#The memories of how he greeted my heroine when she returned home still warm my heart

[koldusek]

It's been a long week. I didn't do much except play the games

[michelle-is-writing]

Reunite, Luke Crain (1)

In this fic, Luke never befriended Joey.

Word count: 2.5k~

Part 1

Your life can flash by you in an instant. For me, when I think about my life, I see it all pass me as a theater release of a drama film. One moment, you're with the love of your life, enjoying a nice dinner with his family, and in the next, you're at your would-be sister-in-law's funeral with the love of your life sitting beside you, his body still recovering from years of drug abuse and the ring you once wore on your left ring finger long gone. Looking around the room, the dreary blank walls set with the dimming white lights match my life - those things used to be lit up and lively, and now, they're memories of what used to be good.

Life used to be great. I had Luke, his family, and a wedding ring on my finger. I could handle his nightmares and past memories of bad things that once went on in his life. What I couldn't handle was the heroin and the constant lies and betrayal that came with the drugs. It only took me a stolen tablet and used needles to kick Luke out of my life. It hurt me a lot to do that, but what hurt worse was seeing him after three years of nothing with him.

As soon as I stepped into the funeral home owned by Shirley, I caught Luke's eyes trained on my own. Whereas his were altered over the years by drugs and dangerous things alike, mine were affected by sadness and the cold I felt without him by my side. However, it was like nothing had changed between us, and the feelings we once held for each other not too long ago were still there. I don't know if it was because something as traumatic as Nell's death had just occurred and we both needed someone, or if maybe we were both still in love.

It was almost natural to sit beside each other, and for some reason, it was natural for me to still worry about him. "What are those bruises on your face from?" I asked, reaching up to gently touch them. "Did you get into a fight?"

Instead of simply brushing my hand away, Luke smiled softly and reached up to take my hand in his with the gentlest touch I had ever felt from him. "No, just some trouble from a few guys in an alleyway," he explained, his voice quiet as he watched me gaze at him with worried eyes. "But it's okay," He told me, his thumb running over the back of my hand. "I'm fine."

Steve had told me about Luke being in rehab and staying clean for a while. When he picked up Luke, he wasn't strung out either; in fact, he wasn't thinking or worried about drugs at all, it seemed. He was proud of that chip in his pocket, and even though it took him a few years, I was too.

Once the wake was over, Luke placed a kiss on my cheek before heading back with Steve to his hotel room while I stayed with Theo. It was like I was back to my old life five years ago when Luke and I would spend time with his family regularly, and everything was alright. Now I was spending time with his family without him or Nell, and yet, I was still accepted as a part of their family.

The day after the wake was the funeral, and like the day before, Luke was with me the entire time. Standing beside me in the blistering cold, his hand wrapped around mine and kept it warm while Nell's body was laid into the ground. Despite almost being a sister to Nell, I know it was still harder for Luke to see that sight than it was for me.

It was only when the funeral was over that mine and Luke's hands left each other's and we were headed back to the funeral home with everyone in their respected vehicles. In the midst of everyone talking around me, I began to think, and as endless thoughts ran through my mind, one thing stuck out. Although, it wasn't a thing; in fact, it was a question, and because of that question, I was plagued with a sickness in my stomach that wouldn't go away.

How do I still love Luke?

After everything he's put everyone through, I don't know how I could, but somehow, I can without any doubts about him loving me back. I've heard and seen the 'clean' act many times before, and yet, this one is seems to be the one that will actually work. Everything in me wants this to be the case, but there's a part of me that's afraid to stick around to see it. Why? Because I can't witness yet another time when Luke decides being a junkie is more important than everything else.

Arriving back at Shirley's funeral home, I let everyone exit the limousine before me, leaving me to be the last one out. As I'm stepping out of the long vehicle, I'm greeted by a hand reaching out to help me. Looking up at the owner of the hand, I see that it's only Luke, leaving me to give him a smile of thanks.

Walking toward the funeral home and out of the blistering cold, Luke speaks up. "When was the last time you spoke with Nell?" He asks, his warm hand still encased in mine as we walk up the steps to the house across from Shirley's main home.

"A few months ago, around the time she lost Arthur," I answer him as he opens the door for us. "I went over to her apartment to take her to lunch, but it was like I was talking to... not to be insensitive, but a ghost," I explain, watching Luke's face for any sign of hurt. Thankfully, his face remains the same, and the only thing that changes is us both sitting down beside each other in the entry hall. "She was... so emotionless and lifeless that it didn't feel like I was talking to Nell."

As if my words were slowly washing over him, Luke slowly nods before sitting back against the couch cushions. A few seconds of silence pass before either of us speak up with me being the one who says something. Although, it's something I've had resting on my chest for a while. "I can remember Nell's wedding, and how Shirley sent you away," I murmur, looking over at Luke as he continues staring back at me. It's something that's hurt me for a while, and I've been hoping for the opportunity to talk about this with him.

"I was such a dumbass," he points out, closing his eyes as he shakes his head. Seeing him do such a thing makes me want to lean in and hold him like I used when he was upset or stressed. I can't now, but I would be lying if I said I didn't miss that.

"I know," I say, opting to lean back against the couch like Luke. "Shirley and I got into an argument when she came back in," I confess, reaching a hand up to scratch at my neck as I swallow down the lump in my throat. Because of the argument, Shirley and I no longer have the friendship we once had. "I can't remember what I said, but she responded back that it was my fault you were the way you were because I wasn't doing enough to stop you," I add, watching Luke quickly look back at me with a mix of slight anger and hurt. I don't have to be a genius to know that Luke's upset over what Shirley said to me. "Don't be mad at Shirl, she was under a lot of pressure with the wedding-"

"She still should have never said that to you," Luke cuts me off, causing me to move forward and cover his hands with mine. "I did everything on my own accord, and no one could stop me. Not you, not Nell... no one," He admits, shaking his head out of shame once again. "I should have never put any of you through that - especially you. You were the last person I wanted to hurt."

His words cause the lump in my throat to return as well as tears in my eyes, but for once in a while, they're from happiness and not sadness. "You're better now," I remind him with a strained voice, rubbing my thumb against the back of his hand until he moves to take my hands in his rather than the reverse. "Please don't go back to what you were doing. Please, don't."

At my pleading, Luke moves forward to press his forehead to mine, something he hasn't done in such a long time. "I don't want to," He tells me, his nose almost touching mine as his green eyes stay locked on mine. "I really don't want to."

I know why he's saying he 'doesn't want to' rather than 'I won't.' He's said that before - every time he went into rehab, he said it. Perhaps he realizes that all the previous times held nothing but empty promises and he doesn't want to repeat that.

I do have to say that I'm thankful he avoided the topic of our previous engagement. Most of all, what I did with the ring. I still have it, of course, but I don't wear it. It's a hurtful reminder of what used to be my life, and I get enough of that pain just seeing it in my jewelry box everyday.

Luke and I continue sitting together on the couch for a while, just enjoying each other's company while everyone moves around us. It's only when Shirley asks me to help her with bringing out more snacks that Luke and I depart. Once I'm in the small kitchen with her, Shirley turns toward me and breaks the awkward silence surrounding us.

