#I work at an airport and it's cool that when people go through passport control and wait for so long

[ajwinter-is-a-nerd]

Le Chat Et Le Serpent - Chapter 51

Please note that the entirety of this story is a ****TRIGGER WARNING***** - mentions of child abuse, graphic violence, alcohol use, mental health, suicide, suicidal ideation, self-harm - basically a constant blow of pain towards the characters - as well as some "steamier" moments.

Chapter Summary:

Luka leaves for China with Nathalie. Nino puts together a party at Adrien's place.

Chapter 51: All is Fair in Love and War

We drove on toward death through the cooling twilight.

The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald

The airport was a never ending chatter of people. A pulsating organism of unbridled chaos. Luka slugged behind Nathalie, unfamiliar with the reduced protocol of flying a private jet. It felt uncomfortable, having people dote on him. Beyond carrying his luggage, it seemed as if everyone was in a hurry to kiss his ass. 

“Luka,” Nathalie turned back to him, “how am I walking faster than you with braces on my legs? If carrying your guitar was so hard, why didn’t you let the staff carry it?” 

Luka rolled his eyes, hoping that his face would indicate his irritation around the mirrored aviator sunglasses he wore. “First, no one else touches my guitar. Second, if you ever start getting too far I’ll pick up the pace. It just doesn’t seem worth working harder to match your speed.” 

Exasperated, Nathalie kept moving forward. She understood why he was on edge, but she wished that he would just keep it together. He seemed to be taking the musician cover too literally. 

It was a strange feeling, not having to wait in a gate; the people at the desk barely even checked his passport. When he entered the airplane, he was reminded of the empty promises Jagged had made to take him on his own private jet. This one matched the description his father had raved on about: leather chairs, plush carpets, and champagne on ice. Hopefully the sting of empty promises of happiness wouldn’t carry over into this aircraft.

His nostalgic thoughts were interrupted by Nathalie’s groans as she pivoted her weight through her palm onto the palm of the chair. Her descent was shaky and strenuous as she tried to lower herself to the chair. 

“Are you okay, Nathalie?” Luka stepped closer, unsure how to help her as she trembled to a seated position. 

“It’s fine, Luka. Let me have the autonomy while I still can.” Nathalie’s serious expression was tinted with despair; it seemed no matter what doctor she saw, her hips kept getting worse. 

Motioning for Luka to sit, Nathalie started pulling items out of her bag and resting them on the round table that was bolted to the floor in between them. She started reviewing their plan as she straightened out the items on the table. 

“So, your manager should be coming soon and he will get you into the recording studio immediately after we land.” Nathalie slid Music Corp.’s contract over to Luka. “We have included clauses for certain creative control and the fact that you can depart at any time.”

“I feel like we didn’t need to take it this far. I could have simply played a few small venues and chalked it up as a tour.” Luka held the contract in his hand, knowing that it meant his life was truly about to change.

“We can’t risk the possibility of Adrien poking holes in our plan. Plus, we both know it’s in your blood.” Nathalie frowned as she spoke, knowing her words were honest, but that they would hurt him nonetheless. 

“You don’t think he’s going to find it odd that I decided to go to China for my first taste of the music industry?” Luka’s eyebrow lifted above his sunglasses. 

“Okay Cory Hart, take off the sunglasses.” Nathalie huffed, tired of looking at a mirror of herself. “And it aligns because it is less expensive in China to lay the foundations of your music career. Recording time is cheaper and we’re able to connect to the mainstream quicker instead of fighting through the politics of Hollywood.” 

“You sound like you really want this music thing to work out.” Luka’s tone was low as he removed his glasses, showing off the thick bags under his eyes.

“Luka. Enough. I’m taking this mission seriously, are you?” She slightly leaned onto the table. 

“How can you even ask me that?” Luka growled at her, unmoved from his slouched position in his chair. “Of course I am. Did you take your last mission seriously? Or did you pass over demon rings to fucking Ladybug?” 

Luka regretted his harsh words as tears started to well in Nathalie’s eyes. 

“You’re right.” She ran her finger along the Agreste logo on the corporate pen she held. “If it wasn’t for my mistake, we wouldn’t be here. But we are. And we have to do our best to fix it, for Adrien.” 

Nodding, Luka motioned for her to continue. He felt apologetic, but wasn’t ready to say it. He was still angry at her. Angry at her for letting it happen. For taking him away from Adrien. He wished it was possible to do all this with Adrien by his side. 

“While you’re recording, I’m going to start visiting my old contacts to see if they know anything. You will need to come with me to the Black Market, which we will do tomorrow. Have you finished reading the information I provided you?” She flicked her gaze up from her agenda to analyse Luka’s response.

“Front to back. Demons, basically indestructible, controlling family, all that fun stuff.” Luka rested his temple against his fingers. 

“You read all of the archives on Adrien’s grandparents? And the notes regarding Amelie?” Nathalie needed to ensure that Luka was coming into their mission fully informed.

“Yes. All of the fun fucked up trauma in the family. Are you ever going to tell Adrien that Felix is his twin?” That part had not surprised Luka, but he was sure it would still surprise Adrien. 

“That is not our primary focus right now. So, we are overly aware of countless ways that we can not destroy the ring; I have considered the cataclysm as a method of destruction, I would like to further study this. However, even with this theory, we will always run the risk of the rings mimicking the force onto it and could be inviting a lethal experiment, not to mention the issue of what happens when they are destroyed.” Nathalie started running her finger over her meticulous list regarding methods.

“Yeah, all hell breaks loose and darkness takes back over the world.” Luka sighed, letting his face fall deeper into his hand. “Confirmed by Sass.” Luka’s voice dropped even lower, hating that he couldn’t refute the concept. 

“Well… hopefully it won’t come to that.” Nathalie held hope that they could find a way to mend what had been wronged. 

“Hopefully we can find a way that doesn’t involve taking Plagg away from Adrien.” Luka turned his face fully into his hand, unable to cope with how difficult that would be on Adrien. 

“We just have to try and get our investigation underway as quickly as possible. We won’t ask Plagg to leave until the very last moment. But there have already been signs. Crops struggling to grow, water behaving abnormally, the skewed balance is starting to affect the environment.” Nathalie held up the print outs of supernatural-themed environmental headlines. 

“If we take Plagg away from him without an immediate solution, you realise we might all have the same fate as the dinosaurs, don’t you?” Luka peered at the headlines, it would make more sense to take Tikki from Marinette, if only it was possible without alerting her to their investigation. 

“Yes, but Marinette controlling destruction, even without the Ladybug Miraculous, may also bring the same fate. If she starts controlling him to an exceedingly dangerous extent, we know that at least Plagg will be able to convince Adrien to give up ownership.” Nathalie tapped her notes. “A failsafe.”

Going after only Marinette was not an option. Beyond the organisation needed, they would always be fighting both Ladybug and Chat Noir. Under control, Chat Noir may not only kill those closest to him, he could accidentally bring forth the end of the world. 

“He-llo Mr. Couffaine!” Luka’s new manager stepped through the plane door. “Name’s Reggie, I’m looking forward to working with ya! You’ve been the chatter of the industry for a while, that song you wrote was outta sight!” 

It takes two to make an accident

The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald

The whole apartment moved. Humid with breath and sweat. People danced without care as they thrived on their temporary moments of beauty. After the scene at the boat, everyone had been able to put it together that Luka and Adrien had been an item; and everyone could see how some of the light left Adrien when Luka left. Nino tried his best to put together a party to lift up Adrien’s spirits, but sometimes, there’s only so much one can do. 

Sitting on top of the bar, Adrien appreciated the scene in his house. But he didn’t feel like part of it. He wasn’t ready to dance his cares away. His clench on the edge of the bar clamped as he saw Zoe walking towards him. Why did he tell Nino it was fine for her to be here?

Shame weighed down Zoe’s steps as she approached Adrien. He was sitting nearly exactly where Luka was the first time she was in this apartment. Her heart pained Luka’s departure, her soul despised how much she’d hurt Adrien, but most of all, she hated that she had been blinded enough to cause a divide in their close knit group. Adrien was never there when she was there and she had the good sense to assume that wasn’t an accident. When Nino invited her, she thought it was finally her chance to make things right.

“Adrien?” Zoe was incredibly intimidated by him, in more ways than one. She definitely would have approached several things a lot more differently had she known earlier. 

“Yes, Zoe?” Adrien’s eyes trailed to Kim, who continued to curse the climbing wall. At this point, you’d think he’d just understand it wasn’t his sport. 

“I’m… I’m really sorry for how things turned out.” She lowered her head. 

Adrien was trying his best to not be bitter. He knew that she wasn’t working alone and that there were multitudes of facets that led to that situation. But every time he said he was fine, he found an uncontrollable urge brewing in his stomach to punch her in the face. What made him the most angry, however, were the parts he couldn’t voice. That she had the gall to tell Chat to back off. The nights of hoping that she would at least make Luka happy, but she never could. Luka left sad, angry, and alone. There was so much she didn’t know. But she infuriated him nonetheless; a symptom of a broken heart.

“It’s not all your fault.” Adrien tried to use short words. He didn’t want to let his emotions get the better of him. 

Zoe nodded, “Yeah, I guess so…” the silent tension continued as Adrien stared forward. Trying to lighten things up, she tried to warmly chide him; she hoped the same comforts that worked on Luka would work on Adrien. “You’re being a real Great Gatsby here!” 

She regretted taking this method immediately. 

“Rich obsessed asshole that can’t let go of a lost love watching people have more fun in his house than him?” He should have stuck with short answers. 

Sighing, Zoe thumbed the tears at her face. “I never wanted to hurt you.”

Adrien snorted at Kim’s dramatic descent, arching himself like a limp noodle as the rope lowered him down. 

Zoe turned to Adrien’s line of vision, wanting to confirm he wasn’t laughing at her. Kim’s hyper-dramatic feigned moans of torture broke a small smile out of her as well.

“Are you sure about that?” Adrien turned to her, breaking the brief smile that warmed her face. “What happened that night, Zoe?” 

Reeling under Adrien’s stare, Zoe tried to force the events within a couple phrases. “He was just… he was upset about, well… you. And then it just kind of happened.”

Rotating between slow nods and jaw clenching, Adrien considered her statement, and how it seemed to align with what he already believed. “Correct me if I’m wrong, but you saw how upset Luka was over me and decided that was your best time to go in for the kill?”

“It wasn’t like that!” Zoe put up both her hands, as if she was holding two whiteboard erasers and was clearing off the accusations. 

“No? Because you know what words I’ll never unhear?” Adrien could sense Plagg pushing against his ribcage. 

Regret was oozing through the bright pink of Zoe’s cheeks. 

Adrien continued to learn forward to her, wanting her to know that he heard. “‘Adrien!’ ‘I promise you, he’s not what’s on my mind’. Do you know what that tells me, Zoe?”

Her head dipped. 

“It tells me that you were talking with it immediately before you started kissing him. You know - if it was an actual relationship between the two of you, or you started it on actual decent terms, I wouldn’t have been as angry. But that’s not what happened. You saw that he was drunk and sad and finally made the move that you have been waiting for, for months.” Adrien rubbed his face, hearing the venom in his own voice. He did not want to have this conversation. He did not want to upset Zoe. He couldn’t seem to help himself from letting his hurt and rage pour out. 

“I really thought that he and I had something… I’m sorry that I was wrong. And I’m sorry that I came in between the two of you.” She had the soft voice of a scolded child. 

Sighing, Adrien slightly ceded. As much as he hadn’t wanted to say those things, they took a weight off his chest. 

“Zoe, I didn’t want to have this conversation. I shouldn’t have had this conversation with you. I just really fucking miss him. He obviously wouldn’t have kissed you if things were perfect. I just. I’m struggling. And you just need to give me time to heal.” He rolled his lip in between his teeth as hard as he could, trying to keep it together. Seeing his opportunity to build a bridge, he allowed a soft chuckle, “Don’t offer me a tattoo to heal my sorrows - I would end up getting a portrait of Luka with profanity scribbled over it.” 

Lightning, Zoe gently smirked. “I can even draw a dick on his forehead, if it will help make you feel better.” 

For the first time in what felt like an eternity, Adrien genuinely laughed. “Why don’t we just take out the middleman and actually tattoo it on his forehead?” 

Recognizing the shift in energy, Zoe rested her weight against the bar. “Thanks Adrien, I get what he saw in you.” 

“Besides my dashing good looks, right?” Adrien jumped from the bar to swing into a modelling pose. 

“What are they doing?” Marinette watched Adrien and Zoe in shock. 

“Um… My guess is that they’re finally talking about it like adults?” Alya scrunched her face. 

“But, she hurt him! You saw!” Marinette pointed towards them, Zoe was now comfortably laughing. 

“Marinette, just be happy they’re working through their shit. Zoe’s a part of our group just as much as Adrien and that shit was going to tear everyone apart.” Alya was genuinely proud of Adrien, she couldn’t imagine how hard that must have been for him. 

“Oh shit-,” Nino crept up behind Alya, “are they besties now? The Luka Heartbreak team?” 

“Ah yes, because trauma bonding is always the best type of bonding.” Alya replied sarcastically.

“I’m part of the Luka Heartbreak team!” Marinette whined, desperately wanting to be included in the club. 

“Well - I’ve seen his Instagram from his tour, I think that club’s going to start getting pretty big.” Alya chuckled. Luka had already posted several shots from inside the studio and around China and his followers were bouncing by the thousands every day. He was about to be a very popular person. 

“Yeah, but that’s different! They’re just fangirling over him, whereas he and I had something real!” Marinette wanted to be part of the special club, not the ‘I followed him on social media’ club. 

“Ah, I understand, you don’t think obsessing over someone from afar truly constitutes a realistic heart break, right?” Knowing exactly the direction Alya was heading, Nino started to creep away, not wanting to hear the rest of her point. 

Marinette responded with a vigorous nod, because of course! It would be so absurd otherwise. 

“So your relationship with Luka was real and your heartbreak over Adrien was menial?” 

“NO! How dare you! Adrien and I are meant to be!” Marinette nearly shouted back. Fortunately for her, only Mylene heard, noted by the slight squeak before she ran back towards the nucleus of the party. 

“I’m just saying, girl. There’s other dick out there.” Alya wasn’t sure how she was supposed to watch over Adrien, but trying to get Marinette away from Adrien seemed like a first good step. 

“Dude, I understand why you don’t date girls.” Nino sat beside Adrien at the bar at the perfect time, considering the conversation with Zoe was starting to run dry. 

Defensively, Zoe pitched in, “Hey! Guys can be real pains in the asses too, you know?” 

Chuckling, Adrien turned towards Nino. “What’s going on with the Alya/Marinette drama now?” 

Nino rubbed his face, slightly pushing up his glasses. “Girl shit. I just - I can’t.” 

“Shh,” Adrien put his hand on Nino’s arm. 

“What? It’s not like-,”

“Shh!” Adrien held up his finger to signify that he was trying to hear something. 

They sat in silence as they listened to the recommended song on the playlist. 

“Adrien and I will be married one day, I swear.” Marinette huffed in unbacked certainty. “You should see the little things he does for me at work!” 

Alya tried to ignore the fact that she had a strong inclination of why he was doing those things for her. “You do know that the thing that made you upset was not being part of the group that all like the same boy , right?” 

Marinette’s face scrunched, but not from offence or realisation, it derived from confusion. When she looked back at Adrien she could tell he was catching the same thing he was. 

“Oh shit - someone should skip this.” Alya recognized the voice, she’d already heard pieces of the song from Luka’s Instagram Stories and it seemed like the exact opposite reason they were all there. They were there to pick Adrien up, not drag him through the mud.

Tears pricked at Adrien’s eyes. How could Luka be so cold and then write a song about coming home? Was it about Zoe? Did Luka actually fall in love with her and he misread the current state of the relationship? That was the only thing that really made sense. 

He should have skipped it. He was intensely regretting trying to listen to it as the room started to shift their attention towards him and Zoe. 

“Do we run?” Adrien turned to Zoe. 

“I mean, we can streak. Nothing distracts people more than streaking.” Zoe kidded. 

“Nino, if I start streaking, will you do it too?” Adrien tilted his head towards Nino, who started taking off his shirt before Adrien finished his sentence. 

“Oh my god. What is my boyfriend doing?” Alya’s jaw dropped as Nino took off his shirt. “No! Marinette! He’s going for the buckle!” 

Adrien followed suit and stripped off his shirt and his pants. Having incited the strange distraction, Zoe snorted as she took off her layers. They looked absolutely ridiculous. Nino was wearing a pair of overworn Carapace boxers. Adrien’s were neon pink with lime green spots, which seemed to strobe as he bounced up and down. And Zoe wore a camouflage sports bra with a farcical Bob Ross pair of panties. 

“AHHHHH!” Nino started the herd. 

They ran through the party, inviting others to do the same - a moment of shared insanity. With a spark of brilliance, Adrien raised his arms like a plane as he veered outside to the massive hot tub; it nearly made it seem as if it had been the plan all along. 

Kim squealed and snapped his black speedo-style underwear as he belly flopped against the water of the tub. Everyone was roaring as they followed close behind. 

All I kept thinking about, over and over, was 'You can't live forever; you can't live forever.'

The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald

A/N:

Ever since I put Luka with Angel With a Shotgun - it's all I see. I literally cried when I showed my friend that song after explaining the correlation. It's. It's just so perfect. He just wants Adrien to be okay.

SO this chapter was also used as a little review of what we know about the rings so far. There will be some new information that has been discovered about the rings, but this is a brief overview to help you understand why Luka had to leave. Adrien loves him more = more likely for Adrien to die. Marinette can tell Adrien what to do = Adrien can kill everything and everyone he loves (should she catch on to their plan). Cataclysm = chance that the power will still deflect and it will kill the person trying to do it, chance that it will break and fiery darkness escapes, or chance that both things will happen.

Things are going out of order. Honestly, I thought of the Lucifer scene where Ella is looking up statistics of lost socks! But the point remains, there are things that are happening that are "unexplainable" because someone is controlling the destruction and it is not working as a balancing force towards the creation.

In case anyone is wondering, it is mentioned later but it's so small I really don't see it as a spoiler - Nathalie is travelling under the guise of international relations for Agreste Industries. She ensured that Luka's contract had a clause that he could leave when needed to, because Luka wouldn't have signed it otherwise.

I thought they needed a little bit of happiness in Paris! Similar to the one above, we kind of needed to see where everyone was. Alya knows that she is supposed to watch over Adrien - but Marinette doesn't know she knows - so she's still being close(ish) yet keeping her guard up.

God damn Kim and his fucking speedo at the party in the show KILLED me. So I thought this would be a perfect excuse to remind everyone of that pure hilarity of a moment.

-

Exciting things are happening over here - it looks like we have around 13 chapters left (not saying anything in certainty, because I am never certain).

I was so thrilled to be into Part 4, but now it's scary, because it feels like we're so close to the end… And like… I hadn't prepared for that emotion.

-

THANK YOU FOR READING. YOU ARE ALL BEAUTIFUL PEOPLE.

[moonbeamwritings]

a piece of you

We all take a little part of the people we love everywhere we go, captured in a photograph or in the recipes we memorize. It lingers in the way we wear our hair or the silly jokes we make with friends. We mirror, consume and display what we love, and by extension, who we love, in every action and phrase — an endless, ever-expanding galaxy littered with moments and precious memories spent watching and learning and loving. Even long after they leave us, pieces of our loved ones linger. They linger in our hearts and homes as if they belong, even if there is no longer any space for them. Stars can still be seen from the ground long after they’ve died, after all.

Hinata’s luggage is heavy as he wheels it through the airport, his backpack weighing him down as if it’s packed full of rocks. He’s just said goodbye to his mother and Natsu outside, just said goodbye to you, before his flight to Brazil. It was a decision that felt so right, so perfect, one that he’d spent weeks excitedly telling everyone about, but now, as he checks his luggage, he doesn’t understand the emotion that swirls somewhere deep in the pit of his stomach. As he settles into the plane, squished in the middle seat on his way to a country full of opportunities, his eyes mist over and sting with unshed tears. He was so unbelievably, undeniably, happy with his decision, so why did it feel so wrong, like he was missing something vital. He pats his pockets, a mental checklist running through his mind. Wallet, passport, pocket guide to Portuguese (Thanks, Yachi). So what was it?

It doesn’t hit him until he’s moved into his apartment. Pedro is quiet, almost too quiet, and Hinata knows he isn’t good enough at the language, not yet, to stave off the loneliness that creeps up his ribcage like vines. He keeps busy, though. Meditating on the beach at sunrise, Hinata thinks of Takeda and Ukai; words about prioritizing both body and mind ringing in his head, a delicate balance that any player needs to succeed. He works and trains and eats right. He gets his eight hours. Everything seems to be going well, but the feeling lingers. Days later, with the last of his boxes unpacked, his clothes neatly tucked (or as neatly as he cares to keep them) into the dresser in the corner, he stands, hands on his hips, and takes in his room. The loneliness inches closer.

He has the brand of hand lotion his mom and sister have always used sitting on his desk. It smells like them. It smells like home. Out of the corner of his eye, he catches the lock screen of his phone. It’s a group photo of his friends, a photo that took a lot of begging on his and Yachi’s part. A wobbly smile forms on his lips as he thinks of her standing before Tsukishima and demanding that he smile, just this once. He didn’t, of course, but Hinata didn't mind. The picture makes his chest feel warm and tight all at once.

