#they look like the philippine flag (kinda)

[southbound-in-the-sky]

They're family!!!

[teecupangel]

What do you think would happen if Desmond was sent into the show Maria Clara and Ibarra? Just curious

Is… is Maria Clara at Ibarra even available in other countries? I know it isn't available in Netflix Canada :( so it might just be Netflix Philippines exclusive. The episodes are available in youtube though but without English subtitles.

Here’s a trailer with unofficial English subs:

The main plot is Klay (full name Maria Clara), a nursing (working) student with an abusive stepfather, a kind but doormat mother and an uncaring ‘money solves everything’ biological father, gets into an argument about how important Jose Rizal’s Noli Me Tangere would be to her course and her future. Her professor decided that consent is over-rated and Truck-kun’ed her to be isekai’ed into the novel using some kind of magic book version of Noli Me Tangere where she only knows the first three chapters of the book so she’s not a typical OP isekai protagonist.

The Noli storyline gets screwed up by her…… sorta for the better? Sorta… it’s… um… not fully a happy ending but it’s a more bittersweet ending than what the original novels (Noli and El Fili) got, that’s for sure.

It’s quite entertaining and does show the past and current struggles of the Filipinos and the Philippines as well as be entertaining to those who like isekai storylines and… those who sorta kinda remember the required readings of Noli (and El Fili). Also, the set design is sooooo good. They really went out of their way to make every scene feel like they're around 18th-19th Spanish ruled Philippines.

NGL, the Spanish sprinkled here and there reminded me of Assassin's Creed and I can just feel myself going 'where's the subtitles, fucking give me subtitles, Animus! My Spanish is worse than my Pilipino!'

Annnyyywwaaayy.

So for this crossover, Desmond wakes up in some unknown place after using the device to save the world. In this scenario, I think Desmond won’t realize he’s in a novel. Why would he? The only way for him to have read Noli was if he was into like foreign books and such or maybe someone from the Farm was of Filipino descent or maybe even his mother? His mother is a blank slate at this point so she can be whatever we want her to be.

But I think it would be fun if Desmond doesn’t know the novel at all.

So when he meets up with Klay after he got his own ‘backstory’ dealt with (Italian noble vacationing in the Philippines and let us all thank Ezio for knowing Spanish), he only realized Klay is stuck in the ‘past’ as well when she starts saying words that he recognized but know shouldn’t be available at the moment.

For their meeting, it would be fun if he becomes buddy-buddy with Ibarra’s aristocrat friends and be in the same table as Fidel when Ibarra was treating Klay to food. Desmond would be curious about Klay’s lack of ‘manners’ (while he’s doing well because Ezio’s Bleed is saving his ass) but he tries not to say anything because he’s playing a role but he’d been slowly making his own information gathering ‘guild’ on the side because he’s trying to find a way to find Ratonhnhaké:ton’s descendants in the US, that’s his main objective right now, so he had heard of the ‘meztiza de sangle’ that one of the most prominent convents had been looking for so he can put two and two together. It’s only when Klay starts speaking English and telling Ibarra and Fidel off that Desmond realized that there’s something more to Klay than some ‘meztiza de sangle’ as people call her.

So, in this scenario, Klay gets interrupted from her Ibarra stalking because Desmond talked to her in English and asked what university she’s from.

The fact that she’s a woman that’s studying in a university is a big red flag and Desmond says enough words for Klay to realize that he’s not from this time as well.

With English being their main form of communication, Desmond found out that he’s not in the past, he’s stuck in a novel. Klay doesn’t know any Desmond Miles or any Solar Flare but if we consider the following information we do know of Klay: she’s about to graduate in the year 2022 and nursing degrees usually take four years or so she’ll be 21~22 when she graduates. This means she was born in 1999~2000 and would have been 11~12 years old during that time. This would probably make Klay think that she didn’t hear about it because she wasn’t interested in news at that time yet.

So they decide to join forces to try and get out the novel:

This does lead to Klay pushing Desmond to becoming Ibarra’s friend instead and Ibarra is a bit wary of Desmond Sartor (it wasn’t like he could use Auditore as his last name, that would be pointing a huge red arrow at his back for any Templars… did this novel even have Templars???) but Ibarra warms up to him because he can see Desmond is kind to Klay (and maybe let’s her get away with a lot of things but what a master does or does not do to their servant (which is their backstory) is none of his concern)

Desmond doesn’t talk about Abstergo because he doesn’t really liked talking about his past. If he had… he would have learned how Klay has no idea what Abstergo is.

Fidel and Klay still have their own thing. Desmond isn’t touching whatever is happening there with a ten foot pool. Nope. His Eagle Senses are telling him that it would just give him a headache if his appearance causes any misunderstanding.

Let’s be honest, Desmond would take one look of Elias and his people and be like “I can train them” and the whole Elias and revolution subplot would take a very different Assassin Brotherhood-esque turn, that’s for sure.

Desmond’s inclusion to the story does change more than Klay did because of his skills as an Assassin, the knowledge he gained from his Bleeds and his questionable status as an Italian noble.

Sisa gets a happy ending. Fuck it. Give Sisa a happy ending!

Sooooo… you know how Padre Damaso and Padre Salvi got ‘better’ endings in the series? Well, Desmond would make sure they have the best ending in this one. XD

Once Klay returns to the real world after the end of the Noli part, she tries to look for Desmond, thinking he’s returned with her but got transferred to the US or somewhere. When she google-search Desmond’s name, she learns of Desmond Miles from the videogame Assassin’s Creed.

Klay researches about Assassin’s Creed because, what the fuck, and she realized that Desmond is a videogame character that got isekai’ed to the book. So when it was time for her to fuck up El Fili’s plot, she hoped Desmond was also there so she can… uuuhhh… talk to him about his actual real situation? Klay didn’t really think that far ahead, okay, she’s trying to save everyone at this point, damn it.

The Brotherhood in the Philippines is now under Elias and they’re planning something big and Klay meets Desmond a few weeks (months?) later since she first came to the El Fili book because he had been in America looking for Ratonhnhaké:ton’s descendants.

Desmond learns of his ‘real identity’ after Klay tells him plot points Desmond and his team should only know about. But then things… get even weirder.

Because there is a Brotherhood in America. He's met with Ratonhnhaké:ton’s freaking descendants, for fuck's sake. Hell, there’s a Brotherhood in Spain and they're helping out Elias and the others so Desmond is pretty sure that this is his world and not a novel which doesn’t make sense.

For now, they try to focus on helping the ‘characters’ of El Fili get their happy ending.

Then Sir Torres finally appears towards the end and Desmond recognized him immediately. It’s Tinia of the Capitoline Triad.

To be more exact, Sir Torres is Tinia who managed to successful evade the Solar Flare of Desmond’s world by being transported into another world: Klay’s world. Sir Torres’ Noli and El Fili books are actually his experiments in recreating Isu tech in a world where the Isu never existed in the first place. It is based on Jose Rizal’s books but, to recreate it, Sir Torres accidentally created a pocket world of some kind and Desmond was transferred to it for some unknown reason (Tinia’s guess is that Minerva had done it as a last ditch effort to save him and it had randomly plopped him into Tinia’s experimental pocket world).

Desmond’s inclusion to the world where he starts to ask questions about things that were never included in the books destabilized the world so much that it latched into a singularity point that held information that would stabilize it: Desmond himself.

So America? The Brotherhood? The sudden Templar presence in El Fili that had been absent in Noli? That’s the world latching onto Desmond’s genetic memories, developing the world and the characters in it.

In other words, Desmond’s inclusion to the world of Noli and El Fili?

It caused what is called a ‘Crossover Event’ (and Klay would be on the side thinking ‘like a fanfiction???’) and Desmond is the singularity point where everything is centered around (Klay going ‘like he’s the main character???’)

Annnnddd… I have no idea how to end this.

Choices for the Ending:

El Fili ends on a happy-ish note with Klay and Fidel going to Klay’s original world with Desmond going with them. This would have the ‘hopeful’ ending of Desmond and Sir Torres joining forces to find a way back to their actual real world using Desmond’s ‘favored child of the Calculations’ title.

El Fili ends on a happy-ish note with Klay and Fidel going to Klay’s original world and Desmond stays behind because, as Sir Torres explains it, the novel world of Noli/El Fili had become an almost exact replica of Desmond’s world which means that Desmond could make a difference this time, prepare for the inevitable Solar Flare of 2012 and take care of Juno. As Klay stressed, the people of this world are real to them even if they were born from the pages of a book so… Desmond wants to save them if he could. Also, this pocket world would have POEs if it’s a replica of his world and that might help him contact his old world… Sir Torres is doubtful on that part.

El Fili ends in a happy-ish notes and Desmond follows Klay and Fidel to Klay’s world BUT ends up getting isekai’ed to a different world by himself because that's how we show our love XD

If you’re curious about Jose Rizal, here’s the puppet history episode XD

[cephiius]

thoughts many thoughts

i just visited a 600-year old tree (balite tree) in my country and i felt a tad bit overwhelmed,, bc spanish colonization in the philippines happened around 1500s but the balite tree was planted from around 1400s, meaning this tree witnessed all our colonizations and even the time before that

so it made me think,,,, what if spain (the first one) never colonized the philippines and fucked up our culture and lifestyle, what would we be now?

would we still stay with the baybayin writing system? probably

like japan, we'd probably also be an economically wealthy country independently because of our spices

we'd also be independently wealthy because of our diverse geographical locations

would these make us a 1st world country right now?

would the country be polytheistic instead of roman catholic because of filipino deities? would we all be indigenous? prob not because of modernization

or like america, there'd be immigrants and a lot of diversity in religion

growing up in a very religious surrounding is very something so what if there was just no: christianity

would we have a caste system still??? because of the old one which composed of datu, maharlika, timawa, alipin?? or will it also change?

would we be a 2nd world country instead?

so much history wouldn't happen. a lot of heroes, heck even a lot of presidencies, wouldn't probably exist. our national anthem would be different. our FLAG would be different. EVEN THE PHILIPPINES WOULDN'T BE CALLED THE PHILIPPINES. BECAUSE IT WAS NAMED AFTER KING PHILLIP OF SPAIN.

jose rizal, person i look up to, wouldn't exist. we wouldn't study noli me tangere / touch me not in school

i wonder what kind of education system we would even have... i wonder if it would've been so much better? my dream university wouldn't exist which is the oldest existing university in asia right now, so it wouldn't be university of santo tomas anymore

like china, would we just have a fucked up history of fighting and having wars against each other debating on what kinda social system and government we would have?

would we have high ass technology or reputation or even POPULATION as east asian countries?

or would we still remain as a 3rd world country somehow?

how the fuck would we even have acted during world war 1 and 2? be part of it in a big way? or just be chilling? would we......... be colonizing other countries?

...

and already have good weapons? would japan and america come and even still colonize us? lmao that's a whole nother conversation

history would change as hell, and we would be pure filipinos without any blood of our colonizers, meaning our physiology would change, as well as our names (damn)

i wouldn't have a name

most importantly: i wouldn't exist. nice.

.

.

.

there are probably a lot of articles thinking of "what if spain never colonized the philippines?"

will research abt them later lol

[shapa-likes-art]

[ID: A drawing of Roman. He wears an unbuttoned red button-up, the left side tucked into white pants, and a dark grey undershirt.

On the button-up shirt were three pins, one was a pink pin with yellow and blue sparkles that read "gay" in cursive, another one was a pride pin beneath the pink one, on the other side of his chest was a pin of the Philippine flag but obscured by his arm.

standing in the rain with an umbrella Looking to the left with a small smile on his face. /End ID]

A Roman drawing! This was kinda a ploy to get me to draw an object so excuse the wonky umbrella haha.

(Click for better resolution!)

If you like it, Reblog it :)

Seriously, if you like a piece of content, reblog.

[cloudy-leonhart]

AOT veterans with a Filipino S/O!!

[author note: did I write this as soon as I posted the first part?? yes. I like writing for this, it’s so fun lolol up next, Marleyan Warriors!!]

Summary: not much, just the AOT vets with their filipino S/O.

Gender Neutral Reader.

Recommended Song: Buwan - Juan Karlos.

Theme: Fluff, Modern AU.

TW: Swearing.

Characters: Hange, Levi, Miche, Erwin, Moblit, Nanaba.

Hange Zöe

Honestly they fully immersed themselves in your culture, as you know Hange LOVES learning about new things, discovering about your culture, they probably forced you to go the Philippines with them.

They started asking people for directions in english?? You had to step in translate for them, in which they responded to ask to teach them the language.

Yes they keep a small notebook of words they think are interesting. Yes even swear words are in there, not to mention they absolutely just butcher the way you say it.

One time when you both came back, Hange told Erwin that Bakla was a word for a good man, and they laughed their asses off watching Erwin tell people he was Bakla LMFAO.

They actually visited your province, they met your family and was surprised at the fact that they owned a whole farm, they tried to learn with your siblings on how to harvest rice, they nailed it btw.

they named your carabao, Sawney, and your chicken, Bean.

And respectfully so, your family started to call their animals by the name Hange gave them.

They started to cry about the fact that you guys had to go back, and like every time, your mom and dad encouraged y’all to bring filipino snacks back home, in which you did, because you knew that you’d probably miss it when you flew back home.

You guys have a tradition of going to the Philippines for your guys’ anniversary.

THEY SUPRISINGLY LISTENS TO FILIPINO MUSIC

They were the one to suggest Aegis to Levi but they prefer someone like Jireh Lim.