"Please don't tell me you're going to go to his hotel room later," She practically growls out, causing me to look at her confused. How could she assume something so bold?

"No, I'm not, Shirl," I tell her, watching her pointed glare soften with a small sigh. "I haven't even thought about doing something even remotely similar."

"I'm just making sure," She explains, holding her hands out in an 'okay' motion. "I don't want to see you hurt, or have something bad happen again," Shirley continues on, turning back to open the fridge and take out another tray of finger-foods. "I... don't want you to be let down again."

With her last words running through my head, I nod and bite my lip as I step forward to take the plate from her hands. "I know, Shirl," I assure her with another nod. "And, unfortunately, I completely understand."

With the second tray in her hands, Shirley closes the fridge and turns back around to walk into the main room with me behind her. Placing the plates on top of the empty ones, Shirley thanks me with a smile before walking off to do other things. Looking back over to the couch Luke and I were previously sitting at, I find it to be empty, and instead of seeing Luke in the spot I left him, I instead see him heading out with something in his hands. Is he...

Without being noticed, I head towards the exit in an almost sprint before slipping out and nearly jumping off the steps. Seeing the lights of Theo's Jeep flicker in the corner of my eyes, I know exactly what's going on.

"Luke!" I nearly shout, trying not to trip in my heels as the gravel moves under my feet. Immediately, Luke stops walking and turns toward me, his face cast almost in worry. "What are you doing, Luke?" I ask, feeling myself grow disappointed at the possibility of him trying to leave to break his sobriety.

"I have to do this," He says as I stop a few feet in front of him. Instantly, my disappointment grows into anger.

"Don't tell me you're going to get high," I practically seethe, taking a step forward toward him. However, to my surprise, Luke looks almost shocked by my words, and instead of getting into the Jeep, he stays standing in front of me.

"NO!" He exclaims, staring at me with furrowed brows. "That's the farthest thing from my mind now!" Luke further explains, a few seconds passing before he looks away and sighs. "It's that damn house... it did this..."

Despite his words being quiet, I still hear them and become confused. "What house, Luke?" I ask, just as realization sets in. "You mean Hill House?" I murmur, my anger dissipating within seconds. I know about Hill House and the horrors within it - hell, it's one of the reasons Luke is the way he is.

"It killed Nell," He sneers, shaking his head. "It killed my mom, and now it's killed my sister," Luke adds, taking a quick glance at the sky before looking back at me. "The house is evil, and I need to make sure it won't kill again."

Just by his words, I know what he plans on doing. "...I'm going with you," I declare, my mind not changing any time soon.

Eyes wide, Luke shakes his head at me. "No, no, (Y/n), you can't," He states, but I don't back away. Instead, I move to take his hands in mine as I say my next words.

"Yes, I am," I tell him, staring up at him with an moving gaze. "Luke, I haven't seen you for what feels like forever, you're finally off drugs, your sister died, and you're going through one of the most traumatic things in your life," I point out, my voice cracking toward the end as I stop myself from letting it all come out at once. "I... I still love you," I confess as a whisper, trying not to let all of the hurt show through. "I don't want to lose you permanently."

For a few seconds, Luke's eyes bounce everywhere as does his foot in a nervous manner. As if he had decided on something, Luke shakes his head before quickly leaning forward and pressing his lips to mine while taking my face in his hands. To feel myself kiss back without hesitance makes me want to pull away in fear of being hurt again, but I can't. Not when I've missed this the most.

Once Luke pulls away, his hands move to wrap around my waist and pull me close while his face stays mere inches away from mine. "I still love you too - I never stopped," Luke admits, "You're the only thing keeping me going, even if I can't have you like I used to," He adds, letting out a shaky sigh afterward. "Come on."

[otomes-world]

Cuddle session

Anon said: May I ask a scenario of prompt 1. “Hug me” for Azul? Thanks!

If Yuu told her past version what would happen in the future, she would just laugh at everything. To go to another world, completely different from her? Become a Magic College Student? Living in an abandoned building with a fire-breathing cat and three ghosts? What could be weirder.

However, fate has always been distinguished by its unpredictability and a different look at ordinary things. In spite of everything, the girl secretly hoped to someday return back home to her family. Not anymore.

Who knew that she would have to follow the same path as the heroine of some novel, a fairy tale for children? Challenge an antagonist and fall in love with him?

Unable to contain herself, Yuu laughed softly, everything sounded too chaotic even in her thoughts. At her unexpected reaction, the silver-haired young man raised his head, straightening the slipped glasses. Leader of Octavinelle Azul Ashengrotto.

Sitting on one of the comfortable couches and reading the book that the portrait of Rosalia advised her, the girl couldn`t help smiling, looking at the slightly frowning octopus, indulging in memories.

Their first meeting was, to put it mildly, not the most pleasant, further events developed no better. However, after the overblot scene and the warm conversation in the museum, her attitude towards him gradually began to change. It all started with greetings in the hallways, help at the Monstro Lounge. What was the starting point, Yuu couldn't tell, and neither did Azul.

An ingenious, talented merchant and a girl without a drop of magic. The twins have never missed a chance to tease your couple, though mostly Ashengrotto.

"Do I have something on my face?"

Finally, the young man couldn`t stand such close attention to his person. Sometimes you reminded the octopus of one irrepressible person, whose eyes always sparkled when he looked at him. Although there was still a difference: your look didn`t irritate.

“Just thinking about hugging you.” With a snort, Azul returned to his documents, but Yuu had known for a long time that she once again managed to embarrass the proud leader of Octavinelle. All that remained was to push him in the right direction. "But if you don't want to..."

There was silence for a while, through which the quiet scratching of a pen on paper broke through. The girl knew that now Ashengrotto was carefully considering her proposal, trying to weigh the pros and cons. Finally, putting down the documents, the young man looked ahead, saying a simple:

"Hug me"

Laughing quietly again at how her lover is still trying to maintain the image, the prefect got up from her seat, walked over to Azul and hugged him from the back, immediately feeling how he relaxed from her warmth.

"Shrimp~ Azul~"

And tensed again at the familiar voices.

"Well, well, Floyd, let's leave the manager enjoying his break."

Even though the more conscious of the twins took his brother away, Yuu clearly saw how Ashengrotto's ears were burning red for some time. How cute. However, if she would saiy it out loud, he would definitely be offended.

[tired-college-student-writing]

Beautiful Versions of Brokenness pt. 2

Summary: Marinette is different. There was no denying it, but none would have guessed that the true reason was soul deep

Continuation of Prompt: If you're into Black Butler, maybe something with that and Miraculous ladybug? Or Black Butler with Demon Bim? I just think you'd do a good job with the Black Butler characters.

Part 1

____________________________________________

Chat Noir reluctantly left so that Ladybug and Sebastian, shortly after, promised to meet up on the next patrol night so that they could properly discuss their unlikely reunion.

Instead of going home, Marinette leads them to the top of the Eiffel Tower. Parisians are used to seeing their heroine and a black figure at the top of the tower, no one would think twice if she arrived there. Sebastian follows as he always did.

“This isn’t my first life after Ciel then,” She hummed, once she arrived, deciding to deal with the first question on her mind.

