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wandafiction · 11 months ago

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The Row - Just Us Chapter 52

Warnings: None

Word Count: 2888

Series List | Chapter 51 | Chapter 53

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I pull Wanda into the shop, her body moving closer to mine as we enter so I unlink our arms and move mine around her shoulders keeping her close to my left side. Her right hand moves up across her chest, to grab my hand that is relaxed near her left collar bone. She grabs onto it, linking our fingers together as she leans more of her body into me.

"Do you remember where you saw the suit?"

"I think it was called The Row."

"Very good taste." I look down to Wanda, who is looking at the list of all the designers here. Let me tell you it's a lot. "Are you doing okay?"

"Yeah, I feel a little out of place in my mom jeans and your shirt but I'm doing okay."

"Well let's head to the section with The Row and we will be in and out of here as quick as you need."

"Thank you baby."

"Of course princess."

I pull Wanda around SAKS leading us where we need to be, but also taking my time so she can have a look around and decide if she wants to look at something else. It seems like she is only here to look at the suit though, as she looks around but shows no interest letting me walk us where we need to be. When Wanda sees the sign for The Row her eyes light up and she bounces on her toes in excitement, practically pulling me into the section. I can see her eyes searching for what I can only assume to be the suit, a look of disappointment spreads across her face when she doesn't see it.

"Hi, how can I help you two lovely ladies today?" The sales assistant, a young short blonde puts on her best customer service smile as she walks over to us.

"Uh, hi. So I saw something online that I liked and hoped you would have it here but can't seem to see it." Wanda's eyes keep darting around looking at the range of clothes they have.

"That's no problem. I have some catalogues here with everything in it. Just tell me what you saw and I can sort something out for you." We follow the woman to the counter as she brings out a few small laminated clothing catalogues, one labelled dresses, on labelled suits, one labelled day wear and the final one is shoes and accessories.

"It was this red velvet suit sort of thing."

"The jacket and pants right?" The lady flicks through the catalogue pulling up the page with the suit on, my eyes go wide already anticipating how fucking hot she is going to be wearing it.

"That's the one there yeah."

"So we don't stock it in our shop, but if I get your measurements we can have it ready for you by Friday, as I can put a priority on this thing if you need me to."

Wanda looks up at me then back down to the picture of the suit. I can tell she is having an internal battle with herself, I know she wants it but I also know she doesn't like the idea of me spending money on her. I lift her chin with my finger, as she bites her lip nervously but I simply use my thumb to pull it out.

"We can get it if you want it?"

"I really want it but…"

"Then let me get it for you." From the corner of my eye, the lady silently 'ohs' in understanding leaving to tend to another shopper while me and Wanda have this conversation. "Okay I know we made a deal but what about this. You choose three outfits today of your choice, I will get them for you today and you can get measured for it all. So when I say outfit it means shoes and accessories too. Then that will be it. You will have three outfits from The Row and I never have to buy you expensive clothes again."

"I like that idea better, because it won't always be in the back of my mind that you will be spending ridiculous amounts of money one me."

"Money comes easy to me Wanda, but we can learn and work together. You at getting better at accepting that I want to spend my money on you and I will hold back on the spending too much until you are comfortable. And if you aren't ever comfortable then that is fine too, I just want you to be comfortable with the fact that in my life right now it comes easily to me."

"I will try."

"That's all I ask." She stands on her tiptoes to give my lips a peck. "So what do you want to do?"

"Can we do the three outfits thing?"

"Of course we can." Wanda stands in front of me, pushing her arms under my coat as she wraps them around my body, locking her hands together at the bottom of my back. Her chin resting on my chest as she puckers her lips up at me, I bend down giving her a few gentle pecks. We break apart with a smile when the lady makes her way back to the counter, now finished with the other customer. Wanda let's go of me turning around to face the lady, her back pressed to my front and I gently rest my hands on her waist as I rest my chin on the top of her head.

"So have you ladies decided on what to go for?" Once again a winning customer service smile on her face.

"So I would like to go for the suit, then maybe look at some different things you have."

"That's perfect, are we getting you measured today?"

"Yes please. Am I able to browse the catalogues as you do so?"

