#like they had the typical postcards which were very very cool

[skitskatdacat63]

I WISH I COULD DRAW LIKE MUCHA 😭😭😭😭😭

[jolieblack]

Jolie's notes on

The Three Students (Sherlock & Co podcast)

📖 🎓👨‍🏫 This case doesn’t seem to get talked about much… and I think I agree and I know why. I find ACD’s original Three Students story rather unspectacular myself. The setting is very picture-postcard English™️, but it is otherwise completely unexciting. A solid string of observations and deductions eliminates both red herring suspects (painfully red) to arrive at the *gasp!* solution that people may not be who they appear to be on the surface. Decent work, but hardly the stuff that made Sherlock Holmes a legend. Considering that this is what Joel was up against, I’d say he did rather well for the podcast! Because this isn’t a story about a crime now, it’s a story about identity and about belonging. (Once again. I love how this is a recurring theme of our show.)

John abandoning Sherlock, Mariana and their whole project for a wild night of student partying has been called out of character by some commenters, but while I was still at a loss to understand it myself at the end of the first part, by the end of the second part it made sense to me that this whole case is a story about fitting in, about being popular, about FOMO and what FOMO does to people. John didn’t recklessly let Sherlock down in pursuit of instant gratification in the alcohol or flirting department. What actually happened there was John being bowled over by either the memories of his student days and of how much he loved being one of the boys and having a gang to party with that accepted him just the way he was, which he subsequently lost after his army days and injury; or by the memories of how he never really had a gang to belong to, having struggled at university both academically and in the popularity contest, and is catching up to that lovely feeling now. We see the same thing mirrored in Mariana‘s backstory of wanting to fit in with the cool gang at school. Then it gets mirrored in the three students, too, and in what drives them. Even Sherlock isn’t immune from being called the best in his field and it being "cool" that he’s being invited to speak at Oxford. But he - unexpectedly, given his constant sense of being a misfit - ends up being the happiest and most successful of the whole bunch in this adventure, because he fully realises, quicker than anyone else, that has found his family (a doctor from Swindon and an accountant from Sociedad!) and knows exactly where he belongs.

I don’t suppose any of us were surprised that Sherlock’s awkward lecture would end up being the live solving of a case. (We all remember the BBC Sherlock’s wedding speech in season 3 of that show, after all.) Love how he took everyone to task though. Brutal. Fantastic. I knew there was a reason why I love this man.

Details that I loved:

Sherlock stealing everyone’s sausage rolls and framing Archie! 😂 The way Sherlock got demoted from best friend to "roommate" with very sharply enunciated consonants as a punishment cracked me up.

"when I am positively carbonated with the fizzing bubbles of resolution…" - I kept looking for the ACD story that quote comes from, but it’s apparently an Emory original! 👌

I adored John once again being Sherlock’s interpreter for social cues, and how much they’ve perfected their routine by now: Their super-quick "hyperbole or sarcasm?" - "affectionate hyperbole" exchange made me tear up with affection myself.

"I will merely emit a faint glow of intrigue for now." - Another quote that I could have sworn was ACD.

Things I did NOT like: The professor’s accent. This guy was literally painful to listen to. Oxbridge alumni in this fandom, please join me in confirming that Oxbridge professors do not typically talk like that.

So… like in ACD’s stories, we can’t and won’t always have high stakes, dead bodies and mortal danger, but that’s fine with me. These are stories about friendship as much as they are stories about crime, and in this one, insights abound in the former sense.

[unstoppable-wanderlust-blog]

Spirit of Shackleton - G Expedition - January 26, 2024: Polar Plunge with Killer Whales

Our day started out with a trip to Port Charcot.  We were awoken early so we could witness the famous passage through the Lemaire Channel - google a Timelapse video of this passage and find a blue sky one - it is truly spectacular and one of the main reasons I wanted to visit Antarctica.  We hit the Lemaire Channel with fog, some ice pellets but a lot of enthusiasm.  A true Antarctic day they called it.  What we have been having is not typical apparently.  We were troopers and stood outside in the rain and fog and ooed and awed at the little bits of mountain we would glimpse here and there between the fog.  

That morning we stopped at Port Charcot and had a hike up a good sized hill to see a penguin colony with lots of little babies.  I stood up there for quite a while - bundled up to protect from the wind and the ice pellets and took as many pictures as possible, even though the front of the lens kept getting rain spots on it.  I hiked back down and stood at the bottom watching penguins go up and down penguin highways.  They travel so far and unlike our little red human highways we make when we do the hikes, they keep going with very limited rest - unless that is if we get too close and they look at us not sure what to make of us.

After Port Charcot we raised anchor to sail to Petermann Island, however, a medical emergency call came through from Port Lockroy - one of the research stations down here.  - Also the post office which unfortunately is closed due to bird flu so no Antarctica postcards :( As per marine law, all boats in the area have to respond and since we travel with a doctor, they reached out but could not get through.  So instead of sailing to Petermann Island, we headed north again towards the research station which was expected to take about 2 hours.  

At about the 1 hour mark, they finally got a hold of them and another vessel was going to beat us there by 45 min so we were off the hook.  As we did another 180 and headed back south, we came across his amazing pod of orcas!  They estimate around 40-50 of them were surrounding the boat including one humpback whale.  They do not think the orcas were hunting the humpback, but the humpback was putting on quite the display of fin and tail slapping as well as rolling - likely to tell the orcas off.  We spent 45 min out on the deck in the freezing weather just taking videos and photos of the orcas and the humpback.  It was crazy how many orcas we saw! 

 

By then it was too late to make an afternoon landing and they had heard from some of the other vessels heading south that they could not reach the Island due to ice.  So they decided that it would be a great time to do the Polar Plunge!!  At this point we had huddled inside, sipping on some amazing hot chocolate, excitedly chattering about how cool the orcas were and how cold we were and how will we survive camping.  When they announced the polar plunge we all stood there in shock - we are going to get colder?  Then head out camping??  

Excitement was palpable on board with everyone trying to decide if they are really going to do the polar plunge.  The one guide told us all the horror stories about the rare events when peoples hearts stopped and the 3 doctors (passengers) on board all chimed in - 2/3 also said not a good idea and they were not jumping, while the 3rd was going to join us in the madness.  The announcement was made and deck 2 (which was my deck) was to come to the mudroom (where we dock the zodiacs) if we wanted to jump.  All others were encouraged to watch us make poor decisions from deck 5.  The music was blaring, hot towels and the sauna was ready, and the atmosphere was a combination of excitement and nerves.  We had so many people that they jumped out of both sides of the ship.  A belt goes around your waist so they can drag you back on board and you are ready to go.  There were about 3 in front of me and they were all smiling as they came back (mixed with some swearing) so I figured it’s not that bad.  As I am standing there waiting for my turn, I am looking out in the distance and see some more killers whales swim by.  I asked the crew - is this safe if they are out there????  Well no one has gotten eaten yet so swim quickly back to the platform.  Ummmm… ok.  Sounds reasonable right??

I climbed down the platform and with a wooohooo I jumped into the Antarctic waters - 0 degrees on top, -1 below.  I don’t even remember it being that cold but wow the instant salt on your lips was crazy.  It seemed to take forever to surface but I managed to swim back to the platform and scrambled not so gracefully (at this point limbs are starting to go numb) into the platform while they pull us back on board!  We all huddled together in the sauna to reheat and every time someone new came in, we all cheered.  After a hot shower and some blow drying of our hair, we headed to an early dinner before heading out for the night to camp in Antarctica!  An experience sure to leave us cold.  

Camping was spectacular.  We climbed up this big snow covered hill and set up our tents - they have to be elevated because we are surrounded by melting ice and you can hear the ice crack and sometimes even see some calvings.  Small calvings are fine, we do not want to see any large calvings as they will cause tsunami waves in the tight enclosed bays (more on this on a later story about today…).  The ice cracking sounds like wicked thunder in the distance.  We had one seal hang around the bay, a few whales come and go in the night, and 3 penguins that greeted us on arrival and seemed happy to see us go in the morning.  The weather was perfect with low wind and I was actually quite toasty sleeping on Antarctica - but the snow/ice made it quite lumpy.  

[grad701-liv]

week 1.1 sdl

we looked through some past projects in the presentation, which I found were great examples of the thematic pillars and helped me to understand the assessment and what was being asked of us. 

despite this, I had a lot of trouble thinking of the topic that would ultimately showcase my heart and skills the best. still, I completed the sheet that was provided in class.

each of these topics are causes that I care about, be it recent or not. though I knew I had strong opinions and topics of passion, I struggled a lot to pick a topic from my list. 

if I had to pick three I felt the most passionate about at this moment in time, I would pick:

---

1) cultural dysphoria as a Chinese Kiwi with origins from Southern China, I find I am deeply disconnected from other Chinese Kiwis as everyone I meet is usually a Mandarin speaker. not only am I disconnected from people I share the same ethnicity with, but I am also disconnected from my family that I have not seen since COVID and political tensions. I find myself each day questioning if I can still pronounce words correctly and it upsets me to be disconnected from my culture as it is something I am proud to be a part of.

a project that inspires me is Linh Thú – Sacred Animals. Liam came and spoke to us last semester about his project, which I found extremely beautiful and intriguing. 

the concept of using something that is dying out (postcards) to revive the love and connections of others, a way to bring English and Vietnamese speakers together who share interests in culture, art and design is so cool. the design was executed super well, I love everything about this project.

2) adopt, don’t shop! many animals never get the chance to experience what ‘home’ could be due to people buying from pet shops instead. however, animals that come from shops are almost always being mistreated by the shop. there was a campaign shown in my first year of uni in semester two, about the adopted dog that saved a man’s life. it has touched my soul in a way that I will never forget.

a project that inspires me is the Shropshire Cat Rescue. I came across this organisation via tiktok one night and I was immediately in love with the cats and their environment. the eldery and the sick get to live the rest of their lives in an actual village, in houses, with beds and friends. at the same time, it made me aware of the issue of overfilling adoption shelters that have so many wonderful animals that don’t get the chance to experience home.

these cats get to live in the retirement village due to their age or medical conditions to give them the chance of a home they missed out on. but it doesn’t have to be that way for other animals.

3) online safety I was thankfully taught to be safe when in online spaces from an early enough age, even if still made stupid decisions here and there. however, since the COVID pandemic and many lockdown and restrictions imposed on the world as a whole, many of the kids today have zero sense of stranger danger or the concept of their digital footprint. they overshare, say harmful things and do silly things that could hurt them without a second thought... some of which could impact their future forever before it even begins. 

a project that inspires me is keep it real online. I came across their ‘warning parents about child’s consumption of pornography’ video frequently via youtube ads, which got me really thinking about the online safety of kids.  I am active within some online gaming communities and I find myself being approached frequently by kids who want to seem cool and overshare personal information with me.  not only are random kids approaching me, but my young cousins also like to overshare with me. I spoke with some of my friends within my communities and found they had the same issues as I did. however, I feel like an awareness campaign is very safe and typical for this topic so I will look at exploring other ways to communicate the message. or maybe the collaterals I design could be different to the typical (ads, websites, boring ways to spread information).

