#pls bury us in the final vote

[jjfantasy]

Honestly, after two semi-finals the one song that stuck with me is the Czech one. Cz-pop, go girl, I hope you fly high.

[rapha-reads]

So I've decided to ignore sleep tonight (though it's already 6am so whatever), because several reasons I won't get into. Anyway I'm reading Prince Lestat and I am LOVING it. There is just so much lore?! So many new characters, fascinating characters?! A whole world of vampires whose stories are connected or totally not to the Coven of the Articulate?! There's just so much.

In my last post, about how I skipped quickly Blackwood Farm and Blood Canticle, I wrote that I was finding it academically fascinating to read several decades worth of an entire literature world in the span of a month only. To continue in this vein (pun intended), reading PL after having binge-read the original VC books is a deep dive into how history has sped up since the 80s.

I'm not just thinking about because I'm reading Gregory's chapter and that's what he's observing, and also because the changed world and what it means for vampire society ("the tribe", and how I adore that terminology) is the big main theme of this final trilogy. It's something I've been thinking about since TVL at least. How for how these novels pertain to the horror and the fantastic genres, they are also a mirror of the society and time during which AR was writing. And because she kept writing decade after decade, and kept observing the world around here, each new book is its own little observation about the early 80s, then late 80s, then first half of the 90s, second half of the 90s, and now we're right smack in the middle 2010s and these immortal characters are feeling the weight of this rapidly changing world.

And it makes me think of actual human beings born in the 40s or 50s, or even 60s, or my own grandfather born in 1931, and how, just like a lot of these vampires recounted in PL, they sometimes can't follow all the changes brought in the last three decades (the biggest thing is technology, intradiegetically Lestat himself saying he keeps forgetting how to use his smartphone, but extradiegetically, it's how AR writes "to go on the computer" and other phrases like that, that sounds weird to the ear of someone who's grown up with this tech). And AR was over 70yo when she wrote PL, so I'm imagining that she was also writing her own impressions of this 21st century world that she saw developing under her eyes.

And in light of all the historic events we live week after week these past handful of years only (the 2020s want to bury us), it's quite interesting to apply that way of thinking to our generation too (millenials and younger, the 80s-90s-early 00s kids). Saw a post earlier saying "do you think one day we'll get to live in precedented times", in answer to the classic "we're living in unprecedented times", and I think of how the VC are the stories of one handful of characters in a world full of other characters who are not or relatively not concerned by these big stories. And how the Coven of the Articulate is considered as legendary amongst the rest of vampiredom, while they themselves don't really realise their fame, or when they do, they reject it. And how in the actual world, there are still a huge percentage of the world population that's not concerned at all by things that here make us all go frothing at the mouth because "omg we're witnessing history". Yes, "we" are witnessing something that will appear in the history books, but it is so because we have decided to put ourselves in the narrative. So many people are not even caring a little bit about big news that seem so important to us, because their lives have other matters to care for. And it's not that they're wrong or we're wrong, it's not about that, it's mostly about how the rapid changes of the world in the 21st century has made a category of people (all ages all nationalities alike) the Main Character, concerned by the narrative and trying to control it or change it (voting, protesting, activism) while so many others are still going on about their lives as usual, maybe seeing the same things as the first category, using the same tools, but not seeing the connection between it and them (the "mavericks" as AR calls them), or others starting to realise and not knowing how to join the narrative (Antoine, Gregory), while yet others have picked up a whole other way of being part of the narrative while not being part of it (Fareed).

I don't know if that makes sense. Maybe I do need to go lay down for a couple of hours after all.

[sorayah2]

━Sensory Lovers| Neteyam x oc FF

@Sorayahluvs on Wattpad, I always post there days before posting on Tumblr!✨ Pls vote there too😘

✠ ┏━━━━━━━━Chapter 3

✩°̥࿐୨୧

Although she didn't say whether she accepted his apology or not, Saraïyah did appreciate the fact that he owned up to his actions despite the reasons he had. He acknowledged his mistake and apologized to her, something that the guys she's used to wouldn't bother doing. They would probably flip her off and she'd cussed them out.

The thought of some shameless creep spying on her with inappropriate intentions made her skin crawl in disgust. If that was truly the case, she would've killed him and buried his body deep under the ground. Then happily move on with her life. Who was going to find out when they were all by themselves? The creatures? Please.

But why didn't she take that action? Why did she allow him the luxury of hearing what she assumed would be pathetic nonsense as his justification?

Interestingly, it was his eyes.

His pure golden eyes, a perfect shade of yellow, and the most enchanting details she had ever seen in her entire life held her small reflection. Radiant and distinct.

The villagers often say that the eyes are the windows to one's soul. Like body language, the eyes say more than words ever could. The eyes can tell a lot about someone's emotional state. They don't lie. They show the truth, no matter what face they put on. By looking into the eyes of an individual, one can see their hidden emotions, attitudes, and thoughts.

She sees him.

She was able to read his emotions through those eyes. Even if she didn't want to believe him, he was telling the truth.

That intense eye contact snapped something inside that she never knew existed, which left her speechless and confused.

She was leading the way and Neteyam was following closely behind her, he skipped to be right beside her. Being taller than her required him to look at her from a lower angle.

"So, what's your name, Princess?"

Her ears perked up at the nickname he had just called her. Why would he even think to casually address her as such? And why does her entire body keep getting triggered by these weird sensations? It was a simple word that strangely flutters her heart and makes her feel like millions of Shimmyflies are dancing around in her belly.

Nicknames are normal between her and her friends. She shouldn't have been in any way affected by it. But his was different; it sent shivers down her spine.

Odd and unfamiliar. These confusing feelings, which still linger, had begun earlier. When she had him pinned against a tree with a knife to his throat. One wrong move sealed his fate.

He's too composed for a man who nearly lost his life.

Neteyam even surprised himself and didn't know why he said it. It slipped out. Either way he didn't mind and will continue calling her that.

Brushing her wavy wet hair off her shoulder, she replied. "Saraïyah, or Saïyah for short."

"Saraïyah." He repeated her name slowly at a low volume, paused for about two seconds, and then smiled genuinely while continuously staring at her. "It's beautiful, definitely suits you."

There's that feeling again.

"Thanks, what's yours?" She avoided Neteyam's gaze in the hopes that he wouldn't be able to see her tainted cheeks.

He did notice, and decided not to speak on it. At least for now.

"Neteyam Sully."

She, finally, raised her head to face him and asked, "The sixth Toruk Makto's oldest son?"

"You heard about me? I didn't know I was that popular. That's awesome-"

"Hold your tail, your parents are the legends, not you buddy. I only heard about you once." She diminished his enthusiasm, while thinking back to a random night. Although the memory was hazy, she can still recall portions of it.

"Buzzkiller." He playfully nudged her.

Snorting with a small smirk, she did the same to him. "As I was saying before I was rudely interrupted,"

"You interrupted me."

"Be quiet, you." She hushed him, "As I was saying, I'd watch my back with Aonung if I were you mr 'Perfect' child. He despises you."

Saraïyah is certain that Aonung won't be hesitant to express his enduring hostility whenever he has the chance.

He noted the irony in her tone when she referred to him as 'Mr. Perfect.'

Neteyam raised an eyebrow, " Why though? I've only met him today."

Aonung having yet another unspoken hatred towards him was baffling. He was aware of the guy's resentment and annoyance when his father asked him to help him and his siblings adjust to the reef lifestyle.

"Well, his dad did compare him to you a few years ago. He was going on and on about how impressed he was with your achievements at a young age. I guess Aonung got hurt and jealous, so since then you've been dead to him."

"Really? Damn, no wonder he's acting like a jerk towards my siblings and I."

"That's how he is, a real jerk." A very annoying one she wishes she could beat up with a stick every single day.

When she spotted some Yovo bushes she moved towards them, signaling him to follow.

The bushes have large tufts of green leaves at the top and clusters of Yovo fruits underneath the leaves, and the purple fruit itself is small enough to fit several of them onto the palm of a Na'vi hand.

She started collecting the leaves and the fruits. "He just wants his father to recognize him. But, I suppose you do have to live up to yours too, don't you?"

"Yeah." Neteyam slowly nodded as he assisted her. "I kinda relate to him on that part."

"I feel for you guys, honestly. It must be a nightmare, constantly trying to prove your worth with all of those expectations and standards. That all sounds exhausting. I'd rather sleep."

He chuckled, "Right, it's fortunate and unfortunate. My parents don't exactly force them upon us...It's more like a self-obligation for me. I mainly want to set an example for my siblings and help them."

Neteyam cares greatly for his siblings, he supports them all so they can shine and succeed. To him, they're special and amazing in their own way.

"Don't mind me asking, why would your family come here when you have your own land? Did you get kicked out of your clan?"

"No, it was our choice. The guy my dad fought and my mom killed in the past is somehow back from the dead, and now he's after us for revenge. Dad decided that we should escape and hide among a different tribe. Our escape would also protect the rest of our tribe since they are the primary target for him."

He gave a brief explanation of the situation, including how it all began and how it should have ended. But fate says otherwise. Given that this is his family's business, he kept it to a minimum. She's still a stranger at the moment.

"You said that man is obsessed with tracking and capturing your father and that his cruelty has no bounds, where do you think the Metkayina clan will stand if he manages to reach our villages?" She pressed the matter.

Saraïyah was neither gullible nor clueless; she easily caught on to the dilemma. The Sully's understandably ran away on their own and with their tribe's favor, but by coming here, they also brought danger to another tribe, who are not in war or direct conflict with those Sky people personally. The people would undoubtedly fall victim to that man's cruelty, meaning that even if they are innocent, they may lose their lives.

Tonowari's sympathy for the family wasn't unexpected; what's surprising is Ronal herself complied. Saraïyah wasn't opposed to their decision, to say the least, she probably would've accepted them as well. She's naturally concerned about their safety, especially the children.

"We'll stay and fight." Neteyam stated with assurance and confidence.

However, despite their arms' strength and hearts' bravery, they will not be able to repel the determined assault without suffering fatalities. That was something he was conscious of.

"Is that so. There's not much of a choice, is there." She simply said this and looked further ahead of them.

Neteyam was about to respond when Saraïyah suddenly gasped, her jaw dropping.

"Oh my Eywa."

"What? What is it, what's wrong?" He scans the area, trying to figure out what startled her.

"Shh, come on." She dragged him behind the bushes.

"See that over there?" He looks at where she was pointing to, nodding.

"A Slinth? If it attacks, we can just kill it."

He reached for his knife but she intervened, shaking her head.

"Helloo? We're not gonna do such a thing. It's sleeping, we mustn't disturb it. I want you to be as stealthy as you can so we don't end up as the next course meals."

Neteyam shrugged, his idea is more reasonable. "Yes, ma'am."

Eywa and luck are on vacation, while unlucky was having a satisfying field day with two teenagers who thought their stealth skills were useful against the sharp predator and are currently regretting their live decisions.

The cunning creature had long been awake; it sensed the free meals from miles away and pretended to still be asleep. Until it needs to feed, it spends the majority of the day sleeping in the forest. When this occurs, it is among the fastest land predators on Pandora and is known for injecting its prey with a powerful poison before devouring them alive.

Once they moved close enough, the Slinth jumped to attack with an opened mouth and claws. Thanks to Neteyam's rapid reflex as he quickly grabbed a branch and swung, the Slinth was launched into the air and struck a tree. Right away, he started dragging Saraïyah after him as they ran in a different direction.

The Slinth screamed in agony and became enraged. Its speed was less effective because of the discomfort, but it was unaffected by this.

Unlike the previous occasion, Saraïyah is not being saved by her aunt. Back then, she was sad that the creature died despite the traumatic event she experienced. Now, deep down, she wished she had listened to Neteyam's proposition.

Gut-wrenching, heart pumping-after several thrusts forward, her legs started hurting, but she couldn't slow down. She was running so fast that she thought her legs were going to explode. Adrenaline is coursing through her veins as she forces her legs to push harder, anticipating the relief of lying in her warm bed if they escape this mess.

"I think this is the waterfall!" Neteyam said through sharp breaths. He's still holding her hand securely in his.

Saraïyah heaved out a long relieved sigh.

The waterfall was another option for them to return because it is partially connected to the ocean. Compared to the alternative route they were travelling, it does take longer.

Finally, they made it to the stony peak of the waterfall, panting from fatigue. They gaze back toward the Slinth as it draws closer, then down at the streaming water.

"You ready for it, Princess?"

They exchanged smirks while looking at one another.

"Heck yeah!"

With both safety precautions and fun in mind, they went for it and plunged off the edge. Saraïyah maintained a perfect form and pointed toes, while Neteyam had a much more laid-back attitude to the whole thing, having to perform multiple flips and twists from the spectacular heights.

All they could hear during the loud and exciting trip was the constant boom of water pounding into the stream and their screams. Plus, the bubbly rush of being one with the falls. The harsh smash landing that a several-foot fall may have caused was softened by the swirling water at the base of the waterfall.

"That was insane!"

"And dangerous!"

Plunging into a cool, fresh, tropical waterfall pool is one of the most exhilarating experiences imaginable for the two. Saraïyah never imagined herself engaging in such activities with a boy she had just met and had been threatening not long ago, on a random day like this.

This isn't a place that she often comes to, she was spending time with her Ilu and the scenery simply captured her attention. She planned on swimming for a short while and then possibly collecting weaving materials on the way home.

Never expected to be chased by a deadly beast.

Never expected to even cross paths with this Omaticaya Na'vi. And him saving her.

Obviously, she wouldn't stand by and let that Slinth kill her and carry on with its life or the next prey, just because she has it in her to oppose violence against creatures. She could have undoubtedly defended herself in some way if she had been alone, and if push came to shove, she would've set her merciful heart aside.

But in any case, Saraïyah was rather impressed by his rapid control of the situation. To a certain extent.

"You okay there, Princess?" Her wavy, dispersed hair was sticking to her face and blocking her eyesight, which made him chuckle amusingly.

"Not funny Skxawng," She scolds him, smiling as she fixes her hair.

That smile.

Her smile is so contagious to him.

"I'm fine, kinda bummed out about my materials, they're all soaked and ruined." She pursed her lips into a slight pout.

"Look on the bright side, at least we survived." He glanced up, finding out that the creature was gone. "Do you wanna try another spot? I'm sure that beast is still lurking near."

"It's whatever, I'm too tired. I think I'll have time to hunt tomorrow."

He nodded.

Saraïyah made a tongue-clicking noise, calling out to her Ilu.

The Ilu are social by nature, smart, and easy to domesticate. Like direhorses serve the Na'vi clans of the forests, jungles, and plains, it serves the reef clans, particularly the Metkayina. They can be found in groups close to the settlements of oceanic Na'vi clans and are as common in the ocean as Ikrans are in the sky.

"I still can't believe we just did that. My veins are shaking."

"I've jumped from taller ones." He spoke of it as if it were a simple and normal activity.

"I could tell, showoff." She playfully rolled her eyes.

Neteyam smirked. "We should go for another round."

"Absolutely not, I'm never doing this again." She waved him off.

Saraïyah spotted her Ilu swimming at full speed in their direction, her eyes lit up. Chichi emerged from beneath the waves to the surface in a dramatic entrance. Circling Saraïyah was what she first did.

"Hey Stargirl!" Her smile grew.

The creature was only concerned about whether Saraïyah suffered from any injuries.

"We're alright, don't worry." Saraïyah reassured her and petted her skin to alleviate her anxiety.

Chichi's a creature of rare beauty, adored by her Saraïyah.

Unlike an ikran, Ilu do not develop individual bonds with riders, so a skilled rider can mount any ilu that has been familiarized with the kuru bond. Chichi chose Saraïyah solely as her bond; hence, that fact didn't apply to them.

Saraïyah turned to Neteyam, "This is Chichi, she's my big spoiled baby."

"Hi Chichi," He greeted her.

Chichi slapped her tail against the water in response, splashing him in the face.

He wiped his face and said, "I guess I didn't pass her vibe check."

"Quite the opposite, actually, she thinks you're handsome. She'd bite you if you didn't." Like she always does to Aonung and Rotxo. And Saraïyah couldn't agree more with that statement.

"Oh yeah? Are you speaking for her or through her?" Neteyam swam a little bit closer, taking pleasure in the reddening of her cheeks as she realized what he meant.

"It's her opinion!" Saraïyah gasped, and mentality cursed herself for how hyper her voice sounded.

"Sure, thanks Chichi." He spoke to Chichi while maintaining eye contact with the flustered girl next to her.

"You're such a tease!"

He shrugged, smirking.

"Argh! Let's take his ass back to the village, Stargirl. I'm sure your parents are worrying sick while their eldest son is over here acting like a playboy."

After they bonded, Saraïyah climbed onto the creature's back.

"That was so flexible."

"Boy I'll leave you behind if you don't stop talking and get on." She huffed, crossing her arms across her chest, earning Neteyam's attention there for a fleeting second.

He hummed, doing as she says.

Saraïyah advised him to hang on to her since Chichi swims however she pleases in order to prevent him from sliding off. He hesitated to touch her waist, which she recognized, but she assured him that she didn't mind.

─────•~❉᯽❉~•─────

A/n; I feel like the more I write the more it takes for me to update, I don't wanna rush the story, but I also don't wanna take too long to update. I think I need some sort of deadline like updating after 100 reads...idk omggg y'all!!

Comment. Vote. Share♡

[daisylore-au]

5/5 - TOMMY INTERROGATION

part god-knows-i-fell-asleep !! apologies for last night kbfknfkds, but you’ll be relieved to know this is the last night of the event !! i hope you’ve all had fun bc i have :] in a groundbreaking number of votes (that i’m sure were spammed by one anon a couple of times so if that’s true pls only vote once KJBFKSDNFK), number two - tell the truth - won !!! and now, without further ado, let’s find out tommy’s reaction >:)

Henry swallows, and Tommy finally meets her eyes.

“Yeah,” she says quietly, “he’s a ghost. Dream is a ghost out on the flower fields. That’s where I go after school sometimes. I lied. I don’t go to Michael’s. Don’t be mad.”

Tommy is silent, uncomfortably so. With exaggerated calm, he gets up, turns away, and begins to pace, back and forth, a hand raking agitatedly through his hair. He doesn’t look mad, Henry thinks optimistically, but he also doesn’t exactly look pleased.

“Fuck,” Tommy whispers after minutes, voice choked up, “fuck this.”

“Tommy?”

“This was all supposed to be over,” he replies, eyes clenched shut, “this was- Henry, this was meant to be how we all moved on from all that. From- From the L’Manburg days, and the Prison era, and the Red Days - this was supposed to be us moving on. I hoped so much...”

Henry gets to her feet uncertainly. This is the most troubled she’s ever seen her brother. “He’s not a Monster anymore,” she ventures uncertainly, “he’s changed. He’s really nice. He doesn’t remember a lot - doesn’t even remember being alive. We all play with him in the fields.”

Tommy buries his head in his hands. “In the fields, of all places!” He chokes out. “The fuckin’ flower fields, where the nuke-” He cuts himself off, and takes a deep breath, before looking Henry squarely in the eyes. “You talked with him. You- talk with him.”

“Yeah, I talk with him a lot,” Henry says, loyally, “he’s lonely. None of us want him to be lonely. He’s been alone for so, so long.”

“Seven years,” Tommy agrees, and then looks despairing at his own words, “seven fucking years, and he’s-” He sits down suddenly, eyes focused on the decapitated smiley face dummy in the corner. “He’s just there. He never actually left.” 

He sighs, dragging a hand down his face.

“I don’t know how to feel about it. I’ll be honest, man, I- this sorta feels like the worst and best news at the same time.”

Henry winces. “I didn’t wanna lie to you. Sorry.”

“No, no no, I’m glad you didn’t.” Tommy’s voice is rough, but not in annoyance: it’s just upset, Henry knows, because Tommy has never been actually angry at her, and never would be over something like this. “I feel better that I know for certain, rather than just suspecting, but it’s... It’s a lot.”

Scooting closer to her brother, Henry hugs him tightly, uncharacteristically, and Tommy hugs her back, burying his face in her shoulder. Henry thinks he might be crying. “You don’t ever have to talk to him or see him or anything,” she reassures him awkwardly, “I know you guys kind of don’t like each other.”

“I hate him, actually,” Tommy mumbles, but he doesn’t sound like he’s sure of this, “he’s a dickhead.”

“Well,” Henry says wisely, “he doesn’t remember you or anyone, so if you told him that, he’d probably apologise to you. He apologises a lot.”

Tommy pulls back, scrubbing fiercely at his eyes and scoffing. “I don’t want a fuckin’ apology from him, I want...” He trails off, indecisively. “What’s he like? Apart from ‘lonely’? Is he- I mean.... D’you think if I wanted to see him, that he’d let me see him? Would I be allowed to?”

