#I just like. speed graded a bunch of stuff in order to be able to give it back to the kids on time
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ibyul · 2 years ago
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Parents should make themselves more giftable like I have no idea ever what to get my dad because he never wants anything like that and is always like ‘don’t get me anything’ 😔
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justmenoworries · 2 years ago
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Yo, check out my Isekai OC! (art by @lionindenial, check out their blog, they do lots of cool stuff!)
A few weeks ago, a friend and I were joking about how pretty much every op RPG-Isekai protag is a light-skinned dude and how it would be cool if an RPG themed Isekai had an op lady protagonist and from there the brainworms started developing.
For more info on Miss Isekai Protag, check below the cut!
Makaira Gushiken
Age 17
November 15th
Scorpio
6′0/1,80 m
Uses a war scythe in combat and to channel her powers
Dark Magic User
Backstory
Makaira grew up in Okinawa as the child of a Japanese salarywoman and her husband, who migrated from Mexico. She didn’t have it easy, both due to being afro-Japanese and living in perpetual poverty. Makaira dropped out of school to support her family, despite having good enough grades to go for higher education.
One late evening, when she was walking home from work, Makaira witnessed a mugging. Due to her phone’s battery being empty, she couldn’t call for help. Unwilling to just let this happen in front of her, Makaira intervened - and ended up getting stabbed by the mugger and bleeding out while the victim tried futilely to help her.
When she died, her soul was snatched up by the deity of another world and transported to said world, Gehenna.
The deity in question is Nyx, the God and personification of Death. Years prior, he was betrayed and banished into an abyss by his siblings, the Gods of Life, Nature, Wealth and Light specifically. As a result, no one in Gehanna has been able to die for over a century.
While the rich have enjoyed this state of being, the poor, those who cannot afford things like healers and healing or youth potions, are suffering immensely. People are often left to age into oblivion until they can no longer move and are eventually buried alive, to make room. Slavery and human trafficking are also blooming, due to slaves dying from being overworked or starving no longer being an issue. You can hit, starve or otherwise mistreat a slave, and the most you’d have to do afterward is spend some money on a cheap healing potion or hedgewitch to get them back on their feet.
Non-human races aren’t having a particularly good time either, as humans are no longer scared of dying when hunting them down.
Nyx felt all this and tried to reach out to a mortal, in order to right things, but his imprisonment made it impossible for him to affect the mortal realm of Gehenna in any way.
So he used his powers to reach through the veil between worlds for a vessel. And he found Makaira.
Makaira was resurrected as Nyx’ vessel and an Angel of Death, basically a Grim reaper. She’s nearly impervious to physical and magical harm. Only extremely high-tier weapons or spells can even get a dent on her. She herself is a wielder of literal god-tier dark magic. Her new body has also enhanced her physical srength, speed and durability. She could deadlift a horse with one arm and not feel tired at all. Some of her other powers inculde the ability to set trapped souls free, or in other words: Grant death to people who are desperately waiting for it, and reading the surface thoughts of any person if she concentrates a bit.
Due to Nyx not ressurecting her quick enough, her right eye has rotted away. In her new body it’s been “replaced” by a will-o’-the-wisp like light blue light, that she usually covers up to avoid attention. Once she makes a name for herself, the eye becomes her iconic feature that other people use to identify her.
Personality
Makaira is of the ruthless anti-hero sort. She won’t hesitate to strike someone down if they pose a threat to her or those she cares about. Due to growing up working class, she has a bunch of emptahy for the poor and none for the rich. She’s fiercely loyal toward her party and her friends. And also just a teeny bit traumatized from, you know. Dying in her old life.
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natewriteslol · 4 years ago
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May I request a reaction(?)/headcanon?
(twst boiz }:‑))
Rook, Sebek, Idia, Jack and Azul reacting to a secretly ripped reader.
Explanation!: Reader wears a lot if oversized stuff, lazy af, tends to skip PE classes and etc. You know acting like they're weak and stuff while in reality they're just lazy. For some reason Vargas saw the potential and the true power in reader, so he decided to add them to the team of [insert a really brutal sport or smt]. Everyone r like: "Y?? They weak!" When it's Readers time to enter the game, they take their hoodie off and omG those muscles. I swear someone fainted right on spot. And someone went 🧎🤰 After Absolutely destroying opponents team, they're just like "ok, I did the thing! Now I want my super duper rare chips".
A/N: This is such a creative premise, thank you for sending it!!
MC goes by they/them pronouns :)
Warnings: none except that MC takes off their shirt
Honestly Y/N was known to be one of the most laziest people on campus, so lazy that it even rivaled Leona! Which there has to be some form of intervention for them because it’s just getting out of hand. And while it benefitted in certain situations, such as annoying Grim to actually start moving his lazy ass around the house, or bullies leaving them alone since Y/N couldn’t bother to muster a reaction.
However they continued to skip P.E classes, and just all around not doing anything. So it came to a surprise that when they were called to Vargas’ office.
“Wait. Y/N where are you going?” Ace questioned, as their friend went with their backpack toward the door.
“I got an interview with Vargas for something. Watch Grim for me please, later” they replied relaxed. And while both Deuce and Ace questioned what their friend was going to be interviewed for, the pair just looked at each other, shrugged and went back to their schoolwork.
Once Y/N got to Vargas’ office, they sat on the chair on the other side of his desk. The student gazed at the sports paraphernalia on the walls, before Vargas started talking.
“Well Y/N, I bet you’re wondering why I called to talk to you?” He asked.
“Yup” the student said, keeping their answers short and concise.
“You tend to skip my classes a great amount, and while both you and Grim are enrolled as one student your lack of participation is dropping your grade,” Vargas said while standing up.
Y/N started to feel bad, sure they didn’t really care to participate but they didn’t want to inconvenience Grim.
“But, I will promise you one thing, I can feel the potential in you Y/N!” the man said excitedly, slightly spooking you. “As a man who is incredible person overflowing with talent,” Vargas started,
‘Wowee, pretty narcissistic’ you thought, but then you started to pay attention again.
“I can see greatness within others, it’s almost like my 6th sense. And I can feel it within you. Now all I ask of you Y/N, is that you participate in the Great Dodging Tournament try outs. And I will raise your grade” The older man offered, Vargas really believed in you.
And that really put a smile on your face, “You know what, I’ll do it.”
“Thanks kiddo!” the man boomed with a great smile on his face while ruffling your head.
I mean, if he’s this excited you can try for him.
~
It was tryouts, Deuce and Ace were a little apprehensive for Y/N to be participating. I mean the Great Dodging Tournament involves one person dodging great magical attacks from the opposite team, in order to get at least one of the balls from the other team. And while you didn’t technically need magical powers to compete, it certainly did help.
“Y/N L/N, you’re up!” It was their turn. Whispers broke out, everyone didn’t understand why they were even allowed to participate.
“Have you even seen them run?” Someone whispered.
The heat was rising despite it being the afternoon, “Damn, I’m getting hot” Y/N says and they start to strip, taking off their oversized shirt.
What came to a great surprise was their physique, incredibly ripped abs. Strong shoulders, back and arms now exposed to everyone.
They did absolutely fantastic for their tryouts, moving across the field with great speed, dodging every single attack and they were able to take 2 out of the 7 balls from the other team. Y/N was excellent, and absolute essential to the Great Dodging Tournament team. Every person was in great shock, they didn’t even break a sweat.
“Alrightie! Now where’s my snacks?” They said, sitting down on the bench.
Rook:
-Oh mon cherie, what have you been hiding from him? ~
-Rook had alot of information on almost everyone at the school, so this definitely came to a shock to him
-A strong advocate for keeping them shirtless all the time
-I mean Y/N lays around all the time, they might as well look good while doing it
-It's just him and Sebek arguing (well it's Sebek who is actually arguing) about what Y/N should do once they come back: Shirt or no shirt?
-He’s very impressed with their strengt and willpower to get that physique
-Very mischievously looks down at Y/N while they complete their audition
-Rook I love you but what are you planning-
Sebek:
-He goes bright red, and starts yelling at Y/N to put a shirt on
-”I-it’s inappropriate for you to be walking around like this! Do you humans not have any shame?!”
-”D-don’t come closer! I don’t want a hug from you!”
-W-what? How could he miss that this mere human held this much power?
-He was incredibly observant (or so he claimed)
-Sebek didn’t know weak, puny humans could possess that type of strength
-If Y/N as a non-magic user were able to obtain this level of power, you were a threat
-Definitely not intimidated by them (he lowkey is intimidated by them)
-While he’s still incredibly opposed to Y/N’s lazy behaviors, he has a newfound respect for them
-Later on he thinks about it more and is marching to their dorm inorder to force them into doing more powerful stuff
-”YOU COULD HAVE GREAT LEVELS OF POWER, JUST WORK YOU LAZY HUMAN!”
-” Naw man, but since you’re up can you get the tv remote? It’s pretty far.”
Idia:
-Of course this happens the one time he goes outside in person!
-Erupts into flames and has a bright ass blush
-Has Ortho calm down his flames with his built in fans
-Idia literally hides inside his hoodie so that no one could notice him
-But I mean it’s kinda hard since at this point he’s looks like a campfire but go off-
-He literally can’t look Y/N in the eyes omg
-Idia tries to talk to them but he just ends up spluttering
-He thought that Y/N had put their shirt back on so he takes his head out of his hoodie and NOPE they still have it off and the cycle of embarrassment repeats
-Idia manages to compliment Y/N, comparing them to a powerful anime character from a show he watched
-The man cannot look at Y/N the same anymore now that he knows what’s under all that baggy clothing
Jack:
-Jack definitely did not see this coming
-Can admit that he is a little flustered (Alot of people teased him since his tail started to wag at the sight of Y/N’s body
-He couldn’t imagine the Y/N he knows doing all of this activity, let alone dodging such powerful magic attacks with this much skill
-They’re a perfect candidate for the team and Jack grows really passionate about you wanting to pursue sports
-Has alot more respect for you
-He will drag Y/N to do a bunch of brutally, active shit with him since the whole “I’m too weak” jig is up
-”Jack pls no”
-”But when you were soaring through the air during Dodging tryouts I heard no complaints. Get your ass up, Y/N”
-While their P.E grade is saved, at what cost?
Azul:
-Azul thought that it was going to be a fun little attempt on Y/N’s part
-Were they joking? I mean he’s never seen them move a muscle for extracurricular activities like sports. Honestly-
-And oh dear oh it’s them shirtless
-Azul is so caught off guard
-He turns away so that Floyd and Jade don’t see his face, but those sneak boys know what’s going on
-”Boss you’re so red!”
-”Ooooh, are you flustered by shrimpy taking off their shirt~”!
-So that’s what you’ve been hiding under your clothing!
-He’s very impressed by your strength, Azul is wondering why you decided to hide it?
-Are you involved in shady business too? Hence why you’re laying low? (Sounds like projection but okay Azul-)
-He’s also thinking about getting you to sign some form of deal so that they can take advantage of your strength (Sorry Y/N)
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haikyuu-philia · 5 years ago
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Can we have a Tsukki scenario where the reader is just as sarcastic as him? I mostly see the reader being overly sensitive and stuff. Also, I'm new here and look forward to reading your works
This ended up being longer than it was supposed to, but now it’s too late anyways XD
As in introverted and overly polite person, I had my struggles writing two sarcastic people at the same time. Yet, here we are, with this piece filled with not-so classical romance!
Also a very late welcome to the blog - I’m happy to have you here :3
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Another Love Language | A Tsukishima x fem! Reader Scenario
Words: 1336
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People were gathered all over the place. Even though this hall had been reserved for participating teams only, there was nearly no empty spot to be found. Boys and girls wearing jerseys in all colours of the rainbow had taken over, creating a noise by simply talking to each other that could be compared to an earthquake. 
As most of his own teammates had been awake way too early this morning, Tsukishima was now able to call himself one of the few lucky ones with an actual corner to sit at. He taped his fingers in advance while Yamaguchi tried not to stare at the crowd, which would sent his heart rate up to unknown heights.
Nishinoya and Tanaka had left several minutes ago to meet some friend from a girls’ team. With every announcement Asahi seemed more pale, Kageyama fiddled with his fingers to properly stretch them. The trio of Daichi, Sugawara and Ennoshita was casually chatting with each other. And Hinata was absolutely nowhere to be seen, probably causing a ruckus at the toilettes as usual. 
What a time to be a member of Karasuno.
A glance at his phone told Tsukishima that the first match would start in an hour. So the warm-up would be due in about thirty minutes. Actually he had been checking his messages, but nothing new popped up in his inbox. 
Positively speaking this meant that Akiteru had found his way to Tokyo without any issues and was most likely sitting at his assigned seat by now. Tsukishima rested his back against the wall as he starred at his feet. 
The room might be crowded and loud, but he still managed to understand many parts of different conversations. Some people were standing pretty close to the area of his team anyways, closer than he appreciated. He rolled his eyes at their behaviour. 
„Aren’t these boys from Karasuno? The team that was known as the fallen crows?“ He heard a boy whisper from a few meters away.
Not only had this guy attracted Tsukishima’s attention, seemingly the rest of his teammates was listening as well. No one made eye contact as the stranger continued to speak without noticing that the victims of his theories were already planning their comeback. 
„Do you really think that they are strong enough to beat someone here?“
In absolute sync all member of Karasuno present were looking up to stare at the culprit with a blank expression on their faces. Once he had understood that their eyes were directed towards him, he froze immediately. He broke out of his paralysis by jumping when another person approached him from behind.
„Yeah, because I would totally think of the team that kicked Shiratorizawa, the current champion, out off the competition as weak," a female voice commented on his question from earlier. 
Yamaguchi and Tsukishima changed their mimics by the time the sarcastic remarks had reached their ears. The latter couldn’t decide whether to sigh or to hold his breath, though a smirk appeared on his face nevertheless. Of course he would recognise the voice of his own girlfriend from miles away or in the middle of a thousand people. 
Supporting his upper body with his hand he rose from his place, becoming the target of his team members’ curiosity.
In the meantime the boy, who had been called out by you, had retreated into the ocean of unknown faces. Obviously yours stood out even more to him. On the contrary spotting a tall blond guy in a black-orange jersey hadn’t been the hardest task for you to fulfil either.
When Tsukishima and you walked towards each other, the eyes of the other Karasuno players were practically pinned to your boyfriend’s back. Only Yamaguchi happened to know what exactly they were witnessing. For the rest it looked like the first-year approached a random girl who had just roasted someone for them.
„I thought I told you that you didn’t have to come,“ he said with one of his eyebrows raised. „What are you doing here?“
„Playing soccer, of course,“ you shot back with a grin wrinkling your cheeks.
So far you had only seen him in his volleyball attire on pictures, not in reality. On the ride to the stadium his older brother Akiteru had shown you plenty of them and had been blabbering endlessly about Kei’s career as a middle blocker. 
But nothing could have prepared you for the moment when you actually got to see him in his jersey. Number 11 of Karasuno, a regular. 
„Hellooooooo Tsukishima! Would you mind to introduce us to this lovely girl you are talking to?“
Suddenly Sugawara had popped up next to the two of you, starling your boyfriend for the minority of a second. Not much to Tsukishima’s surprise Daichi stood right behind the setter, eyeing you with an innocent smile. 
„Ah, you must be Kei's teammates. Nice to meet you! I won’t occupy him for long, just making sure that he is in usually high spirits.“ You proceeded with telling them your name, school and grade. 
After that you looked at your boyfriend to finish your introduction as you certainly didn’t know how much his team was involved in his love life. 
„She is my stalker in disguise of a fan," he responded to your nonverbal plea.
A chuckle left your mouth while you crossed your arms in front of your chest and leaned onto your lamppost of a significant other. Even with your body putting weight on him, he didn’t move in inch. So you stood securely.
„Nah, I am more of his personal reminder that his heart of stone is able to feel love.“
Sugawara and Daichi introduced themselves, exchanging glances with one another in between sending approving looks your way. Together with you Tsukishima returned to his former resting spot where Yamaguchi greeted you as well. Out of the Karasuno bunch he had been the only person to officially have been told about the change of his best friend’s relationship status.
Though, Sugawara had to admit that he had indeed had a suspicions until today. 
Sitting next to each other with your backs facing the wall, you more or less leaning onto him again, the missing boys of the team returned one by one.
At first Nishinoya and Tanaka did not believe their eyes that a third girl had found their way to them before Tsukishima clicked his tongue at them. They went on with jumping up and down, probably attracting Hinata in the end. 
Not less excited, the orange-haired boy had sparkles in his eyes as he cooed, „I didn’t know you had a girlfriend, Tsukishima! Please teach me your methods, please, PLEASE!“ 
Time went by in the speed of a spiked volleyball, so the announcement to prepare for the first match came faster than expected. Several parts of the crowd inside the room started moving, gathering or walking out to the gym already. 
Tsukishima put on his sports glasses, you did your best to distract Yamaguchi from the upcoming adrenaline. Not that it really worked, but internally he was glad to have someone that was talking to him about something else than facing strong teams. In this case how your boyfriend would look stunning in glasses with a pink frame.
„You should go back to your seat. Akiteru is probably waiting for you,“ he advised you once Coach Ukai had told the team to get together. 
Now was your moment to leave - In the battles he was about to fight on court you couldn’t do anything but watch from afar. For sure you were intending to clap and scream until your hands and throat would be sore, maybe annoying a specific middle blocker of Karasuno in the process.
One last time Tsukishima turned around to send you off.
„Break a finger, Kei!“
He gave you a thumbs up, the corners of his lips slightly poking towards the ceiling. Then he switched back to his serious mode in order to crush their opponents. 
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Posted: April 9th 2020 | Requests: Open | Match-ups: Closed
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makeste · 5 years ago
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BnHA Chapter 264: You Either Die a Hero...
Previously on BnHA: The kids of 1-A sat around waiting for something exciting to happen, and then it did happen, and they were all “!!” Over on the front lines, the heroes charged the Ol’ Villain Hotel with poor Kaminari crying the entire time, but we’ll excuse him since he is only in the second grade. Tokoyami gave him some gentle encouragement by reminding him of how hard he can slappa da bass, while Midnight told him to think of his one true love in order to find his inner courage, so he immediately thought of Jirou and everyone was like WHOA DID THEY REALLY JUST, and yeah, they kind of did? Anyway so Cementoss ripped the building open and Kaminari got all Thor on us and started battling this other electric guy, and then we cut to Hawks and Twice, who were having a friendly conversation similar to the friendly conversation Hawks had with Best Jeanist on the very same day that Jeanist abruptly went missing and was never heard from again! Hey, wait a second. You guys don’t suppose...??
Today on BnHA: Re-Destro gathers in the basement with all his followers and they’re all like “Re-Destro!!” and he’s all “what??” and they’re all “the heroes are attacking!!” and he’s all “:) :) :) the fuck??!” Outside, the heroes continue to wreak havoc, and between Edgeshot, Midnight, Honenuki and Toadette, I’m pretty sure they have actually killed some of these guys. But that’s silly though because heroes would never actually kill someone. Speaking of heroes not killing someone, back in the hotel, Hawks is all “(Ò‸Ó)” and Twice is all “(இ‸இ)” and then Hawks is all “I’m gonna arrest you but I’ll help you get through this and get back on your feet again afterwards because you’re a good person” and Twice is all “WHAT THE FUCK NOT THIS SHIT AGAIN” and does the whole Sad Man Parade thing. And Hawks is all “I don’t want to fight you!” and Twice is all “TOO BAD” and meanwhile Dabi is running up the stairs all “time to start some shit” and then the chapter ends. So while I’m relieved on behalf of Hawks’s soul, I can’t help but be a little concerned on behalf of his, uh, life. Shit.
okay, so! I finally have time to read this damn thing. but before I start, a couple of holdover thoughts from the prior chapter!
firstly, I want to go on the record now and say that I’ve decided once again that Hawks, in spite of all appearances, is not a murderer. you hear that Hawks. I’m putting my neck on the line for you. gonna look like a real stooge if you go and murder Twice before going on to fight Dabi to the death while we cut to Noumu!Jeanist taunting Bakugou
but in all seriousness, I just can’t reconcile it with what we know of Hawks’s character. his behavior during the fight against Hood almost got him exposed because he couldn’t bear to let anyone get hurt or to let Endeavor get killed. I know the HPSC got their claws in him at a young age, but in spite of that I don’t think he’s harboring a dark side. to me he always just comes off as tired and struggling to do the right thing even though he never asked to be put into this kind of position. he’s smart enough to understand the whole “needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few” thing, but he’s also young enough to still hold to a certain idealism, and juuust cocky enough to have faith in his own cleverness and convince himself that he can somehow achieve this mission without sacrificing anyone else’s life
so in short, I don’t buy the dark!Hawks theories. I just can’t. but I guess we’re about to see! and my guess is that Horikoshi will probably have Dabi interrupt before Hawks can reveal his hand either way, because Horikoshi is just like that. what a troll
(ETA: I forgot that sometimes Horikoshi also likes to troll by giving you exactly what you want but in the most painful way possible. shit.)
now, moving on, the other thing I wanted to quickly address is Viz’s translation of this very important line from last week! so as a reminder, here is readheroaca’s version
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and here is Caleb’s
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I’m actually really glad I’ve been reading the fan translations first, because it made me more aware of the potential nuances in this scene. so is KamiJirou actually being confirmed here, or not?? and I spent 20 whole minutes digging into this more the other day because I have no life, so here are my findings!
first, here is the actual Japanese panel
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and while I don’t speak Japanese, I can read hiragana well enough that I was able to plug it into a couple of translators to basically figure out what was being said. so here’s the full dialogue:
どこかの誰かじゃ
難しいなら --
今一番大事なものを
心に据えな
so the part in bold there is the line in question -- 大事なもの (daijina mono). “daiji” means “precious” or “important”, but the thing is, “mono” for whatever reason is written in hiragana and not kanji. and the word mono (which can be singular or plural btw) can hilariously mean either of the following depending on the kanji used:
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lmao. so basically the bottom line is that from what I can see here, Horikoshi purposely didn’t specify! now I could be completely wrong; maybe this is a common enough expression that Caleb felt comfortable deciding that he meant “person.” or maybe he just guessed based on the context. or maybe he just said “fuck it, you only live once” and just went there because why the heck not
anyway, so that was fun, and for me it reinforced the fact that I really do prefer to have at least two different translations to compare in order to get the most complete picture of what exactly is going on here in this stupid manga that I obsess over week after week! so now let’s finally get to reading this thing
oh my
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I have so many thoughts whirling around in my head right now, such as “oh my god look at all these secret entrances/exits the villains apparently had” and “wow the heroes are so thorough” and such, but ngl, right now the biggest one is “why are they all entering so slowly??” seriously though. let’s just gradually meander on in single-file. no rush. meanwhile 800m northwest and 1 km east, Cementoss is literally tearing the building in half and the other heroes are charging full speed all “ARGGHHHHH.” and over in Jakku, Miruko kicked a door open so hard it killed a guy. but we’ve all got our own styles I guess??
at least this one guy 800m north of the hideout is doing some doorbusting. sheesh. be more exciting please
oh hey it’s this place
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behold. the great realm and dwarf city of Dwarrowdelf. well there’s an eye-opener and no mistake
LMAO THESE GUYS DON’T KNOW WHAT’S HAPPENING YET OMG
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oh my god. first of all wtf is that shirt. and second of all oh my fucking god, let me just shut up and read this is amazing
SDKLFJLSJK
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LMAO
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oh man. Re-Destro is one of the few characters whom I really want to see die. come on Horikoshi. don’t be a fucking coward. he’s had it coming ever since he killed that little mouse. and let’s not forget Giran. JUSTICE FOR GIRAN
oh we’re actually cutting back to this fight!