[pizza-soup]

I had a nice birthday, for breakfast I had some strawberry and red bean crepes. I don't typically have sweets first thing in the morning so it was a treat and perfect to eat on the patio during a sun shower, before it started getting hot. We were supposed to get a storm again today and yeah really got hit. The dirt road turned into a river, effectively cutting us off from civilization. Pretty sure the park flooded again, we might head there tomorrow. I opted to make my own cake this year, usually it would be a tres leche or pineapple upside down cake, but I did something different, a cheesecake. A very simple one that I decorated with fruits I got from the self serve stand, lots of peaches. Someone also generously supplied a basket of fresh lemongrass, just 50 cents for two stalks. I've never tried it fresh but I heard it makes a good tea, so I stuck some in a water bottle. I think it's a new favorite. For dinner I made clam chowder in a tiny mini sourdough round, and seafood salad with feta, shrimp, fish cake, olives and cucumber. My family gave me some really nice gifts. My brother got me a really nice humidifier for my room and one for himself, it can get very dry inside the house and that causes breathing issues for us as we were born in a more moist environment. He also got me one of those Chilly Mini Towels, the kind where you can soak in cold water and put it on your neck and it supposedly cools you down by ten degrees. I was always skeptical of those but it actually works. Naturally he got one for himself too. XD My mom got me really nice Italian soaps, a lemon one and lavender. She used to have them in her bathroom back home and they'd last forever, so I'm happy to get some too. Other things she got was a Pacifica Coconut Water face gel and Cactus water mi cellular water cleanser, as well some Sunbum Heat Protecter for my hair. All of them smell like summer. I got myself some art gifts shipped in, I actually got them two days ago but I didn't open my package til now. It was nothing fancy, just some Koi Watercolors, a pad of canvas paper and Canson watercolor paper. I turned one sheet into postcards for etegami style art tomorrow. I would've done it today but I started cleaning up the pantry, which was getting really cluttered, then just sort of started experimenting with my new art supplies all day as the rain fell. I really love the neon watercolors, I feel like I can do some neat stuff on black paper with them. Annnd that's it. I had a nice peaceful birthday!

[mysewingadventures]

What did my ancestors actually wear?

I’ve been into historical fashion for a while now and have also been doing a lot of genealogy research about my own family. So while doing research for my costumes, I see all those beautiful gowns and dresses and can’t help but picture my own ancestors wearing them. But now I know better than that and no - they didn’t actually wear the typical western fashion trends of the past centuries.

While the only info I got about my family was from my Silesian grandma and can’t be sure to speak for everyone of my ancestors reaching back until the 1710s (which is how far my research has got me), but apparently, my grandma’s grandma, my great-great-grandma, only wore traditional Silesian costumes, and they were nothing like what I’ve learned from Fashion History.

This is a very new deep-dive for me, I’ve never ventured my way into more traditional folk costumes and there doesn’t seem to be a lot of info about them historically, but I’ve found some things I’d like to share anyways because while learning and knowing about stereotypical garments of a certain time is great, I find it highly interesting to know about my own culture as well.

The majority of my Polish family was from the Częstochowa/Opole area, and I’ve learned that traditional costumes varied even from one town to another, but I’ve found this beautiful postcard drawn by Maria Orłowska-Garbyś showing the Bytom Costume, which looks very similar to the "standard" or most widely spread Silesian costume, the Rozbark Costume.

I’ve found this same picture being labeled as Bytom and Rozbark so I’m gonna go ahead and guess that they were in fact the same costume or very similar, which makes sense as both cities lie very close to each other. So for the purpose of writing this, I’m going to be using them interchangeably (I’m not 100% sure if they’re the same thing though, so take what I’m saying with a grain of salt.)

The Silesian folk costume consisted of:

The undergarments:

A linen band with hooks in the front was worn on the bust in order to flatten it. I have no idea what this band might’ve looked like as I’ve searched the internet and found no pictures at all but I’m assuming maybe it’s about the size of regency stays? It’s described as belt/band though so I really have no clue.

Next up, a sort of sleeveless linen or silk shift was worn on top of that called lajbik (once again, unfortunately no pictures anywhere). To that, they sometimes sewed (or just wore on top) a bumpad to widen the hips and make the waist look smaller -

This one’s a classic, we know that one. It appears all the time when studying Historical Fashion that I almost feel like I don’t have to explain it.

Anyways, they would also sometimes sew the skirt to the shift or garter belts.

Let’s talk about the shirt, which would usually be a white blouse with puff sleeves and lace trims and would also have a big lace collar.

The skirt would be ankle length, big and pleated, light colors being used for younger women and darker colors for older women. The pockets were hidden within the pleats on either side and in the front, there would be a slit which was hidden by the apron worn on top of the skirt.

The apron now - the most colorful piece from this garment. It would cover the whole entire front of the skirt and being also pleated at the waist it was made in a very similar way. The typical floral pattern was not always printed silk but oftentimes it was painted on by hand, which is so fascinating to me. I knew this was a practice back in the days but to think that they actually sat down and painted every single flower on their apron is really really cool. This apron was worn over the final piece, a corset-like vest in usually either red, navy or black (and I guess green?), depending on the person’s age and what town they were from. I’ve found a Bytom version in blue and a Rozbark version in green so that might be the only difference between the two, I’m still trying to understand. The neckline and straps were made of a thick, decorative tape. Overall, this vest was a very decorative piece and wasn’t always worn, but then again, this list I wrote down features only one way of "styling" the outfit as there were many more alternatives and ways of wearing it, but I thought I’d devote my research to the most known version.

All of this then came together with a big flower crown and a huge ribbon in the back, as well as a (usually) red bead necklace.

Here you can see the Bytom version on the left and the Rozbark version on the right with all of its pieces labeled in Polish.

I’ve tried my best to translate some of the info from the Polish wikipedia site (the article is "Strój rozbarski", for some reason it’s not letting me add the link), so if you wanna know more about it (and know Polish) you can read that, it’s a much more detailed description!

Enjoy some more pictures I found:

The last picture is also a postcard by Maria Orłowska-Garbyś showing the Opole version of this costume. It looks slightly different with the cap instead of flowers and the sleeves are longer, that’s why I’m mentioning it! And the black and white photo, that’s more likely what people looked like on a daily basis, I’m assuming the more decorative pieces were added for special occasions.

On an unrelated side note, I’ve unfortunately had to stop the work on my stays for a while due to some issues but I’m hoping to be able to get back to it soon! (They’re almost done I wanna get them done asap). That’s also why I haven’t posted in so long, I’m sorry!

[regrettablewritings]

Dewey Finn HCs

Because nobody can stop me, because I’ve been sitting on these forever, and because I need to distract myself from the anxiety of having to go back to work in a few more days

HCs About His Life

His dad is the one where Dewey got just about . . . everything, really: His laidback personality, his tendency to feed his impulsivity, and, by far, his love of rock music. Papa Finn was one of those guys who plops their kid down to listen to his old albums because “that’s real music.” It stuck. For his bar mitzvah, Dewey begged for and was granted his first guitar and the rest was history.

Parents separated soon after the bar mitzvah because, as it turns out, being too laidback and very impulsive is not the best set of traits to have when married, let alone when there’s a kid in the picture. Mother Finn insisted to their son that they really did try to make it work but . . .

Mom got custody of Dewey. It wasn’t that Dewey didn’t love his mother, he just felt she didn’t understand him like Dad did. Unfortunately, this often led to him acting out a bit.

Weekends were the best to Dewey because those were when his dad would pick him up and they’d go out and do fun stuff: Dewey would show him how far he’d gotten in playing, his dad would celebrate with ice cream.

Weekend-ly visits became every other weekend after a bit. Dewey didn’t mind too much . . . But then every other weekend became once a month. Eventually, they sort of stopped happening at all.

Mr. Finn was never really the most reliable, Mrs. Finn could’ve said as much. But as much as she wanted to tell Dewey, she never did. A part of her regrets not telling him, suspecting that maybe doing so could’ve spared her son the pain and disappointment. However, a part of her kept hoping maybe the man would actually try harder for their son.

Every once in a while, Dewey would get a phone call or postcard from his old man, who’d apparently decided to just travel around the country to “find himself” or some crap. Dewey never really got over this.

(Yes, in my version, I imagine Dewey began to pursue rock goddom not only to get some respect and finally be cool, but also as a means to reach out to his dad and win his approval. Because I’m depressing like that.)

Maggot Death was his absolute baby, with whom he shared custody over with Ned upon founding it together in high school. First gig was the school talent show.

They did not win anything. And Dewey’s showboating convinced quite a few that they were an avant-garde comedy act.

College was where things got a little more complex.

Dewey really only went because his mother pressured him to. “As backup in case the rock thing doesn’t work out,” she told him with much exasperation. He finally caved and moved into an apartment with Ned.

Dewey lasted only about a semester. Didn’t care. He much preferred playing in the quad and trying to pick up girls than taking courses on business models and politics.

Ned, however, stayed in school, which made finding time to practice together a bit more difficult. Maggot Death was more or less in limbo at this point, which made Dewey finicky at best considering he had put all his rock god eggs in one basket. They did pull through, obviously, but there had definitely been a bit of a strain for most of the time.

Eventually Ned met Patty and she got him really thinking more seriously about his future. Unfortunately, this led to Ned admitting to Dewey that he honestly couldn’t see Maggot Death as being a big part of his own future. Dewey . . . did not take it well.

After a whole thing where he disappeared for two days in a huff, he came back with an apology pizza and a promise to Ned that he would try to be more civilized to Patty.

“Even though she’s a dream-annihilator.”

As stated before, Dewey didn’t start No Vacancy, he just “brought the band together.” But that says a lot about what he brings to the table. The fact of the matter is that once you get beyond his showboating tendencies, Dewey will put his all into the music projects he involves himself in. Perhaps a bit too much, though, as he can still be overbearing, impulsive, and an acquired taste.

While he never would have imagined himself in a teaching position of any kind, be it professionally or as a program instructor, Dewey would never dare badmouth where he is now. Maybe the path he took to get here, but that’s just because he was being stupid. He’s proud to be using his talents to help others recognize theirs. He’s proud to be able to help kids from stiff upbringings be able to express themselves. He’s proud of the kids he’s touched and who have also touched him. Overall, he’s just plain proud of the School of Rock!

Of course, he wouldn’t mind achieving rock divinity at some point still. But for now, now is pretty good.

Misc. HCs

Dewey is actually just a nickname; his real name is Andrew

Is Jewish but isn’t really a practitioner of the more religious aspects of it. He tries when the more major holidays happen, but it’s a soft try more than anything.

Can play every basic instrument in a typical band (guitar, bass, drum set, keyboard) to some extent, but is most definitely best at guitar.

Rock is his absolute favorite genre of music but he definitely has guilty pleasures in pop and even country.

Will never admit to it, but he does know a few showtunes

Has ADHD. Special interest is obviously rock music. His forms of stimming include raptor hands and dancing when he walks out of excitement.

Is an Aries because facts.

Is a sub. Will I elaborate? Maybe. Will I change my mind? Never.

[notthatiwilleverwriteit]

Hi! I really loooove your analysis, I think it helps me enjoy the manhua better and gives me something to think about . So, I wanted to ask you about Zhanyi, this middle school plot is in the past and in the firsts panels xixi is violent, when he used to be soft. I think maybe he's guarded, since the dissappearence of jian yi he was probably hurt and lonely. What do you think about their relationship in the future? Are they going to be okay? I would really like your thoughts on this.

Good morning, dear nightia-san!

“I really loooove your analysis, I think it helps me enjoy the manhua better and gives me something to think about .”

