Cute dread hairstyles

Today was really rough and long story short, stupid me just broke down and started crying in front of total strangers. It was like I couldn't stop the tears from coming no matter how hard I tried. I try terrribly hard to keep up my reserve and not cry in front of anyone that's not a member of my mmediately family, so it feels like destiny's cruel joke that I had to cry in front of strangers. I have to face them again soon and am dreading it so much :"3 I'm worried that not only do they probably think I'm immature and crazy, but also weak. I know "it's okay to cry" but how do you deal with making a blubbering mess of yourself in front of people where crying is the last thing you'd want to do? Especially since it's their first impression of you?
Reminds me of a song called Nothing New by Taylor Swift: "How long will it be cute/All this crying in my room/When you can't blame it on my youth and roll your eyes with affection" except you've cried in public - peak embarrassment.
Wish you could just go to those people and tell them, "hey this mess isn't who I actually am, except that maybe I am." Has it ever happened to anyone else?

Me of course I start stanning them since September 5th 2022(last year)and I love this group non stop. Their song is legend and they’re legend in general. They’re not only legend they’re comedian, funny, family, LGBTQ supporter etc. I like when they capitalized letter O in some of their song and their group name as well they’re so creative in my opinion. Each of the members got their own personality and their personality is always chef kiss and never disappoints us at all. When I have my own room I’m planning to decorating my room into OOO and purple ofc. Also, in my opinion they’re the best boy group ever and that’s on periodt. Speaking of Yoojung, I adore Yoojung he is so cute. I like his looks, his voice, his personality, his fashion sense, his hairstyle etc. I love him the most out of other members but that doesn’t mean I hate other members tho ahahahahaha so yeah I’m a huge Yoojung bias and he’ll be my bias permanently.

