fact mio padre is still ruling over the land and I’m being tutored in the fine games of politics. Oh do not get me wrong I would rather acquire all of the information of learning to rule rather than taking the responsibility too prematurely. 

Handing my reins to the stable boy as I began walking inside the Monastery to meet with Mother Superior Ani. I speak to her for council when it comes to somewhat major decisions in my life. This major decision is traveling to Russia and supporting Catherine in her new life. From what she has told me and what I’ve heard from padre. Russia is an absolute catastrophe. 

Something is relaxing about walking through the monastery when the sound of the nuns are singing. The beautiful art of the story of Christ, the only sound besides their songs are the winds blowing and birds chirping. Quite beautiful. Standing in the middle of the courtyard as I waited for Mother Ani to greet me for our chat. 

“Good afternoon Lady Chiara.” I was greeted by Sister Calderón along with Sister Grazia. The only set of twin nuns I’ve ever witnessed in my life. 

“Good afternoon Sister Calderón. Sister Grazia. I’m assuming that Mother Ani is finishing her afternoon confessions?” Asking them as they both nodded. 

“How are we feeling today?” They smiled as they approached me. 

“We’re going on a mission trip to Africa very soon!”  Sister Calderón cheered as Sister Grazia jumped a little. 

“We’re finally leaving!” Sister Grazia exclaimed as I smiled and clapped for them. 

“Congratulations you two!”

“I’m assuming they told you about their mission trip?” Mother Ani approached us as they collected themselves in front of her. Nodding and they scurrying off back into the chapel.

“They’re very excited. Mother Ani. I promise not to take much of your time today as I know dinner is soon.” 

“It’s quite alright. Shall we stroll in the gardens?” She asked as I nodded. As I mentioned before I go to her for counseling as she is the wisest person I’ve ever met in my entire life. Her wisdom comes from true experience unlike most men in the Catholic Church. We began walking towards the gardens so that we may talk in absolute privacy. I need her advice on my thoughts of going to Russia. 

“Mother Ani. What have you heard about Russia?” Halting at my question as I expected her reaction. Shocked and in confusion. 

“Why are you asking?” Sighing at her question as we entered the archway into the garden. 

“My cousin Catherine has married the Emperor of Russia and I’m quite concerned for her. She’s written some horrific things that have happened to her after only being married to him these past few weeks. He has punched her, killed her bear that he gifted her for their wedding, and even has multiple lovers. I know that’s very normal but that’s not exactly the way Catherine and I were raised. I think I would like to go to Russia and support her as she becomes accustomed to her new life.” 

“I say that is a very gracious thing to do for your cousin. But are you prepared to deal with the insanity of the monarch and Russian court?” I’ve heard some very bizarre things about them and I get this feeling Catherine should have some sort of noble ally. 

“I have been taught how to deal with any form of court and spoiled Monarchs. And being next in line to Govern these lands, they would not dare to lay a finger on me.They’re too busy with Sweden and if they were to kill me, Italy would align with the Swedish in order to defeat the Russians. So that’s not my concern. My only one being is to keep myself sane. Will you pray for me Mother Ani for a safe return?” We stopped as we faced each other. 

“Of course my child. When do you leave?” 

“In a few days. Mio Padre is sending me with a brand new horse and arms for self defense. Just in case he says. Needs me to stay alive if I’m to do my duty as a Grand Duchess soon.” 

“May God protect you on your journey and your aid in Russia. To think when you were baptized at Basilica di San Francesco. You would become this fair and wise over the years. You will make a beautiful Duchess of Italy.” Her words are always ones of great fulfillment. Always positive and never false. A little overconfident but there’s nothing wrong with having a little confidence in yourself. As long as you can control it without coming off as conceited. 

~~

The best gift to bring when arriving at a palace that you're staying for a few weeks is a vast variety of different wines. As a gift I’ve brought wine that has been sitting and aging beautiful for almost sixty years. Both sweet and bitter red wines that as I’ve said, have aged beautifully. 

I decided to ride up to the Royal Palace on horseback in order to make an impression on the Emperor when he greets me. Besides if I sit in that carriage another minute my legs and bottom will hate me for the rest of my life. 

Leading my carriage (which had my maid Fernanda inside) to see that the front yard of the palace was empty. They must be hunting or in the palace working on running the Empire. Pulling the reigns of my horse as we entered the entryway of the palace into the courtyard. Catherine was standing at the entrance as she looked radiant but yet somewhat good. We were practically sisters till I began my schooling of politics. 

Climbing down off my horse as she walked towards me as we both bowed to each other. Which left us giggling at each other to then give each other a hug. I have missed my dear cousin/sister and oldest friend in my life! 

“My dear Catherine, it is lovely to see you before me. And an Empress! Last time I saw you we were reading Shakesphere on our boat around Sardinia!” I cheered as we linked arms for us to walk inside the palace. 

“I’m glad you have arrived at my new home. Sadly..it is not a home sweet home. Not yet at least.” She commented as I nodded. 

“I’ve read in your latest letter and from a few reliable sources. I’m not quite sure how the hell you are managing all of this.” I’m finally able to show my true colors in front of Catherine as I must be proper in front of the family, advisers, and so on and so forth. But with Catherine. It is nothing but honesty and true colors. 

“The women of court?” Asking her I could feel her cringe. 

“Simple minded with their heads filled with emptiness.” We began walking up the stairs as my servant and others carried my things up the stairs. 

“Most of the women in court are filled with only air in their heads. Mother always said that entertaining the women of the court is next to impossible. But don’t worry. I am here and those women don’t know what I will be bringing these next few weeks.” We made it to the top of the stairs as a woman approached us. 

“Marial. This is my dear cousin Duchess Chiara! She will be placed in the room next to me and I will be telling her all our plans!” Catherine winked as she had a cheeky smile. Tell me what plans? What has she got up her sleeve? 

My room was not as big of course as I am a guest. It was a light blue room that had white flowers painted all over. The bed was very tall and extremely spacious with blue and white bedding. I think in England they would call this the Blue Room. A grand fireplace was lit that was also baby blue with gold trim. Come to think of it there was a lot of gold trim in this room which is sort of weird. 

Fernanda and those who were bringing my trucks came into my room as she took around my guest room. I took off my riding hat to throw on the bed as Fernanda sat down on one of the guest chairs. 

“It’s very modern. But I miss our home.” I nodded as I began unbuttoning my riding coat. 

“So do I already. We remembered to pack Padres guns right?” Asking her as she looked over from the chair. 

“Yes. I believe they’re bringing them up now.” She pointed towards the door as the rest of my servant brought in my trunks of different forms of weaponry. My fencing sword, regular sword, muskets, rifles, and pistols. I’m going to hunt some sort of wild beast that lives in this mad land and bring it home as a trinket. A Siberian Tiger would be a very nice trinket to bring home for la famiglia. 

Catherine came into the room with her maid in a very powerful march. As if she had something extremely important to tell me. AS in a life or death situation that couldn’t wait to be told.  

“We have much to discuss before dinner tonight.” Looking at Fernanda who excused herself. I’ll catch her up on the gossip later.  

“Now. I’m glad you decided to come and visit me. I have exciting news that I could use your help desperately with.” She pulled me over to the chairs as her servant stood next to her.

“I’m staging a coup d'état and in dire need of your help.” Not what I was expecting to hear in honesty. A coup? To think last year she was so excited to come to Italy and watch La Serva Padrona. And now a coup? 

“I umm..mamma mia a coup? Are you quite sure about this Catherine? I’d rather not see you dead. We have too much fun together.” 

“Which is why I have you. You’ve been studying how to rule a land and how to take the necessary steps..

“Catherine. I’ve been raised and tutored in Governing a land to be a Duchess not an Empress.” They’re very different in a weird way..wait why am I making excuses! But I should meet the Emperor to see why she’s forming a Coup and if he’s not as bad as I thought, maybe talk her out of it. Gossip from the court isn’t always trustworthy, obviously. 

“Let me experience at least one night with your husband..not sexually of course because that’s disgusting. I sadly can’t be seen helping stage a completely different country's coup. Might make a bad reputation for me.  But if it is as bad as everyone is saying. I’m in.” She nodded in my response as a small boy came into our room. 

“The Emperor requested your presence.” He told Catherine as she rolled her eyes. 

