#lekker i use that too

[vogelmeister]

just played extreme couponing at dymocks

[killerlookz]

hiiii, could you do these for the ask game?

3, 19, 24, 28

break my heart again pls 🙌🏻

omgggg all so angsty.... hehehe i love it ty for the ask <3

full ask prompt here: click here to see previously answered asks

3.  Who said “I love you” first? and who ends their arguments in a fight with “Because I love you”? 19. what’s their favorite pass time when they’re upset? 24. do either of them have the other’s stuff lying around their house? 28. what’s their go-to breakup/angst song?

pairing: heartbeat! reader x joost

RPF below the cut, do not interact if uncomfortable!!!

3.  Who said “I love you” first? and who ends their arguments in a fight with “Because I love you”?

Joost says I love you first, and if it were anybody else you'd be concerned with how fast he said it- just over a month after your first date.

Joost hadn't even meant to say it, but he meant what he said. It's painstakingly late, the two of you finally getting to bed after a long night out for a mutual friend's birthday. You're riddled with exhaustion, the faint tingle of intoxication still lingering, leaving you dazed as you lay in bed next to Joost.

The bright white of the moon peeks through a gap in Joost's blinds, casting the room in a soft glow. Joost wraps his arms around you, pressing his bare chest to your back, pulling you close. It's pure bliss. Pure happiness.

He presses a couple kisses to the crown of your head, before straining his neck to reach over and kiss your cheek. If he wasn't so tired he'd lay there kissing you for hours, unable to keep himself from you.

But the two of you both struggle to keep your eyes open, unable to escape the clutches of your own exhaustion. Joost lays his head back down on the pillow, placing one more kiss to the top of your head before mumbling against your scalp,

"Slaap lekker, schatje," He hums, nuzzling his cheek against your hair, "Ik hou van jou." Joost had often lost all concept of English once ehe hit a certain point of exhaustion, much easier to talk in his native language than attempt to translate in his head.

Unfortunate for you, as you usually had to try your best to decipher what it was he was saying. Except for this, you knew this, you knew exactly what he was saying. You're caught off guard, your tiredness escaping you for a few brief moments as the shock hits, he loves you. You wonder if he had meant to say it, or if it had just slipped off his tongue.

Regardless you know he means it, you can feel it, you love him too.

"I love you too, Joost." A soft smile pushing at the corners of your lips as you close your eyes.

You couldn't see it but Joost is smiling too, his cheeks a pretty pink as he snuggles against you.

as for who end their arguments in a fight with "because i love you"- its definitely you. Truthfully, you're usually the one who picks the fights to begin with, usually over little things, little things that eventually become big things due to Joost's persistent avoidance of complicated subjects in your relationship.

Toward the end of an argument, once you're all cried out, cheeks stinging, eyes puffy, head tense and aching, you have no fight left in you, you dont want to argue anymore, you just want things back to normal.

After a few moments of silence, lingering tension thick in the air, you'll give a final, pathetic, "I love you", trying to use those three words as an explanation of why you've gone through all of what you just did.

you love him, and you can't stand that issues in your relationship never seem to get solved, and so badly do you just want to move passed them, so things can be happy again.

but joost loves you too, loves you too much to even want to acknowledge problems in your relationship to begin with, even problems with himself. scared if he acknowledges them you'll "come to your senses and leave"

and you do.

19. what’s their favorite pass time when they’re upset?

when you're upset with each other, Joost's favorite pastime is to go to the studio with Tantu and work on new music, channeling all of his energy and all of his emotions into whatever project he's working on.

He has a ton of songs that will remain unreleased, expressing his true feelings, all of the things he wishes he could say to you but can't. It helps him for a little bit, its not as good as getting everything he says off his chest too you, but he feels like its the most he can do, too scared to go any further.

unfortunately for you, when you're upset with Joost you don't have an outlet like he does with music. Instead, to pass the time with good old fashion retail therapy. Sometimes you'll sit on the couch, hunched over your laptop, sipping on your second glass of wine, late at night, scrolling through your favorite clothing website, mindlessly adding everything that looks cute to your cart.

You'll regret it come morning when you've probably spent way more money than you should of, noting you'll have to cut back on spending a little for the rest of the month, but for now it soothes you.

sometimes you'll prefer to just take yourself out and do the shopping in person. heading to the little cafe you like around the corner for a latte before spending your day on the town, going into all of your favorite stores in the city. it's a little easier to control your spending here at least, but still, sometimes you can't help but splurge on something that you absolutely must have, finding it worth it even if it soothes your sadness just a little.

if you're just upset in general and not necessarily at each other, for both of you, you just enjoy passing the time in each others company, just being together often makes you two feel at least a little better, doesn't matter what you're doing- going out on a date, spending the night in, taking a nap, showering together- whatever it is, just as long as you're with each other you feel better.

this extends post breakup too, wanting to be in the other ones company when upset.

a countless amount of times you've shown up at Joost's door after a shitty shift at work, or an argument with Michael. Joost had become good at reading you, he can tell almost immediately when something's wrong, hurrying you into his apartment as soon as he sees you behind the door.

those moments are usually wordless, Joost ushering you in, and you immediately headed straight for his arms. You know you shouldn't, it's an act perhaps even more intimate than just having sex, the emotional aspect of it all. but you can't help yourself, nobody else's company able to bring you the peace that Joost could offer.

but at the same time, no one else could bring the turmoil he did too.

24. do either of them have the other’s stuff lying around their house?

absolutely! tons, and tons of things.

Both of yours closets are littered with each other's clothes. You'll often take your clothes off to sleep at Joost's, putting his on instead, and the next morning you'll end up heading home, still dressed in his clothes, which in turn become your clothes.

You both also have some of your toiletries at the other ones house- so frequently being at the each others houses you just end up leaving some things there so you don't have to take them back and forth.

After the two of you break up, nobody makes an effort to give the other one their things back- neither of you able to part with what is left of the other.

You still have a ton of Joost's clothes, you still wear them to bed, sometimes they still smell like him- lying in bed you'll wrap your arms around one of the stuffed animals he bought you, holding it close while you inhale the scent that lingers on his clothes, trying your best to dream of the happier times when you two were still together.

Joost still has a ton of your things too, as I had mentioned in my last fic you'd left a bunch of skin care products at his house- but that's not the extent of it.

For you it's mainly little things he finds around his apartment after you break up. A necklace on his bedside table, a lipstick under his bathroom counter, the ring that you had swore you lost between his couch cushions- all of which remind him of your once constant presence in his house.

28. what’s their go-to breakup/angst song?

ok...so I have a couple- ok so, I head canon that for this series Joost is like, super into Lil Peep (which I can postulate isn't even a head canon giving the everything about him, especially when he was younger) anyways, for this reason I think

Walk Away as the Door Slams, is a huuuuuuuuuuuge song for him, both when things are about to go completely south for you two, and when you finally actually break up.

But also definitely Fake Plastic Trees by Radiohead, the whole "If I could be who you wanted," thing towards the end... yeah... gets him every.fucking.time. Sometimes he'll just sit and listen to it on a loop, over and over, letting out a pitiful sob, reminiscing on all of the things he could have done better should have done better.

Not a breakup song, but another angst song for him is Sex by The 1975... well not much explanation needed, literally just the frustration of hooking up with another man's girlfriend when you want her so bad, and know you can treat her better.

For you-well, I don't know your music taste, so I'm going purely off vibes and lyrical content with how it pertains to the situation.