Favourite song is probably, Buko. They love the guitar in it.

Levi Ackerman

He first found out you were Filipino when he caught you packing a balikbayan box for your family back home, (for those who don’t know, balikbayan box is a box full of your country’s snacks to send back to the PH for your family to try.)

He had asked you what it was, and you answered that it was for your family back in the Philippines, in which he responded with helping you, and mainly scolding you about the way you packed it.

“Idiot, pack it like this, so you have more space to place stuff.”

When he first went to the Philippines, he first noticed the cleanliness of the hotels, he looked at you with a ‘is this why you’re so good at cleaning?’ look. 

God when I say your parents loved him, YOUR PARENTS ABSOLUTELY ADORED HIM. He would clean for your mom, and not only that, your mom approved of his cleaning technique, yes she told you to marry him that second.

And that you did, you had your first wedding with you family in the Philippines, and another in where you guys currently lived.

Bye, he absolutely looks AMAZING in a Barong. Your dad helped him slick his hair back.

Your mom and him, bonded of cleaning, sometimes when your mom needs help removing rust on her pans, she calls Levi.

like Hange he and you go to the Philippines for y’alls anniversary. 

Please save this man from the streets, I’m not saying it to be mean but this man almost gave his wallet to a bunch of kids who were hungry.

You gave money instead because you didn’t want your man to be broke lmfao.

He loves seeing you so happy while you’re in the Philippines, he just thinks it’s adorable when you speak your language.

Aegis listener, absolutely no discussion, mans listens to them while cleaning, he listens to “Sayang Na Sayang” religiously.

when Aegis plays in the house, you know it’s a cleaning day lmao.

Erwin Smith

Please, remember when I said Hange told him bakla was a word for a good man, yes, that’s how he found out you were Filipino, you literally was so dumbfounded, you waited for him in the living room, your friend’s laughing over the phone, man thought he did something wrong until..

“Erwin, can you tell me why you’ve been telling your friends you’re fucking gay??”

Yeah he’s got trust issues now. But he wasn’t that shocked to find out you were filipino, he just thinks it’s neat, he butchers pronouncing shit, he tries to learn filipino jokes??? It’s really bad, like you need to stop him from telling your family to save HIM from embarrassment.

He knows how to cook barbecue lmfao, he sits at your family’s barbecue spot and cooks for them, your dad appreciates the help so much lmao, also he loves drinking the gulaman whenever he’s there, your dad gives it to him for free because, he basically considers Erwin his son now. His awkward, barbecue-cooking, son.

You guys go on hiking in Mt. Butalao, yes you sneak peeks when he’s climbing because his muscles flex, and he sweats. You guys go on a double hiking date with Miche and his S/O all the time.

He was kind of fearful when you went to a province to get in touch with your grandparents, he watched you help their carabao back into their pens, he’s scared of carabaos, don’t blame him-

Surprisingly he’s as good as your dad in basketball, bye I just know the women of your community comes to watch him, he’s ripped, you’re jealous but you don’t say it lmao.

He’s got those jeep keychains lmfao, the fact that he kinda looked like a lost puppy when you’re traveling, like so many people, so little space-

please educate him, he’s confused on everything-

he probably listens to Eraserheads, Huwag Mo Nang Itanong. Yes his ultimate song. 

Miche Zacharias

probably the only veteran that knows what to do?? Beside Moblit?? He knows how to bless, he knows to call your parents nanay and tatay. He also loves going to where there’s a lot of Filipino street food because he loves the smell, he prefers the smell of bananaque over anything, hotcakes are a close second.

mf was scared when your mom suddenly said, “Oh yeah, I kept your childhood spider.”

YOU OWNED A MF SPIDER?? You were all like ‘omg i miss him’ he was a little scared bitch omg.

You had to explain that you would buy them from the local toy store and you and your friends would make them fight each other to the death.

HE THOUGHT IT WAS GONNA BE SMALL- IT’S A WHOLE MF TARANTULA BYE

you know those dyed chicks you get from winning a game, yeah, he was attached to one you guys won, but as always, they weren’t going to live long, I think he sulked for a whole 2 days. He named the chick Richard AHAHA.

ah yes, absolute unit in basketball, yes you and Erwin’s S/O would watch them play basketball together with your guys’ dads. Yes y’all gossiped about how hot they were in tagalog.

Just saying, Miche got some that night. 

He doesn’t fit in tricycles- neither does he fit in jeepneys lmfao- he kinda has to sit on the ground if you force him to fit, in which he has to awkwardly crawl to get out lmfao.

He literally looks godly while hiking, you guys don’t go to your parents’ house when you first arrive, you guys hike.

You guys go whenever y’all feel like it honestly.

“hey hey, reader, Mahal Kita.”

He listens to anything in filipino honestly, he likes chill filipino songs like Tell Me Where It Hurts by MYMP.

Moblit Berner

He’s a researcher, he makes sure he doesn’t disrespect the culture.

he knows to bless and all that jazz like Miche.

Wait but your family loved him as soon as you told them he was a doctor lmfao?? He’s in nursing.

He’s basically already apart of the family, all your little siblings call him kuya Moblit, he absolutely thinks it’s adorable.

when you guys are sending a balikbayan box, he places toys he bought for your little siblings in the box, with a note written and translated by you for them.

Moblit also knows about poverty in the Philippines, he’s apart of an organization where they give to those who can’t afford real food, even when he’s back home with you, he donates from abroad, everyone knows him as the generous kuya.

honestly I can see him as someone who’s also known by your community, people call him kuya Moblit or tito Moblit, it’s very wholesome when a kid asks him to carry them.

This man looks so nice and kind on the outside but when you guys are at your tita’s bday party and there’s a whole mf buffet, he’s a whole beast.

You know when your uncles have like, food stacked on their plate, and like a cup of buko pandan at the side?? yes, him. definitely.

He’s kinda like sasha in this au, he loves the food so much, he probably finished a filipino dish by himself (it’s the palabok)

he’s also a god at making ice candy?? like he’s so good at filling up the plastic with the liquid lmao.

you guys adopted a stray dog in the community and his name was Moblit, your family takes care of him while you guys are back home.

genuinely, it’s mostly wholesome with him, he doesn’t really do anything wrong besides butchering pronounciation.

Moblit probably watches boxing with your dad though, it’s just too accurate not to be true.

More of a movie watcher than a song listener, his favourite movie so far is Four Sisters and A Wedding.

he cries every filipino movie, them do it to you.

Seven Sundays, he cried for days straight.

Nanaba

Nanaba found a filipino flag from your collage years in a box, asked you about it, then encouraged you to visit the Philippines because she wanted to meet your family. 

Okay but your family thought she was a guy because of her hair?? 

your siblings can’t say Nanaba, so they call her Ate Nana.

She was kind of jealous of your bond with your family, she knows she shouldn’t be, but she couldn’t help it since her and her father’s relationship absolutely sucked.

And you know this, you had talked with her about it too, it was kinda like a, “are you okay?” and “it’s nothing.”

You had to drag her out to family events, eventually, she started to feel like she was apart of the family, she went swimming with the fam, did karaoke nights, she was basically in the family now.

She felt really happy that you decided to help her educate herself in your culture, and that your family openly accepted her into your family.

when you and her married, she wore a baro’t saya for the wedding reception and she looked absolutely gorgeous in them. She took your last name.

Your mom taught her to do the tinikling dance, and she mastered it easily, you of course danced with her.

she kinda had a guilty pleasure of going to McDonalds in the Philippines, SOLELY FOR THE ROOT BEER FLOAT, that stuff be bussin.

she forces you to go to McD’s whenever’s there’s a new flavour released.

Nanaba loves going on the jeepney, she likes the fact that you ring a bell when you have to get off and she does it every time you guys use a jeep for transportation.

Nanaba knows one word in filipino and that’s Mahal, she uses it so weirdly though, but she’s adorable so you let it pass.

“Reader..erm, I mahal?? you?..” 

she’s both a listener and a movie watcher, she listens to more modern filipino singers, like Patch Quiwa.

Favourite movie is when Vice Ganda’s in it, she just thinks all his movies are funny.

[motherstone]

So, this has been on my mind lately, but what do you think Gulfen’s flag looks like? I know, kinda random…

I'm not 100% sure, but tbh I'd go for blue on top representing the sky, red in the bottom representing the desert, with the Sun in the middle with several spokes, the number of which matches the number of the regions of Gulfen. Also, if the blue is on top it's peacetime, while the red is on top it's wartime. No this is definitely not inspired by the Philippine flag I prommy

[untouchabyeolman]

just a little story....

[ignatiusteto]

I didn’t know anything about Valorant but you kept posting about it and it looked so cool and I looked it up and i can’t play it because it looks like it’s multiplayer only and I’m incredibly shy BUT I love seeing all the art and posts you make and reblog about it even if I don’t understand it fully! Also the WIP artwork you’ve been posting is absolutely outstanding and I’m seriously impressed by your art skills.

JSHDKASJDH HI TYSM IT IS MULTIPLAYER ONLY BUT IF U GET GOOD FRIENDS TO PLAY WITH IT'S GOOD AND YOU DONT!!!! EVEN HAVE TO TALK TO PEOPLE!!! Val has built in callouts. I SUUUUPER get it and was really nervous to play at first but I got a couple friends to play with and it was v fun!!! and then it's kinda like skating in the event u get comfy with it slowly and just do it. you ALSO can just!!!!! turn off voice chat!!!!!!!! even text chat if you want ( dont recc tho bc people usually type damage there)!!!!! and the report button is super great for people with an attitude problem because every time ive used it ive gotten a response saying so n so has been penalized or whatever SOOOOOOOO BUT AJSJLSKDJKLSAK TYSM honestly the official valorant youtube and website are great places for info. it's a good ol 5v5 sort of capture the flag-y game and it has super duper cool lore (main reason why i played along with the art, i originally wanted to play it when it came out but i couldnt make an account for some reason >:((((((( ) BUT ALSO YOU CAN GET USED TO THE GAME IN THE SINGLE PLAYER RANGE AND CUSTOM GAME SETTING TO PRACTICE WITH GUNS AND CHARACTERS AND PLANTING/DIFFUSING THE SPIKE (in game bomb that's like the flag) ANYWAY SJLSFKDSKLJFDKJ THANK YOU SO MUCH ALSO FOR THE COMPLIMENT SOMETIMES I CAN DRAW SOMETIME'S I CAN'T AND REFERENCES ARE A LIFE SAVER (ive literally been looking for a ref pose forever though and finally i settled on a basic one bc i just wanna get fonte art out there because there's no actual thing for her yet)

i simply love this game lots n lots because it's unique compared to all the other fps games ive ever seen (and never played so kudos to riot for making an absolute banger of a game) and i like seeing what riot does with the content and the people they hire on like Neon's VA has a lot of good things to say about this new agent and I know a lot of fans from the Philippines are super excited and happy with Neon and some rep and i really hope to see more of that from this game,,

[scribbling-stiks]

Puppets - XXXVIII - Traveling Conversations

Russia holds America's hand, tenderly. A warm feeling fills his stomach. America's shaking slows, and he feels America's grip relax, if only slightly. America rubs at his face and takes a deep breath. He steels his expression with practiced ease that shocked Russia for a moment.

"Come on. We're falling behind," America says. He pulls Russia forward. Russia smiles.

They walk hand in hand. Massachusetts offers Russia a nod and a small grin. Philippines chatters away to Texas. Canada does give him a strange look but doesn't comment.

As they walk, Russia begins to think.

'Training... What kind of training? Was it a joke or real? If it was a joke, why name it the training room? If someone is training something, then why use citizens, and why have people with different flags? Well, monsters- could the monsters be trained? Wild animals can be trained for a circus, and dogs can be trained to fight. Training monsters...'

His eyes widen for a split second.

'That monster from before, at the Big House. It knew Alaska's flag, but Alaska wasn't outside. If these monsters are being trained, they could be sent to track us down and use our flags.'

"*America?*"

"Yeah, Russ?"

"*Can monsters be trained?*"

"Uhhh... I guess? I'd imagine it would take a lot of magic, food, and people to do it... what are you thinking about?"

"'Training room.'"

America inhales sharply.

"Want to share with the group?" Massachusetts asks.

Russia looks to America, and America speaks.

"We think there is something bigger going on."

"Like what pops?" Texas asks.

"Like these monsters are being trained to track down personifications."

Finland's eyes flash in recognition. "But why would someone do that?" she asks.

"I don't know, but 'training room' implies it."

"It would explain how they knew flags they didn't see," Russia interjects.

America goes quiet for a second before nodding his head.

"That would make sense."

"But what's the end-goal here?" Louisiana asks.

"Taking over the world? I don't know. The entertainment thing doesn't seem like the reason someone would train anything for," America says.

"'Taking over the world'?" Finland asks skeptically.

"Well, do you have a better idea? "

Finland shakes her head.

"Y'all think it has something to do with the monster problems Ute was talkin' about?" Texas asks.

"Yes," Russia replies. America gives him a confused look.

"I will tell you later," he mouths to America, who nods.

"Where does that leave us?" Philippines asks.

"We need to focus on staying alive for right now," America replies.

"Sounds good to me," Texas says.

They continue their walk, and America looks conflicted. Russia feels America begins to fidget with his fingers.

"Is everything okay?"

"Yeah, Massachusetts' magic just feels a little weak," America replies, his voice low.

"If you are worried, go talk to him," Russia suggests.