“Get yourself ready for dinner Chiara and make sure you take a drink of something. You’ll definitely need it.” Alcohol? Should’ve brought a few barrels of wine just in case. I’ve never had vodka and I know these Russians drink alcohol as if it was coming from their mothers tit. 

~~~

I’ve decided to pull out the big dress tonight as to make an impression on her entire court. The Duchess is here and she’s not meant to be tampered with! My brand new bright red dress that had white trills and designs all across it. I wore the royal sash that was given to me by King Ivrea Spoleto which was pearl white. My hair was of course up (even though it hurts my head a little bit) with pearls wrapping around my mountain of hairstyles. I truly don’t approve of it due to the fact that it takes too long to put up. 

“Do I look ready to impress an entire court of Russians.” Looking into the mirror one last time as my chocolate hair looked delectable. 

“From what I’ve seen going up and down the stairs of this place. You look absolutely stunning.” Fernanda commented as I smiled at her. 

“Oh! You need your knife!” Fernanda commented as I placed my right leg up on the end of my bed as she got into the bottom of my trunk. My grandfather's hunting knife that was given to him by the Queen of Chad when he first took reign. It was a beautiful sycamore that swirled at the base, the blade was a beautiful silver that shines everytime you display it. Even after all these years it looks stunning and deadly. Fernanda allowed me to put on the knife holster around my thigh then placed the knife in its holder. 

“Wish me luck for dinner. And I wish you the best of luck with chatting with the servants tonight for dinner. I’ll sneak you some desserts if we have anything that’s a pastry.” Winking at her as she nodded. 

Walking out of my room as I opened my fan as I waited for Catherine to come out of her room. I think Fernanda tied my corset a little too tight but not the first time this has happened. Though I’d rather be wearing pants and my button ups. Which will be what I wear when I’m running around the palace. Catherine came out of her room in a beautiful white, pink, and red dress that really made her pure white skin shine. Not to mention her blonde hair shined brightly. 

“Are you ready for the show?” She asked as we began walking down the stairs. 

“Not quite. But I did sneak a glass of wine into my room so my body is not as tense.” We made it down the bottom of the stairs. 

“So who is the biggest ass kisser of the Emperor? There’s always one.” 

“His name is Grigor Dymov. He kisses the Emperor's ass so much that he allows his own wife to be his whore.” 

“The second hand man married to the Emperors would be whore. If we are to do this I’m assuming we’re going after his right hand man? No. A much more subtle approach will be safer. Not that I’ve made my decision on whether to help, but I'd like to at least like to know your plan of action.”

“We’re first going after Count Orlov who has an understanding of the state of Russia. He’s a modern man who reads all of the famous authors in Europe.”

“I’m assuming he’s in the inner circle then?” Walking down the long hallway then stopping in front of the double doorway. 

“Yes. We're here. Just put on a fake smile and we’ll be just fine.” 

The doors opened and a wave of heat hit my skin. A mixture of alcohol and what smells like fish hit my nose as I wanted to just go back to my room. But I have to do this and need the impression in order to make my decision.

My fan helped me cool down tremendously as I was looking around at The Emperor's Court. To my right there were some women watching butterflies flying around her in a complete state of awe! They’re butterflies! Oh my goodness it is a show! There of course was dancing in the middle of the room that looked a little unfamiliar. I have to remind myself that I’m not at home and in a completely different country. 

Catherine handed me a glass of the clear liquid which is what I’m assuming is Vodka. Lifting my head back as It burned down my entire throat as I shook my head. 

“Heavens Catherine!” I laughed as she giggled. 

“Definitely helps.” She commented as we began walking further into the room then approaching the women with the butterflies. 

“Wow.” Catherine put on this extreme different face and even attitude before me which impressed me. 

“I am training them.” The women told us as she began coughing and gagging right in front of us. Holding her hand out to cough out two butterflies! What! 

“They do not all make the journey to a new land. Oh and who is this lovely woman.” She asked Catherine as I tried to not scream in horror. 

“This is my cousin Duchess Chiara of Italy. This is Aunt Elizbeth of Russia.” We bowed at each other as we sat down on one of the couches that was facing the fireplace. Which of course was absolutely grande with a large elk head hanging above it. 

“Let us talk of how you are.” She even had a butterfly drawn on her face! Talk about obsessions. 

“I’m quite well. Note my smiling face! My cousin has come to visit me for these next few weeks and I couldn’t be happier.” Smiling as I began looking around the room. Now where is this fat old man that she married and killed her bear! And who also punched her in the stomach. 

“I do! Has Emperor Peter also had something to do with this?” 

“He has been sweet.” 

“Oh. At heart, that is him. You know, as a young boy, Peter would run to his mother, holding aloft a picture he’d drawn or a boat fashioned from leaves, his eyes and words begging for approbation for love. And she would level a gaze at him and hold him in it, and he would fall silent and go so still. And then tears would run from his eyes, and his whole body would begin shaking uncontrollably, and urine would pool at his feet...it was a curious phenomenon.” Catherine and I shared the same facial expression as Elizabeth finished her story to us about Peter. So obviously he wasn’t an old man as I thought and was just a grown child who can’t stand the thought of someone not loving him. Have I made the correct character judgment through his own Aunt? Yes. 

“Why would she do that?” Catherine asked as I was also intrigued. 

“Everyone has their thing. Hers was cruelty. So I’m asking for some forgiveness, some empathy, from one I can tell is filled with both.” So he’s just a messed up King with mamma and papa issues. Quite ordinary in the monarchs. We began watching Elizabeth playing with her butterflies as a servant offered me a tray of tiny glasses of vodka. Taking one, drinking it then placing it back on the tray. A snap came from Elizabeth as I noticed a butterfly then landed on her finger.

“That is incredible.” I commented as she looked at me. 

“Indeed.” Elizabeth went into her own world as Catherine moved herself towards me. 

“Ready to meet him?” She asked as I shook my head. 

“Non..Non Catherine.” Grabbing my hand for us to start walking towards him. Pushing past all the dancers as I stood a few inches behind her. 

“Good evening husband!” Her husband was with another man as I looked down to see he’s in a skirt? They both turned towards her as he had no interest in speaking to us. 

“Empress.” He took a sip of his wine as his eyes drifted away from us. Why is he wearing a skirt? 

“You look marvelous! And your skirt, it is very pretty.” Why is Catherine kissing her own husband's ass? What woman needs to kiss her own husband's ass! He turned towards us as he flashed himself. Luckily it was all covered. 

“Thanks. It also allows one’s cock to swing free in the air. It’s marvelous. Old Madam Bolzoi whipped it up.” 

“It’s genius. I apologize if I have been sour face lately. I had my blood in, and you know how that goes..Rrrr.” An excuse that is older than time itself. But usually works because men think they're always being over dramatic during our blood. When in reality they are just horrid creatures. 

“Oh, right. I see. Well that explains much.” 

“But I feel much restored.” I haven’t seen this much ass kissing since Peter was kissing Jesus’ ass. 

“Who the hell are you?” His eyes drifted towards me as I took a step forward. 

“My dear husband is my cousin Duchess Chiara of Italy.” 

“Emperor.” Bowing in front of him as I then held up myself strong and ready to take on this madman.

“It is truly an honor to be invited here to stay in your breath taking palace. I bring gifts from my home being a beautiful batch of sweet and bitter red wines. In gratitude for letting me stay in your home.” Turning towards the door as about six barrels of wine entered the room as everyone began cheering. 

“I hope you enjoy them as a sign of peace from Italy.” Smiling as I knew Catherine would enjoy that little show. Have to make sure the Emperor doesn’t see me as a threat and the goal was achieved. 

“God you are stunning. Grigor doesn’t she make your cock hard?” My eyes widened at his statement as all I could do was just stand there. 

“Extremely.” He shook his head as I wanted to shoot him. Back home if I was to be talked to like this, the men would be beating the life out of him. I promise you that’s exactly how that happens. My sister was once insulted by an Austrian diplomat..and let’s just say he ended up floating in the Adriatic sea the next morning. 

“Tell me, great Emperor. What is the nature of this lively banquet? I've yet to catch up with the issues of Russia.” Everytime I open my mouth up to him, I can feel my skin twisting in regret and my tongue wanting to stop waggling. 

“We are honoring some of our wounded who finally won a battle for us against Sweden. Poor fucking guys.” Catherine and I turned our heads to see them in the corner of the room. 

“No eyes that one. To never see a naked women or a deer in full fucking fight again. Still, he may fuck ugly women and be happy now.” I’ve never wanted to slap someone so hard in the face! 

“Huzzah!” Catherine cheered as she looked completely uncomftorable. 

“Let us dance!” Swinging Catherine onto the dance floor as I took a few steps back into the crowd. Grigor I believe his name stood closely beside me as I noticed he was looking at me. 

“My apologies Duchess. I did not mean anything by what I said towards you.” Stopping the waving of my fan to face him. 

“The right hand man of the Emperor yes?” Asking him as we faced each other. 

“Grigor Dymov at your service.” He bowed as I turned off my fake smile. 

“I have no service for someone like you. The Emperor's right hand man who kisses his ass so much that shit must be stuck in your ears. I would pity you but being married to the Emporers would be whore. Now that is just..sad. Excuse me.” Walking away from him as I turned my head slightly to see that he was in utter shock.

We walked into the dinning room after the so called dance that her dellusionaly husband made her do as if they were drunk. Catherine and I entered the dining room as The Emperor kicked some sort of General out of his chair as he then moved Elizabeth out of her seat down one more. 

“The fat ass gladly gave up his seat. As no Duchess shall be seating with the court members. Greedy fucks.” Peter laughed as I smiled at him. What a rude bastard. But not completely wrong about the people of court. 

“Thank you Emperor.” Sitting down as one of the servants pushed my chair in. There were three glasses that sat in front of me at the table. One was filled with wine, another water, then finally a massive one filled with vodka. 

A dish appeared at me that looked like some sort of dumpling dish with a side of red..pasty soup? Grabbing my spoon as I poked it as it was meat? Beets? Both? Dipping my spoon into the soup as it tasted..well. The beets were very spiced with a hint of vinegar. The meat was especially spiced but has a sweet after taste. Interesting. 

From what I gathered about the Emporer. He’s literally a child that requires all the attention and love from every interaction he has with a person. Which doesn’t come as a surprise due to the fact that the Duke in Sardinia acted just like him, but he ended up jumping into the sea as he learned no one truly loved him. So once Peter realizes that no one truly loves him, maybe he’ll jump into the mouth of a Tiger. 

“Tell me Dear. I hope you’re here to bring Catherine happiness. And not here to start trouble between the both of them.” Her Aunt Elizabeth asked me as I took a sip of my water. 

“Well. When I received her letter about what happened between them..the bear and the punching. I care about her as if she was my own sister. All I’m here for is her happiness.” A butterfly landed on my nose which made her giggle. 

“They see a good soul in you and love it. I hope that you feel welcomed to our home, and it was a good idea bringing wine as a gift. Peter loves his alcohol.” She giggled as I looked down to my nose so watch the butterfly crawl around the tip of it. 

“Bring in those Swedish heads!” What? Is that code for a dessert? A servant took away my plate of food that I didn’t even finish yet as I noticed a tray was coming in that had hair on it? 

“We will eat dessert under their beady gaze!” Peter giggled as a tray was placed in front of me that..had a Swedish head on it..

God please forgive me.

My stomach turned into knots as I felt the little dinner I had was making its way back up through my throat. Catherine and I looked at each other in disgust as I wanted to run from the room, get on my horse and ride home. Now I see..A coup sounds like a wonderful idea. 

The pudding or whatever it was looked delicious but..I can’t..The vomit went into my mouth but I swallowed it back down then drinking my entire glass of water. Just breath Chiara and it will be almost over. 

“You rude fucker!” Peter yelled as he lifted his head up to look at his face. Standing up as he began digging his finger into the head. 

“Everyone! Poke their fucking eyes out!” He looked so proud of himself! Everyone excluding Catherine and I just sat there as the sound of squishing and eyeballs falling onto the trays filled my heads. 

“If you don’t he’ll kill you.” She whispered standing up with the man's head. Doing the sign of the cross as I stood up to lift his head. 

“Mi Dispiace. Possa Dio avere pietà della tua anima.” Catherine turned her head as I felt my eyes watering. A single tear fell as I dug my fingers into the first eye. The squishing, blood beginning to drip down my arm as the first eye popped out. 

“HUZZAH! DEATH TO THE SWEDISH!” Peter yelled as everyone cheered, drinking their vodka and smashing the glasses onto the floor. Dropping the head onto the tray as everyone began leaving the dining room. My right hand was covered in blood as my toes curled up in my heels from the sight. 

The dry blood on my hands was something I couldn’t stop looking at. It’s not that I’ve never seen blood before in my life..but when it comes from..a soldier who probably didn’t even want to fight..I hope that God is merciful to them. They needed to be buried and given a chance to enter the gates of Heaven. 

I couldn’t move for..I’m not quite sure how long at this point. Long enough that the servants came into the dinning room to start cleaning up. A woman with a large sack began dropping them into a burlap sack. 

“What will you do with them?” Asking the women as she looked up at me. 

“Burn them.” No..no. They do not deserve to be burned. Catherine came into the room as I stood up and wanted to scream. 

“I’m a Catholic...you’re an Orthodox..we both know their souls can not be saved..but they deserve some sort of burial. Is there a priest in this wretched palace?” She looked upon the dining room then walked over to the servant and then over to me. 

“Let them gather the heads and we’ll go speak to the Bishop.” The servant handed us the sack of heads as we began carrying them down the hall as she led me to the Bishops room. It was much heavier than I thought it would be. Never thought I would be thinking a bag of decapitated heads would be heavy! Knocking on the door as he flung it open in annoyance of being distrubed. 

“We need you to give these a Christian burial.” SHe ordered as I opened the bag so he could see the horrors of war. 

“I can only do a whole body.” He was about to shut the door but I believe the faces that were displayed on Catherines and my face weren't going to take no as an answer. I will send a rider to the Vatican if I have to in order for them to have some sort of entering the gates of heaven. 

“I could bless them.” The Bishop told us as I nodded in acceptance of the deal. 

A pound of thunder rang out as the heads were gently placed into the hole in the ground. Hard cold rain poured down upon us for Catherine and I to hold hands. We watched as the dirt was beginning to pile on top of their heads. I grabbed my rosary that I wore around my neck for my fingers to hold my cross. The Bishop went on reading from the bible as I softly spoke my own prayer. 

“Il Signore ti benedica e ti mantenga, mostrarti la sua faccia e abbi pietà di te. Volse lo sguardo verso di te e ti dava pace. Il Signore ti benedica…..Amen.” Finishing my prayer for the Bishop finished his prayer as he left Catherine and I out in the rain. 

“I want to rip the crown off his head myself.” Blurting out as Catherine turned her heads towards me. 

“A Coup d'état..sounds like a magnificent plan..”

Taglist: 

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[purplesurveys]

1003

survey by --rainboweyes--

When you think of this country, what first comes to your mind?

Argentina: We have a local brand of canned corned beef called Argentina, so instead of the country I immediately thought of that food. But if I really have to connect this to the country, I also remembered a wrestler called Giant Gonzales; he hailed from Argentina.

Brazil:  Those “Come to Brazil” hashtags that used to trend all the time on Twitter. Brazil had some reallllly loud fanbases; I’m just not sure if they’re still as vocal now.

Canada: Bret Hart. Also @inchoate-surveys, heh.

Denmark: I don’t really know anything about Denmark. OH WAIT NO there’s Legos, so we’ll go with that.

England: I honestly thought of their dishes first since I find them rather unique and super different from the Asian dishes I’m used to. We don’t really use beans or make a lot of puddings and pies, but I think they’re all interesting. 

France: Escargot and baguette lol. I’m constantly thinking of food, guys; what a shocker. Also the movie Funny Face since most of it was set in France.

Germany: Sauerkraut and long words.

Hungary: I always confuse Hungary with Germany, but the difference is I don’t know a single thing about Hungary. So I don’t actually know how to answer this haha oops, sorry.

Ireland: Niall Horan HEHE. Also the wrestlers Becky Lynch and Sheamus. Ireland’s got a lot of talented folks.

Italy: @justsurveys (:D), Lizzie McGuire, the movie Roman Holiday.

Jamaica: I also first thought of a wrestler. His name is Kofi Kingston and I remembered him because at one point in his career he was packaged to have a Jamaican gimmick even though he’s actually Ghanian, just because of his race and the fact that he had dreadlocks. Like seriously? Classic example of WWE being racist and stereotypical...ugh. It’s truly hard to vouch for them sometimes.

Japan: The brutally honest first thing I thought of wasssss how they took over my country for a few years and subjected thousands of women and children to various forms of torture before killing them.

Korea: Korean food :( Man I miss having jjajangmyeon.

Libya: Their old flag, which was just entirely green. No designs, no stripes, no other colors. Just a good ol’ green flag.

Morocco: I think of Marrakesh and how colorful the place is. I’d love to go someday.

Norway: Northern lights.

Poland: The current Pope. < OMG editing this answer. The Pope I was thinking of was John Paul II, the actual Pole. Pope Francis is from Argentina lmaooooo so sorry

Romania: I honestly can’t tell you a single thing. Slowly starting to realize that I’m not as good in geography as I thought I was, ha.

Russia: Onion domes, I think that’s what they’re called.

Spain: When I think of Spain I always immediately think of the unfinished church, Sagrada Familia is what I think it’s called, if I remember correctly. It’s in my bucket list of places to see, for sure. Then there’s also the 333 years of colonization, but I’m not feeling bitter enough tonight to rant about that.

Tunisia: Not a clue. I’m bringing my ass to read more about other countries after this.

Turkey: Gabie, because she has Turkish blood.

Uganda: That Joseph Kony documentary that blew up nearly a decade ago. I’m pretty sure that was based in Uganda.

United States of America: Trump, Target, cheeseburgers, elderly people on scooters, those machines at the store that count your coins for you, more cheeseburgers.

United Kingdom: The royal family, Black Mirror, accents that sound fancy.

Australia: Barbecue, kangaroos, deserts, Vegemite.

New Zealand: I thought of my relatives who live there. Also Lord of the Rings.

List 3 movies you like in each genre.

Action: Eugh, I hate this genre. Wonder Woman is probably the only action movie I ever really enjoyed.

Comedy: Can romcoms count? I like The Proposal, Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, andddddd This Is Spinal Tap. 

Drama: Room, Revolutionary Road, Requiem for a Dream.

Fantasy: Huge pass.

Horror: Midsommar, The Shining, (the original) Carrie.

Kids/Animated: Toy Story, Finding Nemo, Tangled.

Romance: Portrait of a Lady on Fire, Carol, Two for the Road.

Sci-Fi: 2001: A Space Odyssey(!!!), The Martian, Interstellar.

Thriller: Misery, Black Swan, Gone Girl.

Western: Not my cup of tea. The only thing I could think of is Breaking Bad, and that’s not even a movie.

Answer just in numbers.

Number of brothers you have: 1.

Number of sisters you have: Also 1.

Number of the house you live at: Eh.

Number of close friends you have: Off the top of my head, 3.

Number of pets you have: 2.

Number of times you shower a week: 6 or 7.

Number of concerts you've been to in your life: Too many to count if I include local gigs at schools. But if we’re only referring to bigger acts held in arenas or stadiums, 4.

Number of cars your household has: 3.

Number of serious relationships you've been in: 1, but we dated twice.

Number of movies you've seen at the cinema this year: Hahahaha

Number of people who live in your house: 5, including myself.

Number of plug sockets in the room you're in now: 4.

Some more randomer questions.

What food do you have cravings for the most? My cravings are always changing, though. Right now, it would be sushi and takoyaki. We actually just had both last night for dinner, but we devoured them SO fast and now I’m seeking them out again.

What TV shows do you hate to miss on TV? I’m not that attached to any show. I used to religiously follow WWE Raw and The Walking Dead and always wanted to watch both live as often as possible, but those days are long gone.

What do you tend to lose the most? My appetite. As for actual items...probably pens.

The last time someone shouted at you - why were they shouting? It’s been a while since that happened, so I don’t remember.

Would you rather have a cactus or a bonsai? Cactus. I heard taking care of bonsai trees is quite complicated, and I just know I’d kill it within a day or two, if not a lot shorter.

What scary story freaks you out the most? Not really in the mood to think of an answer to this considering it’s 1:07 AM and dark as fuck in my room D:

Are you better with gadgets or cooking? Probably gadgets, but just barely.

How would you rate your own looks? Personality? I hate deciding on things about me. I don’t want to hype myself up too much but I don’t want to drag myself down either lol

What accent is the most attractive? Some English accents are very pleasant to the ear.

Do you get annoyed when people spell your name wrong? Not for the most part since I have the more uncommon spelling anyway. But if someone is talking to me on like Messenger or Viber where my name is blatantly stated and spelled out and they still misspell it, then I get peeved.

[oyanachi]

Portraits in Bordeaux #12

Welcome back, readers!

Little reminder of the rules. I decided to write drabbles according to one of the prompts made by @hetaliamondaychallenge​ adding 3 rules:

- each of them will be about a character randomly picked up by a friend.   - every end has to inspire the beginning of the next one, like a logical transition. - it all has to take place in Bordeaux, France.

Also, it’s a humanverse.

#12 “I’ve missed you. But it seems like you’re not happy to see me.” – Nyo!Canada

Marguerite liked her simple life as it was. Everything was going smooth day after day. She had a job in the big blue library on Gambetta and enjoyed her breaks reading the brand-new books not yet put on the shelves. Whenever she walked into the alleys were she was working, in the history section, she couldn’t help but remember the day she met Heinrich. He was a lost client, looking for something but not being sure what it was in the first place. For Marguerite, that was the best part of her job: helping people and trying to find the best item, investigating like a private. They spent lot of time talking, especially when they started talking about Middle Age. It was like magic words unleashing a Marguerite she didn’t show a lot in public. She wasn’t a talkative person but anytime she could talk about her passion, she always felt her cheeks turning red but actually she never stopped talking, with a soft voice, hiding sometimes behind her glasses.

Meeting Heinrich had been a really good event. Marguerite hadn’t lot of friends. She didn’t mind at all. The few she had were very close friends but none of them had ever been interested like her in Middle Age. So, when Heinrich came back to the library sometimes later and didn’t recognize her at all, she couldn’t help but feel a little bit sad. But Marguerite was persistent. As soon as she realized Heinrich didn’t do it on purpose, she was back on track and took her time to get on well with him whenever he showed up.

On her free time, Marguerite was a sportswoman. She especially liked whatever she could do outside alone. She liked to rollerblade on the quays, to go hiking in the Landes, more in the south, to go canoeing in Dordogne. Marguerite had a lonely life she was used to and she liked it this way. She was doing things at her own path, living in her own bubble.

Marguerite was living in a community adjoining Bordeaux and served by a bus line. Her flat was at the top of a small building, and she could enjoy a rooftop terrace where she put lot of plants. She liked gardening as well. Although she grew pretty and appetizing vegetables, none of them were meant to find their way to her kitchen. Marguerite was a hopeless case when it was about cooking. So she preferred giving them to her neighbors instead.

This day, as Marguerite was coming back from her round with a pecan pie an old man of the neighborhood made to thank her for the vegetables, her daily life was suddenly broke into pieces as the memories were coming back to her. At her usual bus station was standing someone she didn’t hope to see again anymore. It seemed all she had built since then just came tumbling down like a house of cards. She was at peace just a few seconds ago and now was completely lost. To add to her confusion, the person was still, even when Marguerite stopped in front of them. Taking her courage in both hands, she swallowed and said, right in the eyes:

-I’ve missed you. But it seems like you’re not happy to see me.

Why are you here then? She wanted to add. But the words stayed stuck in her throat.