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I wasn’t sure if we would! shounen authors have this habit of showing the start of a really cool battle only to then cut away to a bunch of other stuff and leave us hanging for a dozen chapters, so yeah. of course, that may still happen. I’m just lucky that I’m invested in virtually every single thing that’s going on right now, so it’s a win-win for me no matter where we cut to next
(ETA: lmao there really wasn’t much more to this fight to speak of. but what do you want to bet Horikoshi will try to pull this shit with Dabi and Hawks next week though.)
holy shit
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this looks like when I attempt to build a gingerbread house. that’s uncanny
lmao Kami
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YOU’RE DOING GREAT BUDDY. KEEP IT UP CHAMP
(ETA: Kaminari’s ridiculous smiling face is the balm we all need in these troubled times. tempted to ask him if he wouldn’t mind heading up to that telenovela happening over in Twice’s room and telling them all to lighten the fuck up.)
Lefty is all “does he have an absorption quirk?” because apparently he’s one of the two people that never watched the U.A. Sports Festival? how does anyone in this day and age manage to come across one of the 1-A kids and not know what their quirks are. and you’re a fucking general or whatever too, aren’t you? god you suck
so now he’s all “I BET YOU WON’T BE ABLE TO HANDLE... A FEW MILLION VOLTS” jesus christ. I bet you he can! but still, that’s awfully murdery of you. and to think, he’s on your side!! Kaminari are you really sure you want these guys as your friends
YOOOOOOO FUCKING KAKASHI ALL UP IN HERE DOING HIS HUMAN YONDU ARROW THING WHAAAAT
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straight up prepared to be massively disappointed in Viz when they inevitably translate the “Ninpo” part instead of leaving it alone and letting everyone bask in these sentimental Naruto vibes. and also ngl I prefer for Edge’s lines to be as close to the original as possible so I can better imagine them in my head. stupid sexy Edgeshot
holy shit “I’ve pierced a small hole in each of your lungs” !!? WELL ALL RIGHT THEN, YOU SADISTIC WARRIOR OF THE NIGHT. YOU HEARD HIM BOYS. I’M SORRY, BUT HE’S ALL OUT OF FUCKS TODAY
OH HEY Y’ALL, MIDNIGHT HEARD YOU WERE KICKING ASS AND DECIDED TO JOIN IN, HOPE THAT’S ALL RIGHT
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and if it’s not all right, well. tough
can you imagine. you’re just a simple villain, chilling out in your Hilton Garden Inn HQ and minding your own business when all of a sudden the walls come to life and some fucking shinobu busts a small hole in your lungs, and then you just fall asleep. sometimes life comes at you hard
now Kamui Woods is doing his whole Lacquered Chain Prison thing, but we’ve already seen that one so I’m not gonna bother showing it! tough break Kamui!!
OH MY GOD IS THIS WHAT I THINK IT IS
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HALF OF THESE PEOPLE ARE ALREADY UNCONSCIOUS WITH HOLES IN THEIR LUNGS, SO SURE, HONENUKI, LET’S GO AHEAD AND FUCKING DROWN THEM TOO LMAO
LOOOOOOL OH CHRIST
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CLASS 1-B WITH NO REGARD FOR HUMAN LIFE!!!
LMAO AND NOW SHE’S STANDING WITH HER ARMS UP OVER HER HEAD ALL SMILING LIKE ERI AT THE FUCKING CONCERT. A COLD GOD IN AN UNCARING UNIVERSE. WHAT THE FUCK
oh shit everybody shut up we’re cutting back to Hawks!!
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but you pulled it off because you’re so damn smart. so now let’s stand around and explain your plan to everyone. what the fuck, Hawks
(ETA: and the thing is, now I’m thinking that by “incredibly difficult” he doesn’t mean that it was the cipher part that was difficult lol. that part was child’s play. any simpleton could do that. no, the difficult part was betraying his new friend. anyway so how’s everyone doing? what a fun chapter!!)
hey everyone I still have unwavering faith that this man is not a killer just FYI
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what does that say about me I wonder. let’s just completely ignore everything being presented on screen here. also what the heck happened to all this furniture? did he upend the entire room with his crazy feather attack, or is that damage from Cementoss’s shenanigans?
HAHA!! FUCK YEAH
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I KNEW YOU WEREN’T A KILLER YOU STUPID ASSHOLE!!
fuck yeah. of course, I realize that by betraying Twice so harshly like this, Hawks has still found himself on lots of people’s shitlists. but I would just like to put out a friendly reminder that Twice, despite being the nicest and most loyal guy you will ever meet, is still a terrorist who was going to kill a lot of people because he’s friends with a guy who wants to destroy the entire world. so basically there’s just no clean way out of this and it’s all very tragic
but anyway if it’s any consolation, I fully expect Dabi to turn up in the very next panel and be all “BLARGH! IT’S ME!” before we commence with the single sexiest battle in this manga to date
lmao Horikoshi. “but before we get to the sexy battle let me just twist that knife up in there real good!” jesus
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friendly reminder that despite all appearances, Hawks is still objectively the good guy in this scenario. anyways for real, how are we all doing this afternoon. how many death threats has my bird son gotten today. I’m afraid to check. poor Twice is so trusting and I really hate to see him cry like this, poor baby. but I’m sure it’s also tearing Hawks up inside as well but we’re just not seeing it
and here we have Hawks, about to unleash his Mangekyou Sharingan
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“are you sure you don’t think this sinister maniac looming in the shadows with the deranged look in his eyes is a ruthless killer, makeste?? are you really sure?” Horikoshi asks while pouring every last inch of malice he can into a single chilling panel
and yes, you bastard. I am sure. fuck you, how long are you going to make me sit here looking like a complete ass. look, we get it!! either way, Hawks is clearly a compelling actor! but the question is, which one is really the false face? is it the smiling, easygoing Hawks who always seems to have a faint hint of sadness in his eyes? or is it this menacing figure stripped of all mercy? is it really so crazy to go ahead and say that it’s the latter? huh?? [pokes Horikoshi in the chest] huh?????
anyway so Twice seems to slowly be progressing his way from despair to anger, which is probably not good. heh. fuck
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maybe I was wrong about Dabi showing up and saving Twice, maybe his arrival will actually save Hawks instead lmao
anyway Hawks is still being all cold and creepy, and he’s all “you have my thanks.” and Twice is still crying, so maybe he’s still more sad than angry. well this is starting to drag out now though so if a certain spicy flame boi wants to make his grand entrance now, he’s welcome to do so anytime
oh shit Hawks is throwing me a bone!!! yessssss
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YOU SEE!! THE SAD LOOK. HE DOESN’T WANT TO DO THIS. HE’S A GOOD BOY. oh my god I just realized how tense I was. hahaha what is this chapter
FINALLY OMG
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NOOOOO I THOUGHT IT WAS DABI SNEAKING UP BEHIND HIM. OH MY GOD I CAN’T. WAS THIS HORROR MOVIE SERIAL KILLER ANGLE REALLY NECESSARY THEN, HORIKOSHI. WHAT THE FUCK
TWICE SHUT UP YOU ARE DIGGING YOUR OWN GRAVE!!!
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fuck!!! this is why I was so sure he was going to die! because he won’t go quietly; he’s not the type to ever betray his friends. to him the League are basically the only family he’s ever known, so of course he’s not going to just be all “okay sure I’ll go to prison and let you reform me”
so then what, Hawks?? you didn’t fucking think this through you stupid kind-hearted punk!
sob!!!!
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is that one of Hawks’s feathers slicing open the mask. sing it with me guys. to the tune of Jingle Bells: fuck fuck fuck, fuck fuck fuck, fuck fuck fuck fuck fuuuuck
OH MY GOD NOOOOO
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I WEIRDLY WANT TO COVER MY EYES LOL OH GOD. I DON’T WANT THIS BUT I CAN’T LOOK AWAY HELPPPPP
FUCK ME, IT’S REALLY HAPPENING. HE COULDN’T BRING HIMSELF TO KILL HIM AND NOW HE’S SCREWED HIMSELF AND EVERYONE ELSE OVER, FUCK
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FOR FUCK’S SAKE HAWKS YOU COULD HAVE JUST KNOCKED HIM OUT THEN!! YOU JUST HAD TO GO AND FUCKING TRY TO EXPLAIN YOURSELF. DO YOU REMEMBER WHAT HAPPENED IN DEIKA CITY, HAWKS. DO WE REALLY WANT A REPEAT OF THAT. SURE, WE’VE GOT CLASS 1-B OUT IN THE BACKYARD MORE THAN READY AND WILLING TO KILL ANY NUMBER OF BITCHES BECAUSE THAT’S HOW THEY DO, BUT STILL
oh shit!?!
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lol excuse me are you really just going to end it there? fucking seriously. Dabi running up the stairs with the crazy eyes while Hawks regretfully thinks of himself and his side as “hero scum”?? fff
and that last part! holy shit! again, I don’t buy into any of the dark!Hawks theories, and that includes the theory that Hawks will turn on the heroes and end up siding with the villains (because, again, it has nothing to do with him liking the villains, or secretly resenting the HPSC; it’s strictly on account of the whole “the villains want to destroy the entire world” thing. like. unless you think Hawks is cool with all of that of course). so I have to admit this was very startling for me to read
but I do think this is probably just some of the inevitable self-loathing finally spilling over after being forced to play this role and do all these things for the sake of the greater good, rather than him hinting at a desire to turn against the so-called “hero scum.” but still, that’s probably as dark as we’re gonna get from him, and ngl, it’s some heavy stuff
goddammit. feel like we need to cut to some wholesome class 1-A antics or something after all of that. as always, angst is a double-edged sword that I always anticipate and love but am also destroyed by sigh
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techfacereview · 4 years ago
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Surfshark vs NordVPN vs Private Internet Access: what is the best VPN for multiple devices
Reader supported This blog is supported by awesome readers like you. If you like a product or service that I review and you buy it through one of the links on this blog, then I might get a small commission. It means the world to me, and it means I can keep on producing free, detailed reviews like this one!
It’s with great pleasure that I can officially announce to the entire internet that the bad old days of having to pay per device for your VPN are long behind us. As the average number of devices that people owned proliferated, it became a massive disincentive to VPN services to try and force customers to pay for every single device they wanted to use on that VPN. And then IOT came along and the number of internet connected devices that are single person and increase by an order of magnitude.
Think about it: your phone, your tablet, your laptop, your smart watch… Most people are slowly becoming a walking cloud of Wi-Fi and 5G connectivity. And the number of connected devices that we all own is only gonna go up as we say hello to things like smart trainers and other wearables. I wouldn’t be surprised if someone else there wasn’t working on smart dentures that can tell you exactly how many times you chewed before you swallow…
In any case, with all this sensitive information flying around privacy is no longer an option in my opinion: it’s a necessity. And we’ve all seen that no government is above actively spying on its citizens, and even many tech giants aren’t beyond wholesale selling your data to the highest bidder – regardless of whether you’ve opted into that or not. So for me, and for you, the first line of defence in ensuring that your business online remains your business is a good VPN.
With all that said, let’s jump into the main comparison between the three best VPNs for multiple devices.
Surfshark VPN Is The Best All-Round VPN For Multiple Devices
With support for unlimited devices on a single account connection, military-grade encryption, low price and all the features you’d expect to find on a VPN that costs twice as much, Surfshark VPN gets my vote for the best VPN for multiple devices. It’s crazy that there’s no slow-down when you add more and more devices and I find it pretty impressive that the experience on different platforms is pretty much the same.
You are probably going to get a few more random disconnect/reconnects on this than on some of the other VPNs but the Surfshark reliability has gone through the roof in recent years so its not so much an issue as it used to be.
The pricing is pretty nuts too; you can get 81% off Surfshark VPN if you sign up to the 2 year deal. That works out at a hair under $2.50 a month.
Go to Surfshark.com and get 81% off
NordVPN Is The Best VPN For Multiple Devices If You Run A Business
If stability is the most important thing for you then NordVPN is the IBM of the VPN world. Yeah, you will pay a (tiny) bit more for it and you’re limited to 6 devices per-account, but their connection stability is legendary and you won’t even notice that you’re running through a VPN. In fact, because of NordVPN’s crazy infrastructure, you might find that some services run faster than your regular internet because of lower resource-contention once you’re connected to their network.
Plus, if you’re a business, you might enjoy their 24/7, worldwide support which is, by all reports, better than the Surfshark support.
Go to NordVPN and get 68% off
Private Internet Access Is The Best VPN For Multiple Devices If You Are On A Budget
Having been around since 2010 means that Private Internet Access has seen some steady growth over the years, and their focus on reinvesting in their platform has helped them bring prices down, and the fact that you can connect up to 10 devices also goes a little further on the per-device-per-month calculation.
Like-for-like the Private Internet Access 12 month plan is significantly cheaper than the NordVPN 12 month plan. Meanwhile Surfshark doesn’t even have a 12 month plan so if budget is important to you then PIA is the way to go.
Go to Private Internet Access and sign up
What Is A VPN?
VPN stand for ‘virtual private network’, And that risk of sounding dumb they do exactly what they say on the tin.
Virtual: The virtual partner VPN means that It exists in the software layer – Whenever a VPN is established there aren’t any new physical cables or wires that connect the devices on the network. But it’s done in such a way that when you’re connected to a VPN your computer literally cannot distinguish between the VPN that you’re connected to and a real physical network.
Private: Privacy is one of, if not the big selling point for VPNs. Information sent across AVPN is encrypted which means that even though it’s travelling across the open internet, All anyone would see you if they decided to try and read the information would be a bunch of garbled mess. This doesn’t mean that anyone who uses the same VPN as you can see what you’re sending across the internet in the clear: Every devices connected to a VPN sets up its own encryption keys and as that connection is uniquely encrypted that, information is only readable between that device and the VPN service provider.
Network: You know, network. Like a bunch of computers that can talk to each other.
VPNs are pretty old technology that gained popularity in the late 90s and early noughties where large multi-office businesses want it to be able to share information and resources across the internet without having to go to the trouble and expense of laying physical cable between their offices.
VPNs have gained huge popularity recently. This is due in part to the proliferation of online services that we now use as a part of our day to day lives. Services such as Netflix Amazon prime com cast on a whole host of other activities search is torrenting and online gaming Have created the demand and the incentive for people to want to use the internet privately but also to use it from different locations.
And if you throw in things like remote working and international business travel you can quite easily see situations where being able to browse the internet as though you’re in a different country might be advantageous. This is about more than just getting around the Netflix content geofencing.
Best VPNs For Multiple Devices: Why Is It Important
Let’s take a step back and think about the VPN business model: VPN service provides encrypted geo-agnostic connections to the internet for your device and you give them money in return. Well, work has to be done in order to encrypt a single device therefore it stands to reason that more work has to be done to encrypt multiple devices.
And that’s not taking into account the other costs going into supporting multiple users – The more devices are user has the more chance that something doesn’t quite work with that device more chance that will be on the phone to support where you’re paying support engineer of princely sum to try and figure out exactly what went wrong and where.
So if you’re a VPN business then charging per-device, (or at least limiting the number of devices you allow people to use per account) isn’t just a way of making extra money – it’s a legit way to keep your business afloat and stop you incurring losses.
What To Look Out For If You Want The Best VPN For Multiple Devices
There are a few things that you need to look out for when you’re looking for the best VPN for multiple devices. As you’re connecting to another network, albeit a virtual one, you’re going to be bound by the rules of networking in general. Think of traffic across a network like water in a pipe (stay with me here). When you connect to a VPN its like there’s a pipe inside that pipe and it’s only carrying your water. No matter what goes on in that inner pipe, you’re never going to be able to get more water down it than you could down the main pipe itself. So don’t go expecting a VPN to magically boost your internet speed.
Also, the more taps you run in your house is the slower the water is going to flow. That’s your bandwidth being used up there.
Now some VPN providers have clever ways of managing the demands and raising the pressure in the pipe if you start turning on taps and flushing toilets and stuff. That’s one thing that’s key to look out for – does your connection slow down more than usual the more devices you connect to the VPN? And remember that encryption that I was talking about earlier? Think of that like the thickness of the pipe. That plus all the ultra-secure things that modern-day VPN providers have to do to make sure your connection stays safe and secure have an effect on the speed and quality of your internet connection.
And another word on quality: a good VPN should have the same quality connection whether you’re using one device or multiple ones. If you start experiencing more frequent disconnects or other types of internet problems it might be a sign of your VPN service being unable to handle that many connections.
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welllpthisishappening · 5 years ago
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By City-Wide Decree
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It's a crush.
And in any other situation, that would be it. He'd be able to keep going about his day in normal pining fashion. But nothing about this is normal. Because in the last few minutes Bellamy's complained about shredded cheese and Clarke's making jokes about Bleecker Street and apparently there's some city-wide rule about car services now.
Or: the last thing Bellamy Blake expected during a national health pandemic was being forced to kiss his neighbor.
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Rating: Teen Word Count: Just over 5.6K AN: Hey there, internet. It was really only a matter of time until I wrote some kind of nonsense here. But I do want to say that this story does include COVID-19 stuff, so if that is not for you, I totally get it. That being said, this admittedly very silly nonsense, is very much just that and hopefully it offers a bit of a distraction for a few minutes. 
Also on Ao3 if that’s your jam
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He almost drops the box of macaroni in his hand. 
The edge stabs his palm, a weird pain that's really more like the general sense of Bellamy’s frustration because just a few seconds ago he witnessed two grown adults glaring at each other over the final few rolls of toilet paper in aisle five. And there aren’t really that many other people in this grocery store, which he supposes is a good thing. Everyone taking social distancing seriously and staying home and he’s got every intention of doing the same, but first he’s got to deal with this. 
“Pre-shredded cheese,” he mumbles under his breath, glancing at the box. He’s bent the edge. He hopes he doesn’t break the box. There weren’t many left in that aisle, either. Just the one thing of shells Bellamy had been able to grab and four boxes of whole wheat linguine, which, really, almost offends him more than the idea of pre-shredded cheese. 
In a variety of flavors. 
And adjectives. 
“Cheese should not have adjectives attached to it,” Bellamy continues, and apparently he’s reached the crazy portion of his day. 
That also seems to be the standard for most of the world, though. He’d been very close to breaking up the toilet paper fight. So maybe he’s just catching up to everyone else. He needs to go home. He needs to—
“Pick a goddamn cheese,” he says. Whatever sound he makes at his own private conversation isn’t so much a sigh, but rather another round of frustration and possible resignation and taco-flavored cheese can’t be that bad. 
Right? Maybe. 
He can’t imagine what kind of preservatives are used in taco-flavored cheese. Like..are there even spices involved? There should be spices. When all of this is over he’s going to write a strongly worded letter to the Kraft family. 
Bellamy sighs again, drawing more than a few looks and a glare or too, and he’s going to give himself a headache if he keeps rolling his eyes at their current rate. He lunges forward, careful to account for the box of macaroni and the small thing of buttermilk that’s honestly starting to make his fingers go numb and—
An arm moves next to his. 
She’s also a little off-balance — a backpack that’s close to bursting and something that might actually be paint streaked across her left cheek, but Bellamy can barely register that when she’s already starting to stumble back, a package of margarine clutched in her hand. 
“Oh,” Clarke breathes, eyes going wide and what looks like the first hints of a smile tugging at the ends of her mouth. “Hey, Bell.”
His stomach flies into his throat. 
As per usual. 
That might be the most normal part of his day so far. 
To say that he’s been harboring a pretty monumental crush on Clarke Griffin since she moved into the apartment across the hall from Bellamy would be—
Accurate. 
It would be accurate, honestly.
In almost painful fashion. 
Six months ago, she showed up with a handful of boxes and paint on her jeans, and a smile that seemed to reverberate through him. In a way where that doesn’t sound insane. Maybe he wasn’t catching up to everyone else. Maybe he was just sprinting past them. Towards crazy. 
The kind of crazy that also means he’s stupid into his neighbor. 
She’d said hi first that day too. So he offered to help her carry some boxes and she’d promised she’d be ok, but he was stubborn and a little overwhelmed by the very specific color of her eyes and she really did have a lot of stuff and they’d ordered from the Thai place up the street after. 
And if that's not the basis for a pretty solid friendship, then Bellamy isn’t sure what is. 
Only that’s really all it is. Because, well—Bellamy isn’t sure. Octavia would say he’s being an idiot and to some extent that’s true, but he and Clarke are pretty good friends now and sometimes she curls up on the corner of his couch when she’s stressed about the arts budget of the high school she works at in the Bowery or he kicks on her door when he’s got some new pages he thinks she might like to read and it’s—
Good. 
Normal. 
In a world that is very quickly spiraling out of control. 
He hopes those people didn’t actually start yelling over toilet paper. He’s not sure his brain would be able to cope with that. 
“What are you doing here?” Clarke asks, taking another step back and he hadn’t noticed she’s got another bag of art supplies in her left hand. 
“Glaring at cheese.” “I’m sorry, what?” “Glaring at cheese,” Bellamy repeats. He nods towards the minimal selection, Clarke’s eyes widening at his admittedly petty reaction to the cheese issue. It should not be an issue. “I—well, I’m running low on some food and I—” He grits his teeth, suddenly hopeful that he’ll be able to melt into the supermarket floor. 
That’s probably not hygienic. 
“Is it super top secret, then?” Bellamy clicks his tongue. “No, it’s—ok, do you promise not to laugh?” “Absolutely not.” “You look like you staged a battle getting here.” “Nah,” she objects, but there’s a slight blush creeping across her cheeks and it’s probably wrong to feel some kind of victory at that. Just, like—with everything else going on. Flirting should probably be a low priority at this point. 
“Then…” “Why are you angry at the cheese?” “Mostly the selection of cheese,” Bellamy admits. “Because I’m supposed to use a very specific kind, so—” “—For what?” “My mom’s mac and cheese recipe.” She gapes at him. Which is not the reaction he was hoping for, really. He’s not sure what would be better, but he had been pretty partial to the blush and he’s positive this is somehow the paint streak’s fault. 
Clarke has a habit of getting paint everywhere. 
There’s still a stain on his floor from three weeks ago. 
