#parking lots fuckign everywhere

[creed-of-cats]

- Fyodor Dostoevsky, Crime and Punishment

Men standing with pile of buffalo skulls, Michigan Carbon Works, Rougeville 1892. (Burton Historical Collection, Detroit Public Library) // A dust storm engulfs the residents of Tyrone, Oklahoma. Taken during the Dust Bowl crisis, April 14, 1935 // Firemen stand on a bridge over the Cuyahoga River to spray water on the tug Arizona, as a fire, started in an oil slick on the river, sweeps the docks at the Great Lakes Towing Company site in Cleveland Nov, 1st // America's Suburban Experiment

[applestorms]

EVANGELION.

context: i just (as in, within an hour of beginning this post) finished watching evangelion, including both the tv series & the end of evangelion the movie. i have not read the manga, or watched any of the remake (?) movies yet (though i plan to shortly). my brain is thus running at like mach 10 rn trying to keep all of these thoughts in order, so to preserve these initial reflections while they're still fresh, here is the evangelion post. no worries if you're following me for other stuff, we'll be back to regular programming soon enough, but i can't let this shit stew on my own for much longer.

SUMMARY: 7 sections, on agency, sartre, shounen expectations, freud & generational trauma, queer shit, hope, & anime budgets. obvious spoiler warning.

1. agency (does shinji actually have any choices?)

this idea is one of the first to stand out to me while watching, and was also the most personally satisfying to watch develop since it only gained relevancy throughout the series + held major significance in EoE.

essentially: every single time that shinji has a "darkest hour" moment throughout the series, typically revolving around him not wanting to fight/kill/destroy/etc. while piloting the eva, someone around him will tell him that it is his decision whether or not he wants to continue fighting. most often this person is misato, though there is also an instance of kaji doing it in the later part of the show. significantly, while this "choice" is always framed as a decision that shinji himself is allowed to make, to join their forces and fight or not, it is very clearly not actually a decision at all- even ignoring the obvious...emotional stress of telling a 14 year old that he can either get back in the goddamn robot no matter how traumatizing it is to him and fight or single-handedly cause the extinction of humanity, shinji can never truly leave nerv and this only becomes more apparent the more time that passes.

that's all quite obvious in my mind, but what's notable here is the progression, both in terms of how the decision itself is presented to him, and how the continual fake-out of giving shinji any actual agency carves at his psyche.

in terms of the first, it is very clear, above all else, that shinji absolutely does not want to fight in the fuckign robot, which is demonstrated through the fact that every single time he is given the "choice" to leave, he takes it and runs away, no matter how dire the situation is. shinji does not want to be a shounen protagonist, dammit, but time and time again he is dragged back into the same position and, most importantly, taught that his choices mean nothing. from the first few episodes where he runs away from home, to EoE where misato drags him through a parking lot and throws him into an elevator while telling him to fight, time and time again shinji's agency is violently taken away from him in the name of the continuation? transformation? of humanity, and i think that from his complete lack of desire to do literally anything in EoE we can tell he is aware of this.

what's really significant about all of this, then, is the way that this message influences the few instances where shinji actually does have some semblance of agency. in particular, i'm thinking about the gay angel (THE GAY ANGEL) and the ending of EoE.

so, first: the gay angel. kaworu. i say "semblance of agency," since shinji is kind of just given the same decision here as everywhere else, but this one is presented pretty & executed (ouch) pretty differently so i wanna talk about it.

kaworu is a very different character from everyone else in the cast for the primary reason that he is not particularly caught up in his own bullshit. he shows up at a time when shinji basically has no one (the trust "darkest hour" of the whole series, really) and is notable in that he openly and easily gives him love and time when no one else is really able to. this could in part be attributed to his status as an angel, but i think it goes further too- more on this in the section about generational trauma.