~~~

(So, it’s definitely not Italy ah ah And wow... nyo!Canada, alright. Like I’ve said before, I’ve never used nyos, so that’s a first. I like how nyo!Canada looks like. Also, I say “big blue library” but whoever has ever been in Bordeaux know perfectly which library I’m talking about.)

#11 - Holy Roman Empire / #13 - Russia

[what-the--curtains]

Braving the Elements

Chapter 15: Roman Defeated

Tw: Violence, Blood, Swearing

When you enter the facility

When the fight starts

A few days pass and with no activity on your monitors, you and Nat enter Romans cabin and remove any paper files marked as “Project X” from his office. You proceed to retrieve the surveillance cameras and pack up the truck to leave. You and Bucky hadn’t talked about the night you spent together. Neither of you knew why. You hoped he didn’t regret it, you knew you didn’t. You spend most of the ride home and most of the next day asleep, tired from the long shifts. Waking up at around 2pm you check your face in the mirror. The mark he'd left on your neck, the last bit of physical evidence of that night, has faded away. You make your way into the kitchen in sweatpants and a matching cropped sweater, hair done up in a bun. You find everyone else scattered between the kitchen and the living room. It seems like the missions went relatively smoothly, Roman hadn’t been at any of the houses. Though apparently Italy had had some problems based on the few bruises you can see on Sam and Clint's arms. Everyone’s managed to find the hard copies of the previously deleted files of which there were at least 60. At around 4PM you’re all called into the meeting room. Tony had sent copies of the files off to SHIELD in hopes that they would be able to piece them into a coherent report, but the originals were in the conference room spread across the long table. Taking a seat next to Wanda, you pick up a few of the files. You’re skimming through them when Shuri enters the room and pulls up a holographic of what appears to be the blueprints for some kind of fancy building.

“What is that?” you ask.

“That. Is what I found on one of those encrypted files you stole. It looks like it’s some kind of underground bunker.” she replies. “There’s two levels, the upper part seems to be various facilities, living rooms, gyms, bathrooms, etcetera, but the lower level is where they’re keeping the laboratories and medical bays.”

“Hidden in plain sight, allows him to do whatever he wants no questions asked.” You murmur.

“Do we know where it is?” Clint asks.

“Based on some shipment receipts we have a general idea, but we’ll need Sam to scan the area to get the proper locates. Now finding it should be easy enough, and since we have a floor plan of the facility we may even have an upper hand.” Tony explains.

“I don’t think anyone’s ever had the upper hand on Roman.” You state.

“You’re right we need to be prepared for anything.” Steve says.

“If we can bring him in alive, we could figure out where all the mutants in these files have gone.” Tony says, looking at you pointedly before repeating the word alive a decibel louder, but you’re not paying attention, you’ve noticed something in the files.

“There all alphas, looks like he’s even got some omegas.” you say skimming through the files

“They’re all what?” Vision asks, looking to Wanda for an explanation.

“The government classifies mutants into six general groups, epsilons,” Wanda starts

“Mutants with little to no powers but major physical presentation of the x-gene you’ll recognize them a mile away.” You explain.

“Deltas,” Wanda says, pausing in order to continue the back and forth exchange.

“Human presenting mutants with low level powers most of them don’t even know they have the gene. Asymptomatic carries if you will”

“Gammas”

“This is the base level of powerful mutants. They have powers yes, but they also have a distinct phenotypic presentation of the x-gene.” You see some of the people in the room looking confused “Phenotypic presentation meaning they present distinct physical traits. They’re often the most ostracized by you non-mutants. Think Beast, Mystic or Nightcrawler.” You clarify, unsure if the team knows who they are.

“Betas” Wanda continues.

“They’re just as powerful as Gamma’s, but they only have minor physical drawbacks, ones you won’t notice until you’re close up, like Wolverine, or Gambit.”

“Alphas,”

“Very powerful mutants with no phenotypic presentation of the gene some consider them to be the most dangerous because you can’t identify them, Wanda or myself, for example.” You smile at her.

“Then, then there’s omegas.” Wanda says

“These are mutants with the highest level of power. They’re also usually the ones with the hardest powers to control. The most dangerous of the alphas if you will. Jean, Magneto, Charles and Storm are all omegas, powerful ones.” You stop.

“So what does this mean? He’s gathering all the strongest mutants?” Sam asks.

“Looks that way.” Wanda says

“We’re going to need to take extra safety precautions. If they’re fighting with Roman they’ll be looking to kill, not wound, anyone who gets in there way” Tony says

“And what if they’re being held as prisoners?” Bucky asks, beating you to your own question.

“If they’re being held captive they may be angry, untrusting and ready to destroy anyone even if it's people looking to help.” You say “They’ll be scared and fear is dangerous, be careful when approaching them”

“Do we have any way of protecting ourselves?” Nat asks

“Yes,” Shuri pulls out a box with metal collars and a box of ammunition.

“These collars will ensure that whoever is wearing them has their powers disabled” she sees you give her a concerned look “just until we take them off I promise” she reassures. “Meanwhile, these are soaked with a heavy tranquilizer that knocks anyone out in seconds. I’ve hooked them up to best suit your weapons of choice.”

“How do we know it’ll knock out a mutant?” Peter asks.

“Well I tested it on my brother and it knocked him out for a good 5 hours, superpowers and all.” She says grinning from ear to ear causing you all to laugh.

Steve goes over the plans. “Alright troops, we’ll be proceeding into the building through the four main entrances as indicated on the map. We want to make sure that each team has at least one person trained in military combat leading the attack. So, Y/N you’ll go ahead with Wanda and Peter through the back entrance here. Myself and Tony will enter from the left, while Bucky and Sam will come up on the right. Nat, you’ll take Clint and Vision through the front. We’ll maneuver through our quadrants before meeting back here, at the center of the second level. From there we can continue our sweep of the building. Remember, we are not going in to kill, we need Roman alive in order to get information. Any prisoners are not to be harmed, you find them, you wait and Y/N and Wanda will go and make the call. Get your stuff together, we fly in 15.”

Throwing your arsenal into a bag and getting changed you make your way over to the jet.

You throw your duffel bag up to Sam, and he almost drops it underestimating how heavy it was going to be.

“Jesus what’s in here? A body?” he huffs.

“A lady never reveals her secrets” you say, placing your finger over your lips and making a shushing gesture causing Sam and Peter to giggle. You go to hoist yourself up but struggle as the jets entrance was higher off the ground than you had anticipated. Suddenly, two hands grab your waist and lift you up with familiar ease allowing you to reach Sam’s hand. He pulls you up asking you what’s got you all hot and bothered. You shoot him a death stare, leading him to lift his hands up as he walks away mumbling about how he was sorry for asking. You turn around and pull Bucky up “Didn’t think anything could fluster you.” he said quietly with a smile as he passes by, causing you to become even more flustered. What the hell was that all about? You think taking your seat next to Tony and clipping in your seatbelt.

“How was Russia?” Wanda asks while sitting with Visions arm wrapped around her shoulder.

“Fucking cold.” you reply, not making eye contact with Bucky, Nat or Steve afraid you may reveal yourself “Next time Tony we’re pulling name outta a hat so you can’t rig it.” He laughs and the flight takes off

“So what can we expect with this guy Roman?” Peter inquires.

“Well he doesn’t fight fair that’s for sure, but he never does any of his own dirty work he likes to be kept clean I honestly think he’s a germaphobe but I digress. Lots of brutes, usually without superpowers unless bashing someone head in with a baseball bat counts as a power. I don’t know if he’ll even be there.” You say tightening the strap of the holsters around your thighs and clipping your arm bands into place.

The jet lands a few blocks away from the supposed site. It’s a ghost town, run-down buildings that have been partially destroyed, potholes, broken glass, overlapping graffiti on every surface. This wasn’t Romans usual extravagant taste. What was he up to? He always wanted his accomplishments to be on display. Why was he hiding this one?

“Sam, you see anything up there?” Tony asks.

“Scanning one sec. Alright we’ve got a hit, under the old movie theater by the looks of it.” He responds, landing next to you.

“Get into teams, let’s get this asshole.” Bucky says, loading up his machine gun with the knockout bullets Shuri had made. Before you split up he looks over to you,

“Don’t do anything stupid, lots of people here would miss you if you died.”

“Are you including yourself on that list?” you ask, as you load up your own gun. He walks behind you placing a hand on your waist and whispers “What the hell do you think.” Before walking off towards Sam.

You, Wanda and Peter enter from the back. You lead them through the maze of hallways wielding a machine gun checking left and right into any doorways. You knock out the guards with the tranquilizer bullets and once they’re down Peter webs them up to the wall, ensuring they won’t be going anywhere. No signs of any mutants yet. You reach a hallway that diverts off to the side. Holding up your fist you stop before motioning to your two teammates to continue up the hallway while you check it out. You're about to clear the hall when you feel something thwack you in the back of the head, you must have missed a door. You drop your gun and turn around to see none other than your old driver Calvin holding a pistol to your head.

“I’ve been waiting a long time to do this.” He smiles cocking the gun. Before he can pull the trigger a ball of light hits him in the back. You look up to see Wanda standing behind him. You grab your gun and she pulls you up “Old friend of yours?” she asks, while Peter webs up Calvin. You exit the hallway and continue down your path until you reach a door that none of you recognize from the blueprints. “Sam you there?” Wanda asks into the earpiece

“What’s up.” He whispers.

“Send us your scan of the building we’ve reached undocumented territory.”

Wanda pulls up the blueprints. “It looks like this leads to a lower level.”

“Alright, were going in.” you say

“Be careful. Once we're done we’ll head your way. Send us your current location.” Steve’s voice commands.

“Copy.” you respond. Lifting your gun you proceed down the narrow hallway, single file.

You turn the corner, another door, you open it quickly scanning the room for potential threats. You turn on the lights revealing a large empty room, lowering your weapon you take in your surroundings. Then, you hear a clatter and fog canisters roll out in front of you reducing your visibility now unable to see even a few feet in front of you. You hear a crash and see a burst of red light in the fog. “Wanda” you whisper yell “Peter?”. You don’t shoot at the noise, not wanting to hit your two friends. The fog slowly begins to lift revealing Wanda and Peter chained to the floor by their wrists. You bend over to try and break them, but you can’t.

“Look out!” Peter warns. You turn around to see a man, you recognize his face but couldn’t quite remember his name. You blink and then there's 15 of him, carbon copies encircling you.

“ What the…” you start before being interrupted by the echo of slow claps coming from behind the multiples.

“Together at last! How I’ve missed you my freak of nature” a familiar voice calls out

“Now Romy is that any way to speak to an old friend?” you say through gritted teeth, standing up to face him.

“Friends don’t burn down each other’s building, steal from them and kill their guards” he shouts

“Ouf well I guess friends don’t really own each other either?” you snap back.

“Agree to disagree.” he says, finally appearing behind the multiples, sending him? them? back out to guard the door. The 15 men turn back to 1 and exit the room.

“Why are you even here Romy? It’s not like you to do grunt work. And besides, you know you can’t beat me” You exclaim raising your gun and taking aim.

