#BUT! now that i know the parking area is directly attached to the restaurant i ate at. and that while google maps says it's on 10th street

[july-19th-club]

one thing about me is that the first time i go to an unfamiliar place i screw it up worse than anybody ever has even with directions. but the NEXT time i go to the place i remember the route exactly and for the rest of all time i know it without having to check . the dichotomy of man

[twstfanblog]

*~500 Followers Fic: WaterPark Episode PT 2/Vignettes~*

A/N: Ignore me taking so long to get this out, AGAIN. I've been fighting to write for the past few weeks for no reason. That's a lie, it's because I wanna write things that are so far in my canon they'd make no sense if I did post them XD I was also consumed trying to finish my Halloween fic Word Count: 8K Warnings: They/She OC, headcanons on the sexuality of the characters Main Pairings: Malleus/Yuu/Jamil/Azul, Alluded-Riddle/Floyd, Jade/Trey, Leona/Ruggie, Cater/Idia, Vil/Rook, Sebek/Silver, Firstie Poly

Part 1

Now that Yuu was free from their duty of making sure the other students were checked into the park, they were able to meet up with the other first-years. They all sat huddled around, turning their lounge chairs into a circle as they planned out their day.

Yuu hummed, looking at the small map of the park Ace had managed to find, “Damn this park is big. There’s like forty slides in this place…”

Epel smirked, eyes roaming over the map and already planning out his route, “Ah’m gonna ride everythin’.”

Ortho had already scanned the map, making sure he noted every location of bathrooms and the park's first-aid station, “That could be detrimental to your health if you ride all forty in a span of our six-hour stay…”

“No pain, no gain.”

Jack raised an eyebrow, tucking his ears into the water cap he had pulled from his bag, “What are you trying to gain…?”

Leaping into Yuu’s lap, Grim smiled at the map while Yuu tucked his own ears into a water cap, “I'm gonna ride everything! And try all the food at every restaurant and stall! And-”

Yuu gripped Grim around his middle, holding him in the air and maneuvering him so that they could stare at the excited monster, “You will die. I need you to know this. If you do all that shit, you will die.”

Ace snickers, “Let him try. Maybe he’ll actually learn a lesson in gluttony for once.”

Deuce raised an eyebrow, glaring at the other Heartslabyul solider, “He’ll learn his lesson in death…?”

Huffing, Jack crossed his arms, “Alright, but seriously. Do we plan on sticking together for the day or are we splitting off until lunch?”

“Hmmm…” Yuu points to the largest slide closest to their rest area, “How about we all do this big slide together just to get used to the water temperature? And we can go on more rides together until we find other stuff we’d rather do. Because, Epel, I adore you. I’m not riding forty slides for you.”

“Fair.”

Deuce nods, “Sounds like a plan. We can still meet up for lunch and touch base, maybe go on more slides together.” He looked to his side, opening his mouth to ask Sebek if he had a slide he wanted to try only to see the serious expression on the half-fae’s face, “Sebek? You ok?”

“...” Sebek sighed, closing his eyes before looking to the side, “I don’t think I can spend much time with you all today…”

The others all whine a bit, even Yuu and Grim, asking Sebek why he couldn’t spend one day not directly attached to Malleus.

Yuu huffs, rolling her eyes, “I’m pretty sure Malleus asked you to just enjoy the park away from him today-”

“That’s not what I’m concerned about!”

Jack leaned closer to Sebek, his hand pressing to the other’s forehead with a worried expression, “Are you having a heat stroke.”

Ace quickly passed over his water bottle, “Here, have a sip.”

Sebek blushed, smacking both of his boyfriends’ hands away, “Enough! I’m concerned about Silver’s enjoyment in the park…”

…

The group as a whole looked over to another cluster of lounge chairs. Silver and Lilia were under an umbrella, Lilia applying a heavy layer of sunscreen to both himself and an already half-asleep Silver.

Sighing again, Sebek called the other’s attention, “Lilia-sama doesn’t do well in high heat nor direct sunlight. He was happy to come along even though he wouldn’t be able to do much. But, because Lilia isn’t able to enjoy the park, Silver doesn’t want to leave his father alone for the day. Plus…the sleeping…”

Epel groaned, seeming to finally make the connection, “Oh yeah…sleep disorders and water ain't a good mix to try…”

“I know we all planned on spending as much time together today as possible, but…I will most likely spend my time with Silver to make sure he can enjoy the park and not potentially drown.”

Yuu nods, “Fair and valid.” She smiles, slinging an arm around Sebek’s neck and ignoring the half-fae scowling at her, “So, the plan is to do the big slide together to break the ice so to speak. Then you can ask Silver if he wants to go on a few slides with us before we all start to break off until lunch.”

“...” Sebek huffed, “I like this plan.”

Floyd had instantly dragged Riddle toward the wave pool, a number of students already being swirled in the man-made current. The mer had been quick to assume his other form, his swimshorts snapping open from the inner seem to allow his tail minimal constriction, “Come on, Goldfishie! I wanna swim with you~!”

Riddle had agreed at first. He planned on swimming, riding the slides and simply enjoying this new experience. But as he walked deeper into the chilly water, his stomach started to roll. His reflection stared back at him as he had an embarrassing epiphany.

Swimming in a lazy circle, Floyd floated closer to a still Riddle, “Goldfishie~? Come deeper in the water, swimming in shallow water is annoying…”

“I can't swim.”

…

Floyd flipped himself over, his back in the water as he drifted to be in Riddle's line of sight. He almost asked if he was joking, only to see Riddle's cheeks flushed and brows creased in what Floyd coined his ‘thinking face’, “Wait are you serious?”

Riddle huffed, turning his head away, “I…I just realized…”

“How do you not know how to swim?”

“I never needed to learn!”

“You're seventeen?”

Riddle huffed and nearly stomped his foot, thankfully realizing it was a bad idea to do in thigh deep water, “Don't you judge me-”

A buzzer sounds, both Riddle and Floyd's attention being called to the far wall of the pool. Symbols eched into the wall start glowing, causing the waves to swell suddenly and easily sweep numerous others into the current and higher into the air. The wave hit Riddle hard, sending him tumbling back into the water as a prisoner with Floyd diving after him. Luckily, the waves calmed quickly, allowing Floyd to lift Riddle out of the water to take a desperate series of breaths.

Riddle hacked and coughed, hands gripping onto the clawed arms holding him up, “UNHAND ME, I'M GETTING OUT!”

Floyd cooed but still swam Riddle to the edge of the pool, letting him grip at the stone and pull himself out, “Aw~ poor Goldfishie…I really wanted to relax in the water with you though…” He thinks, looking at the map of the water park before smiling to Riddle, “I have an idea~!”

“Just help me out of this hell pool!”

Jade and Floyd quickly rushed off once their trio had found a comfortable spot to set as a rest space. Each twin having plans to find their respective Heartslabyul lover, leaving Azul to sit under the shade alone. And while he could enjoy the warm weather, maybe people watch or use his phone to review the past sales reports of the lounge. Instead, his eyes caught the bold numbers along a sign. For a few seconds he felt his brain stall once he fully understood what the numbers said. Now he sat on the lounge chair, staring unblinking at the price sign of a small ice cream stand.

Soon, Yuu walked up to Azul with a smile and holding something behind their back. They moved to speak only to stop at seeing the blank look on Azul's face, “Um…baby, you doing okay? Can you hear me-”

Azul reached out, grabbing Yuu by the underside of their swim top and yanking them down to his eye level, “ My pearl, what does that sign say?” He pointed across the way, his other hand leaving Yuu's top and gripping them by the face to make sure they were looking in the correct direction.

Yuu blinked, raising an eyebrow at the price “...Oh. Nice seeing park prices are the same even in other worlds.” They laughed lightly, smiling at Azul's expression.

“How are they getting away with charging $15 for a single scoop of ice cream?”

Giggling, Yuu leaned more into Azul's hand, “Maybe it's got gold leaf or diamonds in it.”

Azul growled lightly, turning Yuu's face to look at them directly, “You know very well that gold leaf costs basically nothing! Plus that diamond would have to be practically worthless in quality or size! Why even bother!?”

Yuu doesn't reply past making a kissy face to Azul, smiling when the second-year sighed and leaned forward to press their lips together.

Pulling away, Azul made the mental note to look more into the pricing practices for such parks, “Well, that blatant theft aside, how may I-why do you have a gun?”

Azul had finally taken notice of the brightly colored water rifle in Yuu's possession. While a water gun was clearly better than an actual gun, that didn't make him feel any safer.

Yuu smiles, holding the toy up and shaking it so that Azul could hear it was full, “I borrowed it from Vil.”

“Why does Vil have a gun?”

“Oh calm down, it's filled with sunscreen.” Yuu leaned over and pressed another kiss to Azul's cheek. Pulling away they pumped the water gun once, an ominous click sounding, “Now run.”

“...”

“...”

“...”

Trey sighed, closing his eyes and adjusting his glasses, “Jade, I'm not getting in the water.”

Jade pouted heavily, a clear expression of disappointment so exaggerated it was almost believable, “Trey-san…so heartless, so cruel. To deny me the chance to swim with someone I hold so dear…boo…boohoo.”

Pointing to the shallower end of the pool, the few other mers and students keeping a wide distance from Jade, Trey spoke with a smile, “And the fact you've been bullying everyone who goes past the 6ft mark?”

“I'm not making anyone stay in the shallow end.” Jade fluttered his eyelashes, swimming in a small loop and having his tail flip in a teasing motion, “But if you were to…come in the water, I may be a bit friendly.”

“Jade, I'm not going to let you drown me a little just so you can give me CPR.”

Jade keeps his smile, but looks off to the side from Trey's eyes, “Oh, I could…never-”

“Do you want to come with me to the lazy river? Kalim told Cater that this park has a rather extensive one.”

“...” Jade huffed, glaring at the other students cowering on the other side of the pool, “I suppose…this pool isn't as entertaining as I had hoped.”

“Did you try the wave pool?”

“It was already packed when I looked…” sighing, Jade moves to pull himself from the waters, “Just give me a moment to change back into my human form. It takes a bit longer when wet-”

An arm loops around Jade’s waist, suddenly pulling him from the waters and over Trey's bare shoulder. The second year was stunned, eyes wide while Trey maneuvered him into a comfortable position for them both. Trey lets out a huff of air, his free hand picking up Jade’s slack tail before he starts to walk.

“Hm. Only a bit of my Unique Magic and you're pretty comfortable to carry. Are you eating enough?”

“How many children do you want?”

Trey's response was to laugh, leaving a flustered Jade’s question unanswered. An atmosphere that was easily switched once they reached the lazy river. It was as big as Cater said it was, multiple waterways and a number of functional manmade grottos to splash water onto those in the river. A few other students were in the current, but what gave them pause was Riddle and Floyd.

While Riddle was in one of the park's single-person inflatable tubes, Floyd was behind him, swimming at a breakneck pace to zip around the water. Riddle was screaming, struggling to keep a hold of the tube while demanding Floyd ‘STOP’.

Jade laughed, placing a hand over his mouth, “Oh, that looks delightful. Trey-san, we should try it.”

Trey kept his smile, gently tossing Jade into the shallow water and moving to grab his own tube, “Well, I guess this is what my day is gonna be…”

Leona had no plans to get in any type of water today. A fact that made Ruggie deflate, yet respect his wishes to not join him in exploring the park. And, sadly, instead of going with him, Cheka decided he wanted to stay with his dearly beloved uncle.

Sighing, Leona stretched himself on the lounge chair he had claimed as his own, the surrounding area completely empty since everyone knew to stay away from a sleeping lion.

Well…most everyone.

Leona groaned hearing Cheka perk up in excitement, his little tail whacking his uncle in the face from where he was sitting.

Cheka waved, smiling wide as he recognized the tall blonde walking over to their area, “Hi Mr.Vil! Hi! I haven't seen you in forever!”

Vil smiled from behind his shades, placing his bag in a chair beside Leona before he kneels to Cheka’s level. He quickly pulls out a bottle of sunscreen, pouring a bit of the liquid into his palm before he started to rub it onto Cheka’s cheeks, “Hello, Cheka. It's very nice to see you, too. You've grown much taller.”

Giggling, Cheka let Vil smooth the pleasant-smelling liquid onto his face and exposed arms, “Thank you, I ate all my veggies last month, even though they tasted bad. Do you and my uncle still kiss?”

Malleus, who had followed Vil and placed himself on Leona's other side, snorted. Catching the one-eyed glare the beastman threw his way, the fae prince simply laid on his front to sunbathe.

Vil sighed, opening the umbrella closest to their group before sitting in the shaded area, “No, Cheka. We don't do that anymore. We don't like each other like that now.”

Cheka hummed before nodding his head, as though Vil had delivered news from on high, “That's good. You shouldn’t kiss people you don't like…” He looked past Vil, climbing over his lap and sitting on Leona’s back to point directly in Malleus’s face, “Who’s this?”

Leona snickers, speaking before Malleus could, “A lizard.”

Cheka gasps loudly, staring at Malleus with a new sense of wonder, “Really! You’re a really big lizard! I like lizards! There’s a bunch around the castle in the middle of the day because it’s so sunny! They run really fast because I chase and roar and them like this- RAWR!!!”

…

Malleus blinks, the sound of Vil and Leona struggling to hold in their laughter as he stared into the beaming face of an innocent child. A child that just roared in his face, “...That was a very impressive roar for one of your size…”

“Thank you!” Cheka spread himself out on Leona’s back, his chin resting right between the older beastman’s ears, “I practiced.”

Walking the park was somehow the worst thing to ever happen to him. Not his overblot, not being nearly sucked dry of magic, not even being almost smooched to death by a very desperate ghost. But the combo of a blasting hot sun, open toed footwear, and the fact he was forced to use every braincell he had to take the ‘most camable shots’ of Cater taking his selfies, Idia wondered if the universe was getting back at him for attempting global genocide. He wondered if it had to be so cruel…

He knew he couldn't complain. He helped Cater with his blog a lot since they officially started dating; editing, getting him access to music for videos, taking photos with his freakish height stat.

A collection of yells, whooping, and splashes calls his attention. Idia grimaces at the group of students being launched into a pool from a slide. Loud extroverts, jovial casuals. A water park was such an attribute difference than his cozy room with his set up. Even under his coat, past the layers or sunscreen he put on before even leaving his room, Idia could feel his skin cells burning under the unforgiving sun.

Cater’s fiery curls and smile could only enchant him for so long. The fear, the dread building. He's seen the videos, people filming their trips on waterslides. The very fact Cater was using him as another POV camera for B-Roll only pointed to the fact his boyfriend was going to make him get on a slide at some point. He just hasn't said when or which.

Biting his lip, Idia made the choice to just bite the bullet and stop in his tracks, “Can the slide we go on please not be too high? Or have any crazy turns? I know you'll probably want different angles but, I really don't do well all wet and this jacket will only go from the weight of one byte to a kilobyte if I get dunked so-”

“Idia, what are you talking about?”

Cater had stopped, looking at Idia with a sense of mild bewilderment. He blinked, his phone still held up to capture the perfect angle for a selfie.

“Um…” Idia fidgets, looking to the side before pulling his phone out, tapping on it with quick fingers before his text-to-audio voice calls out, “I thought you’d want to go on a slide for ‘camable’ shots. I'm just begging it’s not too wild a slide…”

“...” Cater nearly topples over, bending forward and cackling so loud multiple people had turned and stared at the duo. Calming, Cater stepped closer to cup Idia’s chin and bringing him down to press their lips together. Pulling away he laughed again, “Idia, I’m not getting in the water. I spent two hours just on my hair for today. I’m not getting all messed up and going up a bunch of stairs for a single shot that might not look good. Maybe at the end of the day…but not anytime soon.”

Idia stuttered, being dragged behind Cater while the other junior raised his phone up to line his selfie back up.

“Now, come on. There’s an ivy wall somewhere in this park and I will find it…”

Leona groans, his brow twitching in annoyance as Cheka whined and pulled on his ears.

“Unca! Unca! UUUUUUUNCAAAAAAAAAA!”

Vil spoke up, turning the page of his book from under his parasol, “Leona, I believe your nephew requests your attention.”

“No? Really?” Leona let out a deep sigh, rolling over on the lounge chair and managing to catch the falling child with one arm, “What? It's been an hour.”

“Ouji-Tan! I wanna go play! Come play with me!” Cheka pouted, slapping his open palms against Leona's chest.

“Go play then…” Leona tried to roll back over, gently slipping Cheka to the pavement only to groan when Cheka started to yank at his hair.

“Noooooooooo! I wanna go in the water with Unca! Unca! Uncaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa-!”

Cheka had devolved into simply yelling, taking deep breaths before continuing to shout and tug at one of Leona's braids.

Malleus hummed, cracking an eye open to the scene only a foot away from him, “Beastmen child rearing is rather odd…”

Leona growled, pushing up from the lounge chair and scooping the child up in one fluid motion before he started to walk away from the lounge area. Cheka squirmed around, Leona piecing together that his nephew was not only bored but overheating. A quick dip was the easiest solution. Since the wave pool was out of the question and the normal pool was packed, all that was left was the lazy river.

He stood at the edge of the water, watching as a group of students floated closer. Rosehearts and Clover both lounging on innertubes, their respective Leeches circling around them in full forms.

Riddle perked up, seeing his fellow housewarden standing at the side of the river, “Ah! Leona, how can I-”

Leona barely moved, tossing Cheka into the air with his one arm and letting the child arch to splash into the water.

A moment of silence passed, the river group staring wide eyed as they watched a child disappear under the water. When Cheka doesn't resurface instantly, Trey called out to Leona concerned.

“Can he swim!?”

…

Leona glances down at the water, waiting silently while the two Heartslabyul students start panicking. Luckily, the bright orange ball at the bottom of the river started to swim up and break through the surface. Cheka paddled around making over exaggerated shivering sounds.

“It's cold!”

“Yeah, he knows.” Leona turned on his heel, the unspoken task of watching his nephew hung in the air as he walked away.

“Thanks for carrying the tube, Jack!”

“It's not even that heavy…”

Sebek scoffed under his breath, still mad the large tube had unbalanced him and made him fall, “It's ridiculous how big a four person tube is! Could this even fit in the slide!?”

Yuu hummed, looking at the large pipe of the slide beside them as they climbed the stairs to the top, “I would think so. Since that's kinda the whole point you know.”

Sebek had opened his mouth, either to actually respond or rise to Yuu's small jab, Jack didn't let him speak, “Why did you two want to ride this slide with us specifically? Didn't Ace and Deuce get in line before us since we had to wait for a four person tube?”

Epel mumbled, waving his boyfriend's question off as he and Yuu quickly raced up the stairs. At the top, positioning into the small pool before the mouth of the slide, the attendant looked…concerned when Yuu and Epel instructed them to sit on the opposite side of the tube from them.

Holding onto one of the handrails of the tube, the attendant gave both Jack and Sebek worried glances, “You um…you guys sure about this seating arrangement?”

“Just release us already, human!”

“Alright…your funeral…”

Only as he and Sebek descended into the mouth of the slide did Jack realize a few key things. One, physics was a subject he was decent at. Two, this slide had a large bulb filled with water half-way through after a drop. Three, he and Sebek were on one side of this tube and they both weighed much more than Epel and Yuu combined, “...Fuck.”

The resulting screams reached the three lounging juniors. Only Leona perked up at hearing the sudden increased intensity of the four very familiar voices before silence seemed to ring out. 

Vil spoke, not looking up from his book, “Were those ours?”

“...Yep.”

“Were those ‘broken bone’ screams?”

Malleus hummed, tilting his head but not moving elseway, “I don't believe so…”

Vil turned the page of his book, grabbing his bottle of ice water to sip, “They're fine then…”

A few minutes later, Sebek and Jack had walked over still dripping wet. The two taller boys had Epel and Yuu over their respective shoulders. While Jack had sat Epel down beside Vil, the cackling freshman having to lean against his housewarden’s chair. Sebek dropped a laughing, sopping-wet Yuu onto Malleus’s back before walking away without a word.

Leona raised his head, looking at the two still laughing freshman, “What did you two even do?”

Yuu all but cried into Malleus’s hair from how loud they were laughing, “We…we did a flip…”

Lilia sighed, waving a hand in front of his face as he sat in the shallow water opening of the lazy river, “Such a fun place…it's a shame it has to be so hot…”

It was nearly lunchtime, so it was only right to gather his charges and make sure they all managed to have a meal before the food area was overwhelmed. Malleus was easy to find, a large black mass lounging around in the sun. The real challenge was finding Silver and Sebek. While he was happy that his boy wasn't stuck lazing around with him, he could only worry not able to find him In the water park.

Luckily, Lilia had ran into Kalim, the Asim hier carrying the youngest Savanna prince on his shoulders after somehow gaining responsibility for him. Kalim had gleefully told him where he last saw Silver and Sebek, and that they were most likely still there. Parting ways, Kalim had invited Lilia to join them in the children's area after lunch.

He didn't have to wait long, chuckling lightly at the two underclassmen floating in the river.

Silver was asleep, but safely floating on a tube in a comfortable position. Sebek floated behind him completely face down in the water, hands lazily resting on Silver's shoulders. Lilia walked deeper into the river, standing in the path of the two guards. Seeing how neither moved nor noticed him, he could only giggle a bit more.

“Oh, dear…well…I have no choice then…” clearing his throat, Lilia narrowed his eyes and yelled, “SILVER! SEBEK!”

Silver shot up, nearly headbutting Lilia only to fall face first into the water as the general dodged. At the same time, Sebek had jerked and flailed in the water. A cloud of bubbles broke through the water as he jolted upright and saluted.

“SIR!”

Silver stood up in the water after getting his bearings, saluting as well, “Sir!”

Lilia laughed, “I’m happy to see you boys are relaxing on this lovely day. Now come out of the water, it's almost time for lunch!”

Yuu walked around the park, taking in the sights and sounds. They had made a quick stop to where the teachers were all gathered, asking if what Azul had told them earlier that day was true or not. Crewel had been too excited to explain what the numerous advancements in potions and chemistry had done in only a few decades. Allowing rapid growth and processing plants to be used as natural filters in real time. Making such clean and non-chlorine filled waters that were safe for every species.

For nearly five minutes they were trapped in Crewel's too happy gaze before Sam had distracted him with a bottle of suspiciously already opened scotch. Trein had shooed them away while Crewel tried to yank the bottle out of Sam's hands, telling them to drink plenty of water and to get out of the sun when they could. So walking around the park it was, sipping on a blue raspberry slushie and seeing who they could find to bother.

They had to do a double take as they spotted a messy braided bun. Calling out his name they rushed over before they could lose him in the crowd.

Jamil turned, raising an eyebrow as his datemate ran over and stared at him in astonishment. He glanced over to the side, waiting for her to speak, but seeing how they weren't he tilted his head, “Yes?”

“Where the fuck have you been!? I don't think I've seen you since you checked in?”

“I've been enjoying the park, hayati. That was the whole point of the trip wasnt it?”

“Well…yeah. But I haven't seen you, in like…hours… are you good?”

Jamil smiles, raising a fist to his mouth to laugh before leaning over to peck Yuu on the cheek, “I'm fine. I really have been enjoying myself. This day turned out to be more relaxing than I thought it'd be.”

Yuu blushes from his kiss, PDA from Jamil was rare and treasured. They press their slushie to their cheek, “Kalim hasn't been…well, Kalim? His top stay on so far?”

“Don't know, I only saw him briefly in another lunch line. But, he seemed to be doing ok.”

“...” Yuu pressed the slushie to Jamil's neck, ignoring the viper hissing and trying to escape the cold touch, “Are you fucking dying of heat stroke? Who are you!?”

Taking the drink from Yuu's hand, Jamil glared, “That's cold. Yuu, this park was already vetted by the Asims; a second look is only more thorough than the first with Kalim’s family. Since Kalim, the heir, is here, no doubt they sent much more security detail than normal. Just because most of the other students can't see them doesn't mean they aren’t there. And lastly, Cheka is here. Kalim actually engages all his brain cells to keep children both entertained and safe in his care. He's literally more safe and functional than normal so long as Cheka remains attached to him”

He hands the drink back, taking the time to flick Yuu directly in the center of their forehead, ignoring their whining as he speaks, “I'm having fun, don't worry about me. Just be sure to reapply sunscreen.” Jamil hugs them, one-armed and brief before he turns to walk away.

Yuu mumbles under their breath, speaking around the straw of their icy, “I don't need sunscreen-”

Though it was mumbled, Jamil heard them and whipped around to sprint toward them. Yuu screamed, the shriek sliding into a burst of hysterical laughter as they ran from the vice warden.

Deuce hummed, brows creasing as he and Ruggie walked over the multi-colored stone bridge that led to a new area of the park, “Isn't this…trespassing?”

Ruggie snorted, looking over his shoulder at the Heartslabyul first year, “I mean, Kalim’s family bought the park for the day; we can go wherever we want.”

“Really…?”

Sighing, Ruggie pats deuce on the back as they walk through the brightly colored gate of the park's kiddie area, “Don't think too hard about it. Kalim sure didn't when he boltcut the locks off…”

Kalim had almost gleefully explained to anyone who asked how he had magiced up a pair of bolt cutters to break the chains and locks of the park's kiddie area. It was only logical in his mind, since he plucked Cheka from Riddle and Trey's care in the lazy river, he had to take the five-year-old to the age-appropriate area.

The park was big in its own right, and while the children's area was smaller it still had the size to hold a hundred or so people comfortably. The area was whimsical, water spouts shaped as various aquatic and tropical items. Bright colors of every hue at every corner, making it almost an eye strain to both Ruggie and Deuce.

Deuce oo-ed, looking around the space and laughing at a rotating fish that squirted water into the air, “This is a lot, but really cute. I can see how kids love it here…”

Ruggie snickered, looking over at Kalim, Cheka, and Lilia playing on the massive jungle gym and spraying each other with stationary water guns, “Money really buys a plethora of experiences. The kids back home would never believe this place, just from the amount of water alone.”

“Ah…water is scarce in your town?”

“Not so much ‘scarce’. But we have other ways of staying cool than using fresh clean water; that's for cooking and cleaning.”

Nodding, Deuce looked around the space, “I guess when you put it that way…a water park does feel like a waste. But it has been pretty fun, right, Bucchi-senpai? I've never been to one before so I've been trying to go on everything.”

Ruggie hummed, turning a wheel and then sputtering when a ring overhead turned in tandum and dropped water on his head, “Yeah, it's fun. Just really reminds me how many rich people I've been around. I've only gone on a few slides because I've been…a little overwhelmed.”

Deuce nodded, closing his eyes, “I know what you mean. The queendom doesn't get that hot and even when it did mom and I were able to cool down with just ice lollies. But, thinking about how valuable a resource water is for some people…a water park seems kinda wasteful.”

They both sigh, Ruggie muttering good naturally under his breath, “Rich people-”

A loud buzzer made both of them jump. Deuce was well aware of the wave pools buzzer, an auditory warning to the incoming currents.  But looking around, neither could see what was coming. Only the gleeful squealing of Cheka makes them look up. The other three guests on the jungle gym all smiling and pointing upward. Deuce and Ruggie both look at the top of the gym, only now noticing the large bucket witht he park’s logo on it tipping over. The rush of water hit both boys hard and fast. Deuce was able to keep himself standing, sputtering and shaking his head to get the water out of his face. Ruggie wasn’t so lucky. The Savanaclaw boy having been knocked down and nearly waterboarded before the onslaught was over.