I’m very glad and humbled to hear that. Thank you! It’s also a two-way street. People asking these questions give me something to think about and help me find new aspects in the comic as well. Overall, I think comparing notes is always desirable and valuable in fandoms, so I’m glad I have managed to contribute to that.

“in the firsts panels xixi is violent, when he used to be soft. I think maybe he’s guarded, since the dissappearence of jian yi he was probably hurt and lonely.”

For the purpose of this question, I will be using Mangago as a source when referencing chapters and their numbers. People use different sites and apps to read 19 Days but I think Mangago is the best and easiest to find all the chapters compared to other places.

It’s a bit unclear to me what do you mean by “first panels”. I don’t know if you were aware, but 19 Days debuted as a one shot (ch. 1) in a compilation publication called 19天. It featured 19 different artists including OldXian, and that’s where the title came from. For some reason, 19 Days also became the title of OX’s comic later on.

Do you mean that one shot as the first panels? Personally, I wouldn’t really count them as the beginning of the comic we’re reading these days. It was published years ago (according to Google, in 2013) and was originally meant as a one shot. To expect those exact versions of the characters to have much to do with the ones of the present day could be reaching too much.

Overall, it’s difficult to say anything concrete about the earliest chapters. A lot of them were respective illustrations or short gag chapters with only a couple of panels without much of an overarching plot. I would say the story officially begins in ch. 22 but even then the story is often interrupted by gag chapters that don’t have anything to do with the actual story. I actually think you could take the beginning even later than that, to ch. 43 in which Jian Yi shows up at Zhan Zheng Xi’s door beaten up and a bit later ZZX tells us how JY disappeared in high school.

Whatever your take happens to be, I think one thing is clear: continuity hasn’t really been 19 Days’ strongest suit from the beginning because of its nature as a publication. I think that’s very important to keep in mind when going back to the early chapters and trying to build overarching character development. You risk reading too much into things if you’re expecting all the details to be connected.

About the violence in general, though, I don’t think it’s that much different from what has always been typical to ZZX’s character, the Zhanyi dynamics and slapstick-type of humor of the comic. I guess it used to be a touch more “graphic” in the early chapters (ch. 1, 4-5, 9-13, 23-24, 29, 30-31, and 34):

However, I never saw those as ZZX being angry because JY left him and he was lonely, worried, and hurt. I get that feeling but personally think holding that kind of “grudge” or being guarded wouldn’t be typical to ZZX. He would be angry but that would be because of relief and because he had been so scared (ch. 198):

After that, he would go back to protecting JY even more fiercely and become closer to him.

The physical violence of the early chapters is very much comic relief in my eyes. Not to mention, many of those chapters were meant as little gags and not connected to the overall story. Even ZZX kicking JY in the very first chapter I don’t see from the perspective you suggested but mere humor very typical to 19 Days’ style.

“What do you think about their relationship in the future? Are they going to be okay?”

In short, I think they will be perfectly fine in the future. The kidnap will be a hiccup, but it’s obvious it won’t last forever and they will get over it.

I mean, let’s not forget we’re not completely in the dark about it. Not only the early chapters (prior to ch. 51) we have also gotten future-related specials and official illustrations just like with Tianshan. And ZZX and JY seem to be doing just fine in those. In fact, it seems ZZX keeps getting more and more comfortable with their new kind of relationship in the future (ch. 224 and 271):

Also, again, as you might notice those future-related chapters are quite different from the ones we got when the comic was just starting out. If I had to draw conclusions about their future, I would much rather base them on those two chapters more recent ones (and the hot springs specials) than the first chapters when I doubt the comic had as clear of a direction as it has these days. The only thing I would probably take from the early chapters is that JY spends a lot of time at ZZX’s place and he’s working hard to catch up to him. And if the early illustrations are anything to go by, their physical interaction is charged in a different way than just best friends.

As to having something in general to say about future Zhanyi… it’s a bit difficult. As a couple, they don’t tickle my headcanon bone quite the same way Tianshan does. But let’s see if I’ll get any nibbles:

JY is pretty much one of the students ZZX hangs out with. The only difference is, he’s in high school but he doesn’t spend time with his classmates.

JY’s classmates are jealous and envious that JY can go drinking and be around university students. And knowing JY, he can’t help but brag about it a little.

For once, JY is the cool kid in his class. He’s older and (I can’t believe I’m saying this) also more mature. He likes to give a lot of advice that he thinks the rascal youngsters need.

The girls in ZZX’s class adore JY, and it kind of bothers ZZX. He prays the day never comes when JY catches him being annoyed by it because he would definitely take advantage of it.

JY likes that to other people it looks like he and ZZX are living together. He’s in no rush to correct them, either.

ZZX still hasn’t initiated a kiss or much of the affection between them. He knows JY wants them to be more intimate but he’s not ready yet. Sometimes he feels bad for making JY wait, especially when he gets that look of rejection on his face.

JY doesn’t mind they’re making such slow progress. I mean, he minds but it’s also okay. He can feel secure and in peace because he knows ZZX loves him back. It’s not unrequited anymore, and he can be honest about his feelings.

Still, sometimes he pushes too much and too fast and he always feels bad about it afterwards. The last thing he wants is for ZZX to be disgusted by JY’s affections. At the same time, though, he’s still scared of that very thing and kind of wants to push ZZX to find out and not stress about it anymore. He knows ZZX loves him back, but still…

Does JY still have to deal with the underworld, Qiu and He Cheng? What about his father and mother? I have no idea.

Sometimes JY has nightmares, and they freak ZZX out a lot. Sometimes JY cries and talks in his sleep but ZZX can never make out what he’s saying.

ZZX is scared that the kidnapping and whatever happened during that time has caused JY traumas. Because sometimes he freaks out about things that didn’t use to bother him (loud sudden noises or waking up in the bed alone). JY’s story about how he spent the years being apart changes a little each time he talks about it.

Whenever JY is late from meeting up with him, ZZX gets a mini panic attack.

JY’s mother is abroad, and JY misses her a lot. She sends postcards and they’re always from different places. ZZX dreads the day when she says JY has to come with her.

I hope my answer gives you some food for thought. Thank you for your question!

[shadow-cooper]

⚠️ Some thoughts about TCoTB (SPOILERS) ⚠️

WARNING: MAJOR, MAJOR SPOILERS!!! Some of these are my thoughts about the book and some theories I have. This is very long, so if you read all of these, I applaud you.

FINAL WARNING FOR SPOILERS

I’m actually kinda disappointed that there was no “secret organization of normals” in America like H thought. How cool would it have been if there were normals causing havoc along with the typical wights, hollows, and Caul?! Everything that H said before he died would have actually been an interesting path for Ransom to take, because practically everyone in the books think that normals are dangerous and “stupid”. Like...I wish he could’ve proved that. But instead, we just got our usual bad guys.

Abe’s logbook; what became of it? Surely it was an item of great importance that Jacob shouldn’t of forgotten about back in New York with the hypnotist. Also, what happened in 1984 that made Abe stop writing in it? (Also going to briefly mention Jacob also forgot about the car, but that’s not as important...)

I knew Fiona was going to come back. Ransom wasn’t even keeping it a secret anymore. I love her so, so much. I’m just glad she isn’t evil/working for Caul (anymore...).

I also knew Sharon was gonna be involved in an ymbryne-opposed uprising/splinter group. The fish-men in Devil’s Acre called Jacob a “false prophet” in AMoD. Is their prophet going to be Caul? Are the ymbrynes going to be killed/targeted by them after being filled with nonsense by Caul’s goons? (Also, where is his assistant?)

I thought we were going to find some of the “Emancipators” in this book. Obviously Noor is one, but I’m curious about the others. I’m still left wondering Jacob’s role besides being their “Moses”/leader. Obviously he should be in the prophecy as well, but we haven’t heard about his part. If Ransom is closely following religion-based texts, I think Jacob is going to have to enlighten/prove to Caul’s potential ymbryne-hating, freedom-wanting followers, that they are wrong. Caul might be playing the part of Pharaoh alongside being a prophet.

H stated that he and Abe knew about the prophecy for a while, because they were trying to save kids that supposedly matched the descriptions of the “7 Emanipators”. Surely they knew a lot about it for them to actively keep an eye out. They also must have known about the ingredients written in the Apocryphon, or at least V must have, because of how adamant she was in not wanting to be found. H even told Jacob so before he died. Did they figure it out in 1984 and stop when they realized V’s importance to it? (Would explain her age).

How DID Murnau find V’s loop location? He stated near the end that he had known for years, but lost men trying to crack the loop entrance. The postcard, (which I honestly thought was a lazy attempt to hurry Jacob and Noor’s discovery along), was used as bait for that. But HOW? Did someone from Abe’s group go rogue and tell her location? Did someone visit her, but was not careful (but careful enough for the entrance to not be found)?

Why WERE Jacob and Noor SO surprised about V revealing herself to be an ymbryne? Like, they were told she was? Twice? Also, why build up her character so much but kill her off so quickly and stupidly? She was trained by Abe for goodness sake. She could’ve taken Murnau down easily. It was just so rushed.

As for some of the theories above, I think H was hiding something or knew a great deal more than he was letting on to Jacob. My gut is telling me that he WANTED the prophecy to come true (The New Age led by the Emancipators). Before he died, he said “I’m sorry, brother”, which caught my attention more than the reveal of the prophecy. Was that for Horatio? Or Abe? The reason why I think he betrayed him is because of what Abe said. “They’re coming for me, understand? I don’t know how they found me after all these years...” (MPHFPC pg. 26). H visited Abe when Jacob was younger to see the “special boy” Abe was so proud of. Maybe he was visiting to see if Jacob really was important. Did Abe know Jacob was part of the prophecy? For how long? Did Jacob also do something with his powers when he was a baby, like Noor did? Idk if this theory holds water, but it’s just a feeling.

[fanficsaremylifeline]

Chapters: 1/1 Fandom: Shadowhunters (TV) Rating: Teen And Up Audiences Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Relationships: Magnus Bane & Alec Lightwood & Max Lightwood-Bane & Rafael Lightwood-Bane, Magnus Bane/Alec Lightwood, Max Lightwood-Bane & Rafael Lightwood-Bane Characters: Magnus Bane, Alec Lightwood, Max Lightwood-Bane, Rafael Lightwood-Bane Additional Tags: Mortality, Domestic Malec Summary:

Something's off with Max, and not just the normal teenager-my-parents-suck-stuff. It's more than that. And Rafael is done being kept at a distance from his brother.

“Magnus?”

He had barely closed their bedroom door, when Alec, already in bed, called out for him.

“What is it?”

“Can I ask you something?”

“Anything, you know that. And I really wish you would, you look quite anxious.” Magnus joined his husband on the bed and took Alec's hands in his. “What's worrying you?”

“Max is”, Alec sighed. “Have you noticed anything different about our boy?”

“Not really”, Magnus shook his head and thought back on the last few days, weeks, but nothing unusual came to mind. “But I'm worried now: Am I a bad father?”

“Please, you're the best father anybody could wish for”, Alec brushed his doubts away. “Maybe I'm overreacting, but it feels like he's keeping his distance. And I don't know what I did wrong to push him away.” Alec dropped his head and stared at their entangled hands.

“Or maybe our little warlock is just a typical teenager”, Magnus suggested with a shrug. It had been the same with Rafael a few years back; from a certain age on, your parents were just lame and so uncool. Or whatever the current slang was; Magnus didn't even bother with trying to catch up, especially since every now and then he still threw in slang from Victorian times.