“Maybe not under the usual circumstances, but recently I’ve been feeling like I’ve turned over a new leaf” he says. A burst of light leaves his hands and hits you hard in the stomach knocking the wind out of you. You topple over dropping the gun as you fall.

“But you see your powers are useless here, no water, no fire, no earth in sight.” He continues, kicking down hard on your back, splaying you across the floor. “And my new powers allow me to use electrical energy as a weapon. Isn’t that just so fun!” he kicks the gun away from your reach and lifts your chin up with the tip of his shoe

“Impossible.” You mutter trying to understand what you had just seen, he wasn’t a mutant.

“Not when you know the right people.” he laughs.

“I didn’t miss a room, you gave Calvin powers as well, how?”

“All in good time, but for now you’re going to come with me or I’m going to kill your little friends here as well as all the others currently sweeping the upper levels.” He says as you push yourself off the floor.

“Alright go ahead,” you stand up and make your way over to the door, “see if I care. You obviously need me alive so i'm gonna walk right outta here unharmed”

“Guess you’re still only looking out for number one” he says following behind you

“Always have been” you say, grabbing the handle of the door. “Oh and Romy.” you turn to face him

“Yes darling?” He asks with a snarl.

“Are you really as stupid as you look?” you ask.

“What?” he scowls.

“Do you really think we showed up here without a backup plan?” You knock him down with a gust of air, as he hits the floor he yells for his guards. One tries to grab the door handle, but you ignite your arm bands and touch the knob scolding the man’s hand badly, you can smell the burnt flesh as you let go. Using the water converter technology installed into your suit by Shuri you throw water over the chains confining your two friends, freezing it as it hits the metal. You walk over whacking the chains with the butt of your gun causing them to shatter. You help them up. “Nice acting.” Wanda says rubbing her wrists “Seriously where’s your Oscar?” Peter asks. “Aww thanks guys, you know maybe I should quit my day job!” you start, but quickly realize you have bigger fish to fry as the multiplier and several others enter into the room.

Wanda knocks down three of them with a single blast as Peter works on taking down another two. You're squaring off against a guy who must have superhuman strength, based on his height and intense muscles. “You know there is such a thing as too much of a good thing, seriously what are you on steroids?” You shoot at him but he catches the bullet and crushes it proving your theory. You drop the gun and run at him. Sliding between his legs you jump on his back , pulling out your knife you jab it into his shoulder and he lets out a yelp of pain. At least you knew he could bleed. You manage to wrestle off his helmet, as he reaches around to pull you off, you bite him. This makes him even angrier. He grabs you off his back and throws you against the wall. He’s learning over you as you attempt to make a grab at a knife, he steps on your wrist lifting his foot he aims at your head, you brace for impact. All of a sudden you hear a gun fire and the guy turns to face the shooter, Bucky. The rest of the crew have arrived just in time to help with the other guards. While the muscle man starts towards the winter soldier you grab the knife on the floor and slash the guy's Achilles causing him to fall to the ground. “Thanks for that.” you say wiping the blood of your knife “Right back at you, I was 10 seconds away from being a pancake.” he smiles at you before shooting down two of the guards. It doesn’t take long for you guys to take the rest of them out. Roman’s started moving towards the door amidst the chaos but he doesn't get far before one of Clint's arrows hits him in the leg. Still trying to drag his body out of the room you walk over to him and lift up his head by his hair “You seriously thought you and your run of the mill abusers could take down a team of nine superheroes.”

“Hero? Is that what you think you are? Your hubris will be your downfall.” He says spitting in your face before passing out.

“You get your touch for the dramatic from him?” Sam chuckles.

“Did you know he had powers?” Peter asks, while Bucky lifts up Romans limp body.

“That’s the thing he didn’t use too. Wanda, did you see any doors in that hallway where Calvin tried to kill me?” You say wiping the spit off your face.

“Where who tried to do what to you?” Bucky asks loudly.

“No. You think he had them as well?” Wanda responds, ignoring Bucky’s concern. You shrug.

“So how did he...” Tony starts.

”I don’t know.” you shake your head in confusion. “Someone call Shuri. I have a feeling she’s the only one who can crack this.”

[newstfionline]

Thursday, October 15, 2020

Teen well-being (The Atlantic) Teens who participated in a 1,523 respondent survey between May and July this year were assessed for various mental well-being measures including life satisfaction, happiness, depression symptoms and loneliness. Their responses were then compared to the results of the same survey in 2018, and much to the surprise of the researchers, the teens were pretty much on par, and the percentage of teens depressed or lonely was lower in 2020 than in 2018. This is not to say that teens escaped the malaise that gripped the nation, far from it: 63 percent were concerned about catching the virus, 27 percent said a parent lost their job, 29 percent knew someone who caught the virus. No, the reason for the shift is that those considerable sources of anxiety were compensated for by the fact that teens were finally sleeping the correct amount of time: in 2018, just 55 percent of teens slept seven or more hours a night, and this year 84 percent slept seven or more hours a night while school was in session.

Cruise ship dismantling booms after pandemic (Reuters) Business is booming at a sea dock in western Turkey, where five hulking cruise ships are being dismantled for scrap metal sales after the COVID-19 pandemic all but destroyed the industry, the head of a ship recyclers’ group said on Friday. Cruise ships were home to the some of the earliest clusters of COVID-19 as the pandemic spread globally early this year. In March, U.S. authorities issued a no-sail order for all cruise ships that remains in place. On Friday, dozens of workers stripped walls, windows, floors and railings from several vessels in the dock in Aliaga, a town 45 km north of Izmir on Turkey’s west coast. Three more ships are set to join those already being dismantled. Before the pandemic, Turkey’s ship-breaking yards typically handled cargo and container ships, Kamil Onal, chairman of a ship recycling industrialists’ association, told Reuters. “But after the pandemic, cruise ships changed course towards Aliaga in a very significant way,” he said of the town.

Europe tightens rules as virus surges (AP) Governments across Europe are ratcheting up restrictions to try to beat back a resurgence of the coronavirus that has sent new confirmed infections on the continent to their highest weekly level since the start of the pandemic. The World Health Organization said Tuesday there were more than 700,000 new COVID-19 cases reported in Europe last week, a jump of 34% from the previous week. Britain, France, Russia and Spain accounted for more than half of the new infections. Italy and France are restricting parties and putting limits on restaurants and bars. The Netherlands went further and ordered the closing of all bars and restaurants, And to discourage partying at home, it banned the sale of alcohol after 8 p.m. The Czech Republic is closing all schools until Nov. 2, while Latvia is ordering teenagers to switch to distance learning for a week. And Britain unveiled a three-tiered system for deciding what restrictions to impose, based on how severe the outbreak is in certain areas. Those moves reflect a new approach to containing the virus among governments wary of hurting already fragile economies. Officials are eager to avoid the total lockdowns they imposed in the spring that resulted in heavy job losses. Instead, they are relying on a patchwork of regional or targeted restrictions that have sometimes caused confusion and frustration by those affected. The U.N. health agency appeared to support the new approach, with WHO spokesman Tarik Jasarevic saying lockdowns should be a “last resort.”

With winter on the way and windows open, Europe’s students prepare for the cold (Washington Post) With winter on its way and coronavirus guidelines advising teachers to keep classroom windows open, students across Northern Europe are preparing for the chill by packing blankets in their school bags and layering up in warm clothing. There is increasingly a consensus among experts that good ventilation is one of the best ways to prevent the virus from spreading. Anthony Costello, a former director at the World Health Organization, said last month that children “can survive a bit of cold, and they’re going to have to, because ventilation is so important.” With temperatures in Germany frequently dropping to freezing, children in the city of Bochum are bracing for a crisp learning environment as officials advise teachers to open the windows for fresh air every 20 minutes. Children have been told to bring blankets and wrap up. Although some schools struggle with the advice that the cold air needs to be brought in, schools in Denmark and other Nordic education systems are taking lessons—and young students—outside. More than half of about 200 Norwegian schools surveyed in a poll by researchers Ulrich Dettweiler and Gabriele Lauterbach last month said they were holding more classes outdoors—a move some already had planned on that was further propelled by the pandemic.

Belarusian crisis escalates (Foreign Policy) Belarusian opposition leader Svetlana Tikhanovskaya has demanded that President Aleksandr Lukashenko resign by Oct. 25 or face nationwide strikes. “[On] Oct. 26, all enterprises will begin a strike,” she said in a statement, “all roads will be blocked, state-owned stores will no longer have any sales.” Tikhanovskaya is hugely popular among protesters but fled to Lithuania in the aftermath of the controversial Aug. 9 election, which saw Lukashenko win by a landslide amid allegations of electoral fraud. Tikhanovskaya’s ultimatum is part of a wider escalation of tensions between Lukashenko and anti-government protesters. On Monday, the government authorized police to use lethal force against protesters after the ninth consecutive Sunday of massive protests in the capital of Minsk.

For Nagorno-Karabakh’s Dueling Sides, Living Together Is ‘Impossible’ (NYT) Armenians and Azerbaijanis lived side by side in the Soviet days, until conflict over the disputed mountain territory called Nagorno-Karabakh exploded in the late 1980s into riots, expulsions and a yearslong war. The violence left personal wounds festering for decades, as stubborn as the tan and gray stone ruins of Azerbaijani villages still scattered in the Armenian countryside. In the last two weeks, those unhealed scars have erupted into a modern-day conflagration of trench warfare, drone strikes and artillery bombardments. More than 500 Armenian soldiers have died, along with scores of civilians and an unknown number of Azerbaijanis. A cease-fire brokered in Moscow over the weekend has failed to hold, and President Ilham Aliyev of Azerbaijan has threatened a further escalation of his offensive. For the region’s populace, the war is a continuation of on-off strife over both territory and history, with roots going back more than a century. The days when the Soviet Union kept a lid on such conflicts, and Azerbaijanis and Armenians mostly lived together in peace, feel like an irrevocably lost world. “Each wants to say that he is the master of this land,” said one refugee who left Azerbaijan in 1989. “To live together is, put simply, impossible.”

China’s Xi lays out plan to build Shenzhen into global rival to troubled Hong Kong (Washington Post) Chinese leader Xi Jinping announced plans to make Shenzhen an international trade hub and talent center, setting up the mainland metropolis as a business alternative to its politically troubled neighbor, Hong Kong. In a speech on Wednesday, Xi called for Shenzhen to take the lead in developing high-value innovative industries and drawing international talent. He said Shenzhen will develop its finance sector and international trade capabilities—which are Hong Kong’s economic strengths. The top-level support for Shenzhen was a clear message for Hong Kong, which lies just across a river from Shenzhen, said Victor Gao, a chair professor at China’s Soochow University and a former Foreign Ministry official. “If you do not have stability, if you are caught up in revolution, or great turmoil, or anarchy, then you will lose out on whatever advantages and resources you may have previously had,” Gao said. “Then your economic development will reverse course.” Hong Kong, which was supposed to enjoy self-governance in most of its affairs until 2047, has become a thorn in Beijing’s side because of large-scale public protests against China’s tightening control.

Japan’s navy adapts to the digital generation (Times of London) Japan’s navy is to launch a new, scaled down warship to compensate for a drop in recruitment among young people who cannot tolerate long periods at sea without access to their smartphones. The 30FFM frigate is designed for a crew of about 90 sailors, half that of the older vessels. The smaller crews reflect the crisis in recruitment faced by the Maritime Self-Defense Forces. The navy is struggling to fulfill its recruitment quotas, and in 2018 reached only 60 per cent of its target. In that year, it raised the upper age limit for recruits from 26 to 32. It has also taken steps to overcome the principal disincentive to would-be sailors—enforced isolation from the outside world. Sailors can now send emails from their mobile phones and have limited wireless internet access.

Thailand declares emergency after unprecedented protest (AP) Thai authorities declared a strict new state of emergency for the capital on Thursday, a day after a student-led protest against the country’s traditional establishment saw an extraordinary moment in which demonstrators heckled a royal motorcade. After the pre-dawn declaration, riot police moved in to clear out demonstrators who after a day of rallies and confrontation had gathered outside Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha’s office to push their demands, which include the former general’s stepping down, constitutional changes and reform of the monarchy. The protest Wednesday in Bangkok’s historic district, not far from glittering temples and royal palaces, was the third major gathering by student-led activists who have been pushing the boundaries of what is considered acceptable—and legal—language by publicly questioning the role of Thailand’s monarchy in the nation’s power structure.

Southeast Asia flood deaths near 40 as new storm approaches (Reuters) Nearly 40 people have died in Vietnam and Cambodia and scores more were missing, including rescuers, due to prolonged heavy rain and flash flooding as tropical storm Nangka edged towards the Vietnamese coast on Tuesday. Heavy rains since early October have caused deadly floods and landslides in several provinces in central Vietnam and displaced thousands of people in western Cambodia, officials and state media said. The floods are expected to worsen over the coming days, with tropical storm Nangka forecast to dump more rain as it makes landfall in Vietnam on Wednesday.

Coronavirus lockdown 2.0 deepens divisions in Israel (AP) When Israel went into lockdown last spring, Jerusalem pub owner Leon Shvartz moved quickly to save his business—shifting to a delivery and takeaway model that kept him afloat throughout the summer. Then came the second lockdown. With restaurants and shops shuttered again, Shvartz’s business is struggling to survive. He has laid off 16 of his 17 employees. By contrast, Israeli software maker Bizzabo, which operates in the hard-hit conference-management sector, quickly reinvented itself last spring by offering “virtual events.” It has more than doubled its sales and is expanding its workforce. Such tales of boom and bust reflect Israel’s growing “digital divide.” Even before the pandemic, Israel had one of the largest income gaps and poverty rates among developed economies, with a few high earners, mostly in the lucrative high-tech sector, while many Israelis barely get by as civil servants, in service industries or as small business owners. Those gaps have widened as the second nationwide lockdown, imposed last month, dealt a new blow to an economy already hit hard by the first round of restrictions. The fallout from the pandemic has also deepened long-simmering divisions among Israeli Jews, pitting a largely secular majority against a powerful ultra-Orthodox minority.

[yashalex]

crash and burn, baby. crash and burn   [Chapter 10] Previous chapter is here It’s not a problem when your best mate finds a new crush and forgets about you. It’s the problem when his crush takes an interest in you and you don’t really mind. Or: Lucas Lallemant, a new guy in the school, attracts Eliott’s best mate attention… and not just his.