“Did you think I was going to laugh at you making your mom’s mac and cheese recipe during an international health pandemic?” Clarke cries. It draws another round of curious stares and one set of incredibly narrow eyes from a woman with a cropped haircut and a cart practically overflowing with paper products. 
Clarke sneers. “I might actually fight someone for bulk-buying things. God, people are—” “—The worst?” “Is that why you’d thought I’d laugh at you being adorable?”
Bellamy forgets all about his stomach and its current location in his throat. He’s far more preoccupied with the matter of his exploding heart. Which is not nearly as painful an experience as he would have assumed. 
His smile threatens to take up most of his face, muscles unaccustomed to the movement when everything else seems to be going to shit. He hopes standing this long in the dairy aisle doesn’t adversely affect the buttermilk. 
That’s a key part of the recipe too. 
“Adorable, huh?” “Oh shut up,” Clarke grumbles, kicking her foot out of habit. She’s still a few feet away from him. That probably shouldn’t be disappointing either. In any situation, honestly. “Seriously, are you out here being weird about cheese because—” “—A quick detour out of adorable.” “Only because you keep interrupting me.”
He smiles wider. “When I was a kid, my mom used to make this mac and cheese for every major event. Birthdays, holidays, great grade on a test.” “Because you were a nerd?” “Look who’s interrupting the flow of the story.” “You should consider speeding up your approach” Clarke laughs. “The lady with forty-thousand paper napkins might come back and start pelting you with them for taking so long.” “You think she bought those paper napkins for reasons not related to eating food?” “God.” His shoulders shake a little when he chuckles — another threat to the pasta and his grip on any of the groceries he’s trying very hard to buy. “Moral of the story? I’m stressed out, people continue to be the worst, I saw a bunch of people, including actual grown adults, sitting out in Washington Square like nothing is wrong, so in an attempt to combat the general horribleness of the world I am going to make my mom’s mac and cheese recipe. Only apparently a lot of other people have had the same thought—” “—About your mom’s mac and cheese recipe?” 
“Bring the paper napkin lady back here so I can throw stuff at you.” Clarke grins, and the overall brightness of her eyes is probably just a byproduct of the lighting in the dairy aisle of Gristedes. Or so Bellamy will tell himself for the next forty-eight hours. 
“Taco cheese does not scream mac and cheese,” he continues. “But I’m also not willing to stage some sort of quest for the appropriate kind of cheddar. Or blocks of cheese.”
“It can’t be shredded cheese?” “Eh. I’m willing to make some sacrifices at this point.” “Wow,” Clarke drawls. “How gallant of you. And you wanted to make it yourself, then? No thoughts of take-out from Murray’s.”
“Don’t insult me like that.” “You have issues with a place that actually has cheese in its name?” “Murray’s Cheese Bar is an overpriced tourist trap that does not need my business to stay in business. I’m sure they’re perfectly fine.” “Murray himself?” “Or whatever corporate chain that place is owned and operated by. Plus, have you ever had their cheese plate? Like—just, it was gross. We got, maybe, half a dozen crackers.”
Clarke presses her lips together, but her laugh still manages to find its way into the six-feet of mandated space between her and Bellamy. “Did Octavia order the cheese plate at Murray’s once?” “And a bottle of chianti.” “Fancy.” “Gross,” Bellamy amends. “I can’t stand red wine.” “Why didn’t I know that you hated Murray’s so much? Do you feel that way about—” “—Most of the places on Bleecker?” Bellamy finishes, ignoring Clarke’s wide-eyed stare at yet another interruption. They have got to get out of this store. The processed air is obviously going to his head. Or, whatever. 
Maybe just the state of his heart. “Down with the establishment, huh?” Clarke quips. She absolutely, positively does not rock towards him. Bellamy is sure. 
He hums, and maybe his issue really lies in the overall state of his heart. Explosions cannot be healthy. In a biological sense. “Why are you here, then? I’m assuming it’s not just to share the very high opinions you’ve got about the restaurants on Bleecker.” “Ok, that is not what I said at all. I’m not advocating we start doing some kind of Bleecker restaurant crawl when this is all over, even if that one Gelato place on the corner is good.” “Tourist trap.” “Is the oxygen thinner on that high horse you’re riding?” Bellamy scrunches his nose when he makes a vaguely ridiculous noise in the back of his throat, part agreement, part unspoken suggestion to keep talking. “Whatever,” Clarke grumbles. “I am here because I needed butter to make cookies. But there’s only this garbage.” 
She brandishes the margarine, arm flung out in front of her and Bellamy refuses to be held accountable for whatever noise he makes at that. Just as ridiculous as the last one. With even more flirting involved. 
“I walked down here,” Clarke adds. “There are no other stores open and—” “—Walked from where?” Bellamy asks sharply. He doesn’t mean for the words to come out quite like that, but he’s also not entirely sure what feeling is shooting down either one of his arms. 
He’s very glad Octavia isn’t here. 
She’d make fun of him. 
More so than usual. 
“Relax,” Clarke mutters, jerking the bag at her side. “I needed stuff for class, but most of my supplies are still at school and it’s not like I can get into school any time soon, so I went up to Marmorino. Nyko agreed to open for, like, twenty minutes so I could get some new brushes and—” She shrugs, all nonchalance. Like walking twenty blocks to the art supply store in the middle of that previously discussed pandemic so she can keep teaching kids how to paint isn't equal parts absurd and wonderful.  “What are you going to paint?” Bellamy asks. “We’re doing life studies. Figured it’d be a good way to get parents involved too. You know, kids paint their mom or their dad or...whatever. Like I said, I just needed a brushes. And butter.”
“Those go hand in hand, huh? You know I have butter.”
Clarke blinks. And her grip on the bag noticeably loosens. “What?” “Butter,” he repeats. “That’s how this all started. I kept opening my fridge and the butter was sitting there, like it was taunting me and—”
“—Can the butter form coherent sentences?” “I’m offering you butter, princess. And mac and cheese. If you want it.”
Another blink. 
That’s...Bellamy doesn’t want to consider what that is. Because this is not the first time he’s done this. Or vice versa. Far from it. They both live alone and they’re friends and it’s not that far across the hall, after all. 
There’s just not usually an international health pandemic involved. 
“Yeah?” Clarke asks softly, like she’s waiting to shout surprise. Or throw paper napkins at them for standing in the dairy aisle for so long. 
Bellamy nods. “Yeah. That’s how humanity survives, right? We pool resources and seek out companionship in times of difficulty.” “Something like that, I’m sure.” “Ok, so you leave the gross margarine here and I’ll deal with the taco cheese.” “I have cheddar in my fridge.” Maybe this is a dream. Maybe the after-effects of his exploding heart have left Bellamy hallucinating in the middle of Gristedes. Maybe he got food poisoning from the cheese plate at Murray’s when Octavia visited three weeks ago and he’s only just now discovering it.
Clarke smiles. 
“If you want it,” she adds. “I—well, I’d had big plans for grilled cheese quarantines, but there was only block cheese at that point and I haven’t even opened it. Yours for the taking.” He nods slowly, trying to come to terms with all of this. It’s not flirting. No one flirts like this. They shouldn’t flirt like this. 
“Yeah,” Bellamy says. “That’d be great. A, uh—COVID team, huh?” Idiot. 
Idiot. 
He’s sure Octavia knows about this. Somehow. A sixth sense that alerts his younger sister to his overwhelming idiocy and she’d been annoyed that he hadn’t invited Clarke to Murray’s with them. 
“Something like that,” Clarke says again. “Ok, then let me pay for a car back home. I don’t know if my shoulders can cope with this backpack and—do not offer to carry this backpack for me,” she adds as soon as Bellamy opens his mouth, “I’ll get the paper napkin lady back here, I swear to God.” “She’d probably call a manager on you.”
Clarke scoffs, but her smile hasn’t changed and Bellamy spends most of the next twenty-four minutes standing in the checkout line thinking only about that. Until Clarke tells the guy in front of them to “stop being a dick” to the cashier when he starts complaining about the lack of bread in aisle two. 
The guy doesn’t say anything else after that. 
And the cashier definitely mumbles “thanks” when Bellamy puts his slightly bent box of pasta on the conveyor belt. 
They don’t spend long waiting for the car — and Bellamy can’t imagine business is exactly booming, which is part of the reason he agreed to this and the rest is entirely selfish and possibly a little stalker’ish and he just likes spending time with Clarke. No matter the world’s collective health situation. 
“You two together?” the driver asks, hardly opening the window and it’s not easy to understand what he’s saying.  
Bellamy furrows his brows. “Excuse me?” He swings open the door, sliding across the backset and moving his feet so Clarke’s backpack can fit comfortably between them. And he’s not one to pass judgement, particularly not now, but the whole thing looks a bit like something out of a post-apocalyptic movie. There are sheets of plastic wrap stretched between the front seats, the driver wearing gloves and casting impatient glances in his rearview mirror. 
Bellamy glances at Clarke’s phone — the driver’s name is Bryan. 
“C’mon man,” Bryan presses. “I need an answer.” “I don’t—” Bellamy starts, shaking his head and that dream theory is starting to make more and more sense. “What are you talking about?”
“The rules.” “Ok, that doesn’t clear it up. Can we just go?” “Nope. I need you to tell me. I don’t want my license revoked.” “What the hell are you talking about?” Clarke lets out a soft gasp, eyes going impossibly wide. “Shit. Are you kidding me?” “What part of nope are you guys having a difficult time wrapping your heads around?” Bryan asks. “Listen, I can’t break the law, ok? I—we’re living in crazy times and—” “—Seriously what are you talking about?” Bellamy snaps. 
Bryan takes a deep breath, shoulders moving with the effort, and Clarke hasn’t looked Bellamy’s direction in what feels like an eternity. He can’t rationalize the chill that slinks down his spine, a growing dread that threatens to tug him through the backseat or take up residence in between his ribs and he’s got to stop making so many sweeping biological assessments. 
There are no facts to back any of this up. 
And yet he can’t quite understand the look on Clarke’s face either, teeth digging into her lower lip while she refuses to meet his gaze. “Guys,” Bryan groans. “In or out, yes or not, just—prove it.” Bellamy opens his mouth again, ready to demand answers if need be, but Clarke is already talking and the words don’t process immediately — mandate from the mayor and I totally forgot and only real couples. 
She grits her teeth when she finally looks up, a pained expression that almost makes Bellamy shiver. It’s unnaturally warm in the city that afternoon. “Did you not see the press conference?” she mutters. He shakes his head. “I, uh—I totally forgot about it, but ride-share services are still cool and essential, they just...if you share, you have to be a couple.” “Real couple too,” Bryan adds. “That’s what the mayor said.” Clarke squeezes one eye shut. “He did, yeah.”
Bellamy has no idea what’s happening. That’s not hyperbole. He genuinely cannot keep up with the conversation or the events of the last few hours and he’s certain this is now somehow the fault of the paper napkin lady and those toilet paper people and— “So,” Bryan continues, “either prove it or lose it?” “Lose what, exactly?” Bellamy rasps. He doesn’t take his eyes off Clarke, can see just how tight her jaw has gone and the exact moment her tongue flashes between her lips and maybe it would just be better for everyone if he grabbed her backpack and sprinted the fifteen blocks back to their apartment. 
Apartment building. 
They don’t live in the same apartment. 
Seriously, screw the toilet paper people. 
“My services,” Bryan answers. “Seriously. I’m not getting fucked over by this. So prove you're a real couple or start walking.” “And how would you like us to do that, exactly?” “Kiss her.” It is several different miracles that Bellamy does not rip down Bryan’s plastic wrap wall right then and there. He considers it, fingers flexing and head at a sudden angle while he glares at the rearview mirror. But something keeps him from actually reacting and it might be Clarke’s soft ok a few inches away. 
They are no longer the appropriate six feet apart. 
“Wait, what?” Bellamy asks, only marginally disappointed when his voice manages to crack over both words. 
Clarke’s smile doesn’t waver, but it shifts slightly — a little cautious and a little nervous and, maybe, a little hopeful. She leans forward, ignoring the goddamn backpack and how straight Bellamy’s spine has gone, breathing quickly like he did run those fifteen blocks. “Just a kiss, right?” she mutters. “Couples kiss. That’s—” “—Real couples,” Bryan amends. Bellamy might strangle Bryan before they get out of this car. 
“Right, right, right. And that’s—it’s not a big deal.” Bellamy’s never going to blink again. 
“I don’t know how else to double check,” Bryan admits. 
Clarke hums, still moving and Bellamy doesn’t flinch when her hand lands on his bent knee. So, points or whatever. Her tongue flashes once more, a soft huff of air that barely reaches his cheek when she’s close enough and this can’t possibly be sanitary. 
God, he does not want to be thinking about that now. 
Bellamy doesn’t remember bending his neck, but it appears to have happened anyway, curls threatening to fall in his eyes. That’s not right. The top of Clarke’s backpack digs into his chest, what feels like an actual paint brush pushing against the side and he’s going to say something. He is. He’s going to promise that he can walk and he’ll carry the backpack and just meet her at home, but none of the words seem all that interested in coming out of his mouth and his lips pop softly when they part, another bit of movement and a direct violation of social distancing and—
His eyes flutter shut when Clarke kisses him. 
With Bryan watching intently. 
And it’s not...well, it’s not quite the way Bellamy had always imagined when he’d let himself imagine this. Far more often than he should. It’s stilted and awkward, weird angles and bumped noses. It’s chins jostling for position and that fucking backpack, both of them far too aware of the two bags of groceries at their feet. 
Bellamy does his best not to actually sigh — even more frustration, that does not belong in a situation like this, but then his eyes open and the tip of Clarke’s tongue finds his lips and everything kind of spirals after that. 
His hand flies up, curling into her hair and pulling her closer, a crunch that is absolutely the box of shells, but the shells can go fuck off for all Bellamy cares. He opens his mouth, lets his head tilt slightly until they find a rhythm that’s a bit like driving at seventy miles an hour on an open highway. That’d be impossible anywhere in New York. 
Even under quarantine. 
And yet. Bellamy feels like he’s rushing towards something, everything and anything and a variety of words that should be far more overwhelming than they are. He nips at Clarke’s lower lip, lets his nose drag along her cheek until he’s practically tracing that streak of paint and the sound that draws will be branded on every inch of him for the foreseeable future. They only break apart to catch their breath, the rhythm going almost desperate when Clarke’s nails scratch at the back of Bellamy’s neck and—
Bryan coughs. 
He might not tip Bryan. 
No, he’ll definitely tip Bryan. It’s a fucking pandemic. 
Bellamy’s not a total dick. 
Just…
“So, uh, cool,” Bryan says, already pulling out onto the street. “Thanks for the, uh—for the demonstration, then.” Clarke jerks back. 
And Bellamy feels like he’s been thrown in the East River. Specifically. Because that river is notoriously grosser than the Hudson. 
He’s gross. 
He twists, trying to put as much space between them as possible when they’re still in Bryan’s silver Toyota Camry. And he doesn’t actually count the minutes that it takes to get back to their building, but it’s awfully close because it seems to take a lifetime and happen far too soon, Clarke mumbling her thanks and hoping Bryan doesn’t have to drive too much in the future and Bellamy doesn’t want to think about the state of that box of shells. 
It feels far too literal. 
And they don’t rush up the stairs, both Bellamy and Clarke taking even steps as they do their mutual and collective best to stare at their shoes. But then he’s tugging his keys out of his back pocket and the air feels like it’s crackling around him, enough tension to power the island of Manhattan — especially when Clarke follows him inside his apartment.
“So, uh—” she starts, a click of her jaw when she notices the look on Bellamy’s face. 
His eyes have started to water, they’re so wide, standing in the middle of his exceptionally tiny living room. “Clarke, I—” “—Oh shit, I forgot the butter.” “Clarke.” “No, no, I should go get the butter, right? Yeah. That’s—shit, I didn’t even think. I...sorry, sorry, it’s—” She shakes her head brusquely, like she’s trying to shake away the awkwardness and Bellamy wishes there weren’t any awkwardness. He wishes he’d asked her out before the world started falling apart. 
He’s back in her space in a few more steps, fingers finding her flailing hands. She’s biting her lip again. “You don’t have anything to apologize for.” “No?” “Absolutely not,” Bellamy promises. “I might, though. I just—I didn’t realize what was going on and then—” “I’m going to go get the butter,” Clarke announces, sounding almost disappointed at the idea. She pulls her hands back, a quick hiss of pain when she manages to elbow herself in the side in the process, all but running out of his apartment. Her backpack is still on his couch. 
Bellamy doesn’t move. He’s not sure he can, honestly. His legs feel like they’ve locked themselves in place, waiting with those same wide eyes for something he’s not sure he can have because it can’t possibly happen like this and Octavia is probably hysterical on the other side of the country. 
And he’s still not counting seconds or minutes, when he finally manages to get his feet to cooperate. So he can wash his hands. Like a responsible adult. Not one who hoards paper products. 
The footsteps that return to his still-open door a little slower than usual. 
“You didn’t close your door,” Clarke points out. She kicks back, a tremulous smile and Bellamy can’t believe this is going to happen while she’s holding butter. And at least two pounds of flour. He’s not sure what’s going to happen, exactly. “Did you even turn your oven on?” He shakes his head. “No.” “Real fond of that word all of a sudden, aren’t you?”
Bellamy doesn’t think he imagines the edge in her voice, narrowing his eyes slightly like that will help him pick up on certain conversational cues. It doesn’t — especially when Clarke breezes by him, marching into her kitchen like it’s hers or could be hers and that’s probably when he decides. What he wants to happen. “Do you want to make the cookies or the mac and cheese first?” she asks, and that question sounds more determined than any Bellamy’s heard before. Some of the tension in his shoulders disappears.
“Hey, will you talk to me?” 
“About something other than our cooking order?” “Yeah,” Bellamy nods. “Definitely about something other than our cooking order.” “I’m really hungry, though.”
His laugh has a certain strangled quality to it, but that may be a product of his heart, recently reformed and re-exploded. As soon as Bellamy realized what kissing Clarke was like. “I’m not going to let you starve,” Bellamy says. “Just—c’mon, look at me at least.”
She doesn’t. She pushes up on her toes instead, stabbing at the buttons on his oven. Bellamy sighs, doing his best not to start proclaiming things, giving voice to the sentiment that’s been bouncing around his soul for the better part of the last six months, and the flour that’s sitting on his minimal counter space is half open. 
The top’s rolling up, a haphazard curl to the paper, which only makes it easier to reach his hand inside without Clarke noticing. 
And immediately flick his fingers in Clarke’s direction. 
Her eyes flash, mouth dropping open, but Bellamy just grins, another flick that leaves flour clinging to Clarke’s cheek and the ends of her hair and she’d never washed that paint streak off. 
“What the hell do you think you’re doing?” she demands. 
“Got you to look at me.” “Are you kidding me right now?”
“Am I laughing?”
Clarke groans, trying to shake the flour off. All it does is ensure her hair shifts and the smell of her shampoo takes over most of the air in his kitchen. “You’re an idiot,” she sneers, “that’s what you are. I’m trying to feed us and—” “—You’re really very concerned about that. We’ve got to reorganize this conversation.”
Bellamy needs to get more flour before he can go for the third flick, but that proves to be his undoing. Clarke moves before he can, reflexes that he’d like to have a very serious discussion about eventually and she doesn’t flick. She slams her hand into his chest, a perfectly formed print in the middle of his shirt, twisting the fabric under her like that will make sure the mark stays there. 
Things are starting to feel a little literal again. 
At least he hopes so. 
So, it’s only reasonable and passably romantic to retaliate in kind — letting his flour-covered fingers flutter over Clarke’s hair and one of them gasps, but it’s difficult to figure out when they’re as close as they are, her hands dragging across his side and dangerously close to the top of his jeans and Bellamy’s definitely the one who groans when Clarke works her way under the hem of his shirt. 
Clarke beams. Bright and honest and her eyes are blue enough that Bellamy briefly considers getting lost in them for those minutes he’s still refusing to count, but then—
“God, I can’t believe I had to use some stupid marshall law bullshit to kiss you,” he mutters. 
“Is marshall law the right term there?” “No, not at all.”
She lets out a shaky laugh, hand staying exactly where it is. “I didn’t think so. And I—this was not some elaborate ruse, just for the record.” “Were you looking for elaborate ruses to make out with me?” “We’ve got to work on your vocabulary. Make out doesn’t seem right either.” “A work in progress.” “For the words, or…” She gasps again. Presumably because Bellamy’s ducking his head and his arm has curled around her middle and it’s easier to kiss her when there isn’t a backpack between them. Bellamy’s hand flattens against the small of Clarke’s back, a curve there that is quite suddenly the only thing he’d like to talk about for the remainder of the day. 
And they’re just as good at this as they were in Bryan’s car, but there’s something inherently different about the second go-around. An ease to the angles and the now-familiar rhythm, like they’d simply been waiting for the chance or the opportunity and—
“Maybe make out was an acceptable description,” Clarke mumbles against Bellamy’s mouth. He grins, dropping down so he can kiss her jaw and the side of her neck, only a little pleased with the goosebumps he notices there. “Oh, don’t get smug,” Clarke adds, “that’s not a good look on you.” “That certainly sounds like you’ve got opinions on my looks, actually.”
She clicks her tongue, leaning back to get in his eye line. “Maybe a few.” “A few?” “Bell, c’mon, that’s—” “—I have a very big crush on you.” Clarke blinks. Opens her mouth only to close it. Smiles. Scoffs. Blinks again. And then she’s kissing him and it’s good and great and both of those things feel wrong during a pandemic, but Bellamy assumes there's something to be said for the human spirit. Or whatever. 
“Makes for a good story, though,” Clarke says, eyes gone a color Bellamy’s never seen before. “You know, if you’re looking for something to write about.” “You want me to write about us? I write history books.” “Is this not historic?” “Oh, now who’s fishing for compliments,” Bellamy chuckles. Clarke blushes. Again, or still. “I would have liked to kiss you under less dramatic circumstances, but, uh—it also wasn’t the worst first kiss I’ve ever had.” “High praise.” “We’re very good at kissing each other.” “Yeah, I figured we would be.” “Did you just?” Clarke hums. “I’m pretty sure my friends had some kind of pool going. Especially now. When I’d finally give in and just like...attack you with my mouth or something. I talk about you all the time. At school. To Raven. Strangers on the street.” “Strangers on the street?” “I mean, Bryan assumed we were a couple.” “That’s because the mayor required him too,” Bellamy argues. ���But, uh—I get the opinionated peanut gallery. O was convinced we were secretly dating when she was here.” “Before or after the chianti?” “Well before.” “Oh,” Clarke says, like that’s somehow surprising or good. Bellamy hopes it’s good. He’d like some good at this point. “You should probably change shirts.” “That sounds like a suggestion to take my shirt off.” “Wow, weird.” Her laugh turns into something far closer to a giggle when he kisses behind her ear, a fact he’s already stored for future reference, but then they’re moving and there are discarded clothes and kicked off shoes and neither one of them bothers to get up when the oven finishes pre-heating. 