What finally gets him, though, what brings Hinata face-to-face with the gnawing feeling that had been itching at him for days, is a sweatshirt that lingers on the edge of the bed. He brings it to his nose, and all he can smell is you. Your perfume, your shampoo — just you. It’s familiar and comforting and saddening in a way Hinata is sure he’s never felt before. You’d worn it the night before his flight when you’d both settled beneath the tree in his backyard, talking and cuddling as if the sun, your sun, wasn’t about to fall out of orbit. You were going to college, Hinata was going to Brazil, and everything felt so out of control. Nothing would ever be the same.

“I’m going to miss you.” It’s an earnest whisper, and Hinata wonders if you ever intended for him to hear it.

“I’m going to miss you more.”

A scoff travels on the cool evening breeze. He smiles despite himself at the sound. “I don’t think so.”

It’s one competition neither of you would ever win. The two of you could go back and forth until the end of time. How had he managed to find someone who he loved so deeply and who made him feel so loved in return? He was one of the lucky ones, that much he knew.

Crickets chirp in the background and the distant clank of pots and pans remind you both that dinner is on the horizon, that soon this moment will be broken before it is broken again and again until he’s home — before he comes back to you.

You pick your head up from his shoulder then and press your lips to his. It’s salty with tears, ones he hadn’t realized you’d both started to shed, and it says everything and nothing all at once. It’s perfect.

When you finally break away, he takes your face in both of his hands and swipes his thumbs beneath your eyes, along your cheekbones. He stares into your eyes and memorizes their color. He traces the line of your cupid’s bow and the curve of your nose.

You sniffle, and your hand comes up to rest over one of his. “If you keep looking at me like that, I’m going to have to beg you to stay.”

“I love you.” Another earnest confession, and certainly not the last.

“I love you, too.”

At the memory, he wastes no time in tugging the sweatshirt over his head, bringing his tired body down to lay across his comforter, energy gone amid his reminiscing. If his chest felt tight before, it’s nearly suffocating him now as he thinks of the photo he has of you tucked in his wallet. A cute candid where your smile reaches your eyes, hand outstretched to grab him, who was lingering just behind the camera. Your presence lingers in every corner of his room, even though he’s thousands of miles away, and he’s grateful. He’s grateful that he can keep you close, can keep you in his heart until he can finally come home to you. A week later, he struggles to put the sweatshirt through the wash.

He calls you every day for two years. He writes you letters and sends you postcards, and you send your own back. The pictures and papers litter his room, forming a stack on his deck and his bedside table that he doesn’t dare put away. The distance, though daunting, is manageable, it seems. Anything is when you love someone as much as he loves you, and before he knows it, his two years are up. He’s absorbed new skills like a sponge, has made new friends, and now he’s able to return home. Finally.

You’re there to greet him at the airport, holding up a sign decorated with his name written in neon markers, stickers dotting nearly every inch of the paper. It takes everything in him to prevent himself from simply tackling you to the ground, scooping you up into his arms and never letting go. He’s sure to crash into you with less force, taking you into his arms and lifting you from the ground instead of bringing you to it. Your lips bump together in a frenzied kiss that’s all teeth and big smiles and two years worth of love. He loves you and he’s home and nothing else matters.

It’s said that your loved ones can be seen and felt in all corners of your being, sparkling stars and distant glimpses of lost and found loves ever-present in the way we move and speak and exist. Hinata hadn’t realized how much of you he had truly kept until you were in his arms again, his heart finally feeling whole.

[five-rivers]

Stars Aligned Chapter 2

Here’s the thing.  Danny knew this was a dumb decision.  At least as dumb as stepping into the ghost portal (but at least he’d gotten some nifty powers out of that, hey?).  Whatever reason his bio-dad had for chucking him out the door within days of his birth couldn’t be good.  Putting himself within reach of the man…  Yeah.  Not his brightest thought.  

(Not to mention the wizards.  And witches.  That was so weird, how they had two different names for essentially the same thing. Then again… actor, actress…  Why were people so weird?)

On the other hand, twin brother.  Twin brother who had to live with aforementioned baby-abandoning bio-dad.  Twin brother who wasn’t allowed to visit America.  Or, Danny suspected, a family of squibs.  

Yeah.  

Yeah.  

So, here he was.  Getting everything in order for a wizard passport and wizard international travel, because bio-family refused to even look at an airport.  

Danny had a suspicion that, based on how they spelled the word and a few other comments in that particular letter, that they weren’t entirely clear on what an airport was.  

Fun.  

On the other hand, in comparison to the actual, normal, legal passport he’d gotten, just in case bio-family left him somewhere, wizard passports were much, much easier to get.  The wait times were practically nonexistent.  He could, in theory, get the passport on the same day he traveled.  All that was needed was proof he was a wizard and his adoption papers.  

Of course, ‘proof he was a wizard’ actually meant ‘wand.’  Wands being something they used as personal ID, despite the fact that they were a) sticks, and b) didn’t actually carry any personally identifiable information.  Sure, Jack said that they were somehow connected to their owners, but unless there were, like, giant books of details about everyone’s wands at every place that would, conceivably, need ID, and had people trained to identify all those tiny little characteristics…  Danny just couldn’t see how it would work.

Danny’s current theory was that all wizards were just insane, which meant that his twin would most likely fit right in with the rest of Danny’s family, right as soon as Danny figured out how to legally kidnap him.

(No, Danny didn’t have a ghostly Obsession, and it definitely wasn’t family related.  He was only half-ghost, after all.  Why do you ask?)

Anyway.  Wizard passport.  Wizard ID. Wizard sticks.  

Wands.  

Wands meant a nerve-wracking trip to the nearest wizarding town with Jack.  Evidently, he’d lived there a couple of years after his parents sent him away from Britain when he was around fourteen because of ‘the war.’

Abruptly, many of Jack’s stories about his childhood made more sense.

(It had always been something of a joke between Jazz and Danny to try and figure out what ‘the war’ was supposed to be, and if Jack’s parents had just… Conned him into thinking he’d eaten horse meat.  For some reason.  Even if the Fentons hadn’t seemed like that kind of people, no matter how eccentric.)

(Also, evidently Jazz and Danny had never met Jack’s biological parents, who were not named Fenton, although his adopted mother was also a witch.)

(Why was everything so complicated?)

 The “wizarding community” was a small town accessible only by a train line invisible to ‘no-majs.’  And also flying brooms.  Which wizards used.  Danny had seen the train before, not realizing that he wasn’t supposed to. Several times.  Usually while flying to Wisconsin to deal with whatever Vlad had done that week.  

If Danny was a wizard, was Vlad?  Was being half-ghost somehow tied up in being magical? What did that mean for Dani?

(Hey, maybe this whole affair could be used to bring Dani into the family safely.  Who was to say that he didn’t have a secret twin sister?)

Danny could admit that the town itself, which had almost a Ghost Zone vibe with how all the architecture seemed to be from fifty plus to a hundred years ago and also the physics breaking magic, was sort of cool. It was… cute, he guessed.  He didn’t really like how everyone was staring at Jack, their clothes were just as weird, but it wasn’t a new thing.  People always stared at Jack.  

That’s what happened when you wore hazard-orange jumpsuits twenty-four seven.  

The shops all had names out of a fantasy novel, and at one point they got turned around and wound up on a residential street where they had to ask for directions, but eventually they made it to ‘Willoughby’s Wand Emporium.’

The interior of Willoughby’s Wand Emporium reminded Danny strongly of a shoe store.  The shelves were all lined with boxes of approximately that size, and the employees all carried measuring tape.  It also smelled like a shoe store: musty and dry, with a hint of polish.  Or maybe it was wood varnish?  Or some kind of paint.  

A young woman bounced up.  “Hi, how can we help you today?  Replacement wand?”

“First time, actually,” said Jack.  

“Oh, I’m sorry,” said the woman.  “You’re just so tall for your age.”

“I’m fourteen,” said Danny.  

The woman began to turn red.

“He was missed,” said Jack.  “It happens.”  He smiled, but it looked far more strained than usual.  

“Oh,” said the woman.  “Ahem.  Well, if you’ll come right this way, I can start taking measurements, and start trying out wands.  The wand chooses the wizard, they say!”

“Okay,” said Danny, shrugging.  That was… interesting.  Were the wands sentient?  Did that somehow make them acceptable IDs?

Seemed really weird to keep sentient things stored in boxes.

… Said the kid who stored sentient beings in a soup thermos.

A really high-tech soup thermos.

Didn’t make it better.  

Except he didn’t keep them in the thermos indefinitely.  Except for Dan.  

Danny didn’t know if the wizards kept the wands in boxes indefinitely, either.  Maybe he should stop assuming things.  That had gotten him in trouble with ghosts more than once.

The woman took her measuring tape from where it hung around her shoulders, held it out in front of herself, and promptly dropped it. It did not fall.  

As basic as levitation was for ghosts, it was really weird to see a human do it.  (Especially when it always took so much concentration for him to levitate things other than himself—Hence why he never really used the ability in battle.)

The measuring tape flitted around Danny’s head, shoulders, arms, and body, taking measurements.  He had to sit on his reflexes hard to prevent himself from trying to catch it or knock it out of the air.  

He was so nervous.  Was it normal to be nervous?

The measuring tape snaked back through the air to the woman, who smiled.  “Alright,” she said, “we can start with that.  Uh, to explain the process, we usually start out with wands in the appropriate size range and try and zero in on the ones that respond best to you from there.”  She flicked her own wand, and several thin boxes slid themselves off the shelves.  “We use a wide variety of wand woods from a variety of wandmakers.  Just about any tree that grows in North America is probably represented here.” She paused.  “Except for palm trees.”

“That makes sense,” said Danny.  Palm trees were quite different from other trees.  

“Alright.  Let’s start with pine.  The core of this one is dragon heartstring—Harvested humanely, of course!”

“Core?” said Danny, latching on to the familiar word even as he regarded the wand itself dubiously.  

“Yes.  As with our woods, we also stock a wide range of wand cores.  Each wand has a core made of a small part of a magical creature.  Dragon heartstring, unicorn hair, and phoenix feather are the standard ones…  But that standardization is rather British.  We have a few others available.  Thunderbird tail feather—Only taken during molt.  Wampus cat hair.  Dittany. Rougarou hair.  Jackalope antler…  Those are the more common ones, though we do have others.  Even some kneazle whisker, although most people don’t want those.”

“Why not?”

“Ah, they tend not to be very strong.  But sheer power isn’t everything.  Some prefer control, need lower power output…  or are worried about accidents while they’re learning.  We do see some adult learners every now and then.”

That actually sounded sort of appealing to Danny, but he supposed he’d better go about this normally.  At least at first.  

He picked up the pine wand and immediately dropped it.  

“Ow,” he said.  

“Ow?” repeated the woman.  “Oh,” she said, catching sight of the burn on his hand.  “That’s… not supposed to happen.”

“Y’know,” said Danny, conversationally, “I’ve only held, like, two magical things in my life, and both of them have damaged my hands. Is this, like, a common thing, or am I just ridiculously unlucky.”

“Second one, I think,” said the woman.  “Cynthia’s good at minor healing charms.  I’m going to go get her.  Okay?  Okay.”

Shortly thereafter, phoenix feather wands were also eliminated as a possibility, not because they burned Danny, but because they seemed intent on burning everything else around him.  Pine wands were also a definite no-go (“Don’t worry about the lifespan thing,” said the woman, “that’s a myth.”).  As was everything but elder, apple, pear, hornbeam, thorn, and yew (this list got another mention of myths from the shop assistant).  

At this point, the shop owner, Mrs. Willoughby, was drawn out from the back room to observe the mess Danny was making.  

“My,” she said, “I haven’t seen anyone have this much trouble in a while.  Heather, why don’t you go get some of the specialty cores.”

“I thought the unicorn was working well,” protested the woman who’d been helping Danny so far.  She winced as Danny picked up a new wand and exploded a light.  “Comparatively.”

“Yes, we could probably eventually find a unicorn hair wand that would work for him, but all things considered…  I feel like we should explore other avenues.”  She sniffed.  “Nothing associated with fire.  Perhaps kelpie mane?”

“I’ll check,” said Heather.  

.

Kelpie mane, it turned out, did the same sort of thing as phoenix tail feather when it came to Danny.  Only with a lot more water involved.  

“I didn’t think that would work, anyway,” said Mrs. Willoughby.

“Then why,” said Danny, wringing water out of his shirt, “did you have me try it?”

“Oh, cases like you greatly improve our understanding of wandlore,” said Mrs. Willoughby.  “You’re not likely to have noticed this yet, but the population of wizards and witches is so small compared to the no-maj population that everyone who gets very far in a profession has to be a bit of an innovator.  I’m recording this for future reference, and I’ll be looking forward to seeing what you do in life.  If anything.  It would be very helpful to me if you became famous.”

“Hard pass on that,” said Danny.  

“Or at least come back at some point.”

“I’ll consider it,” said Danny.  “But, like, we were really hoping to do other things today, so maybe…”  He made a circular motion with his hand.  “Or at least, ugh, I don’t know.  I feel like everything you give me is trying to kill me.”

It was a very familiar feeling, and a very unwelcome one, nonetheless.  

“We really aren’t,” said Mrs. Willoughby.  “But perhaps… from now on, we’ll limit to the woods to the Rosaceaes.  The others tend to be called unlucky.  Well, except for the hornbeam.  Is there anything you’re singularly passionate about?”

Singularly passionate?  “Not really,” said Danny, who did not think about ghosts or helping people or space. He shifted, uncomfortable, and squelched.  

Screw it.  He was supposedly a wizard, now, right?

He phased the water off himself.  

“Oh my god!” shouted Heather.  “Did you do that on purpose?”

“Uh,” said Danny.  “No?”

“Calm down, Heather.  Don’t act like you’ve never seen accidental magic before.”

“Not with a teenager doing it!”

They were now attracting a crowd.  Yay.  

“He’s not trained, yet,” said Mrs. Willoughby, unconcerned.  “Don’t be rude.”

“Yeah, can we get back on track, here?”

After a few more tries, Mrs. Willoughby had determined that the wood that reacted the least badly to Danny was hawthorn.  Then she sent Heather into the storage room to fetch more.  

“I don’t know why we even have these,” said Heather, under her breath, carrying several boxes marked with stamps that read ‘THESTRAL.’

“Because some people have trauma, Heather.”

“He’s a teenager.  I seriously doubt he has deep personal experiences with death.”

“Wow, way to assume, Heather,” said another shop assistant, who was passing by with a far-too-curious customer.  

“Here,” said Mrs. Willoughby, handing Danny a box.  “Try this one.  It’s hawthorn.”

With some suspicion, Danny slid the cover off the box and gingerly picked up the wand inside.  

It didn’t do anything like what the other wands had. Instead, the slender length of wood gave him a faint echo of the feeling he got when he was on an emotional high and engaging in either extreme mischief or obsession-adjacent activities (because he did not have a real, ghostly, capital-O Obsession).

Danny declined to hold it with all five fingers, lest he be overcome with mania.

Yes, he was paranoid.  But when touching things can go as badly for you as they did for Danny, paranoia was justified.  

“Oh, it looks like you’ve found your match,” said Mrs. Willoughby, clapping.  

With the ease of practice, Danny did not let any trace of horror or unease show on his face.  He ignored the surge of glee from the wand, and carefully placed it back in the box.  

Yeah.  He needed a wand for passport purposes, but there was no way he was going to use that.  He’d just fake magic with ghost powers.  It had been working out okay so far.  

What was the worst that could happen?

A rather relieved Jack paid for the wand, and they made their way, slowly, to the government building.  

“So,” said Jack.  “You want to save getting those beginner magic manuals for another day?”

“Absolutely,” said Danny.  He wondered if his twin had gone through anything even remotely like this and if it was really worth all this trouble to meet a person he would have basically nothing in common with other than blood.  

Blood that likely meant less than usual, considering that his was diluted with ectoplasm.  A fact he would have to hide.  With no allies or back up.  In England.

(Again, this whole endeavor was not his greatest idea.)

.

Draco supervised the house-elves as they cleaned out the room next to his own, feeling rather blank.  He had campaigned vigorously for his twin to come, but now that he was…

The boy, for all that he was as much a Malfoy as Draco, was an American for all intents and purposes.  What did Americans even like?  What did they call their bastardized version of Quidditch?  Would Deneb even know about wizard games?  According to the woman from the agency, he’d been raised as a muggle by those squibs he’d been placed with.  

Slowly but surely, Draco’s heart sank.  He had no idea what his twin would be like.  Deneb, despite being his brother, would essentially be a stranger.  

He was beginning to understand why his mother was so angry at his father.  

[slapshot-to-the-heart]

Flatbush & Atlantic: part x

part i part ii part iii part iv part v part vi part vii part viii part ix

And we’ve finally come to the end of Cass and Mat’s story! I want to thank every person who’s read this over the past few months, especially those of you who have reblogged, commented, and shared this with your friends. Your feedback means the world to me, and please tell me what you think of this final part! I’ve also got some ideas floating around for an epilogue, so don’t be surprised if that pops up in the next few weeks.

part x

May 21 (fri)

For once, it wasn’t Cass’ alarm that woke her up. Her internal clock didn’t let her sleep in past 6, but as she lay in her bed, comforter pulled up to her chin and curls up in a haphazard messy bun, a realization struck her. She didn’t have anything to do, and that was just about as far from normal for her as possible. Normally, she’d be hopping in the shower at this time, getting out and shoveling some cereal down her throat before running to catch the train, or desperately trying to finish some last-minute reading before an early lecture. Her grandparents’ flight didn’t land at JFK until 1, and she wouldn’t need to leave until an hour before that to get Mat and drive to the airport. 

Padding out to the kitchen, she just caught Ryanne, who was about to leave for a clinical rotation. “What department are you in this month?” Cass asked.

“OB/GYN,” Ryanne responded. “I got to observe a birth the other day, and it was one of my favorite things I’ve gotten to do so far. Obviously I don’t know for sure yet, but I think I might want to match into it. You get to do a little bit of everything — there’s some surgery, some routine care, some deliveries. And with the Black maternal health crisis, I figure we need all the Black OBs we can get as a country.” 

Cass smiled. “That’s wonderful, I’m glad to hear.” She knew that Ryanne had been a little stressed out with the prospect of trying to pick a residency; she hadn’t felt drawn to any of the other rotations she’d gone through quite like this one. 

“What about you? What’s your schedule like today?” Ryanne asked as she poured coffee into her travel mug. 

Cass flopped down on the couch, looking over at her. “It’s just...I have nothing to do. Nothing needs to get done. No cases to read, no essays to finish, no paperwork to file or anything. Chris gave me this week off for finals anyways, so I couldn’t even go into the office if I wanted to because there’s just nothing for me to do. Do you know how rare that is for me?”

Ryanne laughed. “Cass, I’m in med school. The last time I had a true ‘off day’ was two weeks ago, and even then I spent most of it studying.” She slung her backpack over one shoulder. “See you tonight, have a good day, babe!”

After some toast and a smoothie, Cass was back on the couch, trying desperately to think of something to do. She thrived on being busy, thrived on feeling like she was needed and contributing to something worthwhile. Pushing herself up, she walked back to her room, deciding to change and go out for a run. Cass liked to keep in shape and exercise as often as she could, even though it had been a few years since she had been on an organized sports team. She was usually able to make yoga classes at the school gym twice a week, but typically didn’t have the spare time in the mornings for a run. And by the time she got back it was almost always dark, way too late to even think about going out alone. 

Lacing up her tennis shoes and grabbing her AirPods and keys, she set out, down the stairs and past the door. As she jogged down the streets, making familiar turn after familiar turn, Cass realized something remarkably profound. Every place she passed had played a part in the last three years. St. Lucy’s, where she had stumbled in with inconsolable tears after her abuelo’s stroke, lighting a candle and praying with some old Italian woman for his recovery. The bodega on the corner run by Carlos Gonzalez, one of the first people she met when she moved to the city and the only one who knew how to smoosh her sandwiches down how she likes. The Edible Arrangements where she, Stella, and Ryanne had bought Alicia a congratulatory fruit bouquet for finally asking out her coworker Juliette. They had been dating for six months. The high school she passed every morning on her way to the subway station. These were the people and places that had made her life what it was, and she owed them her thanks. 

An hour and five miles later, Cass decided to call it quits, walking the last few blocks back to the apartment as a sort of cool-down. She jumped in the shower, throwing her hair up in a towel once she got out and resigning herself to watching whatever was on TV. Diners, Drive-ins, and Dives it was, apparently. Four episodes and one snack break later, it was time to get in the car to head over and pick up Mat. Cass drove down Manhattan Island, tapping her fingers in boredom as she hit yet more traffic. It was noon, why was there even traffic in the first place? She pulled into the visitor’s spot in the underground lot of Mat’s apartment complex, taking out her phone. Just got here! Mat popped out of the elevator a few minutes later, holding a bouquet of tulips. “Sorry I’m late, I was going back and forth between tulips and sunflowers for awhile, but I figured the pink was maybe a better choice? What do you think?” Cass started to laugh, and Mat looked offended. “What?”

“Babe, it’s so sweet that you want to impress my grandma, but have you thought about how the poor flowers will fare?”

His brow furrowed. “What do you mean?”

Cass adjusted her seatbelt, leaning over. “We’re going to be out for awhile. We’re not going straight back to their hotel. So…” she prompted.

“They’ll wilt.” Mat finished, his face falling. 

She covered his hand with her own. “Don’t worry. It’s a sweet gesture and I’m sure she’ll appreciate them. We’re all going out for dinner after the ceremony tomorrow, why don’t you bring them then?” 

He perked up. “I’ll run up and put them back in a vase, be back in a few!” Mat gave Cass a quick peck on her cheek, leaving her with just one question. Mat owned vases? He slid back into the passenger’s seat shortly after, clicking his seatbelt in and connecting his phone to the speakers. 