He sounds so uncertain. Henry hesitates. On one hand, it could help Dream remember things, and could help Tommy feel better and move on, which would be good! On the flip side, though... She knows Tommy isn’t the fondest of Dream. She doesn’t know whether she trusts him enough not to run him through with a sword. 

What does she do?

-------------------------------

last choice of the event !! which should henry pick ?? :0 you have until 9PM BST (15 minutes) to choose !

1. TOMMY CAN SEE DREAM.

2. TOMMY CANNOT SEE DREAM.

[livvywrites]

“No one wearing a crown came in the name of peace” for whoever you want pls! :D

so sorry that this took so long!! this kind of. got buried, lol.

but!! have this piece :) it ended up being a non-Metanoia piece, lol, but i’m really proud of it!! i kind of want to continue it 🤔

anyway. most of it is under a cut because it got kind of long, but i hope you enjoy!!

The Free Council sits on the dais, each of them in a chair of wood. You sit in the center, as Founder and Leader—even though you insist that you are no such thing, your vote still sits heavy in your mouth, as you know it will sway the others. That is why you usually speak last.

But not today.

For today it is none other than Catherine di Asternon—the Queen of Blood.

She is the reason that this council was formed—the reason that you built the Free City, the reason that a country has grown up around you, filled with the refugees of her tyranny and her wars. The wars her family started ages ago, and that she continues without thought.

She kneels before you now; her tattered and singed gown a pale likeness of the grandiose thing it once was. There is a golden circlet on her brow, though her hair is loose from a once immaculate bun. “Asternon is no more,” she says, her voice trembling and weary. “The Pale King has taken it—and now I throw myself and my people upon the mercy of the Free Council and the kingdom of Haven.” She swallows. Bows her head further, chin touching her chest. “Please.”

The rest of the council looks at you. They do not speak. They will not. You know this. They will wash their hands of this decision and leave it all in your hands.

You look down at her. You feel the weight of everything you have built on your shoulders. You know how easy it would be to falter… and watch it all crumble about you.

“You come here seeking asylum, after all that you have done?” you ask. Your voice is strong. It fills the hall, over the crackling of the fire behind you. “Do you know what it is we call you here, Catherine di Asternon?”

She takes a shuddering breath. “Queen of Blood,” she says. You know once that name would have come with a smirk; pride filling every inch of her. Now she says it as if she is ashamed… but you are not fooled.

“Yes. And you come to us, wearing your crown, dressed in your finest—and you ask us to help you?” You stand and approach the edge of the dais. “Haven centers itself around one truth. It is the truth we write on our seals, the motto we have chosen for our fledgling nation—the truth we have etched into the very walls of this building.” You gesture, above your head. On a lowered part of the ceiling, above the dais. “No one wearing a crown ever came in the name of peace.

“So tell me Catherine, why it is you’re really here.”

The woman before you trembles, and for a moment, a moment, you are almost drawn in by her act. But you hold yourself strong.

“I speak the truth.” Her voice shakes almost as much as her frame. “My people… they have lost everything. Their homes. Their loved ones. Their innocence. Making it here alone was a journey that we barely survived. We will not survive if you send us away.

“They say that Haven was founded on… on the backs of refugees. That they do not turn away those seeking asylum, and I kneel here, now, begging you to prove that to be the truth. Please. Do not… do not turn them away.”

You have spent a lot of time thinking about what you would do, if Catherine ever had cause to throw herself upon your mercy. In those daydreams, though, she was alone; her people finally rising up and casting her out. She was still proud, then. Demanding. Not begging.

Seeing her before you now…

You want to feel the thrill of satisfaction. You know it’s wrong—but you don’t know what to do with… this. This choked feeling in your throat; the feeling of secondhand shame that comes from watching someone you have only ever known as prideful and vain knelt before you in supplication.

Still. Your voice is strong when you speaks, because it has to be. You have to be. “You say your people have lost their loved ones. Their innocence. They lost those things long before the ‘Pale King’ ever took your throne,” you say. “He didn’t take it from them. You did. You have thrown their loved ones, their kin, into war, time and time again. And the thing about war… sometimes those you love don’t come back.”

Her shoulders shake.

You stare at her—and after a moment, you realize that she is weeping.

Without meaning to, you find yourself taking a step back. You glance around, looking at your fellow councilors, but you find them staring at their hands—to the side—at the wall. Anywhere but at you and the queen begging you for mercy.

You drop your eyes back to her.

She is no longer kneeling. Both of her knees are on the ground; her hands touch the wooden floor. Her head is bowed so low that her circlet nearly touches the floor. “I know,” she says, and there are tears in her words, even if you cannot see them on her face. “I know what I have done. The things that I have brought upon them. I do not… I did not come here expecting you to understand that, nor to justify it.” Her words crack and break, little hiccups coming between them. She makes pretty speeches even as she’s crying.

“I did not come asking for asylum for me. I do not care what you do with me. Banish me, exile me, toss me into prison. I don’t care. But please.” Her hand comes up. The circlet comes off, and she throws it. It clatters somewhere, and her bare forehead touches the floor. “Do not turn away my people. My children.”

Your breath freezes in your lungs and your heart stills. Children. The word echoes through your mind like a drumbeat. You have never heard of the Queen of Blood having children.

You stare at her. At this woman, who has thrown curveball after curveball into your life.

You once served her. You were happy, then. Both of you just teenagers. She used to talk about peace. About ending the war that her father had started and forging a better life for you and her people. She used to hold your hand, and smile, and you thought—

It didn’t matter what you thought.

Because when her father died—so unexpectedly. Not in battle, not riding off into war. Something else. You never did learn why, only that Catherine called a meeting that same day. She walked in, pale as a ghost… and instead of calling off the war, as she had promised so many times. Instead of putting together a peace treaty… she sat at that table and she called a vicious, merciless strike on a land you knew, you all knew, was civilian land.

And then she sent you to lead it.

It was the ultimate betrayal, in your eyes. You defected then. Told her where she could stuff her plans. She just… looked at you.

You left the castle, and no one stopped you.

And for the next few years you watched as she tore through the surrounding lands, displacing people without a thought. Rivers of blood ran where ever she directed her people. Even more so when she visited in person.

It didn’t take long until you could no longer sit by and watch. You gathered up the refugees. The lost and the hopeless. You founded the first Free City and Haven unfolded around you. You lost people. Good people. People you loved, people you laughed with, people you ate with, people who saved your life on more than one occasion. But in the end, you have made this a sanctuary, a safe-haven for all those who need and now.

And now Catherine has come and she has invaded that safe haven and you can’t even be angry like you want to because all you see before you is a broken husk of a woman.

You turn your back on her. You look into the fire and for the first time in a very long time, you do not hear the screams of the damned and the dying. You hear the sound of children’s laughter. Your laughter. Yours and Catherine’s, from so long ago, when you used to sit together by the hearth and imagine what it would be like in a world where you didn’t have to be afraid.

“Your people… your children,” you say at long last, “are welcome here. But you. You will be transferred to the dungeons. You will see trial. You will explain your actions to all of the people that you have hurt, and then they will decide your fate.” You will decide her fate, because no one else will take that job. They will speak their pieces and they will wait for you to do something—only to condemn you once it is done. But if that is what must happen, then that is what must happen.

There is a shuddering sigh behind you. “Thank you,” Catherine breathes, and the sound of it shatters the heart you thought you turned to iron long ago.

You shut your eyes. “Guards.”

You do not look as they take her away, down the stairs and into the dark of the dungeons.

There is work to be done, and you will do it.

forever tag: @aslanwrites | @alternativeforensicscientist | @idreamonpaper | @half-explored | @quilloftheclouds | @tragedyshow | @firesidefantasy

[countryshitposts]

don’t threaten me with a good time

this crappy fanfic is finally finished! After pouring blood, sweat and tears for three weeks, i finished this, with a whopping 17, 000 word count! That means you have no choice but to read :)

pls REBLOG, not like ÓwÒ

Now i can finally move on with GE getting a one-shot

and i can’t thank @redffeather enough for being there for me ÚwÙ

-

Indonesia, Malaysia and the Philippines would always organize the Christmas party every year, Christmas decorations at hand. It'd always be routine for this trio to organize the Christmas party, invite everyone important enough to be invited, and decorate the entire venue with Christmas decorations and clean it up after the party is over. Today Malaysia had voted for the party venue to be in the Spratly Islands, and Philip counters it by saying it was ill-willed to put the party on a disputed territory.

(Philip has been waiting for the day of the Christmas party ever since September- like every year, his Christmas season starts at the ninth month due to its suffix. Malaysia and Indonesia had been woken up by his incessant need to play booming Christmas songs at twelve in the morning.)

"I still think this is stupid", Philip says as he puts a mistletoe on the doorway, to congratulate couples or undeserving people of a fate. "It's not a bright idea to invite people to some disputed island in the West Philippine-"

"South China Sea", Malaysia pretentiously corrects, earning her a glare from the man. She flicks her fingers as she looks at the list of invites.

(Malaysia was the only one who had decided who's worthy enough for an invite to their Christmas party, and no one should object of whom she decided to invite.)

"Who did you invite to this, again?", Indonesia asks as he carefully sets the sofas to the furthest corner of the room to accommodate space.

"The countries, of course, all of them - except for North Korea - some important cities and a number of disputed territories-" she narrows her eyes as she reads the list, but just then Philip sputters.

"You included the disputed territories?!", Philip exclaims, looking at Malaysia like she was a madman.

Malaysia shrugs. "Well yeah, at least they'd have more involvement than going to meetings of their claimants'."

"This is the stupidest idea you have in a while", Indonesia states. "But oh well, you invited everyone needed."

"And everyone useless", Philip mutters under his breath.

Indonesia takes out another table from a room, and he laughs. "Is this where people's taxes go?"

Philip smirks cryptically. "Where else? Hospitals?"

-

Singapore and Brunei were the first to arrive, of course. They live near the Spratly Isles and can get there in due time. Malaysia ushers them in, and they enter while looking at the Christmas decorations with an unimpressed look.

("This is Philippines we're talking about", Brunei whispers to Singapore. "Why isn't the whole place decorated in mistletoe yet?")

"Brunei, Singapore!", Philippines greets them and embraces them both. "The food-to share goes to those tables Indonesia is still arranging to this night-" the man glares at him as he pushes the tables into one consecutive line- "-and you put your gifts underneath the Christmas tree of course."

"And since you both came early", Indonesia pants. "Help me move the fucking tables."

Singapore scoffs. "Told you we should've arrive even later." He and Brunei help Indonesia with the tables, leaving Philip and Mal alone together.

Mal links arms with Philip, much to his confusion as he looks at her. She smiles and says, "Well then, you and me should cook more food for the others."

"They're bringing their own", Philip deadpans, "I don't think they'd like pig."

"But you ordered the roasted pig right?" Malaysia seductively traces her fingers over his back and lifts his chin up with one. The man looks away, face red and looking quite bashful. "You always feel like an outcast when you hang out with us." She stands on her tiptoes as she lets her breath touch his ear. "I can make you feel like you're not."

"Hey assholes", they turn to look at Indonesia glaring at them, with Brunei and Singapore giggling like school girls behind him, "why don't you actually cook instead of flirting 'round the place?"

Malaysia scoffs and takes Philip's hand as she drags him towards the kitchen, the man putting up no fight.

"Phil will eat Mal out in the kitchen, would he?", Singapore says between giggles.

-

Daehan Minguk was, to put it simply, fatigued over another argument with Japan over the war crimes and the ongoing trade war between them. He just can't stand Ilbon and their ignorance; sooner or later they will have to apologize. He feels himself drowning in a heated blaze of anger and anguish as he throws his coat onto the sofa, not bothering to pick up any stray material from his floors. He finds a lone envelope on his night stand, and he yanks it and tears the envelope open (he's never one for gentleness) and pulls the paper from its source. Of course, it's an invite from the annual and yearly Christmas party from Malleisia, Ghonghwagug and Jedo. He can feel his day get better just from the invite alone, but then he deflates when he sees who his Secret Santa was.

Mongolia.

He grimaces. He'd rather have Ilbon as his exchange gift than he. At least he can gift the asshole a hive of bees and be done with it, but it has to be this guy.

Minguk gulps, remembering that night from before, the night where their lips mistakenly touched, where their bodies collided and warmth and friction showered them in such love and affection. He remembered their uneven breathing, the way Mongolia's drunk eyes shown the slightest bit of love, and Minguk can feel himself shiver; he committed a crime. A disgusting crime that shouldn't even be punished by death itself.

And worst of all, he liked it.

No.

Loved the feeling.

That may be his biggest regret of all, and now he feels like shit all over.

-

Him and Kazakhstan walk alone towards the venue, food-to-share and exchange gift on their hands, chattering comfortably. Or, Kazakhstan was the one carrying the conversation and Mongolia only replies in nods or hums, his mind in another place. His mind is back to thinking about the one man that made his heart beat so rapidly, unlike any other woman he met in his life. His brain is filled with the man's image and wit and words, his ears still echoing his voice and beat, and his body feeling the heat and warmth they had shared that faithful night.

It was tearing him apart.

So he tries to listen to what Kazakh was saying, waving his arms around with a delighted expression on his face.

"The other Central Asians told me to go on my own 'cause they were busy cleaning the place", Kazakhstan says dejectedly as he and Mongolia walk to the venue, which was pretty bright due to how many Christmas lights were fluttering around the areas. Kazakhstan opens his mouth to explain a few more things but Mongolia tunes out, trying to find yet another way to try and avoid Ömnöd Solongos the entire night he was there. Kazakhstan continues on rambling about more topics Mongolia has no interest in as they take a step onto the front porch.

Kazakhstan gives the door three knocks before it opens, revealing a man shorter than them with messy black hair, dark skin, an eye patch that resembles the sun and stars, and blue eyes. Yes, the party organizer himself. He looks at them both with a bright smile.

"More guests!", he says, ushering them inside. Mongolia and Kazakhstan ogle at the dozens of Christmas decor strung up across the place like Santa's home but not in the South Pole. "You can place the food you brought with ya on those tables right over there and the exchange gifts underneath the Christmas tree."

"Bayarlaa", Mongolia says as he and Kazakhstan follow the man's instructions. He just then realized he had forgotten the man's name and wanted to ask him, but he tells himself the guy could've forgotten his name too as he watches him greet Japan.

-

Koku walks towards the party venue alone, loving the way the trees sway calmly with the breeze. It was a little warmer in the tropic regions, but still a little cold at night so they took a coat with them. They smile at the surroundings' serene energy, not like the noisy and mentally deteriorating office buildings they've become accustomed to for forever. They brought some of their prized foods to share with the others- sushi, pufferfish to name a few. They were actually relieved that they didn't pick either Chūgoku nor Kankoku as their Secret Santa - they would've flip - but instead they got Firipin, thank the stars.

They finally set their sights on the party venue, quite bright against the dark skies above them, wven blinding the stars. They walks faster as they take two steps on the porch and knock on the door. Someone opens it and that someone smiles at them.

"Japan!", a familiar set of warm arms wrap around them, and they smile a little. Their red eyes meet Philip's remaining blue eye, his stars twinkling like the stars planted on the night sky.

"Konbawa Firipin", Japan greets him with a bow, clutching their food-to-share and exchange gift. They fully enter the manor, looking at the Christmas-themed surroundings (of course, this is Philip they're talking about) Indonesia, Marēshia and Shingaporu were buried in a deep discussion of food and politics, while Brunei and Mongoru places their gifts underneath the Christmas tree. Another boy approaches Firipin - Kazafusutan - and asks him where the bathroom is and he gives him the directions.

They see no Chūgoku or Kankoku yet.

They'll enjoy moments of not being intrusive.

-

Israel hitches a ride with the Arabs no matter how many times they insult him. It was better than asking America for a ride anyway. He crosses his arms as he tries to tune out Saudi Arabia and Bahrain's disgusting flirting.

("I'd eat you and your meals because they're all delicious Albahrayn", Saudi Arabia says, a hand on the wheel and a hand on Bahrain's thighs as she giggles uncontrollably.

Israel resists the urge to gag.)

Qatar had also insisted on bringing his - illegally bought - pet cheetah to the Christmas party and like a spoiled child his wish is granted. Israel can hear the large cat ripping their presents and eating their food-to-share. The Arabs didn't care; their servants would fix everything for them. Speaking of the servants, they were driving in a cheap van that was supposed to be tailing behind them but Saudi Arabia speeds the car up like the pretentious shit he is.

He sighs. He should've rode with their servants.

-

Vietnam carefully wraps her present in red paper, its smooth texture soft to her skin. Gift-wrapping is apparently appeasing her and making her feel better, especially after she drunk enough beer to make this day a hungover day. Yet she still has a Christmas party to attend to, and she'd love for everyone to try her foods, and she couldn't risk her exchange gift being lonely for the season.

After finishing wrapping her gift up she starts to prepare to put all her foods in a single box after sorting them out. She puts the box of food and present behind their car with a sigh, as if she has done a lot of her chores.

Vietnam walks over to her room and opens her wardrobe; her friends had encouraged her to wear something other than formal clothes or military ones this party. She looks at her trusty AK, gleaming in the artificial light, never rusty nor dusty. Of course she'll take it to the party; perhaps that man will be there. She looks through her clothes, most of them military, formal... she looks at the last.

It was a dress.

A gift from the Soviet Union before he died.

Vietnam takes it.

-

"Vietnam", she sighs as she hears that familiar voice. Philippines approaches her with that flirtatious smirk of his, posture straight and hands in his pockets, a tip of his gold wedding ring just exposed.

She points the head of her AK towards Philippines, stopping his advances as she glares at him with a hard look. Philippines, on the other hand, remains unfazed. Rather, he has that signature flirtatious smirk of his, his blue eye trailing over Vietnam's AK then hovering over her body much to her annoyance. Pursing her lips she knocks the head of her AK onto Philip's head, making him stumble backwards.

"Learned your lesson?", Vietnam asks with a proud smirk on her face, an arm on her waist.

Philip's stance was precarious, like a tree trying not to be knocked down by a ravaging force. He recovers quite quickly, standing still in that confident posture of his.

"Only thing I learned is that you need a real gun, mahal."

Vietnam's eye twitches, walking away from that stubborn man with her head held up high, firmly believing she still has dignity inside of her. She sees Malaysia ushering her near the Christmas tree - which now has loads of Christmas lights and decorations - she reaches Malaysia who was now rummaging through a box and taking out a dozen Christmas lights.

"I need you to string those all over the second floor", Malaysia tells Vietnam as she forwards the decor to her arms.

"Why do I have to do this?", Vietnam asks, groaning.

"Because Philip is freaking out how there are only few Christmas decor", Malaysia states as she takes more decor out the box. "And you know how that asshole gets iffy whenever nothing is done."

Vietnam sighs, knowing she has absolutely no choice.

-

The party was in full swing once the Central Asians and the remaining of the South East Asians finally arrive. They were all wearing warm clothes and smiles, and Philip is eager to guide them all to the front of the manor to the very back of it. Indonesia busily tries to set the sound system, speakers and all, and Singapore helps his uncle. They set the curtains on the stage, the instruments and the bases. After all, some might even want to sing in their drunken haze. They also carry the karaoke up the stage, grunting as they did so.

("Why isn't Philip helping you?", Singapore grunts and almost stumbles when he takes a simple misstep.

"Asshole's lazy", Indonesia replies. "Wants to flirt with the girls all night.")

Meanwhile, Malaysia and Vietnam were busily decorating the entire place to make it look more... Christmas-er. Vietnam helps Philip by cooking the food as well, and luckily for her the man didn't utter a word that can hinder her cooking.

Kazakhstan runs towards the Central Asians and throws his arms towards them with a laugh. Mongolia smiles as he approaches them, feeling at ease that he at least knows some people in the party.

"Sorry for leaving you alone", Kyrgyzstan says as she's embraced in a hug by Kazakhstan. She high-fives Mongolia as they break apart. She points towards her friends, "those guys are really slow."

Turkmenistan scoffs, rolling his eyes after putting his gift and food in the designated places. "It's not like you were any better."

Tajikistan looks at Mongolia and they both shake hands. "Mongolia, it's nice to see you again."

"Me as well."

Uzbekistan looks around to find almost no one in the manor, "Are we still early or are we literally the only ones invited?"

"The Philippines said that Malaysia also invited some cities and disputed territories." Mongolia scratches his head; he still didn't get the absolute logic of inviting disputed territories, but the venue is the Spratly Isles so it makes everything even.

