#and i am saving them up like pennies so i can break the bank once i get sick of star wars
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itstimeforstarwars · 6 months ago
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Sometimes you are in the mood to try something new and so you watch one or two episodes and go "yes this is so good. I could get obsessed with this" and then you don't watch any more because you don't want to fall out of your current obsession.
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fanaticfangirl001 · 4 years ago
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Like Real People Do Ch 5: An Assassin, A Terrorist, A thief, and A Bird Walk Into Madripoor
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Taglist:
@p3nny4urth0ught5, @kissofvenom922
Ch 5:
Author’s note:
“I’m going to go in alone.” Bucky turns to Winnie and Sam.
“Why?” Sam asks.
“Bucky does have a better chance of getting answers.” Winnie adds.
“Also you’re an Avenger. You know how he feels about that.” Bucky says.
“It’s not like you two are known for frolicking in the sun together.”
“Zemo would be a good informant though, Sam.”
“He was obsessed with HYDRA. We have a history together. Trust me. I got it.” Bucky walks off to speak with Zemo.
Sam turns to Winnie “ Why aren’t you volunteering to go in with him?”
“I can’t, I doubt Zemo likes me much.” Winnie scoffs.
“Right, SHIELD.”
“Yeah.” Winnie nods hoping Sam drops it.
“So.” Sam changes the subject, “ You were kind of out of it when I mentioned Sharon.”
“I said then that I didn’t want to talk about it.”
“How about now?”
“Look, right before Shield fell I found some documents connecting the dots.I saved them to a flash drive and drove my ass home to the apartment Sharon and I shared. I tried to tell her, she got defensive, we got in a fight. She claimed I was a part of Hydra. I called her a bitch and left.” Winnie explains.
“That’s rough.”
“Yeah, I don’t see us working it out. “
“There’s always couple’s therapy.” Sam suggests with a laugh.
“Oh right, how’d that session go?”
“Got to stare into his baby blues.”
“Did that help?”
“No.”
“I could do better than that.”
“Oh I bet he’d like that.” Sam smirks.
“Not what I meant.” Winnie rolls her eyes.
“What are you talking about breaking Zemo out of jail? Where the hell are we Buck? Have you lost your mind?” Sam asks.
“That’s a fantastic idea, Buck.” Winnie says sarcastically.
“We have no leads, no moves, nothing.”
“What we have is one of the most dangerous men in the world behind bars.”
“That Bucky wants to let out of those bars.” Winnie sidesteps by Sam to avoid tripping.
“We also have eight super soldiers on the loose.”
“Shit, he’s gotta point, Sam.”
“Zemo is gonna mess with our minds. Especially yours.”
“He also probably doesn’t like me either.” Winnie adds rubbing the back of her neck.
“Offense, super soldiers go against everything he believes in. He is crazy but he still has a code.”
“How crazy?” Winnie asks.
“Bag of cats.” Sam answers.
“He blew up the UN, killed King T’chaka and framed you for it.” Sam continues.
“We don’t know how they’re getting the serum.”
Bucky says.
“We don’t even know how much serum is out there.” Winnie replies then adds “ Or who put it out there in the first place.”
“What did you do?” Sam asks.
“I didn’t do anything.” Bucky says calmly.
Winnie takes a deep breath and puts her hands on her guns. If Bucky did what she thinks he did, then it’s only a matter of time before shit gets real.
“The weakest point in any system is not the software, the hardware, it's the meatware.The human element…” Bucky continues.
Three seconds to draw, two seconds to fire, three seconds to draw two seconds to fire, Winnie thinks over and over.
“I don’t like how natural, you’re being about this, and where are we, man?”
More lights fill the area and a door opens.
“Woah Woah Woah, What are you doing here!”
“I didn’t want to tell you cause I knew you’d never let this happen.”
Winnie follows the two with a gun in hand.
“What did you do?”
“We need him, Sam.”
“You’re going back to prison.”
“If I may..” Zemo starts.
“No!” Both shout.
Winnie stands besides them with her gun pointed at Zemo.
“Apologies.”Zemo says softly then looks at Winnie.
“When Steve refused to sign the Sokovia Accords, you back him.” Bucky continues.
“I really think I’m invaluable.”
“Shut up.” Sam turns to Zemo.
“If we do this, you don’t make a move without our permission.” Sam says to Zemo.
“Fair.”
Zemo turns to Winnie and says “You’ve been very quiet. Penny for your thoughts.”
“Don’t let him mess with you.” Sam says as Winnie puts her gun back in the holster. “Okay, Zemo, where do we start.”
“So our first move is grand theft auto?”
“These are mine, collected by family over the generations.” Zemo starts collecting his things out of the cars.
“Nice wheels.” Winnie gestures to a vintage cadillac.
“So she speaks.”
“Leave her alone.” Bucky says.
“I ended the Winter Soldier program once before. I have no intention of leaving my work unfinished. To do this, we’ll have to scale a ladder of lowlifes.”
“Well, join the party. We’ve already started.”
“First stop is a woman named Selby.” Zemo says carrying his bags away. “Mid level fence I still have a line on. From there, we climb.”
Walking up to the private jet, “ So all this time you’ve been rich.” Sam asks.
“I’m a Baron, Sam.” Zemo says as the four climb on the jet, “ My family was royalty until your friends destroyed my country.”
Zemo drinks the champagne his butler serves him.
“It seems like you have me at a disadvantage. I don’t know your name, and if I had known such a treasure would be with those two idiots, I’d escape sooner.” He says to Winnie.
“She’s Winnie, she’s a hacker. That’s your introduction.” Bucky says gruffly.
“ A hacker...interesting.” Zemo sips at his champagne.
“Not really.”
“Oh no, it is. You’re not with an agency, I guess.”
“No.”
“No health insurance or dental, no pay check.”
“None of that.”
“Do you live in a house?”
“Yes.”
“With no income?”
“Yes.”
“Must have a wealthy family?
“No, I’m an orphan.”
“Then pray tell how you get paid.”
“Easy, like Buck said, I’m a hacker, To make money I hack into bank accounts of the rich and take very little in the grand scheme of things. One percent of the richest men in the world’s wealth.”
“Winnie.” Sam nudges her.
“It’s the truth.” Winnie adds. “Besides not like he needed it in prison.”
The conversation lulls to a deafening silence.
“Why don’t you tell us where we’re going?” Sam asks.
“Sorry I was just fascinated by this. I don’t know what to call it, but this part seems to be important. Who is Nakajima?”
Bucky jerks across and grabs Zemo by the throat.
“If you touch that again, I’ll kill you.”
Zemo nods understanding and Bucky sits back down.
“You okay, Buck.” Winnie asks.
Bucky nods.
“I’m sorry. I understand the list of names.People you’ve wronged as the Winter Soldier.”
“Don’t push it.”
“I’ve seen that book.” Sam adds. “It was Steve’s when he came out of the ice. I told him about Trouble Man. He wrote it in that book. Did you hear it? What’d you think?”
“I like ‘40s music, so...” Bucky answers.
“You didn’t like it.”
“I liked it.”
“It is a masterpiece, James. Complete. Comprehensive. It captures the African-American experience”
“He’s out of line, but he’s right.”
“Extremely right.” Winnie adds.
“Everyone likes Marvin Gaye.”
“I like Marvin Gaye.”
“Steve adored Marvin Gaye.”
“You must have really looked up to Steve.But I realized something when I met him. The danger with people like him, America’s super soldiers is that we put them on pedestals.”
“Watch your step, Zemo.”
Winnie watches Bucky, and nudges his leg with her foot. He nudges her foot back with a small smile.
“They become symbols. Icons. And then we start to forget about their flaws. From there cities fly, innocent people die. Movements are formed, wars are fought.”
“There is no avoiding war; it can only be postponed to the advantage of others.” Winnie quotes Machiavelli.
“Clever.” Zemo says then adds “ Do we want to live in a world full of people like the Red Skull? That is why we go to Madripoor.”
“What’s up with Madripoor? You talk about it like it’s Skull Island.”
“It’s an island nation in the Indonesian archipelago. It was a pirate sanctuary in the 1800s.”
“It’s kept it’s lawless ways.”
“Well let’s get the show on the road.” Winnie picks up her bag.
“We can’t exactly walk in as ourselves. James you will have to become someone you claim is gone.”
“We have to fix this.” I’m the only one who looks like a pimp.”
“Only an American would assume a fashion forward Black man looks like a pimp. You look exactly like the man you’re supposed to be playing. The sophisticated, charming, African rake named Conrad Mack, aka the Smiling Tiger.”
“Who am I?” Winnie asks. She dressed in a glittering short golden dress with black thigh high boots.
“A sugar baby.”
“Why am I the sugar baby?”
“It’s a role I thought you would be the most comfortable with.”
“Is this payback for stealing money from you.”
“No.”
“Oh well then Sam and I will be constantly vigilant. I have extra guns strapped to my thighs just in case.”
“The Smiling Tiger doesn’t have a sugar baby.”
“Then who am I..” Winnie’s face falls as she realizes who she’s paired up with on this mission.
“That.” Zemo points to her face,” is payback enough.”
“I don’t like you at all, but good play.” Winnie admits holding out her hand.
Zemo takes her hand and kisses it.
“Oh you don’t have to do that.” Winnie adds.
“No matter what happens we have to stay in character.”
The four of them climb into the car headed for Low Town.
Winnie stays close to Zemo looking around.
Zemo wraps an arm around her and whispers “Relax and fake like you’re meant to be here.”
“Right.” Winnie straightens her postures and twirls her hair between her fingers.
“We’re here.” Zemo then speaks to Bucky in russian: Ready to comply, Winter Soldier.
Once at the bar the bartender welcomes them “ Hello Gentleman, and lady, Wasn’t expecting you, Smiling Tiger.”
“His plans changed, we have to do business with Selby.”
“The usual?” The bartender suggests.
“Ah, Smiling Tiger, your favorite.” Zemo says.
Winnie puts a hand on Zemo’s shoulder and lightly squeezes it.
“I love these.” Sam takes the glass
“Cheers, Conrad.”
Sam takes the drink and swallows the snake organ.
A man comes up to Zemo and Winnie lets go of his arm. Zemo wraps his arm around her.
“I got word from on high. You ain’t welcome here.”
“I have no business with the Power Broker, but if he insists, he can either come and talk to me…”
“New haircut.” The man nods towards Bucky.
“Or bring Selby for a chat.”
“Power broker, really.”
“Every kingdom needs its king. Let’s just stay under his radar.”
“Do you know him?”
“Only by reputation. In Madripoor he is judge, jury, and executioner.” Zemo begins walking to the middle of the room speaking Russian to Bucky.
‘ Oh no, Winnie thinks, it’s showtime.’
Bucky attacks the man standing beside Zemo. People begin recording. Multiple men are attacked until a gun is cocked.
“Didn’t take much for him to fall back into form.”
“You’re undoing so much therapy.” Winnie adds softly.
“Keep in character or the whole bar turns against us.” Zemo adds softly before ending Bucky’s commands.
“Selby will see you now.” The bartender says.
“You good?” Sam asks.
Bucky doesn’t answer, just walks off.
The four go up the stairs.
“You should know, Baron.” Selby says “ People don’t just come into my bar and make demands.”
“Not a demand, an offer.”
“A lot has changed since you were here last.By the way I thought you were rotting away in a German prison. How did you escape?”
“People like us always find a way, don’t we. I’m sure you’ve already figured out what I’m here for.”
“You’re taller than I’d heard, Smiling Tiger.”She purs, “ What’s the offer?”
“Tell us what you know about the super soldier serum. And I give you him.” Zemo touches Bucky’s face. “Along with the code words to control him, of course.He will do anything you want.”
“Now that’s the Zemo I remember.”
“I’m glad I decided not to kill you immediately. It’d be a bad date for the pretty thing on your arm. You were right to come to me. Arrogant but right. The super soldier serum is here in Madripoor. Dr. Wilfred Nagel is the man you want to thank. Or condemn, depending on what side of this you’re on. The Power Broker had him working on the serum but things didn’t go as planned.”
“Is Nagel still in Madripoor?”
“Oh the bread crumbs you can have for free, but the bakery is gonna cost you, Baron. And before you get all cute. Don’t think you can find Nagel without me.”
Sam’s cell phone buzzes.
“Answer it.”
Winnie stands with her hands by her side ready to grab her guns.
“On speaker.”
“Hello.”
“Hey, um we need to talk about this situation. It’s been driving me, nuts.”
“What situation exactly are you talkin’ about?”
“Are you high? You know what situation, it’s the only situation me and you have.”
“What situation, Sarah? Say it.”
“The damn boat. And watch your tone. Okay? I let you slide at the bank.”
“The bank, yeah.” Sam scoffs. “Laundered so much… Yeah they’ll come around.”
“If that was the case, then why’d they dog you out, Big time.”
“Yeah you damn right I’m Big Time. You’ll see when I have that banker killed.”
“Cass! What’d I tell you about the Cheerios! I don’t have time for this! Sam I’m sorry let me call you back.”
“Sam? Who’s Sam? Kill them.”
The window breaks and Selby falls shot in the chest.
Bucky and Sam fight the two guards with Bucky grabbing the gun. Winnie follows Zemo to the door.
“They’re going to pin this on us.”
“We have a real problem now, so leave your weapons and follow my lead.”
As they walk out, phone’s all over the island begin buzzing with a bounty on the four of them.
“This is not good.”
“Obviously not good.” Winnie says
A man with a large gun begins shooting at the four, Sam and Bucky go in one direction, Zemo and Winnie in the other.
Winnie begins to notice the pattern of the sniper killing all those who want us dead. It reminds her of the cover she had on missions with Sharon. Winnie and Zemo keep going until they meet up with Sam and Bucky.
“We seem to have a guardian angel.”
“Well this is too perfect.” A woman says walking out of the shadows. “ Drop it Zemo.” She has him at gunpoint.
“Sharon.” Bucky says
“You cost me everything.” Sharon takes a step towards Zemo.
“Sharon wait, someone recreated the super soldier serum and Zemo had a lead.” Sam explains.
“That explains why you guys are here. And Selby’s dead.”
“Then what are you doing here?”
“I stole Steve’s shield, remember? I also took the wings for your ass to save his ass, from his ass. I didn’t have the avengers to back me up. So I’m off the grid in Madripoor.”