Ruggie coughs, sitting up and flicking his ears and brushing his hair out of his face, “This place is for the kids!?”

Cater tapped at his phone, screening through his photos and deleting ones that weren’t up to his standards immediately. Beside him, Idia was crouched before an electric keypad with his own phone connected to it via a cable. A few minutes passed before the previously red light turned green, a pleasant ding sounding as the door's lock disengaged, “Got it…”

Humming, Cater pockets his phone and holds the now unlocked door open for both of them, “Awesome, babes! That felt like it took longer than normal though…”

Idia shook his head, putting his phone back into his pocket as he followed Cater through the restricted area, “I was kinda impressed honestly; security was no real end-game event in difficulty, but it was pretty interesting how they structured it…” he smiled, his face looking smug, “Wanted to play with it a little…”

Cater snickered, bumping shoulders with the other third-year, “Bully.”

The two walk down the stone hallway, finally entering a large area of shallow waterways brimming with faintly glowing plants. The large foliage growing out of the troughs and interlocking under steel grate walkways. It was peaceful, the sound of water gently trickling through the park's systems. Small fireflies flew lazily through the air, repeatedly blinking as they went.

Ooh-ing, his phone already recording the area as he walked deeper into the room, “OM7, this place is amazing! The other influencers are gonna be #somadcraycraywithjel-layforcaycay!”

Idia sighed from his spot, inching away as a number of fireflies mistook his hair as a beacon, “Have I ever given you my opinion on your hashtags…?”

“Sorry~. Can't hear you over the sound of all the cute pictures I'm taking~.” Cater smiled, winking toward Idia as he held his phone high to take another 30 selfies in rapid succession. But, he blinks, his expression turning into one of surprise before he turned his phone camera toward Idia, “Babes, take your jacket off a bit?”

The other third-year instantly tried to hide in his jacket. Even fully covered he briefly brought his arms up to shield his chest from Cater’s focused eyes, “Why?”

“Ah. No, wait. Yeah, keep the jacket on; it's good since the background is so dull compared to you.” Cater moved around his shy boyfriend, the audible click of his camera going off only making Idia squirm more, “Don't move so much.”

“Why are you taking my picture…?” Idia blushed, trying to hide in his hair and hood as Cater teasingly pushed the phone directly into his face, “C-Cater!”

Cater chuckles, finally pulling away to look over the newest batch of photos while he twirls a strand of hair, “Sorry~. I couldn't help it. You look really good in this lighting…”

“...” Idia glared softly from behind his hair, “Don't post those…”

“Don't worry…” Cater leaned into Idia, pulling the other third-year down to whisper against his lips, “You know any pic of you is #MINE…”

Idia hair had flared for a brief moment, the electric blue overtaken by a soft bubblegum pink before it faded to his edges. He laughed nervously, looking away from Cater, “Wh-What kinda game plan are you even playing at…?”

“Well~...Since you were such a good sport today and helped me get all the Magicam shots I wanted. I thought we could chill out here, away from everyone else. Maybe makeout a little-”

“Yes, please.”

Waiting in lines was a factor Epel hadn't accounted for when he said he was going to get on every slide. He sighed, resting his palm against his face as he looked over the park from the tall walk up tower, the people below slowly growing smaller and smaller as he and Rook climbed higher.

“Monsieur Pom, the line is moving. Come along.”

Epel turned to Rook, walking behind the third-year, “Thanks for hold the tube for us, Rook. Those things get annoyingly heavy after a few hours…”

Rook chuckled, the two person tube looped over his shoulder, “It is no issue. I want to thank you for agreeing to ride this slide with me. Trey was my original target, but his beau would not allow him out of the river without him…”

“Yeah, the Leech twins are…really aggressive in the water Ah’m learning…” Epel had simply tried to ask Riddle if he had more sunscreen he had passed out among his dorm and where to find it. Deuce lost his tube, Ace needed an extra coating, and Epel honestly wanted a tube just to avoid Vil sniping him on the back of the neck with his ice cold sunscreen potion. He had barely walked into the lazy river before he was being round house slapped by a beefy eel tail.

“Ah…Oui. At least you landed further into the river and not on the pavement like moi…”

Epel turned to his senior, opening his mouth to make another comment only to stop and then hum, “Ah. Rook-senpai, hold still you have something on your back.”

“Oh?”

“Ah’ll get it.” Epel brushes at the center of Rook’s back, trying to remove the collection of spots that seemed to suddenly appear on his skin. But seeing they weren’t moved, Epel rubbed at the skin harder only to lean in, “What is on yur back…?”

Rook looked over his shoulder, eyebrows raised in an expression of surprise, “My back? I don’t remember laying down anywhere.”

“Yeah, It’s like a bunch of dots…wait.” Epel leaned in closer, squinting his eyes as he noticed even more darken speckles, “Are those…Are those freckles? You have freckles?” Epel leaned back in surprise, staring in almost horror at Rook’s back.

The third-year only laughs, tilting his head back, “Oh! Is that all? Yes, I freckle when in the sun too long these days. Though when I was younger you’d confuse me for one big freckle. The sun is a creature of wonder, life, and mystery. It’s light nourishes the soil and the flora, giving food to the beasts of man and the night. But its same light can set fire to the savana, burn and boil the skin of those who need it to survive.”

Epel could only stand and listen as Rook continued on and on about about the dangers of the sun while also waxing poetic about it. The longer Epel studied his senpai did he start to see more and more freckles along the third-year’s body. He mumbles under his breath, brows creasing as he thought aloud, “Wait, did you even put sunscreen on?”

Screaming in a more frantic frequency suddenly rings out. A two-person tube from above them flying far off course of the waterslide and sailing through the air until it landed with a massive splash into the wave pool. Epel nearly fell off as he slammed into the railing, screaming at the familiar two people who just flew off the slide, “THE FUCK IS WRONG WITH YA TWO!? ACE, DEUCE, AH’M TELLIN’ RIDDLE ABOUT THIS YOU FUCKIN’ DUMBASSES. YA COULDA DIED!”

Rook leans over a screaming Epel, smiling and waving to the two still shell shocked freshmen, “BEAUTIFUL FORM! 100 POINTS!”

Azul looked up as a shadow fell over him. Blocking out the sun stood a dripping Jamil, his fellow second-year staring down at him with his normal expression of unenthused, a bright red slushie in one hand. Azul had remained seated, silent as he gripped his cell phone and wrote down a few ideas on a clean napkin.

Looking to the side, Azul cleared his throat, moving his arm away as Jamil’s hair sent down three drops of water in quick succession, “Hello, dear. Did you need me for something?”

Jamil continues to stare, bringing his straw up to his mouth and slurping loudly. Tilting his head to the side and letting his hair drip across Azul’s still-clothed arm. He smirked, watching Azul cringing his arm to his chest. He decided to be kind, flipping his hair over his shoulder, “Have you been sitting here the whole day?”

“Not…the whole day. I moved after lunch. But, Jamil!” Azul had gripped Jamil by the arm, pulling the other sophomore onto the lunch table bench he held up the napkins, “Look at these calculations, this park is performing theft in broad daylight! The markup is absurd. A single slice of pizza and a bag of chips is almost $20!” Azul turned away, one hand tapping at his phone and the other writing more numbers along the napkins, “That's a single slice and a small bag of chips, not a drink. The pizza wasn’t even good. Could you imagine how much more I could make at the lounge with actual decent cuisine?”

Jamil raised an eyebrow, sipping his slushie before speaking, “I could imagine the riot that’ll break out once you even think of raising your prices. It may have been last year, but people still haven’t forgiven you for the whole ‘School-wide Slavery’ plot.”

Azul stopped tapping on his phone, turning to glare at Jamil’s blank-faced inquiry, “As I’ve told you all multiple times, it wasn’t slavery; everyone signed a legally binding contract that was fully explained and outlined to them. They knew what they were-Stop trying to drip water on me!” 

Laughing, Jamil moves his hair back over his shoulder and away from dripping onto Azul’s arm, “You really don’t want to risk anyone seeing your true form that bad?”

“You know I’m…sensitive, about it…”

“Yuu says you look cute.”

“Yuu’s never seen me in my mer form, they’ve only seen what I looked like in overblot. And let’s not sit here and pretend Yuu is the authority on appearances. If I remember correctly, they saw your overblot form as very attractive-JAMIL! PLEASE GO DRY YOUR HAIR!”

Deuce blinked up at Ortho sitting on the pool's edge, “You don’t know how to swim?”

Ace floated behind Deuce, arms lazily waving around the water but he raised an eyebrow at the automation, “Can’t you just download how to do it?”

Deuce splashes him, glaring at the sputtering redhead, “Ace, that's rude!”

Ortho giggled, kicking his legs lightly in the water, “It’s not Deuce Spade. But, thank you. It’s not that I don’t know how to swim, I’m asking you to help me me figure out a way to swim.”

“Is there…a difference?”

Holding up a finger, Ortho stood up from the edge of the pool. Once he was sure the two other freshmen were watching him, he took a step over the edge and allowed himself to fall into the water. Ace and Deuce both stare as the still-shining blue flame sank lower and lower into the water until Ortho landed on the pool bottom. The robot tilting his head up and waving toward them.

“Oh…”

“Do… do we help him back up?”

“Deuce, what the fuck. How are we gonna-”

Trein looked at the teacher beside him. Crewel leaned back in his chair with his mouth hung open. He could only sneer as the bicolored man let out a loud, guttural snore. He plucked the empty bottle of scotch from the man's hands, recapping it and putting it back in his bag before looking over the rest of the faculty that came.

Oster was reclining in a lounge chair, a trifold in her hands to direct as much sunlight to herself as possible. An empty slushie cup half hidden under her chair with the actual drink poured into a deep margarita glass with a colorful paper umbrella in it.

Hui-Yan was covered head to toe, an ornate swim cover hiding all skin from view as she peacefully read under an umbrella. He at least thinks she's reading. She had on stylish shades, borrowed either from Crewel or Oster, that completely hid her eyes. And while she hadn't put her tablet down, he's also certain she hadn't actually moved…

Rohdri was doing…something. The stoic man had brought some compact contraption with him and he had been fiddling with it since they arrived at the park. He stood in his shorts, button-up short sleeve shirt, and a fisherman's hat, looking over the machine as it gave beeps. He would widen his eye a fraction of an inch every now and again, humming loudly and typing at his tablet.

Dubhghall was Seven knows where. What had started as him accompanying a few students that didn't meet the weight requirement for a ride, quickly turned into the massive teacher simply not returning to the teacher's table and running around the park as if he was a student himself.

And Vargas…

Trein's eyes trailed over, watching the shorter man drag Crowley away kicking and screaming. He laughed loudly, Sam locked under his other arm, stating that the ride he was taking them to would put hair on their chest. Crowley howled and wailed, ridiculous gold tipped claw rings digging into the pavement as he cried out he didn't WANT hair on his chest. Sam seemed to be resigned to his fate.

Looking back toward Crewel, he sighed. Even with Crowley's whining the other man hadn't woken up from his drunken stupor. Pulling out his phone, he could only frown at the text message his daughters had sent him. The both of them more than willing to cat sit Lucious for the day. At the image of his darling boy, tongue sticking out as he slept the day away belly up he could only sigh again.

“I miss my cat…”

Leona glared at his nephew, the five-year-old kicking and screaming on the ground after being told it was time to go home. Cheka was having far too much fun at the water park, not to mention the fact his uncle hadn't even gone on a single ride or swam in the water.

Rolling his eyes, Leona kneels down and scoops the wailing child under his arms, “Stop your yelping. We're leaving.”

“NOOOOOOOOO! UNCA! I DON'T WANNA LEAVE YET! YOU SAID WE'D PLAY IN THE WATER TODAY!” Cheka devolved back into simply screaming and flailing his arms around, climbing up Leona to clutch onto his back.

Leona stood still, glaring into the air as Cheka’s legs kicked against his collar and he screamed into his ears. The only time Cheka wasn’t screaming was when the five-year-old would lean over and try to sink his still dullish baby teeth into Leona’s ears.

Vil scoffed, his bag already packed and his sunhat back on, “Really? Are you going to just let him throw a tantrum?” Shaking his head, Vil leaned forward hands up to pluck Cheka from Leona’s shoulders, “Come here Cheka, you can ride back to the school with me-AH! MY HAIR, MY HAIR!”

Cheka didn’t detach from Leona’s ear as he gripped onto Vil’s hair and pulled at the locks, ruining his hairstyle and knocking his hat off of his head. Malleus even tried to help, if only to try to release Vil from the angry toddler’s hold. Instead, one of his horns were also gripped in a tiny hand.

Leona raises an eyebrow at Malleus, the large fae keeping bent over and doing his best to not move far from Cheka’s range, “You know damn well you can move out of his hold…”

Malleus looked away, pouting lightly but letting Cheka shake his head around from his horn, “I don’t wish to hurt him trying to remove him…”

“...” Only when Cheka takes a deep breath, unlatching from biting at Leona’s ear to let out another piercing scream, Leona speaks up, “FINE! FINE! Pick a damn ride and we’ll go on it!”

Cheka stopped screaming almost instantly, but kept his grip on both Vil and Malleus, “Really?”

“Yes. By the Seven, just stop your shrieking…”

Cheka spent only two seconds thinking over his choices before scrambling off of his uncle, tugging on his swim trunks as to say ‘Follow me’. Beaming and jumping up and down.

Leona stood under the bucket, glaring at the crowd of people all watching him with rapt attention. As the buzzer sounds, he closed his eyes feeling the rush of freezing cold water hitting him hard from the top of his head. It felt like a full minute before the water stops and he’s left soaking wet with a giggling Cheka still gripping onto his swim trunks.

Ruggie looked all too pleased with the current events, eyes just too low to be eye level, “Was the water nice?”

“Everyone get back on the fucking bus.”

“UNCA!”

[lettersiarrange]

Covid things I can't believe I'm still saying:

Masks are ONLY effective when everyone is wearing them, everyone is at least 6 feet apart, and no one is exhaling forcefully

If one person isn't wearing a mask, there is a risk

If everyone is wearing a mask but you're only 5 ft apart, there is a risk

If everyone is wearing a mask and you're 6 feet apart but one person is shouting/singing/panting with exertion, there is a risk (your breath travels farther when exhaling forcefully, more distance is required)

Your mask needs to be FULLY on and ready to go before you leave your house/car

Not "I'll put it on when I get inside". Not "there won't be anyone at the park so I don't need it". Not "I'll slip it on in the parking lot." Unless you literally have a forcefield, there is a reasonable chance you will encounter someone before your mask is fully on, unless it is fully on 100% of the time you are in public

Children can still carry and spread covid. No, it is not acceptable for children to run around maskless in any public spaces, outdoor or otherwise

You can still get covid outdoors!!! The risk is somewhat lower but still very present.

You can test negative for covid while actively contagious. Most tests have a solid percentage of false negatives, and even if the test is working perfectly, it's best able to identify you as positive once you've started showing symptoms

It can take up to 14 days for symptoms of covid to appear. You are still contagious before your symptoms appear.

You could catch covid on a Monday, take a test Wednesday (while covid positive and contagious) and test NEGATIVE, then start showing symptoms on Sunday, and by the time you finally test positive the next Wednesday, you've exposed a week and a half's worth of people

This is why it's imperative that if you think you've been exposed to covid, you self-isolate for a full 14 days regardless of symptoms or test results

You can still be contagious even if you NEVER show symptoms of covid

Covid doesn't clock out because you're eating. Covid doesn't clock out because you're at the dentist. Covid doesn't clock out because you have a really, really, really good reason for taking off your mask. If your mask is off, or someone else's mask is off in a space you are occupying, there is a risk

Your best friend can give you covid. Your mom can give you covid. Your partner can give you covid. Your grandma can give you covid. The people in your life are not magically immune to infecting you just because you love and trust them. Unless you know with absolute certainty they have only interacted with people who have only interacted with them, there is a risk

I know it's inconvenient, but you really should not touch your mask, like at all. You shouldn't touch the front of your mask, because it may have effectively stopped covid from touching your face, and now that's all over your fingers, which are then all over your phone... you get the picture. You shouldn't touch the inside of your mask, because if you've touched anything with covid, you're now putting that right next to your nose and mouth. You shouldn't take your mask on and off, because while it's off, the inside may become exposed to covid. If you take your mask off, you really ought to put a new, clean mask back on. You really ought to wash your hands before putting your mask on and before taking it off, and you should only handle the straps. Do not wear a mask someone else has directly touched.

40% of grocery workers have caught covid

You can catch covid from surfaces. The risk is low, but present.

Masks with vents do not filter the air going out of them, making them completely useless at protecting other people from your potentially asymptomatic covid+ self. Masks are primarily worn to protect other people from the wearer, and just have the added benefit of providing a small amount of protection to the wearer, but a vented mask is effectively pointless.

The longer someone stays in one spot, the more saturated the air around them gets with their breath. This is why activities that involve staying in one spot with a bunch of people for a significant period of time are especially dangerous. See: concerts, church, bars, restaurants, spectator events, etc. Things become more risky if people are singing, laughing, talking loudly, screaming, exercising. Again, your breath travels further. A situation where everyone is moving around (calmly) is less risky.

If you have long hair, public health experts reccomend wearing it up while in public to reduce surface area upon which the virus could stick. (Consider how close your hair is to your face, and it's presence at the same height as everyone else's heads/mouths/breath. There is less concern about your jeans getting in your eyes/mouth or being coughed on by someone covid+).

Do not take your mask off to speak. Do not wear your mask below your nose. Do not reuse disposable masks (and ideally invest in a washable and reusable mask that you wash between every single use. Or don't even invest in one-- many places are giving them out for free.)

Just an "america is a capitalist hellscape" protip from someone who got charged $318 for a "free" covid test-- do NOT go to a privately owned healthcare provider for a test, and double check to see if there's a "*with most insurance" attached to that free test

Just because someone tells you a public space is safe to be in, does not mean it is safe. Think to yourself: does this person/organization benefit financially from me being in this space? Restaurants want your money. Airlines want your money. Stores want your money. They will do the absolute bare minimum necessary to follow any laws that might be in place and make their business seem appealing. This does not actually mean they care about your health or are actively protecting it. Ask yourself: do I trust these employees with my life? Do I trust the management of this company with my life? If I were working this job for minimum wage 40 hours a week, would I be taking every single precaution possible, for every single customer, every single time, on top of my regular duties, especially if management didn't require it?

Unfortunately, "people who benefit from you being in a public space but don't necessarily give a shit about your individual health" include politicians and governments. Just because spaces are legally open, does not mean they are safe. Just because the mayor/governor/president/prime minister says it's safe does not mean that it is

I'm not trying to suggest everyone is out to get you and you should be suspicious of everything, I just want everyone to use the factual, scientific information we have about covid to evaluate a situation and determine on their own, using science and logic, if a situation is safe. Because unfortunately, things other people say, even ones in positions of authority, are not always based on science or logic, as we should all know well by now.

Please add your own info or correct me if I've gotten anything wrong

*Bolding is to make the wall of text easier to read and does not correspond with importance

[candychronicles]

boo // d. kaminari

A/N: this is my take on the horror, haunts and halloween bnharem server collab! 

CHARACTER PAIRING: Denki Kaminari x Reader

WORD COUNT: 2,315

WARNINGS: unprotected sex, car fucking, some extremely mild spooks

SYNOPSIS: who knew a little bet between friends could turn into so much more?

Want to see what other spooky, scary stories await? Click here to find out !

“boo!” 

“damnit Kaminari, you scared the hell out of me!” you screeched, whipping around to smack your friend on the shoulder. “besides, you should save all of the screams for the house tonight!”

he shrugged his body, clearly not bothered by your comment before proceeding to the men’s dressing area, makeup already adorned on his body. he was performing tonight as a sort of scary chainsaw man with bloodshot eyes and a dark streaked face. despite the outwardly appearance of his costume, he was, at least to you, a funny and extremely attractive guy. you two had spent your whole fall flirting and teasing in between hallways and sets, having fun and making people scared at the same time. 

you never meant to work at a haunted house, but you needed the money, and it seemed much more exciting to get paid scaring people and dressing up in cool costumes over working a seasonal retail job. due to your ability to at least fake a scary and eccentric personality, they hired you immediately, along with a few other people your age. you figured it would be a good way to meet new people and have fun but you were certainly not expecting to fall in love with the dorky yet extremely talented kid with the cool hair and outlandish jokes. 

your time in the dressing and makeup room didn’t take too long, adorning a creepy maid outfit with sunken black eyes and a wicked bloody smile. twirling the braids adorning your head, you skipped out of the room, ready to get into character and have another night of spooks.

“hey, let’s make a bet tonight, hm? make it a little more interesting?” Kaminari offered, sliding in beside you like he had been there all along.

“sure, what do you propose?” 

“let’s see who can get the loudest scream of the night. we’ll both be generally near each other, so no cheating or lying because i’ll be able to tell!”

“how are we going to measure that? what if it’s really close, what are you going to do about that?”

“rock, paper, scissors?” he countered, flashing his hands and gesturing the game with a devious smile.

“sure, why not. what do i get if i win?”

“anything you want, sugar.”

you attempted to ignore the comment, though your cheeks heated up and your eyes grew just a bit wider.

“how about you owe me dinner tonight?” you joked, flashing your own toothy grin.

“that all, dollface? i’d do that any day.”

“oh boo, that’s boring. make him wear your maid costume or something!” Kirishima shouted from across the hall, seemingly butting into your increasingly heated conversation. 

“now that’s an idea,” you teased, laughing along with Kirishima as Kaminari’s face turned bright red. 

“that’s nothing! i’d do that any day,” he claimed, quickly moving on, “but i say if i win then you owe me dinner. easy enough?”

you nodded your head in agreement, shaking on it and pressing your pinkies together for extra emphasis before heading towards your separate destinations, ready for the challenge.

the night started off easy, you both earning screams of varying levels, but every time you got one, he shot right back with yet another. your jaw clenched and eyes grew dark, not backing down from the fight.

the whole evening and late through midnight did you two fight back and forth, tooth and nail, bringing out your nastiest and scariest tricks, doing everything you could to jumpscare and creep out the people of the attraction, but it seemed that neither of you were a clear winner. you, however, were not going to let him get the satisfaction of saying he won.

the final group of the night came through and you managed a loud, shrieking scream from the guy in the front, a wicked smile on your face as you waved at Kaminari down the hall. he retaliated with his own scare but, at least you thought, it didn’t quite live up to your own haunt.

“i totally won, i don’t even know what you’re talking about!” he shrieked, shoving fries in his face with a huff, waving his arms around in a display of anger.

“my scream was louder and you know it. just admit it, i was better than you tonight!” you argued back, leaning forward to look him directly in the eye, challenging him to keep up the fight.

he looked away, cheeks tinged pink at your sudden closeness, before crossing his arms and looking back at you. 

“fine, i’ll pay for the food, but i still don’t think you won. i can make anyone scream louder than you.”

“oh yeah? why don’t you prove it?” you challenged, eyes unwavering and boring straight into the side of his face. 

he took a moment to ponder, unsure of what you meant, before he looked back, pupils blown wide in shock.

“waiter, i need the check please.”

it took all of thirty seconds after leaving the dingy late night restaurant before his mouth was on yours, hot and unwavering, hands tangled deep into the back of your hair, digits pressing roughly into your scalp.

“where to?” he asked in between kisses, walking backwards as you trailed after him, hands grasping his shirt like it was your only lifeline. 

“whatever’s closest,” you whispered back, feeling him hit the car with the back of his body.

he quickly whipped around, fishing frantically for the keys in his pocket before shoving the shiny object into the lock and twisting, whipping the door open and gesturing you sweetly into the car. 

before you had barely sat down, he slammed the door, rushing to the other side and opening his own door, sinking in and turning the vehicle on, haphazardly buckling his seatbelt as he peeled out of the parking lot towards his apartment.

the bad part about working at a haunted house was that it was in the almost middle of nowhere. there was a small town with a couple restaurants and stores, but most workers came from the college town over, meaning you two had a small drive before you made it back to either of your apartments. 

Kaminari gripped the steering wheel tight, his knuckles turning white from the pressure of trying to drive safely while getting there as fast as he could. his teeth ground into each other, face set in a harsh frown, stress permanent on his face.

“relax, we’ll get there eventually. you’ll kill the mood with your sour face,” you teased, reaching sideways to place your hand on his thigh. his body jumped at your touch, briefly turning to face you before veering off onto the side of the road, seemingly finding some close down parking lot with a few trees surrounding the area.

“i’m sorry, you’re just driving me crazy. you don’t know how badly i’ve wanted you, since the day i first met you. you were so cocky and confident in your interview, ready to have fun and be crazy in your acting, but the moment you stepped away, you became so sweet and kid, always greeting everyone with a smile and a wave. i couldn’t get enough of your duality, enamored in the way you could switch that smirk on like it was nothing. seeing you in that dainty little maid outfit you’re wearing doesn’t help all that much,” he confessed, wringing his hands together as he attempted to calm himself down. “truth be told, i don’t want to be that shitty guy who you think is only using you for sex, but after that little stunt you pulled in the restaurant, i don’t think i can wait any longer to fuck you.”

you blinked once, twice, three times, trying to process what he was saying before unbuckling your seatbelt and veering towards his body, chests pressed together as you managed to climb into his lap, attacking his lips with your own, relishing in the way he practically melted under your touch, eager to feel you on him once again.

“backseat. now.”

you climbed back without hesitation, flashing him a bit of your ass as you wiggled your way onto the seat, patiently waiting for him to come back. he followed without waiting, immediately pulling your legs onto the seat and hovering over you, hands on either side of your head.

“are you sure you want to do this?” he confirmed, brushing away a couple pieces of hair that was scattered across your face.

“yes, i’m sure. please fuck me.”

he wasted no time before attaching himself to you once again, lips finding purchase on your own, against your neck, your collarbone, unbuttoning the front of your costume to nip at your breasts, leaving marks that would surely last for days. despite the cramped position you two were in, you still felt slick pool in your panties, thighs rubbing against the side of his body as you attempted to create some friction to relieve the tension building up.

you whined, begging for more, but before you could speak up to ask him for something, anything, he had already obliged, reaching down to rub the pad of his thumb against your clothed nub. you moaned in response, the need for him only growing by the minute.