Just then, a trumpet sounds from beyond the door. Everyone turns their heads towards the entrance, brows furrowed. Philip sighs, knowing who the newcomers will be and walks off towards the kitchen to help Vietnam cook the rice. Mongolia tilts his head, confused to who was coming, until the door opens to reveal faceless men and women dressed in modest clothes, holding a red-and-gold carpet. One man in a shirt and baggy pants clear his throat as the others unroll the carpet, looking towards the door and bowing like footmen.

"Presenting the Arabs!", the man standing announces in a clear and solid voice. He urges for the others to clap, and they obey his orders (Philippines and Vietnam emerge from the kitchen with a pot of rice; the latter groans as she hears the announcement). "The man, the myth, the legend himself; Saudi Arabia!" The aforementioned man enters the manor, strutting on the path the carpet has provided for him. He lets the onlookers ogle at his outfit, looking baritone and simple except it was not; it was made with the finest silk, expensive jewellery and a wide smirk on his face.

"Miss Albahrayn comes next", the man says exhaustedly. Bahrain struts, high heels and all, hijab covering her hair yet still looking as glamorous as ever. She joins her boyfriend after she walks off the runway, and they both kiss, going deeper and deeper into it. Their audience applauds, silently wishing they would stop being extra.

"And here comes the beautiful and luxurious Miss Alkuayt!" Kuwait walks confidently, head held up high and sunglasses perched on her nose while petting all her jewels, red lipstick rosy and bright on her lips.

"Here is the handsome and kind Dawlat Qatar!" Qatar comes in with - of course - an expensive outfit, dark hair and beard trimmed and bright teeth shining, holding a jewel encrusted leash that is used to keep his disobedient cheetah at bay. He winks at the girls as he passes by; they roll their eyes at him. Qatar pulls his cheetah towards Philip and grabs his uncompromising hand.

"I need you to take care of my little Kitty", he says in a childish voice, and Philip blinks.

"What?"

Qatar groans. "Alfalabin, I know we don't see eye-to-eye on small matters, but please take care of my darling Kitty." Qatar breaks out into a soliloquy of how to take care of his pet cheetah, with Philip absolutely lost as Qatar's pet - Kitty is her name - absolutely refuses to collaborate with him. She yanks on her collar while Philip tries to pull her back, awkwardly smiling at Qatar who was still rambling about the do's and don'ts' of taking care of a pet cheetah.

"Next we have Miss Saltanat Eamman." The servant continues, looking towards a young woman with an elderly smile and face, her outfit the most modest out of the Arabs but still flauntingly rich. "And of course we couldn't forget about Alyaman." Yemen walks casually, a slower pace unlike his other friends, but still looking refined and rich as ever.

"And last but not the least; Al'imarat Alearabiat Almutahida!" UAE rivals the Saudi Arabia just how similar his clothes are to his, yet it had quite many patterns and all of his fingers have beautiful jewelries crusted into golden rings. After his show-off was over, everyone's applauds were louder this time and the Arabs bow. The servants roll up the carpet and the music, bringing forth the gifts and food to the designated places. Israel comes in with an exhausted look, rolling his eyes at the Arabs.

"Arab Peninsula?", he states, leaning against the door, his gift and presents in hand (he denied the servants from taking his). "More like Show-Off Peninsula."

"Israel!", Philip calls, yanking on the cheetah's leash, thoroughly frustrated that he has been turned to a pet keeper. God, even he can't stop an extinction of an animal. "You know the rules."

-

The cold winter air touches Minguk's cheeks, cold and soft on his skin. He finds himself near a launchpad, the helicopter's helipad spinning like a goddamn top. His bodyguard and also pilot takes his gift and food and takes it towards the back of the helicopter. Minguk shrugs as his ears deafens the buzzing and noises of the vehicle he was going to ride on, then hops on it.

So he takes off to the night, the heights becoming even higher, the people now just dots, lights buzzing around him. He looks up to see the stars; so close, yet so far. He wonders if he can just touch them if he reaches so high, but he knows he's just going to fall of an plummet to his death.

Who said he didn't look forward to plummeting towards his death?

He looks at the stars again.

He gasps.

All he sees is Mongolia's dark blue eyes and beautiful smile staring back at him.

Minguk shakes his head. He doesn't want to think about that asshole through the night. He doesn't even want to look at him.

He just wants to party.

It is quite fascinating, that whenever you are in a high place even the tallest men can become tiny spectres of dots from below, moving like a microscope. Even the buildings that tower over him are now quite insignificant, not quite like unmoving specks but still under Minguk's eyes. His eyes hover over the party venue, very small underneath the height of the helicopter; the helicopter stops moving hovering lower and lower until it was safe distance for him to climb down with the rope ladder. Minguk's pilot gives him the rope ladder to throw, and Minguk does, as he climbs down, hands full with the gift for Mongolia and the food he has to share (horse head fiddles are quite long and heavy, and he prays to whatever deities out there to not let him fall).

His feet touch the ground, and he waves goodbye towards his pilot, who is now flying away from him and the party venue. When he turns his eyes towards the manor, he finds that he has attracted quite a lot of attention from the party-goers.

Especially the attention of Mongolia, who looked like he was going to pass out. The man stumbles in his step, like he was worried sick for Minguk, and the latter couldn't help but agree.

He failed his number one mission for the night.

"I thought you were going to fall off", Mongolia says with a noise between a cry and a laugh, embracing Minguk. "Please be more careful climbing down a helicopter seventy feet high."

Minguk chuckles. "I will."

("Gross", Brunei says, crossing his arms and looking at Minguk and Mongolia hugging.

Myanmar snorts, "Perhaps they're just friends.")

Minguk can feel his insides burst into flames, like they're debating whether he should avoid Mongolia for the rest of the party or he should just treat him as a friend for the rest of the night. No more of the past where they had drunkenly slept with each other. No more.

The party was in full swing once Minguk goes inside. He places the gift underneath the Christmas tree, telling Jedo he's done quite wonderfully as the organizer.

(Jedo smirks proudly, head held up high. "Of course, Christmas decorating is one of my hobbies.")

Minguk then asks - orders - Gonghwagug to bring his food-to-share on the tables, and Ghonghwagug groans as he stomps off towards the table, glaring towards Minguk as he makes his way.

("What an egotist." Ghonghwagug grumbles as he puts it near the others.)

Minguk looks towards Mongolia, whose eyes was set on one of his cousins, and he can't help but furrow his brows; he wants Mongolia's full attention and eyes on him only throughout the night. So Minguk does the unthinkable- wrap his arms on Mongolia's larger one, and it sure gains his attention.

"What is it, Ömnöd?", Mongolia asks Minguk, and the little bastard plays innocent.

"A... amugeosdo", Minguk replies in a rather flirtatious tone (he denies he's flirting like the coward he is, of course). "I just want to... spend time with a chingu, that's all."

Mongolia's eyes light up. "Well, why didn't you say so, Ömnöd?" Minguk watches in glee as Mongolia ends his conversation with Kaza-whatever. He turns his head to Minguk once again, and he loves that attention. "So, how are you?"

"Quite fine, thank you very much", Minguk clings onto Mongolia tightly, and they are both taken aback by this.

Minguk tries to let go of Mongolia, he is just a friend after all, but a part of him loves Mongolia's fresh nature scent, like he has been out in the steppes for quite sometime. Then he does something worse- his disgusting brain did not hold back;

He stands on his tiptoes, trying to reach Mongolia's ear and whispers into it, "Why don't we eat first, hm?"

He can feel Mongolia's heartbeat, its thumps becoming faster. He can feel Mongolia's breath, cool against his skin and steady. His dark red eyes were wide, as it turns to blue, then back to red, then to gold, the colours of his flag a kaleidoscope in his eyes.

"I-I tiim shüü, we should eat first." Mongolia runs a hand through his hair, face flushed with pink as he looks at Minguk up and down.

Minguk and Mongolia make their way to the buffet tables, where the Arab's servants has already unpacked the food everyone has brought and put it on serving platters. Everyone, be it country or city or some territory were all in a long line, to Minguk's displeasure.

So he pushes them away.

He pushes Senkaku isles, Northern Cyprus, Jerusalem away as he holds Mongolia's hand as he struts away from those nobodies, cutting in line.

"U-um Ömnöd", Mongolia tries to say but he was cut by Minguk pushing more people away from the line, each of them grunting and glaring at the couple.

"Move, I'm famous!", Minguk headbutts the last two in line, leaving a lot of displeased people behind them.

("God fucking damn it", Jedo says not far from them, "Minguk's ego strikes again.")

Once they reach the tables, Minguk's dark blue eyes find themselves land on Ilbon's gray ones. Minguk can feel his day deflate again once Ilbon raises a brow and crosses their arms, giving them a look like they were about to scold.

"Is that a way to treat other people?", they ask, their voice like a parent scolding a child. Minguk absolutely hates that tone.

"I seem to have spotted an absolute cunt", Minguk spits as he lets go of Mongolia so he can take a plate from the stack and fill it with countless foods, most from Mongolia's food-to-share.

"Ö-Ömnöd, that's not-", Mongolia tries to say but he is interrupted by Ilbon scoffing.

"Oh, resorting to immature name-calling, huh?", Ilbon says, "what are you, five?"

"I'm much more mature than you could ever be", Minguk says.

Ilbon scoffs condescendingly and Minguk fights the urge to punch them on the face, "Alright, if you say so."

To Minguk - and Mongolia's - relief, Ilbon stalks off to join Jedo and his friends.

"God fuck, this tastes heavenly", Minguk says as he tastes one of Mongolia's foods.

Mongolia smirks, "The Khorkhog?"

Minguk munches on the lamb more, "Yeah, whatever you call it.

-

"Fuck, Philip, you really butchered the sound system", Malaysia says as she tries to reboot the system.

Philip scowls, still holding on to the cheetah as he looks towards its owner with a death glare, "Blame the cat; not me."

Malaysia gives it one look before rolling her eyes. "Tie it on a post or some shit dumbass."

Philip's eyes turn a red before going back to a dark blue. "Qatar told me to eat shit when I tried doing that." He discreetly gives Qatar the bird before turning back to his friend who was fixing up the speakers.

Malaysia snickers, "Sucks to be you."

"It sucks to be every single one of us", Philip replies with a nod. "Asshole thinks I'm gonna take care of his precious baby pet all night; I'll feed her to the fucking dogs."

Malaysia gives him a glare. "Don't you fucking dare."

Philip smirks a little, "I won't do that you dumbass, that'd take too much of my energy. 'Cause I have to either call Mexìco or España to get rid of her."

Malaysia narrows her eyes, "I fucking hope not."

Indonesia runs up to them, cellphone in hand. "Let's get this party started?"

Malaysia and Philip look at each other and smirks, "Hell yeah."

Both of them grab a microphone from the stands of the stage, tapping at it to see if it was on.

"Hello, hello", Philip mutters into the mic and as it works he gives the crowd - some are turning heads his way - a wonderful and bright smile. "Welcome everyone to our annual Christmas party! To the newcomers, the presents go underneath the Christmas tree and the food-to-share you brought will be on the tables right over there!"

"Anyway, we don't want to keep you waiting", Malaysia continues, waving her arms around, "it's time for us to declare this party officially started!" As if on cue Indonesia started playing Christmas music on the speakers, a smile on his face as their audience applauds.

Philip climbs off the stage (with the cheetah, of course; he can feel Qatar's judgemental glare on the back of his head) and into the kitchen, where he is met with Vietnam trying to hold the punch with her bare hands. Philip sighs as he has no choice and ties the cheetah onto a post - the feline doesn't seem to care - and help the girl.

"Why don't you remove that goddamn AK from your waist?", Philip tells Vietnam and she glares at him.

"It might get stolen by others", Vietnam replies as they both put the punch on the table, inciting a lot of party-goers to take plastic cups from a stack and dip it onto the punch bowl.

"Last thing I need is someone spiking the punch and eggnog", Philip murmurs as he leaves Vietnam alone, stalking into the kitchen.

-

Vietnam watches Philip walk away towards the kitchen, leaving her alone. She shrugs and takes a plastic cup and dips it into the punch bowl, bringing it to her mouth and drinking it, satisfied. She didn't have the energy or nerve to talk to anyone, so she stands alone, cup in hand. Her mind comes back to some men who made her Christmases special.

The first one was, of course, Philip; a dozen bright smiles and cheerful laughs can immediately brighten your day. Not that happy, yet still one of the happiest men in her life. She had enjoyed his company, even until today, making her laugh like there was no tomorrow. His kisses were sweet, yet they have never went beyond simple forehead nor cheek kissing. He'd bring her lavish gifts or presents that'd stop after the Martial Law Era, but she was fine with that. He absolutely loved his singing, though; it made her eyes go wide as saucers as soon as he opens his mouth and strums his guitar. Perhaps all of Spain's children are talented in singing.

("I think about you everyday, mahal", Philip had said in the most meaningful way, caressing her and cradling her during a visit.

Vietnam laughed. "If you think about me everyday then what about your wife?"

He'd smile with a mysterious glint in his remaining right eye as he goes back to flirting with her.)

The next one was... unfortunately, China. He remembered his glares and his lips curled into a scowl as he looks at Vietnam with a disapproving glare, crossing his arms. Perhaps he did not approve of her living. They only tolerate each other during Christmas because of Soviet Union, who invites them into his home until his death. They would laugh at the most recent news, join each other for a smoke and take care of the children and tuck them tightly until they finally sleep soundly. She had remembered actually talking to China one night.

("How are you this Christmas?" Vietnam let out a puff of smoke; she and East thought it was funny that they sometimes make out irregular shapes.

"Never been better." China lit up a cigarette stick and stuck it on his mouth. "I'm with the love of my life."

Vietnam scoffed as she looked to the night air. "Sometimes I can still see him, you know. In my dreams."

China nodded. "You'll get used to it.)

The next was Soviet Union, hard yet delicate to some whom he loves dear. He was stern, strict and silent, but he was kind enough to invite her to Christmas dinner every year. Even if she has to be seated next to Quốc and listen to the couple discreetly flirt as they dine, much to her animosity.

(She saw the way Liên Xô looked at Quốc with such loving eyes, like a man looking at a woman. She had thought that he had hated men in love with other men, but yet here he is, flirting with another man like he was a woman in need of love and affection. Vietnam caught them kissing in Liên Xô's room; she did not need to be so scarred early in life.)

Of course, this delightful Christmas dinner would be gone in just about a few years once Quốc threw his ring at Liên Xô during an argument, and his seat is now vacant every Christmas dinner until Nước Nga took his seat.

(Nước Nga laughed and smiled more unlike Quốc ever did, complimenting Vietnam's food to the point it had made her uncomfortable.)

Then there were the other men, like Laos, Myanmar, and Indonesia, making her Christmas pleasant enough. Indonesia was like Philip- a little optimistic here and there, some smirks that means he has some other ulterior motive for her, his sharp tongue seducing her yet she resists, because of course she does, he is too much to handle, too much to be with.

(Indonesia let her sleep in his room after she got too drunk from the spiked eggnog two years ago; she remembered his arms sliding up to her as she sleeps soundly, waiting for her hungover tomorrow. But she can hear him singing his old folk songs- she always thought it was quite odd that his singing would lull her to sleep ever so often, like he was a male siren.)

Myanmar's hands were as soft yet his fingernails dig into her skin like it was the last day of tomorrow, glasses perched on top the bridge of his nose as he closes the book he keeps reading whenever it was Christmas time. He has slight animosity with Malaysia and Indonesia - just because of their religion, nothing else - and keeps to Thailand and the others.

(Myanmar's smile can look quite aggressive, as he closes his book shut loudly for everyone to hear like he is angry about something.)

Vietnam remembers some women that made her Christmas special as well. She and America may have started off in a rocky relationship, Vietnam War and communism and all (Châu Mỹ is the one who intervened in her war), but they've become... closer over the years. Châu Mỹ usually does the Christmas decor, blonde hair tied to a bun as her lipstick-covered lips try to make out what Vietnam's gift for her is.

(Châu Mỹ is quite a pleasant woman to be with, actually, despite the fact they have both been on bad terms and are still tense for the day, but she had filled up Vietnam's cup with hot chocolate and smoked with her on the terrace of her house, looking towards the white sheet of snow. It was a silent mutual pact, and she hopes it stays that way for a while. Perhaps they had some form of respect to each other, if that were the case.)

Malaysia would usually spoil her with presents whenever she has the chance- it was a special holiday after all, her endless excitement towards the holiday just matching Philip's (except for the fact that at least she waits until the end of Halloween to start decorating her house with red-and-white candy canes). She would give Vietnam new clothes, shoes, like she doesn't know how to take care of herself.

(Last year Vietnam had received an entire wardrobe of clothes from Mal, she was perplexed but she does love the clothes and the way it matches her physique.)

-

Renmin would've shown up just in time for the party if it wasn't for the goddamn traffic. He groans, putting a hand on his hair as he waits for the traffic to subside. By this rate he'd reach the end of the party. He was at the tail of the traffic, which wasn't even moving for the past few hours. He sighs; even if he wakes up early and leaves work at three in the afternoon the traffic still appears with no escape. Renmin looks at his wristwatch; six fifty-nine.

(He had prepared his gift for Rîben and food during work hours under the watch of Russia, who was guarding him from Běi like the good friend she is. He owes Éguó big time. He remembered finally wrapping his present up when Éguó tells him Běi has gone home.

"How much do I owe you?", Renmin had asked, checking for his pockets if he had enough money to give to his friend.

Éguó had smirked lightly, and he can't help but feel bombarded of memories with Sulian before he replaced his old love with his daughter.

She yanked his tie closer to her, much to his surprise, and she puts his lips to his ear, "A date." She let go of Renmin and walked off with a confident posture and a beautiful smile across her face.

She truly is just like her father.)

Renmin groans in frustration, the party starting at seven, knowing he'll be late. He presses the horn on his car, his vehicle letting out a noise, and much to his ire dozens of other cars let out large noises too, and he leans back to his seat.

(He knows those pesky Arabs are already there once the party has started, despite the fact they live the furthest among any region.)

-

"Malaysia, have you seen China?", Indonesia asks his sister as they were done counting the guests- almost everyone was there except for the man himself.

(Philip was busying himself on the phone, talking to his wife. He doesn't look pleased as he waves his arms up and down for emphasis.)

"He's not here yet", Malaysia states matter-of-fact. "Stop asking me where he is and let's just move on to the first game."

Indonesia looks pissed. "You said it yourself; we can't start the game unless everyone is here."

Malaysia sighs. "Fine, we'll wait until the end of the goddamn party if we have to."

Meanwhile, Daehan Minguk and Mongolia were busying themselves in the couch, surrounded by a reading Miyanma and Saudi Arabia and Balein snogging, the girl on Saudi's lap.

(Much to Miyanma's disgust two couples were now occupying the sofa, his reading time ruined yet he still continues to read, trying not to mind these two. Unfortunately for him, things got a little bit heated with Arabia and Bahrain to the point Jedo had to reprimand them for their public display of affection.)

Daehan's arms were draped around Mongolia's waist, clearly the slightest bit tipsy after drinking the spiked eggnog.

("And who spiked the eggnog?", Jedo had asked, suspicious eyes scanning the crowd but no one dared respond. He purses his lips, eye turning a crimson red and gritting his teeth. "Since everyone here's too much of a pussy to admit it, I'll just take out my expensive wine out of my stash, then."

Spoiler alert: Kataleu spiked the eggnog.)

Minguk sings a song from a Korean boy group, and Mongolia tries to make Minguk let go of him but instead the boy hangs onto him tighter, like a child trying to cling to their mother like a koala and desperate to be by her side. He sees the slightest bit of flush in Minguk's face, the way he looks elated at the fact he's straddling Mongolia right now, threatening to kiss him in a drunken haze. Mongolia is trying hard to keep his arousal out of Minguk's way - how and why he got this, he didn't know - and keep the joy in Minguk's eyes.

Mongolia smiles, looking at Minguk's dark blue eyes glazed with tipsiness, slurring his words as he takes another sip out of the spiked eggnog.

He takes the glass of spiked eggnog out of Minguk's hand, and the other protests.

"I think you've had enough of that, khair." Mongolia leans back, his head touching Bahrain's legs as he hears their hushed whispers of flirtation.

(Myanmar lurches, shutting his book noticeably loudly, as he grumbles of horny men and women and leaves the sofa of unattended public display of affection and goes to another much vacant couch.)

"Give me that back, Mongolia", the way Ömnöd slurs his name makes his arousal even more aroused. Mongolia's anxiety heightens as he now realizes who gave him the arousal in the first place.

"Chwihago sipda", Ömnöd slurs once more, his hand brushing over Mongolia's arousal and Mongolia bites back a moan. Saudi Arabia and Bahrain stop their nonsensical flirting to stare at the couple sharing the sofa with them.