Cass rolled her eyes. “I don’t know a single guy your age who’s not obsessed with John Mayer. It’s kind of weird, honestly.”

“You don’t like him?” Mat asked curiously. Cass was usually into more guitar-based, acoustic stuff, so he figured she’d be into at least some of his stuff. 

“Some of it,” Cass responded, pulling out of the lot and onto the street. “Go ahead and play it, I don’t mind at all. Not what I’d usually put on if I’m alone, that’s all.”

Mat nodded, looking absentmindedly out the window. “So, what should I know about your grandparents?”

Cass’ face immediately burst into a smile at their mention. It was always so clear how much she loved her family, and that was one of Mat’s favorite things about her. How hard she loved. “Alright, so it’s Dolores and Roberto Cabrera. They’re wonderful people, I genuinely think you’re going to like them a lot. They’re both super fluent in English, so don’t worry about communication. They originally immigrated to Texas when they were in their teens, abuela was a housekeeper at a few hotels in San Antonio and abuelo worked in the fields for awhile before getting a job at a little hardware store in town, where he worked until they retired. My mom’s the middle of four, two older sisters and a younger brother.”Mat listened intently. “My abuelo’s a little more rough around the edges, so don’t be surprised if he gives you  a little bit of a hard time, but it’s not out of malice or anything. He’s always been very protective over us, my mom and her siblings, and now us three. He might do the whole ‘nobody’s good enough for my Cassidy” thing, but he’ll get over it. He means well.” 

She glanced over at Mat, who was looking decidedly nervous. “Seriously, chou, it’s going to be fine. Abuela’s totally different, they’re like polar opposites. I can almost guarantee that she’ll say something to the effect of ‘if my granddaughter loves you, I love you.’ Very much go with the flow, she’ll probably want to come over to your apartment and cook for you.” Her expression softened. “As long as you’re kind and respectful, they won’t have an issue with you, Mat. They’ll see that you treat me how I deserve to be treated and love me like I deserve to be loved.”

Cass pulled into the garage by the international arrivals terminal, cutting the gas and checking the time. “The flight was supposed to land at one, so they should be getting out of passport control by the time we get inside.” It was a little after one thirty, but if there was anything Cass knew, it was just how long customs could take at an airport as big as JFK. Even in the middle of the afternoon on a weekday, and even though her grandparents were travelling on their American passports and could use the citizen’s line, she had heard that it could take upwards of an hour or two to get through. 

The concourse was pretty bare apart from a few kiosks selling “I ❤️ NY” shirts and a surprisingly busy Noah’s Bagels, so Mat and Cass made themselves comfortable on one of the rows of plastic chairs lining the room. The arrivals screen had marked their flight from Mexico City as having landed nearly an hour prior, so it was little surprise when Cass popped up from the chair, straightening her shirt and walking over to a couple that he could only assume were her grandparents. Mat quickly followed, catching up to her just as she threw her arms around her grandma. “Abuela, te extrañé,” she said, the sound muffled by Dolores’ scarf. She pulled back, kissing her grandpa on the cheek before stepping over to Mat, one hand placed reassuringly on his back. “Abuela, abuelo, this is Mat, my boyfriend.”

Mat stuck his hand out, shaking theirs. “Mr. and Mrs. Cabrera, it’s so amazing to finally meet you. Cass speaks so highly of you, and she always talks about her summers in Hermosillo.” 

Dolores pulled Mat in, embracing him from the start just as Cass had expected. “Mat, it’s wonderful to finally meet you. Cassidy has told us so much about you, it’s clear she loves you a great deal.”

Mat ducked his head and blushed. “I’m not sure if she can love me more than I love her, but I’m happy to be in such good company.” 

He took both of their suitcases as Cass gestured to the sliding doors. “I want to get back to the car before they charge me for another half hour,” she said. 

Mat slid the bags in the trunk of the car as Dolores got in the passenger’s seat. With a gulp, Mat realized that meant he had to sit next to Roberto. He had been perfectly nice on the walk over, but as Cass had warned him, it was clear that he was a little guarded. Whether that was just his personality or whether Mat had yet to earn his trust hadn’t been determined. 

Her grandparents had been to New York once or twice before, but it had almost always been just to fly in before driving up to visit Cass’ family in Connecticut; they had never really been able to see the city. Cass  felt strongly that that had to change, so she had arranged for a mini-tour of Manhattan before they got dropped off at their hotel for the night. “So, Mat,” Dolores said, turning around in her chair, “Cassidy tells us you’re a hockey player? That must be so exciting, how long have you been playing?”

Mat nodded. “Yes ma’am. I play for the Islanders, so we’re right here in Brooklyn, but I live over in Manhattan. I’ve been playing the sport since I was four or so? Really little. But I just finished my fourth season on the Islanders. And it is exciting, I love being with my team and being on the ice, it’s one of the best feelings in the world.” 

“That must keep you busy, though?” Roberto asked gruffly. 

Mat froze. He couldn’t lie and say that he was home all the time, able to be there for Cass as often as he’d like to, because he wasn’t. But if he let on just how often he was gone, would that make him even more wary? “Oftentimes, yes,” Mat began slowly. “The team’s usually on two or so road trips a month, they’re usually about a week long. But they’re balanced out with plenty of home games, and there’s lots of guys who balance the job with a family and other responsibilities. I’m always excited to be able to be back in New York, I love it here. And to be with Cass.” Roberto nodded, not seemingly totally satisfied but content enough to not push the issue further. 

“He’s really good about spending time with me, abuelo, even though we’ve both got busy schedules,” Cass added, catching Roberto’s eye in the rearview mirror. “We meet in the morning before a class to get coffee, or lunch in between studying if I’ve got time. I go to every game I’m able to when he’s playing here in the city, or over in Jersey. We spend plenty of time together, he doesn’t blow me off. You don’t have to worry.” He seemed much more at ease with his granddaughter’s response. 

It was a whirlwind three hours around New York, Cass playing chauffeur as they went to the top of the Empire State Building — her pick — in St. Patrick’s Cathedral  — her grandpa’s pick — and around Central Park, stopping at one of the many pretzel carts for a snack. They dropped them off at the hotel, Cass’ eyes getting misty as her grandma pulled out the serape stole from her purse. Her fingers danced over the colors, the stripes of red and blue and pink and green, and knowing that it was made by the hands of someone so important to her made it all the more beautiful. The rest of her family was driving in later that night, after Nick got out of school, so everyone wouldn’t be together until the graduation ceremony the next day. 

The couple decided to get takeout on the way back to Mat’s apartment, Mat jumping out of the car to run in and pick up the order while Cass circled the block until he was out. As they sat on the couch, cuddled into each other as they broke into the boxes of Chinese food, Cass thought absentmindedly that Mat handled his chopsticks way better than she ever would have given him credit for. Her grandparents had been on her mind. More specifically, her grandparents and Mat had been on her mind. It wasn’t that she thought he had messed up in any way — she was positive he’d absolutely won over her grandma and her grandpa was slowly but surely coming around — but some lingering concerns about what they might think about their relationship. “I’m not sure that they’d actually care, but when you talk to them tomorrow maybe don’t mention how often I sleep over here? They’re wonderful people, but they’re a little old school about this stuff.” 

“This stuff?” Mat asked curiously. 

“Living together, sex before marriage, that kind of stuff.” 

“And how do you feel about it?” 

Cass raised an eyebrow at him. “Do you think you could ever get me to do something I didn’t want to do? I’m way too stubborn for that.” Mat threw his head back, laughing. “But seriously. I don’t make the decision lightly, because commitment and intimacy in that way is something really big and important to me. You already knew that I don’t do hookups, it’s just not my thing. But I can see this, us, going places. I want us to go places. And I’ve never been very good at listening to people when I don’t want to. So I’ve made my peace that my choices might not be ones everyone would be thrilled with, but it doesn’t really matter to me as long as I have you.” 

Mat nodded, putting down his food to card one hand through her curls. “I get that, I do. Obviously that’s not so much the attitude with a lot of the boys, but your principles are part of what makes you who you are, and I love who you are. Every part of you.” Cass smiled against his neck, leaning down and kissing him on the shoulder. “I want us to go places too, I hope you know that.”

“Glad to hear.”

They ate without speaking for a few more minutes until Mat broke the silence. “Where do you see yourself in five years?” 

“With you,” Cass answered honestly. “Here, or we could get a nice brownstone over in Brooklyn.” 

“Somewhere with a yard,” Mat mused. 

“Yeah, a yard would be nice,” Cass agreed. “I’d like to get a dog, I’ve always grown up with dogs and it would be nice to have someone to keep me company when you’re gone.” Her family’s two dogs, Patches and Scout, were back at the house in Connecticut, and on more than one occasion, Cass had made the two-hour drive up just to see them. She paused, glancing down at her hands. “In five years? You’d better have put a ring on my finger by then, Mat. I’ll be almost thirty. Approaching old maid status” 

Mat laughed, an easy, breathy sort of laugh that somehow erased all of the tension in the room. “I think you should double-hyphen.” 

Cass looked at him doubtfully. “Cabrera-Shaw-Barzal? Yeah, I’m going to have to pass on that one.” 

He shrugged, the corner of his lip pulled up in a half-smile. “Just saying. It’s got a ring to it.”

“Have you given much thought to what you’d want to do with your name when you get married?” Mat asked curiously. It really didn’t matter much to him, since it would ultimately be Cass’ decision, but he didn’t want to assume anything regardless. And it didn’t escape Cass that he said when, as if it was certain, as if it was a given. The surety made her heart flutter. 

Cass shook her head. “Not particularly. On one hand, I do like the idea of the whole family having the same name. It seems nice. Unified. But I don’t want to feel like I’m erasing my culture and who I am just because I’m getting married. And all due respect, chou,” Cass poked Mat’s cheek, “but Cabrera Shaw’s the name on my degrees. Cassidy Barzal didn’t go to law school.”

“Very fair,” Mat said with a chuckle. 

Cass took a deep breath. If it seemed like they were having the “future talk,” she figured it was best to go all in. “Do you want kids?” she asked, tentatively, hesitantly. It was obvious that Mat was good with kids, she’d seen as much, but being good with kids and wanting children of your own were two very different things. Cass had wanted to be a mom since she knew what a mom was, and even though they probably should have brought up the topic earlier, she wasn’t sure what she’d do if he said no. Thank God, she never had to find out. 

“Definitely,” Mat said, nodding. “Not now, obviously, we’re young and haven’t really settled down yet. If you got pregnant we’d make it work, but I don’t think either of us is looking to be parents right away. But in a couple years, once we’re married and have a proper house with space...Yeah, I’d like to have kids.” He looked over at Cass. “What about you?”

“Always wanted kids,” Cass responded fondly. “I loved growing up with siblings, and I know my parents were the same way. Two or three, I think. I’ve thought about adoption too, but obviously that’s way in the future.”

Mat kissed the top of her head. “We’ve got time.”

 May 22 (sat)

 The graduation ceremony itself wasn’t until noon, so Cass had more than enough time to get ready after waking up at 7. Alicia barrelled into her room at exactly 7:22, throwing a shirt at her and telling her to get dressed. Cass stumbled out of the room ten minutes later, pulling on socks and grabbing her phone from the charger by her door. “What are you guys trying to pull?” she asked, yawning and trying to wipe the sleep out of her eyes. 

“Uh, we’re going to the diner, duh,” Stella said with a smile, tossing Cass her purse. “Come on! You know it fills up early on weekends.” Glen’s Diner had become an apartment staple over the past few years, the restaurant having been the first place the four of them had eaten in the city when they moved, not having bought groceries yet and not wanting to pay the premium for delivery. It was cheap, open 24/7, and Cass would swear up and down that their blueberry pancakes were the best she’d ever had. 

They were seated just after 8, happily slurping coffee and stealing bites of each other’s breakfast twenty minutes later. It was a nice day and hadn’t gotten too hot yet, so they decided to walk back after finishing the meal. In reality, “going back” meant Alicia stopping to buy a new necklace, listening to a busker for a few minutes, and petting no fewer than five dogs on the one-mile walk. There was still plenty of time before they had to leave for the ceremony, but after Cass did her makeup and tamed her curls, there was just enough time to watch an episode of Parks & Rec before having to actually get her stuff together. Not as flexible as she once had been, Ryanne helped zip up the back of her dress, a white lace bodycon from her sorority days that she had definitely worn to at least two semiformals. Hey, Cass thought as she straightened her hemline, if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. 

She had ironed her robe and put it into a dress bag the night before, and gently folded her school stole and the serape from her abuela into her purse. Mat’s necklace hadn’t left its place since Valentine’s. Her dad’s parents had given her a beautiful pair of pearl studs for her undergraduate graduation, and it felt only right to wear them for her next step. She fastened the ankle straps on her heels, and popped her head out to the living room. “Everyone ready?” She was met with a chorus of “yeses,” and grabbed her keys from their dish by the front door. 

“Let’s go get our girl graduated!” Alicia hollered into the street. 

The girls had originally objected to Cass driving herself to her own graduation, but relented as soon as Cass reminded them that she was the only one who knew where to find the free parking, and the rest of them only drove sedans. “Cheryl has way more room. Y’all want to be cramped on purpose?” 

“Fair point,” Stella had said begrudgingly. 

Exactly twenty-six minutes later, Cass pulled into a spot about two blocks away from the arena where she would be graduating in an hour’s time, hugging each of her friends as Ryanne handed her the dress bag. “You’re going to kill it in there,” she said, rubbing her back. 

Cass laughed. “Ry, all I’ve got to do is walk across a stage without tripping.”

She shrugged. “It’s a fine art that few have mastered.” 

Cass entered through the side, flashing her ID to the security guard standing by the door. Half an hour later, everyone had been ushered into their seats, carefully arranged in alphabetical order. For the most part, Cass was friendly with everyone in her class; if they weren’t outwardly hostile to her, she saw no reason why they deserved anything other than kindness, but was relieved to see Robin sitting next to her. “You excited?” Robin asked, brushing a piece of her auburn hair behind her ear. The lobby doors must have opened, because as she asked, crowds started to mill into the seats, waving at anyone who would catch their eye. 

Cass bounced her head. “I am, but it’s kind of surreal, you know? I knew we’d get to this point, obviously. It’s what we’ve been working towards for seven years, really. But the idea that it all essentially comes down to this…”

“An hour, a few handshakes, and a piece of paper,” Robin helpfully supplied. 

She nodded. “Yeah. It’s almost anticlimactic in a way? Like sure, we’ve got our JDs after this, but knowing we’ve still got to pass the bar. We’re not over the finish line yet.”

“Columbia has a 97% pass rate, and you’re one of the smartest people I’ve ever met, Cass. And I’ve spent three years surrounded by the smartest people I’ve ever met.”

“Fair,” Cass said, “it’s just kind of a weird feeling, you know?” Robin nodded. “And plus, for most of us, we’ve pretty much spent our whole lives in school. Aside from positions as summer associates, or part-time jobs and internships, we don’t really know how to do anything other than school. It’s just a little bit of a daunting thought to suddenly feel like we’re being thrown out to the wolves without really knowing what to expect.” Cass’ phone, which she wasn’t technically supposed to have but had snuck in anyways, chose that moment to buzz with a text notification. It was from Mat.

Met up with the crew! Can’t wait to see you walk across that stage, Cass. I love you and we’re all so proud of you. Mat had attached a photo of everyone she had brought with her — both sets of grandparents, her parents and siblings, and roommates. 

“Your boyfriend is nauseatingly cute,” Robin observed, looking over her shoulder at the message. 

Cass laughed. “That’s true, but I knew what I was getting myself into.” The music started ten minutes later, and the ceremony began. If Cass was being honest, she didn’t really remember much of anything from the first half of the ceremony, before the conferral of diplomas. She was so excited and nervous and unbelievably ready all at the same time that all she recalled from the dean’s speech and the student speeches were vague comments about their ���awesome responsibility” and “duty to pursue truth and justice” and “commitment to fight for what is right over what is easy.” 

As soon as she realized it, her row was being ushered into line to receive their diplomas. “Cassidy María Cabrera Shaw.” She heard her name, but really had no clue who had spoken it. The dean? One of her professors? As Cass walked up the steps and across the stage, the only thing she could think was don’t trip don’t trip don’t trip. Then she was handed a diploma, flashed a brilliant smile for the photographer, and shook hand after hand after hand before walking off the other side of the stage. She was pretty sure she could hear Mat and Noah yelling their congratulations from her seat on the floor. 

Having a name towards the front of the alphabet meant that Cass was almost always called on quickly in class, or on roll call, or at graduation, as the case was. But that meant that she had to sit, quietly and politely, for the other four hundred names to be called. And it took awhile. After Robin Cahill came Wesley Coleman, then Samuel Cogswell, then Fiona Chan. Cass didn’t mind having to sit through the whole thing, especially when Fiona, Les, Samaira, and her other friends crossed the stage — she cheered as much as anybody — but it was a long time to be sitting in a folding chair and the thousands of people packed into a small space didn’t help her temperature regulation. 

There was the benediction and congratulations, and then the recessional of the graduates. Graduates, Cass thought. She was a graduate. She had finished, she was done, she had accomplished the one thing she wanted most to do since she was a little girl watching Legally Blonde for the first time, looking at Elle Woods and thinking I can do that. And she had. Her feet carried her to the back room of their own accord, where she picked up her bag and was engulfed in a flurry of hugs, congratulations, and kisses on the cheek from her friends, the people who she had spent countless late nights in the library with, bar hopping to celebrate the end of finals, and afternoons on each other’s apartment couches, yelling fact patterns at each other and trying to come up with an analysis before the timer went off.  

Following the stream of sky blue graduation gowns, Cass walked outside, waving at her family when she spotted Eliana hanging off of a lamppost in the courtyard to get a better view. Her sister nearly tackled her as she made her way to the group. “Cass. I already knew you were brilliant, and I still think  you’re the smartest out of any of us,” she gestured between the two of them and Noah, “but now you’ve got the degree to prove it. I’m so proud of you.” 

Noah was next. “You worked hard, and I know how badly you wanted this. You’re a really good sister.” He wasn’t usually a big talker, and Cass’ eyes definitely got a little misty as he spoke. He had verbally committed to Minnesota State the week before, and Mat might have been more excited than even Cass when he heard the news. It was an incredible program that had a serious track record of sending players to the NHL, and she was so proud to see her little brother doing what he loved. Her mom and both grandmas were crying, as expected, and Grandpa Joe wrapped her up in a hug as soon as he got the chance. 

Mat had been hanging towards the back of the crowd, not wanting to feel like he was intruding on family time, until her dad nudged him forward. “Go say hi to your girl, Mat,” Patrick said.

“Will do,” Mat said, squeezing Cass’ hand and pressing a quick kiss to the top of her head. “Sometimes it blows my mind how incredible you are,” he said. “Everyone’s already said how smart you are, and every bit of that is true. But you’re so much more than that, you know?” His thumb rubbed over her hand. “You’re beautiful, and curious, and you always keep me on my toes. You’re so passionate about your work, and you’ve got the biggest heart out of anyone I know. You’ve never met a person you didn’t want to help. And I promise I’m not biased just because I’m in love with you.” 

Cass gave a watery laugh, blinking and thanking God she had the foresight to wear waterproof mascara. “God, I love you, Mat.”

Her dad had always been the picture type, insisting on documenting every waking moment. He was the living embodiment of “pics or it didn’t happen,” for better or worse. He took a few of her with her law school friends, then Alicia snapped one with just her immediate family, then there was one with everyone. Cass also got a picture with Mat, where he was bending down to kiss her, the tassel on her mortarboard just barely brushing his nose. Then she was in one with all of the seniors on the law review, and a friend pulled her away for a few with the Latinx Student Association. By the time they finally managed to tear Patrick away from his camera, it was time to head back to the hotel and get ready for dinner. 

Mat got Patrick to send him the photo of him and Cass, and was about to post it on Instagram when he hesitated. “Hey, is it cool if I post this?” Mat said, showing Cass his phone. Most people knew who she was, and he had posted pictures of her before, but they had never been this obvious, this clear, this real. 

“Go for it.”

Mat pressed post. So, so proud of my incredible girlfriend @casscshaw for graduating law school. You’re one of the smartest, most empathetic people I know, and you’re going to make an amazing lawyer. 

Cass grinned, a big, genuine smile as she was surrounded by her family, the people who meant the most to her — whether they were related or not. She looked up at Mat, who was smiling softly down at her as he reached one hand up to fix her tassel. “What’s next?”

[windandwater]

back from Finland and my nightmare flight situation got really fucking funny (and awful) at the end so I’m gonna tell you the whole goddamn thing. cut to save you from Airline Stories.

I mentioned in a previous post that I had to sprint through Heathrow to get to a flight, and it wasn’t my fault. that turned out to be just the beginning but here’s what happened.

airline randomly decided to change my flight to an earlier time

I found out about this from a 3 am text that I read at 8 am on my way to work

cool I have to leave work much earlier

I do that. it was about to rain in New York so it was a good goddamn thing. no subway delays at all.

I sit at the gate for a bit. an hour before boarding, there are still zero airline employees to be found

what the fuck.

I google my flight number. it is not at the gate I’m sitting at.

great.

I walk over to the new gate, the lady there explains “it got changed.”

fine. I’m still on time.

….

the flight is not.

the rain started while I was in the airport and New York is gridlocked, and they barely had enough flight attendants to take off

I check my flight information. I have a connection in Heathrow that’s an hour after my flight and my flight is delayed…you guessed it. an hour.