Waiting Room by Phoebe Bridgers is a big one, just the whole narrative of being so deeply in love with someone but knowing it's not necessarily good for you. You've violently sobbed more times than you can count to the "Know its for the better" lines, because yes, breaking up with Joost, was for the better (or at least you tell yourself it will be) but its still so hard.

Ghost by Sky Ferreira, by no means is it an angry angry song but you definitely put it on when you're not feeling so much self pity, and rather just more upset about the situation at hand, upset at Joost mostly for basically forcing your hand at making you break up with him.

Lastly, when you're feeling insanely guilty about the whole Michael situation, Cry by Cigarettes After Sex- you know you should probably feel guilty for how you're treating Michael when you listen to that song, but you definitely feel very very guilty for the position Joost is in this situation, and this song absolutely reminds you of that fact.

I fear Lover, You Should've Come Over by Jeff Buckley is a song that resonates with both of you.... "maybe im too young to keep good love from going wrong." .... yep.... gets you both.

[monsterswithimagines]

Undisclosed Desires - Part 6

Joe Goldberg x female!Reader

Summary: Twenty minutes before he would have met Guinevere Beck, Joe meets you instead. You intruige him, but it will soon become clear that there is something off about you.

Words: 845

Masterlist

Saturday can't come soon enough. I feel like this week has lasted an entire year.

Then it's finally Saturday morning. I'm happy to go to work today, because at the end of the morning shift, you'll be waiting for me. My reward for my work. You won't even mind that I won't have time to change out of my usual clothes - it's a deliberate choice on my end, because you like how I look. You told Nadia about it on Twitter just three days ago.

@MoonShadow_: waarom zijn jongens in boekwinkels altijd zo lekker 😭😭

Which translates to: why are boys in bookstores always so hot

I didn’t realize you were thinking this way, (Y/n). If I'd known, maybe I would have made a move already.

Candace wasn't nearly this hard to read.

Candace wouldn't have been worth all this waiting, though.

I'm not ashamed to admit that Candace was a wrong choice. I thought I saw something in her that wanted to be known by me, to be taken care of, but I was wrong. You, on the other hand, are unknown to almost everyone except your dear childhood friend. It must be so lonely. But when you're with me, you won't have to be alone anymore.

Ethan notices I'm distracted today, but he doesn't say anything about it. He's happy to take over the regular customer service duties if it means I'll run up and down the basement stairs carrying heavy books from eight to twelve. Ethan is the kind of guy who swears by a Kindle.

You'd never use a Kindle, would you? I can't imagine it. You buy books way too often to bother about something as asinine as digital reading.

Maybe if I tell you the Kindle is everything that's wrong with modern-day America, you'll laugh and agree with me. But then again, maybe you'll just think I'm a ‘gatekeeping dick’. That's what you called someone on Twitter when they said The Secret History was awful and that only insufferable, snobbish, self-absorbed, classist rich kids would ever think to read this shit. Don't kill me, (Y/n), but I kind of agree with the guy. One day you'll see my side.

I kind of agree with you too, though: the world needs to learn how to read again, it doesn't matter where they start.

I used to judge people for what they bought at Mooney's, but now I don’t anymore. At least they're reading. You're making me a better person that way. You're making me realize that even if people are just reading whatever bullshit they saw on TikTok, at least they're reading.

It's one pm, and you're late. I'm not too upset about it, though. You texted me about an hour ago.

YOU: omigod joe!!!

YOU: my boss is super pissed i forgot to send a client this important email

YOU: i gotta fix my mistake i might be like

YOU: 15 mins late

ME: Don't worry. Take your time.

YOU: 😅

I didn't reply to your smiley. What on earth am I meant to say to a picture of a smiling face? Besides, a smiley isn't worth nearly as much as your actual smile.

And there you are.

Only ten minutes late. It could have been worse.

You look flushed like maybe you ran here, and your hair is a mess so you've covered it with a beanie again, but you also look so happy to see me. I'm happy to see you, too.

You hug me.

“I'm so sorry,” you say. I'm not sure what you're apologising for, because I'm still trying to get over the fact that you hugged me. “I've had such a crazy morning.”

“You're not even that late,” I assure you, which is true. Candace used to be hours late, sometimes. Sometimes she didn't show up at all. “Do you mind giving me a minute? I want to wash my hands and stuff.”

I don't need a minute. I've been ready to leave for a while now. But I think you might need some time, and I can tell you won't ask for it.

“Yeah, yeah,” you say. “No problem.”

So I turn and I head to the bathroom. This means leaving you alone with Ethan, which may be risky. Ethan might say something stupid, or something about me. But then again, I don't think he'd ruin ‘getting some tail’ for me.

In the bathroom, I wash my hands and check my hair. I look how I always do after a shift at Mooney's, but I think that's fine.

You look beautiful, (Y/n). It's too soon to tell you something like that, but you do.

I emerge. You look calmer now. You're waiting in the office - Ethan must have let you in - sitting with your hands behind your head and your feet on the table. Stretched like that, I can see a bit of the skin above your jean shorts.

It's deliberate. You're taunting me.

“Hey,” you say. “All ready?”

You're wearing make-up. You don't usually wear make-up.

“All ready,” I agree.

[pinkestmenace]

Compilation of Dutch Jambandran Language Translations in Kirby Star Allies

It's finally finished! This was entirely inspired by me using Jambandran words for Galacta Knight's dialogue, then desperately wanting to know what they were in Dutch, not being able to find it, seeing Star Allies on sale and then just doing it myself. I'm not sure if anyone besides me will need this, but it's here if you want! I would be so excited if there were more people writing Dutch Kirby fan fiction.

It looks like a lot of the Jambandran words are the same or very similar in Dutch and English. But there are a couple noteworthy differences. Below are the Japanese, English and Dutch versions, in that order. Where only one version is listed the word is the same across all three languages. Official translations are given in English, then Dutch.

Where I have bolded a word in the translation, that's the official English translation and the following words an alternate way the term is used in-game, or a meaning derived from the real word it was clearly borrowed from.

For example: 'Ji' is used both as 'me' and 'my'. The direct translation the game gives is 'me', but in the example sentence it is used as 'my'. Jamblasted is clearly derived from 'blast it', but is translated in-game as 'anger'.

Haruda / Bastion / Bastion = Heart / Hart

Jamaharōa / Bonjam / Jamahoi = Greeting // Hallo / Hoi

Basically just 'hoi', which is predictably like 'hi' in English.

Goppoko = Surprise / Verrassing

Jasumyi / Jaitty / Jaitty = Good night / Goedenavond

Technically this was translated as 'good evening'.

Jamakassha / Jamanke / Jamanke = Thank you / Bedankt

Jamaddemu / Jamblasted / Jamdorie = Anger / Damn it / Blast it // Boosheid / Verdorie

Based on 'verdorie', a mild swear. 'Verdorie' is to 'verdomme' what 'darn it' is to 'damn it'.

Jamasarāba / Jambuhbye / Jamazzel = Goodbye / Tot ziens

Basically just 'De mazzel!' -> 'See you! / Peace out! / Smell ya later!' But 'Tot ziens' is more like 'Until (we) see (each other again)'. Or 'See you' for short, of course.

Janno = No / Never mind // Nee / Laat maar

Jagomēna / Japologa / Japologa = I'm sorry / Apologies // Het spijt me

Jawaīna / Jawaii / Majofel = Cute / Leuk

'Jofel' is a slightly stuffy way of saying 'nice / fun / friendly', usually said about a person. Instead of translating the 'cute' as 'schattig' they went with 'leuk' which is 'fun / enjoyable / (I) like (this)'. They probably changed it because 'Jawaii' would've looked too much like 'Jawai'.

