#Plus I can't even fit half of my stuff in my room so a lot of things are shoved in my closet waiting to be put on shelves

[lukascastelan]

Room Part 3

I love Portal, probably top 3 games easily. And guess who had blank doors? Thats right, me. At least I hope you guessed me. Anyway,

This is one from when I was still painting it, you can tell by the tarp, paint, and unfinished right door.

This is the fully finished design.

Some close ups ^^^

Okay so the inspiration for these was to be like you were inside of Aperature like seeing the doors and walls.

The right doors are supposed to be, well the doors inside of Aperature Science itself. Not much to it but it was a nightmare trying to get everything as symmetrical as I could. I think it turned out fine especially considering I tried to paint over the original white, then realized I didn't have enough, so desperately tried to wipe it all off but half of it was dried already. But in the end it gave it a "weathered" look so it was actually a win-win for me(I think).

And the left, imm split this one up it two's being the Far left(Big number 16 on it) and Far right(Cake is a lie stuff).

First Far Left. This one I was going for the little signs you can find everytime you enter a level and it gives you the cautions. I chose 16 because of personal reasons and the cautions are what i feel like could happen in my own room, but some are just my favorites.

Secondly Far Right. Okay so this on is supposed to be just a regular wall in a testing area but it was cracked and had stuff written all over it in blood. It's supposed to be the writing that you can find in the secret rooms and the stuff that the Rat Man leaves behind etc.

I do really liked how this turned out and defiantly won't be changing this one for awhile.

Part 1 , Part 2 , Part 3(This one)

Finished February 4th, 2024

[daisydezem]

Irl update

So yeah hi! It's been a long while since I gave an update. I think it's been a year. And a lot has happened. I'll put it under the cut so if you aren't about irl stuff you don't have to see me rambling on haha.

So last time I posted was while I still lived one week at my exes house and the other week at my persents, did early shifts one week and the other late/night shifts, was busy with improving myself and dating a lot haha

I dated until June last year, then I fell for someone. HARD. But he wasn't and isn't looking for anyone or anything. So I never acted on my feelings or said anything. We are good friends and that will just have to be enough. But this made me lose interest in dating all together. So yeah... Now tho it's been almost a year and I just kinda wanna love. And told myself to get over myself and just start up again with dating. But my heart is not really in it. Now 2 weeks ago, we had a party of work (again) and it was so much fun. There was sooo many drinks haha and I ended up kissing a coworker on the way back to the station. He is lovely but has a whole situation with his ex (they still live together after 8 years separated) due to the kids. And that plus my crush on the other person is keeping me back. I mean there is nothing wrong with just having fun. I did that often enough but idk if I can do that now. Oh well... Just had to write that off of me haha

Then my living situation changed soooo much! I was able to buy myself a new house. It's location is just awesome! Look at my view!

I had the opportunity to buy it from my great-uncle. On a condition ofc. He would be allowed to keep living there until he could find something fitting, that might take between 1 and 6 years tho due to the housing situation here. We are however close and get along good so it was the best option to start up my own life again. So I did that! It's was a hard with the bank and stuff but in the end I did it. I was so happy and a little anxious at the same time. This because while the location is awesome and the space is great... my great-uncle is a single older man and has been living there alone (or with his wayward kids) for 20 years. Cleaning and maintenance only happened when it was critical. So yeah... It was (is) a fixer upper. But with all my money into buying the house I don't have any left to do that. So I started on my own. Just a few impressions from before (keep in mind this was considered cleaned)...

And I turned it into (This was almost ready)...

but we had to to it with a lot of spaces. I'm most proud on how the little ones room turned out. It wont let me upload those clips since it's too big haha But still I'm still not done in the house. Also I can't do everything yet since all my great-uncle's stuff was still every where.

Speaking of the little one.... He turned 10 earlier this month and has been living with me since august. He visits his dad 2 weekends in a row and the rest he is with me and I'm so happy about it. He changed to a better school, joined the soccer team and is enjoying living close to grandma.

Then, stuff happened with my brother, I don't want to repeat what happened to him before but it's in a earlier irl update post. He became more and more unstable to the point I told my dad that it would be better that my sister would live with me. So she now lives in my new house as well. She has the attic to herself and is free to do what she want. Now has a job and is making friend in the town as well. So yeah we got a house full of people!

I've been playing some games, but even those like ffxiv I just didn't touch for a long while since it all just became a little too much. I went to seek some help with my (new) doctor and we thought it would be a good idea to have me tested on ADHD. It's still half year till the test tho since there is a wait. But it might be the reason I hyper fixate on things.

I've been playing a lot of dnd. It distracted me of everything and it's amazing. I even joined a group with work to play instead of me DMing my own group.

So yeah I've typed enough again:P

Cheers to you if you got to the end! Haha Kusjes en Liefde Kisses and Love -Daisy

Also changed up my hair a little again and I'm proud of it!

[tayne-dot-exe]

Ok for the "whimsical decor" room of my neocities (link from rose gif on main, soon I'm gonna make links that look like doors looking into the rooms) where one chunk is kinda witchy/astrological, and the next is beach/mermaid stuff, I have added all the items I specifically searched for and all the good candidates that were already in my pinterest boards, but I still feel like I could do more pinterest searching for stuff that fits... just trying to avoid relying just on seashells glued together and literal depictions of mermaids, and a lot of the blue fabric with gold astrological detail stuff is articles of clothing that I don't want to add straight up. I also wanna do another "mounted bug" display for bugs and butterflies that I think have fairylike wings. The next things I'm working on is I want to add pics of all the foods I like to my main page because I have problems where I forget any foods I like to eat and I want pics that make stuff look really good plus I could put links for my own personal shopping cart or add recipes for the ones that I cook myself, but I'm having trouble deciding like how I want to translate this to the room layout, I'm kinda thinking of putting everything on the same dish or bowl once I isolate them for consistency, or maybe jars like a pantry, or like a charcuterie board, but they cant fit too close together cos im just gonna lay them out in rows individually on the site. So I'm prob gonna spend a lot of today just looking up the best pics I can find of different foods if anyone wants to add me on discord and just chill with me on half a gummy doing that lmao

I'm also trying to add a room thats just terrible items, in a gradient from really flashy kickstarter tech renderings that either would never be made or should never, to fucked up redneck engineering. This is kind of a thesis antithesis of how for years when I played all the house decor games that inspired this, I would always felt like I needed to dedicate this virtual space to a kitchen in bathroom even in games where you can't use them for gameplay, and I had no feelings on making them interesting looking rooms I just wanted the idea of minimal function. But I also have a strong urge to collect and I hate irl clutter and spending money, which is a lot of the energy I'm getting out with this site, so this is kind of the thesis-antithesis from freeing myself from pretending a fake space needs to remind me of real functions, to only representing things where the function is ridiculous. A lot of kitchen appliances but also I love this era of tech renderings when smartphones were just taking hold and everyone was excited about what would be "next" but many were very inspired by iphone and would represent items having apps in ways that just wouldn't make sense that you could even use them. This also would give me a great place to put my "food crimes" pics that I've collected for a long time, and I can put up a lot more eclectic things as framed pictures in a weird room like this.

Anyway I'm prob gonna just b looking for cool pics and making things transparent all day maybe tomorrow too so feel free to hit me up for a discord call even if we aren't mutuals or haven't talked before.

[nathank77]

6/8/24

7:03 a.m

I'm absolutely disgusted by the state of my stuff in the attic. Idk what to even do. What I did was decent progress but then you look at those pictures and you see how much more I got to do and you have no idea how much its ruined... I mean I'm pissed. I'm prob not going up there for a few months and next time due to this dry mouth I'm wearing a face mask. I guess I prob should have. I'm just glad I had glasses on it kept it from getting in my eyes. My glasses were so dusty I had go wash the film off of them.

I don't want to hoard this stuff I just want to get what is useful to me or means something to be out of there. And get my clothes organized in tubs to protect them from shit.... and I'm going to throw away a lot of skinny clothes that pellets fell out of.. it was disgusting. I'm really disappointed. I'm glad I kept most of my stuff down here. It's unfortunate that I didn't keep it all here but I couldn't....

