#just don't want to flood people's dashes with big text

[toomanywordsnllines]

Today I present to you a drabble (?) that I have put into a series and smartly dubbed ‘Three dumbasses and their obselete braincell’ Hope you enjoy :3 Based on my Hc of another reason why Roach is called Roach It’s been hours by now. Hours and Soap was going insane.

How can a one-seventy-somethin-centimeters-tall motherfucker dissapear out of thin air?!

He stomps his way into the leisure room, again.

He’s going to rip his mohawk with his hands.

Ghost, who hasn’t left his spot all the three times, yes three times he has entered that fucking room in the last hour alone – Oh, how he’s going to murder Roach when he finds him– looks up at him from his book, he’s halfway through it, Soap notices. Just one more sign of how long he has been running around the compound in circles like a cat with zoomies.

They say nothing. Ghost raises an eyebrow, Soap bites the inside of his cheek.

“Ready to be hospitalized in an asylum?”

If looks could kill Ghost would be dust on the floor. But no, instead the fucker smiles at him, eyes crickling gently at the corners and GOD Soap wishes he could fall on his lap and kiss those stupid– hot– pretty lips, but no he has a task to complete.

“Awa’ n bile your head”

Ghost hums, ignoring him completely.

Soap does as much as throw himself to the cushion besides the man in retaliation.

“What got your panties in a twist, Johnny?”

“Fuck you”

He feels the man giving him a side eye. He glares back.

“Ma, panties are very straight thank you very fucking much.”

Ghost hums again, bookmarks his page and closes the book.

A pause.

A deep breath.

“I CANNAE FIND THAT FUCKING LAVVY-HEIDED WANKSTAIN ANYWHERE!” He throws his arms up to further cement his point, deflating like a balloon after.

Ghost hums again, “here I thought Price’d gotten tired of your jittery ass–” Soap kicks him in the shin, hard, “ –and put you zooming around the place like a cat on purpose.”

Soap punches him in the bicep, hard again.

“Who’re you looking for?”

He sighs in defeat.

“Roach”

He says it in a way that makes Ghost’s eyebrows lift, amused at his clear stance of sulking like a baby. ‘Lot of contempt there, mate’

“Gary?” Ghost frowns down at him, “why’re you looking for him.”

Soap throws his hand in the air in a ‘I-don’t-fucking-know’ gesture, shrugging his shoulders for good measure “I dinnae ken, Price wants to munch his ear of or somethin’ ”

Ghost hums again.

“Okay.”

And then he’s getting up.

This time it’s Soap turn to frown, “Where ‘re ye going?”

Ghost looks at him from over his shoulder.

“To get Roach.”

His frown deepens, now adding a pinch of confusion.

He gets up as Ghost starts walking away, getting into step easily.

“You know where he is?”

"Affirmative." Ghost answers, gait never flattering, tunnel visioning down a corridor Soap passed fifteen different times (yes he counted) , (yes he also looked inside every single room AND closet). He pauses for a moment, after his brain finally catches with what Ghost has said, indignation crashing into him.

“And you didn’t tell me?!”

Ghost looks at him unimpressed.

“Did you ask.”

His mouth smartly shuts itself – ‘No he did not, in fact, ask’ – he continues his walk besides his Lieutenant, hands in pockets (But not sulking!).

They turn a corner and Ghost opens the first door – the kitchen.

The kitchen??

“I already looked in here, L.T,” and as he does another sweep with his eyes. Yep still empty.

Ghost is standing still beside him, head turning slightly as he analyzes the room – the way he always does on missions. He stops.

Soap is about to open his mouth to ask what the hell is he doing when he startles as Ghost moves his arm suddenly. Throwing with dead accuracy his book against the upper cabinets. Specifically the one closest to the right wall.

“What the fuck??”

His head spins to look at his Lieutenant in bewilderment. Did he finally blow a fuse? Lost the thread? Maybe he’s the one that needs a place in asylum?!

There’s a creak in the otherwise silent room.

And Soap swears, as the cabinet doors open and a pair of familiar brunette hair pops off, that a vein of his might, finally, pop.

What the fuck?

