#I forgot to mention it but quick travel costs money too

[thefallennightmare]

Miracle-three

(gif created by me, the fallen nightmare. feel free to use, simply give credit)

Pairings: Noah Sebastian x Reader

Warnings/Tropes: forced proximity, slight enemies to lovers, slow burn, smut, angst, fluff, mentions of death, and swearing.

Summary: Reader is the merch girl for Bad Omens. It wasn't what she wanted to do with her life but when her mother got sick with Alzheimer's, reader took a job where she could to help with the costs. She thought it would be a one-time gig but the longer she was on the road with them, the harder she fell for Noah Sebastian; even if he wanted nothing to do with her. She needed a miracle to save her mom and her future.

Author Note: I forgot how much I hate slow burns. So we'll see how long it lasts. Tags are open if anyone is interested!

Tags: @ada-clarence @nonamessblog @thescarlettvvitch @malice-ov-mercy @crimson-calligraphyx @theoneandonlykymberlee @yumikitten @blackveilomens @cherrymedicine13

A yawn fell from my lips as I snuggled deeper into the bed, a blanket wrapped around me like a cacoon to keep in the warmth. It was my first day off in four days and with the constant traveling; I was relishing being able to sleep in an actual bed. The bunks on the tour bus weren't terrible but with Bryan's snoring I was thankful for the quiet night of sleep ahead. The sun was setting, the orange glow painting over the walls of the room, and I only left the bed to go to the bathroom or grab my room service. The entire day was dreading tomorrow because that's when I had to send Lana her first paycheck and I was about three hundred dollars short.

My mom had been doing great, even remembering who I was when we talked on the phone. Something about hearing my voice but not seeing my face must have helped. It warmed my heart that we had conversations about things like we used too before she got sick.

I could explain to Lana the situation. I'm sure she would understand.

Somehow I doubted that which is why I was heavily researching my idea, wondering what the risks were and if the payout was worth it. Everyone online who had a page said they could pay for things they wouldn't have with a regular job. I would have my own rules and wouldn't worry about sharing it with a partner. I could post what I wanted whenever I wanted. The only risky thing would be someone recognizing me and with who I worked for, I wasn't completely sold on the idea yet.

"I don't have to show my face," I told myself as I sat up, deciding pretty hastily.

Desperation made people do drastic things and starting an Only Fans was my last resort; I had no other options.

The phone on my camera wouldn't do and I sucked in my bottom lip, wondering if what I was about to do was a good idea. I needed a better camera and set up while also having a credit card with a high enough limit, though it was for emergencies.

Isn't this one? Think of it as an investment.

Agreeing with the voice in my mind, I scrambled out of bed and quickly stepped into a pair of black sweats and hoodie to match. I cringed when I noticed myself in the mirror and made quick work to make myself look somewhat presentable.

The walk to the nearest store was only a few minutes, and I enjoyed the sounds of the hustle bustle of the city as people walked passed me, their own ideas for the night fueling them. I knew little about cameras and thought about asking Bryan some advice but knowing I might have to tell him why I needed one didn't sit well with me

As I was leaving the store, two bags in hand and $500 more in debt, I felt my phone buzz in my pocket and when I read the message, I couldn't help but let out a groan.

Davis, yet again, was inviting me out to dinner tonight with him and the crew. I ignored his first two because I really had plans to lie in bed all day. Now, the only thing I wanted to do was get my profile set up and start posting so I could make money as soon as I could. Plus, Noah was avoiding me ever since the night of the first show when Jolly caught us together. Nothing happened but to Noah, it was as if they caught us fucking.

The thought caused a flush to creep to my cheeks as another text came in.

Davis: If money is an issue, it's on the crew tonight. The last few days have been crazy and we want a night out to relax.

It was true; every show this tour is sold out which made for a crazy night. Everyone in the band and crew were exhausted so a night out was something we all needed.

Me: I'm already out, where should I meet you guys?

Davis: there's this Mexican restaurant right around the block from the hotel. Meet in an hour?

Perfect amount of time to set up and record my first video. I never was a modest person, even if I never had a boyfriend. A few hookups here and there gave me some experience, but I also knew what my body liked, hence me bringing a few differnt kinds of toys with me. After the first tour, I realized how lonely I got out on the road.

I refused to prove Noah right I was only here to fuck someone; which was not true. But that didn't mean I couldn't think of a certain tattooed vocalist while I filmed, right?

An hour and fifteen minutes and red flushed cheeks later, I was practically running out of the hotel to make it in time to the restaurant. As usual, I was running late, but that was because it took me some time to figure out how to edit and post the video to my page. What I filmed wasn't exactly raunchy but just enough to keep people wanting to come back.

I was in a rush to get to the restaurant that I nearly missed the body that I collided in. Strong arms wrap around me to keep me steady as I looked up into those dark eyes that haunted me every second of every day. My heart fell deep into the pits of my stomach as embarrassment filled my veins, knowing that face was the reason for my orgasm less than an hour ago.

Noah gave me a look as slowly removed his arms from me, Jolly and Folio standing on either side of him.

"Where's the fire, angel?" He asked while drinking in the sight of me with a wide grin.

In my pussy.

He was wearing a grey sweater; the hood pulled up over his head and white hat. I cursed my vagina as it throbbed at the sight of him and my pet name.

"Uh, I was meeting Davis and others for dinner," I pointed behind me, stuttering over my words a bit.

Jolly smiled. "We're headed there too. Care if we walk with you?"

Him and Folio, not at all. Noah, yes I minded.

I didn't appreciate him acting different around me when we were alone as opposed to when people were around us.

"Nope," I smiled.

The four of us walked quietly to the restaurant with Folio next to me, Jolly and Noah behind us. Folio bumped his shoulder with me which made me peer up at him.

"I feel like I haven't seen you in a while. Outside of work," he said.

I gave a half shrug. "Just been keeping to myself the last few days."

"Does that have anything to do with," Folio threw a thumb over his shoulder towards Noah.

"No," I said a little too quickly, afraid as if he could see in my mind what I had been doing back in my room. "I forgot how busy life on the road is, that's all."

"What did he do to make you avoid him?" he asked, seeing right through my lie.

This caused Noah to step closer to the two of us, forcing his way between Folio and I.

"I didn't do anything," Noah defended.

My body was still buzzing post orgasm so having him this close to made my stomach flutter and head hazy.

"Right," I muttered under my breath and gave myself some space from him, allowing Jolly to take my spot next to Noah.

"Did we do anything to put you off?" Jolly asked.

I shook my head. "No, not at all. Everyone has been nice. I meant what I said, I've just been tired."

Noah peered over at me past Jolly, something unreadable on his face, but said nothing while we turned the block, the restaurant coming into view. Davis, Byran, Matt, and Nick Ruffilo were already seated at a table outside as we walked up. My phone buzzed in my pocket and as I saw yet another notification from Only Fans, I didn't realize that the only open seat was next to Noah.

Cursing under my breath, I sat tentatively next to him and pocketed my phone, not wanting him to peak over my shoulder and see the notification.

I had a few new subscribers which meant people were paying for my content. Maybe soon things will start picking up and I wouldn't have to worry as much.

The server came over to take our order and I frowned at Matt as he ordered a pitcher of beer for all of us to share.

"Can I have a water and four chicken tacos please?" I asked with a smile.

"You don't want a beer?" Matt asked.

I shook my head. "I don't drink; well much anyway. I do for special occasions but not really feeling like it right now."

Noah muttered something under his breath, and my eyes snapped over to him.

"Care to share what you mumbling under your breath?"

"You seemed pretty into it last tour in Chicago," he didn't bother to look away from his phone.

I stared at him with my jaw slack, upset for him bringing up that night but also amazed that he remembered that. With the way his jaw ticked and his hand gripped around his phone, it was clear he thought of that night often. I got drunk after a show because the guy I'd been talking to all night and flirting with was actually married. His wife was the reason why he was at the show in the first place but decided to hang out at the merch booth instead.

"Is that why you're such a dick to me?" I wondered.

Thankfully, the server had left, so they didn't have to watch us bicker but for the rest of the guys at the table, it didn't save them.

"You guys get drunk all the time. The one night I did, you hold it against me? For what?" I snapped.

I wasn't yelling but the table next to us spared us a few glances of concern.

"We don't need someone to carry us from the venue to the hotel, three blocks," Noah finally met my gaze.

I scoffed, completely baffled this was why he was such an asshole towards me. Because I got drunk last tour and he had to carry me back to the hotel?

"You're fucking unbelievable, Noah." I shook my head and turned away from him.

If I wasn't starving, I would head back to the hotel. But I already ordered and didn't want my food to go to waste.

Folio, who was sitting on my other side, looked at me with sympathetic eyes and gave my knee a squeeze underneath the table. The rest of dinner passed by with Noah and I not speaking another word to each other while the others chatted amongst themselves. I ate my food and sipped at my water in peace, checking my phone every now and then to see if Lana had texted me back. It was almost eight in the evening, and I debated on wondering if it was too late to call to talk to my mom when my phone rang.

Excusing myself from the table, I walked down the block to answer the call. It was a fast phone call, my mom being too exhausted to talk. Instead, I caught up with Lana.

"Alright, well let me know how she is in the morning. I'll be in the bus for half of the day so I can talk with her," I sighed.

"I will, dear. She's so exhausted from today. I looked through some photo albums with her to help her remember but nothing. There was nothing in her eyes."

I swallowed the lump in my throat and nodded even though Lana couldn't see.

"Yeah, those vacant eyes. It's been happening a lot lately."

There was a lot of rustling on Lana's end before her soft voice came through. "I promise you. She's in good hands. When she remembers things, we have a lot in common."

That made me smile.

"Good. And I'll send you the first payment tomorrow," I said much to my dismay.

"No rush, dear."

We talked for a few more minutes before I hung up, suddenly exhausted and wanting nothing more than to crawl into bed for the rest of the night. When I returned to the table, I halted seeing that only Noah sat there. He heard me walk up and handed me my to go box of leftover food.

"The bill's been taking care of," he said.

I didn't meet his gaze, still upset with him, as I snatched the box out of his hand.

"Don't worry, I didn't flirt with anyone to get free food."

Noah sighed then pushed himself out of his chair, immediately towering over me.

"Do you always have to talk with such an attitude," he gritted out through clenched teeth.

I stood toe to toe with him. "Only for you, baby."

The pet name was supposed to come out as playful, no meaning behind it. But with the way Noah's eyes flashed and a low noise vibrated from his throat, I knew it had the opposite effect on him. His tongue rolled over his bottom lip and I wanted nothing more that to taste them.

"Can I walk you back to the hotel?" Noah asked.

Unbelievable.

"Oh, now that no one is around you act like you give a shit?" I snarled.

He raised his hands. "I'm trying to be nice, Y/N."

"Here's a piece of advice," I snatched my purse from the table, "If you want to be nice to me, stop doing it when we're alone. It makes me think you're embarrassed to be seen with me."

Noah's face fell and began shaking his head. "It's not that."

"Oh, right? It was because of that night in Chicago where you had to carry me back to the hotel. News flash, Noah. I didn't fucking ask you too. So do me a favor, unless it deals with work, don't talk to me the rest of the time were on tour."

Not bothering to listen to him come up with another excuse, I turned on my heels and stomped back towards the hotel.

[bonerhitler]

So I’ve been playing Hollow Knight.

So, in lieu of anything interesting to say I've been playing Hollow Knight. I do love the metroidvania genre and people have been telling me it's fun, charming and “like Dark Souls”. So far, I can kind of see it I suppose but not necessarily in the best ways. That's not to say it's a bad game, no I'm enjoying it a lot. It's just got some problems I'll go over in a bit. And before I start talking about the good bits I've got a bigger thing to blather on about; Metroidvania games and why I love them.

Castlevania Symphony of the Night was an excellent game, and personally speaking it is the pinnacle of the genre and the holy grail I compare all other metroidvania games to. Progressing through the castle and earning more abilities to progress deeper actually felt like progression. Even if half of your abilities, like the dog and mist forms, weren't especially useful beyond their specific one-off implimentations. Bat form, double jump and less flashy survival skills like the one that let you not take damage in water were amazing to uncover because they let you dig through the gameworld with more ease. But at the same time it was very rare that the game would straight up block you. Outside of a few very specific doorways, very little in Symphony was made so you absolutely had to follow a strict path through the game and you never really had to play according to how the game wanted you to, you were free to do whatever you wanted and abuse the game's mechanics however you saw fit. This was something it inherited from the Metroid line of games which were infamous for their sequence breaks and tricks to simply skip huge portions of the game. Symphony of the Night made exploring one big area an absolute treat, you gained more and more ways to make backtracking easy and bearable while uncovering new paths and areas that utilized those same abilities to traverse them. Then, just as you finished it all you uncovered an entire second map! Even if it was just the first map flipped upside down, it introduced new challenges to just getting around without having to wall off segments of the game behind glorified keys.

I could keep going on about Symphony, I really could. But this is about Hollow Knight! So lets get this party started right. This game looks great. The art is nice and the level design sets up a really nice world that flows fairly well, for the most part. The character and enemy design is awesome as well. I especially love that they went with a bug theme for everything, it makes the game stand out a bit from the rest of the crowd. I also enjoy the music. None of the tracks I've experienced so far stand out to me especially, but it's a nice ambient soundtrack that fits the areas you traverse very well. I don't think I would ever listen to it outside of the game, but at the same time I don't think I would ever mute the game because it's pleasant on the ears. Also the NPCs are all pretty cute and I'm pretty eager to play more and see how this unfolds with them.

Gameplay-wise Hollow Knight is a fairly simple hack and slash sort of affair. No real combos or special attacks thus far, the only special skill I've gotten is a kamehameha sort of skill where I shoot an energy blast that consumes my energy, as well as the default special skill. That default skill, however, is something I think is really cool. Rather than relying on health drops, pickups or anything you can just heal whenever. You have a shared pool of energy that all of your special skills rely on, but it recharges any time you damage an enemy. It's a bit of a double edged sword though. As far as I can tell, there's only one weapon in the game with a linear upgrade path which isn't necessarily bad and the game gives you nearly every tool you need for combat right off the bat.

Nearly every tool you need. I'm having fun with Hollow Knight but it's got some pretty frustrating issues and a big one I find is that there's no dodge skill. Symphony of the Night gave you a back-dash right off, you could hit triangle and just back dash forever. Great for avoiding hits, great for travel and great for being stylish. In Hollow Knight, you don't get anything. You can't dash, you can't run. You're slow. Combat is kind of frustrating because if an enemy is going to attack you, all you can really do is jump out of the way and that's just not good enough sometimes. Plus there's the aforementioned double edged sword of healing and offensive skills taking from the same, limited, pool of energy. I find myself almost never using my offensive magic because I never know when some annoying really hard to kill enemy is going to pop up and take off most of my health leaving me in dire need to heal. Because get this; no invincibility after you get hit. So not only do you have poor mobility, but half the enemies in the game are designed to just hit you into other enemies or instant death spike traps so you take two or three times as much damage because there's nothing stopping you from getting combo hit. In fact the game's favorite environmental trap is to just have a tight platforming section over spikes and just drop a spike on you from the ceiling, so that if it hits you you fly into the spikes on the floor and get sent to the room beginning taking extra damage.

I also take issue with the world design. Unlike, say, symphony of the night where every breakable wall was clearly marked with a crack and there were usually multiple different ways to tackle a path that might look like it needs a specific mobility upgrade to get past, Hollow Knight's world feels like it was designed for the sake of placing all its secrets first and then how you get around to unlock them was an afterthought. I'm constantly just finding ledges I can't reach with no way to get to them. Breakable walls are in no way indicated until you hit them and then there's the map.

Oh snap this game's map, guys. So you know how in Metroid, any of the metroids really, and Symphony of the Night you have a really nice grid that shows you where you are, updates and just generally manages to be vague but at the same time tell you everything you need to know about a room (except that one room you have to enter from a secret back passage in Metroid Prime. You know the exact room I'm talking about.)? Yeah none of that here. First off you have to buy maps in this game, otherwise you just don't have one. You have to buy upgrades to let you see NPCs, important interaction points and other things on maps. You also have to buy an item that lets you see yourself on the map because otherwise you can't -and- you have to equip it. Right now, I have three points to spend on equipment and this thing takes up one. A thing that every game with a map ever has by default. That's still not all though. Because the map is still, still just plain bad. It tells you nothing and gives you zero indication for size or scale. More than once I've accidentally wandered into a boss fight because I thought I was in an entirely different area of the map. Also the map only updates when you rest at a save point. That’s real bad.

Oh and the game is inconsistent about things in ways that feels slightly off. Some enemies respawn instantly. Small flies and other enemies that you would expect to. Some don't, like bigger enemies that take more hits. Then there's this big knight miniboss type enemy that respawns every time you enter the room. What? No, seriously, what? Why, that thing nearly killed me the first time it showed up and I got locked in a room with it. Now I have to fight it every time I want to pass by this room, this room which is dead center in the middle of the map. Backtracking in this game is a nightmare because your mobility is so abysmal and enemies all take like twice as many hits to kill as it feels like they should. Like you could cut down every enemy's HP by half and the game would flow a lot faster because then you'd stop having to, well, just stop and stand there whacking an enemy three or four times before it died. Funny fact; enemies get invincibility frames, you don't.

So I guess what I'm saying is that it's a cool game but the gameplay is frustrating? Like I really like everything except the gameplay because it feels like the developers just kind of didn't do the metroidvania thing good. In fact it feels like they went out of their way to do it bad. It reminds me of Valdis Story in a lot of unpleasent ways, and that game was a huge disappointment.

So in the end, would I recommend this to someone? Maybe. Have you played Aquaria yet? If not, go get Aquaria and play that instead. It's a very fun metroidvania style game with a unique control scheme, amazing OST and some really cool level design. If you have played Aquaria then sure. Despite everything I've said here I would still recommend Hollow Knight to anyone who asked because while the gameplay is really burning my biscuits an that map is a crime, I really like the atmosphere and character design. I want to see where the story goes too.

[ever-is-typing]

Since I saw you do skins hdc can I request own for Desolate sand pleeeaaase 😗

note: yessssssss desolate sand :sobbing: legit so angry at myself for not being into the game when he was available he's so awesome >:(

🪙⏳ Desolate Sand!Andrew (Grave Keeper)⏳🪙 relationship headcanons

• the gold rush inspired many people to travel west-

• and you were certainly no exception.

• be it to chase a dream or to escape the dreariness of everyday life, you made the journey for the opportunity of a lifetime!

• though, your "opportunity" was cut rather short when Marshall- the wealthiest gold digger in the west- was murdered,,,

• and you were considered a suspect in aforementioned murder,,,

• then again, you weren't the only suspect in this ordeal.

• there were a variety of interesting characters involved- a bounty hunter, a western tycoon...

• and a mysterious masked stranger, just to name a few.

• like you, he wasn't from this small western town- no one knew where he was from, really

• either way, though, you were both outsiders. but that was about where the similarities ended

• this stranger was cloaked in secrecy. he covered his face with a dark bandana, but that didn't help to conceal the shocking red tint of his eyes or the stark whiteness of his hair.

• you were taken aback by his features at first, but you didn't find them as strange as the golden shovel he carried on his person at all times

• like what do you need a shovel for in the wild west bro that's kinda ಠ_ಠ ಠ_ಠ ಠ_ಠ

• he didn't have a name- or, rather, he never told it to anyone. so, when they're not calling him a "demon" because of his unusual appearance, the townsfolk took to calling him "Desolate Sand" for his solemn and enigmatic nature

• and, unlike everyone else involved in the crime, he didn't seem to care too much for money, which was practically unthinkable

• so yeah you were definitely intrigued by Desolate Sand from the start

• he, on the other hand, wasn't too keen on making friends. in his eyes, the westerners were all corrupt... putting their faith in gold coins instead of God, so they weren't worth his time

• but, when he sees you from the other side of the bar one day, fiddling with your empty glass, something about you stands out as different

• maybe it's the worry in your expression? the unspoken plea of innocence in your wide eyes? something about it just seemed so human...

• and, being a suspect of murder, he saw it as a breath of fresh air and rationale. you weren't like these other suspects, with their petty obsession for wealth and status.

• you were a person of reason, like him. a humble survivor of life, just trying to deliver God's justice in your own way...

• or, at least, he hoped so when he slid down into the seat next to you.

• "You look like you could use another drink, dollface."

• as he gestures for the bartender to fill your glass with the alcohol of your choice, you couldn't help but feel the corner of your thoughtful frown tug up into a smile

• "Dollface? That's awfully flattering for someone you don't even know." you would snort cheekily, looking him up and down. "Anything complimentary I should be calling you, stranger?"

• "The folks in these parts have taken to calling me Desolate Sand," he would respond, tipping his hat respectfully. "But something tells me you already knew that."