I’m definitely gonna miss my connecting flight

I accept this (I am on a lot of anxiety medication) to deal with when I get there (thank you, medication!) and go to sleep (so. much. medication.)

arrive in Heathrow

announcement on the plane says that the connecting flight to Helsinki is also delayed, and to see them up front if you are getting on that flight

so I talk to them

“they’re leaving at 8:20 (it is now 7:50), so you can make it but you have to BOOK”

me: “GOT IT.” *takes off*

*accidentally knocks off a baby’s blanket. does not stop, like an asshole. yells EXCUSE ME to every British person in the way, while elbowing them, I’m from fucking New York, MOVE*

“few people runnin' about” happens

gotta go through security first

lady at the desk spins her computer monitor to show me what it says when she scans my boarding pass: “please proceed directly to gate 9”

me: “TRUST ME I FUCKING KNOW”

someone in front of me for some reason has every glass bottle in the world, doesn’t speak enough English for the security people to explain that it’s fine so long as there’s  no food or liquid in them

somehow I get through and make it to the gate

“if you had been 10 minutes later you would’ve caught us, but you’re good!”

phew.

find out later that my family had a similar yet worse experience in Frankfurt. ha.

turns out that was only the fucking beginning. because I still had to come back. here’s how that went.

day 1:

I’m supposed to fly out Saturday at 3 pm. my brother is flying out Saturday at 7 am. Friday night, we are on our way to the BnB and I double check my email.

surprise! my flight has changed. now at 7 am.

ughhhhhhhhhh

fine. I’ll just go to the airport with my brother.

we do that. Air BnB host nice enough to wake up and drive us—for a price, but a pretty good one.

they had a sauna and I had to skip out on using it (I only got to do it once) and I was pretty upset. fuck you, airline.

get to the airport at the asscrack of dawn

I check my email in the car one more time

….

wait a second

the date on this is for Sunday

fuuuuuuuuuuck

screw it, I’ll wait around until their service desk opens and have them put me on a flight

1 hour: nothing

I try and call them. on a janky phone that has issues with phone calls

customer service is closed, because Europe

call the US number

customer service is open and in English but it rings a few times and then I get a message in Icelandic and it hangs up.

….I’m never flying a Scandinavian-based airline ever a-fucking-gain.

2 hours: nothing

fuck. this.

I start googling hotels by the airport instead. check into one. get a shuttle there. room itself isn’t too expensive, but not money I really have.

oh fucking well

I pass out.

wake up, have to leave the hotel to get lunch, come back and read Yuri on Ice fanfic

oh daaamn this hotel has a sauna

tight

get smoked reindeer pasta at the hotel restaurant

go to sauna again

go back the fuck to sleep

day 2:

airport shuttle at the asscrack of dawn but this time I’ve slept all day

feeling annoyed but optimistic. this will suck but at least I’m rested.

get to the airport

once again they have changed the airline on me. this was not self-evident in the email

haul my ass to the right terminal. thank fuck there are only 2.

that last sentence is foreshadowing

in line for getting my ticket (b/c of course I can’t check in at a kiosk) and two people in front of me are going through the same shit. airline answered their phone calls tho and promised them money back

feeling more hopeful

am now flying through Amsterdam. they can’t print my connecting flight boarding pass. I will have to get it printed at the airport when I get there.

there is only an hour between the flights

I am hit with a sudden premonition of doom

but am still hopped up on anxiety medication

here we go again!

make it to Amsterdam with no drama

phone battery is dying. my external battery stopped working abruptly and there’s no charger on the smaller planes. it wouldn’t charge at the gate; was plugged in but draining. I turn it off. charges 2%.

more foreshadowing

I get off the plane and have to ask where to go to get to the correct airline. someone directs me. it’s a different terminal. I run-walk over there, knowing what’s about to happen.

passport control. spend 5 minutes panicking that I don’t have an e-passport b/c I don’t know where to look for the logo. turns out it’s on the front cover! I’m a dumbass.

get there. can’t check in/print off boarding pass

oh boy

have to wait in line for a service rep

this wait takes 35 minutes

I get to the front. my seat reservation somehow does not exist

she manages to print off my ticket. and call them to tell them I’m coming.

looks me in the eye: “you run.”

me: “I run.”

I do that.

new gate is 2 more terminals away

Amsterdam is fucking big and I have now run across 3 terminals of it.

the Dutch are better at moving out of the way than the English

I make it to the gate and people are there yelling “New York? New York!!” make it on the plane. phone won’t charge. ...... great.

no podcasts for me! I watch a Stonewall documentary, a gay rom com, and a slew of nature documentaries.

at least I’m on brand.

make it to New York in one piece. meet a nice German lady and everything.

it was hell coming back here from Greece but from Scandinavia it’s fucking amazing.

anyway

slight panic after going through passport control. I handed them my receipt, promptly forgot I did that, then got my baggage and began looking for my receipt to show to the next set of cops.

receipt was gone

ummmmmm

I empty out my entire bag

nothing

I ask the lady next to me if they kept the receipt

she says yes they did and I nearly collapse. guess there’s no next set of cops this time around. it’s different every fucking time.

she sympathizes. we have a nice chat. she has family in Helsinki and just got back from Greece and Italy.

Scandinavians are not friendly. FUCK I missed New York.

because some people will assume otherwise if i don’t say so: it was not a white lady. I really really missed New York.

I manage to make it to my subway stop with no more drama than wondering why I’m the only person on the train

I realized literally this morning that it’s almost a holiday weekend. oops.

make it to my apartment door

they installed a new front door while I was in another fucking country

(there were issues with the old one)

sign on the door says go see the super. who never answers his door, only the phone.

my phone battery is now at 10%

….

super’s not answering his phone. or the door.

7%

text and call neighbors who live near me. leave messages. try not to panic.

feel raindrops

look up

there’s a storm cloud coming in

I hear thunder

this is the point where I started laughing

I try the super’s other number

“uhhh you changed the door”
 “you were sleeping!”
 “I was in FINLAND!” 
“okay, give me a minute, I’m on my way”

5%

turn phone off

super appears. I am not soaking wet and laughing hysterically. yet. if he’d been any later it would’ve been another story

make it inside. plug in phone. it’s at 3%

answer all my family’s frantic texts, order food delivery, take a shower, go the fuck to sleep, and sleep 14 hours. felt fucking great.

go to work today because it’s 4th of July and if I don’t I’ll only be in for two days. oh well!

[stopforamoment]

The Waiting Game (4 of 12)

Book: The Royal Romance (After Book Three)

Pairing: Bastien Lykel x OFC Rinda Parks

Word Count: 1,919

Rating: M for Language

Author’s Note: Obligatory disclaimer that Pixelberry Studios owns the TRR characters and my pocketbook with those darn diamond scenes. OFC with all of her quirks is all mine. My apologies if Tumblr or I do something stupid when I try to post this.

Summary: It’s a long wait at the airport, and Bastien gets a sneak peek at life with Henry.

. . . . Pretend Tumblr put a “keep reading” link here! . . . . .

Bastien picked Rinda in early in the morning, so they were already on the road when Henry was boarding the plane. He knew it was going to be a long day, but today it didn’t matter if he worked on things at the airport or at the palace. He would also be receiving updates on the King and Queen’s return from France, and he needed to coordinate some things with Mara. It actually worked out perfectly. 

Rinda had a brief chance to tell Henry that she loved him and to have a safe flight before they took off. Every hour Bastien received an update that he shared with Rinda. It was only to tell Bastien that everything was going well, and Henry wasn’t bored yet, but Rinda was so grateful. And sharing road trip stories with Bastien definitely helped keep her mind off things.

When they got to the airport Rinda was amazed at how smoothly Bastien was able to navigate through airport security. He was in his element, issuing directives, checking and double checking itineraries and taking control of the situation. Rinda admired Bastien. His presence commanded respect, and he had a firm but fair way of handling the people under his command. She was honored to work with him, but she also knew that it was important to find his replacement so he could get back to where he was really needed. Where he belonged.

Rinda got settled into a waiting area in the airport while Bastien excused himself to go into one of the airport’s security rooms, promising to return when he could to give updates. Rinda nodded. She knew that she would have to wait alone while Bastien worked, and she brought plenty of things to keep her busy.

. . . . .

Bastien came back in about an hour, carrying a cup of coffee. Rinda was working on her laptop, but she looked up when she saw Bastien. He handed her the coffee. “Ooh, you are my hero. Thank you!”

Bastien grinned. “How are you holding up? You aren’t too bored, are you? I’m sorry that I can’t stay out here and keep you company.”

Rinda laughed. “I’m holding up just fine. I’m not bored. And it’s okay that you can’t stay out here. I know you have a lot going on, but I appreciate that you stopped by to say ‘hi.’ With coffee. And . . . an update?” She gave a mischievous grin.

Bastien smiled. “Everything is still going well. Henry’s getting a little antsy, and I’m supposed to tell you that he’s glad he brought the next Harry Potter book to read.” Rinda laughed and gave Bastien a thumb’s up as he walked back to the security room.

Airport Update Two: “He’s playing UNO with everyone. And cheating . . .”

Update Three: “I’m supposed to inform you that playing I Spy in a plane over the ocean doesn’t work. Oh, and the guards only made it to 89 with ‘99 Bottles of Beer on the Wall.’ Rinda, I know beer is big in Wisconsin, but . . . what?”

Update Four: “He’s, um, really chatty . . . He was trying to tell me something but he was laughing too hard and I couldn’t understand him. I think he was telling me to say ‘wilco’ and ‘roger’ when we talked. And ‘over’ whenever I was done talking. I think he was actually scolding me to repeat phrases over, then end with the word ‘over . . . Over.’ No clue where he gets that obnoxious attitude from.” Rinda rolled her eyes. “Yeah, that’s from a Family Guy episode where Stewie and Brian used walkie-talkies. Jameson and I ruined him a long time ago.”

(Link to that Scene)

Update Five: “Okay, he’s bonding with another guard about some cartoon named . . . Rick and Morty? Henry said he . . . I wrote this down. ‘SK-watches his family?’” Rinda laughed, knowing what he meant. “Oh, and the guard said that everyone is getting . . . swiftly?” 

(R & M Squanchy Link)

(R&M Schwifty Music Video NSFW Link)

“Okay, I’m officially a shitty parent and my son is out of control. Bastien, you have to come over for a Rick and Morty marathon one of these days. Thanks for delivering the message. You did good!”

. . . . .

Bastien brought dinner for Rinda. “Do you want to eat outside and get some fresh air?”

Rinda was shocked. “This is a whole new world of airport security for me!”

Bastien grinned. “It helps to have friends in high places.”

. . . . .

Rinda was watching the workers on the tarmac bustling around to load and fuel the planes. It was noisy, and Bastien had to sit close to Rinda so they could talk. Her eyes were a brilliant green as she took everything in. “I love looking up in the sky at airplanes, wondering where people are going. Is it work? Vacation? Are they excited that they are flying, or is it a boring inconvenience? And take off. I love that feeling, the engines, the power as you really get moving, feeling the wheels leave the ground as you watch the houses getting smaller and smaller.” She gave a sheepish grin. “I’ve never had this perspective before, so close to the planes. This is really amazing.”

“Well, it helps that you’re so easily impressed.” Rinda rolled her eyes.

“Rinda, has Henry flown before?” Her face lit up. “Yes, and it’s a really cool story. Jameson was taking flight lessons. We couldn’t afford for him to solo long enough for him to actually get his pilot’s license. But once he did his first solo flight, his instructor said he could take Henry for his first plane ride. The instructor had to come along, but Jameson was the one to actually fly the Cessna. How many kids get to say their dad piloted their first flight, right?” Bastien raised his eyebrows. Impressive. “And now he’s flying commercial . . . poor kid . . . but he’s getting escorted by the Royal Guard, getting all of this rock star preferential treatment, thanks to you.” Bastien looked down when Rinda gave him a smile. Compliments and gratitude embarrassed him, especially when he was just doing his job. And Rinda had a way of being so specific when she was thanking a person, her appreciation so genuine. It was always more than just a “thank you.” But she was realizing that made Bastien uncomfortable, so she was getting better at conveying her gratitude to him in a lighthearted or offhand way. Trying not to embarrass him while still making it clear how much this meant to her.

“So Bastien, do you actually fly in the royal jet a lot? I mean, I know it’s work, but do you get to travel a lot?”

“I do, but it isn’t as glamorous as you’d think. Lots of long days and late nights. I explore places to establish perimeters and secure areas, but I never have time to actually be a tourist.” Rinda nodded, understanding what he meant. Bastien grinned at her. “I was actually expecting this to lead into a mile-high club joke from you.”

Rinda arched an eyebrow. “Is there a story you’re just dying to tell me, Bastien?” He blushed, shook his head, and quickly changed the subject. “I think it’s time for me to get back to work.”

. . . . .

The plane was approaching its final descent. Finally. Bastien was standing next to Rinda and he gave her hand a comforting squeeze. “He’s almost here. You’ll see him soon.” Rinda could only squeeze his hand back. She was too excited to speak. “Rinda, I have to leave now to help with security, and you have to wait here.”

Rinda turned to him. “I know, and thank you. For everything.” She smiled. “Now go get ‘em Tiger!”

. . . . .

It felt like a lifetime, but finally she saw Henry. Bastien had his arm around Henry’s shoulder and Henry was grinning as Bastien was talking to him. Then he saw Rinda and he came running over to her. “Mom!!!!!” Rinda wrapped him in the biggest hug, crying and giving him kisses. “I missed you so much, Bug!”

When she pulled away and tried to compose herself the guards started saying goodbye to Henry, giving him high fives and fist bumps. One guard came up to Henry to give him a big high five and they both yelled “Pickle Rick!!!!!” before the guard caught Bastien’s look and quickly excused himself. Bastien watched as Rinda hugged each guard, thanking them for taking such good care of Henry. Bastien discreetly turned the other way. Guards usually weren’t hugged.

(Link to R&M Pickle Rick Clip)

Henry turned to Bastien and extended his hand. “Mr. Lykel? Thank you for the amazing plane ride. And thank you for taking care of my mom until I got here.” Bastien solemnly gazed into Henry’s eyes and took his hand to shake it. “You’re very welcome, Henry.”

Then Henry grinned.

He has his mother’s smile

“So mom, did you stay out of trouble while I was gone? What happened to that Mr. Kakos you were supposed to work with, huh? Oh, and check out my passport stamp!” Rinda rolled her eyes. “You are SO your father’s son, Doodle Bug.”

“Mom! Don’t call me . . .” Rinda wrapped him in a head lock and gave him a noogie. “Moms get to do that, so deal.” Bastien shook his head and chuckled. Life was about to get even more interesting.

. . . . .

Eventually they collected the luggage, and eventually they were in the car, headed back to Rinda and Henry’s house. Rinda sat in the back seat with Henry so they could talk and get caught up with everything, but eventually it grew quiet.

Bastien glanced in the rearview mirror and they were both asleep, Rinda’s arm wrapped protectively around Henry. When they got to the house Bastien unloaded the luggage before gently waking up Rinda. Henry was still knocked out, so Bastien lifted Henry over his shoulder and carried him to the house, Henry’s arms sleepily going around Bastien’s neck. Rinda opened the door and showed Bastien where Henry’s room was, and Bastien placed him in bed and went outside to carry in the luggage while Rinda got Henry tucked in. When Bastien returned he saw Rinda sitting on Henry’s bed, gently stoking his hair. She got up when she saw Bastien, crossed the room, and got on her tiptoes to wrap her arms around his neck. He leaned down to put his arms around her, and after pausing a moment he gently lifted her off the ground to pull her closer into the hug and she instinctively leaned in to nestle her forehead against his neck. “Thank you, Bastien. Thank you so much,” she whispered.

“You’re welcome Rinda. Please let me know if you or Henry need anything. I will do whatever I can . . .”

. . . . .

Bastien was going to drive to the school to grab a quick nap in his office before driving back to the palace. He’s in charge of the King’s personal security. He swore an oath to protect King Liam with his life, and Bastien almost lost his life to defend him. But after gently tucking Rinda into bed with Henry, seeing her fall into a peaceful sleep with her arm wrapped around him, Bastien never felt more protective about the people he vowed to keep safe, no matter the cost.

[hooliainprague-blog]

a lot of walking

This first week has been a whirlwind of events and varying levels of tiredness. I’ve been keeping a short journal of the most influential seconds of my days. I am quickly realizing that this is essential because the lack of comfortable sleep we’ve been getting is amazing. The mattress are hard, the blanket is too short, and it’s surprisingly hard to control the temperature of the room with the antiquated heating unit and a window with no screen that swings wide open at the slightest bit of wind. Even so, I wouldn’t want it any other way. 

28.1.2018

“Every day’s the first of the rest of your life.” (Thriving Ivory)

This song came on shuffle when I was 45 minutes into my first flight to Lisbon, Portugal. It was a weird moment because I was thinking about how wild it is that I’m leaving everything I’ve ever known by myself to live in a country I don’t know much about for four months. Needless to say, it’s a time of high emotion and questioning if I really want to do it. I’m feeling immensely grateful for all the friends and family at home who said they’d miss me so much but still encouraged me that everything will be fine. It’s a strange feeling to see the lights from NYC getting smaller and smaller through the window of the plane knowing I won’t see American lights for a long time. You know when you’re so excited for something but it seems so far away that it’ll never get here? I never thought I would ever have to get on that plane, but there I was.

I’ll spare you all the pictures of the airplane food. Not the worst things I’ve ever had, but most definitely not the best.

29.1.2018

My flight landed in Portugal at about 6:00. I was tired, sweaty, nervous, and ready to take off some layers of clothes, get some food, and sit down comfortably for a little while. In line to get our passports stamped, I met a woman who saw my Susquehanna water bottle and asked if I go there. She told me her granddaughter is applying there this year as a creative writing major (if you’re reading this and this was your grandmother, come to Susquehanna so we can be friends!! It’ll be a great time). Small world. I’m glad I go to a school that fosters so much pride. 

My seven hour layover in Lisbon wasn’t actually as painful as I thought it would be. I started by wandering around for a little while trying to understand my surroundings, finding the bathrooms for future reference, and finding a place to charge my tablet and phone to prepare for the next flight. I watched a couple of episodes of Rick and Morty because that’s on Netflix in Portugal, and then I made my way to an airport bar called Cockpit around 7:30 (about 2:30 AM at home). I needed coffee and hot food in the worst way. One cute little cappuccino, a ham and cheese panini and an hour and a half of sitting on a barstool later and I moved on to my next sitting destination.

I moved on to a central sitting area where an elderly couple was just leaving one of the many power stations. I sat down, started charging my tablet, iPod, and phone. and read my book. I don’t know how long I was there because time passes in a unique way when you’ve been awake for too long and when you’re in any airport. After I was done with that, I moved to an empty gate somewhere because I needed it to be a little quieter and less overwhelming for a little while. I watched Demi Lovato’s YouTube documentary (highly recommend), and by this point, I was getting hungry again. I took a couple laps around the restaurant area and decided to grab a piece of chorizo pizza, some kind of pork pastry, and some apple chips. I ate this in the quiet gate and listened to a podcast. Not too bad.

It seemed that the seven hour layover flew by because I got on the plane to Prague in no time.

I would be lying if I said this flight was enjoyable. I sat next to a a very nice couple. The plane was extra warm and had less leg room than the previous flight. I was so exhausted that I passed out before we even got to the runway, but what I would guess was about an hour or two into the four hour flight, the people in the next six rows behind us started talking and laughing so loudly for the entire flight, and there were even three people standing in the aisle talking to them for a majority of that time as well. I woke up and didn’t know where I was, the noise was exceptionally irritating, and I was too warm for comfort. I started panicking, and luckily the meal was coming around so I could order a cup full of ice to chew on and try to cool off. It worked, and I was sleeping again so soon. 

Next thing I knew, I woke up in Prague. Getting my bags and getting to the driver who took us to the dorm was kind of a blur. I am still so tired at this point and it’s only about 18:30. There were a few other students in my program on my flight, and three of us were scheduled to ride in the same van. We made plans to get a “stiff drink” after we got back and I showered. I met some more people who had been here longer, and they had planned to go on a bar crawl starting at 20:30, so we agreed to join them to fight jet lag. They took us to a bar that was in a cave.

It wasn’t bad, but it was also a Monday night and the only people in there were 12 of us American students and a couple people on holiday from England. I became better friends with the English people than the people I came with, and with them, I convinced the bar crawl people to give just us free t-shirts even though they kept saying they weren’t supposed to. After this, me and another kid decided we were too hungry to stay there, so we left for a few minutes to find some old street pizza for dinner. There was an embroidery shop across the alley from the pizza, so we wandered in. The lady at the door asked my name, said she liked it a lot, and gave me a little souvenir for free.

“Prague Julia.” We went back to the club for a little while and I somehow got another free shirt. Then around 23:30 they were finally moving to the next bar, but me and the same kid decided we were too tired and broke off from the group to walk back to the dorms. I finished unpacking, planned to go to breakfast the next morning with my suitemates, and went to bed in this lovely little single room.

30.1.2018

I got to see the view from my room in the daylight for the first time, and I love it.

We got the free breakfast from the dorm and set out on our way to orientation with a Czech guide. The walk was beautiful to say the least.

The Charles University Faculty of the Arts building where we will have a majority of our classes:

We got got our student ID cards and had 3.5 hours of free time to explore Old Town and get lunch. We walked around the mall for a little while, and when we decided we were hungry, we walked back towards the Arts building to a restaurant recommended by the Czech guide called Kolonial. I got raspberry lemonade and beef tenderloin with cream sauce, dumplings, and cranberry. 