“What-”

“What. The. Fuck.”

Roach blinks at him.

“You better get the fuck out of there or ‘am lauching yer ass into the stratosphere. In 10– ”

Soap has never seen no one move so quickly and so clumsy at the same time, how Roach didn’t face plant is beyond him and as he gets closer he cannot keep all his rage contained.

So he grabs him by the ear and hauls his ass out of the kitchen, ignoring his complaints.

“You own me a fucking bottle of scotch. Good one too.”

Ghost watches the two idiots leave the premises, walking further inside he grabs his book and boils some tea.

He left at a good part after all. I live for Banter~

[the-fandom-crossroads]

Blog Update!

So I've changed up the blogs desktop theme. Don't know how many people actually visit that page but yeah. I tried to make the text font as big as possible but let me know if it needs to be bigger for readability!

I've also added some dougli theme'd tags that i'm going to be tagging all unique posts this blog makes going forward with.

#Dougligaming- main tag for videos and shorts posted on the main youtube

#Douglivods- All vods from the side channel will be tagged this so they don't flood the dougligaming tag

#Douglimemes- anything badly Photoshop'd by me. Mostly genshin memes. Polls will be in this tag!

#Douglitheories- Any long essay text posts I create. So all the Egypt=Sumeru comparison posts are in this tag. It will also contain headcanon and shippy posts. So not everything in this tag will be things i theorize happening in canon. It's just an umbrella term because I don't want to separate theory and headcanon posts at the moment.

So yeah those are all the major changes to the blog at the moment. If you use mobile or just the dash most of this won't affect you lol. But expect a stream schedule post soon as I'm working on that too!

[14dayswithyou]

▋GAME DEVELOPMENT ASKS !

✦゜ANSWERED: To avoid flooding the dash with all of these asks, I'm just gonna compile them into one big "masterpost" ^w^

By pressing 'keep reading' you confirm that you are 18 or older.

Anonymous asked: I was just wondering cuz I've noticed on some of the questions you've answered you've talked about having so much info but can't because of spoilers, and obviously you're still making the game. My question is do you have the full sotry written up and now what's left is coding, art, etc etc or is the story still in the progress of being written as well? If you feel comfortable sharing your process and all ofc, don't feel pressed if tou don't! 💕

Yeah! ^^ I've actually had the storyline fully planned out since 2017, but I'm updating and re-writing everything in the 2022 version because the original seemed kinda cringe and didn't feel consistent enough. I've only had Day 1 fully written since 2017, and everything beyond that just a general outline/dot-points of what I want to happen in each of the days. As for the progress: I still need to write the coding and dialogue, draw the backgrounds, update the sprites, CGs, and UI, and a ton of other behind-the-scenes things that probably aren't worth mentioning. ^^;

Anonymous asked: Saw you answer the ask anon sent about how development is going but was wondering if you have a general outline for the whole story (like the ‘normal’ route, ‘good’ route, etc) or if it’s certain scenes you have written and the rest is written as you work on it all? I’m just very interested in how you work on the storyline so I’m sorry if this makes you uncomfortable for any reason or you just don’t want to answer

Like the answer above, I have everything figured out (all the choices, branches/paths, endings, etc.), but they're mainly just general outlines/dot-points that I need to iron out, rather than a fleshed-out script that I can work with. I usually just tackle parts of the dialogue one scene at a time (usually by mindlessly typing out words and editing it afterwards) before moving to another scene and repeating the process. Eventually you'll end up with a semi-coherent script that you can throw into a text editor to check for spelling and then slap into the game!

Anonymous asked: You should translate it into korean too if you can!

For sure! I'm still looking into hiring translators once I set up a funding system for the game though, so I might put this on the backburner for a while ^^; Fan-translations are more than welcome though (only for the demo), and if people are interested, y'all can get in contact with me and I can send you the script!!