Winnie clears her throat,” Sharon.”
“Winnie.”
“Don’t blow smoke, I was on the run too.”
“Was, is, big difference. I don’t speak to my family anymore. I can’t.”
“Listen Sharon we need your help.” Bucky asks.
“No we don’t.” Winnie argues.
Sharon laughs.
“Please.” Bucky tries again.
“Bucky.” Winnie interjects.
“Winnie, we need her help. You two can get over it.” Bucky turns to Winnie.
“I have a place in High Town, You’ll be safe there.”
“Looks like breaking all those laws is treating you well.”
“I thought if I had to hustle, I might as well enjoy the life of a real hustler. You know how much I can get for a real Monet.”
“You never liked art before.” Winnie mentions crossing her arms.
“Deactivate your hustle mode. You sell fake Monets.”
“No, she means real. This gallery specializes in stolen artwork. Monet. Van Gogh. Classics.”
Winnie stops by one painting, and Sharon stands beside her.
“The Beach in Pourville, it was your favorite, right.” Sharon points out.
“Yeah, I didn’t think you were listening, when I spoke about it while experimenting.”
“You said that if you could jump into any painting like Mary Poppins, you’d choose this one. So you could lay on the beach after jumping in the waves and watch the sun set.”
“I know what I said.”
“Have you?”
“Do I look like I’ve been to any beaches?”
“There’s a beach on High Town. You could stay.”
“I can’t leave Buck and Sam.”
“You call him Buck.”
“Yeah.”
“It’s nice,” Sharon turns to the group away from Winnie “ You guys need to change I’m hosting clients in an hour.”
Winnie changes into the gown that Sharon picked for her. Albeit not as sparkly as the one Zemo picked out. It was nice and understated. A short lilac halter dress with a black belt paired with her same thigh high black boots, Zemo had picked out.
Sharon opens the door.
“Sure, Sharon, you can come right in.” Winnie puts on the pearl earrings Sharon picked out.
“You look great.”
“Thanks.”
“You were right.”
“About.”
“Everything, shield, the government, being pessimistic. I didn’t believe you, and then I stole the shield and after being on the run I realized I was wrong the whole time. I shouldn’t have called you a hydra agent, especially after everything you did for Shield and the inventions.”
“The rocket boots work.”
“Course, they did, you made them.”
“You think apologizing after more than seven years is going to fix everything.”
“No, because I know you, and you hold grudges like no one else I know. But it’s a start to not hating me.”
Winnie sighs, “I don’t hate you, that’s too strong of a word but another start would be helping us a little more.”
“I thought you didn’t need my help.”
“Buck was right. Any other information you have is going to help us.”
“ Speaking of Bucky, what is your deal?”
“Deal?”
“Yeah are you two friends or more, because I…” Sharon starts but gets interrupted.
“Don’t.” Winnie says sharply.
“Oh.” Sharon smiles.
“Not like that. It’s just, you remember when we’d go out together, and I’d flirt with a guy and then they’d ask me for your number.”
“You don’t want that to happen to Bucky.”
“I plead the fifth.”
“Noted. Just uh he might have heart palpitations when he sees you in this dress.”
“Sharon, go check on the guys.”
Sharon walks in the room as Sam’s changing shirts.
“Much better.”
“What’s going on Sharon? You don’t ever wanna come back home?”
“They’ll lock me up if I step foot back in the States.”
“Madripoor doesn’t allow extradition.”
“Look I’m sorry I didn’t call. But after the blip and the chaos. I just..”
“Look you know the hero thing is a joke, right. The way you gave up that shield.deep down, you must know it's all hypocrisy.”
“He knows. And not so deep down.”
“By the way how is the new Cap?” Sharon asks.
“Don’t get me started.” Bucky answers.
“I punched him in the face.” Winnie enters the room in her new dress.
“You look nice.” Bucky looks away from Winnie.
“Thanks.” Winnie sits on the other couch by Zemo.
“Please you buy into all that stars and stripes bullshit. Before you were his pet psychopath, you were Mr.America! Cap’s best friend.” Sharon sits down by Bucky.
“Wow, she’s kind of awful now.”
“Karli Morgenthau and at least seven others have taken the serum.” Sam starts.
Winnie looks down at her phone tracking the shield and John just to see that they are still in Germany.
“You guys really should steer clear of all this for your own safety. Winnie, seriously, you can and should stay here with me. You know all about art and I can get you drawing again, or inventing. Plenty of people would pay big money for rocket boots, or taser whips, boomerang daggers.”
“I can’t.”
“We know it’s a risk, but we won’t leave until we find the person that cracked the code.”
“We got a name, Wilfred Nagel.”
“Nagel works for the Power Broker.”
“We need your help Sharon, I can get your name cleared.”
“You haggling with my life?”
“Not like that.”
“I don’t buy that.”
“You pretending like you can clear my name.”
“Okay maybe it is hypocrisy. Maybe you’re right. What happened to you. But I’m willing to try if you are. They cleared the bionic staring machine, and he killed almost everybody he’s met.”
Sharon looks at Bucky, he’s glaring at Zemo, who’s talking to Winnie about art.
“You draw and paint?” Zemo asks.
“I did, when I had the stuff or the time.” Winnie shrugs and pulls out her tattered sketchbook with pages falling out. She opens it flipping through a few landscapes and portraits of people she saw at coffee shops.
“You stole money from a billionaire and you didn’t steal enough for art supplies.” Zemo questions.
“I only stole money from you for rent, groceries and to sponsor a few Sokovian families.” Winnie explains. “ I make a tight budget and stick to it.”
“You.. what?” Zemo looks surprised.
“I sponsored a few Sokovian families to emigrate to the United States. It was anonymous so I don’t know where they ended up.”
“I heard that.” Bucky adds to Sharon.
“I don’t trust charity.”
“All right, a deal then.”
“You help us out, and I get your name cleared.”
Sharon shakes his hand.
“Well I sell to some well connected people. Lay low, blend in, enjoy the party. Try to stay out of trouble. I’ll see what I can find.”
“Trouble.”
Loud electronic music plays. People are everywhere, dancing with everyone. Winnie feels a little out of place.
“A part to play,again.” Zemo says from behind her. “Relax, your friend said to have fun.”
“Ex-friend, and secondly parties like this aren’t fun for me. I’d rather be..” She’s interrupted by Zemo.
“You’d rather be in some greasy spoon hole in the wall diner with James, sharing a milkshake.”
“Malts, and second why do you think this?”
“On the plane when after James choked me, you asked if he was okay.”
“Friends do that.”
“Again on the plane when I made James uncomfortable, you kicked his leg.”
“Yeah, checking up on him without asking if he’s okay. “
“ He stares at you when you aren’t looking.”
“He stares at everyone.”
“When he stares at you though, his features soften.”
“And.”
“Also when we were talking about art, he was glaring at me.”
“He doesn’t like you much anyway. He has reason to glare at you that doesn’t have to do with me.”
“I’m just saying if you two both feel the same way, why wait? No one is guaranteed time on this earth.”
“You’re ridiculous. Also you might want to change your pin code. Your dead wife’s birthday isn’t a secure code.” Winnie walks off from Zemo.
Winnie finds Bucky by himself on the outskirts of the dance floor.
“Need a breather.”
“Yeah.”
“Winnie, stay away from Zemo. He plays mind games”
“I can handle myself. We were talking about you.”
“That’s another reason why you should stay away from him.”
“He said you like me cause you stare at me, but..”
“I gotta find Sam.” Bucky walks off to find Sam.
The moment Bucky is out of sight Zemo walks back to her.
“Did you get the answer?” He asks.
“Yeah, I did. Not the one I wanted” Winnie nods then says “ Let’s dance, Zem.”
Bucky looks around and finds Sam.
“Winnie knows.” Bucky says nervously to Sam.
“She’s a genius and a hacker. What specifically does she know?”
“She knows that I..” Bucky trails off when Sharon arrives.
“Don’t let me interrupt this.” She says. “ Winnie knows that you..”
“I’m fond of her being around.” Bucky finishes.
“That was a secret?” Sam asks.
“Yes, did you know?”
“Of course I knew. The real question is does she like you?” Sam looks towards Sharon.
“I’m not violating Winnie’s trust. She just stopped hating me. I also found him.”
“Okay Bucky, let’s put in a pin in your love life problem for now, and let’s get this guy. Here we go.”
Sharon signals Winnie and Zemo and they follow the three out of the party.
“Madripoor can give New York a run for its money.”
“They know how to party.”
“You’re not a bad dancer, Zem.”
“Neither are you Win.”
“With that bounty on your head, the longer you’re in Madripoor, the less likely you’re ever leaving. All right. He’s in there. Container four-two-six-one. I’ll keep an eye out while you guys talk to Nagel.”
“Need help out here.” Winnie offers.
“No I got it.” Sharon insists.
Winnie follows the three guys inside putting in her ear piece.
“Completely empty.”
“I’m positive it has to be.”
Walking around on the inside with a flashlight Zemo pushes in the false wall. Music is playing softly.
“Mel Torme, good taste.” Winnie whispers.
“Agreed.” Zemo motions for Bucky and Sam to go forward with the guns.
Winnie pulls out her guns, ready for anything and follows walking through the makeshift lab.She listens out for any signs of struggle from Sharon outside.
Zemo stops the record.
“Dr.Nagel?”
“Who are you? What do you want?”
“We know you created the super soldier serum.”
“Get out of my lab.”
“Hey. You know who he is right.This is Baron Zemo.I know you've heard of him too. You seem like a pretty smart guy. So you better become conversational real quick.”
“How about a counter proposal? Make me a better offer and I’ll talk.”
Winnie looks around at the chemicals and the serum making process. It would take years to make sense of this.
“Guys we have company.” Sharon says from the ear pieces. “Every bounty hunter in the city is here we gotta go.”
Bucky grabs the doctor and puts him in a chair with a gun in his face. He fires the gun near him.
“Okay.I was brought into Hydra’s Winter Soldier program to pick up their work after the five failed test subjects in Siberia. When Hydra fell I was recruited by the CIA. They had blood samples from an American test subject, with semi-stable traces of serum in his system.After much labor, I was able to isolate the necessary components in his blood. I was a god. I did what no other scientist since Erskine was able to do. But mine was going to be different. No clunky machines or jacked up bodies. Mine was going to be subtle, optimized. Perfect.”
“How have we never heard about this?”
“Because before I was able to complete my work. I turned to dust.Then when I returned, it was five years later,the program had been abandoned, so I came here. THe Power Broker was more than happy to fund the recreation of my work.”
“How many vials did you make?”
“Twenty.”
“Karli Morgenthau stole those, so I can only imagine what the Power Broker has planned for that poor girl.”
“Where’s Karli now?”
“I don’t know where she is. But a couple of days ago she called and asked if I could help someone named Donya Madani. Poor woman has tuberculosis. Typical of overpopulation in displacement camps like that.”
“Well, what happened to her?”
“Not my pig, not my farm.”
“Is there any serum in this lab?”
“No.”
“Now what?”
“Guys we’re seriously outta time here.”
Zemo shots the doctor.
“No!”
A large explosion throws the five on the other side of the lab.
Bucky, Sam, Winnie, and Sharon on one side with Zemo on the other.
“Anybody see Zemo?” Sam asks.
“Let’s go.” Bucky pulls Winnie and Sharon up.
“Alright wait for my signal.”
Gunfire breaks out.
Sam goes early.
“Damnit.” Bucky says running after providing cover for Sam.
“You know the drill, right Winnie.” Sharon says.
“Yeah yeah, go.”
Sharon and Winnie run and fall into their old routine, as though it’s been no time since they were partners. The four find cover and keep shooting.
“And you like living here?”
“It’s not terrible.”
“It’s pretty terrible, Sharon.”
“I thought you were going left.”
“You went the wrong way.”
“I was clearing the way.”
“Do they always fight like this?” Sharon asks.
“Pretty much.” Winnie answers.
“I came out first. You had to follow me.”
“And where are we now!”
“Guys, Not the time!”
“I’m out.”
“This is a barricade.”
“It’s in every action movie.”
“Might have some more in my backpack.” Winnie tells Sharon.
“You carry ammunition in a Jansport.”
“I didn’t judge you in your home with the off season prada purse you were carrying.”
The four look up and see Zemo with a purple mask sniping the way clear.
“Go.” Bucky taps Winnie and Sharon
They grab each other and run.
Bucky and Sam follow into a shipping container.
A car screeches to halt with Zemo in it,
“Supercharged.”
“You’re going back to jail.”
“Do you want to find Karli or not?”
“He’s right, we need him.”
“There’s three of us and at least twenty of them.”
“Fine but if you try that shit again…”
“I wouldn’t dream of it.”
“Well that was one hell of a reunion.”
The four get in the car.
“Come back to the states with us.”
“I can’t. Just get me the pardon you promised me. And here.” Sharon gives Winnie back the flash drive with all the hydra information on it.
“Thanks.”
“You’re not gonna move your seat up, are you.”
“No.”
On board the private jet Sam calls Joaquin about Donya Madani.
“Oh ask him about the secret Winnie project.”
“Sure.”
“Do you have information on some secret Winnie project?”
“Yeah yeah it’s a bad name, she’ll work on it. Nothing, yet, okay more importantly is Donya Madani.”
Winnie looks down at her phone tracking John with earbuds in listening to his conversations.
“You okay?” Bucky asks seeing Sam flop down into a chair.
“Yeah. Just thinking about all the shit Sharon had to go through, and Nagel referring to the American test subject like Isaiah wasn’t even a real person. Just makes me wonder how many people have to get steamrolled to make way for this hunk of metal.”
“Well it depends on who you ask. That hunk of metal saved a lot of lives.”
“Yeah I get that. All right. Maybe I made a mistake.”
“You did.”
“Yeah.”
“Maybe I shouldn’t have put it in a museum. I should have destroyed it. “
“Look that shield represents a lotta things to a lotta people, including me. The world is upside down, and we need a new Cap. and it aint gonna be Walker. So before you destroy it, I’ll take it from him myself.”
Joaquin calls Sam back and Zemo comes back with plates of food.
He gestures towards Winnie and says to Bucky“ Can she hear us?”
“No, she’s in survelliance mode. Put a tracker on the new Cap.”