"Muthir lilaishmizaz mithli aljins min alrijal", Saudi Arabia whispers to Bahrain's ear, and she nods as she glares at Kuria Aljanubia and Manghulia, the former tipsy and unintentionally grinding his knee onto the latter's visible arousal, who was close to releasing a moan.

(Jedo had stopped his phone call with Missus Palau and was just staring at them with an unreadable expression, cup of champagne in hand.

They're really getting it on, Jedo thinks as he takes a sip of his champagne.)

However, for the straight couple, it seems that Mongolia and Minguk had heard their exchange and were now glaring at the couple.

"What the hell did you just call us?", Minguk furiously says, and Mongolia half-heartedly holds him back; he was quite tipsy and slurring after all. "Say that again to my face, Alabia, Balein."

"'Iina qult", Saudi Arabia snarls, smirking a little, "you're both disgusting gay men."

Minguk's blue eyes widen, and he tries to lunge at Saudi Arabia but Mongolia pins him down, worried for his safety.

"Naneun homoga anida!", Minguk bellows, trying to fight off Mongolia's bigger body off him to no avail; perhaps he being drunk is sapping his strength. All the while, Mongolia was trying to soothe and calm the man down.

(The others were not listening to their petty quarrel, Minguk's shouts has been drowned out by the Christmas music playing.)

"Ömnöd, taivshir", Mongolia says softly as he pins Minguk down on the sofa, not minding how absolutely suggestive this pose was, at least he can calm the man below him down. He sings some of his songs which Ömnöd seems to like, mustering up the courage to sing from his throat. He rocks Ömnöd's body like a baby (he's obviously quite embarrassed) while singing, and his friend's breathing starts to calm down.

Mongolia looks down at Minguk with such soft eyes, the latter didn't notice he was crying until he feels his cheeks are tear-stricken.

"Naneun... homoga anida", Minguk repeats, softer this time, caressing his cheek and bringing him closer to his face-

Mongolia pulls himself out of Minguk's grip, and the latter's eyes fills with hurt. Mongolia can feel a pang of regret inside of him, but he shakes his head; Minguk is quite drunk and he doesn't know what he's doing.

"I can hear Malaiz calling us for truth or dare now", Mongolia says, getting up and offering a hand towards Minguk. "Let's say we go there now, hm Ömnöd?"

The man in question was frozen in place, in a sitting position as he looks towards Mongolia's out stretched hand, debating internally whether if he should accept this act of kindness. He takes Mongolia's hand, emotionless, as Minguk looks at him with an unreadable expression.

"Uliga gaja", Minguk says coldly and Mongolia can't help but flinch as he walks off without him, not waiting for him to catch up.

-

"Kuso", Koku swears as they stumble from furniture to furniture, at the extent tripping on some of it before landing on their feet once again, glass full of cheap beer in hand. They didn't intake an amount of spiked eggnog like that idiot Kankoku had, but when Firipin decided to bring out his expensive wine and beer they immediately grabbed plastic cups and poured one for themselves.

At first they denied the eggnog, already believing it to be spiked - which it was, thanks a lot Katāru - but when Firipin takes out a dozen bottles from his hidden stash Koku knows when to get wasted. They smile like an idiot as they make their way through the party floor, the energetic music deafening their ears as they walk - stumble - to the entrance, closed and locked. Of course, they were missing one more party member, but they didn't bother.

(Kitachōsen was always never invited- after all, who needs an unhinged man threatening nukes every single way?)

Then Koku hears a knock on the door, the grumbling of Chinese on the other side, and they know he's come to crash their day. Luckily enough they had quickly maneuvered out of Kankoku's reach, that man is flirting the hell out of Mongoru, poor thing. So they open the door, and lo and behold; Chūgoku himself, intimidating and tall and stern. He was holding his gift for his Secret Santa, and a few foods here and there.

"Rîben", Chūgoku says, pursing his lips as he glares down at the drunk mess in front of him, who seems to not have a care in the world right now.

"Chūgoku", Koku says, slightly giddy from all the beer they have taken - was this their sixteenth shot? they lost count - and giggles in an out-of-character way. "You're late."

"I wouldn't be late if it weren't for the traffic", Chūgoku replies, fixing his hair despite the fact it was completely straight.

Koku laughs. "Alright, whatever you say so."

Marēshia and Indonesia run up to them, the former panting like they were out of breath.

"Thank god you're finally here", Marēshia says, pointing a finger towards Chūgoku, who only tries to cross his arms. "We were about to start the first game without you."

Chūgoku raises a brow, ever the pretentious piece of shit he was, "And that is?"

Indonesia beams, "Truth or Dare."

Koku chuckles, stumbling a bit until they gain Chūgoku's support, much to their surprise and embarrassment. "I love that game."

"I find it a grimace", Chūgoku replies, holding Koku's arms.

"Dare mo kinishinai", Koku slurs, and they can feel the taller's glare trying to stab him.

"Alright, let's go." Soon Chūgoku follows the brother and sister duo with a drunk Koku giggling under his grip.

-

Once Renmin and Rîben arrived to the massive space that was the living room, everyone had already formed a huge circle, talking to each other excitedly. Some had a bottle of beer, others had a couple of cigarettes on their hands or on their mouths, some even had the extreme audacity to be holding a packet of drugs (and right in front of Fēilǜbīn, much to the man's intense staring). He spots Minguo at the back, contentedly making bubble tea for the game, which is the demonic Truth or Dare.

Mǎláixīyà takes out an empty bottle of beer, and places it on the center of the entirely large cicle.

"I thought this was Truth or Dare?", Xīnjiāpō's voice sounds out from the hushed chatters, with a knowing smirk on his face. Mǎláixīyà glares at her son and just sighs.

"I spin the bottle first and whoever this bottle will point to is going to be forced to pick between truth or dare", she dumbly explains. "Not what you were thinking of, Singapore." Xīnjiāpō just smirks.

Mǎláixīyà spins the bottle, the glass bottle against the hard wood floor making noises that grates Renmin's ears. The crowd starts to chant, the bottle spinning to oblivion as the circle chants some more.

(Malaysia has the blandest dares and blunt questions of truth, so whoever gets to be picked by the bottle would be lucky.)

It stops on Myanmar, who was busily reading his book to the point he didn't listen to the chanting of other people. They weren't at all surprised, as Miǎndiàn fixes his glasses and narrows his eyes towards Mǎláixīyà, slamming his book shut.

"Hotetaal?", he asks Malaysia haughtily, voice of authority towards all. "I choose dare, if you're going to ask."

(Myanmar doesn't even want to attend the Christmas party but his friends forced him into this.)

Malaysia thinks for a moment, before smiling mischievously. "I dare you to down an entire bottle of gin."

Miǎndiàn visibly smirks, a condescending raise of an eyebrow completely making it look like he was sneering. "That's all?"

Mǎláixīyà raises a brow, "You didn't let me finish, bodoh- I dare you to down an entire bottle of gin under a minute, no stops."

Miǎndiàn struts towards Mǎláixīyà, who was holding a bottle of gin and takes it from her, opening it. He can smell its liquid, trying to seduce him with its addictive qualities. Renmin offers to time the dare with his wrist watch, and once Miǎndiàn gives him a thumbs up to signal that he is ready, Renmin starts to time the man's drinking capabilities.

(All the while he is staring at his brother, who was still busily making the worst bubble tea flavors out there, seemingly still not noticing Renmin.)

The circle immaturely chants at Miǎndiàn to chug, and Renmin tells him the time every ten seconds - and his drinking pace goes faster - until the wristwatch cuts the chants with an urgent beep like it was a missile threatening to overtake the entire party venue. Miǎndiàn releases his mouth from the bottle of gin, taking a deep breath and panting, stumbling a few times until Thailand had the decency to support him. Mǎláixīyà takes the - seemingly empty - bottle of gin from Miǎndiàn and takes a look at it, before snidely grinning at the man being supported by Tàiguó.

"You didn't even finish it", she tsks, earning a laugh from a number of people and Miǎndiàn's face turning a beet red from embarrassment; seems his pride is easy to pop after all. She nods towards Minguo, who throws her a cup of bubble tea that looks concerningly green. "You know what the punishment is."

A few minutes later Miǎndiàn was vomiting on the toilet, hair held back by Tàiguó who asks him to breathe before vomiting again, wheezing breathes echoing inside the house but no one cares as the game begins again.

-

Minguo of course has seen Renmin enter the manor in all his late glory; he just didn't want to intrude on his businesses and he doesn't want to seem like he had something to do with his brother. He busily makes a batch of bubble tea in the kitchen, silently humming an old Chinese melody his mother had sung to him when he was young.

(Philip had offered him the entire kitchen to make, and, despite some disagreements in the past he seems to be casual around Minguo.)

It is quite strange hanging about with people who don't really recognise Minguo as a country - unfortunately almost all Asians don't recognise him as one - but he has been invited to a Christmas party and it is quite an honour to be with them, despite the fact he hadn't talked to anyone yet.

"Philip, I- oh, sorry, I thought you were someone else." Minguo turns to find a woman in a manteau wearing a hijab, crimson red eyes staring back at Minguo's blue ones.

"Um, hey", Minguo awkwardly greets; he was never one for conversations, especially with strangers he really didn't know.

"Hi", the woman lets out a small wave and an awkward smile. "Iran."

Minguo nods, "Taiwan."

Iran blinks, his name clicking in. "You're China's brother, right?"

Minguo affirms. "Indeed, Miss Iran."

Iran shakes her head, chuckling a bit, "Oh, don't address me as 'Miss', it's too old fashioned. Just call me Iran and we'll be just fine."

"What are you doing here?", Minguo asks as he goes back to doing what he was doing.

"Oh, I was going to make food for myself", Iran shyly replies, "I forgot to bring foods and - honestly - I'm only familiar with some dishes from my friends in the Middle East."

Minguo nods a bit, smiling brightly. "Well, the kitchen has many a materials for your cooking; don't mind me."

Iran smiles and thanks him as she walks towards the fridge to take out the needed ingredients for the food she was about to make.

(All the while the noises from outside did not slow them down their work- the people are still playing truth or dare and Minguo is absolutely trying his best to give Malaysia more disgustingly flavored milk tea for those who didn't complete the dares or never spoke of the truth.)

After a while Minguo can feel a tap on his shoulder as he fixes himself - and Rîben - proper bubble tea. He turns his head to find a shy Iran holding out a plate enough for one.

"I cooked zereshk polo, and I was hoping you'd like the way it tastes", she says, and Minguo smiles, politely taking the plate out her hands. He takes a recently washed fork from the sink, eyeing the delicacy with a hungry eye. He takes one bite of the food and instantly falls in love with it.

He starts to take more and more bites, savouring the way it feels on his tongue and lips, its taste to the point he didn't notice had emptied the plate until he looks down to find that there's no more of the delicious cuisine left.

(Iran's expression was a mix of mortified and appreciation for Minguo accepting her cooking.)

Minguo clears his throat, pink from embarrassment, "Thank you so much for the food, Yīlǎng."

Yīlǎng blushes with pride, "No problem, Taiwan."

With that, they walk out of the kitchen, hand in hand.

-

"Rîben!", Koku turns their head up as they hear their name in Chinese, and their smile brightens more as they see Chūkaminkoku approaching them with two cups of bubble tea in hand.

"Taiwan!", they reply as they wrapped around each other in an embrace. Koku takes one of the bubble tea Chūkaminkoku was holding, starting to sip on it.

(Despite the fact it tastes horrible after about an estimated count of twenty shots but they still love the tea.)

"Jesus Christ Rîben, how much have you been drinking?", Taiwan asks, taking in Koku's completely wasted appearance. They were blushing mad, stumbling quite a bit with Taiwan's support.

"A fucking lot", Koku replies, undignified. They take another sip on the bubble tea, chewing on the pearls.

(Truth or Dare had gotten quite boring fast, now some were just jamming into the Christmas music Firipin insistently kept on playing, competing who can drink the most shots without vomiting, somewhere in a nook or cranny kissing each other with passion.)

Meanwhile, Vietnam pours herself another glass of wine when she feels a hand ghost up her behind. She rapidly looks behind her to find no one suspicious to have done a douche move, so she goes back to minding her own business. Then she feels a hand pressing hard to her behind. She whirls around and catches India in the act. When he sees a pair of golden eyes staring back at him he recoils, but it was too late-

Vietnam grabs Ấn Độ's wrist, gritting her teeth. Ấn Độ looks quite afraid of her, and she absolutely likes that.

"Did you just fucking grope me?", Vietnam snarls, and Ấn Độ had the audacity to shake his head a no despite the fact she had just caught him touching her. She digs her fingernails into his skin. "You think I didn't see that, you asshole?" She lets go of Ấn Độ to grab her AK slung across her back and points it at his head; he looks quite shaken.

(He should, how dare he.)

"I d-din't mean to, I swear-"

"Didn't fucking- why I outta-"

"What the absolute fuck is going on?!", Philip exclaims as he enters the scene, ever so acting as the mediator. Malaysia holds Vietnam's arms, who was ready to either shoot or hit Ấn Độ with it.

"This vỏ bọc", she growls, pointing to Ấn Độ, "fucking groped my ass and he's denying it like the coward he is."

"Ekschuse mein?", Ấn Độ speaks, raising a brow, "I was just minding my own business when you grabbed me by the arms, you paagal kutiya!"

"Don't make excuses!", Vietnam hisses, looking at Ấn Độ with immense hatred and anger, fighting under Malaysia's firm grip. "I saw what you fucking did."

Malaysia looks at Philip, who shrugs and turns to glare at Ấn Độ.

"Don't make excuses, India", he says, crossing his arms as he gives him the 'I'm Not Buying It' glare. "I wish to make this party safe for everyone, and it seems you're threatening that safety. I kindly ask of you never to take a single step to Vietnam's direction again in the entirety of the night. Umalis ka na, manyako."

Obediently, Ấn Độ scampers away like the scared little bug he is, and Malaysia releases Vietnam from her grip, the latter breathing hard to calm herself down.

(Philip is quite a misogynist though; the fact that he supported Vietnam's statement is a miracle. The man himself has read the Bible for about four thousand times now, actually.)

"For a second there, I thought I was going to shoot him in the head and throw his corpse across the room." Vietnam laughs a bit, earning a laugh from both Philip and Malaysia.

"Asshole probably deserves it", Malaysia replies with a chuckle. "Asked me to send him nudes and I immediately blocked him from all social media accounts I have."

"He's kind of creepy, to say the least." Philip looks off to Ấn Độ, who was now chatting with an Arab country Vietnam did not remember the name of.

"To be honest, I'd choose your flirting from his touches." Vietnam's statement causes Philip's face to grow red, and she can feel Malaysia's aura of displeasure.

Philip smirks, touching her cheeks before retracting his hand. "Babe, I can flirt but I can't bang." With that, he kisses Vietnam's cheek and walks away with Malaysia, who seems to be chattering casually with him after the hot mess that is Vietnam and Ấn Độ.

-

Minguk ignores Mongolia for the entirety Truth or Dare session, sitting between Jedo and Ghonghwagug, who were both on their phones (the former was texting his wife while the latter was playing a mobile game), and he sees Mongolia sitting beside Jung-gug, who was busily chatting to Ilbon, which was out of character for the both of them.

(Then again, Ilbon was drunk as fuck, so perhaps they are being out of character.)

Minguk, still knows the feeling of being left out and jealousy despite his drunken haze. He furrows his brows as he drinks even more of the beer he had fished out from Jedo's stash (the spiked eggnog ran out, sadly), feeling his face heat up from the warm Asian flush it was giving him.

The bottle spins towards him, and he cannot say that he's the little bit surprised.

"Dare", he slurs towards Kataleu, who smirks.

"I dare you to sing the entirety of your favourite song", Kataleu says, and the circle starts to whisper. Jedo pats him on the back encouragingly, and Ghonghwagug mildly cheers for him.

He has sung thousands of songs from his lifetime, yes. From old, traditional Korean folk songs he has grown used of hearing from his mother, to the wretched Japanese melodies he was forced to sing for a number of decades, to the modern music Migug introduced to him, to the cheerful pop music he produces today. And to the masterpiece that is Mongolia's songs.

So Minguk clears his throat, getting ready to sing a song that has been stuck in his mind for as long as he can remember.

The first lyric cuts Mongolia and Jung-gug's conversation short, as they both turn to Minguk trying to deal with throat-singing (to impress Mongolia) and his inability to form coherent words (he blames how tipsy he is). He tries to keep the song in tune, but yet no matter how much he tries to throat-sing he has to stop to catch for a breath or his voice will crack, earning a laugh from the crowd.

(He absolutely hates being laughed at, ever since he was a child. He doesn't like how mean-spirited children seem to be, even by today's standards.)

But as he's done more fuck-ups than singing, and with the whole crowd laughing at his expense, he can feel his anxiety kick in. He swallows it down, trying to remain calm as he continues singing, but even then, doubts starts to circulate around his head, voices whispering about how he is a failure and how he cannot compete with Mongolia.

Minguk wants to scream, and he does, slowly but surely. He ignores the tune Mongolia's song is going for, not anymore throat singing as his voice starts to rise and rise and rise; there was also no more melodic tune into it, like he was just screaming.

Which he is.

The entire crowd goes quiet as the singer in front of them slowly goes insane, screaming and trying not to cry because that would be a blow to his big and awful ego. Their trying to keep their anxiety under control, pride out and ego bursting.

And then Minguk stops with his screaming-singing, the silence like a vase shattering a glass of noise. He locks eyes with Mongolia briefly before running towards the bathroom, heavily wanting to empty his stomach, who is now the victim of his anxiety. He flings himself to the toilet, absolutely vomiting his insides out like it was nothing. His stomach churns and his muscles on his chest burn. He coughs, noticing how bits of his digested food got into his hair which made him vomit out his insides more.

"Ömnöd?" Minguk grimaces- why is Mongolia's voice so soft, so caring? Why does he have the kindest eyes and why does Mongolia care about what is happening to him? Mongolia knocks on the door, and Minguk only responds with a cry. "Ömnöd, please answer me."

Minguk starts to feel the tears in his eyes threatening to spill all the more, his breathing getting laboured and his chest contracting to the point he cannot breathe any longer. But Mongolia cannot see him like this. Like a... a weak, fragile and vulnerable creature. He just can't.

"Ömnod, if you are not going to answer me, I will break this door open." Minguk shakes his head, clutching at his chest as he coughs up more bile from his throat.

"One..."

Minguk tries to bar the door with his body, but a single move inflicts pain onto him and he now refuses to get up to face Mongolia.

"Two..."

Minguk chokes, feeling his tears finally spill from his eyes as he gives up with hiding his emotions.

"Three!"

He flinches as he hears a loud crash in front of him, followed by a concerned gasp from a voice he knows all too well.

He feels two arms wrap around him, but he can feel his muscles strain even more so he pushes Mongolia away from his shaking and shivering body.

(Like how he has pushed away everyone in his life.)

"Ömnöd, are you having a panic attack?", Mongolia asks softly and slowly, the tone of his voice laced with concern that it sickens Minguk so much.

(Mongolia reminds him so much of his mother it's making him weep.)

Minguk whimpers as he tries to get further away from Mongolia, who shakes his head dejectedly.

Then, he sees his mother take the place of Mongolia, kind eyes, a warm aura surrounding her, hands on her lap, her face full of concern.

(Now he cannot differentiate his mother to the man he was damned to love.)

"M-mama", Minguk chokes, becoming the child he once used to be before the empire of the sun came, stripped them of their land, their honour, their culture, and of their mother. He had longed to see her again, but yet he did not see her after the defeat of the man who had ruined their lives. He reaches his arms out, weeping silently as big arms scoop him out from the floors.

That is not Eomma's arms. Eomma's arms were gentle, soft, motherly. These were hard yet gentle, but he still feels strange underneath all these.

"Look at me."

Minguk finds himself in a soft bed, and he looks in front to find himself face-to-face with Mongolia, face stern yet soft. He longs for the arms that has let go of him, yearns for them to take him to his comfort zone.

"I'm sorry, Mongolia."

He then feels a kiss on his forehead, much to his surprise.

"What do you have to be sorry for?"

"I... I'm just being..."

Mongolia laughs, and it makes Minguk's heart beat faster and face grow red.

(He is disgusted by this fact and wishes to hide this revelation from the world.)

"If anything, I'm the one who should be sorry, for denying you friendship."

Mongolia feels a familiar weight on his body, and he sees Minguk getting comfortable in his arms. A beautiful sight for him, really.

"I want to go downstairs", Ömnod demands, and Mongolia smiles and chuckles.

"Alright then, dear. Also I absolutely loved the way you sang my piece, if you're wondering."