“Maybe...” Alec looked back up, but didn't seemed to be convinced. “It's just... It felt different with Rafael. Instead of getting overemotional, bitchy or something like that, Max just closes himself off.”

That was indeed weird, their little blueberry wore his emotions on his sleeve. And to Magnus that hadn't stopped. So maybe there was some truth to Alexander's suspicions.

“Do you want to talk to him then?”

“I don't know... Maybe I am overreacting and it's really just some teenager-stuff and if that's the case I don't want to push him further away by being pushy and probing.”

Magnus squeezed his husband's hand and shot him the most encouraging smile he could muster up. “I trust you and your judgement. I'll keep my eyes on Max and I'm sure that if there's something bothering him, he'll come to us.”

“Ok”, Alec nodded and smiled back, “I have no reasons to doubt the smartest man I know.” He leaned over and brushed their lips together. “I love you.”

“I love you, too.”

“Hermano, we need to talk.” Rafa burst into Max' room, leaving the warlock no chance to argue. Besides, he knew better than to start bitching; Rafa already looked pissed off enough, no need to aggravate him further.

So, instead of groaning at his brother to leave him alone, he put the comic book down and looked up at Rafael, who had closed the door behind himself. “What's up?”

“That's a damn good question.” He stomped over to where Max was sprawled out on the bed, pushed the warlock's legs off it to make room for himself and sat down. “What's up with you?”

“I'm alright”, he shrugged, not exactly sure where Rafael was going with this.

“Right”, the older brother scoffed. “Of course you're alright, that's why you keep avoiding me and Dad. Is it a Shadowhunter thing?”

Shit. Of course Rafael was right, hitting the nail on the head, but that was not a conversation Max was comfortable with having right now. “I have no idea what you mean.”

“You're a horrible liar”, Rafa sighed and the anger on his face dropped and turned into a more saddened expression. “I just... If you tell me what I did wrong, I'll happily fix it. I don't want to lose you, man.”

“But I'm gonna lose you!”, Max just blurted out. Shit, not how he wanted this to go...

“What?” Now Rafael looked like he had no idea what was going on. “Why are you going to lose me?”

Damnit. Well, there was no need in trying to talk around it, but then again, there was also no way to make Rafael understand... “I'm immortal”, he just mumbled, his head hung low. “You're not. Dad is not. And... I'm not like Papa, I can't handle it. I can't just keep a little box with your stele or something...”

“What are you talking about? What box with my stele?”

Max couldn't explain, he had to show his brother. Papa and Dad were both at the Institute right now and there was no danger in looking through Papa's old stuff, so Max got up and motioned for Rafe to follow him.

“A while ago I was looking for a specific spell book. But instead I found this little box.” It wasn't really hidden in the shelf, but also not on full display, disappearing in the sheer amount of books, tokens, fangs and all that magical stuff so it wasn't surprising that neither of the brothers had ever seen it before.

“What's that?”, Rafe asked, as Max carefully got it out of the cupboard and put it on the living room table.

“I asked myself the same thing, so I looked inside. It's Papa's”, he explained and lifted the lid. “Memories of past friends, loved ones, all the people he outlived.”

Completely silent, Rafael walked over and inspected the box, somewhat curious and terrified at the same time. There was this old wartime photograph of Papa with some blonde guy, having his arms around him. There was an old watch, almost ancient and Max was afraid to touch it, out of fear it'd break. There was an amulet with a beautiful gem that, depending on how the light shone on it, shimmered green or almost as blue as Max' skin. There were letters and postcards, some of them hundreds of years old.

“Put it away”, Rafael demanded and quickly turned around and walked away.

Max complied and followed his brother into his room, where he already sat on the bed with an empty expression on his face.

“I'm sorry, I shouldn't have shown you”, Max apologized and sat next to his brother, putting his hand on the Shadowhunter's shoulder.

“No, it's alright, it's just...” He turned to Max with his brown eyes all sad. “I never thought about that, you know? I mean I know that you and Papa are immortal, but I never really got it...”

“I know what you mean”, Max nodded and scooted a little closer. “I never really gave it too much thought as well. Until I found that box and... I don't know if I can do that. Just keep some memories and then move on... I'm not strong like Papa.” Max didn't bother trying to fight the tears that were making their way down his cheek; he had cried enough about losing who he loved to know that any tries to blink the tears away were useless.

“Please”, Rafe shot back, trying to smile encouragingly, but tearing up as well. “You're as strong as Papa and Dad put together.”

Max was about to argue that, when he heard the apartment door opening. “Boys, we're home!”

“Please don't tell them that I've been snooping in Papa's stuff”, Max pleaded as he wiped the tears of his cheek.

“I won't”, Rafe promised and dried his own face.

And like that a silent promise went between them to keep what they just realized from their parents. It's not that they didn't trusted them, on the contrary. But how should they even start this conversation? There was nothing that Max could say, it was just a sucky feeling and all talking would not change the fact Max was immortal.

“Boys? Where are you?”, Dad called and after making sure that he was indeed tear-free, Max walked out into the living room with Rafa on his heels.

“Ah, there you are. We got pizza on our way home, hope you're hungry”, Papa smiled and put the cartons on the table.

“Starving”, Rafe forced himself to smile and sat himself between Max and Papa.

“Good, then dig in!”

“Everything at the Institute alright?”, Max asked, as Dad cut their dinner, trying his best to sound casual. Maybe talking about something completely different would distract him enough, at least until he was back in the privacy of his room.

“As alright as leaving Uncle Jace in charge can be”, Papa chuckled and Dad just rolled his eyes.

“My life would be a lot easier, if Jace just stuck to being the house husband, and let Clary be a fulltime Shadowhunter... Huh”, he chuckled. “I never thought I'd prefer working with Clary instead of Jace...”

Papa chuckled along. “Jace and Simon could start a Dad's club, let Izzy and Clary battle New York's demons. The ladies are fiercer than their husbands, definitely.”

As Dad and Papa continued reminiscing about a time when Dad hated Aunt Clary, Max just focused on his pizza. Which was hard to do, his stomach had dropped to some very uncomfortable places and Max felt like he would be sick.

Under the table, Rafael reached out and grabbed Max's hand, squeezing it reassuringly and he could just start crying again. Damnit, Rafa was so much better at putting on a brave face, he even managed to smile as he ate his pizza, instead of the young warlock.

“Max?” At Dad's call, he dared to look up, biting hard on his tongue to keep from breaking down. “Are you alright?” Dad looked worried about him, but Max decided to play it as cool as he could.

“Yeah”, he lied, forcing a smile, “I'm just a little off I guess...”

He leaned over the table and put his hand on Max's forehead. “You're not feverish, that's good.”

“I think I'll just need to get to bed a little earlier”, he shrugged, before Dad could examine him some more and prayed to whoever would listen that Dad would just accept it and leave him be. Otherwise Max would break down any moment.

“That's probably a good thing”, Papa nodded. “The pizza will still be good tomorrow. Do you want to lie down here on the couch on go to your bed?”

Damnit, why did they have to care so much instead of just letting Max leave? “I'll go to bed” he answered instead and slowly got up. “Just have dinner”, he shot over at Dad who motioned to get up with Max. “I'm ok, just tired.”

“Right.” Dad sat back down, looking somewhat awkward at Max. “Call if you need anything.”

“I will”, he forced a smile.

As soon as he had the bedroom door closed behind him, he let the tears run wild.

This was so unfair! Why did he have to deal with this? Max was fifteen for crying out loud, he should worry about curfews and avoiding being grounded, not the inevitability of life and death!

Wallowing in his self-pity, he lost all sense of time, until his door opened.

“Relax, it's me.” Rafa held his arms up defensively, as Max jumped up off the bed, ready to face whoever walked through the door. Seeing that it was just his brother, Max fell back down, and the Shadowhunter sat next to him and pulled the younger brother close.

“Sorry”, Max mumbled and pressed himself against Rafael's side. He was only three years older than him, but quite a bit bigger; Papa always joked about the Shadowhuntergene, with Dad being so much taller than him. Right now it was nothing but comforting though.

“Nothing to be sorry for”, Rafa assured him, gently rubbing up and down Max's back.

They sat in silence for a while, calming each other down. After seeing Papa's box, Rafa too was pretty shaken. He preferred to play the big and strong warrior though, so Max pretended not to notice the tears that made their way down Rafael's cheek.

And then a soft knock echoed through the room. “It's us”, Dad announced, “can we come in?”

Max looked up, seeing Rafa being just as afraid and worried about what their parents would think about their issues... They couldn't keep on pretending, though. Clearly the adults knew that something was up and maybe the sooner they'd get out with it, the sooner it'd be over. With a flick of his wrist, Max magicked the door to open and their dads walked in, sitting on each side of the boys.

“You wanna talk about it?”

Max wasn't sure. He wasn't even sure what to say, what his issue was and... It was just hopeless. So he scooted a little closer against Rafael, who answered instead. “We found Papa's box.”

“What box do you... Oh.” Papa went quiet again, when realization hit.

“I just don't want to one day have only your bow and arrow in a box, with Rafe's stele next to it”, Max eventually admitted, it was barely more than a mumble though.

“And is that all we're gonna be for you one day?”, Rafael asked, sounding like he was scared of the answer.

“What? No way”, Papa made clear. “You are my sons and I love you more than anyone or anything ever before. Even in three, four or eight hundred years, I can promise you that.”

Dad moved over and put an arm around Max. “And it's true the other way round as well. Even when I'm up there with Raziel, I'll still love you and that won't change.”

“Yeah, but it will change!” Max looked up at his Dad, who tried to look brave, but he was actually sad. “You'll leave us, Rafe'll leave us and I... I'm not like Papa. I can't deal with that.”

“Well”, Dad smiled, “you don't need to be like Papa, because you are so, so strong just the way you are; I know it. I can see it every time you train, every time you help the little warlocks with their spells, when you teach the young Shadowhunters about magic... To put it in terms of Uncle Simon, you have an absolute superpower and that is your big heart. And yes, having a big heart like this, it's gonna cause a lot of pain. But do you think it'd be more painful never loving your brother or missing him, but all that in the best of memories?”

“It's really unfair”, Max stated, after his Dad's speech had sunk in. “You don't even know what it's like, but can give a speech like that?” Max wasn't sure whether he was impressed or annoyed that Dad thought he knew what it felt like.

“Yeah”, he chuckled, “that's your Papa's fault. We've talked a lot about this, him and me, when many, many years ago, I too found the box and started to realize a thing or two.”

“Your Dad was so hurt, to be seemingly only one in a long line of loved ones”, Papa continued the story. “He was scared, like you are”, he squeezed Rafael's shoulder, “that one day I would just move on and confine him to a piece of memorabilia. All I can promise you, is that with all my power I'll fight to never let that happen. And Max'll help me with that, and I'll help him with that as well.”

Mhm. Did Max feel better right now? No, not really. He still dreaded the future like nobody's business and he could feel how Rafael next to him felt the same way.

“This won't get easy over night, not even in a decade or two. What Papa and I have learned though, is that we need to talk about those things. Especially the things that scare us. Our lives just are a little contrasting, being Shadowhunters or Warlocks makes a few differences”, Dad shrugged. “It doesn't matter what it's about, come and talk to us, ok? Because there is nothing, absolutely nothing in this or any other world that could make us not love you anymore.”