“Smart.”
“Surprised she hasn’t put one on you.”
“Winnie is quite special, isn’t she?”
“Whatever you're thinking about saying or doing, don’t.”
“Oh I have no interest in her. Besides a financial one.”
“You want her to hack on your behalf, not gonna happen.”
“No, she’s an artist.”
“You want to pay her to draw and paint.”
“Yes, she’s very talented. She showed me her sketchbook, you’ve seen it haven’t you?”
“No.”
“Hm, interesting.”
“Stop.”
“They found Madani. Dead. She died in Riga, a city near the Baltic Sea.”
“I have a place we can go.” Zemo says. “I for one am looking forward to coming face to face with Karli. Oeznik we’re changing course.”
“Walker knows you two broke out Zemo.” Winnie says taking out her earbuds. “ He’s also not too concerned with his rules of engagement.”
Walking down the streets of Riga, Latvia, Zemo begins talking. Winnie looks at the small buildings lining the street, it looks like painting by the sea.
“I don’t suppose any of you bothered visiting the memorial, at least the thief donated.” Zemo gestures to Winnie.
Zemo stops at a large building, “We are here.”
“I’m gonna go on a walk.” Bucky says.
“You good?”
“Yeah.”
“Be careful.” Winnie adds.
“Always am.” Bucky nods.
Once Zemo and Sam are inside Winnie follows them.
Sam turns towards Winnie with a smile.
“What?”
“Be careful.” Sam mimics her.
“Not you too.”
“No it’s cute. It’s adorable actually. That you have no clue.” Sam says.
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dorevenge · 4 years ago
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where ignorance is bliss - chapter 3: a young fellow
SUMMARY: Obadiah is back from Washington and surprises Maria with a belated birthday trip abroad. [AO3 LINK]
CHAPTERS: 1 2 [3] 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 ☆
November 16, 1959 – Bronx, New York, Obadiah’s Apartment
“Surprise, darling! Happy belated birthday.”
The door swings open, the jangle of keys alarming me, and I run to put his engagement ring back on, tossing the dirty apron back in the hamper. I greet him at the door, with a perfect smile, the image of everything he would want from me. I put the thick folder in the back of my mind, trying not to think about the bookshelf I shoved it behind.
Obie takes me into his arms. My face barely comes up to his collarbones. It was normally a sensation I craved after a long, stressful day, but when the person holding me is the source of my stress, the effect is not the same.
He takes a step back and takes my face into his weathered hands, his cold, tired eyes peering into mine. I try to keep eye contact and return the peaceful gaze. The pressure gets to me, so I reach up and pull his head towards mine.
We haven’t kissed in three months, and it’s almost like we’ve forgotten how. At least, I had forgotten how to enjoy it. His lips feel foreign between mine, like a stranger’s. Like someone I couldn’t trust.
When we break apart, his smile is as wide as his head. “I’ll take that as you missed me,” he says. “I got something for you.” He reaches down to the paper bags he had set at his feet when he arrived. He pulls out an envelope and two small, wrapped packages.
Obie leads me to the couch in the living room and sits me down, pushing the envelope in my hands first. He sits beside me, eager for me to open my gifts.
“Already? I didn’t even get to ask you how your flight was yet.” The envelope felt heavy with unknowing in my hands.
“My flight was uneventful. Please…” He gestures impatiently towards the gift in my lap.
I open the envelope gently. Inside, is a simple card, lilac with the words “Happy Birthday” written in a cursive script on the wrong. From within the card, two tickets fall into my lap.
“We’re going to Monaco?”
“Surprise again! I thought it would be a nice break from New York, get away before the holidays. And I feel terrible for leaving you alone for so long right after our engagement. From here on out, I will be an attentive partner to you.” His joy is so thickly spread across his face, it’s all I can do to smile in return and stare down at the tickets in my hands.
“Thank you, Obie, I-”
“You hate it.”
“No, love, I love it, and I love you,” I’m fumbling for my words, and I hope he doesn’t notice. “I’m just tired. It’s hard sleeping alone, and I’m still surprised that you’re here, let alone going taking a trip with you… Tomorrow?” I read the date on the tickets.
“Why wait? Then we can be back in time for Thanksgiving with your parents.” He kisses me on the forehead, content with my reaction, and stands. “I’m going to unpack my clothes from DC, then start repacking.”
-
November 20, 1959 – Monaco, France, The Hellfire Club
Obadiah was not a betting man, but he seemed at home at the Hellfire Club & Casino like a Protestant in church. He “enjoyed the company of the machines that controlled men’s fates,” but I imagine he enjoyed thinking he had more willpower than the men who squandered their paychecks and had to return home to their wives with their head between their tails, lying about the state of their finances.
It turns out he had business in Monaco, and surprising me with a late birthday trip seemed easier than leaving me for work again. I was left to my own devices again, but this time it was in a foreign country. I had studied abroad in France my junior year of college, so it wasn’t like I couldn’t talk to anyone here, but rather I have no desire to even leave the room.
Obie would meet me back at the hotel room at night, and we would often play a game of chess before bed. Playing chess with him was one of the best ways to pass the time. It keeps him quiet from rambling on about things I couldn’t give a rat’s ass about, details about materials and manufacturing and marketing. I did the accounting for Stane International, as that’s what I had studied in school, and as long as the numbers added up, I was content. And for every chess game I won, Obie paid me what we had bet, fueling my addiction to the finer things in life. I purchased more purses and linens and dresses and shoes than I would care to admit, but as long as the numbers added up – and as long as I hid the packages at Peggy’s – he didn’t complain.
The Hellfire Club is unusually classy for Obie’s taste; I’ve already started to resent his cheapness and penny-pinching, and we hadn’t even set a wedding date yet. I should have noticed that sooner. Here, gold decorates every pillar and billiard ball, marble fountains and silver pens, a gratuitous buffet and generous décor around every corner. Whoever the owner is has taste and luxury in excess. I am a girl with champagne taste engaged to a cheapskate.
Obadiah had spent the last four days in meetings from sunrise to sunset, and I am bored out of my mind. I have no interest in day-drinking, I’ve already read every book the front desk has to offer, and the pictures playing down the block don’t spark my curiosity. I feel like a tiger pacing its cage in a zoo, and I am ready to pounce.
Touching up my red lip and pinned curls, I leave the room and exit the elevator. I feel the turn of men’s heads like a gravitational pull, the clack of my heels leading the charge, and I’m embarrassed to admit how much I miss that attention. I know how this dress fits, I know how the color complements me; just because I’m an educated woman doesn’t mean I’m not a human one.
I have hours to kill before Obie will direct his attention to me again, so I stride right into the room full of betting games and tables. I pause in the doorway, taking in the sight – and cigar smoke – of men shuffling cards and chips like it means something, until I recognize one of the tables.
I had learned baccarat in my time in France, and despite never fully grasping the French language, I played their game very well. Like all of the casino’s games, the house has the edge, but my host family had taught me their tricks, and I could keep track of the location of every card once I saw it. This casino plays the punto banco style, which is where I excelled.
The first three hours, I did very well. I did so well that the waitstaff came to watch over my shoulder to assure I wasn’t cheating. I had almost doubled Obie’s entire investment portfolio, at least the one I had access to, using his information to start the hand but relying on my winnings to keep me afloat. But after three hours, I got – as I often do these days – bored. Keeping track of the calculations of the face value no longer keeps me entertained. So I start losing. Maximum bets net maximum losses.
I don’t know why I find so much joy in draining Obie’s savings, linked to the banking information from his hotel reservation. I don’t hate the man, but I don’t think I could ever love him. He has done nothing cruel to me, nothing unjust, or even unkind – but I don’t think he loves me either. I am comfortable and convenient; I straighten his ties and predict his chess moves and shake the hands of men he so desperately wants to impress. When you come from money, you learn to smell desperation a mile away, and Obadiah reeks of it. Every privileged man he meets can smell it, too, and until he can mask it, Stane International won’t become that international.
He’s just so boring. He fixates on the most minute details of his plans, his inventions take priority, and I think if I hurt him here, he would finally pay more attention to me than his baubles.
The chip pile, once mountainous, dwindles, replenishing when I transfer more funds, then drain once again. The staff look at me puzzled, wondering what happened to my blaze of glory, and I ask myself the same question as I feel myself go robotic and glassy-eyed. Twisting the probability on its head, I play the moves in the house’s favor, leaving nothing behind but a tray full of cigarette ash and empty champagne classes.
It dawns on me that this game of baccarat reflected Obie’s and my relationship. I feed his ego, his business deals, and checkbooks, and what did I have to show for it? A cheap steel ring, a prolonged engagement with no date in sight, and still living in my childhood bedroom with my parents in Southampton.
As I drain my last glass, several tall men in nice suits approach me, stern looks on their faces. I straighten in my seat.
“Ms. Carbonell?” one of them asks to confirm my identity in an American accent.
“Is there a problem?”
“You’ve attracted our attention with your gameplay. What are your intentions here at the Hellfire Club?”
I blink at the empty glass in my hand, just a hint of the red wine remaining on the bottom swirling at its base. “To win.”
“Looks like you’re not doing much of that now.”
“Winning got boring,” I shrug.
“Please come with us, Ms. Carbonell.”
“I’d rather stay here and keep losing.”
One of the men places a hand on my shoulder. “You’ll come with us now. The owner of the Roxxon Corporation would like to speak to you.” I’m suddenly on my feet.
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boogiewrites · 5 years ago
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A Shelby in Margate
Characters: Alfie Solomons x Shelby Sister (OFC), Tommy Shelby
Summary: Penny Shelby has only wanted one thing, to not be a Shelby.  Perhaps the man she’s loved from afar can help her with that.
Warnings/Tags: Angst and Fluff. CONTAINS SEASON 5 SPOILERS.
Click on my icon then go to my Mobile Masterlist in my bio for my other works and chapters. (Had to do this since Tumblr killed links, sorry.) Please like, comment and reblog if you enjoyed it! It helps out us writers A LOT!
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A Shelby sister is something no one asks to be, and certainly something no one really wants. Especially when the relationship to a very bold and brash man named Tommy Shelby causes such grief in your life that you give up on finding a happiness that most women expect out of life and you move forward with the form of Scarlet Letter on your face that being Shelby lends.
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Penelope or Penny Shelby was as crude and difficult as the rest of her siblings. Born after Tommy and before Ada, her darling sass of a little sister that she took great pride in helping raise. With the Romani blood running fiercely in her veins just like her Aunt Polly, before Tommy was a household name in Birmingham she could’ve gotten away with saying she wasn’t a Shelby at all due to the dark complexion she held. Olive skin set her apart and caused her enough trouble from the prejudice of the travelers and Irish alike she came from. She held that same icy blue eyes of her older brother, and hair as black as the coal from the fires they grew up with. A smattering of freckles across her nose and cheeks like her mother and a glare that could cause a grown man to tremble like her closest Aunt Polly.
Despite her strong exterior, the pain and turmoil of her life, mostly derived from her older brothers had left her soft and weary on the inside. She drank to cope, as did they all. She didn’t turn to the drugs, as if Tommy would’ve ever let her hear the end of it. She had been stronger, both inside and out only a few years prior. The final blow leaving her gaunt and haunted was the loss of a man she had thought of as her own, even if he never had been in any formal sense. Oh, how she’d loved him. His ability to outsmart her seemingly unstoppable brother, his smart mouth and intimidating physique. He was unlike anything she’d ever experienced and found herself enamored with the only slightly older man who she saw as her escape from forever being known as a Shelby.
There were few names as infamous as Solomons, and she knew that name would be her ticket out of the shadow of her brother. Unfortunately, Alfie was a bit more hesitant than she. Not that she wasn’t a lovely little bird, reminding him of some forest nymph from a fairy tale his mother would’ve told him as child with her haunting eyes and a smile so out of place with its genuine affection for him among a clan of troublesome Shelby’s it made his chest stir in a way he feared. She had proven herself loyal to him, little hints she knew he was clever enough to catch in the fleeting moments alone they shared. He knew she fancied him, lingering touches of her hand to his as she spoke softly and quietly. Eye contact that never wavered and that bloody smile she only had for him. It wasn’t until an encounter that her brother didn’t know about to this day, that he finally knew her intention.
“Penny, love? What are you doing here?”
“Saving your stubborn arse.” she chokes out, hands shaking with the heavy pistol between them, still smoking from the bullet just gone through the Italians head that was about the draw on him.
“Does your brother know you-”
“Fuck Tommy!” the tears finally break in her eyes and begin their descent down her cheeks. She lowers the gun and lays it on a crate beside her, slumping onto a hip height box with the exhaustion shown on her face. “He’s the reason John’s dead. The reason why these fucking wops are after us. And now YOU. I can’t lose anyone else.”
“There there, pet.” he says pushing the gun away and not knowing what to do except take her hand.
“I came to tell you they were coming for you. I overheard it. I couldn’t let them kill you, Alfie, I can’t lose you too.” she begins to sob, something he never thought a Shebly was capable of at that point. Grabbing his shirt she pushes herself into his arms.
“Lose me?”
“Alfie you’re too clever to not know how I feel about you.” she shakes her head and doesn’t meet his eyes.
“I had…suspected.” he pauses, his gut hurting for the poor lass. “But your brother.”
“I said FUCK TOMMY SHELBY! I never asked for this! I don’t want to BE a Shelby! I’m done. Finished. I can’t take life in his shadow.”
“Penny…love…” he says softly, “I”m leavin’ ya know. Retirin’. I’m finished with this life, I know they’re comin’ for us all. And I’m takin’ my gains and I’m gone.”
“Where?”
“That’s no concern for you. The less you know the better.”
“Take me with you.”
“That would be the end of me.” he lets out an amusing sound, almost a laugh.
“Alfie. I’ve admired you from afar for so long. It feels almost childish to think of you as my own when we’ve never even discussed it. We’ve barely been allowed time alone. But I feel something so strongly for you. It must be love.”
“You are not a child at all. And I’ve known by the way that bloody smile takes me out at my knees like a steel pipe that there was somethin’ there.” He sees the hope flicker in her eyes and his heartbreaks. “But we can’t. I’m not the man for you. As much as I’d like to be. It ain’t me love.”
She leaves with gunpowder on her hands and tears staining her dress that night. The news he was dead found her not too long after that. And now she stood mere yards away, unknowingly, from the man she’d loved from afar that she had mourned and still thought was dead.