-

Philip would tell everyone he hates Christmas and that would be a fucking lie. They would laugh and joke about what they have done this winter season, and Philip would join in to, because of course they'd have many a tale of Christmas to bring up.

("One time Bangsamoro accidentally knocked into Cebu's skateboard", he told excitedly, fingers digging into his scalp as he stresses over the controversy that is his drug war, "both of them were to be sent to the hospital immediately."

Everyone had laughed, because they would, and Philip really wanted to shoot them like he did with the addicts.)

But it seems that a call from Palau and seeing his brothers attend the Christmas party meant to take stress away ruined his goddamn day the most.

(If he had the choice to shoot either his brothers or his wife, he'd pick his brothers- he's still in love with Palau for both of them to consider mutually murdering each other to death.)

Which is why he did not know how and why he was playing the game of naught that is Never Have I Ever.

(Perhaps he had been too drunk to even care or notice his surroundings at all, preferring the people around him to go about explaining to him what is happening right now.)

Thank god Qatar let him tie that damned cheetah to a post, now he is free to get blackout drunk with absolutely no consequences.

"Never have I ever", Koku slurs a bit, as they hold on to their shot glass like it's their entire lifeline, "had sex."

Almost everyone in this room drinks after Koku's statement, and Philip downs his entire bottle down to the core. He asks one of the Arab's servants to fetch another one for him, and they are speedy enough to give him what he needs.

(It is no surprise how everyone here are not virgins anymore, to say the least. Philip lost his after a night with Katipunan; that woman was something.)

Only Koku, Vietnam, Thailand, Indonesia and Myanmar did not drink from their shot glasses, much to everyone's sniggers.

(From what Philip gathered, it was because Koku was an ill asexual, Vietnam has no interest in such things yet, Thailand is not looking forward to getting laid soon, Indonesia thinks pre-marital sex is atrocious and Myanmar is busy committing genocide against his ethnic minorities to care for a pathetic thing such as sex.)

"Who wants to go next?", Koku asks, and Philip raises his hand.

Philip clears his throat as he tries to think of something that is so subjective and inappropriate to the point perhaps no one is ever safe from drinking whatever the hell Taiwan brewed. "Never have I ever... killed a family member?"

Much to his surprise, only a select few have the actual gall to drink their shot glasses. He drinks too, feeling the vodka burn his throat for what seems like a hundredth time this night.

(He's never really liked vodka and the way it tastes- he prefers the brewed beer in cheap stores or the fine wine in many a fine dining restaurants.)

"The fact that only a few of us drank means you guys didn't have any satisfaction murdering your family", China says, drinking another shot of whatever the hell is in his glass.

"You're saying as if we were satisfied of murdering our own kin", Thailand replies with narrowed eyes.

"A little on point, but, yes- after all I got the entire land to bow down to me."

(Philip can hear Taiwan growl, but he has no care in the world for their brotherly feud.)

"Messed up shit", Vietnam replies, dangling her legs on to Cambodia, who looks more or less unaffected.

(The Khmer Rouge is, how does Cambodia put it, an ass.)

"My father is one of the most cruel men I know", Cambodia says, her arm of flesh ghosting her arm stump, "I had to take him out."

"Which is justified", Myanmar nods, looking up from his book and back down.

"The only thing that isn't justified is you committing genocide on the Rohingya peoples!", Bangladesh spits, who was between his brothers India and Pakistan, who seem to be glaring at each other along the way.

Myanmar rolls his eyes. "They are not my people. They are yours. They would not learn that they are living in my land that they are disgracingly over populating."

Bangladesh resorts to screaming into Myanmar's face, who was unhinged and goes back to reading his book. The man screams some more, being held down by his brothers until his throat is sore and the vodka in his system kicks in.

Philip looks at them with tired eyes, knowing that they would be mature enough to not fight of the recent controversies in a party meant to relieve stress and absolutely enjoy the night they are having.

(Perhaps Philip isn't enjoying his night as well, for the past three years his corruption streak has been growing and growing to the point he digs his nails through his skin for the sheer amount of people he has to please and how uptight everyone is of him. Perhaps they do not get that drug addicts are supposed to die, should be erased from history as worthless scummy criminals with no shame and no future. He has never enjoyed a single night to himself.

No matter how many favours his favourite men and women ask of him, they never repay him, because they, like him, are selfish.)

He sighs to himself as he stands, much to everyone's curiosity being piqued.

"I'm just gonna smoke a few sticks", he says, pointing to the door. "Continue your game."

(Perhaps he truly hates the addicts littering the streets, yet he pays no mind to how he demands taxes and pays his people's money on lavish luxuries in his life, dooming his country more into poverty.

Sometimes he would kiss up to the more lavish and powerful countries, needing money; and he pays them no attention, disliking them all.)

He looks at the mistletoe above the door way, and he sighs- only a few kisses were available during the night, and they were already from couples who purposefully stand below the mistletoe. Absolutely no excitement whatsoever. Philip sits on the wooden porch, taking out a box of cigarettes and picking one of them then taking a lighter out. He loves the way the flames can flicker an inferno of orange before burning the cigarette and dying suddenly. Philip puffs on his cigarette, and he feels a weight on his shoulder.

"I thought you said you'll ban smoking." Malaysia takes out his box of cigarettes and lighter - without permission like the wretch she was - and lights up one of the cigarettes, putting it on her mouth.

Philip shrugs. "The wonders of relapsing and never recovering from cigarettes."

They lapse to a comfortable silence, with them looking at the stars and the winds trying to tell them how chilly it is in the tropics. Philip's hand fixes the hair covering his eyes and adjusts his eye patch to the right place.

(He hates it when people call him a pirate, whether it be a joking manner. He would want to shoot them in the heads with a gun, be it a real one.)

"Your statement back there", Malaysia breaks the silence. "Was it to find comfort that you're not the only person to have murdered a lovely family member?"

"To find solace into thinking that others had done what a sick fuck would do, yes", Philip replies, gazing at the stars. "I wonder how life would've been like if I did not kill my mother."

(Perhaps he would've been exiled from his father's court- if he cannot prove he was masculine enough by killing his mother then he is not worth anything to him anymore.)

"Your mood is... somber."

"I'm not somber; I'm just reliving family memories that would've been rewritten forever."

"And you should stop doing that- it ain't healthy for you. For anyone else. Let's talk about South Korea's flirting with Mongolia."

Philip recoils from a looming sadness in him and looks at Malaysia with a disgusted look. She was also pursing her lips after the topic change.

"They're kind of repulsive", Philip confesses, "a sin that God will not accept and send them straight to hell where they belong."

"The truth- except I don't approve of Brunei's stoning."

Philip nods. "Me neither. I can tolerate the homos as long as they don't touch me or I'll punch them in the face and push them down the third floor. But Brunei, puta, I think he's going too far."

Malaysia chuckles, looking at Philip with her golden eyes, enchanting him even further. "Let's go back?"

Philip stomps on his cigarette, a small smile on his face. "Let's." He links his arms with Malaysia as they enter the house-

"Oh shit, someone's gonna have to kiss."

Philip and Malaysia's eyes widen as they look up to see the mistletoe hanging innocently above the doorway. The couple turn white, and a few of the countries who has witnessed the event grab their phones from their pockets to film the whole thing.

I'll kill them, Malaysia thinks, her hands sweating a little.

Philip looks a little white and sweaty, but he looks at Malaysia with a knowing smirk on his face. Before the girl had time to think, familiar hands cup her face and brings her closer to Philip's face- she was going red in the face, and the man holding her just chuckles.

"Don't worry dear, it's a one time thing." And their lips collided.

-

Pakistan wouldn't be lying if he says he wants to strangle Bhārat and obliviate him from existence. Apparently the asshole that is his brother groped many a woman this night - with Vietnam being a strong case of displeasure - and now he was badly flirting with an Arab woman.

Apparently only one person was not invited to the Christmas party - like every year - and that was North Korea. And who can blame them? The man was unhinged to the point of no return, always looking at men and women like they were a threat then threatening to nuke them himself. He did not have many encounters with the insane man but he has heard many tales of him.

Pakistan can also see why Renmin would not notify Choson Inmin of a friendly gathering and instead hides himself from him. Who can blame the man? Inmin has not heard of being invited to a Christmas Party (nor any gathering) for decades.

So imagine his surprise when he sees Inmin standing on the doorway, looking everywhere until he finds who he was looking for.

"Comrade Jung-gug!", he shouts, and everyone in the venue turns towards the party-crasher.

("I thought we agreed not to invite the weirdo?", Philip whispers to Malaysia.

"I didn't invite him", Malaysia replies forcefully. "I've never invited him for decades.")

Renmin grimaces as he hears his name in Korean (he hopes that it was Minguk calling him once again but no), and he turns to look at the person who considers him as a father he never had. Pakistan has always wondered; if Renmin dislikes the company of the nuke-loving man so much then why does not try to distance himself from him? Perhaps it is because of how unnaturally clingy Inmin is.

"Why didn't you tell me you were attending a celebration, comrade?", Inmin asks, genuine hurt in his voice.

(Pakistan feels uncomfortable with the revelation that a man as insane as Inmin can express such authentic emotions. For all he knows Inmin is faking the hurt- or is he not? The man expresses how lonely he is sometimes if he ever shows up in meetings.)

Renmin was not entertaining him, and Inmin wraps his arms around his waist. Pakistan could not help but chuckle. Renmin recoils at the sensation, as he discreetly tries to tug the man's arms away but now Inmin is acting like a toddler who is clinging on to their father like there was no tomorrow.

(From the corner of his eye, the Arabs were recording this in their phones, perhaps as potential blackmail.)

"Běi", Renmin says with a grim voice. He is not even trying to hide how absolutely done he is with Inmin. "How did you know I was here?"

"I overheard Leosia and Bellaluseu speaking about how you're in a Christmas party", Inmin explains, not letting go of Renmin, much to the man's absolute ire. "You are lucky I found you well enough, Jung-gug." He nuzzles into Renmin, and he it blanches the poor man captive of the hug.

"What the absolute fuck are you doing here, Inmin?" Pakistan groans as he can feel another fight incoming, as Minguk and Mongolia near the two. Inmin's grip tightens as he growls like a dog towards Minguk and Mongolia, the former unmoved and the latter showing concern.

"Minguk, what a... surprise." Inmin drawls out the last word and Minguk, ever-so egotistic, raises a brow in question.

"You're the one who surprised me by showing your pathetic self in the party."

Inmin's remaining eye flares. "I'm pathetic? Why don't you look at yourself in the mirror and show me who's pathetic?"

Minguk's face contorts to one of anger and imperiousness. "At least I'm not some unhinged piece of shit that only lives inside the walls of his dead country."

Inmin lets go of Renmin's waist - to the man's relief - and lunges towards Minguk, who was bracing himself for the fight.

"You guys are fucking animals." Koku steps between the two Korean brothers, and the atmosphere with in the East Asians brew to enmity.

"That's ironic for you to say", Renmin says, and Pakistan couldn't help but be excited for the fight that is going to come soon.

(A few people were taking out recorders, urging them to fight- next time they might urge the Middle Easterns to fight among themselves too.)

Pakistan would hate being the mediator for this fight.

(Philip was missing; perhaps locking himself with either Malaysia or Vietnam in a room.)

Then again, sometimes Renmin would meditate the fight between he and Bhārāt whenever it goes bad in the Kashmir- perhaps he should do calm this situation down too.

But Renmin isn't entering the fight yet- he was locking his eyes with Koku, narrowing them and crossing his arms.

"What a hypocrite", Minguk snipes, turning to Koku. "Leave us be you fucking asshole."

"Well you both are assholes", Koku replies, "if you could just-"

"For god's sake, bi zui Rîben", Renmin growls, the atmosphere becoming even more tense. Renmin's hard glare is directed towards Koku, who jumps a little but remains unfazed, glaring at the taller man. "Let them be until they both calm down."

(No one dares cross Renmin once he glares at them.

Pakistan witnessed that the hard way.)

"Ömnod, please", Mongolia pleads with his friend, trying to calm him down, he looks at Renmin.

"I should've nuked you back when you just woke up", Inmin tells Koku, who remains unvexed. Koku sighs, trying to fix their smooth hair which was dishevelled from the drinking.

They turn to look at Renmin, then at Minguk, still struggling under Mongolia's grip. "I know we've had our grievances-"

"No shit", Minguk interrupts and Mongolia shoots him a scolding look.

"-but perhaps we can agree on kicking Kitachōsen out of the party." Koku and Minguk look towards Renmin, with a mutual understanding.

(A surprise, really; the three of them never agree on anything except for the fact that Choson Inmin can go suck a fucking dick.)

Renmin turns to Inmin with a small smile lacing their lips- he is the only one Inmin trusts after all, nobody else. "I need to show you a party trick, quick, follow me."

Inmin lights up like a little child and tails behind Renmin, who was chattering away naturally. Pakistan then sees that Renmin is leading Inmin to the front door he once came in and he cannot help but laugh a little, causing him to spill his drink in the process.

As he cleans his mess up from his clothes, he hears a "Hey!", and looks up to find that Renmin had shoved Inmin out of the door and bars it with his own hands, ushering Koku and Minguk to take something to bar the goddamn door because he is not going to be there all night long.

Pakistan hears the threat of nukes from outside the manor, but he could not care less as he walks up to Renmin and gives him an abandoned table leg and Renmin sets it between the door knobs where it belongs. Pakistan can hear Inmin banging and demanding to be let it, but at this point everyone was too busy laughing and applauding for the East Asian Holy Trinity (coined by America herself).

(Philip finally appears in the scene a little late, hair messy and clothes crumpled as he tells Indonesia to make the music even louder to drown out Choson Inmin's promises of a nuke.

"Did you-", Indonesia looks at his friend up and down, "did you get laid?"

"Maybe", Philip replies, an enigmatic aura surrounding him as he buttons up his collar, "now put those horrifying kpop songs in full volume to drown out the motherfucker's threats.")

-

A select majority - and by majority most are countries - huddle around a bottle, waiting to be picked. Quite a lot are actually looking forward to see who the bottle lands upon and what chaos and destruction might bring; like a mistletoe hanging innocently above an ignorant couple's eyes.

"I'll go first", Saudi Arabia volunteers, who was sitting far away from Bahrain, who was with the other Arabs.

(Saudi Arabia was sitting between Iraq and Iran, both minding their own business. He has calculated the radius and distance it takes for the bottle to spin; it can not miss her. He has also measured the strength he needs for spinning the bottle and it pinpointing towards Bahrain.)

And so, with a flick of his finger, the bottle spins. The man who has spun his fate prays to Allah, hoping he gets the woman of his dreams. Everyone's eyes were pinned to the bottle, intrigued and silently anticipating that the bottle does not stop at his girlfriend, because that would be too boring already.

(There is a reason why Saudi Arabia volunteered to go first and it it because he does not want his lips to be tainted by others'.)

Then the bottle stops.

The crowd gasps, and so does Saudi Arabia.

It did not stop at Bahrain, much to her heartbreak.

It stopped at-

"Oh my fucking god", Israel stares at the bottle, mouth agape, then locking eyes with Saudi Arabia. He looks at Bahrain with true fear in his eyes, then back at 'Iisrayiyl.

"Allahum aghfir li", Saudi Arabia prays to himself, taking in calm breathes as he walks to 'Iisrayiyl's direction, feeling everyone's eyes upon him and the man he was about to kiss.

("This is going to be so disgusting", Brunei whispers to Singapore, who elbows him.)

Saeudiun steels himself for what was about to calm, scratching his beard as he cups 'Iisrayiyl's face, feeling disgust churn inside of him. Even just mere inches apart from kissing a boy is now disgusting him. What did he do to deserve his Spin the Bottle soulmate be a homo erotic man?

"I bet you're liking this, shadh jinsiaan", he growls.

"Believe me when I say I don't." Without a warning the blue-eyed man kisses Saeudiun with no warning whatsoever, causing him to recoil and lurch in disgust, feeling his inside shake with the feeling of a man - man! - kissing him with such a burning passion to the point he did not know what he is doing.

So Saeudiun grabs the Jew and deepens their kiss, trying feel some kind of friction in him but all he can feel is sheer and utter hatred and 'Iisrayiyl's growing arousal between his pants and Saeudiun wanted to vomit. This man loves what they are doing write now, this man loves doing a crime.

(He is well aware of 'Iisrayiyl legalising those marriages and honestly, he hates him even more by now.)

'Iisrayiyl pushes him off, and Saeudiun's mouth tingles before he stands and runs off to the bathroom.

Israel looks at the bottle on the floor, clearly unaffected at the fact he just made out with someone he has grudges with for a long time. He spins the object of chaos and it lands on Taiwan, much to the latter's surprise.

(He's not horrified like Saeudiun, though. Taiwan legalised gay marriage just this year.)

Israel is quite surprised at how much of a good kisser Taiwan is, pleased with the fact that he was not the only one to be openly, well, bisexual.

(Asians are so close-minded.)

This kissing game goes on and on, from Taiwan and Iran, Myanmar and Bangladesh (much to their displeasure, of course) to Philip and Vietnam (the latter surprisingly let Philip in) and then Bahrain and Minguk (the former was pretty much weeping she did not get the chance to kiss her boyfriend). Now Minguk has to spin and see who he is damned to get. He takes a breath, expecting the worst to come as he spins the bottle.

He prays it is not Mongolia.

It spins.

He prays it is not Mongolia.

It slows towards Ilbon's direction.

He prays it is Mongolia.

Minguk prays, crossing his fingers, hoping to land on a girl, any girl, just not men or Ilbon (Lord knows what he will do to them rather than kissing them).

The bottle stops.

Minguk stares at Mongolia, who was once seated next to Renmin again, and he sighs, accepting his fate as someone who eats men out.

(He will have to douse himself in holy water, despite the fact he was not religious.)

Minguk sighs, standing from where he was seated - between Jedo and Ghonghwagug once again - and makes his way to Mongolia, paying no heed to the whispers and the stares. He kneels in front of Mongolia, taking his hand, before slowly bridging the distance between them. Minguk hears Mongolia gasp, and he pays that no heed, drunk mind making him comfortable on the taller's lap, his mouth tasting like cigarettes and vodka he had the pleasure of intaking a while ago. He asks permission to enter Mongolia's mouth, and he obliges, snaking his arms around Minguk as the latter can feel his growing arousal. Minguk's tongue explores the insides of Mongolia's mouth, loving the way he groans. Mongolia has also decided to let his tongue enter Minguk's mouth, and he gasps, gripping onto Mongolia's hair more.

"Guys, get a room", Philip says with a joking tone in his voice.

(Philip maybe religious and homophobic, but not as radical as the others; after all, he has a same-sex marriage bill pending.)

Minguk and Mongolia break the kiss, trying to clean up their face where saliva was - shamefully - visible. Minguk immediately goes back to his seat, quite flustered, with Jedo and Ghonghwagug giving him encouraging pats on the shoulder.

Mongolia spins the bottle, and it lands on Renmin and they both share a brief kiss on the lips (everyone booed). Renmin spins the bottle and much to his shock it lands on Koku, who was next to Jedo and texting. Once Philip catches wind of the tense atmosphere he smirks and elbows Koku, and they turns to look at Philip inquisitively. Philip smirks, pointing at the bottle and at him.

Koku's eyes hover over the bottle then at Renmin, who was poised as ever. They sigh, turning their phone off, looking at Renmin with an expression of disgust. Koku and Renmin glare at each other for a while, before Koku presses their faces together then give Renmin a tiny peck on the lips.

The crowd immediately boo, but this time it has more intensity than Mongolia and Renmin only pecking each other on the lips.

"That was not spicy at all!", Malaysia objects.

"At least make out!", Qatar shouts.

"Make out! Make out! Make out!" The crowd's chanting deafens Koku and Renmin's ears, and they look at each other and decide to fulfill the request asked by the crowd.

So Koku makes the first move; ultimately colliding their lips against Renmin's dry ones. As Koku leans closer they smell the perfume Renmin usually wears on himself- a pretentious amount of strawberry-scented perfume fills their nose, as they deepen the kiss further, letting their drunken desires take place.

(They will regret taking how many shots they have taken in the morning. And also kissing one of their enemies.)

Koku's tongue demands to enter Renmin's mouth, and he - surprisingly - opens himself up, holding Koku's hips as they explore the insides of Renmin's tongue, panting and making suggestive sounds as Koku knees Renmin's rising arousal.

(They both are quite drunk after all; and perhaps a little bit horny.)

Koku breaks the kiss, both gasping for air, before they go back to their seats and open their phone like what they did was absolutely nothing.

It was absolutely something.