The raspberry lemonade was nothing like I expected compared to the US. It was, if I were to guess, sparkling water, freshly squeezed lemons, and actual muddled raspberries. It was refreshing to not be inundated with sugar. The food was delicious and interestingly sweet, and I will definitely be getting that again at some point. I decided that this would be a good place to go if I ever need to eat alone between classes. After lunch, we walked over to the Charles Bridge and hung out just enjoying the view and each other’s company. Everyone else on this program came here knowing at least one other person from their home schools, and it is truthfully slightly alienating. It’s kind of like starting college all over again knowing nobody. Regardless, I think things are going well. Bonus: one of the program directors graduated from Susky (woo)!

At our orientation meeting at 14:00, we got packets and packets of information that I still have to read through. I went to the bathroom and saw this lovely message on the wall. I took a picture because I LOVE philosophy and can relate!!!

After this, we walked in small groups with the Czech guides again to get three-month transportation passes. It took a while, but it worked out. We have to carry so much documentation with us at all times (CUNI ID, a paper to verify the ID, our passports, the transportation pass, two papers that go with that, and a pass to tell the reception in the dorm that we actually live there when we enter). After we got those passes, the Czech guide took just me to the Vodafone store because I was having issues with the data on my sim card. After that, I had to find my way back to the dorm all alone using the metro, tram, and walking. It was an adventure but I’m really proud of myself for figuring it out alone. If I didn’t do it then when I had to and chose to walk back instead, I don’t think I would ever have done it. I got back, took a 20 minute nap, and then we went to a cafe that is about 10 minutes away for dinner. I was really in the mood for a burger and fries, so I got that and a cider.

This meal was a true representation of Czech culture because we sat there for 4.5 hours slowly sipping beer and talking about philosophy, history, politics, and anything else. A man from France even walked over and asked if he could join our conversation. On the way back from this meal at around midnight, I saw this super cute sign that I love with my whole heart. 

I don’t remember much after that because the exhaustion was real, but I did shower and go to bed almost immediately.

[aliceellablog]

Holiyay?

*08/10/17*

Sorry I haven’t posted for so long... ironic when you’re not well enough to write your blog about your illness aint it!?! 

Anyway, I’m gonna cut right to the chase. Instagram vs real life is such an issue for me. One I probably need to get over…. It’s so hard I don’t know wether I should try and only post positive fun photos and make it look like I’m having a right old great fucking time or to keep it more ‘real’? But then no-one wants to see pics of an ill sad girl and it’ll probably just look like I’m trying to get attention.

I guess this blog is my outlet for now…

I have people who are close to me who tell me that if I post about being ill all the time I’ll never get booked for work or gigs, but then when it comes to my (failing) career as an artist I want to be real. I want to be honest and build a genuine following of people who care enough to join me on the real journey??Answers on a postcard please thanks.

So if you’ve seen the recent Insta posts you will have seen that I managed to go on holiday with my besets friends - genuine yay!I’ve never been away with friends before and could not wait to get ma body in the sun!! Oh that sweet sweet vitamin D!

But maybe I underestimated how tiring travelling was and how hard it would be…

Don’t get me wrong I don’t regret going and there were some really genuinely lovely times - that and I feel so much closer to my friends, but I’ve been back home now for three weeks and I’m just about making it to the supermarket or doing small tasks around the house each day. BIG FAT MEH.

I know I say it a lot but M.E. is so fucking frustrating!!! Because the more you push through and try and go for it the worse you get, so you physically can’t just get on with things- and the pay back is hell.

So on the way there we had the biggest nightmare…. I met Katie, Grace, Tilly, and Nicki at the airport and all was chill- I was feeling pretty shit but not too terrible. We had a bit of food at the Wetherspoons - keeping it classy - and then all went off to get out bits and bobs from Boots, WHSmiths etc - classic airport essentials!! - now… I’ll spare you the details… but I also have Crohns disease, and was not tooooo well!! It seemed that all of a sudden our gate was called… and I was… erm… busy…

I was as quick as I could be (awks), but there is no rushing somethings man!!! We were all panicking on the WhatsApp group and I told the gals I would meet them at the gate… Grace (bless her heart) said she would wait for me - she went to the information desk and told them my situation and asked if we could get a wheelchair or one of those buggy things to assist us to the gate - which of course was the furthest one away!!!

Do you know what they said to her??

‘You have four minutes until the gate closes and you won’t get there in time. You have to go now and leave your friend’ Grace being Grace said no, and waited for me. She tried to explain but they said to her ‘If she’s ill she shouldn’t be travelling’ - THANKS GATWICK - REAL BIG HELP THERE!!

Anyway… I came out of the toilets (why oh why am I selling you all this hahahaha) and found Grace - we had less than 4 minutes to do like a good 10 minute walk.

I don’t think I’ve moved so fast in a long time!! We were proper power walking through the airport and Grace would break into a jog at some points. I was fast trailing behind her shouting ‘just go!’ ‘Go on without me!’ Which of course she didn’t….

Stress levels were ridiculous, and I almost collapsed on an escalator - I sat and G rubbed my back…. After what seemed like a marathon we got to the gate… where everyone was sat chilling and they hadn’t even stared boarding yet. cool. whatever… Then Tilly comes walking up behind us as my body is shaking and I start to cry from all the adrenaline- ‘oh hey guys! you got here quick!’ - yea Tilly… real quick….LOL

By that time my legs were utter jelly and I thought I was going to pass out - very pleasant- but we all got on the plane and were laughing so hard at the messages of sheer panic in the WhatsApp group! We were all SO RELIEVED that we had made it!! I literally thought I had ruined everyone’s holiday!! - oops!! Never eating before a flight again! ;)

So we got to Spain and yet again the airport staff were assholes - I was as you can imagine feeling awful and there was a huge queue to get through passport control- I had my disabled parking badge with me as way of proof (people look at me and just don’t get it) and so Kaite and I asked if there was any where I could sit to wait for the queue to go down or any way we could go to the front. After they’d asked ‘where is the disabled girl?’ looking straight past me, and told me no, we’d had enough and just walked straight through while they shouted ‘Policia’ at us etc…. Luckily the police did not come and we went straight through!

What is it with these people?? Like even if I was a healthy girl who became ill on the plane they should WANT to help someone who is asking for assistance??

They can all get in the bin. End of.

So next was the drive (thank you Nicki for driving on the other side of the road for us all!!) to the villa and then we were there! Bloody exhausting.

The gals all then went out for dinner and I went to bed and ate a gluten free pot noodle I had packed in ma suitcase. Living the dream I tell ya!

The next day I was feeling pretty awful and chilled all day by the pool - now of course I am not complaining as I am so lucky to have been able to go on holiday at all, but that day, and most of the time actually, it was just a massive head fuck.

How was I was sat by the pool, surrounded by palm trees in the gorgeous sun, yet all I felt like doing was crying. I couldn’t shake it.

I didn’t want to be with my friends and I didn’t have the energy to make conversation, but kept trying and didn’t want to ruin everyone else’s holiday or be a downer.

Some of the time it just felt I was like having salt rubbed in my wounds right in my face. I was surrounded by four other healthy girls doing what I wished I could be.

I guess at home where I can escape to my room, and the fact that they are all at work everyday, it’s a little easier to cope.

But watching them all have fun and go out without me, and drink wine every night etc. was just a bit rubbish I guess.

I’m sure I sound ridiculous but you can’t help what you feel, and that’s what I felt.

The second night I went for dinner with them all but got so unwell I was in tears at the dinner table and got a cab home and left them to it. Fuck sake. (Sorry for all the swearing… just feel strongly lol)

I did improve a bit as the holiday went on, and my god they were all SO helpful and caring - always carrying the sun lounger out to the pool for me, and making me food when I was super tired (great omelette’s Nix!!), taking my suitcase for me at the airport, all that kinda stuff - and for that I thank them all, I must have been such a burden always having to be ‘looked after’ and I hated that. But they were beyond wonderful. Love you all SO MUCH!!

Then Emily arrived for the last few days which was awesome as we don’t get to see her as much now she’s moved out- so that was cool and we had a really lovely day at the beach which I genuinely enjoyed and did feel a little better - oh and I got duck pancakes that day too… nuff said!! :)

On the Saturday we had decided to have our one ‘night out’ -it was really nice to all get dolled up and as most of us are single now there was a lot of banter with the bar staff etc!

But again I was there drinking a Diet Coke and they were there making bloody boomerangs of them cheersing with their champagne glasses and getting drunk. God I am bitter!! hahaha

How do I always end up writing about my long to get drunk on this blog haha…. I just really miss it I guess… It’s hard cos my personality is so full of get up and go and lets go get drunk and dance!!! But instead I get to a club, can’t drink and all I think about is where can I sit down and what time shall I get a cab home on my own.

Wow… I really can complain huh!!!

On a positive note- I did have a dance that night!! Ok it was for maybe like 2 songs and it was more of a side step LOL but it felt really good! … and again…. Bar staff were on fleeek - for a laugh Nicki and I went up and she dared me to ask for his number… which I did…he was like the most gorgeous man I had ever seen!! But he had to get a woman over to translate as he didn’t understand a word I was saying and then when he did give me his number he asked if I spoke Spanish… to which I said no…. Most pointless exchange ever but Nicki and I were dying laughing and then just kinda ran away! I felt 13 again!

Then Grace did a high kick on the dance floor and fell flat on her face - and got glass in her hand. Doh! Oh Grace- your dance moves make me so happy- man I wish I could do crying laughing emojis on here!!!

-Don’t worry, Grace got looked after! After being told she would need stitches by the bar staff, she ended up in A&E but came home a mere plaster

Anyway I am rambling now -

After that night again I felt terrible and didn’t make it out to dinner with the gals but was glad I had made it out in the first place. I sat and ate chocolate watching the sunset instead. All good ;)

Then the journey home of course was pretty rubbish - British Airways you suck balls. - We pre booked assistance on the way home after our first ordeal! But this then meant waiting on the (very cold) plane for another half an hour, then being wheeled to a dark hallway and being left sat there alone (no staff anywhere) for about 45 minutes. We got so fed up that Katie found a few wheelchairs and stole one- I mean if they’re not gonna help we will help ourselves… it was at that moment that the buggy arrived and faffed about for a long time and then took us through passport control etc. LONG. Would have probably been less tiring to walk but then you never know how far it is!

After hitting my head at the train station I arrived home to Sussex where my mum picked me up.

Then HOME!! Oh the joy!! Bed with my cat! YAAAASSSS!!!

Unfortunately the next day I had hospital in the morning but it was to see a consultant I’ve been waiting forever to see who is giving me a trail of some new medication.

I don’t want to get my hopes up so am trying not to think about it but my god I am PRAYING that it might just help! - I’ll let ya know ;)

So now that I am back in London I am back to trying to do small realistic tasks each day and build back up from there. It’s depressing. It’s frustrating. It’s lonely. But it has to be done.

Much love for anyone who has actually read that!!! Means so much and am just trying to turn a negative into a positive - I enjoy writing this and hope that someone in a similar situation might be able to relate, and that someone who has never heard of M.E. might gain a little understanding.

Please get in touch if you wanna chat :)

My website: www.aliceella.com

Insta: @aliceellagram

MWAH x

[awritesfanfics]

Not Your Fight Pt. 1

Here’s one of my longer fics, probably gonna split it in two parts (yep) bc I ramble so so much but that’s because I need to connect things, and that means describing more settings and explaining more actions and ahhh if you don’t like when I do this let me know!! But I think it just adds to the story :)

So I wrote this after watching Homecoming but a lot of it is based back in civil war, if you have homecoming-centered requests just let me knoww!!

(part 1 is basically just a bunch of filler tbh, a link to pt 2 is at the bottom!)

Pairing: Peter Parker x Reader

Word Count: (im sorry im on mobile and I cant deal w this formatting rn, it's around 2,000 words thanks)

Warnings: Violence, Cursing

Tags:  @yourgayonlinemom

———————————————————————————————————–Ding

“Notre Dame.”

“Correct.”

Ding

“Tel Aviv.”

“Correct.”

Ding

“Luncheon of the boating party.”

“Okay, how? Can I ask how? Because there’s actually no way for you to know this stuff.” Flash sat back in his chair in disbelief.

“Are you being serious? Or are you just jealous that i beat your time again? Because I can do this all day, I don’t have a problem,” you challenged, leaning closer. Michelle giggled.

“She had to have studied the answers before, even I didn’t know half that stuff! Me, not knowing something.”

“Excuse me, isn’t that why I’m on this team? Because I’m smart? And if everyone knew the same things, we wouldn’t get anywhere,” you snapped. “By the way, if you haven’t noticed by now, there are -” you counted the people in the room out loud. “- 7 other people here that are valuable members of the decathlon team. Maybe if you stopped kissing your own ass so much you would notice them.”

Michelle almost fell out of her chair. Flash was too shocked to even respond.

“Woah, okay I think that’s a good place to stop for the day,” Mr. Harrington said, finally intervening. “Same time tomorrow. Don’t forget permission slips.”

“Yea, call me if he ever comes up for air.” You nodded towards flash. “I’d love to introduce him to everyone on the team.” You stood, tossed your backpack over your left shoulder, and picked up your books from the table.

“Thank you, Miss (Y/L/N), that’s enough. See you tomorrow.”

You nodded and smiled at him, then at Flash, who was still recovering on the other side of the room. You could hear Michelle and Liz picking at him as you turned to leave.

Peter collected his things and sprinted over to catch up with you.

“Where the hell did all of that come from?!” He laughed.

“What do you mean? I’ve never liked flash. He’s always been full of himself, I couldn’t take it anymore.”

He looked at you and shook his head, giggling.

“Oh, hey, that reminds me!” You stopped and turned to face him. “I got a call about the Stark Internship, I think I’m in! They want me to go in for an interview in a few hours,” you squealed.

He cocked his head slightly, and seemed to hesitate. You took the question right from his lips.

“Don’t worry, Spidey, I’m not going to steal your thunder as the new friendly neighborhood superhero. From what I read, it sounds like it’s just a logistics position,” you shrugged. “Somewhere in the background.”

“No, no I’m not worried about that. It’s just, things can get pretty intense out there. Gotta be ready for anything.”

“I think I can handle it.”

He didn’t look convinced.

“So um, I guess I’ll see you tomorrow. Or, tonight, if you’ll be there too.”

“Yea, maybe, I’ll see what happens. See ya.”

You smiled, but as he walked away your smile disappeared.

What isn’t he telling me about this? Why is he so worried? Your mind reeled with unasked questions. You never considered yourself a fighter, but you could hold your own against everyone that’s come after you in the past. You were a teenage girl from Queens, you had to learn to defend yourself at a young age. And you certainly had the brains for anything Tony stark wanted to throw at you.

I’ll be fine. I have to stop overthinking this. Just gotta get through the interview.

As you stepped outside the gym, a tired looking man in a clean cut suit standing in front of a black Escalade greeted you.

“Good afternoon Miss (Y/L/N).” The man held open the door for you.

“Good afternoon. I don’t believe we’ve met, formally. You are?” You offered your hand for a handshake, but he ignored it.

“I was sent by Mr. Stark to bring you to work. You start today.” He looked at his watch. “Well, in a few hours.”

“Work? I was under the impression that it was just a job interview. I don’t have the right outfit, I mean, these are just my school clothes. And my mom, I told her-”

“Well, there’s been a change of plans. Everything you need is right in the back seat.”

You stuck your head in to check. A women’s two-piece suit hung on hangers by the other door, a silver suitcase rested below the seat, and a microphone earpiece sat on top of your passport, which was placed carefully on the back seat.

“How did you get all this stuff? Is that suit for me?” Your phone started vibrating, and you excused yourself to take the call. “Hello?”

“Hey (Y/N), it’s Tony, yea plans for the uhh, whatever, the thing we had later-”

“The interview?”

“Right, the interview, yea plans have changed. I sent Happy over there with your stuff, your mom packed it for you, such a nice woman. Hope your ready for some on the job training today.”

“Yea, I mean-”

He hung up. You took a deep breath and put your phone back in your pocket.

“So you’re Happy?”

“Yes, but if we wait any longer, I’ll be Impatient. We’re on a schedule, let’s go.”

With a nudge, you got into the back seat and shut the door behind you. “Am I supposed to change into this right now?”

“No, you can change in the plane.” He answered.

Plane? Where the hell am I going?

-

You watched out the window the entire flight. In the small bathroom you got changed into the perfectly-tailored navy suit. The material was strong, but breathable. You could move around very well in it, but you could tell it was resistant to some degree of tearing.  You slipped the earpiece into your ear and looked at yourself in the mirror.

Oh God, you said to yourself. This is really happening. Holy shit.

As the plane landed you could finally tell where you were. Germany, at the Leipzig/Halle airport. Happy led you through an airfield, with passenger jets and shipping containers waiting to be piloted into the tall hangars that stood scattered nearby. You took an elevator up to the observation tower of one of the hangars.

“This is amazing.” You stepped out of the elevator, taking everything in. Happy clicked the ‘door close’ button behind you. “Wait! What’s my job?”

“Make yourself at home, find something to do.”

You looked around. No one even noticed you’d walked in. You figured you’d start by introducing yourself. Maybe they’d have been expecting you.

“Hi! My name is-”

“Tall decaf, extra cream, no sugar.”

“Oh, I’m sorry, I’m not an intern, I’m-”

“I get it. You’re an ‘executive assistant’ or something, right?”

“No, I was hired by Mr. Stark to-”

“Look, I know you mean well, but we have work to do. Please,” he handed you $5 and shooed you away.

“Excuse me, sir, but Tony Stark personally sent for me-”

The man turned around and rolled his eyes. “We didn’t get any word from a ‘Tony Stark’. I don’t know why you’re here, and frankly, I don’t want anything to do with you anymore. So I’d you could just get the coffee orders from everyone else and be on your way sweetheart, I’d appreciate it.”

Suddenly, you took him by the neck and slammed his face on the desk next to you. He fell to the floor, groaning, and in shock.

“I got my associates degree in bioelectrical engineering freshman year of high school. I was sent here to do a job. I’m not here to buy your coffee, ‘sweetheart,’” You said, tucking the $5 bill back into his pocket and smoothing out your blazer.

All eyes were on you now. You still had no idea what you were meant to do, but you went along with it anyway.

Fake it till you make it, right?

You took a seat at an empty desk overlooking the airfield.

A voice came in through the loudspeakers.

“Good morning ladies and gentlemen, this is your captain speaking. Well, I’m not your captain, officially, my friend (Y/N) here is. Wave to the people (Y/N). So as you’ve figured out by now, she will be in charge of every move you make for the rest of- you know you’ll be able to figure out when it’s over. So yea, just listen to her, fasten your seat belts, and get ready for a bumpy ride.”

You nodded matter-of-factly.

Tony’s voice came through on your personal mic next.

“You ready for this?”

“Well I don’t exactly know what ‘this’ is,” you whispered.

“We need you in air traffic control. Keep an eye out for anything that might get us killed. You’ll know it when you see it.”

“Fair enough.”

A different voice now boomed over the loudspeaker in German, followed by a blaring siren.

“What do I do? They’re evacuating the airport,” you asked.

“You speak German now to? That’s so cool.”

“Yea my grandma- look, now’s not the time. What do I do?”

“Tell them they have to watch to make sure everyone is out safely.”

You repeated the message to the group. “We must continue our day as we normally would, and keep an eye out for the unauthorized use of ballistic missiles and report it to me.”

A small panic arose. “There is nothing to be worried about. Just monitor the use. If anything gets out of hand, we simply intervene. Back to work.”

You sat down and tuned your earpiece to pick up Tony’s conversation. In the distance, you could see people walking towards each other. He was arguing with Steve. You watched as more of the Avengers joined them, picking sides, before they split into two groups and fanned out.

“It’s showtime. You ready up there?” He asked.

“Copy.”

You watched as Tony and Rhodes countered Clint’s arrows, Wanda’s bursts of light, and Steve’s shield. More than half the fight was airborne. You navigated the battlefield for Tony, Natasha, Peter, warning them of every blow, counterattack, and predictable outcome of their individual physical matches. You watched as the flyers took to the air, with Tony circling the tower you occupied.

“Tony, you got a bandit on your six. I’m turning him into a glider.” You heard Rhodes over the earpiece. You watched as both Iron soldiers sandwiched the observation tower, with Falcon and 17 civilians caught in the crosshairs.

“Stop! Stop stop stop! There are civilians in this control tower, I repeat, civilians in the control tower!!” Your trembling voice echoed across the sound waves. “Abort strike, abor-”

The missile misfired at the last second, crashing into the side of the hangar and taking out the elevator shaft. Suddenly, the channel went silent. A fire began to spread around the sight of the impact. Within minutes, the whole tower would collapse in flames.

Both sides froze, unsure of what to do.

“Wait wait wait, what was that?” Peter stuck his head up from behind a shipping crate and turned to Tony.

“Tony, who was that?! Karen, get me a visual on that hangar. How many people are in there?”

“17. Records of past voice analysis data indicates that the voice that called out for a ceasefire belonged to a Miss (Y/N) (Y/L/N).”

“Shit!” He yelled, sending his fist into the nearby shipping crate. “Tony! You brought her here?!”

“This isn’t your fight, kid. Stay here.”

But it was too late. Peter shot webbing onto the nose of a 747 and swung, then caught the nose of another, and another. The building was up ahead, a fire just beginning to break out near the site of the explosion. People working on the ground gathered around the exit, eagerly watching the entrance for more survivors.

The people in the tower began to panic again, this time for good reason. You knew you had to get the group under control, or no one would make it out.