America nods. After a moment of hesitation, he gently squeezes Russia's hand and pulls away. Russia lets his hand fall to his side and watches America walk up to Massachusetts.  His hand feels a little cold.

"Do you need me to take over, kiddo?"

"If you don't mind."

Light blue overtakes dim green. Massachusetts drops his arm and slumps over.

"Uncle Canada?"

Canada sighs and nods. Massachusetts stumbles over, and Canada hoists him up onto his back. Massachusetts goes limp almost immediately, asleep. Canada nods to America, and America starts his lead into the tunnels.

Russia walks at the back of the line, trying to keep the states with the rest of the group. He takes to redirecting Texas and Louisiana to keep them walking at the same pace as Finland and Canada.

"Massy is exhausted, huh?" Texas says.

"That's kinda how his magic works, Tex," Louisiana replies.

"No, that ain't my point, Lulu. I'm sayin' that Sett should be restin' more than he is."

"Well, how's that gonna work?"

"What do you mean?"

"We need constant light."

"But when we were hidin'-"

"No! We didn't use any light 'cause we needed to hide."

"Okay! Okay. You don't need ta yell at me."

Louisiana rolls her eyes and sighs.

"Havin' light is our only ally right now, Tazzy. We can't be goin' without 'em."

"Why not?"

"Bless your heart."

"HEY!"

"Tazzy, you can't see it, how're you supposed to fight it?"

"Oh."

Louisiana sighs.

"Well, can't you use your wacky necklace?" Texas asks.

"No. It runs on a battery. If it dies, I can't use it no more."

Texas hums and crosses his arms.

"Tazzy, I love you, but you're an idiot."

"HEY! I ain't stupid. I'm just trying to help."

Texas looks away with a scowl. Louisiana walks ahead and begins to talk with Finland.

"Stupid Louisiana. Thinkin' she's smarter than everyone else here..." Texas mutters.

Russia looks ahead. Mindless chatter echoes around him. Louisiana laughs. Texas pulls his arm out of the makeshift sling and raises it about 1/2 way before dropping it to his side with a wince.

"Are you alright?"

Texas turns to Russia with a smile.

"Yeah, I'm all good. We should be lookin' for some weapons or somethin'," Texas suggests.

"Here?"

"Yeah. You know, like the stalagmite. Even a few big rocks would do."

Russia nods and begins looking around. He helps Texas collect larger rocks as they walk by. Texas piles them into the sling, and Russia helps him adjust it to hold it.

"What are y'all doin'?" Louisiana asks.

"Getting some weapons. You want one?" Texas says.

"Sure. Got anything sharp?"

Russia zones out the conversation. His hair prickles and he looks up. He sees America looking back with a smile. Their eyes meet, and America's face goes pink, and he spins back. Philippines takes a few running steps to keep up.

'Was America looking at him?'

The thought makes him happy if a little flustered. His cheeks feel a little warm.

"Hey Russ, are you doin' okay?" Texas asks, snapping Russia out of his thought.

"Yes. Why?"

"You're turnin' a little red there, partner."

A rush of heat fills his whole face, and he reaches up to pull his hat over his face, only to realize it's still missing.

He looks away and takes a deep breath, but his face still feels a little warm.

~

Next

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Table of Contents

[purplesurveys]

1025

Have you ever started reading a book and wondered if you’d read it before? I don’t read all that often so no, I don’t usually feel as though I’m encountering a book for the second time. I do read a lot of wrestlers’ memoirs and sometimes I’ll come across the same story told from two different accounts, but for the most part I’m able to tell who wrote which.

What has been bothering you a lot lately? This new and major life change still, obviously. I had a beautiful, grand vision of graduating college with a significant other and building our future together and supporting each other in whatever path we take, so having to dismantle all of that against my will and calling it a ‘bother’ is definitely an understatement.

What (or who) have you been missing lately? Everything pre-September. My life has been going downhill ever since. I do try to make life a little better for myself everyday, but I’d be lying to myself if I say life has been the same.

Are you trustworthy? Yes.

Did your parents teach that white lies were ok? They never taught me this specifically, but I can imagine that my mom is more the type to tell me something like this should the need arise.

Have you ever hallucinated? I don’t think so. The closest thing to hallucinating I experienced was when I was 5. I had a high fever and kept having these awful nightmares, and I could barely tell the difference between being in the nightmare and real life. If I remember correctly, I had already woken up after my grandma shook me but I was still in the nightmare ~AU~ and still kept yelling things that were relevant in my nightmare.

Do you sleep with your door open or closed? OMG, closed all the way. It would bother me to no end if the door was open, to the point that I probably wouldn’t even be able to fall asleep.

What flags do you have in your room, if any? I used to have a Pride flag but that’s gone now cos it was too muddy and dirty anyway. 

What (or who) is the best thing that ever happened to you? I can think of more than one, honestly. There’s Gabie, my college life, my college org, and my first job that I’m actually incredibly happy in. Past me just wanted a job that can let me earn on my own, so it’s such a fun bonus to be happy where I am.

What is the worst decision you ever made? Allowing myself to be treated like shit because “this person will change one day, I just have to wait.” Ugh, I really need to start being nicer to myself.

Do you miss college? Yeah but with this COVID thing I’m kinda glad I got out of there just in time. I probably would’ve missed college a lot more if life had remained normal, but with the new norm being online classes and asynchronous learning and never getting to be in campus...I preferably wouldn’t want to take part in these things.

Have you ever called a teacher “mom”? No.

What is your favorite arcade game? I just go for the basketball ones every time. The piano blocks game is also fun, as well as the arcade beer pong.

Do you feel neglected? Yeah. I don’t really have a choice, though. It’s something I’ve had to adjust to.

What school subject(s) are/were your best? For both high school and college, I got my best grades in history classes and electives. I’m one of the rare species who doesn’t have a problem with – and actually enjoys – memorization, lol. I also did well in English lit and biology.

Are you allergic to grass? I don’t believe I’m allergic but in my old school my legs used to get extremely irritated with the grass we have over there and it would itch like a bitch. It definitely could’ve be an allergy, but I only ever got such a reaction in that place and it’s never happened anywhere else.

Do you remember to water plants? My parents like to take care of that chore, so I don’t have to remember to do so.

What season is your birthday in? Uhhhh according to the Western calendar lol, I think it’s spring? We don’t have that here though, and we don’t follow ‘seasons’ in general except for dry and wet.

Name 3 creative people you know. Nina, Berns, Andi.

Name 3 YouTubers you aspire to be like. I don’t really aspire to be like any of them...I watch certain YouTube channels because I find them entertaining, not because I necessarily want to be them. One video creator I watch whose life seems to be so perfect and whose life I certainly wouldn’t complain about if I suddenly had it, though, is Andi Manzano. Heart Evangelista’s a good pick, too.

What color was your first car? It’s white.

What year did you graduate? I graduated high school in 2016 and college in 2020. < Found a twin.

When was the last time you saw the person you currently have feelings for? Early September.

Have you ever been scammed? Hmm, I don’t think so.

Are you allergic to pollen? Nope.

What style of wedding dress do you like best? Something lace, backless to an extent, and preferably body-hugging as I don’t like dresses that would appear too poofy on me. Think Kate Middleton’s wedding dress but just slightly less poof on the bottom part.

Are you over your first love? No.

Do you talk on the phone a lot? I used to. I don’t anymore.

Would you rather call or text? Text, but if I had to explain something or if something had to be explained to me, I don’t mind getting into a call as long as I’m briefed first. 

Do you always answer your phone? I never do unless I recognize the number. If it’s an unknown contact, I’m hitting Reject immediately because decent people text first before calling.

When was the last time you went to a party? Late Feb. It was the same party for Hans and his friends’ small business that had hit its first year that I’ve mentioned several times on here, ugh. Haven’t really been to any gatherings since then.

What was the last thing you ate? A chocolate donut from J.Co.

What’s the last book you checked out from the library? It’s a book summarizing the Philippines’ entire history that I wish I had more time to read and appreciate.

Do you have a twitter? Yeah but since the pandemic hit my tweets have been a lot less fun for obvious reasons, so I haven’t been using it a lot.

If so, what was the last thing you tweeted? “the things i do for @Mythical aaaaaahhhhhh 1 AM-9 AM livestream later and I still have work from 9 AM-6 PM tomorrow” then the dizzy emoji copy-pasted six times. SERIOUSLY though, timezones suck and I shake my fist at LA for being 16 hours behind lmaaaao, jk. But Good Mythical Morning has never had an all-day livestream before and they never said anything about archiving it on their channel when it’s over, so I don’t want to miss out. It’s whatevs, I’ll just drink a shitload of coffee tomorrow for work.

Who was the last person you talked to on the phone? I think it was my mom, but it’s been a while since that call.

What’s the last thing you cooked on the stove? I was making a Monte Cristo but it was to cook the egg mixture that I had coated the sandwich in, not cook the sandwich itself.

What color is the cover of the last notebook you used? Green. It was a freebie from the old PR agency I interned at, so it’s a little funny I’m now using it to take notes at my present agency.

Who was the last person you know to have a birthday? Gab’s youngest sister.

Who sent the last e-mail you got? It’s from a workmate, and I just got CC’d so it wasn’t addressed directly to me.

What song is currently stuck in your head? For the whole afternoon it had been Look After You by The Fray, so let’s just go with that.

Do you have a favorite shape? No.

What color are the sheets on your bed? Blue with some yellow and gold prints.

What time do you usually go to bed? 10:30 is a safe bedtime.

Do you ever use coloring books? I’ve got loads of them but they have not been colored since early 2019 because I have yet to invest in a good set of coloring pencils.

Are you planning on watching the Olympics? No, it never appealed to me.

Do you pronounce the word “often” with or without a “t” in the middle? I never pronounce it with the t sound.

Have you ever been on a trapeze? Nope.

Do you enjoy popping bubble wrap? I was more obsessed with it as a kid and will hoard the bubble wrap I see at home. These days I’d still pop a good size of it, but it’s not like my life anymore.

Are there any waterfalls near where you live? There’s one in the city, but I wouldn’t say it’s near. I have to drive to the upper part of the city to get to the waterfalls which would probably take me around a half hour to do.

Do you like seafood? Oh for sure. My life pretty much runs on seafood.

Have you ever had to wear a uniform for anything? I wore a school uniform from kindergarten all the way through to high school.

If so, what did it look like? The blouse was white while the necktie and the skirt were plaid, mostly in red. We also had to wear black leather shoes with white socks.

Do you personally know anyone who is an author? My great-uncle wrote the said library book I checked out. I also had a number of professors who are established authors.

Do you own a Polaroid camera? Nah but I’ve always wanted one. Maybe now’s my chance to finally get my own.

Do you enjoy baking? It looks fun and is definitely something I’d want to try my hand on.

What’s your favorite type of flower? Peonies. < Agreed.

Last time (if ever) you were on an airplane, where were you going? I was headed back to Manila and unbeknownst to us at the time, that arrival would be known for the biggest family argument we have had thus far. I don’t want to go back to that place in my head again, so let’s just move on.

Do you know anyone who is left-handed? Mhm, like Aya.

What is something you think is underrated? Macarons do not get enough love for sure. It’s god-tier dessert.

Around what temperature do you consider it to be too hot outside? As soon as it hits 30ºC, I’m complaining.

In what ways do you expect your life to be different one year from now? Thanks to Gabie and the irreparable mess she has since caused, I’m too scared to think of the future now. I never want to predict or hope for things anymore, and I’d rather wing shit from now on and not expect certain things to happen.

How often do you travel outside of the state/province you live in? I live right on the border of two regions so I literally went out of my home city/region every day whenever I had to report to school. I will be doing the same once where allowed to report in the workplace.

What’s a hobby you used to have, but don’t anymore? Reading.

What has been your favorite job you’ve had so far? I’ve only had one but it’s been a blast so far and I don’t plan on shifting paths because this is where I’ve always planned to be in. That said, I love my job in PR and working with different clients.

What’s your favorite kind of salsa/dip to go with tortilla chips? Sour cream!

Do you wash your car by hand or drive through a car wash? My parents take turns washing it by hand.

Where is the farthest north you’ve traveled to? Jeju, South Korea.

Farthest south? Bali, Indonesia.

East? Idk...Fukuoka in Japan or some province in the Philippines? I’m not too sure which is east-er, lmao.

West? Malaysia. Would’ve been Thailand if we actually got to go there this year -__- but whatever.

How often do you run the dishwasher? We don’t have one.

Do you wash your face at the sink or in the shower? Eh, either is fine but I do it at the sink a little more often.

Name a stereotype about your gender that you don’t fit. I cannot for the life of me relate to makeup or skincare routines. I also never understood the appeal of Instagram and posing for photos in public and painstakingly editing them for likes.

Name a stereotype about your age that you don’t fit. ^ I think those still fit here, since people my age are into both.

Do you have any unusual decorations in your home? We have masquerade masks on our living room table and I don’t understand why my mom, queen of throwing things out, is not throwing them out. It’s such a random...addition and they don’t go with the vibe of the house at all. But they’ve been hanging out there for so long that my family doesn’t even notice anymore, and much less do they say anything about them.

Do you have any uncommon kitchen appliances, such as espresso machines, waffle irons, etc? We have a coffee maker, which is a bit of a unnecessary/luxury purchase where I live; I dunno if it’s the same for other countries. My dad’s a chef so he knows all the tips and hacks to be resourceful in the kitchen, and so he’s never felt the need to buy any other fancy shmancy kitchen stuff like air fryers or waffle irons or sandwich presses.