anyways, the decision to kill kaworu is phrased very differently from the previous "choices" offered to shinji by misato. rather than telling shinji that he has a choice in the same vague terms as before, to fight or not fight, kaworu kinda just tells him straight up- either he can kill kaworu, the one person who mutually loves and cared for him at a time when literally no one else was able to and thereby give humanity a chance at continuation, or he can hold off and let kaworu live but cause the destruction he has been pulled into staving off for the entire series. loneliness or annihilation- those are shinji's two choices here, and kaworu is very open about which one he prefers, citing the good that humanity has brought forward. i actually think that misato is wrong in her interpretation of this scene (lots of misato slander here whoops, i swear i love her)- kaworu isn't offering up his life here out of a lack of care for himself, but rather an overwhelming care for shinji as an individual and humanity as a collective.

from shinji's perspective though, this is basically the same agonizing moral dilemma he has been forced to "decide" for the last 16 angels, and he knows by this point what the answer is supposed to be. it's what's so truly tragic about this moment to me- even if kaworu meant this to be a genuine decision for shinji to make, accepting the consequences of his choice fully either way, shinji was never going to be able to see it that way after having the "correct" answer forced upon him again and again. he might be able to scramble for a justification in the aftermath, rationalizing it as his own (supposedly) disgusting need for validation, but he was never actually allowed to decide any other way and he knows it. even if shinji would ultimately choose in favor of the continuation of humanity & continue fighting, the decision itself is so tainted* by this point that it doesn't really matter, since no one could ever really know the truth.

*(this lack of a decision could also be attributed to an inability for anyone to truly trust shinji- see section 2 on sartre for more on this dissonance.)

there is, however, one instance where shinji truly is given an actual choice, which coincidentally also includes kaworu but also rei at the end of EoE. here the choice is a bit different though, instead being between the continuation of humanity in its collective, gelatinous blob state or broken back up into separate entities.

since humanity has already been eradicated (hey callback to kaworu's presence marking the ultimate end of humanity, he came back for more than just to comfort shinji & be a thematic parallel to denote his "true" choices), i think shinji is able to view this decision much more clearly and thus seems a lot more satisfied with his ultimate choice. there's a lot of nuances to this of course, as evidenced by the ending with asuka, but past that i think the fact that both the tv series & EoE end with shinji coming to some sort of satisfied (if mostly theoretical) conclusion that seems to leave him with a marginally happier emotional state is pretty meaningful, especially considering just how little emotional development these characters go through in general (see sections 3 & 4).

what's particularly satisfying about all this though is the fact that shinji seems to actually engage with this idea himself in one of previously mentioned conclusions. the ending of the tv show is essentially just shinji realizing that he does in fact have agency and has had it all along, even if not in the biggest/most overwhelming situations he was forced into. personally, i read this as shinji not only becoming consciously aware of his own learned helplessness, but also the fact that he has actually been making decisions for himself all along and is able to continue doing so, that he can take back his agency for himself through the conscious decision to keep making meaningful connections with others- a very beauvoirean conclusion, which is gonna become real significant real fast as we get into this next section. up next: sartre.

2. sartre (shinji/asuka/rei as no exit, ft. good place parallels)

no exit is a 1944 existentialist play written by the french philosopher jean-paul sartre. in it, three people (two women, & one man, by the names of estelle, inez, and garcin) are sent to hell and locked in a room together, destined to torture one another for the rest of eternity. the most well known line from it is likely "Hell is other people," a conclusion the character garcin comes to near the end of the play as the group realizes the truth of their circumstances.

there are some obvious connections here- the three main characters from no exit pretty easily map onto the three main pilots (estelle -> asuka, garcin -> shinji, and more lightly inez -> rei). the cycle of torture even follows as well, with a possible interpretation of the pilots' dynamic being that asuka tortures shinji (see section 5; tldr it's all the degradation), rei tortures asuka (her silence heightening asuka's insecurities), and shinji tortures rei (less obvious, but hinted at through things like rei's emotional attachment to shinji which seems to at least scare her for how strange it is).

past that though, the sartrean elements of this story become super fucking clear in the last few episodes, coming down to two big ideas that shinji frets over: freedom as a curse, and hell as other people.

the "condemnation of freedom," idea is kind of tied up with the whole shinji agency thing discussed in section 1, and since i don't think i can elaborate on it much more here without doing a whole deep dive on the philosophy, i'll just focus on the second idea, especially since it's one of the emotional cores that the story revolves around.