“Everything is going to be fine. We all just have to keep walking. File into the staircase. There is a doorway right at the bottom. Once we get through it, you’ll be able to see the exit, and you can run, but I ask you to please not run here,” you ordered calmly. It took all the strength in your body to keep your voice steady. “If we start running in here, someone may trip or get hurt. The exit is very close, and you’ll all be fine, I promise.” You cracked a worried smile as you ushered the group down the remainder of the narrow stairwell. You pushed the doors and held one side open for the workers. With the light of the exit door in view, they fell into a dead sprint, as if they were racing not the time before the fire engulfed the hanger, but each other.

“If everyone out? Can anyone tell me if everyone got out?”

No answer. You took a deep breath and looked up the stairwell.

I can’t risk it. You shook your head and pushed away from the door, skipping steps as you sped back up to the fourth-story office space.  

The once bustling room was now filled with emergency lights and smoke. You stayed low, calling out for any remaining workers before turning to leave. One final visual sweep of the floor settled your nerves; you were the only one left. Suddenly, you started to hear the loud creaking of twisting metal. The floor shook beneath you and began to tilt. The observation tower was falling.

You threw yourself down as many stairs as you could manage before the tower hit the ground.

The closer I am to the ground, maybe the closer I am to a solid foundation. 

Within an instant, the entire building was leveled.

-

Part 2!

[some-thoughts-and-crosses]

And so it begins...

Week 1 in Rome and at the WFP

Alternative title: Things Jon Snow and I have in common…

Context: I have left South Africa in a complete whirlwind to take up my 6 month post with the World Food Programme. I cannot quite believe my luck. I am working in the IRM-O team (Integrated Roadmap - Operations). The IRM is a huge initiative that will change the way the WFP functions and touches every country office it operates in. It is aligned to meet the WFP’s aim of zero hunger by 2030. Among other things, it looks at creating sustainable models focusing on drives like food security and placing more control in the hands of the local country offices. 

I arrived in Rome on Saturday afternoon, 15th July. Took a shuttle from the airport to my address, where my landlord and his family were waiting for me. Since the wifi hadn’t been installed, they took me to get a local SIM card and train and tram tickets for the work week. Turns out I bought 10 extraneous train tickets since the tram ticket is valid on the train, so long as it’s within 100 minutes.

Getting around is not quite as seamless as in London for example. To get to work I walk 5 minutes to my tram stop, catch the tram for 5 stops, get to Trastevere station (train not metro / tube equivalent), and take the train to a stop that’s a 5 minute walk to the office. It usually takes around 45 – 50 minutes one way. Unless I walk to where I’m going, any trip will use a combination of these modes. This is true for most people who use the public transport. Driving is difficult (not that I plan on), as the streets are busy and usually single, narrow lanes.

Also bought an iron, hairdryer, and some grocery necessities. By the time I got back to the apartment, I felt sick and tired. After a cereal supper, I called it quits for the day. Sunday I decided to take a trial trip to work to make sure I wasn’t lost and flustered on work day 1. More groceries and errands, and that was day 2.

On Monday morning I realised I wouldn’t be sitting at head office but next door, since the project I’m working on has a large team, and there wasn’t room enough for all of them in one location. Security traded me a temporary access card for my passport and brought me into the offices. I was met by the lovely Sabrina, across from whom I’m sitting. She took me for coffee, showed me to the main building, got me my access card, and had lunch with me. Since then she’s been my go-to person for office matters and Italian vocab queries – all of which she has been unfailingly gracious about. It has struck me just how nice everyone is. Uber polite and friendly. All of them. It’s lovely…albeit a little unexpected. I was warned to be vigilant, especially around Termini train station in Rome central. I should be aware that gypsy thieves operate there! One ruse is to have a baby thrust upon you! While you stagger in confusion you are robbed. Good to know…

Between the dictionary app on my phone and pictures of what I need, I’ve been getting by. But a working knowledge of Italian would definitely make life easier. Thankfully everyone works in English but the majority of the WFP shops and canteen employees only speak Italian. Outside the WFP, I use my dictionary even more.

I completed my mandatory security training (hectic – based on if I was in remote locations on missions…there was stuff on how to recognise land mines! Luckily not much risk in Rome…). There are apparently other mandatory courses I should complete in a 6 week timeframe. I’ll get to them – there’s been loads of other admin. Tuesday I met my manager, and started going through meeting notes and compiling questions and acronyms for clarification. There are a lot of these. The UN has its own, very specific language. 

About this time I started feeling pretty stressed about ever being able to understand this world, this huge and seminal project, and being able to contribute anything worthwhile. Coupled with missing my people and not knowing how anything worked, the local unknown language, getting lost (was there ever any doubt), physically not at peak, and a clogged shower, I was feeling somewhat overwhelmed. Wednesday I had a chat with a colleague which helped ease the sense that I was supposed to be delivering immediately (a throwback from Consulting where you need to justify your existence and start delivering from the first).

Thursday dawned a lot brighter. Sat in on a cool “gazebo” session at head office with the Deputy Exec Director and the Country Manager for Ecuador, where they discussed the project, followed by a good meeting with my manager. Also applied for my compulsory Italian ID card and Fiscal Code. Also had coffee with 3 colleagues from the Gender Office who I met on the train home on Tuesday. They live in Trastevere too and gave me a google map printout with highlighted places to look out for, what to avoid, and some WFP insight too. Also went to the WFP doctor – both the medical centre and pharmacy are on site. Upon making the appointment I realised I was covered by a medical aid for my contract duration – bonus!

It is a very international community. This is a little borrower’s library nook I found. You can take a book and leave one if you can. I spotted English, German, French, Spanish, and Italian.

I also signed up for beginner Italian language classes at the office. They are twice a week until mid August. I’ve missed 4 lessons already but the teacher doesn’t seem like this is a problem. I’ve started a vocab list on my phone and love when an Italian word has roots I can recognise. E.g. Porta (portal) is door; portare via (is takeaway); attraversiamo (cross over – traverse). I said my first full sentence yesterday, “Uno cappuccino porta via per favorre”. The coffees come smaller than we’re used to and are very good J

My ‘hood

I live in Trastevere, which is a hip and happening area (referred to as mo vida!) that has medieval roots. Many parts are absurdly pretty! I have to remind myself that it’s not staged (like Monte!). The landmark closest to my apartment is Piazza de S’ Cosimato. There’s a screen set up to show movies in the evenings (all Italian). Mondays to Saturdays the square has fruit and vegetable vendors in the morning. The square also has a lovely little play area along one side.

Down the street is a gelateria I found and have been to twice. The gender trio rated this very highly and I found it on my own. Good to know I still have my instincts! Note the name on the cup…

Like the rest of Italy, this area has many little specialty food shops: one for cheeses and breads, one for meats etc. The grocery shops have limited stocks and brands. (The Polizia cordon is for construction…the cheese shop is not a crime scene).

In the parts of Rome I’ve been travelling around, people dress very casually and colourfully. The WFP dress code seems very relaxed too. What I find myself enjoying is the lack of self-consciousness from everyone…very much a live and let live kind of place. It’s one of the traits I’m adopting J The pace is also slower in general. You don’t catch Italians running to catch the train! Though it can be an undignified mob to get on and off public transport.

There’s an afternoon / early evening tradition called ‘aperitivo’. You have drinks with friends at restaurants and they bring you at the least small snacks – but often larger portions that end up serving as dinner.

My apartment is lovely! It’s spacious – rare considering the many other pics I’ve seen during my search. It’s painted white, has high ceilings, is airy, and gets lots of light. Tours will be conducted on request.

The apartment (as most do apparently) has a very strict recycling policy. There’s a camera in reception to monitor people don’t transgress! Using the wrong bins on wrong days etc. It’s a little odd considering the streets have litter and smoking isn’t as criminalised as I’m used to. (Remember this if you sit outside at a restaurant – actually any outside space is fair game to smoke).

This is a sign outside my street that gave me pause…

I went exploring a bit yesterday evening…herewith obligatory pasta pic (which was delicious!)

On the way back, just some guys sitting around a square…

After work today I will aim to get to a cheap home ware shop called “Flying Tiger”…a Copenhagen import. For the weekend I’m aiming for more exploring and settling in and eating gelato.

Despite some anxious moments, it’s been a good week overall. Ciao for now[1]

[1] Credit: Aatish

Disclaimer: “The information posted on this blog reflects my personal views and opinions and does not necessarily represent those of my employer.”

[rambling-russ]

Napal Newsletter

16th June 2019.

I rose before 5am to catch a taxi and then a short-wheel based Land Rover troop carrier, from Gangtok, Sikkim, N.E. India via Seligory in Northern Bengal enroute to Napal.

Four people (two adults and a child, plus the driver) were in the front seat, four in the middle seat and four squeezed into the back including me! It's called a close encounter!

We left the mountain at Gangtok, India at 6:45am and arrived around 12:30pm at the border of Indian and Napal. It was chaotic and haphazard as Asian borders often are.

On the Indian side of the border, a rickshaw operator took me to have a departure stamp in my passport. Then he drove (rode/pedalled?) me to the Napal immigration to get a visa for US$25. Afterwards we went to the bus depot for the next leg.

The rickshaw driver was a lean, well- informed and good operator knowing exactly where to go but when it came to a hill he got off the bike and started to pull it along with me on board. I immediately alighted and pushed from behind. He quoted me 100 rupees (less than $2) but when I went to pay, he increased the price to double due to waiting time, which was fair enough. What a way to earn a living!

After just doing the 5 and 1/2 hour road trip, I needed another bus for Pukhura, a lake and mountain area of Napal but that bus wasn't due to depart until 4pm (a three hour wait) and ETA there at 7am - 15 hours later!! It eventually arrived at the destination at 9am - only taking 17 hours!

On that overnight bus, the seats were cramped and it felt like there were no shock absorbers left. The reclining chair apparatus didn't work and the bus rattled so loudly & shook as well as our bodies. I had to control my teeth from hitting each other and I could feel a headache coming on. Every ditch, pot-hot or bump threw us around mercilessly until a group of young, merry (iniberated), soldiers in 'civies' (without uniforms) came on board filling up the bus and their weight seemed to stabilise the vehicle.

As it was still hot in the late after- noon, all the bus windows were open until later in the evening when it became cool. After a blood red moon, it started to rain so all windows were naturally closed. However, the two windows at my seat were continually shaken open every few minutes and water started to leak on me from the overhead luggage compartment. I had to use the bus curtain to try and cover myself. Eventually the rain and the leaking stopped but the draft didn't as the windows continued opening. I tried locking them, holding them closed and eventually thought that if I bang the window, it may lock into position! However, the whole window shattered on me and the sleeping but undisturbed passenger directly in front of me. This resulted in me having to hold the curtain taught over the window for hours. At a fuel stop a fellow passenger told one of the bus attendants of the window and the need for plastic and tape but he just shook his head. So I continued holding it down for the rest of the journey. I thought there would be a dispute about paying for the new pane but nothing was mentioned!

I am really to young for such ordeals (long bus trips).

Pokhara is a relaxing, tourist, lake town in the mountains. A great place to visit and unwind. Around a part of a huge lake, little restaurants provided for the tourists. It was one of the cleanest places I've visited.

From there, I caught an 18 seater Twin Otter aircaft to Jomson airport in Mustang (pron moo stung). Here one could see rock strewn, enormous valleys, snow-capped mountains, (the Himalayas) stark, scarred but fascinating rock faced cliffs. It's summer now but in winter it gets down to minus 14.

Barley and potatoes were growing at the time and trees and shrubs flourished around the houses and in rows in the stony valleys, especially when cared for at the early stages.. Even the vegetation on some barren mountains managed to get established beautifying the area.

I was supposed to depart from Mustang back to Pokhara and then catch a flight to Kathmandu, the capital of Napal, but as it was raining in Pokhara and all flights were cancelled except one that made it to Jomson but didn't leave. Apparently the pilots won't fly to Pokhara if visibility is poor. The Jomson airport is often clouded-in, restricting flights, but this time it was at the other end.

As a result, yes you guessed, I had to take another bus trip and this time it was only 11 hours! This trip was so much worse than the one above. On this journey I was told to get-off the bus and pay a trekking fee of 2000 Napali Rupees (A$20) because the bus was travelling through a designated trekking area. When explained that I wasn't trekking & didn't want to come this way, the three bus staff laughed so much as apparently no one contends with these government officers. On retelling the incident, the bus driver and company laughingly commened me for my handling of the situation. I had such influence, I was given the ultimatum, pay or leave the bus!

The mountains roads are so narrow and continually close to the edge of a precipus nearly every kilometre along the way. Landslides are prevalent. All of this really made for a "hair-raising" ride but made scarier by the dangerous driving like that previously mentioned and experienced in India (speeding, overtaking on blind bends, chatting on one's mobile phone while driving, sitting on the tail of the vehicle in front, the impatience, the tooting of the horn in spite of the driver ahead not being able to move).

After arriving back and "over-nighting" in Pokhura, I caught an older Mainstream 41 twin propeller to Kathmandu. Unfortunately, due to my earlier plane being cancelled , I only had one day in the capital. The city of a million was a real mixture of a thriving metropolis, the poverty and needy with some areas and roads needed much funding. It has relatively clean city streets but the river banks are strew with rubbish.

Seat belts in cars seem to be for drivers and front seat passengers only!

Speaking of belts, the buckle on my belt just fell off when I was about to use a squat toilet, disappearing with a clunk straight down the toilet & there is stayed.

At a restaurant, I was waited on by a 12 year old boy. I asked if he was working there or just helping the family. He said working. When asked why he wasn't at school he replied that he was too poor!

A Napali businessman said that there was not much growth and development here and they just followed everything that India did!

Napali is a poor country. There is some slow bridge building but so much more needs to be done. All the rocky, graded mountainous roads need constructing.

When leaving Kathmandu airport for Delhi, one one was informed what gate they would be leaving from and flights were delayed because of the buziness of the airport!!

Well people thank you for reading this.

Kind regards,

Russ

[la-appel-du-vide]

THAILAND 2019 - Day Sixteen {Bangkok}

Written by Beach Harris.

All too soon, the alarm was going off at 6 AM. We were feeling ill about the little amount of sleep we had gotten, but eventually after hitting snooze twice, we finally got up. We weren’t quite sure how we were going to get to the airport, considering the hotel employees usually called a taxi for us, and there was no one at the reception desk overnight. But Blondie had remembered that she had seen advertisements for “Grab,” the Asian version of Uber. We decided to try it and see how it went. The time to driver arrival was around six minutes, way faster than having the hotel call a taxi for us. We would soon wonder why we had never tried Grab before on our trip, it’s great. We quickly finished packing and got our nasty, wet towels, (I seriously considered just leaving mine there), and headed downstairs. At that point, it hit us that Blondie had given a 500 Baht deposit and that there was no one at the desk to refund her the money. We used the hotel phone and called Pat, the manager of La La Moon. Pat told us that she had to inspect the room before we left, which was unfortunate because our Grab driver was only minutes away. Pat told us to please wait and give her five minutes. Blondie sent the Grab driver a message telling her we needed a few more minutes, which made us feel super uncomfortable. Pat arrived shortly after, and sent it upstairs, like a full-on sprint, we were actually really impressed. While this was going on, I took our luggage out to the Grab car and told the driver we would be just another minute. The whole situation was pretty awkward, but awkward seems to be a thing on vacation.

Finally, we were on our way to the airport, headed back to Bangkok. Freaking VietJet. We arrived, checked in, and headed over to the booking desk to try and get a refund for having to rebook our flight to an earlier time. We realized pretty quickly that this was not going to happen. The lady we were talking to thought we were trying to book the 9 AM flight we had already booked. So frustrating, we seriously showed her the ticket so many times. After a minute, we gave up. Then we decided to maybe show her the email we had gotten about the flight change. She read it, then told us she couldn’t help us and that we would need to email VietJet. So helpful considering the first time I emailed them they sent me the same generic message I had already gotten. As of now, VietJet responded to my second email asking for our flight confirmation numbers, progress, I guess? Although if you do actually get a refund it takes between 45-60 days, which is insane.

We mostly slept on the flight to Bangkok, four hours of sleep is definitely not enough. We got off the plane and entered this massive airport. Seriously, there were so many people. There was no way we were dragging our luggage around Bangkok, so we ended up paying 270 Baht to leave our suitcases at the airport, not too bad.

We got some food and WiFi, always a good thing. As I was checking my email, I noticed I had received a response from Puzzles, an escape room company in Bangkok. Side note: I had emailed them about doing an escape game the night before. We love trying escape games around the world and had nothing else to do anyway. The email said that there was an opening for the room we wanted at either one or from four on. We figured we had about an hour, we could get there in time for the one o’clock time, so we headed down to the ground level to catch a taxi. WRONG.

From the minute we got in the car, we knew the struggle was going to be real. Our driver was a cute, littler older man, but spoke no English and was convinced we were trying to go to a hotel, even after we had told him we were not. After a lot of debating with other taxi drivers and even having us talk to the information desk, he started the drive. We were so skeptical that he actually knew where he was going. It was a long drive, and we started to really doubt he knew where he was going. Our driver eventually got to the right street, but was still trying to find a hotel. He kept pointing at hotels and eventually we just said yes, that one! He ended up shorting us 50 Baht, I don’t think he meant to, he was just so confused. We weren’t in the mood to try to tell him he owed us, so we just got out.

It was so funny, we had to explain to the hotel worker that met us as we got out of the taxi that we were not actually staying at the hotel, and that we weren’t trying to go there, our taxi driver was just confused. I showed the guy the screenshot I had taken of Puzzles and he said it was just down the street a little and to the left. It ended up not being very far, so our taxi driver did better than we thought.

We got to Puzzles about 15 minutes late, I was concerned that they weren’t going to let us do the escape room until the 4 PM time because we were so late. They welcomed us though, had us take off our shoes off, and watch the escape room video. Our theme was based on World War II. We were stuck in a room by the Gestapo and had an hour to get out of the room before Hitler got there. The room was very fun and we got out with 15 minutes to spare, one of our best times ever. I guess it can be said I cheated though because I wriggled off the handcuff that I had on. We also were lucky enough that our radio was already to the correct station, so we didn’t need to figure out that clue. We had a great time, and I figured out I am a pro at Morse Code.

After the escape room, we walked down to a boujee coffee shop, and ordered some smoothies, which was another item on our to-do list for the day, find one more good smoothie. Then, we decided to just send it and do the other escape room we’d found in the city as well, heck, we had the time. Blondie figured out the route to the escape game, and we set off on the metro. I’m pretty impressed with our navigating skills. For being in a foreign country with basically no internet, we do pretty well. This time though, was rough. We were right next to the escape room, Ticket to Mystery, but couldn’t figure out which building it was in. We asked a couple people, and they weren’t super helpful, although one girl did suggest it was in the mall. Eventually, we figured that the big building with the shops must be the mall and we would check it out.

We were seriously so happy to find the escape room on the third floor. We had been searching for nearly half an hour at this point. When we got in, we decided on a Pharaoh theme. They had a promotion in which you picked balls out of a box with either 50% off, 30% off, 10% off, or no discount at all. Blondie picked the 50% off, which we were super happy about!

This escape room was really different than the one before. The previous escape room had a lot of technology and buzzers, stuff like that. This escape room had a lot of pictures on the walls and locked boxes. It was more of a primitive type setting, which made sense since it was an Egyptian themed room. Also, the room was dimmed, so we had to use candles to see, which made the room a little bit harder. We struggled with a few aspects of the escape room and asking for hints was a rough go about. The little guy that worked there was really nice, but had a thick accent that made understanding him very difficult. Twice, we had to ask for a clue on the same portion of the escape game because we didn’t understand his explanation the first time. There was some math though, which we rocked and made up for the time we spent on other things. We made it out with a minute and a half to spare. We got out of two escape rooms in one day, which I would definitely call a success.

Afterwards, we decided to eat, since we were already in a mall. After walking around the mall several times, (seriously, people probably thought we were crazy), Blondie got some Ramen and I got some KFC. We had a couple places left we wanted to go, so we decided to try Grab again. We found the option to rent a driver for any given number of hours. When you rent a car, instead of having them pick you up and take you to a certain destination, you get access to them for your designated time, for as many stops in the city as you want. So cool. It was around twenty bucks for two hours of driving, with unlimited locations that our driver would wait for us at. Okay, for reals, why did not we not try this before? Our stops were: rolled ice cream at Ice Manias, Wat Arun at night, and the airport. The only rough thing about Grab was trying to find the driver, because as soon as we left the mall, we didn’t have WiFi anymore. In the end we found him and he ended up being a really nice guy.

We arrived at Ice Manias nearly an hour later because of crazy traffic, (the one we had looked up was supposed to only be 3.7 miles away). It was definitely worth the wait though, it was so good, and the OG rolled ice cream shop of Bangkok. Check, check. Next stop, Wat Arun. We had already seen the temple during the day, but it is lit up at night and something we didn’t get to see when we had first arrived in Bangkok. It was gorgeous. We spent a few minutes walking around the temple enjoying the great weather. Never thought I would say that about Bangkok, but it is so much better at night. Reluctantly, we headed back to the car knowing that our next stop was the airport and we would have nothing to look forward to.

We arrived at the airport, found our bags, and got through security and passport control. Once again, holy cow, so many people! We did get another stamp, although they aren’t super cute, but hey, a stamp is a stamp. Really not a fan of this airport, they wouldn’t let us down to the gate until closer to the boarding time, which was really irritating because we had quite a bit of time at this point and there was nowhere to sit where we were. Eventually, we just sat down on the hard ground and played some Skip-Bo (game of the trip) until they let us down to the gate area with more seats. At this point, our energy was definitely fading and I was just trying not to fall asleep. We got on the plane, said goodbye to Thailand, and headed to Korea knowing we had a long, long journey ahead of us.

[failedimitator]

What’s your favourite airport?