“Really nothing?”, Rafa asked, and just a bit of a grin broke through.

“Son”, Papa grinned back, “I believe there's nothing that can shock a parent more than what the two of us did to our parents.”

“That sounds like a challenge”, Max giggled and grinned up at his Dad, who smiled right back.

“It is an unwinnable challenge for you two”, he made clear. “I'll bet the entire Shadow World that me and your Papa will love you until the sun explodes.”

“Max! We need to go!”, Magnus called for the third time.

“I'M COMING!”, he yelled back and Magnus could hear the eye roll.

“We'll be late to little Alexander's rune ceremony”, Magnus reminded his son, as he finally made it out of the bathroom.

“I need to look good for my great-grand nephew, though”, he grinned and Magnus could only smile back.

“You do look very nice. Not sure who you dressed up for... I'm pretty sure Alexander doesn't mind, en contraire to a certain warlock lady...”, he added with a grin and a wink, before opening a portal.

“Oh my god, Papa! Don't be embarrassing!”, Max groaned, flushing nicely purpleish.

“Me? How preposterous! Wait, you got a little bit...” Magnus straightened Max's lapels and motioned to tuck a stray strand of dark blue hair behind the young warlock's ear, when he moved back.

“Can you cut it out? I'm 112, I can get dressed all by myself, thank you very much.”

“Your Dad used to say the same thing. And then he'd go out in washed-out jeans and an old ratty shirt...” As much as he loved him, Magnus could only shudder at the thought of his late husband's style, especially in the early years of their relationship.

“That's harsh”, Max shot back with his mouth gaping open. “You're really calling me a fashion disaster like Dad?”

“Thankfully you take after me, style-wise”, Magnus chuckled and pushed Max through the portal to the institute, where everybody already seemed to be assembled.

Max didn't even grace Magnus with much of a glance once he spotted Madzie and hurried over to the girl and the seat next to her that just happened to be empty still.

“It looks like you'll owe me twenty bucks soon”, Catarina chuckled and came up on Magnus' side, looking at the lovebirds.

“They're not together yet”, he shot back, “and it's only a few weeks left till Christmas. I can still win the bet.”

“Yeah, right. Come on, you're great-great-grandson's rune ceremony s about to start.” She nudged his arm and he followed her to an empty seat, as they watched Alexander walk down the aisle, all determined and a little scared for his big moment.

He didn't just inherit the name; the little Shadowhunter reminder Magnus so much of his Alexander, his determination, his drive...

Optically, he definitely got his great grand dad's looks though. Whenever Magnus got the chance to tousle those unruly curls, he always had wonderful flashbacks to Rafael scrunching up his face when Magnus stroked his head.

.

“Hey, Papa?” Magnus enjoyed a wonderful cocktail at the party, when Max walked up to him. “Are you alright?”

“Of course I am”, he smiled. “are you?”

“I think so...” Well, that looked like he was not alright at all.

Magnus put his arm around Max's shoulder and together they walked out on the balcony, where they could sit in private. “What's bothering you?”

“Nothing, it's just... There's a lot of talk about Alexander Lightwood today, obviously. But, it just... It hurts so much. And then he looks just like Rafa and... you know?”

“I do”, Magnus nodded and pulled his son in for a hug. “I miss them, too. Every day. But that's love, you know?”

“Well, love sucks.”

“No, it doesn't”, Magnus smiled. “Love hurts, yes. But in the final balance... Not even all the pain at missing your Dad and brother can dampen the joy I feel that I got to spend around seventy years with them. Nobody can take those years away from us. Nobody can ever take away that Alexander was my husband, that he was your Dad; nobody can ever ruin Rafael being our son and brother.” He gently stroked Max's back, who had his face pressed against Magnus' shoulder; he knew his son well enough to know that he fought with everything he had against the tears and was losing that fight. “Love hurts. And for centuries I locked myself off, just forbade myself from loving anybody. Those were the loneliest years of my life. Yes, I had Catarina, there was my friend Ragnor I told you stories about, but I thought being miserable now was not as bad as being heartbroken then. That was not true, at all.”

He cupped Max's face and locked eyes with his son. “Your Dad showed me what love is all about. And I am so happy for every second, because being with him gave me you and Rafael. And as much as it hurts, how can I be angry about having gotten to be a husband, a father? It was the best damn thing that could have happened to me.”

“And to us”, Max chuckled and wiped a tear from his cheek. “Without you, Rafe would have lived his whole life on the street and who knows where I would have ended up.”

“Maybe everything does happen for a reason”, Magnus smiled. He wasn't sure he believed that, but who knew... There could be a grain of truth in there.

“Maybe”, Max smiled. “Thanks, I feel so much better now.”

“Good.” Magnus leaned over and pressed a kiss against Max's forehead.

“Ok, then I'll let you get back to your cocktail”, he decided and got up, determination clear in his eyes.

“And where are you off to?”

“Well, there's something I need to do...” The way his cheeks flushed in deep purple, there was only one thing Max could be talking about.

“Uhm, no”, Magnus decided and motioned for Max to sit back down.

“What now?”

“You can't, not yet at least”, Magnus explained. “You need to wait until Christmas.”

“Why, so you can win your bet against Aunt Catarina?”, Max shot back with a raised eyebrow, a look he definitely had learned from his Dad.

“So you know about that, alright.” Now it was Magnus who blushed ever so slightly.

“Yes. Madzie and I know about that”, he deadpanned. “And we are not amused.”

“Sorry, son.”

“Yeah, well, you should be. Because somebody told me that no amount of pain and hardship can compare with the wonderfulness that is lo... Well, what might be there”, he corrected himself, blushing some more.

“Using my words against me... Not sure whether I should be proud or ground you”, Magnus grinned.

“I'm 112, you can't ground me anymore”, Max made clear, shot him a grin and strutted back into the building.

“Well, Alexander.” Magnus looked up at the sky, where he assumed his husband to be. “No need to worry about us. Max is doing just great. He's growing up to be a man just like his Dad and I know you couldn't be prouder. I'm really lucky to have him, he has been making my life worth living these last fifty years without you. Well, I should get back to our great-great-grandson's rune party. It's about damn time though; this institute has been living without an Alexander Lightwood for way too long.”

[aoibaratraveler]

A Look Back At My Time In Japan Part 1!

Time for some Japan nostalgia!

I was hoping to write this much sooner than now but between settling back after our road trip, finding a job and then finding time to organize my life during my days off has been difficult!

This will be part of a three semi-detailed/summarised blog looking back at what I can remember from living in Japan three years ago; since I was too much of a fool to document it back then but then again I was having the time of my life so that can be a good enough excuse I guess, right?

Part One will be my first month in Japan where I was living in Tokyo with a friend who graciously let me stay in her apartment. Part Two (and maybe three) will be my four months living, studying, and working in Nagasaki and Part Three (or 4) will be my hitch-hiking back-packing trip around Japan in what was my final month of my six months living there!

Pre-arrival/Arrival in Japan and First Impressions:

I was excited beyond belief that I was finally going to go live and explore Japan and be away from home for the first time. I was also super nervous, the preparation to study abroad was pretty intense for someone who had never done it before and for someone who had never gone through the paperwork of visa application, passport renewal and getting all the documents together for the study abroad application itself. Once that was settled though it was just the wait to be able to go (maybe I should write a simple how-to of my experience with the study abroad application and why I think every university student should do it?).  I purchased my departure ticket to be on 29th February 2016 which I thought was pretty cool since it’s not every day you get to fly on a leap year. About six months prior to this I had met up with a close friend of mine who was about to leave for a year to participate in the JET programme and she, we’ll call her L, invited me to stay with her for the month of March in Tokyo to sightsee and hang out before my study program would start in April and of course I took her up on it!

In the days leading up to my departure, I really went all out and planned my own going away party with all my friends and had the best time with an escape game, archery tag and a poutine party. The bf, who at that time was just a friend, met up with me beforehand and helped me pick out a bunch of Canadian souvenir type things to bring with me to Japan so I could give to my homestay family. It was a fantastic day and very special so I had no idea that on the day I was set to leave that one of my other close friends, A and the bf planned to sing me a going away song at the airport (to be clear, the bf didn’t actually sing, A did and he provided the music on his laptop and speakers). This tidbit may a bit unnecessary in my nostalgic walk down memory lane but it is just part of what made those six months some of the best times in my life.

Anyway, enveloped in jitters and excitement I boarded my plane to Japan to start my journey, or as the Japanese say “tabi” (旅). I flew into Haneda airport which is quite central to Tokyo and I then found myself squeezed into a sea of evening commuters on the metro. Unfortunately, when I got off the metro and proceeded to take the escalator out of the station…I dropped my suitcase down it and one of the wheels broke which made walking around Tokyo a tad difficult. At that time I hadn’t realized that there was free wifi pretty much everywhere in Tokyo and while trying to find my friend’s apartment…I got lost for about an hour. It was pretty funny and I wasn’t too worried, to be honest, but I did feel bad to be keeping my friend waiting. I found a payphone to try and call her to tell her what was happening but I ran out of change while on the call (had a bit of leftover change with me from when I had first vacationed in Japan two years prior). After a while of walking around and trying to follow google map’s offline directions, I found a koban (a small police station) and gave the police officer the address that I was trying to find. The police officer was very kind and accommodating and pulled out a map to show me where I was and where I was trying to go (which actually wasn’t too far away…I was walking in circles). He then copied down the address on a big piece of paper with some instructions and hailed a taxi for me since he figured it was late and I should just take a taxi which I didn’t mind. I got to my friend’s place in no time at all and settled myself in.

First Two Weeks in Tokyo:

In my first few days, I took out my Japanese textbooks so I could prepare myself and brush up on things to be ready for classes at my university in Nagasaki and because I was planning to be staying with a homestay family that could speak no English…..well, being that I am pretty much the queen of procrastination, those collected dust pretty fast. Since it was a small apartment and I had a suitcase and big travel rook sack with me, L’s sister advised me to just send it to my homestay to be stored there in the meantime. The Japanese postal service is amazing and although my suitcase was pretty big and heavy they had no problems with shipping it to my homestay in Nagasaki the same day.

L’s neighborhood was quite cute and quiet and super pleasant to explore. It was pretty suburban and away from the hustle and bustle of central Tokyo which I greatly appreciated. Since L had work, I often explored on my own and was able to borrow her sister’s bike to further acquaint myself with the area. One of the days I borrowed her sister’s bike, I rode to Arakawa river which is a huge river just outside central Tokyo. I brought my textbooks along and thought I would spend a quiet afternoon just revising next to the river. I didn’t. Instead I rode the bike along the river and took everything in. There were other people there on runs, some guys practicing skateboarding and an old man playing the saxophone. When I finally got around to sitting down and opening up my textbook, a friendly old man walked up to me and with a big smile on his face asked me what I was doing there and why I was in Japan. I told him and we had a pleasant conversation at the end of which he handed me a bag of something from his garden–I think basil? And then told me to enjoy Japan. I didn’t exactly know what to do with this bag so I just gave it to L’s sister who had been doing most of the cooking in L’s place to include in whatever dish she was next going to make.