"Of course. Your girlfriend can join us in the back if that makes it easier for you two." She looks between me and Wanda, I'm starting to think that the smile isn't that fake.

"Yes please. Baby?"

"Of course I will grab the catalogues while you and the lady get settled. Sorry what's your name so I don't have to keep calling you lady?" She huffs out a laugh holding her hand out which I shake.

"The names Paula. You two are."

"I'm Y/n and this my Wanda."

"Very nice to meet you both. Wanda if you would like to follow me though to the back, Y/n join us when you're ready. Also would either of you like a drink at all? Tea? Coffee?"

"I will take a tea please." Wanda says following the lady as I grab the catalogues.

"Water is fine for me thanks "

"Perfect. Why don't you two surf the catalogues while I make them for you." She disappears into another side room while me and Wanda take a seat opening up the dress catalogue first.

Wanda flicks through the pages, asking for my input on certain things as she hums a random tune out. She suddenly stops flicking her hand resting on the page, as her finger brushes over the picture of the dress she has seen. I know it's the one the moment she sets her eyes on it, a soft smile makes its way onto her lips as her eyes scan the dress up and down. Her finger traces the outline of the dress, before resting her hand flat against it.

"This one is perfect." Wanda turns to look at me, tilting the catalogue so I can see what she is one about and I bite my lip when I see the dress.

"What shoes and accessories are you going for?"

"Just some heels and maybe earrings. Nothing too in your face."

"Any more dresses you're looking at."

"No, I think I want to get another suit though, and er, maybe a coat?" She mumbles the last bit, but I catch it.

"So another suit, and a coat. And then just shoes and accessories to go with each." I state, so she knows I'm okay with it.

"Yeah so it would be one dress, 2 suits and a coat. Are you sure it's okay baby?"

"I am perfectly sure princess. I want to spoil you rotten." She quickly pecks my lips and starts scanning the other catalogue as Paula returns.

"Okay so here is the tea and the water. Wanda if you could come and stand up here. Y/n you can stand next to her, to help her browse but you might have to do some shuffling around while I measure."

"Okay. Ready princess?"

"Ready."

I stand up from my chair, placing the catalogues on my seat and hold out my hand palm up for Wanda to take. She gently places her palm in mine, my fingers wrap around her hand as I hoist her up from the chair. I bend down to grab the catalogues in my other hand, wrapping my arm around Wanda's shoulder while her arm remains in front of her, our hands still holding one another. We walk up to the small stand, that's about half a foot of the ground; and surrounded by 3 or 4 mirrors. I let go of Wanda's hand holding mine out palm up again. She rests her hand in mine as she steps up on the stand getting herself situated.

"Such a gentlewoman. Sometimes I wish I was gay." Me and Wanda share a confused look at Paula as we both laugh. "I just mean the most my boyfriend does is buy me flowers on my birthday."

"Oh yeah, men are imbeciles. Been there, done that, never again though." Wanda remarks, laughing as the lady gives an impressed smile and nod.

"So is it as good as they say? You know being with a woman compared to a man?" I try to ignore the conversation as I start looking through the suit catalogue for ideas.

"Mhmm, one thousand percent better." I quirk a brow. "You my dear are missing out on a good time. Dump that lazy ass boyfriend of yours and get yourself a lady."

"Maybe I will. So how long have you two been together." The lady starts up a conversation as she starts to measure Wanda's legs with a small hand held tape measure.

"What's the date today baby?" I open my phone to double check.

"It's the 5th lyubov."

"Okay so that puts us at 3 weeks 4 days. Okay wow, I didn't realise it hadn't been not that long. I swear it feels like we have been together for months." I quickly do the maths in my head and my jaw drops.

"Oh wow, yeah you're right." I just shrug. "We are just being your stereotypical useless lesbians."

"Wait so we said I love you to each other exactly 3 weeks into knowing each other."

"Wait, wait, wait. You guys have already said 'I love you' to each other?" The lady stops what she is doing to look between the both of us wide eyed.

"Yeah, but I honestly thought we had been together longer. I swear it was longer." I scratch my head slightly confused at how quickly we have actually moved through this relationship.