“please, Kaminari-”

“Denki, call me Denki,” he corrected, nipping at your throat as his fingers moved under the skirt and around your panties, “and don’t worry baby, i’ll take care of you tonight.”

with that final statement, he pulled your panties aside completely and pushed one finger slowly into your waiting body, shivering at the feeling of your wet insides sucking him in, greedily begging for more. your breaths became uneven and labored, but you remained patient, enjoying every feeling he pulled from your wanting cunt.

he continued his assault on your neck and chest as his fingers pumped in and out of you, adding one, two more fingers, stretching you out until you were sopping and begging for his cock. he paused for one moment, hastily pulling his pants down as best as he could. before he could get to his boxers, however, you reached past his hand, pulling them down and stroking his dick, admiring the way it twitched in your hands, swollen and leaky, wanting to be inside of you just as much as you need him. 

you pulled him back down by his shirt collar, kissing him fiercely as he adjusted his body once more, you aligning him to your entrance, legs hiked up around his body as he caged you in. he sunk in slowly, not holding back his moans as he appreciated the way your body sucked him in, like he was meant to be there all along.

you moaned with him, a string of curses and praises flowing out of your mouth like a siren’s song, luring him into your lair one word at a time. 

“Denki, fuck, you feel so good. please don’t stop.”

he bottomed out in your, laughing when you shifted your hips, whining as you tried to get him to move. he pressed a chaste kiss to your head before rolling his own hips back, shivering at the feeling of you wrapped around him. he continued his pace slowly, rocking in and out of you, watching the car steam up from your breathy moans and sweat covered skin, feeling the car move in tandem with your bodies.

you arched your back and wrapped yourself around him as best as you could, dazzled by the feeling of his cock pistoning in and out of you. he was so close, his breath against your ear, and you relished in the way he moaned and sighed, feeling just as good as you were in that moment. 

he felt himself getting close much quicker than he wanted, but in that moment, he didn’t care, too enveloped in the way you squeezed around him, nails biting into his back and eyes screwed shut. he moved one hand back down in between your bodies and found your sensitive bundle of nerves, pressing down and swirling around, moaning as he felt you compressed around his cock, the new sensation overwhelming for you.

“fuck, baby, i’m so close,” he moaned, settling his head into your neck, biting down softly into your shoulder.

you only nodded back in response, too worried about chasing your own high that was emerging quickly with the combined pleasure of his cock and his fingers.

you arched your back and squeezed your thighs together as white hot lava shot through your lower stomach, cumming intensely on his cock. the feeling of your velvety walls pulsating around his own quickly brought him to his own high as he slowed his pace down, shooting his load into you.

you both laid there, breathless and sweaty, before you looked at him and erupted in giggles, wiping some of the sticky hair off his face. 

“i really liked that,” you confessed, biting your lip and smiling shyly despite the position you two were still currently in. 

“me too,” he agreed, kissing your forehead before slowly pulling out, sitting up and reaching forward into his console to grab a stack of napkins, cleaning you and himself up as best as he could.

you sat up after him, dizzy from pure elation, before a smirk came across your face.

“so you’re saying i won the bet, right?” 

“i feel like i won the lottery tonight so yes, i’ll say you won the bet.”

“good,” you affirmed, reaching forward to grab his face in your hands, squeezing slightly before bringing him closer to you, “remember what Kiri said? i think i’m going to take his words to heart.”

he looked at you confused, shrugging, but as you stared at him, his eyes grew wide once more as he realized what you meant.

“you get to wear the maid costume next.”

Taglist: @redbeanteax​ @softforshigi​ @katsuki-bakugous-lady @secondhand-trash​ @freiyalight​ @crystal-lilac​ @khemz1312​ @runrabbitrun3​

Want to be a part of my taglist? Message me!

[rebthom89]

Three Times Dodger Was Exactly What Dani Needed and Once That He Knew She Needed Someone Else

Pairing: Dani x Dodger Evans, Dani x Chris Evans

Word Count: 2,391

Summary: The title basically says it all. But Merry Christmas to my sweetest little lovebug, Dani @fallinforevans​! I hope you love it!!!

Warnings: Dodger Evans being the best boy ever, mentions of family issues and work stress

A/N: This is NOT the reader insert type story that I typically write. I wrote this as a very special gift for one of my dearest friends. I absolutely based it on her and her love for iced coffee, Dodger Evans, and (unfortunately) the way her. family can be. I don’t expect it to resonate with everyone. But I WILL be back to writing reader insert after this one. 

One

     As Dani left work that day, all she wanted to do was get an iced coffee and get home to crawl into bed and forget about the day. She'd been busting her ass to get all the work done she could during this busy fall season, but that didn't mean everyone else was working as hard as she was. Despite turning out some of her best results yet, she kept getting more and more work thrown at her and had never felt less appreciated. It didn't help that she had slept through her alarm this morning, forgotten her lunch, and then gotten back to work late because the restaurant took forever to pack up her take out order. She’d ended up having to eat at her desk while she worked, and managed to spill the last few sips of the iced coffee that was going to get her through the rest of the day.

     By the time her day had come to an end, she’d decided to take the shortcut through the park that would get her home about 10 minutes faster AND take her past her favorite coffee stand to make up for the tragedy of the spilled coffee. About half way through the park, though, it seemed as if fate had different plans. Something flew past her knees in a blur and before she knew it, she was on the ground, unable to stand back up and being assaulted by something wet directly to her face.

     It took a second to collect herself and process what happened, but when she did, it became a little easier to breathe. The pup currently licking her face in the most excited manner must have gotten away from his owner and accidentally knocked her over. She started to pet him, hoping it would calm him down, at least enough for her to stand back up, but the attention only brought more energy from his brown and white body. 

     “Woah, Bubs, where did you come from, huh? Someone out there must be looking for you. You’re too cute to be out here all by yourself.” She said to the dog. As soon as he’d heard her nickname for him, he settled enough for Dani to push herself back up, and find a seat on the bench nearby. He immediately came to sit directly in front her, being sure he wouldn’t miss any of the attention she was clearly going to be giving him.

     “Dodger, huh? You do like something straight out of a Disney movie” Dani chuckled, taking her phone from her purse to call the phone number on the tag. 

     “I’m impressed. Not many people get the reference right away,” came a voice from a few feet away, making her put her phone away. “Usually people think it’s got something to do with baseball. I’m sorry about him though. Are you ok?”

     “Yeah. Getting some love from an adorable furball is far from the worst thing that happened to me today. It might have been the best actually.” She said with a laugh.

     “Well then I’m glad he could help. He must have noticed you could use some puppy love. I’m Chris, by the way. You’ve clearly already met Dodger.”

     She scratched his head, smiling. “Dani. Thanks for the pick-me-up, Dodger, even if it literally knocked me over.”

     “How about I make that up to you? There’s a great little coffee stand right over here. Let me buy you a cup? Bubba here doesn’t look like he’s ready to say goodbye to you yet.” 

     Dani smiles, her eyes lighting up at the suggestion. “I was just headed there myself, actually. They make the best coffee. I would love the company.”

Two

     As the three of them walked off together, Dodger firmly planted between them so he could share his love with both of them, Dani couldn’t help but think that maybe Dodger had known what she’d needed after all.

     Since the fateful day in the park that Dodger knocked her over, Dani, Chris, and Dodger had been darn near inseparable. After several coffee and dog park dates, and few fancier and Dodger free dates as well, she and Chris became official. About eight months later, the two humans had realized they had gotten to the point where it was simply a waste for Dani to be paying rent anywhere else, seeing as she spent virtually every night with Chris and Dodger. 

     It had amazed Chris at first just how seamlessly Dani had fit into his life. He’d been a little worried that everything would change once she’d officially moved in, but life remained much of the same for them. If anything, it was easier, simply because there was no more of the awkwardness about where they stood. Having each other around, knowing this was home, everyone seemed happier and more at ease.

     This morning started the same way most every morning did - Chris had gotten up long before Dani had even considered getting out of bed, and had gone for this usual morning run. The first difference from their normal morning was noticeable as soon as Dani rolled over. The bed wasn’t empty. Dodger had nestled himself into Chris’ spot in bed, and was staring intently at her. It was fairly common for Dodger to accompany Chris on his runs, but every now and then the pup would stay behind, so Dani tried not to think too much of it. 

     The next difference, Dani felt as soon as she sat up to get out of bed. To be fair, she’d been expecting it, but that didn’t mean the cramps hurt any less. She’d only been awake for a matter of minutes and she could already tell it was going to be one of those days where it would take a miracle to even get her out of bed for any lengthy period of time. Thankfully, Chris had a few meetings today and would be in and out, even after his run, so she could take the day for herself, but knew he’d still be around to check on her too. 

     She got up with the plans to run through her normal morning routine, including grabbing the iced coffee Chris had undoubtedly left in the fridge for her after making his own coffee this morning. Dodger immediately followed her, almost as though he was keeping an eye on her while Chris was out of the house. On her way back to the bedroom, Dodger raced ahead of her, meeting her back at the bed with his stuffed lion in his mouth. As she crawled back into bed, the pup leaned down and pushed the lion over to her before gently laying his head in her lap.

     “Are you gonna share him with me, bubs? I know you love to snuggle him.”

     Dani couldn’t help but smile when Dodger sighed happily, relieved that she figured out his plan. She scratched at his favorite spot, right behind his ear. “We do a good job taking care of each other, huh, Bubs? You always seem to know what will make me feel better.”

     Chris had been away for nearly a month. He tried to get back home as often as he could, but with the announcement of a new movie he’d signed on for, he was suddenly being called in for interviews every free second he had. Dani was so proud of him and knew how hard he’d been working, but it didn’t make being apart any easier. She couldn’t wait until he got home this afternoon, so she could show him just how proud she was, but that wasn’t going to make the next few hours any easier. Just this morning alone, she’d already done a load of dishes, made a batch of Chris’ favorite cookies, picked up all the toys Dodger had left laying around and vacuumed every room in the house. The anticipation was killing her and she wasn’t sure how she would possibly manage to make it through the next few hours.

Three

     Dani thought that maybe finding a movie to focus on would have helped keep her distracted for a while, but even Nick Vaughn serenading her with the sweet sounds of his trumpet couldn’t take her mind from the fact that Chris was almost home. She was pulled from thoughts of Chris when she heard a loud bark coming from near the back door. Dodger was sitting right next to his leash, clearly expecting his walk to begin IMMEDIATELY. Always a sucker for whatever her bubba wanted, she found her tennis shoes, attached his leash and started outside. Expecting him to head to the right, the way they always went on their afternoon walk, she was almost pulled off her feet when Dodger suddenly turned and pulled her up the street to the left.

     “Ok, Bubba, I get it. We’ll go the long way. It can’t hurt. Maybe we can even stop at your favorite park for a while.”

     Dodger had the time of his life on their walk. He’d chased a squirrel up a tree, made 3 new human friends on the way to the park, and 4 new dog friends once they’d reach the fenced area in which he could run free. By the time he came back up to Dani and laid his head on her knee, silently asking to go back home and cuddle with his lion, even Dani was feeling worn out from all that Dodger had enjoyed on the walk. 

     The trip back took a little longer than the way there had, partly because Dodger didn’t have as much energy for this half of the walk, and partly because Dani still wasn’t looking forward to returning to an empty house. She figured there was about an hour left before Chris should be home, but was hoping that maybe Dodger had worn her out enough that she could sneak a nap in to keep her thoughts from wandering to Chris.

     As the house came into view, Dodger let out a happy bark and suddenly regained all the energy he’d used up earlier. Dani did a double take, because standing there on the porch, watching them walk up the road, was Chris.

The Time She Needed Someone Else

     “Dodge - you knew I just needed to keep busy, huh? Ok, that was such a good boy. Go ahead.” She reached down to let Dodger off his leash, and he stopped, looking back up at her, almost as if he was trying to make sure she would be ok. She rubbed his head and chuckled, “It’s ok, Bubba. Go get daddy.” And with that, Dodger took off towards his dad.

     “Woof! Woof woof!” 

     Dodger’s loud, clear barks rang through the house as Chris sat in his office, working. The last time Chris had been in their room, Dani was watching something on TV while Dodger was curled up at the end of the bed, snuggling with his lion. Chris guessed the barks meant that Dodger had grown bored with whatever Dani was watching and was ready to play. 

      Chris had only gotten through a couple more work emails before Dodger started barking again. This time he didn’t sound like he was looking to play, but more that he expected someone to immediately come find him. Chris wondered if maybe Dani had fallen asleep watching tv and Dodger had managed to get himself stuck in the bathroom or something, and decided it would just be easier for everyone if he were to go let the pup out.

     When he got to the hallway leading to their bedroom though, he noticed Dodger sitting in the doorway to their room. Dodger was looking back and forth between the bedroom and the hallway. The second he saw Chris coming, he ran to his dad, leading him straight back to Dani. As Chris came into the room, he found the love of his life sitting on the edge of the bed, her head in her hands and her cellphone laying next to her.

     “Darlin’, what’s the matter?” he asked cautiously, stepping into the room and kneeling down in front of her. 

     “It’s just - everything. My work sucks, and you’ve been working so hard, and I’m so proud of you, I really am, but it doesn’t mean it’s easy on me, and then -” He could feel the tension in her shoulders, and he definitely saw her glance at her phone.

     “Your family?” 

     She could only nod as the tears started again. It killed Chris to see her this way, and if he could just snap his fingers and make everything ok, he would do it in a heartbeat. He took her hands in his, just as he felt her breath quicken. He cupped her cheek in his hand and wiped the tears away with the pad of his thumb.

     “Dani, look at me. You are incredible. I don’t know how your family doesn’t see that. But you know what? We’re your family now. Me and you and Dodge. Really, we have been for a while. We’re the ones that will be in this together forever. We’re the ones that will get through anything together. Even Bubba knew you needed us today.”

     Dani sniffled, trying her hardest to get the tears under control. “That’s sweet, Chris. And yeah, Dodge could tell I was crying. But -”

     “No. No buts today. Just your cute one, putting on your softest pjs ” he teased with a sparkle in his eyes “and finding the sappiest movie you can find on tv. Even if it’s one of those vampire movies you love so much. You and Dodge and I are gonna stay right here all day, and we will supply you with endless love and cuddles and snacks. And then we’ll get that Italian place you love to deliver dinner, and by the time we’re done, you’ll remember just how much we love you. I know it won’t fix everything. But we need you to know that no matter what, you aren’t in this alone.”

     She smiled softly, “Thank you. You two always seem to know exactly what I need.” 

     As if on cue, Dodger hopped up on the bed and planted a sloppy kiss right on her cheek.

Because this isn’t the reader insert I normally write, I will reblog this in the morning with my tags. For now, I’m gonna let Dani enjoy it!

[argumentl]

The Freedom of Expression Ep 12 - After the  increase in drinking at home, Tamabukuro Sujitaro's local Chinese restaurant tv program is hugely popular.

K: Hi, this is Dir en grey's Kaoru, starting this episode of The Freedom of Expression. Joe san, Tasai san, welcome again...Well, how's it going recently? In these trying times?

J: Recently, I've been wearing a mask.

T: Right, your mask.

K: Um, just so i don't cause trouble around me today, Im gonna wear a mask, I thought i should.

T: The distance between us too...We're social distancing.

K: Yeah, kinda.

J: There's more space than usual.

K: So, how's it been?

J: Well, I've been doing radio, but in terms of interviews..its really dried up.

T: Ahh, me too.

J: Well, basically, artists, they're in a situation where live shows aren't happening, so there is no so-called promotion going on.

K: Thats right.

J: So, rather than meeting directly to talk, they are doing interviews by email, or such. I've been spending longer at home, so I've been watching movies, and stuff.

T, K: Yeah.

J: Watching erotic movies and stuff.

K, T: *laugh*

K: Thats just normal for you though, right?

T: Its the same.

J: Well, I havn't changed in that respect.

T: Well, Joe, you've been watching movies. But my kids are also having time off..

J: Oh right.

T: Im with them all day, so i have no time to watch movies.

J: You don't watch them at all?

K: *To J* 'You don't watch them?'??

T: I can't, I don't have time. I take the kids to the park in the morning, I make them run about 5 laps, at least try to wear them out a bit *K, J laugh*

J: You make your kids run?

T: Yeah, if I wear them out, Im thinking how much earlier I can get them to bed. Then I'll have one or two hours to myself.

J: Oh right.

T: And then I'll have an evening drink or something, I do get a break doing this show though, but today I brought some news about how this kind of situation is happening in the world right now.

K: Okay, go ahead.

T: Its really typical Tokyo Sports news, but with this increase in drinking at home, a certain food tv show is very popular...a tv show specializing in local Chinese restaurants. The TV show 'Machi chuuka de yarouze' on BS - TBS has become popular.

J: Local Chinese restaurants?

T: Do you know it?

J: No no, I don't have a tv at home, so I have no idea. But I personally love local Chinese restaurants. Generally, if I go to different areas, if there is a butcher, I'll buy a pork cutlet and eat it straight away, if there is a local Chinese restaurant I'll have fried rice there...its how I test out new areas. 

T: What about you Kaoru, do you like local Chinese restaurants?

K: I love them. I also watch that show a lot. *the others laugh*

J: What type of show is it?

K: Well..they just go to these restaurants, drink beer, pick something to eat, and ???*1

J: Just that?

T: They eat stuff like fried rice, gyoza/dumplings, ??*2, and drink beer.

J: I see.

T: And its like people at home can watch it and drink beer too, its popular.

J: I see. By the way, Kaoru, when you go to local Chinese restaurants, what do you order? Your must have order?

K: Hmm, Liver and chives or..

J: Ohh yes.

T: Yeah, I like that.

J: Thats a good one.

T: How about gyouza?

K: Yeah, gyouza too.

T: And fried rice.

J: Fried rice is my...its my best way to really test out the skill of the restaurant, whether they are cooking properly...its fried rice.

K: But I always eat too much.

J: Yeah, yeah. Its best if you share it with a group*3, but if you are by yourself, and having beer, the calories stack up.

K: They do.

T: After we introduced this topic, Tokyo Sports' Twitter was abuzz with comments from all over the country saying, 'I love this too!'. It really seems like everyone loves these kinds of restaurants.

J: Ahh, really? But recently, it seems like they are starting to disappear a bit. There's this so-called 'successor problem', and especially in the city, and with the run up to the Olympics too, a lot of these places which make me say, 'Ahh, I like this', are disappearing. Its like, 'Oh, that place has gone?! I liked thier daily specials!'. To me, Japan's local chinese restaurants are..???*4

T: But also a lot of places can't open because of Corona.

K: Some are starting to do take-out outside,  right?

J: Yeh, they are.

T: Even with that, its tough for them though. I wish people would go to them *5

J: Yeahh. Don't they have those old style tables with the thin legs? With that, and a beer, and the tv..its a nice image.

T: Its like its unchanged from a long time ago.

J: It is.

K: I also like chinese noodes/soba.

J: Ah, yeah.

T: Those are good.

K: I feel like drinking beer now.

J: Should we do a Freedom of Expression special while having a drink sometime?

K: We should.

T: That would be good.

J: Lets do it sometime.

K: It should be fine. Drinking on air is not banned, right?

J: No, its fine.

T: What do you drink Kaoru? Gari..

K: Gari chuhai (Chuhai with pickled ginger)

J: Gari chuhai?

T: I wanna drink that.

K: Should we do it?

J: Lets do it! Yeah, lets. Everyone's doing online drinking parties now, right?

T: That sounds good.

K: Oh, they are, yeah.

T: There are like zoom drinking parties, using that app.

K: Wouldn't that be interesting?

T: I wonder.

K: There are a lot of people saying its fun, right? Cause they can't really talk properly otherwise.

J: Ahh, probably. There are a lot of days when I don't talk at all, except for if the supermarket staff asks me if I want a bag, and I say , 'No thank you'. Then I think, 'Ah, the only thing I said today was "No thank you"!'. There are days like that aren't there?

K: There are.

J: There are, aren't there?! Kaoru, you must have days when you are working, where you don't speak at all?

K: Yeah, I don't talk at all. I communicate with the members but its all by text..like on Skype's  chatroom or something. I don't use my voice at all.

J: Really?

K: The only voice is from the track im listening to.

J: Don't you ever have the desire to talk?

K: Hmm, you can be more matter-of-fact with text rather than speaking.

J: Well, yes.

K: When you speak..for example, it can sound as if you're speaking with emotion, can't it?

J: Yeah, you attach an intonation to it.

K: Like, 'Hmm, its a bit...' or, 'Yeah, its good...'...Somehow communicating on Line is more...like 'He should talk first', or..

J: I see.

K: If you hear thier voice, you think, 'Oh, he likes it', or 'He hates it'...you attach extra meanings..

J, T: I see.

K: So to avoid that, reading text is better.

J: So generally, the members always communicate by text?

K: Yes. Always like this, using chat.

T: When do you speak then?

K: We don't speak. *the others laugh*

J: You're a band who never speaks.

K: We don't. In our dressing rooms and such, we really don't talk. *others laughing* Really.

J: So when you are on tour, you don't talk about stuff with the members?

K: Really, with our drummer, these past twenty or so years, the amount I've talked with him woudn't fill a day. *others laugh*

J: If you compressed it all together, right? Only about 24 hours?

K: Yeah, yeah.

J: Thats amazing.

T: The Dir en grey members should all go out to a chinese restaurant together.

K: That sounds good.

T: What kind of scene would that be?!

J: I wanna see that!

T: Me too!

J: We need a members' chinese restaurant drinking party someday.

T: That would be great.

J: Tokyo Sports could cover it.

T: Really?

J: An exclusive.

T: Yeah, an exclusive.

J: Wouldn't it be?

K: Well, we've no idea what will happen.

J: True.

K: But there's a possibility.

T: For sure.

J: Well, its an option.

Kami: Um..

J: Oh, its Kami!

Kami: Theres a great little chinese restaurant in Roppongi.

J: Eh? Do you know Roppongi well, Kami?

Kami: Yeah, I do.

J: Whats the place, can you say the name?

Kami: The name...what was it again, I forgot.

J: You forgot?

K: *laughs*

J: He comes in with this, and forgets?

Kami: Um, what makes it great is that its really quick.

J, K: Ahh.

K: Chinese food is good if it comes quickly.

T: Yeah, for sure.

Kami: Its really quick.

T: How quick?

Kami: I timed it.

T: You timed it?!

Kami: The food came out in two mins.

J: What did you order?

Kami: Liver and chives came out in two mins.

J, T: Two mins!

K: Thats quick!

J: It might have been something they had already made in advance?

Kami: No, it was hot, it was really delicious.

J: How much was it?

Kami: The price was cheap too.

T: By the way, what do you like to drink with chinese food?

Kami: Alcohol? Beer.

J: Of course, with chinese food, its beer, right?

Kami: I like gyouza with beer.

T: Gyoyza with beer.

K: Ahh

J: The most basic of basics.

T: So, in this tv show, there's this guy called Tamabukuro. He has a saying that the size of a  large beer, 633mls, should be compulsory education for adults.

J: I see. Well, everyone, please..chinese food..

K: If there's anyone who wants us to go to thier restaurant...

J: Oh, yes! Lets make an appeal!

T: Lets do it! It will be fun.

J: Well, if there's anyone interested, please contact us here *points to bottom of screen*

To any restaurant owners out there.

K: Yes, please....Well, for now..

J: Oh, we're finishing?

K: Shall we finish here?

J: Yeah, cause we're wearing masks, keeping my glasses free of fog is..

K: They are fogging up a bit.

J: They do. Why don't you guys' glasses fog up? Do you use anti-fog?

K: You have to put your mask up, and your glasses on top of it.

J: Oh, is that it? *adjusts glasses*  Like this? Don't I look stupid like this?

K: Well...

J: Is this ok? If I put the mask up..

K: Yeah, thats too far up. *laughs*

J: We don't wear a mask a home though, right?

K, T: No, we don't.

J: Im not that used to it.

K: Oh, indoors?

J: Yeah, indoors. I've learnt how to do my mask now...from next time.

K: Ok, please watch again next time, and please subscribe.

J, T: Please.

K: Thank you very much.

*1,2,4 Couldn't catch these bits.

*3,5 I think thats what is being meant.

[lornahansonforbes]

Prologue

If you’re reading this today, then you know I’m dead, dead to you as you are to me, and that should make you so very happy.

I gave it all up sitting at a red light.

This last piece is the final chapter of “The Emesis Tray of Feelings,” it’s a trilogy.

The trilogy contains one play, “Hot Neon Lights” and “Patina on the Edge,” which is a series of monologues and now this, “It Didn’t Happen,” a one act play.

The first installment, “Hot Neon Lights,” tells the story of two events. Act One is a very messy breakdown followed by the fourth and final attempt of my taking my own life. I failed four times. Act Two is about six to weeks later and the family meeting with the psychiatrist where they decide if I should be locked up in hospital or go cold Turkey. There was no option, no Grey area, only black and white.

“Patina on the Edge,” is a series of monologues that highlights moments of grand and glorious to being a homeless junkie who was sucking dick, meanwhile being a thief and a shitkicker was a great way to being truly infamous. Lofty goals. It parallels the story that’s laid out in “Hot Neon Lights.”

“It Didn’t Happen.” is a one act play with four scenes. Scene one, the night of the breakup and a month after the breakup. Scene two, a phone call about the breakup. Scene three, a group of friends who just saw the two aforementioned plays and are in a bar talking about what The New York Times will say about “Hot Neon Lights” and “Patina on the Edge.”

As you read this, do know that this is like Ivory Soap, ninety-nine and forty-four one hundredth percent (99 44/100%) true.

Several people have been merged into one character and not vice versa.

You should know that I died alone and bitter that I was never truly loved by anyone except by my dogs, Zoey, Chase, Auggie, The Brother Levi, CoCo and Harry; and my three cats, Rasselas, Othello and Belle Kitty.

I sadly cannot think of one person, past or present, who ever truly loved me.

I suffered with Bipolar Depression and Anxiety for a large portion of my life. The three guys who I stupidly referred to as my boyfriend, I see now that they barely tolerated me as did my family.

I don’t give a shit. You and whomever can say what you want about me and pepper it generously with Drama Qween. You do know that but I can only tell you what my perception was and how I saw things, but as usual, you’re right and I’m wrong. Fuck you, your opinion is paying for my funeral and you had the option not to read this.

Lastly, all the things I’ve written starting in the 1980’s and in between has been thrown out and erased etc. Yeppers. All gone. I kept it all but as of this entry, I threw it all out.

Since I’ve submitted to various outlets and people yet only to learn I’ve been ignored.

But you can find me on Tumblr and not on Tinder. Good luck with that.

Post Script:

I’ve told stories about how I lived and how I overcame. “You should write a book.” Motherfucker, don’t play with me. You ain’t gonna fucking read it. Why even bother existing? I’m done. If you really want to know, actually pick up the phone and call me. Bye, Felicia.

I forgot to tell you that someone asked me not to give up writing. Sorry but I’m not gonna change my mind about cutting off my nose to spite myself.

Scene One

The late summer sun was slowly going down as we approached the corner of Melrose and North Robertson.

Granted it was nearly 8:00 PM, the sun was still blazing away. I turned to look from the passenger seat to see people milling about waiting to go inside but also the paparazzi was there gawking and snapping pictures.

She slowed the car down for just a millisecond and then took a sharp left turn. Then Sister Mary of the Perpetual Parking Spot smiled down upon us and she pulled in and parked the car.

The restaurant sign read Ty’s Thai Tie Dye, an Indochina Conglomerate. We went inside and were seated way in the back. It was a jungle, flowers, potted trees and Passion Flower vines everywhere. The sun broke through like mosaic tiles.

Dinner was delicious and uneventful. She was now pulling up in front of my modest flat.