• you would nod, sipping on your drink in silence. at this point in the investigation, there wasn't anyone who didn't know about this mysterious man.

• "Well then, Mr. Desolate Sand, you can call me Y/N. Y/N L/N."

• "Charmed, Y/N L/N."

• "Likewise."

• from then on, you two would keep meeting at that spot in the bar- you spent most of your time together talking about your dreams for the future and your goals by travelling west

• or, at least, you did. Desolate Sand was rather reserved about his past, but he was more than happy to listen to you talk about yours. what a gentleman (¬‿¬)

• and, with every meeting you had, the both of you began to fall in love without even really noticing at first...

• ...which caused more worry to Desolate Sand than it did to you. you were a kind soul, a good person. you didn't deserve to be with a filthy sinner like him.

• besides, he's done some pretty horrible things in his life...

•...like killing Marshall-

• omg plot twist!! (o‿o)

• so, when you finally admitted your feelings to him and he hit you with that information, it was like a punch to the gut.

• up until this point, you had really grown to trust him- but this confession just felt like the grossest betrayal possible. what other horrible secrets was he keeping from you?

• so, not wanting to find out, you ran away.

• of course, Desolate Sand had his reasons for bringing that sickening man Marshall to his end. reasons he would never want to get you involved in.

• his deliverance of justice shouldn't come at the cost of a good heart like yours- so, even if it hurt, scaring you away from him was the safest option

• though, of course, that backfired on him once the infamous bounty hunter Black Rose got her hands on you.

• she was rather livid when she heard that someone else had gotten to Marshall before her-

• he was always at the top of her hit list, and she was expecting to draw a pretty penny out of his death before someone else had stolen the kill.

• turns out pretending to be a bartender is a great way to eavesdrop for information- and, seeing two of her fellow murder suspects chatting so pleasantly at the bar was quite intriguing to her.

• and how convenient that the mysterious stranger confessed to murder within earshot (even though she was already spying on you guys)!!

• "So, tell me, L/N," she cooed, pressing her cold black pistol to the side of your head. "Do you think that killing Mr. Desolate Sand will be enough for me to collect my bounty, or no? Perhaps I should take you out, too, just to compensate for all of the trouble your little lover has caused me-"

• "You get your filthy fuckin' hands off of them right now."

• even though he was far enough away from you that you could only see his silhouette, the rage in his eyes burned brightly enough that he was practically a beacon of raw emotion

• despite his obvious anger, though, Desolate Sand still leveled his revolver at her head with the confidence of someone who's shot it before

• and, though you were relieved to see him come to your aid, that remaining fact still scared you. the man you had grown to love had still killed a man.

• "So, what's it going to be, Desolate Sand?" Black Rose hollered. "You gonna turn yourself over to me so that I can collect my coin, or is pretty little Y/N here gonna have to die first?"

• Desolate Sand inwardly scoffed. it was always about coin in the west...

• the two stood in a silent stalemate for a while. neither moved a single inch out of place...

•...and that was starting to get on your nerves.

• so, you directed all of that pent up frustration into stabbing Black Rose in the gut with your elbow!

• she was actually caught quite off guard, so much so that she stumbled backwards and fumbled with the trigger of her gun-

• and suddenly, BANG.

•...though Desolate Sand's gun was the only one with one less bullet.

• Black Rose howled in pain and clutched her leg, red pooling around the flesh the bullet tore through

• you stumbled back, dazed by the sight, right into Desolate Sand's arms.

• you were at a loss for words- you didn't even know whether to thank him or apologize.

• though the urgency in his eyes told you right away that you had time for neither

• "Y/N, we don't have a lot of time here. The townsfolk will be out here any minute once they hear this broad screaming. She'll say we tried to kill her, so I'm going to get you onto a horse and send you away while I take care of all this-"

• you were very quick to shut him up with a kiss

• he was shocked for a moment, but he found himself slowly melting into it- you tasted absolutely heavenly.

• when you two regretfully pulled away for air, you told him very passionately that you weren't just going to leave him all alone.

• you'd take your hands in his, rubbing your thumbs over his hard leather gloves...

• "Desolate Sand, I... I know you lead a pretty intense life, but... that doesn't mean you have to live it alone. Neither of us do. I love you, and I'm not ready to leave you behind yet."

• he chuckled down at you. "Funny. I was about to say the exact same thing, doll."

• and so, you both made your escape, travelling from town to town in search of a quiet place to settle down

•...though that was quite hard with all of the wanted posters with your faces on them

• yeahhhhhh you're both kind of wanted criminals now I forgot to mention that sorry

• (Well, Desolate Sand more so than you. You're labelled as an "accomplice," and they just never seem to get your nose right on the posters. ;0)

• after everything, Desolate Sand agreed to deliver his justice in a less morbid fashion. despite everything you've faced in the past/will face in the future, you're both just happy to be at each others sides- and no amount of gold could ever compare to the love that you two share. ♡

"Y/N, you've got something these westerners and I lack- a good heart. You constantly prove to be a breath of fresh air in these lawless lands... don't ever change, darling. I'll protect you with my life."

-Desolate Sand!Andrew Kreiss 🕳🕳

[matryosika]

shoot me, chapter VI

pairing — changbin x reader

rating — 18+

genre of the overall series — smut, angst, fluff if you squint

prologue chapter I chapter II chapter III chapter IV chapter V chapter VI

word count for this chapter — 4.1 k

warnings — mentions of alcohol and emotional abuse

note — this chapter has no smut in it. still, the love-story gets completely developed here. next chapters will be filled with smut and angst so stay tuned! i haven't read this chapter because i wanted to upload it as soon as possible, so it may contain grammar mistakes. i will check it later since i have to go out with my family to have dinner! <3 hope you enjoy

taglist:@cozyblues @ahgasearmyfan @binnie-m00n @minaamhh @pinkishwen @spilledtee

*

[changbin's pov]

"so?" you asked him, modeling one of the dresses that you had previously selected from the expensive clothing shop "what do you think?"

she looks like a goddess.

"good" changbin limited to reply. "is that the last one?"

"c'mon you are not helping at all" you grunted, turning around slightly on the mirror to see the full silhouette of the dress "this might be the one, don't you think?"

i think so. i think you look perfect in all the things you have tried on, actually.

"it's alright" the dark-haired man reply "just take that one and let's get this over with"

"jesus, changbin" you whined "you are such a pain in the ass. if you were in a bad mood then you shouldn't have accepted to drive me here so i can buy a dress for the wedding"

you had been in korea for a month and 2 weeks now, your relationship with changbin growing unconciously intimate as you often engage in sexual encounters with him. you wouldn't say the both of you were close, but each day that passed by you could feel how you learned more about him just like he learned more about you too. you wouldn't consider him a good friend, since hostility made a presence every now and then between the both of you, but you had learned to spend time with him without feeling the need to put plugs into your ears and a blindfold to stop acknowledging his existence.

"if you needed help picking a dress" changbin interrupted, standing up from the seat he had been occupying for the last 45 minutes "you should've asked hyejin or ryujin to come and help you out, not me"

"hyejin is busy" you were quick to respond "ryujin had work today and you were the only other person i know that owns a car"

"cabs exist"

"yeah well" you made a pause, swallowing hard "i don't like cabs"

"you could've asked arthur to lend you his private driver" changbin tilted his head slightly.

"i get uncomfortable with strangers" you answered after a few seconds of being completely silent, changbin's gaze making you incredibly nervous.

"really?" he inquired, one of his hands traveling all the way to the pocket of his jacket as he pulled his wallet out. "why won't you just admit that you wanted to spend time with me?"

"fuck no" a grimace of disgust was quick to appear on your face "don't get confused. i would rather be dead than to spend more time with you than i already have to"

"yet you are still here" he teased "maybe i'm not as unbearable as your mind is trying to convince you i truly am"

with lazy steps he took the bunch of dresses that were piled up on the chair next to him, putting them all over his shoulder as he walked to the counter. "what are you doing?" you asked, still wearing the last dress you tried on.

"you are indecisive and i am starving" he said without even looking at you "i don't need to spend another 45 minutes here looking at how much you struggle to pick between 5 dresses, just have them all and pick one when you are alone"

you looked at him in desbelief "do you have any idea of how much just one of them cost? are you stupid?" you almost yelled in astonishment, looking at the figure of changbin slightly turning around to face you.

"i am not stupid" changbin reply "like i said, i am just hungry"

and currently thinking about how beautiful you are looking right now with that look of amazement on your pretty face. if i could, i would buy you the entire world just for you to destroy.

[y/n's pov]

"i will pay every single one of those dresses back before i leave" you mumbled, eating your food as if you had been starving for days "i had money, i didn't need you to come and rescue me as if i was some sort of damsel in distress"

"you were in distress though" he added, taking a sip of the drink he ordered "you took almost 30 minutes just to pick one dress to try on, you are really undecisive"

"yeah well, it's not like i had anywhere else to be" you replied.

"isn't arthur going to have a small gathering at his house today?" changbin inquired "like a pre-celebration of the wedding or something?"

you shrugged your shoulders "i don't know and i don't care. i am just here for the wedding and then i will be finally free"

you kept on eating your plate of food, confused as to why changbin's gaze stayed fix on you. "what, do i have something on my f-?"

"are you leaving right after the wedding?" he asked in a very hostile way, almost as if he had completely forgot that you were not going to stay forever.

"not right after but that's the main reason i came here, yeah" you replied, having a mixture of feelings inside your guts.

you couldn't deny the fact that you missed tsukuba, but living there meant to be trapped in the university dorms 24/7 just studying. but still, the lifestyle you have had for the past time was absolutely something you could get use to it: ryujin, hyejin, going out on the weekends, being free from school, changbin...

changbin?

"i still don't know the exact date though" you added "school doesn't start for me in another months so..."

"how is your life?" he asked, earning a weird look from you as you couldn't quite understand his question "in Japan, i mean"

you sighed. you had thought that living in japan was really good and you felt utterly comfortable living there until you arrived to korea and discovered a whole new life style that you had already learned to love. not only that, but leaving everything here was going to get you a bit nostalgic in the future. "it is great, better than people say it is honestly" you responded as he nodded "i live at the university dorms so life is pretty much everything but rushed. i spend my days at the library studying, i sometimes work as a shadow teacher for like 4 or 5 kids and on weekends i go and visit my mom and her partner"

"your mom got married after divorcing arthur?" changbin followed, just in time as he finished his dish of food.

"uh, it's complicated" you gave him a smile "she lives with someone and she is very happy"

"and are you?"

you were about to answer the question when you felt a pinch on your heart. a month ago you would have replied "yes" without a doubt. you thought you were happy living in japan, you thought you were happy when you visited thea, your mother, and reiko, her girlfriend. you thought you were happy when reiko made you her special coffee and you thought you were happy when they ocasionally visited you on winter nights at your dorm. you thought you were happy when you worked with children and spent time with them. you thought you were happy when you rode your bike from school to work and you thought you were happy when ryejin visited you and your mom on the holidays.

however, you had learned a new definition of happiness here.

"are you?" you fired back.

changbin slightly tilted his head as he laid completely back on his seat "i could be"

"what is exactly stopping you from being happy?" you asked him, intruiged.

"even if i explained it to you" he mumbled "i don't think you will be able to understand it"

"ah, there you are again" you scoffed, slightly rolling your eyes "your god complex has not show all day. i guess you missed it."

"c'mon" he grunted, raising his hand at one of the waiters at the restaurant "let's go somewhere else"

"where exactly?" you laughed "to your place? your car? a motel? jesus changbin, you can't really go a day without fucking, can you?"

"that's not actually what i had in mind" he replied, taking out his credit card as he saw the waiter approaching the table "but i mean if you want to fuck i won't say no"

"you had something in mind?" you asked, faking excitment "for me? you planned something for me?"

"if you want i can drop you at arthur's place right now so he can force you to have dinner with him and his bride. it's up to you"

you weren't really feeling like spending "quality time" with your father, and you also knew that hyejin was probably not going to attent the dinner, so there was no point of you being there. but at the same time, the thought of spending time with changbin doing non-sexual activities was something that it always made you nervous for an unknown reason, and you were feeling particularly nervous today.

"whatever"

*

the evening went on peacefully and that alone was unreal. he drove you to the center of seoul and suggested to take a walk around the most popular avenues because "the city looked better at night", something you have always believed too.

changbin was attractive and, even though your personalities crashed every damn time, you couldn't deny the fact that there were some sort of intimate bond going on between the both of you since that very first night at the bar. still, you wouldn't accept it. you wouldn't accept that the one person you disliked the most was starting to change your mind.

and you couldn't get yourself to trust him either. you couldn't trust any men, for that matter.

"have you thought about which dress you are going to wear tomorrow?" he asked so casually, his hands inside the pockets of his jacket as his gaze diverted from building to building.

"no" you replied, trying to get back at the trail of thoughts you had been threading since you left the restaurant with him. "have you?"

"have i thought about the dress i am going to wear tomorrow?" he laughed "i don't know, it will depend on which one you lend me"

"i got distracted" you admitted "but i will try on all the dresses tomorrow morning and i will give you the rest of them so you can return them to the store"

"i won't do that" he clicked his tongue "i bought them for you"

your heart skipped a beat after hearing those words and it was everything but pleasent.

"i don't want them"

"you can't reject a gift" he mumbled "that's the whole point of a gift"

"i will sell them on the internet" you threatened.

"do it, at the end of the day they are yours" he gave you a side look while smirking "but i wouldn't sell them if i were you. you look good in them"

"oh so you want to give opinions about the dresses now, huh?" you asked, mildly annoyed "you could've help me back at the store but you chose to be grumpy"

"at least i am helping you now"

"you are unbearable" you whispered.

a bright smile was quick to appear on his face. a genuine smile, as if he was enjoying the conversation. not only the conversation but the whole moment: you and him, walking around the city and talking about something so casual and trivial like which clothes you were going to wear tomorrow or which dress he liked best on you.

and for a moment it felt nice.

you felt safe.

"the red one was pretty" he added. you looked at him confused, once again lost in your trail of thoughts. "the red dress, the one that you tried on last"

"good" you responded "i'll make sure not to wear that one"

"you hate me that much?" he teased while a faint chuckle left his lips.

"oh changbin, you have no idea" deep down knowing it wasn't more than a vile lie.

*

you looked in the mirror one last time before you heard hyejin calling your name once again "y/n, how long will you take? i need to stop by the bakery to pick up the wedding cake"

"i'll be out in a minute" you replied, noticing how your hands got sweatier by the second.

you were quite nervous, but couldn't really understand why. maybe the sole thought of your father having his "happy ending" made you jealous because you knew that he did not deserve that at all; he didn't deserve the love he had.

the emotional abuse your mother and you suffered throughout your childhood and adolescence was not something that could be fixed in a month or two and you were certain about it. no matter how happy your father was, you couldn't help but to feel jealous about how he never had to suffer like you and your mother did.

and even though you got over your negative feelings towards him, the scars and aftermath of an abusive household still caught up on you: the mistrust, the negativity, the hostility and the lack of commitment were things you had to deal with on a daily basis.

of course he was the one to blame. but you were an adult now, and you were supposed to deal with all those issues by yourself. no one was going to fix them for you.

"jesus y/n, we are running late" hyejin busted the door open "are you ready now?"

"yes" you were quick to respond, grabbing the purse on your bed and trying to quickly divert from your sister's gaze.

"wait" she mumbled, gripping both of your shoulder as you intended to the leave the room "why are you tearing up?"

"i am not" you replied "i yawned"

she didn't look convinced, but still decided not to push any further "i'll meet you in the car, i just have to grab a few things"

you nodded and made your way through the hallway. because of how rushed she was, you didn't have a chance to tell hyejin how gorgeous she looked. she was wearing a golden shiny dress that embraced her body just fine and carrying a maching clutch with it. she was really pretty, maybe the prettiest woman you had ever seen, and not only that but she was also very smart. any guy would be head over heels for her, but she still decided not to engage in a "silly love story" as she called them because "it is a waste of her precious time, and time is money"

you wished you had the same mentality as she did, but you grew up getting educated on how love was portrayed in books, movies and television. it was ironic how you were the first person on earth to deny that love actually existed, but you were still a hopeless romantic after all.

*

[changbin's pov]

"changbin, are you too far from the church?" haeun, his mother, asked desperately as changbin picked up the phone.

"i'm right outside" he grunted "i told you i was not going to be late"

"we are sitting on the second bench at the left of the altar" the old woman added "hurry up"

changbin hung up the phone and cursed under his breath. the weather today was maybe too nice for his own liking and his clothes were a bit too uncomfortable to be wearing them under the sun.

as quickly as he could, he closed the door of his car and started walking towards the entrance, making sure that the ceremony hadn't started just yet so he wouldn't make a scene.

"did you bring the gift?" jang-yeop inquired as he sat down next to him and changbin nodded "did you also bring your mother the pair of shoes?"

"yes" he responded "how long is this going to take?"

"40-45 minutes?" his father replied "i have no idea, what time is it?"

"7:02 p.m." haeun was quick to answer "now, the both of you shut up"

right after she mumbled those words, music started to sound on the church. changbin, being in a rush to get to his seat before the ceremony started, didn't notice that arthur was already standing up next to the altar and waiting for his soon-to-be wife. changbin's gaze was fixed on arthur, then it diverted into the bride walking down the aisle and then returned to arthur once again. he never thought about marriage or building a family. hell, he never thought about having a romantic relationship that would last longer than a few months actually. but as he grew older, and as he experienced new stuff, he wasn't sure if he still had the same mentality he used to have last year.

to changbin, arthur seemed genuinely happy. his half-lidded eyes along with that bright smile he was wearing indicated that the man was living one of the happiest days of his life. and as changbin witnessed that romantic scene, the question that popped up in the conversation he had with you last night grabbed his attention once again.

what exactly is stopping me from being happy?

and before he could respond himself with words, his eyes had already found the answer: standing on the bench at the right of the altar and wearing that promising dark red dress that could drive any man insane, the woman he never dreamed of looking just as beautiful as the very first day he met her.

not being able to have her completely.

*

[y/n's pov]

after the ceremony, a big party was held at a very elegant event hall located in one of the tallest buildings of seoul. you were not particularly excited about having to see arthur's side of the family, but you still managed to keep yourself together the whole time.

"you are wearing the red dress" a sudden voice whispered into your ear as you were counting the tables that were still missing their dinner plates, an order given by hyejin. you slightly turned around to meet changbin's breath dancing on your neck and nape, goosebumps filling every single inch of your skin due to the proximity.

"congratulations" you sighed "your vision is crystal clear"

"i have been watching you since the ceremony" changbin added "i can't help but think about how pretty you are going to look when you are taking that dress off for me"

a spark of electricity traveled around your whole body and directly into your core. you immediatly looked around and notice a few people who worked for arthur's company sitting not that far away from the both of us "do you really want to do this here?" you asked "aren't you scared of being caught by any of arthur's friends?"

"are you concerned about that now?" he chuckled "that didn't seem to bother you at the company's elevator"

"c'mon" you whispered, your back slightly pressing against his chest "i have to help hyejin with some stuff"

changbin slightly gripped your hand and guided you to the dancefloor that was crowded with couples dancing around "i am sure that she can handle all of this by herself"

before you could protest, you took out your phone and sent her a message with the information she asked for. you had no idea what changbin was up to, but you still decided to follow him.

changbin positioned his hands on your waist as he gracefully dragged you across the dancefloor, looking for a spot in the middle of the crowd so it would be easier for the two of you to get lost.

"you are spending the night at my place" he mumbled over the slow songs that were now playing. it wasn't a question nor a petition, it was an order.

"yeah right" you chuckled "if you are too desperate to fuck we can do that, but i am not fond of sleepovers"

the thought of you spending the night with him was terrifying, but you would've been lying if you said that you hadn't think about what it would be like to wake up next to his him.

"i wasn't asking" he responded. "tell me when you are ready to leave".

with a swift movement, your whole body was pressed against his, his hands resting on your lowerback as you both swinged from side to side, following the rythm of the song. this was a whole new side of him that you didn't know it existed, and you couldn't deny that you were loving every second of it.

"who thaught you how to dance, huh?" you asked, your gaze fixed on his eyes that looked even brighter because of all the lights adorning the hall.

"there is so much about me that you don't know" he replied.

"oh i know everything there is to know about you, changbin" you scoffed "but let's see if you can keep surprising me"

*

it wasn't even midnight but people were already starting to get completely intoxicated with alcohol. arthur had spent the night dancing with ara and, after she was done being the unofficial wedding planner, hyejin ended up getting wasted with the small group of friends she invited to the wedding. you, on the other hand, spent the night dancing with changbin and eating your dinner with him.

it was not unusual to see the both of you together since you spent too much time at the company, but tonight it was sort of different. the looks he gave you, the way you two danced for hours on end, the way he was treating you... it felt different, a little bit more personal and intimate. his parents probably noticed this too, since they made a lof of comments about "how happy they were about us being really good friends". if only they knew.