Jawasu / Jaway / Jawai = I forgot / Vergeten

Probably just a spelling adjustment for pronunciation. But with some fantasy it could be 'Ai!', as in 'Oops! / Yikes!' said when you just realised you forgot to do something important.

Jai / Jes / Jes = Yes / Ja

Jappyi / Jhappy / Jhappy = Happy / Blij

Jyi / Ji / Ji = Me / my // ik / mijn

Jifu / Jif / Jif = If / Als

Jagu / Jonto / Jonto = Soon / Snel

Janashyi / Jorrow / Jorro = Sad / Verdrietig

Nja? / Juh? / Wah? = Huh? // Hè? / Wat?

Konju / Konjy / Konja = (to go) Crazy / Gek (doen)

They probably changed the 'y' into an 'a' to keep it from being mistaken for the phrase 'Kon jij?' which would be 'Could you?' or rather 'Were you able to?'

Roa / Lor / Lor = Paradise / Paradijs

Mafo = Lie / False // Leugen

Maju / Majaja / Majaja = Again / Alweer

Alweer is 'again', but also 'already'. That's interesting to me since the Japanese version of the sample sentence where Hyness forgot Zan Partizanne's name contains 'jagu', which means 'soon', while the English version doesn't. It's as if Hyness isn't just apologising for forgetting again, but having forgotten so soon.

Majishasu / Majicious / Japico = Tasty / Delicious // Lekker

I suspect the 'pico' part is from 'pico bello', as in something that's done perfectly, or has excellent quality.

Mapoppu / Mapop / Mapop = Hope / Hoop

Rigga = Painful / Pijnlijk

Un / Vun / Vun = Very / Zo

Jamedetāna = Congratulations

From the Japanese Kirby Star Allies channel. Doesn't have a translation.

Example sentences given in-game:

The English version is the official in-game translation. For the Japanese version I added a (very literal) possible English translation myself and for the Dutch version I translated the official version back into English for comparison.

Once again, the order is Japanese, English, then Dutch.

Sentence 1:

"Zan Paruru, jifu maju jyi haruda konju… Janno." -> "Zan Paruru, if again my heart goes crazy... Never mind."

"Zan Par! Jif Majaja Ji Bastion Konjy... Janno." = "Zan Par! If my heart goes crazy again... No, never mind."

"Jif majaja ji bastion konja... Janno." = "Als mijn hart alweer gek doet... Nee, laat maar." -> "If my heart acts up again... No, never mind."

No, I didn't forget a part. They really left Zan Partizanne out of the Dutch one for some reason!

Sentence 2:

"Zan Paruru, maju jagu jawasu, un jagomēna." -> "Zan Paruru, again soon I forgot, very sorry."

Oddly has the word 'jagu' = 'soon' in it. Maybe it's "already forgot again", or Hyness is pre-emptively apologising for how he'll likely forget again soon.

"Zan Par...? Jaway majaja! Japologa vun." = "Zan Par...? I forgot again! I'm very sorry."

"Zan Par... Jawai majaja! Japologa vun..." = "Zan Par... Alweer vergeten! Het spijt me zo..." -> "Zan Par... I already forgot again! I'm so sorry..."

While the words used in the Dutch version are clearly the same as the English version, the slightly different translation gives the sentence a different connotation. Since 'alweer' can mean both 'again' and 'already' I felt it was justified to stick closer to the Japanese version than the English one.

[oscpaistry]

|| Mommy and Daddy are having a fight. ||

!! Warning: cursing, other languages with translation, tension under cut !!

Virgil and you have been married for 13 years now. But one day you saw something that wasnt yours, his or your guys's children.

"Good morning lieverd!" He says with his deep morning voice. "Goede morgen schat" you say has you turn yourself around, kissing his bare shoulder. (Good morning babe)

You get off bed and put on a sweater and shorts. You go downstairs and hear the tv running in the background. You go to living room and see your both beautiful children.

"Mama! Mogen we alsjeblieft iets eten?" Nila says while running up to you and hug you. You pick her up and kiss her. (Mom! Could we please get something to eat?)

"Tuurlijk schatjes. Wat willen jullie?" You asked them while putting Nila down. (Of course sweethearts. What do you two want?)

"Pannekoeken!" Jadi answered from the living room. "Okay!" You said back. (Pancakes!)

You went to the kitchen to prepare the pancakes. You heard Virgil coming down. You heard the kids running as well.

"Papa!" You heard the two yell while hugging Virgil's leg. (Daddy!)

"Hey lieverds! Wat doen jullie hier al beneden?" Virgil picks the two off them up and came to the kitchen. (Hey darlings! What are you two doing here already?)

"Mama gaat pannekoeken maken voor ons! Wil je ook pannekoeken papa?" Nadi asked Virgil. So sweet. She always had manners, she got it from her mommy! (Mommy is gonna make some pancakes for us! Do you want some panecakes too daddy?)

"Mama haar pannekoeken zijn altijd wel lekker! Ja hoor ik wil er ook wel een paar." Virgil answers Nali while putting them down to kiss you. (Mommy her pancakes are always delicious! And yes ill take some panecakes."

"Babe, put on a shirt. Its so cold. I dont want you to get sick." You said while cleaning the kitchen counter and putting the pancakes, sugar, siroop and plates on the table.

_________________________________________

You go and clean your room. While picking up clothes you see a bra under the pile of Virgil's clothes. It was a blue laced bra. You dont wear blue bra's. Your shocked, tears filling up your eyes. You pick it up and put it somewhere. You go back to cleaning and putting the clothes in your washing machine.

There he was. The skumbag. You ignored him. Not even looking at him.

"Hey baby. Its sunday. Come downstairs and relax." He says while laying on the bed. "Jadi and Nali really want to see you and watch a movie with them!" He said and your heart skips a beat. You were so angry. All you wanted to do is ignore Virgil and be left alone. But you couldnt say no to your own children. You throw everything aside. Trying to hint at him that your angry. But he didnt notice. You go downstairs and see that they are already watching the movie. 'Pim & Pom: Het Grote Avontuur' the movie.

It was a cute movie but you've already seen it 100x because your two girls love it so much. You go and sit next to them and cuddle them. You heard Virgil coming. And your heart starts to beat faster. Virgil come and sit next to you and puts his arm around you and the girls. You try to nudge him away. But didnt really work.

After the movie you leave and go back upstairs. You lay in bed and your still thinking about that bra you found. You feel a few tears roll down your face. You wipe them away and scroll on your phone.

You hear the bedroom door open and hear virgil talking about something. You wont listen.

"Y/n, wat is er? Je luistert niet eens naar me." He says while tapping on your shoulders. (Y/n, whats wrong? Your not even listening to me.)

You finally snap and say "Virgil alsjeblieft speel niet so dom godverdomme!" You sit straight up facing him. His smile fades away. (Virgil please dont play stupid god damnit.)

"What are you talking about?" He asked when you get out off bed.

You are searching for that blue laced bra you've found. There it was. You throw it to him.

"This is what im fucking talking about!" You say while your voice breaks and your eyes are filled up with tears. Still standing there as if you didnt care.

His pupils shrink while he looks at the bra. His eyes widened, lips pressed against each other and his forehead covered in sweat.