“Darling, I’m sure we’ve had a wonderful evening but I feel that my husband is all over us these past few weeks. I’m just so sick and tired of seeing his Gold Audi here and there every time we go out. Why can’t we agree to disagree with the fact that I’m who I am and you are you we aren’t able to carry on like this anymore. I know that I should break it to you gently, but let’s rip the fucking Band-Aid off, it’s over. Don’t speak. Let’s go our separate ways with our splendiferous memories and as the cliché states, when you do speak of me, be kind,” she blurted out without looking at me.

It took me a moment and then I watched her Black Jaguar Vandam Plas glide away and disappear. Nearly comatose, I fumbled for my keys and took those first tentative steps towards the front door. I saw my cat in the window and her deep gold eyes. We looked directly at each other. I got in my car only to pound the steering wheel with tears in my eyes.

“You ungrateful bitch,” I screamed so loud that my ears were ringing worse than being a rock concert.

I drove into the night with flashes of our tongues lashing about like in some porn as we tore our clothes off each other. She was moist. My turgidity.

I landed at Pfeiffer Beach and I saw a Sandpiper. Fuck my life. The sound of the crashing waves and the sun rising. Stumbling back to my car I spied that CHP had paid a visit with a bright orange parking ticket tucked neatly underneath the wiper blades. God damn it to hell.

When I turned the car over, the radio was blaring, some static but nonetheless it jangled my nerves.

“Now, I am strong enough. Now, I’m strong enough to accept change. Yes, my darling, if you want to live in another place, I can understand it. It’ gonna hurt for a little while, but I can understand it, but before you walk out that door, touch me in the morning,” this woman’s anger and hurt were front and center. We were simpatico at that moment. We were both in a world of hurt and she like me, we were not feeling it.

I tapped a button on my car radio and my playlist replaced her voice as I pulled into traffic on Route 1 South heading home leaving Pfeiffer Beach in my rear view mirror.

Whoever that female voice was previously on my radio, I felt like Kathy Bates and I was swinging that sledgehammer and I left her there to suffer.

Normally I’m not that guy who “gets in touch with their feelings.” It’s just not in my DNA and when I do “get in touch,” it’ll be like a Gatling gun. Crumpled up like a wad of paper, riddled with bullets and left to die gasping for breath in a pool of blood.

This morning I got up and was meandering around my neighborhood. I have absolutely no idea how it happened but I stopped into a local coffee shop and got a Chai Latte. I usually get a green juice with pomegranate and Acai.

I was in a deep, deep funk since I had dinner with my friend and she dumped me. Who was she to me? My girlfriend; friend with benefits: fuck buddy; mistress or just another conquest? Whatever it was, it was good and it lasted but it wasn’t like this hadn’t happened before and so this came to pass and now in my mind I heard Louis Prima singing, “…everywhere I go.” If I really wanted to hear that song, I’d rather find the David Lee Roth remake.

Apparently I got my steps in this morning without some contraption attached to me or some app on my phone. I plunked my narrow behind down on a concrete Jersey barrier and I looking at the waves crashing onto Dockweller Beach. I know it’s not Malibu Beach just a short drive North and it certainly wasn’t Malibu Beach in Boston. From that vantage point, you’ll see the highway and Sister Corita Kent’s artwork in the distance.

Seriously what the fuck, yo? Processing, tabulating, analyzing, and parsing the events of being dumped. I know I saw the data, but what did it reveal? Was it actually that simple or was I looking at the galley’s for the unabridged Cyrillic version of Tolstoy’s tome with copious notes in the margins. Could I decipher The Daily Jumble? Was I looking at some foreign language? Was I experiencing some sort of dyslexia? Sigh! Could I really clean this mess with a piece of used snotty paper?

I’m solving Pi!! Yeah, yeah!! That’s the ticket!!

I clenched my hand around my paper cup and almost spilled my Chai latte. I was fucking pissed.

“Ungrateful BITCH,” that right I said it and I said it with such furious anger venom was dripping of my fangs.

What a difference a day makes. Bull-fucking-shit. Something felt dissimilar yet had I seen the same thing from a different vantage point?

At that exact moment I heard one of those thumper cars approaching blaring something I didn’t understand  anything but I did hear, “Baile, baile con El General” and just like that the car was gone. Was Joy Division only for headphones? This is Los Angeles not Colby College.

Perched on the Jersey barrier, I wasn’t contemplating why lint gets in my navel.  I couldn’t dodge raindrops. Had I tabled my ego? Were my expectations quickly quieted? Was it like that thumper car; was I blaring or amplifying some sort of acceptance of defeat? The hounds had been released at the same time as I gave up my control? I can be that Type-A personality, driven and getting in touch with my feeling resided in an abyss somewhere, but the fuck if I know.

I felt dampness. Where am I now? Am I on the Maid of the Mist or standing underneath Niagara Falls? God damn it to hell!! I was crying. I normally don’t do that. I clenched my jaw so tightly I had TMJ.

“Mission Accomplished,” I think was actually the last time I did cry, but that was for my furry friends, Mickey & Minnie and then it was Stanley & Blanche. Do I get ahold of the anger in me? What the fuck? Maybe a word, a smile, an hour of happiness? NETX??!! I picked up my phone. I scrolled through my contacts. In a parallel universe, I called you a thousand times when I know I did not and I never will call you.

A boisterous and vociferous colony of seagulls appeared just a few yards away from me. Fuck. Hitchcock.

My paper cup is empty. I knew I had to dispose of it. Recycle, reuse, repurpose or like this affair, would it end up in a landfill? Just another thing to be unceremoniously and recklessly tossed away. It’s just a thing.

With a great exasperated sigh, eight months, two weeks and a day. That’s how long it lasted without me actually keeping track of it. Don’t go there. Don’t judge me. Men and women silently judge me and you but I can only assume they leave something on me so I don’t catch cold. Oh, shit. We had seen other naked. She fucking hurt me. Okay, I’m not that person, who’d scrawl, No Sale, on a mirror if I found a check and a note that read, “Last night was dope.”

My phone beeped, a text message letting me know I had to drive to Pacoima.

Gotta bounce. Later. Onto embrace the new challenges ahead and channel them into existence.

Scene Two

Part Three.

A Hello, bleep.

B How did you know it was me?

A I’ve known for a long time and plus it’s out there.

B Why did you say that?

A What did I say exactly?

B Don’t give me that bullshit. I saw it.

A I told you about how I felt but then I felt around in the dark and I didn’t know how that single cell actually started to feel like encouragement.

B What I said was to do it for yourself and not me.

A I did it for you first and then afterwards I got to me.

B You took more than you should have and you took it to another place. Also that’s not how it went down.

A It’s how some people work. As I told before, give me a thing to work with and I can easily create from there.

B I only told you about a sixteenth of what happened.

A But that was enough for me and those three sentences told me everything I needed to know. Fuck bleep, I told you recently about my Bipolar Depression and how I grapple with it hour by hour and mostly by myself with no assistance or guidance from anyone.

B I appreciate that and your candor but it makes me crazy. But fuck bleep, I know how mentally exhausted some people feel being in your orbit.

A Bleep, dude, we’re trying to get to that place in the day where we can say, I’m still here. First we get out of bed unassisted and the rest is gravy.

B Why such labels? I mean I know most of the names but you know I’m a tee shirt and jeans.

A Without inferring or intimating the slightest thing, I had a good feeling that who she is and most likely she has her own money but she doesn’t dismiss her husband’s money.

B I have my own money too but I’m not going to be seen eating on North Robertson.

A Possibly I’d see you at one place on Melrose or on Alameda and they’re not that far from where I put you. Then again, there’s a place around the way and you can walk there. I pay attention to things like that ever since I saw Russell Simmons ex wife Creamora eating at raw restaurant in LA a few years ago.

B Wow. How did find that out?

A She had a reality show and they showed her eating there and as a woman of color, she nearly lost her mind. One of things they served was a pizza but it wasn’t a New York pepperoni pizza all hot and gooey with cheese. I yelled at the TV, Gurl, I’ll take a slice. I’m in.

B Wait a minute, bleep. You told me you have issues with food.

A I do but sometimes I’ve got to throw caution to the wind and suffer with each delicious bite.

B So that’s why you fabricated that restaurant.

A Well, kinda sorta. When I was in LA, I found a great little Thai place a few blocks away from The Dolby and if I remembered the name I would’ve told you about it. They’ve got some amazing vegan options.

B This is one of the things I find about you, you know some of the most trivial things and it’s fucking scary.

A Bleep, I just hope I don’t actually lose my mind. I’d hope that you or someone else would put me down if dementia or Alzheimer’s effected me.

B Don’t say that. I sometimes like it when you remember what happened way back when.

A I’m not sure what’s going to happen but I’m still here regardless.

B I’ve got to ask why you said I cried.

A Bleep, you are but one of many Taurus men I know and if they do actually cry, it’ll be in the shower and they’d never admit to knowing how to cry. They might well up with tears but never cry in front of anyone ever.

B That’s fucked up.

A Taurus men do write but never about their feelings nor do they own a diary or journal. If that April born man exists who shares their feelings, they are a very rare breed of man.

B Well writing isn’t my thing.

A You sound exhausted.

B I had to compose myself and all the while I cursed your name.

A Oh it’s because I hit a nerve?

B You’re the last person I’d ever, of course, I think of to wax philosophic and then admit it to someone else let alone admit it to myself.

A Bleep, motherfucker, I’m completely aware and yet I’m not living under the delusion by pining away waiting for you to ask.

B No, it’s not that but does fall in the same zip code and then I used one word, empath. You dug as deep as you could and I’m like, fuck, man, I’m on the phone with you.

A Bleep. Bleep. I’ve known ever since your old EarthLink email and I never and I wouldn’t unless you asked. I told you before I see things that I don’t necessarily understand and with each message, I just end up seeing something.

B I gathered as much. There’s my Nou-Nou. Come up. It’s okay. Come on, Nou-Nou. Move your lard ass, Janx. There you go. All better. Rumple, not a word. You stay right there and let Nou-Nou get some.

A The kittehs!!

B Don’t distract. I’m not sure if you have a malignant will or you gave me something to think about.

A I can’t apologize more. I’m truly very sorry. I riffed on an idea and here we are.

B Life isn’t over as you think of it just because you’re alive. There’s more.

A That’s why I told you that I wouldn’t write again. Stirred the pot.

B You’re a dick.

A And your point is? A cunt? I’m The Dowager Empress and that’s all there is to that.

B You’re so full of shit.

A We’re not going to snap at each other like two terriers.

B Is this what we’ve been reduced to? Bickering just for arguments sake?

A You’re the one with the brown eyes, so you could possibly be full of shit. I’ve got green eyes, pea green with jealousy.

B You said some shit and it hit me. What’s that thing you usually say? Oh yeah, it’s a punch in the face you can’t take back.

A Bleep, dude. Most people want that moment in life where someone grabs ahold of you and pleads with you not to leave. It’s been played out in the movies, but not in our lives, right? I don’t know the life you led but I’ve had three boyfriends and each one of them dumped me. I’ve cried and played all the sad songs. You could have possibly done the same thing but let’s face it fucking Cher said it best, we all sleep alone.

B Whitney clapped back and said I’d rather be alone than be unhappy.

A True. But I had the near perfect relationship with The Beast. More than 40 years together. We both had separate lives and we were celibate lovers. We had each other’s back we did everything for love but we never did that. I knew that he wasn’t some Sir Galahad to love from afar, motherfucker was two legged boa constrictor. I’m okay with dying alone and unloved.

B That’s really a fucking bleak future. Well insert a happy go-lucky cliché here followed by Shady Pines. I can’t with you, bleep.

A I know that we’re estranged but don’t divorce me or fire me just yet.

B Okay.

-The curtain comes down and the audience breaks out in an uproar of applause and cheers-

Scene Three

E What was that we just watched?

CI wish I knew.

E 90 minutes of a conversation that never happened?

D Clearly you’ve missed the point of it. Two guys who knew each other since high school and they meet up years later. One guy had a bad break up and the other guy was now, as he said, a widower.

C Excuse me?

E Yeah excuse me. I don’t see it. Okay high school is one thing but forty years later, they’re talking like that?

D Okay let’s go for a quick pop at The Stone and we’ll go home afterwards.

E Which stone?

C I think that the closest one is Rosetta.

D No. That’s by Park Avenue. I think this one is Killarney but is it Kilkerry? Fuck. It’s right here at 8th Avenue.

C Don’t make thing of it but look over getting of that cab, Miles Silverberg.

E I know that name.

D Murphy Brown.

C It is him. Not bad looking but not my type.

D Bitch, your type is anyone who can make the letter O.

C You should talk. You’re still paying off that asbestos abatement from the last one.

D The two of you are practically virgins again, but then again Father Frank doesn’t give confessionals.

C/E Fuck you.

D Oh look, we’re here.

E I’ve always wondered exactly how many bars in Manhattan are actually Irish bars.

C Probably a few but I’m not sure. There’s only one Blarney Stone and I think it’s in Lower Manhattan not here in Midtown. I’m thinking that anything above 23rd Street is either owned by The Vara or Lyons’ Brothers.

E Damn.

D Hello, Merrick. We like a bottle of your best Shiraz and three glasses. We’ll be over here. Thank you. Yes, Merrick, yes you’re all that but put a ring on it.

E Why won’t you just fuck him and get it over with?

D We like this game. We just love to flirt with each other. No harm, no foul.

C She’s been playing with Merrick for years and he loves the attention.

E I wonder what The Times says tomorrow.

D This is the the last chapter of the trilogy. Uh…

C First was Hot Neon Lights, second was Patina on the Edge and now, It Didn’t Happen.

D I can’t get it out of my head that one scene with the mother fighting with the dad. She was so mad at him, she put out a cigarette in her hand.

C Oh fuck yeah, that was fucking brutal.

E Can someone get that mad?

D She’s his mother and momma bear wasn’t having it.

C True but I’m not sure about the pretentious names. Trenton Burroughs English and Daniel Charles Snyder. But you know what? They’re actual people. I found out that Trenton is some how many times removed from the Queen of Norway and Daniel is a surgeon with Doctors Without Borders. AND the most fucked up thing is that they don’t know each and have never met.

D You know what’s even more fucked up than? There’s an actual family here on the social register here in New York with the last name, Frankenstein. Google that.

E Thank you, Merrick. Ladies, a toast?

C Yes please and don’t be stingy.

D Miss Thing, leave some for the rest of us.

ALL 3 Cheers! Give my regards to Broadway!!

E Hot Neon Lights was excellent, though I thought the two fantasy moments were beyond me.

D Why?

E Is that what you’d expect from dropping a hit of acid?

C Not all the time. It’s different from person to person. I did it once and I had goosebumps most of the time and I saw these white penny tiles dance like waves and I was surfing.

D I went to see a midnight showing of Eraserhead in college and I hate that fucking movie. Sigh. I cringe whenever I hear, Eraserhead is dead. I wanna punch someone in the face.

E Damn and I said I was traumatized by seeing Gina Gershon’s pubic hair in Killer Joe. I’m sorry but on the silver screen in a crowded theater. I shudder to think.

C A straight guy cringing at the mound of Venus? What happened? Did you see your mother in the shower?

E It’s not that deep. My face is one thing but on a forty-foot screen? Shit was scary.

D Yeah that is unforgettable. Besides that, was the movie any good?

E I don’t know. I mean William Friedkin directed The Exorcist. Both are going to fuck with your head, period.

D Oh yeah he did but what was really fucked up was in Patina on the Edge when he told us how his father and stepmother thought that they were watching his life story on the silver screen.

C What fucked with my head with my head was when he told us that he actually went to M Street and those stairs. I saw the picture and it was daytime and the caption read, Here laid Father Merrin’s body. Regan MacNeil astro-projected his priestly self right out the window. Rest in Power, Mercedes McCambridge.

E What?

C Yeah. Gimme a second.

D You’re obsessed much?

C I couldn’t believe it myself and I took a screenshot. Look.

E Damn. That’s really fucked up. Here.

D Oh my God! That is fucked up.

C I know reality stranger than fiction.

E It wasn’t science fiction or was it tonight?

D Whatever it was, it was some great writing. He can tell a story.

C What did you get out of it?

E I’m thinking that after seeing Hot Neon Lights, Patina on the Edge and tonight’s It Didn’t Happen, I think they should have a face to face and make a decision if they’re going to be actual friends and figure out if they want to be celibate lovers and in a platonic marriage.

D Fuck that bullshit. It’s obvious that they are actually going to have a contentious relationship and they’re not going to find each other sitting together chatting it up in Shady Pines. The only thing that they can have is a hidden mutual respect for each other and the rest of us can only imagine that since neither one of them will admit to anything. He’s a whore and he’s a prude. They don’t know what they want, but can they be friends in any iteration of the meaning. We’ll never know.

C Well…unrequited love can keep you going. Okay I’ve got unrequited love too but I see mine as that song, All American Boy by Steve Grand. I just love that song and I’m obsessed with the media calling it Brokeback Breakout and he’s like the Gay Cowboy. That’s really a bad cliché but it’s even worse to know that not every fag wants to suck the quarterback’s dick. Yeah let that big man on campus get a pot belly and go bald, and at the 40th high school reunion you’re still in a size seven like me and what’s even worse is that all the girls want to kill me.

D Do let me know when old and bitter arrives.

E Oh c’mon. It can’t be all that bad. You’re supposed to live off a compliment for two weeks, but I always hope for the best. I mean I like my family and we all get along.

C Well how nice for you but I doubt it. It’s like Homer isn’t going to strangle Bart for the umpteenth time.

E Back to the other moment in Hot Neon Lights, what was up with that Diana Ross scene?

D That was explained in Patina.

C Yeah. He went to the Diana Ross Live at Caesar’s Palace show on two hits of mescaline but I think the point was like she said, I am and I’m going to be.

D Powerful.

E Didn’t he also explain how he could actually touch the guy on the flying trapeze at the circus. Apparently he likes dropping acid.

C Patina had that whole conversation about “Gee whiz. Boy I was drunk last night.”

D Yeah it was consensual but I’m not sure if they were that drunk or that high.

E I know right but he did fuck that girl after an eight ball.

C Oh yes! He was up to THANGS!!

D Indeed he was but that failed threesome was even funnier.

E Give the guy a break. I’m not sure if he wanted to fuck the husband in front of his wife or fuck the wife as the husband was going to fuck him.

C YES!! The bamboo chair hanging from the ceiling. If I was in that same situation I have no idea how to proceed.

E True, true, but I’m glad he told us from the jump, we’d never believe it actually happened. My mind hurts.

D Look gentlemen, the bottle is empty and we all have to go to work in a few hours. Let’s table this for the next time. Until then.

E Okay but it’s Romeo & Juliet with social media at The Public.

C That’s got to be something else. We’ll text after we read the review in The Times.

ALL 3 Good night, Merrick!!

[sablelab]

Covert Operations - Chapter 91

DISCLAIMER: This is a modern AU crossover story with Outlander and La Femme Nikita. LFN and its characters do not belong to me nor do those from Outlander.

SYNOPSIS:  Fergus is making inroads to locating Claire and continues to send a message to Jamie on his PDA. When he finally knows what is on the disk Jamie is livid and vows to find Claire ASAP. He informs Fergus that Karen Yee is implicated someway in Claire’s kidnapping and that he has her in play. He feels that she is the best way of locating his Sassenach.    

Previous chapters can be found at … https://sablelab.tumblr.com/covertoperations

I am very grateful for your support of this story and I THANK YOU for reading, the likes and or posting a comment on the last chapter.  If you wish to read something else of mine over the Christmas break perhaps you will find a short story, poem or chapter story on my Master List to your liking. xox

 https://sablelab.tumblr.com/masterlist  

CHAPTER 91

  Once he arrived back in Hong Kong James Fraser set the first phase of his plan into action. Needing to know Karen Yee’s whereabouts, he contacted the architect firm that she worked for in the guise of wanting her services for an overhaul of his city apartment. The firm’s secretary informed him that Karen was away on business but would be returning to Hong Kong later that night. Ever polite, Jamie asked her to check the availability for an early appointment. Impressed by the smooth tone of his voice and persuasive manner, the secretary was only too happy to pencil him in for a scheduled time with Karen the following day. Then when he pressed for additional information about her after hours’ agenda that night his persistence was rewarded. She’d confided that Karen was scheduled to meet with a client at Victoria Peak at 9.30pm, but wasn’t sure if the client was picking her up for the dinner meeting or if she was meeting him at the restaurant. Armed with this information, it gave Jamie some breathing space and the leverage he needed to set his contingency plan into action whilst Karen was not around. He quickly made his way over to her apartment to check for any clues that could implicate her in Claire’s kidnapping or give him Intel as to her whereabouts. ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~* Standing on the threshold of Karen Yee’s apartment he knocked then casually looked around. The corridor was deserted. However, just as Jamie was just about to enter her apartment suddenly a neighbour opened their door into the corridor. The young man appeared to be in a hurry and quickly walked past him towards the elevator. Jamie casually acknowledged him with a nod and watched until the man disappeared into the elevator. When all was clear, he opened the door with his U-key, entered Karen’s apartment and closed the door quietly behind him. Meticulously he searched the apartment from head to toe in order to find anything that would help him find Claire, but her apartment was clean. Karen had certainly been thorough. Though when he searched through some papers on the bureau, Jamie found a copy of a receipt for two meals from a Stanley eatery. The receipt confirmed that Karen and someone else ... most likely her boyfriend Andy Ma ... were in Stanley on the same dates as his Sassenach. It was the evidence that he needed but Jamie was unable to find anything that would indicate where the triad was holding Claire captive. Nevertheless, Karen Yee was involved in her kidnapping and, when he found her ... she would lead him to Claire. Putting everything he’d disturbed back in its rightful place; the last thing Jamie did was place listening devices on her phone and in strategic places in and around the apartment. If Karen returned before her dinner date, he would know. Then just as quietly as he’d entered ... he left. Having had no sleep in over 48 hours, Jamie decided that he would take the opportunity to catch up on some much-needed rest before the critical phase of the mission began. He knew that he would need his wits about him over the next few days to be at his best and function on all cylinders. He needed to conserve his energy and replenish his strength as he anticipated that the triad would not give up Claire without a fight ... but he’d be prepared. For him it would be a fight to the death. If even a single hair was touched on her head, he would wreak vengeance like none they had seen. Disappearing from the apartment building as anonymously as a ghost he was ready to plan his next strategy. He would be waiting and prepared for when Karen Yee next made an appearance. Meanwhile back at Section One...

“Fergus has there been any contact from Jamie?” Madeline asked when he was requested to appear in her office. 

“No ... not yet.” “I see ... No doubt he is not communicating with Section because of the risk of betraying where he is,” Madeline stated knowing only too well that once Jamie had gone dark, he would not jeopardise anything for the personal mission he was on. “I’ll keep trying ... I’ll change the wording of the communiqué and see if he responds this time.” “Good ... Have you managed to get a location for Claire from the information on the disk?” “I’ve reviewed it several times and have been able to identify the building materials used in the room where she was tortured.” “I see ... and what have you gauged from that?” Was Madeline’s next question. “It appears that the type of masonry used is ancient handmade stonework which dates back to the 17th or early 18th century.” “And ...?” The inflection of her voice indicated that she was intrigued by his statement. “This particular stonework was used in monasteries built on Lantau Island of which there are several.” “Excellent. That’s a good starting point. Anything else?” “I can eliminate the Roman Catholic Trappist Haven Monastery located on the east coast." “Why so?” “The Monastery at Tai Shui Hang is still home to a number of Roman Catholic monks. However, the main reason is because there were lotus crests engraved in the stonework. These are not associated with Catholicism. The flower is a significant iconography of Buddhism as it symbolises the ability of everybody to attain enlightenment.” “Good at least that narrows the field. Can you identify which particular monastery it is then?” “Not yet, but I’m working on the possibility that this is a disused one, most likely in a relatively remote part of Lantau off the beaten track and probably located on the rugged west coast of the island where the trails are not easily defined.” “You have obviously systematically gone through the possibilities Mr Claudel ... but what is your reasoning for this hypothesis?” “There are several monasteries in the Ngong Ping area which are highly popular with tourists particularly near the Tian Tan seated bronze Buddha, therefore that leaves us with a few other options. The west coast is mountainous and most of the population lives along the south coast.” “Hmm ... that makes sense. The triad wouldn’t have a torture chamber near a populated area ... but a monastery?” Fergus looked at Madeline and stated solemnly. “How ironic it would be if a place of worship, turned out to be a place of suffering.” “I’m sure the Rising Dragons would find this quite acceptable ... particularly if the monastery is inaccessible. How far along are you in your theory?” “By a process of elimination, I hope to have something very soon.” Madeline congratulated him on the progress made thus far. “Good work Fergus ... Keep me posted when you find something definite or the minute Jamie calls in.” “Yes Madeline.” Outside Karen Yee’s apartment...

Some hours later Jamie’s black SUV Mercedes–Benz pulled up and parked across the road from Karen Yee’s apartment building. He activated his listening device to see if she had in fact made it home or had gone directly to the restaurant. Confirming that Karen was in her apartment, Jamie rolled down the window and surveyed the area. It was relatively quiet and although a few cars turned onto the road they merely sped off along the street without stopping. 

He’d only had the apartment building under surveillance for a short while when Jamie heard the sound of an approaching motor car. Rolling down the window and raising his binoculars he watched as a limousine approached then cruised into the private parking lot reserved for the apartments’ residents. This was obviously Karen Yee’s rich client who had come to pick her up for the appointment. Jamie saw the chauffeur get out of the limousine and open the back door of the vehicle. A male occupant got out of the limo and spoke to the chauffeur. “Wait here Henry ... I’ll be back with Miss Yee in no time.” “Certainly sir.” Jamie observed what was happening for a while then put the car window back up. When the man disappeared into the apartment building, the chauffeur made his way to the newsstand nearby. Seizing the moment Jamie got out of his car. Quietly but quickly, he approached the unattended limousine. He attached a tracking device to the back bumper bar while the chauffeur was preoccupied, then slipping back to where his SUV was parked; he got into the vehicle and waited for further developments. While he waited outside, he listened to events taking place in the apartment building. He heard a knock on Karen Yee’s apartment door, then the man knocked for a second time before the door finally opened and this time voices were heard. “Good evening Miss Yee ... I’m Mr Yi Tien Cho’s  assistant Joseph Peng.  He has sent me to collect you for dinner.” “One moment ... Just let me just get my jacket.” There was a short pause then Jamie heard the man say, “Are you ready to go now Miss?” “Yes, thank you.” “Good ... this way please. The limousine is parked downstairs.” ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ Once again Fergus walked over to his computer. He didn’t even take the time to sit down, he just leant down and quickly keyed in some commands. Although he’d sent a message many times over the last two days, time was now of the essence. This time he had been more explicit in the wording. He was starting to despair as Jamie had still not contacted him. The triad had set a time limit with an ultimatum that Claire would be tortured further if Jamie didn’t show. Since receiving the communiqué, he had been working close to the wire. Time was critical. Section had no idea if the triad would follow through with their threats, but there was obviously a reason for the triad sending it.