—–
“What fuckin’ else can I do for ya Tom? From the way that hats being wrung I know that ain’t all ya want of me.” Alfie gruffs, reclined in his velvet chair that faces that balcony of his mansion in MArgate where he hides.
“There is one more person… that I want to know you’re alive.” his voice is as flat and dead as his face lends you to believe he is.
“Not asking for much, eh?” Alfie raises a brow. “Who?”
“Someone that deserves to know.” the way his shoulders slouched told Alfie everything he needed to know. Guilt that sat heavy on Tommy’s shoulders for what he’d almost done. And not for Alfie’s sake, but for Penny’s.
“Mmmph.” he nods. “I don’t think it’s a good idea. Best she thinks I”m dead. What use as I to her now?”
“I knew she loved you.” he states plainly.
A fact that Alfie actually hadn’t known. “Did you?”
“You think I don’t know me own baby sister?” he asks with a slight twist of anger.
“Said no such thing.”
“You’ll want to thank her for Cyril being taken such good care of. She’s treated that dog as if it were her own son.” a ghost of a smile crosses his lips. “That is after she cried for a month after she heard you were dead.” he pauses. “You know she cried more over you than her own husband?”
Alfie only nods. Knowing like most women her age her first husband died in the war. He realizes she had truly meant what she said. “We never…” Alfie clears his throat. “Y’know.” his attempts at being respectful amuse Tommy deeply.
“I knew that too.” he nods.
“Why do you want to hurt the poor girl again?”
“She visits your grave, Alfie. Just the other day she was telling Cyril stories of his papa.”
Alfie’s stomach turns. Had he made a mistake? Had he been too selfish.
“I take it by you being here she doesn’t know you’re the one what done it.”
“She does not.”
“Mmm. And how are you going to work around that?”
“Once she knows you are not dead I won’t have to.”
“I know you’re gambling man Tommy but those are steep odds. Against you, I might add.”
“I know her. She’ll forgive me.”
“That's’ what you bank on every time innit?”
Tommy glares at him. A silence falls between them as Alfie looks out to the sea from the open set of doors on the balcony.
“Alright.” Alfie grunts and sits up, taking a deep breath. “Since she’s taken care of my dog. ‘Spose she deserves to know.” he nods, taking a heavy sigh. “But I might frighten her now. She won’t be seein’ who I was.”
“I’ve heard her prayers, Alfie. When she thinks no one, not even God is listenin’ to her anymore. She won’t be frightened.”
A grunt is all he can say to such a thing.
“I’ll go fetch her.” Tommy says as he groans and stands.
“Ya fuckin’ what? Now?”
“She’s just outside.”
“What the fuckin’ hell Tom?” he gruffs out angrily. “Ya can’t just appear to a man in such a way and demand things of him in a state like I am!”
“She deserves to know,” he states plainly again. “I brought her because I didn’t want you going back on your word after you had time to think about it.”
Alfie gives his signature frown. A bottom lip jutted over his mustache in frustration. “Fuckin’ ‘ell. Not even had time to think ‘bout it!”
“That’s the purpose this serves. She deserves to have a real reaction. Not your carefully crafted answers.”
“What do you want of me Tom?” he asks plainly. “You surely don’t want her to be with me? Especially not NOW.” he juts the scarred side of his face forward.
“It’s no issue to me how you look. That’d be up to her, wouldn’t it? But have you known Penny to be shallow?”
Alfie sits back in his chair, elbows on his knees and looks at the dusty rug beneath his boots. “Lass is as deep as the ocean.” he mutters. She’d told him everything he as to her, a body was nothing but a vessel for his soul she said. Something he’d thought a bit naive back then, but upon reflection he found it taking a new meaning to him. Maybe a Shelby was right about something stranger things had happened.
“Then I’ll fetch her. I suggest you figure out which side of yourself you’re going to be honest with.”
—–
Penny in her summer dress wanders the garden as she was instructed, feeling the kiss of a sea salt breeze against her face. She loved the sea, and so rarely had seen it, felt it against her skin. The open expanse of it, the infinite mystery and possibility it held fascinated her. Tommy’s voice breaks her from her reflection, leaning against a stone wall and looking out at the waves crashing into the daunting cliffs.
“Come now Penny, there’s someone I’d like you to meet.”
She nods and fusses with her windblown hair. “This house is lovely.” she almost coos as she crosses the threshold.
Alfie hears her voice. What sort of man had he been to hurt her how he did. To prolong it in such a way. She was a rose among the thorns of her family, the women the only ones worth a damn out of them. She’d saved his life, took in a painful reminder of him and cared for Cyril after he was gone, kept his memory alive and he’d abandoned her. If she shot him where he stood he’d deserve it.
“Look at all this.” he can feel the genuine lilt like a songbird to her voice. “Who lives here? This place is fantastic. Look at all these interesting and eclectic things. You could spend hours and never see the end of it.”
“I’m glad you like it.” Tommy says standing in the archway into the room where Alfie stood. “Here’s the owner. You can discuss it all with him.” What a loaded statement and delivered so cooly.
Penny walks slowly, taking in her surroundings with great interest before her head turned and saw the man silhouetted in the light of the sun, framed by two open patio doors with that same sea breeze fluttering the long curtains that hung. She freezes, eyes fluttering in confusion. That posture, that build. The vest and the white billowy sleeves. A glint of light of the rings that adorned his overworked hands. It was him.
“Wh-I- H-how?” she whispers out, not even loud enough for Alfie to hear, but Tommy heard every beat of her heart as he watched the realization come over her face.
“‘Ello, love.” that warm, liquor voice that burned and soothed hit her like a hammer, taking her knees out from under her as Tommy caught her.
She squeaks and tears appear hot and plentiful in her eyes. “You can’t…you…” her breathing wheezes and she holds onto Tommy for support, her body failing her out of shock.
He turns his good side first, seeing her just as lovely as she ever had been. Sun-kissed skin from the season spent in the north in the caravans, that long wavy hair that framed her shocked face, touseled perfectly by the winds of MArgate. Despite the posh sort of dress Tommy was now known for, she was still in simple cotton. Her boots tight around her ankles and shiny, dirt under her nails from the garden. A salt of the earth woman that was wrongfully placed in the shit hole of Birmingham away from nature where she belonged.
“Alfie.” she finally forces out.
“Yeah, love. I’m afraid it’s me.” he says with a pain in his voice, one of fear of rejection as he lets the light show his true side as he called it. The side of him that showed what a monster he had been, the monster he was.
Her face remains unchanged. “Alfie you…” she wheezes and gasps, he takes a step towards her and she pushes out of her brother’s arms. Stumbling with the numbness in her limbs as she finds herself once again sobbing into the shirt of the man she still loved. No matter how hard she’d tried not to over these last years.
“There, there, pet.” he says just as he had the last time she’d heard it, but this time it is accompanied by the wrapping of warm and affectionate arms around her. He shushes her as she cries, soaking his shirt and hiccuping, a hand stroking her hair, the other rubbing her back. All things she’d dreamed of so often she’d lost track of if they’d ever happened or not.
“Is this real? Or did I jump off the cliffs outside and now I’ve somehow found myself not in hell?” she manages to get out with her forehead pressed to his chest.
“You’d most certainly go to heaven. And since I am here with you, I’m afraid that means we’re both very much still alive.”
“HOW? I heard you were shot!” her voice break as she looks up from his chest to meet his face. Seeing nothing but the man she’d longed for. She’d told God she didn’t care what state he was in, just give him back to her. Her last chance at happiness, her last shot to have someone who truly could understand her and her life.
“I was. As you can tell.” he shrugs his shoulder on the marked side of his face. Just as Tommy as said, and Alfie is fully frustrated he was correct, she reaches up to touch his face without even an inkling of regret or fear o disgust.
“Are you still hurt?” is her concern and he takes a long, deep breath to compose himself. He didn’t deserve her. Maybe he’d known all along and that was why he’d told her now. Because deep down, who gave a fuck what Tommy Shelby thought.
“It does sometimes, yeah.” he nods, speaking softly as her fingertips move over the raised scar on his cheek, looking over the milky eye that was blinded by the same bullet that made the disfigurement she was touching as if was perfect skin. “Certainly doesn’t right now though.” his voice is quiet, looking into her bright eyes full of tears for him.
One dark eye under the same heavy brow and a fuller beard now that hid those full lips, unphased by the shot, beaming down at her with what she could’ve sworn was affection. “How?”
“Man that shot me can’t shoot worth a damn is how.”
He sees storm clouds darken her eyes in a more clear moment of recognition. “Who?”
“That’s a question for your brother.” he leans in close, almost touching his forehead to hers.
She spins out of his arms, suddenly full of vengeance and steady. “Who?” she demands.
Tommy takes his stand. “I did.”
“YOU BASTARD!” she lunges at him and is whisked off her feet by Alfie.
“Can’t argue with that.” Tommy mumbles.
“YOU KNEW! YOU FUCKING KNEW HOW I FELT ABOUT HIM AND YOU TRIED TO KILL HIM? YOU FUCKING WANK STAIN! YOU ABSOLUTE MAD BASTARD!” she screams and fights against Alfie’s arms to maim her brother. He would’ve laughed if he hadn’t been so focused on keeping her from hurting herself.
“I asked him to!” Alfie shouts and he feels her little legs stop kicking.
Her head shakes in confusion. It was a lot on the poor lass to take in all at once. “Wha-What?” she squeaks and keeps her eyes on Tommy as Alfie sits her feet back to the floor.
Tommy stands with a confident nod. Not sure if he was proud that Alfie took credit for what had happened, because he had all but pulled the trigger.
“I asked him to, Penny.”
“Why?!” she screeches with a hand to her chest as she faces him, back humped over and heart feeling as if it might give out.
“The doctor. Wrongfully so told me I had cancer love.”
Once again her knees fail her as he scoops her up into his arms, seeing her head wobble and eyes lose focus.
“Poor things gonna faint.” he mutters, sitting in his chair and pulling her into his lap.
“She’ll be fine. Give her a moment.” Tommy says with complete faith. He was asking a lot of her, but he knew she could take it. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have gone through with it. As hard as he was, as much as he’d agree he was a mad bastard, he didn’t want to purposely hurt his sisters. It just so happened they got in the way of his plans at times and Penny found herself right in the middle of them currently.
“C-cancer?” she asks with a gasp of air, fighting to stabilize herself. She felt light-headed, but the arms around her helped, the beat of the heart under her palm helped the most.
“Yeah. Told me I was gonna die. I didn’t wanna waste away y’know? Not any sort of death for a man to face.” she shook his head. “Your brother and I. Had a…sort of agreement. To kill one another if it came down to it, yeah?”
“What in the fuck are you talking about?”
Her brash tone makes him chuckle. “The correct response, yes love. “ he nods. “I was told I was dyin’. Had Tommy meet me on that beach out there to kill me. And he thought he did. But add it to the long list of things your brother innit good at.”
His brows shift and rise and fall across her face, eyes wide and questioning. “You thought you were going to die. So you wanted ti over with.”
“I told you she’d understand.” Tommy adds from across the room, staying silent and still.
“Of course my friend’s mum… it would’ve been a kindness to end it for her.” she reflects. “So… you knew?” she asks with hands no longer shaking. “When I… told you about…how I…:
“I did.” he nods. “I wasn’t gonna put you through that. That’s not…that ain’t me, love.”
“I would have.” she states with conviction and his shoulders falter at the hurt in her eyes. “I mourned you. I cried until nothing came out any longer. I drank, I took pills, tonics, hoping to wake up wherever you were. I would’ve still…It wouldn’t have stopped me.”
“You don’t mean that…”
“Don’t tell me what I fucking mean Alfie!”
Tommy smiles from across the room.
“Right, right, sorry mate.” he sputters out with true surprise in his raised brow. Something about this little lady cut him down from newly adorned god status to a man stuttering in apology. Tommy knew at that moment he’d made the right decision.
Her breathing heavy and fast, she glares at him. “My head is spinning, my heart is on fire and my stomach feels like it’s gonna fall out my arse and I don’t know if want to kill you myself or .or,..” her bottom lip gives her away, a hand to his cheek as she shakes her head and groans.
“…love me?” he asks with a raise of the brow he could. It was a gamble to ask. But with her heart racing like a hummingbird, he could feel against his own chest where she sat.
“How dare you,” she whispers back. But her face isn’t offended, a thumb drifting softly over his blind eye and to his temple. “I can kill you and still love you.” she offers with a smile finally gracing her lips. “I have…I mean, I do. Still. Even now.”
“With me lookin’ like this.”
“Like what? Like a strong man who defied death? Don’t be daft Alfie. I wanted you back no matter what. And I meant it. I meant despite you hiding, letting me think you were dead. Oh, letting poor Cyril think you were dead.” her brows furrow and his heart warms like it hadn’t in decades.
He gives her a smile she finds most peculiar. She’d never seen it before on his face.
“What?” she whispers.
“You, love.”
“What about me?”
The smile remains, followed by a sigh as he looks over her face. Hurt, but holding no hate for him. He puts his hand to her cheek to mirror her own delicate actions. “Why me Penny, eh? Surely other men deserve a woman like you more than me.”
“No other man can handle me. And you know this.”
Another, wider grin from him.
“If I could choose who I love, and I can’t, I’d choose someone else because I know you would be nothing but a pain in the arse but….goddammit Alfie I do.” she gives his face a little shake and presses her forehead to his.
“I don’t deserve a woman like you. You know that right?”
“No one deserves anything, Alfie. You know this. Things just happen.”
“Fuck me, I really don’t deserve ya.” he groans and kisses her forehead.
“But do you want me? Did you ever?”
“You should know I did. I only wanted to protect you.”
“What about now?” she asks with brave eyes that pierce into his, not allow him to look away. “There’s nothing to hide behind now. No protecting me. Just… end it now or let this be the beginning.”
“Fuckin’ ‘ell…” he sighs. “How are you a Shelby with a mind that says things like that?” A slow sweep of his thumb over her lips makes her eyes shut and held her breath for an answer. A man like him couldn’t touch a woman like this without something in his heart for her, could he? “I… did and I…do. A man like me… he’s not so good at matters of the heart. The mind is where my talents lie.”