@marina-and-the-memes asked: is there any update on Day 2/how far in development it is LMAO and can we get close ups of the characters eyes bc my phone quality is ass NDJDJDJDJ

Like 80% of it is done! I still need to update all of the old CG art and UI, as well as write/proofread the missing scenes from the script. Everything else is completed though! And as for the eye close ups; you might have to download the images off the 14dwy itch.io page since I'm on mobile rn (and I don't have any images on hand) ^^; But feel free to send in your ask again and I'll upload the images from my computer instead!! (or wait for me to update this section lol)

Anonymous asked: Will there be life after the official game ending Few vn games have this setting, maybe you can consider. Thank you for creating Ren，Love you guys

Like game continuity? I don't think there will be any since the storyline is pretty linear and will eventually have closure once the game ends, so there wouldn't be much content to go through once the game ends ^^; I can look into adding future DLCs though!

Anonymous asked: Sooooo….can we end up with other characters instead of Ren or is our renren our endgame?? I’m sorry if this has been asked before. Pls ignore if it is. Also, I really appreciate how you take the time to answer the asks. No wonder the fans adore you😭💕. Kisses and hugs for you😚💜

Renren will be the main romance and focus for the game, but depending on the choices you make and the bonds you form with the other characters, you'll have the chance to get an ending with them instead! I won't be a fully fleshed out route or anything though.

Anonymous asked: How's development going? Have you made any progress on the game? I really like hearing about this kind of stuff

Answered above! The only reason it's taking me so long is because I'm a full time university student, and writers/artist block is Very Real ;v; I sometimes get burnt out and don't feel like writing, and I'd rather not force myself to work on the script if I'm not in the right mindset, if that makes sense?? ;v;

Anonymous asked: I don’t know if it’s been asked yet or not but will the game have different routes and/or endings? “I can fix him” ending VS “I can make him worse” ending FIGHT

Yes! Right now I have 4 main endings planned for the game, and they will all depend on the choices you make, Ren's affection for you, and his sanity meter (which will be implemented in a future update!).

Anonymous asked: i love love loved the game! im craving more! but im not sure what to look up exactly? what genre of game is this? the whole obsessive lover type haha is there a name? ALSO! where should i go to look for when the complete game comes out?

I'm not actually quite sure what genre to call it ^^; I labelled the game as a horror/romance visual novel, so you could try that? I feel like "yandere visual novel" would yield more results though since the yandere term is more common. I'm also following a ton of insanely talented game devs on twitter who create similar yandere VNs, so feel free to check them out!

[alj4890]

Chapter 27 The Stroke of 12

The Royal Romance Fan Fiction (Liam x MC*Riley) (Maxwell x OC*Amanda) (Drake x Olivia) (Hana x Rashad)

These characters are from the amazing writers of Pixelberry's Choices stories: The Royal Romance and Red Carpet Diaries. The only character of my own is Duchess Amanda Bridgerton of House St Orella. 

Masterlist of The Other Friend TRR

Chapter 27 summary: Time is up.

Chapter 27

Her lungs were about to burst in a fiery inferno. She could hear the clock tower. Its ominous chimes killing her hope with each strike. 1, 2, 3, 4, She was through the palace gates! She forced her legs to keep running. Her muscles screamed in agony. 5, 6, 7, She had been running across the city and now across the palace grounds to the hedge maze. 8, 9, 10, 11, NO!

30 minutes earlier

Liam asked Riley to waltz with him. He finally had a moment to spare. He had been bombarded with so many people wanting a moment of his time. He only wanted to be with her. As they began to move together, he breathed a sigh of relief.

"You look incredible tonight, my love."

Riley smiled at him. "You look rather dashing yourself. Tonight is a big night for both of us. I wanted to make sure the man who stole my heart was left breathless."

"You have gone above and beyond. You have left me breathless many times. Tonight, I am floored by how lovely you are and even more that you are mine."

She glanced at the large clock hanging over the raised platform. "Only a few more minutes. Did Amanda make it yet?"

A flash of worry showed in Liam's eyes. "I haven't seen her. I'm hoping she is already in the hedge maze."

"Liam, what happens if she is late?"

He hesitated. "Then we are left with her uncle's choice."

"And it could be any of you? Or, do you know who it is?"

"Lord Nicholas never indicated which one of us he would choose for her. It could be any of us."