“No,” Sebastian agreed, as her timer slowly beeped towards its end, “This is my 37th time meeting you since your contract was created. The 21st time you’ve awoken your Phantomhive memories.”

Her eyebrows rose, “it’s only been 130 years since Ciel died, how have I been reborn 37 times?”

The demon all but scoffed, “Really mistress? All these years with beings of heaven and hell toying with your life and you still believe we are playing by earthly rules?”

Marinette just glared, “You’re telling me Hell lacks linear time then? When I die, my soul just flies to any time period it pleases and becomes whichever child it can find?”

“Precisely,” Sebastian smirks, “There have only been a few rules your soul seems to follow, your eyes remain virtually unchanged, still the strikingly blue and purple hues they have been since our contract was sealed, your hair an inky black and your memories return within a year of the age you took your earldom, thirteen, or not at all. Other than that this is the eighteenth time you’ve taken a female form, fifth where you’ve been of mixed races, tenth of being Asian descent, you’ve been of African descent six times, middle eastern eight, Native American three times. You’ve been of peasantry or slavery six times, on three different continents. Though being enslaved has triggered your memories flawlessly every time and allowed for you to rise in the ranks of society with grace. Sixteen times you’ve been of noble birth in multiple different royal families across the globe. It’s been an adventure each time

“What about Lizzie?” She finally asked,” She never sold her soul, and yet Chat Noir is clearly my fiancé.”

Sebastian frowned, “To be quite honest, she’s never appeared before, or at the very least never awoken. Human souls are not supposed to be reincarnated so quickly, even by heaven’s terms we should not have run into Miss Elizabeth before the 30th century and I’ve never heard of the average reincarnation remembering their memories as vividly as Chat Noir did.”

“Who would know?”

The grimace was fleeting on the demon’s face but Marinette knew what he was getting at.

“The Grim Reapers,” She groaned, “Grell hanging around anywhere?”

“What makes you so certain that pest is still working off their debt?” Sebastian countered

Marinette glared, “Because I’ve seen a shockingly familiar red figure watching the Akuma battles before, but only the ones that might have high casualty counts if we had lost. Plus you’re always aggravated whenever I came back from those types of battles and she was the only one that I know that gets under your skin that badly. If she wasn’t so… open about her desires I would have loved to see her around more.”

The demon sighed, “Observant as always my lady. Grell Sutcliff, William T. Spears, and Ronald Knox have all been given special assignments to follow your reincarnated soul around as they are used to our unique brand of chaos. They are given time off when your soul is inactive, and this works counts as double time for their repayment… containing the destruction left in your wake.”

Marinette hummed, as her time finally wore out a Tikki appeared next to her.

“Sebastian,” Tikki greeted, cooly, drawing a wicked grin on the young girl’s face.

“Miss. Tikki,” He offered with his polite butler smile, the one Marinette knew meant he wasn’t happy, “A pleasure as always.”

“Oh, you’ve met then?” Marinette laughed with twisted glee “I haven’t seen you look so constipated since we had to do those Phoenix poses!”

She could practically hear the teeth grinding behind his forced smile, “I haven’t a clue what you’re talking about Mistress, I think the reincarnation process has scrambled your mind.”

She hummed, cheeky grin not falling as she passed Tikki her emergency cookie, “Either way, we need to plan. Obviously, we can’t play the butler and Earl roles as we once did so we must figure out new roles that we can play, and create a fake hero identity for you if you plan on continuing to help out during Akuma battles.”

The smirk he gave showed off far too many teeth, but instead of unnerving her, it filled her with a sense of comfort, “Allow me to handle everything, mistress. What kind of demon would I be if I couldn’t manage a simple cover story and superhero outfit.”

________________________________________

Marinette awoke the next day to find it starting off horribly. Not only had she overslept without the ever-present tapping on her balcony door Sebastian normally did whenever she slept through her alarm, but as she was rushing she tore her blue contact, only to find it was the last one she had in stock, her new order not set to arrive until later in the week. She decided to give the demon a pass just this once since he most likely was still coming up with proper identification and dwellings for him to stay at now that she required him to be more than just a bird.

Looking in her closet she paused at her normal outfits, plink blossoms, pink jeans, and ballet flats. It just… felt wrong with her new memories of the Earl rattling around her head. She wasn’t unhappy being a woman in this life, still feeling as comfortable as ever in her own skin, but the overly modern and feminine dress just didn’t sit right with Ciel’s memories so fresh in her mind.

Instead, she pulled out a peter pan collared button-down shirt with the collar and large buttons navy against the cream of the rest of the shirt, a forest green western tie clasped in the front. She also pulled on a pair of straight-legged green pants and a navy blazer adding a tan pair of thick heeled ankle boots.  For her final touch, she deep parted her hair, pinning it over her right eye and pulling it back into a bun securing a cream ribbon in a bow around the base of the bun once she was finished. Satisfied she grabbed her bag and took off at a run, bidding her parents goodbye as she attempted to make it class before the bell rang.

She arrived seconds late and found the room reorganized, seats had been moved and the open seat on her normal side of the room was right up next to Adrien. Well, she had to admit her previous actions around him had been overboard in retrospect, and while he was still cute but with Lizzie back in the picture it seemed almost like cheating on her old fianceé.

“Good morning, Adrian,” She greeted, choosing to stand in front of the desk instead of sitting down yet.  

The blonde turned to her and perked up, “Marinette! I’m loving the new look, very Victorian esque”

“Thank you!” She laughed, “I felt like a change, You look great too!”

She could feel the eyebrows around the room go up as she smiled gently at the boy, but it was a good change of pace for him, his usual sneakers, jeans, and T-shirt had been swapped out for shiny dark brown dress shoes, a fitted pair of emerald green pants, with a crisp dark blue shirt tucked in. When he turned she could see a silver lace embroidery cutting a wavy path from his left shoulder to his right hip shimmer. He even wore a simple silver ear cuff to finish off the look.

“I picked it myself,” He preened under the positive attention, “Father usually is so strict about what I wear in public but he said I did well with this one!”

“Well, I have to agree,” She hummed, “You should experiment more often, I’d love to give you critiques now that we’re desk partners.”

“Girl what?” Alya finally interrupted, “That’s not your seat, you’re sitting in the back now.”

She could stop her smile from falling into a stony blank look as she turned around, “Excuse me? Who made that call?”

“Well,”  Nino piped up with a slight weariness at her look, “She’s got hearing issues so we had to put her upfront, to make it work Ivan sat next to Mylène, Nate sat next to Alix, and she came up with the idea of moving me up here, so I could spend more time with my girlfriend.”

Marinette raised a brow making the majority of the room fidget, “Who exactly is she?”  

Before any of them could answer Ms. Bustier opened the door and started her normal classroom announcements, “Good morning, students. I'm sure you've all heard by now, but Lila's home from her trip to Achu and she's back in school with us again.”

The Italian girl all, but bounced into the room to greet everyone, receiving a warm answer back as Marinette’s mouth thinned.

The fox paid her little mind as she pretended to gasp in surprise at the empty seat next to Adrian and started gushing, “Oh, a seat in the front row! You all remembered my hearing issue! You're such sweethearts, all of you!”

Marinette tilted her head, “I didn’t realize you had a hearing issue, Lila.”