"Am i that boring? Really Virgil? You needed to fuck another bitch?" You try to say. But your voice is almost gone.

"No i-" he stuttered.

"After 13 fucking years being married to each other. We have 2 beautiful girls. Do you even care about them? And still you pull this stunt off." Almost incoherent. Then you bawl your eyes out.

He just looks at you and sighs. Knowing fucking well he fucked everything up. No fixing up.

"A sigh? Is that your response to all of this? I felt safe with you. You were my home. You were my happy place. You were the person i trusted. Virgil you were my number one in everything. I thought you understood me. I... I dont even know what to say anymore. Just fuck you Virgil." You say while pointing at him and crying. Your heart is torn apart.

"Im sorry Y/n. I dont know why i did it." He says while tears are streaming down his face.

"I need to go. I cant be around you anymore. Im gonna stay at a hotel or something. I just cant stand looking at you anymore. I just cant stand you at all anymore." You say while getting a bag and shoving everything you could fit in it.

You go downstairs and put on your shoes and jacket. You heard Virgil running behind you. Tears streaming down both off your guys's faces.

Nali came and asked both of you. "Mama, papa! Waarom huilen jullie? Mama waarom doe je je schoenen aan? En je jas? Wat ga je doen? Mag ik mee?" While hugging my leg. (Mommy, daddy! Why are you crying? Mommy, why are you putting on your shoes? And your coat? What are you going to do? Can I come with you?)

You bend down to Nali. "Nee schat sorry je mag niet mee. Mama een papa hebben een ruzie. Mama gaat effe weg. Papa, Jadi een jij blijven hier. Ik hou van jou en Jadi! Echt waar! Mama komt in een paar dagen weer terug! Ik zal papa bellen een vragen ofdat ik met jullie kan praten! Ik hou zo veel van jullie!" You say while giving Nali a forehead kiss. (No, honey, sorry you can't come. Mommy and daddy are having a fight. Mommy is going away. Daddy, Jadi and you stay here. I love you and Jadi! truly! Mommy will be back in a few days! I'll call daddy and ask if I can talk to both of you! I love you so much!)

You look at Virgil, his eyes already red from crying. You go and take you car keys and go up to Jadi. You kiss her goodbye. You walk out and go in your car. You sob in your car. You search for the closest hotel near your house and drive off.

Bro i even got emotional at a point i could even write for 10 minutes 🥹. Tiktok is @virgilcentral

[chevvy-yates]

🖊️ 🖊️ 🖊️ 🖊️ feed me with loooooooore !!!

it's four pens, so I assume it's for the four boys.

Hm what to tell you, that you possibly do not know yet? xD

I have something to tell about Thyjs but gushing about this would be wrong so I sit and think right now for something else as a post with a ptsd topic will be for another post.

hmm…

What I love about Thyjs is when I imagine him talking, he always has his Dutch accent somehow. Like he can talk and understand English perfectly, but still a lot of words he speaks with Dutch accent and because he is not used to talk all English only, he throws in Dutch words as well. With Ryder around he can do that because Ry as a German might understand him easily but I imagine Vijay, Jay, Arki and others just looking at him stupid having trouble to follow/understand. Idk, I find it extremely funny when I imagine it.

I do headcanon as well that Thyjs, since he's mostly well reserved and talks less when with the squad, he may sound a little quirky when he actually says something that is supposed to be funny since he's not used to showing lots of emotions (yet) as he shut them down during his Militech career which has to do with the mentioned ptsd together with some emotional numbness he has experienced during his soldier career. He has yet to relearn it.

Ryder – seriously – him existing is all I need. <3

My little precious pixel boy. Writing his backstory made me love him more and more. And I'm so happy that so many here on tblr like him, too! Because I feared he would not be liked as he comes in black and looks often frightening (I know some people have had respect and were also scared of me in a way bc they told me xD) But I've read so many tags he's a favorite amongst other ocs they like and that makes me super happy and also very proud.

What else can I tell?

Ryder likes to take fashion-like pics. He's done it in the past (together with the BD stuff) and loves to pose in front of a camera (even though he has problems talking to strangers and forming bonds/relationships). When he can pose in cool (or naughty) clothings he feels different and somehow he loves the attention for that moment he’s got. I can imagine if he didn't become a merc (and wouldn't have his problem called BEAST) he would have become a model for dark fashion. So if you are in need of a model for dark clothes, give Ryder a call! :D

Ryder collects 'useless' things. Like things that are just maximal for decoration. He's got a huge collection of various gemstones and crystals. Some he placed around in his apartment. He also has a beer collection of unopened bottles from all over the world. Totally useless as he doesn’t drink them. They are all banned in a cupboard because they took too much room on visible shelves as Ryder needs to have everything ordinary.

I like to headcanon, that Thyjs is a little careless about his own stuff so he won't place his shoes where they belong after taking them off, leave his clothes in the bathroom on the counter or hung lose over a chair. His cartridges and ammunition boxes often stand on the couch table and I see Ryder always cleaning up behind him as he cannot stand to see the things where they do not belong. So once Thyjs is away or in the shower Ryder turns into a cleaning machine and Thyjs will never find his stuff again so he's got to ask Ryder later. I imagine they might get into a little argue here and then but nothing wild. Thyjs just accepts Ryder’s compulsion as Ry is super stubborn anyways and after all this is still his apartment (but they do share the rent once it’s decided Thyjs stays).

Sometimes however Ryder may have enough and tell Thyjs a little grumpy that Thyjs should clean e.g. the dishes when Thyjs starts his "Talk dirty to me, lekker ding!"

Jaysen likes to klep things from his friends just for fun, to watch them search for it all day long amuses him to no end just to go in like it "Hey I think I've found what you searchin' for?" x) Like when Enzo lost a tool to work on his car and swears he's placed it there but cannot find it – first few times he may never assume Jay could have taken it on purpose. But the more Jay does it, Enzo will see through that I assume x).

Anyways, what I want to say with it, is that Jaysen likes to do mischief amongst his friends and he often doesn't care if they find it funny or not (most of the time it is the latter). He will always be the little devil in the squad causing mayhem and bring the team trouble but Vijay will remind him not to do this and that, but then Jay will be like "I do not take orders by my little brother!" and laugh. Vijay doesn't take this of course. It can end in them fighting for who is stronger, while the others just watch and one of them says "siblings …"

It definitely feels weird at first having 'a brother' for real for both of them. Jay knew about Vijay, V not but yet still it felt weird from the moment they saw each other as they are identical twins. You can just very well distinguish because they do have different optics and cyberware and Vijay chose to have a beard. But in the past Vijay looked exactly like Jaysen minus the optics and eye cyberware. If Vijay didn’t have his accident getting him the artificial thyroid Jay and V would even sound almost the same when speaking.

Vijay was studying Marine Biology at NC's university for the first two years, as he intended to go back to his hometown afterwards to help maintain sea life in the ocean near Monterey, that is currently the only place left where you can still see animals in the ocean or in the aquarium because the bay is under a special protection project in the process to regain some animals as well.* The city has a huge storage with every sea animal's DNA to revive and clone.

I just love the thought of Vijay being a marine biologist, helping the best he can to revive the sealife and keep it alive in the rare places that aren't polluted, yes. If he didn't went to be a merc he would definitely do that – dedicate his whole life to this, even risk his life and still would make use of his netrunning skills as I see him being able to hack whaling/fishing ships to make them immovable so they can enter it and capture the gonks who e.g. catch sharks just to cut their fins off.