What did your parents major/minor in in college, if they went? They both took up hotel and restaurant management, just in different universities.

Has either of their careers influenced what career you chose or want to pursue? HAHAHAHA, not at all. People are often surprised when I tell them about what my parents do for living which is understandable, given that journalism and PR are such far cries from the hospitality industry as a whole.

What is the highest level math class you’ve completed? Trig and calc.

How old were you when you learned how to ride a bike? ...I’m still learning...

How old were you when you learned how to swim? Around 4 or 5. My parents liked taking us to this water park every weekend when my siblings and I were a lot younger, so I learned how to handle myself in the water from all those trips.

How do you react when someone is rude to you? If it’s someone I know and am close with, I just tell them directly that they’re having a bit of an attitude with me. If it’s anyone else, my reaction depends on my mood: if I’m feeling nice I just simply counter the rudeness with kindness, but sometimes I’ll be just as big of a bitch, just subtle.

Have you ever had a friend who was too clingy? Yes, back in middle school. I feel bad now, because I kind of just ditched her, but at the time I felt like it was my only option. < I remember being like this with someone Gab and I tried to be friends with back in Grade 7. Sofie was also a little clingy, but in a way that I never minded it because I actually enjoyed her company.

What kind of natural disaster is most common where you live? Typhoons, definitely.

Why is your least favorite season your least favorite? The dry season, because I hate the sun.

Do you have a Netflix account? We have a family bundle and I have my own account on that. But yeah, I don’t pay for it.

Have you ever had an animal get into your attic? We don’t have an attic but there was one time a stray cat got into the house and it took forever to get it back out, lol. It was feisty so we couldn’t just pick it up. The cat also ended up scratching some of our curtains.

Where is your favorite place to go on vacation? Anywhere new, man. My only traveling rule is to not repeat destinations, at least not within 5-7 years. I’m open to exploring any town or city or country I’ve never been to.

How long does it take to get there? -

When was the last time you started a “new chapter” of your life? It was a new chapter last August when I graduated college, but I had to very hurriedly turn the page into a new chapter when I got my internship - that would eventually lead to my first job - and went through a breakup last September.

What room in your home do you spend the least amount of time in? I rarely go inside my sister’s room, just because there’s never really any reason to be there unless I’m borrowing something from her.

What is the last random act of kindness you did? Gave a small tip to the nice man who helped me get out of my parking spot when I went to the bank yesterday. Loiterers are common in public areas and they’ll usually help out people exiting from their parking, so I usually give whatever I can to help them get by. 

Do you do anything to reduce the amount of electricity you use? My bedroom light is never turned on, but I don’t really do it specifically to reduce my electricity usage. I just don’t like my personal space to be too bright, and it’s just a nice bonus to be able to save on electricity while doing so.

Are you usually open to trying a new food that you aren’t familiar with? Typically, yes, although I do have certain foods that I have no interest in trying. < Yep. I’m open to absolutely anything but if a meal has something I already don’t like, like fruits or raisins, then I shy away from those.

Do you listen to Panic! At The Disco? Not as often as I used to, but I definitely still have soft spots for A Fever, Pretty. Odd., and Vices & Virtues. As for the newer music, I don’t tune in to the albums themselves and listen to the entire tracklists but I wouldn’t skip a P!ATD single if it came on the radio.

Have you ever had a kinky dream about a celebrity? I probably have but they’ve all been forgettable.

Is there a song you can’t stop listening to atm? Not really. I’ll listen to Hayley here and there, but that’s it.

Has anyone ever told you that they loved you, and you couldn’t say it back? Yes. This has been the case with my mom for around 6-7 years now. I guess there was just one point in our relationship where she got too mad, I got too traumatized, and it has since kept me from saying it back.

If your Facebook status doesn’t get any likes/comments, does it bother you? Yeah, especially if I shared something deeply personal and important to me, like a life achievement. Of all social media, people are always most likely to react on Facebook (relatives in particular would like or heart anything I post lmao) so a post that would go completely ignored would be confusing but would also sting.

Which friend do you confide in most? Used to be Gabie but now it’s either Anj or Andi.

Do you wear a cross? No.

What is your opinion on Arby’s? THIS IS SUCH A LONG SURVEY, AAAHHHHHHHH. Anyway, never had it. I have heard Arby’s is one of the rather mid-tier restaurants in the US, like it’s not trash but it’s no In-N-Out...I’d still love to try it though. Aren’t they known for like roast beef sandwiches or something? Those sound delightful.

When you have your own kitchen, how will it be done? I just want it to be idiot-proof because I can get pretty dumb in the kitchen.

What is your favorite doughnut? Chocolate glazed with sprinkles. Will always be a kid at heart when it comes to donuts.

Do you have a hot tub? If so, where is it located? We don’t have one.

Did you read the Twilight series, or jump on the bandwagon after the movie? I jumped on the bandwagon once the first movie came out, which was still pretty early on in the whole Twilight craze tbh. I started in 2009 when I was able to read all the books and watch New Moon in the cinema, then I proceeded to catch the midnight screenings for all the movies that came after that.

What is your favorite party game? Pinoy Henyo is a big favorite. It’s basically a Filipino version of Heads-Up, just ever so slightly better and more chaotic, which makes it funnier.

Do you or your parents rake your yard? My mom sweeps, not rakes.

Were you pro-Obama? I think ‘pro’ is too strong a stance. I like remaining neutral and cautious when it comes to US presidents especially considering the US’ history of imperialism in and overall relationship with my country but like, I don’t hate Obama. My vote, if I ever was eligible, would still go to him, but of course it’s best to remain wary and critical of his moves.

What is your favorite scent from Bath & Body Works? I don’t really have one. I don’t do much shopping there. < Same.

What was the last illegal thing you did? Probably speeding. My lunch break ends at 1 PM but I was still at the bank by like 12:50 yesterday, so I had to drive like a maniac to get home on time lmao.

Who did you last go to the movies with? Gabie.

What color was the last vehicle you were in? White.

Do you have any family members in the military right now? As far as I know, no.

Is there a ceiling fan in the room you’re in? Nope, no ceiling fans in the house in general.

When was the last time you wished time would move faster? Today. I love my work, but it can get tiring too and I also find myself occasionally wishing the day was over already.

Are there any owls in your room (as decor, of course)? Nopes. But I do remember when owls were a popular hipster design and everyone had like owl necklaces and shit. What a time.

Have you ever heard voices? Like other voices in my head? No.

Do you believe in angels and demons? Nope.

Who is the worst neighbor you have ever had? It wasn’t my neighbors per se but the helpers of my neighbors used to play cheesy 80s and 90s hits obnoxiously loud every morning and it woke me up every time and I didn’t really have a choice but wait for their stupid listening session to end. I’m so glad they since stopped, but it was my own little piece of hell back then.

Did your Barbies go on dates? [continued from last night] I didn’t do much with my Barbies, honestly. I was mostly curious about their production and liked taking off their clothes to see how the toy company dealt with their private areas lmao. I think my sister and I also drew and doodled on a bunch of our dolls.

If you’re not straight, who was the first person you came out to? I didn’t really do any coming out. One day I just acknowledged my attraction towards Gabie with myself, and when I started dating her I just let everyone figure it out for themselves. I’ve never felt like I had an orientation anyway, so I never felt the need to come out.

Where did you meet your first crush? School, back in kindergarten. But we didn’t formally meet until the end of grade school.

Do you remember the first time your first crush ever said hi to you? Not at all. I remember the people who introduced us, but not our first meeting itself.

Do you ever go places with wet hair? On some days back in college, when there was no traffic going to school I would end up arriving with my hair still kind of wet. This is also the case with Sunday mass (when we could still attend), since we usually headed out as soon as we had taken a shower.

Who is your favorite little girl? I’m a sucker for my friends’ little sisters, like Gabie’s and Athenna’s. I also never got to have a lot of female cousins, so I cherish the few ones I have - Maggie, Bree, and Sam - who are all considerably younger than me.

What do you want the most in life? Contentment. Wherever place I ultimately end up in, I hope to find satisfaction and contentment in it.

What is a decision you’ve made that changed your entire life? Choosing to say ‘fuck it, what do I have to lose’ and send a letter of interest for my present company, who didn’t even have any job openings at the time I sent it out. If I shied away from the lack of openings and never sent out that letter, I never would have been offered an internship, and without taking that internship I never would have been offered a job after a couple of months. So I have to say that’s a pretty fucking solid move of mine.

Do you ever wonder what kind of person you’d have turned out to be if a certain event never happened to you? Sigh. I avoid this exact thought all the time because of how sad it’s able to make me.

When you’re home alone, do you still shower with the bathroom door closed? Yup, it’s just habit.

If you could have anyone’s singing voice, whose would you choose? I’d pick Billie Eilish’s insane ability to hold very soft/quiet notes (ugh, she’s grown on me), Hayley Williams’ range, and Beyoncé’s stamina.

What are your top 3 favorite genres of music? Synth pop, indie rock, R&B.

Where did you buy your dishes from? My mom bought our newest set from...probably a department store. Idk, I wasn’t there with her when she got it a few weeks ago.

Do you think Mars will be colonized in your lifetime? There’ll be advancements in this lifetime for sure, but we’ve got a long way to go before colonization is even remotely feasible.

What’s the most expensive thing you’ve bought that turned out to be a waste of money? Maybe all the shit I bought Gabie throughout the six years, most of them I had to skip meals for? Lmao just kidding, I’m not that kind of ex. I got her a lot of useful stuff, like a Hydroflask, and I mean I don’t completely regret buying them. As long as she still uses them and as long as those things still help in making life easier for her, then the purchases are still worth it.

What’s something you’ve bought that turned out to be way more useful than you anticipated? My cross stitch kit that I thought I was never going to learn. I am now realizing how fun it is and will probably buy a shit ton of kits for myself once Christmas season is over.

Have you ever been on a ship? Yes. My dad gave me a cruise trip for my 18th birthday, and it ended up being really fun :)

Do you ever take intentional breaks from checking/posting on social media? Yeah, I go on detoxes 1-2 times a year where I deactivate all my accounts and am only reachable through text. It usually happens every Christmas season, but sometimes I’ll go through a particularly low point where I’d feel the need to go on a social media break.

Who was Van Halen’s better singer - David Lee Roth, or Sammy Hagar? I don’t listen to Van Halen.

Which fictional character has the most memorable quotes? Any character from BoJack Horseman. What’s a class you did not take in school, but now wish you had? I wasn’t required to take foreign language electives in college like other courses, so I really wish I got to take them :( I can’t imagine how fun it would’ve been to go to class for the sole purpose of learning Spanish or Korean or Italian. Also, even though I took like 5-6 history electives, I still wish I had the chance to take all the other history offerings.

Have you ever been to either of your parents’ workplaces? I have been in the general vicinity of both – my mom works in a hotel and we’ve booked rooms there several times, while my cruise took place in the liner my dad works in. But I’ve only ever been to my dad’s workplace, when he took some time out of his day to show me his kitchen and let me have some of the escargot before they went out to guests :)

What do you think of the ‘Healthy At Every Size’ movement/philosophy? I quickly looked it up and I don’t disagree with its thesis.

Have you ever been bitten so hard that their teeth marks were there after? I used to be like this with Gab, but with me...hmm, my mom liked biting us as kids, and sometimes she’d go pretty hard, yeah. It was never out of anger, of course.

Ever been given a hickey? (Love bite) Yes.

Ever gave one? Anddddd yes.

Are you more of an outgoing type or shy type? Shy if a situation is overall unfamiliar, but I can be outgoing once I start to warm up.

Do you think it’s weird if guys wear make-up like eyeliner? Nope.

Are you self conscious? If so what are you self conscious about? Having been unceremoniously dumped, I’m self-conscious about a million things rn. It’ll take a while for things to be back on track again, self-esteem-wise.

Are you flirty at all? No.

Are you racist at all? I don’t particularly like the Chinese because of the way they treat Filipinos and how most of them behave in my country, like that one asshat who was caught shitting in a local tourist spot here. It gets too tiring to keep on forgiving them at some point.

Would you ever date a disabled person? (Be honest) I don’t see a reason why I wouldn’t.

If you found a baby randomly by itself what would you do? If they were distressed, I’d take them to the nearest security guard and ask for help in looking for their parents. I honestly have no clue how I’d deal with a kid who was otherwise bubbly and doing okay by themselves because I might just look like a kidnapper if I went near them lol.

Would you rather adopt or have your own child? Have my own.

What would you class as cheating on someone? If you’re doing something that requires you to be too close with another person to the point that you have to acknowledge that your partner is not aware of what you’re up to/they don’t have to know what you’re up to. Once that acknowledgment is out of the bag, it’s cheating for me.

Do you try to be politically correct? Yeah.

What’s your favorite kind of sea critter? Dolphins.

Have you ever tasted locally-made honey before? I don’t think so.

As far as earrings go, would you rather wear hoops or studs? Hoops for days.

Do you find P.E. humiliating, or think schools shouldn’t teach it? I think it’s vital to have PE in an education system that requires students to be mostly on their butts. A lot of people hate getting physical and active, and that’s exactly the reason why PE should be around.

Do you recycle? I try to, whenever I can.

Are you interested in current world issues? Yep yep, very.

Do you think you are mature, or immature? I can definitely be petty at times, but I think I mostly act maturely and that those who know me can back me up on it.

What kind of career are you interested in? Public relations, which is under the umbrella of media and communications. I like not being tied to one product, and it’s always awesome to see campaigns that I help with for various big brands come to life.