-

By the time eleven hit, everyone in the manor were quite drunk, slurring words as they start to do their own random things. Philip and the South East Asians were busily singing karaoke unashamed. Minguk and Mongolia were drunkenly performing on stage, the other East Asians showing off their talents to the drunk crowd below them. The Central Asians were cooking themselves dinner in the kitchen, their merry laughs heard. The South Asians were bickering and having a drinking contest, with India about to lose and Sri Lanka chugging more beer. The Middle East were perhaps just hanging around- Qatar was feeding his cheetah with meat, Saudi and Bahrain were off in one of the guest rooms.

Mongolia slurs most of his throat songs, and Minguk just cackles once he hears such sophisticated words come out of his mouth. Mongolia was holding Minguk's hips with one of his arms, mouth buried deep to a microphone stand. They were singing and having the best night of their lives, loving (and hating, of course) how they make each other warm and comfortable.

When Mongolia sees a broom stick being held by Maldives, he leaps from the stage and comes running - stumbling because he is drunk - and halts Maldives from even using it.

"Is this fine steed yours?", he asks the poor man in question.

Maldives looks at the broomstick, then back at a drunk man towering over him. He nods, unsure if this was the right call. "Um, yes?"

"May I have this steed?" Mongolia rummages around his pockets, drunkenly looking for a kind of bag of gold in his pockets. "I have to conquer that pesky Jurchen Jin."

"Y-you can have it for free." Mongolia's face lights up as he takes the broom - steed - from Maldives' hands and puts the broomstick between his legs, and starts to mimic a horse's whinny as he starts to run - gallop - around the manor, singing songs.

(It was so impressive that everyone turns their eyes to him, thinking that there really was a horse in the manor.)

Minguk takes out his phone to record the shameful performance Mongolia was putting on despite the fact he's drunk and struggling to where the recorder was placed. Mongolia takes a potted plant, dumping the plant and soil on the floors, then putting the pot on his head, which was now covering half of his face.

"Let us relive the Mongolian Empire!", he shouts so encouragingly, no trace of being the slightest bit drunk nor tipsy. "For the great Genghis Khan!"

The crowd of drunk men and women cheers, whether they were satirical or quite serious will still be a mystery until today. Some where shouting at Mongolia to get on the stage, to which he obliges with no absolute fight, still whinnying and mimicking a horse as everyone laughs with him. Mongolia starts to sing one of a few songs of his, voice just as enchanting as it is while he is sober. Minguk cackles as he records more and more of Mongolia's meanderings; Mongolia thinking Iraq was a bandit threatening his empire, him being poetic, and of course: Mongolia tearing his shirt apart to reveal himself to everyone.

Minguk did not know why but his mouth waters at the sight of his friend's sculpted chest, lowering his phone a bit as he stares at Mongolia, who was thinking he was the reincarnation of the Mongol Empire and singing about how he is going to pillage all villages and take all women and children and murder the men.

(Philip, Malaysia and Indonesia tipsily agree that they need to do the Secret Santa fast before everyone is banging in corners of the manor or too drunk to function.)

As Minguk cheers for Mongolia, he suddenly feels light, two arms carrying him around his waist. He gasps as he looks up to find Mongolia, chest covered with sweat, dark blue eyes brimming with desire. The smaller tries to get Mongolia to let go of him, but he persists. Everyone whoops and shouts, taking their phones out for documentation (or, blackmail).

"You are too beautiful to be with that miserable man", he drawls and Minguk cannot help but burn up. Mongolia leans into Minguk, and he gasps as he feels the man's hot breath on his ear. "Why do not we escape this mundane place; you shall be my queen."

"M-Mongolia", the man stutters, not thinking of anything to say. First of all, he was quite heated from staring at Mongolia's face and exposed body, second he is too drunk to make good decisions, and third they are both men, thus this is still disgusting.

(Also didn't the Mongol Empire ban homosexual relationships back when he had control of all of Eurasia?)

Without a second thought, Minguk locks lips with Mongolia for the second time this night, making everyone shout out cheers and whoops and claps.

(Brunei and the Arabs share the moment loathing the kiss.)

Minguk was holding Mongolia's neck, pulling him close. "Naleul jeongboghasibsio."

Mongolia smirks, attacking Minguk's exposed neck with kisses with the latter moaning uncontrollably. Mongolia and Minguk's eyes lock with each other, as they walk away from the wide party room and into one of the guest rooms, the whole crowd exuberant and lively.

(Brunei boos at the couple as he drunkenly takes a few things around him and throws them towards the leaving couple, calling the couple undignified slurs. A majority of the Asians turn to glare at the bastard, and he was forced to stand in the corner.)

-

"I think we stalled the Secret Santa too much", Philip sighs, holding the mic. "So yes, we will have the Secret Santa and then we will party non-stop. Until you all drop and leave this place filthy like every year."

(Philip swears he is not guilt tripping them- he is manipulating them into cleaning his manor up so he would not suffer the consequences in the morning with a blazing hangover.)

"So it is my honour to begin this fine exchanging of gifts", he pulls his present beneath the Christmas tree with a smile, "my Secret Santa is none other than Israel!"

Israel appears right next to Philip, taking the present from his hands (he shakes it to see what he has gotten, only to sigh when he finds out it is another binder). He states his Secret Santa is Minguo; then Irān's Secret Santa who is Qazaqstan; then Renmin whose was Koku (much to their surprise), and Koku gives Philip his present. Since Minguk and Mongolia are unavailable due to making love - Brunei is Mongolia's Secret Santa to his dismay - Philip has to put their presents near the door they reside in, hearing them.

("I swear it will be one of those action figurines again", Philip mutters, groaning- he has become quite spoiled over the years.

Koku rolls their eyes, "I assure you, Firipin; not one of those action figurines I gifted you three years ago." They chuckle a bit, making Philip a bit wary.)

Renmin touches Koku's wrist slightly, and they turn to find amber eyes staring back at them. Needless to say, Koku was intimidated yet they stand their ground.

"What do you want from me?", Koku asks as Renmin motions for them to follow him. They both pass the hallways of Philip's portraits and picture frames, dozens of history being moulded into one art studio which is memory.

(Koku glances at a black-and-white photo of Philip in his military uniform during the second world war. They flinch and look away from it.)

Renmin stops near a seemingly empty door, and Koku's breathing starts to pick up. Then Renmin's lips collide with theirs, and Koku can feel sparks fly as they deepen the kiss, running a hand through Renmin's dark hair, loving the way his pants has become needy and distracting. They take no pleasure in this; they think his pants and mewls and subjective neediness is beautiful. No attraction towards it whatsoever.

When Renmin turns the knob, that is when they panic and push Renmin off of them, breaking the kiss. He looks at Koku with eyes of hurt, but they both know that they are both drunk, that they will forget this encounter in the morning as their hangover pounds their heads like it were the goddess Athena wishing to be freed from Zeus' head.

"Iie", Koku says rather shakily, looking towards Renmin with apologetic eyes. "I am asexual."

Renmin's eyes light up with recognition, then with regret and shame. "Duibuqi."

"I am sorry as well", Koku replies, not facing Renmin. "I am too conscious of sex-"

Before they can finish, however, they feel a weight upon them. Renmin's hands snake up from their waist then to their head.

"It's fine." And thus they kiss once again.

-

It was morning.

Oh how the party goers hate mornings.

Some have already left after midnight, while some stayed to do atrocious things in some of Philip's bedrooms.

(Philip would sigh as he enters a room that smells of sex.)

Minguk can feel a throbbing headache coming, and the urge to vomit. The curtains are parted way too much for his liking; the rays of the sun are waking him from his dream of tying a noose around his neck and falling to oblivion. He feels sore, like he had been dancing all night, but it was from his behind. Minguk can feel someone's breathing on his skin, and he shivers as he feels an arm around his - bare - waist.

He feels a sense of dèja vu inside of him, dreading to turn around. He feels sticky, the blankets making him more heated than before and it was not helping his incoming hangover.

He hears the person groan behind him, and he feels dread settle upon his stomach with bile increasing its way up his throat. The arm around his waist tightens, and he scolds himself for feeling affectionate warmth pool around his stomach.

"Good morning... Minguk?" He blanches as he turns his - naked - body towards Mongolia, who was naked yet wasn't covering his body with a blanket.

Minguk tightens his grip on the covers, letting out a scream.

He and Mongolia emerged from the room with their clothes, avoiding each others' gazes as they come to the dining room.

(It was conjoined with the living room and Philip and Indonesia took effort in rearranging the dining table to its proper place.)

Philip and others were busily eating breakfast, looking as if they were going to pass out. Philip glances in their direction as he slides them a few painkillers to aid their hangover.

"How are my favourite couple doing?", he asks pleasantly, no trace of malice nor blinding bias in his voice. Minguk and Mongolia look at each other before glancing away.

"We're not a goddamn couple", Minguk spits; from the corner of his eye Mongolia flinches.

Philip rolls his eyes, "Ah, this is the incessant denial Miss Estados Unidos was talking about."

-

Bonus:

"So, are they a couple or are they not?", America asks as she rewatches the video of Mongolia carrying Minguk bridal style for the umpteenth time.

Canada sighs, "You do know that you've been asking South that same question for over a few months now."

"And the answer is always a forceful 'no'", America replies. "I know that."

Canada scoffs, "Isn't Mongolia friends with Russia? Poor guy's going to be in trouble when she sees the video."

A call from - lo and behold - Russia interrupts their jolly morning. The siblings look at each other, with America sighing as she takes it.

A shrill, "You corrupted Mongolia didn't you?!", comes out of the phone call.

-

Translations:

Bayarlaa- thank you in Mongolia Konbawa- good evening in Japanese Mahal- love in Filipino Amugeosdo- nothing in Korean Tiim shüü- yes in Mongolian Khair- love in Mongolian muthir lilaishmizaz mithli aljins min alrijal- disgusting gay men in Arabic Kuso- fuck in Japanese Dare no kinishinai- who cares in Japanese Hotetaal- yes in Burmese 'Iina qult- I said in Arabic Naneun homoga anida- I'm not a homo in Korean Taivshir- calm down in Mongolian Bodoh- idiot in Malaysian Uliga gaja- let's go in Korean vỏ bọc- shithead in Vietnamese ekschuse mein- excuse me in Hindi Umalis ka na, manyako- leave, maniac in Filipino Puta- shit Allahum aghfir li- Allah forgive me in Arabic Naleul jeongboghasibsio- conquer me in Korean Iie- no in Japanese Duibuqi- i'm sorry in Chinese

Khorkog is a Mongolian food where lamb is cooked inside a pot over an open fire with carrots, onions, and potatoes Zereshk polo is an Iranian food which is a classic rice dish is studded with the red berries, which are dried and then rehydrated before cooking

[jvlicns]

julian amante , twenty - three , cis male , THE TOWER .

amusing , candid , resourceful , petty , cataclysmic , arrogant.

first of all HELLO !! im z. 25 / she+her / pst. im thrilled to be here and honestly a little shocked ?? my app was a rushed MESS but im so happy the admins understood my nonsense !! 

this is going to be a lil long so pls bear w me. im going to break it down into sections and eventually make an entire bio , but this will do in the mean time !

connections are here , & my discord is zvvf#1885 ! 

* tw for mention of drugs & alcohol

. . .

TAROT ━

the tower represents chaos , destruction , & upheaval. this change is usually sudden & unexpected -- & not always good. the tower itself is a symbol of ambition , but in this card we see it built on faulty premises & false beliefs , all of which are no longer useful.

the ruin of the tower is inevitable -- necessary for growth & groundbreaking renewal. it’s time to break out of the old ways.

AESTHETICS ━

cracked asphalt , bloody knuckles , tangerine sunsets. the smell of freshly cut grass . still , slow mornings. a neat row of fire ants , climbing up your bedroom wall. broken stained glass , an overgrown field. tears of laughter , the only you’ll ever shed. 

money in a yellow envelope , guilt in your eyes , pressed flowers , a string quartet , corruption , loss of morals , student debt , a yellow light , darkness , hellfire.

THOUGHTS ━

" you’ve got your orders & that’s enough. you don’t know who’s telling you to throw your classmates off the scent , but you’re getting paid to do it. maybe your moral compass would stop you if you didn’t struggle so much in the financial department , but hey. you’re doing what you have to do to survive. if only you didn’t have to go against your better judgment for it. "

GENERAL ━

assigned to REYNOLDS house 

fourth year -- senior .

currently working at the corner store as a cashier .

scholarship student -- 2.3 average gpa .

athlete , st. cade’s lacrosse team .

BACKGROUND ━

grew up in a small town in arizona , in one of those unfinished suburbs that ran out of funding halfway through a government project to “ upgrade ” that was met with widespread disapproval. it’s all empty pools & dirt lawns , a patchwork neighborhood of old houses mixed in with the new. 

former golden boy who peaked in high school : star athlete , prom king , voted best smile. eternally toeing the line between CHAMPION  & DIRTBAG.

well - liked , but known for being something of a hell - raiser. out every night , hungover every morning. it was less obvious back then -- he could easily brush it off as simple youthful rebellion , rather than a real personality defect.

his first taste of alcohol was in seventh grade. a summer night , with the sun retiring for the day but leaving her kiss on the still - warm pavement. his world -- previously filled with sunday school , tense family dinners , & 24 hour marathons of professional passive aggression , was forever changed. finally , the boredom slipped away. & not just that ! this was actually FUN. 

but for someone with zero impulse control . . . a door opened , & he never managed to close it.

from a young age , his parents were always involved in the church. they attended every sunday , no excuses. 

this lapsed as the years passed & the amante family found it more & more unpleasant to be in the same room together , but his parent’s beliefs never wavered. religion was used as a weapon in their home -- to shame & guilt. they claimed love , preached tolerance. what they practiced , however , was the opposite. as he grew older , julian managed to weasel his way out of most of their theological outings. he gained some freedom , in addition to the ire of his family. their disappointment in him grew from a tiny acorn to a mighty oak.

his parents had their own issues , long before julian came along. a marriage between two irreconcilable people. the love they should have shared mutated into something twisted , something that they could give only to their son. it was enough for them to feed him , clothe him , & put a roof over his head. anything else was simply asking too much. 

despite coming from a low - income family , things have never been particularly DIFFICULT for him. sure , they struggled. he’s lost count of the times the power got shut off , or the water. but julian was the type of kid who could charm teachers into bumping his grade up to a 71% , despite the dozens of half - finished assignments & failed tests. he didn’t really have to try -- they just wanted to help him. ( pity , perhaps ? he turns a blind eye )

he coasted through school. one of those natural athletes that coaches & admin treat like celebrities , focusing all their attention on a teenager they have high hopes for. higher hopes than he had for himself , in fact. 

julian never had dreams , not a plan for his future. all that stubborn arrogance fooled them : he’s spent the better part of the past seven years stalling. cutting corners & taking shortcuts , desperately avoiding reality.

he never expected to even leave his hometown , let along attend a prestigious college on a full ride lacrosse scholarship. somehow , he played enough games & passed enough classes to qualify for an opportunity that would pluck him from his sad , tragic storyline & deposit him on a shiny path to success. a fresh start. 

he didn’t want to go. fought endlessly about it with his parents , his friends , himself. his place wasn’t at some hoity - toity school , surrounded by do - gooders & the conscientious. julian may have a knack for delusion , for spinning a story that suits him in whatever moment is passing. but he’s smart enough knows what his future holds : drinking himself to an early death in the very house he was born in. you can’t fight fate -- but you can surely postpone it.

in the end , it’s the boredom that convinces him. he’s said & done just about everything he can here , exhausted all the options he cares to consider. made plenty of enemies , as well as friends. built & burnt bridges. 

the expectation of his teachers , his parents , were choking him. it’s foolish to think that this might be the way out – he’ll never change. but why not have some fun , while he’s still here ?

st.cade’s was a treasure trove for julian , filled with endless opportunities to amuse himself. despite his placement in reynold’s house & the mandatory church shit ( a part of his scholarship’s stipulations ) , it hasn’t been bad. another social scene for him to invade , conquests to be had , fights to provoke. the first few years were amazing : an intoxicated blur of his own little slice of this world. 

he lives in the moment , greedily gathering every experience he can. nodding off in class , smoking behind the greenhouse , collecting all the free alcohol he manages to sniff out.

he’s learned this : a loud laugh & bravado can get you far. but now , his actions have finally caught up with him. the school is threatening to terminate his scholarship , to pack up his bags & send him on the first train home. & while he has no idea what to do , he knows he can’t go back. god , no. 

even without what’s keeping him – the enticing mystery of helena’s disappearance , his friends , his freedom. he just can’t stand to go in reverse ; it would mean facing the consequences of every mistake he’s ever made ( & there are quite a few ! ) 

he’s a shark – he has to keep moving. 

that first letter came soon after the school - wide assembly. small , neat type. direct. there was no mincing words , the sender made it perfectly clear : this is his only option. if he wants to maintain this lifestyle , this is the way. so he burns the letters , following their instructions. almost relieved to be given direction. it’s a respite in the current disarray – something he used to enjoy , but now just feels exhausting. he’s the band , humming away as the titanic sinks. not my business , he thinks. but he’ll drown all the same.

PERSONALITY ━

he’s an asshole but a F U N asshole -- that makes it palatable , right ?? 

not a dumbass , but the lack of impulse control + arrogance could have fooled me ! his intelligence is only hinted at , invisible unless you’re looking : reciting keats from memory , listing off all 79 of jupiter’s moons. remnants of past & fleeting obsessions.

 has to actively undermine his own common sense -- for the laughs , of course !

selfish ; his needs & wants come before anyone else’s. a childish habit , yes , but one he’s been unable to break. ( not that he’s tried )

vacillates between aloof & dramatic. you can count on him to stir some shit up -- he adores chaos & just can’t keep his mouth shut. petty , to a fault.

he’s hot - shit & he knows it ; well aware of his pretty face & statuesque build. julian’s never been afraid of using it to his advantage , or even just reminding anyone around him of just how cute he is. ( listen up 5′s , a 10 is speaking ! )

 has a strong aversion to authority. “ don’t tell me what to do ! ” . . . * quietly takes your advice when you’re not looking * . . .

the good parts of him are buried deep. his loyalty , his gentleness. a warm heart that can easily empathize , but chooses not to. julians pursuit of superficial gratification blinds him , warping his reflection like a funhouse mirror.

aggressive & unrelenting. this could be channeled into something of a work ethic , if he cared enough. instead , he uses it to get what he wants. whatever that might be.

curious as a cat with nine lives , he won’t hesitate to ask the question everyone’s thinking. that bluntness is almost appealing , as long as it’s not directed at you. this makes him somewhat of a good listener , even if he’s only paying attention to satisfy his own nosiness. 

he’ll literally fight for the ones he loves. there aren’t many of them , but the sentiment stands. years of sports have taught him the value of teamwork , & he has yet to shake it. once you endear yourself to him , there’s no going back.

despite everything , julian manages to be a charismatic little firebrand. he’ll guarantee a good time , he just won’t help clean up the mess.

FUN FACTS ━

can fit his entire fist in his mouth

has The Loudest Sneeze Of All Time

once bit into an apple n saw a WORM inside so now he hates apples w a passion

right handed , but taught himself to be ambidextrous during the summer between fifth & sixth grade

promptly forgot he was ambidextrous & never uses his left hand

has surprisingly neat handwriting

can fall asleep ANYWHERE

likes country music ( will never admit it , tho )

his mother used to read him poetry , so he’s lowkey Very Into It

can’t carry a tune for shit , & his impressions are a w f u l. his british accent is just a cheap dick van dyke imitation , & his australian accent is what the british one SHOULD be

[survivormetaverse]

Episode 4 - "Now the fun part begins" ~Colin

All I gotta say....finesse

Look at us go✨ I say us because if I say me that sounds conceited even tho it was literally a hero challenge 😂. [HI THIS WAS BURIED IN MY TABS IT'S FROM ROUND 3 I WAS PROBS GONNA WRITE MORE BUT OH WELL]

We tribe swapped and I was really stressed at first because now im on the tribe that loses all of the challenges. But its fine bcs im friends with everyone now and im in an alliance with Ginny and Amy. I also love Danny he is literally under the influence rn im exposing him. But hopefully when hws sober he remembers how cool i am and we will work together. And Jennifer is on my tribe and we're friendly with each other. But honestly it would be in my best game interests to have her the one voted out. If it comes to that. Bcs Im literally working with everyone and shes pretty inactive.