Chapter 9 Eliott and Lucas finally have a lot of time to spend together.

“So… parallel universes. What do you think?”

Lucas and Eliott were lying on the bed in Lucas’s room with only boxers and t-shirts on. They came here hours ago, being absolutely soppy, their teeth were chattering with cold. Still, they both couldn’t stop smiling. Lucas’ father was off on a business trip again, so his house was the obvious place for them to go. And all this time they were doing nothing but kissing, hugging, touching and exploring each other’s body as if they were the most precious things in the world. And Eliott started to think that it was exactly what Lucas was. Too precious. So when the boy asked him his question, Eliott didn't manage to catch it straight away.

“What?” He murmured, burying his head in the boy's neck. Absorbing his scent. If only he could lock it up in the bottle and take it to his flat just for his room to smell like that. Life would have been so much more pleasant then.

“Parallel universes. Do you believe in them?” Lucas clarified his question, and Eliott couldn’t but notice that he chose a weird thing for discussion. But he didn’t mind.

“I’m not sure,” he said, not moving from his spot. He could feel a shiver, running down the boy’s neck which was caused by his voice. It made him smile, and he continued. “For me, there’s only one universe and there is a real tragedy in that. Sometimes when I have to make a choice I always think that there are two paths to take. And when I choose one path, because I need to make this choice, I always think about the second one and about all the missed opportunities I left with it. That drives me crazy.”

“But what if there is another Eliott in the parallel universe, who’s chosen another path? Then it’d mean that you’ve tried all the options,” Lucas suggested.  The way he seemed sincerely interested in this theme was fascinating. The boy clearly was a dreamer.

“Then I don’t envy him,” Eliott answered, and there was no need to look at Lucas to feel his confusion.  “If I’d chosen another path in the past, I could never meet you.” He lifted his head to look at the boy, who was now smiling at him fondly. Lucas leaned over to leave a kiss oh his lips. But Eliott didn’t let him go easily, having beaten his lower lip and deepened the kiss.  When their tongues touched Lucas groaned and Eliott grinned satisfied. “Can you imagine Eliott and Lucas who doesn’t have this moment right now?” He whispered in his mouth and Lucas shook his head slightly. Yeah, Eliott thought the same.

He grabbed Lucas’ back of the head and pulled him as close to himself as it was only possible. One Lucas’ hand was rushing through Eliott’s hair while another one found its way underneath Eliott’s t-shirt. As soon as his fingers touched Eliott’s bared skin an electric shock ran through his body, which was completely under Lucas control now. And there was no desire in them to talk anymore, they had some other things to do.

 “I still think that parallel universes can exist”.

When Lucas brought up the theme, which they successfully dropped nearly an hour ago, Eliott couldn’t hold his laugh. They were still lying on the bed but there were no t-shirts on them anymore. They were just an obstacle in their way of knowing each other better, and they had no other choice but to get rid of them. Lucas was lying on his stomach and Eliott used the boy’s back as a pillow for himself. He was running his fingers along Lucas’ soft skin, trying to memorize every line of his body and every mole that he had. He wished he had a pencil and paper to capture this moment, but he wasn’t ready to remove himself from the boy. Not yet.

“Ok. Share your thoughts.” Eliott put his chin on Lucas’ scapula, ready to hear everything that he wanted to say so much. And if that was important to Lucas, then it was important to Eliott too.

“When I have a choice to make I love thinking that there’re other Lucases in other parallel universes who took all the paths I couldn’t take. And when I have bad days, doubts or regrets I always remind myself that somewhere there’s another Lucas who’s happy and who’s living his best life at the moment. Sometimes it helps me to move forward and make other hard decisions which I need to make.”

“And did other Lucases meet me?” Eliott asked, enchanted by the dreamy Lucas’ face.

“Yeah. Some of them definitely did.” Lucas smiled, turning his head to look at Eliott. “Maybe, in another universe, you’re not a painter but musician.”

“I can hardly see that happening,” Eliott laughed. He was one hundred percent a tone-deaf person.

“Well, it’s another universe. Everything’s possible there,” Lucas was saying that as though he really believed in that theory. And Eliott wanted to hear more of that.

“And what else? Who else could we be?” He asked, and Lucas turned around carefully just for Eliott to lie on his chest. Lucas reached Eliott’s hair with his hand and began to play with them with his fingers.

“Well, we could be girls. Can you imagine that?” Lucas supposed and Eliott let out a laugh.

“That would be so cool, right?” He asked and Lucas nodded his head in agreement.

“You can be bald. Can you imagine yourself without your beautiful hair?” Eliott shook his head on it as the thought seemed too ridiculous for him. He would never get rid of his hair. “We also could live in every country. Norway, USA, Italy, Germany, Netherlands, Belgium, England, China, Brasilia…”

“Even in Russia?” Eliott’s interrupted Lucas and the boy shrugged his shoulders.

“Yeah. Why not?”

“О да!” Eliott exclaimed, and Lucas has been clearly taken aback by his response. “Last summer I met a group of Russian tourists and when I heard them I decided that I want to know their language. So I learned a couple of phrases.” Of course, it wasn’t the whole story. Eliott’s been living through one of his episodes back then, and he couldn’t rest until he learned at least something. That was one of his stupid obsessions, which didn’t bring him anything useful at the end. As always.

“Then tell me something!” Lucas asked, looking at him with his big angelic blue eyes. If only Eliott could say «no» to them.

«Ты самое лучшее, что когда-либо случалось в моей жизни.” He whispered, taking a lock of Lucas’ hair off his face.

“And what does it mean?” Eliott expected to hear this question.

“I won’t tell.” He smiled playfully being perfectly aware of the reaction he would get.

“Oh, you can’t do that!” Lucas exclaimed indignantly.

“Oh, yeah, I can!” Eliott teased and before Lucas said anything, he pulled himself over and kissed him gently. And there was no resistance from Lucas’ side at all, as he answered the kiss straight away. A couple of seconds later they were lost to this world again.

 They were half-sitting, half-lying on the floor, leaning on the bed and sharing one joint. The room was filled with smoke and there was only their breathing which was heard in it. Lucas' head was lying on Eliott’s shoulder and Eliott buried himself in his soft hair. That was the most comfortable place in the whole world.

“Have you ever been in a serious relationship?” Lucas asked, having let out the smoke.

“Kind of, yeah,” Eliott answered, unwillingly pulling away from his hair and taking a joint in his hand. “But that was for my mother’s pleasure rather than mine. She was a very good friend of mine and it was convenient being with her, but with time I understood that wasn’t what I wanted at all.” He took a drag, having realized how much he missed that feeling.

“And what did you want?” Lucas asked and Eliott wanted to laugh because was it so necessary to answer it now? That was obvious.

“I didn’t know myself until the recent days,” he said and smiled. Lucas was smiling too now. That was the view he was ready to look at forever. “And what about you? Will I have to deal with some jealous exes in the future?” Eliott was sure that such beautiful boy as Lucas surely would have dozens of admirers.

“Well, I came out only a year ago, so I didn’t have a lot of time. I kind of had a crush on Yann for a while but that was before I understood what was going on here,” Lucas pointed to his head. “And then nobody really caught my eye before I came to a new school and saw you,” Lucas admitted.

“Was it hard for you to come out?” Eliott asked him, trying not to think too about much how flattered him Lucas’ words and how elated he was by them.

“I think it was harder to come to the moment of coming out rather than the process itself,” Lucas was talking, thinking about his every word. “Stupidly I made myself believe that me being gay was the end of the world and that it would change everything. I was scared that my family and my friends would turn their backs on me and that I would be left alone. Now I realize how dumb that was but I can't change anything, can I?”

“So everyone accepted you?” Eliott knew that he was ready to fight everybody who’d at least thought about hurting Lucas in that way.

“Yeah, it turned out that I was a lucky guy and that I have people who love me the way I am. Well… my father needed some time to process it but he’s gotten there at the end. My mother even told me that she always knew and that she was proud that I was finally ready to accept myself.” Lucas’ face shining with the smile, but still, there was something unmissable sad in his tone. Talks about mother clearly hurt him but that wasn’t only it. There was something else, Eliott could feel it but he had no courage to ask.

“And my parents were in shock when a five-year-old me said that I’d marry our seven-year-old neighbor one day. Leon was his name if I’m not mistaken. And in a month I was in love with Marlyn, and there were Claudia and George…”

“Oh, and here I thought I was special!” Lucas exclaimed in a jokey way. Eliott cracked up laughing.

“Yeah, I was a real heart-breaker back then.” He put his hand through Lucas’ hair, but still, he felt an urge to explain it. “I’ve already said that I always had troubles with feeling my parents’ love so I guess I was just trying to find it somewhere else. I was just a child who didn’t know what love was, so I came to the conclusion that I was falling in love every time somebody lied an eye on me. Is it pathetic?” It was important for him to know Lucas’ opinion.

“No, that’s sad for sure, but that’s not pathetic. But you still had some kind of love, didn’t you?” Lucas straightened up and looked at Eliott who didn’t really get what the boy meant. “I know that you are friends with  Emile, Sofiane and Idriss since the early days. Emile told me that. And it looks like you’re all really close.”

“Yeah, we are…” Eliott whispered as the guilt began taking over him. Emile was the topic they managed successfully avoid till this moment and Lucas was clearly acting without any intentions to make Eliott feel bad because of that but that happened anyway. And Lucas felt it straight away.

“Fuck! I’ve ruined everything, right?” He asked guilty and Eliott smiled at him gently and shook his head.

“That’s alright. You didn't mean to. And we can’t run from this theme forever,” Eliott answered wishing to erase Lucas’ feeling of guilt. That wasn’t his fault that Eliott turned out to be a pretty shit friend at the end. There was nothing he could do to change that.

“But we still can try to do it for tonight,” Lucas grabbed Eliott’s face and kissed him gently. “Agreed?” He asked, leaning his forehead to Eliott’s.

“Agreed,” Eliott gave his answer and in a minute his lips were on Lucas’ once again.

 «Why are you not sleeping?»

They were on the bed again, facing each other, sharing one air. Eliott’s lost count of time a long time ago, but when Lucas began dozing off from time to time he knew that it was already pretty late. And he loved just lying next to him, watching at the peaceful angel which life was so generous to give him. Just being near him was enough for Eliott to know that his heart has been stolen from him forever now and he would have done nothing to return it.

“You’re very beautiful when you sleep,” Eliott whispered, stroking him on the cheek lightly.

“You’re really that kind of guy, yeah? Romance and all that stuff,” Lucas murmured with a tiny dreamy smile on his face. Eliott couldn’t resist but touched the boy’s lips. He wanted to kiss him once again despite the fact that it was the only thing they were doing for the past couple of hours, but he decided against it eventually. The boy was tired.

“Only with you, I promise,” Eliott said and he meant that. There had been no one in his life who’s ever made him care so much. But with Lucas he wanted to be every second, support him, help him, be happy with him, and be sad with him. And to love him.

“Thank you,” Lucas suddenly pronounced and finally opened his sleepy eyes.

“For what?” Eliott could think of thousands of the reasons why he should have been thanking the boy and not the other way around.

“For choosing me,” he answered and Eliott was sure that he saw tears in his eyes.

“I guess I never had a choice.” That was the truth. All his denying was a simple waste of time.  “The minute I saw you I knew that I’m in deep troubles.”

“When I saw Emile’s face that morning and when it got to me what was happening I thought that I had no chance anymore,” Lucas said despite their promise not to bring up this topic that night. And for some reason, Elliott decided not to stop him. The tone of his voice hinted that it needed to be said. “First time in my life I felt a real attraction to someone and in a few days I thought that it was over before it even started just because someone felt something for me that I couldn’t control. That wasn’t fair. I felt like another good thing has been taken away from me and I couldn’t do anything to change it.”

“Like happened with your mother?” Eliott asked softly, Lucas nodded his head.

“I miss her,” he whispered, and Eliott could see a single tear running down his cheek. “After she was taken away I felt so lonely, there was a hole inside of my chest nothing could fill. No father, no friends. We had this special bond with her, she knew me like nobody in this world, and she understood, supported and accepted me. And suddenly that’s all gone. And then I meet this gorgeous guy, and I feel the connection once again, not the one I had with my mother, another one, but it wasn’t less important. And I’ve nearly lost it too…”

“But you haven’t! I’m here, aren’t I?” Eliott tried to cheer up the boy because his tears were tearing his heart apart.

“Yeah, but at what cost?” Lucas was looking straight at his eyes. “You can have troubles with your best friend.”

“Yesterday you gave me the advice to think about me and not him, didn’t you? ” Eliott noted carefully. Lucas’s mood obviously changed once again.

“Yeah, because I was selfish and I wanted you. But now I have you here, lying next to me and…”

“Are you trying to say that you’ve realized that you’re not interested anymore?” Eliott joked.

“Of course not!” Lucas was offended by the fact. “But I don’t want to be a trouble. I mean I maybe was a little bit pushy but I don’t’ want you to risk anything for me. I don’t want you to wake up one day and realize what a big mistake it was and that it was all my fault….”

“Stop! Stop it now!” Eliott pressed his finger to Lucas’s lips. He couldn’t listen to this anymore. “Tell me what’s wrong with you? Why are you acting like that? Why are you saying such things?”

“It’s just… my mother has already realized that I wasn’t worth it. She doesn’t want to see me anymore,” Lucas breathed out and the tears run down his face.

“What?” Eliott was sure that he’s heard something wrong because the boy couldn’t have said that.

“When I came back for my things yesterday morning, my father was still at home and he was speaking with someone on the phone,” he was breathing heavily trying held his tears, which were uncontrollably streaming down his face anyway. “And I’ve heard… I’ve heard…” Lucas began to choke in his tears and Eliott felt the panic rushing through him, he didn’ know how to help. He didn’t know what to do. “That it was her decision not to see me. Not my father’s. She doesn’t want to see me anymore!” Lucas fixed his gaze on Eliott and a shiver run down his spine. “I don’t wanna be alone,” Lucas said quietly and that broke Eliott. He pulled him in his embrace and took him as strong as he could. Lucas didn’t hold up any more, he burst out crying and that was one the most heartbreaking things which Eliott ever lived through. He never felt so powerless.

“You have me,” he whispered him into his hair. “And I’m not going anywhere,” Eliott promised.  And that was the only thing he could do. He just wished it would be enough.