Do you own a pair of sunglasses? Nah. I was never into them.

Do you use bobby pins, hair clips, or elastic hair ties? Which? I use a hair tie on a daily basis and bobby pins for formal events where I need my hair to be pristinely neat. I nevr use hair clips.

How badly do you get acne? (If at all) Oh god. I got two pimples in between my eyes right now, and it’s the first time I’ve gotten acne since...a year and a half, maybe? My acne isn’t bad at all and it’s never been an issue, so I always panic on the extremely rare occasions I see one or two pop up on my face.

What’s the best way to cope with a breakup? I should be the one asking that! Tips are always welcome, you guys.

If someone dislikes you, what is most likely to be the reason? I probably came off as aloof, which is a fairly common observation.

How many text messages do you have in your inbox at the moment? I don’t delete messages and my phone doesn’t provide me with the total, so suffice it to say there are probably thousands of texts currently in my phone.

When was the last time you had a difficult decision to make? I’m still deciding if I want to keep Gabie around. She honestly doesn’t deserve it, but she’s also my best friend in the world, so idk.

In school, what subjects do/did you find the most difficult? Chemistry, trigonometry, calculus. Physics was hard in high school but became easier in college, and I believe it boils down to the teachers who taught them.

Do you still speak to the person you had your first kiss with? Yes.

Where did you meet the last person you swapped numbers with? I haven’t done that in a while.

Who was the last person to add you as a friend on Facebook? I think it was one of my cousins, Maggie. I don’t remember. But it was probably her.

Who was the last person that asked if you were okay? Maybe Andi? I haven’t had anyone ask me that for a while now.

What does your handwriting look like? I’m the go-to person whenever neat handwriting is needed on a document or something, so I guess that must mean my handwriting is decent. The biggest comment that I get, though, is that my letters are too tiny hahaha.

Do you use any products on your hair, other than shampoo and conditioner? Sometimes I’ll use hair gel for important events because I have the most annoying baby hairs, but otherwise those two are pretty much all I use.

Who were your best friends in primary school? Angela, Pia, Tammy, Marielle, Pam, Gaille, Nina.

Do you still speak to any of them? I only ever actively speak with Angela; she’s still my best friend. Pia and I are mutuals on social media and we’ll sometimes keep the other up to speed with the latest gossip lolol, but I wouldn’t call her my best friend. I lost contact with Tammy, Nina, and Pam after high school, and Gaille when she migrated. I cut Marielle out of my life after she did something shitty that broke my trust.

What was the last thing you bought from a vending machine? A bottle of water, I think.

What color hair did your first crush have? Black.

What type of shoes do you find the most comfortable? Sneakersssssss.

Are you more masculine or feminine? More feminine, definitely.

If you could design your own mug, what would you put on it? I don’t know how to...design things on my own lol, but I’d love a Friends-themed mug, or maybe even a GMM-themed one :)

What is the best beach you’ve been to? Palawan felt almost unreal with how breathtaking it was. I really felt at peace there.

What is one thing you physically can’t do? Lift a water container.

Have you ever been to a funeral? Not a funeral, but I’ve been to several wakes.

Have you ever visited your state’s capitol building? I don’t think we have those.

Have you ever visited your nation’s capitol building? Again, we don’t have those.

Do/did you have a favorite seat in church? My mom, in what really shouldn’t come as a shock, has always liked for us to be in the front row. I’m SO glad we don’t have to physically attend mass anymore; I always felt like I was being burned alive whenever I entered a church lol

What is your favorite park? I wish I had an answer for this but we don’t have any public parks because Philippines.

Have you ever felt an earthquake? Yeah, it happens prrrrretty often, at least once every few months. There was one just last week.

Do you chew gum regularly? Nah but this did made me think of JM, who always had a pack of gum with him without fail everyday.

Where did you go on your first train ride? It was headed to Manila, but my destination was Pasay.

Do you know anyone with a dual citizenship? It’s possible. I went to high school with people who were half-German and half-Swiss, and I’m guessing they held dual citizenships.

What sports teams do you root for, if any? (Extra points for Boston fans.) I don’t really root for any other than my college’s team.

Do you dunk your cookies in milk? If there’s milk around, sure. 

What is something you are confident about? I don’t know. I haven’t felt that at all lately.

Have you ever been physically addicted to a substance? What? Nope.

How do you feel about needles? Can’t do shots, blood tests, and IV without freaking out and/or feeling faint. But I can handle sewing needles apparently, judging from how I was able to do cross-stitching last week. As for tattoos, still unsure if I can handle getting one even though I already have a couple of designs in mind.

What is your favorite accent to listen to? That British accent that sounds super posh lol, the one Florence Pugh and Hugh Grant have. Idk what it’s called.

What was the reason you last got dressed up? Job interview.

Have you ever been the subject of cruel rumors? I was the subject of a rumor once, but I didn’t and don’t find it cruel. It was a typical middle school rumor.

^ What were they? That I was dating my friend Andi and was bisexual. The one with Andi I can kind of understand, since I did have a bit of a crush on her then; I just didn’t know I was bad at hiding it. But for people to go as far as telling others I was bisexual was a little surprising.

Do you prefer loose or form-fitting clothing? Form-fitting. I never liked loose clothing on me.

^ What about on your preferred gender? I don’t have a preferred gender, and I think it really depends per person.

What do you do when you are really, really mad? I isolate myself so that I don’t have to explode on anyone.

Would you rather go naked than wear fur? Is it real fur? I’d go naked.

Do you put a line through your 7’s? Sometimes I do, sometimes I don’t.

^ What about your Z’s? ^ Same answer. I like keeping things different, hahaha.

What is one thing that someone could do to you that is unforgivable? Break my self-esteem. Constructive criticism is fine, of course, but it’ll be very hard to forgive people who make it their lives to point out my flaws or carelessly hurl hurtful words/insults at me, aka my mom. I’ve never forgiven her about it and it’s the main reason why I’ve since been unable to say “I love you” back whenever she says it.

Are you able to forgive and forget? No. That’s not my preferred route; I’ve always been the grudge-y kind of person.

Do you like cold pizza? Yesssssss. I don’t have a preference between hot or cold, but I have never complained about cold pizza for sure. I ate a slice of pizza right out of the fridge just yesterday.

What is your favorite fruit? Eh.

What about your favorite fruit juice, if it differs from solid fruit? I don’t really have one. I guess orange, as long as it’s not too sour - so basically not pure orange juice lol.

Do you like broccoli and cheese? Haven’t tried it but the pairing sounds *chef’s kiss*

What about potatoes and cheese? Yum.

Have you written a letter by hand, lately? To whom? Not lately, but I plan to.

Toaster or toaster oven? Toaster oven, since we’ve actually had that. We’ve never needed a toaster.

What are you most known for? It depends on who you’re talking to, I’d say. I think different people know me by different things.

Do you have any reputations? What are they? I’m never comfortable claiming things like this, because there’s always the possibility that who I think I am to other people might be far from the truth. Overall, I just try to be myself and still remain nice to everyone while doing so so that I don’t develop a strong reputation for anything.

Do you wear band shirts? Not really.

^ What band was on the last one you wore? I don’t wear them.

Do you own any hats? Describe them. I have a white sunhat that I never got to wear because I’ve always found it too big and flashy and I never wanna draw attention to myself when outside, which it definitely would’ve done for me.

What about masks, you got any? Describe those. I just wear the basic blue surgical face masks.

What was the last thing to leave you speechless? Hearing the amount of money GMM raised for their livestream earlier today, and basically seeing just how insanely successful the livestream in general was.

Do your parents like your friends? If they don’t, why not? My parents never got to know my college friends so they don’t have an opinion on them; they’re still pretty attached to my group in high school hahaha so like Gab, Angela, Athenna, Chelsea, etc, who they all still love and occasionally ask about.

Have you been called a bad influence? Idk, maybe, out of earshot.

Describe your favorite pair of socks. I don’t have any.

Have you experienced any life-changing news, events, etc, lately? First real job and the breakup of a long-term relationship that I had initially finally stopped having doubts about.

Have any self-done piercings? OMG I can finally see the end of this survey holy shit. It took me two damn days, ughhhhhh. Anyway, hell no. I’d injure myself so badly.

Ever pierced someone else? Most definitely not.

Do you get distracted easily? It depends on how much I actually care about whatever it is I’m doing. < Agree. My focus is unpredictable.

Is talking to strangers enjoyable for you, or stressful? Stressful. No matter how pleasant they or the conversation turns out to be, I’m always more stressed than anything else and I let out a sigh of relief as soon as it’s over.

How do you feel about getting new neighbors? It’d be super refreshing, considering the houses on our left and right were literally just built, but never actually inhabited.

How many ceiling fans are in your home? We don’t have any. Do you tweet your life away? Not anymore. I used to tweet my entire life back in high school, but when I realized literally none of my classmates were the same and that I looked so lonely doing it, I made an effort to lessen the tweets and eventually the new habit caught on.

How do you feel about shameless self promoting? I don’t think much of it.

When reading words. like. this. do. you always pause after the periods? Haha, yeah.

What about screaming when reading something IN ALL CAPS? Not always. Soooo many people like typing in all caps anyway, so this has been more normalized to me lately.

[tanukihunt]

Countries Away Chapter 2

Chapter 2 of the fanfic

Martin is Martial Law.

This one was kinda based loosely on an animation made by my favorite countryhumans artist here, @caseykeshui .

Enjoy!))

Loco, maniac, sick bitch, psychopath, Yeah, I'm gonna show you I'm gonna show you, Yeah, I'm gonna show you Mental out my brain, bat shit go insane, Yeah, I'm gonna show you I'm gonna show you Yeah, I'm gonna show you

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

        Philippines Maharlika stood at the entryway to Burreling High School, crossing her tattooed arms. They weren't real tattoos, but her kid brother, Martin, had a habit of drawing on her arms with a sharpie. So, she asked her friend Indiana Kakai to edit them a bit. Sure enough, it gave her iconic tattoos. Now she got them touched up every so often. Philippa looked at the doorway, gasping when she saw Spencer Espanola carrying her unconscious crush, Amos Janesville. The closeted gender-fluid ran to them. "What happened?! Okay lang ba siya?!" She asked worriedly.

       "He's fine. Just unconscious and injured. Where's Candon?" Spencer asked back.

       "He got away, thanks to you guys. The twins got him home." She saw the flags on their faces. "They got you, huh?"

      "Si. I got my home country, Amos got his. Think he struggled and ended up getting knocked the fuck out. Poor guy." He looked at her again. "Philippines, about us-"

       "Ayaw kong pag-usapan ito, Spencer. What happened at my country and home is not your fault. Your power hungry father is the cause." Philippa interrupted. Spencer nodded.

       "Okay." He went to lay Amos on the grass. The filipino gender-fluid stopped him.

       "Hindi dito. My house is closer. We can help him there." Spencer was shocked.

       "But, Philippa, your hermano-" Philippa raised her hand.

      "This will be a lot better help to our friend there. Pick him up, please Spence. We’ll talk at the house and see if Candon can come pick him up after,”

       Spencer nodded his head and stuck his hands underneath Amos’ back, before lifting him up in a bridal-style position. Both teenagers nodded to each other and began the walk to Philippa’s home. Where her always angry father and overly annoying twin brother lived alongside her.

         When they arrived, Philippa tried to twist the door handle only to find out it was locked. “Hey Martin!” She called out. A faint stumbling came from inside as she heard the footsteps get louder. “Yeah?” He asked in return.

       ”Could you unlock the door for me?”

      ”Yeah, sure. Just give me a second,” - There was a light click and a large squeak as the two saw Martin stumbled back with the door knob in his hand. “Here you go sis,” He mumbled, then wondered off your his room.

        Spencer gently laid Amos on the oddly decorated couch that Philippa’s father made. He felt for a pulse and felt a soft thrumming against his finger-tips. As Spencer sighed he pressed his hands on Amos’ putting a little pressure. The other male grimaced some and calmed down, before Spencer checked everywhere else. “No broken bones. Just a busted lip and a concussion on him,”

      ”That’s good-ish. I’ll ring up his brother,” Philippa said as she got the phone. "I can't believe this happened! Why are people doing this to us? We're just kids!" She asked as she dialed Candon.

      "Don't know. I hope we find out soon though. Before more people become like us...." he said, looks at Amos. "He loves you, y'know. For a girlfriend." Philippa smiled.

        "And I love him." She smiled and Candon picked up. She gave him the short version and Candon gulped.

       "I can't pick him up. My mom will notice the flag. She wasn't too happy about Zeke and Austin coming home with them." Candon said. Philippa cursed under her breath.

       "Okay then. He'll stay at my house then. My father is gonna be pissed. See you at school." She hung up. She sighed.

       "Amos is staying here." She reported to Spencer, who nodded.

       "Okay. Hey um...." Spencer shoved his hands into his pockets. "About.... us...." Philippa looked at him.

       "Whaddya mean?" It suddenly hit her. "Oh... that."

       3 years ago

      "Hola!" a 13-year-old Philippines Maharlika turned to see another 13-year-old Spencer Espanola. Philippines cocked her head.

       "Kamusta? Paumanhin, hindi ko sinasalita ang iyong wika, ginoo." The young girl said. Spencer chuckled a bit. He smiled.

      "Lo siento. Me llamo es Spencer." He pointed at himself. "My name is Spencer. Who are you, you beautiful creature?" Philippines blushed.