Riley bit her bottom lip. There was a chance she would lose him. She could not stand the thought. He had captured her heart so effortlessly. His compassion and sense of duty had impressed her from the beginning. Knowing he loved her as much as she did him was the final piece of her belonging to him. She could not lose him. Not now.

As the dance came to an end. Liam pulled her close and whispered, "See you soon, my love. Make sure no one follows you." He turned and blended back into the crowd. She turned the other way to find Hana.

Liam slipped out a side door. It was a beautiful night. There was a chill in the air that he always relished. As he entered the maze, his heart began to race. Tonight he would be married. Excitement over how right it felt hummed in his veins.

Drake, Olivia, and Sir Francis were watching Maxwell in the hedge maze. He was overcome with worry. "Where is she? I've tried calling. I've tried texting. This isn't like her. I think something has happened. She should have been here a long time ago."

Olivia had been shocked by Lord Bridgerton's plan. Drake had explained everything to her earlier. She turned to Sir Francis. "Is there a fail safe in place in case she doesn't make it before midnight?"

Sir Francis sadly shook his head no. "If she is not here by the final stroke of 12 then she must marry the man Lord Nicholas picked. If the chosen one refuses, then King Constantine picks. Olivia grimaced. She might need to have Amanda's DNA analyzed. It sounded like a plan a Nevarkis would make.  

She let her gaze fall on the man next to her. He had dressed up tonight. She could not recall when she had last seen Drake in a suit. He looked quite handsome. He also looked nervous. She slipped her hand in his and gave a gentle squeeze. There was a chance he might be married this evening to Amanda. That surprisingly made her sad.

Drake gripped her hand, thankful for the comfort. He was shocked that he would associate comfort with Olivia. What a night! He looked at his watch. 11:40 PM. He saw Liam enter and pause.

"Where's Amanda?"

"We don't know. We have not been able to get a hold of her all night."

Liam's face paled. Riley along with Rashad and Hana entered at that moment. When they saw everyone's faces, their excited smiles fell. Riley went to Liam and he wrapped his arm around her waist. "Where is she?" Liam sadly shook his head. "We don't know."

One hour earlier

The SUV was off the road, stuck in a deep ditch. A deer had run out in front of them and Thomas had swerved to miss it. It was amazing that they had not flipped from the speed and quickness of the turn. There were no cars along the road. Just the two of them. Amanda's heart felt like it was stuck in her throat. This night was either about to be the best or worst of her life. The way things kept going, she was leaning towards worst.

After 10 minutes of attempting to get the SUV out of the ditch, she jumped out the back of it and began to run down the road. She told Thomas what she was going to do and to tell anyone that called that she was on her way, if their phones ever got a signal again. She hoped she would find a good Samaritan along the way to drive her.

Thomas continued to work outside on trying to free the vehicle. He never heard her phone ring.

Amanda had set a steady jogging pace. She held her skirt above her knees, with her high heels in one hand. She had slipped on her sneakers as she hopped out. She could see the palace up on the hill. Now she just had to get through the empty city streets and dash up hill.

She had to make it. She was so scared of what was going to happen if she failed. How could she face her friends if she did not make it in time? Which one did Uncle Nicky think would be her perfect husband?

His letter made it seem that he thought any of the three would be right for her. He did not seem to have a preference. She tried to picture what her life would look like if she married Liam or Drake. It was hard to imagine. 

Her legs and lungs were starting to burn. Her dress felt like it weighed close to a metric ton. The hands on the clock tower had just moved to 11:45 PM. Amanda began to sprint. She had never been a fast runner, but this night she flew through the deserted streets. She soon was on the long road that led up to the palace. She paused to bend over and try to get oxygen into her lungs. Her legs were shaking uncontrollably. She sucked in some more air and took off again.

11:55 PM. Maxwell stared at his watch, wondering why this was happening. This had to be a nightmare. He would wake up at any moment and everything would be as it should. Maybe he would be lucky and he would wake up in a timeline where there was no contract and Amanda was his. He quit pacing and sat by the well. He leaned against the smooth, cool stone.

He hoped she was okay. What if she had been in a wreck? What if she was lying dead somewhere? Wouldn't that be worse than seeing her married to Liam or Drake? He could not stand the thought of never seeing her again, hearing her laugh, touching her. Maybe he should stick around if she married someone else. He needed her. She was his heart.