“Then let this be your first lesson.” she kisses the tip of his thumb. “Tell me you love me.”
“Penny I-”
“Thomas, leave.” she interrupts, both hands on Alfie’s face, that smile he’d missed and dreamed of from time to time back and in full force, assaulting his sensibility.
“Already got my hat on. You know my number.” he says and saunters away, content by the way things had played out.
“Now tell me Alfie, love. Let me hear it.” she whispers, nuzzling her nose against his.
“I love you Penny.” he manages with closed eyes. “You’re strong and brilliant. Not suited for the name of Shelby at all.”
She smiles against his lips, feeling the words warm over her skin like honey tea. “Perhaps you could come up with a way to change that?” she grins and he’s blessed with her soft laugh once again.
“I do believe I could.” he coos and finally gives her the soft kiss that she’d been dreaming of. A promise she’d get what she always wanted, to not be called Shelby.
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belladonnaappreciation · 5 years ago
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Blake Belladonna and Myself.
Here’s the thing. I’m gonna tell you a bit about some semi dark times in my life. So, Trigger warnings are applied here for those that suffer or have suffered from Physical, Mental, Emotional, and Sexual abuse from a partner or parental figure. And hopefully that will shed some light on what I am going to say about my connection to my favorite RWBY character. Blake Belladonna. 
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When I was about two years old my parents divorced. My mother had met this man by the name of Robert Domin. They got married and as a two year old I was excited to have a dad again. Seeing as my actual dad was not allowed to see me at the time due to my mothers manipulative tactics and managing to get a stronger custody hold on us than she should have. So this man, Robert Domin, He seemed like the greatest father figure alive. I looked up to this man until I was about 5 years old.  That man went from what I thought was a blessing..... to a wolf in sheeps clothing. My mother often had to work a tad later than he did. She worked at a bank and actually did an amazing job. So she was often stuck working later. Rob would get my brother in the shower and when he got out I was next. He would wait until he heard the water running, since we were 5 and 6 we had to leave the door open just in case something happened there was no chance of it being locked, after I had began getting in the shower he would creep into the room without saying anything and approach me. I don’t know the reason..... nor do I think I ever will...... But he would grab me by the arm and proceed to spank me as hard as he could several times.  Now, spankings. Not the worst thing. But he would do it until I was unable to sit down without feeling like I had knives in my rear. (Attempted to say that as humorlessly as I could.But feel free to laugh at the other ways I could have said it.) And this went on for the next 4 and a half years. My mother never caught on because I would often hide the pain or just flat out run away to dress myself whenever she was home.  Jump ahead to 10 year old me. Despite the traumas left behind by Robert I was excelling at school. I loved books and had actually begun the Harry Potter series.
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I thoroughly enjoyed the series! I wanted to grow up to be as sassy as Snape, as Brave as Harry. and as Courageous as Harry. I had good friends and things were..... happy. Aside from the man I still had to come home to after school. Fortunately we moved to Jacksonville, Florida. He decided to divorce my mother because he did not want to move to Florida. I had thought that things were finally going my way. Until I found out my mom had been seeing a man by the name of Douglas Humphrey. Now here’s the trip. Amazing at first. He took us mudding in a big old truck and with a couple of four wheelers! It was awesome! We watched NASCAR together, we went and saw the 3rd spider-man movie in theaters together! But it didn’t last long. I had broken my foot while playing around with my brother but he had told me it wasn’t broken. To walk it off. My mother wanted me to go to the hospital but he wouldn’t let her take me. When she tried to leave anyways he got scary..... I spent 4 DAYS crawling around the house and limping with tears in my eyes at school. I kept telling everybody I was fine at school. But finally my mom had him take me to the hospital because it got to the point where I couldn't even walk on it without crying. The doctors took X-rays and found I had a break in between my big toe and what I call the index toe. I’m sure there’s a name for it but that’s what I call it. The doctors had to do whats called “resetting” because my food had actually partially healed. But it was very much so incorrect. They had to break my foot again. And this time it hurt worse. When I cried, as all kids would, He smacked me upside the head and told me to “Man up”. That was the first time he had hit me. And it.... gave me a feeling of impending doom. I was terrified that he was gonna turn out to be just like Rob. And I can say that I was wrong..... He was worse. Not only did he let his children walk all over us and do whatever they wanted to us. But he would punish my brother and I for retaliating. He would push us, choke us, he even held us while his children would hit us. He would physically abuse our own mother in front of us.He caused my mother and my Aunt to turn on each other..... I had to save my mothers life from my aunt. My brother managed to get her outside and I went and helped my mother up and locked her and myself in the bathroom..... She had a broken nose.... several cuts and gashes all over her face. Our living room was a literal bloody crime scene. It looked like somebody DIED in there. I had to lie to child protective services. I HAD TO DENY MYSELF AN ESCAPE FROM AN ABUSIVE ENVIRONMENT. Because if I had left.... I’m pretty sure he would have killed my mother....  I was thankfully removed from that situation and sent to live with my grandmother back home in Illinois. Then proceed the best years of my life. I finally met my best friend. Was the guy that a lot of people avoided. But those who did interact with me either loved me or hated me. And.... I felt normal. I FELT SAFE for once in my life.
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Fast forward to age 19. I’ll keep this one a bit shorter.  I was in a semi-broken home living with my mother once again. Except there wasn’t any man trying to hit me. Or abuse me. A guy who was a bit of an ass hole but relatively harmless none the less was there instead. I had two baby sisters who I love so very much and are my best friends to this day. My mother and I got into a fight about money and she kicked me out. I wound up living on the streets. I thankfully had a job. But would constantly be found couch surfing or sleeping either inside a McDonald, which I had to buy something every couple hours to not be kicked out, or I would be sleeping under a highway bridge near my job. I met a guy who was really sweet. He said he wanted to fix the injustices that had been done to me. Just to clarify I am Bi-sexual. But I avoid men romantically for reasons you are about to learn. He sought to right the wrongs and love me for me. He wanted to help me heal. My traumas. My scars. My past. He made me feel..... whole. To this day I can’t recall his last name. But his first name haunts me. ad I hadn’t realized just how much until I met a particular character in RWBY.
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ADAM. The fall of beacon hurt. But the part that hurt the most wasn’t Ruby losing two friends. It wasn’t Penny. It wasn’t Pyrrah. It was Adam. Fucking. Taurus. I couldn’t recall previous mentions of his name from earlier in the show. But Blake catching sight of him as he butchered Yang at the end of Volume 3. The terror in Blake's eyes struck a very personal chord with me. I have seen Adam after he and I have gone our separate ways..... and it truly is that terrifying.
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My heart sank. You could hear the despair filling her soul. And it hurt me. My anxiety was at a high and honestly..... Hearing her say his name..... Adam... It terrified me. Adam Taurus represented everything I HATED about my Adam. The lies.... manipulation..... the mental and emotional abuse.  Admittedly I had written Blake off as the stereo typical moody, edgy, goth teen character. Because I had neglected to watch trailers for anyone except Ruby. I was certain Ruby Rose was going to be my favorite because she was fun and exciting and bad ass. But I would only be proven wrong in time.
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Come Volume 6. Learning more about Blake’s past and her struggle with Adam. Her demons haunting her constantly. We all know why she ran. And why she feels the need to take on Adam alone. But you can see during their whole fight. She not fighting to beat him. She is NOT fighting to best her abuser. She is fighting to SURVIVE against someone she knows she could not beat on her own. But she still feels as though she HAS to try. Because this is HER battle. This is HER demon.  She does not even register the idea of asking Yang for help. And this.... also hit home very hard. I have been struggling with my demons for years. Not letting anyone in to understand them. Until I met my current group of friends. one of which is here on tumblr. And she helped me realize why I love Blake so much. ( @songbirdforever​ )  Blake realizing she could let people in and help her with this fight.... It helped me open up more to the people I care about.
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Much like when Blake is able to set her fears aside and show a resolve unlike anything she has put forward with Yang being there. She gains the will to fight her demon. Yang, her friend, being there. Even though Blake did not tell her she needed her. And that Blake did not WANT her to be there out of fear of Yang getting hurt. She didn’t have a choice. She knew Yang would never leave her until she knew she was safe. 
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Blake's Demon had already lashed out and maimed a loved one (Yang) once already. And seeing that same loved one face her demons with a resolve that she could not bring to muster up herself gave her a reason to stand firm. To stay her ground and tell him that she is not afraid anymore. Together. Blake and Yang kill Adam. Almost in mental synchronization they know what each other needs to succeed. This is a bond forged in fires that were kept by the demons of the past and fueled by scars. 
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This is why I love her so much. She has not only shown me that it’s okay to not be able to fight your demons on your own. That sometimes you lose the struggle and cave.... But whether you know it or not.... someone sees your struggle. And there is going to be that one person that will always be there for you whether you want them to be or not. In your darkest hour the person you need will find their way to you and help you fight these battles. The victim turned victor. 
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She has found someone she can confide in.... and someone who can help her heal. And it makes me so happy. In conclusion.... Blake's demons and my demons share a scary amount of beats. Including the point of us both being mentally and emotionally tortured by a man named Adam. A man who promised us safety and love. A man who betrayed us and only when we were all but destroyed did we manage to escape.
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She found her Happiness. And I hope to one day be in the same light that she is.  Thank you all so much for taking the time to read this. I hope this explains why I have absolutely nothing but love for Blake Belladonna and can even see myself in her. As well as my undying support for the bees. This post is.... a lot more personal than I ever thought I would have gotten on this sight. But I couldn’t fully express my love and identification of this character without telling you what I have. And if any of you ever need an ear... I am always here to listen. I love you all. And I want you all to know you have a friend in me. Now I end this post with a question: Is there a character in the world of remnant that you find yourself identifying with? Why? BONUS BLEP:
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sebastianshaw · 5 years ago
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hey Mr. Shaw as an obvious male stripper yourself, any advice for an amateur starting out?
“Wear a cock ring or clamp, it’ll help keep things up all night. I know, I know, in high school you couldn’t make it go DOWN, but trust me, you’re going to need the help now. Stay away from stimulants like Yohimbe, it can make your heart go into a tachycardia, and if you have undiagnosed heart problems it can kill you. Remember to file your taxes.  If you're self employed, you owe 15.3% in self employment tax on your net income, plus whatever your personal income tax is. You should be keeping your money in a bank, if for no other reason than you're losing out on interest and you’ll be fucked if your safe is stolen. If you're keeping it all in cash, I recommend you deposit all of it at once. Now if your local bank doesn't offer high interest ---say, 1.75% or better-- you can open a second account with an online bank like Ally that currently offers 1.8%.  They also have a nice free checking account in case you're interested.  You can use the local bank for cash deposits and then ACH transfer the money to your online bank. Be prepared to have to change jobs quickly or compensate for a big drop business if something happens---say, you’re injured. I’d advise starting saving if you haven’t already. Start with a small emergency fund. Fifteen to twenty hundred, let’s say. That should be doable for you. Now, go back 3-6 months and figure out your actual expenses.Starting tomorrow, track every penny you spend for the next 2 weeks. Now that you know your spending habits, begin curtailing them so you can save more. Use the savings to pay down your debts if you have any.  Once you're about 75% done killing your debts, start looking into a more traditional career path so you’ll be ready to make the switch whenever you have to, instead of being left floundering by surprise. I’m not saying you SHOULD change jobs, I am saying things happen sometimes, so just be prepared. Getting a day job might be a good idea even if you don’t need it, just so you don’t have a long gap in your resume. Speaking of, stripping builds excellent sales skills, if you’re a good stripper you’re going be good at making cold calls and building a rapport with a customer, not to mention you’re obviously self-motivated, so remember to put all that on paper. You just obviously don’t need to tell your employer HOW you built these skills. Finally, sanitize the stage. Sanitize the pole. Too many places don’t enforce this, but you should, because your genitals are going to be on this. Don’t do anything harder than marijuana when you dance, that’s a good way to break your neck. Your co-workers are NOT your friends, they’re competition, BUT you should be friendly with them so they don’t decide they all hate you together. Always ask for the money up front. The only exception as far as money up front is dollar dances at a table and tips on stage. Then once you have a decent wad of cash, go put it in your locker. Do not share a locker with anyone at all ever. They will steal from you. I don't care if they live with you or are your best friend, THEY WILL STEAL FROM YOU. Your first two days will be the worst. Confidence is key. Also this is more for women, but...get good shoes.”
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cilldaracailin · 5 years ago
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A Kind Of Magic
Thanks again for all the lovely love :) Here is some more. Only four parts left after this one :)
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21
“A friend is one to whom one may pour out the contents of one's heart, chaff and grain together, knowing that gentle hands will take and sift it, keep what is worth keeping, and with a breath of kindness, blow the rest away.”
Taron and Robyn had ended up falling asleep on the couch under the fleece on Saturday night and woke up early Sunday morning with a yawn from Robyn and a groan from Taron.
“Don’t like your couch so much anymore.” He complained as he stood up with effort and took a small stretch. “It hurts me.” He gently rubbed his right side and back. “Ugh ow.” Taron walked towards the kitchen and put his two hands on the island and tried to stretch his spine out slowly.
Robyn got up and followed him, watching as he stood in front of her island, and holding onto the edge, took some steps backwards so he could bend forwards, and stretch out.
“Taron?”
“I’m ok Robyn. Just a little sore.” His voice echoed a little off the floor as he stood with his head between his arms. He jumped a little when he felt two hands on his lower back but settled when light soft strokes rubbed across his spine, thumbs soon pushing deep pleasurable pressure into his back, Robyn’s hands moving up slowly towards his shoulders. When the steady rhythm of her thumbs moved between his shoulder blades, he hummed with delight, his body melting as she moved to the back of his neck. He already loved it when her fingers wound through his hair but as Robyn stood to his side and glided her hands smoothly down his back, he wasn’t surprised that she was able to help knead the knots he felt with the same motions she used on his head.
“Is there anything you can’t do?” He asked with another pleasing hum.
“Rollerblade.” She answered. “And curl my hair.” She felt his body vibrate as he laughed under her hands.
“Ugh so much better.” Taron took three careful footsteps forward and straightened up. “I was lying when I said I don’t like you couch. I just can’t sleep on it.” He rolled his neck a little. “Thank you.”
“You’re still a little tense.”