the idea that "hell is other people," as stated by garcin in the original play really comes down to one main factor and that is the dissonance between how we view ourselves & how other people view us. in the show, this is presented through the hedgehog allegory (also related to western philosophy but i know sartre better so i'm gonna keep talking about him here) and the idea that in the process of getting closer to one another we also hurt each other more, but i think the sartrean idea lends a bit more light onto the whole conflict of perspectives thing that the hedgehog idea along misses out on.

it's pretty clear imo that shinji has some kind of social anxiety, or at the very least is dealing with a lot of the normal anxiety that comes with growing up and beginning to desire validation (from your peers, from your guardians, etc.). the entire point of EoE as a film and seemingly the very basis for the concept of AT fields is the idea that humanity is separate, with individual humans never being able to truly connect with one another. ignoring the more esoteric & absurd ways this is portrayed in-movie, this idea is pretty easy to get on board with- relationships change over time, people fight and become close and fall apart, and that is largely just a natural fact of life. again, the inability to accept this fact is going to be examined more in section 4, but i think shinji is key in connecting the hedgehog thing to sartre.

near the end of EoE, when everyone is getting exploded into orange goop and melted into the human soup, it is notable that the way everyone gets incorporated is by a rei transforming into the person that they seem to have wanted to connect with the most (shinji's dad with his mom, but also maya w/ akagi and hyuga w/ misato), again tying back to that theme of desiring a more "true"/deeper connection between people. at the end of the tv series, however, this is slightly different due to the look we get into shinji's mind. specifically, shinji doesn't just desire a relationship (platonic, romantic, and/or sexual) or validation from other people, but is caught up in the way that he is perceived by others. the separation between people is thus torturous to him not in how it means he can't truly connect with other people, but in how he can't control the ways that other people view or understand or react to him.

i think this is a part of why shinji seems to have a much easier time with his end decision in EoE- despite all the underlying freudian psychosexual development shit that permeates through some of the weirder parts of NGE, shinji seems to me to care a lot more about how other people view him than the specific types of connections he is able to make, e.g. he still considers his relationship with asuka to be a key point of meaning in his life, despite how turbulent/messy it is. for a kid who struggled with social interactions a lot growing up, any deeper connection is pretty meaningful to him by this point, and it shows. this also could be attributed to being a part of the greater influence of kaworu, as the fact that he cared so deeply and so meaningfully about shinji (and the opposite as well) may have been proof to him that any "deeper" connections aren't really necessary or worthwhile, even before he got mixed up into the people soup.*

*ALSO: didn't think about this until later, but there's also the whole process of connecting with the evas that the pilots have to go through to think about here.

**ALSO 2: if you didn't already know, the good place is also very overtly based on no exit. this means there's actually a kinda random parallel between tgp & evangelion in that they both happen to add a fourth individual through the introduction of a fourth dude (jason & kaworu respectively) that mixes shit up even more. neat.

so, speaking of the various endings:

3. the ending does make some sense, actually (dropping shounen expectations)

one of the things that i was most impressed by while watching evangelion, especially around the mid-point of the tv series around the time that asuka is introduced, is the fact that they were able to make what would otherwise be pretty standard anime fan service a genuinely meaningful part of the story's underlying themes, in particular those related to the freud shit (getting there soon, i promise) but also just the general connections to biology and humanity and development.

i don't think evangelion should be watched or understood like a traditional shounen show, and in fact it kind of goes against the underlying emotional core of story to try and force that kind of reading onto it. like, okay, take shinji for example- like i said a couple sections back, one of shinji's key character traits is the fact that he doesn't want to be a fucking shounen protagonist and hates being forced into that position, but keeps getting dragged back to nerv and EVA 01 anyway.

i think it's notable that the few moments where shinji has what might be considered a "traditional" epic shounen hero moment could very easily be read as not even being shinji's own actions in the first place, but the eva itself due to them 1. not showing shinji's face during the moment, just his fear before and trauma after, and 2. being motivated by shinji's extreme fear, giving more of the vibe of a mother protecting her child than shinji making progress on his own.

none of the main cast really seem to go through any super significant character development throughout the entirety of both the show and movie, actually- the closest we get is whatever the hell rei was doing and the breakthroughs in thought that shinji has at the very very end of either production, but that's about it.