[aslaugfarsaelt]

Ask meme, part II

for @lokigodof​ <333

16. Is there something you would like to forget?

Hm, i’m not sure... If you’d like to forget something, it’s probably a traumatic experience and you can’t forget something traumatic without any consequences. I’d like to forget that I was raped but on the other hand it’sa part of me now. So, no, I don’t want to forget anything. I remember too little abt myself

17. If you could go back 10 years and talk to your younger self, what would you say?

Fuck them, never pretend you’re someone else. Go to therapy, don’t hide your mental problems.

18. But really, if you had a million dollars, how would you spend them?

therapy for my mom

help my parents to build a house for them

dye my hair bright red

get two more tattooes

maybe some more tattooes

move to St Petersburg and find a job there

go to Scandinavia, Great Britain, Italy

learn finnish

if i’m lucky enough to find a job in Finland or Dennmark, move there

19. What does your dream house look like?

I’d rather live in a flat. Bright, quet, in grey, black and white. Maybe something orange. Big fancy mirror. A balcony because i’m a smoker.

20. Write down your own question. The person who sends this ask has to answer it.

I’ll send an ask just in a minute

21. How do you decide to follow a blog?

Posts qite often but not too much, a few times in a week. If content is awesome, i’ll follow anyway. I’m interested in dark aestetics, mythology, literarure and arts. Good jokes are fine too. I follow couple of twilight blogs, few are about mr Valo.

22. What kinds of things have made you unfollow blogs?

If posts have nothing to do with my interests or i just feel uncomfortable seeing someone on my dash, 99% i’ll press “unfollow”

23. Name a mutual and tell me why you like them/their blog.

I’m not sure what “mutual” means... So i really don’t know if i have one. I feel confused a little

24. Please write me a poem about anything you want.

May I post someone’s poem? I stopped writing like four or five years ago, just can’t. I’ll make a post tonight.

25. Please write me a poem entitled (insert a title).

I’ll post two poems then, okay?

26. Do you drink tap water or spring/mineral water?

I use water filter. And i hate sparkling water, awful taste.

27. Three things that make you happy.

Well, I'm not sure how happiness feels like so here are 3 things that make me almost not miserable:

being at my frind’s place. i feel so safe there and we perfectly get each other. and she has adorable cats. and i can freely smoke there (my parents don’t know abt it, otherwise i’d be grounded for like forever lol)

a really good gig - for now it’s Ensiferum, LP and Hurts.

my cat. i love her so much i can’t put it in words. she’s my perfect little baby

28. Three things that make you sad.

thinking abt my grandpa, i miss him so much

Van Gogh’s paintings. It’s painful in a way, seeing such bright colors and passion for life and knowing how miserable he felt

literally anything

29. Did you have a favorite teacher at school? What did you like about them?

Nah, never.

30. Jokingly, what is your middle name?

In Russia, we don’t have middle names. I think I wouldn’t take a middle name even if I could. I’d rather change my name (Arina) to something else.

Thanks once more <333

[defeatedbyamerechild]

From which country would the villains be? (Like Russia etc.) Or which languages do they speak?

OK… This is a big answer for an apparently simple ask, so forgive me!

I’m not really sure from which Country they might be in my headcanon… Or where in the world they live all together in my comics. I have no clue!

In my head (and therefore in these comics) they all come from a same fictional “Country” to which all Regions belong, even though they are located very far away from each other… So they all have one same fictional undetermined nationality. I’ll explain why I decided to headcanon it like this…

According to Canon, Kalos is inspired by France, while Alola is Hawaii and Unova are USA, so I suppose that, to be more loyal to that, Lysandre should be French, while Ghetsis, N, Guzma and Lusamine should be American. The others should be Japanese.

Still, in game there are references to actual real world countries, as it was apparently stated in earlier games that Lt. Surge was “the Lightning American” (Now changed to Lightning Leutenant)… And also, it was once stated that Mew was seen in Guyana, South America… That plus the fact that Kanto is the name of an actual place in Japan… It’s pretty clear that in the first games, Pokémon was actually meant to be set in the real world. This makes everything kinda confusing…. Because then, fictional places like Kalos, Sinnoh and Unova should coexist with actual places such as United States, Guyana, Japan and France…Also, talking about languages… In Kalos, for example, everyone speaks Japanese (in the original) - or English, from my point of view, since we have no Portuguese translations, however some sentences are said in French. That means that both Languages exist in the same place. You could say people are speaking to you in English because you come from somewhere else… But when you overhear conversations on the streets of Lumiose, thay too are speaking in English everytime. It could be that the whole game is translated for the player and that you should imagine they are all speaking in French, but in that case, why having random sentences in French? It just turned out as English being the main language while French is a sort of second Language…

I know that this is all meant to make the game understandable and practical, I’m not creating theories on Pokémon Geography, I’m just saying how I’ve “solved” those questions in my mind:

They live in an alternate version of the real world. USA and France exist… And those places like Kalos just have a huge amount of immigrants or colonization from those actual countries, making them absorbe a lot of their culture and languages. (Like some cities or neighborhoods here in Brazil that have a lot of influence and people from Italy Japan, Germany, Armenia or any other nationality…).

Again, I know that’s not how it’s meant to be in games, I’m not saying “it must be like that!” It’s just my headcanon. :)

ABOUT THE LANGUAGES NOW! (fun part!)

In my headcanon, they speak the following idioms:

Giovanni native Italian and fluent English and Japanese.

Silver speaks basic Italian because of his dad, fluent English and native Japanese.

Archie speaks native Japanese, fluent English and intermediate Spanish, he took some classes when he was younger, but he forgot a lot of it by now.

Maxie speaks native Japanese, fluent English and reads intermediate Latin, he still wants to get better on it, though.

Cyrus speaks native Japanese, basic Chinese because of his grandfather being Chinese, and also English, German, Spanish and French fluently, because his parents forced him to study those languages in his childhood. He also knows very little Latin too, that he learned while studying Pokémon Mithology.

Ghetsis speaks native English and knows pretty good French. Like Cyrus, he was forced to study it as a child, but he hates it so he doesn’t ever speak it.

N speaks native English and doesn’t know any foreign language. He’s not much into idioms.

Lysandre speaks native French, and fluent English of course.

Guzma speaks native English and very little Spanish. He watched some online classes, but gave up because he thought it was too boring to learn.

Lusamine speaks fluent English and used to speak Polish very well, because part of her family came from there, but no one knows if she stills does nowadays, after she went mad.

That’s how I headcanon it. Don’t expect a lot of content with those languages involved, though, because I don’t speak any of those languages. I understand a little Spanish (since it’s similar to my native language) and Italian, because half my family come from Italy, but it’s really not enough for me to write in those languages in the comics, so… That’s just some curiosities about them, I’m probably not going to use it in the blog’s content. :)

[hetalia-has-a-secretary]

allies + eje human au headcanons

I had to look up what eje meant, which was Axis in Spanish 🌮 (there's no sombrero emoji, and I'm mad about it). This is mostly a college Human AU, but there's still some future stuff in there. Enjoy the longest list of Headcannons in one post lol

Human AU Hetalia!

Allies:

America:

Has rich parents, but doesn't tell anyone, and somehow his big house that everyone parties at doesn't give it away.

The only person who knows is Japan, and that's specifically because Japan's dad works for America's dad.

Is a college student, hoping to go for some kind of music degree.

A first year.

Black T-shirt and jeans. Has a plaid button up for everyday of the month, usually has it tied around his hips.

Has like, one basic tux and refuses to wear anything but converse or airwalkers.

Space nerd #1, except he's more into what's beyond our boundaries, and loves the constellations.

One of the most popular kids, and no matter how hard you try he's not easy to hate.

Gives off dumb college kid energy even though he's one of the A+ students.

His glasses are for show. It was meant to be a rebellious thing since Canada use to get bullied about his own glasses, now it's just an esthetic.

Skate boards and plays the acoustic guitar in his free time.

Jeans are usually missing the knee section.

Once set off firecrackers in a metal trash can as a school prank.

England:

Last year of college, majoring in history after failing his cooking classes.

Graphic tee central. We are unsure how many he has but he's up to 43 different shirts worn on campus.

Usually has his earbuds in, listening to punk rock.

Has an ungodly amount of bracelets. His favorite one is a black snap bracelet with little pirate skulls.

Was practically raised by his older brothers.

Lives alone, but is secretly an amazing writer.

Has a Tumblr blog he writes spooky stuff on.

Top of his class, but can be a dummy if he's put on the spot.

France:

No one is sure how he's been allowed to take nothing but art classes. No English, or science, just art.

Is also a transfer student, he's probably the second richest thanks to daddy.

Is the school stud, despite not sleeping with a single soul, and is actually extremely nervous about dating, and is just more comfortable with playful flirting.

He wants to be a fashion designer, or Model. Mostly a Designer.

Loose shirts and tight pants.

Has a weird obsession with belt sashes.

Plays violin like a god, and is a senior.

China:

Another senior in college.

Had the unfortunate event of being in the same cooking class as England before Arthur decided to switch degrees.

Still hangs out with him and Japan.

One of the few who is taking advanced classes, and is literally everyone's tutor.

Going for a Degree in Cooking. Wants to be a head chef.

His parents are over seas, but he promised to get them to America as soon as he can.

He wears a lot of colorful shirts that is always tucked into his pants.

Most of which look like bowling shirts, but he likes to add little Chinese patches to them. Has a signature jean jacket that is overwhelmed with patches.

Has a panda beenie baby keychain, so everyone knows exactly who it belongs to when he losses his keys.

Very quick to panic, and hates to admit he's wrong.

Russia:

Third and final transfer student, along with Japan, and France.

Poor confused child is trying so hard.

He's kind of shy, and is fully aware his social akwardness creeps everyone out.

Almost cried the day America and Prussia adopted him into the cool kid circle.

His broken english is probably the biggest turn off for the people at school. It's why no one really talks to him, mostly because they can't figure out what he's saying most of the time.

Biggest sweetheart though, and is painfully smart, but do to the english thing he's stuck in the average classes, but China comes swooping in and his english gets almost fluent by his third year.

He doesn't own a single thing tech, minus a flip phone, but somehow knows all the hot keys on the computer to every program, and it's only because he's lazy about it and it's the funniest thing.

Space nerd #2 but knows more about the planets and can name every single moon, and knows the history of space discoveries by heart.

Secretly a hopeless romantic, and doesn't realize he reads England's blog.

Is pretty much a closet goth, but likes bright colors too much to be seen in all black.

Knows way to much about torture devices and learned very quickly that gets you out casted in a school setting.

Isn't upset that he doesn't have many friends, but somehow attracts all the little kids from the grade school.

He likes his northface sweater, and loose pants. But his shirts are pretty colorful, and he likes collecting shoelaces.

He spends a lot of time in the woodwork shop, creating amazing figures and such.

Canada:

I can feel the dissapointed stares of Matt not being a photographer. Welp, guess he also gets a degree in art then.

Second year, Because he skipped one year in college.

Clothing style is long sleeves and vests.

He likes feeling fancy, and owns an endless amount of beanies.

One of the few people who talks to Russia.

His locker has a snot ton of polar bear stickers that everyone stuck to it, and he loves it.

Is baby but can kick butt in the wrestling club after school.

Has a tiny white Pomeranian that he rescued from it's mother who wouldn't take care of it, probably because the puppy was the runt of the litter.

Has a Harley Davidson and it's been painted black with the aurora on it, making everyone think it was his non-existent girlfriend's or something. Now it's a running joke.

Axis:

Germany:

He's not a jock, but he's friends with them.

Military Dad.

Is usually found hanging out in the gymnasium on breaks. It's quiet and no one is going to bother him. Usually.

Senior, and so ready to get the heck out of college.

Ladies love him, but he really hates the attention, like please help him.

Style wise he's pretty basic, but really loves his camo print.

Has owned countless doggos, and only attracted so many girls the day he walked to school with a fluffy poodle that France Hijacked for the day.

Doesn't ever go to dances after the first one and everyone tried to get him drunk, to no avail.

Had out drank some of the dumber students to shut them up.

Can be mean if you persistently pester him for dumb stuff, especially if he's already said no.

He's into construction and is working on a degree in Construction Management.

Japan:

Exchange student number 3

Degree in technology is what he desires.

Style = Geek, but like a stylish geek.

Him and Canada are in photography class together.

Japan is also part of the cool kids, but only when they're about to do some dumb stunt, and need a camera man.

Doesn't mind, loves watching them make fools of themselves.

Has a rebellious streak, and tends to be a complete sass.

As soon as something seems to go bad, he gone. He's heading towards the door. Been in detention once, and that was it.

Why does everyone go to him for advice when china is literally down the hall?

Rich kid #3 and his parents are traditional and are having a crisis over their son's rebellious attitude.

Italy:

Is a first year, and is oddly enough, going for a degree in history.

Really likes antiques and old artsy stuff.

Has a few shared classes with France, and they pretty much own those classes.

Rivals America's charisma, but isn't as popular due to:

Being seen around France, and not doing dumb and entertaining crap like america.

Gets picked on a lot Because he doesn't understand you can't be nice to the Jock's girlfriend without everyone thinking your flirting, even though you just needed directions on your first day of school.

Germany is now his bodyguard and he was kind of like "???" But they get closer the longer they hangout.

Fancy shirt man, like hand me downs from his Italian father. So they're really nice, and a lot of eye melting patterns.

Gets attached to people easily, and is sensitive when he gets taken advantage of during assignments, but toughs through it because he has too.

Has two cats literally named Mona, and Lisa.

Has cried at least once at school because he's a soft guy, but he gets a thicker shell the older he gets and learns to just laugh off other people's stupidity.

Romano:

Protective older brother gooooo

Second year in school, and his first year made him want to eat brinks.

Doesn't know what degree he wants, but settled for a degree in cooking.

Shares his brother's shirts practically and it confuses everyone Because, didn't Feliciano wear that shirt last week?

Immediately thinks people don't know washing machines exist Because of this, so his sass factor is high up there.

Doesn't really have friends, and also does not care. He's a bit of a lone wolf and needed something to do.

The amount of not caring attitude contrasts his high grades and his teachers are painfully confused by it.

Will jokingly tell people to fight him at McDonald's, and almost fought someone but literally laughed, and suggested they got something to eat instead.

He's somehow, in a bizarre and unwanted sense, everyone's brother which is just...

No one understands him, but they like him, and he doesn't know why and it kind of bugs him.

He's usually in the front of the school daydreaming about, god only knows what...