"i think i am ready" you said to changbin after telling hyejin that you were going to spend the night somewhere else. she nodded her head and agreed to say, if asked, that "you were at ryujin's" even when she wasn't invited to the wedding in the first place. you just smiled at her and nodded, not leaving without telling one of her sober friends to look out for her.

"don't worry" the pretty pale girl mumbled "she will stay at my house tonight"

you glanced over to arthur and ara who were still having the greatest time of their lives on the dancefloor, and proceeded to walk away from the party with changbin. "you parents will stay here?"

"yeah, they will leave in an hour or so" changbin replied "i told them that you wanted to go home and that i was going to drive you"

"perks of living alone i guess" you joked.

the walk through the empty corridors of the building felt eerie as the loud sound of the music were still ringing in your ears. even though you were walking on your own, you could still feel changbin's ablazing touch on your body and that only provoked your heartbeat to go even faster.

as you waited for the elevator to open their doors, changbin's lips unexpectedly crashed against yours. it wasn't a passionate kiss, and it wasn't rushed either. it was just a kiss, an innocent kiss, a kiss you give to your significant other as a demostration of how much you love them. his soft lips dragged against yours as his teeth bite softly your bottom lip, earning a small whine from you. his hands, that were now located into your waist, guided you to the insides of the elevator once the doors were opened.

"you look so beautiful tonight" he whispered interrupting, his breathing getting faster each second that passed by "i can't get you out of my head"

his lips left yours to meet the sensitive spots on your neck, peppering soft kisses all over the surface. your gaze found the reflection of the scene in the mirror of the elevator, looking at how changbin was tasting every inch of your skin with his eyes closed, his rushed hands traveling all the way from your waist to your lower back trying to memorize every single trace of your body.

"i don't want to hurt you tonight" he continued "no roughness, no pain, no petnames. i want to make you completely mine, in the most pure way"

and for the night, you agreed to let your feelings out and let go.

no fear and no mistrust, you were ready to face the overwhelming feelings that had been building up inside you since the day you met him.

even if you could potentially regret it later...

[ajaxwrites]

Genshin Impact Fanfic Rec List

(because this is my most current obsession~~)

The Narwhal of Dihua Marsh by GreyLiliy

Childe hears of a strong Adeptus living at the Wangshu Inn. Despite warnings from Zhongli that fighting Xiao would be a deathly mistake, Childe seeks out the Adeptus living in the Dihua Marsh eager for a proper fight.

However, Childe severely underestimates his opponent, and the consequences of his actions may keep him from returning home to Snezhnaya.

Ships: Zhongli/Childe

Notes: This fic is interesting primarily because it's not necessarily what you would call an easy story to read. The content can surprisingly get quite heavy as the relationship between Childe and Zhongli isn't healthy and it becomes increasingly obvious as the story progresses. You swing between wanting to separate the two and also desperately wishing that they'll work out because there is something there. The story snowballs from what seems like an innocuous, if stupid and rash, decision on Childe's part to a complicated mess that you can’t help but be enthralled in. I went in expecting your typical romance and ended up in something that was more complex than I expected but also beautifully thought provoking.

Entirely Out of Spite by Bgtea

"Welcome to a new user experience! You have triggered this interface with the keywords, ‘Stupid game! Stupid devs! I want my f*****g money back!’ You are now bound to the character Tartaglia, the Eleventh Harbinger of the Fatui, codename: Childe! We hope you have an enjoyable user experience and we welcome you once again to Genshin Impact 2.0!”

Those are some of the first words Ajax, starving college student extraordinaire, has the misfortune of hearing upon waking up in a brave new world from what he's fairly sure is a very, very fatal accident involving water and a shit ton of electricity.

Okay, so he's not dead. That's good. But what's this about him being stuck playing the character Tartaglia? Tartaglia, as in the shitty, one-dimensional, cartoonish villain who met his untimely, gruesome death in the first act of the original game?

Fuck that noise. Like hell Ajax is going to share that fate.

And so begins one man's journey to unfuck himself.

Ships: Zhongli/Childe

Notes: Whenever this updates, I squeal. If you’re a fan of The Scum Villain's Self-Saving System or just transmigration/reincarnation plots in general, you’re going to love it. Bgtea does a beautiful job in balancing humor with the trauma that comes with the whole reincarnation plotline. The whole of it is beautiful written and watching Childe/Ajax interact with the other characters (and the perspective of those characters) is a delight! 

the sister by glassdrachma

The tragic and unexpected death of Zhongli-xiansheng of the Wangsheng Funeral Parlor occurred to the sorrow of many and the deep skepticism of a few.

Ships: Zhongli/Childe

Notes: glassdrachma has a gift for humor and romance. In short, Zhongli fakes his death for plot reasons and comes back as Jianlao, the bereaved twin sister. Shenanigans ensue, featuring overprotective Liyue-ians (?), chaotic gremlin Venti, and Kexing. Very light hearted, good for the soul.

The White Cicada Society by clementinesgulag

After his little brother is bundled back to Snezhnaya, Childe makes good on his promise to the traveller and takes the first boat out of Liyue Harbor. Any sense of homecoming lasts about as long as an uncooked steak in front of Xiangling, however, when his boat sinks, grounding him back in the mainland.

It's just as well, because the next morning, a body is found in the Northland Bank. A visit from a fellow Harbinger reveals a far more insidious plot than anything Childe could concoct with a god of the vortex and twenty minutes without supervision. The murders aren’t limited to the one Bank. They’ve been trailing down the Liyue border, getting closer and closer to the city. The Tsaritsa has a new mission for him: to figure out who, or what is targeting Fatui forces.

Against his best wishes, Childe is forced to see Zhongli again at the morgue. It becomes clear that he’s going to need a guide, and Childe resolves to quash his pride, and their differences to request his help to navigate Liyue and solve the case.

Ships: Zhongli/Childe

Notes: A diamond in the rough that I slept on and then stumbled back to by accident. I had it marked for later on AO3 and forgot about it for like a good week to my utter self-disgust. It. Is. So. Damn. Good! The mystery is intriguing but I live for the realistic portrayal of the aftermath of the whole gnosis plotline. The betrayal, the bitterness, but ah, the sexual tension. The harbinger interactions in this fic make it gold though.

Lungs full of Roses by SecretlyACatLady

Childe had always assumed that he would die young. He had accepted that a long time ago, ever since he accepted the mantle of a Fatui Harbinger. However, he always thought that he would die in a glorious fight, his body broken but spirit relishing the strong opponent that had bested him. He was okay with that type of death.

Unfortunately, it seemed like Fate had decided to add one last insult to injury, because, here Childe was, dying because he had fallen in love with the ex-Geo Archon. The same Archon who seemed to have discarded him like an old toy ever since the Osial Incident. --- In which divine beings are cruel and a cursed Childe starts preparing for his inevitable death because no Archon could ever love a mortal.

…Right?

Ships: Zhongli/Childe

Notes: The fic that started it all for me, the one that sucked me into the fandom. This fic is heartbreaking. We always do love a hanahaki plotline but something about the way it frames the disease and the shame that comes with it...I highly recommend giving it a read. The angst is real I tell you.

The Bride of The Golden Dragon by Erika_Bee

“You’re to be sent on a special mission, Tartaglia.”

The young man’s eyes gleamed in interest. “How special?” He asked as he wiped the blood off his daggers.

His superior grinned. “Special enough to put your name in Snezhnaya’s history books.”

—

In which the Archon War ravaged the land of Liyue and to ensure the people’s survival, the God of Geo established the Harvester Contract: One bride per village, every year, in exchange for protection and a good harvest.

Or: Childe is sent on an undercover mission to kill the Geo Archon, but things don’t go as planned.

Ships: Zhongli/Childe

Notes: Don’t let the title scare you off--this isn’t one of those fics where they feminize one of the male characters and reduce their personality to a mindless submissive bobblehead to the point that I want to throw my laptop out of the window. Not that there’s anything wrong if you like that kind of thing, just not my cup of tea. This fic though---READ IT! There’s just something refreshing about the writing and the plot, the way that Childe’s character reads off the page. I live for the interactions between the characters and how the author has mapped the relationships. Warning that recent chapters have swerved decided into NSFW territory though.

the brothers grim by izabellwit

Left in an unfamiliar land with a mission he never wanted, a young Kaeya lies, survives, and somehow finds a family in the process.

Or: How Kaeya came to Dawn Winery, and why he left it. Includes lore, sibling bickering, found family struggles, and a more in-depth look at the years between Kaeya’s arrival and Crepus’s death.

Ships: N/A

Notes: Ahh, little Kaeya. Cheeky ass little shit that’s too angsty and adorable for his own good. I don’t have words for this fic. It makes my heart warm but also makes me want to weep because god, this fic covers exactly how traumatic Kaeya’s situation is and why child soldiers/spies just shouldn’t be. And the dynamic he has with Diluc and Crepus--do me a favor and read it. Screams found family.

the wind through the mountain tops by glassdrachma

Boredom brings Barbatos of Mondstadt to bother a certain ex-Archon of the Earth.

Ships: Zhongli/Childe

Notes: A light-hearted, humorous and fluffy as hell piece. Short word is that Venti comes to Liyue for some fun, causes chaos, accidentally plays matchmaker, and steals some vegetables. A get-together fic for Childe and Zhongli that includes a surprisingly self-aware (if blunt and snarky) Zhongli and jealous Childe that gets increasingly flustered.

melt (speak or forever hold your peace) by anatakana

Falling into bed with Diluc was an unbelievably bad idea given their tumultuous shared history, but Kaeya’s impulsive urge to amuse himself knew no bounds.

It’s all fun and games until emotions got involved.

Ships: Diluc/Kaeya

Notes: THIS IS NSFW. With plot though? This is THE FIC that got me shipping the two (though the game did a good job on its own). The angst is real here and we love the sheer gal of both of these two stupid men.

Cascading (In a good way) by Hubbleablubble

Kaeya is a fascinating annoyance.

(Or: A series of events in which Albedo gets to know Kaeya, and they slowly go from strangers to acquaintances to something more.)

Ships: Albedo/Kaeya

Notes: Sweet fic. Not my typical ship pairing. Loved the Khaenri’ah mentions. Kaeya is Trans FTM here though it’s only briefly mentioned. There is also an incomplete sequel (as of May 2021) featuring an Overprotective Big Brother Diluc on a warpath giving shovel talks to everyone except apparently Albedo that’s also worth reading.

The Language of Flowers by Jules (Penwyn)

Kaeya Alberich has made a habit of lying—after all, the only truths he’s ever spoken cost him everything—but there are only so many lies a man can tell before the truth comes spilling out.

Ships: Diluc/Kaeya

Notes: Hanahaki! Except not! Basically, Kaeya pukes up flowers that say the truth whenever he lies. Cue, angst! Lovely and quick read--love Kaeya’s voice here.

i know i'm where i'm meant to go by paperclips (pastel_paperclips)

"Childe," Zhongli says suddenly. "I am enjoying myself greatly."

Childe’s face breaks into a grin. "Then-"

Zhongli gasps, grabbing his wrist and tugging him over to an unsuspecting peddler with a cart full of rocks. "Is that an intrusive igneous pegmatite formed in the Inazuma regions?"

Childe’s grin smooths into a small, adoring smile. He has all the time in the world to figure the other man out.

OR: Finding the Geo Archon is on Childe's to-do list but hanging out with Zhongli is significantly more fun.

Ships: Zhongli/Childe

Notes: Childe, you idiot. Humorous and funny, very light hearted. Makes you wonder if Childe has an IQ. He’s too busy pining/lovesick to realize that he told his target that he’s going to kill him for his gnosis. Zhongli and Liyue remain confused on how Childe still DOES NOT get it but half-ass hiding his Archon status anyway.

the bird without wings by Anonymous

"Kaeya!" someone yells. Small arms wrap around his waist tightly, red hair spilling out of the ponytail, and Kaeya's heart almost stops.

He's talked his way out of all types of situations. From placating international disputes to buttering up his informants, he's always had a quick response to everything.

But for once, Kaeya is speechless. He stares down at the boy with puffy cheeks, slightly crooked teeth and sparkling bright eyes.

Eight year old Diluc beams back.

Ships: Diluc/Kaeya

Notes: Diluc gets de-aged and Kaeya gets angsty. The interactions between the two are heartwarming and will induce tears. Childe makes a brief appearence that *chef’s kiss*

call me "lover boy" by Anonymous

Zhongli turns back, eyes bright with amusement, a stray lilypad still stuck in his hair, and Childe thinks, wow. I want to kiss him stupid.

Childe's not into the whole "swooning maiden patiently waiting for his beloved to swoop down and smooch the daylights out of him" thing. Nah, that's not his style. He's Tartaglia, eleventh of the Fatui harbingers, and he's going to kiss Zhongli right now.

Ships: Zhongli/Childe

Notes: FUNNY AS HELL. Childe is straight up just trying to plant one on Zhongli but fate and people just keep interfering. It’s a weird trope aversion where the character is actively trying to confess rather than avoiding it but life gets in the way. 

springtime in snezh-nya-ya by miaomaomei

Tartaglia’s body moves before he can even think about it. He arches his back and flattens his ears against his head, baring his teeth in a hiss. Considering he barely even reaches Scaramouche's knees — Scaramouche, of all people! The guy is practically the size of a fourteen-year-old — he doubts that he is cutting as imposing a figure as he hopes.

It isn't a surprise, though. No one could become a Fatui Harbinger if they were scared of a little cat.

OR

Tartaglia is turned into a cat and he goes to Zhongli for help. It goes about as well as expected.

Ships: Zhongli/Childe

Notes: TOO ADORABLE FOR WORDS. This is just pure fluff I swear. Love how Childe is written and the interactions between the two are just ahhhh. A balm on the soul.

Melt by tanktrilby

“My name is Diluc,” he says. A scowl naturally furrows his brow, and Kaeya looks like he wants to laugh.

He’s looking at him through his lashes again, blue eyes teasing and warm. “Diluc,” he says. “A knight in overalls isn’t quite where I thought my preferences would lie, but here we are.”

(or: Kaeya loses his memories and makes some assumptions. Diluc can't honestly tell him that he's wrong.)

Ships: Diluc/Kaeya

Notes: As the summary says, Kaeya loses his memories. Diluc plays babysitter for plot reasons. Meanwhile, Kaeya freaks out and has an essential crisis because his instincts freak him out which = angst. Simultaneously, sort of love confessions? 

you are cordially invited by ktenologious

When the Traveler receives a mysterious invitation from a Snezhnayan businessman, they seek out help from the only Snezhnayan they are on good terms with. They decide it is a wonderful idea to go to this business party in the middle of the ocean because, well, what could be better entertainment than watching a Fatui Harbinger at work? It is too bad Childe couldn't come with them...

Meanwhile, the Tsaritsa needs someone to track down the source of a brand new drug at a party on a cruise; it just so happens that she has two Harbingers who specialize in causing chaos and sinking ships. Scaramouche is a sadist and loves this, and Tartaglia... Well, Tartaglia just wants to know why is he the one in the dress again.

Ships: Zhongli/Childe, sort of Diluc/Kaeya & Scaramouche/Childe

Notes: Features a crossdressing Childe and Kaeya for plot reasons. Funny as hell. Love Fatui dynamics/interactions. Highly recommend. Go read it. I’m serious. It’s so beautiful, I can’t. Also Zhongli is so love-sick and jealous, it’s hilarious.

The Road to Snezhnaya by paranoid_fridge

Everything's done and over. Now, Zhongli only needs to adjust to living like an ordinary mortal. Or that is what he thinks until a familiar face shows up in Liyue. Teucer comes looking for his brother who failed to return to Snezhnaya on the Fatui ships. And as Childe's declared "friend", Zhongli must help Teucer find him.

Or: Teucer drags Zhongli on a cross-country goose chase looking for Childe. Zhongli just happens to find a bit more along the way.

Ships: Zhongli/Childe

Notes: I have no words for this fic outside of the fact that it is clear that Teucer has the only functioning brain and should be Best Man because he obviously did all the work here. Features an oblivious Childe and overprotective Zhongli, plus bystander Kaeya that is getting allll of the gossip. And also the most destructive group of children ever.

basket of knives by oronine

“I just want to be loved,” Childe says to himself, to whoever is listening. “Is that too much to ask?”

They are on the roof once more, this time Childe’s foot touches the edge of the building as he daydreams of something that cannot be. The sky is blank and cloudy and perhaps Lumine fears it’ll all end when he takes a step.

“Not at all,” she says. It’s still the truth.

Contrary to popular belief, Childe hates his family but loves them all the same.

Ships: Zhongli/Childe

Notes: TW for suicidal ideation, suicide attempt, self-harm, depression, etc. Not a light read by any definition. Set in a modern AU, not in the genshin impact universe. Features a Childe that is Not Okay, good friend but also probably traumatized friend Lumine (and her brother Aether), and Zhongli. Family dynamic is messed up as hell and explores mental health quite well in my opinion. I’m not sure how healthy necessarily Childe’s relationships are but I think that’s a given considering the context and how derailed his mental health is in this fic. Definitely angst as heavy, made me tear up quite a bit. Read, but pay attention to the content/trigger warnings as it does get quite explicit.

Bane of All Evil by tzitzimeme

When Chongyun unintentionally offends Liyue's second most powerful adepti, he vows to mend the thorny relationship between Adeptus Xiao and human exorcists-- even though no one has succeeded in currying Xiao's favor for over a thousand years.

His best friend Xingqiu offers to come alone, mainly because he's worried about what kind of trouble Chongyun will run into. Along the way, they receive help from others: Xiangling packs them meals for their journeys, while Zhongli gives them advice on what demons to track.

Childe is just there because he thinks the whole thing is hilarious.

Ships: Chongyun/Xinqiu

Notes: JFKLFJS I LOVE THIS. I love Chongyun’s characterization and the interaction between all the characters. The dynamic between Chongyun, Xingqiu, and Xiangling are to die for. Also, this line: “Stuck-up Persnickety Bastard.” Random note but Xiao throws Chongyun off a balcony yet is also 100% a softie.

Talks about Nothing by tzitzimeme

In which Zhongli unlocks the Memory of Dust, only to find out:

1. Guizhong is 100% alive (just disembodied) within it, 2. Guizhong has been watching over him this whole time, and 3. Guizhong is very excited by the prospect of Zhongli getting a cute Snezhnayan boyfriend.

Ships: Zhongli/Childe, Venti/Xiao

Notes: The pure judgment that Guizhong unleashes on Zhongli (as well as her sass in general) is pure comedic gold. The dynamic between Xiao and Venti are also adorable. Meanwhile, Childe misunderstands and also just wants to know what the fuck is going on.

xi wangmu by tzitzimeme

Xiangling scales entire mountains to satisfy the palettes of her two pickiest customers.

(Or, two men who are emotionally stunted by their own immortality inadvertantly turn an overly enthusiastic chef into their messenger pigeon.)

Ships: Zhongli/Xiao (?)

Notes: Not sure if it reads romantic exactly, can definitely be read as platonic. The fic boils down to Xiangling trying to expose Xiao to variety because just eating plain almond tofu is a no no. Zhongli gives advice/uses Xiangling as a messenger pigeon. Backstory is explored!

Falling (Fallen) by asinglecrow

It’s only when Childe finds himself in front of Zhongli, a spear protruding from his stomach, that he thinks oh I might have fucked up.

Or: The worst (best) day of Childe's life.

Ships: Zhongli/Childe

Notes: Funny and lighthearted! Gets sort of NSFW with passing mention of mpreg but otherwise, it’s just pure humor/fluff. Get-together fic featuring deadpan dragon Zhongli and Childe that is just done with everything. 

the louvre by morisuke

Here in Liyue, the air is filled with the ocean, and the sun shines through the mountains like it’s flowing through a crack in the sky. Here in Liyue, there is a man with no wallet at a vending machine that is going to waste the rest of his day showing a stranger around their school campus for a pocket sized can of iced coffee.

It’s interesting here in Liyue, Childe thinks.

or

Where Childe flirts with a stranger at a campus vending machine.

Ships: Zhongli/Childe

Notes: Set in a modern/college AU. This is a relatively quiet, soft kind of story. Childe comes to Liyue because reasons and falls in love quietly. It’s more of a snippet of life type of fic that’s sweet and peaceful. Love the change that comes over Childe as he finds a home.