I mean there was a lot of fat clothes boxes... and I mean the pellets... and it's not worth it... sad thing is they were nice clothes and I would have kept them if I could have. I'm too grossed out. Being in that attic is an ocd nightmare but bare in mind- sometimes people get me something for Christmas and I can't fit in my room and I put it up there. A lot of my room decorations got put up there when my room wasn't able to have decorations anymore.. my clothes have been put up there and brought back and put back up there many times due to weight changes..

The boxes of memories are the hardest part. Not to mention paperwork with like my social on it from a less online world time.. like fafsa. Believe it or not I Want to throw out 90% of that room. No joke. But then I think about my social being on some of the paperwork and that makes it hard I don't want to lose my identity. I also don't want lose a card or something someone got me. I made receipt bags full of other stuff like cards and memories... and the idea of having to go through it, its very difficult...

I want to condense all that stuff to about 15 boxes.. well tubs. Clothes. Memories. Important papers. And I mean random shit like decorations I can't fit in my room. so I mean yea.

My mouth is still dry. Especially my gums in two spots. Idk if it's a combo of too many allergens and psychosis or what...

I'm worried about dust mites cause I'm crazy and ocd sucks. I'm worried about the raining pellets of poop coming from my clothes boxes.... I mean it fucking rained...

I'm lucky my bullhead skinny jeans were far away from it sorta.. in a different box with the same problem... I lost one pair bc it was too close to shedding and poop spots... I did see a bug. It looked like a dead stink bug carcus shell. I looked up cockroaches and none of the cockroaches look like it. Short of the deadhead cockroach... but that's a gaint one. And it doesn't look similar enough.

It could all be stink bug poop. I mean that's a plus. I saw a lot of shedding like what looked like onion skin and then in one of the boxes the one with my skinny jeans, I saw the dead bug on its back next to the shit... incase it's a cockroach which it absolutely wasn't- I washed them in hot water and I'm drying them now... it will kill any eggs but I really think I had a stink bug infestation. A dusty stink bug infestation... that all lived in my clothes boxes...

It sucks going from having an apartment to a room and having to filter out new and old stuff up to a vortex. That's what I call it. I prob won't go up there for months. I got my clothes from that broken draw sealed in a box in another room and my old medium boxers sealed in another room in a box. I have a decent pile of stuff I saved... but I want to throw everything out. It's not easy when half of it would be nice if stink bugs or whatever didn't invade my stuff.

The poop is freaking me out. I mean it rained legit rained from the boxes.... and near my exposed legs in shorts..

I'm pretty sure it isn't mouse droppings which is a plus. Or cockroach droppings another plus. The poop from stink bugs aren't dangerous. It's just fucking nasty. Mouse droppings are dangerous. Idk about cockroaches I didn't look it up.

I really want to condense it all, figure out what to do with the important paperwork but now I got to work in a hot environment in a face mask... and decide what to do with boxes full of clothes I wanted to save.

My gums are giving me anxiety... I mean in those two spots. Part of me worries something is wrong. They are receded but not terribly... I do need gum grafts... but like it doesn't look any different than 3 months ago when i took my photos before my dentist appt. It could be psychosis playing off my anxiety..

I mean in one of these spots I often feel like there is a metal plate against my gum line. It doesn't hurt. It just feels like something is always there. Especially when I'm gaming or watching TV. I got to slow down on smoking but it's hard.

Still worried about dust mites. My dry mouth. My gums. My poopy clothes it sucked taking my skinny jeans from that box but it was further away.

I can still hear the raining sound from a different box and see the shit droppings on the floor. It was vile...

I mean I should have worn a face mask lesson learned. I went up there a few times before and tore it apart. My Playstation 2 was up there and I didn't want to lose it and I had to tear through half the room bc it was in the back. I didn't get dry mouth. I wasn't up there as long but I was still up there for a while and I had to comb through boxes to find it.. so I'm reminding myself of that.

I'm going to ask my dentist about the dry gum area where I often feel the plate. I'm sure he will say- well you have gingivitis. Does it hurt? Nope. You might have dry mouth buy artificial saliva. It'll make me feel better. Psychosis knows it's a chronic anxiety point for me. I'd kill myself over losing my teeth. I see my dentist Tuesday.

I mean I'm just anxious, sad about losing so much stuff and still having to go through it to find what it savable and trying to cope with throwing away stuff I wanted to keep for a good reason. Even though it'll be months before I go back up to that disaster.

The other thing I'm trying to tell myself is especially the fat clothes. I wore before I transitioned. Granted I will look different now and they are nice... but maybe it isn't so bad to throw it away. Biggest issue is concert shirts from concerts I actually went to.... there really is a lot of nice stuff that got ruined.

At least I got My bullhead skinny jeans. At least I got my stuff from my room in a different pile away from it all..

I'm not going to live a long life. I'll be lucky to make it to 40. Let alone 50. Why? Well microsleep..of course I'll never find anyone. Psychosis. And then I mean I may have been exposed to mesothelioma when my sister had the siding done on the house. They didn't have my ac perfectly sealed. I recorded it and i mean my sister will make a lot of money off my death.

I try to remind myself I'm not going to live long. Hopefully I find a girl before its too late. Hopefully I didn't get exposed to mesothelioma. And hopefully I didn't get dust mites.

Not to mention I'm worried getting my new furniture bed bugs but what was I supposed to do my room looks like a room and it all looked clean despite being beat up...

I mean also there is that whole once my mother dies- my family will turn against me and kick me out in 2 years max. But yea that's a while from now.

Hopefully my gums feel less dry soon. Hopefully when I wake up the feeling goes away Hopefully I fall asleep fast... and hopefully laundry day isn't too bad tomorrow bc it piled up.... I still got to put my computer chair up in in the vortex. But I'm waiting on that..

I got to go to the grocery store and do laundry tomorrow. I'm going to play bo4 and then maybe nail my graduation stuff to my wall but I may put that off....

[foone]

I see a lot of people joking about the adhd thing of "I have a appointment/phone call at 3pm, guess I won't do anything all day!"

But no one seems to make the connection that it's a time blindness thing. One of the symptoms of ADHD is not having a good and accurate sense of time. And not doing stuff prior to an event with a hard deadline is an obvious coping mechanism for that.

Can I go to the store? It's 10am and the appointment is at 3pm. How long does going to the store take? An hour? Three hours? Five hours? I DON'T KNOW!

I get anxious trying to do things before appointments because I'm aware that I don't know how long those things take, and that if I think I do, I may be very wrong. Too often I've been like "hey I can walk to the corner store and grab a drink, that'll take like 15 minutes!" and then an hour later I get back and whoops my rice has burnt.

Plus there's also the fact that ADHD people know that motivation and focus is a two-edged sword.

Like, let's say you decide to play a video game. You've got time, you can pause/save whenever, so this should be a perfect fit to make good use of your waiting-time. So you start playing and WHOOPS you get really focused for some reason today (because people with ADHD do not get to pick when their brain decides to focus) and the next time you look at the clock it's 2:49 and you haven't showered or dressed and the appointment is 30 minutes away. Fuck. (you could have set an alarm, but now you're asking people with the forgetting-things-and-time-ignoring condition to remember it set alarms)

And with motivation, it can be almost worse. Instead of playing a game, you so something useful or creative. You clean your room or fix your plumbing or write a story or draw a picture. And suddenly it's great. Your brain is firing on all cylinders. You've got all the motivation you can ask for, and you are FLYING. the ideas are brilliant, your hands are nimble, you're getting stuff done you've been putting off for weeks or months. And then the alarm goes off. Time to go to your appointment. Fuck.

You drive there, your brain still full of ideas and plans. But by the time you get back, the motivation is gone. You may still have the ideas but you don't have the drive to write them down. You can't force yourself to do it. Your sink is still in pieces. Your room is half-cleaned, and you have to shove all the sorted clothes into one big bin just so you have somewhere to sleep. You've left things half finished again, in a cycle that has been repeating your whole fucking life. It seems sometimes that nothing ever gets finished.

So next time you don't even start. There's not time. You've been burnt too many times. Why add another half-completed project to your pile of shame?