“You have helped.”
“Let’s go for a walk.”
“A walk?” Asked Taron as he turned around to look at Robyn and his stomach flipped at little to see she was still wearing his hoodie.
“Yeah a walk. Slow placed walk. Just around the town. It will help to loosen up the rest of those tight muscles. We can stop in a different coffee shop to take a break. It’s not raining either.”
With a change of clothes and a quick breakfast of cereal, Robyn led the way into Kilcreen and showed Taron around.
“Behind the church is where I went to school, primary school. I was taught by nuns.”
“Nuns? Seriously?”
“Yep, well one nun. It was Ireland in the nineties Taron, still quite a religious country back then and the nuns still taught in schools.”
The walked down the footpath past the church where Robyn had brought Taron to choir on Wednesday, the little café where they had breakfast yesterday morning on their left.
“And this is my secondary school.” She stopped in front a single storied building that was enclosed in by tall green barriers. “These were put in after I left school.” She explained touching the bars.
“After?” Asked Taron, winking at her.
“Yes after. I loved it here. I don’t think you realise how much you like school until you have left it.”
“Favourite subjects?” Asked Taron, leading against the bars.
“Music, obviously and I liked biology too. Hated French and detested history.”
“Your town is so small, even though it is so close to Dublin.”
It only took them ten minutes from her home to get to the bridge that Taron had struggled to walk over when he arrived in Kilcreen and Robyn had already showed him the train station, music school, dentists and the hall where the scouts troop met, throwing in stories about different shops they walked by and where she had worked as a teenager. It only took another five minutes to walk to the church and schools.
Robyn linked her arm with his again and started to walk him back down the footpath they had come down. “It’s a growing hub for people who commute to Dublin. I have lived here all my life and my mam and dad are from here. This town used to be much much smaller. I remember it when it was very different.”
“What’s past the school?” Asked Taron stopping, and looking over his shoulder, realising Robyn was bringing back the way they had walked.
“Petrol station, graveyard, some housing estates and a warehouse. Nothing exciting.”
“Onward then.” Taron started waking again. “And onwards towards coffee!”
They took a seat at the corner window in the Costa coffee shop near the large supermarket they had been at yesterday, Taron taking charge and ordering for them, Robyn asking for an iced tea instead of coffee. She took the seat that Taron had chosen, wanting to look out the windows and sat on one side of the couch that looked out onto the road and bank opposite. He had insisted he could manage to carry a tray over to their seats and told her to go and sit.
The day had stayed dry and Robyn pulled her jacket off, sitting back in the couch, knowing Taron was going to compare it immediately to hers. It had so far been a wonderfully chilled day for her, her concerns over Taron that morning, slowly leaving her as the walk helped to further stretch out sore and stiff muscles for him. She hadn’t thought twice about putting her hands on his back and trying to massage the ache away, Taron not asking her to stop. She could feel his muscles twitching under her hands and that normal heat that radiated off him, filtered through his shirt. It made a slight blush fill her cheeks and her lips fall into a coy smile when he moaned in delight, her heart adding an extra beat as his hum floated in through her blood stream. It was something she had started to notice about their relationship as the days went by – they easily gripped hands, linked arms and hugged, simple tokens of affection being passed between the two and after each one, Robyn felt her heart jump, her stomach drop and her cheeks flush. Without a doubt, Taron was a firm fixture in her life and would always be but she needed to get these new bubbling emotions under control.
“Penny for your thoughts.” Taron walked over carrying a tray and carefully set it down on the table.
“Just thinking.”
“That can be bad you know.”
“So I have heard. Thank you.” Taron handed her the ice tea he had ordered for her and taking his cup into his hands sat down beside her, crossing his legs.
“Nothing like your couch.” Robyn laughed, her shoulders shaking as she watched Taron shuffle a little to get comfortable. “What’s that laugh for?” He asked.
“I knew you were going to compare this couch to mine as soon as you sat down.”
“I just fucking love your couch. I am going to have to get one for my house. My couch is so stupid compared to yours.”
Robyn chuckled again. “Well unfortunately I did not buy my couch in Primark. It will not be as easy for you to get your hands on one. I had it specially made in a factory in Dublin.”
“Well I can still get one then and I can get it shipped to Wales. It’s only a little ocean it has to cross.”
“Yeah Taron, not going to happen. The company doesn’t exist anymore. It was the first thing I saved for when I was nineteen and since then the couch company is gone. My couch is one of a kind.”
“Well that’s put a stopper on that plan then.”
“You are welcome to come and visit my couch whenever you want.”
“It’s like we have custody of the couch.”
“And sole custody is mine as I bought it, looked after it and love it.”
Taron chuckled. “So just the fleece then.”
Robyn hit her shoe off his, while looking out the windows, enjoying how Taron returned the slight kick. “Thanks for the drink.”
“No worries. This is a good spot. Perfect for people watching.”
“Yep. A hard one to get. I rarely get to sit here.”
“I had it reserved.”
Robyn looked to him. “Reserved.”
“Yeah, you know, throw out my name and Elton’s and got us this table.”
“If anyone has the power of name dropping in Kilcreen, it is me and not you. You and your bloody Elton.”
Taron laughed again and took a sip of his drink. “So, what else do you have to show me?”
“Not much to be honest. The hall where we do our musical shows and that’s probably it.”
“What about along the river?”
“River?”
“Beside the bus stop.”
“That is actually a canal, not a river. The royal canal. It runs from County Longford all the way to Dublin and they are in the process of making something called a greenway so you can cycle or walk the whole way. It is actually a really lovely walk. I bring Pearl, the dog, that way when we go for walks in the evening after work.”
“While on the bus, I saw the walkway alongside the canal.”
“It used to be just grass, but as the town has grown, so have the infrastructure and amenities around.”
“Is the ocean near here? You told me you like blue because it reminds you of the ocean.”
“The one I went to as kid is an hours drive away but the towns of Howth and Bray are also very popular and they would be a little closer but much busier. I like Bray because they have the amusements. I love a good claw machine but for a nice beach walk, I would rather drive the hour to go to Bettystown. Miles of sand and ocean.”
“I live right on the ocean and I can just walk to the beach.”
“I will bring my couch and fleece to come and live with you.”
Taron chuckled. “Sounds good with me. It’s beautiful but I am biased.”
“Anywhere beside the ocean is beautiful.”
“It is indeed, though I am enjoying your quiet little town.”
“I can tell. You have taken your hat off.” Robyn didn’t want to bring attention to the fact that once Taron was settled, he pulled his hat off and left it in on the couch between himself and Robyn. It was the first time she had seen him comfortably and willingly take his black comfort blanket off his head when they were outside the security of her home.
“I didn’t even realise. I guess I am just at ease here. In the café yesterday, when no one even bothered to take a glance our way, even after you had said good morning to some of the customers, I started to realise that no one in Kilcreen knows who I am or if they do, are either very respectful or don’t care. There’s a freedom in this tiny little town for me and I don’t have to worry so much.”
“Irish people are actually pretty decent when it comes to celebs. Don’t bother them and that is why I knew you would like it around Kilcreen.”
“It won’t be like this next week though.”
“And why not?”
“After my press release.”
“You are such a beautiful soul inside and out Taron but my God you have the knack to kill a good mood quickly.”
“Sorry.” He replied quietly.
“You don’t have to be sorry but we can’t speculate at all about what is going to happen next week. We just don’t know what is going to happen Taron.”
“Yeah I know. Sorry.”
“Stop saying sorry to me. I don’t want to have to give out to you again.”
“Give out to me?” He questioned.
“Yeah give out to you.”
“I am confused. Are you giving me something?”
Robyn giggled. “Not so much. Giving out is like getting angry at someone and correcting them for doing something they shouldn’t, so I will have to give out to you if you mention the press again.”
“Ok got it. Give out with words and not physical presents.”
“Exactly. Right so let’s have a further wander and then then head home and maybe cut up the cake and bring it over to the neighbours?”
“We are keeping some right?” He asked eyes wide.
“Of course. I am not going to give all of our cake away but we cannot eat it all.”
Another stroll brought them around the other side of Kilcreen and back home to Robyn’s house. They cut up the cake and Taron volunteered to stay behind while Robyn brought it over to her neighbours.
“Are you sure?” She asked him.
“Yep. I am going to give my mam a call and have a catch up.” Robyn put the four plates on the island and walked over to Taron. “Stop frowning at me or I will give out to you. You go and spread the joy of our rainbow cake.” Taron moved and kissed her cheek. “Go.”
Robyn picked up the four plates. “I will be right back.”
“I will be right here.”
Robyn balanced the plates on one hand and walked pulled open the front door and made her way to the neighbour’s houses on her road. She knew Taron well enough now to know when something was bothering him and she knew it was still the thought of the press conference that haunted him now. She wanted to make these cake drop offs quick, so she could get back to Taron and try and cheer him up.
When she got back to the house, she could hear laughter and walking inside, all she could see was Taron’s hand in the air holding his phone as he lay on the couch.
“We are laying on a beach and you have covered me in sand.”
“We are in the swimming pool and we have our floaties on.” Returned a young female voice.
“Taron?” Robyn walked over the couch and looked over the side.
“Hey, come and join in. My sisters want to meet you.” Robyn walked around the couch. Taron was laying on his back with his head on a cushion in the corner, holding his phone up over his face. “I am face timing them. They really really want to meet you. Come and lay down with me.”
Robyn took the other side of the couch and the other half of the cushion that Taron’s head was resting on and looked up to his phone to see two beautiful little girls looking down at her.
“Mari and Rosie, this is Robyn.”
“Hello Robyn!” They cried, waving.
“Hello girls.”
“Taron she is pretty.”
“Rosie!” Taron responded to his sister’s words.
“Well she is.”
“I like your hair. It’s like Rapunzel’s.” Said Mari smiling in the camera.
“Well thank you very much. I really like your fringe. I had a fringe before but it kept growing into my eyes and I didn’t like it any more. I had to plait it all the time.”
“I love plaits.” Smiled Mari. “I like to have a plait like Elsa’s.”
“She definitely has the best one.”
“So, you really have a blue kitchen?” Asked Rosie moving over more into the frame of the phone.
“Yes, I do.”
“Taron told us that you made a rainbow cake with a surprise in the middle. Did you really let him bake? He’s not very good at baking.”
Robyn laughed. “Well...” She looked to Taron for help with the name of his sister and he mouthed Rosie to her. “Rosie, he did a very good job. Didn’t burn anything although he was a little bit naughty and threw some flour at me and he said when he gets home, he is going to bake a rainbow cake with you.”
“Really Taron?” Rosie looked to her brother. “You are going to bake a cake with us?”
“A unicorn cake?” Asked Mari.
“Maybe not a unicorn cake.” Said Robyn seeing the panic grow a little in Taron’s eyes. “But he can definitely make a rainbow one.”
“Did you really help Taron, like a doctor helps sick people?” Asked Mari. “Mam told us you did something very important for him.”
“It is called CPR Mari and it’s like kissing but it’s not really kissing and you push up and down on your belly.”
Robyn reached across the couch to take Taron’s hand in hers, feeling him tense a little beside her.
“Yes, I did.”
“Did you give him a squishy hug after he was better? Taron gives us squishy hugs.” Asked Mari.
“I definitely made sure he got a squishy hug.”
“Taron did you give Robyn a squishy hug to say thank you to her?” She asked her brother.
He swallowed the lump in his throat. “The squishiest.” He replied to his little sister.
“So why on earth are you all lying down like this?” Asked Robyn, knowing Taron needed a little distraction for a minute to compose himself.
“We are playing the lying down game.” Answered Rosie. “You lay down on your back and you make up stories about what you can do on your back. Want to play with us?”
“I would love too. You go first girls so I can learn how to play.”
She took Taron’s phone from him and held it, taking him out of the frame giving him two minutes away from his sisters.
“We are lying on a bench in the park looking up at the clouds.” Said Rosie.
“We are lying on the grass listening to the birds. Your turn Robyn.” Mari waited for Robyn to think of something.
“We are lying on a swing chair swinging back and forth.”
“We are lying on the couch watching TV.”
“We are lying on Taron’s bed listening to music. Your turn again Robyn.”
“We are…. We are… Oh I know. We are lying on a boat listening to the ocean.”
“We are lying under the table in the kitchen.” Said Mari.
“We are lying on the ground with our legs up against the wall.” Said Rosie just as quick as her sister.
“You girls are very good at this.” Said Robyn. “We are lying on the ground playing a piano upside down.”
“You can’t play a piano upside down!” Laughed Mari. “Taron tell Robyn you can’t do that.”
Looking to Taron, Robyn moved the phone so he was back on the screen. “Well Freddie Mercury could do it Mari.”
“Can Elton do it?” Asked Rosie, neither girls questioning who Freddie Mercury was.
“I am sure he can.”
“Will you ask him?” She asked.
“Next time I am talking to him, I will Rosie. Just for you.”
“Mari, Rosie your lunch is ready girls!” Taron’s mam’s voice echoed into the phone. “Are you girls still playing that game with Taron?” She asked, a little of her face coming into the screen as she lay on the floor beside her daughters. “Oh, hello! Robyn!”
“Hey Tina.”
“Well it is nice to finally put a face to the name. Taron has been holding back with the face time, preferring to ring instead.”
“Mam you know why.” Replied Taron, a little hint of hurt in his voice
“Yes love, I do and I very much understand why. It’s not something everyone needed to see. Now Robyn it is lovely to actually meet you.”
“You too Tina. Your family is wonderful.”
“Thank you.”
“Robyn is like Rapunzel.” Said Mari. “She has long hair like her.”
“And she definitely gave Taron a squishy hug after the kissing. She told us.”
“And girls your lunch is ready and on the table.” Tina decided it was time to end the phone call with her son. “You can call Taron tomorrow. Remember I told you he needs to rest because it is what the doctor said.”
“He is going to make a unicorn cake with us when he comes home!” Mari told her mother excitedly.
“Oh, he is, is he?” Tina looked at her son in the screen.
“No, it’s a rainbow cake. Mari it’s a rainbow cake.” Corrected Rosie.
“Taron you are going to make a rainbow cake?” Asked his mam intrigued at the thought of his son baking.
“Well I have promised the girls.”
“Robyn maybe this is an activity that should be kept for when you come to visit us so you can supervise all of my children, particularly the eldest one.”