Previous, first, next,
Fanfiction.
​
(A/N) This one turned out to be a long one so its been split between two posts. Enjoy.
​
Chapter 28
The sound of the gunshot still rang in my ears. The room felt hot, almost stifling. Questions ran amok in my head, Did he have a family? Had this been the only option? Was I now just as bad as him? The last few seconds played over and over in my head.
All I could do was look at his body. The scientist laid in front of me–unmoving, his dirty shirt darkening around the wound. I just stared at the life I just took, and for a moment, the questions in my mind became overwhelming.
It wasn't until a hand reached out and grabbed me by the shoulder I was pulled back to the present.
“James!” Warspite’s voice called out. I realised her tiny hands were pulling at me. I met her eyes in a daze, the concern on her face telling me she had already tried calling my name several times now.
“Warspite… I-” I tasted bile in my throat.. My eyes unconsciously broke contact with hers, and meandered back to the body.
“Don't! Look at me, James.” She accentuated her point by cupping my cheeks and forcing me to focus on her and only her. “Eyes on me.”
“Y-yes.” I complied awkwardly.
“I’ve radioed her Majesty, they'll be at the mouth of the river soon. Go with the others and get to the docks. Get out of here.”
A semblance of reason finally returned to my mind. “The others? What about you?”
“I’m going to burn this wretched place to the ground.” Seeing that I was finally cognisant she turned me around in place and pushed me over to the others, ensuing the entire time I couldn't see what I had done. Javelin was quick to receive me in a tiny hug.
Everyone bar Cleveland now had their rigging out, who was still slumped on the floor, holding her sister’s cube with Z23 trying to console her. Zuikaku had her sword drawn and was watching every entrance to the room, her entire body tense, ready to act at a moment's notice with a hard expression.
“Javelin, I need one of your depth charges.” The Dreadnought ordered. “I’ll wire up its timer to level this room.”
“R-right.” Javelin closed her eyes and focused. She lifted up her arms and a large barrel shaped munition appeared in her hands. She passed it over to Warspite with ease. “Here.”
“Good.” She looked to Cleveland. Her tone softened slightly. “Are you good to move?”
“Aye.” She spoke with a sniffle as she stood up, still tightly holding the cube against herself not letting it leave her sight for even a second.
Warspite stared me down. “Turn and leave, keep your eyes forward and don't look back. I'll catch up.”
With a shove she pushed me around and towards the door we had entered from. I stood still for a moment, a part of me wanting to turn back one more time, and I probably would have if not for a small hand reaching out to me. I found Javelin staring at me compassionately, her cheeks and pretty emerald eyes still marked with dried up tears. She stood gently still.
Despite the overbearing desire to do so, Warspite’s words echoed in my head. I jolted forward and didn't look back once.
Cleveland whimpered as we left the building before running ahead of us, through the smoke from the fires that filled the air I was just able to see the source of her dread.
The Montpelier was still in its dock, but where we had left it in an almost pristine condition it was now in a complete state of disrepair, the gun barrels hung limp in their housings, with several having even fallen into the deck. The panels lining the hull were coming apart as the welds and rivets that held them failed, the ship looked to be listing slightly as water was probably leaking in through collapsed bulkheads.
“No…” I heard Cleveland dash past me.
Cleveland scrambled over to her sister’s deteriorating ship, followed close by the rest of the girls, ignoring the muffled sound of an explosion that came from the building behind us.
With burning lungs I finally caught up to her as she reached the dock. “Please, Monty. Don’t go.” The cruiser pleaded, keeping the cube firmly grasped in one hand and placing her palm against the hull.
The ship moved as its weight shifted, a loud scraping noise rang out as the metal grinded against the dock.
Cleveland continued to rub the metal affectionately. “Shh, it's ok. Your big sister is here. Everything will be fine now.”
As was the usual case whenever something happened around these girls the hairs on my neck stood up as both the ship and Cleveland both began to glow.
There was a moment of hope as I looked at the cube clutched in her arm, but it still looked inert, even the light radiating from her body seemed to avoid it.
As I had seen countless times now, the ship became a mass of energy, the light hovering where the ship had previously been before Cleveland suddenly went rigid as the light flowed into her.
The cruiser yelped in pain as her body fought to contain the energy, a hand grabbed my collar and pulled me away. I was too transfixed on the spectacle to see who had done so.
Blood dripped from Cleveland's nose and she dropped to her knees, not letting go of Montpelier’s cube at all. Her rigging glowed bright, and an ethereal shape took form around it. The more I stared at it, the more I understood that this shape had the outline of a rigging, and it was fighting to occupy the same space as Cleveland’s already existing one, who grit her teeth and winced.
A gust of wind blasted around her, and in a matter not too dissimilar to when her rigging had formed, the light coalesced once more. A black line was suddenly drawn along the seam of her cape at the same time it was torn around the edges, followed by the ends of her golden locks of hair lost their lustre, changing into a silver white.
After what had felt like an eternity Cleveland seemingly regained control of her body once again, the tension in her arms and legs relaxed. With sweat dripping from her head she reopened her eyes, and slowly stood back up with laboured breaths. Her left eye shone with a different lustre for a moment, still red, yet a slightly different hue that slowly disappeared as she blinked.
“Are you ok?” I asked, unsure of what being ok could even be classed as right now.
“I thi-” She did a double take as what sounded like two voices came from her mouth, her own overlapping with another one. She put a hand to her mouth and coughed. “I think I am?” Her voice came out normal then. She wiped the blood away from her with her elbow, noticing that the fingerless glove on her right arm now ran across the full length of her elbow.
Running footsteps pulled our attention over to Warspite, who sped over to us. Smoke poured out of the roof of the building behind her, further adding to the cloud surrounding the facility and reducing visibility even further. Any further and I’d begin to choke.
Warspite took a second to stare at Cleveland before quickly returning her attention to the matter at hand, I noticed something hidden within her scarf as she adjusted it. “Commander, we need to move. Cleveland, are you able to sail?” The cruiser gave a slight nod. “Good, Zuikaku take him, the rest of you stay close.”
Slender but firm arms wrapped around me, and the carrier in question slung me over her shoulder like a sack of potatoes and jumped off the edge of the dock without warning. Zuikaku didn’t even give me a chance to retort as we splashed against the water, quickly gaining speed. I was able to see the others land on the water one by one and begin to follow behind us, quickly catching up. They all had a solemn expression as we once again found ourselves only just escaping complete disaster.
Zuikaku let me go once her feet touched the Warspite’s deck. The ship was already gaining speed and heading towards the relative safety of the open ocean, leaving behind a smoking land, the morning wind fanning the flames even more. I took out my binoculars and dared look back. I knew there would only be burnt rubble left by the time the fires died.
I felt the rush of what had happened slowly die down. A burning at the back of my throat threaded to force me to empty my stomach. The air was hot, almost stifling, it had never stopped burning even after leaving that place. Everyone's eyes were now on me, with the three girls that had stayed back looking with confusion on their faces.
“Get-” I paused, forcing my voice to stay steady and my dinner to stay down. “Get us out to the open sea and stay alert for any ships, Siren or otherwise. Everyone go and get some rest, it's been a long night.”
I did not wait for a reply and made my way inside the ship with unsteady steps, pushing my hands deep into my pockets to try and stop them from shaking. Someone called out to me as I walked but I just ignored it.
It was only when I went to open my cabin door did I realise someone had followed me, a white gloved hand covered mine as I tried to turn the handle.
“Not now, Hood.” I sighed, almost whispering. I turned my head to look at the woman, finding her beautiful blue eyes looking back at me with concern.
“James, I-”
“Please don’t.” I cut her off, wincing at the harshness of my own voice. I felt my stomach churn more, but I just didn't want to deal with anyone right now.
“But-”
“Don’t make me order you.”
The words left my mouth before I even realised. Hood stood still for a moment, mouth agasp and eyes wide with incredulity. She retired her hand away from mine, placing it against her chest. A mixture of emotions ran on her face, ones I didn’t dare look at.
I opened the door and darted inside the cabin before she recovered, slamming it shut behind me.
I stood deathly still for a moment. Was it a minute? Was it an hour? I just stood against the door, my legs feeling numb. Eventually, I heard the distinctive click of Hood’s heels disappear into the distance.
I held for a moment longer. For just a moment longer, I stood alone, bearing the weight. Then it came crashing down.
I ran my hands through my hair and tried to calm myself down. It was hopeless. Blood was on my hands, I could still smell the gunpowder, it was an oppressing scent that overpowered everything else. I found myself staring at my hand, how long had it been locked in that gripping position? I could still feel the weight of the gun.
I felt nauseous.
My arm still ached from the recoil, unable to hold the gun properly without being noticed. I had felt pain shoot up my arm the moment I fired and now even closing my fist was a difficult affair.
Unable to stand still any longer, I began to pace back and forth in the small cabin. Forward and backwards, side to side, the walls closed in on me every time I turned, making it harder and harder to breathe.
“It’s just a trick, it’s all in your head.” I repeated to myself, but the words rang hollow.
The sequence replayed over and over in my head, each time more vivid than the last. The details ran too clearly. Steven’s voice, the whimpers of the girls, my own heart pounding, my own ears ringing.
Cold metal against my skull. My spine freezing.
I sat down on the bed, and cradled my head in my arms. I closed my eyes trying my hardest to force the image out of my head. It was a useless effort.
Without even meaning, I whimpered silently. The sound of something dripping onto the deck pulled my attention away from the memory. Something ran down my face and I realised I had started crying. I tried to wipe my eyes with my sleeve, hoping nobody would come in at this moment. What kind of leader would cry at a time like this? All those girls looked to me for guidance and leadership, yet time after time again I led us straight into disaster
It had been me that had almost cost the girls their freedom. I didn't deserve to be their Commander.
I breathed deeply and tried to get a lid on my emotions and push them down.
“Think practical James. You're just in shock.” I told myself before taking several more deep breaths, remembering the first aid books Hood and I had read together. Thinking of Hood again made me feel miserable.
I reached into my pocket. Even sitting down it still felt like an iron weight pulling me down. I feebly grasped the old wooden handle and pulled the gun back out from where I had quickly stashed it. The scent of burnt gunpowder seemed to double as it entered the open air.
My stomach twisted again, and I let go of it, followed by a rushed scampering. I reached under my bed, not really caring where, just looking for something suitable to get that thing away from me and my mind. I found an old bag and frantically tossed the gun inside, producing a distinctive clicking sound.
“Shit.” I cursed and reached inside with my hand, finding an old bottle of scotch. The opaque, unlabelled glass was thankfully intact, but it showed me my warped, miserable reflection. I don’t know what possessed me then, for I grasped it by the neck and pushed the bag with the gun back under the bed.
I pried it open. It had been a gift from one of the sailors in the fleet. Twisting the wax securing the cap I realised such a bottle was nigh impossible to get on a sailors wage so I guessed this one had probably been listed as smashed during the attack.
I sat further back in my bed and lifted the bottle up to my mouth. The old familiar taste burned my throat as the amber liquid went down but the pleasant warming effect was soon to follow.
Taking another large swig I noticed a third of the bottle had already been drunk. I laid the bottle down and burrowed my head down on the pillow, desperately waiting for the numbing effect of the alcohol to kick in.
I looked once again at the door to my cabin. Part of me wanted nothing more than for one of the girls to open the door and come in, even if it was just to sit in silence with me. Even if it was Hood. God, why did I snap at her like that?
Sighing, my gaze turned to look up at the ceiling as my mind began to wander. I thought of the short time Javelin and I had spent together when we first met. It felt like a lifetime ago when she was showing me around her ship, trying her hardest to impress me with every rivet and weld used in her construction.
And thanks to me she just experienced nightmare after nightmare. Warspite had been right. I just keep throwing myself into situations without thinking about the consequences.
Maybe it would be best for me to just return home. The girls would be far better off leading themselves, I would probably be arrested the moment I returned, but it would be for the best.
I lifted the bottle again.
–
I spent a long while laying on my bed thinking of both home and the small moments of comfort I had shared with the girls, riding out the buzz of the alcohol until it eventually faded. Leaving my mouth dry and the warning signs of an oncoming headache. I didn’t dare drink myself to a stupor, but I drifted listlessly in my thoughts for an unknown amount of time. The ship had stopped moving a while back, and now the light coming through the porthole had darkened. There was a constant soft tapping sound against the hull from a rainstorm.
Both thirst and growing hunger forced me to get up. I left my cabin with a sigh, and was surprised to find a tray with some sandwiches by the door. I never heard anyone knock so I didn't know how long it had been left out for or who left them. Eating them helped sate my hunger and slightly quell the pain in my stomach but also added to the growing guilt of how the girls were willing to go out of their way for me.
I placed the empty tray into my cabin to take to the mess later. I began walking towards the bridge, knowing the ship's owner would be there. I knew if there was anyone on this ship who could set me straight, it was her.
I found the Dreadnought sitting in the captain's chair, her long blond hair and scarf flowing down each side of the chair and her short legs idly dangling in the air. The bridge echoed with the sound of the rain and I could see the droplets flowing down the glass. The cabin was slightly dark, with just the night lights on.
Warspite rested her head in her palms and looked out of the cabin, seemingly unaware of my presence. Not wanting to overly startle someone who controlled naval cannons, I announced my presence as I walked to her side.
“Hey, Warspite. Anything to report?”
She immediately jolted in her seat with a rather cute yelp. She twisted her head towards the source of the noise. “Oh, James. Sorry, I didn't hear you enter.” She placed a hand against her chest to calm her racing heart.
“Aren’t you always able to tell where everyone is on your ship?” I asked, trying to make conversation. Just being in her presence was bringing some welcome relief, I didn't know why but it was like I could always be at ease around her.
“That still holds true, but my mind was elsewhere.” Her eyes shifted nervously and she pulled her scarf up slightly.
Her face turned to a look of concern. I knew what she was going to say before she even spoke. “How are you feeling?.”
“I’m fine.” I quickly replied, suddenly unable to meet her gaze.
“Poppycock. I can smell the alcohol James.”
I cursed the girl's heightened senses. I had come to the bridge to find someone to talk to, but now confronted with it I wanted to be anywhere but here.
“I just… We wouldn’t have gotten into that situation if it wasn’t for me. It’s always like this. It’s always on me. You keep risking yourselves and it’s my fault.”
“It’s not like that, James. We are yours to command. Danger will happen one way or the other.”
I trembled with a myriad of feelings, but the one that overtook me the most was frustration. “You have better chances to survive without me leading you into stupid danger.”
I could see her eyes widening, but I continued before she had the chance to react. “You are irreplaceable, all of you. If that happens again, I want all of you to get to safety even if it means leaving me behind. You deserve better than some guy who’s always winging it.”
Warspite sighed and rubbed the bridge of her nose. She hopped down from the chair and stepped forward until she was right in front of me. She placed her hands behind her back and tilted her head up. “Could you lean forward for me please? My head height will do.” She asked politely.
Confused, I leaned forward until our eyes met at the same level. The pupils of her eyes seemed to widen as she studied every aspect of my face. After a few seconds had passed I began to wonder what she was doing.
In a flash her face twisted to anger and she slapped me across the face with enough force to make me stumble. My hand immediately went to where she had hit feeling a burning sting, there was a slight taste of blood in my mouth. Then I felt her weight on my chest.
“Don’t!” I could feel her trembling on my chest. “Don't you dare ever say something like that again!” She balled her hands into fists and hit my chest repeatedly while stomping her foot into the deck, a sight all too familiar from her sister.
I stood idly and dumbfounded as she vented her frustrations. Warspite then wrapped her arms around me and pulled us into a tight hug, burying her face into my chest. The sudden hug only added to my surprise. Barring the occasional time’s she had offered her hand in comfort and how she had scoffed whenever the other girls had hugged me I had figured she wasn't one for personal contact. And yet, I hugged her back, trying to comfort her, or was she the one comforting me? It was hard to tell.
We both stood in silence for what felt like an eternity. Warspite didn't say anything during the entire time, only keeping a tight grip around my waist while keeping her head against my chest. There wasn't any sobbing or crying, but I could feel a slight dampness on my shirt from her tears.
Once she had decided that enough time had passed Warspite finally let go and stood back, wiping at her eyes in an attempt to hide the fact she’d been crying. “You…” Her voice was shaky, obviously trying with all her might to keep her emotions at bay. “You are not to say such things again. I swore an oath to protect you with my life and by my boilers I will uphold that oath until my last breath, dammit! No matter how difficult you make it for me! You are also irreplaceable, James. Never, ever forget that!” There was a slightest bit of a smile with her last comment.
Sighing I leaned against a console and rubbed my head. “I’m sorry. I can see how much your oaths mean to you. It's just it would be all my fault if something happened to you girls.”
“Don’t apologise, your reasoning is a noble one.” Warspite shook her head and pulled my face back to face hers again. “You, my sisters and Her Majesty are my dearest people in my life, and I couldn't live with myself if something was to happen to any of you, I would rather be the one laid low if it would ensure you had each other.”
A confident smile returned to her face. “But you needn't worry. I will always find the strength to get us out of any situation we find ourselves in.”
“I wish I had even an iota of your confidence.” I replied, my spirits lifting once again just by being in her presence.
“Comes with having eight fifteen inch guns to back me up.” The battleship boasted proudly, her smile turning tender afterwards. “But you shouldn't sell yourself short. Despite the outcomes of your actions, it's obvious to anyone your heart is in the right place and that the decisions you make are right and just.”
She gave a long sigh, her eyes flickering to a side, her lips pursing into a thin line. I followed her gaze to a small object on her chair. I could barely make out what it was.
“What is it?” I asked.
“Something I've been meaning to talk to you about, but I was going to give it a little more time before bringing it up.” Warspite replied as she walked over to fetch it. She presented a small notebook to me. “When I was setting the fuse in the depth charge I couldn't help but look over his body, if only to spit at it. However I spotted this jutting out of his pocket.”
I examined the item further. The black leather bindings showed it was rather valuable, but the paper inside looked yellowed and worn with several loose papers clasped inside. And finally there was the slightest hint of blood on the bottom edge, hastily dried to ensure the contents were not damaged.
“What's… What’s written inside?” I asked. A pregnant silence followed. “...Do I even want to know?”
“That's the thing. I haven't looked yet.” She moved the weight of the notebook around in her hands, half treating it with care like it was a priceless artefact and half looking like she wanted to throw it to the ground. “I can hazard a guess as to what it will entail, and that's what got me perplexed.”
I started to put the pieces together. “If it was in his lab coat then…”
“It's probably his notes on the experiments he ran.” The battleship finished. “In conflict, knowledge–both of yourself and your foe, is power. This book may contain valuable information regarding my kind and what we are capable of.” She looked down at the book and rubbed the leather with her thumb. “But.”
“The way that information was obtained was nothing short of a crime against humanity.”
“Rather more against ship kind if we’re being accurate.” She half joked with a tense smile. “I wanted to ask what you think I should do with this. Her Majesty told me to trust my judgement when I asked her, but I also value your opinion on this.”
Scratching my chin, I looked at the book. Within it may be invaluable information that may help us begin to piece together some of the mysteries of this world. But then I thought of Cleveland and what had happened to her sister. “I’m sorry Warspite, but ultimately this is about your kind. I’d rather have it be one of your kind who ultimately makes that decision.”
“I had a feeling you’d say something along those lines.” She said with a sincere smile, putting the notebook to the side. “I’ll give it some thought. Probably for the best as I’m sure the contents will only worsen my already low opinion of humans. That and I want to get Cleveland’s permission as well, but I’ll give her some time to recover first.”
“Cleveland...” I thought out loud. “How’s she been?”
“Reclusive.” Warspite sighed. “Once we were back on the ship we asked if she needed anything. She just shook her head and began aimlessly wandering my ship, from what I can tell she hasn’t eaten much or spoken to anyone since.”
“Where is she now?”
“Out on deck.” Warspite nodded her head towards the window. “Near the railing by the port side of B turret, she’s been out there since the rain started.”
“Oh?” I tried to look out the window to catch a glimpse of the cruiser, but the turret was blocking the view. I kicked myself for being so distracted when we got back to the ship. “I’ll go make sure she’s ok. Keep us out in the open ocean for now, we’ll figure out our next move soon. I’m sure Z23 can give us a good idea of what our supplies are like.”
“Roger, I’ll keep a lookout for anything.”
Just as I turned to leave I felt her hand grab mine. I looked back to see what it was she wanted. After rocking on her feet a few times she finally spoke “Uh… about what happened this morning, if you wish to talk about any of it. I'm always willing to lend an ear.” There was the slightest hint of a blush on her cheeks
“Thanks… it's been a shock to the system, I'll be sure to remember your offer if I need it.” I made way towards the door. I stopped at the frame. “Warspite?”
“Hm?”
“Thank you. I know I say it a lot, but I truly mean it. Thank you for everything.” I said with gratitude. I left the bridge and walked out into the rain with a smile.
​
(A/N) Part 2 should come out shortly after this one. Or you can find it in its entirety on Fanfiction.