Green eyes flashed towards her as she painted on a self-conscious smile, “Oh Yes, I suffer from tinnitus, a constant ringing in my left ear. I've had it ever since the sound of an airplane engine burst my eardrum on the runaway when I was saving Jagged Stone's lost kitten,”

“Really?” Marinette questioned with a raised brow, “Well I am sorry to hear that, but I would like to know why your disability is ranking above my own.”

Lila froze as Bustier paled eyes widening with realization. The room grew silent before Kim slapped the desk, “Oh my god, we forgot Marinette can’t see!”

She laughed, shaking her head, “I’m not blind Kim,”

He waved her off, “You know what I mean.”

Nino groaned, slinking down, “You aren’t even wearing your contacts today!”

“I ripped one this morning,” She sighed in explanation, “My replacements aren’t coming until Wednesday. So I really can’t sit in the back of the room even if I wanted to.”

Alya’s face scrunched, “I’m missing something,”

Marinette stared up at her unblinkingly, “I have a severe vision problem that causes me issues with depth perception and distance, especially if I’m not wearing my contacts. As noted by my doctor I need to be sitting within the first two rows of the classroom, and to have a seat partner is willing to give me notes that I may have missed if my vision acts up. It has been on file since I was six years old.”

“Ivan and I can move to the back,” Mylene offered quickly, “I’m sorry for forgetting Marinette!”

She offered a soft smile, “It really is no issue, as long as it gets sorted.  While I must admit I believe the origin of Lila’s disability is fabricated, I am sympathetic to her for having said disability, but I refuse to not have my accommodations met just for someone else’s to be met.”

“Fabricated!” Lila gasped tears welling in her eyes, “How mean! You don’t like me, do you! You’re trying to make me look bad and have a hard time due to my disability!”

The ice that entered Marinette’s eye before she turned to the Italian girl sent a shiver down the class's spine, causing Chloe to shrink back and Adrian to sit up stick straight. Marinette felt an odd calm fall over her as the Phantomhive came out to play.

“You claim that you received hearing damage from being too close to an airplane because you ran onto an active runway to save Jagged Stone’s kitten from a jet preparing to take off,” Marinette repeated slowly, “ Not only does Jagged Stone despise cats, but he’s despised them since he was a child after one attacked and killed his parakeet, Juniper. This is an easy fact to look up as he’s mentioned it several times in multiple interviews. The pet he currently owns and has owned for almost twenty years now, is Fang, a freshwater crocodile that Jagged hatched himself. No one is stupid enough to forget the animal they heroically saved from a vehicle that’s accelerating an average of 32 meters per second squared, wasn’t even a mammal when I know that Fang weighs almost 200kg.”

Lila tried to break in but Marinette just straightened her back, and crossed her leg at the knee before continuing, “Furthermore, no airport in this day and age would allow for a teenage girl to make it to the runways where a plane was taking off without being tackled by security, nor do I believe that your mother, a diplomat, would be moronic enough to allow you to be placed in that much danger. If it did happen there would no doubt be multiple stories run by the media about it, internationally so since Jagged Stone is such a big name and you are the daughter of a diplomat, this would not be the first we would be hearing it.”

Marinette grimaced as she moved onto the next point, not even paying mind to the sputtering Lila was doing, “Based on these facts I’m going to assume the claims that he wrote a personal song for you that have been bouncing around are also false as if they’re not it does not paint a good picture that a famous man in his forties is writing and dedicating songs for you, a young teen fan. If these accusations were true, I'd be forced to believe that Jagged Stone is a hebephile or at the very least grooming you.”

Marinette simply crossed her arms as the room grew deathly silent, “Lastly, nothing suggests that sitting closer to the front of the room helps tinnitus, as the persistent ringing would not change and make little difference in a room this small. Most students with tinnitus require the student being given the option to move to a quieter location if the condition is triggered during class, groups the student is working with being given the option to move to a different area in case group work gets too loud during group activities and being placed near a low-level sound, such a small fan, computer, a heating element, or an open window, as complete silence can irritate the issue. I did enough research when helping Aurora fight for proper accommodations made in her own classroom on the subject to know that much. Or as by the way you are dressed and the fact you claim to have spent the last few months traveling the world, your family clearly has money so buying one of the many options of hearing aid out that that has been developed to assist and almost eliminate tinnitus would be overly easy. They sell them for around 270€, fairly cheap for accommodation products, and if your family truly took you on trips across the globe then you can’t convince me they don’t love you enough to shell out a few hundred euros to make your life easier. So tell me again why I’m making a big deal about making sure my own disability is taken care of?”

Lila sputtered, before bursting into tears, “I was too embarrassed to tell you the real reason! I didn’t want you guys to think less of me for taking a break with Prince Ali to go see a concert, I didn’t mean to get so close to the amps but… the hearing loss is so new I’m still adjusting”  

Marinette glared at her, “Save the tears. Lies are pathetic tools to use and earn you no lasting loyalty, and to accuse someone of being ableist for questioning the origin of your disability, not even the disability itself is vile. Not a single person in this room would have been upset at you if you told the truth instead of tried to force the issue of fake heroics.”

She sniffled, “I’m sorry Marinette, I didn’t mean to make accusations about you or your character. I’m still on edge from the whole situation…”

Marinette let her glare drop and gave a cool, “It’s forgiven this time, now can we please figure out the seating situation?”

“Well,” the teacher stepped in, “Since Adrian agreed to be Lila’s tutor to help her catch up-”

“Actually, Miss Bustier,” Adrian raised his hand sheepishly, “I was going to bring it up with you later in private, but I really don’t think I’d be a good option to tutor Lila given how full and sporadic my schedule is already, I really would hate for her to fall enough further behind.”

“Oh crap,” Alix swore, “We didn’t even think of that when Lila suggested you!”  

Adrian just gave a slight shrug, eyes not looking up from his desk, “It’s okay, I do want to help out the class as much as possible, I feel bad never being able to help out with anything after school.”

“Don’t sweat it,” Kim brushed off, “We get your dad is really on you about everything, we’ll just have to find stuff you can do in class instead!”

“Maybe,” Mylene squirmed a little in her seat as everyone turned to face her, “I mean just a suggestion… but maybe Adrian could be Marinette’s seat partner and help her take notes. You rarely miss actual class time for your activities and this way you’re helping out without committing to any extra time that your dad might not let you come for.”

Bustier clapped, a blinding smile on her face, completely missing how Lila’s face had twisted into an angry mask, “Excellent idea! Let’s all find new seats again, Marinette and Adrian stick together in the first two rows, Lila why don’t you sit on the left side of the classroom by the windows to see if that helps your tinnitus for now. I’ll call your mother in for a proper evaluation over the next few days and we’ll find a proper course to deal with your disability. If someone would like to volunteer to be Lila’s primary tutor please take the seat next to her. Everyone else please fill in!”

Slowly the room began shifting once again. Adrien and Marinette simply switched seats to allow her to better see the room as Alya, Nino, Chloe, Sabrina, Rose, Juleka, and Nathaniel stayed in their same seats. Ivan and Mylene did move to the back row together as Max broke away from Kim to sit in the second row next to where Lila ended up and Alix slid across the aisle to take his old spot.