My point is that people seem to be going "lol I can't do anything all day if I have an appointment at 3pm" like this is a quirky "oh I'm so scatterbrained!" weirdness they alone have, and not a major complication of a disabling mental illness.

(and that's not even getting into the secondary effects. If you know that having an appointment ruins your whole damn day, you're going to avoid them. Even when it's things like "going to that party" or "meeting your friends for a drink/game" or "going to a movie with that cute girl from your math class". Things you should enjoy. Things that'd help you be social. Things that make you feel human.)

[thedarkeside]

Overprotective/toxic Bakugou Headcanons

Katsuki x Reader

Content Warnings: Toxic relationships/toxic behavior, social isolation, nongraphic smut.

I'm lowkey wondering if this would qualify as yandere? Maybe? I dunno.

●～●～●～●～●～●～●～●～●～●～●～●～●～●～●～●～

❥ I headcanon Katsuki being very traumatized after everything that went down with the LoV-- the popping out of nowhere and beating the shit out of everyone, the kidnapping, y'know. That stuff.

❥ Like, I think that he would lowkey expect villains to just pop up out of nowhere.

❥ And he wouldn't care much if it were just him, he knows that now he can handle himself.

❥ But now he has you.

❥ You, who is absolutely not suited to fight these strong ass villains.

❥ You, who has absolutely zero hero training.

❥ You, who doesn't even have a particularly impressive quirk.

❥ Yeah. That's what scares him.

❥ So if you're living together, he's going to be kind of overkill with the insistence to protect you.

❥ AKA he doesn't want you leaving the house without him.

❥ It was at first kind of cute. He would want to walk you to and from work, he would take you grocery shopping, he would even come along when you wanted to do some clothes shopping.

❥ The last one is typically pretty welcomed-- he's the son of two people in the fashion industry, and despite dressing like a little goblin half the time, he knows how to create a pretty decent fit.

❥ But then it gets a bit suffocating.

❥ "Why can't I come with you and your friends to dinner? You embarrassed of me, sweetheart?"

❥ "Oh, a doctors appointment? Why not just come with me to my agency today. We've got plenty of doctors on site that can take care of you just fine."

❥ "Why go out to the movie theater when we've got a whole screening room here?"

❥ You let it slide, of course. You know that as a prohero he's seen all type of bad shit, plus you're well aware of what happened during his UA days-- it was all over the news, of course you know about the horrors, even if Katsuki doesn't like talking about it.

❥ But your leniency to his (toxic) behavior, his insistence of following you everywhere, allows it all to evolve into him not wanting you to even leave the house at all.

❥ "We've got all you could possibly want here, sweetheart."

❥ "If you want to see those damn extras so badly, just invite them over-- just not that one, or those other two, they give me a bad feeling."

❥ Of course, "that one" and "those other two" make up more than half of your friend group.

❥ And even then, Katsuki has a tendency to hover.

❥ During one of your few moments alone with your friends, you talk about his behavior, and they pretty much clue you in on how unhealthy his behavior is.

❥ What they say about "Love blinds" is apparently pretty damn true.

❥ So you sit down with Katsuki for a little chat.

❥ "Kat, you can't just limit me on what I'm able to do. I'm a grown woman, I can take care of myself."

❥ He would of course respond with--

❥ "Sweetheart, I've seen a whole lot more of this world than you have. If you think you could possibly protect yourself from it without me, you're being stupid."

❥ That got you pretty pissed.

❥ After a bit of a tongue lashing from you, he promised to ease up on it.

❥ "Fine, if you want to go out, then you can, but only if you check in with me every now and then and stay out of the sketchy areas."

❥ That promise wasn't worth shit.

❥ You managed to go out maybe twice with your friends before he started acting up again.

❥ Just not in the same way.

❥ Instead of throwing a fit when you tried leaving, he would try to seduce you into going back to the bedroom.

❥ It worked.

❥ He would just start off with "C'mon babe, just a quicky, you'll still have plenty of time to get ready."

❥ What you expected to be maybe fifteen minutes turned into an hour, then two hours.

❥ You would wind up having nearly a dozen orgasms.

❥ "Sorry baby, I guess I got a little carried away. You're just so damn tempting"

❥ If you don't just straight up black out by the end, you would sure as hell be exhausted and not able to feel your legs.

❥ You barely had the energy to text your friends that you can't make it.

❥ And it would keep happening.

❥ And happening.

❥ And happening.

❥ Your friends end up getting pretty fed up with how much of a flake you've become.

❥ They decided to stop inviting you at all.

❥ And Katsuki couldn't be happier.

[yurtletheturtlehenderson]

COSMIC - S3:E4; Chapter Four, The Sauna Test - [Pt. 3]

A Will Byers x Reader Series

𝘔𝘪𝘬𝘦, 𝘓𝘶𝘤𝘢𝘴, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘞𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘳𝘦𝘤𝘳𝘶𝘪𝘵 𝘌𝘭, 𝘔𝘢𝘹 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘠/𝘯 𝘵𝘰 𝘩𝘦𝘭𝘱 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘮 𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘯 𝘸𝘩𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘔𝘪𝘯𝘥 𝘍𝘭𝘢𝘺𝘦𝘳'𝘴 𝘩𝘰𝘴𝘵 𝘪𝘴 𝘸𝘩𝘪𝘭𝘦 𝘙𝘰𝘣𝘪𝘯, 𝘚𝘵𝘦𝘷𝘦, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘋𝘶𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘯 𝘳𝘦𝘤𝘳𝘶𝘪𝘵 𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘴𝘯𝘦𝘢𝘬 𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘰 𝘓𝘺𝘯𝘹.

📝: ERICAAA!!! FRICKIN FINALLY!! Less important note, but when writing about Y/n, El and Max, I wrote "the three friends" and autocorrect literally changed "friends" to "fruits". Yelmax confirmed 💀

||𝟑𝐑𝐃 𝐏𝐄𝐑𝐒𝐎𝐍 𝐏𝐎𝐕||

"It is fascinating what twenty bucks will get you at the County Recorder's Office," Robin reports, unfurling what looked to be a familiar layout on the break room table. "Starcourt Mall. The complete blueprints."

"Not bad," Dustin smirks from her left.

"So this is us," she points to a familiar-looking room before gesturing across the map. "Scoops, and this is where we wanna get."

"Yeah, I don't really see a way in," Steve mumbles from his seat at the table.

"There's not. If,"

She rips away a layer of the blueprint, revealing a vastly complicated map of air ducts, pipelines, and detailing that made up Starcourt.

"you're talking exclusively about doors."

Dustin looks at her with excitement growing in his eyes. "Air ducts!"

"Exactly," she smirks, making her way to the whiteboard to retrieve the magic marker. "Turns out, this secret room needs air just like any old room and these air ducts lead all the way" she circles the secret room in question, drawing one, interrupted line right back to, "here."

Dustin and Steve finally tear their eyes away from the map and follow Robin's mischievous eye. All the way to the air duct tucked away in the far corner of the Scoops Ahoy break room.

⊹ ⊹ ⊹

To their surprise, a screwdriver had been harder to find than a ladder but soon enough Steve had managed to reach the air vent and unscrew it from the wall. But as he stood here now, peering down into the vent he quickly realized they were now facing yet another obstacle.

"Flath'ligh'?" Steve asked, finally removing the screwdriver from his mouth and shaping it for the small torchlight Dustin had waiting. "Thank you,"

The flashlight turns on with a tiny click and a soft yellow light bounces down the narrow metal tunnel, enunciation the frown on Steve's face.

"Yeah, I don't know man, I don't know if you can fit in here, it's like... super tight."

"I'll fit," Dustin smirks. "Trust me. No collarbones, remember?"

"Uh, excuse me?" Robin asks.

Steve jumps down from the ladder, turning to Robin as Dustin begins the climb and gives her a nod.

"Oh, he's uh, he's got so disease," he frowns thoughtfully, racking his brain as he tries to recall the word. "It's chrydo... um... something, yeah I don't know. He's missing bones and stuff, he can bend like Gumbo."

"You mean... Gumby?"