Hello (and thanks for reading!),
I am a creative nerd, asocial hermit, and walking stereotype of the melancholic struggling artist.
I guess that doesn't sound great, but I would also like to believe that I am a great friend, attentive listener, problem solver, and quite emotionally intelligent. I am educated (master's degree), self-employed as a freelance writer (I have some goals this year I hope I have the courage and energy to shoot for), and love to make people laugh. My primary "love languages" include quality time, words of affirmation, and physical touch. I want to spend time with you (and give you space), tell you how great you are (without patronizing), and hold your hand and stuff (maybe touch your butt).
Look, dating hasn't been going great these past few years - I wouldn't say I have any horror stories, but it is difficult to find that genuine connection for my balance of grounded, quirky, shy, anxious, fun-loving, creative, loving, and occasional self-loathing that I embody. In terms of typical qualities, I gotta be honest: I'm not an ambitious, travel-loving, type-A grindset kind of guy. I'm a comfortable bug, happy at home or walking in empty spaces with music in my ears, listening to my friends' problems and then watching shows or playing games with them online, looking forward to cooking something simple yet tasty so I can have leftovers the next day kind of guy. I think I can be exciting and challenging, and I'm willing to do a lot for a person I like but you probably won't find a jet-setting whirlwind romance here, sorry.
In terms of hobbies, I love learning about history, cooking, trivia, engineering projects, scientific discoveries, how things work, why things are the way they are. I play a lot of games in my free time, and I'd like to play games with you (although the sweaty PvP ones I might sit out unless we REALLY hit it off). I collect and read tabletop RPGs and board games, and enjoy comics and webcomics as well. Of course I watch shows and often the same shows - I would really enjoy introducing some of my favorites to you. In general I am very passionate about discussing the little nerdy intricacies of things that I am into and in equal measure I'd love to hear you geek out about your favorite stuff as well. My taste in music covers the entire gamut but my top most-played for 2022 included a lot of theatrical rock, shoegaze, prog/jazz fusion, indie pop, and heavy metal/hardcore - I wish I went to more concerts. Horror movies are cool but I'll watch anything if there is someone to talk to during. I don't write much as a hobby these days since doing it for work but running a good tabletop game will get me motivated in a heartbeat.
I also have a cute little chihuahua/terrier who is afraid that every stranger wants to ruin her life, I exercise regularly, and I enjoy hiking/biking/bouldering for more active activities.
Socially, I am very introverted. I'm not interested in meeting strangers (present post excluded, of course), I need my time alone every now and then, and if there's a lot of socialization I will need to like... take a breather for a bit and that's cool, no biggie. I get anxious when I have to talk on the phone, I dread long checkouts at the grocery store, and I am not pleased having my picture taken (although I'll be a good sport about it). I'm very gregarious and jolly with my friends or close-knit groups, but I wanted to make this clear because I have met some people who really don't understand that like, no, I do not want to go to this thing or that event just to meet people or be stuck in rooms with strangers. Please be okay with that. I promise your parents will love me, though (if you get along with them).
Physically, I must apologize on my behalf - I am excessively average in appearance. 5'8", brown haibrown eyes, dad bod although I have been working consistently to reach a more fit figure and would consider that a realistic goal for me. I have a big bushy beard and looong hair down to my tailbone, although I have no particular attachment to it and would let any potential future partner have a strong voice on if it stays or if it goes. I've never tried to dress for anyone else but myself - I tend to wear a lot of grey or earth-tone khaki pants, button-down shirt over t-shirt, and a jacket if it is cold. I might have a suit stashed away somewhere but if I do we're gonna have to tailor that bad boy before busting it out. If you like the "hairy soft bod" trope I think you're in luck, haha.
Your pic gets mine, as they say.
What am I looking for, exactly? Well, dating in the traditional sense has never been my cup of tea - I guess I've never really done much of anything in the traditional sense, for better or worse. I want us to be friends, to get to know each other and spend time together talking or sharing activities and hopefully we start swapping food pics and outfit selfies and shots of places we visit and it becomes difficult to go to sleep because we're each trying to be the last to say "goodnight" and then we realize that damn, we really enjoy each other's company and should really talk about getting serious with it - like, go out and shit. Slap a label on that sucker. I hope you are the kind of cozy homebody nerd or super badass action chick gets along well with cozy nerds who wants to forge a genuine connection. If you're local we can still go on traditional dates for pizza and museums and stuff too of course but I don't mind a long-distance thing either. If the feelings are forged, we'll make it work.
As an admittedly average unfashionable dad-bod guy I know I don't have much place to make physical demands of people but in that department I would hope you are some form of HWP or on the way there, aaand... gosh, that's it really. I'm trying hard to be healthy - I would want to be with someone who feels the same.
So, hey! I know this is a lot but I wanted to paint a genuine portrait of where I am coming from and what I am looking for. I'm not a difficult person and it's easy to say hi to me, although I perform my best with some sort of prompt to go off of. Seriously, ask me stuff - I love answering questions and will be sure to follow up with some for you! Tell me a bit about yourself, what's a hobby you're happy with and what's a hobby you wish you could explore more or had more friends to share it with?