Is the epitomy of the "she doesn't even go here" joke from mean girls, except he does go to that school.

Why did he need a degree? Oh yeah, Because work places don't care what kind of paper, you just need a paper.

Prussia:

Rival friendship with america, and Russia has had to step in to break up petty fights.

He's not sure why he's part of the popular kids since he's so fricken chaotic and obnoxious. Or so he thinks.

Genuinely a sweet guy in his last year, desperately wanting a degree in mathematics. Like, no one understands why mathematics until he starts pulling card tricks from his pocket that deals with it, and blows everyone's mind.

He is also head of the newspaper club.

Has the style of a teenage band member and will not apologize for it.

Has hijacked the schools speaker system to blast evanescence, which gave a huge boost to his friendship with Russia, since the big fellow shares Prussia's taste in music.

Can eat a whole ghost pepper without batting an eyelash, and this is only Headcannon and a worthy note because he became sick the day after and the whole school had "in loving memory of Gilbert's stomach" posters all over the place.

Teacher's are very much done with his harmless antics. They're noticably stupid pranks, but only to the point it's annoying.

Like he managed to make all the teacher's computer backgrounds as Brad Pitt wearing a sombrero. There's no joke, and no punchline. It's just a poorly Photoshopped sombrero?

Races his brother to school every morning, and afternoon. Cops have stopped them at least twice due to other bystanders getting freaked out.

Him and Romano don't mix well, but try to leave each other alone.

[totaldramafan-lauri]

Eurovision 2019, final thoughts

So! Eurovision ended a week ago! I think it was a good show, do you?

I usually do this earlier, but I had a busy week, and couldn’t find time to sit down and type this all out. As much as I love talking about Eurovision, making these posts takes a while....I know I could just skip doing it, but I feel like the season isn’t over for me until I put all my thoughts on the final out there after the fact. It’s a habit at this point. *shrugs*

Like I said, I think this was a pretty good Eurovision. There wasn’t a whole lot to be frustrated about and a LOT to love! I’m not sure how I’d compare it to other recent contests - maaaaybe a bit better than last year? Only by virtue of having no songs I outright dreaded listening to, and a stronger top five favorites? And maybe better than two years ago, for having a winner I agree with? Not as good as 2016, though....but anyway! That’s all off the top of my head, so I’m not treating that as fact. I don’t really like comparing contests all that much.

So let’s just take a look at the final for a bit, and see how we did!

So, maybe it was because I was distracted by my liveblogging, but at first, I didn’t feel like the presentation was anything spectacular this year. The hosts were passable, but not particularly entertaining. There weren’t any moments that made me burst out laughing that weren’t exclusive to the BBC commentary I watched the two semifinals with.

But then the final happened, and WOO, I was blown away! Hoooooly crap did they go all out with the spectacle! It wasn’t the BEST I’d ever seen, but it was really fun! No matter how many times I hear people say the flag ceremony is useless padding, I can’t help but enjoy it every single time, due to all the creative ways it’s done every year. And I ADORED the intervals! The part with Mans, Conchita, Verka, and Eleni singing each other’s songs was pure flipping genius. It sounded great, too! Seriously, I DEMAND a full version of Mans’ take on “Fuego”, that was my favorite part! True, Verka showing up did make Ukraine’s absence from the contest more obvious, but that’s only a nitpick, and it was already clear that they originally did have every intention of participating...And then there was Madonna. Maybe I’m biased here because not only am I American and am used to her music, but I thought she fit in just fine with her brand of weirdness, especially with that second song she sang. What even WAS that. XD Yeah, it got pretty repetitive....but at least we got “Like A Prayer”. I like that song.

Pretty much the only thing that I didn’t care for in the final was the new way the televotes were read out. Instead of starting from the country that got the least points and working up to the one that got the most, they started with the country with the least points AT THE TIME, and working up the scoreboard. It was really jarring  and confusing, and even though it doesn’t change the results at all, I don’t see why they changed it! The old way was perfectly fine! If anything, the old way was MORE suspenseful, since we had no idea what the order was gonna be!

...But on the other hand, I guess for at least THIS year, the new system worked out OK, since using the old one would’ve meant saving Norway for last once it became obvious they had no chance of winning....b-but STILL!

On to the songs, I really did love this lineup. While it’s true that my two favorite songs of the entire show didn’t qualify for the final, that thought barely crossed my mind once I was watching it! The selection of songs was STILL really strong! With only one song I was indifferent to, it was impossible for me to NOT have a blast. And all things considered, my luck wasn’t that bad at all, since most of my favorites in the final did really well! Sure, one of them came in last place, but even THAT doesn’t bother me too much, since it’s offset by my FAVORITE favorite song winning the entire jury vote! There were definitely more hits then misses in here.

So, on to my thoughts on the results!

So! The Netherlands finally wins again after 44 years! Do I think they earned it?

Yeah, I think they do. While it wasn’t one of MY personal favorites of the night, “Arcade” is still a really good song. Very powerful, very emotional, great chorus, and Duncan performed it well. It is true that they didn’t win either the jury vote or the televote - instead coming in third with the juries and second in the televote - but I don’t think this is a winner that many people will have a problem with. It certainly won’t be as divisive as the last two winners have been! For me, it may have seemed like an anticlimax at that very moment, but only because Sweden was my number one favorite and I had gotten my hopes up over that. I still have no problem with this winner, and there’s not much more to say on that front.

While I do agree with the Netherlands’ victory, part of me is still kinda bummed for their runner-up, Italy, who once again have been denied a win with a really good song. What’s it gonna take for Italy to win again? They’ve been sending strong entry after strong entry, and every single time, there are entries that are even stronger. It’s unfortunate. XD But coming in second is still great, and I’d say they deserve it! They actually did a bit better than I expected!

Sergey from Russia once again comes in third, which is a detail I probably find more amusing than I should...XD After how many times I said that “Scream” isn’t as good as “You Are The Only One”, it ended up getting the same result. Well, yeah, this time he didn’t win the televote, but still, third is third!

Switzerland came in fourth, their best result since the early 90s and their first top ten finish since 2005. That’s a BIG DEAL! And I’m honestly not surprised, given all the love their entry received before the contest. A song has gotta be REALLY AWESOME for people to pay attention to Switzerland, and this one managed it! It’s a fun song that the audience loved, and I believe it’ll be hard to top this for a while. With this result, ZiBBZ have been avenged.

Rounding out the top five is Norway, who won the televote this year! I know that a lot of people hate on the juries, but they ARE there for a reason, even if their decisions can be....er, questionable....One of those being not giving Norway NEARLY enough points. But sure enough, just as I called, the public LOVED them, and saved them, pushing them to fifth place! This made me really happy, since, like a lot of people, they were one of my favorites! I loved their entry! So, seeing them win half the vote, even if it wasn’t enough for an overall victory, was still really satisfying to watch! Just like with Russia in 2016, I chose to take away from this “Yay, they won HALF THE VOTE!” instead of “DANG JURIES RUIN EVERYTHING”. As a huge fan of the song, seeing it do as well as it did, and knowing that I wasn’t in the minority for once with loving it was a treat!

Which brings us to Sweden, my favorite and also the juries’ favorite, who finished in sixth. This and the success of Austria last year really has me thinking that the juries must LOVE their gospel pop...(popel?) Maaaan, I really thought they could’ve had it! They really got my hopes up....but nope, sixth. Still good, but I thought they could’ve at LEAST come in the top five! But when it comes down to it, I like the top five we got, so...sixth it is. Sweden’s song was my absolute favorite of the night and I flipped out when they won the jury vote by two points. XD I was REALLY REALLY hoping for them to win! If they did it, they would’ve tied Ireland’s record! But it wasn’t meant  to be, as the public wasn’t in love with them as I expected. Too bad! Still a good result for an amazing song! I love it to bits, and rooting for it was a real ride! ^^

Finishing in seventh is yet another one of my favorites, Azerbaijan! Not complaining about that result for them at all! Good song, good staging, and it made an impact! See what I mean about my favorite songs doing well? THREE of them placed in the top ten!

Then there’s North Macedonia....which is the first result I kinda don’t agree with. Yes, it was a sweet, inspirational song, but I really don’t think it should’ve done...that well....? I’m sorry, that’s just how I feel. I don’t think the song was THAT good, even in terms of piano ballads I liked Israel’s more....seeing how well Macedonia did with the juries was the biggest shock of the night, I’d say. Especially considering Macedonia normally have AWFUL luck at Eurovision. I’m happy they achieved their highest result ever, don’t get me wrong, but really don’t think this should’ve been the song to do that. This placing higher than their 2012 song baffles me. XD

Australia came ninth, which gets them back in the top ten but isn’t nearly as high as I expected! They seemed to be a huge hit, to the point where I thought they possibly had a chance of WINNING! Now, I didn’t AGREE with that popularity - I think the song is just alright, and the only reason it got so much attention was because it had the best staging of the show bar none, still great but this is a SONG contest - but regardless, that’s how it felt. So, I was seriously relieved when it wasn’t as much as I thought. Still a good result, and it doesn’t feel undeserved at all! Dodged a bullet there! XD

And rounding out the top ten is Iceland, another fan favorite, giving them their highest result of the 2010s, as I predicted! Well, to be specific, I predicted it’d either do that OR crash and burn live, which it thankfully didn’t. XD I respect Iceland’s entry more than I actually LIKE it, but I still like it a fair bit, and I’m happy to see it do well. It’s not the kind of music that Eurovision fans normally like, so I wasn’t expecting it to do SUPER well, so tenth is about right for it. Especially after that final performance, where it seemed like the lead singer went off beat in the second verse...Cool to see them rise above that.

Then there’s the rest of the results, which I’ll go through a bit quicker: the Czech Republic coming in eleventh doesn’t surprise me. If their performance was enough to get someone like me, who used to be indifferent to the song, to start liking it, than it’s a pretty dang good performance. Can the country keep this up? Denmark in twelfth....hmmm, that’s higher than I expected, but I’m not complaining. And Slovenia, who had the ONE song in the final that I don’t particularly care about, placed thirteenth....not exactly sure what happened there, but I’m CLEARLY in the minority, so ignore me.

But why did Slovenia do better than France!? Why didn’t France do better!? C’mon, what happened!? It was such a good song, so deep, so meaningful....I liked it, and I thought for SURE more people would vote for it....but eh. Still not a COMPLETE flop, and that’s what matters.

Cyprus and Malta did about as well as I expected them to, but I wanted Malta to do a bit better. I liked their song and staging a lot. But, eh, going first has its disadvantages, one of which being that ANYONE has a chance to overshadow you. And Cyprus, fun song but PLEASE don’t pull this again next year...we want variety!

Serbia was one I really liked, but yeah, I didn’t expect it to do super well, so I’m not surprised at their result. Still a good song. Albania actually did a little better than I thought, since being a more surprise qualifier to me meant that I expected them to place towards the bottom! So even this, even 18th, is better than that! Don’t get me wrong, I still liked them, but I considered them a lost cause, pretty much. Estonia was another one I wanted to do better, but am not surprised at their result. Good song, but the staging was on the blander side. In this contest, you needed to stand out a bit more.

San Marino, my friend’s favorite, placed in 20th, which is still their best result ever! Not only that, but they did pretty dang well in the televotes! Woo! Nothing to complain about there! Would’ve been cool to see them do even better, but eh, that would’ve taken a miracle. XD Greece....eh, about what I expected. This was a strong final, so “good, but not great” songs fell short. Spain, I REALLY thought would do better, considering how much FUN that song was.....dunno what happened there. The performance was great, too! But, well, guess it’s just another year for Spain. A real shame....they deserved more. They were WAY underrated.

Another one that was underrated was Israel. True, not everyone likes that kind of music, but the man could SING! Just based on that, he deserved more than what he got!

Germany....getting nul from the televote, only being saved from last place by the juries? Yeah, that’s about what I expected. I actually predicted they could possibly be last, and I didn’t even dislike their song! I liked it! It had good lyrics! But yeah, a song like that being performed so early was a death sentence, doomed to be lost in the shuffle.

And finally, we come to the bottom two....and wouldn’t ya know it, they’re my other two favorites. Yeah, my top five consisted of three top ten finishes, and these two. What a split.....

Though to be fair, yeah, Belarus’ song was NOT for everyone. I love it for how catchy and fun it is, but if you think it’s annoying, that’s fine. Heck, I was surprised it even managed to qualify for the final. I thought it was doomed. XD I wouldn’t be surprised if it only barely managed to squeak through. So, I was happy enough just having it there in the final, so having it flop like this? It’s fine.

The UK, on the other hand....

.....I swear, this only happened BECAUSE it’s the UK. It’s gotta be that.

That, or the fact that they stuck it between Iceland and Norway. Because dangit, “Bigger Than Us”. Was. A. Good. Dang. Song. FIGHT ME. (please don’t fight me) It was a powerful song! It was grand! It was....well, BIG! And the singer had a REALLY good voice! He SOLD it! The only reason I can think of for people to not like it was if they think the lyrics are cheesy? But that’s part of the appeal!! And it is NOT the worst offender of that!

The UK coming in last is my biggest complaint with the results, but overall, there’s not much TO complain about here! I think most of the results are good! This year saw countries that are often overlooked in Eurovision doing the best they’ve done in years! And my favorite almost flipping won! And I agree with the actual winner, and....overall, it was satisfying!

So....that’s all I gotta say. I had a lot of fun with Eurovision 2019, but it’s now time for me to look away.

See you next year in the Netherlands!

[chuckadams]

Everything You Know Today Will Be Wrong Tomorrow

It has been three weeks since my wife and I have entered a semi-quarantine in our apartment in Bucharest, on Friday the 13th. She had just arrived back from a relative’s wedding in Russia, and things were moving so swiftly in that week, between March 9-13, that I was growing concerned she might get trapped in her country of citizenship.

In the previous few months at my school, as we quickly learned about the novel coronavirus because of our large population of Chinese students, we had been swiftly moving through various stages. Initially, we had Chinese students confusingly show up to school wearing face masks, as if they feared catching this virus from their classmates and teachers, or that they were coming to school sick. (That, it turned out, was just our own cultural biases playing out, as the Chinese—and Asians in general—have been putting on face masks for a variety of reasons in the past few decades, including high pollution levels.) I remember reassuring my 6th grade homeroom students that, according to the trusted news sites I was reading at the time, the coronavirus was hardly more virulent or dangerous as the common flu. I didn't quite understand, at the time, that when I was quoting a 1% to 3% fatality rate, that these “low percentages” were exponentially more deadly than the common flu. A month later, I shake my head at what I told my students, who look to me as a beacon of trust. I have since come to understand only this new reality: Everything I Know Today Will Be Wrong Tomorrow.