Would Claire be tortured again or was the disk just a teaser to show the triad’s power and might? 

Before he hit the enter key, Fergus hesitated for a split second, as if mentally preparing himself for another disappointment ... then banishing his doubts to the back of his mind he sent the message. 

JAMIE: ARE YOU THERE? ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ As he waited for Karen to appear, it was the incessant beeping of his PDA on the seat beside him that caught Jamie’s attention. He looked down. It was another incoming message from Fergus. He had paged a few times now so Jamie picked up the device. As he did so a different message appeared on his PDA. This time, the communiqué was more explicit and as he read the message blazoned across the screen his brow furrowed in concern. I HAVE CLAIRE’S LOCATION. SHE’S IN DANGER ... PLEASE CONTACT ASAP. Without hesitation he sent an immediate reply back to Fergus. YES. ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ 

I HAVE CLAIRE’S LOCATION. SHE’S IN DANGER

The communiqué had shaken Jamie to the core. He felt a gamut of feelings course through his body as the meaning of Fergus’s succinct message finally sank in. Section had Claire’s location. While this was fantastic news, the fact remained that she was still in acute danger and alarm bells rang loud and clear in his head. 

Taking a deep breath and quickly reconnecting his comm. set unit he spoke directly to Fergus. “Tell me everything ...” ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ Despite being overcome with relief that Jamie had finally got in touch with Section, Fergus dreaded having to tell him about the disk they had received of Claire’s torture. But Jamie needed to know what the Rising Dragons were capable of and what he would be up against in his retrieval attempt. Fergus took some minutes to relay all that they knew of Claire’s kidnapping and whereabouts, then biting the bullet, he finally told him of what they had witnessed on the disk. “Jamie there is one other thing ...”

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Closing his eyes James Fraser absorbed the words that Fergus relayed, but it was difficult to hear what he had to say. His heart ached for his Sassenach and what she had endured at the hands of the tyrannical triad. However, the more he listened the more determined he became. He wondered what fate would befall Claire if he didn’t find her soon, but deep down inside he knew that she was still alive ... she just had to be ... if not then there was no purpose left in life for him. He also knew that he couldn't let the heartache and rage overpower him. Summoning all the tenacity he possessed James Fraser’s demeanour quickly changed and the cold face of the menacing Section One operative came to the fore. Claire’s life depended on his cunning and ruthlessness right now. With steely resolve he ordered, “Fergus, I need ye to patch me through all the Intel ye have on Claire straight away.” He paused then added, “... and send a copy of the disk.” “Done.” Knowing that Fergus would have been analysing the disk for any clues to Claire’s whereabouts Jamie asked the inevitable question. “What do ye have on her location?” “I’ve narrowed it down to two monasteries on Lantau Island but I’m still working on it.” “Which two?” “Tsz Hsing Monastery in the south-west and Ling Yan Monastery to the north-west. Both of the monasteries are near the village of Tai O ... but the terrain is difficult and mountainous in this area.” “That won’t be a problem.” Fergus was not surprised by Jamie’s answer. In fact, he expected nothing less for nothing would stop him from finding where Claire was being held.

“Is there anything you want us to do?”

“Keep an open channel. Until then keep working on Claire’s location. Ye’ll have to move quickly ... the triad has already moved her once.” “Will do.” “I want to be notified the second ye receive anything else of significant." “You’ve got it. What about Karen Yee?” Fergus’s off-handed question hit a raw nerve. It was even more important to capture her for Jamie knew she held the key to where he would find Claire.

“She’s triad.” “You were right all along about her then Jamie. But how was she able to avoid detection as a member of the triad?” “I dinna ken yet but I’ll find out one way or the other. I have her in play.” “Looks like she’s your best bet at the moment.” All he needed was for Karen to follow through with her arrangements for tonight and then he would be waiting. Jamie’s eyes hardened with his reply.

“Aye ... Karen will lead us to where the Rising Dragons are holding my Claire.” ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ “Or else ...” Fergus finished under his breath. He released a huge sigh of relief for there was no way of stopping James Fraser now. If anyone could save Claire Beauchamp, Jamie would and now he would have help to do it. “I’ll provide tactical ... Just wait a moment until I set it up.” “Thank ye ... When I’ve detained Karen Yee, I’ll call in.” ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ True to his word Fergus quickly sent the Intel Jamie wanted to his PDA. He viewed the disk that the Rising Dragons had brazenly sent to Section and what they had done to his Claire. Not only had they kidnapped her but they’d done the worst possible thing ... they had tortured her. Jamie was enraged. The more he watched the more he seethed at the callousness of the treatment meted out to her. When he caught up with Claire’s interrogators, they would pay the ultimate price and would suffer for what they had done. He had no qualms about killing each and every one who had hurt his Sassenach. Not only had they tortured Claire, but they also knew about him. It was obvious that their ploy was twofold. They knew that Section One was involved somehow and by sending the disk they’d indicated that they would show no mercy ... well neither would he. Secondly ... if they’d wanted to flush him out knowing that he would come to her rescue then they had succeeded in bringing him out into the open. Despite the triad’s upper hand at the moment it wouldn’t last for long. The one thing they didn’t know was that this James Fraser was a cold Section One operative. He was a man to be feared. Those who had harmed Claire would wish they had died because there was no way they would take another breath when he found them. There would be no forgiveness or clemency. Their days were numbered. He wouldn't think twice about it. It didn't matter what Oversight, Operations or anyone thought. He would make them pay and pay dearly. Having seen enough, Jamie switched off his PDA. ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ The sound of movement near the limousine brought him back to the task at hand and when Jamie looked up, he saw the couple had arrived downstairs. From his vehicle, he watched as the chauffeur hurried to open the door for Karen Yee to enter the luxuriously appointed limousine. She clambered in and the escort climbed in after her.

Before closing the door after the couple, the chauffeur proclaimed. “If there is anything you would like Miss Yee, press the button to your left and your message will be conveyed to my cabin.”

“No ... I’m sure there will be nothing I need.”

“Very well then. It will be a short journey until we arrive at our destination.”

With that he closed the door of the limousine and entered into the driver’s cabin that secluded the passengers from the chauffeur by the security partition.

“Fergus ... the limousine is leaving,” Jamie announced so that he would be diligent in tracking its movements back at Section.

As Jamie watched the white limousine cruise out of the car park, he activated the tracking device he’d planted on the bumper of the vehicle. The beeps registered loud and clear and as the limousine moved along, so too did the dots indicating the tracking of its journey on the GPS matrix panel inside his car. Once the limo was a short way away, Jamie pulled away from the curb and followed at a safe distance behind.

“I’m in pursuit.”

“I also have the target in view,”

Fergus replied.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

The darkened limousine cruised along the streets of Hong Kong Island as it made its way to the location for dinner. After manoeuvring through the evening traffic for some time the limo soon began to ascend the mountain heading to Tai Ping Shan, the summit of Hong Kong Island and the best place for looking down at the scenery of Victoria Harbour.

“The vehicle is cruising north and seems to be heading to Hong Kong Island’s main residential and picturesque areas of The Peak.”

“Thanks Fergus ... that’s verified.”

The road leading up to the summit looped around the mountain. At various points along the way, Karen could see The Peak Tram defy gravity as it made its way up the extremely steep incline of the mountain. The funicular railway continued up the lush hillside towards The Peak as the limousine cruised smoothly along the road. From the vehicle Karen saw commuters standing upright in the carriage and remembered that the floor of the funicular was angled to accommodate the passengers from losing their balance.

She’d found it difficult to keep her balance on the steep incline the first time she’d ridden the tram too,

she remembered.

Jamie followed behind and soon caught up with the limousine, however as he did, it slowed down. Realising that he may be a little too close he pulled back somewhat and decided to pull into a viewing area where the Peak tram made a stop at the steepest incline at May Road, about 27 degrees to the horizon to avoid any suspicion of tailing them by the driver. As he indicated his intentions to turn into the parking bay, Jamie observed what the limousine did. He watched as it increased its speed and turned out of sight around the bend. His hunch had been right. However, it was of little concern as the tracking device was operative and Fergus had the limousine under surveillance as well. He would know soon enough when the limousine had reached its destination.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

The viewing bay was nearly full with sightseers and tourists taking in the dazzling panoramic views of Hong Kong Island, the harbour, Kowloon Peninsula and the hills beyond. Parking his car alongside other vehicles, Jamie waited for a few minutes but he too couldn’t help but admire the view. From this lofty vantage point, gazing over central Hong Kong with its towering office and apartment blocks, the harbour with its trademark white and green ferry boats and the surrounding islands was certainly superlative at night.

His thoughts though were elsewhere.

Somewhere out there the Rising Dragons were holding his Sassenach. But where was she? Where had they hidden her on Lantau Island? Would he be too late to rescue her?

The magnitude of the task was suddenly a little overwhelming but Jamie remained steadfast. He had a target to abduct.

Suddenly Fergus’s voice interrupted his musings.

“Is everything okay?”

he asked as it appeared that the chauffeur had sped off and that Jamie was not in pursuit.

“Aye ... but I had to pull back for a while.”

“Okay.”

“The limousine driver was suspicious that I was following them.”

In an attempt at some humour as well as trying to relieve the tension he could sense in Jamie’s voice, Fergus stated

“You were!”

James Fraser ignored his comment.

Finally, he pulled out of the parking bay after allowing for the limousine to put some distance between them and Jamie proceeded to follow the route the vehicle carrying his prime target Karen Yee had taken. He maintained a steady speed around the meandering road that lead to the summit while the tracker beeps continued to flash inside his car.

Then a short while later Fergus announced,

“Jamie ... The limousine has reached its destination.”

That was good news and James Fraser accelerated knowing that the target would soon be his. Karen Yee would not be able to enjoy her dinner or the view from The Peak this evening ... he had other plans for her.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ to be continued Monday 30th December when Jamie apprehends his target and they make their way to Lantau Island where the triad is holding his Sassenach.

Until next Monday week …

Seasons’ Greetings to all and my very best wishes for a wonderful and enjoyable Christmas.  sablelab xox

[jimlingss]

Jungle Park [21]

Chapter 20 - Chapter 21 - Chapter 22

➜ Words: 4.5k

➜ Genres: Fluff, Light Humour (?), Slice of Life, Workplace Romance!AU

➜ Summary: The equation is simple. Hoseok needs to hire someone. You need a job. Except like any actual equation, it’s not fucking simple at all! Not when you have to add the fact that he was forced to hire someone he doesn’t want in his office, he has little respect for your job in general, and oh yeah...once upon a time you might have—*CENSORED*.

You love your job. Really you do. This is the best career you’ve had. It’s fulfilling and the administrative work can be rather fun. You adore every person in this office. You haven’t had many bad days or terrible encounters. You also get to work alongside your partner in crime. But this….this is one of the rare moments you have to convince yourself you love your job.

“Look it’s not that big of a deal.”   “Of course it’s a big deal! That’s my personal space that you’re invading. And last I checked, you don’t have to suffer the consequences of your own actions.”   “Okay, wait, wait.” You put out a hand, halting Yoongi and Sunyi’s argument with each other. “Let’s take a step back and assess the root of the problem.”   “The problem is that he microwaved something in my office and now I can’t even walk in without wanting to gag and puke!” Sunyi is both exasperated and hysterical.   “Ever heard of mung beans?” Yoongi’s brow lifts with a mocking smile that adds more fuel to the fire. “It’s quite healthy for you and it’s really soft when you heat them up.”   “They smell like death!” Her fist pounds against the conference table. Out of the corner of your eye and through the glass windows of the room, you catch Lisa and Dahyun looking over from their spot at the front desk. It’s like these two are in the middle of a divorce mediation appointment. “Why can’t you just use the microwave in the kitchen?”   “Jin microwaved popcorn. I don’t want my mung beans to smell like popcorn.”   “You are unbelievable! Get your own damn microwave!”   “Listen.” He spins in his swivel chair, pointing his index finger down at the wooden surface of the table. “Why do you have a microwave in your office anyways if no one can use it?”   “It’s my microwave in my office for my own convenience and for me to use. Not for you, Min!” she spits it out in animosity and her blood vessel at her temple threaten to burst. “Not for you or your damn mung beans! Stay out!”   “Alright!” You shout above them both, straining your voice and getting between them before it spirals more out of control. “Enough. If you can’t discuss the issue properly like adults without screaming then how are we supposed to do this?” A long sigh spills from your lungs. “I’ve heard both sides and Yoongi, I believe you should apologize to Sunyi. It is her microwave after all and you didn’t ask permission to use it. The microwave in the kitchen is working fine and that’s for everyone to use. There’s no need to barge into Sunyi’s office.”   “Okay.” He nods once. “I understand and I’m sorry, Sunyi.”   “That’s it?” The female lawyer looks at you, her arms in the air. “There’s no punishment for him?”   “Well...if there’s a second offense, I’ll look into proper consequences. It’s a warning for now. If you need air freshener, I have some you can borrow.”   Sunyi falls back, collapsing into the chair while rubbing her temples. “Oh my god.”   Today is a heavy session of conflict resolution. You and Hoseok were chatting about the two lawyers casually on the sofa one night and he decided to put an end to it once and for all. It was getting pretty ridiculous when over three quarters of the complaints were of Yoongi from Sunyi. There are a lot of investigations still pending, but it’s time to put everything in the open and find the root issue to address it and stop this nonsense. Hoseok was here, mostly to observe and give you moral support, but much to your dismay, the lawyer looked more entertained than anything.   “Okay. Let’s take a look at some older complaints.” Your foot moves the first box forward and you lean down, plucking a random page from the papers sandwiched inside, as if you were picking a name slip in the Hunger Games. Your throat clears. “On February sixteenth of this year, Yoongi was calling Sunyi by the name Sunny all day and confusing the client they were talking to.”   “It’s a cute nickname, right?” Yoongi asks no one in particular, more so a thought aloud.   “It’s not good if the client is confused,” Hoseok adds.   You put the filled form down. “Yoongi, you should call Sunyi by her legal name since that’s what she wants.”   “Okay.”   You turn to her. “Is that alright with you?”   “I...uh...yeah.” She nods, cheeks heating up, and no one notices her reaction except for Yoongi who smiles to himself.   You pick another. “Here’s one made on December twentieth. Yoongi was wearing too strong of a cologne and it was clogging up your nose and making it hard to breathe.”   Everyone turns to look at her, giving the female a chance for further explanation. But instead, Sunyi’s head is downcast and she fiddles with her fingers in her lap. “Ummm...can...can I actually redact that? I don’t mind...it doesn’t bother me anymore.”   “Redact?” Your brow shoots upwards. “Alright. Makes the job easier.”   Yoongi gazes at her, staring, and goosebumps raise along her skin from the mere intensity of his eyes. Unfortunately, you don’t notice the exchange. You’re too busy picking out another sheet while Hoseok is preoccupied checking you out and making you send a glare his way, to which he gives you a greasy smile and flirtatious wink.   “Okay. November second, Yoongi spammed you email after email asking if orange pee is normal.”   Hoseok butts into the conversation, concerned for his friend. “Did you go to the doctor?”   “Yeah and I’m fine.” He smiles.   Sunyi raises her hand timidly. “Can I withdraw that?”   “Sure.” You put it aside into the accumulating pile. “Here’s another one where you said he was out to get you and driving you insane—”   “Redact that please!” Sunyi interrupts and Yoongi smirks.   He’s still staring at her, elbow propped on the table, cheek in his hand. “I drive you insane?”   She ignores him, speaking directly to you. “I’d like to withdraw it.”   “Okay…”   Somehow Sunyi redacting a lot of the complaints, especially those that attack Yoongi’s general character, personality or behaviour. You’re baffled, wondering if something changed her mind or they reconciled on their own. Nonetheless, the session is fairly successful and the two of them are less hostile towards each other by the end.   Still, you privately tell Hoseok to talk to Yoongi since they’re both friends and you know the latter man respects the former. Hoseok agrees and in confidence speaks to Yoongi about not wasting time or bothering Sunyi anymore to which the dark-haired lawyer nods along with. Sunyi leaves soon after, thanking you and it’s a job well done.   You high five Hoseok but he considers it inadequate, pulling you aside when you’re both alone and he kisses you eagerly, murmuring about how hot you look when you’re working hard. You scoff, chiding for him to get back to work and he salutes you with a firm ‘yes, ma’am’.

The restaurant has a cozy atmosphere, dim lighting that comes from candlelights placed in the middle of tables. The chatter and murmur of conversations blurs together with the soft music, but it’s quieter in the secluded area. The scent of food wafting from the kitchen is appetizing and the quality is only imaginable considering the toasted bread and creamy butter the waitress brought out is already mouthwatering.   You imagine this would be a fancy, hot date between you and Hoseok. But nope. The person sitting across from you is Kim Seokjin who’s devouring the bread like a wild animal starved. You’re also jammed between Naul who sips on her glass of red wine, lost in thought like she’s seen too much in her lifetime, and Namjoon who has his fingers attached onto his phone.   Hoseok is sitting at the front of the table with Jimin, visibly more tortured than you are.   “Jin! What the fuck!” Lisa moves her arm away, shooting him a disgusting glare. “You’re slobbering! And butter just hit my fucking arm! Eat properly, you dog!”   “Look.” He chews, cheeks stuffed to the brim. “I haven’t eaten in literally five hours, okay? I’m starving and the food is taking forever!”   “Can we not swear in a fancy place like this?” Seulgi pleads with a long sigh. “It makes us look unsophisticated and uncultured.”   “Are we supposed to be sophisticated?” Taehyung moves his sunglasses down, looking over the rim of his dark shades.   “What the hell are you even wearing.”   “It’s fashion. Ask Namjoon!”   “Don’t ask me,” the legal assistant mutters while still tapping away at his phone.   Sunyi scoffs. “You’re wearing pajamas, Taehyung.”   “Pajamas are in. Right, Jungkook?”   “Uh...” The younger lawyer reaches for his glass of water, sipping through the straw and refusing to give an answer.   “I can’t believe you blow your money on shit like that.” Lisa shakes her head in disapproval, obviously judging his horrible tastes.   “Don’t tell me how to spend my money and I won’t tell you how to spend yours, Miss-I-get-a-pedicure-every-other-day.”   “Excuse you! It’s relaxing for me.”   “Well, shopping is relaxing for me.”   “I prefer online shopping,” Inyoung timidly murmurs, attempting to mediate the argument.   They ignore her, but Dahyun swoops in with a smile to acknowledge the accountant. “Same here.”   “Look, I’m sorry you fools have no fashion sense.” Taehyung leans back in his seat, arms on top of the other chairs beside him. “And if Namjoon was paying any attention, you would know that he has the exact same set as I do. We actually pre-ordered it together.”   Seulgi turns to her friend with a frown. “What are you doing, Namjoon?”   He doesn’t look away from the screen and she thinks he’s actively ignoring her, but then the corner of his mouth moves. “Texting my girlfriend.”   “What.” Everyone cranes their necks over to stare like they’re hyperactive dogs and he’s a bouncing squirrel. “Since when?”   “Since years ago. Haven’t I talked about her?” The paralegal pockets his mobile device and finally lifts his head, pushing his glasses up the slope of his nose before it slips too far. “She plays in the philharmonic orchestra.”   “No, you haven’t talked about it,” Jin spits at his best friend, absolutely appalled and shocked at this news. “What the hell…”   “Yeah, she’s nice.” Namjoon shrugs nonchalantly and it doesn’t do much to lessen the shock.   But it goes quiet as they mull over the new revelation. And Jimin takes the opportunity to stand up. “Alright, alright. Let me get everyone’s attention again. Fellow employees of Jung and Park, do you know why we’re all here on this lovely evening?”   “Food?” Jin jokes, but he’s all too serious at the same time. He looks around and his eyes pin on a waiter holding a plate...only for that waiter to brush past and head to a different table. Dammit.   “No. We’re celebrating Hoseok’s and my anniversary!” There’s a pause. “Of being called to the bar!”   “Right.” Naul nods and holds up her glass, congratulating him before downing the rest of her drink.   Jimin is not impressed. “Can we get some more enthusiasm in here?”   “To Hoseok and Jimin!” Yoongi holds up his glass of water and everyone mimics him, raising their glass. Each gives one monotonous and short shout and then rehydrates themselves, making you laugh and Jimin snicker.   He opens his mouth, but gives up, taking a seat again with an exhale. His partner, on the other hand, grins. “Would anyone like to make a toast?”   “I will.” Taehyung volunteers, happily taking the spotlight as he stands and holds his water with a boxy smile. “I have been working at this firm ever since it started and I’m so glad that you dragged and threatened me to be here, Jimin. You were right. I don’t think I would’ve enjoyed that tax firm….even if they paid me more and had better benefits and was a closer commute…..”   Both friends laugh and he turns to smile at the other lawyer. “Hoseok, you’re scary. When any of us make a mistake, you glare, but lately you’ve been a lot nicer and approachable. I just wanted to say that it’s okay if any one of us mess up. We’re human after all.”   No one knows where he’s going with the toast, only that he’s ballsy enough to be this direct to Hoseok and still stand in front of him. Though Taehyung has no malice in his voice, just idiotic joy and he inhales, looking carefully at everyone. “But I think we have to mention a very special someone who’s sitting at this table right now. Y/N!”   “Me?” You blink, dumbfounded.   “Yes.” His lips are tilted upwards, cheeks puffing out, too cute. “You are the backbone of our entire firm. I don’t know what we would do without you. Thank you for being here. Thank you for staying with us. Thank you for saving us from scary, scary Hoseok.”   He sits back down and Lisa jumps up. “My turn! First off, I want to congratulate my two bosses, Jimin and Hoseok. Jung and Park has been the best place I’ve ever worked at and even though I know my job is technically less important than all of yours, you have never once made me feel insignificant in the office. For that, I am grateful. Congratulations on your anniversary.”   “But…” She quickly moves on before anyone can stop her and applaud. “I also have to thank Y/N.” Lisa smiles and shifts to you, eyes twinkling. “I know we got off on the wrong foot and I wasn’t always the nicest. But you never once took that and used it against me. You listened to me when no one else would. You helped me during tough times. You feel like a ray of sun in the office. God knows before you came, everything was a mess.”   The receptionist laughs and the others agree, nodding along. “There were boxes everywhere and I couldn’t walk without bumping into anything. So, thank you, Y/N. You don’t know what you mean to all of us.”   She sits back down and Jimin protests, “Wait a minut—”   “Hold on.” Timid Inyoung stands, adjusting the length of her skirt before she picks up her glass and presses it to her chest, gazing at you endearingly. “I also want to thank Y/N.”   The girl is sincere and you’re smiling, tears filling your eyes, overwhelmed by their appreciation. “I know we’re all kind of doing this as a joke to take the light away from Jimin and Hoseok—” She glances at them with a soft laugh. “—but I really mean it. Y/N, you are the sweetest person I know and you were there for me during one of the scariest times of my life. Without you, I don’t know where I’d be right now. I don’t know what would’ve happened to me. You’re the one who sticks up for everyone in this office and I don’t think we tell you that enough. You’re the one who time and time again proves that you genuinely care about us. And for that, thank you.”   You’re speechless. “You guys…”   Jungkook clears his throat. He steps up as well. “Y/N, I know you already know this but, you’re my role model. I aspire to be someone like you, someone who works hard and is so passionate about their work. The office has been changed for the better ever since you arrived. Jung and Park wouldn’t be able to function without your...uh..presence….”   He’s blushing from the attention and awkwardly shuffles back into his chair.   “You guys, let’s not take the light away from what we’re actually here for.” Seokjin grins mischievously, pushing away his hunger and chaotically getting up, scratching the leg chairs against the floorboards. He looks at the front, eyeing both lawyers. “Hoseok...Jimin…” They’re both expectant and Jin lifts his glass higher. “...thank you for hiring Y/N.”   There’s laughing and chuckling all around. Jimin opens his mouth to whine at the audacity to treat him like this, but unknowingly, you interrupt, getting to your feet and scanning your surroundings to imprint this memory into your mind. “You guys, I’m absolutely flattered.”   “You’re the ones who make me love my job so much. To be completely honest, before I came here, I was having a difficult time. I was applying everywhere trying to look for jobs, but I never expected to land my dream career. You’re the best bunch I’ve ever had the opportunity of working with. I’m so lucky and sometimes I wonder if I deserve it all.”   “But let’s not forget about Jimin and Hoseok.” All jokes aside, you shift to address each of them. “Jimin, you’re sweet and generous to everyone regardless of who they are. Congratulations on your anniversary for being called to the bar. Thank you for needing an HR rep.” The lawyer giggles, smiling wide, finally having his proper praise.   “And Hoseok.” Your breath is caught in your throat and you’re focused on him, tunnel vision, everything else blurring into the background. “I don’t think you’re mean at all. Well, maybe sometimes. You’re passionate about your job and I admire that. If people got to know you better, they’d know you’re literal sunshine on this planet. Thank you for hiring me.”   There’s a pause where you take a deep breath, eyes locked into his. “Thank you for picking me...out of everyone else.”   Your speech is coming to an end and you spin on your heel to address the rest of them. “Also, I’d like to use this opportunity to remind everyone that the fridge is a communal space. This has been an issue for a while now, but please do not eat food if it’s not labeled as yours and if you don’t know, it never hurts to ask.”   There’s a round of applause and you sit back down, hands falling into your lap, slightly embarrassed from the whole ordeal. No one notices, but you can feel Hoseok’s gaze on you.   Jimin grins. “There we go! Finally, a proper toast!”   And like perfect timing would have it— “Food’s here!” Jin’s announcement garners cheers as waiters and waitresses approach the table, passing around the food. People begin to dig in and you take one look around at each person’s face, all too happy to be here.   Your eyes meet Hoseok and you smile. He quirks his head to the side as well, staring and smiling back.   //   The pair of you return to the office. Giggles and drunken laughter echo down the halls, fluorescent lights flicker on slowly, flooding the entire floor with light. You teeter inside, throwing your bag and coat onto a chair at the empty front desk as he follows behind.   “Did you have a good time?”   You spin around, arms thrown around his neck. “Course I did.”   “Everyone loves you.” Hoseok grins, searching your face. “You took the spotlight.”   You laugh again, leaning closer and tilting your head. His breath skims along your skin, lips a millimeter away and his hands find purchase on your waist. Hoseok’s eyes become half-lidded, flickering down to your mouth and his Adam’s apple bobs. “Now you really can’t fire me, Jung. Else there’d be a riot.”   He laughs softly. “You know how to capture people, minx.” And Jung Hoseok leans in, breathing you in. His eyes are slightly open, watching your expression until he shuts them, relishing in the tender touch, enjoying the way your hands run through the strands of his hair, tugging ever so gently.   You pull away after ten seconds. “Wait, wait….we said we wouldn’t do it at the office again. What happens if we get caught?”   “You really think anyone would come here at this time?”   “I don’t know.” You giggle, feeling ticklish by the way his hands move along your side. You play with the hairs at the nape of his neck, lips pouty. “We should’ve just gone to your apartment instead.”   “That’s too far away.” He moves closer, body pressed on yours and the air becomes heated, making your skin feel hot. “Would rather have you right here, right now.”   Another giggle spills from your kiss-bitten lips and you draw closer as if you’re addicted to his scent, his hands. But then something stops you from planting a kiss on his mouth. There’s a subtle clatter, like the sound of thunder, but quieter and yet, closer. “Hoseok.”   “Hmm?” He’s too busy staring, touching, taking you all in to notice.   “What was that?”   You both crane your necks over. He holds your hand, stalking the noise. It’s probably a bad idea. You’ve watched enough horror movies, and you don’t know what to do if the office is haunted; knowing Hoseok, he’d probably pick up and move Jung and Park to a warehouse instead.   The noise comes from Taehyung’s office and you frown. Hoseok extends his hand, fingers wrapping around the knob, and he throws the door open. It crashes against the wall. You gasp. Eyes wide. Jaw dropping. There are clothes all over the ground, a small lamp fallen on the carpet as well, probably the noise you heard.   More importantly, on top of Taehyung’s desk, with papers amok is Sunyi and Yoongi wrapped around each other.   “Oh my god!” — “Holy fuck!” — “Don’t stare!” — “Sorry!”   It’s horrifying. You wish you saw a ghost instead.   //   The need to wash your eyes is all too high. But you compose yourself, trying to act like an adult, especially in this moment. You’re sobered up. If possible, the intoxication has been scared out of you.   The conference room is deathly quiet. Hoseok called for an emergency meeting and the two lawyers are barely put together. There are purple and blue hickeys all over Sunyi’s throat, her blouse still unbuttoned. Yoongi has lipstick stains all over his mouth and cheeks, hair riled up like he was electrocuted. It’s so unbearably uncomfortable that you feel yourself dying inside.   “How long has this been going on for?”   You’re the first to start off with a crystal clear voice, enunciating each syllable with your hands clasped on top of the table. “It’s complicated.” Sunyi is mortified, face reddened, head downcast. “It’s been...on and off.”   “When’s the first...time then?” It’s not like you want to intrude into their lives or overstep your boundaries, but this is unfortunately part of your job. You can’t pretend like you didn’t see it.   “Two years ago,” Yoongi states plainly, more composed than the female beside him.   “Years?” Hoseok’s brows shoot upwards, wholly surprised.   “This is purely a sexual relationship,” Sunyi scrambles to explain as if it can save the situation.   “Yeah right.” He scoffs, looking at you to explain. “We’re dating.”   She automatically protests, voice moving up a pitch, sharp and offended, “No, we’re not!”   “Then what do you describe going out ten times to movies and dinners? What? Are we friends?”   “It’s not dating. It’s just...hanging out...or rather, being at the same place by coincidence.”   Yoongi scoffs again, ignoring her. “We’re living together.”   “No!” She sighs. “I just have a lot of my stuff at his apartment and it happens to be closer to work than my place and my landlord is an asshole—”   “Alright.” Hoseok stops them before he gets a headache. He pinches the bridge of his nose, letting them off the hook considering how late of a night it is. “Obviously you need to talk to each other and figure this out. I don’t care what you guys are doing on your own time and neither does Jimin, but we need to know to prevent liability issues, okay? You’re both lawyers and you should understand that. So go home, figure it out, and in the morning, go report to HR.”   Sunyi nods frantically, grabbing her coat and covering herself up, walking out before she’s humiliated any further. But as you all make your way, Yoongi’s cat-like eyes are sharp and narrowed into slits. It sees right through you. “But...why did you two show up?”   He inhales a shallow breath and the corner of his mouth tugs, like they’re tempted to pull into a smirk. He knows.   “I had to pick something up.” Hoseok swallows hard, pupils diverted elsewhere.   Yoongi smiles and he glances at you for a millisecond. “Sure. Let’s go with that.”   “Goodnight, Yoongi.”   The pair of you watch them leave, still unable to wrap your minds around this bizarre development. Then, a tired exhale leaves through the seams of your lips. “I’m going to have to do another presentation on office romances and not having sex here, right?”   “Probably.” Hoseok nods, still looking ahead at the elevator doors with you. “But right now, we have unfinished business.”   “If you think for one second that after that we’re going to your office—”   “To my apartment we go!” Hoseok laughs, clutching your hand in his and dragging you off as your mouth curls and a soft scoff leaves it.   The trip to his place isn’t as bad as you thought it would be. Well, considering Hoseok kicks the front door open and he’s carrying you. You didn’t have to take many steps, but he was slightly struggling, almost crashing into the wall and wobbling from side to side. “Oof.”   “I thought I was light as a feather, Hobi.” You make fun of him, tugging on his chubby cheek and mimicking his words from inside the apartment elevator.   Still, the fool of a lawyer manages a laugh and a grin. “You’re heavy as one brick. So not that much.”   “Lovely. Comparing me to a brick.”   Once he’s made it to the bedroom, he throws you onto the mattress, making your body bounce once and you feel absolutely giddy from head to toe. He strips off his jacket before jumping on top of you, causing laughs to bubble out. You complain he’s too heavy and too warm, pushing him off.   But even when Hoseok’s moved aside, he’s relentless, arms wrapping around your abdomen, nuzzling into you. A quiet yawn leaves him and he cuddles into your body, head propped on top of your crown. “Y/N…”   “Hmm?” Your lashes flutter, finally simmering down.   “Wanna just sleep instead? You’re too soft to let go. Like a pillow.”   “Okay.” Your hands card through the strands of his hair, patting and petting him. The man who’s melted into putty hums in satisfaction, reminiscent of a cat being lulled by their owner. “But Hoseok.”   “Yeah?”   “I still need to brush my teeth. And take off my makeup. And change into pajamas.”   There’s silence.   You wonder if he’s fallen asleep. “Hoseok?”   “Yes, ma’am.” He pulls away, albeit reluctantly and obviously tired. Yet somehow, he manages to scoop you up in his arms again, carrying you into his bathroom to get ready for bed. He’s all too silly and as you laugh, you wonder how it’s possible sunshine has been encapsulated into one man.