"Nope." Wanda pops her the P. "We met on the tenth of last month."

"Well fuck me, that's kinda crazy lyubov." Wanda shrugs as she looks at me through the mirror.

"Like you said we are just some good ole useless lesbians."

"Okay, anyway. So we have the dress, the suit you just need to choose the other suit and coat you want. Any ideas?"

"Are there any white suits in there?"

"There is." I start flicking the section with white dresses, while Paula moves around me. I hold the book open in one hand, and Wanda flicks through it herself, her eyes searching every page. Her eyes land on something she likes the look of, as they scan the page.

"What about this one dorogoy?"

"Well this is for you, so it's your choice."

"You're no help, I want your opinion. Like if I wore this would you take me to one of the Stark Gala's or not."

"I would love to show you off wearing that princess."

"Correct answer."

"So that one." I point to the suit to make sure she is happy.

"That one."

"Okay guys, as cute as this is Wanda I need your arms up and out for me so I can get those measurements."

Wanda complies, holding her arms out in the air, I move to stand in front of her, drinking her all in. I can't believe she is mine. I open up the catalogue that has the coats and hold the one with accessories in it under my arm, the rest go to the floor So I don't get in the way of Paula. I flick through them myself to gain an idea of what they do and pick out some favourites I think Wanda would like. As Paula moves to behind Wanda I turn the catalogue to face her showing her each of the ones I picked. As I flick the pages she scrunches her nose shaking her head a lot not really feeling any of them, not until the last one.

"Ooo I really like that one baby." Paula peaks out from behind Wanda.

"We keep that one in store since we don't need measurements for it really. You can try it on once I'm done here."

"Perfect thank you Paula. Are shoes and accessories here or is it easier to order them to come with the made to measure stuff."

"Depends what you would like. We stock some stuff, but it is mostly easier to order it to arrive with the made to measure stuff." Paula finishes up wrapping the tape measure gently over her shoulders. "So what is it we are going for then ladies."

"The red velvet suit, with a white button up. The shoulder to floor white dress with these earrings and these heels. And then this suit here, and this coat."

"Perfect I will get it put through the till." Paula walks off to the counter to get it ready for payment as I once again hold my hand out to Wanda as she steps off the stand. She instinctively links our arms together as we both walk on time over to the counter. Paula walks back to us holding the coat in her hands, which Wanda takes putting it on herself. She double checks what she looks like in the mirror, then turns to me for my opinion but when she see my lip between my teeth she knows my answer so turns back to Paula nodding and handing the coat back.

"So which one do you want to wear this Friday princess?"

"Still the red one." I nod as I turn to Paula.

"Can we put a rush on the red suit. We need it for Friday if that's possible? I know it's Tuesday already…."

"We can put a rush on it, it will be ready for Friday morning where you can collect it from us."

"Perfect."

"Okay so the three outfits, accessories, shoes and coat all come to a total of…"

"I don't need to know, that's okay, just set up the card machine." Paula's eyes flick between me and Wanda and I can feel Wanda's eyes burning a hole in the side of my head.

"Okay, uh, well it should be ready for you." I swipe and sign and soon enough Paula hands over the receipt which I hand to Wanda. She immediately looks at the total price biting her lip a little.

"See I didn't want you to know because you might have said no, so now you have 3 new outfits for plenty of occasions and there isn't a thing you can do to stop me." Wanda just nods as her eyes scan the bit of paper over each individual price, while I grab the bag with the coat in it.

"Oh so your a sugar mama. Damn I really should turn to women." Wanda smiles up at Paula and I'm thankful for the topic change.

"You definitely should. It changes everything."

"Well you two lovely ladies enjoy the rest of your week and I will see you Friday when you come to collect the suit." She holds out her hand and we both give her a handshake before we turn to exit the shop. I wrap my arm around Wanda's sounders pulling her close to me.

"You okay princess?" I check in knowing her brain is going over the amount of money I just spent on her.

"I'm good. I'm okay. It's just something I'm going to have to get used to."

"It will take time, but like I said before you now have three new outfits and we don't have to do this again in a long while if it makes you more comfortable."