Ask me this question last week and I would’ve looked at you weird. A favourite airport? To me, airports are horrid places -- by design -- and are becoming increasingly more so by the second. They are cold and oppressive and, for some reason, no one who works there seems to like their job. Add the fact that at least half the people who come to airports are already exhausted from their flights, and you’ve got a place that can only come in degrees of unpleasantness. 

The least unpleasant airport I’ve been through is Schiphol, mostly because I think it’s very efficient. I once made a 30-minute connecting flight -- international, which means I had to pass through passport control -- and I got my bags in Berlin when I got there. I mean, the bags thing was more KLM than Schiphol, but the efficiency in making sure I made my connection, that was all Schiphol. For comparison, I had an hour and a half in Jeddah earlier this year and they still couldn’t get my bags on the connecting flight. And it took me a cool half an hour to pass through passport control in KLIA two days, and I WAS TRYING TO GO OUT OF THE COUNTRY.

I’ve never been to an airport like Samui International Airport. From the moment we disembarked the plane and I saw the gate transport bus, I knew I was in for something different. 

The gate transport bus looks like a train car from an amusement park. The passport control looks like the check-in area to a tropical resort. In fact the entire airport looks like a resort. Or some sort of modern hybrid park.

Design, they say, is not just visuals and aesthetics, it’s also a feeling. And the design of the Samui Airport is one that brings up the feeling of calm. I overheard a guy say to his friend that the airport doesn’t give him anxiety about missing a flight. My colleagues who were there all raved about how nice it was being there, and I... well, I’m writing about a fucking airport.

So guess who has a favourite airport now?

[greatplanettahoe]

Japan Log Day 1

I kind of want to create a log of my time in Japan. I think it’d be fun, and from what I’ve heard, I’d be able to remember my trip better! There may be a day delay for me, at least for day one because that was all flying and lemme tell you, after a 13 hour flight, a 3 hour flight felt like NOTHING, haha. I felt like I played on my DS for a half hour and it was over. So, I don’t know when entirely I’ll post these, or if anyone cares, but I don’t. Because it’ll be fun for me to look back on and remember ;)

Day one - The day of insane travel

Our journey began as most other journeys do, of sitting at home, counting away the hours and having panicked thoughts of what you still need to do and what’s been done. My way of coping was to blast music - sorry Tegan - and stare blankly at a wall. Not productive when packing was half done. Luckily, I got everything ready about an hour before my friend came to pick me up. About ten minutes before, I began to stress clean. I guess that’s exciting? Lilia’s parents graciously took us to Vancouver In'tl Airport (YVR)- Canada. The car ride felt short. Shorter than I thought it was to get to the border. Right before we hit, we got to see the tiny little peace arch. Cool! Going in, the border guard is looking over our passports, doing the routine questions. 

Then, he leans in and goes “Alauna?” and I sheepishly correct him as he clearly wasn’t quite sure how to pronounce my name. He informs me that I need to sign my passport and I need to do that before I check in at the airport otherwise they may not let me fly. OOPS! Luckily Lil’s dad had a pen that I could use otherwise I’d have to hunt for somewhere to sell a pen at the airport at MIDNIGHT! Getting into the country, I receive a text from my mobile provider. CONGRATS! T-Mobile works in Canada text/data free, call 20c/min. Neat! 

After a pretty good wait in line - China Eastern is apparently a very popular company - and chatting with the nice lady in front of us we reach the airline official. Neither of our passports scanned into the computer. Probably because Lilia’s is 9 years old, mine’s 1 month. He was very kind, making sure that we knew our layover was between two different airports in Shanghai (more on that later, ugh) and asked us if we had any illegal items to which we both said no. He smiled and said “I trust you two, you both look very trustworthy”. He then noticed that we were seated at least 10 rows away from each other. With our permission he changed our seats to be together. Once he got our tickets, he pointed out what information we needed to know. Lilia got seat C, he was going to be in seat B, I in A …. wait. There is no seat B! :P With a very heartfelt thank you, we asked where the gates were and said our farewell.

Getting up to security, was a very small line with a long wait. It looked like the officer’s battery had died on his scanner and had to get a new one. Oh well. After that, it took about 2 seconds to make sure our tickets were valid - phew! and go onto phase two with the bag screening. They instructed us to put laptops in a separate tray. Confusedly, I ask the man why. He mentioned because laptops could be bombs. Which, I never thought about and by the look on my face, he must have understood and had a small smile as we thanked him. Lilia got through security fine. The metal detector beeped for me. Contrats, I’m wearing a bra, because that was literally why the detector beeped for me. Past that, we walked through a small mall with a bunch of stores, and very glittery flooring. Our gate was easy to find, and had a subway near us. We just got chips and ginger ale as we both weren’t feeling fantastic.

There’s not much meant to be said for the flight. Although, as it took off, Lilia looked at me and said; “I regret every jet I crashed in GTA 5” 

It was nearly 13 hours and insane. Neither of us slept much, which sucked. But, at least it was quiet as pretty much everyone else did sleep. Except for one guy in the row beside us whose entertainment screen wouldn’t turn off and he was trying to sleep so he had his jacket backwards to cover his face LOL. I did kind of feel bad for him since it was legitimately malfunctioning. Their movie selection was pretty bomb. Lilia and I synced up our screens so we watched Furious 7 together. The airline provided us dinner. I accidentally got shrimp noodles, which thank you that my medicine works, and Lilia got some sort of beef patty and rice. There was also some sort of custard that was similar to cheesecake, but not entirely. It was delicious. We both tried to sleep for a while. Gave up. We got breakfast which was two adorable hash-brown patties, an omelette, and a very undercooked, disease sausage link which neither of us touched. At that point, Lilia started up Day After Tomorrow, and I started Secret Life of Pets … which got interrupted a total of a billion times. I managed to finish SLoP right before they cut off entertainment for landing purposes.

The drive after landing and getting to our gate was probably half the time of our flight. We get another text from T-Mobile. Welcome to China! Your phone has free texting, call 20c/min, and 2g unlimited data! AWESOME!

Immigration was easy, whom also informed us that our connecting flight was in a separate airport, security was easy (they have thermal screening, so that was definitely interesting!), and getting our luggage was SUPER easy. Customs, we had nothing to declare so went through that line no prob, and exited the airport into a throng of people all shouting ‘taxi!’. One guy dogged us for a long time and we eventually rolled with him as the bus to take us to Honquaio was in another hour and we only had four before our other flight. Driving in Shanghai is terrifying. Our driver nearly creamed 2 people on mopeds, and almost hit countless other cars. I never want to drive in Shanghai. As nice as the city was, there was no telltale building style, and all the buildings were insane colors. I saw an apartment complex that was hot pink. OK. We arrive at the airport, to where the cabby swindled us out of a little more money than what we agreed on, but both of us were tired and didn’t care at that point. The line in this airport was about two times longer than YVR, but went quickly enough. Again, getting to our gate was super easy, and we had about an hour of downtime before boarding.

Second flight felt way too short, and they provided us with spaghetti and another of those delicious cluster squares! Hell yeah. I think I played my DS for the entire time, but it was hard to tell since the flight felt super short.

Getting into Japan, immigration was NUTS. The line was insanely long, although it went quickly. Got fingerprinted so if I crime in Japan, they’ll know it was me. Shucks. Too bad I wasn’t planning on anything anyways. We both had our first experience with a Japanese western toilet which I’m now convinced they all have bidets since our hotel toilet has one too. FYI, the seats are very warm when you sit on them, and the one in the airport played gentle music to mask the fact that I had the best racehorse pee in the universe. Sorry, TMI? We get ANOTHER text from T-mobile. HOORAY! Your phone works! Free text, 20c/min call, 2g unlimited data! WHAT?! I wasted $40 on SIM cards before we left, and now we don’t need them! Oh well, lol.

Hitting up the international ATM, my card was declined. WHAT!? I had called my bank, so they should know I’m here! I managed to get the attention of an airport lady who graciously tried helping, but it declined for her too. Lilia was able to get out some cash. What the heck?! We asked the airport lady where the Keikyu line was and if Pasmo was over there, and she instructed us what to do. We thanked her for her time and assistance. Meanwhile, there was another American having the same problem as I. I noticed his card had a chip. Lilia’s didn’t. Ding ding, it’s the chip. We got sodas and some Japanese candy and a fruit cup, got Pasmo’s and went to the station towards Kawasaki - after a little help as we didn’t see our stop. 

The train wasn’t too terribly crowded. But, went approximately the speed of a fighter jet. My shoulder and back is still sore for hanging on for dear life while making sure my luggage didn’t go anywhere. There was a lady I kept bumping into and I kept apologizing whenever I did though she just smiled and told me it was OK. There was also a nice man there who watched us to make sure we were OK and whenever another train passed us, make a slight thunking noise, probably had a great internal laugh at my face whenever I had a slight panic about it.

Getting off the station and heading down some steps, there are apparently designated sides which you move. We went down halfway the wrong way, realized, and moved over with our luggage. Sorry! Walking here is definitely interesting. There’s people crossing the streets, not even really looking. I think we saw 1 personal car on our walk to the hotel.

Getting into Noanoa was easy. Manager was SUPER nice, got our luggage taken to the room, and let us stay in the spa room while we waited the last hour before the official check-in time. While there, Lilia opened up her fruit cup, which has jello instead of juice, and I had my candies which were DELICIOUS, and apparently limited time, so guess what I’m buying more of once I get cash? Because Japan is a very cash-heavy type of country.

Our hotel room is a little small, but nothing we can’t handle. I’m sure Lilia feels weird actually being on par or taller than most the people we’ve passed walking to the hotel. We spent half the day exploring the tiny room, seeing what was on TV and being very confused over a child’s show before turning it off. We figured out google translate, and have translated pretty much everything in our room. We still need to figure out the unit on the wall, but we at least know lighting, what the controls are on the bidet, and how to work the mechanical nightmare that is the shower. We put on a Youtube show that we both like, and I crashed just before 7PM after roughly 24 hours of travel and not sleeping. Lilia poked me awake and we officially went to bed around 7PM. 

We have not eaten since at least noon on the flight, and it’s going on 14 hours. Yeesh.

Our plans today, as I’m finishing this up around 2PM, is to visit an actual bank so I can hopefully withdraw cash, find somewhere to eat, and hit up a couple parks and museums. There’s also the Keihin Fushimi Inari shine that we’ll probably explore. Today is slotted to be a low-key day as we’re both pretty tired even after sleeping for a solid 12+ hours.

Note: Edited for easier reading

[iamcediesmom]

Philippine IMMIGRATION experience (and some TIPS)

Just a little bit of information about me. 

I am a work-at-home mom. I am an ESL online teacher for two and a half years now. I have no ITR (yet). My company deducts my taxes but they don’t provide a BIR 2316 just a 2307 (which is like a breakdown of the taxes I already paid each quarter). 

It was my first time travelling abroad last October 2016; I used to go on domestic trips around the Philippines but I’ve never ventured out of the country before. My friend and I were planning the trip for like six months. She has been to other countries in Asia before but this was her first time to go to HK and Macau. 

I was so excited I read all kinds of blogs regarding my situation. That’s when I discovered something….OFFLOADING… I’ve never heard of OFFLOADING before and I didn’t know what it meant. Some of the stories I’ve read online only made me nervous and I somehow dreaded my trip because of it. 

Okay, so now here goes my story. (sorry for the long introduction hihi)

My friend and I decided to meet at the airport 3 hours before our flight. Our reason was we just want to be extra early. Maybe it’s the excitement?? OR we had a feeling of what’s about to happen??

We filled up the arrival/departure cards and proceeded to the Immigration queue for Philippine Passport Holders. There were four windows open 2 guys and 3 girls. I told my friend that we should go to one of the guy's windows because I thought it might help that we are girls and that we can somehow use our charms (??hahaha) Anyway, she said NO and we ended up lining up into a window were there were 2 women. I was a bit suspicious but my friend said that they looked very approachable. There were only a few travelers during the time so we only waited for a bit. My friend went first. I wasn’t nervous at all but I overheard their conversation and the line of questioning they had. 

At first, they asked standard questions like; 

Where are you going? : HK /Macau

Who are you going with? : My friend (and she pointed to me)

Where are you going to stay? : At my Aunt’s house (she gave the address) 

They asked a few more questions about their relationship…

Where do you work? Can I see your ID? 

Where did you study? Can I see your school ID? 

>>> My friend didn’t expect this at all and she didn’t bring her College ID or her Alumni card. All she had was an ID from a school she took some classes from for her job. They allowed it. When I heard this I looked for my school ID and I was glad it was in my wallet.(hahahaha)

Have you traveled before? How many times? When?(while turning the pages of her passport) : Two Times, SG and Thailand. Last year (2015). 

This time I was a little bit scared because I heard once you’ve traveled before there would only be a few questions asked. Then they finally allowed her to pass through and stamped her passport. 

FINALLY, it was my turn. I smiled and said Hello. Both of them just nodded.  They asked almost the same questions at first and I had the same answers as my friend. Then they asked…

Where do you work? Can I see your ID? : I work at an ONLINE ENGLISH SCHOOL. I don’t have an ID because it’s HOME BASED. 

Are you a certified teacher? : No. 

What and who do you teach? : English grammar; Japanese, Taiwanese and Korean students. 

Do you have a COE? : Yes

Where did you study? What’s your major? : I showed them my ID. MIT-Manila; BS Chemistry.

Then they started to ask about my friend. 

How long have you known your friend? : Since 2011.

How did you meet? : We met at work, at a call center. 

When’s her birthday? : (I’m totally forgetful about this information, I only know my family’s birthdays, luckily I remembered my sister and my friend’s birthdays were the same.) 

Are you sure? : Yes. 

Do you have a picture of you together in 2011? : (yeah! I know right? Shocking!! I had those but the night before I just deleted old pictures from my phone to free up some space for the trip, I asked if I can open Facebook and they approved. During this time the internet connection at the airport wasn’t very fast and I couldn’t get to the bottom of my picture albums. I showed them a picture of us together from 2 years ago and then they said NO I want a picture from 2011. I started getting irritated.) 

Then the woman said: MAM, I think you should follow me. I will refer your case to my superior because you did not pass the initial screening. Then she said, actually it would have been okay if you have an ID.

I butted in. I don’t have an ID because I work-at-home. (IS SHE THICK IN THE HEAD? WHY CAN'T SHE UNDERSTAND THAT AT ALL??)

And she continued, the COE that you showed me is fake. 

My blood pressure was rising and I said “HOW CAN IT BE FAKE WHEN MY BOSS SENT IT TO ME BY EMAIL AND I JUST PRINTED IT?” I was trying SO hard to control my tone and said it through gritted teeth. 

Anyway, she didn’t listen and just led the way. 

I was told to fill up a form and wait in line. I was the third in line. There were no rooms. It was just a space with a lot of chairs beside the security check area. When my turn finally came, my heart was beating so fast I thought I was gonna have a heart attack. 

I only waited for a few minutes then it was my turn. I was lucky because the woman who motioned for me to follow her looked really nice, and she was (Thank GOD!). She asked me to just give her all the documents that I have. I handed her my flight ticket, all my reservations to the attractions I was going to, marriage certificate, my son’s birth certificate, COE. Then she asked me to show her pictures of my friend and I together. I showed her my wedding pictures. She was a bit distracted because there was a man beside us who kept pleading to her to let him board his flight to Oman or SOMEWHERE. She stood up, I maybe waited for 3 minutes when she got back she said, “Oh mam! you’re still here? I thought I already approved you.” She signed my papers. Then I went back to the original window and the woman there said, “Mam if you had an ID you wouldn’t go through that.”

Because of what the IO said, I wondered if I should have made a fake ID? I’m really conflicted about that ID issue. Would that have been easier? Can’t she understand that I really can’t provide one since I don’t go to the office? I just do it all online, my salary, payslip, tax records can be accessed or sent to me online. I really don’t know why she can’t understand that.

Looking back to that experience, here were some things I learned. 

1. Don’t go to a window with two people in it. They might be training the other one so they would ask twice as many questions as they normally would. 

2. Wear something totally formal or something that would scream that you are RICH! I was only wearing a fitted black shirt and jeans with sneakers. I love comfy clothes and my thought was I was gonna arrive in HK at night I won’t take too much pictures so I didn’t made any effort. I didn’t have a suitcase just a backpack and a shoulder bag. I must’ve looked pathetic in their eyes. I didn’t wear any make-up too just some lipstick.

(a picture at the airport with my mother before CHECK-IN)

(Here’s a picture of me with my totally matching backpack and cross body bag)

3. Bring all of your documents and all your IDs. Print out everything and scan everything just to be sure. 

4. Keep your answers short. 

5. Control your voice even if you are already angry and if they say something ridiculous or ask something out of line. Stay calm and keep your cool. 

I was able to go to HK and Macau. I had a blast but I would never forget my first Immigration interview. 

(after the long and gruesome interview; I can finally smile again!) 

Now, I’m preparing to go to Singapore with my sister in July, she’s 18 years old and it’s her first time. I have already booked the tickets and the hotel. I am going to buy the tickets for the Universal Studios online (klook.com) too. I would be the one financing this whole trip since it’s my birthday gift to her. What do you think I should do so that this situation won’t happen to me again? I don’t know. I’ll just keep on praying this will never happen again. I read somewhere that someone signed a waiver in Singapore stating that he has no intention of working there. Do I need to do that as well? Maybe. Do I need to make a fake ID? I want to but I’m scared it would make matters worse. Anyway, I just wanted to share my experience to whoever. 

Ciao!

~KC~

P.S. 

I would be posting my IT in HK-Macau and more pictures next time. Thanks for reading this. :) Totally appreciated. 

[aaronaknightca]

156 | How To Invest In Your Wireless Career with Ferney Muñoz

In This Episode:

Keith kicks things off with introducing us to another page of the Wireless LAN Professionals Custom Field Notebook. This is the page that contains 3 resources:

dBm to milliwatt conversion chart

State Machine – great for explaining concepts visually for clients

Frame control field chart

Ferney Muñoz talks about what investing in himself as a Wireless LAN Professional means to him. He also shares a couple of his favorite tools for surveys. No surprise one of those is the Ekahau Sidekick. Another tool he loves, especially for outdoor surveys is a hunter’s range finder.

Time Stamped Transcripts

You can click play on the window below and follow along with the audio. Or if you’d prefer to read the transcripts you can do that too. Want to read them later? Click the download button and save to read later.

Episode 156.mp3

: Wireless LAN Professionals is a place to educate inform encourage and entertain those involved in wireless LANS. This wireless LAN professionals podcast is an audio manifestation of these goals. Our host is a wireless LAN veteran consultant designer and teacher Keith Parsons. And now the podcast for wireless LAN professionals by wireless LAN professionals.

: In this section we’re going to talk about one of the pages from the WLAN Pros Notebook.(https://www.wlanpros.com/shop/notebook/) This is the page that has dBm to milliwatt conversion. One of my favorite things to teach and I have a little thing it’s a five minute to dB the milliwatt conversion (https://www.wlanpros.com/resources/easy-db-math-5-minutes/) it’s a very simple way to go about doing it. And I think anyone who is in this industry should be able to think in your mind very quickly the dB to milliwatt, the milliwat to dB and that should be almost instantaneous going back and forth. But first some of you might be new in the industry haven’t been going long we added this little conversion table right here for you. The tricks we use in dB the milliwatt conversion – things like you know using 3s and 10s. So a 3 on the left side in dB is equal to a 2 two on the right side in “normal math”. Those tricks work really good and very fast to figure out how to do that. Just realize that when you get up to some numbers like if you do double double double double the 2 4 8 16 you get up to 512 or 1024 on this table it shows a thousand. That’s because the difference between the trick using the dB math trick and the actual logarithm are slightly off. So if you if using your tricks and you get a number like 512 and the table shows 500 or you use 500 but 512 is what you’ve been using. They’re still the same. You’re not going to get too confused with that.

: We also added on this page a couple other pieces that I think wLAN pros should know fairly, fairly consistently. And the reason we added them here so when you’re talking with customers sometimes it’s easier to show them a graphic. So the “State Machine” is a graphic that you can go and show and when you’re describing the process of how a client does probe request – probe response, than authentication request then authentication response, then association request, then association response and it gets into the authentication process later.

: You can point back in a show where there’s layer, there’s 802.11 authentication and there’s authentication after 802.11 finishes and how the state machine works. As well as looking at the disassociation and de-authentication showing how far back in the process you go depending on what frame is sent.

: And the third thing we add on this page was the frame control fields, specifically for the “to bit” and “from bit”. These little DS bits are very useful and depending on how they’re set each of the addresses will either be BSSID, the MAC address of the AP, or the station, the source address, the transmitter address, the receiver address, or the destination address. And those are all little table there for you to understand.

: It also shows when you get to the, the only time you use all four of the addresses are if you’re “to bit” and “from bit” are both set to 1. If they’re both set to 1 then you are in bridge mode or a mesh mode.

: Let’s get to know our colleagues and friends with a shared passion for Wi-Fi. It’s time to search WhoIs…

: Ferney welcome to the show amigo. How are you sir?

: I’m doing great. Matthew thank you for having me on the show.

: Of course. It’s been a while since we’ve been face to face.

: Yeah.

: I guess the last time I wasn’t too far long ago. We were moving boxes around. I think.

: That is correct. We were rearranging the Lending Library inventory and all kinds of things. Yes.

: And now you just kind of got back from a whirlwind tour with your family a little different traveling than normal. Tell us about that.