[a-shakespearean-in-paris]

Favorite Surprises

A Detroit: Become Human commission for @whimsicalragnarok! Thank you for allowing me to write a deviant, post android revolution Connor with your OC Miceala on their first date.

Interested in a commission? Go here.  

“You look good Connor,” Micaela said. “You know how to wear things that suit you. Though your tie is a little crooked.”

He glanced downward. She was right. His tie was crooked. He couldn’t think too long about it as she reached over and adjusted it for him. At Hank’s suggestion he dressed a little more formally than normal. Just ask her already! burned in his memory. Finally he did. Finally.  

“Odd. Your hair is a little messy too.” 

His hand flew to the errant lock of hair that fell on his forehead. “Is it?”

“Yes. That’s not like you. Here…”

She was right. It wasn’t like him at all. His state of mind earlier was abnormal however. The tips of her fingers glided across his forehead anyway, smoothing out the ruffled lock and straightening it for him. He thanked her, and he saw something he couldn’t place in her blue-green eyes.

“You’re always so perfect,” she said, tone indicating she was teasing him playfully. “How shocking.”

He knew the truth. “I’m not perfect.”

Her hand lingered at his hair. “No one is,” she said.

He led her inside the restaurant, a restaurant with a four star ranking he deemed appropriate for the occasion. He made a reservation prior, and they were brought to a secluded table at the back. The lighting was low, and she was wearing a solid black sleeveless dress that went a little past her knees. Her black hair, usually haphazardly pulled up at the top of her head, was down for the occasion, falling past her shoulders. He saw himself twirl his fingers through it, pull her hair away from her face so he could better see her eyes. But he wouldn’t touch her unless she wanted. He wouldn’t do anything to her unless she asked.

Their waitress, a tall blonde-haired woman came to the table and asked for their drink orders. Connor said he was fine. Micaela ordered a Guinness.

“Are you sure I can’t get you anything?” the waitress who introduced herself as Kelly inquired. She looked directly into Connor’s eyes, shoulders and feet pointed straight toward him. It was like Micaela wasn’t there.

“Positive,” Connor replied.

“Well if you change your mind, please feel free to let me know.”

“I hope you noted I want a Guinness.”

Kelly nodded curtly at Micaela, cheeks subtly blooming with pinkish shame as she shuffled away.

Micaela raised her eyebrows when she was out of earshot. “The waitress fancies you.”

He was instilled with programs and computations. He knew every statistic, every likely probability and even the ones that were less likely. He wasn’t designed to be surprised. Yet since he opened his eyes, he had been surprised every day.

“Does she?” he asked, eyes widening and drifting where she disappeared.

She noted he sounded surprised. He was. Attractiveness, beauty. They were all very human concepts, though if asked, even before, he was certain that he had found things that he would have considered pretty, maybe even beautiful too. Snow falling on the water in the park, turning the world white. Paintings of flowers and mountains that lined the walls of the Detroit Institute of Art. He liked to look at pretty things, and he knew what beauty was and could be.

Regarding Micaela, outlined in a candlelight glow, looking at him and pretending she was with a man and not an android, he saw something he thought was a little like beauty, but maybe more.

But he wasn’t used to others seeing that in him. Since the revolution he took off his LED and passed for human in most places. Sometimes he was recognized as one of the androids on the news that night of the eleventh, but most days he could be anyone he wanted to be. A person, who thought and felt, and had their own vibrant life. Not an object. He was still trying to tell himself that he could have a vibrant life.

“What are you thinking about?” she asked. “Still tickled the waitress fancies you?” 

He turned his full attention back toward her and her gentle eyes. She was open and relaxed, heart rate normal. He told her he wasn’t thinking about anything in particular.

“You are not.”

Of course she would catch him. She was a journalist, a photographer. She was supposed to see what others couldn’t. Caught, he confessed she was right, he was thinking about the waitress finding him attractive. He wasn’t used to that sort of thing.

“Connor,” Micaela said as the bartender brought the Guinness, along with a second one that Kelly decided to bring for Connor anyway.  “How many times a day do you look at yourself in the window and adjust your tie?”

“At least every few hours,” he admitted.

She took a sip. “Point taken. You know you’re attractive. Don’t be so surprised when others notice.”

“Do you find me attractive?”

Guinness dripped from the corner of her mouth down to her chin. He handed her napkin. She wiped.

“Do I…think you’re attractive?” she asked. “Well…uh…”

“You’re blushing indicates embarrassment. I’m sorry. Did my question offend you?”

“I’m not easily offended,” she assured. “I can’t be, not with my work.”

Micaela didn’t have it easy. Connor knew that when he first came across her via Hank. Curious, he asked him how he knew the strange woman with slightly musical voice and long black hair piled at the top of her head. She was young when he was involved in her mother’s arrest, checked in on her often when she moved from foster home to foster home. She didn’t even have it easy before that. She moved to Detroit from Ireland when she was only ten years old, and because of that she had a slight sing-song to her voice, foreign from everyone else Connor crossed paths with. Though Hank never said so or admitted it, Connor knew he held an attachment toward her, even if at one point he called her job as a photographer and journalist an “obsession.” Connor read the stories of her “shenanigans,” as Hank called them. She had done quite a few things in her day on the job, jumping fences, going into restricted areas, that she was referred to as “Superman.” She would do anything to get the best story and snapshots. Lately she had been in the editorials for her vocal support for android rights, but the truth was she had been supporting them even before the revolution. She always believed in his people’s personhood, in his personhood. Even before he did, even as he still struggled to find out what to do with it.

Moments of silence passed. Time was different for humans. Connor liked the silence, could spend hours in it, thinking. It wasn’t like that for humans. He wondered if the moment of silence was too long for her. But she looked at him, observed him as he observed her. He sensed her heart rate was normal, and she was relaxed as she sipped her Guinness and moved on to the one Connor was given. Maybe she liked the silence as he did.

Eventually she looked at the menu. For dinner she couldn’t decide between the steak or the seafood. When the waitress came and she decided on the steak, Connor ordered the seafood.

“Why did you order?” She asked. “You’re not going to eat it.”

“You had trouble deciding. Thought I would get it for you.”

She cocked her head. “Awfully sweet. Thank you.”

When the food came, she ate from both plates, talking amicably. “You know, in the future they should make restaurants for androids,” she mused.

“Androids don’t really eat as humans do,” he replied. “I’m not sure that would work.”

“I don’t know, blue blood lollipops? Blue blood ice cream? It could be a worthy investment.”

“We’re not regarded fondly. I don’t think people want to cater to us.”

“Someday, you never know.”

He used to walk around with his LED on. He could only walk the streets at night then. There were too many people during the day who would stare, shove him even. No, sometimes he didn’t know. That was why he took it off. Without it he had some anonymity, could just be Connor. Save for the time he was recognized as the deviant there with Markus the night of the revolution.

Micaela was there too. They both happened to be in Ferndale helping a few androids who reported harassment from a few people who lived nearby. He was spit at, hit at before the DPD intervened. Micaela was cursed at too. Stick to your own kind, they said. She had seen all that too. Unlike Connor, she seemed to know.

“The world is always changing Connor,” she said softly. “Christ, you’ve changed so much since we first met.”

He should have known. It should have been obvious. Yet sometimes, he was unsure.

“I don’t know,” he admitted.

“You have,” she assured. “Not just with the obvious, but you’re more caring. I can see it. You always asked things, and I think you were curious back then, but now it’s more apparent. You see things too. And sometimes, you even do crazy things like ask me out on dates.”

“This isn’t a date,” he insisted.

She leaned in. “What if I want it to be one?”

“Well. Then…” He too, leaned closer in. “Then it can be. But only if you want. Like I said it doesn’t have to be.”

His hand was on the table. She put hers on top of it.

“Hey,” she said, chuckling. “I want it to be.”

“Oh.” He could feel it—his thirium pump working harder than it should have. “Good. Then…I hope you’ve been enjoying it.”

“I am. Now stop worrying so much.”

“Ma’am yes ma’am.”

She got a good laugh at that, and he continued with the “date” aspect by paying for the dinner, even when she insisted she could. When they left the restaurant, he stood at a crossroads, knowing he should see her home but not wanting to leave her. Not yet. If he was honest with himself, leaving her was something that he would do everything he could to avoid.

“Micaela…”

“Mic,” she corrected. “Mac, Mickey, whatever. I’m flexible.”

“You don’t like Micaela?” he asked, confused, worried he called her by a name she found offensive for all that time.

She shrugged. “People who I’m close to usually shorten it. I would consider us pretty close, wouldn’t you say?”

He would, very much so. And he didn’t want his time with her to end. He asked if she wanted to go somewhere with him. She didn’t point out that she was with him somewhere already. For that, he was grateful. She only asked where he wanted to go next. He suggested the park. It was the first place he thought of. He didn’t think she would agree. But his life now was surprise after surprise. She did agree, let him take her there. They walked in silence in the light fallen snow, and when she shivered, even underneath her jacket, he took his off and put it around her shoulders. She called him a gentleman.

“Maybe I shouldn’t have taken you here,” he said. “I don’t want you to be cold.”

“See,” she exclaimed. “You have changed. You’re kind, You’re caring.”  

She peered at him. Their bodies touched, his mechanical, forged heart beating alongside hers. There was something he remembered. She didn’t answer his question.

“I don’t remember your question.”

“Mic.”

She chuckled, surrendering. “Alright, I do remember. So, do I find you attractive? Hmmm.” She wrapped her around his neck. “Yes. Yes I do. I have for a while.”

He asked her how long, realizing that she was right. He could be awfully curious. And as they sat down on the bench, she admitted as they watched the snow fall against the water, she knew there was something about him almost immediately.

“Why didn’t you say so?” he wondered. “You had opportunities.”

“I didn’t want to take advantage of you or give you an order. I couldn’t do that. I would never want to do that. Even now I worry that…” She smoothed the hair away from her face. She didn’t continue.

“That what?” he asked, soft and gentle.

“That I’m taking advantage of you by being here.”

He held her face in his hands. He studied her eyes, studied her, his favorite curiosity that made him feel as anyone could feel, happy and anxious, but mostly excited for everything else.

“There’s nothing I want more than to be her with you,” he promised her.

“I never want to give you an order,” she muttered. “But…”

She took his hand. He squeezed it. “But what?”

“But I really want you to kiss me.”

“Kiss? Oh. I know about those types of things.” He outlined her lips with the pad of his thumb.

Her cheeks blossomed pink. “Oh? Is that so?”

“Mic,” he said. “Kiss me.”

Her lips touched his. It was a fleeting moment, but it was an eternity. She parted their mouths with her tongue, she underlined his bottom lip with the tip. He shivered. It was good. She was good. She was his favorite surprise.

Their foreheads touched. He held her in his arms. He thought of the more surprises they would have.

[adriennegad2fmp]

Urban

Jan Gehl noted acerbically: “It is ironic that we know more about the habitat of mountain gorillas than we do about the habitat of people”. Cities are too often seen mechanistically, as inanimate clumps of buildings and technology. This misses their essential human nature. We should look again. We recognized immediately that although jobs, infrastructure and architecture are critically important, cities are primarily a lived emotional experience. The evidence shows how this impacts massively and directly on our personal development and state of being. Mental health in cities is generally worse than rural areas, worse the bigger a city gets. This is largely connected to concentrations of urban poverty, and does not in any sense make cities bad. They also teach us to be resilient, live with differences and build robust communities. But our success as a species is closely linked to cities, so understanding more about how we influence and are influenced by them is crucial. It can help those who make and manage cities increase the best effects and reduce the worst. Place identity’ and ‘place attachment’ theory from environmental psychology demonstrate how and where we live has profound emotional and physical impacts, influencing our sense of self, belonging, purpose and meaning in life. Put alongside this that over the span of human evolution very few people have actually lived in a city and our basic mental apparatus did not evolve in them, and we begin to understand the urgent need for an urban psychology. The ‘peace psychology showed how basic psychological needs had to be met before progress on negotiations in disputed territories could be made; it’s not all about land and power. Crucial were: feeling secure; belonging; self-esteem and respect; a right to cultural identity; an ability to participate; and a sense of fairness–sometimes, a simple apology. Precisely the things a city must provide to deal successfully with differences of views, culture or religion. Even a cursory review exposes a virtually untapped, rich seam of ideas and practices in psychology that could be brought to bear on cities, providing new perspectives and workable solutions. The challenges for Lisbon are clear when it says of itself it is more introverted than extroverted, more self-absorbed than nurturing or more an improviser than a conscientious doer. The discovery that the Portuguese capital finds it hard to make decisions for the future is important especially when ‘saudade’, that nostalgia for great things past, remains present in the collective Lisboan psyche. More than 30 years ago, the pioneering urbanist William Whyte was charged by the city of New York with the task of unraveling the mysteries of public space. Why do some such spaces attract crowds of happy visitors whilst others sit barren and empty? Today, any visitor to New York might find any number of things to complain about but the wide availability and attractive human affordances of the city's many public spaces is not likely to be among them. Whyte's epiphany was that the way to answer important questions about how to build a commodious and psychologically healthy city lay in careful observation, collection of data and the creative ability to lay aside preconceptions and view a streetscape with a "beginner mind". Whyte's book, The Social Life of Small Urban Spaces, based on this work, are as fresh and insightful now as the day that they appeared, and are required reading and viewing for any student of urban behavior.                                                            One of the most distinctive differences between urban and rural life is the area where one lives. The areas that are considered urban are those characterized by having modern services. Technologies such as internet, satellite, cable TV and cell phone service are always available. Urban culture is the culture of towns and cities. The defining theme is the presence of a great number of very different people in a very limited space - most of them are strangers to each other. This makes it possible to build up a vast array of subcultures close to each other, exposed to each other's influence, but without necessarily intrude Globally, urban areas tend to also be home to concentrations of power, such as government capitals and corporate headquarters, and the wealthy and powerful people that are employed in them. Cities also organize people, create norms, beliefs, and values. As outlined by Max Weber in his book, The City, "there are five things that make a city: fortification, market, a law code, an association of urban citizenry creating a sense of municipal corporateness, and sufficient political autonomy for urban citizens to choose the city’s governors." In some countries, elites have built themselves enclaves outside of the central city (e.g. white flight in the United States). In most of the Western world, urban areas tend to be politically to the left of suburban and rural areas, even if deindustrialization has reduced the influence of labour unions and the working class, the new urban left is supported by upper middle class white-collar workers, students and academics, and creative types (artists). Urbanites also tend to be less religious, more environmentalist, and more open to immigration than rural people. Life in cities today is certainly complex, on the one hand, many cities are vibrant places, filled with museums and other cultural attractions, nightclubs, theaters, and restaurants and populated by people from many walks of life and from varied racial and ethnic and national backgrounds. Many college graduates flock to cities, not only for their employment opportunities but also for their many activities and the sheer excitement of living in a metropolis. On the other hand, many cities are also filled with abject poverty, filthy and dilapidated housing, high crime rates, traffic gridlock, and dirty air. Many Americans would live nowhere but a city, and many would live anywhere but a city. Cities arouse strong opinions, pro and con, because there are many things both to like and to dislike about cities. By definition, cities consist of very large numbers of people living in a relatively small amount of space. Some of these people have a good deal of money, but many people, and in some cities most people, have very little money. Cities must provide many kinds of services for all their residents, and certain additional services for their poorer residents. These basic facts of city life make for common sets of problems affecting cities throughout the nation, albeit to varying degrees, with some cities less able than others to address these problems. This section examines several of these problems.                                                                                                                                                            But there are lots of different pros and cons of urbanization and also there of course like how many places have a lot of areas that could be improved upon, such as the safety of the inhabitants of these cities and they could be more comfortable to live in, as well as the quality of rented houses should be improved upon. However it is not just the buildings that need improving but the air pollution could be improved upon with freshly planted trees and the the roads could be networked to decrease traffic collections and ensure safety upon the roads, improving upon this idea there could also be more car parking areas so the rose on cluttered with parked vehicles. Living in a particularly crowded place such as Ipswich I can completely vouch for the idea of more parking establishments. however then looking into the transport facilities of urban life they are more developed and modernized providing many different ways of transportation. And providing the idea of transportation is the constant electricity supply that is particularly rowdy in cities. Ongoing cities have the capability to provide a wide range of entertainment options such as galleries museum cinemas concerts and more, I particularly have been feeling this benefit while I have been living in a highly urbanized area providing experience and inspiration. However of course like all things there are downsides of urban life. Cities and spaces are constantly overcrowded, due to the high population density people living in cities experience traffic compilations and long community driving hours. The air quality is often poor in heavy built-up areas as I had so mentioned previously. And on top of this the cost of living in a highly built-up urban areas is high.

[easyfoodnetwork]

Everything That Makes Dive Bars Great Makes Them Vulnerable to COVID-19

Lisa Thompson performs during a drag show at Bob and Barbara’s Lounge | Ricky Carioti/The Washington Post via Getty Images

Drinkers love dark, rowdy, cheap, cash-only dives, but those bars struggle with safety measures like social distancing and takeout

“Bob & Barbara’s Lounge is a tradition in Philadelphia,” says owner Jack Prince. He has run the bar with his wife Gretchen for the last quarter-century, but it originally opened in 1969 and still bears the wood paneling, pendant lights over the bar, and distinctive acrylic windows to prove it. “When people come from out of town, it’s one of the places people take them to see. They’ll take them to Pat’s and Geno’s to see the cheesesteak wars. They’ll drive ‘em by the Liberty Bell. And they’ll take ‘em to Bob & Barbara’s for a special.”

The special, popularized around Philly as a “citywide special,” consists of a shot of Jim Beam bourbon and a can of Pabst Blue Ribbon for $4. It’s one of the things that makes Bob & Barbara’s so beloved, along with the “liquor drinkin’ music” that fills the bar on weekends and the famed weekly drag show.

As states and cities reopen bars following the COVID-19 pandemic, lively, low-cost venues like Bob & Barbara’s may struggle to meet strict social distancing requirements or serve patrons in other ways, like with takeout cocktails. “There are a lot of places in Philly and I’m sure in many other cities, where it’s small and beloved, and it really only works when there are a bunch of people there. I don’t know if all of a sudden we’re knocked off the face of the earth — or if we just have to make adjustments,” Prince says. He doubts whether Bob & Barbara’s will be able to host their usual activities for a while to come, though he’s committed to keeping the drag show going above all else.

Dives are cherished for their dark interiors, raucous atmospheres, and egalitarian walk-in only service, all aspects that make it hard for dives to accommodate social distancing. The bars are known for simple menus, cheap drinks, and even their grimy atmospheres, which help them thrive during traditional economic downturns but lower their appeal for anyone afraid of germs during a pandemic. “My god, we don’t even take credit cards, and now everyone is like, ‘Cash is poison,’” Prince says.

Some bar owners are making creative pivots to find business. “Bars that are solely bars, with no restaurant attached, have to come up with ideas to make stuff work,” says Susan Carnel, who has owned the Living Room in Los Angeles since 2017. She has been working with a soul food restaurant next door, Chef Marilyn’s, to collaborate on an outdoor eating and drinking area.

Carnel recognizes how lucky she is to have a willing neighbor and a parking lot where they can set up, but even with a way to do business, she’s not sure customers will show. “I anticipate problems because I cater to an older crowd,” she says, clarifying, “older black people. And they’re saying the virus is attacking black people more than anybody else. These guys are really leery. They’re like, ‘I don’t know Susan. If you open back up, I don’t know if I’m going to be able to make it.’” In the evenings, the Living Room serves a different crowd. “Due to gentrification, the crowd is multicultural, which I like. Everyone gets along. It’s like Cheers if you ask me,” she says. But she remains committed to her daytime regulars. “I’m just trying to cater to them because they really keep the club open. Those are the ones who come to spend money. Those are the ones I have history with.”

Carnel is also concerned about her staff. “I asked one of my bartenders, ‘If we open up in July, are you coming back?’ And he says he doesn’t know. And I get it. I would have a problem with that too, especially if there’s no cure for the virus.”

Mark Connell, who has owned Botanica in New York for 15 years, says his staff are actually antsy to get back to work, but he still has to find a way to pay them. “No bartender is going to go back to work to make a couple drinks to-go when they can make $1,100 on unemployment,” he says. The bar has been mostly closed since March 16, even as nearby restaurants find ways to pivot. Fine-dining restaurant Estela, directly upstairs from Botanica, has been selling expensive dinner boxes and even a puzzle depicting their famous mussels escabeche.

Armed with a forgivable PPP loan and an interest-free loan from the New York Small Business Service, Connell brought back some staff in May to try offering to-go drinks, along with bags of chips to get around a city rule that requires food to accompany takeout alcohol. They saw 7 percent of usual sales, and only kept at it in order to use up the time-sensitive PPP loan.

“The only people who would order a beer from us, or a cocktail from us, are people who are going to be scofflaws and wandering around the streets drinking alcohol, or people who just want to be generous and just want to help us stay in business,” he says. Since the time limit on the PPP loan was extended, though, Connell says Botanica will probably remain shut until they can seat guests inside or nab one of the contested parking spots out front for al fresco seating.

Connell recognizes that Botanica caters to a young crowd, who can’t spend much money but are happy to risk infection for a drink with friends. He says his bartenders “just don’t care” about getting infected either. Still, he’s wary of customers who flout the rules and will leave his business open to conflict with city authorities. “Someone will drop a dime,” he says. “Someone will call 311. And then we get a visit from the health department.” While he is clear he would never condone his customers breaking social distancing, he’s still concerned about how the city will regulate places like Botanica where young, carefree folks tend to gather.