"Thank you Y/n. I mean it. I love you"

"I love you too Princess. Anywhere else you want to go?" I look down at her smirking when I see her lip gently between her teeth her pupils dilated so I change my question. "Yours or mine?"

"Mine."

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#wanda maximoff #wanda maximoff x reader #wanda maxmoff x y/n #wanda x you #wanda x reader #just us series

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ancientsharkbones · 9 months ago

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Hey everyone. This is my friend Modou lamin. Modou lives in The Gambia and has been single handedly raising his 4 younger siblings since he lost his parents in high school, forcing him to drop out. I was supporting them on my own until a few months ago because of my own financial trouble. In that time his younger sister died of Malaria because he could not take her to hospital and I couldn't get them the money. So I made a fund.

They buy from their local market, you can see it in the video just below. He loves to make green tea and cook for him and his siblings.

They regularly have no place to sleep safely, to the point that Modou will maybe get 2-4 hours of sleep each night to keep watch while his family sleeps and yet he is still kind and caring and always asks me how my family is and if we are safe. I hate to see him struggle this much. Please help me feed my friend. I may not be able to drop $60 a month, but added up smaller donations could make it so they're not without food again, and get back on their feet. The exchange rate is high with $1 USD = $63 GMD. Please reblog and share on other platforms, my usual online support system has let me down on this and I need help to spread this around. Thank you

#help #gofundme #food #food donation #donations #fund #donate #please share #gambia #the gambia #africa #family

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bluepoodle7 · 5 months ago

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#Etsy#Illbleed#IllbleedFanMerch#ErikoChristy#DreamcastHorrorGameInspiredIllbleedErikoChristy3.5InchAcrylicCharm#AcrylicCharmKeychain#MyFirstAcrylicCharmKeychain #PlushPals

The Dreamcast Horror game inspired Illbleed Eriko Christy 3.5" Acrylic Charm was pretty cool while also smooth in texture like this artist's fanart of Eriko Christy was laminated.

I really like the heart shaped keychain clip on this charm since it fits the style of this keychain.

The charm was well packed and shipped fast while also super cool.

This is my first ever Etsy charm of a character that I thought would never get merch again let alone fan merch which is super rare and I hope one day I will get to see the other Illbleed cast will get charm keychains someday.

I know a Hell Cake and a Zodick charm keychain would be neat to see.

I also got stickers, chupa chups lollipops candies, and one card from this artists.

I might review these chupa chups lollipops candies later since I never had these before.

This Eriko charm keychain is 6 inches from the heart shaped keychain clip to Eriko's foot and 4 inches from the top of Eriko's head to the foot.

Where I got this Eriko charm but this is the last call for these and I'm not sure if this artist is making these again.

Dreamcast Horror Game Inspired Illbleed Eriko Christy 3.5 Acrylic Charm LAST CALL - Etsy

Now I want this Maison Talo Etsy charm keychain to be with my Eriko one.

If only someone could figure out if Paypal has a credit card option to easily buy it without a PayPal account or wait for another fan to sell their Maison Talo charm on Etsy or other second hand online stores but this Maison Talo charm is super rare now.

If someone has the Mortisfox Etsy Maison Talo charm and is wanting to sell it then DM me.

I will take any condition of this charm.

I know if I bought this Maison Talo charm I would do a charm review on it with many images of him.

I hope one day Mortisfox restocks this Maison Talo charm then I would buy one.

Maybe make a Heim and Dom Hus charm.

Maybe have a pink or red dangler charm that you can clip on your bag so the REALTORs just dangles off your back similar to in the game when he's in the house.

Image not mine but link is there.

#house hunted game – @viscerajunkyard on Tumblr

I would love a Etsy charm keychain of the Illbleed cast doing a narrow escape with all of then standing on the green and white square helicopter pad and the keychain part is the ladder part that dangles the character like your hand is the helicopter.

This toy hunter robo dino also looks like a Etsy charm keychain to me.

I would love the Illbleed senses meter UI has a charm or a pin that would be cool.

Also this gives me Eriko with gun vibes seeing Maison Talo.