Hello (and thanks for reading!),
I am a creative nerd, asocial hermit, and walking stereotype of the melancholic struggling artist.
I guess that doesn't sound great, but I would also like to believe that I am a great friend, attentive listener, problem solver, and quite emotionally intelligent. I am educated (master's degree), self-employed as a freelance writer (I have some goals this year I hope I have the courage and energy to shoot for), and love to make people laugh. My primary "love languages" include quality time, words of affirmation, and physical touch. I want to spend time with you (and give you space), tell you how great you are (without patronizing), and hold your hand and stuff (maybe touch your butt).
Look, dating hasn't been going great these past few years - I wouldn't say I have any horror stories, but it is difficult to find that genuine connection for my balance of grounded, quirky, shy, anxious, fun-loving, creative, loving, and occasional self-loathing that I embody. In terms of typical qualities, I gotta be honest: I'm not an ambitious, travel-loving, type-A grindset kind of guy. I'm a comfortable bug, happy at home or walking in empty spaces with music in my ears, listening to my friends' problems and then watching shows or playing games with them online, looking forward to cooking something simple yet tasty so I can have leftovers the next day kind of guy. I think I can be exciting and challenging, and I'm willing to do a lot for a person I like but you probably won't find a jet-setting whirlwind romance here, sorry.
In terms of hobbies, I love learning about history, cooking, trivia, engineering projects, scientific discoveries, how things work, why things are the way they are. I play a lot of games in my free time, and I'd like to play games with you (although the sweaty PvP ones I might sit out unless we REALLY hit it off). I collect and read tabletop RPGs and board games, and enjoy comics and webcomics as well. Of course I watch shows and often the same shows - I would really enjoy introducing some of my favorites to you. In general I am very passionate about discussing the little nerdy intricacies of things that I am into and in equal measure I'd love to hear you geek out about your favorite stuff as well. My taste in music covers the entire gamut but my top most-played for 2022 included a lot of theatrical rock, shoegaze, prog/jazz fusion, indie pop, and heavy metal/hardcore - I wish I went to more concerts. Horror movies are cool but I'll watch anything if there is someone to talk to during. I don't write much as a hobby these days since doing it for work but running a good tabletop game will get me motivated in a heartbeat.
I also have a cute little chihuahua/terrier who is afraid that every stranger wants to ruin her life, I exercise regularly, and I enjoy hiking/biking/bouldering for more active activities.
Socially, I am very introverted. I'm not interested in meeting strangers (present post excluded, of course), I need my time alone every now and then, and if there's a lot of socialization I will need to like... take a breather for a bit and that's cool, no biggie. I get anxious when I have to talk on the phone, I dread long checkouts at the grocery store, and I am not pleased having my picture taken (although I'll be a good sport about it). I'm very gregarious and jolly with my friends or close-knit groups, but I wanted to make this clear because I have met some people who really don't understand that like, no, I do not want to go to this thing or that event just to meet people or be stuck in rooms with strangers. Please be okay with that. I promise your parents will love me, though (if you get along with them).
Physically, I must apologize on my behalf - I am excessively average in appearance. 5'8", brown haibrown eyes, dad bod although I have been working consistently to reach a more fit figure and would consider that a realistic goal for me. I have a big bushy beard and looong hair down to my tailbone, although I have no particular attachment to it and would let any potential future partner have a strong voice on if it stays or if it goes. I've never tried to dress for anyone else but myself - I tend to wear a lot of grey or earth-tone khaki pants, button-down shirt over t-shirt, and a jacket if it is cold. I might have a suit stashed away somewhere but if I do we're gonna have to tailor that bad boy before busting it out. If you like the "hairy soft bod" trope I think you're in luck, haha.
Your pic gets mine, as they say.
What am I looking for, exactly? Well, dating in the traditional sense has never been my cup of tea - I guess I've never really done much of anything in the traditional sense, for better or worse. I want us to be friends, to get to know each other and spend time together talking or sharing activities and hopefully we start swapping food pics and outfit selfies and shots of places we visit and it becomes difficult to go to sleep because we're each trying to be the last to say "goodnight" and then we realize that damn, we really enjoy each other's company and should really talk about getting serious with it - like, go out and shit. Slap a label on that sucker. I hope you are the kind of cozy homebody nerd or super badass action chick gets along well with cozy nerds who wants to forge a genuine connection. If you're local we can still go on traditional dates for pizza and museums and stuff too of course but I don't mind a long-distance thing either. If the feelings are forged, we'll make it work.
As an admittedly average unfashionable dad-bod guy I know I don't have much place to make physical demands of people but in that department I would hope you are some form of HWP or on the way there, aaand... gosh, that's it really. I'm trying hard to be healthy - I would want to be with someone who feels the same.
So, hey! I know this is a lot but I wanted to paint a genuine portrait of where I am coming from and what I am looking for. I'm not a difficult person and it's easy to say hi to me, although I perform my best with some sort of prompt to go off of. Seriously, ask me stuff - I love answering questions and will be sure to follow up with some for you! Tell me a bit about yourself, what's a hobby you're happy with and what's a hobby you wish you could explore more or had more friends to share it with?