“I have a crush on you too,” Clarke says, head propped up on her hand. In Bellamy’s bed. They’re in Bellamy’s bed. 
Her backpack is still on his couch. “Good,” he grins. “You want to eat, or…” “God, I’d thought you’d never ask.” And they do make both things, Clarke announcing that this is the best mac and cheese I’ve ever had while Bellamy does an absolutely terrible job of stealing cookie batter on the sly. She moves her backpack eventually too — into the corner of his living room. It’s easier that way, something about pandemics and limiting movement and if one of her students notices the change of scenery during their live-streamed class two days later, none of them say anything. 
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mychemicalficrecs · 5 years ago
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Can you recommend some high school AU frerard or Ray/Mikey fics? :3 thank u
Hi Nonny!
I'm going to make seperate lists for this again. Can't promise the second one will be ready by tomorrow but I'll try ;)
I'm not a big reader of High School AUs, so the second half are fics that looked promising on AO3!
Frank/Gerard High School AUs
In Repair by autoschediastic, 33k, Explicit. "Shit," Frank mutters, and shoves both hands through his hair. He looks around the kitchen like he's gonna find what he should do scratched into the old linoleum, then looks back at the bot. He gnaws on his lip. Fuck it. He already knows what he's gonna do. He's just gotta do it. Getting down on his knees, he braces a hand on the edge of the crate and leans over the bot. It's dressed in a plain white tee and matching drawstring pants like an escaped mental patient. Frank rolls his neck and cracks his knuckles, shaking the ache out of them before carefully laying his palm against its cheek. He's pretty sure his voice is steady when he says, "Activate." Nothing happens. Fucking shitty packaging-- the thing's busted. But Frank keeps his hand where it is, jumping a little when he feels the surge of energy beneath it. The robot's skin goes from room temperature to lukewarm, then warm. Frank watches it open its eyes, the light behind them adjusting until they're a pale sort of brown. It looks at him and asks, "Am I dead?"
Get Naked (I Got a Plan) by autoschediastic, 11k, Explicit. Frank slides his hand all the way up to where Gerard's arm and tentacles fuse at his armpit. The difference between the feel of one beneath his palm and the other is literally the stuff his dreams are made of. His wet dreams.
A State Of Orange by gala_apples, Frank/Mikey, Frank/Gerard, 20k, Explicit. Being a halfling in a red state can sometimes cause issues for Frank Iero. He’s the weakest at Jett Clement High School, and probably the entire state (not counting the meal plans). His moods are oddly stable, as much as he tries to be mercurial. And being able to withstand the sun for up to twenty minutes only allows him more time to be forced into chores. Still, his parents are insane if they think he’s going to be happy about their decision. Frank doesn’t want to move to a Mixed state. How is he supposed to get great friends? How is he supposed to find great food? How is he supposed to have great sex? But Frank doesn’t have a choice. He’s New Jersey bound for the next year, if not longer. He’ll be surrounded by tame vampires who have been nagged out of a sex drive, and humans he’s not allowed to eat. Mixed states suck. Lucky for him, not every person in Jersey sucks.
The Truth Is I'm On My Way by samanthahirr, 6k, Teen And Up Audiences. Frank's been drawing on himself since elementary school, up under his sleeves and pant legs where his teachers and classmates won't see; he knows how to color inside the lines. He doesn't need Gerard to do it for him. (A high school AU.)
You Only Hear the Music When Your Heart Begins to Break by Solarcat, 14k, Teen And Up Audiences. Frank has high school figured out. His mom has given up arguing about the amount of time he spends in Gerard's basement, and he doesn't actually care if people think it's weird that he and Gerard hold hands in the hallways and go to the bathroom together. The only thing Frank cares about is figuring out why Gerard's suddenly avoiding him -- because what's the point of losing your virginity on Prom Night if you can't tell your best friend about it in the morning?
Smokeless Flame of Fire by tabulaxrasa, 21k, Mature. Frank blinked. "What kind of name for a genie is Gerard?"
to the midnight land by akamine_chan, 24k, Explicit. Being a teenager is hard. Being a Blooded teenager, one with a connection to the Moon and his fur-self, is even worse. He's got to contend with his own hormones, high school, and the fact that he's in love with his best friend. Luckily, Frankie's got the determination to see things through. He's got family, friends, and a community of shifters to lean on, and he's not going to give up. Frankie's not patient, but he's stubborn when he knows what he wants. And he wants Gerard.
Thing-Thing by sinsense, 43k, NC-17. When Gerard signed the admissions paperwork for the Fordhaven School for Boys, he knew he was signing up for four years of sexual frustration. No one was gay at Fordhaven. Gerard was all-too-aware that he would be a virgin until he graduated. In his senior year, though, this stupid gay freshman disproves Fordhaven's straightness, and throws Gerard's entire world off-kilter. Now, in between drawing, avoiding bullies, running an incredibly serious tabletop RP game, failing out of math, and hanging out with friends, Gerard is also busy kind of falling for this asshole who's way too young for him. It's not what he planned on, but it's what's happening. In conclusion: high school sucks.
You'll Always Feel This Way by wakingup, 14k, Not Rated. It's Frank's birthday and he's gonna A) get drunk B) hit on Gerard C) get laid. Yeah, it's definitely going to work out like that. (Spoiler alert: it might not be that easy)
Nothing Comes as Easy as You by rivers_bend, 9k, Explicit. "Um, I've heard, you know, around, that like, there are guys who can get off three times without stopping. And I was, I mean—" god he sounds like a fucking idiot. "Have you ever heard of that?"
Church of Hot Addiction by spleenjournal, 0nlymemories, Frank/Gerard, Frank/Mikey, 36k, Adult. When Gerard Way gets transferred to Our Lady of Peace in Arlington a few weeks into his Senior year, he thinks it's his chance to be cool. Too bad his idea of "cool" is no cooler than it was in 3rd grade, even if there aren't any green tights. (AU of the INO AU, more or less.)
The Marching Band AU by frankiesin, many pairings in a bunch of different works, 150k, General Audiences, Teen And Up Audiences, Mature, Explicit. A bunch of gay teens are in a band and do dumb things while in high school. There will be a lot of pairings, each part can be read without reading the others, and the series is in chronological order.
We're all Okay by rivers_bend, 28k, Explicit. A story in which Frank is not a stalker, Gerard is not a psycho, and Mikeyway is nobody’s boyfriend.
Where Did The Party Go by frenchpirate (Whiskey_n_speed), 16k, Mature. The one where Frank get's a new and nocturnal neighbor, Gerard throws a Halloween party that turns out far from what was expected, Pete wakes up on a strangers couch and Mikey really doesn't want any serenades (but that doesn't mean he isn't getting any).
Miss Congeniality by melusina, 11k, Mature. Gerard pretends to be a girl, Frank and Gerard discover email and Mikey’s good advice goes unheeded.
honey, this mirror isn't big enough for the two of us by orphan_account, 17k, Explicit. You should have raised a baby girl / I should have been a better son. (the unholy union of a high school au and a gender feel)
SKETCH by frnklyiero, 77k, Teen And Up Audiences. "You having a problem with drawing straight?" "I'm having a problem with being straight." Gerard Way happened to be the most fascinating sight in school to Frank Iero perhaps besides Jamia Nestor. Every little detail of his perfect features made Frank itch to sketch them. There are just a few problems: 1) Gerard is probably straight as a ruler, 2) Jamia isn't thrilled that her boyfriend may or may not have been secretly doodling Gerard in his notebook, 3) No matter how much Frank practices, his Gerard sketches still look like eggplants with creepy faces on them.
Save Me (From My Self Destruction) by cyanidepurified, 14k, Teen And Up Audiences. Frank and Gerard are best friends, both are unaware that they're in love with each other. When Frank discovers Gerard's secret, will he be able to save his best friend?
Speeding in a School Zone by 1001cranes, languisity, 16k, Teen And Up Audiences. High school AU where Frank and Gerard are awkward, Pete is romantically confused, Patrick owns, and Bob is a ninja. Pete, the first time we met you proposed to me. I don’t think your heterosexuality was ever all that secure.
The Chasing of Moons by Helena_Hathaway, 110k, Explicit. The biggest dilemma in all of this is that Frank slept with his future husband. Now Frank’s just got to make sure that the future with him stays intact, but it’s not so easy when present day Gerard seems to hate his guts.
Early Sunsets Over Monroeville by FedeLove96, 11k, Explicit. Frank Iero was a junior when he fell in love with Gerard Way, but their love story was just at the beginning.
A Case of Unknown Identity by Helena_Hathaway, 44k, Explicit. Frerard High School AU. Frank is a teenager with only a few friends, one of whom is a charismatic guy who is just like Frank. He might even be falling for the guy, but the only problem is that he’s just a username on a website without a face or a name. The guy goes by 'Watchman' and he’s perfect in Frank’s eyes, he doesn’t even need to meet him to know he’s amazing. Frank also deals with bullies which makes it hard for him to hold onto friends, but things start to become better after he befriends the antisocial kid Mikey, and realizes that Watchman might just go to his school. Watchman might also know a little more about Frank than he’s letting on.
But The Pages Are All Torn and Frayed by blindlyseeking (orphan_account), 55k, Mature. Basically, this is based off of the music video for “I’m Not Okay” and it also includes (but is not limited to) gratuitous mentions of a drunken fascination with a lamp, one evil lacrosse team, two breakdowns in a bathroom, grandmothers with green hair, a couple bruises, and a whole lot of revenge. Enjoy!
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wordpimp · 4 years ago
Text
There was a pause.
“I hear ice cubes,” he said.
“Diet Coke.”
“Ah. Tell me more things. Tell me about the room you’re in. Tell me about the chain of events that led up to your calling this number.”
“Okay,” she said. “I’m not in the bedroom anymore. I’m sitting on the couch in my living room slash dining room. My feet are on the coffee table, which would have been impossible yesterday, because the coffee table was piled so high with mail and work stuff, but now it is possible, and the whole room, the whole apartment, is really and truly in order. I took a sick day today, without being sick, which is something I haven’t done up to now at this job. I called the receptionist and told her I had a fever. The moment of lying to her was awful, but gosh what freedom when I hung up the phone! And I didn’t leave the apartment all day. I just organized my immediate surroundings, I picked up things, I vacuumed, and I laid out all the silver that I’ve inherited – three different very incomplete patterns – laid it out on the dining-room table and looked at it and I gave some serious thought to polishing it, but I didn’t go so far as to polish it, but it looked beautiful all laid out, a big arch of forks, a little arch of knives, five big serving spoons, some tiny salt spoons, and a little grouping of novelty items, like oyster forks. No teaspoons at all. One of the dinner forks from my great aunt’s set fell into the dishwasher once when i was visiting her and it got badly notched by that twirly splasher in the bottom, and someone at work was telling me he knew a jeweler who fixed hurt silverware, so I’m planning to have that fixed, it’s all ready to go. And I even got together all my broken sets of beads – I sorted them all out – the sight of all those beads jumbled together on my bedside table was making me unhappy every morning, and now they’re ready to be restrung, the pink ones in one envelope, and the green ones in one envelope, and the parti-colored Venetian ones in one envelope – and I have them on my dining-room table too, ready to go.”
“The same jeweler who fixes silverware restrings beads?” he asked.
“Yes!”
“How did your beads get broken?”
“They seem to break in the morning when I’m rushing to get dressed. They catch on something. The jade ones, my favorite set, which my father gave me, caught on the open door of the microwave when I was standing up too quickly after picking a piece of paper up off the floor. That was the latest tragedy. And of course my sister’s babe yanked one set off my neck. But they can all be repaired and they will all be repaired.”
“Good going.”
“Anyway, this apartment is transformed, I mean it, not just superficially but with new hidden pockets of order in it, and I waited until the midafternoon to have a shower, and I did not masturbate, because the illicitness of calling in sick without justification made me want to be pure and virtuous all day long, and I had an early dinner of Carr’s Table Water crackers with cream cheese and sliced pieces of sweet red kosher peppers on them, just delicious, and I did not turn on the TV but instead I turned on the stereo, which I haven’t used much lately. It’s a very fancy stereo.”
“Yes?”
“I think I spent something like fourteen hundred dollars on it,” she said. “I bought it from someone who was buying an even fancier system. It was true insanity. I had a crush on this person. He liked the Thompson Twins and the S.O.S. Band and, gee, what were the other groups he liked so much? The Gap Band was one. Midnight Star. And Cameo. This was a while ago. He was not a particularly intelligent man, in fact in a way he was a very dimwitted narrow-minded man, but he was so infectiously convinced that what he liked everyone would like if they were exposed to it. And good-looking. For about four months, while I was in his thrall, I really listened to that stuff. I gave up my life to it. My own taste in music stopped evolving in grade school with the Beatles, the early early Beatles – in fact I used to dislike any song that didn’t end – you know, end with a chord, but simply faded out.”
“But then you met this guy,” he said.
“Exactly!” she said. “All of the songs he liked faded out, or most of them did. And so I became a connoisseur of fade-outs. I bought cassettes. I used to turn them up very loud – with the headphones on – and listen very closely, trying to catch that precise moment when the person in the recording studio had begun to turn the volume dial down, or whatever it was he did. Sometimes I’d turn the volume dial up at just the speed I thought he – I mean the ghostly hand of the record producer – was turning it down, so that the sound stayed on an even plane. I’d get in this sort of trance, like you on the rug, where I thought if I kept turning it up – and this is a very powerful amplifier, mind you – the song would not stop, it would just continue indefinitely. And so what I had thought of before as just a kind of artistic sloppiness, this attempt to imply that oh yeah, we’re a bunch of endlessly creative folks who jam all night, and the bad old record producer finally has to turn down the volume on us just so we don’t fill the whole album with one monster song, became for me instead this kind of, this kind of summation of hopefulness. I first felt it in a song called ‘Ain’t Nobody,’ which was a song that this man I had the crush on was particularly keen on. ‘Ain’t nobody, loves me better.’ You know that one?”
“You sing well!” he said.
“I do not. But that’s the song, and as you get toward the end of it, a change takes place in the way you hear it, which is that the knowledge that the song is going to end starts to be more important than the specific ups and downs of the melody, and even though the singer is singing just as loud as ever, in fact she’s really pouring it on now, she’s fighting to be heard, it’s as if you are hearing the inevitable waning of popularity of that hit, its slippage down the charts, and the twlight of the career of the singer, despite all of the beautiful subtle things she’s able to do with a plain old dumb old bunch of notes, and even as she goes for one last high note, full of daring and hope and passionateness and everything worthwhile, she’s lost, she’s sinking down.”
“Oh! Don’t cry!” he said. “I’m not equipped … I mean my comforting skills don’t have that kind of range.”
There was another sound of ice cubes. She said, “It’s just that I really liked him. Vain bum. We went dancing one night, and I made the mistake of suggesting to him as we were on the dance floor that maybe he should take his pen out of his shirt pocket and put it in his back pocket. And that was it, he never called me again.”
“That little scum-twirler! Tell me his address, I’ll fade him out, I’ll rip his arms off.”
“No. I got over it. Anyway, that wasn’t what I meant to talk about. I just mean I was here in my wonderfully orderly apartment after dinner and I saw this big joke of a stereo system and I switched it on, and the sky got darker and all the little red and green lights on the receiver were like ocean buoys or something, and I started to feel what you’d expect, sad, happy, resigned, horny, some combination of all of them, and I felt suddenly that I’d been virtuous for long enough and probably should definitely masturbate, and I thought wait, let’s not just have a perfunctory masturbatory session, Abby, let’s do something just a little bit special tonight, to round out a special day, right? So I brought out a copy of Forum that I rather bravely bought one day a while ago. But I’d read all the stories and all the letters and it just wasn’t working. So I started looking at the ads, really almost for the first time. And there was this headline: ANYTIME AT ALL.”
“MAKE IT HAPPEN.”
“That’s right. And I like the sound of the pauses in long-distance conversations – the cassette hiss sound. And yet I didn’t really want to talk to anyone I knew. So that’s more or less why I called. Now I’ve answered your questions, now you tell me something.”
“Do you want to hear something true, or something imaginary?”
“First true, then imaginary,” she said.
--from Vox, by Nicholson Baker
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stan-joonies · 5 years ago
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Tutor de español
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Summary: Sweet Pea is failing in spanish, so Mr Lopez makes Y/N tutor him in hopes that his grades will go up.
"Sweet Pea!" Mr Lopez hissed, eyes squinting at the boy. "You have an exam next week, i suggest you pay close attention." Sweet Pea rolled his eyes, shoving Fangs when he teased him.
"Sweet Pea...¿Qué comiste de desayuno?" The teacher asked, bushy eyebrow raised, lips pressed into a thin line.
"Uh--" Fangs mumbled in his ear. "Teta,"
[[MORE]]
Half the class broke into loud laughter. Those who didn't know what the word ment leant to their friends and joined in with the laughter once they knew. Mr Lopez turned red, his shoulders squared and he pointed to the door.
"If you will not take this class Seriously then you can walk right out that door this instant. But, when you do--" Mr Lopez warned "that will be the end of these lessons. You will not be able to step a foot in my classroom! And it will be an automatic failure on your exam."
Sweet Pea glared at the table, his mouth and jaw clenched tightly, knuckles turning white as his fingers curled and bunched together in his palms.
Mr Lopez sighed.
"See me after class Sweet Pea, you too Y/N,"
Sweet Pea's eyes travelled behind him. You sat, your H/C hair shading your face. Your eyes were open slightly, confusion was spilling out of them. As if you felt his gaze, your eyes met. Yours opened even wider, a blush present on your s/c cheeks. Sweet Pea just stared, his lips pressed to a thin line.
"Sweet Pea!" Mr Lopez screeched, causing the serpent to turn back around. "I will not ask you again..."
Sweet Pea grumbled, pretending to pay attention for the rest of the lesson.
When the bell finally rang, you got up out of your seat and walked towards the teachers desk, giving Mr Lopez a slight smile.
"¿Buenos días cómo estás?" Mr Lopez asked
"Estoy bien, ¿y tú?"
"excelente!" He cheered, a smile breaking his face into two.
"Uhm...Mr Lopez? You wanted to talk?"
"Yes Sweet Pea," the teacher sighed. "I'm worried for you progress in Spanish. I know you probably don't enjoy this subject all that much--" Sweet Pea nodded "--but it does still count as a grade. If you completely ignore this subject then your grades will suffer." Mr Lopez got up to lean on the corner of his desk. "I've heard from the other teachers...you plan to go to college when you're older?" 
"Yes sir"
"Well...don't flunk this class." Lopez warned. "Unfortunately, my catchup group is full. So, i descided that Y/N here--" he nodded towards her "could tutor you until next week."
"What!?"
"Excuse me!?"
"Well. It's sorted then." Lopez grinned. "You can use my classroom after school. Just lock up before you leave." He stated, passing a key to you. "Don't do anything stupid in here please." He stated, walking out.
Silence enveloped the two of you. You had your hands cradling the key as your eyes burned holes into the floor.
"Uhm-- so...meet here after--"
"Fuck!" He exclaimed suddenly, his boots hitting the ground with a loud smack that made you jump, shoulders shaky.
Sweet Pea only spared a glance in your direction before storming off.
-
"What's gotten your panties in a twist?" Toni asked, eyebrows raised.
"Fucking Mr Lopez. He's forcing me to have a tutor," He grumbled.
"Really? He couldn't do it himself?" Toni asked, crossing her arms and leaning on the table at their designated spot.
"No, he said the spots are full,"
"Bullshit," Fangs sighed "This is the Southside, who is spending time revising for a spanish test?"
"You apparently," Toni stated, looking towards Pea before scanning the cafeteria. "So, who is tutoring you?" Sweet Pea's eyes scan the crowd before they land on you.
"There," He answered, nodding towards her.
"Wow..." Toni sighed "you think you could--"
"She's straight," Came a voice. They peered up to see their beanie-headed friend begin to sit down, a smirk on his face. "She went to Riverdale High for the smallest amount of time before moving here. Plus, she and her brother are two trailers down from me."
"How does that prove she's straight?" Toni asked, eyebrows raised and smirk on her face.
"A boy called her an ugly lesbian when she was younger. She cussed him out in spanish," Jughead shrugged "you don't want to know what she said."
"So she's--"
"No. She's not homophobic," Jughead explained, to which they all relaxed.
"So, is she fluent in the language then?" Sweet Pea asked, eyes looming to you.
"Yeah, she learnt it when she was eight." Jughead explained before leaning in, close to the tall serpent's face.  "Word of warning...don't hurt her. She has many friends. Protective friends."
"Mm." Sweet Pea sighed, eyeing you as you got up, leaving the cafeteria.
-
You sighed, sat down behind your teacher's desk.
Sweet Pea was ten minutes late...and you weren't a patient girl.
You shook your head, opened your bag and pushed all your equipment back into it. You slung the strap over your shoulder and walked to the door.
As your hand got ready to turn the knob, the door opened, nearly flying off its hinges, making you exclaim in shock. You moved back quickly, your feet stumbling clumsily over one another as you slowly lost your balance. Your back slowly got nearer to the floor as you shut your eyes, waiting for impact; it never came.
Large arms wrapped around your waist, pulling forwards until you bumped into a strong chest.
"Yikes!" You exclaimed, your head peering upwards to look at the serpent "I'm so sorry!" You apologised, your cheeks bursting into flames.
Sweet Pea shrugged, letting go of you before indicating to the desk.
"Right!" You nodded "sit down while i get the equipment out,"
-
"This is so stupid," He grumbled. "Why do you switch those around?"
"It's the way Spanish works." You shrugged, beginning to pack up. "So, here everyday for an hour and a half. No offense, but if you're more then 15 minutes late? I'm gone,"
Sweet Pea rolled his eyes.
"Whatever you say, princess,"
"Don't call me that!" You exclaimed, cheeks flamed red.
"Whatever, Princess,"
You both walk out the door, heading down the same path to the exit.
When you open the large, dirty door, you plop yourself down onto the stone steps, chin in your palms.
"Who are you waiting for?" Sweet Pea questioned, not stopping. He made his way over to his bike.
"My drunk brother," You hissed, rolling your eyes.
"Where's your parents?"
"What parents?" You retorted, huffing at a piece hair that fell over your eyes. 
Silence stuck for a moment...
"Where do you live?"  He rolled his eyes at the weird look sent his way. "I'm not a stalker, I'll take you there." He held out his hand, a black helmet in between his large fingers.
You got up, walked towards him and grabbed the helmet.
"Ever rode a motorcycle?"
You nodded.
"My brother has one."
Sweet Pea's eyes widened.
"Your brother rides a motorcycle while drunk?"
"Unfortunately," you huffed. "Let's just go,"
You wrap your arms around his waist, squeezing tightly when he speeds off down the road.