Vijay is also very sensible about the topic of eating fish in general. And he hates literally everyone who supports shark finning just by eating shark fin soup. Do not dare to mess with him on those topics – you will lose, no matter if he would do that job or not. He's read himself into it all and is an expert since it is one of his 'free time' activities to still educate himself about this and he gives a lot of his earned money to the Aquarium and other animal rescue facilities so they can continue on with the goal to revive extinct species because that aquarium is not for tourists anymore as it used to be (in our real life).**

*This is my very own headcanon as I know almost all sea life seems to have gone extinct but I refuse to accept this, even sharks didn't die in my canon, sorry not sorry.

**I stood in front of it and wanted to visit it but didn't have enough time as I had only one day to explore Monterey and the area around by bike. I would still visit it even though I am not a fan of zoos and aquariums anymore (Tokyo zoo opened my eyes a few years back) and do not support it. But I'm still curious how they keep the animals there and how big the tanks are. I mean they will never be appropriate as appropriate for wild animals is only liberty. But I want to have a final comparison to European and Asian zoos/aquariums. So I would still visit that one. And then watch and learn/study how the animals behave in their tanks and cages.

[umichenginabroad]

Week 4: Lekker, Hè?! (Tasty, Huh?!)

Ahoj všichni!

It’s been a busy week, and an even busier start to the new week, so I apologize for the later post. Welcome back to my life in Praha, this blog focuses mainly on my assignments and weekend trip to Amsterdam! As usual, feel free to skip to sections that are interesting or resonate with you.

Side note: “Lekker, Hè?!” is Dutch for “Tasty, Huh?!” which is in reference to the beer at the Heineken museum (see the pictures in the Amsterdam section).  I got excited to see the word “lekker” after living in South Africa for 6 weeks this past summer. It translates to “good” in Afrikaans (and apparently Dutch too!). “Lekker” was the first word I learned in South Africa, and is one of the most commonly used words throughout the Cape! 

Farmers rolling up in style

According to Rueters, “hundreds of Czech farmers drove their tractors into downtown Prague on Monday, disrupting traffic outside the Agriculture Ministry.” Those that live in the Sokolská apartments woke up to tractor horns blaring. They witnessed the Prague farmer protests against low prices, high energy costs, cheap imports, and EU climate change constraints. Because of blocked roads and other potential struggles for students trying to get to class, school was hybrid on Monday. It was nice to be able to do my first class from home after the long weekend in Paris, but I honestly wasn’t super affected by the protests.

Read, Write, Repeat

Well it’s week 4 so the assignments are piling up. For a CS program, we sure do a lot of reading and writing, two of my least favorite things… (besides when it comes to the blog, I love all you readers!)

For tech ethics, we have had to read and analyze 3 lengthy papers each week discussing philosophical topics in technology and ethics. We go over the important information in class, but are expected to know key points and vocabulary, and must take a written/multiple choice quiz prior to arriving. For my communications class, we just had to complete an annotated bibliography, in which I analyzed, summarized, and reflected on two articles pertaining to recent developments in Search Engine Optimization (SEO). Analyzing the articles in my communications class was supposed to help jumpstart research for our Leadership Development challenge project on SEO.

It also feels like we’ve been doing presentations non-stop. In Leadership and Communications, it’s very common for us to get split up into groups, then research and present an assigned topic to the class. Similarly, in Databases, we get time to work on a database design or to learn a new concept (like normalization or regularization), and then present our findings to the class. I’m definitely getting better at communicating on the spot, but this teaching style is becoming quite repetitive. However, I do have some presentations I'm looking forward to in the upcoming weeks: Essential Czech (on a prominent Czech figure), Architecture (on a European site I’ve visited), and Tech Ethics (performing a technology risk analysis).

Staré Město Tour - A Recap (Old Town Square)

This week’s Architecture class tour was in Staré Město. Because of its proximity to the Old Town Square, our lecture was held in an NYU Prague campus building. A couple NYU students sat in to learn about the history of religious conflict in the region, and how it shapes Prague’s secular society today. We started off learning about European Christianization. In this period, churches were built in high gothic style, characterized by tall spires that point to heaven. They would be considered the skyscrapers of medieval Prague, demonstrating the prominence of the Church and religion in high middle age society. The central structure below, St. Nicholas Church, served as the city’s church and monestary for the elite.

St. Nicholas was originally gothic, but was rebuilt in baroque style. Baroque was developed by the Catholics as a new cultural aspect of the Catholic Church to spread art, classical music, and more. The Protestants responded by developing their own baroque art and architecture, which spurred competition between the two Christian groups to expressively spread their creations. Prague begun to be redesigned in baroque style, characterized by high ceilings and open skies, allowing for communication with saints in heaven. Whereas gothic style focused on God, baroque focused on representing the Church as a community.

We then visited the Jan Hus memorial. Built in the early 20th century by Czech nationalists, this memorial offers a modern (re)interpretation of Jan Hus, a national Czech hero. He is depicted as a religious leader and reformer, with Hussite followers to his right. Jan Hus was sentenced to death and burnt at stake, but the Hussite group later developed into Protestant (or Bohemian) Reformation, which was an effort by Catholic clergy to reform the abuses and corruption of the medieval Church, which abused organized religion to obtain power. 

The Column of our Lady, dedicated to Mary, the mother of Jesus, stands tall beside the Jan Hus memorial. It was built after the 30 Year’s War by Emperor Ferdinand III Habsburg, as an act of thanks to God for saving Prague from the Swedish Protestant invasion in 1648. Many see the column as a symbol of Habsburg dominance and victory over Protestant minorities. However, it needed to be rebuilt after getting destroyed by Czech nationalists in 1918 when the Habsburg state collapsed. The Column is pictured below, in front of the gothic Church of Our Lady before Týn.

Finally, we saw a fragment of original medieval City Hall, pictured below. A political building representing local authority, peppered with religious symbols like apses. It even contained a Chapel inside. This is a mighty representation of how engrained religion was into politics and society in Bohemia.

Amsterdam

On Friday, I traveled to Amsterdam for my friend Samantha’s birthday! I’ve known her since we were young, but we got lucky and ended up at Michigan together. In Amsterdam, we met up with a group of 10 of her school friends who are some of my favorite people at Michigan, but I hadn’t seen them in a while, so I was excited to spend the weekend with them. 

Prior to my flight, we had a mandatory guest speaker, Petr Vaclavek, from the New Venture industry. He is a venture builder, serial startup founder, and creative innovation leader, so it was interesting to learn about his journey in the start-up sector. I was expecting the talk to be more interactive, but it was more of a lecture on the current new ventures environment in Europe. I left IFSA immediately after the speaker for the airport. I flew EasyJet, and was a bit nervous about the dimensions of my bag since they were slightly over the permitted size. Of course they stopped me to check if it fit in the holder, which it didn’t, but it came close enough that they let me through without charging me to put it in the overhead compartment. Funny enough, it actually ended up fitting perfectly under the seat in front of me with dims 45cm x 35cm x 25cm.

When I got to Amsterdam, I tried to buy a transportation pass and shortly after, I hopped on a bus. Unfortunately, although the transaction went through, the pass never loaded in my email. I panicked when I saw people scanning their passes to get off the bus, and literally bolted off the bus at a random stop. I was so nervous I would get fined, but fortunately I did not get caught. I walked the rest of the way (30 mins) to the hostel to put my stuff away before meeting everyone. When I finally arrived at the group, I realized that I wasn’t in the group chat this entire time because my American phone number was added instead of my Travel number. To be honest, I simply thought Samantha was communicating the plan individually to everyone. It doesn’t make any sense to do that, but I didn't ask any questions because it was her birthday plans after all. She thought I wasn’t responding to any of the texts in the groupchat this whole time, but was like that makes soooo much more sense lol. oops!