Hey guys English isn't my first language. I'm a nurse and last week Wednesday I got really ill. I started vomiting and really shaky, it was bad enough that I went home early. My colleague I asked if I could go home made a little joke about if she was becoming an aunt. I am open about not wanting any kids in the near future (at least till my 30's if ever due to own perental trauma) so I said I definitely hope not.
I'm personally taking the pill correctly and have been in a committed relationship. So I don't have a cycle I can look at to help me give a clue.
I was stil ill when I went back yesterday and every colleague was grinning when I told them I was still pretty ill. Everyone I told I did not want any pregnancy nor baby tells me how they are little presents and how cute their little surprises are. Subtley but not so subtley telling me how they wouldn't get rid of it. Mind you I spoke to around 20 people confronting me about a potential pregnancy. People are really happy about the idea I could become a mom.
I personally have OCD and this gave me so much anxiety, the fact that I know how much people have talked behind my back, how if I'm pregnant I'll either have to lie about it while suffering an abortion or go through with a pregnancy I really really don't want. I dread going out and buying one.
Tldr my colleagues think have been rumoring for half a week and now they all made up their mind I'm pregnant. What should I do? What if the pregnancy test comes back positive? What to do if negative?
I'll update after I have a result

 So I think I've always "not believed", I just didn't want to believe that I did for the longest time. I would admit to myself that everything I was taught seemed very fairytale-esque. But I could never bring myself to fully disavow it until until recently. I've seen a handful of posts in my short time here asking things along the lines of "do you still pray" or something kind of similar. To me, if there is "anything out there", it very likely wouldn't care about me apart from "oh neat, it *thinks*, that's cute". That is super painful but also sort of freeing. But I always had a habit of internal-monologueing a quick "prayer" before stuff like driving or prepping food or what-have-you. More recently, I've been goung through some super tough medical issues. I constantly find myself going into the same "oh please help me to make it through this okay". In that regard, that has been probably the one and only true "comfort" I've ever had. That evolved to "if anything can hear me, please help me through this if you'd be able and willing". It stings that even that has now fallen away from me: the belief that something else wants me to be... okay. I've been trying to turn those "prayers" into affirmations, of sorts. I have a math test tomorrow, I just started college, and I'm having a huge flare-up of my existing medical issues, along with an entirely new issue of vertigo that I had to go to the ER for the other day. Through all this, I've been absolutely terrified. For once in my up-to-now-pathetic life, I believe that I can actually make something of myself. But the constant fear of something breaking or me ending up seriously ill/injured is really eating at me right now. I've been having a few good things happen after putting in the work for it, like earning scholarships and finding a medication that actually does something for one of my handful of things. As weird as it sounds, now's the first time in my entire life that I feel like I actually got something out of life after putting something in. But I'm terrified of losing it. Having something to show for an effort I put in, no matter how big or small, is incredible. It's not even a feeling of "winning". It's like a kid earning their first twenty dollar bill. I want to hold on to this feeling forever, or at least keep up this momentum. It is when I feel most abandoned that good things start happening. And those few good things came from MY hands. No one took them away, and no one is taking credit for them. As selfish as it sounds, I feel like a part of me has been praying to myself. The only "god" I can believe in is one that actually *does something*. Well, here's something actually being done for once in my life. I've finally earned something because I believed I could start building a better future. I think I'm just venting because I'm just dreading the thought of dying, both physically and emotionally again. Call it what you will, impression or whatever, but I want to tell whoever is reading this that good things WILL happen if you believe in YOU. You are the only "being" that can affect you. You can bring you comfort. It'll take practice for sure. I believe I can ace this test tomorrow *TO SPITE* my vertigo and fifty other things that would normally keep me from doing so, not just *in spite* of it. And I am trying to believe that I can actually make a life out of my life. But holy shit am I still terrified. 

Can I wear a durag while wrestling if I tuck in the cape? Would it even work if it was allowed?
Also, what are some ways to protect hairstyles, like twits, locs, and starter dreads from damage? My cornrows were destroyed after one the front head and arm, never mind a full practice lmao

I wasn't going to do a trip write up at all, but I'm planning a return trip in the Fall and I realized some of the things I learned on my first trip might be useful for other people, so here we go! I don't often see post write ups from people who are specifically into rhythm games/ arcades/ anime stuff
 
Dates: March 8 - 24, 2023 Background: Planned this trip mostly for myself but one of my friends decided to tag along fairly last minute. I had planned to spend the whole trip in Tokyo but the one thing she wanted to do was Kyoto, so we added a side trip + a very pleasant day at a Ryokan. I used Wanderlog to plan (HIGHLY recommend, this site is amazing), and my basic daily itinerary was morning shrine > pick an area to explore and have 1-2 major things per day. The person I was travelling with ended up taking a long ass time to get ready each day, so most of my morning stuff got cut or rearranged. Costs: I will fully admit I did not budget for food/ shopping, 100% vibes. I simply do not acknowledge what I spent

• Flight: $1,500 (Delta from MSP > SEA > Haneda. Direct from MSP had not resumed yet)
• Hotels: ¥314,000 (Roughly $2,300 USD for all 3 hotels total) [¥205,000 (Tokyu Stay Tsukiji, 15 nights) + ¥30,000 (Tokyu Stay Kyoto, 2 nights) + ¥79,000 (Kyokoyado Muromachi Yutone Kyoto, 1 night)]
• Shinkansen: ¥42,000 for 2 round trip tickets from Tokyo/Kyoto and back. Roughly $300 USD, machine did not take foreign CC only cash

Highlights

• The Kingdom Hearts concert, I maxed out my luck on this trip and we were able to see this on it's last night in Tokyo. Absolutely incredible!!
• Sushi Yuu, Roppongi (omakase sushi for about ¥20,000 per person, we paid more with drinks)
• ShibuyaSky, the open air viewing makes the experience so much better, plus there's a bunch of different spots to hang out up on the observation deck
• Fushimi Inari, the whole shrine blew me out of the water, absolutely must experience in person
• TeamLabs Planets, so few things live up to the hype and this is one of them
• Golden Gai, the bars were so much fun, got the full experience of a salaryman pissing on the side of the konbini

Lowlights

• Caffeine- if you are addicted to non carbonated caffeine like I am be prepared to be disappointed. The monsters are only 40mg compared to America's 150mg+. I'm glad I brought caffeine pills
• Tsukiji market is really not worth going out of your way for, it's nice if you're near it but it's really just a fish market + insane lines for most of the food
• I'm still mad about how bad the food was at the Square Enix cafe is, at least we got coasters + placemats out of the deal. This was genuinely my only bad experience in Japan
• Everything on this subreddit told me that people in Tokyo don't really care about tattoos, however they do really seem to care about colored hair. I have very long, bright ombre hair and I was a bit of a sideshow attraction, including people taking photos of me in public multiple times. Probably the most frustrating part of the trip was being stared at constantly
• Japanese thrift stores love old American clothes, I was definitely let down by the majority of these

Goals:

• Buy anime stuff
• Play rhythm games
• Go thrift shopping
• See cherry blossoms
• Collect shrine stamps (goshuin)

Advice:

• TAX FREE SHOPPING: This has to be first because no one mentions it?? There are 2 types of tax free, discount and rebate. Everywhere has a minimum for tax free. Don Quijote you have to go to the separate tax free counter, and they will seal the bags shut. You're not supposed to use the tax free items in the country - I didn't know this and did it anyways? There seems to be no repercussions unless they open your bag and count every individual KitKat. I had to open the bags to repack everything anyways. The places that do rebates are generally malls, you bring your receipt + passport and they'll give you the 10% back in cash (minus a fee). When you get to the airport, you scan your passport after you drop your luggage, indicating you made tax free purchases. You do not need to keep your receipts anymore
• Don Quijote does sell luggage but Ginza Karen is cheaper
• Besides the standard things that every single trip report has (get a suica, you'll walk a lot, etc etc), the biggest thing I learned is not to go to an area without at least 1-2 specific goals in mind. For example, I had given us like a half day to go around Shibuya/ Harajuku, but because we didn't look into what malls or stores we might like to go to, we ended up wandering pretty aimlessly and not really enjoying the area. This happened a few different areas we went to, so I decided that in the future I would pin some stores on Google Maps and try to make it to those specific stores
• Install LINE and set up an account. It's crazy how much connects to LINE. For me the biggest thing was 1) making Sushiro reservations and not having to sit in the store for an hour plus waiting for our table and 2) being able to grab a chargeSPOT to charge my phone. I brought a battery pack but at this point it must be like a decade old, it took the entire night to recharge and died on me during the day a few times. I have a Pixel 6 Pro and was literally constantly charging my phone
• If you're coming from the Americas, don't try to do something on your first night. Get your Konbini dinner and go the fuck to sleep
• Getting from place to place can take longer than expected, you'll have to navigate the stations, find the entrances (sometimes hidden in malls) and exits (sometimes closed), don't make plans too tight together
• Navigating Kyoto was so much more confusing. At first our Suica cards didn't work because we apparently didn't tap out at a station in Tokyo, so we were buying day passes and paying in cash on the bus. Some of the buses have 0 English and 100% Kanji (navigation difficulty: extreme). Suica cards DO work in Kyoto so if you're having issues go to a gate with an attendant and they can help
• It can be weirdly hard to find bathrooms, most konbini have them but you're supposed to ask the cashier if you can use them. I speak very basic Japanese but hammed up the gaijin card here and would just ask to use the toilet in English, no one ever told me no Weeb specific advice:
• If you want to do pop ups (like the Jujutusu Kaisen Animation exhibit), a Japanese e-sim will be a lifesaver. You need a Japanese phone number to do SO much, they really make it extremely frustrating to make reservations without it. I did manage to make reservations for the Square Enix cafe though, the write-up is on my profile. (Was it worth it? Absolutely not, worst food all trip, -3/10)
• Prices are all over the place for figures, especially prize figures. There's a solid chance you might buy something and see it cheaper at the next shop, however going back/forth between shops in Akihabara can be a huge pain in the ass. I'd recommend 1) making a list of things you want the most and 2) setting a per item budget and a total budget. A lot of the anime stuff was cheaper in Kyoto as well
• You can find a ton of gachapon stuff at Surugaya, so you can just buy what you want and don't have to gamble. Surugaya bins are organized by series
• Use collabo-cafe.com to find cafes and pop up events you might be interested. Plan ahead because reservations can be hard to come by

 
Now on to the super detailed trip report! Here's the big album if you don't want to look through photos separated by day. Warning for flashing video
 
Day 1 (travel)

• Landed in Haneda around 3pm. Immigration + customs took about an hour (we did the visit Japan web ahead of time and had both QR codes ready). There was virtually no lines anywhere
• It took about an hour to navigate to the hotel. I chose to stay at the Tokyu Stay Tsukiji because 1) it was really cheap, 2) it was close to the Ginza line, and 3) it had a washer in the room. Although the location was slightly inconvenient for late nights, I'd say it was totally worth it for the ability to grab food in Tsukiji market, and the room was pretty large compared to some other areas of Tokyo. In fact, the room was so cheap that when we went to Kyoto, we opted to not check out of the Tsukiji room and just leave the majority of our possessions there. This didn't cause any issues and made travelling on the Shinkansen way easier
• I thought we were built different and could do some stuff this evening. We ended up walking to the Donki and being assaulted by sound in every direction. 7/10 didn't discover the 2nd floor until days later. At this point exhaustion kicked in and we got a Lawsons dinner and crashed

Day 2 (Akihabara, photos)

• Going to Akihabara on our first day in Japan sure was a choice. Thankfully neither of us suffered jetlag on the way in. Checked out like 10 different game centers and a ton of anime shops. Managed to find the only Monster Rehab of the whole trip here
• Konbini lunch + strong zero! That flavor was terrible :')
• Dinner at the Monster Hunter cafe (no reservations required). Expectations were low but my travel partner is a huge MH fan. The food wasn't bad but the drinks were awful. The ambiance is nice and there were definitely some regulars there playing MH on the consoles they had set up
• The new Namco game center had like 12 brand new Taiko cabs and all of them had phone mounts so you could film yourself playing! I was really intimidated by everyone there being extremely good so we didn't play any games here

Day 3 (Shibuya & Harajuku, photos)

• Breakfast at Tsukiji outer market since we were already there
• Went to Shibuya Loft for the Bravely Default pop up shop
• Checked out Tower Records
• Ate lunch at Japanese McDonalds
• Went to Takeshita Street. TBH this felt like in-person AliExpress, I'm sure the charm of the early 2000s is long gone
• Visited Hachiko
• Shibuya Sky Observatory

Day 4 (Asakusa, photos)

• Started at Kaminarimon Gate & went down Nakamise shopping street. It was very crowded on a Sunday but I enjoyed it immensely, you just need some patience to get where you want to go. I liked trying all the food, most of the food stalls here were cash only
• Senso-ji temple, bought Goshuincho to collect stamps
• Ate lunch and dinner in the area, there's a ton of food options
• We ended going all the way over to Yoyogi park as well but nothing was in bloom. Because it was overcast the park looked really sad

Day 5 (Shinjuku & Kabukicho, photos)

• Now is the time to come clean, I'm a huge Yakuza/ RGG fan. In the morning I had my Majima birthday cake delivered by PRIROLL. I pre-ordered it and chose the delivery day where we didn't have morning plans. It comes frozen and needs to defrost in the fridge. While we left Majima to chill, we made the pilgrimage to Kabukicho to see the iconic gate. It was raining in the morning so we hit up some arcades then went shopping
• There's a really cool mall that seems anime-centric (I believe it's called Shinjuku Marui Anex). It had a Godzilla store, Cinnamoroll Cafe, a JJK pop up, and best of all... A Surugaya. These stores have bins where everything is ¥100-300 and we ended up buying way too much in every one we came across
• Went back to Kabukicho and explored a bit, went to Golden Gai and drank at a handful of bars. Almost missed the last train because I drunkenly insisted on a final game of MaiMai. 10/10 staying in Kabukicho next time

Day 6 (Ikebukero & Rippongi, photos)

• The plan today was to check out Ikebukero and Roppongi, but we ended up spending so much time at the first mall that we didn't really do anything in Roppongi besides get dinner. Went to the Pokemon Mega Center and the cafe. The main cafe was closed so it was just take out, all the food was really cute but the waffles were kind of terrible
• Gashapon no Depato Ikebukuro was super overwhelming. A lot of the smaller gashapon stores are somewhat organized by what is in the machines, this one just felt chaotic, and it went on forever
• Sushi Yuu was incredible, I didn't take photos of every single course but I was so full that couldn't finish my dessert at the very end. The owner speaks some English and I made our reservations by messaging him on Facebook

Day 7 (Yokohama, photos)

• We didn't get to Yokohama as early as I would have liked - I took us out way into the suburbs to try to find this Yakuza plushie from the claw machines. I looked up the locations on the Sega website, unfortunately this machine was extra rigged and I couldn't win it >:[ On the bright side all the rhythm games had no one else playing them
• Took the cable car over and went to the Cup Noodle museum. Unfortunately we didn't have a reservation so we had to come back later. Found some cafes in the area and had a late breakfast
• The museum was really small, the main draw is making your own Cup Noodles. Entrance costs 500 yen and this is an additional 500. We had some trouble navigating this part because no one spoke any English
• Had dinner at a pie restaurant that was 10/10
• Explored a bit of Yamashita park (Yakuza 7, anyone?) I was kind of disappointed I wasn't able to see this during the day
• Walked around Yokohama Chinatown & visited the local Round 1 ;)

Day 8 (Kyoto, photos)