#The E3 2000 Build – @bluepoodle7 on Tumblr

THIS IS THE COMEDY POLICE THE JOKE IS TOO FUNNY VINE - YouTube

If my art was good I would draw Eriko Christy as the joke maker with the gun in hand with the Illbleed sfx playing when the gun is on screen and have Heim Baile with the hamburger buns on the floor then have Maison Talo's lure body walk inside his own house body as the cop.

#Etsy #Illbleed #Illbleed Fan Merch #Eriko Christy #Dreamcast Horror Game Inspired Illbleed Eriko Christy 3.5 Inch Acrylic Charm #Acrylic Charm Keychain #My First Acrylic Charm Keychain #Plush Pals

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saint-stanthony · 2 years ago

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diy your own holy cards!

Can’t find a prayer card that you like for your favorite saints, not many available for lesser known saints, or needing one for a folk saint? Make it yourself! You can type up and print out your own prayers with art you like, and use tape to “laminate” them if you don’t have access to a laminating machine. Or, if you don’t have access to a printer, draw your own art for the card, write out the prayer and tape it together!

I personally don’t always like buying holy cards for some saints bc the prayers won’t really resonate with me and I need to write my own, or I have a favorite depiction of that saint and would rather have that with my prayer. The cards don’t have to look perfect or be pretty!!!! Prayers written yourself are just as beautiful and powerful, and don’t have to be formulated the same as prayers you might find online or in novena workings.

These are a few that I’ve made myself! A St. Rita card, St. Anthony and St. Michael. This is a great option if you need more than one holy card at once, especially if you use them in spellwork or keep one of a saint in multiple places, as buying in bulk can be a bit pricey sometimes! Be as creative as you want and personalize what you need to! You’ve got this I believe in you 🦇

#my posts #you can also bless them yourself ✨#some people don’t agree with blessing stuff yourself but oh well #holy cards #folk catholic #folk practitioner #catholicism #folk catholicism #folk witch

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amulya-mica · 6 days ago

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rahulvora · 7 months ago

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#laminates #laminate sheet suppliers in dubai #buy laminates #laminates online

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raajrajasharma · 2 years ago

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doctor-yaoi-phd · 2 months ago

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I've been in the market for a yaoi paddle for a few years now. Unfortunately, as everyone who has ever tried to hunt down an older piece of fandom memorabilia knows, these things are impossible to find, and if you do, they will cost an arm and a limb.

Yes, I'm aware you can buy off brand yaoi paddles. Yes, I'm aware there's been an effort to get production up and running again for a few years now. But specifically, I want one of the original models.

Source: Wikipedia

An authentic Hen Da Ne pinewood paddle, laminated and laser engraved. A piece of fandom history, even just one of these has countless stories to tell.

The problem with shopping for one of these is that they were made nearly twenty years ago, and less than a thousand were manufactured. Anyone who doesn't know their value will have already donated, sold, or thrown them out by now, and thus doesn't have them in their possession anymore. Anyone who *does* know their value is charging upwards of hundreds of dollars for one. And everyone else is unwilling to sell.

So you see my dilemma. The longer I wait for more listings to be posted online, the less of these paddles are out there, slowly finding their way to landfills and garage sales alike. In order to get one, I will have to actively begin seeking them out, and likely drop hundreds of dollars on one. But to be honest... It's worth it to me. Being able to preserve and display such an integral piece of western anime and yaoi culture is priceless.

#yaoi bl #yaoi #yaoi paddle #yaoiposting #fandom #fandom history

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sanguinelupus · 1 year ago

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i know i'm usually only here once a week on the weekends anyway, but i also do tend to get on mobile a lot throughout the week. i haven't been, and that's because so much is going on in my life right now that the thought of getting online here just isn't even in my head right now. it isn't important.

while i do enjoy this hobby a lot, it is still just that -- a hobby. and i will come back to it when my life isn't so chaotic. that could be two days from now or two weeks from now...who knows. but i'm just letting you guys know that my activity (while it's already low) will be extremely sparse and i am going to prioritize established mutuals over new ones.

i am always on discord and everyone is welcome to message me there if you want to talk or yell about our characters. if i don't respond right away, please understand that i have a lot going on right now.