       "Ang pangalan ko ay Pilipinas. I am Philippines. My father calls me Philippa." She smiled. Spencer shook her hand.

       "Then that is what I shall call you. Walk with me please?" Soon the two walk together.

       For two years, the two met in secret, sealing a relationship.

     A year later, Adelio Española found out about their outings. Enraged, he forced them to see him kill Philippines's mother, Pearl. Spencer was to stay behind his father, while Philippines was trapped in the embrace of Martin. Her father had held her mother.

        Spencer's eyes met Philippines's. She saw and screamed. "SPENCER!!" It broke him into a million pieces.

         "Ven Spencer. Estamos saliendo." His father had said. Spencer gulped.

          "¿Puedo al menos decir ... adiós a ella? A Filipinas?" Adelio shook his head no. So Spencer did the one thing he shouldn't.

           "SPENCER." Spencer ignored him and ran up to Philippines with a hug. With a small whisper, he said,

             "I'm sorry, Philippines... I will miss you...." he said through his small tears. Philippines hugged back.

             "Batang lalaki." Her father said. Spencer turned to him as the guards neared him. The father smiled. "Malugod kang tinatanggap kahit kailan." You are welcome here anytime. Spencer nodded and went to his father solemnly.

           The morning was cold, as she watched her brother trudge with their mother’s body in his hands. She wanted to cry, scream, kick - do anything to cause a reaction, but all she felt was stone cold. It was the man who claimed that he would protect his family with his life, that did this. A mess of words rolled off her tongue as she slid down her bedroom wall into the floor.

         ”Mama please come back,” She whispered.

         Present

       She held onto Amos’ hand and took him up to her bedroom, before returning back to Spencer. “Just try to forget about it please, it was in the past and we were young,” Philippa told him, grabbing his wrists.

       ”If...if you say so,” He replied, gently pulling away.

        ”So you gonna go home now?”

       ”Might as well, I’ll probably just sneak through the backdoor. But typically he’s asleep at this time,” - He pointed his thumb to the open window that reveal a harsh tint of darkness from the sky.

        She nodded and grabbed his shoulder. “Y’know you can stay here if you want,”

        ”I don’t want to be a bother,”

        ”If you say so,”

       With that Spencer stood up and opened the front door, before slamming it closed. Philippa sighed and ran a hand through her hair, mimicking frustration. She could hear his shoes against the asphalt of the sidewalk as he jogged back home. Maybe everything would turn out normal this time.

[midnightbedroom]

Plus

As this year comes to an end, I just want to give this time to actually reflect on what has happened this past decade.

It’s been simply phenomenal.

I’ve received, lost, and gained so much from the accumulation of experiences I’ve gone through. I don’t regret any of the things I’ve done because I know that it’s gotten me to this point of my life where I’m so content and happy with everything around me. I feel like all the stars and planets were planned to be aligned the way they were as I continued to grow throughout my life.

Let’s start off with school and my social life.

Well, the four schools I’ve attended throughout these ten years. In the beginning of this decade, I was in the Philippines, enjoying the presence of my aunt, uncle, grandma, and my cousins. I feel like I’ve received so much love and influence from them, and it’s crazy to think that they started my life right. I’ve gained so many friends who have taught me things I never would learn from anyone else. This was the start of how I actually perceived real friendships. Friendships that were so precious and just absolutely incredible. I started to see how friends should treat friends. All because of school and it’s given opportunities of growth. From this growth, I’ve met so much people who’s given me this potential to expand and become more than what I can see myself achieving. I actually got into reading, writing, and music writing. I never actually seen myself more than a regular school girl until I met so many artistic people that influenced me to become more. School had its ups and downs, but nevertheless, I enjoyed myself through the journey, especially the journey to finish high school. 

As I switched schools, I knew that I couldn’t really keep deep connections, so I learned how to become less attached. But as time moved on, I said “fuck it,” then continued to trust the process. As I went into middle school here into the states, I felt so lost and just straight up unwanted. I didn’t know who I was or what I wanted to do. But everything changed when I met Jasmine. She became my beacon into this dark world. She introduced me to embrace all the shit life throws at me, and she taught me to be strong. I appreciate her for choosing the right cards in the second day of math. If she and I never chose the right cards, I would’ve never met someone who is as passionate and trustworthy as her. 

Throughout high school, I’ve lost so much friends that I used to associate myself with in middle school. I feel like it was a weight lifted off my shoulder with a bit of residue left to torture me of “what could’ve been.” Regardless, I’ve learned to accept that some plans don’t tend to actually work out in the end. Even if I’ve lost these friends, I gained about 20 sisters. I joined Unarmed Fancy Drill Team, which was far most the best last minute decision I’ve ever made in my entire life. I never really planned on joining the team until it was my last decision. Throughout my time in the team, I’ve learned through sisterhood and trust. I’ve learned that there’s actual people, who aren’t in the same grade as you, who are willing to do the same fuck shit you do. It’s fucking amazing.

Now as high school is about to end, I’m still in JROTC and found myself to become the sergeant of the team, leading me to become the commander, then becoming one of the most important officers in the unit and the district. It’s crazy how four years can do to you. Regardless of all the stress it gave me, it’s turned me into a resilient leader who’s willing to do anything to let the program succeed. 

Switching to family.

I feel like there’s been so much change lately. Lately meaning ten years. I feel like these ten years has given me a chance to actually explore and know the true meaning of family. Although I wasn’t raised by biological parents, I knew that they still loved me in the back of my head when I met them the first time when I turned 7. It’s crazy how time can either make or break a relationship. 

I just feel so bad because I can’t be as close as I am to my parents as my friends are to their parents. I see them having inside jokes and just being completely open with each other, and it warms my heart but it left this scar that can never heal.

But as the time progress as I lived here in the states, I learned how to associate myself with my biological family. I got really close with JC as he taught me all the life lessons as I put them to use in my life here. I got close to Luke as he proceeds to teach me how to literally give no more than two shits about a certain situation or person who gives me nothing but negative energy. I am so grateful to live with two brothers who are here to look out for me whenever.

Moving onto love life.

Yikes.

Let’s just say, I had my fair amount of relationships. Some that benefitted my life and some that just completely crashed and burned my entire perception of love. As an elementary student, you shouldn’t even think of having a relationship with someone at all. PERIODT. Yet, I was one of those dumbasses who thought it WAS a necessity. Let’s call them out actually. So it started with Royce and Jose. Big yikes. Royce and Jose were the bestest of friends, and I guess I somewhat affected it? I don’t know. At least one of them made me feel that way. Royce was a love at first sight type. He and I were put into a group as we went through the haunted house together, and I guess I felt a connection? I don’t know to be honest. I feel dumber as I continue talking about this. Jose was actually one of my first few crushes in 3rd grade. He was attractive, and that’s about it. So my dumbass decided to end it with Royce because Jose finally paid attention to me. Damn, I’m stupid.

Anyways, middle school, another big Y I K E S. Guess who was attracted to boys who drunk, smoked, and was addicted to drugs? THIS GIRL. My first boyfriend was an addict. But, I don’t necessarily consider him as my first boyfriend considering that we only dated for two weeks. It was a one time spark feeling. I was a good girl and he was a bad boy, and that just didn’t work out. Then AH FUCK. Mans, Marcus. He was something. This is what I actually consider one of my FIRST actual relationships considering that we lasted for more than a year with a shitload of problems and breaks. He and I went through actual shit. Like ACTUAL shit. He introduced me to all the sexual shit, which we eventually got caught for. Imagine getting caught sucking dick at school and getting suspended for it. Then having your parents come to school to you explaining everything you’ve done. Yup. That shit. I had my phone deprived from me for about 5 months. I lived in complete darkness with no social life outside of school, but I did have Jasmine and she’s a complete homie. I continued the relationship regardless of how much tears and shit I had to put up through. Mans cheated on me three times, yet I still let it slide.

Starting high school, I was still on and off with Marcus, until I met a bigger pool of boys I didn’t know existed. I had a thing for a Junior, a Sophomore, and a Freshmen in a midst of the first few months of Freshmen year. Damn, I sound like I hoe. I might’ve dated a couple, but all of that stopped until mf Kyle came into my life. Let’s say Kyle was another serious relationship. He and I lasted for a year and a couple weeks. Kyle and i had serious trust issues. We were that couple that would get jealous easily, which would lead to one of us telling the other to block them out of their life for the sole reason of mistrust. It got really bad and toxic. It lead to the point where he had to break up with me through the phone while I was in another country. Sound shitty, right? 

That took a whole lot out of me since Kyle and I talked for six months straight before actually dating. He was basically my routine that I had to stop abruptly. That experience helped me grow and learn how to love myself more. I was basically at my prime in the summer going to junior year. All because of that heartbreak.

Junior year, I was a hoe. Periodt. 

I got so fed up with boys in my year, I started associating myself with boys younger than me, and let me tell you, that’s a whole ass mistake. Mans wasn’t ready for a relationship headass. Michael was one of them, and it sucks like hell because they don’t relate to the same experiences you’ve had. I was willing to wait, but he wasn’t.

Then I started letting go and meeting new people outside of school. I began attending more high school conferences in UCSD and SDSU. As I’ve attended these conferences, I met Danian. He and I instantly clicked, which was crazy. He attended a foreign school I didn’t even know existed. It’s insane how I wasn’t even aware that BOYS existed outside of my school.

We had a good run of a relationship. He and I were mainly mature throughout the entire time. It was my first time going through a long-distance relationship, and I wasn’t scared regardless of all the shit my friends gave me for it. It was all well until I started getting more busy with all the shit I put myself into. I got a job that paid, I got an internship district wide, and I had ROTC to deal with. I basically had limited time, but I still pulled through and gave him all the attention that I could give, but I guess that wasn’t enough.

He and I ended it way better than any of my past relationships. I dropped off all his stuff and we talked about everything before I left. It was nice feeling all the weight drop from my shoulders. 

I started focusing back onto myself again.

I continued being social, attended more conferences and programs that helped me build more connections like the Key Club Fall Rally in Six Flags. And man, let me tell you, it was one of the best investments I could possibly put myself into. I met so many people, surrounded myself with so much positivity; it was an irreplaceable time. 

Why? Well, it’s because I met this certain man.

HIs name is Presley, and I’m kinda sorta talking to him right now. 

Fuck, words can’t describe how much he means to me. I could write a whole ass book about him with an abundance supply of words. Presley is different from all the guys I’ve been with. He’s my definition of perfect. And although, perfect doesn’t exist, in my world, he is. I just feel like I’ve actually met the one. The one I can trust, vibe, and spend my life with. I feel like he’s what I would give in my time and money on just to make this relationship work. And regardless of the distance that separates us and the money it takes to even see each other, I feel like that wouldn’t matter because he’s fucking worth it. 

All the sleepless nights, all the worries just fade away as I get home and talk to him. Although a screen is the burden of this connection, the screen is also the reason why I get to see him and talk to him with the little amount of time we have in our busy lives. He’s so passionate about his work, and it amazes me how I met someone around my age who’s set in stone for what they want to do in their life. In the past, I would always have to be the one who’s concerned for the other individual’s plans, but for Presley, I don’t think I need to worry about a single thing. His life long plans drives him to become someone who he wants to be, and that’s all that matters. This self-motivation is hella attractive, and being able to face the world knowing what you want is absolutely amazing. I don’t think I’ll ever meet someone who’s this thoughtful and caring as he is.

Mans literally spent his entire night talking to me rather than getting sleep before his 9 hour shift, and that says a lot. He’s willing to give in the time and dedication to actually make this relationship work. I am so fucking grateful for him to the bits of my bones. I can’t believe I met the one.

I never exaggerate, but when I say he’s the one, he’s  t h e  one. Imagine talking to a guy who literally understands and empathizes with all your problems. Imagine having someone who’s just there every time when you need them, especially when you’re having a breakdown. Like what the fuck. Mans is literally a god sent angel. And I’m so blessed to have him in my life. I would literally use all my time just to talk to him because for some fucking reason, we can’t run out of things to talk about. He’s not like Marcus who I have to hype up for every two seconds. He’s not like Kyle where I had to be worried of everything he does. He’s not like Danian where I would literally force his undivided attention out. He’s literally Presley. He’s one of a kind. I trust him with all my guts, and I don’t think that’ll ever change.

I love him.

And the world around me agrees.

And so, to wrap up this reflection, I just want to say thank you for all the experiences and people I’ve gone through and spent my last ten years with. Because of the events leading up to this point, I’ve met the love of my life.

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays.

[askguyslikeus]

((thank you to guest writer @hurricanesunny !!!))

Michael backspaces on the seventh text he’s typed out since getting here twenty minutes ago. That, of course, doesn’t include the panicked phone call in the parking lot that he ended on the second ring or the three blurry Snaps of the sidewalk that he deleted, but who’s really counting?

See, Michael doesn’t want to text Jeremy. That’s important to understand here. He had already made a pretty big deal out of being cool with the whole thing  when they had both received their orientation packets a while back. So Jeremy and Jake ended up having theirs together last week. Michael, on the the other hand, got stuck in the M-Z group by himself. No biggie. This is life just helping a bro out. He can totally handle it.