[dourpeep]

Seeing people complaining about the lack of anniversary rewards is getting so tiring. The game's ratings dropped to like 2 on Google play, all comment sections of official accounts are full of complaints. I know and understand that people are upset but it's just so so tiring to the point where I unfollowed most accounts that aren't related to fanart or fanfiction because of all that negativity

I personally spent (a little) money on the game so I get where p2w players come from but idk. I saw that we didn't get anything and moved on pretty quickly. Maybe that's just me, idk

Maybe you have a different view on this and if so, I'd like to hear it

Sorry for ranting in your inbox

hehe no need to apologize because I have quite a bit to say myself nodnod

Read if you like, don't if you don't--this is just my opinions and stuff based off my experience knowing Eastern gatcha games as well as talking about using a 5* vs 4* of the same build + slot

This got kinda long ehe-

Like really long.

Anyway

My turn for a Hot Take (tm)

Yeah I understand this--I've been feeling so drained and my enjoyment of the game and writing has diminished immensely because all I see everywhere is just that.

I understand that the event rewards suck but at the same time? I realize how gacha aren't really popular here in the West--and I have seen a lot of comparison between Genshin and Cookie Run but they're also two entirely different genres despite both being gacha. Not to mention that Cookie Run is fast at first until you get to around uhh Kingdom lvl 37~~ and you're stuck and can't go forward because things cost too many materials or your cookies aren't strong enough even though you have several stars on your team consisting of epics built as optimally as possible-

So the maintenance rewards for Cookie Run have been the only significant amount of gems I've been getting for a few weeks now compared to when I first started and could do 10 roll after 10 roll.

Also also, Cookie Run is PvP (arena, guilds, etc). Being able to get more rolls is absolutely a gamechanger. If you can't get a good defense cookie or healer cookie, you're fucked.

So!! That's why Cookie Run is more generous with rolls. You're not going to want to keep fighting other people in the Arena or doing Guild stuff if they don't add in those generous rewards.

On the other hand, Genshin Impact is an open world rpg w/ co-op (note, co-op doesn't count as pvp because you're collaborating) where you can build pretty much any of the characters to be viable (dps/vampire Barbara is one major example, Noelle is a guarantee roll character for that beginner's banner and she can easily be built to be a tank/healer/dps to fill whatever slot you desire)

So they're not going to be incredibly generous w/ rewards because the characters you have--meta or not--don't really effect your ability to play the game (unless we're talking spiral abyss which really is considered endgame anyway) when you're able to get at least one character of each element for free I mean, you start out with traveler who can be anemo, geo, or electro once you get to the respective places, Amber, Kaeya, Lisa, Barbara (iirc, you need to get to rank 20?), Xiangling (complete spiral abyss floor 3), and Noelle (reduced cost 10roll w/ guaranteed Noelle).

Which would be one of each element and a variety of one of the 5 weapon types nodnod.

Time to talk about builds and why it's not necessary to have a 5* unlike in other gatcha games like Cookie Run (again, a kingdoms builder) before going back to the anniversary stuff

But continuing, like Eula is considered a fantastic 5* character who features a kit that is based around her being a physical damage character. My sibling, C, has her built and she does some insane damage.

On the other hand, I have Xinyan built as a physical dps and if you were to compare their damage?

With crit, C's Eula deals 9k to 14k with Skyward Pride (5* claymore w/ energy recharge substat). With crit, my Xinyan deals 8k to 13k with Song of Broken Pines (5* claymore w/ phys substat) OR 7k to 10k with Prototype Archaic (4* craftable claymore w/ attack substat).

Both C and I agree that they're pretty evenly-matched in the sense of damage output.

We have similar builds focusing on physical damage, however, C's Eula uses 4pc Pale Flame and my Xinyan uses 2pc Bloodstained, 2pc Pale Flame (both have the 25% phys damage bonus for the 2pc). It's also good to note that both their Eula and my Xinyan have a physical dmg % cup.

So just by stacking up more phys on Xinyan, you get a physical dps (with some elemental support capabilities due to her E and Q) you can easily make her deal consistent, reliable damage that is comparable to a fully built Eula. Ofc, I'm sacrificing Xinyan's shield, but since she's built to be a physical dps, it doesn't matter anyway.

Another thing is Zhongli is an incredible shield support. His shield?? Absolutely insane because it's based off his hps. Guess who else has a hp-based shield and heals??? Diona. Another incredibly good support 4* with a shield and healing would be Noelle!

But with Diona, specifically since I did kinda cover over Noelle already, she can easily be built along with her shield having over 100% uptime (like how Zhongli has over 100% uptime). The fact that Diona is also a healer definitely is a perk too.

Ofc the difference with this is that Zhongli can be built as a burst support/dps while Diona is not. But the point isn't that--the point is that you don't need a 5* shield support to have a good, reliable shield support.

But regardless of 4* or 5*, to get a viable character, you need to build them well. So if your character isn't doing satisfactory damage, you just have to take a quick peek at what artifacts they're running and fix as needed!

Another thing--

Talking about the rewards and stuff for the anniversary-

Generally, gatcha games aren't really that generous with rewards and instead usually have some sort of event. In this case, I'm pretty sure that Moonchase is considered a part of the anniversary which is why it's giving so many rewards- just the primos from the first day alone with the chests and quest was enough for two rolls (40 chests * 5 primos each + 60 from the quest and a few that I forgot where they come from but are from the event) as well as the 4* Luxurious Sea Lord claymore.

Before you say that it's shitty for them to make a festival into the anniversary event, I'm certain that people would complain if the anniversary rewards were just a little more than the 10x fates and stuff and that's it because it'd feel like they're skipping over the anniversary entirely. (keep in mind, festivals don't normally give this much stuff in terms of primogems from what we've experienced so far--they're mainly focused on the free event weapon you can get and build like with Festering Desire, Windborne Ode, Dodoco Tales)

Also companies love taking advantage of festivals to make an event bigger + more fleshed out. It'd be otherwise kinda boring to have to just log in every day for a week (not to mention, not everyone does that) and encourages players to play to get rewards.

yeah, that's supposed to work in their favor because they want to keep interest.

So the fact that there's a lot of backlash on everything going on is tiring and also?? I want to make the point that they'll only listen to so much. Getting heard is important, but there will be a point where Mihoyo will just stop listening to the players entirely because all they're getting is a constant barrage of "this event is the worst" "no one likes that character" "(insert character) when???" "okay but where's (blank) rerun?" pasted over the forums, discord, twitter, facebook, instagram--

You can't keep demanding more while also talking shit constantly about the new stuff added because then they'll just not add those new stuff because we (general) seem to never be satisfied.

Honestly, I wouldn't be surprised if they end up just cutting Genshin Impact as a loss entirely if this continues as it has and gets even worse.

But I digress.

Anyway, I agree that it sucks that the daily login rewards for the anniversary are just cut and pasted from the Lantern Rite, but as someone who's played a lot of gatcha games, it's pretty much the standard.

Have a daily sign in for rewards and a big event featuring a ton of stuff you can get instead of having an 'official' anniversary event.

I'm sure there's a lot I'm missing because it's not coming to mind, but yeah. These are my general thoughts on what's happening with the discourse.

[collecting-stories]

The Deal - ep. 02 - Georgia

Summary: When your car costs more than you expected you strike a deal with Daryl. 

A/N: I forgot how much I love writing these two. 

Georgia Masterlist | The Walking Dead Masterlist

☼ ☼ ☼ ☼

The next time you saw Daryl it was Tuesday. He had called you on Sunday night to let you know that the problem was your fuel line and your exhaust. He’d used a lot of car terms that you didn’t necessarily understand before finally assuring you that he would have the car back in working condition as quickly as possible. Which would have been quicker if you had the money to pay him for the job. You might not have understood the car terms but you understood the dollar amount and it was more than you could afford on top of other expenses. Who knew letting Eugene fiddle with the car would cost so much?  

“We’ll work something out, come by the garage on Tuesday.” Daryl had offered when you admitted that the price was higher than you had expected.  

So on Tuesday, just after school, Tara dropped you off in front of the garage. It was raining something awful and colder than it had been all weekend; appropriate November weather according to Eugene. The hoodie and jeans you had on weren’t the best of your looks but it would have to do.

“Hey sweetheart!” Axel greeted you when you walked into the garage, acting like the two of you were the best of friends. Tiny waved from where he was inspecting a tire. “You come to check on the car?”

“I did. Is Daryl around?” You asked, fiddling with the strap of your backpack.  

“Ran to grab smokes, should be back soon,” Axel replied, “feel free to wait.” He gestured to an old backseat that had been converted into a couch.  

“Alright.” You sat down on the couch and pulled a book from your backpack, beginning to read as you waited.

Daryl wasn’t gone ten minutes more, coming in and shaking the rain off himself as he took his jacket and flannel off, hanging them by the door. You felt hyperaware of him when he was around which was probably why you looked up the minute he came in and kept your eyes on him as he moved further into the garage.  

“It’s shit out there.” He mentioned, still oblivious to you.

“Yer girl’s here.” Axel piped up, pointing a wrench in your direction.  

Daryl turned toward you, eyes widening a bit as he caught sight of you. He coughed and ran a hand through his hair, trying to fix it. “What’re ya doing ‘ere?” He asked.  

“You told me to come down to discuss my car.”  

“Did ya walk ‘ere?”

“Tara...my friend dropped me off.” You replied, standing up and following him as he walked over to the car.  

Daryl nodded and walked over to you, grabbing your arm to pull you away from Axel and Tiny. You were going to consider this his designated move if everytime you saw him he was dragging you around by the arm.  

“Ya shouldn’t come by when I'm not at here.”

“But you are here.” You pointed out, smiling.

“Anything coulda happened while I wasn’t.” He stated, looking back to the other two as if they weren’t to be trusted. And maybe they weren’t but they’d been perfectly welcoming to you.  

“I’m all in one piece, promise.” You assured. “But listen, you wanted to talk about payment plans or something?”  

Daryl sighed, “Yeah, listen, ain’t nothin’ I can do ‘ere but...if I work off the books, take more time, ya can pay in more installments. It’d be half what it is now.”

“Seriously? That would be amazing.”  

“Ain’t a big deal.” He shrugged, “I’ll move the car to my house tonight.”

“Thank you, thank you!” You surprised him by wrapping your arms around his neck and hugging him tightly. Daryl tensed on impact and you let go when you realized how stiff he was. “Sorry.”

“S’alright.” He replied, immediately chewing at his thumb to calm himself down.  

“I really, really appreciate it. Honestly.” You repeated, “I have to go to work but let me know whatever the first payment is.”

“I’ll figure it out, let ya know.” He promised. “Ya walking?”

“What?” You asked. You had already started the short trip back to your bookbag. Patricia was expecting you at the diner by 4pm and it was nearing 3:50 now. Lori would grip about how many minutes you were cutting it.

“Ta work. Ya walking ta work?” He asked.

“Oh, yeah, but it’s just at the diner.” In proximity to the autobody shop it was hardly a three minute walk. Patricia’s diner was a block over on the corner.

“It’s still rainin’, I could give ya a lift.”

“You wouldn’t mind?” You’d let him give you a lift to the stop sign right outside if he offered.

“Nah, I’ll grab my coat.”

-

You had taken up working part time at the local diner when you were fifteen. The minute you were allowed to get working papers from the school you had begged your mom for the opportunity, swearing that you would save your money and not waste it on clothes or makeup or whatever ‘frivolous things’ your mom would criticize. It had taken more convincing for your dad but since he wasn’t thrilled paying for your cellphone or the thought of paying for a car in the future he eventually caved.  

Patricia was a friend of the family and she promised you wouldn’t have to wait on anyone sketchy or work too many hours and never on Sunday. It started with four hour shifts four days a week but it had evolved from there. Sometimes you worked after school until midnight, on weekends you worked early morning shifts.  

“So I was wondering if there was anyway I could pick up a couple extra shifts?” You requested, following Patricia through the double doors as you tied your apron. “I don’t know if you know-”

“Dale told me your car is over at his shop.” She replied, indicating that she did, in fact, know.

“It is. So, ya know, I need some extra cash.” You explained.  

“You know, Otis’ cousin works at the place in Woodbury. I’m sure he could get you a good deal.” Patricia mentioned.

“I’m good, thanks. I just need a few extra hours.” You replied, grabbing some menus from under the register as a small group walked through the door.  

“We’ll see.” It was as good as no and you knew that. Especially when she offered Otis’ cousin to you three more times during your shirt.  

Her antagonizing was only interrupted by Dale’s arrival around 8pm for dinner. You were so relieved to see him that you almost thanked him for coming in. Dale came in every night for dinner and every morning for breakfast. Ever since his wife had died three years ago he had made the diner a regular spot for himself. Patricia wouldn’t say anything bad about his garage with him there.  

He sat at the counter like always, reading the sports section of the newspaper as he ate. Occasionally he’d call you over for a refill of his drink but otherwise he kept to himself for the evening, a little unusual but you were busier than normal and didn’t think about it. Until he called you over as he was getting ready to leave.  

“How was the burger?” You asked, pouring him a cup of coffee to go.  

“Good as always. I actually wanted to talk to you about Daryl.” Dale said, “heard you’ve been having trouble with the car?”

“News travels fast. But uh, yeah he’s gonna fix it for me.”

Dale nodded, “I just wanted to say, Daryl’s a good kid. His head just ain’t in the right place sometimes.”

“He’s just fixing my car Dale.”

“Keep it that way.” He admonished, getting up. He left behind a rather generous tip and you were quick to stuff it in your apron pocket. Lori was convinced that tips should be split evenly and she told anyone who would listen. She would flip if she saw the twenty that Dale had left you.

-

“So, how long have you been working on cars?” You asked, fiddling with a wrench that lay atop a toolkit. You were sitting on an old lawn chair under the carport of the Dixon’s house with the space heater turned toward you.  

“Long enough.” Daryl shrugged. Whatever he was fixing you couldn’t be sure but you had a nice view from your spot and took advantage of watching the way his muscles flexed as he worked.  

He had called you on Wednesday with a promise to work on your car Friday afternoon and, whether he intended it to happen or not, you showed up with your backpack. Claiming that you were off work and your mom was annoying you at home. He didn’t say anything against you being there, just turned the space heater toward you and went back to work.  

“Don’t ya got dinner or somethin’?” Daryl asked, not that he necessarily wanted to be rid of you, just that he didn’t really understand why you had decided to spend your Friday afternoon with him when you could be spending it anywhere else.  

You shrugged, “told my mom I was going to Maggie’s. She’s at work so she won’t check and Maggie told her parents that she’s with me cause she’s going out with Glenn tonight. It’s their three-month anniversary.”  

“Coulda just said no.” He replied.  

“Sorry, I talk a lot.” You apologized, “my ex always joked that I needed a muzzle cause I didn’t know when to shut up.”

“Didn’t say that.” Daryl explained, stopping what he was doing to look over at you, “doesn’t bother me. Talk as much as ya want.”

“Thanks.”

He hummed.

“Do you have any plans for Thanksgiving?” You asked.

He turned back to look at you again, eyebrows raised in confusion before shaking his head. “Oh yeah, we’re havin’ the whole family over. Just gotta bail ‘em outta jail first.”  

You laughed, louder than you intended too, and the screen door on the side of the house banged open at the same time, startling you. Daryl stood up straighter as an older man came down the three steps into the car port. He didn’t seem to notice you, going straight to the beat-up old refrigerator in the corner and grabbing a six-pack of beer before heading back inside. Once the door clanged shut after him and he was back in the house Daryl let out a breath and you looked over at him.

“You can save some money...you don’t have to bail him out.”

Daryl laughed before turning back to work on the car again.  

“Do you work tomorrow?”

“I got a shift at the slaughterhouse over in Woodbury. Can’t work on the car again until Monday.” He replied.  

“That’s fine, whenever. I can pay you the first installment next Friday after I get paid. I have to go dress shopping tomorrow with Maggie for the winter formal.” You supplied, pulling Daryl’s flannel from last Friday tighter. The sun was officially down and the only light, besides the glow of the space heater, was the flickering overhead light in the carport.  

He hummed, “that’s fine.”

“I don’t wanna go to the formal but…it’s important to my mom. She’s on PTA and they’re organizing. She said it would look bad if I didn’t go.” You said, pulling your knees up to your chest. “Did you ever go to like, prom or something?”

“Nah.”

“I wish I wasn’t going.”

“Ya seem like the type.” He replied.

“What?”  

“Ya seem like the type ta go ta all that shit.” Daryl clarified.  

“Yeah.” You agreed. He was right, you knew that. You looked just like every sweet country girl in a movie or a song was supposed to look like. You did all the things you were supposed to do. You got straight A’s, went to church every Sunday, you were polite and friendly, you went to youth group and school dances and you were responsible and you didn’t curse or drink or smoke and you had lots of friends and you were a cheerleader and you played softball. All the things that your mom had always wanted for you.  

Daryl glanced over at you as he wiped his hands on the rag he kept in his back pocket. “I’m calling it a night. I got work in the morning.”  

“Okay,” you stood up and grabbed your bag, “I’ll see you later I guess.” You hadn’t been thinking about this evening coming to an end. In your mind it just stretched on for hours and hours and infinity until both of you lost track of time.  

“I’ll give ya a ride, don’t want ya walking when its dark out.”  

Before you could say anything your beeper went off. An S.O.S text from Lori. “Damn it.”

“What’s the matter?”  

“Uh,” you looked back at Daryl, “could I use your phone? My cellphone is dead and this girl I work with wants me to call her. Guarantee she’s going to call out.”

Daryl looked back at the door his dad had come out of minutes earlier. He never had people over his house, mostly because he didn’t get along with people but also because he didn’t want his dad seeing anyone around. Will Dixon was an easy person to be embarrassed by.  

“I can just walk there and see what she needs, it’s okay.” You promised.

“Nah, it’s fine. Come on.” He opened the door for you, letting you pass in front of him into the house. The kitchen was run down, peeling linoleum, old appliances, a mountain of dirty dishes, and bottles of alcohol cluttering the counter space. On the wall by the refrigerator there was a phone and Daryl guided you in that direction so that you could call Lori back. Somewhere off the kitchen a TV was blaring a football game.

“Thanks.” You whispered before picking up the phone and dialing the diner.  

Lori picked up immediately, “Patricia’s Diner.”

“Hey Lor, it’s me. I saw you paged.”

“Oh my god, are you working tomorrow night?” She asked.

“No, I’m off.”

“Can you? Please? I got a date!”  

“A date?”

“Yeah...Rick just came in and we were talking and he asked me out. I’m so excited! But I have work and I don’t want to ask Amy-”

“I can do it. I need the hours.”

“Heard about the car.” She replied. It really was national news.

“I got to go.” You hung the phone up before she could say goodbye and then Daryl was pushing you toward the door. You were just reaching for the doorknob when Daryl’s father came into the kitchen, looking at you for the first time.  

“Who the fuck is this?”  

“Go wait outside in my truck.” Daryl said, pushing you closer to the door so he could stand in front of you. “We were just leaving.”

“Don’t leave on my account.” He called after you. As the door closed you could just hear him asking Daryl if he’d “paid her well? Don’t be a shitty tipper, that’s wha’ got yer brother in trouble.”

You waited ten minutes in the truck for Daryl. When he finally came out he slammed the side door shut and then slammed the car door shut too. The ride home was silent, you wanted to apologize or tell him not to worry about his dad seeming like a dick or something but your tongue was stuck in your throat. So instead you just sat there staring out the window while he smoked. He drove you to the same spot he had last time, a few houses down from yours so that your parents wouldn’t see you in his truck. And just like last time you lingered in the passenger seat, resolved to say something.  

“Thanks.”

“Ain’t a big deal.” He replied, lighting another cigarette off the end of the one he’d just finished.  

“Not Just for fixing my car.” You explained, “it’s nice of you to put up with me.”  

He shrugged, “Don’t mind the company. Sorry ‘bout my old man.”  

“It’s okay.” You promised. “Tell him ya didn’t tip me on account of my less than spectacular appearance.”

Daryl shook his head, the faintest smile appearing at your words.

“I’ll see you later?” You asked, finally opening the door and exiting the car.

“Yeah.”

Just like last time Daryl sat, idling while you walked down to your house and went inside. Once the door was shut behind you he put the car back in drive and took off for his house.

-

Taglist: @cbarter @onemorebeautifulnightmare  @mainokutan @qrangr  @twdeadfanfic @gigilame @sabertooth-potato @enrapturedbythemoon  @hopesxxhigh @coffeebooksandfandom @jodiereedus22 @tehfabbooty @thecaptainsgingersnap @of-storms-and-sadness @twdeadfanfic @alwaysadreamingoptimist @bucky-barnes-babies @ly--canthrope @daryldixonandfrogs @jaycc7983 @easnuppa @imaginecrushes @tonystarkismyboy @watchmeaspire @harpersmariano

[suffering-and-happy-about-it]

I want to tell you... (Part 7.)