• I bought the Shinkansen tickets to Kyoto the evening before, so we weren't able to get great seats. The machines are also a huge pain in the ass and don't take American CCs, so plan ahead here
• It took us longer than expected to figure out how to use the tickets and read the signage, so we weren't able to get food before and I had to have one of the train bentos. I knew it was going to suck and it was worse than expected :(
• You can bring a full sized suitcase and just put it in front of you, seeing other people do this was unexpected
• My travel partner was destroyed at this point so she rested in the room. I went to the National Garden and Imperial Palace alone. The sakura were just starting to bloom and the weather was great, loved it. The National Garden is SO huge that I only ended up walking up the west side before I tapped out
• Checked out Heian-jingu shrine + the giant torii, I went to another smaller shrine with a great view but I can't remember the name
• We did photoshoots at ESPERANTO Kyoto. There's basically no reviews from foreigners about this place but it was fantastic!! Their online booking form didn't work for me, so I emailed asking for a reservation. I emailed in Japanese and English and they replied in English. They gave me time options and I replied with what package and room each of us wanted (the website says they require a deposit but they told me they didn't need one). When we got there they did our hair and makeup, and then you pick your kimonos out. The photographer spoke pretty decent English and we didn't have trouble communicating with anyone else here. They had our photos edited and printed about 30 minutes after we picked which ones we wanted. The whole thing took about 3 hours (it was longer because we used the same set room). I don't want to include my photos but I did add a video of my hairstyle because she knocked it out of the park
• Ended the day with okonomiyaki, one of my favorite Japanese foods

Day 9 (Kyoto, photos)

• Fushimi Inari day! I ended up walking this alone, I did not realize how long it was going to take or the fact it was actually like 10,000 stairs. My knees were very upset on the way down
• It was not as busy as expected, I went at roughly noon on a Friday. Most people tap out before the actual mountain climb
• The Goshuin at Fushimi Inari are on paper, you can paste them into your books later. Even if you don't have a Goshuincho I'd recommend buying them because they are very cute!
• Shrine cats!!!! You can buy photos of them to help pay for their food
• After Fushimi Inari I somehow managed to walk to Tofukuji Temple (I did the garden but not the bridge) and Daigo-ji Gojunoto pagoda and garden. I wanted to cut my legs off after today

Day 10 (Kyoto, photos)

• I started my day at the Kyoto Round 1, I had visited it on day 8 as well. This one is ace because it was literally always empty 10/10
• Decided to explore Gion a bit, ended up at the Machiya Starbucks and had the best thing I ate all trip (a custard dorayaka, I regret not going back for another)
• Ended up at Kiyomizu-dera Temple totally on accident. It wasn't super impressive in early spring but the view was still fantastic
• Ended the day at the Ryokan (Kyokoyado Muromachi Yutone). Ended up picking one without an onsen because we are both covered in tattoos, and I didn't want to deal with finding a private one. The cypress tub was a great trade off, and the food was incredible

Day 11 (Tokyo - Concert, photos)

• Today we travelled back to Tokyo and went to the Kingdom Hearts concert. I ended up trying for the lottery for tickets back in like December 2022. Winners were announced the first weekend in January and you only had a few days to buy tickets. I have a friend of a friend living in Japan who did me the biggest solid ever and bought our tickets. I met up with her during the trip for the hand off. The seats are randomly assigned and we had AMAZING seats near the front. This was also the performance Nomura was at!
• We weren't supposed to take photos during the performance so I just have some before. Also, I made Organization XIII beads that attach onto my dress with magnets and I am very proud of it, so please excuse the bathroom selfie :D
• The concert was about 3 hours long and after all the travelling we were beat. We ate dinner, played our nightly games of Ongeki, and passed out
• Bonus video of the music box that plays Dearly Beloved

Day 12 (Ginza & Sumida, photos)

• We were really starting to tucker out at this point. We managed to drag ourselves to the Ginza art Aquarium in the AM and the Tokyo SkyTree in the afternoon. Today was the Equinox so everything was crazy busy, the line to buy tickets for the SkyTree was literally like 2 ish hours long so we bought them online and went shopping in the mall
• The Art Aquarium was really cool, but a lot of the fish were in really small tanks. I didn't include photos of those :(
• The SkyTree just let people up as fast as they could so it was extremely crowded at the top, and not super enjoyable imo
• I spent the evening at the arcades in Akihabara :D

Day 13 (Tokyo - JJK Exhibit, photos - flashing video warning)

• Today I went off in the am to see if I could buy a ticket to the Jujutsu Kaisen animation exhibit in person. The online site wouldn't let me buy a ticket because I didn't have a Japanese phone number. UNFORTUNATELY you couldn't buy tickets in person. I got super lucky again and 2 foreign exchange students from Europe were trying to do the same thing, however they did have a Japanese phone number and the site allowed you to get 3 tickets at a time. They were able to grab them for all 3 of us for that evening
• Putzed off to Hie Shrine, anyone that tells you it's a mini Fushimi Inari is lying
• Went back to Akihabara, found a Miku racing pop up!
• Went back to... Ginza? for the JJK animation exhibit, it took about an hour to go through. I included a ton of photos so just skip today if you're not interested in that show

Day 14 (Tokyo - TeamLabs Planets & SquareEnix Cafe, photos)

• TeamLabs was so cool! I didn't include many photos since it's 95% selfies. Make sure you explore a bit as the string light room had a couple of different areas that are easy to miss, and it's possible to accidentally skip the hanging garden, which was beautiful! TeamLabs took us about 2.5 hours but we were 100% those bitches taking forever to get a million photos
• Since we were staying in Tsukiji we ended up just slowly walking back to the room for a much needed nap
• Back to Akihabara yet again! More rhythm games, some awful food at SE

Day 15 (Shinjuku, photos)

• This was our last full day in Japan, we honestly didn't want to do anything but we managed to drag our asses to Shinjuku National Garden for the cherry blossoms. Unfortunately it was sprinkling a bit, at least it kept the crowds away
• Managed to check out Meiji Jingu, but at this point my travel partner was sick of walking and tapped out
• I went back to Kabukicho, walked around a bit and ended up back at an arcade (bless Ongeki for having stools)

Final thoughts (Misc, photos)

• We were literally so annihilated by the trip that we took a taxi to the airport, it was about ¥8,000 from Tsukiji ($60 USD ish)
• I ended up buying a 24" suitcase from Ginza Karen for ¥6,000. It was 100% full of stuff I purchased. We also used one or those giant ¥500 bags from Donki as a carry on
• My Goshuincho was my favorite souvenir, I'm so proud of all the stamps I collected (I did get doubles at some shrines). I plan to bring this back late 2023 to try to finish it
• I have the old school GoogleFi plan and don't have to do anything extra to have international data. Lots of places & stations have free WiFi but you'll need to put your email in
• I don't really sleep that much and my schedule in the US is already busted, but it took me about 2 full weeks to get back on normal human hours. I'm tired again just writing this up and looking through all my photos
• My main regret is not trying more food, we ended up waiting until we were dying of starvation and ate at the konbini a lot (typical)

 
Edits for formatting

Turtlejou surely isn't the most popular ship in WoF community. Lot of people says the love spell in Kinkajou has spoiled it.
I don't think so. No, it was an excellent movement to make us fear the animus magic. Yes, Kinkajou and Turtle were always supportive characters, while "the real heroes" were saving the world, but we started to like them. But with ToP, not exactly the most popular protagonist came. Lot of people say Turtle is very passive protagonist, but with ToP, we find out WHY is he the way he is, and we really see he has a cute big crush on Kinkajou. Even he cannot use his animus magic, he asked Anemone, and with her(unintentional) help, he outsmarted Darkstalker. The love spell wasn't his fault, and he begged Anemone to take the spell down.
Unfortunately, it didn't happened, and with continued book, we saw, what kind of damage the spell made. I really get Turtle's dread, and I surely think this was clever.
And more hymns to Turtlejou, and mostly, to my very favourite character, Turtle. In the end of the book, Kinkajou tells him she loves him. He can just say-truly- "I love you too", and then he can wait until somebody will free him from the dungeon(someone would came, sooner or later), and he would can to go to his new girlfriend, somehow banish remorse, and there we are, happyend for everyone!
But what Turtle did? He said the most difficult thing-truth. It was so fair of him, that I don't get why everybody doesn't love him for it(it is because you didn't pay attention because you was bored?). Now, they are building their relationship on very, very weird conditions. But still, epilogue with Turtle's PoV is the best part of epilogue.
Well, if you are here, I hope you enjoyed my babbling, because I have no idea if this has a head and a heel.