In the following days, I did all the typical touristy stuff in that I spent an entire day at one point just walking to and around central Tokyo and taking as many artsy photos as I could manage with my old phone. I explored around the Tokyo Sky Tree, perused Sunshine city—definitely made sure to check out all the Ghibli and Sailor Moon items I could find and get a spectacular view from the 59th floor (the place has 60 floors but you have to pay from the 60th and I ain’t about that life).

At the end of my first week in Japan, I made my way to an Airbnb hostel where I would be spending the next 4 days. This place was pretty interesting and my first real hostel experience. Everyone there was really friendly and I became quite close with my roomie who was the embodiment of a stereotypical German woman in that she was tall, pretty, had long blonde hair and sky blue eyes. She was in Tokyo for a mini-vacation from where she had been staying in Hokkaido and basically just wanted a change of pace. We exchanged stories, shared a few laughs and went sightseeing together. We are both fans of anime so we decided to check out Akihabara and since neither of us wanted to go to one alone, we decided to go to a maid cafe…and boy was that an experience. Firstly, it was super expensive so props to the girls who work there because they probably make a ton of money but it was also just very awkward. The maids put on a performance and called us “master” and refused to take any orders for food from us unless we put our hands up to our faces like cat paws and said “nyaa nyaa” first. Afterward, we did the very cliche anime couple thing and went to ride a pedal boat at Ueno park; it was a very silly but funny day. In the following days at the hostel, the roomie and I explored Shibuya crossing, the Hachiko statue, the National Museum of Nature and Science in Ueno on a rainy day and went to a Pokemon center where I purchased a little Charmander souvenir for the bf (who was then just a friend). It was definitely a very cool little pocket of my time in Tokyo. I ended off my first two weeks in Tokyo by visiting the imperial palace and exploring the royal gardens and…..go to the Ghibli Museum! The Ghibli Museum was beyond impressive and I definitely teared up a bit to be there. It was so cool, we weren’t allowed to take any photos from inside but it was like being transported to another world. On top of the museum was a life-size statue of the robot from Castle in the Sky and inside the museum were all these cute little bits from the movie and a mini theatre where you could watch original Ghibli film shorts. There was also a lovely gift shop with so many beautiful items like illustrated postcards; I purchased a lovely illustrated postcard of the Ghibli museum during the day…which I inevitably misplaced (I’m terrible, I lose everything).

Second Two Weeks:

I met up with a Japanese friend who I had met in Vancouver and we went for a day trip to explore Kawagoe also known as “Little Edo”. I say day trip but really it wasn’t until I got there that I realized that Google had lied to me when I searched best day trips from Tokyo because as lovely as Kawagoe was, it wasn’t worth a “day trip” because it was so small that it could be done in an hour or two! It was really quite funny, to be honest. It was very pretty and had loads of old-style architecture from the Edo period, hence where it got its nickname but there wasn’t all that much to do and a bit expensive to get to so after a couple of hours of walking around and trying to make our money’s worth of the train ticket to get there we decided to head to the next biggest spot to explore; Yokohama. Yokohama was definitely very fun and vibrant and the Chinatown there was great. We snacked on a bunch of samples and enjoyed the pretty night lights of the area. It was certainly a day with a lot of contrast.

The next day was great because the next day L and I headed to Taiwan! L managed to get a week off and so we thought why not explore Taipei during that time and get a little break from Tokyo. I, unfortunately, did not know the geography of the city too well and when I booked the Airbnb it ended up being too far from the centre of Taipei city and hence too far from any convenient connections to explore outside of Taipei PLUS we went right in the middle of the rainy season so it was a bit difficult to do any fun outdoorsy things. We still made the most of our time there and had a lot of fun. We ate at a few night markets and tried a lot of food, explored the area near our Airbnb, visited a cafe that was owned by a family friend of L’s and went to the National Palace Museum which housed tons of historical artifacts from China, it was pretty grand. Even though we spent the last two days of our trip sick in bed I’d still go back to Taiwan again to explore more of what the country has to offer and try more of the food!

Last Week in Tokyo + Night in Fukuoka:

I spent the majority of my last week in Tokyo just chillin’ really and preparing for my departure to Nagasaki, although I did go with L and her sister to do some lesser-known sightseeing in parts of Ginza and did the obligatory visit to the Tsukiji fish market to taste a delicious array of food. As well as some egg on a stick. Good stuff. The last bit of sightseeing that I can remember for that week was in two really interesting parts of Tokyo that not many people think to visit when they explore the city (well this was back then, it seems to have gotten a lot more popular now) known as Yanaka and Nezu.  These two neighborhoods make up what used to be Tokyo old downtown and have really kept their old-timey style. Walking through these neighborhoods felt like taking a trip back to the Show era of Japan and walking through the Yanaka cemetery felt very mysterious and cool. I gotta be honest though, as pretty as these places were, I mostly remember them because of the delicious beef korokke and taiyaki that I had there. 10/10. I’m only in part one of my nostalgia blogs but I’m telling you now that I basically ate my way through Japan.

So it was my final night before heading to Narita airport for my flight to Fukuoka and what did I decide to do? Laundry. Except L didn’t have a dryer and the weather wasn’t warm enough for my clothes to be dried fast enough to pack them up and I’m not sure what exactly happened but I think I broke the washer or something because for some reason the water didn’t drain so it wouldn’t have mattered if she had a dryer because my clothes were soaked. With only an hour to go before I had to be out of her apartment (L was asleep and I had decided to just not sleep that night since my flight was so early and I had to leave her apartment at 5 am), I wrung the clothes out as best I could, packed them in the new suitcase that I purchased in Taiwan to replace the one that I sent to Nagasaki with the wheel I had broken on my first day in Tokyo and was off. L’s place wasn’t far from the train station and I arrived 20 minutes before the first train of the day so I decided to go grab some breakfast and use the toilet at the nearby 7/11. Many convenience stores in Japan have two floors and a seating area so it’s a really nice place to just chill for a bit if you’re waiting for a train. A bit dramatic but I’ll never forget this day for the sheer amount that happened in a single morning. So I said before that I thought I’d use the toilet before heading off for the train and I guess for the first and only time in my life, I left the door unlocked…well a construction worker walked in on me on the toilet because of course. I screamed, he screamed and then he awkwardly and for some reason, slowly, closed the door while I died of humiliation. Anyway, I finally hopped on the train to Narita with tears of humiliation still in my eyes and also simultaneously laughing at myself. There weren’t many people on the train thankfully but I’m sure I was still dubbed a crazy foreigner in the minds of the people that were on the train. Oh, by the way, I may not have kept a journal at the time in a technical manner of speaking but I did have a daily journal in the form of me texting the bf every day (again, he was just a good friend at this point) and sending him long messages of what I did every day. Having him to confide in all the time definitely helped me to not go insane, especially that day and especially since Japan is ahead of Canada so he was still awake at that point. Once I arrived at the airport, I was to be greeted by the news that my suitcase was too heavy to be checked in without having to pay an extra exuberant amount, why you may ask? Because my clothes were still frigging wet. Well, partially owing to that and the fact that I accidentally purchased a heavyweight suitcase in Taipei…oops. After some reorganization of my suitcase and bag and *ahem* throwing out some things that I no longer deemed necessary to my life, I was finally able to be checked in..rather late (everyone was waiting for me, what can I say? I was a mess). Pretty sure I cried in my sleep when I finally arrived at my seat on the plane and passed out.

It was a relief to finally arrive in Fukuoka and the airport was so close to the main train station! It only took about 7 minutes to get there. I obviously got there really early in the day so I walked around Hakata station and explored the area before meeting up with the rest of the people who were part of my exchange program for the Nagasaki University of Foreign Studies at the hotel that they were to be staying at and signing in to show that I had arrived. Now I said they were staying at that hotel because of course, I wouldn’t be. But don’t worry, this was by choice, why spend the equivalent of $80 somewhere when the true shoestring traveler way is to rough it up somewhere for little to nothing? It took a bit of searching but I managed to find a family restaurant that was open 24/7 and not too far from the hotel (although sadly had no wifi), left my big ol’ suitcase outside (yay for safe Japan) and headed inside for the night where I did my best to study for the whole night, order some food every now and then and eventually pass out for a couple of hours. The next day I met back up with the exchange group, boarded the bus to Nagasaki and headed to the university to meet my homestay family who I would be staying with for the next four months! (spoiler alert: my homestay mother was about an hour or two late to pick me up and I was, in fact, the last person to be picked up at the university…so yea the first of many reasons why my homestay experience was certainly an interesting one).

[cuttingmachine5-blog]

Buying a Laminating Machine

cutting machine

It could be confusing to know which often laminating machine to move for since there are many diverse models. Laminating equipment are available in various sizes, will vary prices and they have got different features also. An individual might like to receive a new laminating unit. Alternatively it is achievable to get some fantastic deals on made use of laminating machines, which are inside a great condition and may well have unused laminating video as well as pouches too.

cutting machine

Bag Laminators

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Roll Laminators

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USERNAME Laminating Machines

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Cheap Laminating Equipment

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[argylemikewheeler]

hey! idk if this prompt has been done/ won’t work, but i really just want pure unadulterated fluff between the twins richie and mike and them just lying around talking about life and trying to figure out how everything got so bad and just having brotherly moments and loving eachother like the soft boys they are

(this definitely works and i loved writing this)

The June before Will was taken lost, in the woods, The Wheeler’s sent only one of their twin sons to a family member in Maine. Richie had been having problems focusing– and much to a bigger complaint, keeping his mouth shut– and another parent in the neighborhood told them about a specialist in Derry to try and help him with his Attention Deficit Disorder, which Mike always thought was fake; that was just Richie.

Mike had never been away from his twin for longer than a few days, and he had his own reservations about the idea, while Richie was always screaming about how much he hated seafood. He was sent away later that week. By the time he returned the following December, he was a different brother than Mike had sent away.

Richie never slept well as it was, always up and reading or writing or telling jokes to Mike in the middle of the night, but since he had returned, he was restless. He turned over on his bed countless time, his quiet mumbling and groaning keeping Mike up. Their parents never suspected anything, Richie still able to keep his energy levels up to eleven and bouncing around the house, nearly breaking everything like he used to and proving their plan had failed. Mike had heard all the stories though. First, in Richie’s sleep, the boy muttering names that Mike remembered from letters, postcards, and phone calls. Eventually he got the full conscious story, trading his own adventure with Will and even introducing him to Eleven. All Richie kept saying is how much he fucking hated clowns.

Richie was asleep at the desk in their shared bedroom. Mike had been up in their room a moment before, stepping out to grab his campaign planning notebook, when he returned to find Richie asleep on his own hand. His face was slowly slipping out of his grip and his glasses were being pushed up by his knuckles. Mike sat on his bed and wrote quickly, letting Richie get the sleep his body had been begging him to get for the past month.

As if struck by lightning, Richie seized awake, gasping for air and screaming. Mike looked up slowly, finishing his sentence and not at all scared anymore.

“You okay?” He asked, placing his pen down. He spoke gently, knowing Richie was still waking up.

“Yeah.” Richie sighed, adjusting his glasses. “Peachy.”

“You’re safe here.” Mike assured him, although he had traded one evil for another.

“Yeah, I know.” He said, placing his glasses on his head to rub his eyes. “I just shouldn’t have made friends. I should have just been like you and shut myself up in my room for a year and played with myself.”

“Fuck you, Richie.”

“Believe me, there wasn’t any of that in Maine.” He said, situating his glasses back on his nose. “Apparently the impending fear of death really limp-dicks the whole town.”

