#I know I'd be annoyed if I bought something and then two weeks later it was made free

[the-officially-kat]

So we’re coming up to the halfway mark to Halloween and after some consideration I’ve decided to publish my book HALLOWTON for free!!

Check out my socials on May 1st for the link to the PDF file~

[just-jordie-things]

Hey hey! Saw you wanted more JKK requests and right now I love Megumi so much and what would megumi be like dating another student who also happened to be a Gojo and powerful sorcerer! Please and thank you! 💖💖💖💖

YES! I love writing powerful readers :D

at first the notion of meeting gojo's niece has him annoyed. gojo satoru was more than enough gojo for him. he didn't have any interest in meeting another brat with more power than she knew what to do with.

but gojo was so excited to introduce the pair, happy that his niece had finally agreed to move to tokyo to attend jujutsu tech. he'd been blabbering about it all week to his first years, hoping they'd share the same excitement about having a new colleague.

yuuji and nobara are excited- nobara especially to have another girl around bc these two boys were getting a little... boyish.

megumi has been dreading it since he'd been told.

until one afternoon when he was approaching the vending machine, smoothing his dollar out over his palm. there was someone already there.

she was examining the machine's contents, long enough that megumi paused, just to watch her curiously. was she checking out every thing it offered?

he must've stood there too long, because suddenly she looks over at him, a beam on her face.

"hey," she greets, standing up from her crouched position in front of the row of sweets. "you can go, i haven't decided what i want yet"

she steps away, offering him the vending machine all for himself. megumi doesn't say anything as he puts his dollar in and presses in the code without checking what item he was ordering. he'd done this every day for two years now, he didn't need to double check to make sure it was just the right juice to appease his craving.

"wow, confident," the girl chuckles beside him. "you're a regular, huh?"

"uh, something like that" megumi mumbles as he grabs his drink from under the hatch.

"i'm not so decisive," she admits, a bit bashfully. "what would you recommend?"

"i like this one," he shows her the bottle he'd just bought, holding it out for her to read. "but it's not very sweet, if you'd prefer sweet, i'd go for the strawberry"

she smiles at him, nodding, appreciating his help.

"thanks!" she cheers, before putting her money in the machine and punching in the code for the strawberry drink.

he chuckles, a bit amused by how seriously she took her drink selection. stupidly, a part of him hopes that she likes it, and he hadn't just made her order something that wasn't to her tastes.

but she happily produces her can, popping the top open and taking a long drink.

"it's great. you've got a good eye," she says. "or, tongue" she corrects, laughing to herself.

megumi flusters.

"thanks" he mumbles back, staring down at the ground.

"what year are you?" she asks him suddenly.

"one," he replies.

she's greatly entertained by his short way of speaking, and even more so learning he's her age.

"i'm megumi" he adds after a pause.

"(y/n)," she introduces herself, sticking out her free hand. he doesn't hesitate to shake it, because he's polite like that. "i have to go meet with somebody, but do you wanna show me around later, megumi?"

his eyes widen for a minute. was this flirting? was she flirting with him?? he had no way of knowing, he doesn't think anyone's ever flirted with him before.

(they had, he's just oblivious :))

"okay" he answers.

(y/n) grins, happy he accepted.

"alright, it's a tour date, then," she nods.

his face is hot.

he takes a few long drinks of his juice.

"i should wrap up in about an hour, meet back here?" she suggests.

megumi nods his head a bit too rapidly. (y/n) finds it endearing.

she waves and bids him goodbye for now as she heads off towards the building, far too late for her meeting with the principal now. not that this bothered her, what was he going to do, turn her away? she chuckled to herself at the thought.

megumi was near-frozen in place with his juice in hand. his cheeks were hot and the hand that held his drink felt clammy.

"megumi!" a voice barked behind him, and he turned to see his sensei approaching, likely also looking for a sweet drink. "you okay?" the man laughs to himself as he sees the rosy blush on his face.

"sensei. does having a crush make you feel like you're going to throw up?"

"ha!" gojo snorts, tucking his hands in his pockets as his grin stretches ear to ear. "you got a crush on that girl already?" he asks.

megumi shrugs, staring down at his juice. how was he to know?

"had a feeling you two would hit it off. but i'm glad that you did"

suddenly, the butterflies in his stomach were squashed by the plummeting of his heart. megumi jerks his head up, wide eyes landing on gojo as he shakes his head.

oh god. oh no.

"was that-?"

"my neice? sure was!" gojo cheered.

megumi gulped.

"don't worry, kid," gojo laughs. "i'm not gonna threaten you or anything. she can take care of herself,"

well, at least he wasn't mad that he was just poorly flirting with his niece.

"but you do not want to mess with her," gojo lets out a low whistle. "she's a special grade like me, you know"

oh no.

oh god. ___

keep the brainrot requests coming, my loves!

[the-elder-polls]

Response to the formal invitation :'3 *throws my stupid TES children at you*

(P.S. his story is everchanging as I figure out what the heck is happening in TES lore, but all of the core elements will likely stay the same) SO, his name is Djai. Djai the Curious, to be exact. Djai is a khajiit, more specifically Cathay. I'd like to split the information of him in two parts because his story is very much "before all of that shit happened" and "after all of that shit happened". His story is also very much based on the saying "curiousity killed the cat, but satisfaction brought it back". He lived in Elsweyr for his first years of life, before his parents sold him along with a familial artifact for many reasons. Luckily, through black market slave trading he actually was "bought" by some rich people, but luckily they had some common sense(Crazy for people in TES, I know) , and they raised him pretty much like their own child. They brought him to skyrim, where he would grow up. When he was a young adult, he "moved out", so to say. He actually just said "fuck all of this shit" and went adventuring. He traveled for a long time, met some people, made some important connections - which led to him joining the collegue of winterhold under a fake/pen name, and eventually becoming the archmage, before he resigned because he wanted to adventure more. Later, he met an argonian woman Wonders-About-Stars, who had grown up in morrowind [Most likely in solstheim.] and only recently arrived in skyrim. They became rivals for a long time, but eventually they became friends and got married. Bought a house in riften and,, happy ending for them both, right?

. . . But something wasn't quite right. Djai wasn't satisfied with this, like, at all. Sure, for some people maybe his life would be perfect but he - he craved new adventures. To do something, rather than settle down and live comfortably. And so, instead of doing that, he started going out almost every day to a cave, or a place he deemed interesting, and also started a collection. . . He also became a lot more paranoid than before, almost always feeling that he was being watched. First it was just random artifacts. Anything that was sort of unique, or appeared unique enough to him was added to this collection. But it soon appeared that this would be quite a big collection if he continued that. So he moved on to rarer artifacts: he only considered items that were very rare, or even legendary worthy of adding to it. Until one day, he came across an artifact that would change his life. Forever. A certain book. . .

From his wife's POV, Wonders-About-Stars woke up one day, just to find her husband gone. Didn't think much of it; He's gone all the time, not a big deal probably forgot to tell he was going on one of his adventures again. But the circumstances of his disappearance was getting stranger and stranger the more she discovered. And the more time had passed. One day of him being gone turned into days, then weeks, and when it was a couple of months - she's had enough, and she left their house. No, she wasn't coming back without him. Or, at very worst, without knowing what happened to him.

Meanwhile, Djai's out there living his best life. He got a patron in the face of Hermaeus Mora. Pros; Acess to funky library dimension, gets to satisfy his curiosity and do a bunch of chores for Mora that are centered around knowledge and books. Oh, also, he now has tentacles, so that's a plus. Cons; he now has quite a monstrous appearance. Being that long in apochrypha + under Hermy's influence doesn't do any good for your sanity or appearance. Another con is that he now has Mora in his head permanently and that's annoying hearing that guy go "ERM, actually" every time you think about something the wrong way. Also some side effects from his time in apochrypha for him are really similiar [I based them on it soo] to the symptoms of rabies in cats. He's also friends with my Dragonborn, Isabella/Abdulamassu [She's a dunmer who lived in morrowind until going to skyrim. No, she didn't live in solstheim. Yes, she did go to skyrim because life was absolutely shit] and her "brother" [Not by blood. Or, to be fair, very very distant relatives by blood, but it's complicated to explain. They've just decided that they're so close that they're going to be brother and sister] Ziikreh, my dragon priest OC who's pretty much a TES version of a boomer complaining about "back in MY DAY!!" because he was dead for, like, a LOT of time and got fully resurrected when the dragons got resurrected [Again, it's complicated, but his soul is connected to the soul of a dragon so when the dragon "woke up" he also did]

They are all my Skyrim OCs!! I have a bit more, but it's already getting long, so I'll wrap it up here.

I also have OCs for Oblivion and Morrowind, but since i'm in the process of playing both games rn I don't know the lore fully, so they're underdeveloped at the current moment!

Just going to spoil it by sayin my Morrowind OC, Ma'eric, is based on my friend's cat. That all started as a stupid joke about how her cat is very similiar to a khajiit, and now I made it real lmao. Ma'eric is a necromancer who isn't sure who he is quite yet, he can't help but feels like someone trapped in the wrong body. Always having to pretend that the body fits him by acting like a different person, when in actuality, it does not. Hm, I wonder what that could be foreshadowing. . .

OH THAT'S ALL SO COOL. hermy mory hitchhiking a ride in my head would also drive me a bit cuckoo bonkers. also the dragon priest's soul being tied to their dragon is SO COOL i love it

fact for a fact: my oc version of konahrik was pledged to vulthuryol, the dragon you find in blackreach

[deepautumncolors]

January Sucks

I feel like I'm always waiting for something in January. This is my least favorite month, so usually I'm just waiting for it to be over. But this is the second year in a row that I'm waiting for something other than that.

In 2023, only four days into the new year, the screen of my personal laptop cracked down in the bottom right corner and the hinge became unscrewed.

I had bought it almost two years before so the warranty had expired already, but they said I could reinstate it and then they would be able to fix it and cover any problems for the next two years. BUT, for some reason the new warranty would take 30 days to go through. So I waited and waited for it to be February 3rd. At least I could still use the laptop because everything still functioned normally, but I couldn't close it so I had to leave it open all the time. Anyway, so 30 days later I finally called them back. They sent me a box so I could ship it to them and get the screen replaced, and then I had to wait some more to get it back. Luckily it was only gone for a week, and it came back good as new.

THIS year, there's a lot going on. For one thing, I brought my car to the body shop on Monday to get the damage fixed from the storm we had last week and haven't heard back yet. Secondly, I'm looking forward to my vacation next week. But the one that's bothering me the most is that I'm waiting for my Instagram account to go back to normal.

On January 7th, I was having a lazy Sunday afternoon and I decided to see if I could get some more followers. I've found that a good way to do that is to follow other accounts who post similar content and like some of their posts so they notice you in their notifications, and sometimes they follow back. So I went on a spree of following a bunch of people and liking a bunch of their posts.

Well, apparently Instagram doesn't like that because it's considered suspicious behavior that makes them think you're a robot. Well, sheesh! How else is anyone supposed to get followers? If they thought I was doing something fishy, why didn’t they just give me one of those tests where you have to click on all the pictures of traffic lights or motorcycles so I could prove I’m a real person?

So now, every time I try to like someone's post or comment on it or follow an account, I get this message:

I looked it up and it sounds like my account is banned, but I can't figure out how long it's going to last. I've sent in several support requests, but they haven't responded to me. And when I go to look at the past reports I've submitted, it says there aren't any.

And when I go to the Violations area, it says there aren't any of those either.

It also doesn't even acknowledge the fact that I can't do things.

Instagram, I have one word for you: Lies.

I thought my ban would only last for one or two days - you know, maybe 24 or 48 hours? Every day I think, maybe it's over now, and I try to follow someone or like a post. But that stupid message keeps popping up, and it'll be two weeks tomorrow.

So, I'm pretty annoyed that I don't know how long this will be going on and that they won't give me any information. That's the vaguest message there could possibly be. "Try Again Later"? How much later? They didn't even tell me what I did wrong, I had to look it up on the internet to find out. If I knew what date it was going to end, I'd be able to stop wondering.

Oh, and when I make my posts and add a caption at the bottom, the captions don't show up. So it's just a post with no explanation under it. When my account works again eventually, I'll have to go back into each post and re-add them.

At least I got about 7 or 8 new followers that day.

[aalbedo]

injured!tartaglia x reader (part 2)

part two of this

request: Hello I absolutely loved your one shot of Tartaglia helping an injured reader sdjgksjfkf if you don't mind I'd like to request a part 2 where reader asks him the story behind that big scar he pointed out? Maybe reader finds HIM injured and returns the favor and asks about his other scars while they treat his wounds?? Ahaha reader's just like "fuck I can't just leave you here to bleed out but don't you dare think this means I care for you or anything" lmao

format: two-parter (again, read part one first)

ship: tartaglia x reader

tags: fluff, reader is the traveler-ish (a completely separate character from aether and lumine, but still the traveler, does that make sense?), author forgets basic wound care halfway into the fic

warnings: blood, mildly graphic depiction of injury, stitches and needles

words: 3027

notes: hey so uhhhhhhhh i kinda went off the rails with this one, i didn't really follow the prompt in some points since uh... the part about the stories behind the scars... i kinda forgot about that... or like... eh you'll see, anyway, - banner still fucked up it will be fixed i prommy

Despite the high number of hilichurl camps, abyss mages, fatui agents, ruin hunters and ruin guards, Lisha was still one of your favorite places to explore, it was full of treasure chests to open, sweet flowers to pick and ore to mine. Plus, the atmosphere managed to still be peaceful, the open fields where the sun would shine uninterrupted for hours and hours on end were your favorite place to sit down and bask in the sunlight.

Your leg was still recovering from the tough hit you had taken a few weeks prior, which meant that you had to take more breaks while adventuring. Not that you would complain, taking breaks, putting some numbing cream on your wound, eating some reinvigorating food and drinking fresh water was just as satisfying as exploring.

After resting for about half an hour, you decided to get up, careful not to put any pressure on your injured leg. You threw your bag over your shoulder and walked north-west, towards the road to the chasm.

In the distance, you started hearing sounds of fighting, and as you got closer to them, you could see a tall figure fighting not one, but two separate ruin hunters, with a bow. It was too far away to see the person’s face, but you had half an idea of who it could be.

Then, out of nowhere, a bright purple flash, and in less than a second the ruin hunters were both on the ground, completely destroyed. Yep, it’s Tartaglia.

You thought about turning away and changing your direction before he could see you. You had already reluctantly thanked him for helping you that day, as well as paying for your medication out of his own pocket, but you still felt like you owed him a favor that you really did not want to fulfill. He was still the guy that almost destroyed Liyue, and made you fight for your life, despite everything.

Until you saw him fall to his knees, and as he turned to face your direction you could see his chest covered in blood.