You love it, the feeling of the cold air and the sight of the stars as you zoom past. Before you know it, you're in front of your trailer, hopping off his bike and giving him his helmet.
"So, tommorow," You stated, looking towards your trailer.
"Yeah, see you tommorow."
-
The days go by like that, sometimes you go on little detours around the Southside, only when your brother is not in, .You begin to enjoy his company, the way his jaw tenses when he gets stressed, the way he leans over your shoulder to ask a question. The way he throws his head back when he finds something extrememly funny.
The test had been yesterday, and you had gotten your results today.
Both of you agreed that you would come here after school and talk over your scores.
However, Sweet Pea was late.
15 minutes exactly.
You wanted to stick with your promise.
To get up and walk out.
You had told him strictly not to be late. Yet here he was. No... here he was not.
You sighed. 20 minutes.
However, you stayed glued to your seat, your heart pounding in hopes he would come through that door any second.
Though, he didn't...
30 minutes.
Now your irritation began to grow.
It was obvious he wasn't going to turn up.
You began to pack up your stuff.
BANG!
The door shot open, almost flying off its hinges.
"Sorry I'm late," Sweet Pea apologised, showing the takeout bags in his hands. "I got caught up with a few friends," he explained, placing a bag and milkshake infront of her.
"It's ok," you stated, cheeks tinted. "What's all this for?"
"I bought it as a thank you present." He shrugged "For helping me."
"Oh!" You grinned "well thank you,"
"It's also in celebration," Sweet Pea laughed, sitting next to her. "Since you helped me get a B+ on my Spanish exam,"
You exclaimed, mouth open as your head whipped around.
"Really? You got that high?"
"Don't sound so surprised," Sweet Pea stated.
"I-wow. Well done!"
"Thank you, Princess." He smirked down at you.
"I'll let it slide this once," You both opened your bags and started to eat and devour the food, sitting in comfortable silence.
"I'm surprised," You sighed, pushing your rubbish away. "You got my order right,"
"Pops knew it," He shrugged, talking a sip of his bannana milkshake.
"Of course he does. I go there every day." The Silence lengthened between them. "Well, since you were able to pass...i guess you don't need my help anymore."
When you recieved no answer, you turned, only to find that Sweet Pea already had his eyes on you.
"We can still have study session," He stated, eyes wandering " Y'know. Just incase one of us gets behind."
You smiled, your heart pumping in your chest.
"Of course. But we'll have to do it somewhere else. Mr Lopez already took the keys from me.
"My place is always free." He suggested "i don't bite,"
"Mm," You hummed. "Well, best get going."
You both cleaned up and headed outside. You sighed.
"I'll see you in the halls Sweet Pea?"
"Yeah. Come sit with us at lunch,"
"I don't want to intrude..."
"You wont. The Serpents already know a lot about you," He mumbled, looking at his scuffed boots.
"Why?" Your brows raised, eyes narrowing.
"Uhh- Jughead. He speaks about you alot," He turned his head, refusing to meet your eyes. "Come on," he placed a hand on your back, "Let's go,"
-
You hopped off the bike, passing the helmet over to the serpent .
"Thank you," you sighed "For the food. It was lovely,"
"Mm," He leaned on his bike.
"Goodnight," you waved, turning to leave.
You began to walk away, before a hand grasped you wrist.
"Wait." He ordered, pulling you towards him. "I learnt a new phrase and i wanted to ask you if it was correct."
"Sure," you smiled, blushing at how close you were to his chest.
Sweet Pea looked off for a minute before he looked towards you with a fiery determination
"Me gustas, saldrás conmigo?"
Your eyes widened, a smile slowly slithering up your face.
"eres un idiota," You sighed fondly, your hands coming to rest on his face. "Of course I'll go out with you."
You both stared at eachother for a tense moment...then you both leaned in.
His lips capture yours first, pulling towards him. His strong arms wrapped around your waist as your arms circled his neck.
You felt his smile against your lips...
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jamiebluewind · 5 years ago
Text
Charatcter Descriptions and Summary 2.13
As always, let me know if I need to edit or add anything and tag/ask/PM me about art and stories so I can check them out! I'll try to add warnings later. Also, we have 8 episodes left including this one, so the last one should be number 20.
***
Things
Dusk Moss
Hallucinogenic moss with very few alchemical properties that puts the user into a state of lucid dreaming where they are also concious of waking world (basically fantasy marijuana)
Is a flammable powder that cannot be unlit once lit
Crumpkin said his brother swears by it and that everyone should try it at least once.
It will even you out if you take a little bit and a quarter of teaspon will send one of them on a trip all day (so what about the size and race of the person?)
Can buy in a massive block from Tinkerer's Hall where a dose of the powder can be shaved off the block to use
Mystery Rune
The rune was abjurative magic: metamagic school (instead of protection, wards, and shields) which shapes the nature of magic itself. Specifically, the rune involved curses and a way to mask powerful curses and spells. One can take a tremendous amount of spellcraft (or the ability to cast multiple spells), put it into a curse, and have the curse ride under other curses. In other words, if connected to an object, the object would have been "cursed" to be a vessel for a wealth of other spellcasting (flash drive), but hidden under another curse (advanced encryption and a virus).
The larger and more permeable the curse, the more able it is to ride under another curse.
The curse on top (dummy curse) works best the more widespread, static (can't be easily ended or doesn't have random frequent spell effects), ambient, and passive it is like using a magical landscapes or creatures instead of a spell made by a spellcaster.
***
PCs With Datemates
Kristen
Took a picture on her crystal of the unknown goddess mural (originally wondered if it was a tequila advertisement)
Kissed Tracker and the tree she was hiding behind
Wanted rosé with the cold fratatas, but thought it was weird that he put both kale and spinach in them (as did Tracker)
Looked through the medical papers Adaine and Riz found and figured out how to cure the Kalina infection (greater restoration due to studying records or a tinsure that requires dusk moss, the alchemical supplies Gorgug got from the tinkerers, some things Adaine can pull from her jacket, and one or two things they'd only be able to find beyond the wall)
Her and the group decided on the tincture method despite the risk of curing behind the wall as she can only cast greater restoration once per day (only one 5th level spell slot and 5 infected: Tracker, Sandra Lynn, Ragh, Riz, and herself), but the option of using greater restoration on herself and Riz while leaving the others behind or inside Van was discussed (side note: could she team up with any of the locals bards/clerics/druids/artificers/celestial warlocks who know greater restoration and teach them the specifics of the altered spell while they wait on the others to get back?)
Suggested they pretend they all died after they take the tincture in order to give them an advantage due to Kalina thinking the party was cut in half (all but Adaine agreed)
Owns little handcuffs with her and Tracker's initials on them
"I don't know why I'm saying this, but Go Ball."
Assumed that the team in hell were just stuck in a waiting room, possibly drinking pina coladas
Investigated where Aelwen, Adaine's mom, and Killian entered the briar wall. It was much more tangled, far from Arborly, up a cliff with difficult rocky terrain between them and the temple. It was a place where they wouldn't be looked for, but it would take them longer to get there.
Tracker
Said the thing with Vraz made her werewolf issue with the Shrine of Thorns the second weirdest thing that's happened
Started transforming after glancing at the uncovered mural image of the unknown goddess, growling as half her head transformed as she fought changing before rolling off and hiding behind a tree (per Kristen's suggestion)
Couldn't go to hell because she couldn't enter the shrine
Gorgug
Got springs put in his shoes by the gnomes which gave them thick rubbery soles (Spring Coiled Sneakers of Bounding) and also asked for shock thing from tinkerers which would have a spare the dying effect (unknown if he got it)
Wears size 19 canvas shoes
Looked through a big log book with the alchemic ingredients in tinkerer's shorthand before buying the same alchemical ingredients that Killian bought (magnesium, antimony, and mercury which are used in magical candles) for 350 gold. Killian also bought two huge blocks of dusk moss incense (600 gold for both which he split cost wise with Fabian), but he was nervous about buying it (dusk moss details above).
Explained cell towers to the tinkerers
Considered jumping into space to either get to or place a satellite
Found a picture of his parents launching their satellite into space (Wilma and Digby giving double thumbs up, the van tipped on it's nose with it's back doors open to launch the satellite from the back of it, a lot of papers and a mobile desk in van's glovebox) and found space tech-esk routing info for the satellite in Van which allowed him to make a satellite phone
Originally left his crystal and the info with the tinkerers (original timeframe 1-2 days), but came back to help which speed up the process
Was curious why Gilear wasn't infected by Shadow Cat like Sandra Lynn and was later sorry he brought it up
When they found out they couldn't enlarge/reduce Van, he considered making a massive vest with massive pockets he could wear that everyone could jump in before they used enlarge/reduced on him, but the idea was scrapped
Suggested that if they played dead after taking the tincture to not warn Gilear so he wouldn't be acting when they "died".
"Hey, this is based on nothing, but I feel like Gilear is dead."
Believed that hell wasn't as bad as people said it was, just unfamiliar and like 5 degrees hotter
Ran into the briars after the portal closed
Likes a hot hot tub because warm ones just makes him wonder what's cooking in there
Was up all night sweating with his hoodie off (first time in a long time) working on his phone before finishing up the crystal pack (made his phone into a satellite phone). He felt pretty good about making it work.
Got a slew of unread messages once he turned his phone on (few old ones from Zelda, some from his parents checking in, and tour stuff)
Called Zelda with a video call, putting his hoodie back on as it rang and rang (most of the call is in Zelda section)
Told Zelda he loved her for the first time (after she said it first). Said he wished he was there, but hadn't figured that technology out yet and admitted that he might not have service once they went into the forest ("I'm here to communicate")
The gnomes erupted into cheers over the crystal working, but he was equally exciting over Zelda saying she loved him. They popped some gnome wine (pink fizzy champagne that smelled like cloying sweet strawberries) and shared it with him in celebration
Got a bunch of DMs from the other seven maidens saying "Way to go big guy"
Zelda
Was at Ostentata's house at night for a party (everybody was telling the story of when Gorgug jumped the fire elemental there and when he backyard wrestle smashed the beer pong table while time was stopped) when Gorgug called
Told her adventuring party he was calling before she went outside, but they followed
Answered her phone while still wearing her earbuds and assumed he was back, but was told he figured out how to make his phone work. He did it because he felt like it was important to be able to talk to her, the world, and her (not because it was part of the quest). She asked if they had cell towers, but Gorgug said that he had been working on artificer stuff and used his parents' satellite.
Started crying over Gorgug doing a whole bunch of new science to make his phone able to call back, apologized to him over getting upset, and said she missed him and he was the best
Was embarrassed by the other maidens eavesdropping (they called out "Good lookin out Gorgug! Stand up thing to do! You did it!"). Gorgug went on speaker and said "Well hello guys!" before she shooed them off to talk to her boyfriend
Made sure that Gorgug's friends weren't in danger over him working on his project, but was reassured that he was having down time and it would also help them in the long run
Told Gorgug that she loved him for the first time and freaked out (insulting herself) before he said that he loved her too. This was followed by her saying "oooh I just wanna... I just wish you were here."
Said the Red Waste was super hard, but they were done and thought they would get a good grade on it
Called Gorgug cool (and was called cool by him). Said what he did meant a lot to her. The call ended with one last quick I love you from Gorgug.
Fig
Subpoenaed to be a witness for Gortholax before a tribunal due to him being negligent for his infernal domain (after his 9th and final request for appearence lapsed). The print of her subpoena got so fine that it was mostly illegable without a magnifying glass. It was also in infernal (which she can read)
Asked Vraz if she could leave the door to hell open with them following later (left open, but was yelled at)
Considered disguising herself as Gortholax and offered to disguise herself as a famous lawyer from billboards to help Gilear
Wanted to know more about law so she could defend Gortholax domain and yelled "THE CHOSEN ONE!" when she discovered that Gilear knew the law
Wanted to start a grass roots campaign about the demons working with the nightmare king (as devils hate them both)
Asked her mom why Gilear wasn't infected and discovered her parents had slept together many times, but not in the last 3 years
Got upset with Riz over his opinion on devils (quote in dialogue link)
Had to be the first through the portal to hell, but straddled the flaming doorway with Riz on her back to try to keep it open
Tied a rope around Hangman so she could wakeboard while smoking a clove, library card behind her right ear
Thought Gortholax's home was tasteful and knew the door code.
Blamed herself for the quality of Gilear's life (quote in dialogue link)
To Vraz "What going on with you? Do you need a hug?"
Lit a cigarette in court, told them that Gortholax was trapped in a gem, put her feet up, and said Kalina the Shadow Cat used a proxy to trap Gortholax with the assistance of demons (but was able to hide the fact that she was the proxy from Vraz)
Asked for help getting into the forest of the Nightmare King, but got yelled at because calling a recess does not mean the trial is over
Cut her arm and offered the tribunal her blood as proof she was Gortholax's daughter, but the blood sizzled when it hit the ground and either summoned or created an imp which served as proof
Ayda
Told Adaine what the rune was (details below)
Still working on plane shift
Got upset over Fig getting sucked into hell, insisting that they had to go rescue her "Well, we should do whatever we can to make it happen as fast as possible because I'm going to get another kiss, whatever happens"
Said Fig's lips are the softest things she's ever felt (grossing out Adaine) and "If I don't smell Fig's hair again, I'm going to incenerate"
Asked Adaine for advice as the Oracle, wanting to know how many potential futures there were were Fig wouldn't want to kiss her or be around her anymore and if they could be avoided. She was also worried that Fig might have kissed her, but not felt attracted to her.
"If we kissed a bunch of times over the course of an hour, does that mean we are girlfriends or wives?" (potentially but ask to clarify)
Was worried that she would look sad, weird, or not normal from a social standpoint for asking Fig to clarify if they were girlfriends (to which Adaine said she was not and was in face very very cool).
Worried about her mind being foreign to other people and despite not being the same as Adaine, felt better after talking to someone who understands not being like everyone else.
Told Adaine "You're a very special person to me and your friendship means the world to me. I hope we study magic together for a long long time" and that she loved her.
Has notes on how her brain works and built an entire friendship section in the library because she was so lonely.
Went to the Synod to be alone because she lived "on a dirty pirate island"
***
Other PCs And People In The Party
Adaine
Released an aura in the crime scene and might have put on gloves
Found the non detection runes her mother had placed (to keep elves off the trail) and the remains of two rituals, one to kill Killian and one to put the Devil's Heart (with Gortholax) inside Killian. The rituals happened 24 hours appart, meaning they left the night the teens arrived or her mom knew to kill Killian before Aelwen arrived.
While looking for something in the room (something nice her mom might have said about her), she found a blank piece of parchment on a small desk and revealed a message using "the pencil trick" ("Aelwen is with me. You are betrayed. You have no other choice darling. Come with us.") which she believed was probably for her dad. Later got the original copy (wrote out for a sending spell) by using mend on ashes she found in a trashcan
Suggested a cold fratata picnic
Pulled beautifully printed pamplets out of her jacket for Fig's grass roots campaign, but they had a typo so she tossed them
Told the group to give a thumbs up to someone who had the message spell (currently only Fig and Adaine) if they had something to say to keep it from Kalina
Was caught by briars and ejected from the hell potral, keeping her from entering, but decided that heaven and hell were just reflections of each other so she wasn't worried
On dusk moss, said "I've heard it's good for anxiety." and suggested that they all got high while waiting on their friends to return from hell (but was unable to convince the others)
Discovered that the unknown goddess' spellbook had a distinguishing mark on it, an occult rune that was in a lot of stuff at Compass Points (which Ayda would have studied) and on the coin given to Kalvaxus (more info under mystery rune)
Liked a hot tub that started off very warm at first and then got more comfortable
Messaged Ayda late at night for help "Avast ye scurvy devil. How is plane shift going? Also, need info on rune. It looks like [x]" (answered back "I'm not a scurvy devil. Let's use the synonym. Right jacket pocket.")
Found a key made of glowing blue crystalline energy in her pocket as the keyhole on a nearby door started glowing slightly blue.
Was given a scroll with a first level spell by Ayda that granted her access to the Synod of Spyre which is a meeting place for wizards
Told Ayda "I think your great",  made her laugh by telling her that curses were "ten a penny", and told her that she enjoyed talking to her about their magic as Ayda is someone who gets it and is not mean to her
Asked Ayda to tell her everything (about the kiss), but then realized that she didn't want or need to know everything. She did say (about Ayda and Fig) "I support this. I am happy about it. I am amazed. Oooo she's secretive!" and that while on a macro level, some people will kiss without caring, Fig wouldn't because she cared about everybody (she did kiss those two older guys though?)
Admittedly that being oracle only let her help out a little every day and occasionally she got a terrifying vision, but she doesn't know when the event will occur or what will cause it
To Ayda, "If you like a person and they like you and the relationship is good, it shouldn't matter how other people feel about it? I think."
"I want to be alone and also surrounded by my friends at all times."
Riz
Worked the crime scene in the Owl and Harp with Adaine (putting on gloves before starting)
Found that the rituals were specifically to get Kalina into Silvar by bypassing the need for permission from a devil authority by using petrismosis to move from an infected creature into a gem to commandeer the devil within it
Petrismosis: The body's ability to start having elements of the magical gem within it to start permiating orgainic membrane; the process of an organic body and gem to become one which includes osmosis of blood to gem (ragh mom constrantly fights against the being within her gem using her rage, blood, and soul)
Told Adaine "It's great to fin- be around someone who just focuses up. Me and you? Everybody else is super horny. Super emotional. But me and you? *slaps hands together* No emotions between the two of us." (she was looking for something nice from her mom)
Discovered that Adaine's mom had packed WAY more rations than they needed to get to the temple, some alchemical ingredients, and all primary work, leaving only hints behind as well as some research and medical diagrams (which Adaine and Riz took). The medical diagrams were extremely old velum grave robber level medical stuff written in a character based pictogram language (think hieroglyphs, almost like emoji) that was most likely centaur. One medical diagram was of a disected and dismembered centaur with dark, very scary looking cat symbols (refered to as the disease or infection) behind eyes, in ears, on tongue, deep in sinuses, and on spine. It also showed that the brain was carefully taken apart and looked at, but the infection was not present there.
He and Adaine deduced that Kalina could only look through one person at a time using their senses and couldn't get into their brains, but could cause paralysis. The only safe place would be the moon haven/Kristen's hallow, but Kalina might be able to ride one of the infected into the haven if she was actively trying to do it. They could however talk anywhere using telepathy (such as the message spell).
Was worried about going to hell while infected, but later said "I meantioned that I was concerened about going to hell and her possibly being able to see the trial, but hell is also bad so I don't really care if they end up fighting and killing each others. Let's just go to hell. Also, they're super far along already. They have Gortholax and they're in. So it's not like... yeah."
Might have internalized racism/goblinphobia and has bias towards devils (both from his reactions in this episode and his reaction to Gortholax in season 1)
Suspicious of devils and doesn't think they should be super cool with them (quote in dialogue link), later becoming upset over what Hangman said about goblins ("Oh like goblins have such a great reputation.") and the others reaction to his and The Hangman's statement.
Road into hell holding onto Fig's back.
Upon seeing Gilear knocked out, said "See I told you that hell was bad! I mean, this is awesome, but this is bad." Pointed out the irony of Gilear getting mad at him a long time ago for stealing the first aid kit that gave him the healing feat.
After Hangman said the evil souls were murderers, thieves, and liars, he started sweating and said "Liars huh?" (side note: Riz has actually done all three)
Grabbed Gilear's face and investigated him to figure out why he was so confident (he said no to an offer from Sandra Lynn). Hissed at Gilear and then apologized, saying they were in hell, it was weird, and the things said about goblins earlier made him feel kinda crazy
Hissed at Vraz repeatedly, even after she threatened him.
To Vraz "Well I'm Riz The Ball and I'm just gonna ROLL WITH THIS! We're here! We're here for your trial thing! *hiss*" Is held back by Gilear while Fig tried to push him forward towards Vraz (told her to stop it)
Hissed at Vraz again (when she was mean to Fig) saying Vraz calling somebody in the middle of a trial was weird before the pair got in another hissing/screaming match. Asked The Hangman to hold him back and got his foot run over.
Fabian
Ownes 250 to 312 pairs of shoes (depending how many have been thrown away or given to childen), has size 5 feet (and is self conscious about it), said he had delicate feet and was lithe and dexterous, and his father had small feet and mother had normal sized feet
Said "god damn it" when he discovered Krumpkin wore the same size shoes as him, lied and said he had big toes and wore a 5.5 because he didn't to exchange shoes with a gnome, and quietly said "...let's go" when Gorgug asked if he wanted little bells on his shoes (side note: was he teased in the past?)
Completely confused by tinkerers logbook, so he deferred to Gorgug. Tried to help by rubbing his sheet on the gold coins they were buying supplies with, but nothing happened
Was nervous about buying or using dusk moss, saying he knew a guy who tried it while wearing a hat and now he always felt like he's wearing the hat. Told the rest of the group "We bought so many drugs." when they dot back.
Fabian's bardic "You feel the power of Fabian's support and care for you" (the explanation of his new stats is linked below)
When asked if he wanted to stay in the Tinkerer's Hall, he answered "Absolutely. With all these weird little men and women. No thank you. Ragh, let's go!"
Has a bunch of private stuff on his phone that he doesn't want anybody seeing
Tried to ride Hangman into hell, but caught by the briars and ejected as the portal closed
Told Hangman "You are literally the sweetest meanest thing ever."
Mutters "Go off The Ball, go off" while Riz was in a different dimension from him (yelling at Vraz in hell)
Said he didn't worry about his father as he was thriving, but he missed him. When told he could get word to him, originally assumed Bill would be busy, then agreed but asked Hangman not to be needy about it, then tried to pretend that he was cool either way and that he didn't need it and it wouldn't fill him with joy, then admitted that it would fill him with joy, and finally just asking "yes please do it"
Likes a warm hot tub due to it being better for his skin and he can stay in there longer
(Multiple quotes can be found in the dialogue link below)
Hangman
His presence (a devil) closed the portal to hell, seperating him from Fabian. He could still talk to Fabian telepathically, but freaked out. When asked to turn it down, he replied "I can't turn it down, I'm sad!"
Said that the portal was created for the dark tribunal and afterwards the devils are required to deposite them from where they came from
Gave Gilear his mark by making his eyes glow dark red pinpricks and etching an infernal ruin of blood and fire on his forehead
Got pissed off over Gilear having to ride on him, but did it to stop his complaining. Meanwhile, Riz also road on him (with a "Huzzah!") and Fig tired a rope around him so she could wakeboard on her skateboard behind him
Approved of Riz hissing at Gilear
Said the souls falling into The Bottomless Pit were evil and of murderers, theives, and liars
Got the tribunal to allow them to stay at The Bottomless Pit (as Fig was both Gortholax's daughter and she had passage there) instead of prison
When he was told only Fig was going to go in the hot tub, he pouted and said "I want to go too!"