In many cities, the pandemic has intensified pre-existing economic trends which squeeze owners who are committed to providing affordable service. The price of the special at Bob & Barbara’s has crept up over the last few years from $3 to $3.50 to $4, and Prince is unsure how he’ll price it when the business reopens.

“We sell beers for $3 because I still believe if you have 20 bucks in your pocket you should be able to go out and have a few drinks with your friends in New York City,” Connell says of Botanica, but he adds, “I have to sell a lot of $3 PBRs to hit rent.” While he says he’s lucky to have a generous landlord who values a stable tenant, he recognizes that generosity can only stretch so far. At some point financial reality may overcome loyalty.

Dive bars have long been an endangered species in many cities. Some owners have found success by reinventing dives with updated menus and cleaned-up interiors. In Portland, Oregon, for example, Marcus Archambeault and Warren Boothby have been able to preserve a handful of historic bars, including the Sandy Hut, originally established in 1923. The duo purchased the bar seven years ago, committing to maintaining the bar’s historic character while offering patrons craft cocktails and something more to eat than chicken tenders. They also made a key decision a year ago to buy the building, removing rent from the laundry list of concerns during the pandemic, at least for one bar.

“There’s been so much transformation in that neighborhood over the last 10 years,” Archambeault says. “There’s always this fear, particularly with the Sandy Hut, that the place is going to disappear. A lot of people have this idea that it’s going to go away or going to be sold, but we’re planning to be there, continuing on the business as is.”

Connell too has worked to update Botanica without losing its heart. Last year, New York granted Botanica a Love Your Local grant for $90,000, which Connell attributes to the city’s recognition “that landlords and vacant storefronts and Starbucks and CVS are sucking the soul out of the city.” He put the money toward updating the bar, keeping it accessible to his regulars but also making it more attractive to the expensive cocktail-drinking crowd. “We offer Yamazaki for $15 a pop because if you want to spend money, we need that money. We can’t survive on $3 Pabst,” he says.

The COVID-19 pandemic may only accelerate that trend. “We’re slowly changing things and trying not to throw the baby out with the bathwater. Just trying to clean the place up. Which stands us in good stead for the next phase of this whole thing. Because no one is going to want to sit in a…” Connell trails off, but it’s easy for a pessimist to fill in the end of that sentence. No one is going to want to sit in a dirty dive bar.

But Connell doesn’t seem pessimistic about the future of dives. “The people who go to the cocktail bars and spend $16 to $20, do those people really have loyalty to a brand or a bar? I don’t think so. And those are the people who are all now in the Hamptons or Aspen or wherever their second or third homes are,” he says. “There are still some regular people and they’re not going to the places with the $16 to $20 cocktails. They just want to go out and socialize in cheap places. I think we’re going to be alright.”

Prince sums it up succinctly, “If this is the end, wow that sucks. But hopefully we will live on.”

from Eater - All https://ift.tt/31bWJVL https://ift.tt/37SB4Dc

Lisa Thompson performs during a drag show at Bob and Barbara’s Lounge | Ricky Carioti/The Washington Post via Getty Images

Drinkers love dark, rowdy, cheap, cash-only dives, but those bars struggle with safety measures like social distancing and takeout

“Bob & Barbara’s Lounge is a tradition in Philadelphia,” says owner Jack Prince. He has run the bar with his wife Gretchen for the last quarter-century, but it originally opened in 1969 and still bears the wood paneling, pendant lights over the bar, and distinctive acrylic windows to prove it. “When people come from out of town, it’s one of the places people take them to see. They’ll take them to Pat’s and Geno’s to see the cheesesteak wars. They’ll drive ‘em by the Liberty Bell. And they’ll take ‘em to Bob & Barbara’s for a special.”

The special, popularized around Philly as a “citywide special,” consists of a shot of Jim Beam bourbon and a can of Pabst Blue Ribbon for $4. It’s one of the things that makes Bob & Barbara’s so beloved, along with the “liquor drinkin’ music” that fills the bar on weekends and the famed weekly drag show.

As states and cities reopen bars following the COVID-19 pandemic, lively, low-cost venues like Bob & Barbara’s may struggle to meet strict social distancing requirements or serve patrons in other ways, like with takeout cocktails. “There are a lot of places in Philly and I’m sure in many other cities, where it’s small and beloved, and it really only works when there are a bunch of people there. I don’t know if all of a sudden we’re knocked off the face of the earth — or if we just have to make adjustments,” Prince says. He doubts whether Bob & Barbara’s will be able to host their usual activities for a while to come, though he’s committed to keeping the drag show going above all else.

Dives are cherished for their dark interiors, raucous atmospheres, and egalitarian walk-in only service, all aspects that make it hard for dives to accommodate social distancing. The bars are known for simple menus, cheap drinks, and even their grimy atmospheres, which help them thrive during traditional economic downturns but lower their appeal for anyone afraid of germs during a pandemic. “My god, we don’t even take credit cards, and now everyone is like, ‘Cash is poison,’” Prince says.

Some bar owners are making creative pivots to find business. “Bars that are solely bars, with no restaurant attached, have to come up with ideas to make stuff work,” says Susan Carnel, who has owned the Living Room in Los Angeles since 2017. She has been working with a soul food restaurant next door, Chef Marilyn’s, to collaborate on an outdoor eating and drinking area.

Carnel recognizes how lucky she is to have a willing neighbor and a parking lot where they can set up, but even with a way to do business, she’s not sure customers will show. “I anticipate problems because I cater to an older crowd,” she says, clarifying, “older black people. And they’re saying the virus is attacking black people more than anybody else. These guys are really leery. They’re like, ‘I don’t know Susan. If you open back up, I don’t know if I’m going to be able to make it.’” In the evenings, the Living Room serves a different crowd. “Due to gentrification, the crowd is multicultural, which I like. Everyone gets along. It’s like Cheers if you ask me,” she says. But she remains committed to her daytime regulars. “I’m just trying to cater to them because they really keep the club open. Those are the ones who come to spend money. Those are the ones I have history with.”

Carnel is also concerned about her staff. “I asked one of my bartenders, ‘If we open up in July, are you coming back?’ And he says he doesn’t know. And I get it. I would have a problem with that too, especially if there’s no cure for the virus.”

Mark Connell, who has owned Botanica in New York for 15 years, says his staff are actually antsy to get back to work, but he still has to find a way to pay them. “No bartender is going to go back to work to make a couple drinks to-go when they can make $1,100 on unemployment,” he says. The bar has been mostly closed since March 16, even as nearby restaurants find ways to pivot. Fine-dining restaurant Estela, directly upstairs from Botanica, has been selling expensive dinner boxes and even a puzzle depicting their famous mussels escabeche.

Armed with a forgivable PPP loan and an interest-free loan from the New York Small Business Service, Connell brought back some staff in May to try offering to-go drinks, along with bags of chips to get around a city rule that requires food to accompany takeout alcohol. They saw 7 percent of usual sales, and only kept at it in order to use up the time-sensitive PPP loan.

“The only people who would order a beer from us, or a cocktail from us, are people who are going to be scofflaws and wandering around the streets drinking alcohol, or people who just want to be generous and just want to help us stay in business,” he says. Since the time limit on the PPP loan was extended, though, Connell says Botanica will probably remain shut until they can seat guests inside or nab one of the contested parking spots out front for al fresco seating.

Connell recognizes that Botanica caters to a young crowd, who can’t spend much money but are happy to risk infection for a drink with friends. He says his bartenders “just don’t care” about getting infected either. Still, he’s wary of customers who flout the rules and will leave his business open to conflict with city authorities. “Someone will drop a dime,” he says. “Someone will call 311. And then we get a visit from the health department.” While he is clear he would never condone his customers breaking social distancing, he’s still concerned about how the city will regulate places like Botanica where young, carefree folks tend to gather.

In many cities, the pandemic has intensified pre-existing economic trends which squeeze owners who are committed to providing affordable service. The price of the special at Bob & Barbara’s has crept up over the last few years from $3 to $3.50 to $4, and Prince is unsure how he’ll price it when the business reopens.

“We sell beers for $3 because I still believe if you have 20 bucks in your pocket you should be able to go out and have a few drinks with your friends in New York City,” Connell says of Botanica, but he adds, “I have to sell a lot of $3 PBRs to hit rent.” While he says he’s lucky to have a generous landlord who values a stable tenant, he recognizes that generosity can only stretch so far. At some point financial reality may overcome loyalty.

Dive bars have long been an endangered species in many cities. Some owners have found success by reinventing dives with updated menus and cleaned-up interiors. In Portland, Oregon, for example, Marcus Archambeault and Warren Boothby have been able to preserve a handful of historic bars, including the Sandy Hut, originally established in 1923. The duo purchased the bar seven years ago, committing to maintaining the bar’s historic character while offering patrons craft cocktails and something more to eat than chicken tenders. They also made a key decision a year ago to buy the building, removing rent from the laundry list of concerns during the pandemic, at least for one bar.

“There’s been so much transformation in that neighborhood over the last 10 years,” Archambeault says. “There’s always this fear, particularly with the Sandy Hut, that the place is going to disappear. A lot of people have this idea that it’s going to go away or going to be sold, but we’re planning to be there, continuing on the business as is.”

Connell too has worked to update Botanica without losing its heart. Last year, New York granted Botanica a Love Your Local grant for $90,000, which Connell attributes to the city’s recognition “that landlords and vacant storefronts and Starbucks and CVS are sucking the soul out of the city.” He put the money toward updating the bar, keeping it accessible to his regulars but also making it more attractive to the expensive cocktail-drinking crowd. “We offer Yamazaki for $15 a pop because if you want to spend money, we need that money. We can’t survive on $3 Pabst,” he says.

The COVID-19 pandemic may only accelerate that trend. “We’re slowly changing things and trying not to throw the baby out with the bathwater. Just trying to clean the place up. Which stands us in good stead for the next phase of this whole thing. Because no one is going to want to sit in a…” Connell trails off, but it’s easy for a pessimist to fill in the end of that sentence. No one is going to want to sit in a dirty dive bar.

But Connell doesn’t seem pessimistic about the future of dives. “The people who go to the cocktail bars and spend $16 to $20, do those people really have loyalty to a brand or a bar? I don’t think so. And those are the people who are all now in the Hamptons or Aspen or wherever their second or third homes are,” he says. “There are still some regular people and they’re not going to the places with the $16 to $20 cocktails. They just want to go out and socialize in cheap places. I think we’re going to be alright.”

Prince sums it up succinctly, “If this is the end, wow that sucks. But hopefully we will live on.”

from Eater - All https://ift.tt/31bWJVL via Blogger https://ift.tt/2Ypyph8

[cdg174]

Just another Babysitter: Part 4

Summary: The Winchester’s begin to look for their so called dead babysitter through the streets of Cottonwood falls. Unknowing to them they pass right by Y/N as she is in the middle of panicking about living in a robotic age. Will they cross paths? Is Y/N going to get through her first day back from the dead? Let us hope so.

Words: 1770

Masterlist

Cottonwood Falls, Kansas : Saturday June 24th, 2017

General pov.

The revving engine of the impala pulls into the parking lot of another dingy motel, except this one Sam and Dean know very well. It’s the same lot that Y/N followed a young Dean on a tricycle while pulling Sam in a wagon behind her. The same lot the two brothers drew on the pavement with many coloured chalks. The most memorable moment of all was for Dean though. Y/N had stuck around late as she usually did but when John returned and she was leaving Dean had run out in the pouring rain to hug her goodbye. They stood out there embracing so long, that Dean had gotten the flu.

Sam knocks on the window to snap Dean out of his daydream. Soon the two men and the angel are settling into a room, smelling of dust and smoke from previous tenants.

“This place hasn’t changed. Even the bed sheets look like they’ve been sitting there since we were kids, huh Sammy?” Dean tosses his duffel onto the bed closest to the door, looking at his brother for a response.

“I wouldn’t know man. I wasn’t even a toddler when we were here last, I don’t really remember any of if.” Sam states matter of fact, Dean is about to reply when Castiel clears his throat. The brothers look at him simultaneously.

“Where do we start to look for this Y/N Y/L/N?”

Y/N’s pov.

“I have no idea where I’m going. I know where I am, who I am but I don’t know where I’m going.” I ramble on to myself as I walk through the streets of my old home town.“I mean what do you do when you’ve come back to life after being dead for thirty-three years? Do you go back to your old life? Nope because the only person you knew is who knows where. Everyone else are probably all grown up and moved away from here by now.” I stop walking in front of a restaurant that didn’t exist to me in 1984. “My God! All the kids I took care of are all older than me now. Some of my old teachers are most likely out of the picture and here I am still eighteen years old, trapped in time.” Trapped in time.

I look around, there’s people all around me, talking, laughing, looking at their little machines they know as telephones and then there’s me. I stand frozen on the sidewalk in the middle of everybody living in this new world. Where do I start? Everything is different. The cars are less box shaped, rounder, smoother. A person is speaking to someone through a the digital looking stereo of their vehicle just feet away from me. Phone’s attached to cars? The restaurant I stand by there is a little girl poking at a bigger glass screen as her mother taps away on her own contraption. People speaking through chips in their ears, others paying for meals through a small portable machine with the tap of a plastic card, so much technology and so many faces I don’t know. How do I live now?

I begin to step back towards the street, my breathing speeding up at the thought of living in a mechanical world. My head spinning as I reach the lane in the street and then honking. Someone is blaring their car horn at me as I step in their way of commute. I barely hear it as my ear drums begin beating as fast as my heart. I slowly trip my way to the next lane and more sleek cars honk at me. New. Everything so new. Too much. It’s all too much. Next thing I know I’m falling onto the curb. I land on my back end, jolts rippling through my body. It’s enough of a rift that I snap back to reality and I can feel tears on my face that I didn’t know were falling.

I sit for what seems like forever but can’t be more than a few minutes, my hands holding up my dizzy head the entire time. Then I hear an engine rumbling. Sounds familiar. I look up just as the car passes by, it’s black exterior shinning in the sunlight. It can’t be? I stand and to my amazement I see a classic impala passing down the block past all the other cookie cutter vehicles. It looks exactly like the one John used to have. 

“Well I have no where to be.” Making up my jumbled mind, I walk after the roaring impala.

General pov.

Castiel stays in the backseat as Sam and Dean go investigate the park Y/N used to take them to all the time. Whenever she took them here, they would go from the playground, to the paddling pool, to the little man made tree forts and they would stay for hours. Y/N always told the boys if they got lost, separated or even scared they were to meet at the red painted barbecue in the parks picnic area. At this moment no one could be more scared than someone who was just plopped into a new robotic time, the boys hope that Y/N will be here. It’s a start anyway.

Castiel wanted to join them but the brothers said two grown men spying around a family park was already too many. As the angel sits in the impala, he explores his surroundings through the windshields. Car after car next to the impala in the small parking lot, kids running back and forth from each obstacle, a few people jogging on the paths along the way and a squirrel running from one tree to another. As Castiel looks into the rear-view mirror in the front seat, he witnesses someone’s head peek around the corner of a tree across the street. 

She looks to be a young girl, none of this would be alarming if she hadn’t been staring directly in his direction the entire time without blinking. She tiptoes a little closer then stops to lean against a post still across the street, her eyes on the car the entire time. She’s wearing a loose fitting grey top and blue pants, along with a pink bag hung over her shoulders. Slowly, so she doesn’t suspect anything, Castiel retrieves his phone from his pocket. He presses Dean’s speed dial as he observes the girl cross the street, her eyes never leaving the impala.

Y/N pov.

As I look at the car, the figure in the back seat holds a phone up too his ear and begins speaking into it. At this point I am leaning into a light post about twenty feet away from the vehicle. 

“Now what? It’s probably not even the same car.” I mumble when I realize that I’m just stalking an inanimate object. At least it’s easy on the eyes. “What was I gonna do anyways? I would say it’s a dead end but every thing might as well be at this point.” Feeling lost, I face away from a memory from my past and slump against the post, not a clue as to what I should do.

Dean’s pov.

I shoot Sam a text to meet back in the parking lot as I head straight for the girl now facing away from me. She matches Castiel’s description that he gave me over the phone but I wish for it not to be Y/N. I want to hold onto the hope that she is still in heaven or whatever, living in peace and that this is all a mistake. But when has hoping ever worked for in my favour?

Now only steps away from the unsuspecting girl, I look over my shoulder to see Sam walking toward the impala. Staring forward again, I lift my hand to tap the girl’s shoulder but at the last second I hesitate. What would I say to her if it is Y/N? She won’t recognize me at this age, so how do I convince her that I am who I am? I don’t get enough time to decide before the girl turns around. 

“Gosh!” She jumps with her hand over her heart. “Don’t sneak up on a person like that!” It’s her, it’s Y/N. Same face, same soft voice and expression, the only differences are the clothes she wears, the bandages around her knuckles and her eyes are somewhat clouded looking. In this moment, I find my words.

“Says the kid who has been stalking my car.” I nearly whisper, still shocked that this is my dead babysitter standing in front of me.

“Sorry. It just looks like... like an old friend of mine’s car.” Y/N looks down shyly.

“That’s because it is your old friends car.” She looks at my face confused. “ You said once upon a time that I was the treasure everyone was looking for.” I reach in my pocket and take out the old ring Y/N gave me all those years ago. She looks at the piece of jewellery awestruck, then back at me.

“Dean?”

Y/N pov.

“Yeah it’s me. It’s me Y/N.” The man facing me says, voice unwavering. Is this really the little boy that had the bowl cut I’m talking too? He’s grown so much but I’m still not convinced. I mean the man in front of me towers over my five foot seven inch frame with broad shoulders, a relaxed stance, a stiff coat, huge boots and worn out jeans. This man has a stern face with a gentle expression but he has a feeling around him that oozes trauma filled experiences. How can this be that little innocent, wide eyed and joyful toddler from 1984? 

Then I see his eyes, the same eyes my little Dee had just hanging on top of a sorrowful expression. Yet they have the same shimmer of light as my young Dean had. It is him. I sob suddenly. He grew up before me. I didn’t get to. I’m stuck in my time still but now I have no choice but to grow up in an uncertain world. I barely notice trough my tears but Dean embraces me in his arms and I subconsciously hide myself in his chest.

“I don’t know what’s going on.” I blubber into his coat. “I don’t understand how I got... I was...” Dean combs his one hand through my hair, as I cry incoherently into his chest.

“Lets’s get you out of here. We’ll explain everything.” I shake at the thought, how much do I need to learn? I’ve obviously missed so much. I look up through blurry vision as Dean says. 

“It’s my turn to take care of you now.”

Special mentions: @palominojacoby @the-imaginarium-of-life @trilloku-blog @kayarisa

Special mentions: @arazialotis @cyanpintglass @goldenolaf25 @when-innocence-is-gone @jaylynnaredsky @fallen-castiel @spnfanficfavorites@anothertimeinspace @klleexy @flare-chan003 @isnt-the-blog-youre-looking-for @imnotalosechester @mary-meee @yascalum @jsamstar@driadgoch @vvinch3st3r @kayarisa@misguidedconqueress @heeeeeether @messy-buns-and-shotguns @breathexxinxxthexxflames @ryantherandomhero @simirachel@supernatural-fangirl13 @lilypalmer1987 @beatlesobsessionlove @ultracleverthing @possesstiel @0806chung

[oneshot-twoshot-redshot-blueshot]

She Goes For Older Guys, part 2

Requested

Part 1

*High School!AU

______________________________________________________________

Once he discovered you were dating a college guy, Lucifer had backed down. But Cas liked you too much to let the friendship die. He still sat next to you at lunch every day, still went to the weekly study group in the library, still hung out with you on the weekends.

“So, is Crowley coming home for Christmas?” Cas asked one day as the semester was drawing to a close. Mr. Russel, the biology teacher, had already given up on trying to teach anything else before break. As long as the noise level didn’t get too high, he didn’t really care what happened between now and the dismissal bell.

“He got home a few days ago,” you said with a smile. “He gets a whole month off for Christmas. I can’t wait for college.”

“What’d you get him for Christmas?”

“I ordered him a hardback collection of Shakespeare’s tragedies and my dad helped me pick out a nice watch for him.” You cocked your head to the side. “Speaking of which, when do you want to do our gift exchange?”

“What about Friday? We can go to my house directly after school.”

“Sounds great,” you said with a smile. “I also got something small for your brothers. Hope you don’t mind.”

“You didn’t have to--”

“I know, but I wanted to.”

At that moment the bell rang, sending the students out into the hall in a flurry of papers and backpacks. You and Cas walked down the hall, splitting at the end; you to the French classroom, him to the math room. You waved to each other before disappearing into the last class of the day.

______________________________________________________________

Christmas break came and went (all too quickly) and the Spring semester began. Auditions soon appeared for the second school play; both you and Cas got in. Lucifer considered helping out backstage, but baseball practice conflicted a little too much.

Soon, Spring Break was on the horizon. It was so close all the students (and teachers) could almost taste it.

“Hey,” you said, setting your tray down across from Cas. “Do you have any plans for Spring Break?”

“Not really. What are you doing?”

“Well, Crowley asked me to come visit him on campus one day.”

“Won’t he be home for Spring Break?”

You shook your head. “His break was actually last week. He and his parents took a trip to Ireland. Apparently, that’s where they’re from.”

“Won’t he have class?”

“He’s done by 11:30 on Wednesdays, so…”

“Oh,” Cas nodded. “Well, I’m sure you’ll have fun.”

“Would you want to go with me?”

Cas was surprised. “What?”

“Come on, it’ll be fun. A little road trip for two best friends, heading into a college town…”

“I… I don’t know that he would want me there.”

“Sure he would! Besides, aren’t you looking at going to State?”

“Kind of…”

“So why not let Crowley show you around? It’ll be great.” You stuck your bottom lip out. “Pleeeeeease?”

Cas couldn’t help but smile. “Fine. I’ll go with you.”

______________________________________________________________

And so, on the Wednesday of Spring Break, you pulled up in front of Cas’ house at nine a.m. He waved to his father and slipped into your front seat. The two of you pulled away and headed off for the big, wide world known as a college town.

“I got you a water,” you said, pointing to the bottles in the cup holder. “And there’s plenty of CDs up there.” You pointed at the travel case attached to the passenger seat visor.

Cas began to thumb through the CDs. “Is this the one I made you for your birthday last year?”

“You know it is,” you said with a smile.

Cas popped it into the player, familiar chords bursting from the speakers.

“Where did you say you got your music taste from?” you asked above the guitar riffs.

“My cousin, Dean. He’s very into rock and roll.”

“Right. He went to our school, didn’t he?”

“Yeah, but his dad got a new job somewhere else and they had to move.”

“That stinks.” You looked over and saw that Cas has a sad sort of look on his face. “But you know what doesn’t stink?”

“What?”

“Zeppelin.” You cranked the volume, letting the bass reverberate through the car. Cas smiled at you and the two of you sped down the road, singing your heart out.

______________________________________________________________

The two of you finally made it to campus. You parked in the lot next to the campus library, just like Crowley had told you to. You and Cas made your way through campus, admiring the landscape and the students bustling to class (or lounging in the grass).

“There he is!” you said, pointing to the man walking towards you. You took a few sprinting steps towards him, rushing into his arms.

“Hello, sweetheart,” he said, pressing a small kiss to your cheek. He glanced up at Cas. “Cas, right?”

“Right.”

Crowley held a hand out, shaking Cas’. “Y/N tells me you’re considering coming here next year.”

“It’s in my top three.”

“Well, it’s a great school. What are you looking at going into?”

“I haven’t decided yet.”

“Completely fine, at this point. But let me show you around, give you a tour.”

______________________________________________________________

Cas had been worried that he’d feel like a third wheel while following you and Crowley around like a puppy, but Crowley never made Cas feel unwelcomed. The three of you toured campus, Crowley welcoming any and all questions Cas had. After the tour, Crowley led your trio to a small downtown area with restaurants and shops. After a small lunch and a little shopping, you all piled into your car and Crowley directed you towards a nearby movie theater for the latest horror flick.

Cas was worried that he would especially feel like a third wheel here, but you and Crowley never made it seem like a date. (And it made Cas feel a little better to see Crowley jump a little during the movie.)

After the movie you drove back to campus, dropping Crowley at his car in the library lot. Cas looked away as the two of you shared a small goodbye kiss.

You slid back into the driver’s seat and you and Cas pulled away, heading for home. Cas watched as you nodded your head along to the music, a small smile on your face.

“You really like him, don’t you?”

You chuckled, glancing over. “Is it that obvious?”

“He makes you happy. And that’s… good.”

You smiled. “Thank you, Cas.”

“For what?”

“For coming with me today. For being such a good friend. For… everything.”

Cas smiled. “You’re welcome, Y/N.”

[charlesoberonn]

Dr. Destiny #4

Dr. Destiny #1 Dr. Destiny #2 Dr. Destiny #3

A long time ago, a young boy was playing with his mother by the lake. But while she wasn’t looking, they boy was gone. She searched for him for days until she found his body washed up on the shore. Stricken with grief, his mother would do everything to get her child back. She learned the dark arts and summoned him back from the dead. But when her boy was back, she was repulsed by him. He had transformed into a monster of weeds and moss. She cast him out, exiling him. With nowhere left to go, the boy returned to the lake from which his body came. Saddened and alone, the boy cried, and his tears woke up the spirit of the lake. She felt sorry for the boy and guilty for causing his death, so she allowed him to live with her, caring for him and nurturing him like his mother wouldn’t. One day, after years of living in the bottom of the lake, the boy was crying again. “What’s wrong, my child?” asked the lake spirit. “I was watching the people play in the lake above. All of my friends have grown up, found love, and had kids of their own. And I am still a boy.” “Worry not, my child. For you will grow.” the spirit blessed her child with a song. As more years went by, the child grew and grew, until his body was the size of an island and his head was tall enough to see above the water. And from where he sat he could watch all of the people play.

”That’s a beautiful story.” Lilac said as she leaned in closer to read the old inscription on the sign. A warm breeze blowed from the lake left and brushed through her ginger hair.

“It’s probably just a story. And even if there is a kernel of truth to it, it’s probably not nearly as beautiful.” Dr. Destiny said. She was holding onto Lilac’s hand and looking up at the wooden sign. Above the inscription was an old illustration etched into the wood, an island with a face peeking above the water, with a wide warm smile looking directly at the viewer. Above that was the title of the sign: “The Story of Benagam Island”

Lilac turned towards her date. She was wearing a pair of tiny blue shorts and a red t-shirt. “And what is the kernel of truth?” she asked with a bit of whimper in her voice that Vena recognized from their first meeting a few weeks back.

Dr. Destiny sighed. “It’s just a theory, but most scholars agree that prehistoric necromancy was a very shady profession. Most medicine back then was superstitious, and people saw necromancers as the opposite to their witch doctors.” she explained, delving a bit into the history of her profession as she and Lilac walked hand in hand.

Vena was wearing a simple green sundress, with a brown branches pattern on the hem and a bit of brighter green lace around her collar. “Most likely the boy was a slave of some tribe, and once he grew too sick to be useful they sold him to necromancers who experimented on him.” as she said that, Lilac’s face contorted in horror.