“You are disgusting.” Mike said, rolling his eyes. “Forget I tried to be nice.”

“Aw, come on, Mike and Ike! Don’t turn sour on me!” He said, standing and flopping onto Mike’s bed. He was on his stomach, elbows on the bed and holding his head up as he peered into Mike’s notebook. “What are we drawing today?”

“I’m writing, Richie.” Mike explained, hating to disappoint Richie and his belief that the only thing teenage boys should be doodling in notebooks are “twigs and berries”.

“Anything steamy, loverboy?”

“No.” Mike laughed. “But it is to cheer Will up after everything. He always loves long campaigns.” Mike had been trying to make one long enough to last every day of Hanukkah coming up; even though Will would be home at night for his family’s celebrations, during the day Mike wanted him to be well occupied and happy. “He’s coming over all next week.”

“Oh yeah. That’s right. I have to call Stan after the first night.” Richie said. “Typically, I don’t call after the first night at all, amirite!” Mike rejected Richie’s high-five and continued to write in his notebook. Richie’s arm slapped down on the mattress, a quiet grumble proclaiming Mike a “fucking square”. Mike laughed quietly to himself as he attempted to draw an illustration to his idea beside the bullet point; Will was really far better at it.

“So how is everyone else?” Mike asked. “Bill? Bev? The gang?”

“Still s-s-stuttering.” Richie replied, resting his head on Mike’s outstretched leg. “Bev’s better. Last I heard she was calling her aunt to move across town. Eddie’s arm healed nice.”

“That’s good.” Mike said, nodding along. “He deserves having use of both hands back.” He laughed, remembering the stories Richie told of Eddie struggling to open his pill bottles and hold pencils.

“Yeah, my right hand’s getting pretty tired.” Richie said, snapping his fingers and pointing at Mike as he laughed

“What does he see in you again?” Mike asked, looking up from his work. “I mean, seriously?”

“Sorry not all of us have swing set fetishes, Michael. Some of us find love in crack houses.” Richie pretended to whip his hair back. They both began laughing before Richie placed his head back on Mike’s leg. Mike placed his book next to his face so they could both look at the pages at once. Richie was quiet and watched Mike scribble across the lines. “How the fuck did we get like this, Mike?”

“Like what?” Mike continued, poking his brother’s nose with his pen. “You’re always like this. Not even Mom and Dad’s attempted normalcy therapy did anything.”

“Let me make the jokes there, Michael.” Richie deadpanned.  “I meant like this.” He flopped his arm over Mike’s book and the other over the edge of the bed with an exaggerated sigh. “Fucking comparing the well-being of our friends because they are always, somehow, inching towards the goddamn grave.”

“I blame you.” Mike teased. “You’re the one who became besties with something that eats children.”

“I guess you’re right.” Richie sighed, settling his face in Mike’s leg. “I wish they never sent me up there sometimes, you know?”

“I know what you mean.” Mike agreed. Every time he saw Will suffering, he wished he had won the argument with his parents and played for another ten minutes, maybe then Will would have missed crossing paths with the Demogorgon and he wouldn’t have nightmares that consumed him even when he was awake. “But it happened, for better or for worse, I guess.” Mike closed his book and placed a hand on Richie’s head, smoothing out his hair. His fingers kept getting caught in his curls. “I mean, you made friends, right?”

“Yeah.” Richie agreed, reaching up to take his glasses off. He placed them on top of Mike’s book. “I guess so.”

“I mean, Eddie’s pretty cool, right? You won’t shut up about him long enough to brush your teeth.” Mike teased.

“Your point, wise ass?” Richie asked, squinting and looking up at his brother.

“You’ve got some things to be happy about, right?” Mike shrugged. “Six things, technically.”

“Ugh, do you have to be so right all the time?” Richie groaned, closing his eyes. “Just be bleak about something for like, a fucking day, Mike. Jesus.” Mike laughed again and kept smoothing Richie’s hair. There was so much of it, but so little style.

“Oh! You know what I’ve been forgetting to tell you about?” Mike gasped, already beginning to laugh softly. “The week we spent hanging out with Steve Harrington.”

“Steve?” Richie echoed. “Isn’t he the guy with hair like a rooster?”

“The very same.” Mike agreed. “He and Nancy had a thing for a while. So he was around a bit. Being semi-helpful.”

“He got the shit kicked out of him, didn’t he?” Richie guessed, chuckling. “That guy looks too pretty to fight.”

“First a rooster, now he’s pretty?” Mike laughed, grabbing his brother’s head and shaking it back and forth jokingly.

“Well, cock and pretty are synonyms, right?” Richie laughed, reaching up to grope at Mike’s hands, trying to loosen his grip. “Come on, that’s funny, Mike!”

“How did Aunt Ruth not actually kill you last summer?” Mike asked, finally releasing Richie’s face and letting it rest back on his leg. “I mean, she doesn’t even like it when Mom says ‘God’ in the house. Let alone you talking about genitals every few minutes.”

“I mostly stayed at the arcade, honestly.” Richie confessed. “I’d go from school, to therapy, to the arcade, then roll into bed long after they had gone to sleep. I just avoided them the whole time.”

“You did?” Mike asked, placing his hand back in Richie’s hair. Aunt Ruth always called every other week and told stories about Richie’s progress and his behavior around the house. Mike didn’t know it was all a lie. He had assumed Richie had told him everything.

“Yeah, I was only going to make them miserable.” Richie didn’t seem to be upset by the truth about himself. He shrugged and closed his eyes again, looking like he was ready for another promising nap. “But, between Stan and Bill I always had somewhere to be.”

“Why didn’t you tell Mom?” Mike asked. As much as Richie kept saying he didn’t like eating seafood and would “starve” if he went to Maine, Mike always knew there was a grain of truth to his strong refusal to go. Mike just didn’t think it had anything to do with feeling like he didn’t belong with his own family.

“Right. Like I’d tell her that her own sister thinks I’m a fucking nudge.” Richie laughed coldly. “And you’re going to tell her you had a goddamn government grade mutant in the basement because she could find your friend in an alternate dimension.”

“That’s different.”

“It’s the exact same.” Richie countered. “Mom would laugh at both things and tell us we’re crazy and to shut up– or at least she says that last part to me.” He cracked his eyes back open if only to roll them before closing them over again.

“Well now you’re home.” Mike soothed, petting Richie’s hair again. He was hoping he’d fall asleep again, even though Mike was losing feeling in his leg from Richie’s weight pressing on his knee. He wanted his brother to get some sleep. Maybe being next to him would ease his panic that he had been left in that weird well-hosting house.

“Hey, Mike?” Richie mumbled, words slurring with sleep.

“Yeah, Rich?”

“‘Re you gonna get mad if I drool on your leg?”

“No.” Mike laughed, carefully opening his book and picking up his pen. “I won’t be mad.”

“Okay okay cool okay.” He mumbled, curling his legs into his body and settling his head against Mike’s leg. “Cool.”

“Hey, Mike?” He said again.

“Yeah.”

“Thanks.”

“For what?” Mike asked as if he was asking a child. He laughed at the innocence in Richie’s voice as he tried to write again.

“Thanks.” Richie repeated. “Thanks, Mike.”

“Okay, you better stop talking before you embarrass yourself.” Mike shushed his brother, keeping his hand in Richie’s hair but stopping the movement. “Get some sleep, Rich.”

“Be here when I wake up?” Richie asked, his hand reaching up and grabbing Mike’s resting in his hair. Mike couldn’t go anywhere with all of Richie’s weight resting over his leg, but he assured him he would be. “Okay.” He said with a sigh, his body falling lax as he sighed. “Don’t do anything weird.”

“Does that mean I can’t draw on your face?” Mike giggled, dragging the cap of his pen over Richie’s cheek. “I can draw a pretty wonky looking flower.” Mike pretended to already be drawing, sticking his tongue out of his mouth with faux concentration.

“Yeah, no.” Richie said, fingers curling around Mike’s hand. “Your flowers always look like weird vaginas.”

“They do not!” Mike argued, gasping.

“Yeah, they do. You wouldn’t know, of course.” Richie laughed, peeking through squinted eyelids again. “But they totally do. Don’t.”

“Fine.”

Mike sighed and let Richie feel accomplished by his insult, eyes closing again and his body leaning into Mike’s legs. He’d get some deserved sleep, and Mike could get some peace and quiet to finish his campaign. They’d have a few moments away from their family, people clueless to their secrets. They’d have a few moments to be kids, just two regular kids enjoying winter break. They’d be normal again, just for an hour. They’d be average. Except one of them was getting a weird-looking flower all over his face.

ao3

[x-samdrew-x]

Bluedot 2017

Day two: So, what an amazing sight seeing a big dish right in front of you as you wake up in the middle of a field. Its like a whole new world, which is funny because after all, this is a science and music festival based at one of the most famous observatories in the world. 

First on the agenda.. Bacon butties!! :D with our choice of sauce. Ketchup or BBQ... Tricky choice. Whilst eating, we refreshed ourselves by having some very nice thirst quenching juice. Apple for Andrew, Orange for Sam... haha! Just kidding.. we both had orange this time. Shock horror! :o  After breakfast, a quick toilet stop, before heading off for more exploration. The planet field. We witnessed a Jedi fight. We watched Jedi wannabes, training for the future space wars, yet to happen.  Next, we both took it in turns play a very scientific game, we had goggles over our eyes that altered our vision to make it difficult to through a ball into a bag from distance. It was a draw, typical.. Next we headed off to get some lunch in the form of crepes. Andrew had a Banoffee whilst Sammy stuck with a favourite and had White chocolate and raspberry. :D We sat down on the grass in the burning sun, overlooking the Lovell telescope. What a magnificent sight and experience. After lunch, we decided to look at the pop up book shop, while watching an author reading to a few people. He didn't look familiar to us. After this, we had a stroll down a pathway that led to even more scientific stalls and exhibits, all while having a large telescope watching us - The Lovell telescope. We held rock that was very much like moon rock and we held parts of meteorites all while collecting postcards. After this we looked through a smaller telescope (much smaller) that was designed to look at the sun only. We even saw how graphine was made. We decided to be childish, because well, you only live once (Oh, dear me, Yolo!) We decided to make something called a polsar out of a polystyrene ball, pipe cleaners, paper and felt tip pens. After this, we decided to buy a little something  for ourselves to remember the weekend. We then bought another drink, and decided to go and explore near the Lovell stage. There were lots and lots of food stalls and a few bars and gift shops. We stayed here for a while sitting down somewhere and had another drink (No we didn't just sit down and have drinks all weekend, we swear, It was a hot sunny weekend.. :) ) After passing an hour or two away, we thought it was best to think about tea. We decided to get chips. Andrew had cheesy chips, and Sammy had Chips with Ketchup (Yummy!) while watching Warpaint perform on the stage. After tea, and a very...interesting performance, went over to see a Whovian comedian in one of the other tents. “For love of Doctor Who” by Toby Hadoke, which was hilarious. Laughing or sonic screwdrivers and psychic paper away. Always remember ‘Bow ties are cool!!’  After this brilliant comedy act, it was time for the last act, the main music performance on the main stage, ALT-J. This was the cherry on top of the weekend (okay, not literally..). This was a truly out-of-this-world performance, getting everyone up on their feet, dancing and singing away with some truly catchy and amazing tunes. (Well, others danced away, but we cuddled. Everyone say... “AWWW”, Alright, don't then..) haha!  This was a truly Awesome experience. It has blown our minds. Thank you Bluedot and Sky at Night for this truly amazing opportunity to go to our first ever festival. 