Give it up for Michael’s big, fat mouth. It’s okay, though! It totally is, because Michael has a plan. He’s already circled the classes he wants. The paperwork in his lap is a little wrinkled from him gripping it too tightly, but it’s completely filled out. The inevitable pow-wow with his guidance counselor is gonna be smooth sailing. Michael’s also memorized the campus map so he doesn’t have to ask anyone for directions if he gets lost on the tour, but he also downloaded the PDF on his phone and stuck an extra copy from the help desk in his back pocket just in case. During the drive up here, he only listened to the slowest of jams. A mix, specifically, that Jeremy had awkwardly handed him last night in hopes that it would maybe make up for his absence. When Michael got here, he immediately took the corner seat, back row. Hood up, headphones on, music off. Classic stoner diversion. All day he’ll just tail behind, make no eye contact, and get into the classes he’s been banking on since his early acceptance.

But then Michael looks up from the day’s itinerary to see that his plan’s about to be dragged out back, shot twice, then set on fire just for good measure.

“Dude, this freakin’ blows.”

Someone, a girl Michael’s never seen before, flops down next to him. She drops her knapsack, worn and littered with keychains, on the floor and gives it one swift kick under her chair. Her eyes briefly leave Michael’s to look up and blow a strand of hair out of her face. He continues to stare as she starts rummaging through her sweater pockets. With an entire conference room of empty seats to choose from, this girl decides to go ahead and take the one right next to him.

Life’s definitely not on his side today.

Michael flinches as a plastic baggy is shoved in his face. He blinks, trying to focus on it. The girl shakes the bag a little, causing the colorful contents inside to dance.

“Gummy bear?”

As if to demonstrate, she rips one in half between her teeth. Her eye contact doesn’t waver, which makes Michael vaguely feel like he’s the gummy bear in this particular situation. He swallows hard, reluctantly pushing his headphones down around his neck. Not like he was listening to anything anyway. The girl tilts her head. C’mon, Mell. Use your big boy words.

“My, uh, mom told me not to take candy from strangers,” he eventually chokes out. Smooth. The girl snorts. Whatever panic Michael just puked up on the floor must’ve been buried beneath what sounds like a pretty chill comeback. Still, he wouldn’t be surprised if she decided to cut her losses now and move on. It’s what people do, and it’s only going to get uglier from here. But right on societal cue, the girl shoots her other hand out to remedy the situation.

“PJ. You?”

Michael considers himself a pretty observant guy, at least when he’s able to hit the brakes on his runaway thoughts long enough to put the talent to good use. So whenever he starts to get a little too freaked by situations like this, he tries to identify things about the other person that remind him of his friends. It helps thinking of them anyway, like he’s not actually braving the social storm alone, but it also reminds him that not every interaction is necessarily unknown territory.

Take this girl, for example.

As Michael glances from her hand to her face, she wiggles her fingers and snorts again. It’s loud. Unapologetic. Her scrunched up nose, freckles and all, screams Christine. And Christine isn’t scary, right?

Right.

“Michael,” he answers slowly, wiping his palm on the front of his jeans before giving her hand one short shake. Her hand is small in his, but her grip is deadly. He’s almost afraid she won’t let go. “What's it stand for?”

“Whuzzat?” She’s already shoving another handful of gummy bears into her mouth, seemingly forgetting her earlier offer. It’s cool, though. Michael doesn’t think he could keep anything down right now.

“PJ. Like… are those your initials or something? First and last?” Michael makes a face. “Shit, no, you would’ve been in the other group then.“ His high school teachers were totally right. His 3.96 GPA is doing him wonders in the real world. “So… it’s your first two?”

“Wouldn’t you like to know,” PJ hums. She lifts the bag over her head and tilts it to catch the last few bears in her mouth. “Maybe I did miss last week. Maybe it’s my middle initial. Mayhaps,” she wiggles her eyebrows, “I don’t have a last name at all.”

“So you’re named PJ. Just… PJ.”

“Alright, alright.” PJ waves her hand dismissively as she crumples the bag up and shoves it in her pocket. “If you ever get pissed at me, feel free to go full parental and use my full name.”

“Okay? What is it?” PJ can barely keep a straight face.

“Pajamas.”

As Michael holds back a groan, PJ’s got a shit-eating grin that’s missing a gap in the teeth and a few more expletives coming out of it. Rich would totally get a kick out of this girl. Michael almost works himself up to testing her banter game, because this girl is definitely fucking with him at this point, but the opportunity quickly passes and he clams right back up.

“Oh!” PJ gasps, perking up. She leans in super close. “I like your patches.” She starts to trace the careful stitching around each one. First the flag of the Philippines, then all the way down his shoulder to the trans pride flag. “Did you sew them on yourself?” After no response, she looks up and frowns.

Green eyes study his face for a moment, analyzing. Michael’s warm under the collar and he can feel himself freezing up, but he remembers to think. He’s seen the same colors in Chloe’s eyes a hundred times, watching him amongst the chatter before sending a quick ‘You okay?’ text from under the lunch table. This girl must make the same sort of conclusion, because she silently scoots herself out of Michael’s personal bubble and God he can breathe again.

“Yeah, yeah, um.” Words, Michael. “I learned when I was a kid. Mom.” Michael points to the heart on his chest. “This is the first one I did. The stitching’s a little wonky so you can probably tell.” He points to the one near his right pocket. “This was a gift from a teacher in middle school. Got Philippines and Ecuador a little bit after.” Michael finally points to the last two. “Got these back when I, uh, came out.”

PJ lights up.

“Holy fuck, you should totally join Trans Alliance with me.” Michael almost laughs. He doesn’t do clubs. He would say that he only really does Jeremy nowadays, but fuck if that isn’t true either. Oh, God, did he really just think that? He did, he really did.

“Clubs aren’t… really my thing.”

“Oh, c’mon,” she whines. “I don’t want to go by myself and you seem like a pretty chill dude.”

“Being chill isn’t really my thing either,” Michael mumbles, all cryptic and shit. PJ raises one eyebrow and Michael prays to every deity under the sun that he doesn’t have to explain that today. PJ opens her mouth, presumably to push him further, but Michael beats her to the chase.

“Did you know that baby koalas can’t eat eucalyptus leaves yet?” he blurts out. “So, um,” because the stupid words have already come out of your mouth, great job Mell, “they eat a special kind of their mother’s poop called ‘pap’ so they can learn to digest them.”

Jesus fuck, out of all the useless junk in his head he went with that?

“Shit, dude, really?” PJ asks, unfazed. She then laughs to herself. “Heh. Shit.”

“Uh, yeah, I, uh, watch a lot of documentaries in my free time. I like learning weird shit like that,

,” Michael offers weakly, scratching the back of his neck. A terrible segue, but a successful one. He’s a little afraid to look up, because he’s seen enough faces turn sour when he reveals just how completely uncool he is (and it’s fine, because Michael likes himself enough to make up for it but boy does it still sting a little every time,) but when he finally meets PJ’s eyes they’re burning bright like a wildfire.

“That’s so cool. What else are you into?”

“Oh, y’know… stuff.”

“Liiike?” She gently punches his arm. “I wouldn’t ask if I didn’t wanna know.”

“Well, I’m kinda into music, I guess.” He glances down at the papers in his lap. “I was thinking of Theory and Comp as my major, but I dunno. It might be dumb.”

“Oh shit, Liberal arts re-pruh-seeent,” PJ grins, pointing two thumbs to her chest. “Gotchu a Fine Arts girl right here.” She wiggles her eyebrows. “A pretty Fine Girl too, if I do say so myself.” Michael can’t help but chuckle. He feels the tension in his shoulders start to melt away as he pushes up his sleeves. An unsteady hand works its way through his hair.

“I’ve read about the program here, God, probably a dozen times now online and it sounds rad as hell. I don’t think I’ll have any trouble declaring, but I’m trying not to worry about it. It’d be nice to finally get some formal guidance. I’ve been coasting on YouTube videos and underfunded music classes for years.” PJ nods along, encouraging him to continue, but her eyes flick down to the inside of his left arm and she freezes in place. A finger jabs Michael’s tattoo. PJ looks at him.

“Video games.”

“Video games,” Michael repeats. “...Do you play?” PJ stares at him a moment before slowly pulling away. Her fingers curl into her sweater sleeves. Michael feels a familiar twinge in his chest as he sees PJ almost shrink into herself, looking anywhere but at him.

“I guess you could call me a fake gamer girl.”

“Fake?” There’s a bad taste in Michael’s mouth as he says it.

“I, uh, own the viddy games. I love the viddy games. I am… not good at the viddy games.” PJ laughs nervously. Jake’s always been great at laughing at himself too, but anyone who listens closely can tell that he’s had more practice learning to laugh at things that have hurt him. Michael hears that same pain in PJ’s voice. “Plus I’ve only really played, like, Minecraft and Mario Party, so… I wouldn’t call myself a real fan or anything.”

“Are you kidding? Mario Party’s the shit. And I spent most of sixth grade locked in my basement trying to recreate Middle Earth in Minecraft. Only a damn fool and a liar would shake their head at anyone who digs that game.”

“Really?”

“Fuck yeah. I consider myself an expert at most things. You name it, I’ve played it. Atari 2600, N64, Dreamcast, the busted claw machine in the arcade back home,” Michael says, counting on his fingers. “So if I say that you’re a certified fan of video games, you gotta take my word for it.”

“Wow, ya nerd,” PJ mumbles, but her smile is back. “You better go easy on me.”

Michael laughs. “Not a chance.”

“So that means you’ll play with me sometime?” PJ suddenly asks. Her tone is innocent, but it reminds Michael of Brooke’s sugar sweet smiles and clever words that always rope you in.

“Uh--” Michael is interrupted by a few notes of Space Invaders playing from his pocket. He gestures apologetically as he fishes his phone out and checks his notifications.

From that gross heere kid 💕: Hey, I just wanted to check that you got to campus alright. It blows that we didn’t get to go together.

Michael quickly turns his phone on silent as another message pops up. From that gross heere kid 💕: We’re still hanging tonight, though, right? There’s gonna be Doritos galore and a packed bowl for ya when you finally get your ass back in town. From that gross heere kid 💕: When exactly is that going to be again? From that gross heere kid 💕: Anyway! Have fun, talk to strangers, make me proud. See you soon, buddy. “Who’s that?” Michael nearly jumps out of his skin. PJ’s leaning over in her chair, trying to take a peek at the screen again. “I saw heart emojis.” “It’s my friend. Uh, Jeremy.” Michael holds the phone to his chest, much to her dismay. “Jeremy,” PJ repeats, trying the name out on her tongue. There’s something about the way she says it that makes Michael wonder if he’s that obvious. “Yeah. He’s asking me how things are going.”

“And how are they going?”

“Good. I think.”

“You gonna tell him that?”

“Maybe. Once I know for sure. I usually put things off when it comes to him.” “Oo, there’s a story there. I’m intrigued.” “Easy there, Jen,” Michael quickly says, gently pushing her back. PJ falls back into her chair, squinting as he shoves his phone back into his pocket.

“Wha? Who’s Jen?”

“Huh? Oh, fuck, I mea--” Michael’s cut off by the orientation coordinator at the front of the room. Clipboard in hand, she calls for everyone to group into pairs for the campus tour. Michael blinks. How long had they been talking? When he had arrived, he had definitely been the only one in the room. Now, at least a few dozen other freshmen are pushing past each other, loud and way too excited for a Monday morning. One by one, potential partners are picked off.

Understanding the urgency of the situation, Michael then turns to PJ, because this is the longest conversation he’s had with someone outside of the squad that wasn’t the 7/11 attendant back home. And him and Darlene are acquaintances at best.

“Uh, duh.” PJ rolls her eyes. She hops out of her seat, scooping up her knapsack by the Beanie Baby keychain and flinging it over her back. “So, who’s Jen? Is she pretty, too?”

“Just one of my other friends.” Michael stands up, carefully sliding his papers into his own backpack before slinging it over one shoulder. “You kinda remind me of all of them. My friends, I mean.”

“Oh. Well you can tell me all about ‘em at Trans Alliance, right?” She looks over her shoulder to make sure Michael is still following her. He is. “Maybe I can give you the scoop on some original Peej content too.”

Michael bites his bottom lip, thinks about it, then decides that maybe he should just roll with things every once in a while. See what happens. “Yeah, uh, yeah. I can. That’d be cool.”

“Great.” PJ grins. She falls a step behind. “Now, let’s go check out the cafeteria food. You think anything’s growing in there?”

“Oh, definitely. I’ve seen enough D-List movies in my time to know there’s a horror movie in there just waiting for us to star in.”

PJ suddenly pushes Michael forward. Such strength for a tiny girl. “Well, c’mon, then! It’s your time to shine!”

Michael laughs, digging his heels into the floor. PJ huffs behind him.

Okay, maybe life’s got his back after all.

[mys3cretsl0ve]

Entry #56 1/29/19 6:32pm

First and foremost, how could i have not written a new entry in the past 3-4months? So much has happened. Lets start where we left off. 

He visited Chicago for a week and it was so good. Like. sooo good. I mean, flying 5000 miles to give me my first kiss is kinda momentous, don’t you think? He met my family, my closest friends, and me. It was the best. No red flags were raised. Everything I was scared of was totally pushed to the side because none of it mattered. not a single one. I don’t care how he walks, I don’t care how he eats, or how he sleeps. 