“They ritualistically killed him, gutted him, and then resurrected him as soon as they could, probably with a bunch of superstitious spells they didn’t understand.” she kept on talking, not noticing her date’s distress. “You’d be surprised, but the most horrifying thing they did is actually the resurrection. They did it far too early.”

“W-why is that?” Lilac stopped. She avoided eye contact with Dr. Destiny and stared towards the lake where the island was. It looked just like it does on the sign, though with a little less vegetation. She smiled softly, her spirits lifted.

“It has to do with a person’s attachment to either world-” Dr. Destiny continued her explanation but was interrupted when her taller companion put a hand cheek and turned her head to face towards the lake.

“You know what, never mind. Whatever happened to him, I’m glad he’s watching the people of the lake right now.” she gestured towards the curve of one of the small valleys on the island, which looked a little like a mouth. “Smiling at us.”

Lilac smiled down at Vena, and she smiled back, a bit of blush on her face.

After a short walk through the coast they decided to have lunch at a humble tourist trap, a wooden restaurant with a perch watching over the lake. Vena ordered some fries while Lilac simply drank from a bottle full of orange sports drink she brought from home.

Vena looked up at her date, her hands were fidgeting with a fry nervously, turning it into potato mush. She put it down on the plate and opened her mouth. But Lilac beat her to the punch.

“Even from this angle, it looks like the island is smiling at us.” she said, her eyes pointed at the lake. It was the hottest hour of the day, and more and more people were swimming around in the water, splashing about or riding in boats on the far end of the lake behind the island, near the cliffs and waterfall.

“You really connected to this story, huh?” Dr. Destiny asked as she watched the island as well. “The idea of a new life after unlife. That there’s a continuation after a brush with necromancy. The notion that you’re not tainted with death forever.”

Lilac frowned, her eyes staring down at the table. She grabbed the mush that used to be Vena’s fries. “What did the poor fry do to you?” Lilac giggled, and then laughed out loud. She started reshaping it, pushing back its insides and removing the extra bits until it resembled its original shape once again. “There, I brought it back from the dead.”

Dr. Destiny stared at the fry and burst out laughing, she held her stomach and leaned down, resting her elbows on the table. “Lilac, thank you for taking me here.” she said.

Lilac smiled in turn and put her hand on Vena’s forearm. She leaned in and looked closer at her. Vena swallowed and leaned in as well. Slowly at first. As Lilac’s grip on her arm tightened, she felt her heart race.

Their intimate moment was cut short when a loud high-pitch sound was heard throughout the entire lake area, an alarm. It was followed by an announcer urging the people to exit the lake immediately. Dr. Destiny got up, pulling her arm away from Lilac’s hand, who was grabbing onto thin air for a moment before the redhead retracted her arm and got up as well.

“What do you think it is?” Lilac asked as the people began to leave the lake in a hurry. Some people were looking up, and the two woman did the same to see what was going on.

Up above the lake, on the edge of the cliff by the top of the waterfall, stood a slender and tall figure. Much too tall to be human. Their stature and dimensions were clear even from this distance, and Dr. Destiny estimated their size must’ve been over 20 meters tall.

Dr. Destiny rushed off the perch and onto the coast, walking around and rubbing against the tourists and locals and towards a small dock where people just getting off a boarded boat. A woman in a blue one-piece swimsuit stopped her in her track.

Lilac dropped the fry and went off after her date who left without saying a word. “What’s going on?” she asked, a bit of anger in her voice as her pitch turned higher.

“Lilac, my badge is in your bag, can you get it for me?” Dr. Destiny said, her arm outstretched.

Lilac took off her backpack and started rummaging through it, all the while she alternated between looking at Vena and looking at the slender silhouette up on the cliff. She handed Dr. Destiny her badge, a small silver rectangle adorned with an ornate jellyfish imprint and branded with Vena Destiny’s name.

“Thank you.” Dr. Destiny showed the guard the brand, which mostly confused her at first. “I’m a necromancer, and the thing up there is definitely undead.” she pointed to the silhouette, who all that time remained unmoving. The guard sighed and let the two go as she moved on to tend to other people.

“I’m coming with.” Lilac said as she followed Vena, her steps much bigger than the shorter and catching up to her easily. “Don’t try to stop me.”

“I wasn’t going to.” Dr. Destiny replied, briefly making eye contact with Lilac before focusing her eyes on the target, a small boat that was parked by the empty dock. “But you have to understand what we’re dealing with. This thing is very dangerous.”

“So was the Ink Baroness.” Lilac said confidently, as though she had memorized the answer beforehand.

“This is different. I’m not going to be able to send it away or trap it somewhere. We’re gonna have to reason with it.” Dr. Destiny jumped onto the boat and Lilac followed suit, her legs getting caught up on the entry a bit before she straightened herself.

The boat’s navigation system was simple. You pointed to a region of the lake you wanted to go and the magnetic guided vehicle would take you there. Dr. Destiny pointed at a spot 3/4th of the way towards the cliffs, a bit east of the island in the center of the lake.

As the boat started going slowly, Dr. Destiny tensed up and started preparing her spells. Her hands were glowing green as she drew runes and lines on her palm and the back of her hand.

“Vena...” she heard Lilac say. She turned around to face her after a minute of silence. They were alone on the lake, the people on the shore watching her and the silhouette with anticipation. “What is it?”

“It’s a Wandering Deity.” Dr. Destiny said, her voice going quiet, barely audible with the boat’s engine. “It’s what happens when the boy from the story doesn’t find a new home.”

As the two looked up, they saw the slender figure kneel, bending its knees forward. “D-does it see us?” Lilac asked. and then she got her answer, as the figure jumped into the air and dove down.

Screams and gasps were heard from the captive audience at the shore as the figure fell down the tall cliff. Dr. Destiny started shuffling quickly, trying to turn the boat around. But she couldn’t do so in time as the figure landed on the water.

The splash it caused was enormous, making lakewater rain down on Destiny and Lilac, but the wave it caused was even bigger, and they were right near its epicenter. The water rocked the boat up, raising it and then crashing it down on the now unquiet water. Dr. Destiny and Lilac held on as much as they could, trying to pull their weight back to stabilize the boat and prevent it from flipping over.

They were both on the floor, coughing up water and trying to get their bearings. Vena was still coughing and wheezing as Lilac was the first to look up to see the thing that just jumped into the lake.

They were less than ten meters away from it. And though they were in the deepest part of the lake, the creature that was standing up still towered over five meters above the surface, much taller than their boat.

“Vena, look...” Lilac said, her voice sounding different to Dr. Destiny, more alive but also less powerful. Like a quiet whisper that carried more meaning than the words it spoke.

Dr. Destiny climbed back to her feet and saw what she was afraid of. A creature made of bone and black ligaments. It had a humanoid shape, but its proportions seemed stretched and unnatural. Its face looked like a white mask resembling a skull that was built on top of a black cluster of wires and veins. It didn’t have any mouth, but its eyes glowed like fireflies inside massive eye sockets in its mask-like face. Its body was skinny and bony, but didn’t have much of actual bone, being mostly made from the same black ligament as its head, with a few plates of bone covering its chest and shoulders. The rest of the creature was underwater, surrounded by the bubbles and waves its landing created.

The creature was staring at them, just for a second. But it didn’t seem like it could actually see them. Its eyes seemed more interested in the water under the boat than the people inside it. After that, it turned its head towards the island.

“Elder One!” Dr. Destiny wasted no time in calling the creature. But it ignored her. It turned on its heel and started walking. Its body glided through the water like it wasn’t even there, walking slowly but surely towards the center of the lake. Its stare was aimed at the island in the center of the lake.

“Does it even speak our language?” Lilac asked, her voice back to its chattering and trembling infliction. Despite the heat, she was visibly shaking.

“No, but it was worth a shot.” Dr. Destiny said, her tone very serious and not matching what she said. She looked down and wiped the water off the boat’s navigation screen with the hem of her dress. “Please work...” she whispered to nobody in particular as she navigated the boat as close to the island as she could. She took the lever controlling the boat’s speed and pulled it back to a slower setting.

“What are you doing? Don’t we want to get to the island first?” Lilac asked, her hand on the level. Dr. Destiny swatted her hand away and glared at her.

“I’m sorry. It’s just...” Vena said. “We don’t want to beat it, I want to get close to it. To speak to it.”

“Okay... I don’t understand, but...”

“I’ll tell you.” Dr. Destiny said, her face serious but also showing off warmth. Lilac raised an eyebrow, but nodded.

“The reason you’re not supposed to raise the dead too early... well, raising the dead is unadvisable in general. But the reason why you’re not supposed to raise them too early is because of attachment to our world.” Dr. Destiny explained as the boat was beginning to catch up with the creature, but it was lagging behind.

Lilac grabbed on the lever, pushing it forward to speed up the boat. Dr. Destiny nodded.

“Imagine you’re forced to move to another town. You barely know anybody there, and it’s big and scary and you miss your friends. And then somebody offers you the chance to go back home and even takes you back there.” Dr. Destiny stood up on the chair of the boat, trying to be tall enough and be noticed by the Wandering Deity.

“Once you’re back here, you’re gonna hold on to your place here as hard as you can. You’re never gonna let go.” Dr. Destiny continued.

“Like the boy.” Lilac responded.

“Exactly. You’re gonna root yourself in this world. Because now you’re here to stay.” the boat matched speed with the Deity, which was halfway towards the island.

“That’s why you called it an Elder One? Because it’s been here a long time?”

“Yes. Over 10,000 years, probably.” Dr. Destiny began to lose balance. But the creature finally noticed her.

It turned its head towards her stared at her with its glowing eyes.

“This thing has a much deeper connection to the world of the living than even you and I. And even if I could send it back, it’s only gonna cause trouble on the other side.” Dr. Destiny looked down at Lilac, who now looked at her with awe in her eyes.

She turned her head to face the creature, which stopped in its track to stare at her. Lilac pulled the lever all the way back and made the boat stop as well. “We’re gonna have to face it right here. Like we do with everything else in life.”

The back of Dr. Destiny’s palm glowed green as she extended it forward. The creature glared down at the hand, and then shrieked. Its wirey body contorted to make a horrible noise. It turned back towards the island and continued walking.

Dr. Destiny pointed at Lilac who obliged and pushed the lever forward, making the boat move ahead of the creature, blocking its path. She faced the creature again, this time stepping onto the front of the boat, trying to keep her balance as she continued extending her hand.

The creature raised its own hand up and its eyes turned red. Its arm moved more like a noodly tentacle with a sharp bony end than like a human arm. It swung its tentacle down towards the boat.

Lilac shrieked, covering her face with her hands, but Dr. Destiny didn’t fret. She moved her hand up and down in a whipping motion. As she did that, an extension of the light on her hand formed a whip and she cracked it against the creature, making it recoil and scream again.

She retracted her whip and extended her hand one last time. From the distant shore she seemed brave, but Lilac could see up close how Vena was shaking just as much as her.

Reluctantly, the Wandering Deity raised its other hand, which looked a lot more human, with bony fingers and black joints, and reached forward. It touched its index finger against Dr. Destiny’s open palm, and she grabbed onto it. She closed her eyes and began to hum.

The creature recoiled a bit as the green light from her hand started climbing up its veins, but Dr. Destiny didn’t let go until it calmed down. Her hum became louder as she suddenly opened her eyes. Lilac was startled, almost screaming as she saw Vena’s eyes transform into the same black void with firefly points of light, like the creature.

“Elder One, though your original form has been lost to time, and I dare not try to understand your current form, I am opening this channel so we may communicate, soul to soul. Please, allow me access.” Dr. Destiny spoke, her voice commanding, with a little echo, like she was talking inside a closed chamber.

Dr. Destiny was shaking, her eyes trembling in fear as she stared up at the creature’s vacant face. The Wandering Deity didn’t respond. It just stood in the water, waiting.

“I know your realm has been claimed by cities and farms. And I know your worshippers forgotten you. But we have not. You have suffered enough, Elder One, do not let the cycle of violence continue. Leave this island alone. And trust that as you wander the wastes, our thoughts will always be with you. Your sacrifice has not been for naught. Our lives are owed to what you shown our ancestors.” she continued talking.

The Wandering Deity made a new sound, somewhere between a cymbal and hum. It retracted its finger and closed its hand. As it did, it turned around and started walking back towards the cliff. Dr. Destiny, Lilac and the entire lake remained frozen as they watched the creature climbing its way up the cliff and disappear into the tall woods beyond.

Dr. Destiny sighed in relief and then shrieked as she nearly fell down the slippery surface. She held onto Lilac’s hand, who helped pull her back into the boat, where they sat side by side.

Lilac reached down and grabbed Vena’s hand, holding onto it tight. The trembling slowly subsided as Dr. Destiny sighed and wheezed.

“So, how did you know how to make it go away?” Lilac asked one last question.

“I sort of winged it.” Vena said. The two of them laughed out loud until they ran out of breath.

As they were laughing, Lilac turned to the left to look at the island, now very close to them. And for a second, she could swear she saw it move, and smile at the two of them, as though to thank them.

[cmc-alumni]

19TH STREET, Manhattan

In mid-September 2008 I embarked on my first Forgotten mission after a brief, but horrendous battle with a stomach flu of some kind that struck on September 11th, of all dates, a couple of hours after a meal of baked chicken and boiled frozen vegetables. (Even now, in mid-October, your webmaster hasn’t returned to frozen corn, beans or peas, but I know I have to eventually for the sake of health; I have been depending on salads for vegetative intake). So, I opted for a relatively brief hike on 19th Street, which I had found interesting some monhs back and filed a mental note to revisit. Not only did I find interesting architectural elements, but also some oblique references to my own life, as we’ll see…

The Joyce Theatre, at 8th Avenue and 19th, is a 472-seat dance performace venue opened in 1982 in the renovated and remodeled Elgin Theatre, opened in 1942, that had come on hard times in the 1970s as a porno palace — the renovation was suprvised by architect Hugh Hardy, whose Radio City Music Hall tour I attended — he revived RCMH as well — as part of Open House NY in 2008.

Your webmaster is not a ballet or modern dance fan, but I note the theatre because it is named for one of the founders of one of my workplaces. Joyce Mertz-Gilmore along with her parents, Harold and LuEsther Mertz, founded Publishers Clearing House, the premier direct marketing company in the country, in their basement in Sands Point, NY, in 1953. photo: wikipedia

The Joyce Theatre exists in great part due to the philanthropic efforts of LuEsther Mertz.

Directly across the Joyce, on 8th Avenue and 19th, was a Blimpie where I would get lunch once a week while employed at an international-language typesetter, ANY Phototype, on West 29th. In June 1990 I acquired one of my worst-ever stomach flus (until this year) at that Blimpie. Look, it made me remember the place. It was decorated unusually: it was filled with house plants.

I’ve only been in the Peter McManus Cafe, at 7th Avenue and W. 19th, once — in 1993, I had just gotten out of class at the School of Visual Arts, went in and called a friend to meet me there, whence we went to see The Fugitive, the Harrison Ford version. (I had a splitting headache that day.)

McManus looks as if it has been here forever, but it isn’t nearly as old as, say, the Old Town Bar or the granddaddy, McSorley’s Ale House. It has been owned and operated by the McManus family since it opened in 1936.

Looking south on 7th Avenue toward the old Barney’s. Several new residential towers have appeared on this stretch in the last few years (not at the fever pitch of 6th Avenue in the West 20s, though). Dominating the landscape is the new Coke bottle-green-glass-clad Yves Chelsea tower at West 18th. The penthouse will go for $10M, at least it was going to before all the Wall Street hotshots, bankers, and ill-advised real estate buyers tanked the economy.

Speaking of the economy, the last time your webmaster was out of work, all my unemployment check arrangements were handled electronically and there was less of a need to cut up paperwork before throwing it away. Nevertheless there will always be a neeed for scissors and shears, and that’s where Griffon came in. According to faded ad historian Walter Grutchfield, the Griffon Cutlery Works was founded by Albert Silberstein in 1888 and was located here on West 19th between 1920 and 1968. As you can see from the link the ad was in much better shape in 1986, and time is gradually taking a toll.

Note the palimpsest at the bottom. The company changed from “Works” to “Corporation” in the 1940s and painted over Works with Corp. Both are showing up now.

This sign is also an “example” of unnecessary quotation “marks.” They’re all over the place.

Pinking shears, by the way, are shears with jagged edges, used to cut thick cloth.

2008, meet 1908 along the south side of West 19th just east of 7th Avenue.

The Henry Siegel-Frank Cooper Dry Goods store, built in 1895 and in business until 1914, is the largest of the 6th Avenue Ladies’ Mile emporia, containing 15.5 acres of floor space. It used to have a clock tower as well as a large fountain, since removed and placed in Forest Lawn Cemetery in Los Angeles. A ramp from the old Sixth Avenue El (razed in 1938) allowed passengers to walk directly into the store from the platform on the 18th Street side. This is Beaux Arts at its most Beaux.

The store pioneered the use of free samples, female salespersons, and air conditioning as customer inducements, and one of its mottoes was “Everything Under The Sun.” Industrialist/barbed-wire king John Warne Gates once made a bet with financier J. P. Morgan that the boast was just rhetorical. Gates asked a floorwalker if the store sold elephants, whereupon he was directed to the toy department; Gates responded that he meant a real elephant. The representative asked him what color, Gates responded “white” and the answer was “we’ll let you know the delivery date.” A few weeks later Gates received a telegram informing him his order would be arriving the next day at the docks: an albino elephant shipped from Ceylon. Gates paid Morgan the bet and donated the pachyderm to the Central Park Zoo.

I see something new every time I pass or enter the Siegel-Cooper building. For example, here is one of the intertwined S/C’s that flank the arched entrance.

All 4 corners of West 19th and 6th are held down bu beautiful buildings of varying beauty and fame. On the NW corner (above right) is the Simpson-Crawford Building, constructed in 1900 and home to the titular store until 1915. The store popularized the phrase, “if you have to ask the price, you can’t afford it” and indeed the store eschewed the use of sales tags.

A Greek Revival building on the NE corner (above right) is home to a Sports Authority. Paragon, on Broadway between East 17th and 18th Streets since 1908, is the big sports dog in the area.

At the SW corner (left) we see the first Benjamin Altman Building from 1876-1906, whereupon the store moved to a massive building that filled an entire block between 5th, Madison, East 34th and East 35th Streets, where it was in business for the following 83 years. Altman opened his first store at 3rd Avenue and east 10th Street in 1865.

At a time when real estate has gotten so prohibitively expensive that even big retailers like Barnes and Noble are forced out by high rents (as they were from their 6th Avenue and West 22nd Street location in 2008) it’s comforting to know that Apex Tech is still holding down the corner plot on West 19th. The school offers training in automotive, refrigeration, electrical, plumbing, carpentry, welding and auto repair since 1961.

Throughout the 1980s, when local channels 5, 9 and 11 were independently owned and showed mostly reruns and movies, the Apex tech commercials featuring the mustachioed Apex Tech Guy were a staple. His catchphrase was “Now, I can’t call you…”

Naturally, he doesn’t utter the famous phrase in this vintage Apex tech spot, but you get the idea…

A couple of midblock views between 5th and 6th Avenues. 35 West 19th, on the right, now home to Sala, a Spanish restaurant, is notable for being the longtime home of The Magickal Childe, ostensibly an occult bookstore but also featuring hexerei of the weird such as voodoo dolls, herbs used in potions, tarot cards and wicca (not witchcraft to devotees) paraphernalia. The Charmed girls would have fit right in.

The Cluett Building at 22-28 West 19th runs right through the block to 19-23 West 18th. The name of the building stirred a memory. Walter Grutchfield: The building was constructed in 1901/02 as the New York headquarters of Cluett, Peabody & Co. of Troy, NY. They were collar manufacturers and created the Arrow brand of detachable shirt collars. According to the Free Dictionary, “About 1905 the company began an advertising campaign that featured an idyllic young man wearing an Arrow shirt with the detached collar… Hundreds of printed advertisements were produced from 1907 to 1930 featuring the Arrow Collar Man. The fictional Arrow collar man became an icon and by 1920 received more than 17 thousand fan letters a day.”

I had to reach deep in the ForgottenArchives for this: Cluett, Peabody was a name I heard frequently in youth; both my grandmother and my mother (who I indicated, at left, in the photo of a company gathering that I’d estimate was from the early 1950s) worked at the Troy, NY company in the 1940s and 1950s.

Free Dictionary again: In the early 1920′s Cluett, Peabody & Co. began manufacturing their shirts with attached collars in response to consumer demand and became the most successful company in the U.S. at that time. Their sales increased to 4 million collars a week and arrow shirts with attached collars were being exported to foreign ports such as Jakarta, Indonesia, Java and the Belgian Congo. The Arrow Collar Man campaign ended in 1930 having been one of the most successful advertising campaigns in history.

My mother, of course, is the most attractive woman in the picture.

The Flatiron Lounge at 37 West 19th takes its name, of course, from the famed Fuller (Flatiron) Building at 5th Avenue, Broadway and 23rd Street.

I’m rarely in Sam Flax but only because I fear that when I’m in here, I’ll spend too much. Flax is second only to Pearl Paint in providing art supplies and everything necessary for putting pen or brush to paper. I hope its locale between 19th and 20th Streets west of 5th Avenue isn’t closing.

LEFT: Idlewild Books, a new travel book store, has become one of my new favorites (especially since the ForgottenBook is displayed prominently within). “Idlewild” was the old name for John F. Kennedy International Airport. Good luck, though, in the shadow of the Barnes and Noble flagship at 5th and East 18th.

At the SE corner of 5th Avenue and West 19th is the Arnold, Constable Building, yet another former department store.

Jim Naureckas, NY Songlines: Nine West, Victoria’s Secret are in former department store (1869-1914) that took up the entire block from 5th to 6th avenues; founded by Aaron Arnold and son-in-law James Constable, it offered “Everything From Cradle to Grave.” Mary Todd Lincoln was a frequent customer, as well as Carnegies, Rockefellers and Morgans.

Another Constable building can be found on Canal Street.

Briton Arthur Arnold opened a dry goods store in 1825 and took on James Constable as a partner in 1842. After the firm thrived for over a century, the last Arnold Constable store, at 5th Avenue and 40th Street, closed in 1975. (The comma, like the New York Times period, has disappeared along the way, so latterday customers thought an Arnold Constable was the original shopkeeper.)

Two narrow 1900-era towers flank West 19th Street at 5th Avenue. The building on the right was the longtime home of Weiss & Mahoney Army & Navy store and the former locale of the 5th Avenue Presbyterian Church (1852-1875). Your webmaster’s first job out of school was in 150 5th Avenue, a block away on 20th.

A pair of great escapes on East 19th between 5th Avenue and Broadway.

ABOVE: ABC Carpet, SE corner Broadway and East 19th, formerly W&J Sloane Furniture. RIGHT: contrast 35 and the Modernist 37 East 19th. 35 was the residence of Horace Greeley, editor, abolitionist and politician, from 1850-1853.

LEFT: NW corner Park Avenue South and East 19th, new tower tries for a Starrett-Lehigh vibe but doesn’t quite get there; I prefer the Doric-columned neo Renaissance apartment building at 105.

The American Woolen Building actually is entered on 221-227 Park Avenue South (marked with a ram’s head), while this, at 102-104 East 19th, is the freight entrance.

I’ve always loved the corner apartment building at 81 Irving Place and 123 East 19th — it’s festooned with dozens of terra cotta gnomes. And more gnomes.

For this 14-story apartment house, architect George Pelham, one of New York’s most active apartment-house designers, exploited the requirements of the zoning law to create an exuberant design [in 1929-1930] with dramatic setbacks and a striking rooftop pavilion surrounding the water tower. The building, planned with 107 small apartments, is faced with brick, often laid in intricate patterns to add excitement to the facades. The building is ornamented wth beige terra-cotta detail of a very high quality. Terra-cotta features include columns, balconies, and gargoyles embellished with animal heads, monsters, and other fanciful detail. NYC Architecture

The figure below right seems to be influenced by cartoonist R.F. Outcault’s 1890s creation, the Yellow Kid.

East 19th changes character, rather abruptly, for the block between Irving Place and 3rd Avenue and transforms itself into a tree-lined, suburban-style stretch dotted with small brick buildings, carriage houses and cottages. The tone is set by the ivy-covered NE corner building. Pete’s Tavern is one block south of here at East 18th.

In the early 20th Century the creative community had a great presence on this block, which was home to actresses Theda Bara, Dorothy and Lillian Gish, Ethel Barrymore and Helen Hayes; playwrights, authors and activists F. Scott Fitzgerald, John Reed, Emma Goldman and Eugene O’Neill were visitors.

There’s some riotous terra cotta tilework on the north side of the block; much of it is the work of architect Frederick Sterner and artist Richard Winthrop Chandler.

146 East 19th was home to painter George Bellows from 1910-1925, a man who lived the high life. “I went there in the evening a young girl and came away in the morning an old woman,” as Ethel Barrymore once said. Bellows, along with Edward Hopper, studied under Robert Henri at the NY School of Art and became a luminary in the modernistic Ashcan School. Possibly Bellows’ most famous painting was his depiction of Luis Firpo (“The Wild Bull of the Pampas”) knocking Jack Dempsey through the ropes in the first round in a 1923 fight. Dempsey recovered to KO Firpo in the second round. Artist Eric Joyner does a takeoff on Bellows’ vision in The Final Blow.

At 226 3rd Avenue on the NW corner is a terrific painted sign for the Piccolo restaurant.

The block of East 19th between 3rd and 2nd Avenues is dominated by the rather forbidding Mother Cabrini Medical Center, originally Columbus Hospital. Andy Warhol was treated here when he was shot by Valerie Solanas in 1968.

Saint Frances Xavier Cabrini (1850-1917), the first US Citizen to be canonized as a saint by the Roman Catholic Church, founded the Missionary Sisters of the Sacred Heart and established 67 orphanages throughout the USA , South America and Europe. Since 1931 her preserved remains have been displayed at Mother Cabrini Shrine in Fort Washington in upper Manhattan on a street named in her honor, Cabrini Boulevard.

Some bits of an increasingly retreating Little Old New York in the easternmost segment of East 19th, between 2nd and 1st Avenues.

We’ve already seen an item on 19th Street that reminded me of my mother. Here’s one that reminds me of the old man, who worked at Stuyvesant Town from 1955-1988 as a custodian. The apartment complex was constructed in the 1947 by Metropolitan Life Insurance Company; Peg Leg Pete, the Director-General of New Amsterdam, lived in this site on his farm in the late 1600s. It was championed by Robert Moses as part of his slum-clearance program in mid-century. When first opened, the complex would not rent to African-Americans, and the discrimination was held up in court. “Stuy Town” reversed the policy several years later. For many years, though the project didn’t have the necessary wiring for air conditioning, the waiting list for an apartment was quite long. The list was abolished when Met Life set about converting and upgrading the apartments to market rents beginning in 2006. Your webmaster foolishly never asked to get on “the list”, though Stuy Town would no doubt be trying to get my rent stabilized self out if I lived there now!