what i think makes this important is the fact that it points towards what the actual emotional core that the show centers around. what sets evangelion apart from other shounen shows, imo, is the fact that it takes a hard look at the apocalyptic world that it created and really takes the time to reflect on how that kind of trauma would actually influence its characters. i haven't seen a ton of in-depth negative reviews of the ending of NGE, but i'm guessing that a major factor in the potential frustration with the ending is the fact that it drops a lot of the overt plot elements in favor of more a more abstract look into shinji's mind. but i think that look is entirely the point of the ending- it was never really about the robots, or at least not by the end of the series, so the ending focuses on the emotional payoff of at least one character instead to find the barest glimmer of hope leftover.

this is part of why i find kaworu to be such a significant character- one of the key conclusions that shinji seems to come to at the end of the tv series is the idea that "you have to love yourself in order to love other people," but i actually don't know if that's entirely true or even demonstrated in the series. kaworu is the first person to really demonstrate to shinji that he is capable of loving and being loved, and despite the tragedy of that relationship, i think it was a core part of shinji's eventual first step towards self-acceptance.

4. freud & generational trauma (everyone is ultimately just an abused child)

ok fuck it, i've been talking about this for ages, let's just fucking get to it already.

i'm nowhere near an expert on freud, really i only have a pretty baseline understanding (thanks to a high school ap psych class) of the psychosexual stages of development thing that the show references a lot in the later parts (the oral fixation thing w/ misato, etc.), so rather than looking into the details of that, i think the big thing here for me is how the use of freud influences the ideas that the show focuses on. namely, as we see through the last few episodes of the tv series: everyone is just a sad, traumatized, abused kid.

i also think that what the inclusion of all the freud shit ultimately does for this series is give it a big emphasis on biological human development and family relations, which feels especially significant in how it can tie into a more subtle, but imo still very important idea: generational trauma, told through the story of the end of the world.

what i like about this idea is that it's really where the story begins, chronologically in the timeline and in episode 1 with shinji & gendo. the idea then evolves and expands the more parent/child relationships we learn about, from misato and her father to asuka, akagi, and, at least in part, rei.

similar to how the series utilizes its religious themes & imagery to get back to the origins/sources of humanity (namely adam & lilith), i like to think of the second impact as the source of this initial trauma. because of the second impact, we are basically guaranteed that every single adult present in the series has dealt with some degree of trauma, though in many cases this expands to other things as well (e.g. gendo struggling with social connections & misato's tricky relationship with her father, both of which are established pre-impact).

what's really big though is how this initial trauma influences the next generation of kids, especially the main trio of eva pilots (& their respective mother-related machinery) but really all of their classmates as well. toji, to some degree kensuke, really every kid born after or around the time of the second impact seems to similarly deal with the echoes of this initial trauma. if you want to, you could maybe even relate back to the very first impact of the lilith egg as a source as well, each new impact being an echo of the previous through the continuation of generational traumas.

TLDR: the freud shit doesn't have to just be freud shit, the fucked up family relations can be read through the lens of generational trauma as well.

5. queer shit (THE GAY ANGEL)

when i say queer shit here i'm really talking about gender roles, which is ESPECIALLY important when talking about shinji's two main crushes: kaworu and asuka (sticking with those two for now since they're the most overt, but they're not necessarily the only ones you can read into btw).

the big thing here is that imo the main factor that makes shinji's relationship with asuka (in particular, but really all of the women in the show) so difficult is the weight that heterosexual relationships have. again, much of evangelion's imagery is heavily focused on biology, specifically in terms of development both as a baby is developed & in puberty, and i think that weight is felt in the awkward relationships shinji has with all the girls he's suddenly been surrounded by.

this is in part why i think it was so much easier for shinji to get on board with kaworu, and why the relationship itself was so meaningful to him- because there's no threat of MARRY A WOMAN BONE HAVE A CHILD REPRODUCE CONTINUE THE HUMAN RACE (the last one in particular being especially relevant in the post-apocalyptic hellscape they're all trapped in), shinji is able to focus entirely on the personal emotional aspects of the relationship and the ability to find meaning through human connection, which again is a very beauvoirean idea.*