You acted on instinct, ignoring your brain telling you to leave him alone, that he could tend to his own wounds, and you sprinted towards him. He may be an asshole, but you just want to avoid him, not leave him to die.

He was resting his back on a wall, head thrown back. Even from far away, you could see that he was breathing heavily. That same backpack you had seen on him the day he helped you was now sitting next to him, his left hand already rummaging through it.

His head shot up, he had definitely heard you coming towards him, his eyes widened as you kneeled down right in front of him and got a better look at his condition. You could see a cut crossing his chest, from his right shoulder to the middle of his torso, right over his heart. His grey coat was soaked in blood, as it pooled on the bend of his hips and slid down to the ground.

“So you do care about me.” he broke the silence, struggling to talk through heavy breaths and groans. He was completely out of breath, covered in blood, definitely in pain, and all he could think about was joking.

“I don’t. Just because I hate you, it doesn’t mean I want to see you dead.” You didn’t have time to get mad at him. “Also - I owe you a favor, I guess.” The only thought in your head was to help him, so you did not think twice before quickly unbuttoning his coat and undercoat and moving them out of the way.

You got a look at his chest and through the blood you could see several other scars, most of them looked years old, a few of them looked pretty large, carving his chest and abdomen. You wondered if his entire body looked like this, and why his face didn’t.

“Like what you see?” he joked again, his voice sounded hoarse, strained, very clearly struggling to talk. You sighed, couldn’t he just shut up for a minute?

You turned to your own bag to pull out anything you might need to help him. Potions, numbing cream and even a stitching kit laid next to you. You had bought the kit after that day, and started learning how to stitch wounds.

“No,” you dismissed him again. He whined quietly, you weren’t sure if it was because of your response or the wound.

All of the sudden, you felt… fear? Fear of what? Him passing out? And anger, at the fact that he wasn’t taking the situation as seriously as you were. He could easily die from this wound and all he was doing was making jokes.

You quickly started cleaning the blood with a cloth in one hand, while holding a bottle of antiseptic potion in your left, ready to pour it on top of the cut. You were being quick, passing your hand over his chest as fast as you could, trying to gather all the blood while avoiding the open skin, but there was so much of it that in mere seconds the cloth was soaked and completely useless.

You looked up at him and he was staring at the ground, his eyes completely unfocused. “Childe,” you called him and he squeezed his eyes closed, “try to stay awake.”

“Easy to say,” he muttered. At least he was awake.

You threw away the bloody cloth, and poured the antiseptic potion directly on his scar with no warning. Despite knowing that you were just helping him, a wave of guilt washed over you as you heard him cry out from the pain and throw his head back, wincing again when he hit the wall.

Half a bottle of potion and another clean cloth drenched in blood later, the wound had completely stopped bleeding, and you finally breathed out all the tension you were holding in your body.

His face, and body, were completely pale from the blood loss. His mouth was agape, eyelids half closed - looking at you, he sighed, barely letting any air out. You glared back, but by the way his head was positioned, you couldn’t help but look at his lips, the way they moved slightly every time he breathed out, they seemed so… soft, sweet. You brushed aside a thought that had snaked into your brain. His mouth curled up and he barked a laugh, but he stopped immediately and groaned again. Had he noticed that you were looking?

“Don’t laugh, it’ll hurt you,” you reminded him as you threw away the second blood drenched cloth.

“Sure,” he replied, voice still strained. “Whatever you say.”

You find a third cloth, the only clean one you had left, used some water from your bottle to make it damp and used it to wash your hands.

“Don’t talk either,” you looked at him as you opened a small glass jar containing numbing cream. “What were you thinking, being here alone and fighting two ruin guards?” He opened his mouth. “Don’t answer, you’ll tell me later.”

“I was just collecting some debts when those two attacked me.” He groaned again.

“I said, don’t talk if it hurts.” You made it clear from your tone that you were annoyed at the way that he was acting.

You dipped a couple of fingers into the cream, and hesitated before placing your bare hand on his chest, carefully placing the cream around the wound, so that he would not feel pain when you would be stitching it closed. As you got a better look at the cut, you noticed how the skin had been basically mangled, it looked like it would not be an easy recovery.

“You look like you know what you’re doing,” he pointed out, before groaning again. You were starting to wish you had taped his mouth with something.

“Because I know what I’m doing, I’m not an idiot. And you’re making me regret helping you, just shut up already.”

“Make me.”

Your hand froze over his skin. You moved your eyes back up to him, trying to decipher his expression. Was that an invitation, or just teasing? He hadn’t even tried to put on a smug face, his expression just looked tired and worn out, which made it even harder to decipher.

The longer you looked at him, the weirder it would get, you would have to do something before it got awkward and that thought from earlier slammed back into your head.

You wanted to wish you had run the other way, but the truth was that you were glad you hadn’t. Maybe it was all of the tension you had accumulated while seeing all that blood flow out of him, maybe it was the heavy lidded look he was giving you, but you placed your clean hand on the side of his face, cupping his cheek. His eyes widened, mouth parted ready to say something, but, before he could, your lips were on his.

The kiss was fast, you pulled back almost immediately and averted his gaze right away. You could feel him staring at you as you put your hand back into the jar and picked up some more cream.

“I didn’t think you would actually-” he didn’t finish the sentence.

You quickly caught a glimpse of his expression before focusing on taking care of the wound. You contained a laugh as you saw him look absolutely dumbfounded and flustered, he had seriously been rendered completely speechless by what could barely be considered a kiss. If he hadn’t lost that much blood that day, his cheeks would definitely be red.

Honestly, you couldn’t believe what had happened either. You couldn’t believe you had even done it. You could’ve just laughed it off and kept medicating him in silence. But you were glad that you didn’t.

Neither of you uttered a word for a while, and even though the atmosphere wasn’t explicitly awkward, you wished he would say something. After a thick layer of numbing cream and several minutes of silence, you finally gathered the courage to look back at him. He was clearly pretending to look away, as if he hadn’t spent the entire time looking at you working.

“Is the pain gone? Can I stitch it now?” Your voice came out unexpectedly soft. You touched the skin around the wound, waiting to get a reaction from him.

His head snapped back to face you, and he nodded. “Can’t feel a thing,” he said as he touched his own chest. “I can stitch it though, if you wa- Ah!” He lifted his right arm, the injured one, and immediately stopped mid-air, “fuck- shit, not this,” he almost yelled.

“You ripped a tendon.” You gently took his right arm, putting it back down for him, and looked at his shoulder. “I’ll stitch it, don’t worry - I’ve learned.”

He didn’t say anything, and you took it as permission. You opened the kit you had bought at Bubu pharmacy weeks prior: recurved needle, thread and tweezers. You could feel Tartaglia’s gaze on you as you struggled passing the thread through the needle, but in the end you managed to do it.

As you hovered over the wound, your gaze fell on a large scar, the one that would normally be visible from over his coat on his neck, and it went down over the left side of his body down until his hip. It looked pretty old, but it was still very visible.

“Can I ask you… how did you get that?”

“Mh?”

You pointed at the scar with your pinkie and slightly traced over it, “this scar, what happened?”

He followed your finger with his gaze, and kept his eyes on the scar even as you moved back to the still open wound. “Oh, that?” You passed the needle through the skin and pulled it out on the other side. “I was 14.”

You saw some blood trickle from the cut as you carefully pulled the thread and passed the needle through one more time. By the way he had spoken, you felt like he was going to continue talking, so you didn’t interrupt.

“Uhm, when I was 14, I-” you heard him pass his tongue over his lips, “the Abyss, you know.” You nodded quietly as you passed the needle through a few more times.

“You don’t have to talk about it, if you don’t want to,” you reassured him, you knew that it was a pretty sensitive topic, or at least you imagined it would be. You stitched a few more loops with ease, getting progressively more comfortable with what you were doing.

“It’s fine, I- I was in-” his voice was starting to shake the slightest bit, but you noticed the change of tone in his voice.

You finally reached the end, and you cut the thread, tying it tightly at the end. You put the needle and the tweezers back into their container.

“I had to fight this… huge- and when-” once you looked up at him, you realized how lost in thought he was, looking at his scar, unable to take his eyes off it, he was probably getting some flashbacks. “I-” his voice cracked, his lower lip trembled ever so slightly, and you could not bear it anymore. Without even thinking about it, you grabbed the side of his face and dragged him in for an actual, proper kiss.

He fell right into it and reciprocated immediately, placing his left hand on the side of your waist. It was sweet, and tender, and you got a better feel of what his lips were like: just as soft as they looked.

You pulled back first once again, and as you got to look at his surprised face, eyebrows raised and everything, your mind started racing. You had just kissed not just a Fatui, not just a Harbinger, but the Harbinger that had tried to kill you, that manipulated you and that nearly destroyed Liyue for the second time. And he was sitting in front of you looking like an idiot.

You couldn’t figure out what you were feeling, but there was something going on deep in your chest, and stomach.

“This doesn’t mean anything,” you quickly clarified before he could say anything. “Neither of them do, they were just to shut you up.”

“Were they?” he asked. And just like that, he came full circle back to the false smugness.

You really, really did not want to think about the weird feeling that was growing in your stomach. “Look at what I got from Baizhu.” From your bag, you pulled out a thick strip made out of cotton and a small vial full of Slime concentrate.

“You’re avoiding the question.”

“What do they mean to you?” you bit back, waiting to see if he would face the question himself, or back out like a hypocrite.

“What did you get from Baizhu?”

You both chuckled, and you noticed his bare chest rising and falling back down as he laughed. “He said it’s a new type of bandaging, you use slime concentrate to stick it to the skin.”

He lifted an eyebrow. “I don’t love the sound of that, actually.”

“I was skeptical too the first time I tried it, but trust me - it’s much more comfortable.” You heard him sigh in defeat as you already spread some of the slime condensate over the strip, and set down the half empty vial. “It won’t hurt.”

“Do you promise?”

He looked into your eyes with a relaxed expression, you looked right back. “I promise,” you replied with a kind smile, before turning your attention to the strip and stuck it over the wound, carefully placing it so that it would cover the entire cut.

“All done,” you said as you started getting up, but you felt a hand grabbing your arm, another one grabbing the side of your face, and tugging you back down, and before you could realize it your lips were once again on Tartaglia’s.

You couldn’t help but reciprocate the kiss, his lips were still soft, and at that point you felt like you could get used to them. The kiss was exactly as gentle as the one before, you could feel your fluttering in your chest as Tartaglia’s thumb started gently rubbing your cheekbone.

He pulled back first this time, and as you opened your eyes back you could see a wide smile on his face.

“Sending me mixed signals, huh?” you pointed out.

“I told you, I never had anything against you personally,” he said as he put his clothes back on, trying to fix them as much as possible, despite the very clear cut on his chest and the blood covering them completely.

“I’m gonna need some time before I’ll believe that.” You got up and reached down a hand for him to get up. “You’re gonna need to prove it to me.”

He grabbed it with his non-injured hand and stood up beside you. “While you take your time, care to walk me to Bubu pharmacy, so I can buy some of these sticky bandages?” he asked, a wide smile still on his face.

“Sure,” you simply replied, picking up both of your back and tossing them over your shoulder.

You watched him move his injured arm slightly, to figure out how much he could move it. Unsurprisingly, not much.

He hummed. “I’m gonna have to take some time off from duty, hopefully they won’t kill me for it,” he said in a joking manner, but you could sense that he wasn’t kidding about the killing part.

“Well,” as you both started walking back to the harbor, you got an idea, “you could use the time off to show me that you truly don’t hate me.”

“Like what?” You could feel his gaze on you.

“Like, we could go out for dinner,” you suggested, keeping your eyes in front of you. “In a completely neutral way, and then see what happens from there.”

“Sounds good.”

“It’s a plan, then.”

[inmyfxith]

Meet again

Pairing: Jaskier x OC!reader

OC: Celda of Ard Carraigh

Warnings: None (I think)

A/N: Sisters' thoughts // The Sisters of Ard Carraigh / The Wolf and the Griffin / Friends out of interest / The End of a Myth

Words: 1 804

Since Geralt had dismissed her and Jaskier, Celda no longer believed it possible to return to the manor. It was by chance that she had come across the witcher. While she had traveled to Novigrad with her sister Nareth, a witcher too, duty and the latter's irresistible desire to fill her purse had quickly driven the two sisters apart. Not knowing how to get home because of the increasingly dangerous roads. Of course, this did not please the other sisters, who did not hold back from saying so.

[Cedrel] - You should have thought of that earlier, Nareth, before offering to take her with you.

[Deirdre] - Can't you take her with you?

[Nareth] - It's far too dangerous, I'd probably be out for weeks just finding him. She's a big girl, she'll be fine.

[Cedrel] - If anything happens to her, you will be held responsible, Nareht. You and Seirsa are the only ones allowed to leave the manor, and you know it.

[Nareth] - If she stays in Novigrad, I'll come and get her after I've taken care of that monster.

Helpless in the face of discord, and feeling guilty for causing a fight, Celda encouraged her sister to go on an adventure, telling her that she would not try anything foolish and that they would meet at the Passiflora, one of the many brothels in town, when she returned. One night, in an inn where she had recently been staying, a man had mistaken her for something she was not, and, to escape him, Celda entered a room at the back of the inn without really knowing what she was doing. However, as her gaze swept across the room, she was horrified to find herself confronted by two men, a young man with brown hair and relatively neat clothes and an older man with white hair, presumably trying to relax in a still steaming bath. The young woman's first reaction was to cover her eyes with her hands before apologizing several times and explaining the situation she was in.

“You have disturbed our moment of relaxation !” The bard, whom she would later learn was Jaskier, remarked with an annoyed look on his face like a child about to throw a fit. With tears in her eyes, Celda apologized again before asking what she could do to make things right. Of course, financial compensation was never too much to ask, so to make amends, she bought them a few more drinks.

The next morning, Celda woke up at dawn with a very specific idea. She asked the innkeeper about the route taken by her new acquaintances and followed him to find them. After walking out of the city, dodging the various gangs, she finally spotted the witcher on his horse and the bard walking beside him.

"You're a witcher aren't you?" Blocking Roach's path, the young woman thought she had already found her way home. Geralt, frowning, answered her with a grunt as Jaskier stared her down from head to toe.

"I need someone to accompany me to Kaedwen, to the north. I can pay you... I don't have the money on me, but once I get to the manor I'm sure my sister will be able to compensate you to the extent of your mission." Folding her hands, Celda put on an innocent face, hoping with all her might that the witcher would agree.

"Kaedwen is not next door, we have things to do, fighting monsters for example."

"I have things to do... you will no doubt find another witcher to accompany you to Novigrad."

The second meeting ended at that moment, Celda had watched the two men disappear over the horizon without losing hope.