Description: Nathan Drake is not the exact definition of an unhappy man. His job is steady, his friends still see him from time to time, he plays football, but his marriage is his main problem. Many things will change when a special person comes to his life.

Part Summary: It was becoming more and more obvious that something isn’t right between Nate and Elena, just as he was discovering how much of an amazing person you were.

A/N: A lot has changed ever since I started this damn series... It is MORE than a year old. And I still do love Nathan, he deserves all the love and cuteness, smut and attention his brother gets. Like... I love Sam too, and y’all know that, but sometimes you need the softness and love in your life. ♥

A/N: Just a quick reminder that this Nate is in his early 30s’ and Sully is in his early 40s’. It takes place after Honor Among Thieves, where Nate and Elena and Nate got married, but didn’t found the way to work the things out.

Word counter: 2.8 K

Tagging: @missdictatorme​, @peakymarvels​, @nemodoren​, @flavorishy​

Series master list: H E R E

Nathan’s car sing-along playlist: H E R E

Nathan couldn't believe what he had just done. His blue eyes were scanning the phone, his lungs weren't getting the amount of air they needed and his heart was racing. He had just called you. Asked you if you'd like to hang out with him. And you said yes. Nate breathed out steadily, and before he could stop himself, he was doing his happy dance.

Nathan, being a grown-up he seemed to be with his muscles and 5'11 height was a small kid inside an adult's man body. For starters, he was always singing and dancing when he was happy, or when he tried to kill some time in his car - and he wasn't a good singer at all. He had his happy dances when no-one could see him dancing. Another thing was that this man adored the movie Notting Hill with Julia Roberts and he cried every damn time he saw the movie. He loved to buy himself an ice-cream, was loud, and loved to laugh. He was dorky in his own, irresistible way as Elena often put it.

Oh, Nathan stopped. What would've Elena think about this? She would be most probably cool with him seeing a friend, right? Like, he went with Frazer for beers and stuff, why would be Elena worried about him going to play some Scrabble with another friend? A girl he had just met? A girl he was all over his heels for? Nathan shook his head as he stood in front of half-emptied wardrobe since El had taken most of her things with her, already dialing her number. She answered after a small while.

"Hey, hey, did something happened?" - She mumbled sleepily, having Nathan curse under his breath. He forgot about the time difference thingy. He was creating various looks on the bed, thinking about what is most suitable for the occasion.

"No, I'm fine, I don't have anything broken just yet, the flat didn't catch on fire, everything's fine here." - The man named every horror scenario he could think of, finishing it with a slight chuckle. Elena on the other side didn't find it funny at all, leaving a frustrated sigh to make her husband realize she isn't in the mood for his jests. - "But Sully has a girlfriend." - He mentioned just, by the way, settling on a dark blue t-shirt and khaki pants that made his ass popping as Chloe told him many times. These pants were old, but they were still presentable.

"And you're calling me at three a.m. to tell me that Victor found himself a girlfriend? Nate... I have to wake up early today." - Elena sighed, doing something in the background. She knew that once Nate had woken her up, she won't be able to fall asleep again, so she went to make her a cup of coffee.

"I am not calling you at three a.m. just to tell you that Sully has a girlfriend, who is at least fifteen younger, by the way. I'm calling you because a friend asked me if I wouldn't mind hanging out with her because her boyfriend is at work, so..." - He left out a small pause, rolling his eyes around, walking around the flat like a little boy.

"Nathan, let me remind you that you're thirty-and-something years old man who has the right to decide who he wants to hang out with." - "And won't you be mad ar me, or jealous, or something?" - "Do you want me to?" - Elena asked with a dry chuckle. Nathan didn't expect that Elena would be so cool about this. He expected a lot, but not such a calm attitude. Nathan had quite a time while trying to come up with an answer for Elena.

"Listen, I just wanted to let you know." - Nate sighed in the end, waiting for a moment before hearing Elena chuckle on the other side of the phone. - "Yeah, but you still woke me up this early. Unforgivable." - The woman joked and for a moment, Nate felt seriously bad about himself and the whole situation around you. - "I love you." - Nate whispered after a moment, waiting for her answer. But, just like the last time, there was no I love you said back.

"Enjoy the hangout and don't drink too much. You know how much you love Notting Hill when you're drunk. Bye." - His wife whispered in the end, ending the call. The man felt hurt for a reason he couldn't exactly name. Nathan was an endless romantic with his whole soul - he loved to cook surprise dinner for Elena when they were together, he brought her flowers at least once a week, bought her some sweets when he felt like the needs to sweeten her life a bit and he once even did the cliché thing with petals leading to the bed. This man needed to feel he's being loved, that he's being appreciated and cared for.

Yet Elena seemed to be super-distant even if she knew about it. But Nathan wasn't the type to pressure into doing things, he was too sweet for that. He cared for the woman and wanted nothing more than seeing her contained. And so far, it seemed she's more or less feeling happy in some way.

After ten minutes of preparations, like styling his hair with water and finding the best was to style his t-shirt, he set to go to the market, as he promised you. This man loved ratatouille with his whole heart. It was somehow reminding him of the days when everything was way simpler. When he was younger and he and Sam were traveling through the states, he was the one doing the cooking when they didn't have enough money for picking something at a Chinese restaurant. And ratatouille was simple and quick, not that much expansive. And his lemon cake? Jesus, you'll love it.

Nate was just arguing about the cost of the zucchinis when you texted him your address, telling him you somehow managed to clean the place up. Which filled Nate with new energy - so much that he paid a horrendous amount of money for a couple of fresh zucchinis. It wasn't too far from the market, so maybe, if you'd like to know where to get the best fresh goods, he could take you there. Nathan caught himself grinning and humming a song when he finally walked through your street - you lived in the modern, yet indie-feeling one. The houses were small, almost as if in a Mexican village and each of them had a different color. There was a bright, yellow one, then one with a blood-red facade, grass-green one, and your house had a color of the sky. It could be known that you're a student, as you told him because bands and independent artists were playing on the streets until the deep night, so the rant was significantly reduced and this was a part of the city young people lived in.

Yet it filled Nate with this sort of energy and it made him grin as he watched a guitarist serenading for some tourist, who was giggling. It made him feel a bit younger than he was... Well, he wasn't old by any means, but he still was a dude in his thirties, so he wasn't the youngest in the game either. But soon enough, he was calling you as he stood in front of the door, tapping his feet around nervously. Suddenly, he heard someone calling his name, and before he could say something, he saw you leaning down from your balcony, waving your hands wildly.

"Watch out for the keys!" - You cried out, pulling your hand out so he would see them. First, he chuckled and then nodded, so you let them fall. It was the first time you've seen someone catch the keys to their palm. It took him barely a minute to run the stairs up and dear Lord, he had this grin as soon as he saw you. You had this jean overall with one of the suspenders fallen off your shoulder, a white t-shirt and messy hair. Jesus, you were looking even better than Nate remembered you.

"Hey there." - You smiled goofily, stepping aside from the door, finding the man in. - "And welcome to my kingdom. Please, we hope you don't mind a bit of mess." - You giggled and stopped him when he wanted to take his shoes off.

"I don't mind a mess since I am a bit of one myself." - Nathan answered back playfully, finding this new sense of confidence inside of him. It made him feel good when you laughed out loud at the statement, shaking your head with an unbelieving smile. Your place was really cute and as far as Nate could tell, it suited you... And your boyfriend. Most of the things was still in the boxes, the furniture was unassembled and... - "Why didn't you tell me that you need help with painting the walls?" - Nate asked you.

Jesus, that didn't even cross your mind. Nathan was still a stranger to you, even if you called him a friend already. You met for this one afternoon a week or so ago during the storm, but you hadn't talked since that day. He didn't even text you or anything. So, naturally, it didn't come across that you could ask Nate to help you with accommodating the new household. The only thing you've had fully equipped was a kitchen - and that was because you already bought the flat with an equipped kitchen and bathroom.

"Calm your horses, I've had enough of a hard time to make sure the water is running so you can cook me the damn lunch. I'm starving." - A joke left you as you opened up the living room windows. Nate's expression was enough for you to start explaining. - "Mike usually does this stuff, I'm the worst technician you could befriend, so, don't ask me to repair stuff for you, okay?" - Oh shit, Mike. Your boyfriend. Right. Don't let your feelings get the best of you, Nate, the man spoke with himself.

"So, what does lunch, Scrabble, and painting your living room sound like?" - Nate asked and put all the vegetables on the table, smiling at you daringly.

"Oh, no, no, no. I asked you to hang out with me, not to slave work for me." - You marched right next to him, pulling out some knives, pans, and pots for him. - "And you'd ruin your t-shirt and I don't want to buy you a whole new one. I'll manage on my own." - This made the man chuckle as you still kept talking to him while chaotically running around, assembling the dishes for him. You were going through various boxes on the ground, having a slight furrow on your face.

"Yeah, I can see how you're managing with these tomcats all over the wall, good job. I mean it, I have a day off anyway." - The man answered you with a soft giggle at the end, already working with the vegetables. What surprised him was that you stood next to him in the next minute, helping him with the cooking.

"Your wife would be angry that you wouldn't be home for dinner. It must've already weirded her out that you're going to cook lunch for this random girl." - The topic of Elena made Nate gulp quietly, letting the playful grin disappear from his face. For a moment, you thought you hit the soft spot, but then the man bumped with his elbow to your upper arm.

"Elena... She's out of the states now. She's working on an article in Thailand, and for your information, she was proud of her hubby doing such a gentleman thing about not letting a girl starve to death." - Oh, crap. Nathan wished for the things to be as he was interpreting them. He wished to talk about with Elena, because maybe if their relationship would've been better, he wouldn't crush on you straightaway. But those were only speculations. What could Nathan know?

"Do you have her picture? I'm kinda curious about what she looks like. If that isn't... Too weird, of course." - You stuttered out. Nathan was caught off guard with your wish, but in the end, he wiped his hands and pulled his phone up, showing you a photo from their most recent vacation in Brazil. She was smiling into the camera, holding a glass of wine and her hair was let down. She was also beautifully tanned at the time. You opened up your mouth, smiling at the sight of Nathan's wife. - "Wow. She's like... Pretty. You're one lucky guy, Nate, I tell you." - As if, Nathan answered, but he did his best to nod and hum in agreement.

When this weird little thingy about Elena was off the table, you both concentrated on your cooking. Nathan could see why you told him that you're not the best cook either, but you were doing his best to help him. But the pie was even more fun to prepare than the ratatouille. First, you shoved the main course into the oven, making the sweet end after that. It was both looking miraculous to you since you would eat anything the man would serve you. And no matter how hot the food was, you had some appetite. Nathan hadn't seen anyone eat his food with such a passion for a long time - not even in the restaurant.

When the lunch was over, you pulled an old box with scrabble out of nowhere, putting on the table. - "Now, now, what you have to understand, Nate, is that this box is a relic. I wouldn't be surprised if it would be older than me... So, naturally, most of the letters are missing and you'll have to have hella imagination playing this game." - You presented him, putting the board down. This was a nice spent time while letting the food settle down inside of you - you were laughing a lot with Nathan and his main tactic. The man was trying to convince you that most of the words he made up were real. Soon, you pulled a dictionary, and Nate knew he's screwed at the moment.

When you proved Nathan you're actually like... Ten times smarter than him, it was the time to paint your living room. The sun was slowly setting down, so you lit up every light you could find and blasted some playlists on your laptop, making the man dance at once song. Which made you laugh from the bottom of your heart.

"What?" - Nate turned to you with the roll in his hand, already having paint on his face.

"This was... So... Terrible. I suppose you hadn't picked Elena on your dancing skills, huh?" - You mumbled, drying the tears off. Then, you stepped forward to take the paint from his face, still chuckling at the memory of him dancing. But Nathan's world just stopped for a moment when he felt your hands running on his face, your fingertips touching him gently. It made his heart jump a bit higher with joy, even if he had to fought the urge to lean into the warm touch.

"Unfortunately not, but, I am just a good dancer and you're jealous." - Nate teased you when he gained his consciousness back, making you stop as you watched his face unbelievably. With a burst of laughter, you smacked his shoulder playfully, leaning away.

"That's how it is?" - You asked, finding a different song in the playlist to show Mr. Drake how real dancers dance-like. - "Yeah, that's how it is." - Nate answered light-heartedly, looking at you already vibing to another song. With one daring look, you turned at him, making the craziest dance creations Nathan had ever seen. After a while of your theatrics, the man finally chuckled, continuing with painting the wall. He was leaving around eight in the evening, just a while before Mike came home from work and listened about your adventurous day.

On his way home, Nathan stopped at one of the artists, listening to the girl playing guitar and singing for someone she was deeply in love with. And instead of Elena, he was thinking about you when he was putting a few dollars to the guitar case. He couldn't wait to see you again.

[comicsnsuch]

Wildstorm Halloween Trilogy of Terror! (1997)

This review is going to be about the Wildstorm Halloween Trilogy of Terror published in 1997 by Image Comics, and just read moments ago by me, in March 2020.  

I picked this one up after finding a Sleeper Season One TPB (by Brubaker and Phillips) in my collection and reminiscing about how good Wildstorm was at one point. So I went online, looked up some Wildstorm comics, opened a tab with this one and thought to myself “I’ve been known to enjoy Gen 13 from time to time and this cover looks cool, let’s roll the dice!”

Spoiler Alert! Nothing as cool as the scene depicted on the cover happens in the book, and the Lovecraftian monster lurking behind our heroes never appears.  

In case you never knew or forgot, Wildstorm was the branch of Image Comics that Jim Lee was in charge of and responsible for all the titles he created and oversaw like WildC.A.Ts (later just Wildcats), Gen 13, Stormwatch (later the Authority) and Deathblow. Also Wetworks apparently, which was created by Whilce Portacio, another of the original Image Comics founders. 

This special has three different stories by three different creative teams. Each story shares a common thread, the villain of each story is a man called Crandall or Camatoz, a “bat god zombie abomination”, that Crandall resurrects in the first story.

The  the “bat god zombie abomination”, Camatoz, in case you were wondering

The first story of the trilogy contained in this issue stars Team 7, an elite military strikeforce whose members go on to be major players in the Wildstorm universe including Michael Cray (Deathblow), Cole Cash (Grifter), John Lynch (Gen 13), Alex Fairchild (father of Gen 13’s Caitlin Fairchild), Jackson Dane (Wetworks) etc.  This story takes place in the past and sees Team 7 covertly travelling into Mexico to put down a rebel uprising calling itself the Nueva Mayapan.  Crandall is working with this group but only to further his own goal, resurrecting the “bat god zombie abomination”, Camatoz. Which he does, but is swiftly defeated by Team 7.  

This story was written by Christopher Golden with art by Ed Benes. The story felt a bit disjointed due to the narration, dialogue and art not quite syncing up. 

For example Team 7 defeats the “bat god zombie abomination”, Camatoz using explosives to cause a cave in burying the “bat god zombie abomination”, Camatoz, but we never see the explosives planted! The dialogue is on par with a cheesy action movie and the narration is too weighty and self serious causing issues with the tone of the story.

       Look at how well drawn that bandoleer of bullets is! Go Benes go!

Like a lot of Image Comics from this era there's no shortage of cool pictures, but they often come at the cost of the story and the more meat and potatoes panels telling important beats of the story.

The middle story in the trilogy stars Gen 13 and takes place in the present, of 1997. 

For what it’s worth this is the only story that takes place on Halloween, 1997. 

The Gen 13 kids dress up and take part in Halloween festivities while the other stories simply contain horror elements, like vampires and the undead. So those bring the “Terror” element from the title, while this one brings the “Halloween”. 

Not to worry, this one also has the “bat god zombie abomination”, Camatoz, everyone’s favorite new character from this issue, for a few panels.

 Plus Grunge transmutes himself into blood, so there’s that. 

                                               Here’s that

This story opens on John Lynch and Alex Fairchild, both formerly of Team 7 and making appearances in the previous story, scaring some trick or treaters visiting the Gen 13 house. It also provides my favorite panel from this entry:

                                             Kudos Mr. Odagawa!

The Gen 13 kids have received an invite to a nightclub for a Halloween party. Bobby (Burnout) is nice enough to let us know the regulars of this club file their teeth into fangs.  I’m sure this outing is going to go fine. 

Turns out I was wrong, Caitlin (Fairchild) and Bobby are kidnapped by the club owners and are going to be used as a sacrifice to summon the “bat god zombie abomination”, Camatoz! Crandall is nowhere to be found in this installment. Using their powers (and teamwork) the other members of Gen 13 are able to rescue Fairchild and Burnout. After the kids return home Lynch and Fairchild, Sr, find are shocked to find a flyer for the evening’s festivities that basically spells out the whole event was to try to resurrect “bat god zombie abomination”, Camatoz.

This story flows nicely from the first, letting us know the horror of the “bat god zombie abomination”, Camatoz, is still a problem for the Wildstorm U, but in hindsight other than having Gen 13 in the issue to boost sales, this story adds nothing to the trilogy of terror. Which as you know, years later got me to pick up this issue. Good job Wildstorm marketing team!

Ryan Odagawa handles the art for this chapter and draws it in a J. Scott Campbell light manner. Writer Peter Gutierrez does a good job of aping the style and tone of the regular Gen 13 series, lots of slang that someone probably used on MTV once and a loose Scooby Doo-ish plot that shows off the Gen 13 kids doing trendy things and being moody. 

Not bad, but not an essential entry in this trilogy of terror.

The final entry stars Wetworks and is written by Tom Sniegoski and Chris Warner and it’s the best one of the three. It feels like a direct sequel to the first story, with similar elements, making the second entry feel disposable.

This story also takes place in the present of 1997, abandoning the advancement of time element that happened between the last two stories. So no cool Wildstorm of the future story here, unfortunately.

We find the Wetworks team travelling to the arctic to stop Crandall, the dude working with the Nueva Mayapan in the first story, now working with the Vampire Nation (something I imagine readers would be more familiar with if they were reading the Wetworks title at the time) to prevent him from destroying a virus that can kill the undead. 

There’s a quick flashback in the opening panels of this story of an ancient viking warrior perishing in battle. This is important because when Dane, from Team 7  again in the first story, fights Crandall he gets knocked into a cave or something and finds this warrior’s axe. The spirit of the warrior possesses Dane and causes his golden symbiote to grow a beard and don a viking helmet. 

              Does it get any better than this? Don’t let me know if does!

Wetworks takes care of the Vampire Nation and Dane defeats Crandall. No idea what happens to the virus they came to protect or the bat god zombie abomination, Camatoz that was part of the connective tissue for the first two stories because it’s not even mentioned here.

Chris Warner’s artwork was a pleasure to read and his storytelling was the best out of the three artists working on this issue. Yes, some of the dialogue was cheesy action movie, but the fact that the art was so on point helped to elevate this entry above the rest. And to the credit of Tom Sniegoski, he keeps the cool coming giving Warner no shortage of cool stuff to draw and moves the plot along briskly. 

So we’ve reached the end. What’s the verdict? “You sure wrote a lot about a twenty plus year old comic.”  Well, besides that. Should you seek out your own copy of this book? No, probably not. If you’ve got some money to spare and want to read something that will leave no impact on you, you could do worse. On a scale of 1 to 10, 10 being the best, 1 being the worst, this is 4.5.

Until next time!

[67-chevy-baby]

Fixer Upper

Pairing - Mechanic!Jensen x Single Mom!Reader

Rating - 18+ Only!!!!

Tags - Angst, Anxiety, Fluff, SMUT (Ummm obviously), broke down car, walking alone on a deserted road, being a single mom, mentions of an ex, mentions of abuse, unprotected sex, slight dom/sub, reader on top, Jensen on top, and I think that’s it, but let me know if I need to add more to the tags.

Word Count -  2.4k

Beta - @winecatsandpizza

Fic Aesthetic - Yours truly

Written for - Smut Appreciation Day 2018

“Dammit!”

You slammed the driver’s door to your car and kicked it for good measure. A new car was definitely a need, but who could afford one in this economy? Much less a tow truck and a mechanic. To top it all off, your AAA membership you had expired a month ago. Part of you wanted to just set the hunk of metal on fire, but that would make you feel better for all of five minutes before you’d really be shit out of luck.

The afternoon sun reflected off the hood as you reached for the release latch. As soon as you lifted it up, hot grey smoke poured out making you cough.

“Well, that’s just fuckin’ perfect. Icing on the damn cake.”

You put your hands on your hips and turned to look at the long stretch of highway that went in both directions. Not only was your car broke down on the side of the road, but the nearest town was at least twenty minutes in both directions. To make things even more annoying, your phone had died about ten minutes before your car did so it looked like the only thing left to do was to start walking.