Offered to send word to Bill Seacaster for Fabian
Gilear
Made fratatas (with both spinach and kale) immediately, but they all got very cold due to the teens being away for hours (were so cold that they thought he put them in the freezer)
He was not "the face" when he worked in Fallenel at the elven counsel (where he said he was a glorified paralegal), but was still an expert in international and interplaner law
When Fig told him that it was his moment and she needed him, he immediately replied with "Nope!". He eventually gave his word to help, but was confused about how they got into trouble in Arborly, discovering the trial was both in hell ("what? what? oh no.") and delivered by a really keyed up woman who was probably working through something ("I...what have you done?")
From Adaine's jacket, was given a barrister wig from Fig ("None of the cultures I've worked for use these wigs"), a gavel from Kristen, and a black robe from Adaine
Found that the subpoena had no clause concerning ther souls, but hell would send people to get Fig if she didn't go
Wears boat shoes and had a powerful aura of disease coming from his feet (again Gilear DOCTOR! or have a healer greater restore!)
His bald spot was hit by a bit of fire before a blast of fire hit him and knocked him out, setting his wig on fire. He was healed by Riz, but left with burns.
Was given the Mark of The Hangman, which was an infernal ruin of blood and fire etched on his forehead which caused a red force field to appear that protected him from the fire as long as he was with The Hangman
Noticed how Fig was acting (library card behind ear) and started asking her questions, but she dodged them until Riz confronted him about his confidence and got him to confess "I got confidence because Sandra Lynn asked to sleep with me and I said no!" Said that he and Sandra Lynn talking until morning and towards the end she made an offer, he said "No. Thank you", and everyone was still happy and fine afterwards
Told Riz he was very scary and intense sometimes, resulting in Riz hissing at him
Did not actually help during the trial due to fear.
(Has multiple quotes in dialogue link.)
Sandra Lynn
Covered for the teens messaging by talking about finding where Adaine's mom entered the forest as the teens nodded along
Had to explain to her daughter that her and Gilear slept together, but she could have gotten the Kalina disease anytime in the last 3 years and Gilear wouldn't have been infected ("I love you. It's weird. Sorry for all this weird info.")
On Kristen attempting to handcuff her "So help me god Kristen Applebees. I understand that I work for you, but so help... wow."
No longer with Jawbone, but ended on good terms
Was very kind to Gilear the first night in Arborly. She offered to sleep with him at one point and was turned down.
When she asked what the teens were messaging about (dusk moss), Kristen said Spring Break and suggested Sandra Lynn have a spa day with a hot tub soak and a massage with cucumbers on her eyes. Gorgug suggested cucumbers on her ears. Fabian said they should get the weird gnomes to pound her (dear god Fabian! XD) with Kristen saying "gnomes all over your body", Adaine adding that they would walk on her back, and Fabian adding that the little shoe bells would be meditative
Ragh
Asked for a lost spring from the tinkerers
Wears a size 17.5 shoe (quote in dialogue link)
Was paranoid about buying dusk moss (ARE YOU A COP!?), but after Crumpkin's reaction, he grabbed Fabian and Gorgug's arms and said "I think drugs are legal here"
Took a solid chunk of dusk moss and was found staring at his hand ("My hand is just little animal on the end of your arm")
Came into the van later, shirtless and looking like he'd sweat ten gallons. Said "Everything in the world is connected", (on Adaine thinking of trying it) "Adaine, for real? I can never be anxious again because I don't even know if I can ever be fully in my body again.", and (response to Fabian saying it sounds scary) "No no. I'm part of the universe dude" before drinking a glass of water and going off to go to bed.
***
Gnomes
Crumpkin Springbill
Head Tinkerer of the Tinkerer's Hall of Arborly
Confused as to why anybody would be mad about people buying or using dusk moss
Told Gorgug that it would take a long time and a lot of materals to build a cell tower
Size 5 shoes (but likes a little toe room) with curled toes so he can puts little bells on them (sounds like the general style of shoes for the gnomes there as well)
Said hello to Zelda enthusiastically over a video call
Polly Pullypad and Osmand Wobbletrouble
Accidentally flew into where they stacked all the old pots and pans (Polly)
Brought Gorgug his altered shoes back and bowed to Gorgug
Asked to examine Gorgug's crystal in exchange for the spring shoes (Osmand)
Suggested they try to skip building a cell tower and connect directly to a satellite
(Unnamed Twins)
Shallower cone hats with tufts of fur on the ends of springs
Took gorgug shoes off his feet
***
Devils
Vraz the Mean
Sarcastic erinyes with a +13 insight and a beautiful but uncannoy vally porcelain face with a beauty mark
When Fig and Kristen asked if she could leave the door open so they could follow "Are you guys having a fun time? BECAUSE YOU SEEM PRETTY FUCKING GLIB! Keep your sass to yourself!", but still left the door open
Got hissed at by Riz a lot (multiple quotes in dialogue)
Said she is having a bad time between her title (Vraz The Mean), species (Erinyes), running hell, and her title (Arch Secretary)
Called the tribunal into order (with her two co-jurors in a room with a small 3 seat judges bench), stating that it concerned the issue of Gortholax's infernal negligence
Tried to call her boss Blozo, but he couldn't come due to traffic
Found that being trapped in a gem counted as extenuating circumstances and he would not be punished, but they needed a new regnant for the Bottomless Pit so they called a recess while they consulted the bylaws.
Yelled at Fig for asking for help after the recess saying (in a durr voice) " *points at temple* Do you know what words mean!? Do you know what words mean!? *jacking off motion* Huh?"
Was going to imprison "the mortals", but was convinced by Hangman to put them under house arrest at The Bottomless Pit
Kystrona (Ky-stron-ah) The Chained
Vaguely humanoid figure that is just like
A person with chains coiled where arms would be as well as the torso and head, making a massive mound of chains
Moved with a lot of strain (including trying to shrug) and voice is muffled from all the chains
Lorzug (lore-zug) The Impaled
Bone thin naked person with incredibly pale skin and translucent vains all over
Impaled through the stomach about 10 feet up a jet black iron spike as they kick and scream
Only responded with screams
Retch Rot
Tiny blood red imp with a scorpion tail summoned by Fig's blood (calls her mistress)
Might look like a red Boggy with really long legs for his size (Ally wondered if he looked like "a really famous mouse", including suspenders, but I personally give Emily's description more weight as she is in fact in hell as Fig)
Valet to Fig while in the Bottomless Pit
Wanted to show them to their quarters and the many doors of The Bottomless Pit (but had to make it clear that the doors were just rooms in the pit and not portals)
***
Other Stuff From 2.13
***
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rachelstwomoms · 5 years ago
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Chloe Flips (Childhood Friends AU): Part 1/?
It’s no secret that Rachel Amber’s got a huge crush on Justin the skater boy. Word spreads quickly in a small town like Arcadia Bay, especially among gossipy middle schoolers. By now most (if not all) of Arcadia Bay Junior High knows all about it. Ever since the sixth grade homeroom teacher shuffled everybody’s desks around after spring break and placed Rachel right next to him, Justin is all that she’s been talking about.
Or at least that’s how it seems to Chloe Price. She may or may not resent her teacher for that.
Sometimes Chloe wishes that Rachel wasn’t so good at everything. In the words of the principal and all of her teachers, Rachel’s a “well-rounded, exemplary student that Arcadia Bay Junior High School is lucky to have.” To Chloe, that’s just fancy, grown-up speak for “overachieving goody-two-shoes.” Perfect Rachel Amber is a member of pretty much every school club and team, and she’s part of a bunch of other stuff outside of school on top of that. Rachel, soccer team MVP. Rachel, model girl scout. Rachel, student council member. 
What about Rachel, BFF to Chloe and Maxine? Chloe wishes that she got to see her more often.
With how busy Rachel is juggling her million extracurriculars and commitments, only rarely does she have the afternoon free to hang out with her friends.
By some miracle, today is one of Rachel’s free days.
After the dismissal bell rings, Chloe’s at her locker deciding which textbooks she needs to bring home for homework and which she can leave at school. The tween is blissfully and willfully ignorant of the fact that she’s a bit of an overachiever herself. Rachel meets her there, all packed up and ready to go, with her hoodie tied around her waist and a pair of roller skates slung over her shoulder. It’s still a mystery to Chloe how Rachel always manages to finish getting ready to leave before her. Every day. Without fail.
“Oh, good. You brought your board.”
Chloe looks at the skateboard at the bottom of her locker. “Rachel Amber, observant as ever.”
“Is it okay if I come over to your house today?”
“But it’s Thursday,” Chloe says, raising an eyebrow. “Don’t you have your drama queen lessons today?”
“Drama club,” Rachel emphasizes, “got canceled because our teacher’s at a creative arts workshop in Portland. So, can I hang with you and Maxine until my dad’s done with work?”
It’s not like Chloe’s going to say no. In all honesty, she’s excited to be getting an extra afternoon to hang out with Rachel. She’s not going to let Rachel know that, though. So Chloe shrugs like it’s no big deal, and once she’s done in her locker she and Rachel head down the block to wait for Maxine. Arcadia Bay Junior High School gets out fifteen minutes before the elementary school does, so Chloe and Rachel stretch out in the grass patch in front of the building.
“Chloe.”
“What?”
“Do you wanna stop at the skate park for a little bit before we go home?”
There’s a small skate park with a few ramps and rails near Chloe’s house. William used to take her and Maxine there on the weekends when Chloe was first learning how to skateboard. Now that she’s in middle school, her parents allow her to spend a few minutes there after school, but only if her friends are there too, and only if she calls ahead of time and gets permission first.
“Sure,” answers Chloe, smiling. Rachel’s joined her and Maxine on their afternoon skate park trips a few times before, and it’s been cool to have someone else to skate around with. Maxine doesn’t skate. The younger girl prefers to sit under one of the nearby trees and take photos with her instant camera instead. There used to be a time when Maxine would ride around with her on Chloe’s old kick scooter, but ever since that one day when Chloe convinced her to go down one of the ramps and she ended up falling and scraping up both of her knees, she’s stuck to just safely watching from afar. But with Rachel, Chloe now has someone who can keep up with her on wheels, even if it’s with roller skates and not a skateboard like her. “But I need to ask my mom first.”
Rachel’s already sliding her flip phone over to Chloe. Chloe doesn’t have her own cell phone yet. She’s tried asking her parents for one before, but they won’t let her have one until she’s in high school.
Chloe opens the phone and it beeps in protest. The battery symbol in the upper right corner is completely red. “Rach, when was the last time you charged this thing?” Unsure how much time she has before Rachel’s phone dies, Chloe quickly punches in her mom’s number. Joyce is in the middle of her shift at the Two Whales Diner and won’t be home until later, but luckily she picks up. Chloe lets her know that she’s going to hang out at the skate park with Rachel and Maxine on the way home today.
“Can you tell Daddy that Rachel’s coming over?” Chloe adds. There’s a pause while Joyce says something to her daughter on the other end of the call. “Yeah, her dad’s gonna pick her up after work.” Another pause. “Yeah, we’ll be careful. Thanks, Mom. Bye.”
Right as Chloe’s thumb is about to hit the “end call” button, Rachel’s phone gives one last desperate beep before the screen goes black. Chloe mashes the “home” button a few times, but the device is completely dead. She gives it back to Rachel, who zips it up in the front pocket of her backpack.
The school bell rings and, after a minute, the first kids start to make their way out of the building. As usual, Maxine is one of the last to come out. Wearing her Polaroid camera around her neck, Maxine slows to a stop once she gets outside and slowly scans the schoolyard. As soon as she spots Chloe and Rachel, she breaks into a big smile and comes running over.
“Rachel, I didn’t know you were gonna be here today!” Maxine’s happy to see both of her friends and gets an urge to snap a photo. Her hands make their way around her camera.
Rachel loves being in front of the camera just as much as Maxine loves to be behind it. She grabs Chloe by the sleeve, pulling her closer to her, and poses for the little photographer. “Take one of us!”
At the last second before Maxine takes the shot, Chloe smirks and holds up two fingers behind Rachel’s head to give her friend bunny ears. The shutter clicks. The camera whirrs for a second before ejecting a blank white square, which Maxine hurries to stick inside her backpack out of the sunlight.
“Maxine, me and Rachel are gonna skate around for a bit before we go home. Is that okay?”
“Yeah, I just got some more film for my camera so I can take pictures.”
The walk to Chloe’s neighborhood isn’t long. It takes less than fifteen minutes to get from the Price house to school, and even less to get to the skate park because it’s right in between. For younger kids and tweens like Chloe, Rachel and Maxine, right after school is the best time to hang out there. They have free reign of the park for thirty minutes to an hour before the high school kids come and take over.
The trio dump their belongings under their usual tree, but only Maxine starts to make herself comfortable. She takes a seat next to her backpack and fiddles with her camera. Chloe takes off running with her board and stands by the line where grass meets concrete, waiting for her friend to finish putting on her skates. “Hey, Rach, I’ll race you to the far fence! No shortcuts and we have to go through the bowl.”
A competitive grin creeps onto Rachel’s face. “Around the rails?”
“Over.”
“You’re on!” Finished with the last knot in her laces, Rachel hurries over to Chloe and they take their marks at the edge of the concrete. “Alright, Price. You ready?”
Chloe places one foot on the deck of her board, the other out and ready to kick off. “Ready… set…”
“Go!” Both girls shout together.
Chloe kicks hard, propelling herself forward and zipping across the stretch of grey.
Whenever Chloe challenges Rachel to a race, Rachel usually beats her. They’ve raced along this same path and the same sequence of obstacles many times in the past. Chloe’s been able to beat Rachel when they decide to go around the rail, but every time they go over it, she loses every single time. After making it through the bowl and back up the ramp, Chloe has to ollie over the railing before reaching the fence. So far, she’s never landed quite right. Her board tends to get away from her and she loses a few seconds catching up to it and hopping back on. Even if she had been ahead up until that moment, this is usually when Rachel gains on her and slides into first place at the very last second.
This whole week, while Rachel’s been busy with clubs and sports, Chloe’s been practicing. She and Maxine have been at the skate park every day so Chloe could work on landing that ollie at full, racing speed. She’s only done it successfully once.
But today she’s feeling kind of confident that she can do it again.
Approaching the edge of the bowl, Chloe brings both feet onto her board, skillfully shifting her weight at just the right moment in order to drop in smoothly. Years of practice with her dad and Maxine by her side and cheering her on allow her to glide back up the opposite end easily and effortlessly. She comes to one of the ramps and propels herself forward as hard as her legs can, the fact that Rachel still hasn’t passed her fueling her confidence and desire to win. Chloe is tempted to look behind her to see how much of a lead she has, but decides it’s not worth the risk of possibly losing her balance or speed.
Up ahead is Chloe’s final obstacle. The boss fight.
The grind rail.
Chloe keeps her speed as she zips forward and, at just the right moment, she pops the back of her board up and soars beautifully over the top of the rail. Her wheels touch back down, hitting the concrete with a satisfying smack! The skateboard wobbles dangerously under her feet. Gritting her teeth, Chloe resists the instinct to jump off to safety and, instead, bends her legs, keeping her weight low and close to the ground. After a moment, her board steadies.
She did it!
Chloe breaks into a huge grin and lets out an exhilarated laugh, only slowing down once she reaches the fence. Her fists pump into the air victoriously and she spins around, ready to rub it in Rachel’s face. “Oh man! Did you see that? Yeah, I’m awesome!”
But Chloe doesn’t get an answer. Rachel’s nowhere to be found.
“Rachel?” Chloe first looks back along their “race track” to make sure her friend’s not lying on the ground injured or something. Squinting her eyes and carefully looking around, she finally spots Rachel in one of the corners of the park with a small group of boys. Chloe recognizes them as boys from her class, one of them being Justin. “Oh, come on.”
Suddenly Chloe doesn’t feel so much like a winner.
Chloe gets back on her board and skates over to where Rachel and the boys are huddled. They’re crowded around one of Justin’s buddies, Chloe thinks his name is Todd or Tatum or something, watching him play a handheld video game. “Uh, Rachel, what gives?”
“Oh, Chloe! Sorry, I was just saying ‘hey’ to everyone,” says Rachel. She kind of smiles at Justin and it makes Chloe want to gag. “Trevor was just showing us his new game.”
Trevor. That’s right. “You totally bailed in the middle of our race.”
“I guess that makes you the winner today!” Rachel’s tone is lighthearted with absolutely no traces of ill-intent.
It gets under Chloe’s skin anyway. “Yeah, it’s not exactly winning if you’re racing against yourself,” she mutters, arms folded across her chest.  
Rachel either doesn’t hear her or pretends not to. “We’re gonna hang over here for a bit. You and Maxine can join us too, if you want.”
Chloe has never heard such an unappealing offer before in her life. “No thanks.”
“Well, all right,” Rachel says, turning back to Trevor’s screen. “Come and get me when it’s time to leave ‘kay?”
“Yeah, sure. Whatever.” Grumbling in annoyance, Chloe starts to ride away. Who comes to a skate park to play video games, anyway? She calls out to the group over her shoulder even though she knows they’re probably not listening. “I’ll be over here. Skating. Because, you know, this is a skate park!”
Chloe returns to the grind rail, wanting more than ever to perfect her ollie so that she never loses to Rachel again. Next time they race, whenever that is, Chloe will show her…
But Chloe’s movements are agitated and clumsy. Her feet seem to be in all the wrong places at all the wrong times. She can no longer get her skateboard to do what she wants. Chloe jumps over the rail again and again, but for some reason she’s unable to stick the landing. She tries over and over, until there’s sweat beading on her forehead and she’s completely out of breath. On her final attempt, she doesn’t even make it over. The truck of her board catches on the edge of the rail, tripping her, and she nearly faceplants. Yelling out in frustration, Chloe kicks her skateboard out of the way and gives up trying.
Out of curiosity, Chloe looks over to the corner of the skate park where Rachel and the skater boys were earlier and immediately wishes she hadn’t. Rachel and Justin have broken off from their group and are hanging out a little ways away, just the two of them. Chloe’s too far away to hear what they’re saying, but Rachel skates around Justin in slow circles as they talk. Both of them are laughing and smiling and look like they’re having a grand old time.  
Chloe’s seen enough. Stomping on the tail of her board to make it pop into the air, Chloe grabs it and trudges back over to the tree. At least Maxine isn’t into gross boys yet. With a grumpy huff, Chloe flops into the grass next to her younger friend.
“Can you believe her, Maxine?”
Maxine looks up from the photo album of Polaroids in her lap. “What happened?”
“Rachel blew off our race to go hang out with some dumb boys,” Chloe complains. She gestures in their general direction with a thumb. “She’s over there being all lovey-dovey with Justin now.”
“Oh.” Maxine looks across the skate park and watches them for a moment. “Does Justin like Rachel back?”
“Probably,” Chloe scoffs. “She’s smart, popular and she can skate. Why wouldn’t he?”
Maxine hums, absentmindedly fingering the edge of one of her photos. “Is he nice?”
Chloe doesn’t answer right away. When she does, she first heaves out a sigh. “I mean, yeah, he’s not that bad, I guess…” She rolls onto her stomach and starts to pluck out blades of grass. “He’s not, like, a jerk or anything.”
“That’s good, right?”
Chloe’s voice rises in exasperation. “No, Maxine, it’s not good!”
“Chloe.” With concern in her voice, Maxine scoots close to her friend and leans over, trying to look her in the face. Chloe averts her gaze. “What’s wrong?”
Honestly, Chloe doesn’t know how to reply. She doesn’t know why the thought of Rachel and Justin together bothers her so much. Rachel likes Justin. Justin likes Rachel. It’s only been a few months since Rachel moved to Arcadia Bay, but she’s already one of Chloe’s best friends. And as Rachel’s friend, Chloe should be happy for her.
Right?
“I don’t know, Maxine…” sighs Chloe, rolling onto her back again and closing her eyes. “Maybe I’m just tired. My skating’s all funky right now too.”
There’s a familiar click! followed by the mechanical buzzing of gears. Chloe cracks open one eye to find Maxine with her camera pointed at her. Maxine grabs the photo and stows it away in her backpack. “Sorry, it was a really good angle and I thought you looked nice.”
Chloe can’t help but smile a little. “You’re lucky I make a great subject, Caulfield. Even your camera can’t resist my awesomeness.”
Having Maxine around always makes Chloe feel better. For the next few minutes, the two girls spend a moment of calm together as they look through Maxine’s photo album, Maxine showing Chloe all the new photos she added to it this week. The aspiring photographer usually feels a little uncomfortable letting people see her photos, but not when it comes to her best friend. Chloe’s always been supportive of her dream and always has nice things to say about them. It boosts Maxine’s confidence and makes her really happy.
As Maxine’s explaining the funny story behind one of the photos that Chloe pointed out, Rachel comes back to the tree. She skates over and falls gracefully into the grass next to her friends, wearing a sort of giddy, spaced out smile that Chloe and Maxine have never seen before. Rachel waits until both pairs of eyes are on her before she speaks.  
“Guess what!” Rachel practically squeals with excitement. “Justin’s my boyfriend now!”
Maxine’s mouth falls open in surprise. “Wowser, really?”
“He asked me if I wanted to go out with him and I said yes,” Rachel happily retells her story for her friends. Leaning in closer, her voice becomes softer her cheeks turn extra rosy. “We kissed.”
At the mere mention of the kiss, Maxine’s own face becomes strangely warm and she feels kind of embarrassed. At the same time, part of her is in awe at how Rachel’s already experiencing something that seems so grown up. Before Maxine can formulate a response to the announcement, there’s a thump as Chloe kicks at her skateboard, causing it to flop over in the grass. Thump. Chloe uses the toe of her shoe to kick at it again. She keeps her eyes down, staring hard at the chipped design on the bottom of her board, but she can tell that both of her friends have turned to look at her.
“Justin, really?” There’s an edge to Chloe’s voice. “You locked lips with him?”
“What’s wrong with Justin?” Rachel crosses her arms and her tone instantly changes to match Chloe’s. Sensing an oncoming fight, Maxine shrinks and backs away slightly, putting a safer distance between herself and her friends.
“Duh. He’s gross.”
“And just how is he gross, then?”
Chloe dodges the question. She doesn’t have an answer. “You’re not even allowed to have a boyfriend!”
Rachel narrows her eyes and stares defiantly into Chloe’s. “I can have one if I want to, Chloe Price.”
“Oh yeah? What if I tell your dad?”
“You wouldn’t.”
“Try me!”
Rachel turns her back to Chloe and scoots closer to Maxine, flipping her hair over her shoulder and turning her nose up in the air. “Me and Justin are dating and we kissed and that’s that. You need to get over it.”
Chloe’s jaw clenches and her face burns a hot crimson. She doesn’t want to be anywhere near Rachel right now. Standing abruptly, she grabs her skateboard and starts to stalk away. “Whatever, Rachel! You’re the one with… with disgusting boy cooties!”