Alya was still looking at Marinette as if she had three heads, “Girl, what on earth was that? You’re like sunshine personified, but you just tore Lila apart like she was tissue paper.”

Nino huffed a slight laugh, “Keep forgetting you’ve only been in the class for a year, babe. You’ve never seen a Marinette takedown before.”

Marinette smiled, “Do not lie and do not do anything that might have permanent consequences. If they can not follow those two simple objectives in my presence then I will gladly set them straight. Lila not only lied but accused me of being a bigot, I will not tolerate slander.”

“Well I think it was badass,” Adrian commented, causing her to smirk wickedly.

“Thank you. It’s always nice to know my skills are appreciated.”  

“Oh do you need any notes from the last few days,” Adrian asked suddenly, sliding his notebook between them as the lesson started.  

She gazed down idly, “Not that I can think of but thank-”

Marinette had to keep her eyes from bulging as her words faded off, because in the middle of the page, squished between two facts about the Roman empire stood a simple sentence in perfect English.

I didn’t think I would see you until tonight, Ciel.

“How on earth were we this blind,” Marinette mumbled in English, earning a laugh from his once betrothed.

“Excuse me?”

The pairs heads snap towards the door as a worryingly familiar voice sounds through the room.

There in the doorway was a tall teen with shaggy raven hair as he sheepishly held out a paper towards the teacher, “Are you, Miss. Bustier? There seemed to be a mix up with my transfer papers. Mr. Damocles told me just to head down and you should have all of my forms by tomorrow, but he didn’t want to prevent me from starting today as planned.”

“Oh I hadn’t realized I was getting a new student today,” She apologized, taking the paper and skimming it briefly before turning to the room, “Class it looks like we’re getting another new face today! I want you all to welcome him with open arms! This is-”

He was shorter, a little lankier and with a rounder face then they typically saw him, looking every bit the fourteen year old he was in no doubt playing, but there was no doubt who it was.

“Sebastian,” The demon introduced, mirth dancing in those burgundy depths as he grinned up at the reincarnated duo, “Sebastian Michaelis. I look forward to joining your class.”

___________________________________

Tag List: @lividdreams9

[sublimegentlemanalpaca]

The town Biflindi woke up....the thing about Dreams.

So...this is perhaps one of the best things Biflindi ever did in the Campaign. Note I only had a part in Biflindi’s actions. The rest is brilliantly thought up by my DM friend, and the actions of my other friends who were in that campaign. I also apologize ahead of time since it’s been like a year....so I might not remember everything...that said. Here we go. So we’re heading....in some direction or another...If I recall correctly we were heading to some Dwarven Capital for one reason or another. At some point we notice a town ahead. Biflindi tries to see if he can recall anything about it...but due to having some many stories to keep track of (read...he rolled a 1), he thinks it’s some town that revers a Sea God or something. In a completely land locked area. So the group heads into the town. At this point, the party consists of: The Human Fighter Alva Yadin, the Human Ranger Gwin, the Dwarf Paladin Ragnarok, the Cult leading Teifling Warlock Vox, an NPC troll (I think?) called Spruce Springsteen or Banner...I forget which, and Biflindi the Half Elf Bard. So they go into the town...it’s nice. Freshly fallen snow. Home to Elves and people. Might have just been Elves. The town is near perfect. Children are Playing, goods are sold, several establishments are getting great business. Everything is pretty sweet. Vox finds something off with this, and attacks a random passerby. I forget if he killed them or not. Whichever was done, the town seemed to rewind around us to the point prior to any harm. Through trial, we realized no Violent activity remained. So...we did the logical thing and headed to a Tavern to get some info. The inn we went to was called the Special Snowflake and we learned the town was actually called Snow Haven. So we ask about....and after a few more rewinds and some stubbornness we learn of some one called the Sleeper. By that point, most of the Party save Biflindi, Vox, Alva, and Spruce decided to move on. Rags being more focused on seeing his people, and others just following. Actually, I think Alva followed Rags, so only Biffy, Vox, and Spruce stayed behind. The former two to find out what’s going on, and Bruce because it seems like a really nice place to live. So Biflindi and Vox keep pestering the Bar Keep....the place keeps rewinding about them...Biflindi decides to take a break and do his job, entertaining the guest. He becomes well liked and even gets free drinks. He then goes right back to pestering. What happened next...I forget the exact order. So imagine these next bits into whatever order makes the most sense. The Barkeep Joseph...Who the ‘Sleeper’ is speaking through tries to deter the two from waking the Sleeper, going so far as to mention how his daughter is turning 17 that night, and has a full life ahead of her. Biflindi is firm about how he can’t let that be. He apologizes for his outburst. Apologizes for what may seem to them, to the Sleeper, to be Cruel. But Biflindi makes his case. The Town is a Dream, it is not reality. What’s more than that it isn’t living it is a sham of living. There is no growth to the town, no change. The town isn’t living, it’s stagnating. A Stagnation that is closer to death than it is life and is mockery to both in the process. Biflindi then tells of a dream he had. A dream he had as he rested at the insistence of the Woman he loved. How that dream has topped any he ever had, and any he’s had since if he dreams at all now. But he woke up. He had to wake up...and he was hurt, and grieved, and mourned ...and felt sad for the impossibility of that dream. But all Dreamers must wake, live, and work to find the possible dreams and make them reality. Be it meeting Dragons, or flipping off Death, or finally making some decent soup (still not a reality). This speech convinced the Sleeper speaking through Joseph. He told they’d find the Sleeper in the Fountain in the center of town. He and Vox go there, and find a Magical seal around it. Vox, says fuck it! Not because he can’t break it, but because he wants there to be some Happiness in the world no matter the falsehood of it. He then moves to catch up with everyone else. Biflindi however can’t...but he does hesitate. He heads back to the Special Snowflake, and tells Joseph....he will wait until sun down (about five hours). Then he’ll wake the sleeper no matter what. Joseph thanks him. Biflindi then spends the next five hours going about the town. Talking freely with people, buying and eating plenty of Biscuits. Showing off his awesome coat to the Tailors in town, bragging about how it was made by Royalty. He even puts on a show for the Children with magic tricks, and one man plays. The Sun starts to set, and Biflindi heads back to the Special Snowflake. He passes a Trinket seller who notes the Time. Biflindi agreed it’s getting late. He debated buying something from the Trinket seller but decides against it. In hindsight, I should have gotten something. Biflindi returns to the tavern...takes the best open seat by the fire (the seat reserved for Storyteller’s as he learned from Lame John) and he told stories. He told the best he had to offer. Stories of Kings, and Queens, Dashing Heroes and Heroines, Of True love and False Love, of Kindness and Cruelty. That night Biflindi perhaps gave what may have been the best performance of his life. So caught up in applause he nearly missed, Joseph announcing Last Call. Biflindi made his way to the Bar to see a drink already set for him. Joseph seeming to be himself, introduces Biflindi to his daughter. Biflindi greets her, and compliments her, and her father and her town. She goes on about how great a town it is, and Biflindi agrees. She asks if he’ll be staying long, it’s been so long since the town had a proper Storyteller living there. Biflindi agrees it would be a fine place to settle, but he unfortunately has other matters he must get to. He finishes his drink. He asks Joseph if he may keep the glass, Joseph allows him to. Biflindi thanks him and leaves the warm and inviting inn, heading out into the cold. He reaches the fountain, and climbs over the Seal. When he lands he finds an old burnt out ruined Shack. Through a window he sees a figure asleep in a Chair. Biflindi enters the Shack, knocking because he isn’t polite. As he enters the Sleeper, an impossibly old Elf in the remnants of a Wizard Robe, wakes up and takes notice of him. In that moment, the surrounding town Disappears, leaving only old ruins of was once a town. Biflindi apologizes for waking him and Asks two questions as the Elf rises up to leave the Shack. His name, and what happened here. He answers Elder Aenor, who confirms the town was nothing but his own memories. As to the Second question, “I’m sure you’ll think of something Biflindi”. No sooner are those words Spoken and both man and house turn to dust. Biflindi, checking his pockets, finds the Glass from the Special Snowflake with its masterful craftsmanship and intricate design still intact. So Biflindi makes a toast. With an empty glass, to a far emptier town, crying as he does so. Having collected himself. He rests, and plans to catch up to his companions in the morning. He dreams of the Town Snow Haven, and what he’ll tell Scheherazade when he sees her next. For he will think of something. So there’s that. Not sure if there’s any more about Biflindi that I haven’t already said. Hm...there’s how he showed up in another campaign....tried starting a Band with Automatons...but that’s another Story, for another time. Make of this what you will. Al, the Chronographing Cottager