11:57 PM Liam stood with Riley in his arms. He was so worried. What were they going to do now? He couldn’t lose Riley. She was everything to him. He loved Amanda and had at one time thought she would be the one he would one day marry. Yet, that was all before he met Riley. It was before he realized that Maxwell was in love with Amanda. When he realized that what he personally felt was not a romantic love. There was no spark. Now they might be forced to break all four of their hearts. Where was she?

11:59 PM. Drake ran a nervous hand through his hair. Where the hell is she? Why didn't she call? What was going to happen now? It's probably that damned actor's fault. What were they going to do?

12:00 AM. The group in the hedge maze was silent as the clock began to toll the hour. Midnight had come. They heard a, "NO!" coming from the entrance of the hedge maze. Maxwell jumped up and ran to meet her. When she saw him, her legs collapsed. She was breathing hard. "Car...went...off road...stuck...ran all way...through city. Oh...Maxwell."

He helped her up and kissed her. She wrapped her arms around him, returning the kiss with her whole heart. He pulled back and led her to the wishing well. Sir Francis was waiting with another letter from Lord Nicholas. "Your grace, this is for you to read. You may share it with the others, but only after you have read it silently first."

Amanda took the letter and used Drake's phone as a light to read it. Maxwell explained to the others what had happened. She carefully opened the short letter and gasped in disbelief as she read her uncle's words.

12:15 AM

Liam was quickly walking back to the ballroom. Everyone was waiting for the closing speech and his selection of queen. The others were following at a slower pace. He was nervous thinking of how his father was going to react at them being late and seeing Amanda.

Liam made his way toward the raised platform. Constantine and Regina were waiting on him. Each were smiling with anticipation. His father whispered to him. "Did Lady Amanda and Lord Maxwell complete their date?" Liam whispered back, "Everything is over and taken care of." Constantine nodded his approval.

Riley, Hana, and Rashad joined Bertrand towards the front of the crowd. Riley was whispering in Bertrand's ear. Shock was the best way to describe his face. Drake and Olivia stood with Amanda and Maxwell. All were watching the ceremony of the passing of the signet ring. Constantine gave a heartfelt speech of how proud he was of his two sons. He spoke of the great things he knew Liam and his chosen queen would do. Then he asked Liam to name the lady he was going to marry.

Liam looked out at the crowd. His eyes met each of his friends’ and his wife's. "I'm afraid that I will not be getting engaged this evening."

Mutterings and gasps flooded the room. Everyone was confused. Liam continued.

"I was married to my lady a few moments ago. The late Lord Nicholas Bridgerton had created a contract for myself, Lord Maxwell, and Sir Drake. We were the three suitors of his niece, Lady Amanda. After a required number of dates, we were to decide which of us she should marry. Tonight was the night we would have to marry her. I'm pleased to say that we have met the requirements."

While he was talking, champagne was being given to everyone. He raised his glass. "Lords and Ladies. I would like to propse a toast. To your new Queen and the lady who holds my heart forever more, Queen Riley!"

The crowd cheered. Liam smiled at her as she made her way to his side. Liam glanced at his father. His eyes were the only part of his face showing his anger. Liam raised his hand again for silence. "Now, I want to propose a toast to the other couple who were married tonight. To the Duke and Duchess of St Orella, Lord Maxwell and Lady Amanda!"

Cheers and congratulations were shouted. Liam smiled at Amanda and Maxwell. Once the crowd calmed. Liam turned to the musicians and requested a waltz. He bowed to Riley. "My queen, may I have this dance?" The joy on her face made his heart beat faster. "My king, nothing would make me happier."

Drake turned to Amanda. "Okay, how about telling us what that letter said. I know we had to hurry and get all of you married, but your reaction to the letter was startling."

Amanda pulled the letter out and began to read.

Dearest Amanda,

If you are reading this, then something happened. Either your timing did not go as planned or something else disastrous. I don't for a minute believe it is anyone's fault at being unable to decide. So now it is up to me to choose your husband.