Having decided to go alone, Celda quickly took the wrong direction, heading south when she should have been heading north. She arrived in the kingdom of Temeria, more precisely in the vicinity of the town of Vizima. She found refuge in a small house where the inhabitants had agreed to put her up for the night in exchange for a few coins. However, as night fell, she was awakened by screams. Outside, attacking a man who was presumably on his way home, some Barghests were feasting on his body. As if from the underworld, these creatures were violently feasting on their victims.

Celda was pulled inside the house by her host, who was obviously used to this kind of attack and when a witcher was in the area, he was inevitably aware of the existence of these specters.

Geralt was no exception, and when he happened to be in Vizima, Celda jumped at the chance to ask him again if he could accompany him. Because of her desperation, and against Jaskier's advice, he finally agreed. The relationship between Jaskier and Celda calmed down as soon as the bard realized that she posed no threat to his friendship with the white wolf. The young woman was to be only a stopover on the witcher's journey, so she was invited to Cintra's court and to Borch Three Jackdaws' expedition.

Understanding the bard's jealousy of Yennefer's arrival, they had stayed together throughout the expedition, making more or less kind remarks about the witch here and there.

When Geralt had finally unleashed his rage on the poor bard, Celda, as a spectator, had tears in her eyes because of the harsh words used. As Jaskier had announced his departure, Celda had approached the witcher, cautiously, before placing a small purse full of coins on the rock on which Geralt had leaned.

"Thank you, witcher, I will continue on my way alone." She had then walked a short distance with Jaskier, at least as far as the nearest town before they both went their separate ways, but not without promising to meet again one day.

In reality, Celda never went home. Not by choice, but because crossing the different kingdoms and territories seemed so dangerous that even Cedrel, the eldest of the family, had advised her to stay hidden somewhere until Nareth finished her current contract and could bring her back safely to Kaedwen. She went there without really knowing what she was going to study. The faculty of contemporary history finally opened its arms to her. Cedrel was an avid reader, and with her help, Celda quickly became an excellent student.

During her months of study, the young woman met a chemistry professor, Jean La Voisier, whose interest in her grew even more when he learned of the special connection between the girls of Ard Carraigh. She often found him in his laboratory where he asked her questions about what she could and could not do. With the help of the dean of the medical department of the academy, Professor La Voisier prepared a kind of potion that he thought would allow Celda to control her gift, i.e. to be able to communicate with her sisters when she wanted or needed to. However, it was a failure. Celda lost all contact with Cedrel, Seirsa, Nareth and Deirdre. When she concentrated on hearing their thoughts or see their memories, nothing came out.

Leaving the teachers to work out a possible cure, Celda tried to continue studying but without Cedrel's help, things were more complicated. Moreover, the young woman's mental state began to be disturbed as she could not have conversations with Deirdre as she used to do every night before going to sleep. So she stayed in her room, trying to occupy her mind and not go mad from hearing only silence. Things in Oxenfurt had changed since the Battle of Sodden Hill. Soldiers were clearing the streets of what they called "non-human vermin", staging a veritable pogrom. To clear her head, Celda agreed to follow one of the girls she was studying with to one of the town's taverns. After a few drinks, a bard began to sing. Celda could have recognized the voice from a thousand. The eye contact with the bard confirmed only too well what the young woman had already guessed. Jaskier was standing there, singing one of his secret songs. But he did not see her immediately.

Once his little performance was over, the young woman stood up to greet him.

"It seems a long time ago that we were both singing “Toss a coin to your witcher”." Celda said, being positioned behind the bard at the time. Recognizing his interlocutor's voice in turn, Jaskier straightened his head, eyebrows furrowed, before assuming a bewildered look when he finally saw his old friend with his own eyes. Without asking her permission, he took her in his arms for a short while.

"Oh Lord, I love the smell of your hair... a mixture of flowers, old books and... of... of you." sitting down on a stool, the young man took his lute from his lap to try to retune it. He then asked his friend what she had come to Oxenfurt to do, and especially if she was safe.

"I arrived several years ago, you know, but I stayed at the academy most of the time. I study contemporary history, you know..."

Something was wrong with her voice, and Jaskier could hear it. He, who before seemed to be concentrating only on himself, put his lute to one side and turned to Celda.

"What are you hiding, little flower?"

"I lost my link..." Jaskier frowned, no doubt thinking this would make an excellent title for a new song "...I trusted a chemist and here I am cut off from the only beings whose flesh and blood I share."

Taking a piece of parchment and a quill, Jaskier began to write something down before looking up at the young woman.

"Tell me more, darling." Frowning, Celsa complied though.

"The pale potion was sweet, like its fruity scent, but regrettably it led to an accident. Oh Jaskier, if I had known I would never have agreed to drink this liquid which I thought was effective."

Scratching at his paper, Celda leaned over to see what he was writing, but at the last moment Jaskier pulled back enough to hide the contents. Upset, the young woman asked him what he could possibly be writing and especially why he wasn't listening to her.

"I am listening to you, my little flower, I am listening to you. But you see I can't keep my muse waiting. A new song comes to me as I speak to you, a masterpiece darling."

Astonished but knowing the bard, Celda let out a small laugh, being too happy to finally see her friend again. She let him finish writing before continuing his story. Together they talked for most of the night before Celda decided to return to the academy. Jaskier had cheered her up and, as a result, she promised to come back and listen to him sing whenever she could.

[majesticbrownjawn]

Halloween

This is a throwback and may be the first Erik-ish fic I wrote more than two years ago. 

Reader (like me), isn’t a fan of Halloween, her boyfriend tries to change her outlook. 

NSFW, boo.

I hate Halloween; you thought to yourself angrily as you woke up on the morning of October 31. 

You had a bad experience when you were younger and had been scarred ever since. Your boyfriend Jason loved it, though, especially after Black folks decided we'd make Halloween all about the culture. He was excited about his costume but refused to share what it was. He said it was a surprise and would make you have a heart change about Halloween. You doubt that highly. One of his best friends threw a big party every year, so you were headed there tonight. 

Thankfully it was Saturday, and you didn't have to rush to get yourself together after work. You wanted to have lunch with Jason because you knew even though you'd be at the party together tonight, he'd be too excited to pay you much attention.

————

"Hey babe, you wanna grab some lunch with me?"

"Aww, I'd love to, but I have to put some final touches on my costume."

"Really?! I haven't seen you all week Jason," you whined. 

"I know, baby, but I gotta finish this. I promise I'll make it up to you tonight."

"Ok, fine," you said, disappointed, and hung up. 

You waited until the last minute to decide what to be for Halloween because you and your boyfriend usually coordinated what you'd wear, but because he was being so extra this year and didn't want you to know who he was going as, you had to figure things out on your own. By the time you made it to the Halloween store, the only thing left in your size was the cliche slutty French maid costume. You bought it without trying it on and went on with your day. You were out later than anticipated, so you had to get home and get ready quickly. As you were putting on makeup, you heard your phone buzz. It was a text from Jason. 

Hey baby, I'm running behind, so I won't be able to pick you up. I'm sorry. Text me when you're ready to leave, and I'll have an Uber pick you up and bring you. 

He was really annoying you today. 

You arrived to the party about an hour later and was surprised to see the mansion was already packed with people. You picked up your phone to call Jason but saw that you didn't have service. You walked around for a while, observing the detail in the partygoers’ costumes. A blue Avatar and headless horseman caught your eye and impressed you. After looking for Jason for much longer than anticipated, you decided to stop at one of the bars to get a drink. As you stood in the line, a rough tug at your hips and warm breath on the back of your neck startled you. 

"What the fuck are you wearing?!" A deep voice said. 

The slutty French maid costume lived up to its name. Your full breasts were spilling out of the top and the dress barely covered your ass. You added fishnet stockings to cover your deliciously thick thighs and to add to the overall hoe factor. You rarely wore heels, but tonight you decided on a  pair of clear, stacked, 5” sandals. You knew Jason wouldn't like your body on display at the party, but he would just have to get over it tonight. He was lucky you’d even showed up. 

The voice in your ear sounded familiar. You jerked away and looked at the man from the ground up. He wore combat boots, a pair of camo pants that hugged him in all the right places, a vest with metal breastplates, and a thin shirt that hugged his muscular arms perfectly. His hair was cut low all over, except for in the middle, where he had short dreads that sprung up and away from his head wildly. Two of his lower teeth were dipped in gold. The look in his eyes was one of pent up anger and rage. 

Jason had transformed himself into your own personal Erik “Killmonger” Stevens. 

"Jason?" You were surprised at how much he actually looked like Killmonger. He knew you had a not-so-secret thing for him, which is probably why he was so confident you'd love his costume this year. People frequently stopped Jason to tell him he resembled the fine ass actor who played your fictitious, homicidal movie boyfriend, but you never saw it--until tonight. He'd been growing his hair out since the summer, and you hated it so much that you barely let him touch you. You told him he could get some cut when he cut his hair, but he refused to, so you’d been finding other ways to get what you needed the last few months. 

"Answer my question. Who gave you permission to come out dressed like a slut tonight?" 

"OK, Jason, this is cute, but you not gon' talk to me like that."

You turned to walk away, but he grabbed your wrist so tight that your body involuntarily stepped back towards him to ease the pressure on your arm. 

"Where do you think you're going?"

You realized at that moment he wanted you to play along, so for the sake of your wrist and his fun, you went along with it. 

"Nowhere Killmonger. I'm all yours," you smirked at him. 

He grinned devilishly and replied, "You better be. And you can call me Erik."

He grabbed a bottle from behind the bar and instructed you to follow him until you reached a pair of plush couches in the atrium of the mansion. People were all around, dressed in costumes, seemingly entranced by the music and the free-flowing alcohol. 

"Drink," he demanded. 

He started to pour liquor in your mouth before you could respond. 

"Wait!" Alcohol was all over your lips and chin and quickly trailing down your to your breasts. 

He quickly sucked it off your neck and licked the top of your tits in plain sight. 

"What are you doing, Jason?" You were angry and turned on at the same time. 

"You got one more time to call me by another nigga's name. You understand me?"

You nodded your head and squirmed a little, realizing how wet you were. 

"Now drink up. I want you loose tonight."

Erik wanted to dance, so you joined the crowd on the floor. His camo pants were thick, but you could feel how excited he was to be grinding behind you. In character or not, he hadn't touched you like this in months. As your bodies moved together to the music, one of his hands crept up your waist and palmed your breast. You loved the way his hands felt on you. He turned you around to face him and gave you the nastiest, sexiest kiss you’d ever experienced. He was really in character and you loved it. 

After grinding on each other a while longer, he whispered in your ear, "I'm ready to fuck you."

Your eyes bulged out from your head and the tingling in your pussy that had been happening since you laid eyes on him tonight intensified. You were ready to fuck too. 

"Go upstairs into the second door and take off everything. NOW." He dismissed you, confident you’d obey his order. 

You trailed up the stairs and waited for him. 

"The fuck you still got clothes on for?!" Your boyfriend was always firm, knowing how to lovingly put you in your place when I needed to be checked. But the tone he used tonight was different. It almost made you afraid of him.

"I'm going to teach you how to listen today. Bend over." You looked at him with questioning eyes to see if he was serious. 

"Bend the fuck over," he repeated. You leaned onto the bed in front of you, ass straight up, listening like a good girl. He ran his hand down your ass before giving it a firm smack. 

"When I tell you to do something, I mean that shit." You could hear the lust-filled anger in his voice. 

You flinched in pain, but your mouth let out a needy moan, encouraging him to continue. He hit your jiggling backside again just before you heard the sound of your fishnet stockings ripping, leaving your ass fully exposed, save the thong you wore. You felt the string being pulled away from your center and onto your ass cheek. 

His fingers circled your clit from behind, making you arch your back, pushing your pussy deep onto his fingers. You wanted them inside. You were so wet, and they’d slipped in a few times already. 

"Not yet, baby," he growled. He replaced his fingers with his mouth. 

He gave you a good tongue lashing from behind and licked up your slit towards your ass. He slowed down as he made his way upwards, and you tensed up, knowing where he was headed. Your boyfriend loved your body and gave all of himself to you when you had sex. He was attentive and genuinely desired to pleasure every part of your body, but you were never comfortable with him pleasing that part of you. It was still so taboo. Would it even feel good? With him thinking he was Killmonger tonight if he tried, would you be able to stop him? Would you want to stop him? 

As his tongue reached that small region of flesh between your pussy and your other hole, your reflexes caused you to reach one of your hands back, trying to swat him away. 

"Wait, Jas-Erik, whoever the fuck you are." 

That was the worst thing you could have done. He grabbed the arm that tried to push him away and held it on top of your back with his hand, leaving you to balance all of your weight onto the single arm below you. His other hand firmly gripped your upper thigh and pulled you closer to his face. 

"Ahhhhh, Erik." You were gone at the first stoke of his tongue in your no longer forbidden area.

He ate you mercilessly, giving you a pleasure you'd never experienced before. Your arm gave out on you, and you finally just planted your face into the bed. Your ass never moved, though; you were enjoying his tongue too much. He released your arm. The noises you were making was assurance you wouldn't try and stop him again. Your eyes rolled back in slow motion when he opened your pussy with his fingers pushing them deep into you and twisting them as he moved in and out of you, mouth still teasing your ass. 

"Oh my gosh, Jason. Fuck!"

"What you just call me?" His words vibrated against your hole, sending a shiver up your spine. He smacked your ass hard. "What's my name?" 

Smack. 

Your body shuddered, but you didn't answer. 

"Hmm?" He struck you again and laughed. 

"Erik," I whispered. His fingers moved to your clit, sending shockwaves through your body, making your pussy jump from the inside. 

"Louder," he demanded. 

"MmmmErik!" Unintelligible sounds left your mouth as he stroked your clit and ate you from behind. Your climax overtook you, pushing the balls of your feet deep into the soft carpet and making your toes point back up towards the bed. Your body went stiff before going completely limp. You flopped stomach-first onto the bed below you. 

He leaned over you on the bed and whispered, "We ain't done yet, turn over." 

You lazily rolled over on your back as he carefully took off his costume. You watched his beautiful body in awe when he removed his shirt and revealed dozens of scars across his chest and abdomen. He was committed to this costume. 

You were on autopilot and didn't realize you were pleasuring yourself until he growled, "That's a good girl, keep that kitty wet for me." 

Your fingers continued massaging your pussy as he stood over you, stroking his dick and chewing his bottom lip. "You look so good, baby, rubbing your clit like that, but I thought I told you to take your clothes off." He reached down and snatched the top of your dress open, making your breasts spill out and sending buttons flying across the room. 

"Yeah, that's better. Now play with them juicy ass titties." You stuck your fingers in your mouth, trying to get them as wet as possible before moving them in circles around your deep brown nipples. His dick slid up and down your slit as you continued giving special attention to your sensitive breasts. 

Finally, he entered you with a loud grunt, spreading your walls with his healthy girth. You inched up the bed a little trying to adjust to him; it had been a little while. 