Because we all met up on the Friday, our agenda was light and we spent most of the day walking around and peaking into thrift stores and local shops with yummy samples. Friday evening, we went to the Anne Frank House, which is now a museum. Though the house was emptied by German troops after the raid, Miep Gies was able to salvage Anne’s diary. Gies later gave it to Otto Frank, the only holocaust survivor of the Frank family, who devoted himself to editing and getting the diary published. The museum recreates the atmosphere and period of their hiding, but Otto Frank refused to refurnish the secret annex. Thus, some documents and possessions belonging to the eight people who hid there are displayed instead. The museum tour was a self-paced audioguide, which I appreciated because it was incredibly emotional and I felt like going through it by myself. I highly recommend this experience if you ever travel to Amsterdam. 

On Saturday, we booked a canal cruise with unlimited wine and beer!  We met some girls on our boat and ended up having some mutual friends which was a fun coincidence. It started to rain, but after a couple of drinks, no one seemed to care. The canals were beautiful and it was fun being on the water. Thankfully no one got sick on the boat…

After the cruise, we headed over to the Heineken Museum. The Heineken Experience Tour was supposed to take 2-3 hours, but we sped through it. One of the workers loved our group, so he gave us free rooftop admission and even more free drinks to top off our two complementary glasses of beer! I actually ended up liking the beer, which is extremely out of character, but I was still unable to finish a glass by myself. 

No better way to end a morning bender than with French Fries, so we headed over to the highly recommended Fabel Friets! They 100% hit the spot. Afterwards, we headed back to the hostel to freshen up and get ready for the night. 

What shocked me the most about Amsterdam was that people were smoking or using substances everywhere, even right in front of cops! I looked it up out of curiosity, and according to CNN, “cannabis and some types of recreational mushrooms are [illegal], but largely tolerated.” This is not the case in Prague or the US!

We packed up our things super quickly Sunday morning since checkout was at 10am, and then headed over to The Pancake Bakery for brunch! Fortunately, our hostel had free storage lockers so we didn’t have to lug our stuff everywhere. The food was incredible! We had an insane spread with omelettes, savory and sweet crepe-like pancakes, and poffertjes - mini Dutch pancakes! Finally, Amsterdam wouldn’t be complete without stopping in a candy shop, so we picked out some candy for flight back and headed to the airport. Samantha flew back to Prague with me since it’s her spring break, and we met up with some other Michigan guys at the airport who were also flying to Prague. It’s always nice having travel buddies, they keep me entertained and on time :)

As per usual, here are some ins (things that are working) and outs (things that have been giving me trouble) for this week.

Ins:

StayOkay Hostel: This hostel was a really nice stay and was able to accommodate all 10 of us in Amsterdam. It had free WiFi, a cheap café, and was located in the center of a beautiful park! Overall highly recommend, but be sure to pack a towel if you want to take a shower!

Sewing Kit: Before leaving, I bought a sewing kit for $7 at Target. It has already come in handy for patching up a pair of jeans and one of my favorite shirts. I'll throw in bonus points for it coming with a measuring tape, which has been helpful with suitcase dimensions.

Dogs: Everyone who visits Prague absolutely LOVES the dogs roaming around everywhere without leashes! I love this for Prague :)

Outs:

O2 data: Soooo my 10GB data plan ran out, but instead of O2 letting me top-up my plan, I had to wait until the 30 day period was over to buy more. Now it’s only letting my buy data on a day-to-day basis… tragic. Will hopefully have better updates on my data plan next week.

Straightening my hair: It’s been nearly a month, and I still have yet to invest in a blow dry brush or hair straightener (shout out Lydia for letting me borrow hers). My hair is very naturally curly, so I’ve been styling it with water and my dae curl cream nearly every day. All you readers with curly hair know that maintaining nice curls is time consuming, but the beauty is worth it!

That’s all for now, I’ll see you next week! 

Na schle všichni,

Reese Liebman

Computer Science and Engineering

Institute for Study Abroad (IFSA) CS Tech Career Accelerator in Prague, Czechia

[viraaddryt]

Done with social media?

It has been so long not to write things on this tumblr again, either it is for sharing or for self-reminder. So let me tell the story about the Christmas break this year.

Since I am currently work on my thesis, so basically I have the flexibility to work whenever and wherever I want. Honestly, parts of me wants to spend the holiday just being at home and work on my thesis as the deadline is approaching as well. Although another part of me also has a sense of FOMO that wants to get holiday like what most people do during this time. So, we decided to just go to the neighbor country of the Netherlands which is Brussels, Belgium. We went to Den Haag Moerwijk on 23th December, Saturday afternoon to sleep over at Tante Fau's house. On the next day morning which is Sunday, we went to brussels by train about 2 hours and spent one day for sight seeing this city. It was raining almost all day, thankfully we had the umbrella with us, so we didn't have to stop or delay our day-trip. We first went to the royal market, but then we were hungry so we were looking for halal food but some restaurants still not opened yet even it was already 10.30 a.m! After a walk for about 15 minutes, we found turkish cafe and ate there. Then, we continued our tour to the grand palace and the so called manaken pis. Nothing was excite me, to be honest. But since I was browsing on the internet that there is grand mosque in Brussels, I was so keen to visit and pray there. Surprisingly, the mosque's location is very strategic, at the heart of the city. It is located just across the EU office building, on the side of the road, and at the same area of a big famous park in Brussels. The mosque is quite big and function as Islamic center which had madrasah as well. Then, we went to the famous iconic atomium and ending our trip with eating wafels and buying chocolate for tante fau.

Fast forward to monday's evening, we got invited by kak kau (tante fau's daughter) to had a dinner with them and their family at their house. We had a house tour by kak kau and tante fau. The design and interior of their house is very interesting, they adopt industrial-modern-minimalist concept for their house. It is beautiful, smart, warm and cozy! Meanwhile, the dinner was so good, they cooked turkish meal. As starter, we ate lentyl's soup made by kak kau's mother in law which is so tasty and also gyoza made by kak kau. Then, for the main course we had grilled salmon and tuna accompanied by pomegranate salad with chop lettuce and lamb cheese, very lekker! also combine with fried potato. Then, for the dessert we had bowl of mix grapes, strawberry and persimmon with lemon. Ah, it was a really tasty dinner!

After we finished our dinner, I and husband have a chat with kak kau, she also served as with hot tea. She told us that she's been working for cyber security for one of the bank in the Netherlands. She told us that she never have any social media, except linkedin since it is a professional platform for job purpose. It amazed us, since we never had a friend who's not or never on social media. I told to her that we are Indonesian is so attached with that like it is part of our daily life. Although, I do aware it wasted my time so much but it is still too addictive for me. She told us that by being active on social media, it is more likely that anyone can stole our data privacy. There is a potential of data leakage which perhaps later can be used by unknown people for applying debt or anything related to cyber crime. She also said the reason why she is not into social media is also because she wants to keep her life private and not want to waste her time. I said to her that some of my Dutch friend I know also prefer not to have any social media, or if they have they would prefer not to put their real name. Then, she thought maybe it is also because dutch is more skeptical. Despite she has a lot of skills like painting, playing a piano, photography and traveling which on my perspectives would be very interesting for people if she wants to put her life on social media, but she choose not to do that. I asked her how did she coped with boredom as I often open my social media to kill the boredom. She replied that she would read the book or e-book. She also told us how she spent her holiday without bothered by phone because she wants to really feel the holiday. Wow oh wow, what a peaceful. mindful and productive life she had!