As you well know, I have loved those three men since they were little boys. They treated you the way I always wanted you to be treated. They are true and honorable. I could never choose between them. My hope is that those dates with them helped you see who your perfect match is. The man I choose for you is the one you want with all your heart. Marry him right now! Don't wait like I did. Take care my darling. Remember all the good times we had. Know the joy you gave my life. Carry my love with you in all you do.

Yours forever and a day,

Uncle Nicky

P.S. If I was a betting man, I would bet that you picked Maxwell. You light up like a Christmas tree whenever he comes into the room. What do you think? Would I win that bet?

Drake and Maxwell stood there in silence when she finished. Olivia smiled and pulled on Drake's arm. "Come on. You are dancing with me. I'm not taking 'no' for an answer."

Amanda folded the letter and placed it back in her pocket. She met Maxwell's eyes nervously. He took her hand and led her to the dance floor. They glided along with the rest of the couples. Maxwell was staring intently at Amanda's face. She began to blush under his scrunity. She looked into his eyes.

"Maxwell? Say something!"

"You picked me."

"What?"

"You picked me to marry over Liam and Drake."

"I love you, Maxwell. I would pick you over anyone."

He shook his head in wonder. There had always been a little bit of doubt that she actually felt as he did. I actually won her, he thought. She really wanted to be with me. I don't have to hide my feelings or anything anymore. Not that I ever did a good job doing so. She picked me. I really made her fall in love with me.

He looked at her dress. It was the first time he really paid attention to it. Everything else had been so rushed and emotionally charged. Now he saw what she had chosen to be married to him in. A tender smile appeared.

"Amanda. Your dress...it looks like the night sky."

She smiled at him as he twirled her. "That's what I thought too. Knowing you fell in love with me while looking at the stars and then both of us expressing our love while outside looking at the stars...this seemed appropriate."

He pulled her close to him during a turn and kissed her. "I think this might very well be my favorite thing you will ever wear." He kissed her again. “I love you so much, Amanda.”

Drake could not believe he was dancing. Even more so, he was dancing with Olivia. This was what he got for teaching Hana how to play poker last week. She was too good at it and began betting activities instead of money. He lost big time to her and was forced to let her teach him how to dance.

He would never admit it out loud, but he was having a good time dancing. He looked down at Olivia. She seemed to enjoy dancing with him. What was he to do about her? They had been strangely kind to one another the last week or so. She was a duchess. He didn't possess a drop of noble blood. They were worlds apart. If his father had not been a member of the king's guard, he wouldn't know her, Liam, Maxwell, Amanda, any of them. Olivia was not treating him like he was less worthy to be here. She was treating him like Liam, Maxwell, and Amanda did. As an equal.

Olivia was enjoying the dance. She once thought that her heart would break if Liam chose someone else. All she felt was relief and a sort of freedom in knowing she was not his choice. Perhaps she never really loved him in that fashion. She still thought he was one of the best men she had ever known. Maybe her heart had already settled on someone else. Someone who shared her reactions and opinions of certain situations and people. Someone who could make her heart race with a verbal sparring match or a kiss. She would need to think what all this meant.

Hana was thrilled for her best friend marrying the love of her life. She was happy for her other friends for being able to marry the ones they wanted. She was devastated by the message from her parents. They wanted her to get on the first plane tomorrow morning and return to Shanghai. Cordonia felt more like a home than any other she had known. Her parents believed she was a failure and a disappointment. She did not think she could fight against that mindset without her friends as a backup.

Rashad noticed that Hana seemed lost in thought. Thoughts that were unpleasant. He wanted to help her. He was coming to love the feeling he got when he was able to make her smile. She had such a lovely smile. He gently squeezed her hand as they waltzed.

"Hana? Is...is there something wrong?"

"Oh Rashad. I don't want to bother you with it. But, I will be leaving to return to Shanghai tomorrow."

"Tomorrow! But, Liam and Riley will need the whole court to travel for their tour as the new King and Queen. You are part of this court. You're Riley's best friend. The Queen's best friend. Your parents should let you stay."