Welp. Here we are. Swapped. It's a lil fucked up but I saw it coming. So I got stuck with Brayden which is like whatever to me, I'm glad him and I talked enough on original phantoms. But the issue is that it's just him and myself. Along with that its the two S.E.E.S. and one Fool. So I immediately swooped in on Jared, I tried to be relatable with him by talking about Danny and Shaad, who I know, and I think gthat brought him comfort. I spilled to Jared that Danny and Shaad know each other to show him that I have info and I'm willing to be open about stuff and talk with him straight up. We got to talking, and we declared that we want to work together WHICH IS GREAT!! Idk how much I can trust him, but if I show him loyalty and openness I think I'd get it back from him which is clutch. I need him to be the third with Brayden and myself, but I'm sure Jay and Elle are thinking the exact same thing. That's why I swooped in so fast, and I'm sure he'll tell them what they want to hear and theres a chance hes doing that to me as well (and I don't blame him, make your own decisions Jared king), but I need to show him that sticking with me is the better option. Idk idk I'm just trying to avoid playing my idol rn. I'll keep working on Jared, and I'll see what Brayden's been up to. ALSOOO APPARENTLY so Brayden tells me that him and Elle played together (which I knew), but he voted them out so idk how their dynamic is. Lots to think about, I guess now I actually do want to win immunity because I don't feel as secure as I did on original phantoms. But I def have Brayden on my side, and I'm really hoping Jared is truly gonna ride with me. Idols/advantages are also a potential problem here because what if Elle or Jay have one. I hope Brayden is just lying to me and he secretly has something too. I almost told him about mine but I decided against it. Much to think about, much to do, much to win.

I got an idolllll✨ lol so glad i signed up because no one else from my tribe did so it was super easy 😄 Tribe swap!! Sad bc i'll miss Colin 😔 real homie right there um i mean sure others too maybe lol I switched with Jay so no worries there and Anastasia I'm sorry to say we've never really clicked like we've worked together before (and she's backstabbed me before) but we've never really been like *this* y'know??? And Babs and Jennifer I barely talked to Babs likes musical theater and vine references tho so she's cool B) Anywayssss Dennis knows the pain of being a Starbucks barista and I was with Jared in the shape memory and felt bad for them oof so yeah OH! and Brayden helped vote me out in Kyoshi after saying he wouldn't vote for me... Dont Love That but also it was kinda a hopeless situation in Kyoshi kinda tragicccc for me funnily enough I was tribe swap screwed over but that's not like this time (if it is I will SCREAM but also I'm chill with whatever place I get in this game so eh) yeah i kinda made myself stop drinking caffeine/copious amounts of sugar for a year and then started back at Starbucks and immediately broke soooo I have no idea how coherent this is I think we'll do well in the challenge!! It's scavenger hunt but also I am working this weekend :( hate that for me ik me too boo so we'll see how much I can do I remember being upset at myself in prev. seasons because I went too hard in challenges and I feel like in this one I just don't have the time to 😂 the way to get priorities is to get a life apparently lol kidding but also am I??? Idk kinda forgot what I was talking about. Yay in the Phantom tribe now and we will crush this challenge✨

This tribe is getting on my nerves. 2 of them are super nice and I'd love to work with them but I don't know how the pre-alliances worked before this tribe. I really enjoy Amy and Anastasia but trying to talk to Ginnifer is like pulling teeth and Jennifer still hasn't said....anything.

https://youtu.be/maj4CRLrsjQ sorry this is really long i didnt mean to

My tribe is going to council.

At first, I thought I was SCREWED because I got neither Amy, Dennis, or Brayden from my OG tribe for the swap. I barely spoke to Josh, but at least he tries in challenges and we have that going for us. I absolutely adore Colin, he's experienced and he doesn't hide it, but here's a good support system and I see why he goes far in these games. By virtue of me being active, I can hopefully stay alive from this swap. As for the challenge, it's incredibly difficult to do since only the 3 of us are actively doing it, and with 3 slots, it means everyone has to do everything, which is virtually impossible. Shaad complained about his old tribe but a lot of his tribemates' confessionals about him were about him being inactive, and I'm definitely seeing it. Babs hasn't even accepted my message request yet. I absolutely trust Colin and I'm debatable with Josh, but I sure hope that he's not working with Shaad and Babs. But I'm 99% sure that's not the case because even Colin hasn't talked to Babs much and they haven't even been accepting message requests. I absolutely think we're headed to tribal, but honestly, that might be fine because it'll save my other allies in the other tribes. I just hate going to tribal council because it's never fun and it makes me nervous. Every time. But hopefully my social relationships I've made will get me through this swap even if I have to (at last, I guess) go to tribal council. 

~

https://youtu.be/FJOPBi8cnBk

The swap is fun so far doing a fun and hilarious scavenger hunt but yuck my face is sticky blech 

Okay I think I figured out a lot. I think all the idols are on my tribe. The way Jared and Jay talk to me shows me that theyre smart players and I realllllly think they both have idols. And the three of us are just dancing around that subject. So if we go to tribal, I have to move very cautiously and thats why im trying to get another advantage. I think Jay is going for it too, homeboy messages me in 10 minute intervals. I think I can only afford going to tribal once with this tribe, I'm just hoping we win out especially if all the idols are chilling here I don't want to play it yet. Ima just keep hunting i dont have a lot of thoughts rn.

I'm not sure where I'm at. I feel decent about elle, she has familiarity with me, it should be convenient for her and I to stay together. I do like Jared too...the hope is that he links up with us and we can take out Brayden. Nothing personal against Brayden, but I like Dennis more, and I feel like I can work with Dennis in a merge scenario. If we can get Brayden out whenever we go to tribal, I'll also be put in a scenario at that point where I can either go with Jared and Elle, or maybe Jared and Dennis. Dennis seems very low key and more social than strategic, so he's a good person to play with for a decent amount of time. 

Uh idr my last confessional or when it was :( we just did the scavenger hunt challenge and are waiting for results and i really hope we don't have to go to tribal bc what a crappy birthday present that'd be!! Bc my birthday is tomorrow :)))))) I hope people remember bc I'm not going to say anything 😶 just to see who remembereddddd probs no one and ill break midday or maybe I'll leave it alone who knows! I'm going on a picnic tomorrow tho and then probs celebrating with fam so it'd be a bad day for a tribal :( OMG what if I got voted out on My Birthday that'd be so r00d but like kinda iconic too very memorable 21st brithday the one where I was voted out Metaverse... anyways uh hope we win this challenge lol 😅

Okay so it's cute and all that we won but Miss Jennifer needs to go ASAP. I low-key wanted to go to tribal just so I could let her GO, but it's whatever. I get a day to chill finally. I don't have to think as hard anymore. I feel good.

~

I think the thing I am very interested in seeing is what's about to happen with Shaad in that tribe.

~

But also, I really love Amy. I think she's really gonna be good for me.

okay i've been slacking on confessionals so im gonna pretend this is like 2 days ago and make one solely about the swap AHHH TRIBE SWAP i'm kinda excited that none of my alliance members are on my new tribe. that seems opposite but its gonna give me a better chance to branch out and make new connections, then when merge hits rekindle the old alliance that existed pre swap. hopefully that all pans out!! immediately I started vibing with Jodi. she's an absolute QUEEN and we match each other's energies perfectly. we've been shading others in the tribe, joking around, connecting personally, it's been great!! honestly i knew within like the first 20 mins I wanted to duo with her and be a f2. the rest of the tribe however? sheeeeesh babs and shaad are very inactive. apparently shaad blew up on his last tribe bc they almost voted him out... for being inactive? like sir if the shoe fits. pls fix it. babs is going THRU it and I feel for them. but... just say somethin josh is kind of a king. jodi likes him. he's putting in a lot of effort and I appreciate that. not sure if it makes him a threat but it definitely makes him an asset SO I approached both of them with an alliance!! and it worked!! i now have ANOTHER alliance woo!! with josh and jodi!! woo!! here's part of my host chat rambling bc I confess way more there than I do here i think Jodi and Josh might be like a duo tho the way Jodi talks about is kinda sus imma need to weasel my way in maybe I'll suggest a trio alliance as the most 'active' people on the tribe as a means to get close to them, then I'll use that to secure a f2 with jodi jodi radiates the same type of chaotic energy I do in games but she gets more bored than I do which is not good but more fun

~

we LOST but im not SURPRISED i feel like we shouldve won SOLELY bc I got SANDRA DIAZ-TWINE to send me a selfie. that's fucking iconic. one of my proudest org career moments. anyway now the fun part begins. gotta decide who goes. it's either shaad or babs. I think the easiest and most common sense thing to do is vote babs because they've been more inactive. but also its the first live tribal and I think shaad will give drama if we vote him off. and that makes GOOD FUCKING TV. so idk. options options. we'll see!

holy shit phantoms won immunity. phantoms stays the winning tribe 4 times in a row holy shit. i actually wanted to win this time and put a lot of effort into this because no ma'am i need safety rn and work on these relationships. just need time. speaking of time, im about to hit hour 12 of the endurance hunt and im starting to feel like a madman. but babyyyyy i want another advantage and hopefully another fucking idol holy shit can you imagine???? i still haven't told anyone and my lips are gonna remain sealed. however i still think that yall are messy and set up my tribe where u knew brayden and i werent super close and from what ive gathered jay and elle weren't close either. so u put the two pairs that arent close with the one fool. okay so what else could we possibly have in common on this tribe to add more mess? IDOLS!!!!! like the three people that got the idols got swapped onto the same tribe like that has to be it. so jared would have to have one, even though he told me he didnt but the way he talked to me about idols in general literally makes me feel like he has one. i was like it would be so nice to have a little bit of security and hes like yeah i know what you mean. like bro just tell me u got a fuckin idol already. so then jay or elle have to have one. and i am convinced jay has one. maybe elle is gonna gag me with her idol but im gonna assume its jay. jared has spoken with him, and i have spoken with him. the three of us feel really good with each other (but im pretty sure jared has me above him bc i got to him first). we'll probs make an alliance chat shortly. i recognize that jared and jay are good at the strategic part of the game and are really smart and just good overall competitors and ESPECIALLY if they have idols that makes them even more dangerous. so i have to work with them than against them i have to make sure that they know i have them above everyone else. i think three strong players naturally gravitated towards eachother and if we really all do have idols its so funny that we're not telling each other. but im slowly but surely working on getting it out of them but if theyre as smart as i think they are they wont tell me. im just gonna continue being "transparent" with them and we'll see where it goes i hope they dont catch on. also jays a fucking liar because we were on a call today and i asked him if he did any hunts. he gave me a pause and then slurred his speech when he said "i haven't done any" like broooooooo ur fuckin lying to me right through your teeth. im convinced hes doing this one because he was up early for some breakfast and his lil skype thing showed online status allllll day like i gotta assume hes doing it. even if he didnt do the first three like hes def doing the last three dont play dumb with me!!!! i am not the one baby. but actually as im writing this hes not online anymore so if he really was doing it maybe he stopped? so if he was up early i would assume he started at 7 or 8 and ending by 9:30 he did 13 or 14 hours? idk im literally going till i cant stay up anymore ive already hit the 12 hours mark now if i went this long i have to go for the w likeee i have to. thats all i got for ya right now dont ever ask me for anything again.

no joke my brain is melting pls help

~

i want a survivor wiki page :(

During challenge: https://youtu.be/IsGPtYtgnQ4 After challenge results: https://youtu.be/CgmLGWBvEhw

https://youtu.be/Yfsh_odV-Zg

The tribe swap really confused me. I was finally getting the hang of this game but now I'm doubting myself again. I also haven't been active much for the past 2 days and I think my tribe mates have noticed. I need to stay on top of things better if I don't want to (eventually) get voted out.

That this tribe swap screwed me over. It left me with Babs whos been completely inactive and Shaad whos been completely useless. At least I gained an alliance with Jodi and Colin but this is fucking pitiful.

https://youtu.be/pE207b8VRFE

can't wait to vote out jared and jay once jury starts

So I had planned on doing hourly milestone activities like calling a friend at 15 hours, eating ice cream at 16 hours etc and I was filming it to vlog the evening for my confessionals.. but my mom called me around 10:55 for a family emergency and when it was done it was 11:01 and my alarm got overridden by the call. That’s how I dropped and I’m really sad 😔 i low key don’t wanna play the game today but I literally have tribal so I have to stay online, even tho I’d still be more active than babs and shaad ☠️ I wanted this one so bad because the only thing I’m good at is not sleeping. Whoever went longer than 15.5 hours is now at the top of my hitlist, if I find out you also tried this hard for an advantage, I will take u out w my army. Even if it’s a superidol. The only good thing from this L is it ignited a huge motivator for me to play this game hard again (but not too hard) but have a goal and mission to complete. 