Robyn chuckled. “He can do it, Tina. I have full faith. Just watch him around the flour.”
“Taron threw flour at Robyn.” Explained Rosie.
Robyn laughed again as Taron groaned a little. “Now I have four women ganging up on me. Is Guy around? I need a manly chat.”
“No need. We are going to go and have some lunch.”
“Mam!” Whinged the girls.
“Sorry girls. You can call Taron tomorrow and you will see him next weekend.”
“Ok mam. Bye Taron. I love you.” Said Mari.
“I love you too Mari.”
“I love you too too Taron!” Rosie said.
“Love you too too Rosie.”
“Bye Robyn!” Called the girls.
“Bye girls.”
“Robyn it was lovely to see you. Thank you for looking after Taron. It’s wonderful to see him smile. Taron love, take care of yourself and Robyn.”
The face time ended and Robyn handed Taron his phone and after he locked his phone, he sighed. “It was our first face time since what happened in Florida. I didn’t want to face time before now, not the girls anyway and I couldn’t call my mam and step dad and not have the girls interrupt. I didn’t want them to see all the bruising and cuts on my face. They don’t look too bad now but when lying down I can turn my face sideways so they can’t see it all.”
“Your sisters are beautiful, just little angels.”
“Yeah little angels all right.” Replied Taron as he sat up. “No, that’s not fair. They are amazing and I love them to pieces.” Robyn sat up too. “They love you already. When you get invited to play the laying down game, you know you have won them over but I also think the Elsa reference helped.”
Robyn laughed. “When I go visit, I will offer to give them Elsa hair. I am pretty good with plaits. Used to do them all the time in the children’s hair when I worked in the preschool room.”
“You do that and they will want a big sister instead of a big brother.”
“I doubt that Taron. As much as you love them, they absolutely adore you.”
“Robyn I am sorry I was a bit of a Debbie downer at the coffee shop. I just think of the media and my mind runs wild with what could happen.”
“You don’t have to apologise to me Taron. You know that. I can appreciate why it worried you and I know I don’t fully understand it, but if you need to talk about it, I am here for you.”
“I know that. I definitely know that. I will always know that but I am trying to do that positive thing where I don’t think about it and know that it is only a handful of people who will twist the story.” He picked up his phone and opened his Instagram. “I might have read the comments.” He said. “And you were right. The majority of them are encouraging and people hoping I recover quickly. An odd strange one and a few wondering what actually happened.” He locked his phone. “I am just used to reading the bad press that it is hard to focus on the nice stuff that is said.”
“Talking to your family seems to have cheered you up too although with the smiles on those girls faces, it’s impossible not to smile back.”
“They are infectious. I am really…”
Taron never got to finish his sentence as Robyn placed her hand over his mouth. “Don’t say you are sorry again.” She took her hand away. “And don’t lick me!” Robyn wiped her hand on her jeans as Taron grinned at her. “I really am going to bring you to work with me.”
“I look forward to it.”
“Don’t lick people.” She said smiling.
“Ok Robyn.”
“Stop!”
“Stop what.”
“Stop with the cute voice.”
“What voice?” He asked his register deepening, his accent stronger as he spoke through a giggle. “What voice Robyn? This is just my voice. Where are you going?” As she walked around his legs, Taron started to sing Simple Mind’s Don’t You Forget About Me, turning on the couch so he could watch what she was doing. She opened the door of the laundry room and disappeared for a second before appearing again with a guitar in her hands. “More singing?” He asked with a huge grin as she came back to the couch.
“Maybe.”
“Can I go first?”
“Sing your little Welsh heart out.” Said Robyn handing him the guitar, taking a seat to his left as Taron settled with the guitar.
Taron had an idea of some of the chords and was able to strum happily himself, humming to no particular song, just keeping in tune as he played.
“I can’t remember any songs.” He admitted looking to Robyn.
“Play A minor, F and C.”
Taron did as she asked and smiled as she started to song another song he knew very well, Sam Smith’s Stay with Me. “You have a thing for Johnny, don’t you?” He laughed over her singing. He continued playing the same three chords until he got to the chorus when he stopped.
“Same three chords the whole time Taron with a G on ‘darlin’ in the last line of the chorus.”
“From the top.” He instructed and started again, joining her in singing, stopping again when they finished the chorus. “That easy huh?”
“The most popular pop songs are only three chords.”
Taron moved the guitar from his lap over to hers. “You play something for me now.”
“I can’t get another one from you?”
“I will sing and you can play.”
“What would you like to hear?”
“Anything.”
Robyn started playing the first song she thought of and easily sang through the first verse and chorus of Zombie by The Cranberries. “Typically Irish but a good song. How about a duet?”
“What you got up you sleeve?”
“Ed Sheeran and Taylor Swift? Everything Has Changed?” Suggested Robyn.
“Let me pull up the words first.”
Taron quickly looked up the lyrics on his phone. “When you are ready.” As Robyn started playing, he quickly got rid of the lyrics he had brought up in exchange for his camera and swiped it from photo to video and held the phone in his right hand and slightly sideways so the screen recorded the two of them but without Robyn realising he was videoing. He loved singing with her and wanted to get another video of the two of them, using the excuse of needing words to unlock his phone so he could set it up.
Robyn absolutely hated playing in front of anyone but for some reason, Taron wasn’t just anybody. He was just Taron and she felt very comfortable around him and when she would normally play a wrong chord or make a mistake, now she didn’t and the song flowed smoothly in music and voice.
Taron had to cut the song short at the end of his video so Robyn wouldn’t know he had filmed and quickly brought the lyrics back up to the song. “If it hadn’t of been a hit already, we would have made it one!” He grinned at her. “What other duets to you have?”
“Maybe not a duet but one for my entertainment.” Smiled Robyn. “Just ‘cos I want to hear you sing it.” Robyn started to strum some chords, Taron looking confused until she started to sing the first few words before he joined in, the lyrics carved for Rocketman into his brain.
Robyn stopped singing and let Taron have his moment as his beautiful soulful voice filled her home, enjoying how he lost himself in the music, his eyes closing as he reached for the higher notes.
“And again.” Said Robyn starting to play the chords once more when he was finished. “Your voice Taron. Please make another album. You could sing the bloody phone book and I would buy it.”
He smiled. “I will take the vowels and you can take the constants. I like this. Just sitting and singing.”
“I know. I have learnt in the short time that I have known you, that singing calms you down.”
“Like in the ambulance?” He asked.
“In the ambulance?” She repeated.
“You sang some Tiny Dancer to me in the ambulance when we were on the way to the hospital.”
“You remember that.”
“Of course I do Robyn. You are right. Music is my escape and it does provide me with a sense of calm and helps clear my mind. You singing to me in the ambulance definitely helped my rising anxiety.”
“Monday evening after my first day back at work, I played the Rocketman soundtrack very loudly while I baked cookies and when Tiny Dancer came on, I got a little bit upset.”
“A little bit upset?”
“Well let’s just say you when you had a cookie, you also ate some of my tears.” Robyn knew she had to explain when he looked at her confused. “I cried, a lot, as I listened to Tiny Dancer because it reminded me of you and I had just left you, and some of those tears might have fallen into the cookie dough but I do the same thing, use music as an escape. You already have heard my piano play list and you have seen my heavy rotation on spotify and I am completely guilty of singing songs from musicals very loudly in the evenings here.”
“Lots of variation in your music tastes and please don’t cry at Tiny Dancer because for me it’s a good memory from the ambulance, not a sad one.”
“I think I was just an overall emotional wreck on Monday so anything would have set me off and it just happened to be you singing. I am making new singing memories and so are you and you can send me that video you took.”
“What video?” Asked Taron hoping his face didn’t show any guilt.
“The one you just filmed when we sang together. You are a wonderful actor Taron and your not guilty face is perfect, however I work with children and I have eyes on the back of my head. I don’t mind if you want to make more memories Taron. Just ask me. I very much enjoy singing with you and as much as you want the videos, so do I. I am one of those people who take a million photos so I always have a memory and don’t say sorry to me either.”
“I apologise.”
“Now that’s just a fancy way of saying sorry.”
“Mae’n ddrwg gen i.” He answered her.
“And you can’t say it in Welsh either, though please feel free to talk to me in Welsh as much as you want.”
Taron laughed. “We won’t get too far. You won’t understand me.”
“It’ll be grand. You speak Welsh, I’ll speak Irish, we will have a great conversation.”
“Or we could sing another song.”
“Always the better option.” She agreed. “How about Three Non Blondes.”
“Perfect.”
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euphoriacrossing · 5 years ago
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3 Star Island!
So I never dreamed I would get there this fast because I barely even tried, I just did the usual things, but in like one day I went from a one star island to a 3 star island and some of you know that that means that KK Slider is coming!
I can't believe I am almost finished with story mode. It seems like it went by so quickly and I am still so often in complete awe of this game it seems unreal I've almost "finished" it. But of course it's hardly OVER as I don't have a complete museum, a 5 star island, all the islanders I want, the exact look and style I want for my island, I'm not done upgrading my house, I believe there is a Nook's Cranny upgrade you can get as well as I think a museum one (I might be wrong on the museum but I thought maybe), my furniture catalog is far from complete. I mean, there are things to keep me busy for a long, long time. Just even dressing up differently everyday and/or running around goofing off with my sister or friends, there is plenty to keep the game fun for a while. And hopefully there will be updates that add more. Considering all the things that they left out, there is plenty more they could add back in with an update someday that would make a lot of people happy (say... diving for instance? I'm shocked that in an island getaway themed game they left out diving. Or even minigames, I am so heartbroken they didn't include minigames because my sister and I had so much fun playing those in New Leaf.) and until they do, I'll be forever waiting for the game to be "complete". So my Animal Crossing adventures are far from over.
Still there is a bit of melancholy that comes with finishing the main storyline of a game, even when there is lots left to do. And games like Animal Crossing play into that. Like really, KK slider concert as the credits roll? That is nostalgic for so many reasons, and makes your heart just break that the experience is "over". Ugh I almost want to skip that part all together to go back to just having fun.
Anyway, island update. Wart Jr. has moved in and everytime I see him I want to die. I'm not a person who usually minds the ugly characters so much, but he is like a different level gross considering his name is gross and he doesn't look too great. Maybe if he was a different color, or something and definitely he'd gain like half his points back if they just named him Kevin or something. But instead he's the worst. 100% my least fave character and he moved in automatically before I even knew how these things worked. Ugh. It's the kind of stuff that makes you wish you'd used some kind of guide. Games shouldn't make you feel BAD for /not/ using some kind of guide to avoid issues with gameplay. It should be challenging but rewarding, imo, not just punishing.
But alas, Marina is moving in tomorrow, so I can't be too mad. Actually yes, I can but I'd rather be excited. So I am. Very much so. She's probably one of my favorite characters from recently. I have older favorites but she grew on me in Pocket Camp when i was playing to tide new over until New Horizons and that's when I decided I wanted her here. So here she shall be, tomorrow, tomorrow, you're always a day away!
Roald moved in sometime too. He was just someone I moved in fast to avoid anymore Wart Jr type mistakes on the game's part again. I don't dislike Roald, but I'm not sure I'd ask him to stay if he were leaving.
Supposedly the rumor is you can move other characters out with amiibos, like once you are full the character will strike a deal with one of your residents to live there. So I am trying to move Coco IN next, and move Wart Jr. OUT. I originally wanted Tammy out but she can wait... she isn't as "gross me out" as Wart Jr. is.
And then as for island decoration, I really think I'm ready to have the path tool which I think I get tomorrow? As well as the terraforming tool? Not totally sure, but I would think so. I will then be able to start on finishing up my outdoor bath area, and starting really shaping my boardwalk by the beach area, as well as just giving the island more shape, paths and stuff the whole nine yards. I'm excited to see if I can turn what I've got into a 5 star island with time. I really hope so. I know my friends have the making of a 5 star island. I feel like my sister might even have a better start than I do. But I'm just gonna work hard, have fun, and remember it's just a game.
Oh also I have been having a lot of fun helping my sister out. She doesn't do as well saving money in these games (which is crazy to me because in real life she scarcely ever spends a penny) so I paid off the loan she was on tonight so she could expand her house, and I still have half a mil in the bank. Though I owe more than that right now myself, I just like to get it all collected before I pay. Anyway, though, I am happy to be my sister's in game benefactor as she's my real life one. I mean, while she rarely spends money, she bought us these games and some amiibo cards too, so yeah, the LEAST I owe her is a few bells.
She pays back the favor by doing things for me though too. Like she bought me the red lighthouse with nookmiles which she also struggles to make, because I wanted red and I only had the blue one. And she helps me collect materials like when I needed giant clam shells, or if I run out of stone she's there. She just does... sisterly things, and I do them back and it ends up being a really nice way to bond.
Gosh, it's a clear perfect night and I haven't seen one shooting star yet. What gives? If you have a certain amount of material saved do you not get any more chances to wish on a star until you use it? Haven't seen a falling star in a few days here. =/
And oh, I found some of the best boots and such at my sister's Able Sisters. Actually she always has better clothes than me there, but at least she let's me visit so I can get twice as much cool stuff to make outfits. I'm like... running out of storage space as I only have 400 now. Ugh. But the clothes! I love them. And my current outfit is totally rockin'.
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(I had to go in Resideny Services because it was the closest place with light. And YES, I wear my sunglasses at night. It's called accessorizing. Lol jk.)
Anyway, I'm gonna see if I can find and/or make a tarauntula island and make me some bells. Full disclosure, the ingame tarauntulas scare me in real life, but I gotta make that money some way, some how, ya know? So I do it the badass way. 😎 lol, no not really that badass if you saw me die three times in a row trying to get on tarauntula. But still...
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zombiesbecrazy · 6 years ago
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Better Together
Summary: Sometimes a little back up in needed, during the fight and after.
Note: For @dickanddamiweek. I wasn’t planning on writing for today, but this little thing popped in my head. Unedited and unpolished, but here we are!
AO3
“Why don’t you guys ever pick on someone your own size?” said a voice from the rafters above Damian’s head, and a small grin crept across his face at the familiar tone. “I know that I’m shorter than some of you too, but Robin doesn’t even break five feet. Come on. That’s just not fair.”
“We didn’t go after the kid! He jumped us!”