*i think i kinda skipped over this in the sartre section but beauvoir was a contemporary of sartre that influenced a lot of his philosophy especially later on so the fact that shinji's end conclusion seems so reminiscent of beauvoir is very satisfying.

this is not to say that shinji's relationship with asuka or any of the women around him wasn't meaningful or revolving around genuine feelings on his part, just that the weight of social expectations particularly in the context of male/female gender roles is a constant factor at the back of his mind when trying to navigate all these new social situations.

this is also not just an issue that shinji deals with- asuka herself is constantly the one to call shinji out for not being enough of a real man, which shinji actually rarely mentions all that directly, only caring when asuka herself mentions it, and i personally read her struggles with sexuality and desire to be seen as an adult as a part of her deeper issues with the woman gender role. misato kind of deals with the same thing actually, and even akagi in how they all have such tricky relationships with their own sexuality and the men around them. again, i think the whole dissonance between differing perceptions idea is relevant here, especially when considering the ways that women deal with objectification, both in terms of how others view them and how they're taught to present themselves.

6. no development but lasting hope? (making sense of EoE)

i kind of already talked about this, but expanding on the idea that everyone is ultimately still just an abused kid looking for solutions to the problems they were raised to have, i think it's significant within the imagery of the show that the world post-second impact is eternally spring/summer, meaning that even the environment the characters are trapped in itself is unable to develop or grow, stuck in the same cycle of infancy & puberty with no real adulthood. the constant threat of the angels and/or third impact also adds to this, with characters rushing to get married and form relationships (as misato & akagi talk about in one episode) but never getting the chance to properly grow old before they die.

this implies however that the existence of an autumn/winter is potentially in the future, that growth can come eventually and hope is still present. i'm not entirely sure yet what to make of the ending of EoE- i actually really like how the tone shifts so drastically immediately following such an emotionally heavy, complicated sequence, but i also don't think it's entirely without hope. it's the same old as before, maybe a relapse, maybe a reaction the traumas that initially happened, but. i mean she doesn't actually die??? my big conclusion is still a work in progress i suppose.

7. bonus: this isn't low budget it's goddamn beautiful, watch utena

i've been writing this "short reflection" for like two days straight already, this section is basically just the title. watch utena for more fucked up shit with an actually low budget. frankly this video explains the low budget thing better and has a better justification so i'll just direct you there. (yes this connection is about the therapy elevators.)

[kunaigirl]

Why are we just supposed to be….over COVID??? Thousands upon thousands upon THOUSANDS people were dying by the bus load EVERY. SINGLE. DAY. For well over a year straight. People lost people they cared about. People lost their jobs. Nobody was safe. We were all under lockdown for a year and even longer than that for some. People couldn’t visit loved ones. Friends couldn’t attend friend’s funerals because they were always mandatorily set to close blood family only. Everything was closed down. City and state boarders were closed. Biohazard notices were taped to windows everywhere. National emergency notices were broadcast every few hours.

And then when vaccines were finally available OVER AN ENTIRE YEAR later we all had to get them in hazard/emergency distribution tents that were set up on college campuses and in parking lots. I was sitting in a room full of masked strangers for the first time in over a year in what used to be the college library that had been transformed into a vaccine distribution center after having to be screened and seen in a parking lot tent first. We all did. And we were all sobbing. Total strangers, completely afraid. Total strangers sharing our unspoken universal mourning, crying softly behind our masks.

Why the FUCK are we just supposed to be over it??? ON WHAT FUCKIGN PLANET CAN WE JUST BE OVER THAT???? Not even to mention IT’S STILL FUCKING HERE BY THE WAY.

I’m so tired.

We’re all so tired.

Don’t let people shit on our shared trauma.