Grabbing your keys and purse, you locked the car and started walking along the shoulder of the road. At least it was nice out, not a cloud in the sky and fairly warm. The faint feeling of a summer breeze blew strands of hair out behind you as your car became smaller and smaller in the distance. A fence came into view after about fifteen minutes of walking, and if you were being honest with yourself, it was pretty inviting.

You brushed one of the wooden planks off and plopped down on it with a sigh. Maybe your Mother was right, maybe you should have moved back in with her until you could get back on your feet. But no, you just had to be stubborn and prove to her that you could make it on your own as a single mother. Swallowing your pride wasn’t something that came easily for you. So, you’d do what you always do and find a way to fix whatever was broken.

Just as you were about to get up and start walking again, a red Chevy truck came into view. You had never thought about hitchhiking, but the thought of it driving past seemed worse than the former. Your hands waved to get the driver’s attention, and then gave him room to pull off on the shoulder of the road. What you weren’t expecting was the most gorgeous man you have ever seen get out and approach you.

“Everything okay ma’am?”

Your mind was still reeling in the fact that this man was talking to you when you realized he’d asked you a question.

“Umm yeah, I uh … my car broke down and my phone died so umm … I was just going to walk until I found civilization.”

A look of concern flashed across his face as he looked around.

“How long have you been out here walking? I don’t see a car anywhere.”

You shrugged like it was no big deal and gestured in the direction of your unreliable hunk of metal.

“Cars a ways that way. I’ve been walking maybe twenty minutes? I don’t know. I kinda lost track of time.”

The man shook his head and looked firmly down at you.

“Yeah, I’m not letting a pretty lady walk alone on this stretch of road. At least let me take you and your car back to my shop. You look like you could use a break.”

Did you die and go to Heaven? There is no way that you got this lucky. The one car you see on this deserted road turns out to be a mechanic and he’s this good looking? Yeah, no, things like this didn’t happen to you.

“Thank you, sir. I don’t have much money, but I can give you what I have for gas.”

He shook his head again and opened the passenger side door.

“Please, call me Jensen. I don’t want your money sweetheart. It sounds like you need it more than I do.”

“Thanks, and you can call me Y/N.”

You smiled at him and climbed into the cab of his truck. The ride to your car and back to his shop took less time than you anticipated. You quickly found yourself warming up to Jensen. He radiated kindness and you felt like you’d known him for years. You told him you were a single mother, and how your daughter was staying with your parents until you got yourself moved into your new apartment. Mentions of your ex came up, but you tried to avoid delving too much into your past life with Tanner. He’d been abusive, and you pushed those memories to the back of your mind at all costs.

Jensen pulled his truck into a big open yard and you noticed an arched sign that read Singer’s Auto stood high above the entrance. He lowered your car to the ground and unhooked it from the hitch before leading you inside.

“Can I get you something to drink? I’ve got water, coffee, sweet tea, whiskey, rum, and any type of soda you can imagine.”

For the first time all day, your smile met your eyes. This man was too good to be true. If only you could be in a relationship with something this amazing. Jensen had to be either gay or unavailable because there was no way he was single with a personality like this. Let alone his looks.

“I’d like some sweet tea, please. Thank you so much for doing all this. I’m sure you’ve got a family to get home too, and the last thing you probably wanted to do today was help a hitchhiker and her piece of shit car.”

The confused look he gave you made you instantly regret your words. Here was this man going out of his way to help you, and your brain to mouth filter probably just fucked everything up. You didn’t want him thinking that you didn’t appreciate everything.

“Don’t get me wrong, Jensen. I appreciate everything you’re doing for me, but I just have this mindset where I wait for the other shoe to fall. I’ve never really done well in the relationship department, and I’ve always been let down eventually. You’ve only just met me and you don’t need this kind of turmoil. I should probably go. I don’t want to cause any more trouble.”

It took a moment for Jensen to get his bearings, but once he did you felt his hand gently grab your wrist. He slowly spun you around to face him, and his eyes bore into yours with a fire you hadn’t seen on a man before.

“Whoa, whoa, sweetheart wait a minute. Can’t a guy just help a beautiful lady out without her thinking she’s being a burden? Y/N, listen, I’m not doing this because I feel like I have too. I’m doing this because I want to. There’s just something about you, something that draws me in, and I can’t seem to put a finger on it.”

For a few minutes, you both were silent. Staring into each other’s eyes with such intensity made you want to look away, but something stronger kept your gaze locked onto his. Ever so slowly, Jensen closed his eyes and leaned in to kiss you. His kiss ignited a fire in your core that had been dormant for as long as you could remember.

When he pulled away, his pupils were just as lust-blown as your own. Soon you were pushed against the nearest wall, his work uniform becoming disheveled along with your outfit.

“I don’t know what it is Jensen, but I have never wanted someone so much in my life. I only just met you, and the thoughts I’m having scare me, but at the same time it’s thrilling.”

Your hands came to rest on his muscular chest as his hands cupped your face.

“It scares the shit out of me too, Y/N, but I really want this,”

Jensen admitted as he continued to devour your body with his eyes.  

“Do you want this as much as I do? If you don’t, we can stop. I’ll fix your car and we can both be on our way.  If you’d let me, though, I’d love to show you what it’s like to have a real man, Y/N.”

Instead of answering him, you pressed your lips firmly against his. Immediately his arms traveled down your small frame and came to rest on the back of your thighs. Without breaking the kiss, you jumped and wrapped your legs around his waist. His clothed erection pressed against your pussy making a small moan escape your mouth.

Jensen began leaving a trail of kisses along your jaw and down your neck. He grabbed one of your breasts in each hand and began to massage them gingerly, his thumbs grazing over your nipples making them harden instantly.

“You have entirely too many clothes on Y/N.”

You smirked and stepped away, slowly unbuttoning your shirt. It sent heat straight to your core seeing the effect you had on Jensen. His eyes roamed your body like a starving man, and the arousal in his pants was hard to miss.

“You know, I’m no expert on lovemaking, but I’m pretty sure it’s easier to do when you’re naked, Jensen.”

A low growl escaped his throat as he stalked toward you like he was a predator. He picked you up and flung you over his shoulder making you squeal.

“Jensen! Put me down! Where are we going?!”

“Bedroom.”

The one simple word held many promises as he climbed the stairs with ease. Seconds later you were placed gingerly on the comforter of his bed. He only left you for a moment to turn the light off and shut the door, and then he was on you again. His calloused hands pushed your shirt off your shoulders and slowly pulled it off each of your arms.

Even though he was undressing you agonizingly slow, you relished in the fact that a man was paying this much attention to you. Your ex was a wham-bam-thank-you-ma’am kind of guy who was only interested in getting off before going back to his video games. Your mind completely forgot about your ex as soon as Jensen pulled down your bra exposing your breasts, his lips closed over one of your hardened nipples greedily sucking into his mouth.

“Mmmm Jay … Fuck that feels so good”

He moved to the other nipple paying it as much attention before leaving a trail of kisses down to your navel.

“You’re so beautiful Y/N”

Jensen made quick work of the rest of your clothes before taking his off as well. If you thought he was gorgeous with clothes on, he was even more glorious without them. Perfect was the only description appropriate for the man that stood before you.

“C’mere Jensen. I won’t bite.”

You winked at him invitingly, and he let out this full body laugh that was contagious.

“Y/N I don’t know if I believe that.”

He climbed onto the bed and positioned his body over yours before pulling you in for another kiss. His tongue swept your lower lip asking for permission which you granted almost immediately. Your body arched up, his cock hard as a rock pressing against your leg.

“Please … need you.”

Jensen smirked against your pulse point, grinding himself along your slick folds.

“Gonna have to be a little more specific Princess. Where do you need me exactly?”

If you could form a coherent thought you’d make a smartass comment, but right now you barely knew your name. Much less able to speak in full sentences.

“Fuck me, Jay! Wanna feel your cock inside me. Please!”

Jensen lined himself up and slowly thrusted inside you, his cock filling you up inch by inch was almost enough to make you cum right then. It had been a while since you’d been with a man, and he hadn’t prepped you.

“Unnghh fuck … you’re so wet and tight for me, Y/N.”

Your nails dug into his biceps, his forehead resting on yours as you both got used to each other.

“Make love to me, Jay.”

Ever so slowly, he pulled almost all the way out before slamming back into you. His moans were barely heard over your cries of need. The steady rhythm of his cock hitting your sweet spot made the coil in your lower belly tighter and tighter. You wouldn’t last long with him like this, and you wanted desperately to make him cum with you.

“Let me ride you, Jensen.”

The look he gave you was almost primal. In a matter of seconds, he had flipped over onto his back and helped you sink down onto his throbbing length.

“Christ, Y/N, I’m not gonna last like this.”

Using the muscles in your thighs, you rose up off his cock and looked deeply into his eyes.

“Neither will I, Jay. Want you to cum with me.”

His hands held onto your sides as you began to ride him. His hips rose to meet yours, thrusting his cock deeper into your soaked cunt, and pretty soon he was completely in control again. Your cries echoed off the walls as your climax neared.

“J-Jay! I … I’m so close baby! Please … make me cum!”

One of his hands left your side and began rubbing circles around your clit.

“Your wish is my command, Princess.”

Seconds later, he felt your walls tighten around his cock, as you both fell over the edge together. Your chest heaved as you aid beside him on the bed. He covered you up before cradling your face and kissing you sweetly.

Jensen pulled away, his smile met his eyes as he looked at you with nothing but love.

“So, how about some sweet tea?”

[reading-time]

Sanmao’s “Stories of the Sahara”, 《撒哈拉的故事》，素人渔夫 Amateur fishing man, Tâm Anh translated.

      Once on Sunday, Jose was at company for over-time work, whole day not home.

　　I, to pass the time, took out all the money Jose has earnt during this year from March till now, counted carefully, noted down on a blank sheet of paper, awaiting him to come back.  

　To the evening, Jose was home, I placed the note paper in front of him, saying: “You see, during this half a year we have earnt, sum up, this so much money.”

　　He took a glance on the calculation I did, very glad, saying: “Hard to imagine, we have earnt this so much money; enduring the hard days in the desert, it worths our efforts.”

　　“Let’s eat out today, anyway we have this much money.” He joyfully proposed.

　　I knew he wanted to take me to dine at the National Hotel, very quickly I changed clothes to go out with him; this kind of reality was once upon a time.

      “We want best-quality red wine, seafood soup, beef-steak for me, four helpings of prawns for my wife, ice-cream cake as deserts, also four helpings, thank you!” Jose said to the waiter.

　　“Lucky, today I have not eaten any the whole day, now we should have a big meal.” I whispered to Jose.

　　National Hotel was one under the organization of the Spanish Government; the dining hall was decorated very nicely like an Arabic royal palace, with very local ambiance, very comfortable soft lights, customers were not many; in here the atmosphere was fresh, no smell of dirt, knife and fork are kept clean to snow-like shining, table cloth was well ironed, soft music sound was like stream water flowing. I was sitting there, almost forgot we were in the desert, but seemed going back to our good old days.

　　After a while, foods were served, on a nice silver plate, a large row of fried prawns lined with green lettuce, glass filled with dark red wine.

　　“Ah! The blue bird of happiness is coming!” I exclaimed in excitement, looking at the dish.

　　“So delicious, from now on we should come here more often!” Jose sounded very generous that evening, like a tycoon.

　　Living in the desert for a certain time, it makes people learn a good thing: any little real-life enjoyment can bring about exceedingly heart-felt satisfaction and make people fly high. In other words, we take our senses more serious than our head.

　　Dinner finished, spent on it a fortune, we were very happy walking home, that evening I was a very happy person.

　　The following day, we of course ate at home; on the dinner plate there was one baked potato cake, one bread, a pot of water.

　　“We’ll share, wait I divide, this cake, you eat 2/3, I take 1/3.”

　　I was one hand sharing the potato cake, the other hand placing the bread in whole in the bowl for Jose, made it look quite full.

　　“It’s very delicious, I have added onion, let’s eat!” I started to eat.

　　Jose, like a tiger, ate up his cake in a wink, then he stood up heading to the kitchen.

　　“There’s no more, today let’s have just these.” I immediately stopped him.

　    “What’s wrong today?” He did not understand, looked at me.

　　“You look on this!” I passed on to him to see another calculating note.

　　“This is the sum-up of our expenses in recent half a year, yesterday’s calculation was of income, today’s calculation is of expenses.” I patted on his shoulder, explained.

　　“This much, we have spent this much? All has been spent!” He yelled.

　    “Yes.” I nodded.

　　“You see, on the note paper it is written clearly.”

　　Jose grabbed the note paper reading the cash flow I have done ——“tomato 60 kuai per kilogram, melon 220, pork half a kilogram 300——"

　　“How come you bought such expensive food, we could eat less a little bit——” He was reading the note and talking to himself.

　　Till he read to ——“car maintenance 15,000 kuai, gasoline half year 24,000——” his voice was louder; he picked himself up.

　　“You don’t need to panic! Half a year we ran 16,000 km, you calculate to see, doesn’t it need to cost this much money on gasoline.”

　　“So, money we have earnt we have spent all, there’s no gain out of this hardship.” Jose looked very annoyed, his looks was like he was on a stage.

　　“Actually we did not waste any, clothes expense was none in the past half a year; expenses were all on eating out with friends, making photographs, long distance travelling; these have eaten up our money.”

　　“All right, starting from today, single friends we do not invite to dinner, photographs only do black and white, travelling also no more, this whole area of desert we have been through how many times.” Jose announced with very much determination.

　　This poor townlet, mentioning cinema there’s only one both dirty and broken, a little bit of bustle also not have, magazines received to hands are mainly outdated, television on average is broadcast two or three times a month, on which images are as terrible as ghosts, home alone people do not dare to watch, power-cut water-cut are as common as daily meal, like to take a walk around then whole day there is strong sandy wind blowing.

　　Days passed by here, except for Sahara people who take it at ease, Europeans most are alcoholism, husband and wife fighting, single persons commit suicide, very common, all these drama are caused by this life in the desert. Only us, can be considered as people who understand 'the art of living', hard days still we can endure, our living still can be considered as not too bad.

　　I was keeping quiet listened to Jose while he was making announcement on plan of expense cut. Then, I started to warn him: “This too economical, you are not afraid three months later we would either become crazy or commit suicide?”　

     Jose forced a smile: “Indeed, during holidays if we do not go out, we would be living sad to death.”　

  “Think about this, we do not go to Algeria that direction, travel inland no more; we go to the seaside. Why not take advantage of the over 1,000 km coastline here; we should go there to explore.”

　　“Go to the seaside, travel through the desert a round trip gasoline also costs a lot.”

      “Let’s go catch fish then, we do salted fish sun-dried, we can save money on food, also can lower money spent on gasoline.” My strength has always been solid, talking about playing, I never lose heart.

　　The following weekend, we carried tent, walked along the seaside to research nearly 100 km rock shore; at night we set up tent sleeping on the edge of the cliff.

　　Rock shore with no sand beach has a lot of good things, using ropes to hang on the edge of cliff was very convenient; when the tide had withdrawn, on the rock revealed barnacles, in between of the holes there were crabs, in the pool there were octopus, barred snake eel, trouts as-big-as-a-plate, also thousands of black seashells growing on the stone, we could recognize they were a kind of mussels, also fatty kelp which can be dried to make an ingredients for soup, driftwood could become a modern sculpture, little stones taken home put onto cardboard would become paintings. On this vast area of seaside, there was nobody around, was still intact and wealthy of resources.

　　“This is King Solomon's Treasure, we get rich now!” I jumped up and down on the shining rocks, yelling, so excited.

　　“This big pile of stones is for you, you collect quickly, tide has withdrawn.” Jose threw to me a bucket, a pair of gloves, a knife; he also put on diving suit, was about to dive into the sea to catch big fish.

　　Not up to one hour later, my bucket was filled up with mussels and barnacles, also 16 red colored big crab sized as big as small washing-basin; the bucket became so heavy, I used rocks to make a blocked jail, temporarily locked them inside. Kelps I collected a big pile.

　　When Jose went ashore, around his waist there was a string of up to 10 big fishes, light pink-colored ones.

　　“You see, not enough hands to catch, there are a lot.” Only at this moment I learnt the taste of being a greedy person.

　　Jose saw my big crab, again went to catch, got nearly 20 black-grey little crabs. He said: “The small one is called Nicholas, compared to big ones they are more delicious.”

　　The tide was gradually rising; we retreated to under the cliff, scraped off fish scales, washed the fish belly, full a big bag. I took trousers off, two trouser legs made a knot, poured all the crabs in, the bucket was also fastened on the rope, that way we climbed up the cliff. That weekend going out on exploration for the first time, could be considered as return with full load.

　　On the way home, I urged Jose: “Quick, quick, we drive back then call colleagues in the single dormitory to come for dinner.”

       “You do not do salted fish?” Jose asked.

　　“The first time doesn’t count, we invite friends, they normally also did not eat well.”

　　Hearing that, Jose was very happy; before arriving home even went to buy a case of beer, half a dozen of wine to invite friends.

　　Later, for several weekends, colleagues also wanted to come along to catch fish. We were very delighted, bought 10 kg beef, 5 Chinese cabbages, made 10 more quiche, also brought along an ice-box, a charcoal furnace, 5 big buckets, 6 pairs of gloves, also bought a case of coke, a carton of milk. Several cars were mighty on the road, running up and down along the coastline; at night we set up tents, ate grilled beef, talking, had a great time together; the plan of expense-cut was lost on the way. 

       In our little family, no one manages money. Money, we put in the pockets of a Chinese cotton jacket, who needs then go to take. Bills, if we remember to note down, then write on any piece of paper at hands, throw into a candy pot.

　　Went out to the seaside not many several times, the jacket pockets has become empty, candy pot has filled up with little by little pieces of paper slip. “Again, nothing left, really fast!” I held the jacket talked to myself.

　　“Initially going out to the seaside was to catch fish making salted fish to save money on food, wasn’t it? Result, even more spending.” Jose was puzzled scratching his head.

　　“Friendship is also priceless wealth.” I could only use these words to console him.　

      “Next week, we will simply go catch fish to sell.” Jose again determined.

　　“That’s right, fish we can eat so we can also sell! So smart, I did not think of it!” I jumped up, patted on Jose's head.

　　“Just need to earn enough to balance the expense we spent on playing, that would be good already.” Jose is not a greedy ambitious person.

　“Good, sell fish, next week we sell fish.” I was thinking big, hoping this time gain a fortune.

　　That Saturday early morning 4:30, we got on our car in the dark, set off on the road when it was freezingly cold outside, our teeth were trembling; raising our flag of high craftmanship, boldness, well knowing of the way, we firmly drove in the dark desert.

　　8 o’clock past in the morning, the sun has just arisen for a while, already we have arrived at the cliff; behind us an endless, mysterious, and quiet desert; in front of us stormy waves and cracked shore, the immense ocean and scattered rocks; blue sky was without a cloud, seabirds in flock flied to flied back, here and now a few bird voice, made it filled with even more emptiness and solitary all around.

　　Upturned the collar of my jacket, widen my shoulders, I looked up giving out a breath, kept this posture stood still.

　　“What are you thinking about?” Jose asked.

　　“How about you?” I also asked.

　　“I am imagining some realms depicted in ‘Jonathan Livingston Seagull’ that book."

　　Jose is a clear and bright spirit; this moment, this scenery, thinking of that book perfectly matches him.

　　“How about you?” He again asked.

　　“I am imagining, I was that one crazily in love with a handsome crippled military officer, I was about to go for a walk with him on this plateau, surroundings us was beautiful heather flowers everywhere, the wind was blowing in my hair, he was enthusiastically gazing at me—— romantic, again dramatic time!” I lamented.

　　Talking, again I closed my eyes, held myself in my own arms, sighed with satisfaction.

　　“You're playing today is ‘Ryan’s daughter’?” Jose asked.

       “Your guess is right. All right, now start to work.”

　　I clapped my hands, walked out pulling the rope, ready to climb down the cliff. Through these some wild imagination, getting down to work could get some excitement: this has been the way I came up with to adjust the dry boring life.

　　“Sanmao, today work seriously, you need to give good hands.” Jose was in earnest.

　　We were standing on the rocky edge; Jose went down diving; each time he caught a fish, rose up, he threw it to the waterside; I quickly came up to collect, kneed on the rock, I used a knife to scrape fish scales, washed fish belly, cleaned it up, then put the fish into a plastic bag.

　　Scraped two or three very big fish, my hands were already scratched bleeding, dip into sea water oddly hurtful.

　　Jose was under water floating sinking, continuously threw fish up onto shore; I worked recklessly, placed the well-cleaned fish lined up neatly in the bag.

　　“Earning money is not easy!” I shook my head talking to myself, knees started to swell red.