"Uhun, where you going? Ain't no escaping this dick tonight." He cupped his hands under your thighs and lifted your ass off the bed, pushing himself further inside, using your legs to pull you up and down his juicy dick. 

"Fuck, fuck, fuck, Erik." 

"Feels better now?" 

"Yes, baby, yes," you whimpered. He twisted in and out of you, pausing every few strokes to stop and lick your clit before entering you again. His pace sped up as he looked down on you with dark eyes. 

"Ahhhh got damn, girl. This pussy so fucking wet." He inhaled deeply like it was going to keep his nut from coming too soon. 

"Of course it is, daddy. You keep tapping my spot," you moaned. He shifted his hips a little, hitting it straight on. 

"Where is it?"

"It's right there. Don't stop, right there, please!" Your fingers gripped the sheets below you as you came hard around him. He rubbed your clit midway through your orgasm, intensifying and extending your high. He came inside you heavy before falling to your side, breathing deeply as you traced your fingers along the raised scars on his chest. 

"So, you like my costume?" Your boyfriend was back. 

"It was aight." He raised an eyebrow at you. 

"I can give you another spanking if my performance wasn't convincing enough." 

"No baby, my ass hurts. But I have a question. You think Killmonger cuddles after sex?"

"Fuck no!" He yelled. "I do, though."

He wrapped his arms around you, placing kisses in the crook of your neck. 

You couldn’t stop grinning as you laid there in his arms. The experience with him tonight was overwhelming. It felt like you fucked someone else. 

You fucked Killmonger. 

-----

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[mimisempai]

Wait for me on the other side 4/8

Chapter summary :

Where we learn more about the past of Mobius and Loki... Where Croki is uncontrollable... And where everything ends in surprise...

https://archiveofourown.org/works/32948254/chapters/82165354

2021 - Loki's apartment

Loki steadied himself with a pounding heart and picked up, "Hello?"

-Loki?

-Yes?

-It's Sigyn.

It took Loki a moment to realize who it was and let the slight disappointment fade away.

-Sigyn?

-Yes, I'm in New York. I came for a conference but it got canceled, so I figured I'd call you. To see if you were free.

An hour later, Loki and Sigyn were walking around in awkward silence. Loki hadn't wanted Sigyn to get any ideas, so he'd preferred to meet her on neutral ground.

"Thanks for coming."

"Sure, no problem." replied Loki.

"It's been too long."

Loki didn't answer, he didn't want to start a sensitive discussion. Actually, he didn't want to be here at all.

"How is Croki?" continued Sigyn.

"He's fine."

"Is he adjusting to life in the city?"

"Yeah, he's doing well."

"Good. I miss him."

Here we go... get out your handkerchief...

Exactly the kind of discussion Loki didn't want to start. Again he preferred not to point out, and again let the awkward silence settle.

"Have you eaten, by any chance?" asked Sigyn.

"No, but..."

"Me neither." replied Sigyn, not even letting Loki speak. "I just realized I'm starving. Maybe we can get a quick bite somewhere."

Loki reluctantly nodded. They passed a small, elegant restaurant, "Freya's restaurant".

"What do you think of this? It looks good." raved Sigyn.

Loki protested, "Oh, no, Sigyn, this place is way too...".

But Sigyn was already heading inside and Loki had no choice but to follow her. The place was small, elegant and serene. And it was completely crowded. Sigyn approached the hostess.

"Good evening, table for two, please."

The hostess looked taken aback and asked her, "For tonight?"

"Yes, please."

The young woman replied with an apologetic tone, "I'm sorry, Miss. We are completely booked for tonight."

She looked at the reservation book before continuing, "But in three... no, I'm sorry, four months from now we have an opening for dinner if you want to make a reservation. Five-thirty or eleven-thirty?"

Sygin, turned on her heel, clearly disappointed and Loki followed her.

A little later, they were eating in a pizzeria on the corner.

Seeing Sigyn's dejected look, Loki took pity on her and said gently, "Don't feel bad. This is one of the best restaurants in town. It's okay that there's no table, that's what I was going to tell you."

Sigyn sighed, "It's not that..." she paused and then resumed, "I didn't do it right."

Loki realized she had lied to him, "You didn't have a conference, did you?"

She shook her head and Loki waited for her to continue.

"I thought you'd see me if it didn't seem like a big deal, a surprise, a quick coffee... But coffee could turn into dinner. And dinner could turn into..."

"What?" asked Loki dryly.

" Anything." replied Sigyn sheepishly.

"So it was an ambush."

"Yes..." sighed Sigyn again.

Loki exasperated, said, " Another one."

Sigyn, on the defensive, asked him, "What do you mean?"

Loki replied wearily, "Sigyn. You were always jumping ten steps ahead. A week after we met, you were already planning our entire lives. When I was still in college, you were picking out real estate. I'd come visit you for the weekend and you'd invited all your high school friends, the whole town to your house to meet me."

Sigyn replied defiantly, "At least I didn't go out with anyone else."

Loki surprised her by asking, "What do you mean?"

"At the party..."

"Oh my God Sigyn. I didn't go out with him! I kissed him once, and he was just a random guy and it was years ago.... I can't believe you remember that."

"Okay. You're right. I don't want to fight. It's just... part of me wonders... if I had moved to New York when you wanted me to..."

Loki replied firmly, "You didn't and leaving was the hardest decision I've ever made. I hope you know that. But that's water under the bridge and it's time to move on."

Sigyn looked disappointed but nodded, "I'm sorry. I never should have called. I just... miss you."

Loki didn't answer. He didn't want to, because if he was honest he would have to tell her that he didn't miss her anymore.

He couldn't stop his thoughts from slipping to his mysterious pen pal and the connection he had with him.

They finished their meal in a heavy silence. Loki was eager to get back to his apartment.

2019 - In front of the TK building

Mobius got out of his pickup, let out a big sigh and entered the imposing building.

When he reached the third floor, he knocked on the door.

The familiar voice answered, "Come in."

Mobius paused in the doorway, waiting for Ravonna to look up.

"What a surprise, the prodigal son has returned," the woman said by way of greeting.

"I was in the neighborhood..." he paused, uncomfortable, then continued, "How are you?"

"I'm fine." replied Ravonna who said nothing more.

Mobius entered the room with an uncertain step.

"Why don't you get to the point, Mobius."

Mobius stepped forward and placed an envelope on Ravonna's desk.

Ravonna took it and pulled out a check.

"What's this?"

Mobius replied calmly, "It's what I owe you."

Ravonna looked puzzled, "I beg your pardon?"

"It's about the same amount of money I would have made for TK if I had stayed on for the duration of my contract. So there you go, we're even."

"So you wasted your money," Ravonna replied, "You didn't owe me anything."

Mobius replied firmly, "I feel better. We were both in on this project originally and I feel like I let you down, so we've come full circle."

"If it makes you feel better. Good for you. Is that all?"

"I bought the house on the cliff."

"I heard about it. Finally, despite your high principles, it seems you don't mind making money right?"

Ravonna looked briefly at the check and pocketed it.

Mobius, annoyed by her coldness and what she had just said, said, "You know it's not the same thing... but you know what? Let's just forget it, we'll never agree. Everything is perfect the way it is! Have a nice life!"

Mobius stared at her for a moment. Then he stormed out, slamming the door behind him.

Ravonna jumped at the sound of the door slamming and pulled out the check again. She looked at it, then slowly tore it in half and threw it in the wastepaper basket. Then she opened a desk drawer and took out a photograph.

It was a picture of the House on the Cliff under construction. Ravonna and Mobius looked about 7 or 8 years old and were holding hands.  Mobius was pointing at the house and smiling. She remembered that day, the orphanage had taken them on a field trip to the New Asgard forest and as usual, Mobius and Ravonna had slipped away and stumbled upon the house under construction.

At the time the picture was taken, Mobius was telling her that one day he would move back here. This is where they had decided that they would work together one day, that they would make plenty of money to come back and live in this house. Stupid childhood dream. An utopia.

Ravonna looked at the picture for a moment, started to throw it in the wastebasket, then decided not to and put it back in the drawer.

An Autumn Afternoon - 2019

Mobius had taken Croki to the veterinarian for a regular check-up and had taken the opportunity to pass by Sylvie's store, to see if she had any old daggers. Maybe he would find something to send to Loki. Although offering a blade seemed a little weird for him. But after all, their relationship itself was weird.

They were going through some daggers that Sylvie had selected, the young woman a little too close for his liking.

He had well noticed that she often tried to attract his attention, but Mobius was not interested at all. He just didn't know how to tell her without hurting her feelings.

"Mobius..."

"Yes Sylvie."

"You told me you were here with Croki, your alligator, didn't you?"

"Uh yes, he's in his crate, in the trailer of the pickup."

"So that can't be him I just saw running past the store then?"

"What?" Mobius ran over and said as he drove away, "How many people do you think are driving around with an alligator in their car?!"

He looked to the right and then to the left, and saw Croki disappear around the corner.

"Croki!"

Mobius shouted but the alligator didn't stop, Mobius ran after him, vaguely aware that he was being followed by Sylvie.

He chased Croki into a nearby residential street. Croki was really fast. Mobius swore and speeded up his pace.

Croki snuck through someone's garden and Mobius was still chasing him. They arrived at a house where Croki seemed to have stopped. Finally.

In front of it, a woman was unloading the trunk of her car and was watching Croki with a slightly frightened eye. Mobius managed to walk up and grab Croki.

"There you are, you rascal. What's gotten into you?" Then turning to the woman who looked familiar but whom he didn't think he knew, he added, "I'm sorry, this is the first time he's run away like this. He's never done this before. But he's harmless, don't worry."

The woman asked him with a curious look, "What's his name?"

"Croki."

She walked over and bent down to Croki, "Hi, Croki. I should get one like you for my boyfriend.He loves animals and especially anything reptilian."

Mobius noticed how much the young woman had to unload, there were many cases of wine and offered, "Do you want help with that? To apologize for the inconvenience caused by Croki."

She shook her head, "Oh no, I have time. Besides, you're already loaded" she replied, pointing to Croki in Mobius' arms before continuing, "in case you're wondering, I don't intend to drink all this alone."

The young woman is very talkative and Mobius listens politely.

"I'm a real estate agent, and you, do you live around here?"

"I have a house on the cliff above the lake in New Asgard."

"Really?"

They were joined by Sylvie, out of breath.

"Thank God! You've found him!"

The young woman greeted Sylvie with a nod.

"Hi, I'm Sigyn."

Then she continued, turning to Mobius, "Concerning the wine cases, I'm having some high school friends and neighbors over tonight. You're both welcome to come if you feel like it. It's always nice to have new faces."

Mobius and Sylvie exchanged a look.

Sylvie replied, "Thanks. We have plans."

Mobius wondered what plan they were supposed to have, and what was sure was that he had only one plan, to go home, see if Loki had written to him and write to him. Alone.

Sigyn shrugged and replied, "No problem. It was nice to meet you anyway. See you later maybe, Croki. Oh, hey, Mobius..."

Sigyn reached into her pocket. "Here's my business card, I could look into renting a place on the lake myself. If you hear of anything, let me know."

"Will do."

"Thank you. That would be very helpful. I love this house, but my boyfriend doesn't. You know how it is."

"No worries." replied Mobius starting to leave, he inwardly ranted, wondering how he managed to stumble upon the chattiest women on earth, when Sigyn added, "I promised him a view of the lake if he moved in with me after art college."

Mobius paused.

"He's in art college?"

"Yes in Brooklyn, he wants to be a professor of literature and is majoring in Norse mythology. He visits here on weekends."

Mobius froze and realized that Sigyn was the one he had seen with Loki on the station platform and that Loki had kissed.

Sigyn continued, not noticing Mobius's confusion, "He's coming tonight, a little later, actually. That's why I'm having this little party."

Under Sylvie's exasperated gaze, Mobius inquired, "What time does it start?"

The same evening - 2021

Loki went out after work, tired, and started to head home. When suddenly he changed his mind and stopped to turn around. After a few detours, he found himself where he wanted to go, "THE BIFROST", the bar where the other professors had wanted to take him on his first day.

The place was almost empty. Loki went to the bar and sat down, looking gloomy and ordered a glass of white wine.

At the same time - 2019

When Mobius and Sylvia arrived at Sigyn's house, the party was already well advanced inside and there were many cars parked in the driveway and on the street.

As they entered, Sylvia turned to Mobius with a pouty face, "This better be good. I had something else planned for us."

Mobius rolled his eyes, because he had never intended to spend the evening with her in the first place anyway.

In the hallway, Sigyn was among her friends and neighbors, talking and laughing.

She came over to Mobius and Sylvie as soon as she saw them, "Hey! Glad you could make it. The bar..." she emphasized the word with quotes in the air, "is in the kitchen..."

They moved around greeting people here and there, Mobius looking for Loki with his eyes, Sylvie then gave him a look and asked in an acid tone, "Why are we here?".

Mobius pretended not to have heard her, the noisy discussions around them giving him a good excuse.

They ended up sitting on the couch next to a couple in their thirties. They exchanged greetings and chatted, Mobius half-listening, wondering again where Loki was.

Same time - 2021

When Loki was halfway through his drink, someone came and sat next to him. Surprised, he saw that it was Thor who ordered a drink before turning to him and saying with the smile that was his, "According to most social norms, a person shouldn't drink alone after 10 p.m. unless they have a good excuse. What's yours?"

Loki shrugged.

"I don't have one."

"I do. My fiancée just left for six months for her research. She's an astrophysicist, and we won't be able to see each other for that long."

"Tough." replied Loki, "And your relationship will put up with that?"

"Of course!" replied Thor, "It's not the first time, and luckily there's facetime and stuff." He pointed to Loki's glass before adding, "I see your glass is empty, do you want another one? My treat."

Loki nodded, "Yeah."

Thor ordered and two minutes later their drinks arrived.

After a moment of silence, Loki said quietly, "Actually, I have an excuse to drink alone after 10pm."

Same time - 2019

Mobius and Sylvie were still on the couch with the thirty-something couple. Mobius was honestly getting bored and apparently so was Sylvie, because she turned slightly to Mobius and whispered from the corner of her mouth, "Go get our coats."

Mobius stood up and excused himself, before going in search of the coats.

Just as he was about to reach the coat racks, he saw Sigyn, who was looking out the window, suddenly turning around and saying rather loudly, "Okay, everyone!  It's time!"

She switched off all the lights in the room and everyone fell silent.

Mobius saw a figure appear behind the glass door. The door slowly opened and he heard Loki's voice for the first time, "Hello?"

Sigyn abruptly turned on the lights and everyone started shouting "Surprise!" and "Happy Birthday!"

Someone brought in a cake with lit candles on it.