Honestly, I do aware of the negative side of social media and really wants to limit my activity on social media as well. But the problem is I am still not that firm to do that and I still wants to keep my memories somewhere that maybe would never be vanished. Although deep down, I want my life to be more productive and meaningful.

That was a really nice evening. Hope that when I read this again in the future, I can see myself and my husband as a productive and successful person who does not really care about social media anymore and live a mindful, meaningful, and very pleasant life!

Tuesday, 27/12/2023 at 00.13 a.m. Beringhem E-9, Commandeursweg 500, Bennekom, The Netherlands.

[vogelmeister]

me: i figured out how to open my play!

also me: researching brussels zuid/midi station intensively

[forabeatofadrum]

aap noot mies (11/14)

AO3 | S&C

–

IMAGINE - 10 points

Wes and Rachel are taking up a lot of space, since Rachel is showing him around, so Kurt and Blaine take their drinks to the fire escape.

“Proost!”

After Blaine’s taken a sip, he decides to push through.

Something is happening, and Blaine wants to know what.

“So, about what you said earlier…”

Kurt hums.

“You looked up flirts in Dutch?”

Kurt turns red again, but Blaine’s certain he looks similar.

“… Are we doing this?” Kurt asks after a beat of silence.

“Doing what?”

“This,” Kurt gestures between the two of them, “Like, this hasn’t been in my head all this time? There really is something between us.”

“I mean, no,” Blaine says and Kurt’s face falls, so he hastily adds, “But I want something to be there. That’s the whole point.”

Kurt lets out a nervous laugh.

“Mijn hemel, don’t make my heart jump like that! Imagine my heartbreak!”

“Het spijt me!” Blaine says, sounding very apologetic. He should’ve thought that through, but by now he’s already aware of the effects that Kurt has on him. He tends to turn into an idiot.

“Well, my attempt at flirting did backfire, so this is embarrassing, but as my tutor, will you check my flirting notes?” Kurt asks. He fishes his phone out of his suit jacket. He opens a notes app and he shows Blaine a list.

Je bent mooi = You are beautiful

Ik vindt je leuk = I like you

Wil je met me uit? = Do you want to go out on a date?

Ik heb een oogje op je = I have an eye on you (????)

Je bent een stuk = You are a piece (??????????)

Ik vindt je lekker = I think you are delicious

Blaine tries not to laugh too hard at the last one, since that one is probably more suggestive (and cringe) than Kurt expects.

“You are also beautiful,” Blaine says, “And yes, I like you too. And yes, I want to go on a date with you. I also have a crush on you and I think you are attractive.”

It’s a bit too much to reply to the last one.

“Although you did make a grammar mistake,” Blaine points to the two ‘vindt’s in the notes app, “It has to be vind, without the t. The verb conjugation for the I-form is without the added t.”

“Damnit!” Kurt grabs his phone and he starts typing to correct his mistake, “Those damned conjugations.”

Blaine watches Kurt correct his Dutch and for some reason he’s just overwhelmed with affection. Well, he’s had affection for Kurt the moment they met, but this drive is still the thing that captures Blaine the most. They’re literally flirting, and Kurt’s still working on his language skill.

And he can’t help himself. He leans in closer.

Just then, Kurt’s head snaps up and he bonks his forehead against Blaine’s chin.

“Oh, auw, dat was niet de bedoeling…” Blaine says as he rubs his chin, “That wasn’t meant to happen.”

“Oh my God, no, it wasn’t!” Kurt shoves his phone in his pocket and he cups Blaine’s face to inspect the damage. It doesn’t hurt, but it was still an unexpected bonk.

“Er is niks aan de hand, there is nothing wrong,” Blaine reassures them.

“Still, let me check!”

But Blaine shakes his head. It’s not needed. He puts his hands on Kurt’s in order to move them away, but the moment he does, Kurt inhales sharply and Blaine realises what it looks like.

Not that he’s complaining.

After all, he was the one going in for a kiss.

“Ja?” he asks, to be sure, and also to prevent another possible injury.

Kurt nods.

“Ja.”

And Blaine leans in to kiss Kurt.

–

End notes: Bonk!

[seungj-us]

Pre-debut J-Us as a backup dancer for B1A4′s Dream Concert

[whaleofatjme1920]

For my funeral, I want everyone to wear my favourite colour. I want to everyone to put a little trinket in a little box for me to cherish in the afterlife. I want to be cremated holding my favourite flowers. I want some of my ashes to be kept with my remaining family and some to be dispersed in the ocean.

My friend said he'll actually hire some buff people to wear suits and come to my funeral and be like "she was the best in the field" or "I'll make sure to end all of this".

Bro I wrote my will already because I thought I was gonna die last year... but I'm alive yay.

At the after tears I want people to play my spotify playlist and eat lekker funeral food. Yeah that's it, maybe when I'm a bit older some things will change but if I had to die now then this is what i want.

I really like this idea too. Interesting how most of us want to be cremated as well. and how many of us,, like the ocean. We really are all the same person.

[bethagain]

A new Dank Farrik Drabble! This one took me a while. The prompts are from back on August 30: soup and hurried.

(Want to play? Find new prompts each week at @dankfarrikdrabbles)

Today we're about fifteen years pre-canon, visiting with Peli and a couple of kids you might recognize back on Tatooine.

--

The propane burner hissed quietly, small blue flames rising beneath the soup pot. Peli turned a big metal spoon through the broth. You had to keep the lekker leaves off the bottom or they'd stick and burn.

The first time the door signal chimed, she ignored it. She'd been at work since dawn, when that smuggler's ship clattered down into her workyard. And don't tell her it wasn't a smuggler, she could tell the shape of that bulkhead didn't match the hull.

The door chimed again. Peli ignored it again. The suns had settled behind Mos Eisley's buildings, and the stars were coming out. Maybe after dinner, she'd break out that honey ale she’d been saving.

The door chimed a third time, and then a fourth-fifth-sixth as someone leaned on the bell.

Peli looked down into her soup pot. "Hey! Number three!" One of the droids bounced to life and scurried over. Peli handed it the spoon. "Stir."

Outside the repair bay door, she found two teen boys. They stood close together, darting glances down the alley as though they thought someone was on their heels. The taller one she recognized: dark hair, shoulders just beginning to broaden. One of the Darklighter kids. Gangly now, but he'd grow into his height.

The slighter boy beside him, hair and clothes bleached by the sun, she didn't know. Not a Mos Eisley kid, anyhow. A desert mouse, by the look of him.

The Darklighter boy spoke in a half-whisper, quick and low. "We heard you got a shipment in."

"Sure, I get shipments sometimes."

It didn't seem likely this was a sting operation, but you never knew.

"We're looking for an accelerated grav transformer. We heard you had them."

Peli narrowed her eyes. "I might have a grav transformer or two. Made right here on Tatooine. Good stock."

The boys looked anguished, feet shifting like they might be about to run. "We were looking for something more…" The Darklighter boy looked around quickly, then leaned in. "More high end."

Peli was amused enough to tease them. "Well I don't know," she said slowly, scratching at her head. "you wanted what, now?"