[withabackpackandcamera]

November 30th, 2019

Day 9: Sprinting Through London’s Tourist Scene In One Day’s Time

After some cold and jam-packed days, our bodies were really feeling it and because we were so tired, even though we had every intention of waking up early, we didn’t get out of bed and out of the AirBnB until around noon or so. So much for making the most of our last day…

The sun was out today once again. Nice! On our way to the closest train station that would take us to Covent Gardens for lunch, we stopped by Lendenhall Market to take a look at the cool architecture. We also stopped by the taped-off area of Monument Station to take a look at the area undergoing investigations from yesterday’s horrific incident before finally taking the train to lunch at Battersea Pie Station in Covent Garden. 

This was our last day and London and our first day of really eating London people food! And for lunch were savory pies! At Battersea Pie Station, we ordered a small chicken and mushroom pie and the most popular minced beef and onion pie with a side of mashed potatoes and gravy. Delicious! Though not very well balanced (i.e. no vegetables). 

After finishing our meal, we walked around Jubilee Market and its stalls before strolling off towards Trafalgar Square. Today, we actually saw the square during the daylight and it was a huge and beautiful square! So much larger than the squares we have back home in the States! By many-fold! At Trafalgar Square, we briefly walked through the Christmas market as we slowly made our way back toward Big Ben and Westminster Bridge for sunset photos. At this point, the sky was starting to look nice enough for photos. But, of course, Big Ben was still under construction and not looking ready for photos. Despite that, I stopped to take some brief photos of Big Ben from across the bridge before stopping by Pret a Manger with Cynthia for some warm matcha latte and a quick escape from the cold. 

The sun slowly set and by the time we left the cafe, it was dark once again. We walked back across Westminster Bridge and dropped by Big Ben and a closed Westminster Abbey on our long walk toward Buckingham Palace. Once we were at Buckingham Palace, we looked at it for a short bit in the dark, were unimpressed, and left for the Winter Wonderland in Hyde Park. The walk to Hyde Park was cold and far and crowded. By the time we made it to the outskirts of the park, we had to walk under streets and past crowds to get to the park, only to realize that the Winter Wonderland was way too crowded and not worth visiting for vacationers who didn’t want to wait in line. 

So we pushed our way through the hundreds and hundreds of people in the area as we made our way out of the area. Because the closest Tube station was closed (probably due to heavy traffic), we found ourselves walking down Oxford Street, a crazy, busy, shopping street lined with big stores and shops, reminiscent of the shopping districts in NYC. We walked down the very long and crowded Oxford Street for what seemed like forever before finally escaping the crowds. By this time, we had dropped by a few souvenir shops for some small gifts and postcards before making our way to our dinner destination at Bonnie Gull - Seafood Shack in SoHo. 

As we walked into Bonnie Gull’s, we realized that this restaurant we had found for fish and chips was a little fancier than we had thought (it had enough room to fit like 20 people, with about 8-10 people at the bar). And that they usually took reservations only. Luckily for us, there was room to fit us in without a reservation on a Saturday night. Sweet! So we sat at the bar, enjoying the nice ambiance and feel of the small, intimate restaurant. After looking through the menu, we were set to order. The whole reason for picking this place was because of its fish and chips. So fish and chips we ordered. We also added in an order of broccolini and ham and cheese croquettes. All of which were so, so, so delicious! ESPECIALLY the perfectly cooked fish and chips with homemade ketchup and tartar sauce served in oyster shells. So good! 

We left the restaurant very pleased with our meal and set out on a journey to find Squirms (really good sour gummy worms) for my brother before stopping by somewhere for dessert. We stopped by various grocery stores in the area and failed multiple times before finally giving up, realizing that it wasn’t meant to be. This journey took us a little out of the way from where we needed to be so we had to take a longer-than-needed walk back to get to dessert for the evening at Chicken Shop. Because Cynthia was really craving a sweet pie for dessert, she looked all around and ultimately found a restaurant called Chicken Shop (a Portuguese chicken place similar to Nando’s but fancier) that had rave reviews about their apple pie. So we decided to give it a try. And since we already had dinner, we just ordered a single order of their Deep-Filled Apple Pie for dessert. And it was delicious! Yum! 

After dessert, our energy levels started to dip dramatically, especially with the cold weather wearing on us. So instead of trying to fit in more adventures, we called it a night and searched for the easiest route home. We looked through our options and finally decided on taking a red double decker bus home as it was a straight shot home. It took us a while to figure out which bus to take and where to take it from but we managed to find it after some running around in multiple directions. And when we finally got on one, I thought to myself…. It’s kind of neat to finally ride one of the iconic red double decker buses of London! 

The ride back to Shoreditch was smooth overall (except for the part where we had to sit in traffic for a little while). Cynthia and I didn’t mind since we were tired and cold and didn’t have any other plans for the evening. After about 30 minutes or so, we finally got to our Boxpark stop in Shoreditch. Because we were hungry, we thought we’d stroll through Boxpark looking for an open restaurant for a quick snack. Unfortunately, this late in the night, the whole Boxpark upper level dining area had been turned into a beer hall and night lounge with no open restaurants in sight. So we walked home and proceeded to figure out where we could get some food before it was too late. 

After a little bit of searching, we found out that Boxpark had one restaurant, Voodoo Ray’s, that was still open and serving pizza! So we called over to confirm that they had some pizza left. Because they still had a limited supply left and were running out quickly, I ran down from the condo to secure us two very large slices of pepperoni, jalapeno, and bell pepper pizzas for our midnight snack. And boy was it delicious! So good! And the perfect snack to end our day and trip on! 

The rest of the night consisted of warming up, cleaning up, and packing up for our early departure back to the U.S. in the morning. Though today was a short day, it was a productive day, or, at least, as productive a day as we could have had on our last day of the trip. Sorry London, I know two days isn’t enough to see much of you. We’ll definitely have to come and visit again soon! Hopefully when it’s warmer out! 

5 Things I Learned Today:

1. In some restaurants, you have to PAY EXTRA to sit in and eat in a restaurant. And you pay less to take-out…. WHAAAA??

2. From my observations, it seems as though alcohol and open bottles are allowed on the streets of London. Everywhere I walk, I see people just drinking their alcohol outside. Supposedly, if you’re older than 18 years old, you can drink alcohol in public as long as it’s in a place that does not prohibit public alcohol consumption. And very commonly, when bars and pubs are full, people and their alcohol spill out onto the street and public spaces right in front of the bar, where customers continue to socialize and drink. 

3. Big Ben stands 96m high and is 12m squared in area. There are 11 floors and 399 steps to top of Big Ben. Interestingly enough, in order for Big Ben to accurately tell time, parliament clockmakers have to wind Big Ben’s clock mechanism three times per week so that it can accurately tell time. And what I learned later on is that when there are slight discrepancies between Big Ben’s clock and actual time, clockmakers use old English penny weights to help adjust the speed of the pendulum in the clock tower (by changing its center of gravity and, therefore, swing speed) to allow it to slow down or swing faster, thus leading to faster or slower moving clock hands. 

4. Buckingham Palace is smaller and less grand than I thought. And Buckingham Palace guards are nowhere to be seen at night (or I completely missed them). 

5. Oxford Street is like the big shopping streets in NYC and Hyde Park is sort of like Central Park! Again, so many more resemblances to NYC than I expected.

[3monthsineurope]

September 23, 2019

Monday morning was an early one! I woke up at 5:45 and took a shower one last time in our nice hotel. Ingvar took a shower, too, and we finished packing up our bags. It was time to hit the road for Venice! We checked out of the hotel, then walked the 15 minutes to our metro stop. Unfortunately, we could not use a scooter with all out our bags, haha! We hopped on the metro and made it to HBF. Ingvar grabbed some breakfast for us and I grabbed a few postcards, and all of a sudden it was time to get on our train, like now! We hurried to our platform and found our correct wagon. Some people were sitting in our seats, even though we had reservations? There was tons of empty seats, though, so we just sat at a table with one older man.

Our train was to Verona, then transferring to Venice. Our first train was over five hours, so we had a lot of time! Ingvar and I snoozed, me for about three hours, and two for Ingvar. That was super nice! I did my makeup and wrote, and we both listened to music or podcasts. The day was super dreary, rainy and gray. The country side of Germany and Italy sure is beautiful, though!

At Verona we each had a large slice of pizza and waited for our train to Venice. It was running 15 minutes late, so we had a 45 minute “layover”. We just hung out on the platform, waiting for the train. Our train to Venice was just over an hour. Ingvar listened to podcasts and I listened to some annoying Americans talk super loudly, haha. Coming into Venice was super cool, because we were on a bridge from the mainland to the island(s) of Venice, for a while!

It was still really dreary, but we were happy to be in Venice! Once we got off the train, we bought our tickets for Lake Como on Wednesday. We headed outside and got our 48 hour ferry pass. It’s expensive to use the ferries—€7.50 for a single ride. Our pass was €30, so we were gonna get some good use out of it! We hopped on the route that the hostel suggested, and rode around the outside of Venice. We passed our stop, only to realize we were on an express version of our route! Ugh. We got off the ferry at San Marco, the main square in Venice. We walked to a different stop and got the advice of a ferry worker, and got on the right route, 4.2. Phew! This second ride was only about five minutes to our stop, Zitelle.

We got off the ferry and walked maybe three minutes to our hostel, Generator Venice. The ground floor is super swanky! There’s a bar/cafe, with tons of comfy couches. Ingvar and I were assigned to room 200, so we headed up. I let Ingvar have the bottom bunk in the corner, and I had a top bunk nearby. We looked up our important stuff and left our clothes unlocked in the under the bed lockers, and settled in for a bit. Ingvar wasn’t feeling very well, still, so he stayed at the hostel, while I explored a little around our island, Giudecca. I walked towards one end and found a navy base. I walked the width of the island and could look out to is island of Lido, which Mom and I had to transfer through, to our island Pellestrinia, when we stayed in 2014. I saw some cute little cafes where locals were hanging out, and laundry hanging off people’s balconies. This was a really small island, with only a few places to eat and only one gelato place! I definitely got some chocolate and fruit of the forest gelato. I walked towards the end of our island, enjoyed the view, then went back to the hostel.

Ingvar was feeling a little better, so we decided to get some pasta. We went to a place nearby and sat outside. Ingvar had spaghetti with meat sauce, and I had spaghetti carbonara, which is one of my faves! We also had Aprol Sptitz’s, which is a typical Italian drink. It was okay, but neither of us loved it. The food was super tasty, though! And we watched the sunset, which was really beautiful. We walked around and I showed Ingvar some of the places I had found. It was a cute little island, definitely local, and way more calm than the main islands of Venice.

After walking around for a bit, we called it a night and headed back to the hostel. I took a shower, since they were free at the moment. They bathroom situation was not good at this hostel! There were two toilets and two showers for the girls, with at least 8 rooms of up to 14 guests! Come on, that’s not enough. And there wasn’t even much space in the bathroom. My shower was warm though, which was nice after the chilly day. We both got ready for bed. I lounged around on my phone for a bit and Ingvar watched some soccer, and I fell asleep around 10. It wasn’t too busy of a day, but we were wiped from the long train from Munich. :]