　　After quite a while, Jose just then arose to shore; I quickly brought him the milk to drink. He closed his eyes, lying on the rock, face was pale white.

　　“How many we've caught?” He asked.

　　“30 more, very big, about 60, 70 kilograms.”

　　“Catch no more, almost tired to death.” He again closed his eyes.

　　I poured the milk, saying: “We, like this, could be called amateur fishing people.

　　“Fish is meat, Sanmao.”

　　“What I am saying is not about meat and vegetable. Previously, in Paris there was a group of people, weekdays they go to work, weekends painting, they called themselves amateur painters. We, on weekends go catch fish, therefore called amateur fishing man, also not bad!”

　　“You are so fancy, catching fish you could also come up with some new title.” Jose was not very interested though.

　　Enough of rest, we took it in three rounds, carried the whole pile of fish, as big as a little mountain, up to the cliff; put them inside car back space, topped up with ice from the icebox. Looking at the desert under blazing sun shining, this more than 200 km road driving back, again was another hard trip; strange it was, this time not yet having much of fun, body was also exhausted.

      Car soon arrived in the townlet, I softly begged Jose: “All on you, let me get a little sleep before we go out to sell fish, please! So tired already!"

　 “Can’t. Fish could get stink. You go home to rest, I will sell. “ Jose said.

　　“Go to sell then we go together, I keep up a bit then get better now.” I just rather said.

　　Car passed by castle-like boundering walls of the National Hotel, I suddenly got an idea, loudly called ——“Stop——"

　　Jose stopped the car; I barefoot got off, turned my head to look inside the gate.　

     “Hello, hello, ——” I softly called to Antonio at the counter.

　  “Ah, Sanmao!” He greeted loudly.

　 “Shuzzz, do not shout, where’s the back door?” I softly asked him.

　“Back door? Why do you want to go back door?”

　　I have not yet explained, right at that time the hotel manager was walking by, I was so scared hiding myself behind a pillar; he turned his head looking, I could simply sneak out get back on our car parking outside.　

      “Can’t! I can’t sell, so embarrassed.” My face was straight.　

     “I go.” Jose slammed car door, strode into the hotel. Good Jose, really has a style.　

     “Hello, Sir, manager.” He took out his hands towards the manager to greet; the manager came to him; I hid myself behind Jose’s back.　

    “We have fresh fish, do you want to buy?” Jose sound plainly, face also not blush, I think there’s a bit pretending.

　　“What, you want to sell fish?” The manager stared at us, worn-out trousers, face revealing a lot of hardship, as if we were humiliating him.

　　“Want to sell fish you go side door, talk to the person in charge of the kitchen——” He pointed to the side door, sounded quite intimidating.

　　I immediately shyed a long way back, recklessly pulled Jose to get out, told him: “You see, he looked down on us, we go to another place to sell; later if there’s any party we still have to see the face of this manager——”

  　“This manager is a dickhead; no need to be afraid. Go, we go to the kitchen.”

　　Kitchen people all gathered up to look at us, seems very odd. “How much a kilogram?” finally there’s a buyer.

　　We glanced at one another, did not know what to say.

　　“Uhm, 50 kuai per kilogram.” Jose called a price.

　　“Yes, yes, 50 kuai.” I hastily added.

       “OK, I take 10 fish, we go to scale to see how much it weighs.” The person-in-charge was very gentle.

　　We were very glad, flying-like ran to the car, chose 10 big fish for him.

　  “This bill, after date 15th, you can take it to our accounting office to claim your money.　

     “You do not pay in cash?” We asked.

　 “We are a public agency, you understand understand please!” The person-in-charge shook our hands.

　We took the bill for selling the first batch of fish, worth over 1,000 kuai, looked then looked, then very carefully I put it into my trousers' pocket.

　　“OK, now we go to Sisters 'Hotel.” Jose said.

　　This 'Sisters' Hotel' is Sahara renowned place; they often provide meals to workers, at night selling wine, upstairs there are rooms for rent. From outside look very glamorous, inside all day playing popular music, lights are green coloured only; often there are groups of gorgeous white women doing business inside.

　　Road construction workers from Spain, once get salary paid, often go to Sisters’ Hotel to play, get drunken then be thrown out; salary of a month of hard work, more than half is spent to these women’s pocket.

　　To the hotel door, I told Jose: “You go inside, I wait outside.” Waited almost 20 minutes, not seen Jose came out.

　　I carried one fish, also walked in; right in time I saw, behind the counter, a sexy 'sister' was feeling Jose’s face; Jose- like a leather-head bird- was standing. I strode to, fiercely straight face shouted to the woman: “Buy fish or not, 500 kuai per kilogram.” Also I put the fish carried in hand heavily slammed on the bar counter, made a loud bang.

　　“How come wildly raise the price; your husband has just said 50 kuai per kilogram.”

　　I stared at her; thought to myself: you dare to touch Jose’s face again, I'd increase price to 5,000 kuai per kilogram.

　　Jose pushed me out of the hotel, softly said: “You really know how to cause trouble; I almost had all the fish sold to her.”

 　　“Not buy then leave it, you sell fish or sell yourself? Even let her touch your face.” I raised my hands up to hit Jose, he knew he was on the wrong side, hold his head and let me hit.

　　Calmed down, again I rushed into the hotel taking back that fish we had left on the bar counter.

　　The sun was high on the sky; we were under the heat, hungry, and thirsty, also exhausted, also angry with one another; I was about to think of throwing away all the fish, only was speechless.

　“Do you remember Pug at the Sahara army group kitchen? “I asked Jose.

　“You are thinking of selling to the army group?”

    “Yes.”

　Jose did not say a word, drove towards Sahara army group’s camp site; not arrived at the army living quarter yet, we saw Pug right at that time was walking on the road.

    “Pug.” I loudly called out to him.

  “Do you want to buy fresh fish?” I was so much hopeful, asked.

　“Fish, where?” He asked.

    “Inside our car, there are more than 20.”

　Pug stared at me, shook his head strongly. “Sanmao, more than 3,000 persons in this army group, eat your more than 20 fish, enough?” He rejected.

      “This is not necessarily; you first take to cook to see! Jesus’ 5 cakes, 2 fish, were enough to feed his more than 5,000 persons; how do you say?” I again asked him.

　　“Let me tell you, you go to post office front door to sell; over there most people passing by.” Pug showed us a way out. Of course, our selling target is Europeans; Sahara people do not eat fish.

     So we again went to the stationery shop, bought a black board, a few pieces of chalk, again to an acquainted grocery we borrowed a scale.　　

    On the black board, we drewn a jumping red fish, again wrote "Fresh fish for sale, 50 kuai per kilogram.”

　 When we drove to the post office front door, already 5 o’clock in the afternoon; air-mails, air-packages were arriving; a large crowd of people was there opening their mail-box, very much bustling. We stopped the car, put the black board in front of car window, car back door was opened up. Completed with these, face already blushed quite a lot; we ran to the sidewalk across the street to sit down, not even dare to look at walking people on the street.

　　A crowd of people one group to another walked by; no one stopped to buy fish. Sitting there for a while, Jose said to me: “Sanmao, didn’t you say we are amateur people? Amateurs don’t have to live by selling spare-time stuff!”

　     “Go home?” Really I also ran out of energy.

　　Right at that time, a colleague of Jose walked by, saw us he came to greet: “Ah! Out for fresh air?”

　　“No.” Jose shyly stood up.

　　“Are selling fish.” I pointed to our car on opposite side across the road.

　　This colleague was a single, also a rough-and-ready kind person. He walked out taking a look at the black board, again looked at car back space, got the situation, immediately he walked back, grasped us both across the street to the opposite site.

　　“Selling fish ah, you need to calling out to sell! You two are shy like this do not work. Come, come, I'll help you.” This colleague in passing hands pulled a fish out, held it in his hand, yelled at high pitch: “Yu——yo, sell fresh fish yo! 75 kuai per kilogram yo ——aiyo——fish ah!” He even took his own initiative raised the price.

　　The crowd was attracted by his yelling, immediately gathered up around; we overjoyed at the turn of our selling: more than 20 fish was a little thing, just after a while all were sold out.

　　We were sitting on the ground counting money, more than 3,000 kuai; then again looked around for Jose’s colleague; he has already walked far away with a grin.

��     “Jose, we should remember to thank him!” I told Jose.

　　Back to home, we were already exhausted. After a shower, I was in a towel yukata to the kitchen boiled a wok, put in a pack of noddle.

　　“Eat this?” Jose was unhappily.

　　“Just let's eat something. I'm almost exhausted to death.” I in fact did not even want to eat any.　

       “From early morning working that hard till now, you only gave me noddle, not eat.” He was mad, put on clothes to go out.

　　“Where are you going?” I shouted.

　　“I go eating out.” He said firmly, sound as hard as cement.

　　I could only also change clothes, chased him up, together we went out; the so-called eating out, of course could only be one place to go—— restaurant at the National Hotel.

　　At the restaurant, I whispered to Jose: “This world there’s only you this kind of person. Order the least expensive dish, do you hear me?”

　　Right at that moment, one of Jose’s bosses was clapping hands walking over, loudly he called out: “What a coincidence! What a coincidence! I am having no companion for dinner tonight; we three persons together then.” He by himself was talking and taking a seat.

　　“I heard today kitchen has fresh fish; how do you think, we take three fish to taste, this kind of fresh fish, not often seen around here in the desert.” He was again by himself talking.

　　The boss, accustomed to being a boss, forgot that he should also look at other people's face. Not a word to us yet, he said to the waitress: “Salad, 3 fish, wine, now, deserts later.”

　　The person-on-duty in the dining hall was exactly the one at noon in the kitchen buying fish from us; he was accidentally walking by our table, seeing Jose and I we were eating the fish we sold which now were served on dish at 20 times more of the price; his jaw dropped, like he was looking at two crazy people.  

　　After the dinner, we and Jose’s boss competed for the bill, result Jose won, used up the money from selling fish at the post office front door to pay, only left some change money. Just then I sensed, these fish no matter was sold at 50 or 75 kuai per kilogram, was still sold at such a loss; we, after all, were in the desert.

　　The following day early morning, we overslept till late. I got up making some coffee, washing clothes; Jose was still on bed, saying to me: “Lucky, still we have that bill at the National Hotel we can collect; otherwise yesterday a whole day was miserable enough; gasoline cost we also had to offset, not to mention so much tireness and hard work.”

　“You're saying the bill——that bill——”

 　I screamed, rushed to the bathroom, washing machine had already closed; out of the load covered up with soap foam, I took out my trousers, put my hands in the pockets to feel the inside——that bill has already been soaked with water, become soft and white a little heap; want to put them together also could not anymore.

　　“Jose, the last fish has also slipped away! We again will have to eat potato cake then.” I sat on the stone steps of the bathroom, crying and laughing out.

[ End of story ]

Image below: Home-grown new bloom. Photographed by Tâm Anh, on 13 August 2021.

[theinvulnerabletide]

Headcanon meme: (answer for whoever you can think of things for I guess) 1, 8, 11, 12, 23, 26, 29, 30, 34 :3

Okay okay okay. This got long because some of them turned into vignettes, so it’s gonna be under thecut.

1.) Love

Forsomeone who professed to be a loner, Lyra has loved so many people in her life.Her mother, first and brightest and most dearly, murdered on her way back fromher shift at the pub, the Stone Crows, her gang growing up, including her bestfriend Kora, who got scooped off the streets when some passing mage saw her set something on fire with her mind (which now strikes Lyra as ironic, consideringher current travelling companions, and her own predicament).

And then her newfound family,her Magpies. The ones that were murdered so cruelly in front of her.

Love and loss are intertwinedfor Lyra, the brilliance of lightning followed by world-shaking thunder. Whichis why she has, wholeheartedly, decided to stop caring about people. They won’tleave if she doesn’t get attached, and even if they do, well, she won’t feelanything right? Win win.

8.) DreamsIt’s not uncommon for Whisperto dream of water. Even if it wasn’t literally her element,she spent so much of her life surrounded by it; snow and rain pattering on thestone, the underground inlet, the blighted mermaid tank, that it of course itwould enter her dreams at some point.

Tonight though, tonight isdifferent. Tonight she dreams of depths, of an ocean so deep there is nogranulated sunlight to illuminate it, and even her comfort with the dark isn’tenough to make it feel less… crushing. She sees in staticky black and whitehere, feels the way the currents tug insistently at her. She has to remindherself that she can breathe.

There’s movement there, in thedepths. It takes up the whole of her vision. It’s just the suggestion of agreat thing slowly winding and unwinding, pulsing slightly as if with laboredbreath. It does not move against the current. It directs it, and it makes herown breath catch in her throat. Not with fear, but with excitement. 

When she wakes, she swears shecan still feel it, the current tugging at her, the great thing directing herforwards. The letter appears the next day, and the day after that, she isgone. 

12.) Worst Enemy

According to Az’ar, her worst enemies are the Godsthemselves.

The Gods are arbitrary and cruel things, starting and endinglife as it pleases them, for mere entertainment. They set up laws,contradictory and unforgiving, a universe full of pain and misery, and createdsentient creatures to wade through the mud and experience every bit of it.Growing up in the Shadowfell, Az’ar has witnessed it all, and grew to despisethe traditions of the Shadar’kai, the same traditions that honor Hala by tryingto protect the living things she holds so dear, especially from the unnaturalundead things she abhors, the traditions that pretend to honor Her brother bysending them back to His domain, and by dying well.

She left her people, somethingelse that was forbidden, and fought and killed far too many of them in order tocross over to the Prime Material Plane, the tear she made between worldsallowing a few of those undead monstrosities to cross with her. It was aregrettable loss, ones that she lays again at the feet of the Gods; if herpeople had not been obsessed with their supposed sacred duties, they would nothave needed to die.

Az’ar intends to wrest their claws from her chest, by making itso she can never die, and then, she will end their grip on the rest of thePlanes, even if it means killing them. She hope it does. That would be a sweetirony indeed.

23.) Romance

Orianais a romantic. Probably in the classical movement sense as well as in thehopeless romantic sense. She has this ideal of herself: knight in shiningarmor, a blazing paragon of Wahreight’s mercy and light, beating back thedarkness and protecting the innocent.

She also is kind of obsessedwith romance novels, and novels that we might consider romance novels due tothe way books are sold, but, unlike Whisper, prefers the ones that hold a highideal of love than the vulgar. Which isn’t to say she won’t read books with sexin them, only that she prefers more comedies of manners. Jehanne Augere’s Dignityand Discrimination remains her favorite novel (and she finally got a copyof her own the last time we visited Fantasy Half Price Books), and she’s morelikely to blush at the scene where the elven hero confesses his love for thevery human Elisabet. 26.) Beauty

Thecostume is… well. It’s tight. And barely there. Whisper runs her hands thelength of her torso, fingers skimming cut-outs in the shimmering golden fabricat her sides where her midnight skin provides contrast, and she lets out ashuddering breath. She doesn’t know whether its nerves or awe that’s making herstomach clench uncomfortably but… either way.

She sneaks a peak in themirror and looks away almost immediately. Salt and storm, she is glad hermother will never see her in this, or she’d be dead. Brutally and messily andall over the place.

She sneaks another look, outof the corner of her eye at first, then straight on. The leotard is almostblinding in the way the golden cloth catches the light (Ignatius’ choice, nodoubt), small black stitching and sequins giving the illusion of scales downher stomach. At her hips is this strange, diaphanous half-skirt, more like thefrills of a tiger fish than an actual garment. The neckline—if it can be calledthat— plunges far deeper than anything she’s ever worn, and she mutters a quickprayer that she won’t spill out of this thing at an inopportune moment. Or anopportune one. She is not being paid enough for that.

But the effect… She takes astep back, so she can see the whole effect, the golden ribbons wrapped aroundher horns and pinned in her hair, the ridiculous amount of eyeshadow, thestreaks of gold shimmer on her cheeks, she looks… ethereal. Magical. Shestretches one indigo hand out, and her reflection does the same, lightlymeeting her in the mirror. She watches herself smile.

“It looks beautiful on you,”comes a voice from behind her, wobbling like the owner is about to burst intotears. “You look beautiful, Whisper. Just brilliant…”

She whirls around, a scowlslotting into place. “I can’t believe he wants me to wear this, Terrance!”  

The huge man doesn’t seem tohear her, dabbing at his eyes with a handkerchief. “Oh, I outdid myself. Just wait until the audience see you. You’re going to dazzle them.”

Whisper laughs under herbreath, and sneaks another look at herself. Okay. Maybe it’s not so bad afterall.

29.) Bedroom (and 11.) Best Friend).

She wasclose, she was so freaking close! If she could just figure out thethaumodynamic stabilizers and the aetheric channels and how to connect them tothe theurgic couplings, then the armor would definitely be finished beforeschool started. Her tongue peaked out of the corner of her mouth as sheconcentrated, wand on one hand, tweezers in the other, a soldering ironfloating above her, held by her mage hand. 

The workbench in front of heris littered with such tools, awl and a few other small sharp blades and hergrindstone, linen thread and an assortment of needles, little colored glass ballsshe’d spent weeks making and enchanting so they wouldn’t break when she used them,and small gems that had cost quite a chunk of the money she made from selling herclockwork toys, not to mention all the other tools she didn’t currently needfor this project. The bed next to her, on the other side, had the rest of thearmor, chest plate and second gauntlet, both nearly finished save for the collectorsthat would collect the untethered thaumic energy from the aether.  

She’s so close. She can feelit.

“Celandine!” her mother calledfrom downstairs, “Celandine, your friend is here!” 

“What?” she freezes, and thewand released the spell it was holding… at the wrong part of the gauntlet. Andsomething started smoking. “Shit!”“Celandine?”

A quick prestidigitation puts the fire out but it definitely smelt like magic gone wrong and scorched leather.“Oh, hell. Coming Mom!”

”I’m sending her up!”  

“Shit!” Celandine cast a lookabout her room. Her chairs were full of clothes and her bed was covered in armorand there was spare leather and clothes and books all over the floor and why hadn’tshe learned the invisible servant spell.

“Hey, Celandine? Your Momsaid—” Caela pauses in the doorway, the top of her head nearly brushing thetop of the doorframe. Her eyes widen as she takes in the state of the room. 

“I know! It’s messy I’m sorry.I got uh…” she looks down at the gauntlet and then back up at her best friend,smiling weakly. “I forgot you were coming over. I’m sorry.” She puts the gauntleton the workbench and reaches over the small space to her bed, which at leastonly had the breastplate and the other gauntlet on it. “Sit down and give me asecond, I’ll have this place tidied up in a…”

But Caela is already bendingover, gathering up the nearest books that had fallen over. “It’s okay. I’llhelp. Why don’t you tell me what you were working on?”And Celandine beams.  

30.) Sex

Oriana pressesthe pillow harder over her head, trying to block out the sound from the onlyother bed in the room. Since she’d been knighted in the service of Wahreight,she’d been moved out of the general barracks and into a shared room;unfortunately, her roommate decided that that was enough privacy in order tocarry on her… assignations with one of the paladins still in training. And theidea of actually talking to Ritika about it was blighted mortifying, so hereshe lies, pillows piled on her head, face burning as she tried to pretend shewas not hearing what she was hearing.

34.) AffectionIt’s not that Whisper’s family was not affectionate. Sheremembers her father’s hand on her head, her mother’s approving smile. Hugsfrom her brothers, kisses on her forehead from the governess. But compared tothe carnival, her family was as touched-starved as any dwarf.

Affection wasphysical and platonic and above all, free among them, holding hands and huggingfor no reason, kisses on cheeks and foreheads and lips, giant cuddle piles inone of the main tents the afternoon after a big show, all of them just waitingfor the inevitable cry to start packing up. 

And the sex. Oh, seaand storms, the sex. There was just so much of it. After the first year she’dgone from having sex once in her entire life to having had more partners thanshe could count, of so many genders, in several different… permutations. Things would just…escalate. Someone would be feeling bad and a cuddle pile or a platonic kisswould turn into make-you-feel-better sex, someone would decide that they wereboard and seek someone out, or two people would be fighting and suddenly they’dbe up against the wall (that happened with Ignatius and a few of the othersmore than she would care to admit), or they’d be coming down off a high of asuccessful heist or a show, adrenaline still singing high gospel within them,and next thing you knew you’d be tearing off someone’s clothes. Maybeseveral someone’s.

But the real world doesn’twork that way. And after a bad experience or two on her way to Hazelscar, she isthoroughly aware of that. Most people don’t like being touched.

She meets Adoraor and Keithiafirst, and she makes sure to keep her hands to herself. Even when Adoraor isbleeding out and she has the stupid idea to stick a knife in his chest to seeif it’ll heal him, because, hey, it worked on that orc, or when Keithia (notThia, not yet) places a hand on her shoulder to press healing magic, warm andtingling, into her skin. Not even when they’re barring the door of a cold stonechamber and waiting out the night, and she knows she could stop them both fromshivering. 