As it seemed that China’s draconian measures were leading to containment, my students and I relaxed our guards. My Chinese students stopped wearing face masks. And yet, even still, I had my upcoming trip to Ethiopia to consider. The foreign relations between China and Ethiopia have been growing ever more closely tied in the past decade. Even when I spent the year 2011-2013 in Ethiopia, this relationship was visible everywhere throughout the country. Huge numbers of Chinese were living in Ethiopia, employed in various infrastructure projects throughout the country. The Chinese had recently completed the new African Union headquarters in Addis Ababa, along with, in 2018, a light-rail system in the capital. A week prior to departing for Ethiopia, on February 14, angry editorials in Ethiopian newspapers criticized Ethiopian Airlines’ continued direct flights to large Chinese cities. The global fear was settling in.

Upon arrival at the Bole International Airport, in Addis Ababa, one could not ignore the sea of face masks on the passengers arriving from around the globe. At one point, we had to board a transfer bus that would take us to the domestic terminal, and we watched as the bus emptied its passengers from a recently-arrived flight: Every single passenger had a face mask on, irregardless of their nationality (and about half looked Asian). There was no doubt this flight just arrived from China. I stepped onto the bus and tried not to breathe too much, nor touch too many surfaces, in the 4 minute ride.

Deep in Ethiopia, there was no trace of the coronavirus, nor awareness of its possible presence. The Ethiopian authorities were more concerned with stop-and-frisk policies in and around the regional capital of Jimma, where pockets of Oromia were still occasionally rising up in violent protest. A bit foolhardy, I remember suggesting to my colleagues that we walk the 45 minutes through Jimma, with our luggage, to our hotel. We were in desperate need to stretch our legs, and all agreed. However, in the seven years since I had spent significant time there, Jimma had turned into an even more populated, exuberant, and stressed place. Our walk went fine, though I’m pretty sure we inhaled a critically unhealthy supply of auto exhaust en route. 

This followed a similar pattern throughout our time in Ethiopia: we forgot about any viral threat, and worried more about the viral threat of a mob growing mad at our unwelcome presence in their tiny village at 8:00pm at night (that’s a story for another blog, on another day...). I did bring a face mask with me on the trip, but I only seriously used it on the minibus ride from Bonga to Jimma, where I was more concerned about exposure to tuberculosis. Yes, there are some epidemics out there that are more scary than COVID-19, and a huge proportion of the developing world lives with these scary pathogens on the daily.

The coronavirus did not properly slap us in the faces again until we arrived back in Rome, waiting to transfer to our flight to Bucharest. I noticed that nearly half of the passengers were wearing a face mask. Still, what I had read online was that the airplane cabins have some of the cleanest air you can find, since it is constantly being filtered. I did not fear.

When I arrived back in Bucharest on February 23rd, I read about the outbreak in the northern regions of Italy. The next day the Romanian authorities said that all people who had transited through the regions of Veneto, Lombardy, and Emilia-Romagna were ordered to go into self-quarantine for a 14-day period. After some initial confusion, with students who thought they were in the clear because they had just changed planes in Milan, a significant proportion of our students had to stay home. Many had recently returned from ski trips to the Italian Alps, or from shopping trips to Milan, and were now faced with quarantine. Other students’ families kept their children at home out of an abundance of caution.

And so the weeks grew stranger. Within a few days, it was announced that all CEESA events were canceled through May 1. CEESA is a consortium of international schools that co-host sports and activities amongst member schools, as well as an annual conference in April. I was faced with breaking the news to my Model United Nations members, who were a dwindling lot in any case, due to quarantine measures, that we would not be traveling to Kyiv, Ukraine, in early April. Our reason to be quickly grew thin. We made plans to focus on an on-campus MUN conference scheduled for the end of March. Still, morale plummeted.

I continued to teach classes, communicating with students who were doing distance learning in quarantine. These students were due to return to school on Monday, March 9, and I remember a few had to be sent home because they did not have a doctor’s note. Nevermind that COVID-19 testing was only available to those who showed symptoms and had traveled to high-risk areas. Basically, if the students were asymptomatic, they were allowed to return to school, having cleared the 14-day quarantine. We now know that some asymptomatic patients may be able to transmit the virus up to 40 days after testing negative. Too many unknowns, and constant revisions to the best practices in daily life, are starting to shake people’s trust in even the most trustworthy sources.

Now that school has closed, I am continuing to work from home, delivering digital lessons in a variety of synchronous (live class session) and asynchronous (work at your own pace) methods. It has been draining, to be honest, as nearly everything requires intricate digital manipulation and advanced preparation. The load of online documents that require feedback has swamped me. That being said, there are some practices I am honing now that I hope to continue back when we return to a classroom setting, such as the use of interactive Pear Deck slideshow presentations. I also miss seeing my students in person. While I have had some pretty interesting and deep interactions with students using Zoom teleconferencing, free of the distractions of That Disruptive Student Constantly In My Peripheral Vision, everything pales next to real human interaction.

I am now trying to embrace the unknown. I try to be as kind as possible with those who tell me, “Face masks are a must!” I navigated a heated debate amongst my 6th graders about the use of these face masks, and I think I was able to show the pros to both wearing them and not wearing them. Now, the WHO and CDC are revising their recommendations about face masks, highly recommending them for essential public interactions, such as grocery shopping. I am mad at the WHO, for dragging their feet in calling this a pandemic, weeks after it was obviously a pandemic. But I understand that they are also dealing with a wide void of factual information, too, and are subject to political forces beyond my comprehension.

Ladies and gentleman, we are, on April 4th, 2020, in the middle of things. As the French philosophers, Gilles Deleuze and Felix Guattari, like to say, “be the rhizome,” not the root. In other words, don’t let the coronavirus be the start or end, but let it be the transformation vessel into something new.

A rhizome has no beginning or end; it is always in the middle, between things, interbeing, intermezzo. The tree is filiation, but the rhizome is alliance, uniquely alliance. The tree imposes the verb “to be,” but the fabric of the rhizome is the conjunction, “and…and…and…”

Whether that something new is good or bad is not for us to say. But I will say that things have needed to change for some time now. Let this be the conjunction towards something, anything, new and novel.

[alexsmitposts]

It is Not China, but the Western World that should be Defined as the “Real Sick Man” Not long ago, the Wall Street Journal insulted China, calling it “the Real Sick Man of Asia”. China retaliated, and then the U.S. counter-retaliated. Emotions have been running high, journalists got deported. Suddenly, various Chinese officials expressed publicly what many in both China and Russia have been, for weeks, articulating in sotto voce: that it was perhaps the U.S. military establishment, which brought the new type of coronavirus (COVID-19) to Wuhan, in order to harm China and bring the world back, through complex backroads, under the West’s control. Suddenly, the world feels very uncomfortable. The way it is governed is clearly perverse. People do not always know why, they just feel frightened, prickly and insecure. Actually, they always have, during the last few decades, but this is somehow becoming “too much”. Countries do not trust each other. People do not trust each other. People do not trust their governments. Capitalism is despised, but nations have been robbed of alternatives. I work all over the world, and I observe all this. What I see, I do not like. Increasingly, I am fearful that what has been set in motion by Washington and London, may not end well. That a tragedy is waiting right around the corner. *** For many years I have been warning that imperialism is murdering tens of millions of people, annually. Predominantly Western imperialism, but also its offshoots in some places where the elites learned from their former colonialist master how to brutalize conquered territories, such as Jakarta, New Delhi, or Tel Aviv. Genocides and modern-day slavery have become the vilest reflections of modernity. Not the only ones, of course, but the vilest. I recently wrote for this magazine (NEO), that I have never seen the world so fragmented. Travel, Internet, Social Media – they all were supposed to improve the world, and to bring people closer to each other. They did not. I see confusion and disinformation all around me. People travel but do not see or understand. They stare at computer screens for hours each day, as they used to stare at the television screens, but they do not have any clue how the world functions. People used to come to us, philosophers, for advice. We used to interact. Not anymore. And look at philosophy itself: it has been reduced to a dry, controlled university discipline by the regime. Before, to be a philosopher used to be identical with being a thinker. Now, pathetically, a philosopher is an individual with a university degree in philosophy, which is issued by some college that is part of the establishment. And anyway, now almost each and every individual, at least in the West, believes that he or she is a philosopher; self-absorbed, posing and posting on social media, using selfies, with grotesquely boosted egos. Something has gone wrong. Almost everything has. Humanity is facing tremendous danger. Why? Because it does not understand itself. Its dreams have been reduced to some low, pathetic, sad ambitions. Its lofty ideals that were formed over long centuries have been belittled by the Western nihilist narrative. *** And then, a new coronavirus hit. Do not underestimate the coronavirus! It may have the mortality rate of an ordinary flu, but it is much more dangerous than that. Its danger is predominately psychological and philosophical, much more than medical. It arrived, unexpectedly, and illustrated to the world, that there is no global unity, no solidarity, anymore. Countries are acting and reacting in extremely brutal ways. It is frightening. It all feels like some of the bad, second-rate horror films produced by Hollywood. Governments are pointing fingers at each other, irrationally. Airlines are lying, robbing customers, while claiming that they are protecting them. I recently “escaped” from Hong Kong, after Korean Air unceremoniously cancelled flights to China, doing nothing to re-route stranded passengers. I flew for 5 days to South America, home, through several Asian airports, by the most bizarre routes, north and south and north again, then via Amsterdam and Suriname, zig-zagging through Brazilian cities, before reaching Chile. Peculiarly, at one point along the way, I ended up in Seoul, where I was earlier told I was not supposed to be to begin with, experiencing the proverbial South Korean racism on my skin, and going through outrageous humiliation and interrogation after uttering, at the gate before departing for Amsterdam, that North Koreans definitely treat people with much more respect and dignity than Seoul. I will write much more about this, in the near future, but this is not supposed to be the main topic of this essay. What is essential is that the logic itself has collapsed. The behavior of many countries has become irrational, if the rationale is supposed to be synonymous with the advancement of humanity and improvement of the lives of human beings. Now things make sense only when seen from the point of view of the desire to control and usurp, plunder and humiliate. And the coronavirus? Is the United States trying to take advantage of the situation, to monopolize the cure, and to save its economy and currency, at the expense of billions worldwide? On March 15, 2020, The Sun reported: “Donald Trump aides ‘offered huge sums to a German company in a bid to grab the coronavirus vaccine for Americans only.’” One day later, on 16 March, 2020, the Mail Online, amplified the story: “German officials are trying to stop the Trump administration from luring German biopharmeceutical company CureVac to the US to get its experimental coronavirus vaccines exclusively for Americans. President Donald Trump has offered funds to lure the company CureVac to the US. The German government has made counter-offers to make the company stay, according to a report in German newspaper Welt am Sonntag. An unidentified German government source told the paper Trump is trying to secure the scientists’ work exclusively, and would do anything to get a vaccine for the United States – ‘but only for the United States.’” The behavior of the Empire could easily make one sicker than the coronavirus would itself. *** The United States occupies and antagonizes countries and then it punishes them when they try to protect themselves. Israel does the same. And so, do Indonesia, India, and NATO as a block. Turkey is turning into a maniac. Iran, Venezuela and others are screaming, brutalized for absolutely no reason by sanctions and embargoes. Russia is being constantly smeared, just for helping injured nations, in the Middle East, Africa and Latin America. I watch all this and I wonder: how much further can all this go? Is all this banditry and idiocy going to go on from now on, and forever accepted as a normalcy? But back to the coronavirus. It is all connected to what I mentioned above, isn’t it? Billions of people are now being stripped of their rights and will, pushed around, and fully controlled, everything justified by a disease with the mortality rate of an ordinary flu? And do people notice that the victims are now being treated like criminals, something that would have been unimaginable just a couple of decades ago. China, infected by the U.S. or not, is being continuously insulted, isolated and smeared. Western anti-Chinese propaganda kicked in, almost from the start of the epidemy. How ugly; how monstrous! Western propagandists are alert, waiting, monitoring the world. Like piranhas, they attack with lightning speed, whenever blood is spilt, or a piece of flesh gets exposed. When disaster strikes, they take full advantage of the weaknesses of their opponent. They go for the kill. And there is nothing human in their behavior. It is a calculating strike against the victim. It is the surgical swing of a scalpel, designed to kill, in the most terrifying way. China reacted in totally the opposite way: when Italy got infected, Chinese medics offered their help. They flew to Italy with medicine and equipment. And China is not alone. Whenever disasters strike, anywhere in the world, Cuban doctors and rescue commandos take off, as long as they are allowed to travel and help. Venezuela, too. It used to supply cheap fuel, even to needy people who happened to be citizens of its arch-tormentor – the United States. And Russia, in whatever form (as the biggest Soviet Republic, or as the Russian Federation), it has been helping dozens and dozens of decimated nations: by treating their sick, educating their students, building infrastructure, spreading culture through books and music, all in local languages. Russia does not talk much: it just does, performs, helps. And so do China, Cuba and others. *** I want to see the world united. I want to experience humanity embarking on a beautiful project: improving the planet, searching, together, for an egalitarian system, with no misery, no incurable illnesses, no depravity. But I am not naïve. I see what the West and its extreme capitalism and imperialism are doing to the world. And I am convinced that only the classic isms are capable of evoking compassion and solidarity in the people. Propagandists in Washington and London tell you the opposite; they will lie to you that Communism and socialism are dead, or at least totally outdated. Do not trust them; you know that their goals have nothing to do with improving life on our planet. Whatever you hear from them, trust the opposite. Right now, our human race is like a sick, very sick person. Not because of the coronavirus, but because of the response to the coronavirus. China is not at all the real sick man of Asia. No matter how it happened, China got infected, but then it rose to its feet, fought with great determination and courage, and began obliterating the disease. Chinese doctors, Chinese people in general, are now celebrating. They are ecstatic. They are winning, their first hospitals dedicated to the coronavirus patients are now closing down in Wuhan. Their system is clearly victorious, created for the people. Almost simultaneously, China has started to help other countries. Actually, China and its people are behaving like human beings are supposed to behave. And, if that is called “sick”, then what is “healthy”?