Hana shook her head, fighting tears. "I've disappointed them. I did not win the Prince or any suitor for that matter. That is what they are looking for. I've failed them once again."

"If...if you had a suitor they would let you stay?"

Hana nodded. "I believe so. That is their one goal."

"What if I were named as your suitor? Would they approve of me? I have a dukedom and I'm a partner in a successful business."

Hana looked at him in shock. "Rashad, that is so sweet. I could never ask that of you. My family would expect a lot of you. Time spent with me, time with them, marriage contracts, and such."

"Hana, what if I'm willing to do that? Would you be happy to have me as a suitor? We can take things as slow as you need them to be. I don't want to lose the chance to see if we could be happy together. If you would like that."

Hana was glad he was leading her in the waltz, because she felt as if the floor had shifted. "I believe I would like that."

Constantine was sitting with Regina, watching the happy couples dance. He was using his training in keeping a pleasant expression on his face. He could not believe they had blatantly disobeyed him. Looks like they were willing to face the consequences after all. He would make sure of it.

@umccall71 @fullbeaumonty @darley1101 @katurrade @cocomaxley @mynameiskaylabella @annekebbphotography @hopefulmoonobject @museofbooks

[anna-in-india]

Bus Notes

Watch where you put your feet... Feet are sacred in Hinduism, and stomping around on other peoples' feet is a surefire way to (a) be disrespectful to others (b) stand out more than you already do.

...but don't worry about any other personal space. People will be ALL up in your grill, and it's normal. There might be plenty of space on the bus, but you'll still have a big sweaty belly three inches from your face because well - different social expectations about space. If you grew up in a country of 1.4 billion you might not be worried about it either.

You never know when you're going to score an invite to a three year old's birthday party. I've ridden the bus with a little girl who goes to school on my same route, and we've become pals. Every time I see her she crawls all over me and she says "I have brown eyes" and then points to my blue ones. Fast forward, and now me and her mom text on WhatsApp and I've received an invitation to her birthday, photos her medical records when she got sick (just go with it), and videos of her singing in school. People are open and friendly here.

Check out the shrines. Every driver has made their own special shrines on the front dash, and sometimes in a few other places. They're special and elaborate. The flowers are refreshed regularly, the votives are kept upright. Amidst the chaos of traffic, sweat, hollering and jostling, there is thoughtful devotion with us on every moment of the ride.

5. Enjoy the women's section. There is a special, indescribable safety in the women's sections of the bus and metro. No need to sit elsewhere. 6. Do sit. "Be comfortable." As your typical anxious, I'd rather be puttering or at least standing, type, I really mean this one. The amount of times people told me to "be comfortable" at the beginning of my time here was amusing. Now, I know I should just sit or else I'm going to be asked to sit 8 times by 8 different strangers. And...they're right. It's tiring here. So, do sit. Be comfortable. 7. And the best seat goes to... I think my India hot take is that I like the front spot on the bench on the left side of the bus. Great views of the traffic and the bus driver...they always have a style and it's fun to watch them roll cigarettes or just keep their hand on the horn for the entire drive! There's also constant breeze up front because the front of the bus has a windshield window, in addition to the side windows. So, less COVID/etcetc and I can dry my sweat before I go get sweaty again! But, the engine is in the front... so again *watch your feet* because it gets fairly hot. You might have a sweat-free back but salt-caked trousers and sneakers. Trade-offs.

8.Brave the monsoon to catch the bus. If the streets aren't flooded or there isn't a festival blocking the roads, the busses are still running. People always wait out the monsoon here. No matter where you're going or how urgent it is, if it's raining no one is expected to be on time. But, when everyone else is waiting out the rain, the bus will be less crowded and it will be - dare I say - relaxing! You won’t get wet so long as your umbrella management is solid when you hop on. 9. Don't be a glazed donut. I often find myself glazing over here. It's such a stimulating place, it can be hard to keep noticing all the fun, quirky things and not want to just retreat to my phone where the stimuli are predictable and few. But, i pass both a Crocs storefront and a beautiful temple - Birla Mandir - on the way to and from school. There is something hilarious and ridiculous, serene and magnificent, and normal happening all the time, all at once here. Who would want to miss that!