: Well I am usually traveling just for work as you know with CWNE, CWNA classes or Ekahau classes or consulting and this time it was it was just a holiday. Just vacation with my family. I have three kids, 3, 8, and 9 and traveling with kids can be challenging. We went to Europe and everything went well except that I left the passport in a taxicab in Rome and we had no passports a few days but we got emergency passports. But other than that it was very good. Just the same challenges going through airport security and all kind of the hassle channeling. But this time without gear and just relax. So yeah it was definitely.

: A different kind of gear gear for kids.

: Yes yes. Diapers and bottles and milk and yes.

: iPads.

: Yes absolutely.

: For the few that may not know you at all, tell us a little bit about yourself, where you got started in Wi-Fi and what you’re up to, you know you alluded to some training, but what are you up to nowadays?

: Well for those who don’t know me I’m Ferney Munoz they call me Fernie or Prenay or something like that..

: Or “hey you!”

: Hey you. But Ferney works. I’m originally from Colombia and I moved to the States back in 99. March of 1999 and started working at a school district in high school as a volunteer doing all that technology stuff. I start with technology many years before that in Colombia and here I started working directly with networks and then later I owned the network for the District – a big network. Of course in about 2001 or so we were working just with mostly wired networks

: school districts..

: School district yes. Started seeing some of the wireless stuff come into play and then later on about 2009 we started a new district. That district split off of a big district. It was about a hundred schools before the Salt Lake Valley area. The Jordan School Districts split and from there Canyons School District was born and then we own that network. We started implementing wireless like big time. Removing all of the standalone a 802.11b,g devices and getting rid of difficult to manage. Basically home devices were installed in the district before. And now we were finally working on an enterprise class network. So I was thrown in the Wi-Fi arena as many of us were. Where we were on wired networks and one day someone said, “Hey, you know we have this new wireless thing that needs to be installed or configured.” And all of the sudden they made us wireless professionals without us knowing what that meant.

: We started installing Xirrus those big flying saucer looking arrays. They were not called access points – arrays. Multiple radios and all kinds of challenges with the wireless. Of course we have 50 buildings about 40000 students and some 4000 employees and we have to provide Wi-Fi for everybody. And in a school district is a very dynamic environment. Everybody is – teachers trying to add curriculum and cool devices to their curriculum. And trying to rely on Wi-Fi and many just bringing Apple TVs and many home devices that they want to implement in the enterprise environment. And it all came at once.

: You got thrown in the deep end and you suddenly we’re a wireless LAN professional.

: Yes. Of course today it’s like,”Well, do you know how to do it?” “Yeah I got Wi-Fi at home.” “So you know Wi-Fi – then you’re in charge now.”

: Now actually we had about 650 of these devices implemented in the network and were in charge of computer making work. Of course we having all kinds of problems and we had issues. The company they sent an engineer and they walked around with a computer and gear and stuff then they gave us a green map at the end. But we still had issues.

: And through that process I just got tired of kind of being held hostage by vendors.

: “Hey what do you go there? Let me do this myself.”.

: We have a big environment, we have budget and we cannot just schedule an engineer to come whenever they can when we need it now. So we like let’s do it ourselves.

: Through that process we met Mr. Keith Parsons. That’s how I met him is that he was hired to come and help us. We worked with a gentlemen Jared Griffiths before and now he kind of met Mr. Parsons and brought him on board and he help us. That’s how I started basically doing Wi-Fi. Before I was just kind of like try and figure it out with my team and finally with Mr. Parsons kind of showed us how to do it ourselves and understand it. And I got some training from Airmagnet and that some CWNA training.

: So you just kind of started jumping in there and learning all you could. Well one of the purposes of this interview and kind of this series of interviews is obviously taking experience from guys who have been in the trenches and sharing that with obviously your peers and your colleagues but also people maybe who are getting started in wireless LAN. And so I was thinking of some questions that might be able to help us with that end in mind. And one of those is “If you could go back to your younger self thinking about when you got started here like in the story, what’s a piece of advice you’d give yourself then that might have helped you avoid some of those headaches along the way?”

: Well you know without a doubt. If I could go back to that first instance said, “Hey you know you’re going to be in charge of these wireless networks.” I would have said “OK. I need training.

: Don’t assume that because it works at home I can do it here in the School District. “Why not?” I mean and everybody has that mentality like “How hard can that be? I mean just plug it in and it works.” That’s one of the problems with Wi-Fi – It works. It always works, it’s just works poorly. We were just putting out fires that we had no idea how to approach. So getting training would’ve definitely made our lives so much better.

: So, right away just say, “OK, I need training just jump in there and do it.”

: Yes, yes. Absolutely. And some companies are proactive because one of my, many of my students have been in class and they are like, “Well I was the cable guy and now the wireless guy left. And now they want me to start doing this but and they send me to get training.” So those are easy to work with because they have nothing – no knowledge. The are starting from scratch. But others like us that were thrown in the field with no knowledge it’s their responsibility.

: We start figuring out how to configure the controllers and how to make this work and how to enable and disable things and we know how to do it but we don’t know why. Or we don’t know if it’s performing like it’s supposed to until something blows up. So definitely training. CWNA is a very good vendor neutral training. Because that’s another thing I found out Matthew, is that a lot of guys that come from Cisco backgrounds they come from Aruba backgrounds and they have all kinds of certifications and training from that vendor. But once you start getting to the basics of the technology – not the brand – is like, “Well this is totally different.”

: So obviously if you have access to those trainings and certifications take them.

: Yes.

: Don’t just stay there.

: Absolutely. Don’t just think that because you’ve got a Cisco certification in wireless you’re a “wireless expert” No, it just it just doesn’t doesn’t end there.

: What’s one thing you think you did right early on as you started in working with Wi-Fi?

: Umm I think it was admitting that I didn’t know anything. I kind of knew, I mean I thought I knew how it works – some basics. Later on when I met Mr. Parsons and we took some like formal training, real training I started realizing that we were doing a lot of things wrong. But I think that the first approach is just kind of being humble and saying, “You know what? I don’t know it”. I think that’s the hardest step. Because of course you’re a professional, you’re in the field, and you’re in charge.

: And you do know a lot probably.

: Yeah and you know I mean a lot of these guys there they have knowledge about servers, they have knowledge about virtualization, they have knowledge about networks, wired networks, switching, routing and a whole bunch… I mean these guys are super smart. But Wi-Fi is just a different monster. It just works differently. And also I’ve come across guys come from the cellular networks. And they also, “of course I know this, I’ve been doing this for many years.” But when you start talking about Wi-Fi is that some things just don’t make sense. “Wait isn’t that how it works in cellular.” Exactly. Wi-Fi is just different.

: And you mentioned CWNE and the whole gamut of those – Is that the certification you recommend for everybody or is there a path you recommend?

: Yeah well for those who are not familiar with CWNP program – starting with CWNA is definitely “the” beginning. If you want to continue walking this path. That’s a certification. You can study on your own. You can take a formal class – CWNA class. and then for the certification you have to go to one of the Pearson VUE testing centers (https://home.pearsonvue.com/) and get certified and you pass then you’re good, that’s your certification.

: Then you there are three other certifications you have to do. The CWSP is the “Security” one. CWAP which is the “Analysis Professional”. And also the CWDP which is the “Design Professional.” They don’t have to be taken in that order. I recommend taking the CWNA then AP, then SP, then DP. Some guys take it out of the way after the Ekahau class because a lot of stuff in there (inaudible). But once you take those four certifications you submit an application to CWNE board. They’re a board to evaluate. You have to do some essays, write some stuff. They will evaluate it and you have to log… I mean the listeners who are not familiar with the program they can just research and find out exactly what they have to do. But that’s definitely the way get it. And once you get approved then you become a CWNE which is like at the expert level. Which by the way it doesn’t make you an expert you just get your certification. And once you’ve gotten there…

: It’s just the beginning as you’ve said I think in the past before. So kind of along this train of thought, what does “investing in yourself as a WLAN professional mean to you? Is it just certifications? When someone says, “You need to invest in yourself as a WLAN pro.” What does that look like?

: For me, in my case, with the school district there are certain limitations and politics involved – policies, “If you are going to go to this conference you have to apply within 30 days. And it can’t be out of state. And the school district is not going to pay for certain things. And it will not pay for others.” So it’s kind of complicated. And one of the challenges I faced when I wanted to attend the first wireless LAN Professionals conference was that I didn’t get the school district to pay for it. Either travel, or attendance, or days off or anything. So investing in myself at that point – I had to make a decision. OK, the conference is $2,000.00. I’m going to have to take a week off that I’m not going to get paid for. This is family vacation days that I could use with them somewhere. Or just go a get – just go to the conference. Paying for all this stuff at that point was a decision we made. And yes, later then it was the certification that the district did pay for the class and then I had to take the exams. I think investing in yourself, for me it was not only making the investments that I have to pay this money from my own pocket. No company is paying for it. Nobody is sponsoring me.

: Although later I got sponsorship from Wireless LAN Professionals. I got a scholarship, to go to the second conference. That’s how I ended up to working out for Wireless LAN Professionals and some of the stuff formed in Ekahau and then just independent contracting. But it was also the effort, it’s just the time you’re putting to it. That’s just an example. The other one was when taking the certification of the exams. I mean, studying for the exams. Investing myself meant that I had to wake up at 4:00 in the morning, study for a couple hours then go to work. Then after work, I had to come home to help with the kids and stuff and study some more. Then my lunch break just grab something that is really quick and study more and study more. So at that point, I was not investing money. I mean, I have already purchased a book and study on my own but it’s just that extra effort when instead of watching a show, you’re sitting down, reading a book and making research to understand the concept. And also, another thing, there is the pain by yourself to go to conference and exams and classes and stuff. That’s when the effort that you have to make to chill this certifications and learn it.

: Its almost like “no one cares about your future more than you, at all”. That’s for you. It sounds what I’m hearing is, there’s this point in time where you make a very clear decision like this is worth whatever it takes.

: Yes. Absolutely. And then on top of that “if”, because I’ve come across many guys that they’re not working for anybody. So you don’t have that playground to learn the actual status. Taking the exam and passing the certifications can be simple for some guys.

: And the exam is based on what I’ve read. And then they have the certification but experience is the biggest because the exam is the exam but the real thing that getting the experience out in the field is the difficult thing if you don’t have an environment. I was lucky enough that we have the whole district. That was my playground but that was my age up that I had to make work efficiently. So I had a real environment.

: What about labs? Investing in lab? I hear Keith talk a lot about that when I got the Lending Library (https://www.wlanpros.com/how-the-lending-library-works/) and those kind of things. Why is that important? And how do you do that?

: Yes, thank you and that’s the next. Thank you for the segue. That’s my next point. If you don’t have an environment to apply the knowledge and real environment, then you have to build the lab and that implies buying some equipment. And yeah, we have the Wireless LAN Pros – Lending Library (https://www.wlanpros.com/product-category/lending-library/) where people can just get like enterprise class equipment that they can play with in configuration and wipe it clean without affecting users. So it is really really necessary to have a lab environment. Now here’s the other thing that’s cool. If you don’t have a real environment, you don’t have the means to get your hands on that enterprise equipment, it’s down here. That’s how a huge investment because I approaches somebody you know on the field. If you’re going to do a survey, can I just shadow you go there with you. And you don’t have to pay me because that’s when there’s…

: There are a lot of people like “yeah, you can come with me.” But they can be company policy so you cannot just bring in somebody have this stood with you. They get heard who’s liable for the company where you’re doing the survey or us doing this. I mean it’s just not as simple as that, but if you come across somebody, “hey, I’m going to do an installation”. Sure! I help fill your cables, I’ll help you mount a piece, or show me and I’ll have to configure in. Just volunteer. Volunteering I think is one of the greatest things that I’ve done throughout my career, not just on Wi-Fi but on networks and computers.

: But again that’s another thing that has to be align right. Because you have to get the right people, the right environment and if you have a day-time job, then you have to make sure you can make it work around your schedule. So that’s not another big investment, but another nice way to obtain them.

: And something that’s worth doing. Worth the sacrifices.

: Absolutely.

: And I know it’s so much easier to just go home and sit down and watch a show or do nothing. Doing nothing is fun. But it’s just sometimes we have to sacrifice.

: On a different kind of angle, I just have some other questions here. What’s a mistake in the industry you see people making on a consistent basis that you wish you could stop from happening?

: Well let’s see.

: You’re teaching a lot. Is there things you’re running into that people just aren’t thinking about?

: Well, I think the first thing that comes to mind is the installing APs, since it’s always one thing that is commonly being done that just doesn’t work that well in Wi-Fi. There are many reasons why there are blogs, lots of blogs out there explains why. That’s a very common problem. Sometimes it’s not because people don’t know that that’s bad. It’s because they are told to put in there. And that’s one of the big mistakes that I see overall in the industries – is that we, as Wi-Fi professionals are been told by engineers and architects and interior designers where and how to monitor access points.

: I wouldn’t say that’s the biggest thing. Because of course, they end up in the hallway there’s a subset of somebody told me to put that. Why? I don’t know. They said put them there because that’s the only way to access. Because they look pretty in there, because they want a blinking lights inside this room or that room or because my code, they cannot have an some areas, industrial areas. I mean, there’s so many things but to summarize that, the biggest mistake is that we are letting others to tell us how to design. And another kind of related to this, is that a lot of deployments are being done without designing, without doing all of the research. Do you know why were so many news during the ancient times they had, they were deployed? They were just installed by somebody because that’s what they said and then there is no design because nobody sat down to figure out why and where. I mean, what type of device? How long you have these? Asked all questions we have to ask when we’re creating a Wireless design.

: Well, it sounds like with this podcast and a lot of the other great podcasts on Wireless LAN and the conferences, were hopefully moving the needle on some of that stuff and educating and encouraging each other and better testing gear, sidekick those kind of things that help prove the need to do things properly.

: Absolutely Yes.

: Alright. Well, what is one project you have been involved with that you’re the most proud of and why?

: Well, there were several which is the network I owned. I worked on other network but this is the biggest one. And I think not the biggest project but one of the project that makes me proud that I had all which I had was some Wireless LAN we had to do for a school. That was a school that was being demolished. That school was crossed the district office and transportation warehouse of the entire school district transportation department and warehousing. They were connected to the school that was being demolished. We got quotes from companies to get another 9 run to that transportation from the district office. And they came to $70000-80000 to run the new fiber cable over there. Because they had to go across the street, and they needed city permits and they need it.

: It was just complicated long and difficult. It was $80,000 and I got that one like $105,000 for that Wireless LAN entire department- Those two buildings and facilities very critical portions of district transportation and it would be warehouses as well. So that was one of the little projects can like wireless works and they saved the district money and we had another.

: Lot of money.

: Yes, a lot of money. We had another similar project where we had to to build a school in between two buildings and with wireless. Thanks for acknowledging Wireless. Have that done fractional cost and the time because basically had to change in the winter and we had to wait for temperature, equipment and the permits and everything. Basically, Wireless is one site that now goes out the other one like within half a day, we had a whole building connected.

: Everyone was shouting: “Ferney! Ferney!”.

: Yeah!

: The flip side that’s the..

: It’s the contractor that wanted to do it.

: Yeah, exactly! They were hunt you and hide out for a while.

: Yeah.

: On the flip side of that, what’s a mistake you’ve made that has really taught you something valuable?

: Oh men! I made so many mistakes not knowing which one could be more significant.

: But oh! And you know what? I think here’s one. Now that you really got. I took at first year CWNA class and the AirMini class on Mr. Parsons. It took me like 4 years to actually get certified. Big mistake! Because you take the classes its four days, five days and you did it from 8 in the morning till 5 in the afternoon. At the end of Friday, your brain is just overwhelmed with Wi-Fi knowledge and you have all that stuffs fresh in the head. Big mistake I made. I’ll take the exam when I’m break. You’ll never gonna be ready. There’s so much tool. It was a big mistake. And then made it to the class again. I’m going to study and then when I’m ready, like never way. So if I could do that one after the first class on the day of the end of class, I shouldn’t have done and take the exam or the morning following that. That was one mistake and that would have saved me a lot of hassle and I would have made my CWNE process each year.

:  A couple couple more questions here. Favorite piece of equipment you’re using these days and why?

: You know without a doubt the sidekick (https://www.wlanpros.com/resources/ekahausidekickreview/) Yeah, it used to be my Air Check. That was pretty useful and I think I still have it. And of course I think every Wireless LAN Professionals should have checking their tool bags. But the sidekick definitely has changed the way in which I do surveying and the analysis on it. So I’ll tell you why? We have doing surveys we have to carry USB hubs, we have cables next to it and we have wireless mix and we have spectrum analyzes and we have two carry 2.4 and 5gig one. So we have all this bunch of little bits and pieces connected to our computers. Which you’ve seen in videos. You know the survey tray. How troublesome that can be just carry around your computer with a whole bunch of little gadgets hanging around the computer. So the sidekick summarizes all that into one piece of equipment. Using that for surveying was really good. We had a big project in the Silicon Valley. We survey like 68 kilometers that’s about 42 miles. We have to survey for multiple days. And with this hiking, I just had a backpack and outside of the backpack is that thing gets really hot one headed inside. And you think you’re using it. On a Segway, say that I used to kind of not to be a friend of the Segway, because like well I can walk, I like walking and I think. But when you’re doing 42 miles, Segway was the way to be my second favorite tool if you asked me.

: Maybe that should be our next bundle.

: Yeah, get a Segway as well and it pays off. And actually they have to buy a Segway. I rented one from one of these. Because nowadays, and pretty much of the world I think well, in major cities and tourist places, they have the Segway tools. So I call on this places and I rented when I was like $100 a day, like $300 a week, I rented for a week but only uses it 3 or 4 days. But I was it and just rented. We do have some special pigments to attach the survey tray and put the computer up and then you still have one cable going from the sidekick to your computer. But it simplifies that. So that’s my favorite tool nowadays.

: Related to that, what’s an unexpected tool in your tool kit that you always go to that? Maybe someone might be surprised to know. Just a little favorite piece of equipment or something that you rely on that maybe is out of the norm of what you normally think of?

: OK. I would say that there are couple. Since I’ve done several of the point to point links out there just connecting buildings wireless and avoiding running cables. One tool that is kind like not expected as you asked, is the rangefinder. It’s like a binocular but it’s just one lens. So how do you call that?. It is just one lens.

: Telescope.

: It is a small ones like the size of a small box and then you look and then they’ll give you the distance. That it’s used for hunters a military also. You look at that spot and then you press a button and we will show you the distance from where you are to that point that you selected and show you the angle of elevation. Like if it’s near five degrees up or down and then you go to the other end and then you end because when you’re doing that point to point connections you need the antennas to be align aiming at the same direction. So they see each other. Of course like if you’re doing a light, you can see the light. But when we’re talking about Wi-Fi, we cannot see these waves in the air. So we have to rely on tools like this tools to give us distances and angles of elevation inclination to aim our antennas right.

: Do you have favorite one? What’s that brand that one you know?

: I don’t really know how to pronounce that. You just go to as like a hunting store and get like a rangefinder- just a one lens device. There are different ones that will show you. There are multiple brands. You just have to find one that fits your budget and that’s what you wanted to do. Some like they want to have goes like 1000 meters. That’s about 300,000 meter and how many well? That’s a kilometer. Like more than half a mile. This is pretty decent for point to point.

: Along with that there is a tool that goes on iPhone. It’s a piece of software that you can also do cool things. It’s called Theodolite. It said T H E O D O L I T E-its just one word. Let me spell that again for you. It’s T-H-E-O-D-O-L-I-T-E.

: I’ll get that in the show notes.

: Get in the show notes and also they are the same application for Android is called DIOPTRA. (D-I-O-P-T-R-A) So those tools will make those type of outdoor installation point to points easier.

: Well, awesome! Ferney, thank you for spending time in answering these questions. If people want to follow you, how can they get in touch with you or keep up with all things?

: The easiest way probably to Twitter @Ferney_munoz add that to show note’s because my name is not easy to understand just in English. It makes sense in Spanish. I have to add that when I go to places to order food that you know was the name? What’s your name John or Fred or something that they’ve don’t asked me. How do you spell that? Ferney_munoz on Twitter. Thats the easiest way. I also use WhatsApp.

: People can reach me out that way as well and that’s my phone number 1 801 618-8712 and WhatsApp is another easy way for people to reach me anywhere.

: Well, thanks again Ferney! And you have a great rest to your week and we will talk soon.

: Thank you Matthew for having me and I appreciate your time also.

: Thanks

: Thank you for joining us for another episode of the Wireless LAN Professionals Podcast. The podcast for Wireless LAN Professionals by Wireless LAN Professionals. Be sure to follow us on Twitter @WirelessLANpros for all the latest news and updates and also connect directly with Keith on Twitter @KeithRParsons. Head over to WWW.WlanPros.Com for this episode show notes as well as the latest in all things Wi-Fi.

Automatically convert audio to text with Sonix

(function(s,o,n,i,x) { if(s[n])return;s[n]=true; var j=o.createElement('script');j.type='text/javascript',j.async=true,j.src=i,o.head.appendChild(j); var css=o.createElement("link");css.type="text/css",css.rel="stylesheet",css.href=x,o.head.appendChild(css) })(window,document, "__sonix",'//sonix.ai/widget.js','//sonix.ai/widget.css');

  What’s your biggest frustration as a Wireless LAN Professional?

Is there a topic you wish we’d cover on a future episode of the podcast? Please email us with your questions. We’ll do our best to include them as part of the show. Email help@wlanpros.com

Subscribe to Wireless LAN Professionals Podcast

Apple | Stitcher |

  The post 156 | How To Invest In Your Wireless Career with Ferney Muñoz appeared first on Wireless LAN Professionals.

from https://www.wlanpros.com/resources/156-how-to-invest-in-your-wireless-career-with-ferney-munoz/