if you want details of what's been going on, it's under the cut.

at the end of september/beginning of october, our water was cut off because of the water company being absolutely shady and manipulative and lying to us for months prior, and we and to figure out how to come up with over $2,000 very quickly because living without running water in today's world is just not feasible, especially when everything else in your house is working completely normally. luckily we only had to go a few days without water, but the situation was just a fucking nightmare especially because on top of it, my wife and i were working our new-ish jobs as normally as we possibly could; she works 32 hours a week and i work 40, both of us work with children. i was on my lunch break trying to figure out how much water my wife had to buy when she got off work just so we could flush our toilets once or twice throughout the night. i was in my preschool classroom sitting in the floor cutting out laminated farm animals while on the phone with the water company who told me i had insufficient funds in my account when i was staring at my bank that said $2,400 at that moment in time. my wife had to be woken up so she could take cash down to the water company and they had our water back on within 30 minutes, but the stress of all of the bullshit we were going through doesn't just go away.

the week after that was also extremely stressful and overstimulating because of things out of our control.

the past week has been spent worrying about my cat, who has deteriorated EXTREMELY rapidly. she won't eat her normal food, she is constantly getting dirty somehow, her eyes are almost always stuck shut every day and i have to clean them every morning, she's lost so much weight in such a short amount of time and has no energy for anything other than sitting in the same spot. because we work so much, we have not had the time to even call a vet much less make an appointment for her. we managed to get her in somewhere on monday, but that means i'm having to miss work. i've been feeding her liquid/broth cat food and continuing to clean her every day so she can function, though.

the brakes on our car have also deteriorated extremely quickly in the last week, and they're being replaced today. getting an appointment on a sunday of all days was stressful, and trying to plan it around what my wife has had going on for work this weekend was also very stressful. my wife has had only one day off this week and still has to go back to work tomorrow after a weekend of nothing but overstimulation and stress. the brakes are going to be over $500 to have fixed.

my wife's grandfather has also been in critical condition for a while now, and they are expecting him to pass within the next three weeks. we will both have to plan for paying for plane tickets to the funeral, as well as mentally preparing for dealing with her (extremely conservative & fucking awful) family.

all of this is on top of me working with preschool aged autistic children, and things have been chaotic and stressful there too. i'm not going to be at work tomorrow when we're getting a new student, and whenever the normal teachers are out of the classroom, the kids are thrown off completely and end up acting out. but i quite literally just have no other option, my cat HAS to go to the vet. she should have gone last week, but again, we just have not had the time.

who knows what else will pop up in the meantime. i am autistic and all of this overstimulation is not good for my mental health AT ALL. my wife has been extremely depressed lately and all of this is not good for HER mental health at all. we are both just trying to survive right now, but shit will not stop happening.

so i hope everyone can see why tumblr roleplay is quite literally the last thing on my mind right now.

#that one zelda nerd is speaking ; ooc #PSA.

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ivoryminitower · 2 days ago

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Echoes of Home: 115 - Steve ("star")

Echoes of Home: FFXIV AU OC – WoLs on Earth

I think today has been a good day. Actually looking forward to tomorrow.

After shattering four solid maple propellers I decided to try something new. Looking at listings for propellers online, I see a lot of the wooden ones use "laminate," which means layers of wood glued together. Plywood is laminate. So is butcher's block. I decided to try something halfway in between.

I have a recipe for plywood I'd used to make a panel for the window at Flying Tigers that was shot out in the drive-by. Combining that with the recipe I'd managed for a propeller produced something that was a marked improvement on solid maple. I could tell it had strength from the layering, and I hoped it would have flexibility too if needed.

I took it out of the workshop to the patiently-waiting engine mounted on the desk. I got it onto the driveshaft and bolted it in place. I once more started up the engine to see if the propeller would spin.

It didn't want to spin. It wanted to writhe. I mean, sure, the driveshaft rotated with it, but it bucked. It wanted to shake the engine, but the engine was bolted to the desk and didn't go anywhere. I killed the gas before something got shaken apart.

At least I still had a propeller, for all the good it did me. I took it back to the workshop to review what I'd done wrong that time.