She’s almost starving from it,achingly aware of where people are in relation to her at all times. She finallygives in and hugs Keithia about two weeks in. She feels Keithia freeze up for ahalf a second and she closes her eyes, waiting for the rejection, before Keithiasqueezes back, just for a second, before she eases back. Whisper has to forceherself not to cling, to let her new friend go. 

Oriana, she learns, hatesbeing touched at all and the boys are weird about it, so she has to make ithigh fives and playful slaps and punches to the arm. She can hug Frank, atleast, he’s not strange about it. Sing-songtoo, until he vanishes. 

She nearly cries when it getscold enough that they have to huddle in the Magnificent Bubble (also screw Leomund,she’s the one casting the spell, she’ll call it what she wants), and the Bubbleis just big enough for them. If they huddle. It’s almost like the piles she’sused to, and she plays it off with a few sighs and rolled eyes, but when sheends up cuddled next to Twiggy and Isao of all people, she has to bury her headin her arms, so no one will see her face. It’s almost good enough.

[howtoformataquoteat467]

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[luckysketch]

Coming to Cambodia was never part of my travel goals. It never also came across my mind that I’ll be able to traverse this land as I’m done thinking about just visiting Pinoy-famous tourist spots in Asia which is Hong Kong, Singapore, Japan and South Korea.

I have less expectations for Cambodia as I only know that this country has deep history as it has one of the oldest civilization in the world which is the Siem Reap.

I traveled to Phnom Pehn on July 11, 2019 by bus from Ho Chi Mihn city, Vietnam which took almost 7 hours of travel that includes border pass – immigration and short stops in between travel for quick breaks. The border between Vietnam and Cambodia was one of my most memorable moment because I am a fan of Vox’s border episode. I became more interested on what every country’s border looked like that I was looking forward for my first ever border crossing experience which is the Vietnam-Cambodia border.

This is the Cambodia (left) and Vietnam (right) border. The Vietnam border is located in Bình Hiệp, Kampong Rou, Long An Province just an hour and a half bus ride from Ho Chi Mihn City. Passing through the immigration was easy as long as there aren’t many people waiting in line. Normally, you can walk from Vietnam Immigration and cross this border to Cambodia Immigration on foot but during my visit I had to hop on to the bus as there were numbers of Trucks probably trying to settle for customs. I posted a blog about this border. See if you find it interested here: The Cambodia-Vietnam Border.

First look of Cambodia.

It was probably 5:00PM when I reached Cambodia and from my first impression the country is full of dust and looked like the government is trying to build a good impression for visitors coming from the East as there are casinos, hotels and buildings here but the road still looked like a mess. It was foggy from the dust being created from vehicles. I started imaging what it will look like when it rains. Muddy?

It took me 4 hours of travel by bus to Phnom Pehn. During the travel hours I’ve noticed so many Wedding celebrations along the road and it was made up with somewhat paper folding, linen, cloth and other flower arrangements to decorate a tent. They just filled the celebration with LED lights and people were dancing, singing. I had the impression that Cambodians know how to party actually.

09:00PM

I actually lost track of time but based on my travel itinerary, which by the way, I made it myself, I have arrived in Phnom Pehn very late. Thanks to my instinct, I have saved money and time trying to reach my AirBnB. It is a nice thing to do to read your map and understand your location.

I reached AirBnB from the main city road by foot. Not too far if you are used to walking.

This is how my AirBnB looked like:

Envoy Hostel

Envoy Hostel

I stayed here at Envoy Hostel in Phnom Pehn, Cambodia. If you are a backpacker, you can consider to stay here as it gives you that comfort that you commonly need. They offer free coffee, FREE POP CORN, wi-fi and drinking water. They’ve got friendly staff also which speaks adequate English. During my stay here, there were a couple of other foreigners who stayed here. If you want to check them out, just search for ENVOY in AirBnB and I tell you it’s so easy to located this hostel.

Talk about location, getting around in Phnom Pehn is also very easy as the streets were named as numbers. Take my AirBnb for Example, the street is 322. The blocks also has a number named street to it. If you look into your map, locating it would be very easy. Minus those Street names that you couldn’t read and probably pronounce.

July 12, 2019.

Did I mentioned that I traveled with 6 other friends? No I didn’t.  We arrived in Phnom Pehn without Cambodian money of the Riel on a late evening. So my Ren (my male office mate friend) decided to get up early and search for the Money Exchange shop. We took the courage to walk early around street 322 of Phnom Pehn, without any information where is the nearest Money Exchange shop. It took us about an hour until we found ourselves in an Old Market. I was absolutely scared getting inside the Public Market as it was very Dark and wet! We found a lady, she was nice enough to deal with and just having a calculator as our means of communication. She was so honest that she gave us our change that we (Ren and I) totally forgot about. Yes! We got confused for minutes about what she was trying to explain because Ren was giving her USD and the lady refused to accept it. UNTIL we finally understood that she was just trying to give us the excess money from our trade. We couldn’t thank her enough.

We left the market and headed back to AirBnB and we found this street vendor cooking a Cambodian Dish called Mi Chao. It tastes like the Philippines’ Pancit Canton with vegetables but with a different kick of spice in it.

A little trivia.

You need not to worry running out of KHR in Phnom Pehn since one of their medium of trade is USD. I finally got that idea when I noticed that all of the shops that I saw had price tags with the dollar ($$$$) sign on it. They actually prefer to receive USD than of their own KHR.

I also have developed this one cool skill during this travel. I’m good with other currencies and all it takes is just keeping in mind one currency in mind to budget. But seriously, it’s so easy to be frugal on a cheap country like Cambodia. You can grab a meal with just a dollar.

My cousin once mentioned that there’s nothing you can do in Phnom Pehn. I started believing him the moment I saw Phnom Pehn in daylight. It somewhat looked like the same as the Philippines. Cambodians actually looked similar with the Filipinos. Our host, the front desk staff said “Oh! Filipinos! We look the same!” and I think I replied to him “Almost.” What I mean with the almost is that we differ only with the language, the way we open our mouths to talk.

In the end, I realized my cousin was wrong. Phnom Pehn has its own gem that the rest of the world doesn’t have. It’s their people. Their history and their culture.

It is more than just your travel destination. I have so much respect with Phnom Pehn.

So, in order for you to appreciate Phon Pehn, you must visit these places which I am going to list down below:

Travel Destinations

So, below are the things that we did during a whole day in Phnom Pehn, Cambodia. To get into places around Phnom Pehn, you can hire Tuk-tuks which will cost you around 25USD for the whole day. Depending on your Tuk-tuk driver, they will suggest places that you can visit. Normally Cambodians are friendly and easy to talk to. Just look for the English speaking ones so you won’t have problem bargaining.

The travel spots I am about to enlist below are in order. So, if you are planning to go around Phnom Pehn, feel free to follow our route.

The Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum

The place where they chronicled the Cambodian Genocide. Entrance fee for the museum is around 15USD and you will have the choice to go on tour with an audio guide. If you are into history, I suggest you pay for an entrance fee with an audio guide. I wasn’t able to pick the tour with the audio because we only have a limited time. So, instead, I grabbed one of the pamphlets at the entrance so I’ll have something to read on my free time. Visiting this place first means you’ll experience a sad beginning of the Cambodian History. I’ll be posting a different blog about this since I am so moved with its history.

Cambodia Travel Blog Coming to Cambodia was never part of my travel goals. It never also came across my mind that I'll be able to traverse this land as I'm done thinking about just visiting Pinoy-famous tourist spots in Asia which is Hong Kong, Singapore, Japan and South Korea.

[brainrattlers]

I Hope I Can Handle It? (Pt 2/?)

Summary: Sequel to “Think You Can Handle It?” - F/Reader is in a long-distance relationship with her man.  Traveling for the holidays!

Pairing: Sebastian Stan x F/reader

Words:  2665

Warnings: Fluff fluff fluff. Mention of potential sexy times. Maybe there is cursing? I can’t even remember. There might be. Be prepared for it either way.

A/N: Yup… here is part 2. I didn’t intend to post it this early, but I was feeling it for some reason.  Tags are open, and those are at the bottom!  Y/F/N = Your Friend’s Name

Get caught up! (Think You Can Handle It?) (IHICHI Pt 1)

The next day was a blur of getting things ready.  Checks and rechecks of your bags, making sure you had your camera and memory cards, clothes, toiletries. You had to keep telling yourself it wasn’t like you were going camping, if you forgot something, you could run to the store. Hell, there was a good chance Seb would probably have most everything on hand too. You were completely anxious though, counting almost the MINUTES until you needed to hit up the airport to head out.  

You spent a little time at Mama J’s, working in the back office, looking at a few property options.  Checking out floor plans, what utilities would run in those locations, and how seating would work.  Spread out in front of you were a few inspiration boards, including some paint and fabric swatches, and photos you cut from magazines. Mama J came back to check on  you, asking if you wanted some lunch.  She noticed the fabrics and paints, sighing softly.

“Child, don’t get so wrapped up in this, I still haven’t quite figured out how to make it all happen yet. It will, but I need to save up a bit more anyway.  I appreciate all the enthusiasm though. Keeps me motivated.”

“Mama J, if you don’t mind me asking, how much more do you need?  Maybe we can get something going to make it all happen faster.”

“I don’t want to talk money,” Mama J looked a little sad, “There is still a chunk that I need to get, would like to upgrade some of the kitchen for the new location.  Patience, child. What is meant to happen, will happen.”

The timer in the kitchen was beeping, and Mama J scurried off as you grabbed your phone to look up what a new restaurant-grade equipment would cost, and your eyes went wide. You suddenly understood that it was going to take a bit longer to save up to upgrade.  Some gears in your head started turning, but was interrupted by a text message.

“24 hours!  Cannot wait to see you!”

“Still picking me up at the airport?”

“Of course.  Text me when you leave, and I’ll find where I’m meeting you at. I might have a late night tonight, so no call tonight I don’t think, but one more sleep until I see you. *heart emoji*”

You chuckled to yourself.  You’d never expect Sebastian to put little hearts all over texts, but it was adorable.

“Yup, I will babe. One more sleep, until I get to sleep next to you. *winking emoji*”

Mama J smiled at the sight of you smiling so big as you texted.  She knew she did good.  As a surprise, she set down a plate of meat and potato colțunași in front of you.  You ate up while you continued doing a little research on kitchen appliances.  Mama J disappeared for a while during the lunch rush, but came back a few hours later to take a break and count out the register.

“I was doing some thinking, what would you think about maybe having investors, maybe even some partners, in the new location?  That would certainly help with the up-front costs.”  You questioned her, unsure of what her response would be, but hoped it wouldn’t offend her.  She got quiet, but not in an upset way, more of a thinking of a good response way.

“I don’t know how I’d feel about it.  I don’t like taking money from strangers… I don’t like taking money from family though either.  If I did, I think I’d have to be super comfortable with whomever was investing, and I would have to pay them back.”

“You know that defeats the purpose of an investor, right?” You both chuckled.  

“I know, but it just feels like cheating or something.  I want to be able to prove I can do this on my own.”  Mama J swooped the emptied plate out from in-front of you, and patted your head. “Thank you for trying to help me out though, but I’ve got this.”

You nodded, and looked at your watch, realizing most of the afternoon had slipped by.  Thanking Mama J for lunch, you left the info you compiled to her to look at while you were going to be away.  She hugged you tight before you left.

“You hug that man of yours for me, please?  And wish him and his family a Merry Christmas for me!”  You hugged her again.

“Of course Mama J.  And a Merry Christmas to you. You’ve got Skype set up, right? Just in case I want to call, yeah?”  She nodded, and shooed you out the door with a laugh, wishing you a safe trip and a Merry Christmas as well.

Heading home, you grabbed some Chinese food on the way, and sat down in your living room, staring at your suitcase.  Not able to help yourself, you snapped a photo of it, and posted it to Instagram.

Ready to see what the Big Apple has to offer!  18 hours, @imsebastianstan!

Not moments after posting, the comments started pouring in, squeals and people saying they were glad you were still together.  Questions of what plans were, if you would meet up with them.  And of course there were the haters that are always online, but you were starting to get pretty good at ignoring those comments.

Finishing dinner, you did  a last check of things that needed to come with you.  Bag repacked for about the 8th time, you made sure your plane tickets were on your phone, alarms set to make sure you woke up on time (not that you’d be able to sleep tonight, of course).  Finally crawling into bed, you inhaled deeply, realizing you weren’t going to feel the comfort of your blankets and pillows, and snuggled in deep.  Of course you then also realized that you’d be snuggling into something, nay, someone else in less than 24 hours.

You grabbed your phone, clearing off notifications, until you saw one that, despite it happening on the regular anymore, made your heart skip a beat.

Imsebastianstan liked your post.

Of course he did.

Sleep took hold, and although tossing and turning all night, you did get a bit of sleep off and on before your alarm on your phone went off.  Squinting, you noticed the text indicator blinking.

“See you soon, babygirl!”

You smiled, simply sending an emoji of a kiss print.  Hopping out of bed, taking a quick shower, you grabbed your things as Y/F/N knocked on the door to take you to the airport.

“I’m going to miss you, Y/N.  What if Sebastian kidnaps you and you’re stuck in New York City forever?”

You laughed. “I hadn’t thought of that, but I could think of far worse things happening. If it does happen? Well maybe you’ll just need to come visit!”

Helping you get your bag from the back of her car at the airport, Y/F/N hugged you tight, and wished you safe travels.  You promised to text as soon as you landed.

You checked your bag, you found your gate.  Boarded the plane, and were relieved to find that you weren’t seated next to any unruly children.  Right before takeoff, you texted Sebastian with a little airplane emoji and an arrow in the direction you were flying. You put on your headphones, and caught a couple minutes of sleep, when your neighbor accidentally woke you up before the pilot announced it was time to land. Once safely on the ground, you checked your phone, texting Y/F/N, and found a notification that Sebastian had tagged you on Instagram.

Quickly opening the app, you found the post in question.  Sebastian was holding a paper in front of his face, covering it from his cheeks down, but you could see him wearing his newsboy cap, eyes crinkling with a smile hidden behind the sign with “@(y/instagram handle)”, captioned “At the airport! @(y/instagram handle) is almost here!” You double-tapped the image, and not a minute later Sebastian texted.

“Are you at gate 62b?”

“Yes, but stuck on plane waiting for a section of travelers to move ahead of me. Meet me outside the baggage claim?”

“Of course. Tell them to hurry! Don’t they know I have a beautiful woman to hug and swing around and kiss passionately?”

You smiled, and tapped back “see you soon!”

Time was dragging.  All you wanted to do was get off the plane, get some non-recirculated fresh air, and see him. You “saw” him nearly every day via Skype, but this was different.  You were going to get to feel him. Smell him. Taste him. Those three senses had been grossly neglected because of Skype.  Rather, the distance. At least Skype gave you the ability to see and hear him.  Once you were off the plane and into the gate area, you quickly found your way to the baggage claim, and waited impatiently.  Finally you say your bag on the conveyor, grabbed it and damn near RAN for the door.  Rounding the corner, your heart skipped a beat.

There he was. Smile as bright as the sun, hair tucked under his cap,  holding up his sign for you with one hand, roses in the other.  His eyes were glistening, and you could tell he was like an excited little puppy, almost wiggling wanting to get to you.  Tossing your bag down, he dropped the sign and held his arm out as you ran toward him, pulling you in so close, nearly picking you up off the ground one-handed. You stood there holding him tight, him inhaling the scent of your hair and it triggering the memory of the night you spent at the park.  And then the next day together. He missed it. He missed YOU.

Finally letting go of your torso, he handed you the flowers you were sniffing, but slowly pushed them away from your face.  Sebastian’s knuckle and thumb captured your chin, lifted it up, and kissed you.  And of course Sebastian being Sebastian, wrapped his arms around you, dipping you down backward.  Few fellow travelers whistled and clapped as the man kissed his woman.  The both of you started laughing at the reactions, with Sebastian nearly dropping you from giggling too much.

“Aww baby girl, I missed you so much.  But you’re here. You are finally here! How was your flight?”  The questions started coming at you fast and furious as you picked up your bags, Sebastian making grabby hands at the suitcase to carry it for you. “What did you pack in here?”

Remembering the extra weight of jars, you reminded yourself about lunch from Mama J.

“I know it sounds silly, but I did bring a taste of home with me… Mama J insisted.  So hopefully you didn’t have a big lunch planned…”

A smile crept over Sebastian’s face.

“If we can though, I need to hit up a grocery to get a few little things to make it magic.”

After finding the car that was picking the two of you up, a small detour was made to a corner store to pick up a few necessities, like bread and cheese. You hoped he had a griddle in his apartment.  Never can tell with boys what kitchen utensils they may (or may not) have.

Arriving at his building, Sebastian insisted you carry the few groceries, and he carried your bags to the elevator.  Pressing the button to his floor, he leaned in and kissed you. You smirked as he finally pulled away as the bell alerted you to the door opening.  Leading you down the hall, he pulled out his keys and unlocked the door slowly, ushering you inside.  What you found surprised you a little bit.  Having seen bits and pieces of his home while skyping, you were able to put it all together.  It wasn’t a total bachelor pad, but it wasn’t the magazine-perfect apartment you were almost expecting.  Instead, it was nicely furnished, with an overstuffed chair and sofa, a wall of books, and a large TV punctuating the living room.  Fluffy blankets hung over the chair, and soft looking pillows sat on the sofa. There wasn’t a feeling of stuffiness or the fear of touching things. It looked inviting… comfortable. It felt like home.

Sebastian grabbed you, and kissed you again, holding you tight.  

“Babe, why are you so kissy? Not that I mind of course…” you questioned all of the affection.  He cupped your cheeks, and kissed your nose.

“Because,” (kiss) “I need” (kiss) “to make up” (kiss) “for all the” (kiss) “kisses” (kiss) “we’ve missed out” (kiss) “on.”  You smiled, giggling with each kiss, before pulling him back to your lips for a long kiss that left you both breathless, borderline dizzy. Sebastian smirked as he led you to the bedroom right off the bat, your luggage in tow.

“Sweetie, I uh, well I was hoping that we could make lunch first.. Remember groceries?”

“Duh babe, I was just dropping off your luggage and letting you see at least where you are sleeping… and to get whatever Mama J sent you out with.  But I figured just in case, I wasn’t going to snoop through your luggage, I don’t know what you packed!”

You smiled, squeezing his hand as you took the large suitcase out of Sebastian’s grasp and placed it on the bed gently, admiring the quilt over it, and the number of pillows… including a body pillow.  Sebastian must have caught your slight chuckle as you looked over the bed.

“What? A couple of those are for you… I figure sharing a pillow might be a little weird.”

“But the body pillow?”

“Um, that… is mine. I saw yours before I left… and it was really comfy, so I got one for myself.”

“Hold it at night pretending it is someone?”

Sebastian squinted at you.  “Maybe?” He smiled and pulled you to him, falling on the bed, avoiding your bag.  His giggles were infectious, and you couldn’t stop the smile from widening on your face as you curled up into him.  The two of you lay there, intertwined, for a few moments.  Finally, you broke the news that if lunch was going to be made, you’d have to get up.  And after a few attempts of actually getting up and out of bed, with Sebastian pulling you back to him, you were up, smacking his hand away like a small child trying to grab sweets from the shelves at the store.  

Unzipping your bag slowly, you pulled the well-packed jars from the bag, rezipping the bag and heading out of the bedroom, back to the kitchen.  Sebastian followed close behind.  You unbagged the items from the corner store, and asked where his griddle was.  Surprisingly, he had one (which makes making grilled cheese sandwiches so much easier), and you sat it on the stove, heating up  in preparation for the coming ingredients.  Opening drawers to find utensils,  you then opened the fridge with a little bit of a shock, only finding vegetables in it.

“Crap,” It dawned on you. “He’s on a diet because he’s bulking up for Infinity Wars.”  Your suspicions were confirmed when you opened the freezer and saw chicken. Chicken on every shelf.

“Hey, uh, babe? Am I going to wreck your diet? I wasn’t even thinking…”

You felt his arms wrap around your midsection, his lips finding your neck.

“I can cheat every once in awhile, but be prepared, I eat like 5-6 times a day. And it is chicken and veggies.” Your face contorted in sadness and frustration. “I’ll just have to work a little harder those days, that’s all.  AND that reminds me, I have an early present for you.”

You raised an eyebrow as Sebastian dug something out of his pocket, kneeling down in front of you.  It felt as if you suddenly forgot how to breathe.

Tagging: @dawn121, @sceaterian, @pennyroyalcreep

[johnattaway]

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