"I'm pretty sure it's Gumbo," he snorts.

"Just shut up and push me!" Comes Dustin's muffled voice from the vents.

By now he had wormed himself halfway in, his bottom half sticking out of the wall and still propped up on the latter while they had been talking.

"Okay,"  Steve huffed, motioning knowingly to the kid's feet and turned away from Robin.

She watched with a tired, lazily bemused expression as Steve grabbed a less than sturdy hold of the kid's feet and attempted to push.

"Not my feet, dumbass, push my ass!"

"Uh, what?"

"TOUCH MY BUTT! I DON'T CARE!" Came Dustin's impatient scream from the walls.

With a heavy grimace, Steve hesitantly began pushing against Dustin's rear end and his muffled anger grew louder.

"I'm pushing!" Steve argued.

"PUSH HARDER!" Dustin shrieks as he attempts to inch further into the metal vents. "You're playing with my legs!"

"I'm not playing, I have terrible footing!"

"Come on!"

Steve finally makes it to the top of the latter, Dustin's legs bunched together over his shoulders and locked under his arm as their voice continued to shout over one another.

"I'm gonna just shove you, ready?"

"Just shove me?"

"One, two..."

"Shit!"

"That work?"

"One more time,"

Robin rolls her eyes, finally turning away when she hears the sudden rapid chimes of the customer bell out front and all too familiar patron.

"Ahoy, sailors! All hands on deck!"

Through the partition window, Robin meets eyes with none other than Erica Sinclair who flashes her an exaggerated salute and rings the bell knowingly.

⊹ ⊹ ⊹

Laughter and joyful screams filled the chlorine-soaked air, the smell of the pool lingering with sunblock was strong enough it wafted all the way to the parking lot where the majority of the Party now stood at the Hawkins pool. It looked quite different than it had the day before when Y/n, Max, and El had last been, but the tension weighing down the atmosphere seemed just as heavy and ever-present.

The storm had of course long since lifted, and the sun was now beating down heavily on their backs as they took shelter behind a Rust Red AMC Hornet, all eyes across the lot on the occupant in the lifeguard chair.

Billy.

He was squished underneath the bright red beach umbrella, hidden underneath a baseball cap, thick shades, a long-sleeved sweater, and a white beach towel draped over his legs where they poked out into the sun. He was completely covered.

"I don't know," Max begins, peering through the group's binoculars. "He looks pretty normal to me,"

"Normal?" Lucas scoffs. "How many times have you seen him with a shirt on?"

Y/n smiles weakly from where she stands in between him and Will. Max lowers the binoculars, conceding a wince.

"I mean, it's a little weird,"

"More than a little," Mike nods. "He was in a tub with ice. The Mind Flayer likes it cold. Plus everything El saw—"

"But he's lounging at the pool," Max argues, doubtfully. "Which is like, the least Mind Flayer thing ever,"

"Not necessarily," Will says, pulling everyone's attention. "The Mind Flayer likes to hide. He only used me when he needed me. It's like... like you're dormant. And then, when he needs you,"

All eyes return to Billy.

"...you're activated."

Y/n gulps, shifting on her feet from where she had previously stood rooted to the spot. Ever since that dreaded Halloween night the previous year, nothing seemed to have been the same. The Mind Flayer had set his sights on Will, and in turn, her. Slowly but surely, he had infected all of their lives as he had the town of Hawkins; spreading his rot and poison, and his hate. She could still feel it sometimes; the pain of Will's nails raking into her face and leaving behind the faded scar that had already long since disappeared.

Her eyes dart back through the fence at the suspicious-looking lifeguard and her insides twisted further into a sickening knot. The thought of the Mind Flayer's possible return was enough to drain the color from her face and leave a chill in the humid, sticky summer air. Her mind was running rapid with fear but the sound of Max's voice was enough to return her to earth.

"Okay, so we just..." she shrugs, looking back over towards her brother. "wait until he gets activated."

"No," Mike says with the shake of his head. "What if he hurts someone?"

"Or kills someone?" Will counters, and the Wheeler boy nods.

"We can't take that chance. We need to find out if he's the host,"

"Well, how do we do that?" Lucas asks.

The Party falls silent. The weight of the air growing heavier and heavier as it dawns on them. And one by one, each pair of eyes trickle over to the only present Henderson sibling in the Party. Her head is hung, propped-up against the hood and when she senses the eyes on her she straightens, breathing a sigh. But Will was already shaking his head.

"What? No, no way," he says to Mike and the others, Y/n already turning to him. "No, Y/n, I don't think it's a good idea,"

"I don't like it either," Y/n fretted. "but it's our best chance. The Mind Flayer hates me, and I can push his limits. It's the fastest way."

"And if, by some random chance, Billy isn't the host?" Will countered gently. "He'd find out about you,"

Y/n didn't have a reply for that. Truthfully, she didn't know whether to be relieved or angered he had cornered her. She just stood there, frowning at the concrete sidewalk biting her lip thoughtfully. She tried to think of a way to use her abilities subtly, but all her experience with heat came from seismic blasts or concentrated bursts from her hands. If she attempted that on Billy, he would surely know it.

"There's gotta be another way," Mike cuts in. "I mean, a safe way that doesn't risk you getting hurt or discovered."

Y/n and Will - even El - shoot him a funny look and he shifts under the sudden attention, guiltily.

"What about the sauna?" Lucas says, lighting up.

"Huh?"

"Yeah, it's perfect!" He grins, stepping out from around the car and motioning for Will and Mike. "Come on,"

Seemingly catching onto Lucas's idea, Mike wastes no time in following. And Will hesitantly steps away, sending Y/n and his friends an apologetic shrug.

"Where are you going?" El called after them, exasperated.

"Sorry! Boys only!" Mike throws over his shoulder.

Max scowls after them. "Seriously?!"

"Just trust us!" Lucas cries.

"We'll be back," Will shrugs again. "... I guess."

The three friends sigh, throwing less than impressed looks at the retreating boys. Privately, Y/n wondered if Mike stood any chance of harm just from her glaring at him in this moment. She hadn't shared these feelings with anyone, but since reuniting with Will something had been troubled Ling him and he wouldn't say what. She could spot it right away, the shift in demeanor but she knew it was something different from the return of the Mind Flayer somehow. And she believed it had something to do with Mike.

He was acting differently around him. He had been for some time now, as she had with Max and even El but this was different. Something had happened, and because Will was, well, Will, he was clearly trying to put aside for the sake of everyone's safety. Y/n couldn't really blame him there, but she wished he would open up to her. Tell her what was wrong.

And she wished more than anything she could fix whatever Mike had clearly broken.

⊹ ⊹ ⊹

"All we gotta do is wait until the pool closes and everyone leaves," Lucas begins, guiding his friends through the first layer of the men's locker rooms. "And then get him from here..."

He steps forward, quickly ripping open the secondary door. The three boys scurry inside, and Lucas's friends quickly seem to catch on to his plan and a small smile grows on Will's face.

"And get him into here," Lucas eagerly rips open the sauna door, expecting to see nothing but steam but his luck had run out.

Five sweaty adult men in towels sat packed in the sauna like sardines, scowls on their faces for the three party members who interrupted their steam. "Hey! Shut the door!"

-"Come on, kid!"

-"Shut it!"

Lucas finally broke from his stupor and slammed the door shut, shuddering.

"I think I just threw up in my mouth,"

Will nodded with a grimace, but shook it off when his eyes landed on the wall beside the door.

"The controls!"

Mike's still bulging, haunted eyes finally broke away from their zoning out and jumped to the wall where Will was pointing. His face lit up.

"We can control from the outside, it's perfect!"

"Do you think it'll get hot enough?" Will asks, feeling more and more relieved by the second. "Like, "Y/n" hot?"

His friends immediately stopped, looking to him with a deadpan expression. Will scoffed at them. "You know what I mean" he snarked, not in the mood though he was trying to ignore the hint of a blush creeping up on his skin.

"Nevermind that," Lucas says. "Look right, here, 220 degrees. That's definitely enough."

"Okay, so we just need to figure out how to get him into here," Will nods towards the sauna door.

"Precisely."