Loki looked stunned as Sigyn threw herself into his arms and kissed him full on the lips while Mobius could do nothing but watch.

__________

Will Loki and Mobius finally meet?

Chapter 1 - Chapter 2 - Chapter 3 - Chapter 4 - Chapter 5 - Chapter 6 - Chapter 7 - Chapter 8 (End)

[vengefulcooking]

Today I picked up a cooking sauce, only because it was on discount, you know, please-buy-this-it's-one-step-above-free prices that tell you they're desperate to get rid of something before it hits its date, and I guess anyone who's shopping food in clearance has got to be so confident in their ability to clean out a bottle in under two weeks (or you know, not live alone,), and I am not anyone. I have zero confidence I'll be able to finish it, but I picked it up, even though I am so indifferent to the flavouring I picked up that it might not have existed on my radar at all: butter chicken. Mlehmlehmleh bland, boring, too few herbs and spices; it's just chicken in heavy cream, you've all been duped. Knew I'd be indifferent to it at best and mildly annoyed by its existence at worst, but I bought it. (Have I already made a post about the sheer number of possibilities you have in Indian cooking? Look at the possibilities, and it's not chicken in cream. That's overrated. It doesn't even taste good. I can and will willingly excuse a biriyani. The sheer number of flavours in it all at once; the layering, the way the spices are actually cooked into the rice (unless I'm wrong), or a good, simple, versatile paneer. Any vegetable, even. Oh, south Indian chillis. There's a lot you can do. But I repeat myself.)

Anyway, I tried it, and it's everything I expected. I checked the labellings properly later and noticed that it's a British import (literally why. There are Indians in this country. No wonder they were so desperate to get it off. Especially right now with the delay times, how long does shipping from the UK even take?), which immediately tells helps me sort out a few tastes. (Don't worry, the point of this post is flavours, and the target of this post is butter chicken. No Brits were harmed in the writing of this post.)

As much as the origin of a dish may be India, it changes when it leaves, as does any dish from another country. Based on which parts of India are better represented in another country (or smaller jurisdiction), the flavour of stuff will differ. I made a whole long post about the composition of garam masala, an Indian blend of spices that is used in like half the north Indian cooking you do, and it's sort of like that with most dishes. (Phew, the research I did for that post by the way! I put it up on my proper proper blog (not Tumblr, this site is hanging on to the tag of 'social media' for dear life. It's one rung below. Though, does anyone remember when social media platforms used to be called "micro-blogging sites"? Not one soul says that anymore, we've come a looong way from "the actor confirmed their role in a post on the microblogging site Twitter" to "SM".). Anyway I showed it to my mum and she was proud though she laughed. She'd laugh more if she knew I had a tumblr.)

Anyway, my verdict on this, less so Indian and more British, masala: too many cloves. Too. Maaaaaany. Cloves. for my liking! Cloves and ginger! Possibly cinnamon. Why does anybody like this?? (Fun fact, I don't know if you can look this up, but cinnamon's Hindi name is daalchini, which I guess taken apart would read pulse (general)-sugar. I know cinnamon is a spice but that fact always surprises me a little tbh, given how much I associate it with baking, coffees and all. It's literally in the name! —in at least one language)

My conclusion on this however? Hoo boy, Brits need to discover lemons someday ;)

Edit: It's going to bother me if I just left this post at that, I am here to spread lemon propaganda afterall, aren't I? I might as well teach you right. You don't need to cook with lemons. Lemons are part of the serving (etiquette?), you may in fact have seen them in restaurants if you've ordered Indian. The complete profile would be squeezed lemons along with sliced, salted onions, the salt can be omitted if you like. Do not drain!! Then you can go extra on the salad plating, and pile the lemony onions with chillis [ :) ], carrots, tomatoes, cucumbers, sprouts, radish, beetroots; literally whatever you want, but it's gotta be raw/uncooked, and dipped in salty lemon. Then you pick up the wet onion slices and eat them with your main dish. That's how lemons are done, try it!

[ddurandal]

MEET: SOONCHAN

— YMMD Series: Part 1

— YMMD Series: | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 |

— fic masterlist

— type: narrative

— genre: contemporary, fluff

— words: 1,945

Chan wasn't sure whether to be annoyed or angry. Maybe he was feeling both. The guy across him just read a whole paragraph from his physics book in a not-so-loud-but-highly-audible-voice, and Chan didn't sit well with that. He was supposed to be studying dance theory, but with the way things were going, he might memorize physics formulas instead.

He was at the library, trying to cram half of the semester for the midterms exam next week. The place wasn't his ideal spot to spend his afternoon. However, with exams coming up in just a week, he figured he should just cram all of his lessons and maybe, at the very least, get a passing grade. He wasn't the only one working hard to get a passing grade as well. The library was full of students. But he wasn't really sure if he was lucky or not, since yes, he did find an empty seat—the only one left unoccupied— and soon found out why no one was sitting there. The guy across him who was wearing a shirt that was buttoned up to the very last button jittered and mumbled everytime he read from his thick physics book. Chan internally groaned and for a split second thought of throwing chips at the guy so he’d shut up and leave, but then decided against it. By the looks of it though, the passing grade was a blurry ambition as the guy across him tried to open a bottle of iced coffee, and then accidentally spilled it all on the table.

“Fuck,” Chan muttered as he grabbed his book and notebooks away from the liquid. The other guy beside him did the same thing.

“Oh no,” the guy said, eyes wide and now scared. “I’m so sorry!”

“Dude,” the other guy said, “you're making a mess.”

“I'm really sorry! I’ll clean it up fast. I’m so sorry.”

Chan sighed and placed his things on his seat, then he used a scratch paper to help Physics Guy clean the mess up.

“I think I have a pack of tissues in my bag,” the other guy offered. “Can I put my things on your chair while I get it?”

Chan mumbled a ‘yeah, sure’ not really looking at him. He could see the librarian was already on her way to them, anger evident on her face.

“Both of you,” she said as she reached their table. “Get out.”

“I didn't—” Chan tried to explain to her how any of this wasn't his fault at all, but the librarian’s face was already set and any he thought any more protests from him would result in him being banned from the building. So he decided to shut up and gather his things as quickly as he could.

When he was at the door, the physics guy caught up to him and apologized again. Chan had no choice but to smile it off even though, honestly, he was slightly pissed.

He decided to go to a coffee shop instead.

Chan had to call off teaching a few kids the new routine he’d thought of last night. Though, he did bring the black notebook with him to study. He brought it everywhere with him. Inspiration always striked at the oddest of hours and he needed the black notebook to write everything down, or else he was going to forget it all at once.

He went to the nearest coffee shop he could find, sat on a booth and arranged his stuff on the table. “Fine,” he murmured to himself. “Let's get this over with.” He checked his bag for the black notebook, but it wasn’t there.

What the hell, he whispered to himself, rummaging through his backpack.

He was sure he brought it with him to the library, and he was sure he placed it inside his bag before going out of the building. He was panicking now since he had just written a new choreography last night but he couldn’t remember the details.

“Fuck, fuck, fuck,” he cursed under his breath. Where could it be? Did he leave it in the library? Did Physics Guy accidentally mistake it as his own notebook? Did someone else take it? He had no damn clue but his heart was already racing. Where is his goddamn black notebook?

As if on cue, his phone chimed, announcing a new text message.

I have your notebook. It had your name and number written on the first page.

Chan, who was nervous as hell, thought it sounded like a message from a kidnapper asking for ransom. Or maybe he was just being dramatic. As fuck.

I need it back. Where should we meet? I’ll get it.

The person who had his notebook seemed like a slow replier. Chan was already biting the nail on his thumb for more or less two minutes. Still no reply.

“Maybe this is a scam,” Chan murmured to himself. However, if this was a scam, how would've this person known he lost his notebook in the first place? He also wrote his name and number on the first page in case it was lost.

His phone chimed again. This is the address.

Chan squinted at the words on the message. He sure was quick to give an address. Nevertheless, he still packed his things and went in search for his notebook.

The address the person gave him was of an old record store. Chan had to ask around because he hadn't been in this part of town before. At first, he thought the guy was shitting him and this was all some sick plan to, maybe, lure him into something illegal. Turns out, the record store was real.

It was a hole in the wall kind which sold old vinyls and CDs. Chan found a Michael Jackson Thriller vinyl, which, of course, was expensive as hell. It was kept inside a glass case, a sort of memorabilia of vintage records for sale.

He looked around, there was no one there that looked like someone his age. Where could this person be? He decided to fish his phone out of his pocket and send him a text.

I’m here. Where are you?

Minutes later, no reply.

Chan sighed and went to the cashier, who looked a few years older than him. He wore a simple blue t-shirt that said ‘worlds away’ and was playing some type of shooting game on his phone.

“Hi,” Chan greeted. The guy at the counter looked up from his game and immediately paused it.

“Is there something you need?” He said, smiling at Chan, showing a dimple on the corner of his mouth. His nametag said 'Seungcheol.’

“Uh,” Chan answered,”yeah. I was wondering if someone—a guy my age—came here? Like, a while ago? Holding a black notebook?”

Damn it. Chan realized he had come here so clueless. He went on a whim, following the guy’s instructions without even knowing what he looked like. He just really wanted his notebook back.

“Oh,” the guy’s eyes widened, “Are you Chan?"

Chan’s eyebrows furrowed, confused. “Yeah, but how did you—”

“The MJ record there is yours,” Seungcheol said, smiling.

“What?” He was even more confused now. “But it's expensive. I don't have money for it.”

“Don't worry. It's already paid.”

He couldn't believe what he was hearing. “What do you mean ‘paid’?”

“The guy you're looking for,” Seungncheol said, “he bought it. Said you liked MJ. He was holding a black notebook, like you said.”

Chan was now outside the record store, holding a paper bag with the MJ vintage record inside that, apparently, had been bought for him. Seungcheol didn't provide anymore didn't of who the guy was. He hurriedly gave Chan the record and went back to his game.

He grabbed his phone again and sent a text to the person.

What's this?

He snapped a photo of the paper bag and hit send.

Immediately, a reply came.

Hope you like it. :D

He wasn't sure if he was even allowed to like it. He was just immensely confused. Was this guy even serious or not?

Look, I don't know who tf you are, but if you just stole my notebook just to make fun of me I swear I will find you.

Again, the person replied immediately.

No, please don't think that. I knew you liked MJ and I just really wanted to make your day better.

“How did you know I liked MJ?” Chan murmured to his phone, looking at the iMessage cursor blinking at him. What was he supposed to say? Did this guy know him? Is he supposed to be creeped out? Chan didn't know what to feel at all, except that he just really wanted to get his notebook back.

He sighed and sent a reply saying just that.

I just really want my notebook back. Please give it back.

The person didn't reply immediately this time. Perhaps, Chan thought, he was contemplating giving it back now. He’ll finally meet him, and he planned to give the MJ record back to him too.

His phone chimed. Chan looked up from the paperbag in his hand that he hadn't realized he was staring at.

Okay. I guess I stressed you out. I hadn't intended to. I'd like to make it up to you. Let me buy you coffee.

Chan took a cab back to the coffee shop, clutching the paperbag next to him. Was he nervous? Very much so. He was finally going to meet this guy. He didn't know what this guy’s plan was but Chan just wanted to get this over with.

As soon as he opened the door, he saw him, smiling, looking down at his coffee. Beside the cup was his black notebook. He had texted him the address of the coffee shop and what he was wearing. Simple graphic white shirt and jeans, and his backpack beside him. Just like what he wore in the library when he asked Chan if it was okay to put his things on his seat. Just like when he offered Chan a pack of tissues.

Chan walked up slowly to him, realizing now who he was. Of course he still had to ask him why he stole the notebook and how the hell he knew he liked MJ, but his heart still skipped a beat.

“Hi,” the guy smiled up at him. “Please sit.”

“You're back,” was all Chan could say, not moving an inch.

The guy chuckled at him, “Yeah, I am. Sorry I didn't tell you sooner. But here I am.”

“Soonyoung…” Words seemed to have left Chan’s mind and mouth. He couldn't say a word. He didn't know what to say. Instead, memories invaded his brain, ones that happened a year ago, ones that had the man in front of him in them.

He remembered when Soonyoung kissed his forehead after his team won the dance competition. He remembered how they had matching smoothies in the same café they were in right now, except Chan only had black coffee now. He remembered how Soonyoung had to leave that day, uncertain when he would be back. He remembered he had to leave because his brother had been in a bad accident. He remembered how they had lost connection.

And now, here they were, meeting again, in the same place where they had first met.

“Maybe I should introduce myself again,” Soonyoung stood up, offering his hand for Chan to shake. “Hi, I'm Soonyoung. Nice to meet you.”

Chan, slowly, took his hand, and looked up at him. Tears welled up in his eyes, but he was smiling. “Nice to meet you too. I'm Chan.”

— • —

[nerdie-faerie]

Honestly I don’t know how they are tbh, it’s just life and it sucks 🤷🏻‍♂️

I guess you’re right I suppose

Ah yeah that’s more annoying when it’s like tiny things, cause you can’t really say anything, but it’s annoying

Oh lord that’s a lot of siblings, where are you like amongst them (as in like age)

Ahh that makes sense, it was like a sense of familiarity you had with each other so it made sense to keep doing it together

I mean a bog sounds quite the quirk to have in the house, although turning your flat into like a beach would be amazing, you could get like a paddling pool for the sea, it’s be amazing

But that’s good that you didn’t absolutely wreck your flat with all the water, like that wouldn’t have looked good on the deposit 😂

That's fair just how things are some times, well I hope you're doing well regardless

I did say things occassionally without making it an argument cus I'd be getting annoyed by something and then everyone else would be complaining to me about the same thing while never saying shit to the actual flatmate. So it looked like I was the only one with a problem when I'd be like 'hey can you sort this, its been a week' and 'guys you gotta wipe the hob down after you get food on it' etc etc

I have an older half brother that's two years older than me and then I'm the oldest out of the rest 😅

Yeah basically. And also some of my flatmates weren't great about remembering to eat so group dinners kinda helped me not chase them about feeding themselves. And it was also just nice to have an allotted time that we all got to see each other between classes and assignments. Helped with taking a break if you were swamped in work if you knew 'okay its time to group bond over dinner, i can come back later'

One of the strawberry haters bought a massive bag of soil for like one plant that then just sat in our kitchen cupboard that he had no use for, so thats how it started. But there lots of weird jokes about destroying the flat for some reason. The guys seemed to take the security deposit as a challenge but thankfully there was no real damage

It would've been fun tho for like 5 minutes before it drove us insane

[certainempatheticturkeymuffin]

I'm one of the fortunate ones in this whole situation. My mom had a friend that had power when ours went out. We lived in Kentucky for a few years so my mom knew to keep the faucets dripping. When the friend's water went out, our power came back on. My mom stocks up on water bottles religiously because she doesn't like the taste of the tap water here. She gave the friend some water and we went back home. Our pipes are fine, our car is fine, and now all we have to deal with is the Boil Order and our water coming on and going off again.