[je0n]

question tag

Tagged by @xbaepsae tysm sweetheart!!! <333

how tall are you? 5′9/175ish cm

what color and style is your hair? i wear my hair down most of the time, it’s naturally a rly dull chocolatey brown and it’s usually pretty wavy but i straighten it a lot.. also i’ve been wanting to dye it forever possibly into a dark blond but i tried it once and i turned out fucking orange so for now im not eager to go through that trauma again.....,,..i had to dye my hair 3 times in the span of 24 hours to get the orange roots out it was horrendous

what color are your eyes? a greyish shade of green?? it’s not a very defined shade idk

do you wear glasses or contacts? yeah, glasses

what’s your fashion style? tbh most of the time you’ll see me strutting around in a pair of ripped jeans, converse, bomber or denim jackets and plaid or band shirts but i will wear anything i like and that i feel suits me well i guess? my most favorite items of clothing have to be shorts and dresses though, especially long sleeved, knee length dresses.. i also wear skirts quite a lot especially when it’s warm outside

when were you born? june 13 1996

how old are you? 20

do you have siblings? nope

what school do you go to? college

what kind of student are you? up until college i was pretty much a straight A’s student, especially during the earliest years in elementary school when i was supposed to be put into 3rd grade immediately instead of 1st 😰😰 i was quite advanced for my age i suppose... now i’m mostly about just passing LMAO but i do act like i don’t care about my grades when in reality it really bothers me when i get anything lower than, say, a B or something 😰😰😰😰

what are your favorite subjects? languages....just.......give me all that linguistic goodness

what are your favorite shows? GOODNESS i watch shows/dramas like i’m paid for it lmao... some of my favorite shows are the fresh prince of bel air, that 70s show, the flash, shadowhunters, supergirl, friends, gossip girl, the 100, mr robot, scream queens, stranger things.... and as for dramas goblin is one of my top faves but i also love cheese in the trap, dong yi, hwarang, she was pretty, love in the moonlight, scarlet heart.....

what are your favorite movies? anything with colin firth especially kingsman: the secret service, blue is the warmest color, imagine me & you, carol, 500 days of summer, now you see me, hp, thg, divergent, the maze runner, percy jackson (im a hoe for ya dystopian/mythological fiction novels), inception, anything marvel, dc as well, the devil wears prada, miss congeniality, mean girls, star trek, star wars, perks of being a wallflower, pretty much anything disney, hugo, the imitation game, love rosie, me before you, the martian.............

what are your favorite books? again ya dystopian novels are my thing... hush hush series, hp, divergent, thg, percy jackson, the maze runner....... i also love the shadowhunters series, anything by haruki murakami, science fantasy stuff such as a wrinkle in time, the great gatsby, etc. etc. unfortunately i havent been reading much or at all lately and im so incredibly saddened by the fact that i cant find the time to do it but i really need to get my hands on some good literature soon :(

what are your favorite pastimes? i love to eat 👀 and i also love learning languages and making edits

do you have any regrets? GOD YES

what is your dream job? anything that has to do with space...or travelling... or something regarding performing arts.... heck if i know

would you like to get married? i honestly don’t know, i feel like the concept of marriage is so vastly overrated and i just 🤷🏻‍♀️🤷🏻‍♀️🤷🏻‍♀️  but who knows, maybe someday

do you want kids? how many? yeah i suppose, i’ve always wanted twins for some reason?? and i’m really fond of the idea of adopting a kid...or two

do you like shopping? uh yeah i suppose....sometimes i get rly bothered by having to try clothes on but other times i love it......the only constant is i hate trying on pants bc its such a fuckign drag

how many countries have you visited? just croatia im 😰😰😰😰 listen.../.,.,..,../, i just wanna travel...everYwHeRe

what was your scariest dream? i get these on a regular basis since my anxiety is truly terrible so idk i couldnt just pick one but yeah they can get pretty scary

do you have enemies? idk lmao??? mayhaps??????

do you have a boyfriend/girlfriend? um..,... i wish

put your phone on shuffle. post the first 15 songs:

supersoaker - kings of leon

before the worst - the script

fourfiveseconds - rihanna/kanye/paul mccartney

dream money - yoongi

모르나봐 - brother su/soyou

better than i know myself - adam lambert

먼 길 - park seojun

colors - halsey

american idiot -5sos

good for you (int. ver.) - eric nam

i was me - imagine dragons

pompeii - bastille

if you (cover) - jk

fantastic baby - bigbang

someone like you (cover) - tae

Tagging: @metamorphxgus, @velvetjjks, @sugarsmin, @vitaminjin, @jungkoog, @myg-pjms, @bstmvs, @bahpsae, @hoseokskitten, @bwiboo, @2seoke, @2awake, @taejikoookx, @parkjiminer & anyone else who wants to do this!!!