~

https://youtu.be/PR8XWvdH-Hc

~

update: i think Amy has it. I'll ask her about it at the merge, she won the 24 hour comp in her last org so it's very possible she gunned this advantage out. if she tells me she has it, then i know I'm absolutely her #1, if not, then we'll see what happens ..... 

~~~

Edgic:

Power Rankings:

Phantom

Jared: He has done well to place himself firmly in the middle of his tribe. The two sides are definitely going by tribal lines at the moment which makes him the most powerful person on the tribe. Everyone wants to work with him. He will definitely be safe if his tribe has to go to tribal council soon.

Jay: This comes as a surprise, but Jay has bonded well with Jared. So much so that Jared listed Jay as the person he trusts the most currently on his tribe. This gives the S.E.E.S. side a bit more longevity on this tribe which is definitely in Jay’s interest. I can see Jared and Jay forming a tight duo.

Dennis: He is definitely in a better spot than he was on his last tribe. No one on this tribe has explicitly said they distrust or want to target Dennis. He’s playing it safe which is good. He lands himself higher than Elle because Jared seems to trust him more. If the decision was between Dennis and Elle, he would be the one safe. Additionally, he’s also sniffed out that the idols are all on this tribe (which is just a coincidence). However, he believes that Jay has it rather than Elle which is an unfortunate guess from him. However, what is excellent game sense is that he wants to form an alliance with Jay and Jared which could definitely benefit him in the long run when he needs to separate himself from his Phantoms.

Elle: It is sad to see Elle near the bottom, but it doesn’t seem like they have won anyone over with their charm on this tribe. Everyone besides Jay sees Elle as someone expendable if this tribe were to go to two consecutive tribal councils. On the plus side, Elle has an idol. If it comes to that, she may be able to keep herself safe.

Brayden: For some reason, no one except Dennis trusts Brayden. In fact, I would not be surprised if Jared, Jay, and Elle came to the consensus that he should be the one to go out of the two Phantoms. Brayden’s unwillingness to work with Dennis rears its ugly head as, even now, Brayden wants to distance himself from Dennis. He seems to believe that he is good with Jay and Jared when both parties have listed him on the bottom of their trust rankings. If Brayden is not careful, he is going to find himself blindsided and voted out premerge in this game.

Fools

Danny: Amy and Anastasia want to keep Danny in spite of their alliance with Ginny. It feels as if both of them want to work closely with him AND want to ditch that alliance. Danny easily has the most control as he has key allies that are willing to go to bat for him if things get messy. I even believe that he would be saved rather than Ginny if this tribe were to go to tribal council consecutively.

Anastasia: Her prior connection with Ginny has instantly landed her in an alliance with Amy despite the fact she doesn’t even know Amy like that. In fact, Anastasia doesn’t even trust Amy that much, but is still willing to work with her and pretend to be allies. Additionally, she has gotten into the good graces of Danny for whom she is trying to work closely with. Anastasia is the most connected with Danny which means she is the safest out of the group. However, Amy sees right through the veneer which means that Anastasia could be labelled as a big threat and be subsequently taken out at the early stages of merge. It was definitely a mistake to inform Amy about their prior connection with Elle.

Amy: What lands Amy here is that Anastasia doesn’t trust her. I was surprised too, but, looking at it, Anastasia would cut Amy over Ginnifer. What puts her above Ginnifer is her activity, however. Hopefully Amy can gain more trust with Danny and Anastasia and be safer in the future. Amy has a good read on Anastasia which keeps her in this position as well. She knows exactly what she needs to do to survive this tribe with the necessary numbers, but can she do it?

Ginnifer: I believe Ginnifer made a misstep by creating an alliance with Anastasia and Amy. At least for Amy, she doesn’t know how to feel considering Ginny never mentioned the alliance and just put them in it. It may have been a bit too presumptuous which leads to hesitation and distrust with the people she wants to ally with. Finally, Danny was also annoyed by Ginny being inactive near the start of the challenge which lowers her overall safety at tribal council

Jennifer: Where is Jennifer San Diego? Her inactivity and unhelpfulness in the challenge makes her the easiest target. There’s not much to say except if she doesn’t pick it up soon and socialize, she will be sitting in the VL.

S.E.E.S.

Jodi: Once again, Jodi has emerged as the tribe leader. Despite being on a plane for the whole day, she has been the most vocal about organizing the challenge. People are very attracted to Jodi’s energy making it easy for her to make allies in any situation she finds herself in. Right now, she has allied with Colin and Josh which easily puts her on the top of this trio alliance. Therefore, she is the safest person on the tribe. She has also been dictating this vote pretty heavily. I fear that Jodi just does not know how to chill though. Her biggest weakness is that she will jump out at anything and try to keep talking when she should just hold back. If she keeps playing the way she is, she will end up as an early jury boot.

Colin: Colin has attached himself to Jodi pretty heavily. I can definitely see this being Colin’s Final 2 rather than any of his allies back on S.E.E.S. The good part about it is that Jodi seems to feel the same way which is great. Additionally, Colin can hide behind Jodi’s massive target at merge.

Josh: Josh does very well in the challenges which keeps him in people’s good graces. His activity definitely helps him survive this tribe as well. He has found himself allied with Jodi out of necessity though. I do not doubt that Colin and Jodi will leave Josh in the dust once merge rolls around and they have their allies back. However, Josh is doing the thing he should be doing at pre-merge: being good at challenges and being active. Anything more would put an unnecessary target on his back at merge.

Babs: Babs is never online and did not even try to help in the challenge. This leaves them low. However, they do still have a Vote Blocker so they can pull some shenanigans if they so choose. Additionally, their inactivity may be used as a shield for now as, at the very least, Jodi is still willing to gtry and get to know Babs.

Shaad: I do not particularly understand why the trio alliance wants to target Shaad. He has a pre-established enemy in Jared and is willing to blow up if he wants to. He could make a great shield in the future, and he would not target these people. However, they believe that Shaad is more useless in the challenges than Babs (despite Babs never being online). And, without any allies on this tribe, there is no one there to vouch for Shaad making his demise seem clear. I hope somehow Shaad can pull himself out, but it does not seem likely.

[rqs902]

.

This is the strangest and most 隨便 and least emotional ranking reveal ever

What is xikan's weird pink streaked hair

You know it makes no sense for xzx to make it in when cxh is #23 and they're literally the same person except for his connection to gjm... CMON CXH TOTALLY KNOWS ITS RIGGED LOOK AT HIS FACE

so did akey only make it in bc 20boy or did youku add him into top 14 just so it wouldnt look weird for xzx to be the only unexpected one

Wait did we get to see them eat hotpot together or am I forgetting something

Aw all of zlj's group came together except zhan yu bc tyger lol

Ofcourse ycw could get emotional lol

That was a weird transition straight into a shot of douzi lol

Also can we talk about how awkward zry and xzx are on stage LOLLL actually when I think about it, in comparison, ycw being as comfortable as he is on stage is pretty impressive.

Also gz's voice sounds nice! But also theres some weird audio stuff going on with the live and recorded voices not lining up LOL awkward.

Im just watching this perf being like why this song.....

LOL SBR'S MILK TEA SHOP

wait so people who didnt make it in ep 1 just dont exist to this show LOL rip

LOL LI HAOS FACE when syh is talking hahahahhhahahahahha

Lol this second group just standing on stage all bored of waiting lol

Omg lin mos voice

Wat just happened to him lol

Ooof lin rans voice is so fitting ahhhh

So why are they still singing covers during the finale lol

Lol why am I so amused that lin mos interaction with the girl was basically no interaction LOL

Lol feels like they're not singing live

Lin mo has lost a lot of weight

PLEASE LET LIN RAN CENTER PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE HE NEEEEEEDS THISSSSSS

Please please please please please omg this can be it, this can be a lyj moment!!!

LOL WHY DO THEY GET MULTIPLE VOTES lol wasting everyone's time making things over dramatic

I'm sorry I love ycw but lin ran neeeeeeeds this

OMGOMGOGMGOMGMGNGMG YESSSSSSSSSS LIN RAN CENTERRRRRR

Lol they look out of sync and they don't seem to be singing live either?

Man this isnt as satisfying as I thought itd be bc the center doesnt stand out very much?? He doesnt even get a particularly nice outfit.... the camera is also not particularly focusing on him....

This song is okay but why is xzx suddenly a vocal

看我的手段!!!!!!! Tyger!!!!!

Tbh this perf looks messy and the outfits and staging are so mediocre??? This is so far from what I imagined a finale stage to look like.

The top 14 is missing a strong vocal like ZHAN YU lol... even renyu when dancing doesnt sound particularly strong :/

Lol ylq and cyc sitting together lol

Ay Jin fan and zhan yu!!!!!

Gz and zlj are both really good dancers and maybe I'm just biased but I feel like the other group did better, just had more strength? Their friendship is cute tho hahaha

Omg hwx and lm imitating them IM DED

I'm not super perturbed who gets center bc I dont think itll really matter for these kids, they're ranked so safe. But hoping itll be xikan just bc I love xikan :')

Xikan and zuo ye repping IP ayyyy

AY XIKAN but c'mon if it wasnt, it wouldn't make much sense. plus youku owes him LOL

Xse rap a bit messy

But this song and stage is so much more high quality designed than lin ran's smh

Lol did zlj just say "booty" wat

Lol did lin mo mess up

Im just so happy they actually LOOK good, and even tho the prerecorded is so overbearing at least lin mos voice sounds nice on it LOL

When zlj is in a group of strong performers like this, you really notice how much he gets buried...

LUO ZHENGGGGGGG OMGGGG HE LOOKS SO MATURE WTFFFFF I'm so happy he came, what real friendship :')

Lol ycw's mom would be here lol

Awwww luo jie.....

Aww dxy and lxk first meeting and cyc and ycw wow such warm beginnings

Aw Jin fan and sbh friendshipp

LOL LI HAO RIPPING THE CAMERA OFF THE WALL

Ylq crying like a ycw lol

Ayy I hear lin mo cheers :')

Lol they added shoulder pads to their uniforms, is this ytzm style lol

I would not be surprised if star master paid for 2 tygers to make it into the top 14 lol

aw akey's crying.... I'm happy for him, doing so much better this time around. He deserves to have more recognition for all he does

Lol ycw isnt crying??? Loljk and even cyc aw

LIN RANNNNN aw hes crying too... and xue en

Aw gz reminding us that hes really just a smol child inside.

Lin mo's been through all of this before so hes trying really hard to be strong. Ofcourse youku is suppressing his votes to put him at the edge to add drama ugh this is the type of thing that would happen to lin mo.... literally he deserves to be so safe pls

Hwx also just a child inside aw

lol I'm sorry this is supposed to be so emotiona but hwx's foundation is such a weird shade lol actually zuo ye's is too LOL

I'm grateful for the extra xue en footage? Lol seems random but hes so handsome darn

Omg is xikan teaching a bunch of moms how to dance eiei

I love tygers

Omg LI HAO THIS VCR ENDING IS TOP QUALITY HAHAHHHAA

Singapore broooooos

Ofcourse li hao yet again delivering us the eng subs lol

Oh gosh seeing lin mo sing this type of song with this look of sadness reminds me too strongly of the qcyn finale. Oh gosh the hair, the gaze, it's such a punch to the gut

Wow these kids look so uninvested LOOOOLLL but also I'm surprised they let all them back on stage for this and not the theme song?

Oscar comforting a distraught lin ran omg can we pls talk about this

Hm how did they do this part distribution lol

Literally youku keeps using junrong for his voice but gives him no recognition ugh

The crowd cheering for xikan yus

Oh I notice enyu's hair is styled like a wave oo

Why is Jin Fan's hair such a strange color

Lol ycw would be completely ruined

Aw lin mo's little smile at the end of his words

Youku is really bent on making this the longest finale ever lol...... another song???? With everyone??? Uhhh and obviously some people's mics aren't on??? I'm so confused what is happening why cant I hear some of their voices lol

LOL LI HAO RUNNING INYO ENYU HAHAHA

This is really dragging things out lol I'm just doing work while watching bc no ones got time for this much unnecessary build up..... good thing all my meetings are in the afternoon today lol

At least they kinda highlighted xikan more in that last montage... finally

Ugh why did renyu get 6th. I think it means it's over for lin ran. You know I'm not surprised but also I still cant believe youku did this. What a disaster.... I knew I'd be disappointed by these results :( im literally shaking my head.

the rest is gonna be lxk zlj hwx zy lm gz in whatever order youku wants. Well it's over. Thanks for the quick ending to the suspense youku lol

They even had the audacity to put zry 6th.....not even 7th..... is this an insult? Theres no way. It's like they want to make it seem like he was safely at the top but theres no way.

Well I knew not to get my hopes up, gotta be ready for disappointment lol.... lm hasn't been announced yet at #3..... lol is this what star master had to pay to get akey in top 14? Pulling lin mo down. Well I feel like this is gonna be a damper on his career bc the media wont care how high you ranked before, but only where you rank at the end. And the ranking becomes how the media defines you.

How tf would lin mo go from 3rd to 7th wtf. Theres no way. He literally has one of the largest fan bases lol this makes zero sense. Way to play with someone's career for the sake of your dumb drama youku

Why is stanning lin mo always like this...... ugh he always gets stepped on and mistreated

I'm sure hes disappointed, hes supposed to be higher and everyone knows. Theres a reason the fans were demanding 高位, not just debut

Also rip lin ran sigh I'm so sad for lin ran too.... what will lin ran do now... he was so close this time :( is he gonna have to do this again?

and the kid has been so distraught for the better half of this 4 hour show.... you can tell how much this really means to him and how desperate he is and how empty and completely ruined he’ll feel when he realizes hes lost. tbh i dont think renyu would’ve felt that destroyed. but youku is here to destroy lin ran. 

I knew youku would disappoint me

THANK YOU AT LEAST XIKAN IS CENTER. If anything, he shouldn't be so emotional bc he shouldn't have needed to be so worried. He so safely has the largest fanbase, but youku just didnt make it easy for him. The main reason why he has doubt in himself is because of youku, and it's sad bc he deserve to feel safe, he shouldn't have to feel so insecure.

Me still smh to see renyu on the other side and lin ran stuck in the back.

Lol the right side of the debut group (the public's picks) vs the left side (youku's picks)....

Lol SKY could be worse

Lol feels like youku just being like let's pick a random english word

Okay but really, I just really want to know what lin ran will do next

I have zero hopes youku will actually manage this group well. Let's look at new storm or blackace lol

Like we all knew this lineup would happen but it doesnt make me any less sad or disappointed

Welp at least it's over now. Time to continue doing my work lol

renyu makes nice songs

but that doesnt mean he fits in a boy band better than lin ran 

i dont think ill ever get over this

[babblingbat]

I was chatting with @wolvaraash about generations and the names of generations bc we’re only two years apart but we’re considered in two different gens so it starts off like

Her: You’re the beginning of the centennials! And I’m the end of the millenials!

Me: Otherwise known as the middle
I like the idea of being a ruined, transient wanderer not attached to anything

And eventually it just got into new names for the “transitioning period” between generations like “genderation” (a typo that we liked) and “Not-quite-where-they-ought-to-be generation” to full blown social commentary.

Here’s our “BEST OF” collection:

(To be clear: These are commentaries on generations pre-millennials. They are mostly things pointing out issues caused by pre-millennials, although there are a few which just kind of highlight things about millennials and onwards.)

“We know y'all are gonna die early because of your unhealthy lifestyles (like smoking) and guess what? No we won’t bury you next to your father who you claimed was the perfect man even though everyone knows he was a violent alcoholic and hit great grandma eventually giving her an early death. No instead we’re gonna donate your body to science for the greater good and to better the future of our world” generation

“All of what I say to you goes right down the drain because even if I’m a fucking 25 year old you’ll still tell me I’m a kid and you won’t take me seriously no matter what I say, no matter what I show you, no matter what I’ve done, unless I have literally committed a crime or ruined your personal house because even though you point to selfies as the ultimate representation of vanity maybe it’s actually the fact that you only care about me if it directly affects you” generation

“As an artist, my artistic abilities will not leave me begging in the streets. It’s your idea that it will and your oppression and restrictions that make it difficult for me to get a job as an artist. You know who’s killing stuff? You. You’re killing my job opportunities and my will to live fuck off with your beliefs on how perusing my passions is a waste of time. Stop telling me I’m wasting my talents on something that is frivolous when I could be turning my passion for art into passion for something that matters like creating weapons for the government. Seriously wtf stop telling me to use my brain to protect my country I’m SICK OF IT FUCK OFF” generation

“Stop telling me what I should and should not wear it’s my body and I wear what I like thank you very much. If you care so much stop looking at me with your disgusting face. Peasants are supposed to avert their eyes when royalty is near, maybe you should try that” generation

“I start learning about the world and I turn around to learn something and next thing I know, my mom’s an anti-vaxxer, transphobic and thinks that trigger means something you disagree with, and 90% of my family voted for an ignorant cheeto” generation

“Maybe y'all should take a step back and think about what you’ve done” generation

“I want to be anywhere but here” generation

“I actually typed in pokemon instead of generation subconsciously before catching myself wtf is wrong with me” generation

“Yeah you know what I didn’t take you into account when I started identifying as a lesbian because it has nothing to do with you and the fact that you think that I need to think about your fucking feelings when I’m realizing shit about ME is really fucked up like do I need a fucking hallpass to decide I like girls take a fucking second and think about that no I like girls and I don’t give a fuck that you wish I was straight I’m not so fuck you” generation

“Seriously you guys stop complaining that I complain too much when I’m in pain. You have made me stop saying anything when I’m in pain dear god you will be the death of me because while I’m on feverish on the floor telling you to call mom you’re still watching atv videos in YouTube, telling me to stop complaining so much it can’t be that bad” generation

“It’s because of you telling me that I’m talking too much or that you don’t care that I’m scared to start talking about something that interests me and that’s honestly so screwed up because I wanted to tell someone about how I’d figured out how someone had animated a game and I stopped halfway through the first sentence to check that I wasn’t boring them” generation

“I love hugs” generation

“Stop getting offended when I ask you what your preferred pronouns are, just because you have no tolerance for me asking doesn’t mean someone might really appreciate it one day. Yes yes I had a feeling you were cis as soon as you reacted like that but that doesn’t mean I’ll stop asking anytime soon” generation

“My correcting you on my pronouns does not trigger you, you are an asshole who ought to be supportive but all you do is complain when I tell you what you can do to support me and if I tell you that you’re misgendering me then you should say ‘shit, sorry’ and move on and correct yourself, not go on a rant that victimizes yourself and forces me to listen to your whining about how hard my identity is for you for half an hour, the only way this has anything to do with you is how you treat me, I didn’t decide not to be cis just to spite you” generation

“Pls stop telling me to choose one gender, no I won’t dump you just because I like girls and boys no seriously I can choose anyone in the world and I chose you what the fuck no I’m not gonna cheat. No I’m not a confused straighty pls stop calling me gross it makes me feel bad” generation

“You have too many issues to own so many guns” generation

"No, I'm not a guy or a gal, and it is not my fault that you continue to assume one or the other rather than asking me.  I'm trying to be as obvious as I can and still you insist on stuffing me in a box that I don't belong in.  I'm not a member of your binary and I don't want to be, ask me about pronouns when you're talking to me, and if you aren't sure, fucking ask before getting pissy that I'm gently saying 'actually I use' just because you feel like my development is nothing more than an inconvenience for you" generation

And finally:

"We should make these into a textpost" generation

**credit not individually given by request

[psychic-readingonline]

Psychic Source Dallas

Contents

Palatine high school south

School district 211

Estates high school

Increased resource commitment

William Fremd High School, or Fremd (formerly known as palatine high school south), is a public four-year high school located in Palatine, Illinois, a northwest suburb of Chicago, Illinois, in the United States.It is part of Township High school district 211, which also includes James B. Conant High School, Hoffman estates high school, Palatine High School, and Schaumburg High School.

Specialties: All Readings Will Give Insite On Any Situation Relationships / Love / Marriage / Divorce Career / Health / Family / Finance / Karma Voted Most …

Harmony is a Love Psychic, Career Psychic, Clairvoyant with Psychic Source, who uses Numerology, Tarot, Astrology's in her readings, and whose style is …

Explore the possibilities of your life with a live psychic reading. New members save up to 87% with $1/min reading. Free if you're not happy!

The Aurora, Texas, UFO incident reportedly occurred on April 17, 1897 when, according to locals, a UFO crashed on a farm near Aurora, Texas. The incident (similar to the more famous Roswell UFO incident 50 years later) is claimed to have resulted in a fatality from the crash and the alleged alien body is to have been buried in an unmarked grave at the local cemetery.

New Episode Thurs 10P. New Episode Thurs 9P. New Episode Thurs 8P. New Episode Tues 10P. Season Finale Wed 10P

Psychic Resource Tool Psychic distance and environment: impact on increased resource commitment … psychic distance affects firms engaged in increased resource commitment, … Partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) : An emerging tool in … Psychic Experiences Meaning Usually, psychic experiences occur when you are sitting back with your mind blank, perhaps feeling lazy or too tired to Twins Psychic Link Psychic Needs Definition Psychic Reaction Meaning I feel depressed, I feel so bad ‘Cause you’re the best girl that I ever had I can’t get your love, I can’t get a fraction Uh oh, little girl, psychotic reaction And it feels like this I feel so lonely night and day I can’t get your love, Psychic Reading Free Reading Psychic Resource Tool Psychic distance and environment: impact on increased resource commitment … psychic distance affects firms engaged in increased resource commitment, … Partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) : An emerging tool in … Psychic experiences meaning Usually, psychic experiences occur when you are sitting back with your mind blank, perhaps feeling lazy or

[survivorkomnata]

Episode #10: “ I'm a fucking Virgo. If you burn me I will never forget it.” - Jess

Dear Alyssa,

For someone who claims to have a HUGE interest in Astrology.... you seem to have forgotten the fact that I'm a fucking Virgo. If you burn me I will never forget it. You declared war and that's on YOU.

i hate this “we only start talking an hour before tribal” nonsense that this merge tribe has going on. like pls get your lives together sooner. i don’t even message ppl anymore bc we just do the “yaaa i haven’t heard anything” “me either” back and forth

i feel pretty hopeless in the game i’m ngl, fully think we should just wrap it up now and give zach the win

alyssa is an emotional and illogical player who came into the merge with the goal of miguel and luke being voted out for voting against her premerge. she didn’t think of the long term, only revenge. it’s embarrassing.

i don’t rly have an endgame path. or anything anymore. i miss luke and stephen.

So, yesterday was a bit of blindside for me. Not even really because Luke left, I woke up that morning willing to vote him out myself, but because I was unable to get Karth, Tim, or Alyssa on my side. I don't think any of them are truly "against me" at this point but it's a little worrying that Luke left over Jake, who I still don't really have a strategic relationship with.

Alyssa confronted me last night saying that other people had gone to her and said that I was planning to target her once Jake was gone. This isn't exactly true, but it has enough basis in reality since I have talked in the "4-elements" alliance about how we should target Jake before going after Alyssa. I'm not sure who went to her with this idea, nor do I know if she was even approached with it in the first place. Alyssa has deceived me for 2 votes now. First, she outright lied to me about voting Zach out at F10 (I still don't technically have confirmation of this, but it makes sense that she'd take out Luke/Miguel as soon as possible). More evidence supporting that she lied is that the former Kato2.0 side decided to vote Luke out next, which would be odd if he was the one to flip to their side at the first merge vote.

The second thing she lied about was being on the fence at this last tribal council.  After Luke was gone she told Jess that we "should've known she didn't want Jake out" despite her never saying that to us. It's clear that Alyssa had planned to vote Luke out as soon as she knew this would be a 5-4 vote. But she lied to me about that and wasted my time up until the very last minute.

Basically, what I'm saying is... it's getting exhausting to try and work with her strategically. It's not like Ally/Jess/Karth, who I feel I can talk frankly and honestly with. I want her and Jake gone. Jake hasn't really "wronged" me in anyway, but I can tell him and Alyssa have to at least be a little close so the jury can have both of them. Honestly, I kinda want them both gone more than Zach at this point. I'm doing my best to win this upcoming immunity challenge so people stop going behind my back, but if Zach were to win.. well... I certainly have a few alternatives in mind.

I am feeling a bit stuck in this game. With Zach in the game I feel my game is pretty restricted and I would feel too bad to backstab him. I already felt bad for voting Luke. I just dont know what to do here.

i have no idea what’s happening

zach and karth have reached out to me about potentially trying to reconcile and ofc i’m open to that

i’m kinda worried they’re voting jess out and i hope not bc i love her

i wish i had any kind of idea what i was doing

i wish luke didn’t get voted out

i wish this idol search made sense

i wish i was a little bit taller i wish i was a baller

So apparently Zach and Jake are throwing around Stephen's name with my name as an alternative. I'm not surprised at all at this rate. I figured this would happen as soon as I took my strike at both Zach and Jake.

The only possible saving grace from this all is that both Alyssa and Tim let me know about it. This kind of gives me a glimmer of hope that both of them aren't willing to at least vote me out at this stage in the game. If they'd did.. they'll look like idiots because I'm playing such a horrible game. I have yet to make a big move or win an immunity, I don't have any solid alliances aside from "The Last Hope" which honestly just a circumstantial alliance and most likely we die soon. Taking me at this point is ridiculous because I'm literally the perfect person to sit final 3 with right now.

My game plan at least now is.. I want either Zach or Jake to go. If I can work the angle of Jake or Zach trying to get me out as a way to sway people who think I'm their best friend in this game... yeet. If not I am dead and I will write my own eulogy....

If I get voted out because I lost immunity by 1 point.. I WILL FUCKING RIOT.

Ok so sorry for the lack of confessionals going on I have a lot (of good things) happening in my life atm. Anyways, I got sent to the basement which sux and now the vote is super stressful!!! I'm pretty much pulling a lot of strings within the tribe atm and trying to balance it all! I have Zach and Jake in my pocket completely!! Jake and Alyssa are like on my coat tail and Jess/Stephen/and Ally are in their grave ready to be destroyed lmaoo. Fingers crossed I don't go home.

im vulnerable, and it's an hour til tribal. i'm unsure of what's going to happen. here's a quick recap:

A - i go to ally/stephen to encourage reconciling. i think this is genuinely smart as we are all 'big threats' and it's stupid to let middle players slide by while helping pin bigger threats against one another. they basically end up agreeing (more so stephen). B - alyssa and tim come to me (separately) saying that they are throwing my name around, and tim goes even further to say that they want to split between me / jake. this sounds really believable based on track record. C - ally pms me saying that she heard X told Jess who told her that i'm targeting stephen. i say it's true, but under the circumstances that people are saying they are going after me. D - we talk in the "alliance" chat and come to a conclusion that jake should be the vote as he best fits the "middle player" role, thus being dangerous. though i disagree, i'm in no position to bury karthik/tim in a hole. E - with karthik spearheading, i help flip the vote from stephen to jess. this is because jess will weaken that side, and i don't trust her. at all. on top of that, it helps me not worry as much abt alyssa being sketchy & it keeps my promise 2 stephen/ally in the sense of not voting stephen (and i can argue saying that with them lying at merge, i had to be reaaaalllllyyyy cautious). F - i'm unsure about my idol. it could still happen. right now i'm leaning towards playing my idol because i want it GONE. by using this idol, here are the outcomes: F.1 - the vote is 4-4 or even more slanted, and i idol successfully, meaning jess will leave this game. F.2 - i receive 0 votes and completely waste it. this makes me more vulnerable, but also, could help if i utilize it correctly/effectively. F.3 - I receive 3 votes (give or take) and it's ineffective but shows that i can't trust ally/stephen and by attachment, jess (who should be gone). i guess my preferred order would be F1 -> F3 -> F2 just because if i use it, i want it to be as effective as possible since wasting an idol isn't going to help my case at FTC (which is already weak LSDGKDSLGDSH).

my gut is really sick (as always bar f9.. so just f10). i don't THINK i'm getting any votes, but u can never be too sure. to elaborate on the entire point of 'F', i want to go over pros n cons of idolling (and wasting it). PROS: - no more paranoia for me (GOD BLESS) - i'm much more vulnerable, meaning they may not target me (double-sided) - im 100% safe regardless, and in f7. CONS: - im more vulnerable; easier to target. - ppl are shook bc i dont trust them/ didnt tell them - its wasted and doesnt help my FTC case.

and lastly, who has the idols? [based on tribe idols] CONFIRMED: me . (OG Takagi idol) LIKELY: alyssa (the only person who could have two) COULD POSSIBLY HAVE ONE: stephen (someone probs has attila, i think itd be him or alyssa). karthik (basement king, but def not tribal idol probs .) jake (og kato, could have the kato idol). NOT LIKELY: tim (og takagi/nu-kato. both idols were gone, so i doubt it. but, maybe basement??) jess (unless she worked w alissa n found attalia, it's no) DEFINITELY NOT: ally (was on OG Takagi (my idol) and takagi post-swap, so unless swap idol, N/A).

Jess is voted out 5-3. She becomes the fourth member of our jury.