The first day (Sunday) wasn't too bad. My mom had planned ahead and all was good. She saw the forecast and refused to let me outside to touch the snow. She figured we'd be snowed in for a while and bought a bunch of food so we wouldn't have to leave. The car was completely iced over and it was so cool. I hadn't seen so much snow since I lived in Kentucky, and I was about four or five at the time. My mom had wanted to do some last minute errands to get some more water and an ice scraper. We broke ice off the windows and mirrors, and we got to play in the snow. I found great joy in punching the ice to see it crack, though it was super cool when it just slid off in a large sheet. The doors were completely frozen shut, so we had to let the car heat up a bit. Then we did all except the left back window (because no one sits there) and left. We bought a glass tile remover and used that because they don't sell ice scrapers here, and we went back home, car mostly free of ice. That night, the power flickered, but we figured it would be fine in the morning.

It wasn't.

The next day (Monday) was pretty bad. The power didn't come on, and it was freezing. We all ate a freezing bowl of cereal and took a look at the situation. We had two flashlights, and my mom knew she wouldn't be able to handle the darkness. The only problem was....our fireplace is wood burning. So, she had us bundle up and break the ice off the car (again) and use a dust pan (from a broom) to shovel a path to the car so we wouldn't track any in the house. The snow was about half an inch deeper than it was on Sunday. It was much colder on Monday than it was on Sunday too. My fingers couldn't handle the cold, and my sister and I rotating to shovel the path was horribly inefficient, so we only got about half way before my mom told us to stop because we were going too slow. Initially, I had wanted to scrape ice on the windows, but, since we don't have gloves, my hands were having a hard time gripping the scraper, eventually I begged to switch places with my mom because I hadn't even managed to pluck a single piece of ice off after a minute or so of fumbling. It didn't help. My hands were red and freezing and I'd spent only five minutes outside. I couldn't handle the dust pan very well either, and I wanted to break down and cry in frustration. I rotated with my sister, running hot water over my hands so I could feel them every time we did so. My mom saw how slow I was going and asked if I wanted to freeze, my response was "I'm going this slow because I am freezing." She had finished surprisingly quickly and we all got into the car, giving up on making a path. The roads were more dangerous than they were on Sunday, simply because there was more snow. Eventually, we managed to make it to Walmart. They had no logs. No cold food. No flashlights. So my mom bought about twelve candles. Walmart's gas station was closed, so we went to the Sam's gas station and got stuck. We struggled for about five minutes before a family came over and helped push us out of the snow. My mom was irritated that they wouldn't let her pump gas at the pump she was already at, ignoring the fact that the snow was too deep in that area to even move, and I was the only one that said thank you, but at least we were out. When we got home, my mom placed two candles in each bathroom and placed the rest around the living room/kitchen/dining room area (yes they are all one single room). We used the flames to warm our hands, and I passed out for a good four and a half hours, only waking up because I was overheating in my hoodie. I woke up at about six and my mom asked me to start the car so we could have somewhere warm to sit and eat. Thirty-ish minutes later we were in the car, warm, munching on chips and lunch meat. We were having issues with the internet, so entertainment was hard to come by and it was extremely boring, but at least we were warm. We stayed in the car from seven to eleven and went to sleep cold. The internet was very choppy, so all i have are these tweets, all made on the same day, even if two of them didn't post until the next day. I don't have tweets from any other days, except today, sorry.

The next day (Tuesday) was bad. We were freezing, and my mom had booked us a hotel, knowing that we couldn't stay without heat for too long, especially considering the fact that we didn't have wood and candles could only supply so much heat. We packed up immediately after waking up, leaving around noon to go to the hotel, even though check in wasn't until three. My dad was nagging us, trying to get us to make the two hour drive to San Antonio to stay with him, which was definitely a "No" considering the state of the roads. We told him we were staying at a hotel, I told him which one, and he called them for us. They were overbooked. My mom was not pleased, and, after double checking, tried to find a solution that wouldn't force her to drive two hours to my dad's apartment. All the hotels in the nearest cities were booked. So my mom called her friends and luckily one of them had power and water, and two extra rooms, and she lived five minutes away from the hotel parking lot (though the actual trip was about double that because of the snow). We all decided to stay in one room, because it kept that one room warmer and we didn't want to impose. We went back to the apartment to get a cot, because Miss Sabina had an air mattress, and we got all settled in. The room had carpets, but the pets weren't allowed in, so we were fine. I have a severe allergy to most animals that aren't reptiles or amphibians, fur and feathers are real bad, and Miss Sabina had two cats and a dog. It was fine though. Maybe half an hour after settling in, my mom got a call, the hotel had a booking canceled and offered us the room. We didn't want to go through the trouble of getting everything back in the car, so we declined it. My mom set up her computer to do school work (even though she works from home, the set up is so convoluted that she'd rather use her PTO than have to try taking it apart and setting it up again), and we were all set. The cage thing we put the cot on was really uncomfortable, so I ended up putting the thin cot on the floor, because even though my hips jutting into the ground was uncomfortable, being able to feel all the metal supports of the other thing was way worse. We went to sleep, warm.

The next day (Wednesday), my mom got an email that the apartment complex had shut off the water, but all was fine in Miss Sabina's house. I did learn that we only own one salt truck and only the bridges were salted. We don't own any plows, and the people on the budget committee(i think that's what it's called) don't want to allocate any money to plows or salt trucks because this storm was apparently just a fluke. Miss Sabina works with the city btw.

The next day (Thursday), Miss Sabina's power started flickering, but it was fine. I was apparently on my period, I didn't realize it because I always get a brownish discharge after it ends and theoughout most of the year, even though it's usually in lesser amounts and usually doesn't have drops of red. I definitely noticed when my pants and underwear were stained a dark red the morning of Thursday. It was inconvenient. That would've put me on my period for a straight eleven days. It was annoying.

The next day (Friday), the water was shut off in Miss Sabina's house. We checked our apartment, because finally the roads weren't completely covered in snow, and the water was still off, but the power was back. Twelfth day on my period.

Today (Saturday), we packed up and left Miss Sabina's house. Our water comes and goes, but my mom managed to buy a pack of bottled water that'll last us a while if I control how much water I drink (I usually drink a lot). I took advantage of the water being back and managed to finally take a poo, because one does not poop in another persons house, not when you're me, anyway. My stomach feels better now, and maybe I'll actually manage to eat something more than half a serving. I'm glad the heat's back, even if the boil order is going to be annoying, and the lack of water, but we're doing fine compared to many other people. My dad's fine, my brother and grandparents haven't called, and my best friend lives in Nevada and is unaffected. Thirteenth day on my period.

I'm so happy I was this lucky, but I'm definitely not getting caught dead in this situation again. When I graduate, I don't care if the northern states are better prepared for this, I'm going to hoard everything to make sure I'm not blindsided by this again. And maybe I'll invest in mittens.

I would like to say "fuck you" to both Ted Cruz and my period, because I was so happy to have a lighter period than usual, and it went and fucked up by extending to two weeks (at least) instead of lasting the normal miserably heavy four days.

[futurewriter2000]

I looove your writing! I noticed that you do HP ships and I'd love to see who you'd picture me with. I am Romanian, but have prominent Polish and most of all Russian blood(I'd probably be in Durmstrang). I have dark brown, short hair and one of my (hazel)eyes has a spot that makes my pupil look like a cat's. I am Hufflepuff to the bone, live my life by their values and would adore magical creatures. I can be a real Slytherin sometimes. My spirit animal is a wolf and I'd love to be an animagus.

I ship you with PERCY WEASLEY

Yeah I know but hear me out. I wanted to ship you with a Weasley just didn’t know which one but then I thought of Percy and this is way too good. SHIPS CLOSED

Okay so Percy was always known as tense and quite boasting boy. Everybody knew the Gryffindor Prefect, annoying as hell and a kiss ass to the teachers.

So as a Prefect that he was he always caught you doing something against the school rules. And you always had the most amazing luck to get caught only by Percy Weasley. You hated it honestly. From all the Prefects and Head boy or Head girl, you get caught by Percy. It was like it was his mission to catch you.

And when he became a Head Boy it was way too much and you were so full of it. “Weasleys!” you shouted and sat next to Fred, George, Ron and Ginny at the Gryffindor table. “What the hell is wrong with your stuck up brother?”- “What did he do now?” asked Fred and took another bite in his sandwich. “I was just being late to class and he accused me of ditching it, taking 5 points from my house. What’s his problem with me?” They all exchanged looks and wore those smug faces usually Percy has when he catches you. “Tell me, Weasleys!” you said angrly but they were all quiet, snickering. Then you felt hands on your shoulders and looked up to see blue eyes smiling down on you. “(Y/n)? Care to tell me what are you doing interrogating my siblings?” - “Nope. I’ll just go to my table before you take another 5 points from my hause. ” you said flatly and got up. “Ignatius.” you said to him and walked away to your table.

But you weren’t gonna give up on it so fast. You needed to know why he hated you that much. He was such a dick and you were getting annoyed with it. So you sneaked into the Gryffindor house, searching for his dorm. And you found it only to hear him talking to Oliver and the twins. “Seriously Perce, you are torturing her.” said one of the twins. “And taking 5 points from her house. That’s just rude.” said Oliver. “I didn’t take five points from her house, I just told her that to piss her off.” -“And it worked. She gave me quite a scare there.” said George. “She does that doesn’t she.” he chuckled and lay on the bed. “Seriously. Just tell her you like her.”- “And give her all the pleasure. No way. Plus I like teasing her. She’s adorable when she’s angry.” And thats when you realized he didn’t hate you. He actually liked you. A lot. So you sneaked back to your house and made an evil plan.

Muahaha..no jk.

So next time you were caught in the restricted section of the library looking for the Animagnus book , you were caught by the one and only Percy Weasley. As soon as he saw you he put his perpetual grin and leaned on the bookshelf. “(Y/n).” -“Ignatius.” you replied with his middle name, hearing a small chuckle escape from him. “Mind telling me what are you doing?” he asked walking closer but you kept your eyes locked on the books , your fingers searching for the right book to grab. “Looking for a book. You?” you answered not bothering to look at him. -“Taking points away from a student past her curfew and roaming to the restricted section of the library.” -“Oh okay.” you replied. You glanced at him and decided to tease him a bit. “Okay?” he asked confusely. “Actually its really hot in here.” you said taking off your sleeping robe and later your sweater, throwing it on the ground to reveal yourself only in shorts and a tanktop. Looking down at the blushing Weasley, staring at you, you couldn’t help yourself but to slowly start your plan. “Are you okay Percy?” you looked at him. “Umm..yeah…I- I..” he stuttered, trying to look everywhere else but at you. “You sure. You look kind of red?” you continued as you walked over to him, placing yor hand on his forehead. “Well like you said it’s really hot.” he replied trying not to look at your cleavage. “ You sure you’re okay?” you asked again, playing with his tie. Thats when he realized and soon a smirk reapered on his lips. “You know don’t you.” he grinned. “Know what?” - “That I like you.” - “You like me?” you played daft until he put his hand around your waist, pulling you closer and pressing his lips on yours.

And it turned into an hour make out session. It took you by surprise because you never knew such a dick, arse, stuck up and a kiss ass can be such a great kisser. And the weird thing was that you wanted more.

The two of you never made it official. There wasn’t anything to make official. The two of you only had snogging session broomcloset, greenhouses and your favorite empty classrooms.

The other Weasleys knew. They definetly knew because Fred and George kept teasing you about it. “On your way to your Ignatius.” said Fred. -“What is it this time library? DADA classroom?” -“You know Binns office is empty. Maybe you two should go there.”

The two of you made it official when the holidays came and you were invited to the Wealseys. Molly and Arthur adored you. You were so cheerful and loving, there was noone to not adore you. When you met Charlie it all took a turn because just like you, Charlie loved Magical Creatures. The two of you became dangerously close and Percy was not too happy about it.He kept getting jealous and possessive over you. Everytime you were talking to Charlie he would get between you two and gave Charlie an ugly look, grabbing your hand and pulling you away. Honestly, you found it hilarious. “There’s nothing going on between me and Charlie, Perce.” you chuckled as he kept glaring at Charlie from a dostance. “There’s nothing going on between me and Charlie, Perce.” he mocked you in a high pitch voice. “Don’t be a baby, Percy.” -“Don’t be a baby Percy.” he continued. “Okay, I’ll just leave you alone then.” you said defeated. “No.” he shot his head to you and ran after you.

He would love to piss you off just to hear you speak Romanian. It was adorable and after he suceeded he would put the biggest grinn on and just look at you, which would piss you even more. (Now i dont know any romanian and i dont trust google so just imagine you saying something romanian and he just looking at you amazed.)

Him buying the apartment and living there while you take a year off to study magical creatures abroad. It would be a long distance relationship but there were letters every day. (Your poor owl).

Once you came back he would give you the biggest hug in the world and never let go of you. Literally. Never. He would hold you for hours and the two of you would spend at least a week in bed and ordering food.

Even though Percy is more like a cat person (he looks like one) he bought you a dog. The cutest big ass dog there was. It was small at first but since Percy wasn’t a dog person and had no clue about dog breeds, he got you a huge American Staford. But the dog was the most adorable little cluts there was.

The two of you were terrible at cooking but you both decided to take cooking lessons which on the end only he learned something. You gave up after a week and he became the chef in the relationship. He was super ambitious to make specials every single night but all you wanted was normal pizza. But you had to admit his cooking was so good.

Holidays were always spent with the Weasleys and Percy made sure Charlie was as far away from you as he could be. When you became a registered Animagnus (a wolf of course) yoh first turned in your bedroom when you were home alone, playing with your dog and then later when Percy came home he immediatly pulled a wand but before he could shoot you turned back. “What were you about to do?! Kill me?!” -“ What would you do if you saw a bloody wolf in your bedroom?!”-“ Good point.”

He wasn’t much of a cuddler but when you were on your period, he cuddled with you as much as he could and you loved it so much because he never does that. So sometimes you lied on being on your period just so you can cuddle with him.

You got pregnant at 23 and to be honest that was way too early for the two of you to have a baby. Both of you were freaking out but days after thinking about it the both of you agreed to keep the baby.

He showed you off. A lot. “Look at her glow. Isn’t she just beautiful.” - “Thats her. My woman, my everything. So stunning.” - “Can I just say how beautiful my wife os. My wife. Mine.” -“Percy we’re alone.” -“I don’t trust that guy over there. Look at that dog stare at MY wife.” he joked and glared at the innocent dog on the bed. “You’re so weird.”

Slow dancing evrytime you got the chance and he loved classy song so he always pulled you to the dancefloor (aka your living room) to dance with you.