"Then we lock him in," Mike says.

Lucas nods. "-heat him up,"

And Will manages another somewhat relieved smile. "-and no matter what happens, we'll know for sure."

⊹ ⊹ ⊹

Erica descends from the latter, the flashlight in her hands flicking off with a loud click as she strides up to the break room table where her recruits stood waiting. The group had taken a calculated risk I confiding in the young girl, but she was smart and demanded the information and why they needed to know if she could fit into the air duct in the back room. So here they stood, waiting with anxious breath for her verdict.

"Yeah, I don't know," she says, propping herself up on the edge of the table rather unimpressed.

"You don't know if you can fit?" Dustin asks.

"Oh, I can fit. I just don't know if I want to,"

"Are you claustrophobic?" Robin tries.

Amused, Erica gives the young woman a pitiful laugh. "I don't have phobias."

"Okay, well," Steve begins with a shrug. "What's the problem?"

"The problem is I still haven't heard what's in this for Erica,"

⊹ ⊹ ⊹

Steve slides another banana boat ice cream float across the table, joining the already plentiful dairy banquet laid out for the Sinclair girl. She merely gave it a single, disinterested glance and slid it back.

"More fudge please,"

Nobody said anything. And Steve just stared back at the table with tired, glazed-over eyes before Erica sent him a dismissive wave.

"Go on,"

He gave a sigh, and left the booth with the Banana boat in hand, and retreated to the counter. Robin took that as her cue and pulled out the marked-up blueprints she had at her side.

"Alright, you see this?" She points from the circle marked Scoops Ahoy and trail connecting over the flipped map. "This is the route you're gonna take. Then we just wait until the last delivery goes out tonight then you knock out the grate. Jump down. Open the door."

"Then you find out what's in those boxes?" She asks.

"Exactly,"

"And you say this guard is armed?"

"Yes," Dustin quickly nods. "But he won't be there,"

"And booby traps?"

"Booby traps?" Robin echoed.

"Lazers, spikes in the wall,"

Robin couldn't help but give a small laugh, but Erica was all too serious. She turned to the two with a serious look.

"You know what this half-baked plan of yours sounds like to me? Child endangerment."

"We'll be in radio contact with you the whole time-"

"Uh! Uh! Uh!" Erica stops her. "Child. Endangerment."

Robin sighs, ignoring the knot wanting to twist in her stomach. She knew she was right, and Robin supposed she just didn't want to admit to herself what they were asking not only of themselves but the young girl.

"Erica?" Dustin began. "Hi, uh... We think these Russians want to do harm to our country. Great harm. Don't you love your country?"

"You can't spell America without Erica," she shrugs, taking a long and loud sip from her complimentary Scoops Shake.

Dustin just blinks at her response and concedes with a nod. "Uh... yeah. Oddly, that's uh... weirdly true, so... so! Don't do this for us! Do it for your country. Do it for your fellow man. Do this for America, Erica."

Erica, who had been slurping her drink through her straw throughout his entire speech, finally finished it off and shivered, sending him a smirk. "Ooh! I just got the chills."

Dustin smiled proudly.

"Oh, yeah," she quickly corrects, her smile falling. "From this float. Not your speech."

His smile falls right off his face.

"You know what I love most about this country?" Erica began. "Capitalism. Do you know what capitalism is?"

Both Robin and Dustin mumble a 'yeah'.

"It means this is a free market system, which means people get paid for their services depending on how valuable their contributions are. And this seems to me that my ability to fit into that little vent is very, very valuable to you all. So-"

Robin and Dustin share a worried look.

"-you want my help? This U.S.S. Butterscotch better be the first of many. And I'm talking free ice cream for life,"

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[the-necessary-unnecessary]

A list of all the films, series and web series that have been recommended as hidden must sees during isolation and beyond. 

Note: I have divided them into films with happy endings or not, series that haven’t finished so the exact ending is unknown I have put an asterisk (*) next to

Note 2: the descriptions are a mixture of my own and of the reviews I was sent by anons

She gets the girl

A Date For Mad Mary, 2016 (needs a date for a wedding, more about her complicated reconnecting with friends after prison but romance is cute)

Almost Adults, 2016 (centers around the broader themes of growing up and friendship but one of them is a giant gay. There is a happy ending for both the gay one and the straight one, gotta give the straights some food because they so rarely get fed)

Anne+, 2018* (Dutch webseries with fresh and new vibes with a great mid-twenties actress about mid-twenties gay lives. Everyone in it is LGBTQ+ yet nothing about it is LGBTQ+, it’s all just treated as natural and normal)

Bound, 1996 (you can't beat the lesbian noir classic which should one day be inducted into the lesbian hall of fame)

But I’m A Cheerleader, 1999 (camp and a lot of fun despite the very serious themes, starring Natasha Lyonne- one of the gayest straights out there)

Carmilla, 2014-16 (webseries based on the groundbreaking 19th century book. Some great chemistry and a lot of breaking of the fourth wall)

Carol, 2015 (Cate Blanchett movie based on the book The Price of Salt which caused issue when it was realised in 1952 because it gave its lovers a open ended happy ending)

Couple-Ish, 2015-16 (cute Canadian web series, bit on the nose but important gay, bi and enby rep)

Desert Hearts, 1985 (the looks, the emotions, the gorgeousness of them both, the chemistry, oh god it was so good. Vivian Bell deserves all the orgasms)

Elisa Y Marcela, 2019 (A Spanish film based on the true story of two women who got married with one of them pretending to be a man in 1901. A tearjerker but ultimately their love is stronger than the adversaries they face)

Entre Nous, 1983 (a French 1983 film which has Jews & Nazi's but doesn't end in complete horror. There are straights who think it’s a friendship but we know better)

Fingersmith, 2005 (BBC drama based on a book by Sarah Waters)

Fried Green Tomatoes, 1991 (based on a more obvious book, they’re sold as best friends but if you know you know)

Fucking Åmål, 1998 (one of the first films aimed at teenagers about two girls falling in love and getting together.)

Getrieben, 2018 (they're ex's and share a dog and then maybe they're not so ex anymore)

I Can't Think Straight, 2008 (cute romantic comedy adapted from a novel about a London-based Jordanian of Palestinian descent preparing for a wedding before events take a gay turn)

If These Walls Could Talk 2, 2000 (some happy and some sad endings in this film which portrays three generations of lesbian storylines from the same house)

Imagine Me and You, 2004 (not my fav but a classic and has Queen Cersei playing a wlw)

Kyss Mig, 2011 (heart eyes, a lovely film, does have maybe a bit too much man in it but he's gone when we get to the nitty gritty)

Our Love Story, 2016 (Korean, subtle nuanced relationship story)

Rosebud, 1996 (a channel 4 short with Julie Graham and questionable fashion choices. Who needs words when you can have such tantalising and vivid visuals? Teeny bit of man but it's fitting in the particular setting and its very fleeting, although admittedly nude)

Saving Face, 2004 (romantic comedy which had less of an impact that Imagine Me and You due to lesser known actors and probably partly to do with race- the main characters are Chinese-American. But it's a gorgeous movie that has a lot more than just rom com elements. The Half Of It is by the same director.

Sjukt Oklar, 2018* (very Swedish, very lesbian, very very funny)

Supervoksen, 2006 (Danish teenage coming of age type thing)

The Carmilla Movie, 2017 (based on the webseries but still accessible to those that haven’t watched it. Quite sweet and the actresses seem very comfortable with each other. Plus there is a great sex scene in it where the muscles on one of the girl’s back are especially sexy)

The World Unseen, 2007 (period film during South Africa's apartheid era with great chemistry)

The Handmaiden, 2016 (extremely nsfw but its got some incredibly powerful meaning to it especially the final sex scene with the bells. It's also incredibly shot and the sex scenes were done very sensitively on set with only women around and the director even in another room.)

Thelma, 2017 (a supernatural thriller about a girl starting college who suddenly starts getting seizures but they don’t know why and she has a female love interest)

Tipping The Velvet, 2002 (BBC series, also has a Victorian era strap on in it and Keeley Hawes, what's not to love?)