So I had some pretty major health anxiety at the beginning of cute year. I still have times where I’m worried about my health but I’ve been to doctors and they say I’m fine. But lately I haven’t been able to sleep. I had issues one night a few weeks back and now every night before bed, I start to get tense and I lay there, heart racing, skin hot and I just can’t sleep. I’m so worried about not being able to sleep that I end up dreading bedtime. My Dr gave me trazodone but it didn’t help. I have hydroxyzine that helps calm me down but I still can’t sleep for more than 4/5 hours a night. And usually I wake up stupidly early and can’t fall back asleep. It’s even worse before my period. I feel like I’m going to go crazy. 😞 my fiancée works nights, so I’m alone a lot when I sleep and it’s just hard.

the past 7 months or so ive been really experimenting with my identity. i used to force myself into feminine clothing, makeup and hairstyles but i completely threw it away and now i feel so happy. but letley ive also been using he/him pronouns, and have shortened my name to a more neutral one because i prefer how masculine it feels.
i have no idea if im cracking the egg right now, but yesterday my heart was racing when i realised i could be trans. ive never related to women much, i relate to womens issues but thats pretty much it. i was always called a tomboy. i hate being called cute. i cant make friends with women my only friends are guys. sometimes i see guys and wish that i could just have their body
like idk whats happening, im a lesbian so being in the queer community i know some things about being trans, but not enough to know myself ya know. i guess im just asking from other trans people what made you realise, or what signs were there?
edit: forgot to mention ive also been imagining this reality where im a guy for like idk months and i think thats whats been supressing my real world realisation

hey queers,
I’ve currently got a shoulder length surfer cut but need something shorter, any ideas/
Previously i had a really cute mullet and i’m considering going back because it’s what i like in a hairstyle, functional and pleasing
pls drop tips (p.s sorry baldies this isn’t ur thread)

Started watching this anime lately because I was looking for good horrothriller stuff and this was recommended to me for its good writing. After episode 1 I was hooked. I mean, the first part is amazing. The question of what the parasites are, their biology, how they reproduce, and the different levels of intelligence they have was a great hook.
I think it was somewhere around episode 6 I started having this nagging feeling. Lemme just list out my problems so far, and maybe someone can correct me or tell me (vaguely) how it gets better.

1. Main protag becoming generic. First of all, he loses his cute messy hairstyle, glasses, and takes on the look of a generic shonen protag. He gets non-descript super-human abilities and multiple ass-pull abilities. Instead of relying on wit to solve his conflicts he just relies on generic "Be angry to win" trope, and ex-machinas. (I understand his personality changing is part of the plot, but did they have to make everything else about him so generic and boring too?)
2. All the girls get a crush on him. This has to be my biggest issue so far. Is this just a harem anime in disguise? I was expecting better writing and for the cast of women characters to play a bigger role beyond "oogle over the protag and blush a lot." Seriously, this kinda sucks. Why are they written so horribly? I think I lost it at the part where Satomi literally gaslights herself about Shinichi being cold and tells herself he's actually a really caring guy.
3. The loss of focus on the parasites' biology. It felt really heavily sci-fi in the first few episodes. The part about parasites maturing in one body part making them unable to spread felt like a cool quirk of their biology, not a writing excuse. But it's been going downhill. "Oh, I can just replace your heart because asspull, even though it was well established before that the host body is vulnerable and weak. Oh, my cells dispersing through your blood makes you super strong and fast now, for... some reason?" Ugh...

Maybe the hook of this anime was just too good. I was told it was a survival horror anime, so my expectation was that the main protag would stay relatively weak and powerless, and lots of other characters would die. It's starting to feel like a Shonen now, where character deaths are just an excuse to motivate the protag and all the women characters are just 1-dimensional love interests.
Someone please tell me I'm wrong and it gets better?

This is about a girl I met five months ago at a party. Met her last week and it was so, so nice!
25M here. So it was a New Year party and I was invited there with my friends, and there happened to be a girl who caught my attention quite easily. I didn’t feel nervous at all, and asked her her name and IG (not number yet, as I felt it wouldn’t be fair), and she gave it. We planned to meet so much, but it never worked out as I had too much going on in my personal life and she’d gone back to her hometown. Once she came back, her job had kept her way too busy. We stayed in touch throughout the 5 months and were both comfy.
Last week, we finally decided to meet and it was probably one of the best times of my life. We met at a cute cat cafe and she talked so, so much and I listened, and vice versa. She actually listened to me whenever I spoke, with probably the best eye contact ever. She was even mirroring my body language. We laughed a lot too. I’m so glad that none of us even looked at our phones. We have so, so much in common and it’s unbelievable. The chemistry was absolutely unreal and we both felt like 3 hours went away in just one. Yes, we didn’t know we spent 3 hours together until we looked at our watches. She responded very positively to gentle flirting and had sweet responses to my subtle pickup lines. Her banter game is insanely good too. Before I saw her off I told her I’d love to take her out on a date and she agreed!
I wanted to make sure she reached safely, so I called her, and what felt like 5 minutes turned out to be 20!
Now we’re not texters and glued to our phones, and work keeps both of us busy, so texting is only for memes, some banter and date plans. And calls are rare. We’re actually too busy. And I think it’s safe to say that she isn’t crushing on me just yet; it’s been, what two meetings. But the connection we had right then and there felt so real.
After having learned from so many bad experiences, I’m trying my best to keep my expectations very low. If you expect something, it becomes a demand, and if a demand isn’t met, it becomes a disappointment. Hoping for the best!
She’s a wonderful person and I feel it’ll be bad if she’s a goner too. As much as I know there are so many other people, it’s quite rare for a strong connection immediately. So I don’t want to screw it up. I’m not putting her on a pedestal, because that’s a one way ticket to losing someone or landing in the dreaded friendzone.

I hate the fizzle out. When you find a guy you like, you see each other for a little while and things seem to be going really well. You guys are seeing each other on dates, talking a lot. You're into him, he's into you too. Then out of no where, it starts. At first it's subtle, almost unnoticeable: Perhaps he starts taking a bit longer to respond than he usually does, or he's not as engaged or enthusiastic when he does. It always starts subtle but slowly builds: The time between messages is longer and longer, making plans becomes increasingly difficult as he's suddenly busy all the time now.
And it sucks because I fell for the guy but I know what's coming deep down. I feel this dread now when I get a notification from him because I know it's not going to be a cute message about how he likes me or how cute I am like before, but rather a lackluster response to whatever question I asked in an attempt to engage in conversation.
I hate this part of dating because I know what's coming, but I still like him and I'm not quite ready to let go, I'm still holding on to the dwindling hope that he really is just busy right now, or that he'll have a change of heart and want me after all. But deep down I know that's not true. I want him to just straight up tell me it's over, but they never do, perhaps because it's a hard thing to tell someone, or perhaps he's unsure how he feels himself. But at the same time I don't have the courage to ask him if he still likes me, because that seems too desperate, which would surely push him away if he's questioning his feelings. What a shitty situation the fizzle out is ):
Dramatic rant over.

Prue:

• Least: S1, too short...
• Favourite: S2, her wardrobe, her hair, her style, her makeup was everything. Her dressing up as Mrs Hellfire still haunts me till this day.

Piper:

• Least: S1 too, wasn't a fan of the short square bangs. She was cute tho
• Favourite: Early S2 takes the cake, her long side bangs was so pretty on her. For me, Piper has always looked the same to me after S3.

Phoebe:

• Least: S4B, baby bangs: no explanation needed
• Favourite: S3 and S4A: Her blond hair was so iconic and she honestly looked so beautiful and mesmerizing every single episodes. Blonde Phoebe >>>>>>>>

Paige:

• Least: Late S7 and early S8, wasnt a fan of the bangs and her hairstyling in general.
• Favourite: Late S6 when she swtiched back to brown hair. It was so pretty on her. Controversial but i also love early S7, her face kinda looked different from S6 (?) but in a good way, she was also tanned in the first few episodes of S7, it suited her.