When your baby was born the two of you had no clue how to deal with baby stuff. Mostly him. Whenever you decided to take a nap he woke you up because the baby was crying and he tried everything to calm the baby down. “Did you feed her/him?” you said tiredly. “No but its a good idea.”

Calling Molly for advice because you still had no idea about babies.

Percy being too lazy to get up from bed in the middle of the night so the two of you literally fought in bed just to get the sleep you wanted.

Oliver being the godfather and bringing the baby all kind of Gryffindor suff. Quidditch uniforms, sweaters, pijamas, badges.The baby loved Oliver and he was always the nanny when the two of you decided on a night out.

Him still being jealous whenever you and Charlie talked. “Percy we have a kid together can you stop already.” -“You’re right. I need to protect Weasley junior.” and he ran off to the baby. The two of you competing what would be your baby’s first word. ‘Dada’ or ‘mama’ and at the end it would be ‘mada’. “He/she said ‘ma’ first. Ha!” -“ He said ‘da’ last which means he/she changed her/his mind.Ha!”

God the two of you had just the best kind of relationship there was. So childish yet so mature. No matter how much he pissed you off you loved him with everything.

Daaw…I ship you with Percy so much now. Anyways hope you liked it and sorry for the delay and yeah. (SHIPS STILL CLOSED)

[breeeliss]

I'd just like to say: Chloe coming into the Dupain-Cheng bakery specifically when Marinette's on cash register duty and asks the names of pastries she already knows but just wants to hear Marinette talk, and eventually Marinette catches on but does nothing because she enjoys talking to Chloe

………………………

….goddammit

Words: 1968

Sabine smirked as she pulled a tray of croissants from the oven. “Marinette. I think your favorite customer is here.”

Marinette finished tying her apron behind her back and was pulling her hair up and away from her face as she got ready for her register shift. “Who now?”

Sabine jutted her chin towards the front of the bakery and Marinette followed her gaze, allowing herself a sigh and a small smirk when she saw who was meandering near the counter. “Stop teasing, maman.”

“It’s not teasing,” Sabine said. “She comes only on the days when you’re working and seems rather enchanted with all of our palmier flavors. Moreso than anyone else I’ve ever seen…”

“Oh hush, maman!” Marinette blushed, gently tapping her mother’s shoulder. “It’s nothing like that.”

“Don’t keep the poor thing waiting,” Sabine smiled as she carried the croissants to the counters in the back. “She must be eager to see you if she came right when your shift started.”

Marinette puffed her cheeks out and headed to the counter where Chloe Bourgeois was waiting, leaving her mother laughing and grinning behind her. 

It started when Chloe had to come into the bakery to order a huge commission of mini-cupcakes for a dinner she and her father were holding. Because Chloe loved being difficult, Marinette had to take out all of their sample books, explain all of their flavors, all of their frostings, all of their fillings, and all of their options for garnishes for close to twenty-five minutes before Chloe was satisfied. Marinette thought Chloe was making her explain herself so much for the sake of being annoying until she came in the next day asking for detailed descriptions of all the chocolate cakes they had on display for no other reason aside from her being “curious about your selection of dark chocolates.” Marinette’s father was too close by at the time for her to tell Chloe to buzz off, so she humored her for twenty minutes before Chloe settled with just buying a regular old palmier and left without buying a single cake. 

It was maddening, and for the next couple of weeks Chloe would come into the bakery when Marinette was working and ask her to rattle off all that she knew about their pastries, breads, cakes, rush orders, and catering plans….only to leave without having bought anything she had shown such a deep interest in. 

It was ridiculous to think Chloe had a passion for baked goods, otherwise she’d bother her parents about this. It wasn’t as if Chloe was using this as an opportunity to make fun of Marinette seeing how she was oddly quiet and attentive whenever Marinette spoke. It wasn’t until last week that Marinette had finally picked up on the obvious. 

Chloe came just to hear Marinette talk. 

By all accounts it made no sense at first, but by now Marinette was convinced. When Chloe thought that Marinette wasn’t looking, she’d cradle her cheek in her hand, smile gently, and seem to daydream through Marinette’s explanations, only to be abruptly pulled out of the mood when Marinette teasingly stopped in the middle of her sentences to catch Chloe in the act. Marinette wasn’t quite sure what to think of it all – what was so interesting about her talking anyway? – but it was one of the few moments where Chloe wasn’t opening her mouth to be annoying, and Marinette rather liked talking to Chloe when she had nothing irritating to shoot back. 

“Sorry to keep you waiting,” Marinette greeted, pulling her baby hairs behind her ears. “Just hopped onto my shift.”

Chloe sniffed and lifted her chin. “Well, at least you apologized.”

Marinette snorted and leaned her elbows on the counter. “What can I help you with?”

Chloe drummed her manicured nails on the countertop and pointed to the glass cases on the opposite wall. “I was….interested in hearing what macaron flavors you had available. I might be interested in making an order…” 

Marinette smirked, looked up at the ceiling, and counted in her head. “We have around…..oh, I’d say fifteen to choose from. Is there a particular flavor you like? We can start from there.”

Chloe shrugged. “Well, it’ll honestly be better if you just told me all of them so I can objectively pick the best one. I trust my own judgement over yours.”

“All of them?” Marinette clarified. “That might take a while. I wouldn’t want to waste your time…”

Chloe crossed her arms. “Well, I’m the customer, aren’t I? If I request something, aren’t you supposed to do what I say?”

Marinette rolled her eyes. “Alright, alright. Come to the display cases, I’ll go through all the flavors with you.”

She started rattling off all the macaron flavors they offered off the top of her head, making sure to really go overboard and go into detail about the textures of the different pastries. She wasn’t sure if Chloe was absorbing any of this, but boy was she listening. It was so strange to see a girl who was so normally happy to make a snippy comment at her during school literally hang off her every word in a setting like this with no one but the two of them around. It was…oddly sweet. And definitely fascinating. That kind of fascinating that made you want to push things further or read into things more just because you’re curious to see where things go. 

Marinette wondered if she could push Chloe just a little bit. 

It took close to fifteen minutes to get through it all – Chloe kept interrupting her and asking her to repeat almost everything, something Marinette found amusing and was more than happy to do – but Marinette finally took a big breath and turned to Chloe. 

“So. Anything you’d be interested in getting?”

Chloe bit her lip, stared at the display cases, and looked down at her phone. “Um…a-actually I changed my mind, I don’t think I’ll take any today. Was just curious is all.”

Yup. Same thing she did every other time she came here. But Marinette wasn’t going to let her leave just yet. “Are you sure? I can give you a small order of ones I think you’d like. Free of charge!”

Chloe blinked. “What? Why?”

“My treat,” Marinette shrugged, pulling out serving gloves from her apron and slipping one onto her right hand. “If you want, I can pick a flavor that I think you’d like.”

“You seriously don’t have to do that,” Chloe insisted, eyeing the door. “I’ve gotta go anyway.”

Marinette reached out, grabbed Chloe’s elbow, and noted with interest how Chloe seemed to straighten up suddenly at the touch. “Relax,” she chuckled. “It’s on the house, I promise. Just take it. Now do you have a preference?”

Chloe rubbed the back of her neck. “Not really….”

Marinette hummed and turned to the display cases. “I think you’d like the milk and honey ones. Sort of remember you saying you loved honey at one point.”

Chloe snorted. “And you say you never pay attention to a word I say.”

“I don’t pay attention to you when you don’t have anything worth listening to,” Marinette teased, laughing at the sight of Chloe’s nose scrunching up in anger. “But when it’s important? I’m probably paying attention…”

“You’re more annoying than you realize, you know that?”

“You don’t seem to mind.”

Chloe stayed quiet when Marinette packed up a small box of six milk and honey macarons and tied off the top with string, not bothering to ring up the price (she’d take it out of her allowance later). “There you go,” Marinette smiled. “You’re all set. Let me know what you think of them, okay? I can ask Papa to make more tomorrow.”

Chloe furrowed her brows, looking genuinely confused. “Why?”

“You’re a loyal customer,” Marinette shrugged. “You come in all the time, it’d be rude of me to not offer you complementary sweets. Customer’s always right, and all that.”

“Well,” Chloe decided, “I guess you can count me impressed that you’d actually go through the effort. Didn’t think customer service was your thing.”

“I’m full of surprises,” Marinette winked. “Just come back if you ever want something else. Or if you want me to run through the menu….again.”

Chloe took the box from Marinette and she held herself back from laughing in pure delight at the sight of Chloe’s ears going red. “S-Shut up! I like to stay an informed shopper! Sue me!”

Marinette held up both her hands. “Okay, okay. No harm done. I’m happy to do it. Not all the time you get customers who are so curious.”

Chloe looked off to the side, refusing to look Marinette in the face. “Well. Thanks. I guess.”

“Hope you enjoy those!” Marinette said as she walked back behind the counter to double check the cash in the register. “There are always fourteen more flavors for you to try if you don’t like them.”

“Helpful as ever, Dupain-Cheng,” Chloe snorted. She backed up against the door and pushed it open with an elbow. “I….guess I’ll see you around.”

“Come back soon,” Marinette waved. 

Marinette waited a few beats for Chloe to walk down the other end of the block before she pulled her phone out of her apron and dialed Alya. 

“Hey!” Marinette greeted when she picked up. “Random question. Do you still have Chloe’s number from that time you two were paired up for a history presentation?”

“Um, yeah?” Alya answered. “Why do you need Chloe’s number though?”

“Nothing important,” Marinette promised. “Just testing out a theory…”

By the time Chloe got home with her order of macarons – the order that Marinette gave her totally for free without any prompting and with a stunning smile on her face and oh my God – she felt her phone buzz in her pocket and saw a text from an unsaved number. 

When she unlocked her phone, she felt her heart hiccup into her throat. 

unknown: hey it’s marinette! im gonna call you in a sec, but let it go to voicemail ok?

“What is that weirdo doing?” Chloe squinted, trying to remember if there was anyway that Marinette could’ve possible gotten her number. Then again, the day was already weird enough as it is with Marinette being so nice to her today that it wouldn’t hurt to play along. She saved Marinette’s contact, declined her incoming phone call, and waited for the notification of a new voicemail to flash onto her screen. 

Chloe frowned, selected the voicemail, and held it up to her ear. 

Hey Chloe! It’s Marinette. I know this is kind of weird leaving you a message like this, but something tells me that you’d rather me talk to you than text you. Just so you know, you don’t have to come to the bakery all the time to talk to me. You have my number now. Feel free to call anytime if you want to just chat. Or, you know, if you want me to run through step-by-step on how to bake a croissant. I’m happy to do that too! Anyway, uh…hope you liked the macarons! Maybe next time I can bake some for you myself. See you in class!

The voicemail ended, and Chloe felt all the heat in her body flowing straight to her cheeks. She sunk down on her bed, buried her face into one of her pillows, and screamed out of embarrassment, shock, excitement and about four other sensations she couldn’t be bothered to tease out at the moment. 

Chloe turned back to her phone and made sure to save the voicemail. 

She was pretty sure she was going to be playing it back a lot this week. 

[susannaprouse]

Fifty Nine - San Francisco

We got up slightly later on our second day in San Francisco, had breakfast in our airbnb and caught the bus into town. Here we walked to a bike rental place and picked up our bikes for the day. Considering I'd fallen off the bike immediately in the Galapagos I was gearing myself up for another embarrassing fall. Luckily (and obviously now I think of it) the bikes were much better and weren't way too big for me. We cycled out into the sunshine to the Disney Family Museum.

On the way we spotted a Farmers Market so decided to lock up our bikes and take a look. The market was amazing, stalls full of colourful fruit and vegetables in beautiful displays. I hate to say it but the Americans know how to do a farmers market. We got suckered in and ended up buying absolutely delicious artichoke hummus and pittas. I wanted to buy all the things but we managed to tear ourselves away.

We cycled along the bay, appreciating the brilliant cycle lanes and seemingly patient drivers until we reached the museum. As we were queuing for tickets, annoyed that we hadn't bought them online, a woman approached us asking if it was just the two of us and if we wanted her spare ticket. I didn't really understand why she had it but I tentatively offered her money (quickly saying we didn't have much cash on us) to which she refused. She was so kind and we got chatting, she was a San Franciscan and worked with disabled people and service animals. We discussed how great the city is but also how expensive it is to live there. The conversation made the queue go quickly and before we knew it we were buying the additional ticket (even that was reduced as we used Mike's student card!) and thanking her again.

The museum was brilliant although I was slightly dismayed they didn't mention anything about Walt's anti-Semite tendencies although I guess that kind of ruins the magic. It took us through Walt's life, the history of his and the Studio's animations, the impact of the animators strike and war and finally his creation of Disney World. I know I'm falling into the Disney trap but for me it was great and reminded me that I'm excited to take my children to Disney World too.

After the museum we realised it was much later than we thought it would be and we were hungry. Lucky for us right next to the museum there was a mini festival and so loads of food trucks. We walked up and down perusing our options before deciding on philly cheese steak, something Mike had said I needed to try here. I went for the classic and Mike had chicken, they were both delicious and huge. We were both pleased we hadn't ordered any sides to go with it, getting more used to American sized portions.

Feeling satisfied we got back onto our bikes for the main reason we'd hired them, to cycle across the Golden Gate Bridge. The cycle to the beginning of the bridge was nice, the cycle on the bridge was amazing but also scary. The wind had picked up by this point and there were a lot of other cyclists who were using their weekends well. Even with all of that I didn't fall off, it was a miracle.

At the other end of the bridge there was a huge hill, we sped down it for 10 minutes enjoying the lack of cars and thrill. We had a quick Golden Gate Bridge selfie before cycling on to Salsalito, a small town that is picturesque but also incredibly touristy. We cycled through and found somewhere to park our bikes. I really resented paying the $3 each to park but it seemed we didn't have another option. After going to see the sea we realised we had forgotten to pay. I tried to convince Mike it didn't matter but him being the worrier he is decided to go back to tell the guy. The guy was impressed we had come back saying honesty paid and charged us for just one bike. We definitely could have got away with not paying though...

We wandered down the harbour looking into the touristy and expensive shops ending up in a small cafe for a drink and to secretly snack on our hummus and pittas. Then we walked back deciding which super yachts we'd buy in the marina on the way.

The cycle back was very nice although I did have to get off and walk up the huge hill (I did manage to cycle the beginning and the end though!). There were fewer other cyclists and the wind wasn't quite so windy. We dropped off our bikes and here's where we might have made our last saving of the day. Buckle in it's a long story.

We knew we wanted to hire bikes and Mike had found a place called Basically Free Bikes where you spent $38 on hiring a bike for the day. But you also got that $38 in store credit at a sports shop. I looked at this sports shop and realised they sold camping gear, we just happen to be camping in Yosemite later in the week. So after A LOT of working out we decided to buy some camping crockery and plates as we could get them home easier and our camping kit hire that we'd organised didn't include them.