When Night is Falling, 1995 (An uptight and conservative woman, working as a literacy professor, finds herself attracted to a free-spirited, liberal woman who works at a local carnival. It’s got quite a lot of a boyfriend in it so its not for everyone.)

Yes or No, 2010 (literally a ‘and they were roommates’ movie as well as an enemies to lovers plot)

Zwischen Sommer Und Herbst, 2018 (coming of age elements, does have a man involved especially at the beginning, who happened to be the brother of one of the girls, but overall it was okay, no lesbians die and it doesn't end in abject misery)

She doesn’t get the girl but neither does the trope

Aimée and Jaguar, 1999 (based on a true story. Beautiful but painful, it’s a Jew falling for a German housewife in Nazi Germany, hence its sad as hell ending)

Bloomington, 2010 (coming of age, teacher student thing which walks that line relatively well without being too icky)

Freeheld, 2015 (an extremely powerful and important story to tell)

Gia, 1998 (Angelina Jolie gets it on with Elizabeth Mitchell in a moving film about model and lesbian Gia Carangi)

Kontrola, 2019* (a masterpiece of a mini web series with a great soundtrack, aesthetic and storyline. Season 2 may present a better future for them)

Mädchen in Uniform, 1931 (German cult classic almost entirely produced by women. Sexual awakening/teenage coming out of her shell stuff, there is also a 1958 redo which is okay. She doesn’t get the girl but it’s still a positive portrayal of sexuality where the object of desire isn't disgusted or weirded out by it)

My Summer of Love, 2004 (At first glance a coming of age movie, but has a lot of phycological elements too. Emily Blunt with a girl, not happy but no lesbians die)

Portrait of a Lady on Fire, 2019 (spell-bounding french film with amazing rawness and visuals. One of my best cinematographic experiences ever)

Reaching for the Moon, 2017 (the love story of the poet Elizabeth Bishop and the architect Soares in the 60s)

Snapshots, 2018 (sad ending but great chemistry with no closed mouthed straight girl kisses)

Summertime, 2015 (French lesbian movie- dare I say more? Sad but no deaths)

The Hunger, 1983 (a gothic cult classic, vampires, its got David Bowie, Susan Sarandon and Catherine Deneuve in it)

The Miseducation of Cameron Post, 2018 (she doesn’t get the girl because there is no girl, but she does begin to find and accept herself. Based on a highly recommendable book by the same name)

Viola di Mare, 2009 (depressing as hell but beautiful to look and the couple have some good chemistry)

[dapperappleton]

Ok this is gonna be a rant post and it's probably going to be pretty long so just ignore it. I just can't fucking stand this anymore and I don't want to text anyone about it since I feel like it gets annoying and repetitive.

For context, my parents are divorced and I live with each parent exactly half the time. A few months ago my mom moved into her partner's house and got married. My brother and I of course came with. My stepdad has three kids, two daughters and a son. I have never really gotten along with his kids, not for anything bad, it's just that we have very different personalities and interests and also we basically had only seen each other less than ten times in the couple of years our parents had been dating before they got married. To give you an idea of what we're like compared to them, before we first met they asked their dad what sports my brother and I played because all of them played two or three sports. He said we didn't play any sports and their immediate reaction was "oh so they're nerds." Which isn't wrong but like, why. Honestly I found it funny. (We weren't there we heard the story from my stepdad.)

Now that we live in the same house part of the time, I really really fucking hate it. I, an autistic person who doesn't like change, had to leave the house that I have lived in for as long as I remember with virtually no warning. I don't know the area we live in at all and nothing is familiar and now all of a sudden I'm living with four other people I barely know. My mom let me do virtually whatever I want with my room, and I actually like it way more than my old room. That's basically the only reason I'm even remotely comfortable here.

I would like to preface this by saying it takes a lot to make me hate someone or make me mad. The reason I'm saying this is so you know how big of a deal this is to me. I specifically pride myself on being super reasonable and level headed. I can deal with being annoyed and if it doesn't affect me then I don't care. And if it does, most of the time I still don't care. However, I have been getting more and more upset about this practically since I moved here. The bathroom I'm supposed to share with my brother and three stepsiblings has one small vanity with very little counter space, plus a shower, four towel hooks, a cabinet, and some drawers. This is simplified but my stepsiblings are supposed to be here the same times as us except we come here a day earlier. The oldest of them, my stepsister, is basically never here. She spends maybe one night a month here and other than that just a few hours a day. However, my two stepsisters use more space than me, my brother, and stepbrother. In fact, they have seven bottles of shampoo and conditioner between the two of them, plus maybe six more in a different bathroom that they don't even fucking use. All of them are in the shower, they're not extras in a cabinet or closet or anything. The middle kid leaves her skincare and makeup products covering no less than 90% of the counter even when not in use. Her dad asked asked her to put it away when she doesn't need it but she has made zero effort to change. I couldn't put my stuff anywhere because she uses so much fucking space and leaves her fucking two hairbrushes on the side of the tub with her fucking shampoo bottles that don't fit in the shower because there's no room by her countless other ones and I constantly trip over stuff trying to get into the shower. There are always towels on the floor and someone for some fucking reason puts one towel over three hooks regardless of if there are towels already on them. I actually ended up just moving my towel in my room because I'm a germaphobe and don't want peoples towels touching mine or mine getting knocked to the floor. I ended up moving my stuff out of that bathroom and into a different one because I had no room for my stuff. The other thing was there's always a gross mess of soap, toothpaste, and makeup on the counter and in the sink. Just globs of it. I honestly think someone must be putting half their toothpaste in the sink each time they go to brush their teeth. And no one. Not a single one of them. Ever fucking cleans anything up. They leave socks all over the house (which on its own I can get over but not with everything else), they leave dishes everywhere, they don't put anything away. And as an organised germaphobe, it fucking sucks. I actually get genuinely angry every time I walk I to that bathroom. The only time I use it now is to shower and fill up my water, but even then it still makes me unbelievably angry. They expect people to just deal with whatever is most convenient to them. Do whatever you want with your own space, but don't fuck up the common areas that five people have to share. They just let my mom and their dad clean up stuff constantly. My mom doesn't want to reprimand them or anything since they're not her kids but they don't listen to their dad either. They're straight up manipulative jerks to him. The son calls him fat and insults him if he does something he doesn't like. The middle kid never listens to him and yells at him for asking her to spend time with everyone (which honestly I get but she's so rude about it). The oldest one is so fucking unbelievably rude. She doesn't listen to a thing he says. She had him pay for her expensive club volleyball membership under a few conditions and has literally not followed a single one of them. And they're all really basic stuff like not curse, follow the schedule of when she's supposed to be here, be a responsible person, etc and she hasn't done any of them. Plus she talks about how much she hates volleyball now and wants to skip practice all the time.

I really hope one day they realise how awful they have been to their own dad. Not only that but maybe they'll realise how they're rude to everyone else by leaving messes everywhere. They'll be some really annoying roommates one day and maybe then they'll wake up. They better get some type of payback later.

I keep imagining the day I snap and just fucking go berserk and yell at them about how they need to learn to clean their shit up. It puts me in such a bad mood. I always end up angry and grumpy for awhile. They also don't turn off the lights which I thought would be easy to change so I thought about leaving a post it note by the switch saying "how to turn off the lights: step 1 turn it off step 2 that's literally it" but my mom would have gotten upset because she doesn't want me to be rude so I just left a note saying "please turn off the light it wastes electricity." Since then (midday today) it has been left on four times. I decided I'm gonna add more and more post it's until something happens. I told my mom that and she said not to because it won't do anything other than cause a rift. A rift in what? I don't ever talk to them nor do I care what they think at this point. They're the assholes, so why should I care if they get mad at me for calling them out on not turning lights off or leaving shit everywhere. I get why she wants me to try to be nice but at this point I'm so fucking done with it that I don't care. I'm going to college next fall it's not like I have to live with them for years or actually be friends with them or anything.

[riseofarmy]

03 | DO YOU EVER LOOK AT SOMEONE AND WONDER

i can do this all day 03 | do you ever look at someone and wonder

author : @riseofarmy

pairing : kim seokjin x original character

words : 2533

i can do this all day masterlist

previous chapter

SEOKJIN

How isn't she tired yet?