Tsu'na was sitting at the workbench, typing away at her laptop. "I am trying to find a word, Husband. Is there a word for an idea that changes one's way of thinking?"

"Uh…brainstorm? Revelation? Epiphany?"

"Spell that last one, please?" I spelled. She typed. She read. "Epiphany, yes, thank you. I think I have an epiphany."

"What would that be?"

"You spent more than three thousand dollars for the ultralight engine. Google says ultralight propellers are sixty dollars."

"That's not the point…"

"My epiphany is that it should be."

"But I'm trying to learn how to make one of these…"

"You bought a bicycle to learn how to make a bicycle. Can you not buy a propeller?"

I looked at the propeller in my hands and sighed. "We'll need to sell fifteen pies to cover it."

"We know how to make pies."

I set the propeller on the workbench and came around to wrap an arm around her shoulders. "Clarity of vision, my love. Thanks. So show me what you found."

Turns out propellers are cheap. Stupid-cheap, considering how much the rest of the ultralight materials would have cost if we bought them. We had to weed through a lot of choices that included props for radio-controlled model planes…apparently propellers are a consumable for them.

Some were listed as coming "pre-balanced." Could be the problem this whole time was that I hadn't tried to balance the ones I made. No idea how to work balancing into the recipe, but there's a garage on the edge of town…maybe props can be balanced the same way as tires.

But the important thing was that a reasonably priced propeller, according to Amazon, could be in my hands as soon as…tomorrow. I could be operating an aircraft any day now.

Even after all the crafting I've done, here and in Eorzea, it still makes me a little giddy when something like this comes together.

There was a knock at the workshop door. I got up to answer it, wondering what Sam might want that he couldn't just call me for.

It wasn't Sam. I got the door open a couple inches to find Deputy Frank standing there with something resembling a polite smile. "Good afternoon, sir. Mind if I…"

He pushed on the door and stepped forward. I allowed it to open wide enough to step forward myself. He bounced off of me and was obliged to back up a couple steps.

I pulled the door shut behind me. I produced my own politeness-adjacent smile. "Something I can do for you, Deputy?"

"Just a friendly visit."

"I wasn't aware we were friends."

He held on to his excuse for a smile. "There's just some small matters I'd like to clear up. Perhaps we can step inside and discuss it?"

The lease meant he couldn't just barge in, and it didn't sound like he had a warrant. I don't know why he's so insistent on seeing what we do behind closed doors. I kept up my expression and held my position. "I'm kind of in the middle of something. Is this an official visit?"

"Just looking to improve community relations. Is your wife in? Perhaps we can all discuss it together." He reached past me to push on the door.

I held onto the knob. "We can talk out here."

"Is there something you don't want me to see, sir?"

"Is there something you insist on seeing, Deputy?"

He looked past me at the door, still sort of smiling. "Oh dear. Did I hear a sound of distress coming from inside?"

Sam was right. Deputy Frank not only watches cop shows, he watches cheesy cop shows. I lost my smile. I was about to lose my temper, when the knob twisted in my hand and I heard the door open. Tsu'na said from behind me, "Are you going to be long, Husband?"

Frank's eyes shifted and got wide. I followed his gaze to see part of my magnificent miqo'te visible from the doorway, her face and ears and a tantalizingly bare arm and shoulder. And a smile.

I turned back to Frank. "Do you have a warrant to inspect my wife, Deputy?"

He wrenched his eyes back to me, then lowered them. "Uh, sorry to disturb you, sir," he mumbled, and walked stiffly away.

Tsu'na opened the door for me as I came back inside. She stood there in her black summer tanga and halter, still smiling. "Was I a stripper, Husband?"

"No, my love, that was theatre. You were a star."

"Does that mean you do not want me to be a stripper?"

I didn't have much in the way of words or logic at that point. Logic wasn't a major component of the rest of the afternoon. Or productivity, for that matter.

And now I feel like I owe Frank something.

#ffxiv #ffxiv echoes of home #ffxiv writers #ffxiv fanfiction #final fantasy xiv fanfic #ffxiv writing #writeblr

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