[msblackriver]

Christmas

One time I saw a family at Starbucks and they seemed like so much fun I wondered what it would be like to go home with them and be a part of their family.  The feeling evokes Christmas no?  The idea of Christmas is bigger than Christmas itself.  Every year I find myself looking forward to the holiday.  It starts sometime in October or maybe November and then it starts with the all day Christmas music radio station.  You dismissed it because it was too early to get in the spirit but now it is time.  And you feel the spirit.  It’s like every Christmas movie, Christmas song and memory jam packed in a feeling and it is nostalgic.  Nostalgia the greek word nostos means return and algos means suffering.  “ So nostalgia is the suffering caused by an unappeased yearning to return.”  I always thought it made people feel happy and sad at the same time, nostalgia.  What a confusing feeling of conflicting emotions in the end the sadness overwhelms the feeling of joy because it is out of reach.  Our house on Blair my parents would have parties back then when it was a close knit community.  On Christmas we had friends sleep over some on the floor.  Letenkiel one of my mom’s best friends allowed us to open one of the gifts late at night.  It was wrapped in gift wrap and it was obvious it was a video cassette.  We tore open the wrap and it was “Home Alone.”  We watched it that night and it was the greatest movie we had ever seen.  Kevin Macalester outsmarted the bad guys and was living a kid’s dream.  He was our hero.  Every Christmas after that was a disappointment.  Always high expectations but low results.  And it’s just a day!  Nothing is sadder than the day after Christmas.  That is the most nothing day of the year, actually Christmas day isn’t even that great, Christmas Eve is where it’s at.  You look like a scrub because you were up all night and woke up around noon still feeing tired.  Everyone is sitting around the house and now we have to get ready to go to the next relatives house.  We watch “Home Alone”  every year since then “you’re such a disease Kevin!”  Our once hero is now a 8 year old child who is extremely cute.  His plots against his enemies are cartoonish and he grew up to look like a heroine addict.  But still we are taken back to a time “A lovely cheese pizza just for me.”  Everyone in his family was so mean to him “you’re what the french call les incompetent.”  Now a days I look for “Christmas” in people, in the vibe of the room.  It could be a smile or a show tune played at a coffee shop.  It is a christmas feel that captures you for a moment like a flashback for a soldier it is a glimpse into something inexplicable.  A feeling of warmth and joy to be shared.  People are nicer around that time of year, more willing to give a helping hand, more generous with their heart.  In Minnesota the ground is covered with snow.  Saint Paul looks like a illustration out of a picture book or a drawing on a greeting card.  People there are nicer around the holidays than people that live in California because in California with the warm weather and sunshine it’s easy to forget what time of year it is.  

My dad used to buy gifts for us and not buy gifts for our brother which made me feel bad for him like a form of survivor's guilt.  Even though I loved my tazmanian devil watch and never left home without it.  Putting it on was a constant reminder to my brother that he wasn’t good enough and that our father loved us more than him.  He didn’t say anything though it came out in other ways.  No one bought my brother gifts anyways after 14 or 15 because nobody liked him.  He was not a good person they decided and there was no hope for him.  They were not the bad people that put limits on a child that did not offer any guidance.  He was supposed to fix himself.  He did not get a watch or words of support spoken from someone older that was looking out for you.  He was on his own.  They gave us gifts to make him less important his punishment for not being happy with the bullshit they gave.  People like you if you are happy but some people are not happy and they shouldn’t be because they have a brain.  People don’t want you to question things that want you to be dumb and happy so that they can feel better around you.  

We used to go to our aunts house on the next day but one year she started acting strange like she didn’t want to come over.  They always came on Christmas Eve her piece of shit husband and our cousins.  But one year she had a problem with us, she said we talked bad about her brother and we did not understand it.  Our cousin her oldest son had planted the seed that we were bad mouthing our uncle.  Although everything that came out of our mouths wasn’t overwhelmingly positive about him.  I wasn’t sloppy enough to talk shit, I did not talk shit about him with my cousin.  I don’t know what happened to that boy he turned out ot be such a conniving liar.  What he did was he told us our uncle didn’t like us and that he was always talking shit about us and naturally we responded with words of disagreement and self defence.  It was so long ago that I don’t remember what was exactly said but clearly this was a “set up.”  We did not know he was like that.  If someone tells you “so and so said this about you” you might respond with a eye roll and some unkind words.  You don’t expect this to be used against you.  At the time my cousin and his father were heavily beefing with this uncle and I think this was a sad attempt to turn everyone against him and him against us.  It’s not like we were sitting around just shit talking casually.  “They are talking bad about my brother and I am not coming.”  My mom didn’t want to tell us what was going on.  My uncle ignored me when I got back to L.A. not returning my calls and when I did get a hold of him being shockingly rude and abrupt.  I said “hi how are you” and he mumbled “fine how are you” except I didn’t hear him and I said “huh”?  Then he repeated “I said I am fine how are you” he said it angrily with such hate in his voice.  The words didn’t match his tone, I had to end the conversation and get off the phone.  “ I just called to say hi, i’ll talk to you later.”  We weren’t worth an explanation.  No one talked to us about it they just believe whatever they were told and hated us for it.  They were too cowardly to confront us and that is not respectable.  People can hate you and you didn’t even do anything. They’re always quick to turn on you because they think you are a horrible person and they always did.  Quick to turn on you always on edge.  When my sister eventually called my aunt to talk to her about it she told her “we don’t talk bad about Amaniel” she quickly forgave her.  “I know you guys are not like that Lu’lii”  a term of endearment for my sister so all of that was for nothing?  