I went to Denmark by myself. I felt so grown. I hadn’t ridden on a plane in 5 years and he made me forget about my take-off and landing terrors. He held my hand. He kissed my head. He made me feel safe. Denmark is a crazy place man. Scandinavians are just on it, bro. Like idk what they do to be so stylish and just THAT bitch, yanno? like if Denmark, Norway, and Sweden were girls they would be THAT girl group. Like they can step on me lol. Everyone was so gorgeous. It wasn’t that cold, maybe around 30′s and it was mostly cloudy. But it was alright because I knew that it wasn’t going to be the best. Atleast it didn’t rain. Also, I didn’t come for a glorious sunny holiday. I came for him. And everything went so perfectly because of him. His mom and her boyfriend and his sister and her boyfriend and their grandma and her dog are the sweetest bunch I have ever met. Like i can not even talk about how amazing they are and how much they tried to incorporate me in everything that they talked about and did. They would constantly switch back and forth between Danish, English, French, Italian. Easily one of the most intelligent people i’ve ever met. 

3 days before I had to leave to fly back home... that was rough. It was midnight and we were watching ‘The Darkest Hour’ like we had talked about. We talked about it being a big event for us as it was a movie I had been meaning to see for time and he was going to give me background information with kisses inbetween. Ten minutes into the movie, I started to cry. I was laying my head on his chest, the movie had barely begun and there I was. Crying. Crying because there was this unwanted realization that I had to go home. I had to leave the only boy that I have ever loved. I had to leave the only boy that shook me to the core. The boy that had flown thousands of miles to give me my first kiss. I had to leave him because I had to go back home. And it sucked. He paused the movie, pushed his laptop off him and turned my face upwards to him. He asked me why I was crying and I just looked at him and he just knew. We sat up and just looked at each other, understanding that I had to leave. And we cried. We cried for what felt like 15 minutes but was more like an hour. And we kissed and cried and held eachother. That was the moment where I knew I could never love anyone more than that boy. I knew that there was no way in hell that I was ever going to be with anyone else but him. He is the love my entire existence. Our eyes were puffy and we fell asleep tangled in eachother’s arms. 

The following days went pretty well and I thought that I wasn’t going to cry at the airport. But boy was I wrong. I was bringing my things downstairs, ready to head off to the airport when I told him to make a playlist that we could listen to on the way there. 30 seconds into the song, barely pulling out of the drive way, I started to cry. I wasn’t sobbing, but they were the kind of tears that were rolling down your cheeks and they were hot and salty and came relentlessly. He would glance over and wipe the tears away and all I could do was push my head into his hand-cave into his touch. When I did this he started to sob. He cried as if I just broke up with him. It was like i felt it in my heart and all i wanted to do was hold him. That was the saddest car ride I’ve ever experienced. When sat down infront of security we cried. When I got on the plane, I cried. When I got home to call him, we cried. 

I love him. 

Three weeks later, I went to the Philippines to spend Christmas and new years there. it was pretty fun. Three weeks of catching up, Three weeks of family, Three weeks of trying not to have panic attacks (failed miserably). 

In two weeks, Mads is coming to Chicago to visit me for a week. I am so excited.

2019 will be a good year. Manifestation. 

[spaghetticosplay]

Hetalia Day 2010

My original plan to cosplay as Steampunk!Italy didn't go as planned, because I hadn't finished my vest yet. My backup plan to be Seborga instead also failed, because I never started planning the cosplay yet...

But about a week before the event, I thought, "Wait, I have puppy ears and a tail that a friend made for me, plus a vest, shirt, and trousers that can go with it, plus my Italy boots just arrived! And Halloween is just a week away (plus it was a full moon yesterday xD ) I'll cosplay Werewolf!Italy instead!"

It was raining during my entire drive over, and I thought that it was going to rain throughout the event and we would have to be outside. But about five minutes before arriving, it stopped raining! Lucky~!

By the time I arrived, there were at least 10-15 people. There were two Romanos (one I called "fratello" (I think this was Moustache!Romano) and the other I think was "false fratello" because there could only be one brother xD ), Russia and Lithuania, two Chinas (I was allied with one by the "Pasta-Noodle Alliance" and the other kept pulling on my haircurl QAQ ), casual Sealand and Philippines, Greece and Yukata!Japan, Denmark, Cuba (with real cigars!), Canada (whom everyone else was calling "Canaderp"), some Englands and Americas (one was our leader of the group), and some casual non-cosplayers (including a casual Germany though she didn't have the actual costume :( ) and a little boy we called "Little Japan" because he was waving a Japanese flag around or holding older Japan's pikachu umbrella~ x3 At one point a Ukraine also joined us. There was also a really awesome Victorian!England cosplayer (who I think was the America in the Fanime 2010 masquerade, giving the history lesson) who was acting as a really snobbish England with gloves, and a cane xD

At the actual meet-up spot at the convention, we found a "No skateboards" sign that was edited to look something like this face ಠ_ಠ Also, the LED event screen appeared to be tampered with, and every once in a while, a small piece of text saying "FAN FAIL" appeared on it xDD

So once we arrived, America decided we move to the nearby park where we hung out the rest of the time. We got to play games such as "Spaghetti Spaghetti Meatball" (aka "Duck Duck Goose"). America’s version was "Hambuger Hambuger... (I forgot)" We also played a little bit of Ninja (I kinda participated, but because I was filming and taking pictures, I kinda snuck out of the game (LIKE A NINJA) Plus I didn't know how to play)

Then the game ended when we saw a Seychelles, Japan, and Korea coming, and most of the group ran up to hug them.

They were so cute~

Victorian!England also brought candy to share with all of us (It wasn't horrible btw xD ) and America kept trying to steal some xD America would also steal England's cane when it wasn’t being used, and mock England, it was so funny xDD And England would try to get our attention by yelling really loud "EVERYONE PAY THE BL**DY ATTENTION!!"

SONG INTERLUDE: (provided by the same channel for last year’s Hetalia Day)

We also did some group singing, such as “Marukaite Chikyuu” and “I’ll Make a Man Out Of You” xDDD Some of us did some dancing as well.

When it was lunchtime, most of us got to eat at an American restaurant. It took a while for the order to come, and some of the group got Japanese food instead, which I helped myself to. I got too full as soon as my grilled-cheese sandwich came so I saved it to later (I never ate it though...) We were also told to behave since we were out in public, and at a restaurant! The waitress serving us said we were really good! Considering what happened last year, that made me so happy!

Although it was raining a bit at this time, it was dry by the time got to do group photos. I’m sure better photos exist somewhere out there, but this is all I got.

It then started to rain AGAIN, so we moved into the convention centre, and it was weird seeing the place without all of the Fanime goers! Then it got dry and we went outside for a bit, but it rained again, so we moved back in xDD (Cuba called it "the curse of England" xDDD )

We played some games such as "Never Have I Ever" and "Truth or Dare". The first game ended when Russia and France joined our group, and we all ran up to greet them.

Some of the things that happened during Truth or Dare: Someone (I'm guessing Victorian!England) dared America to sing "God Save the Queen", who kept laughing during it, and even made a more rap version of it for not knowing the tune xDD

Denmark was dared to walk around femininely while being as lady-like as possible and say really girly things, but Russia said most of them instead xD

Cuba was dared to say "I love America" sincerely, but said it with the "I'm going to kill you" smile xDDD Russia was dared to hug America. When Russia wouldn't do it, America commented "Russia doesn't have the balls to do it" That's when Russia gave America a death glare and proceeded to pounce on America. America was dared again (this time by Victorian!England) to stop commenting for 10 minutes or else stand in a corner.

America failed xDDD I was asked Truth by Russia "What's the recipe to your favourite pasta?" and I said one of the ingredients was "Love" (commence “d’awww”ing xD ) Russia wanted me to answer Dare so that I could do a tail-wagging dance. Oh well! xD I then dared Fratello to "say 'I love Spain' without swearing" but replied "F*** NO!" and that's when it ended xDDD

There was some more dancing, but I was getting tired (it was 7 PM and I had school the next day) so I decided to go home. Everyone else who stayed had dinner at an Italian restaurant.

[purplesurveys]

805

First, a few randoms... Do you know anyone who can speak more than 5 languages fluently? Not that I know of, though I won’t be surprised if I find out some Filipinos I know fit into this category just because of how many languages we have. Is there a boiler or heater in the room that you're in? There is aaaaaabsolutely no need for a heater anywhere in this country, lmao. What we need are a gazillion aircon units everywhere.

Do you read magazines? Not anymore. The last time I encountered magazines, it was back when my lola would still collect celebrity and high society magazines and I would read them whenever I came over her place. Other than that, I haven’t bought a magazine for myself in like seven years. Did you ever get a detention for doing something by accident? We don’t get detention. But no, I’ve never been in trouble for something like this before. Would you rather write an essay on global warming or UFOs? Global warming. UFOs are more entertaining, but there’s been more research done on global warming so it’ll be easier to write something informative on it.

Have you ever worked with a mixing desk? No, I’ve only seen them in real life. Cheeseburger with fries or Toasty Sandwich and Garlic Sticks? Do you know me? Burger, duh. Do you like sailing? When was the last time you went, if at all? I don’t think I’ve ever been sailing before. Pokemon; do you like it? Favourite Pokemon? I liked it a lot more as a kid. Now whenever I see Pokemon references on the internet I kinda just give a slight smile to myself to acknowledge the nostalgia. My favorite Pokemons as a kid were Chikorita and Ho-oh. Do you or have you done martial arts? Which type? No. Enrolling your kids in taekwondo classes was super popular when I was younger, but I was more interested in ballet and swimming at the time. Can you tell the difference between Japanese and Chinese language? Yes, their manner of speaking is different and their words are also very different. I think Japanese and Korean are harder to distinguish, actually. Strawberry, Raspberry, Blackcurrant or no Jam/Jelly? No jam for me. Please give me Nutella instead, haha. Strawberry or Orange Jelly/Jell-O? Pass. Answer with your first response. Don't look below! Name a colour: Pink Town Name: A******* Girls’ name: Olivia Type of drink: Beer A word that begins with 'L': Ladder A film title: Breakfast at Tiffany’s A mood or emotion: Happy A type of sandwich: Clubhouse Name a Colour Is this your favourite colour? Yes. At first I used to say it ironically, but there was one time when I bought school supplies and I realized they were literally all pink, and I realized that it had actually turned out to be my favorite color for real, lol. Are your eyes this colour? Definitely not. I think for this to be possible you’d have to be wearing contacts. Is this colour one of the colours in your country’s flag? No. Close enough, red and white are in the Philippine flag haha. Does this colour make you feel the mood/emotion named above? Sure, it does. Are you wearing this colour now? No, I’m wearing all black at the moment. Town Do you live in or near this town? I live in it, hence me censoring it out lol.  Have you ever gone shopping in this town? No. The malls here are pretty ehhhh when it comes to clothes, so I prefer going to the city whenever I need to get new stuff for my closet. How many E's are in the name of this town? Zero. Describe this town in 5 or less words? Little boring, but still home. Girls Name Is this the name of a famous celebrity? I can give you a couple of celebrities named Olivia, so sure I guess. There’s Olivia de Havilland (kween shit), Olivia Newton-John, Olivia Wilde, Olivia Munn, etc. Is one of your close friends called this? No. If I did I’d tell them on a regular basis how much I like their name lolol. Would you like this name to be your middle name? Nope, I’m satisfied with my own name. Does this name begin with the same letter of your name? No, but it's the same as the second letter. What does this name mean- look it up on www.behindthename.com? Google says it’s just derived from the Latin oliva, which means olive/olive tree. Pretty straightforward. Name a word, place or another name that rhymes with this name? Bolivia. Type of Drink Is this the last thing you drank? Hell no, you will rarely catch me drinking this. The only time I’d be seen drinking beer is if I’m at a bar that serves only that. Do you drink this drink often? See above. Does this drink make you hyper? It makes me just a little bit drunk, which yeah, when that happens I do get hyper. What do you like about this drink? Nothing. Word Beginning with L Is this word the name of an emotion? No, it is an object. Does this word have a D in it? Yes, two of them. Can you hold whatever this thing beginning with L is? It’s tangible, if that’s what you mean. But I can also literally hold one right now if I wanted to since we have a ladder stored in the rooftop bodega. Does this L word make a noise? If it falls, it would definitely make a lot of noise. Another L word that describes your L word? Long. Film Title Is this one of your favourite films? It used to be, now it’ll probably settle in my top 20 or 30. Audrey Hepburn has better films. Who are the central characters? Who plays them? Holly Golightly is played by Audrey Hepburn while her love interest, Paul Varjak, is played by George Peppard. Do you love this film? Yes. There are some things I’d change from the film as a whole, but the ending is very beautiful and makes me cry every time I watch it. Is this film title either two or three words? It is, actually. Three words. Is there a noun in this film’s title? Yup. Mood or Emotion Do you feel this way now? Mmmm I guess kinda? I’m finally done with my antibiotics and I can finally drink coffee and the bottles of soju I have stored in the fridge!!!!!!!!!! I also don’t feel too hot at the moment and I feel quite relaxed taking this survey so yeah, there’s little to complain about right now. Does this describe your life so far? No. Life is a different story, lol. A similar mood or emotion to the one you named? Elated. Are you ashamed or annoyed about feeling this emotion or mood? Not at all. I barely feel it nowadays, so whenever it’s here I make sure it has a good stay.

Sandwich Does it contain lettuce? Yes it does.

Does it have a sauce in (mayo, salad cream, mustard)? Yes, it has some kind of mayo in it. I haven’t had a club sandwich in a while though so I can’t really remember the exact type of mayo it has. When was the last time you had this type of sandwich? Like I said, a while. It has probably been years. I only regularly ordered this sandwich as a kid because I thought it would make me part of some sort of club loooooool, but like it was never my favorite or anything. Does it contain anything the colour you named above? Eh sure? I guess ham counts as pink.