[rhinestone-fries]

Can I have an imagine for the band going sightseeing with their s/o please? Thank you! ^-^

How cute! This will be fun. 

I should be doing homework rn shhhhh

Russel:

-Where does Russ take you?

-America, of course! 

-He knows the place well, seeing as it’s his place of birth, and he wants you to enjoy yourself to the fullest. 

-Plus, he’s the kind to take his time and really appreciate things in full detail, so he doesn’t mind seeing the same thing more than once. 

-Takes you to the main attractions of course, such as the Statue of Liberty and the Grand Canyon.

-You’re having the time of your life, and every time Russ sees you smiling at something, he kisses your cheek. 

-always holding your hand 

-Spend a night in vegas, though it stays relatively calm. Nothing too wild, and that’s how you both like it. You enjoy a few drinks and go to some of the biggest casinos, just because the flashing lights catch your attention. 

-When you’re not seeing the main attractions, Russ is showing you the best places to eat! 

-He knows all the hidden joints, and each new place he takes you to has something that’s the best in the world according to him. 

-”Oh, I know a place that does the best curly fries in the world!”, “These guys make the best nachos in the world,” “Best coffees in the world,” “Best pizza,” etc. 

-You definitely go to Disneyland as if you’d pass that up

Noodle:

-Australia! 

-She’s only been a handful of times, but she knows you’ll love it. 

-She takes you to all the best theme parks and capital cities with wonderful night life. 

-You spend the most time by the Great Barrier Reef together, and go snorkeling there more than once. 

-Lots of starlight dinners and walks on the beach at night 

-which sometimes end up being more than just a walk wink wonk

-She likes the native animals, so you visit a lot of native life sanctuaries.

-You see Ayers rock together, and watch as it changes colour when the sun sets. 

-Stay out there to look at the stars when the sky lights up.

-Lots and lots of cuddles. 

-she has to kill all the spiders for you

-You bet that you do a roadtrip and see all the big sculptures. 

-Big Banana? You saw it twice because you both thought it was hilarious. 

-She seems so delighted to see you happy and seeing your happiness makes her smile too. 

-Basically you both spend the entire trip smiling

Murdoc:

-FRANCE 

-this boy is so fuckin cheesy

-This is so not his vibe, but he took you because he knew it would make you happy. 

-expects to have a shitty time 

-ends up enjoying it more than you

-walks around with his arm around your shoulders everywhere you go.

-Sooooo many delicious meals and romantic dinners on balconies. 

-Eiffel Tower? Dare you even ask? 

-You’re blown away by the tower lighting up against the night sky, and when Murdoc sees the raw joy on your face, he slips your hand in his and kisses the top of your head. 

-oh my g od you hire a tandem bike one day and he h as to wear the fuckign heLMEt

-he actually really enjoys the louvre? Seriously admires the art and wants to have a portrait of himself done to put up in his living room.

-of course you do, Murdoc. 

-He can’t go to Notre Dame. For obvious reasons.

2D:

-Somewhere very, very far away from any kind of beach. 

-He won’t be able to do the beach again for a while. 

-Takes you around England!

-neither of you wanted to go anywhere too far and unfamiliar. 

-lots of shopping! 

-Big Ben is, of course, a priority. Buckingham Palace too. 

-you both do a roadtrip around england, and he shows you the places where significant things took place, such as the music store he was working in when murdoc crashed into his head, Kong Studios, even his old school! 

-with so much driving going on, you both spend a lot of  time listening to music in the car and singing along. 

-when one of your favourites comes on, you stick your head out the window and belt it out as loud as you can down an empty highway.

-he swears that in that moment, he’s never been more in love with you. 

-lots of days spent indoors frackling cuddling due to rainy weather. Neither of you mind, though. 

-whenever he goes anywhere, though, even just to get something to drink, he always brings back a flower. By the end of the trip you’ve got a whole bouquet. 

-He feels a little bad that he couldn’t take you somewhere exotic, but promises to make it up to you somehow. 

-’D, time with you is better than any fucking holiday what t eh fuCK