I'm tired, and I've only been floating behind her for the last three-ish hours. When she first noticed that I was laying on air, her dumb cat hissed at me, but she just widened her eyes for a second before ignoring me.

Maybe she's just been desensitised by all the stuff she got sprung with today.... which is strange because people usually come looking for the lamp knowing there's a djinn inside. Then again, it's been a while since I've been awaked this far in the past, and it's further in the future that people know about the 'genie' myth.

I know that my first few masters summoned me one after another, but somewhere along the line, I started serving people from all different times. That stunning suit I had on before was made for one of the most popular boy groups of the 21st century, but I hadn't considered that I would be so far back in time that it would be ridiculed.

I still can't believe that: my master tried to kill me, then barely two minutes later made fun of my sexy jacket and oh my god, I don't even know her name.

"Oh my god, I don't even know your name." The little terror on her shoulder stares at me with its dumb, beady eyes.

"Darling." She didn't even turn to me when she answered.

"What?"

"My name. It's Darling. Darling Surya".

Darling. I size her up, running my gaze over her. Her face was a little plain, but it looked downright fierce with her buzz-cut and wicked jawline. Paired with her long jacket and the general get-out-of-my-way vibe she gives off, she doesn't seem like a Darling at all.

"Darling? Is it weird when some random person calls you darling without realising it's your name?"

"I had been using the name Surya while I pretended to be a man, so I've never had to experience that." Wow, plot twists be like.

"Why did you pretend to be a man?"

"Because all women are good for is marriage, and I needed a job to save up money so I could come here."

Yikes, alright then. I have a feeling she's always this intense.

She has my interest piqued though, and I keep asking her questions. She's blunt at first, obviously preoccupied by something else, but eventually she relaxes enough to give me more detailed answers. I even suck up my dislike to her dumb cat and float beside her instead of behind, and she doesn't seem to mind.

I learn that her father is from Daehan-Minguk and her mother from Paaratham (modern-day South Korea and India respectively, which explains her darker skin) and that she was a heavy labourer for two years to save up money to move from Paaratham to Daehan-Minguk.

She explains that the king is an asshole - making downright treasonous comments about him throughout - and that we were currently going to his son's birthday ball.

She doesn't tell me why we're going, though, because supposedly she's 'still sorting it out', but it must be something serious since she dances around the question with a tight expression until I ask her about her cat.

It's a little strange to just talk like this.

I always make sure to learn about each of my masters so I can serve them better. Darling, though... she one of the few who I can say don't feel like a master. Most of the others went straight to telling me everything they would do with the money they were going to wish for themselves, or the apparently tragic stories that made them so deserving of the power they wanted.

Darling, just talked about her parents and Yoongi a lot, and even asked me questions about being a djinn.

She was baffled when I told her I've served people from different times, mouth dropping and fingers tightening on the lamp which she still held in her hand, and she wanted to know what the world is like in the future. When I told her about phones, though, she decided I was making it up and asked something else.

Still, it felt nice to talk to Darling. Nice enough that another hour and a half passed without me noticing, and soon enough, dusk had fallen and we were approaching the nearest town.

"I know an inn nearby, but I'm not sure how people would react if they saw someone in the air. I think you should stop floating for a bit." Darling looks pointedly at me until I set my feet on the ground with a huff.

"Silly humans and your non-floating ways. Do you realise how much of a time-waster walking is?"

"My bad, Seokjin. I'll make sure that next time I'm born as a genie." My lips curl into a grin of their own accord at her response, and I see her own do the same out of the corner of my eye.

The streets of the town are busy, but Darling navigates them fairly easily. It becomes more and more apparent, though, that there is currently something going on - people are bustling around busily, and Darling looks increasingly worried until we finally end up in front of an inn.

Inside, I immediately understand why Darling looked troubled - the inn is almost overflowing with people. Darling runs a hand over her buzz-cut and pushes the lamp deep into her pocket, then tells me to wait in the corner while she talks to the innkeeper. I try to follow her anyway, but she gives me a wicked glare and leaves her cat next to me so I stay put.

"What are you looking at?" The cat doesn't even blink, just lays down next to my feet. It doesn't seem to mind when I crouch closer to it, so I give its fur an experimental poke.

It opens its eyes lazily, slowly flicking its tail in my direction until I give it another poke, soft this time. Dumb cat. I could make you disappear from existence right now and you wouldn't even realise. As if sensing my thoughts, the cat bats at my hand, but then lets me pat it again.

"Yoongi likes you." Darling, who appeared without me even realising, looks down with sickeningly love-filled eyes at the cat.

"He what now?"

"Yoongi. He doesn't like anyone touching him except me, but he seems to be okay with you."

"Oh. Well, that's too bad for him because I hate cats."

"If you say so." She raises her eyebrows as if she doesn't believe me, but before I can reaffirm that no, really, I hate cats, she jerks her head to the stairs that I think lead to the rooms. "It's good we came here first, because the other inn is already full. There's a festival in Mansae the day before the ball, so people are staying here on their way to it and there's only one room left here. You okay with that?"

"I live in a lamp, Darling, I'm sure I can manage." She gives me a small smile and hikes her rucksack up before picking up her cat.

The innkeeper comes to us with a very capitalist smile and leads us to our room. He doesn't shut up, somehow managing to fit his life story, three comments about how 'we're never been this busy' and even an offer for me to marry his daughter in the two minutes he has our attention.

Darling just rolls her eyes when we're finally shown our room, and I remember her words from before - 'all women are good for is marriage'. I wonder if the innkeeper's daughter knew she was basically being given away by her own dad.

"Seokjin!" I pop my head into the room, which Darling had already unlocked and was going through. It was just big enough for a bed, a small table with a chair, and a tub behind a bamboo screen to bathe in.

"Yeah?"

"We have to get to the palace by tomorrow afternoon, so we're leaving early." She grabs a pillow from the bed to fluff it before throwing it back down. "You sleep here, I'll take the chair."

I think the sight of me floating has completely disappeared from her brain. "Darling. Sweetheart. You are a human, and need sleep. I am a genie, and have my lamp and don't need to sleep. Take the bed."

Darling's hand had been hovering protectively over her pocket, but now she pulls the lamp out of it and glances up at me.

"Oh. I guess that makes sense. I thought you wouldn't be too thrilled at the idea of going back into your lamp so soon. Plus, I wasn't planning on sleeping."

That makes me pause, and I consider her predicament for a moment. Darling - visibly tired, stressed out and her mind obviously occupied by something that she's been turning over for who-knows-how-long, yet here she is offering me a bed. Me. A literal genie with my whole-ass magic thing going on. Because she thinks I would be sick of being in my perpetual home one more night. Cute.

Then I notice how tight her grip on the lamp is, and that's when something clicks in my brain.

Hah. I wonder if she realises how easy it is to read her.

"Interesting, Darling, but may I offer a proposition? You sleep on the bed, your dumb cat can do whatever, and I'll do my floating business. Win-win-win, am I right? Also, c'mere."

She widens her eyes warily when I hold my hand out for the lamp, but passes it over with some hesitancy.

"What are you doing?"

"Trust me, Darling."

I watch her expression morph from confusion to distress as I melt the golden lamp into a chain-link necklace. Taking a step closer to her, I reach across the space between us to loop the chain around her neck and seal the ends together so there isn't an opening to the necklace. The purple gem thing - even after all this time, I don't know what it is - rests just below her collarbone, glinting in the dim light from the candle we were given.

"There you go! Now you can sleep without having to worry about losing it! Wow! You can thank me now!" I smile at her, but she doesn't notice. She fiddles with the necklace experimentally, a frown bringing her eyebrows together.

"What if someone pulls it off?" How Darling of her, always going around ruining the mood with her silly questions.

"Nopsies, the only ones who can even touch it are you and me. And your stupid cat. And I'm the only one who can take it off you or change its shape, so hurry up and thank me you ungrateful shit." I smile wider, tilting my head in expectation, and the tiniest hint of a grin graces her lips.

"Thank you, Seokjin."