“Seriously? Cooties?” Rachel rolls her eyes. “If you haven’t noticed, Chloe, we’re not in kindergarten anymore.”
Chloe’s done talking to Rachel and pretends like she’s not there. “I’m gonna drop into the bowl. Are you coming, Maxine?”
Maxine stands, ready to go after Chloe. Before she leaves, she sighs and looks apologetically at Rachel, who’s now fuming in heated silence. “I’ll talk to her, okay?” Maxine half-walks, half-runs to the center of the skate park to the bowl, where Chloe’s already going in and out. Carefully as not to slip and fall, she takes a seat on the edge, letting her legs dangle down. “Chloe, what’s going on? Are you mad at Rachel for kissing Justin?”
“No!” comes the short, angry reply.
“You’re obviously mad at someone.”
Chloe frowns and lets her board come to a stop in the middle of the bottom of the bowl. “I’m not… I’m not mad at her.”
“It sure seems like it,” Maxine tells her. “I mean, you blew up at her right after she told us about it.”
“Don’t tell me you’re taking her side.” Chloe rests one arm on her hip. “You’re supposed to be my best friend, remember?”
“I am your friend!” Maxine says indignantly. “But I’m Rachel’s too, and so are you.”
Chloe growls and kicks off, circling the bottom of the bowl until she gains enough momentum to come up the side and join Maxine at the top. She plops herself down next to her friend and sits there in silence, skateboard lying upside down in her lap. There’s a troubled expression on her face and it looks as though she has something else to say. Maxine waits quietly, just in case.
A couple of minutes pass and neither girl has said a word. Maxine is the first to break the silence. “Chloe?” Her friend gives a halfhearted grunt in response. “Do you want to just go home then?”
“She doesn’t have time for stupid boys!” Chloe suddenly blurts out. Maxine is momentarily confused, but then she realizes that Chloe’s gone back to talking about Rachel. “You know how busy she already is! Add a dumb boyfriend on top of that and she won’t have any time left for us.”
Maxine doesn’t know what to say. She hadn’t considered that possibility until Chloe brought it up. It’s true that she doesn’t get to see Rachel that often because they go to different schools, except some days after school and on weekends sometimes. Maxine would be sad if she never got to spend time with her anymore. “So what do we do?”
“Let’s just get out of here.”
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mikazukikannagisjourney · 5 years ago
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Spiritual Log 2.0 November 26 2019
Subtitle: My personal essay on “The troubles of having BOOMER PARENTS,” actual or boomer-ized 😂
Hi everyone, so... This is the part 2 I was talking about... I have been planning to make this post since the OK Boomer thing popped out, which was around early this year? But I never got to, basically because life. Also because my writing app keeps crashing and just when I have written 4 pages of stuff or so, it died, and I didn’t get to save anything. I have to quit with the device, boot up the PC and do it because I cannot rest and I will not rest until I had this post up and running. So here you go, an account of having actual boomer parents lol But not all of them ok? Just most of them. Mine, at the very least. You don’t have to read this long-ass full-of-triggers post but if you need to feel validated because nobody  listens to your pain, it’s OK, feel free to read.
Disclaimers: I am writing this mostly for sharing and to give comfort to basically everyone who got negatively-affected deeply by the boomers in their lives. I am not putting any blame, just putting this info out there. Also, I am using the term "boomer" in its original sense, which is the shortened form of BABY BOOMERS aka the kids who were born around the time of World War II, most especially those born AFTER the war has ended. Also, don’t feel sad if you feel like your parents or other adult guardians just don’t get you. It’s bound to happen, and it’s better to just focus on the people who understand and get you better. Sometimes, if not most of the time, we just have to let go of expectations that the people we expect to understand the most because we’re related aka family members will do just that, but instead are the ones who will make us feel alienated the most. That’s quite painful at first, but very liberating once you get the hang of it.
OK, so before we get off-track, I shall start the premise of this post by saying that anyone who acts like a typical boomer aka isn’t open-minded, is too-fixed in their ways, isn’t open for discussions, has no ounce of creativity whatsoever, has no room for compromise or even agreeing to disagree, well, they’re boomers I guess? But what I will write here is an actual account of having actual boomer parents aka Pluto in Leo folks so yeah, you might wanna check out my post on that, right here. Then go back here lol
To start this post, I would like to mention that if you were led here, one way or another, I am here to tell you that this is no coincidence, the divine realms want you to reach your highest potential, but first to have to feel your lowest lows, through the eyes of other people. I will try my best not to make this a heavy post, but it might turn into one because I will be letting out my personal experiences and be at my weakest, even weaker than a soggy piece of bread. Please bear with me.
I don’t know who initially coined the term “OK boomer” but honestly, the phenomenon of youth infuriating the older generations is nothing new. This has been going on since time immemorial, which undoubtedly lead to steady improvements in science and technology. Unfortunately, when it comes to making connections, it pretty much just made understanding other people with large age gaps grow much harder, thus pushing them further apart. As a rebellious and hopelessly crazy child of boomer parents, this is how I faced my early life and even my life right now. It’s a way of living.
I don’t know exactly why boomer parents are just so hard-headed about things like work, stability, education, social standing, marriages, the lives of other people, the superficial stuff that pretty much other Pluto generations (again, see my post here lol) seem to not put that much energy into. They just had the best of luck by getting to choose their end goal, and following a straight, narrow-path to success that actually worked for them well. Go to school, get a job, get a higher education, you’ll get promoted, and then you’ll become a boss. Get married, have kids, buy a very large house and a really fast car, and you’ll be so happy. Climb the social ladder under all costs and you will find respect and success. That’s what these boomers swear by, because these life formula were something that they were able to easily get. Easy promotions (they will tell you that they worked “hard” for it, yeah like 2 years or so. I have been a work slave for more than 10 years and got nowhere so yeah, “hard work” is extremely subjective), easy grades (remember, so many breakthroughs came after their time so younger kiddies have to learn a whole lot more garbage in school), basically they had to struggle less than younger people have to do right now because there weren’t as many people they have to compete with. 
Don’t expect boomers to ever feel your pain. I mean, if the tried and tested formula worked for them, they cannot see past the idea that it just doesn’t work for you. They will never accept the fact that you can see all the flaws and holes in the system, they were simply conditioned to believe that what they learned worked for them, therefore what they did was right and you should just suck it up like they did. It will never occur to them that you were just being your honest self, that you wanted something that aligns more with high-vibrational energies like REAL teamwork, emotional support, caring for the well-being of others, stuff that they never had to contend to because they were all cut-throat and had to be selfish AF when they were your age. They would blame dead-tired folks like us as lazy, unproductive, haven’t worked hard enough (with all your MS degrees and PhD’s and hundreds of seminars and congresses and certifications and competitions that you undertook) and all that downplaying yadah-yadah even if the only thing you haven’t done literally is to sell your soul to the devil just to get a measly raise. The system failed you tremendously even though you followed what your boomer parents told you to do, you did your best to live the most honest and straight path you could ever do, and yet you still didn’t get anywhere while the unscrupulous people were rolling in the deep by passing through all the loopholes in the system. This is something that boomer parents will never, ever understand and is something that we, as spiritually aware and awakened people must come to terms with and be open to accept.
Of course, don’t get me wrong. I am not shunning the idea of having a great, easy and abundant life. I have been doing my best to get to that point. I mean, yeah, sure it would be nice to have some food everyday, a house to live in, maybe feel a bit better than scraping each and every day, not get judged by other people, but honestly, once you start falling into the rabbit hole of waking up to what reality really is (spoiler alert: it’s not what you were told it would be, because you already tried EVERYTHING and nothing just worked out for you) it just makes even more nonsensical. These vague ideals of what happiness truly is (for these boomers) just aren’t exactly worth expending any energy into. Besides, based on my own experiences, no matter what I do, no matter how much I try to please everyone there are always a lot of people, including my own parents who just have so many negative things to say about me, so why even bother lol. SO I just gave up. I let them do whatever they want, I mean, it’s not like I have any good reputation left anyway. Besides, if I DO decide to show who I truly am, I just let my output and my work speak for myself. Whoever deems it ok can judge me however they would like it to be judged. It’s not like I never had issues like this before. And I have been so used to doing things on my own and not exactly relying much on other people so this is pretty much like my second skin. Being happy in it, gaining confidence, and ultimately using it to shield myself from the negative stuff the rest of the world throws at me is what I do a lot of.
Of course, it wasn’t always this way. I mean, as a kid I just couldn’t stand the idea of having to grow up at the speed of light because the parents aren’t exactly being parents. Most, if not all of the boomer parents out there, including my own have been hard pressed to do what they want in order to get ahead in their lives. No holds barred, no morality concerns, the most important thing is getting the results they want. Always be on top. Always succeed. Being Ok with failure is for losers. Zero cares on how the processes have been done, as long as they have their preferred outcome. I cannot stress how RESULTS are extremely important, alongside perfection at all costs. Certificates, awards, merits are things that are very important to boomers because they signify a sense of aptitude. Even if those credentials were all fake. Or even superficial. But that’s what they deem important. I can’t even tell you how many certificates, awards, trophies, all that stuff that my parents accomplished are here in our home, and yet you can count how many family pictures there are in here. Spoiler alert, my right hand has more fingers than we have family pictures here. It’s pretty sad, but I could safely say that for my boomer parents, it is very clear to me what their priorities in life were, and still are. And that’s something that I have been having a hard time moving past from, but I am doing my best to heal from that. It’s a deep wound, but I want to believe that I am going to be OK. Of course, because everything that stems from childhood is very hard to remove and is quite painful to do so, especially without any form of mental health practitioner aid, and, well, it’s an uphill struggle for everyone.
As a boomer’s kid, the very thing I could remember since childhood was doing a lot of stuff by myself, learning to do stuff on my own. We basically live and breathe DIY, so living by ourselves typically pose no problem. A whole bunch of us Pluto in Scorpio boomers’ kids had to typically raise ourselves, on our own, like self-raising flour lol but no, really, like we have to take care of ourselves a lot. No internet back then, phones were but a luxury and so were Cable TVs and gaming consoles, encyclopedias and other sources of information were limited to libraries (unless your family was rich enough to buy the latest set). Everything we learned, we learn through trial and error. No manuals,little to no instruction guides, no walkthroughs nor playthroughs, no cliffnotes. Not enough adult supervision. We just play outside with our peers, or on our own. Because the boomer parents are always out and about, chasing their careers, making a name for themselves, earning the cash they want so they can go out and take vacation breaks, buy the house and car that will make others envy them, that sort of stuff. 24/7 non-stop work because no work equals no pay and no pay equals less money to pay for loans, and less money to enjoy. This also means that no quality time to spend with kids, or get to know them, every interaction just consists of shallow stuff like how was school, did you get top grades, you’re not doing hard enough, stuff like that. Pretty shallow, if there even has any kind of interaction. Most of the time, they bring home extra work, so good luck getting some form of help with school. Of course, again, I am basing these on my own experiences, so you might wanna take a look at your own life experiences and compare them, see what makes sense aka what resonates.
For me, what I find really hard and painful is that I just cannot connect with my parents. And they have no intention of connecting with me in any way, shape or form. I have always been very keen and vocal on what I want, what I need, why I hate things, why I love things, why I hate getting hugs and kisses from my boomer parents’ friends, how I get bullied at school or elsewhere everyday, and why for some reason I could strongly feel the hidden intent of everybody, which is why I hate going out in public as well. Of course, telling these things to boomer parents can be a source of nightmares, because they would simply tell you that YOU ARE WRONG. Period. No questions asked. THEIR WORDS ARE AUTHORITY. Because for boomer parents, their children are just EXTENSIONS  OF THEMSELVES, and THUS THESE CHILDREN HAVE ABSOLUTELY NO RIGHT TO EXPRESS ANY OPINIONS THAT DIFFER FROM THEIR OWN BECAUSE THEY ARE DEEMED INCAPABLE OF THINKING for THEMSELVES. Basically boomer parents assume that their children will always agree with them, thus bypassing the need to confirm and verify their actual wants and needs, even if in reality the children have actually very opposing and differing ideas. Hence the boomer parent tagline “I KNOW YOU MORE THAN YOU KNOW YOURSELF” comes to mind. If the boomer parent does actually receive very, very differing and even polarized opinions from their children because they kept assuming that they know what the kids want or know, THESE people will always find a way to tell you that what you feel, what you hear, what you know ARE ALL WRONG. They will always tell you that YOU HAVE NO EXPERIENCES IN LIFE SO DON’T EVEN BOTHER TELLING THEM THINGS THAT THEY WILL NEVER AGREE ON. Everything that they know is fixed and anything that contradicts their knowledge is JUST WRONG. Yep. Even more so if your parents are teachers, and because they teach other people and have high authority over them, they have grown accustomed to the identity of just being accepted without any complaints or dissention. A really horrible combo when you’re a genetically rebellious kid and your parents are boomers. What’s even more ironic is that they’re always out when you need people in your life, so you go to whoever is available to help you, thus you forge better connections outside your home, and in turn you absorb the ideologies of other people, because they make sense to you a whole lot more than what your boomer parents believe in. And yet they would and will always dare tell you that you’re basically not their child because you think so very differently from them. lol the irony is never lost on me. I find it usually funny when I exercise my Gemini detachments but when I fall into my Cancer abyss (it sucks to be a Cancer Venus) I just get all downtrodden and yeah, waterworks spill out. I had the cursed fate of having academic people as my boomer parents so I really had zero chances of being heard and understood. Even now. So in the end, why even bother?
IF you ask me, it’s because of the social conditioning of LOVING YOUR FAMILY MEMBERS EVEN IF THEY DON’T LOVE YOU BACK, AND DO NOT SUPPORT YOU NOR YOUR BEST INTERESTS is a very, very strong factor. Never mind the toxicity of relationships, I mean, those toxic relationships were very well-forged during childhood, so those things become quite normal, even if they should never even be to begin with. That is something that I have seen not just with myself but with a lot of people. People who keep putting up with jerks. People who end up in dead-end jobs and seeing the light in their eyes slowly die. Even worse, people who got hurt so much by others that they literally turn into the very thing that hurt them the most. It’s just so painful to see all of these, all because of the skewed ideals that FAMILIES SHOULD STICK TOGETHER THROUGH EVERYTHING. ALWAYS SUPPORT YOUR FAMILY MEMBERS, even if they do you wrong. Even if they treat you like dirt. Even if they just suck the life out of you. Even if they just use you as an emotional crutch. Even if they don’t see you for who you are. Even if you mean nothing more than a tax break to them. 
I apologize for sounding like a ranting, ungrateful lunatic but I just had to let that out.I just feel so dead inside just typing all of those up, because to be honest, I got a lot more moral support from a random dude that I chatted with and never remembered the identity of ever again, than my own kin. Honestly, I’m about to turn into my mid-30s by 2020 and yet I still have to deal with these so much issues from my past while still doing my best to live and even thrive on this 3-dimensional realm, and for me, having to look at what screwed me up while NOT PUTTING BLAME on my boomer parents have been the most taxing thing I had to do since trying to win even an ounce of their affection way, way back. I am literally one heartstring away from giving up. I have been trying to see the light and to be honest, I can’t right now. What bothers me even more is that a lot of the spiritual community posts, articles, and videos kept invalidating the shitty stuff that happened to me when I was a lot younger, and the phrases that say “That is for the highest good, all are one, we are all from Source, everything is for the expansion of the Creator” seriously if I’m not in the best mood and my friendly demons have been running amok in my head because I haven’t played with them for a while, I would shun these posts and think that I would very much want to shove them all down in a tight box and throw that into an exploding volcano like seriously I don’t need this kind of crap right now. 
So if you’re in that phase right now, don’t worry, I got your back, you’re not going crazy, what you feel is valid because feelings rarely lie, if they ever do. You are beautiful, handsome, wonderful and awesome, and what you feel is not what you are. It’s OK to fray, as long as to your true self, you stay.
Well I hope that affirmation above calmed you down.
To sum up the boomer issue post:
This is mostly a post for the people who have been swimming upstream because the world we live in has really gone down to the dogs. Nothing makes sense and despite being silenced we strive to make ourselves heard and be known. For typical renegades and rebels, having issues with authority is one of their key themes in life, and in all honesty this can actually break them. Even just having them heard would mean a lot, but if you have boomer parents, well you’re better off signing up to go to Mars, you have better chances with that. This is because most of the boomer parents or even authority figures in general are not the kind of people that would readily give in to others that disagree with them, or even want to work with other people by sharing the space, the power, and the control. They likely see this as a threat to everything that they have done in the past, and as such, anyone and anything that strongly opposes their beliefs will ultimately end up getting crashed and burned, with no questions asked. Unless you vagrantly manipulate them by stoking their fragile ego like sucking up to them and agreeing with them all the time. They’re not that impenetrable as they want you to believe, but then again, why would you even use such low-vibrational tactics when you can just move on from them altogether. Their time on earth is pretty much near the end of their rope so just let them have their moment, and focus on yourself instead. Lay your foundation of living your best and highest-vibrational life. Or at the very least, just living an honest life and living your inner truth, guided by your highest and true Self. The joy you will find from that will be so much more worth it, so I support you in that goal.
Thank you so very much for stopping by, and reading this very long, personal post, and I pray that you find the healing you seek.
With love and hugs from Source above, I remain your Soul sibling,
Mikazuki
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kevinhikes · 3 years ago
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Gear Review
Happy Friday! At long last, it’s time for the gear review. Overall, the immense amount of time and energy spent carefully researching, testing, and purchasing my gear paid off in a big way as the ‘kit’ I started with was essentially the same one I finished with. Some hot-weather swaps, a new pillow, and a whole bunch of shoes and socks are basically the only changes I made over the course of 4+ months and 2,000+ miles. As such, the grading breakdown is basically the Good and the Okay. 
THE GOOD
Clothing, A+
Clothing was the top-performing category and everything I wore/carried onto Springer Mountain survived into Maine. My initial choices and layering philosophy were spot-on with only a few weather-related swaps during the course of the hike. Highlights include my versatile Patagonia Terrebonne rain/camp pants - a favorite on and off the trail - and my merino T-shirt and hooded quarter-zip mid layer that held up remarkably well to tremendous sweat and abuse. The one notable change: moving to Outdoor Research synthetic boxers after my Smartwool boxers’ natural fibers wore out around mile 700. I stayed comfortable throughout the full range of temperatures and absolutely loved having long sleeves and a hood in camp, even during the height of summer, to keep mosquitos at bay. In all the pictures of myself, the length of my beard is the only thing that changes.
Sleep System, A
My beloved Big Agnes inflatable sleeping pad finally began slowly leaking air a few days before reaching Monson, a remarkable performance given its heavy use and abuse. Best of all, Big Agnes stands by their products and has offered to ship me a replacement at no cost after I was unable to find the leak upon my return home. My down quilt was warm, sometimes too warm, but always comfortable during cold nights, highly versatile, and lightweight. The Nemo Fillow pillow I picked up early on in Georgia to replace a leaky Klymit inflatable was solid throughout. The only minor ding in this category was the 50 degree sleeping bag I was forced to quickly order in Pennsylvania after realizing that the summer nights were too chilly for just a liner sheet, proving just a little thin on occasion. That one is mostly on me for not being prepared or able to sufficiently shop around.
Hydration, A-
This is an area I thought a lot about going into my hike and one that I feel pretty good about at the end. The CNOC bag was worth every penny and more, especially with the addition of the coupling ring to attach my Smartwater bottles. Consistently opting for the 750mL bottles over the 1L bottles was a great way to avoid over-carrying water and the smaller size was generally easier to deal with vis-a-vis side pockets. The slow flow of my Sawyer Micro was a major pain point at first but entirely rectified by switching to the Sawyer Squeeze. I might have opted for the larger 3L CNOC in retrospect to eliminate the double trips to the water source in camp but that’s a minor complaint. I also feel like there’s a way to better block some of the crud from going into the filter but, again, this is a nitpick. Overall a much better time than my first big hike with a Mini strapped to the top of my water bottles.
Pack, B+
I went through two packs on trail, with Osprey graciously sending me a new Exos pack after my older model Exos began tearing at the seams before Harpers Ferry. Both were solid but neither were perfect. I had heavily modified the older model, resulting in some interesting cinching and buckling. The ‘flap jacket’ on the new model was far more streamlined but the pack also featured no organizing or hip belt pockets, just the back mesh panel and a cavernous interior. While I appreciated the stability of the rigid frames and relatively light weight of both packs, I wouldn’t describe either set of shoulder straps as particularly comfortable. I would have liked to test drive more packs, especially from some of the cottage brands, but overall got great value and good performance.
Cook System/Food Storage, B+
My cook system was mostly good throughout, just bulky/heavy. The scent-proof Opsak bags were mostly a waste and I consistently had trouble fitting all my food stuffs into one. I eventually began just storing food in gallon freezer bags and stacking those in the Ursack bear-proof bag. Regarding the Ursack, I can’t complain since it meant never having to hang a bear bag or worry about mice, though the prevalence of bear cables/boxes on trail and overall lax food storage practices towards the end meant I probably could have gotten away with a standard dry sack. I mostly loved my Jetboil, appreciating its speed and fuel-sipping efficiency, but it was often awkward to fit in the Ursack and in my pack and always a pain to clean out. I hung onto my Talenti jars for far too long, loving it as a separate mug even after I gave up cold soaking breakfast but always finding myself short on space. Would definitely rethink for future trips, perhaps looking into the lighter, more-versatile Jetboil Stash.
THE OKAY
Shelter, B
I loved my tent, my Juliet, but its propensity to leak prevents any higher grade than a B. On clear days, the tent was perfect, easy to site with its small footprint, easy to pitch with only two stakes, and right-sized for my 5’9” frame. In inclement weather, however, the overhead seams would saturate and eventually leak despite an attempted resealing during my DC stopover. Worse, the low walls of the bathtub floor and short overhang of the fly meant significant splash back during heavy rain. The doors and vestibules on both sides were super useful but still small and vulnerable to rain; with no room in the tent for my pack, I eventually began to store the pack with its rain cover on as a precaution. Big shoutout to my Tyvek footprint which was used under my tent, in the shelters, and sometimes on trail when I didn’t want to sit in the dirt. Only wish I had cut it just a little wider to provide a floor under the vestibules.