"We should go," the boy hissed to his friend.

But the little desert mouse stepped forward, shoulders square. "Imperial tech," he said, quick but clear as day. "27-G transformer, 30cc size. We can pay for it."

Interesting. There was only one use for those transformers here on Tatooine, where the big ships they were made for couldn't land. "Building a racer, huh?"

The kid grinned. "Fastest one in the salt flats."

“How much you offering?”

The kid started to reach into a pouch at his belt, but the Darklighter boy stopped him with a hand on his arm. “How much do you want?”

Peli considered. She hadn’t actually paid for the shipment in question. It was a trade for repairs and her silence about what had caused the damage. In all honesty she’d had no idea who she was going to sell the stuff to. She just had a soft spot for anyone who was ripping off the Empire.

The Darklighter boy was trying so hard to be cool about this, stilling his movements and looking her in the eye. The desert kid, picking up on his friend’s signals, was doing his best to stay still and silent, too--but apparently he couldn’t help bouncing on his feet, and he was literally biting his lip to keep from talking.

These kids were adorable.

She waited it out another minute, and then took pity. “Ten credits,” she said, watching the relieved grin on the blond kid’s face as he fished out the money. “And fifty percent of your winnings. On the next three races.”

She got an even bigger kick out of the kid’s response. His mouth dropped open and then he was sputtering, “No way--” until his friend nudged him into silence.

“Thirty percent. And the next two races. And only if we win.”

“Forty percent.”

“Thirty-five.”

This was too cute. The only races with a jackpot worth arguing over were run by experienced pilots, men and women with years of practice on the circuit. These kids really thought they had something to bargain with? They’d be lucky if they weren’t knocked out by everyone else’s exhaust plumes.

“Fine,” she said, with a big sigh as if she were helpless in the face of the Darklighter boy’s bargaining skills. She’d have paid ten credits for this level of entertainment.

Two weeks later, she’d forgotten all about it. She was reheating the last of the lekker soup, stirring carefully again so the leaves wouldn’t burn, when the door buzzer sounded. She ordered droid number one to take over while she went to answer.

No desert mouse this time, just the Darklighter boy standing in her doorway. He held out a cloth pouch that clinked with whatever was inside. “Thirty-five percent,” he said.

“You’re kidding.”

“That’s what we agreed on.”

“It sure is.” Peli took the pouch, opened it, and looked inside. “Does that mean you’ve got sixty-five percent left to spend?”

He shook his head. “Luke’s off at the market buying things for his uncle. Not sure where he’s going to say it came from. Actually,” he added, “Would you mind not mentioning this to anyone? My father doesn’t know either.”

“Huh,” said Peli, not sure what to make of that. “Well, nice doing business with you. Come back if you need anything else.”

“Thanks,” the boy said. He turned away, heading back down the alley.

Tatooine sure was a funny place, Peli thought. Kids like that--anywhere else, and they’d probably be going places. Here, they’d probably never get past Mos Eisley.

She dismissed the droid and went back to stirring her soup, as the suns sank down and the stars began filling up the sky.

[uglypastels]

Can u um tell me some swear words in ur language? 😁

Ahaha sure 🤣 i don't really swear in polish so here are some dutch swearwords. Also to all the kids out there, pls do not listen to me and keep on scrolling

The classic is probably- Kut. Translates to cunt, but its used like fuck or shit, as in you can use it in any type of way in a sentence and stuff. And there is kutzooi, it translates to cunt mess, and this is used like, when something goes wrong so like a frustrated exclamations haha

So we've had the female sex organs, but there are a bunch of curse words derived from the male too lmao.

Just like in english you call someone a dickhead, in dutch you can call them pik (dick), klootzak (ballsack). Theres also eikel, which literally means acorn, but in this case its more like a bellend and jerk

Its very common to curse with genitalia but also diseases here 🤡💀 and i'm not gonna mention the worst ones but 2 common cursewords are tyfus or tering which are both derived from tuberculosis :/ its used like kutzooi but something can also be "tering lekker" (fucking good/tasty)

My fav idiom tho, is miereneuker, which translates to ant fucker, and it basically means nitpicker

>Send me an English word and I'll translate it to my native language

[bisluthq]

Obviously there are a lot of speech and language differences between USA and UK (well and Aus too). What are the major ones different for SA? Or do you guys tend to use more British English?

Um it’s most similar to Oz but we have some weird words.

Like we call sneakers/trainers takkies . And traffic lights robots. And if you say “now now” it means “not fucking happening for a while”. And idk if that’s just a specie thing but we call tangerines naartjies.

We also bring in some Afrikaans words so like kak is another way to say crap and dop is a drink and we call things lekker which just means like... nice. And a barbecue is a braai. And some foods don’t translate like boerewors is boerewors you won’t like call it sausage.

Oh and the weirdest thing we say is “shame” not as an expression of pity or shaming but like if something is cute you go “agh shaaaame” like if you see a cute baby like you say “shameeee what a cute baby.”

I write in what I think winds up being a mix of British and American and tone down idiosyncrasies but when I speak a lot of it comes out lol.

[notasapleasure]

Top 5 words. But not in English ;) (and possibly what they mean xD)

How fun!! Thank you :D I'm afraid my list is somewhat superficial, basically just words I like the sound of, and associate with friends and family, because my mind's gone blank on those ~concept~ words where other languages express something English doesn't have in a neat way (too traumatised still by the wholesale adoption of 'hygge', perhaps). And I'm not ranking them because I have no idea what order I'd put them in!

misneach! (Irish - courage!) A very useful word when one is learning Irish, and one that my last (and most successful) Irish teacher taught me. She was taught it by her teacher when she was first learning Irish and I passed it on to a friend who was learning it from scratch a couple of years ago. Have courage! It sounds good in French, too, but this one has happy associations with a teacher I really liked. blaireau (French - badger) This is actually such an ugly sounding word but I love it. I distinctly remember a family friend complaining about what a horrible word it was at a party (it's a good party if people are discussing the merits of the French word for badger ok) when I was little (these are the kinds of memories I retain I guess), and then I came across it again recently. It's just fun to say! lekker (Dutch - nice, tasty) Tasty words are usually good, I love Georgain გემრიელი (gemrieli) as well, they're just good words to roll around your mouth. I went with lekker because of my Dutch brothers and memories of my niece when she was small - it was about the only word I could use with her but happily it seemed to express everything important. gluggaveður (Icelandic - window weather) I can't for the life of me remember the full compound word for 'hounds' paw snow' (hundslabba...???), which is a cute term for very specific, large fluffy flakes. So gluggaveður it is! Weather that looks beautiful when you're in a nice warm building heated by hydroelectrics, but that's bitingly cold outside. Memories of lots of lessons staring out the window at Esja wishing I could be out in the cold instead of inside in the grammar class... სიყვარული (siqvaruli, Georgian - love) I'm still learning so much about word-building in Georgian, but it's so so satisfying when you figure out a new word by recognising the root. Still, I'm just picking სიყვარული because it has a combination of sounds I really like and because I'm a dork who fell in love with a whole language this year. I like all of the sounds of Georgian to be honest. Like blaireau above, when it sounds harsh to my ears it sounds wonderfully harsh (the swearing sounds like a whole other dialect when I watch AWTD, it’s so satisfying), and to an English speaker it's really challenging to learn to alter the cadence for questions because it sounds so sarcastic. But I love all those -uli and -eli sounds combined with plosives that English doesn't really have. And this is a good example of that I guess!