The next day we went to her house anyways even though she did not want us there.  This was my mom’s idea, I would of left her alone.  So we popped up and it was apparent that she was unhappy and did not want us there but she had to open the door for us.  She wasn’t even prepared for the Holiday, no food was prepared.  She quickly started chopping vegetables and boiling pasta and put together a quick chicken pesto pasta and salad.  She set it up on the countertop buffett style.  We went into the room with t.v. and ate she slowly eased up as the evening progressed.  She began laughing and talking like a normal Christmas.  My mom didn’t want to leave her sad and lonely on Christmas because that’s not the “Christian” thing to do.  On Christ’s holiday you were supposed to cheer people up and be the bigger person.  So that night we drank coffee and watched movies and we laughed like a family.  

[stonsthro]

When we last saw our heroine, she had just paid off her first home expansion to immediately request the first room addition to incur another 300 something thousands bells worth of debt.

Will she pay it off? Will she do it in a day? She honestly doesn’t remember so she’s gonna refer to a calendar and various strings of text messages, google hangout chats, and Instagram DMs to try to retrace the past 8 days of her ACNH life.

25 march 2020

It seems I failed to mention in my last post that my first new neighbor had arrived that day. His name is Boomer, and I met him on my first mystery island trip. We did not interact very much on that fateful first meeting, but I was on a mission (I believe to collect iron nuggets) and he is only an NPC with limited responses to limited interactions anyway.

Boomer is a funny little penguin. I also only found out yesterday that he’s a penguin. I thought he was just a non-descript bird. He likes bugs and snacks. He calls the bugs his friends, so I don’t think he eats them. He also really likes pear furniture and wooden simple beds. He has shared the wooden simple bed recipe with me twice already. If you need one, you know who to go to.

26 march 2020

Thursday. The second neighbor arrived that day. She is a pink panda named Pinky. She likes pink things. I don’t remember very much from this day. Neighbors aren’t worth much time the day that they first arrive to the island. They stay in their homes amidst stacked cardboard boxes sweeping away and never seeming to make any progress no matter how much time has passed from when you last checked in on them. Why is it important at all to greet them on their first day? These are questions I have asked myself. Do I have an answer now? Not really.

I’m pretty sure I mostly focused on paying off my debt this day. One of my friends shared a flower breeding efficiency guide, so this might have been the day that I started organizing my flower beds and got it in my head that I wanted to organize my fruit trees. I might be wrong about which day, but it definitely happened on some day.

AH. Whatsapp has reminded me that I actually didn’t do very much in this 24 hour period, because I spent most of my IRL night drinking. Oh to be human and feel alive.

27 march 2020

Friday. Friday Olive moved in. She is the last of the first 3 new island residents (where I suppose Stinky, Reneigh, and myself are all founding residents?). She’s a sweet little bear. She reminds me of either an older woman friend or an aunt or a best friend’s mom. A few days ago from today, she gave me a gift (I don’t remember now what it was, I probably sold it /: ) but she did say that she thought it was very kind and thoughtful of me to come and say hi to her on her first day on the island. So maybe that is worth something.. Although I’ve said hi to everyone on their first day and Olive was the only one to ever acknowledge it later…

I must have done quite a bit of island work, harvesting wood, crafting, selling fruit and furniture. And island hopping as well. This day I created a Google sheet pulling from multiple resources containing fish/bug information (seasons, times of day, and selling price), and a list of craftable recipes (how to obtain them, raw materials required, selling price). I was very tired of having all these tables that could not be easily sorted. I also made a calculator so you could quickly know how much the items in your pocket would return (not that you can’t trust Timmy and Tommy) or so you could quickly compare the value of say 10 non-native fruit versus a tadpole (spoiler alert, the tadpole isn’t it).

Quick note that might actually be helpful to some who aren’t as into this game as I am: A stack of non-native fruit will return 5000 bells. A stack of coconut, 2500 bells. A stack of your native fruit, only 1000 bells. Most bugs won’t return more than 1k, and fewer than half of the fish species will net you more than 2.5k. So know your valuable species and save your pocket slots for whatever’s gonna reap you the most return.

Spreadsheets are very helpful to me. I would one day like to make a craft recipe database that would let you know, based on what raw material you have on hand, which recipes would yield the highest return for material. I haven’t quite yet wrapped my mind around how I would do this (I think Notion would be the better tool for it, rather than Google Sheets), but I’m also hoping that maybe someone will do it before me. (And it’s exactly this attitude that keeps me from ever becoming an entrepreneur.)

I caught a koi this night! I only am able to remember which night is was because I took a little video! (Oh and I can actually share some images now because I set up a new twitter account exactly for this purpose.. I will be going back through previous posts to add a little imagery).

And I was hoping to find Celeste that night. I thought I saw a few shooting stars, but I didn’t know what to do about them. I had read an article a few days before this about Celeste giving a wand recipe and star fragments and wishing. But I didn’t commit the information to memory and also I hadn’t seen Celeste around anyway.

28 march 2020

Saturday Saturday.. I didn’t play as many hours as I was awake on Saturday.

IRL I had some errands to run that day. I got morning announcements and stayed busy while waiting for Nook’s Cranny to open.

Resident Services was closed this day for renovations. I was droppings bags of bells off in my house between trips to Nook’s Cranny. I didn’t do as much island exploring as I thought I might the day that RS wasn’t open for business. I had been wanting to try to land on tarantula island, but I just wasn’t up for flying.

29 march 2020

SUNDAY!

milestones: Resident Services opened in their brand spanking new building with actual walls. Isabelle is here, and from articles I’ve read online other players are very excited about that. I never played New Leaf (and definitely never got onto Pocket Camp), so I don’t know anything about her. But she is a welcome break from Tom Nook. Nothing against him, but you do get tired of certain character’s mannerisms, yes?

I had also read an article that misleadingly used a headline suggesting that Tom Nook is nicer in NH than in previous games. But the game creator said that Tom has always been a nice guy, and that the structure of this game perhaps just allows that to be more apparent now.

Daisy mae was at Stonsthro, and also at every other island that witch. I had not got around to selling my turnips from the week before so when I dug them up from my garden they were of course spoiled. I am not in desperate need to catching ants and flies, so I sneakily sold them to Timmy and Tommy (for probably zero bells, but still – they’re purported to not accept turnips, in any condition I would think, on Sundays).

The HHA gave me a rating of 30something thousand. And I think they also gave me kitchen furniture? In addition to my Nook Shopping packages I had a number of gifts in the mail. One was from Boomer, as a late island-warming gift or something like that. Even though he was the one to move here! (I’m so impressed with how much the game developers put into these characters.)

According to Whatsapp, this morning I still owed 54k to Nook for my 1st addition. I don’t know why I felt that was worthy of reporting to my group chat when 54k could easily be crafted and earned in mere minutes if the raw materials are already in storage.

AHH THIISS was the day that I actually organized my flower beds. I think on Thursday I just planted more flowers in a way that would be conducive to breeding, but I didn’t go full out and arrange the beds. Sunday I did exactly that and moved my outdoor workstation to make way for 3 flower beds – tulips, hyacinths, and windflowers. And I made moves with organizing my trees this day too. A little messy but still. Mostly I just carved a keep clear path to the entrance of Nook’s Cranny.

Sunday was an incredibly productive day on Stonsthro. All of this and with the RS open again, I scouted the area for our first incline (east side of the island, north of Boomer and Pinky’s houses) and paid it off.