Footwear, B-
This is a tricky one because I went through SO MANY pairs of shoes and experienced a fair amount of foot soreness but also had exceedingly few blisters or other foot ailments. Some recency bias is also at play with this grade. The two pairs of Timps I wore for the first 1000 miles were solid, no complaints. The switch to the minimally-cushioned Superiors for Pennsylvania was perhaps ill-advised in retrospect, but it’s hard to assign sole (ha) blame for my foot soreness when I was pushing big miles over such rocky terrain. My return to Timps was marred by the fact that pair #3 blew out so dramatically at the start of the White Mountains and after less than 400 miles. I came to love my final pair of shoes, the Merrell Moab Speed Mid GTXs, but they were expensive, required safety pins to affix my gaiters, and showed unacceptable signs of wear after only 50 miles. Thankfully Merrell rectified the situation with a new pair once I got off trail. Additionally and annoyingly, I went through a lot of socks, at least 4 pairs of Injinjis that always wore through at the big toe. Superfeet insoles at $50 a pop were another surprise recurring expense and I remain on the fence regarding their role in alleviating my early shin splints. Finally my camp shoes, the expensive and not-exactly-ultralight Xero Z-Trek sandals, were only okay, offering good stability but NO cushioning over rocks and roots. In the end I made it 2,000+ miles on foot so I clearly did okay here overall.
Rain Protection, C
I should first acknowledge that all rain gear is mostly a waste on trail. If it rains, you’re going to be wet and no rain gear is going to keep you dry for long; you’ll sweat through or the gear will wet through. I quickly learned to hike wet, temperatures permitting, and rarely wore my jacket outside of camp. Despite its light use my jacket attained and still retains a distinct mustiness. I picked up the pack cover at a shelter, and found it somewhat useful in keeping items stored on the exterior of my pack from getting soaked or caught in branches, but it collected water at the bottom and never kept the pack fully dry. That meant nearly always using a pack liner. Word of advice: skip the far-too-fragile liners from the outfitter and just go with the tried-and-true heavy duty trash bag.
OTHER TOP PERFORMERS
Trekking Poles, A+
Durable, lightweight, cheap, and still intact. What more could I ask from a pair of poles that bore my full weight on numerous descents?
Watch, A+
Ditto for the Casio F-91W digital watch I picked up in Virginia. This thing is bulletproof, and once I started paying attention, I saw them everywhere on trail. I swear Casio needs to lean into this popularity and become the official watch sponsor of hiker trash. 
Headlamp, A(AA)+
I used my headlamp basically every night for 140+ nights to journal, and went through ONE set of batteries! They pooped out on literally the last night on trail. Amazing performance.
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tech-battery · 4 years ago
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The Asus RT-AX86U Is a Wi-Fi 6 Router That Doesn't Sacrifice Looks for Power
Wi-Fi 6 has accelerated its creep into mainstream wireless networking, urged along by the similarly accelerating spread of gigabit internet. Until the last few months or so, purchasing a Wi-Fi 6 device has largely been a decision more about future-proofing and less about immediate gain. That’s quickly changing, however, with all manner of wireless device manufacturers releasing products boasting about blazing this and blistering that, and it’s finally time to take a serious look at 802.11ax routers.
The Asus RT-AX88U was an early entrant in the field, and the company now has several follow-ups, including our best gaming router runner-up: the RT-AX86U. There, I gave it credit for being extremely fast and for its restrained physical design. However, I took issue with Asus’s UI decisions. In the end, I concluded that I would recommend it to anyone looking for a good gaming experience. Now I’m taking an even deeper dive to find out: Is this router worth it for just any old person and not just gamers presumably reading this in a hoodie with some kind of RGB lighting and heat vents? I think so, and you should, too.
As far as the design of the Asus RT-AX86U goes, there isn’t much to say, and frankly, that’s a good thing. It’s neither a slab nor a monolith, neither an ancient alien artifact nor an air freshener chic pod (though it can be a Gundam, apparently). It’s black, it stands upright, and it has three stabby, removable, adjustable antennas jutting from the top. It has four outgoing gigabit ethernet ports—one of which is an auto-prioritizing gaming port—in the back, a gigabit WAN, and a 2.5-gigabit LAN/WAN port for those lucky enough to be able to make use of it. Two USB 3.2 Gen 1 ports give you a fast NAS if you’ve got a hard drive lying around.
Getting it set up is a quick process, refreshingly letting me choose up front whether to separate the 2.4 and 5 GHz bands. Knowing that I would need to reconfigure some real dumb smart devices, I opted for separation, and my network was up and running in about five minutes.
But it should be noted there are two ways to handle setup and management. One is via a lovely mobile app, and the other is via the browser, and I hate the browser-based UI of Asus routers. It’s just a weird, unfocused, confusing mess. If you’re the type of person who wants deep, granular control of your home network, but don’t want to shell out for expensive enterprise-grade hardware, you could do a lot worse than Asus, but prepare to hunt for the settings you need to adjust. Trudging through the settings reveals menus and submenus that stretch out seemingly to infinity, with an intimidating depth that would have most people regarding it with narrowed eyes and a feigned understanding, muttering, “Yes, I see,” as they slowly mouse up to click the X button on that tab.
The intro screen has a basic network topology map which gives you a diagram of what all is connected, and a section where you can split out your 2.4 and 5 GHz bands or update your network SSID and password. After that, you get the shiny feature-y stuff, the majority of which, like the specific data-type prioritizing Adaptive QoS, Traffic Analysis, and various media modes and security, is powered by Trend Micro.
Together they offer a host of security features in the AiProtection section, promising to block malicious sites, protect you from Distributed Denial of Service attacks, and network vulnerability attacks like Heartbleed, while also monitoring outgoing traffic for suspicious packets from virus-infected devices. Each tab under this section gives you reports of suspicious network behavior, with downloadable logs for your review. In testing at wicar.org, the router blocked all but two of 10 sites, with Safari catching the last two. It seemed to work well, though the experience is barebones, and unlike the rest of the settings for the router, there are no opportunities for customization, just toggles for each of the three categories of protection. But using this, or a few other key features powered by Trend Micro, will bring you eventually to this EULA notice:
It seems that in order to have access to Trend Micro’s features, you must agree to give them access to all kinds of data, which may include your e-mails or your web browsing history. It’s spooky stuff, as usual, but thankfully all fairly easy to opt in or out of, as well—so long as you can bear the ensuing message about the valuable capabilities you’ll lose out on. So, it’s not quite the deal with Ursula the Sea Witch I initially worried it was, and, in the end, the details in the EULA are perhaps not unexpected for security software like this. I reached out to both Asus and Trend Micro for their input on what sort of data they collect and how exactly it’s used, and we’ll update here when we get a response.
Deeper in the menus, you will find a surprisingly pleasant Open NAT section with pre-configured port reservations for specific games and consoles, and NAS options that include support for Apple’s Time Machine backup software. Most people will go wall-eyed looking at options past these, but it’s worth noting that if you want to use features like OFDMA and MU-MIMO, beamforming, and, I don’t know, the actual Wi-Fi 6 standard, you’ll want to push on into the advanced settings—just don’t expect to understand much of what you are presented with here, unless you have studied networking down to a very specific level. That said, if you have time and sufficient grit, you can sift through it and find some truly powerful options.
Now, for all the shade I throw at the browser interface, Asus actually does a pretty decent job with their mobile app. Appearance-wise, it’s far from the tidy design of most of Asus’s competitors; the app looks the way we might have imagined the UI of the future would in the early aughts or late ‘90s—all sci-fi space controls floating against a star field, complete with animations that are just there to look neat. While very silly, it’s a breath of fresh air after using the web interface, with more of the stuff you would want quick access to right there on the home screen, like Adaptive QoS mode switching, letting you quickly switch priority to games, video conferencing software, media streaming, and more.
While not quite as robust as the browser UI, the mobile app is far more user-friendly, even if it isn’t perfect. I greatly appreciated seeing signal noise shown for individual devices—also an option in the browser—which helps a lot when placing them for the best signal, which is especially important for things like smart speakers, which can be made or broken by your choices regarding network topology.
Looking at the feature list, it’s not unusual to wonder why in the hell you would want to command your router with Alexa. But, in the interest of being thorough, I grabbed my long-banished Echo Dot to test, and I did find some genuinely useful bits here—temporarily activating your guest network, for example, or pausing wifi. Perhaps the most useful of the bunch is the ability to change Adaptive QoS modes without going into the app.
The main shortcoming of Alexa Skills remains: Every command must be prefaced with “Alexa, ask my router…”, followed by a prescribed set of phrases you must memorize (or look up every time, defeating the purpose). The pricier RT-AX88U gives you a small selection of more natural-sounding phrases like, “Alexa, pause my wifi.” I tried anyway; not only did it not work, but Alexa pretended not to know who I was.
The rest of my smart home experience on this router, initial difficulties aside, was a good one—lightbulbs flicked on and off, routines ran, and my chosen smart assistant didn’t hesitate to respond to my requests.
The RT-AX86U is powered by a 1.8 GHz quad-core CPU with 1 GB of RAM and 256 MB Flash memory. Theoretically, it can transmit up to 4804 Mbps on the 5 GHz band, or up to 861 Mbps on the 2.4, but you’ll never see those speeds, nor should you expect them. It has four antennas—one of which is an internal, printed circuit board antenna, and works all the way up to the 160 MHz band, which is a key component of Wi-Fi 6, and necessary to reach the fastest speeds the router is capable of. It has a long list of other terms that describe how powerful it is.
As I’ve noted previously, the RT-AX86U is great for gaming. I wanted to take it further, so I decided to stress test the router, streaming music at the highest quality available on multiple devices, watching a 4K nature documentary on Apple TV, which is known for its high-bitrate streaming, conducting a video call with a friend, and playing CS:GO on official servers. This is a realistic scenario in my home, and the RT-AX86U aced it—I saw no sign of buffering or stuttering anywhere, my friend reported clear audio and smooth video, and in-game ping seemed unaffected. In raw numbers, I had to move into my back yard to get anything slower than the max I’m getting from my ISP, finding that I had good, usable internet even at the farthest reaches of my yard, which is about a fifth of an acre.
I tested file transfers with a 734 MB copy of Ernest Saves Christmas—a typical use case for network storage—and found the transfers to be very fast, with the limiting factor seemingly the actual read/write capability of the router. Transfer speeds reached as high as 465.79 Mbps, but averaged between 310 and 350 Mbps, and hardly budged at any distance. Write speeds were about half that.
After determining that the RT-AX86U was gross overkill for my needs, I thought I would look at Asus’s AiMesh, which lets you use multiple Asus routers to create a mesh network. Self-healing and pretty straightforward to set up, an AiMesh network can definitely get you that kind of blanketed internet plants crave.
I tested the mesh capabilities with the addition of an RT-AX82U, and for some reason, setting this up ended up actually being the only way I could finally get my “smart” bathroom light switch to join my new network. I came to this experience with the breezy setup of Eero already in mind and found it similarly easy with Asus. Network performance was as expected, with devices generally connecting to the node closest to them or, at least, with the lowest amount of signal noise, and no real noticeable changeover time. Basically, mesh networking is a revelation to anyone who hasn’t used it, and that much is true here, as well.
In the end, the Asus RT-AX86U is a great router, with speedy performance and easy setup, despite an annoying menu system. Actually getting down and dirty in the settings is a pain, thanks to confusing, incompletely explained technicals and messy organization, but basic and intermediate settings can be easily changed in the mobile app. Security and device prioritization for the router is decent, though I recommend you review the EULA before proceeding to make sure you’re comfortable with the exchange you must make to take advantage. The mesh setup was fairly painless. The RT-AX86U met and, in some cases exceeded, my expectations, at least where it counts. Of course, you’re going to pay for it, at MSRP $250—though you can find decent discounts at the usual online retailers.
Whether you just want lag-free gaming or you need something that can handle a heavy overall load, this router does it with aplomb. We are rapidly approaching the day when recommendations like this one isn’t just about future-proofing, but you will find in the RT-AX86U a router more than capable of meeting the unexpected demands put upon all of us this year. If you’ve got a smaller home that needs a lot of power and would prefer to check out mesh networking at a later date, this is absolutely the router for you.
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saturnsovereign · 7 years ago
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all the numbers
aight, i got nothing else to do. i’ll try to keep them less than a paragraph short tho. 
1: Talk about the first time you watched your favorite movie.First, I’d have to decide my overall favorite movie, but I don’t have a Favorite ya know. But if I had to pick some, my default answer is Beauty and the Beast and Treasure Planet. I don’t really remember watching Beauty and the Beast but I do know that I loved their soundtrack. Treasure Planet, I’d seen some clips on youtube and one of them made me cry so I thought I’d check it out and man I loved it bc of the adventure and space and pirates. :D
2: Talk about your first kiss.My first kiss happened the summer of my Sophomore-Junior year of HS and its what set up the drama for Junior year. Anyway, confused feelings had been in place beforehand and I had gotten with and broke-up with my ex-bf in a little more than a month due to conflicting feelings that I realized during our band trip to Disneyland. Fast forward a few months, my friend confessed her feelings for me first over text, and I said I felt the same way. She invites me to her birthday party which was a sleepover. Once everybody fell asleep I kissed her on the cheek and I thought that would be it, but she pulled me back for a kiss on the lips… and then we had a makeout session for like the whole night. Then a few weeks pass and she dumps me. :/ What made it worse was that she held it over me for the rest of the school year since we were on the same team together. 
3: Talk about the person you’ve had the most intense romantic feelings for.This one is easily my girlfriend. I’ve told the story about the prank and our fake dating shenanigans, but lord I fell for her so hard. I have a thing about touch, and I don’t really like it when people touch me all the time or without permission. But with her man.. her hugs–I’m shorter than her so she basically envelopes me and like I still think back to the first day I came back after That Day which was band camp weekend but man that was a good hug and we weren’t even dating yet. Sorry, I digress, but I found her so much easier to trust than everybody else I’d been with. Like with my ex-bf I was always holding back my actual feelings/pretend everything was ok and with ss I always had to watch my language, and like with both of them I never got around to fully trusting. But with her-my gf-I trusted her before we started dating and I trusted her so much more after we got together. I trust her still to this day. And with the romantic feelings bit, I’m not afraid of being a dork around her and flirt with her and hold her and god. She’s so beautiful. 
4: Talk about the thing you regret most so far.There’s a lot of things I regret. But I think rn, the one I can tell you is that I didn’t work hard enough in high school bc I never thought I’d make it through high school. 
5: Talk about the best birthday you’ve had.This last one actually. Heh. I got to spend my day with my gf :)
6: Talk about the worst birthday you’ve had.I don’t really have bad birthdays, I just hate my birthdays bc I don’t like having been born. :/
7: Talk about your biggest insecurity.Idk what exactly is my biggest insecurity but I’ll talk about all my other insecurities. I think I’m a horrible conversationalist, being all awkward and highly introverted. I don’t complain about my body too much but I certainly don’t celebrate it. I hate my laugh and my voice, and I don’t think my face is really anything to look at I used to think everybody just talked to me because they had no other choice but to. I feel easily replaceable and forgettable. I feel like I’m dumb af bc I’m not exactly the quickest thinker and sometimes I can’t hear people. I feel like I’m always doing the wrong thing and I stand out but not in a good way. I just feel like a good annoyance in general. 
8: Talk about the thing you are most proud of.I’m proud of being able to graduate high school. :/9: Talk about little things on your body that you like the most.I like my calves, they’re the only thing that show I have some muscle. I used to like my biceps too but they’ve deflated and there’s like no muscle there anymore. I like that my ears can do the little wiggle thingy. Also my hands can type medium-fast speed. 
10: Talk about the biggest fight you’ve ever had.The biggest fight I’ve had is with myself ever since I wanted to kms. But if you want an external fight, its probably the one between me and ss since that shit lasted hella long. 
11: Talk about the best dream you’ve ever had.I don’t remember dreams unless they’re really weird.12: Talk about the worst dream you’ve ever had.Idk if you’d count it as a nightmare bc it was just super weird but I remember a dream about people getting turned it leaves, and witches, and Professor X and idk its all just a mess. 
13: Talk about the first time you had sex/how you imagine your first time.The first time I had sex was in the guard room. And like it was weird bc I’ve never masturbated and stuff so I didn’t know how anything felt down there. I’ve never used a tampon by then so I’ve never had anything inserted there. Also I was pretty unaware where tf my clit was… So. My point is, there was a lot of confusing sensations but I didn’t really mind bc it was my gf who took my virginity. 
14: Talk about a vacation.I went to Lake Tahoe with my gf and her family and we did like hella romantic shit. Like we went on a stroll on the beach at night with all the constellations and we did stuff in bed and we went to an arcade and we swam and man that was a lot of fun. I was on my period tho for most of it, which sucked but. 🤷🏻‍♀️
15: Talk about the time you were most content in life.I just really think about the times my gf would hold me and I’d focus on her heartbeat and the feel of her and nothing else. 16: Talk about the best party you’ve ever been to.idk about this one. With parties, I usually get peopled out. 17: Talk about someone you want to be friends with.I don’t have anyone rn since school hasn’t started yet for me and also I’m pretty anti-social. :/18: Talk about something that happened in elementary school.I was known for being the most aggressive girl/team member in gym floor hockey during PE. So like, picture this, from 3rd graders to 6th graders all being in the same PE class since there were so little of us. Now imagine smaller me coming up behind a taller, older boy and ramming them into the wall in order to get the hockey puck. Also imagine smaller me, sprinting–and I was the fastest girl in my grade for a while–and practically charging at you to get that hockey puck. Needless to say, people liked being on my team. 19: Talk about something that happened in middle school.I was in 7th grade, and I had just transferred into my new school. I had been sitting alone at lunch, minding my own business, and reading a book when three girls come up to me. They introduce themselves and invite me to sit at lunch with them. They really helped. 
20: Talk about something that happened in high school.For my final english project in senior year, we had to do a live acting of Romeo and Juliet. I was in the odd ones out group and it had a bunch of people who would never be in a group together unless they were forced to- which we were. I had done all the preparation for the script, it was like two days before the final date and we agreed to meet at the park’s ampitheater to do a final run together. I had just come back from performing at a parade and lord I was tired. We were fighting about how things were supposed to go a lot. 
21: Talk about a time you had to turn someone down.During 8th grade, I got transferred into another PE class since I signed up for creative writing and there was only one period of it. I don’t remember how, but I eventually became friends with this scrawny kid named Tiger.. no joke. Anyway, I distinctly remember one time we were sitting inside on some bleachers and there were those jerk-y middle school boys behind us and they started picking on him. I remember looking at them and like telling something along the lines of back off. Anyway, skipping to 8th grade dance, I was with my friends when Tiger came along and asked for me to slow dance with him. I did. He was the second person I slow danced with. After a few slow dances my friends were making fun of me for it, but like not bc of him, more that someone asked me to slow dance and they were like poking harmless fun. Thing was, I knew he had a crush on me but I really didn’t return the feelings. Moving on to freshmen year, he calls up my mom due to bowditch directory, and asked me to go to the movies with him. I had to turn him down. 22: Talk about your worst fear.My worst fear, there are a good few fears that tie for that spot. My first one is my fear of abandonment and like disappointing everyone to the point that they just realize its better to go on without me. To an extent, its my fear of being forgotten. My second one, the fear of myself, or rather my intrusive thoughts, and being faced with all things I’ve done and thought, knowing everything that’s happened is my fault and getting confirmation of that. Fear that I’d hurt someone because of something I did. The third one is losing everything that matters to me. 
23: Talk about a time someone turned you down.Let’s just talk about my “breakup” with SS during Sophomore-Junior summer bc it was kinda shitty. The reason its in quotations is bc is it actually a break-up if you were never officially together in the first place. Like, the details get muddled up but she essentially told me over text. I remember this because I was just coming back from working on my drum major routine over the summer, I was on a bridge when I got the text. Something along the lines of her parents and her religion and stuff. It really sucked bc it was before I would leave for guard camp and the people who were going with me had shipped both me and her together. :/
24: Talk about something someone told you that meant a lot.There was one time in Brentwood and one time after SCVC camp. But thats between me and her.
25: Talk about an ex-best friend.For the 4th time today, I’m talking about SS. Like c’mon universe really? Anyway, she was a best friend but honestly man, she wasn’t even the best of my friends. She was a close friend, but she wasn’t the best friend. It didn’t help that I had had a crush on her for half the time before our really bad and long ass fight. 26: Talk about things you do when you’re sick.I just realized I haven’t been properly sick in a while like sick with a fever so I actually have to stay in bed. Like I’d usually get like sniffles and a cough but I’d be okay for the day. So like, I like piling myself in blankets and hide from the world really. 
27: Talk about your favorite part of someone else’s body.The eyes will always get me. Take that and add a smile, and bruh. Thats beauty. 
28: Talk about your fetishes.Forgive me, but I had to search these up bc I didn’t know what exactly counted as a fetish. So like if something isn’t a fetish just like.. tell me or something. So like BDSM like light bondage and blindfold and stuff. Strap-on. Dom/Sub stuff and like orgasm control/denial? Are hickies considered a fetish? I’m reading here something about being bitten but idk if that means voyeurism or like vampire roleplay or if they mean hickies. 
29: Talk about what turns you on.My gf ;) But like kissing. Neck and ear biting/nibbling.  Dry humping. Hair pulling- moreso bc of my haircut. Teasing. When my gf is being really dominant. Also when my gf is being really submissive and her moans. ;D
30: Talk about what turns you off.Those gifs of porn when you’re searching up a tag on tumblr and like bruh, I just wanted to see a pic about like puppy i didn’t need to see some bondage gay puppy roleplay like c’mon!
31: Talk about what you think death is like.A rest from the thoughts in your head. Quiet. The final escape. Maybe you get a second chance. That the next universe you experience, you’re in control, that you get to relive your life but better the next time around.  
32: Talk about a place you remember from your childhood.I remember the first time I stepped foot in the Post Office in my hometown/childhood city. It looked different from the PO in place where we used to live. It was made of bricks and it looked really cool. I’ve only gone in once or twice but I remember all the PO boxes and the wooden shelves and getting to learn how to send a letter. Idk why exactly I remember this but yeah. 
33: Talk about what you do when you are sad.Depends how sad I am. Sometimes I try to distract myself, sometimes I just stew in those thoughts. If its night, then I have a good chance of crying myself to sleep.
34: Talk about the worst physical pain you’ve endured.Idk when I get leg cramps in the middle of the night. It used to happen all the time during Sophomore and Junior year and I’d feel it throughout the day. 
35: Talk about things you wish you could stop doing.Living. heh. Procrastinating and being depressed. 
36: Talk about your guilty pleasures.ml and pr. shhhh
37: Talk about someone you thought you were in love with.5th time. Hopefully my last time talking about her. The reason that what happened between us hurt so much was bc I thought I was in love with her once. That’s why every time she’d shove a crush of hers in my face or something that I’d forgive her. But I got tired of it and waiting for her. I moved on. And it was a good decision bc I now have someone I really am in love with. But she didn’t like it, and apparently she had still “loved” me by letting me go, but thats just bullshit. That’s just bullshit. 
38: Talk about songs that remind you of certain people.I have a whole playlist for my gf. And then there’s No by Meghan Trainor that my friend really hates XD
39: Talk about things you wish you’d known earlier.That I’d make it through HS and graduate. Maybe I could have built something up rather than assume I wouldn’t make it. 
40: Talk about the end of something in your life.It was my birthday, so it was the end of me being that age I was before. 
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