"You are absolutely welcome, Darling dear. Now sleep." Before she can say anything else, I push her onto the bed and tap her forehead. She doesn't even have a chance to look surprised before she's unconscious, fast asleep as the purple remnants of my magic curl around her head.

I pull a blanket over her and poke my tongue out at her dumb cat when it jumps up to sleep next to her. It ignores me.

Oh well.

"Look, Mansae will be in front of us in a second. We'll be able to see the sea too."

Darling draws my attention to the view ahead of me, where we're about to break through the forest's treeline.

She woke up at fuck-all o'clock to find me playing on my Nintendo, and barely ten minutes later we were out of the town and on our way to the palace. We avoided the main road until now by picking our way through the mountain, but we were close enough to the capital, Mansae that we couldn't avoid it any longer.

With one last turn, the palace is laid bare in front of us.

The main road snakes to the palace and the houses and markets that surround it, which were in turn set within a wide valley circled by the Mansae mountain range. Through the space between two of the mountains, we could see the faint glimmer of the ocean far away. The palace itself was a spread of white towers spearing the sky, the path leading to it choked with people weaving between markets.

We join the crush of people heading to the palace for Jungkook's birthday-and-wife-picking-ceremony and are instantly shoulder-to-shoulder with sweaty strangers. Darling's elbow digs into my side as we walk, but she's too focused on babying her dumb cat to realise. I bear with it until we reach the markets, but I can't stand it anymore.

"Darling your elbow has been jackhammering a hole into my ribs for an hour."

She practically rips her gaze away from her cat to look up at me. "Seokjin, I can promise you that you are not the only one in this crush of people with an elbow in your ribs. Still, sorry about that, I wish there wasn't so much of a crowd."

"Ohoho, is that your first wish?" I waggle my eyebrows at her jokingly, but she doesn't realise I'm only kidding.

"No! No, that is not a wish!" She seems to be visibly panicking, a flush climbing her throat as she splutters in her attempt to make sure her wish isn't used. Cute.

"Okay okay, that's not your wish, I get it. But uhh, now that we're on the topic... What is your first wish?"

"I'll tell you when it comes to it." Ah yes, Darling - putting up brick walls faster than you can ask her questions. This time, though, that's not an option.

"Nopesies, you have to tell me. Come on bestie."

"I will. If I need to. Do I really need to? Can't I just say it when I need it to happen?"

Some times, it's a real bother being the only smart person on a whole planet of dummies. But that's okay - I suck back my exasperation and hide it behind a tight smile.

"Okay. Look. Here's the deal, Darling. It's obvious to me by now that you are not going to wish for money or power or whatever else my masters usually want. If, when you make your wish, it isn't precise enough or it's something I can't grant, I will not know what to give you and that's a wish wasted. I need you to explain this big idea of your's, or else I literally cannot do my job properly, so please tell me: what is going on inside your head?"

The flush on her neck spreads to her face as she mutters something without meeting my eye, but I miss it because she says it so quietly.

"What was that?"

Squaring her shoulders, Darling turns and holds my gaze straight on. There's some emotion tightening her face that I can't fully decipher, something between agitation and determination

"I need you to make the prince fall in love with me."

i can do this all day masterlist

next chapter

[dctuk]

How many TacTiles do I need?

TacTiles are one of those great inventions that are so simple but just work. Produced by carpet tile giants Interface, we've been selling TacTiles at DCTUK for over a decade now.

Simply stick them to the underside of the corner of each carpet tile, securing 4 carpet tiles for each TacTile. Contrary to popular belief, only one side of the TacTile is sticky, the other side (subfloor side) has a grippy (not sticky) texture that hold the carpet tiles in place.

They are a genius method of installing carpet tiles that is fast and efficient.

The question we get asked the most, however, is not *what* they are, but "how many do I need to order?"

And that answer, well, requires some explaining. If you can't be bothered with the faff of explanations, scroll down to "What is the solution?" to get the answer and my Excel calculator tool.

The main problem is that we can't just create a calculator on our website that gives an exact answer based on the square metreage of the room, unless the room is an exact square.

This is because the number of tactile required depends on the shape of the room.

For example, if I said 8 carpet tiles need 15 TacTiles this would be true. If your room is a 2 x 4 grid of carpet tiles.

But if we create a line of 8 carpet tiles (1 x 8 grid) then the number needed would be 18 TacTiles.

Both rooms are 8m2 but the number of TacTiles required is different. And the larger the space, the greater the difference becomes. So when a customer comes to us and says "I need to buy 200 carpet tiles, how many TacTiles do I need?" we have mostly mumbled our way through these conversations with lots of mmms, errrs, and... "how about buying this lovely spray can adhesive instead?"

After thinking about this problem A LOT and trying to work out a formula that would allow me to create a calculator for our sales team to enter a square metreage that provides the number of tiles required I recently admitted failure and instead turned to be my genius, brain-box of a brother who I thought my know the answer. And he did.

What is the solution to the TacTile problem?

The small piece of good news is that there is a simple formula for square layouts that are the same length on both sides. For example, if we use the below 3 x 3 square grid of carpet tiles:

If we say the number of carpet tiles on each side of the grid is a (so in the above image a=3) then formula would be 4a+(a-1)².

To make this easier for customers I have created a simple TacTile calculator in Excel where the customer can enter the linear metres of the width (which would also be the height) of the room and the calculator will work out exactly how many TacTiles are required.

As mentioned above - this only works if the room is square. And so if the project space is not square then the room needs to be divided up into squares and then the linear metreage of those squares entered into the calculator for precise quantities.

To make it slightly more confusing, but more helpful for customers, on DCTUK.com we sell TacTiles in sheets of 6 because most customers will not need to buy a whole roll of 500 TacTiles. The calculator works out the number of TacTiles required and then lets our customer know how many packs they should order on our website.

Another solution (For those who were in set 1 for maths at school)

The other formula that my brother worked out that might be useful is for the maximum number of TacTiles that would be required for any possible layout, provided all the tiles are connected on at least one side to another carpet tile in that batch. (So this excludes a situation where, for example, the customer bought carpet tiles for two different rooms in the same batch).

If the number of carpet tiles is t, then the formula is 2t+2. So if our customer was supplied with 2t+2 TacTiles, then they would always have enough for the corner of every carpet tile, but they might have some left over, effectively "wasted".

At larger numbers, those wasted TacTiles become a mega problem that can't really be ignored (unless you're the *burying your head* in the sand type).

For example, if a customer orders 625 tiles, then if they are laid out in a square grid they will need 676 TacTiles. But the maximum number of TacTiles for all possible layouts is 1,252. So nearly half the TacTiles will be wasted and in fact as the number of tiles increases, the number of wasted TacTiles gets closer and closer to 50%.

What other flooring adhesives can I use to fit carpet tiles?

Well, we still highly recommend TacTiles, and if you need help working out how many you need, just get in touch with our friendly UK sales team. But there are some alternatives:

For small areas

Double sided tape is an easy and secure way of fixing carpet tiles to the floor for small projects.

Sticky Stuff Tackifier spray adhesive is also great for small areas, or even large areas that are being loose-laid but need a bit of stickiness at the edges of the room. It's our own brand of adhesive and always kept in stock. Plus, it's a tackifier so is not permanent and won't leave a horrible mess when the tiles are lifted up at a later date.

Bostik Spray adhesive is a spray solution for semi-permanently sticking carpet tiles to the floor - we also keep this in stock in our distribution hub.

For larger areas

Bostik Fix A320 Tackifier is available in a 5kg or 25kg tub and is perfect for larger installations. Spread the tackifier across the floor and allow to dry. Then simply lay the carpet tiles on top.

Uzin U2100 Carpet Tile adhesive is sold at DCTUK.com and is a great option. It’s got a super-fast drying between 30-60 minutes, so enough time to watch an episode of Line of Duty before its on to the next DIY task.

The F.Ball Styccobond F44 is often the fitter's favourite and well known for it's yellow branding. We stock this and can delivery next working day.

If you need any help with TacTiles or the above adhesives, just give our team a shout by calling 0345 222 1541 or jumping on our website Livechat.