However, when we went to get the bikes we were only charged $11 because the camping gear we'd hired had come up on their system. They said they'd figure it out and we could sort it when we returned. When we returned the same guy wasn't there so we didn't bring it up. All in all we potentially might have got two bikes for $11 instead of $66 AND free stuff in the sports shop!

By this point in the day we were exhausted, we'd walked for two hours and cycled for three hours. It was definitely time for ice cream. But because we hadn't done quite enough we made a quick detour to Lombard Street, a crazy street made up of a small zig zagging road - you kind of have to Google it to see how weird it is. We clambered up the steps to try and get a good photo but the tall hydrangeas got in the way. We watched car after car of tourists queue up and then wind down this road before we headed for ice cream.

Ghiradellis ice cream was another of the things I was excited to do in San Francisco. Ever since Mum got the brownie mix in Costco I've never been able to forget it. Apparently neither did all the other people in San Francisco as there was a big queue. It went quite quickly and soon we were sat down with two sundaes (salted brownie for me and cookie for Mike but we decided to do halvsies). Half way through we both looked at each other knowingly, we both felt it was too much. These sundaes were huge and our bodies did not want them. We pushed on for a while before wrapping the salvageable brownie, cookie and chocolate to take home. It was so painful for me to leave that ice cream but I also didn't want to be sick. I don't think real adults should be physically sick from eating too much ice cream.

We caught the bus back home feeling better with each minute but were completely exhausted when we got in. We watched a Bob's Burgers before collapsing into bed.

[iconicarcher-blog]

"I'd Come For You" by Nickelback

Send me a song and I will write a drabble, headcanon, or AU/Verse inspired by it!

“Come here, you little rascal.” Oliver walked through the door to see his two year old son giggling as he trotted up to Oliver. Kneeling down, his arms opened wide as he embraced Oliver Jr, picking him up as Chloe quickly greeted him with a kiss on the cheek. “How was he today?” Oliver asked as he set their son down by his mess of toys “Oh you know, bouncing off the walls.” Chloe joked with a wide grin on her face, waving off what she previously said “He was good, we ran a few errands around town, read a few stories before nap time..” Chloe trailed off with the same smile as she looked at their son, “Sounds like a fun day,” Oliver commented with a small nod, “And in only an hour..” Chloe began, draping her arms over Oliver’s shoulders “We’ll have a night to ourselves for the first time in months,” She quipped with a smile, Oliver grinned wildly as he held on to her hips “Yeah, I think that’s the only thought that got me through the day.” He chuckled before placing a long, drawn out kiss on Chloe’s lips.

Lois and Clark had picked up Ollie Jr exactly an hour later, they were amazing babysitters and both Chloe and Oliver were thankful for their help, with out them, Oliver and Chloe would probably never have time alone.

“So what would you like to do Mrs. Queen? Dinner, movie, fly out of town for the night?” Oliver began listing off ideas, looking over at Chloe lovingly as they seated on the couch, both with a glass of wine in hand “Hmm,” Chloe’s lips stretched out in thought, “Look, Oliver, I know it’s our first night to ourselves in forever but I really want to stay in. A dinner would be great, so would a movie – but we can do that here, just us.” Her eyes grew big as she looked at him, he could never resist that look – though, he wouldn’t have objected anyways “I like that idea,” Oliver smirked, Chloe leaning into his side to snuggle up to him while he kissed the crown of her head. “I’ll order the pizza, you pick the movie.” he made a deal as Chloe nodded into him “Okay,” but instead of getting up, she got more comfortable “Five minutes and then I’m getting up,” Oliver warned with a laugh “That’s all I need.” She murmured into him.

It was much more than five minutes passing, maybe twenty. But Oliver couldn’t complain, of course him and Chloe cuddled but it was usually when they were about to go to sleep - even then, their schedules were so different ( with Oliver being green arrow at night ) that sometimes they didn’t even get to cuddle then. During the day, he was off at Queen Industries and Chloe was taking care of their son, so even if it was just twenty minutes cuddling; it was the best twenty minutes of Oliver’s life.

The pizza had long past arrive, both Oliver and Chloe on their second slice and Princess Bride  playing on their flat screen TV. Though, neither of them were paying much attention to it. Instead, the time was spent talking, laughing, reflecting on old times and planning for the future. As of that moment, they were stuck in an apartment, not by choice - but to stay under the radar, well, they were under the radar long enough and Oliver thought it was time to buy a house, so he did – Chloe and him had been out house hunting for weeks and she fell in love with one of the last few they saw. Unfortunately, it was quickly sold – little did she know, though, that it was because Oliver had bought it for them. He planned a surprise the next morning, to take her to the house, tell her it’s now theirs. He couldn’t wait to see her reaction.

BZZZ  BZZZ    BZZZ“Ollie – Oliver, your phones going off.” Chloe sleepily shook Oliver as they slept in their bed. Eyes fluttering open, he looked around groggily as Chloe fell back into place on the bed and going back to sleep. Picking up his phone, he stepped out of the bedroom and closed the door“Hello?” He asked, still half asleep “Oliver? Finally, I’ve called five times!” Lois was on the other end, he could hear panic in her voice. “I was sleeping, like a normal person does at these hours” He began, grumpily – before realization set it “Wait, why are you calling? What’s wrong?” With in seconds, he was wide awake and panicked himself.  “Is it Ollie? Is he okay –” He was frantic, “I’m going to put Clark on the phone,” Lois gave a sad filled sigh, only putting Oliver more on edge as he heard the phone being exchanged from Lois to Clark “Where is he? Is he okay? What’s going on?” A million questions ran through his head “I’m going to need you to trust me here – is that bunker still under Queen Industries?” Clark questioned, calm but still a hint of worry in his tone “Yeah..” Oliver trailed off in confusion “Get Chloe there, now. I’ll be there with Ollie. –” His voice had an urgency that Oliver knew all too well “Oliver, you don’t have much time.” And with that, Clark’s end of the line clicked then a long beep drew out.

What was going on? Why couldn’t Clark just come to him, get Chloe and Ollie to the bunker?Why wouldn’t Clark tell him what was going on —- His mind raced, but he wasn’t wasting any time.

“Chloe, chloe get up.” Oliver shook Chloe, hands shaking. “Hmm, what?” Chloe looked at him through squinted eyes, “Get up, get dressed. Something’s wrong – Clark called and –” Oliver began “Oh god, what happened?” Chloe shot up, “I - I don’t know, he wouldn’t tell me. He just said to get you to the bunker and he’d be there with Ollie. We don’t have time to lose.” Chloe knew this was serious, so with out a complaint or even a word, she got up, got dressed, got what she needed and joined Oliver as they headed out the door.

Latching the door on the bunker beneath Queen Industries, Oliver punched in the code to lock it. “Oh thank god, you’re safe!” Relief washed over Chloe as she turned to their son and swept him up in her arms, “Where’s uncle Clark?” Oliver asked his son as he pointed to the ceiling, a slightly annoyed sigh escaped Oliver’s lips, “Be good, okay,” Oliver said to their son before kissing the crown of his head, turning to Chloe as a small smile flashed across his face “If I don’t –” He began as Chloe firmly pressed her lips against his “I know.” She nodded as their lips parted “I love you,” He breathed out, “ I love you.” Chloe smiled.

“Clark, what’s going on, man?” Oliver asked in confusion, wanting answers. Oliver had wandered through the building, entering his office and finding Clark there. “He’s here,” Clark breathed out, Oliver’s brows furrowed “Who, what? Whose here?” He questioned in confusion “Lex.” It was a whisper, and hearing the name sent chills up Oliver’s spine. “I’m dead,” He whispered, knowing his fate before Lex even laid a hand on him. “I won’t kill him, Oliver.” Clark shook his head at his words, seemingly apologizing. “Then I will.” Oliver stated quickly “For good this time.” He gritted his teeth as Clark shook his head once again, “No. That’s why I didn’t want to involve you to begin with –” He started in protest as Oliver scoffed “Clark, man, it’s kill or be killed. You know that right? It’s either he kills me or I kill him.” He hung his head to the side, Clark was silent for a moment “There’s other ways —” He bowed his head, “No, Clark. There’s not. Now I don’t know why we are standing around here, I’m going to go find that bald-headed asshole and put an end to this. If not just for me but for my family.” Oliver straightened his posture as he stood up to Clark “If I find him first, I’ll deal with him.” He stated, both of them stating a silent deal. And in the blink of an eye, Clark was gone.

Pulling out the only weapon he had on him, his multi gadget collapsible bow with only two arrows on him – he hoped for the best. Or to at least get a injury worthy shot in. He knew Lex would be armed, and maybe more powerful than Oliver at this point – he didn’t know and he didn’t have many answers. How was Lex back? Why? How did Clark know, but either way, he knew what he had  to do.

Walking through the halls of Queen Industries, the stillness of the building began to creep him out. He hated silence, it never felt right and made him more on edge than he already was. “Looking for me?” That familiar, venomous voice rang “Lex,” Oliver played a smirk on his face as he spun around, “Wow, you look pretty good for a dead guy.” He noted in surprise, how the hell was this possible? “I’d say thanks but considering you’re the one that killed me —” Lex trailed off with pursed lips and narrowed eyes “Why don’t we skip the faux chat? We both know why I’m here.” A grin swept over his lips “I’m guessing it’s too late to plead for my life, huh?” Oliver was serious but passed it off as a joke - Lex raised his right hand, bringing his thumb and index finger together for a small measurement.  Oliver raised his bow, “May the best man win?” He smirked, “Sure, – you know, I wonder how your son will feel with out a father.” Again, Lex pursed his lips as Oliver’s nostrils flared “Son, what son?” He swallowed, hard. “Oh you know, the one who shares your name, birthed by Chloe Sullivan. She’s quite the woman, isn’t she?” Lex chuckled to himself with a smug grin, “Leave them out of this.” Oliver threatened through gritted teeth, Lex holding his hands up in mock surrender.

Lex raised his gun, go figure, of course the man would bring such a weapon to an end-all fight. Oliver held the trigger on the bow, the good thing about it was, you press the button and the arrow goes; the bad part was, there was a five second delay. He always told himself he’d perfect it but that thought came too late.

“I’d say on the count of three, but –” Lex hung his head to the side as he pulled the trigger. Oliver could feel his breath hitch in his throat and his heart sink in seconds, pressing the button on the bow as the arrow went flying “Come on, come on.” He muttered, quicker than he’d think, he felt a force hit his chest and send him to the ground.

 Oliver closed his eyes for a second, and with in that second, he was in the bunker, opening his eyes to see Chloe looking down at him in a panic “How did –” He began “Clark.” She finished his thought as she fled to his side, tearing open his shirt as Oliver looked down at himself “Oh would you look at that, that son of a bitch got me in the chest.” He laughed faintly, then moaned in pain as Chloe put pressure on the wound “Oliver — I - I don’t know how long I can keep you alive for.” She spoke in a frenzy, Oliver looked to his side to see their son sit beside him “Hey, buddy. Don’t look alright? Why don’t you, uh.. go play in the other room, alright?” Oliver forced a smile, Ollie Jr nodded as he rose to his feet “I love you, little guy.” Oliver spoke up to him, his son smiling such a familiar smile “I love you too daddy.”

“Keep me alive for five minutes, that’s all I need, alright?” Oliver spoke up to Chloe as she looked at him in confusion, bewilderment. He managed to sit up, though the pain was something he could never even begin to describe.  Chloe continued to put pressure on the wound, holding Oliver’s arm to keep him up right, “I love you, god I love you. And you’re beautiful – you know that?” He smiled to himself, watching Chloe try to save him “I know where this is going, Oliver please don’t.” She focused for a minute, stopping her task for a moment as she looked him in the eyes. Brushing as stray blonde strand out of her face and placing it behind her ear, Oliver grinned, “I always knew you were the one, you know that? Through it all, even the bad..” He trailed off, watching a tear fall from Chloe’s eyes as a frown took her face “I’d do anything for you, for our son..” He continued in thought “I just want you to know, I wouldn’t change anything.” Oliver whispered, groaning as he leaned in to give Chloe a kiss on the lips.

A faintness washed over him as he began to fall backwards, Chloe catching his head in her lap as she moved to save him frantically.

“You made me a better man, a father – you made life worth living,” For the last time, that cocky smirk pulled at his lips, looking up at Chloe as she sobbed violently - he continued to smile as his eyes began to close, moments of his life flashing in his mind. Finding out about his parents death, being stranded on the island, moving to Metropolis and starting the justice league. And of course, the most important memories of all, meeting Chloe and falling in love with her, their wedding ( or lack thereof, at least remembrance wise) and Chloe announcing her pregnancy, how Oliver was going to be a father. He could see the first smile his son gave him as the flashes continued, how worn out Chloe looked yet so ecstatic. The way she looked up at him when she announced that she decided to name their son after Oliver himself, ‘ Oliver Jonas Queen JR ‘ —- He had never felt so happy and thankful in his entire life. — That was suppose to be the start of the rest of their lives, he could have never imagined it would have ended now, while he still had so much love to give and so much more to do. But he was content with it, he married the woman of his dreams and had a beautiful son, he even saved the world a few times, what more could a guy ask for?

His chest was still, no beat of a heart and pulse had long faded. He was gone.

“Chloe?” Clark asked, closing the bunker door behind him and punching in the code to lock it. Her sobs weren’t silent or quiet, they roared and echoed through the bunker “He’s dead, he’s gone.” She placed her forehead on Oliver’s, “Why him, Clark? Why him – “ Her words began to slur and blur together as Clark knelt down beside her, rubbing her back as he looked at Oliver’s body. Still, peaceful – and no hint of life. “Please tell me Lex is dead.” Chloe raised her head to look at Clark, pleading “Chloe..” He trailed off in a whisper “Tell me, Clark!” She yelled, “He’s injured.. he’s at the hospital. Olivers bow got him in the shoulder.” Clark spoke in a whisper as Chloe looked at him in disbelief, “You mean to tell me that, while my husband was dying – your best friend – father to my child – was dying, you were saving Lex?” She continued to cry, a look of disgust and hurt on her face “I’m so sorry,” Clark apologized, he should of listened to Oliver. “You are dead to me.” She whispered, the words burning with hate as she turned her gaze back to Oliver, continuing to sob and plead to God that he be given a second chance, but the words were met with silence.

“Mommy?” A small voice caught Chloe’s attention, looking up at her son who had tears in his own eyes “Is daddy gone?” He cried, confused. “Only for right now.” Chloe gave a small smile.Only for right now, she thought to herself.

By now you know that I’d come for you, no one but you, yes, I’d come for you.And I’d fight for you, give my life for you. You know I’d always come for you.