I scouted the relocation of Reneigh’s house (FINALLY!) and paid that immediately (I think because I was required to…). She’s actually just north of the river from my house now. When I moved her house I did feel a little bit mean just uprooting her. But she was programmed to be on board with it. Even still, being aware that she likes to sleep in, I moved her to the west side of the island and because she seems to like her space she’s the only inhabitant in that area. Anyone who wants to come bother her will either have to cross a river or take a ladder down.

And the last milestone I covered this day was the placement for the campsite.

I think I did hop around this night hoping to land on tarantulas, but it didn’t happen. I hit a normal and the bell rock island. Normal island was a quick trip. I just knocked all the rocks mostly, fished each spot once, maybe twice, collected all the fruit and went back home. Bell rock island I spent a lot of time on actually. After knocking all the rocks I stayed and fished. The moat around the bell island spawns pond fish, probably because it doesn’t feed into the sea. I caught SO MUCH koi. And my boyfriend caught me on his IG stories absolutely geeking over my spreadsheet. (Koi banks 4000 bells a pop, so fuck all the dabs you might have caught on the beach.)

Oh but Sunday night! I did run into Celeste on Sunday night and I wished on SO MANY stars. More than 30, forsure. When talking to the neighbors that day, they were all going on about the meteor shower so I knew it was happening. Which makes me question why I thought I saw shooting stars on Saturday. Ohhhhhhh. I know. It’s because the game’s not so good with optical flow so when you’re running around the island, really bright stars dart around in the background instead of appearing still. That trips me up pretty often actually. I’ll be running and come to quick stop like a dog who’s just sighted a squirrel.

“I’m excited for tmrw! Bigger hours, reneigh will be in her new location instead of stupidly in front the of the museum, new ramp, and star fragments!” An actual text message I sent out to my group chat. Oh right. I paid off that 54k to Tom Nook and, of course, requested my 2nd addition.

30 march 2020

I have no idea what to do with my 2nd room. I don’t have enough items catalogued or recipes discovered to craft a proper bathroom or a proper kitchen. I don’t care to have a second bedroom. I don’t actually want to build a spa. I mean I do, but I kind of want an outdoor one (wah).

With the first infrastructure project done, the next was to build a bridge connecting the founder’s portion of the island to the most central part (which is also were I placed Nook’s Cranny). It’s the most frequently crossed portion of river for me, going back and forth between my house and the store to sell or buy (but mostly sell, amirite?).

Reneigh’s new place.. I love that it isn’t at the old place. The campsite.. is underwhelming. We didn’t have any visitors this day. But we did have Flick. Flick is very weirdly into bugs, but at least he knows that he’s weird about it? I didn’t catch a TON of bugs just because he was there, but also because bugs aren’t worth all that much to begin with so 1.5x on em is like eh. Pretty much I just caught bugs as I normally would and brought them to him instead of to the Cranny. I also gave him the tiger butterfly to create a … model? Statue? I wished it would have been the emperor butterfly instead but.. I just didn’t catch as many. I’d forget to save them and would sell them to him instead.

Well with the 2nd addition comes even more debt. It was 500somethingk this time around. I had absolutely no aspiration to pay this debt off quickly. Partially because I’d rather build more infrastructure on the island. Partially because I wouldn’t even know what to with whatever the next expansion is. Whether it’s more square feet or another room, it all needs more furniture to fill. So for now I’m just gonna buy new things every day so I can have the option to buy them again later. One thing that bums me out is that I wish that once you crafted something you have the option to just buy it for a marked up price later.

I did wood harvesting this day. Chopped and shook down all my trees. “Got stung 5 times, went through 4 axes, and shook 2 pieces of furniture out!” Around 8pm when that message went out. I crafted all that could be crafted and went to bed with my pockets full.

Oh! Worth mentioning: I collected something like 13 or 17 star fragments this day. I don’t even know what to do with all of that. I only have 2 wand recipes and both wands do the same thing -__- I ended up crafting just a bunch of bamboo wands. I wanted to give them away, to Reneigh and to Olive and maybe to Pinky. Reneigh was already asleep. Olive didn’t seem very impressed with the gift, but she did reciprocate and gave me a striped dress (that I really like, actually). But since she didn’t care much for it, I decided to sell the other wands instead of giving them to my neighbors. I think they go for a couple thousand bells, I can’t remember. I don’t regret it because at this point I don’t like Pinky all that much anyway.

31 march 2020

I fucked up this day. Straight up just fucked up.

IRL, I had a project deadline Tuesday morning that I honestly should have spent time working on Monday night to finish but if you’ve been reading you’ll know that I mostly was at Stonsthro catching some bees and chopping some trees, as Wilbur says.

So I didn’t have my usualmorning gameplay. Instead I was up at 6 and having a real work day straight through 3pm (which is honestly nice in these crazy times to have a feeling of things needing to get done). I also had some … let’s call it “exciting” IRL stuff go down, which on top of my work day left me just OVER IT.

I didn’t return to Stonsthro until 11pm. I didn’t realize how I fucked up until I came on and Isabelle started to read me the day’s announcements. THE ANNOUNCEMENTS AT 11PM. Nook’s Cranny, already closed! And my pockets still full from the night before. Not a single bell to be earned this day.

RS at least seems to be open 24 hours a day. I was able to give orders for the next infrastructure project, another incline just west of Olive’s house. I feel like naming the different areas of my island for easier reference.

And the campsite had a visitor. His name was Julian, he seems to be a little too woowoo, even for a unicorn. Maybe it’s ironic. At least I was able to talk to him and get him to stay at Stonsthro permanently, so the day wasn’t a total loss.

Because I’m not sure when this fits in, I’ll just drop this here: “My annoying neighbor horse is actually growing on me like she’s still a bitch but when’s all uhh I already talked to you today I’m like bye bitch and then she’s all :greetings: smize and I’m like okay grrl see you tmrw” And excuse my stupid texting, but it is true that I’m warming up to Reneigh. She doesn’t want me all up in her air, and she lets me know, and I respect that.

This one time I gave Reneigh this ugly ass pink Sherpa skirt because I didn’t want it and she has pink hair so idk. She said it isn’t really her thing, and gave me something in return. It was a basketball tank. Also not really my thing. I felt like we understood each other a little better after that.

1 april 2020

CHERRY BLOSSOMS!

This morning the island was undeniably PINK. What I love most about this is that I can now very very easily tell which trees are fruit bearing and which are not. Thank you, spring (:

Since I somewhat had organized my fruit trees already, the only ones that are unsorted are the native pears which just.. exist everywhere alongside the hardwood.

There are new bugs out too! Common bluebottle, peacock butterfly (am concurrently learning that this is not new to April, just new to the fact that I bred some blue hyacinths), locusts, water bugs. It was exciting to be in a new season because I was getting tired of the tiger butterflies and the paper kites. They’re still around but it’s nice to see something new.

I do have more to share about yesterday and about today. But it is 11:49pm right now and I think I’ve been at this since 8:30. Whyyyyyy?!??!?! Literally nobody is asking me to do this!

I don’t know I think it helps to feel like I have some kind of a grasp on where my days have been going.