“Yeah, I’m sure you were perfect, law abiding citizens who were absolutely not in the middle of robbing this bank that we’re in at… what? 1:37am on a Tuesday?” The mask was covering his eyes, but it was obvious that he was rolling them beneath it. “You’re obviously completely innocent in this whole matter.”
Within a matter of seconds Damian had gone from concerned to relieved as Grayson dropped down into the fray that he had found himself overwhelmed in. He had come across these bank robbers in his standard patrol route and had called in for back up because as skilled as he was he knew that ten men with at least one gun each was probably not going to swing in his favour. He had expected Batman to be the one showing up, but Nightwing was a pleasant surprise. Damian hadn’t even known that Grayson was in town.
The fight started as it always did; all at once and with a bang. Four shots rang out and Grayson pushed Damian out of the line of fire and then danced away himself, but most of the men had the sense to not use their guns in such a close proximity, which was lucky because someone was bound to get hurt. They fell into their old rhythm quickly, like there hadn’t been any time away from their regular partnership. There were differences though, between Grayson as Nightwing and Grayson as Batman, primarily the more aerial fighting style and lack of cape, but it felt familiar and calming, even in the middle of combat.
Their adversaries were big and strong but weren’t particularly skilled in hand to hand fighting, nor had they thought to spread out in the bank, so between the two of them, Robin and Nightwing were able to end the attempted robbery fairly smoothly, leaving all ten men unconscious on the floor in under eight minutes.
Not their personal best, but solid.
They split up and went to work at restraining the men’s wrists and ankles in case they awoke before the GCPD arrived on scene. Damian secured his last thug and stretched his neck out, making a loud pop noise as it released.
“You okay?” asked Grayson from nearby, already done his half, and Damian nodded, before remembering the rule about verbal confirmation of his health status post fight. It was a diagnostic tool in itself.
“I am.”
“No injuries?” It was annoying that he double checked, but Damian was aware that he had lied about injury more than once in the past. He didn’t like being questioned though, even if he knew that Grayson was just being thorough.
“No. I am unharmed.” Damian turned away from Grayson and the men to contact the GCPD for pick up. He appreciated Grayson’s concern, but it was unnecessary. If Grayson hadn’t found him and assisted in the fight he would almost certainly be injured, outnumbered and outgunned as he had been, but with the two of them working together their adversaries hadn’t stood a chance.
“Good. That’s good.” Grayson’s breath was heavy with exertion, which was odd. He normally recovered faster than that. There was then a sharp intake of breath that caught Damian’s attention, diverting his focus and he hung up on the police. Turning around, he saw Grayson wobble a fraction as he held a hand to his leg, pain visible on his features, mask or no mask. “Because I think you’re going to need to carry me in a second.”
“Nightwing?”
Grayson dropped to the ground before Damian could move, before he could even blink, crumpling up into a heap on the cold pavement, hissing in pain as his knees hit the ground.
“Nightwing!” Damian rushed to his side and started to examine Grayson’s leg. Grayson was applying his own pressure, but he still needed to check.
“Bullet. Right at the start.” Grayson spit out the words like they were venom. He was sweating quite a bit. “Maybe hit my femoral?”
Damian pulled his hands away from the leg and inspected his gloves, considering the options. There was blood, but it seemed minimal and discrepant to the amount of pain the Grayson appeared to be in. “There isn’t enough blood for that.”
“Suit keeps it contained.” Damian nodded at the words, because he had forgotten that Grayson’s suit had built in functions to compress to wounds. It wasn’t perfect or permanent, but it had saved his life more than once. “Not for too long though.” Grayson coughed. “Car?”
“Right.” Time was ticking and the suit’s natural ability was temporary. They needed help. “Robin to Cave, we need a mobile extraction. Nightwing’s been shot in the leg and needs medical assistance ASAP.”
“ETA four minutes, but you will need to get him out to the street. I’ve contacted GCPD for you.” said Pennyworth calmly in his ear. Damian had forgotten about his dropped call to them in the commotion. “Status?”
Damian knew that whatever he could convey to Pennyworth would assist him in treatment protocol when they returned so he surveyed Grayson quickly and methodically, running through his training like it was second nature. It almost was with the amount of time he had done this. “Conscious. Rapid heartrate, but strong. Heavy breathing. I do not see an exit wound.” There seemed to be more blood now, spreading across the blue of Grayson’s fingers as they covered the wound. “Exsanguination seems unlikely, but I can’t tell with his suits compression capabilities.”
“I’m not bleeding out,” breathed Grayson with a hint of irritation, “in my suit.”
“I know. I will not allow it.”
“You’re not the boss of me.” A simple bullet to the leg and Grayson was acting like a petulant child. Or he was attempting to joke. Damian looked at his face, studying the quirk of his lips.
Joke it was. Two could play at that game. If a distraction was what Grayson wanted, a distraction was what he was going to get.
“I should be. You are terrible at looking after yourself.”
“Alright. You can be the boss of me until we get back to the Cave and you hand me off to Penny-One.” Grayson shifted to his knees. “You’re going to have to help me up.” It was awkward to get Grayson back to his feet, but between Damian wrapping his arm around his waist and Grayson’s tight grip on his shoulder, they managed and started to shuffle their way out of the bank.
“You need better armour, you fool.”
“Have armour. Great armour. It was a lucky shot.” The limp that Grayson had indicated that Damian’s assessment had been correct and the bullet was still lodged in his leg, which was bad, but at the same time he wondered if it was helping to slow the bleeding.
“Your Batman uniform had more protection.”
“Yeah, but it also had a stupid cape.”
“You’re ridiculous.”
“Capes are ridiculous.”
They made it halfway to the door before Grayson stumbled and groaned, making Damian pause while his regained his composure. Grayson took close to a minute with his eyes squeezed shut tightly before he nodded and they started to shuffle towards the door once more. “That bullet. You took it for me,” said Damian softly. Grayson had pushed him. A shot to Grayson upper leg would have landed in Damian lower abdomen, through his back. He wouldn’t have even seen it coming.
“I’d take all the bullets for you.”
“I’d rather neither of us take bullets.”
There was a breathy chuckle in response. “That’s rather cheery. Let’s both agree to not get shot again for a while. I had forgotten how much it sucks.”
“Agreed.”
Getting through the banks revolving door was a challenge in itself but they managed, making it to the street, with the Batmobile parked out front and the sounds of sirens in the distance growing closer. Damian opened the car door and Grayson collapsed into the passenger seat before he pulled a pack of gauze from the consol and pressed it against his leg.
“Looks like you’re driving, kid.” He leaned back into his seat and clenched his jaw tight as he settled in.
Grayson was alright. He was going to be fine. Damian just had to get him home.
“I should always drive. I am the better driver.” He shut the passenger door and went around to the other side. He started the car and pulled away from the curb just as the lights of the police cars came into view behind him. “Thank you,” he said, drumming his bloodstained fingers against the steering wheel, steadfastly watching the road instead of his injured brother beside him. “For coming to help. I would not have been able to stop them all on my own.”
“Anytime, Robin,” said Grayson, staring out the window as they left the scene with his hand pressed firmly against his leg. He held his fist out to Damian, who bumped it in response. “Anytime.”
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eorzean-capitalist · 7 years ago
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FFXIV Marketboard Guide.
AKA: How to level up your crafting classes and make a little money on the side to support said leveling.
About the author of this guide:  I have over 150 million gil at the moment, and am lazily working my way toward 200 million.  I am an omni-crafter, all crafts and gatherers at lvl 70.  When I bought my large house in Shirogane, my highest level crafter was 53.  I had 85 million gil at the time.  I know what I’m doing, I know how to succeed.
There is no one way to succeed.  Consider this guide really a set of tips to help you get a jump on leveling your crafting and gathering.  This guide assumes you’re starting with everything at level 1 and goes from there.
It takes work, a lot of work on your part.  But it’s quite rewarding as you watch your classes level up and your bank account increase at the same time.  If you’re hoping this guide will help you get rich quick with no effort on your part, this is probably not your guide.
ONE:  The first thing you need to do is gather shards.  You are going to need a shit ton of shards.  You can buy them off the marketboard if they’re cheap, but if they run up over 100 gil each, don’t bother.  Farm your own.  
Set your retainers to botany and mining.  Equip them with a pick and an axe, and start sending them out for shards.  (You can buy ventures with GC seals, and Allied Seals.  Stock up on them, as many as you can.)  It is worth it to gear them up as they level (ever 10 levels after the retainer hits lvl 20 is my recommendation).  Eventually they’ll be able to bring you back 60 shards every 40 minutes.  
When you hit 9999 shards, shake off the excess onto a retainer and keep sending them out for shards.  Now you’re ready for step two.
TWO: Level up all your crafters to lvl 20.  Do this by crafting items at the starting stages and turning in class items.  (Most of the items you need are buyable from the vendor at the crafting area.)  When you hit 10 on your first class, you’ll unlock Quick Synthesis.  This is ungodly for leveling.  You only need to synthesis something once, and then you can set your character to create 99 of that item and let ‘em go while you go get coffee or do laundry or something.  
Tips: 
Don’t bother with crafting leves at this stage of the game.  It’s not hard to get to lvl 20 without touching them.  It’s time consuming, but not hard.  
You’ll get all the starting gear you need from your class quests.  Don’t bother buying gear at this stage.  If anything, you can make whatever you need as you go.
These classes will all provide shards at the first quests.  Make sure you have room for them. If you already have 9999 shards, you’ll just lose these extras. Offload around 2000 shards onto a retainer’s inventory so you have room.
If you have the Ala Mhigan earrings, wear them.  They work for crafting and gathering just as well as war and magic classes.
THREE: Take stock of what you can make.  By level twenty, these items either are now available to you or are very close.
Carpenter: Walnut Lumber (Lvl 25, a bit of a risk but worth it.)
Blacksmith/Armorsmith: (Iron Ingots lvl 16 and Iron Rivets, lvl 18.)
Goldsmithing: Silver Ingots (lvl 23)
Leatherworking: Aldgoat Leather (lvl 17)
Weaving: Dew Thread (lvl 23)
Alchemy: Mortar (lvl 20) and eventually Natron (lvl 25).
Cooking: Grape Juice. (Lvl 21, has only one ingredient, easy to mass produce to get levels.)
SOME of these items are great to sell on the marketboard.  Others are not.  I can tell you right now I had great experiences selling the following: Walnut Lumber, Silver Ingots, Dew Thread, Mortar and Natron.  
Four:  Now go farm up the mats you need that cannot be bought off a vendor.
Walnut Lumber:  Gather up at least 300 logs to turn into 100 lumber.  Go nuts with this, the more you have the better off you’ll be.  
Silver Ore or Effervescent Water:  Effervescent water sells great on its own if you want something to just mine up and sell as is.  Or you can turn it into Natron for a bit more profit.
Limestone.  I’ve found Limestone always sells high.  Mortar is particularly popular for making furniture items.  
Noble Grapes: Check the marketboard for these, it may be worth it to just buy them if they’re cheap rather than waste time gathering them when you could be gathering more walnut logs.
Aldgoat Skin: Check the MB for this too.  It may be cheap enough to buy rather than gather.  Since gathering takes you going around killing aldgoats near camp drybone.  (If you do gather them, save any aldgoat horns you get, they’ll come in handy later.)
Alumen: Necessary to make aldgoat leather.
Diremite web: Pain in the ass to gather yourself.  Buy off marketboard or run Toto-rak over and over again and hope you get some.
At this point, you should have enough shards and your retainers should be high enough level to gather other things for you. Send botanists out for walnut logs, and miners out for silver ore, alumen, limestone or effervescent water.
DO NOT BOTHER FARMING FOR IRON ORE.  IT IS BOUGHT OFF VENDORS EASILY.  WASTE OF YOUR TIME TO UNLESS YOU JUST REALLY ARE A PENNY PINCHER AND ENJOY GATHERING.
TIPS:  
Put on an audiobook to listen to, or have the TV nearby playing a movie or binge watch your favorite show while you gather.  Makes it less tedious.  
Take breaks.  Get up and get something to eat, stay hydrated.  Walk away and do some how chores for a bit.  The gathering part takes time.  
Set a limit for yourself.  Like you’re only going to get 300 walnut logs and then go do something else for awhile. Or, set a timer like you’ll farm for 30 minutes and then take a break.  Run a dungeon, play another game, do housework, something to mix it up a bit.  
This stage of the game is different for everyone. Some people like the grind of gathering, other people find it boring and tedious.  Don’t feel like you’re a failure if you can’t spend more than a short amount of time on this.  Pace yourself, do what you can, and then stop before you burn out.
Five:  Now for the crafting part.  Start working on everything you have gathered. Make walnut logs into lumber, turn silver and iron ore into ingots, diremite web into dew thread, aldgoat skin and alumen into aldgoat leather, noble grapes into grape juice, limestone into mortar.  
Once everything is made, head for the market board and price your items.  See what’s selling decently, what’s selling low.  Also be sure to check what the history is on the item in question. How much has it sold for in the past? How often does it sell? 
This is where your marketboard savvy should begin to take shape.   If you need to, keep track of sales trends on a spreadsheet.  Very useful in the beginning as you are learning the ropes, and will likely become intrinsic later.  
Start putting up auctions on your vendors of the items you think are most likely to sell.  Don’t put up stacks of 99 if you can help it.  Some people like big stacks like that but others may just want a few of an item.  (Also you can possibly sell it for a bit more than the lowest price if they have stacks of 99 up and you’re selling a stack of 20.)
Tips:  
Make sure you check the history of the item in question.  Look to see how often the item sells.  Is the last time it sold back a month ago?  Probably not a hot item right now.  Check the next item in your bags.  Your auctions are prime real estate, you want to occupy them with items that sell relatively well.  Reserve your slower moving items for times you’re low on the fast ones.  
Always have your retainers full.  When you go to bed, they should each have 20 auctions up.  Soon as something sells, put up something to replace it.  
Keep an eye on the going rates.  If it normally sells around 600 gil a piece, but there’s none up right now?  Don’t get greedy, selling it for 5000 gil each will just get you undercut pretty fast.  Try something like twice the last going rate to start with.  So, in this example, something that was selling at 600 gil a piece, put your auction up for 1200 a piece.  This is trial and error and every server is different.  
A watched auction never sells.  Don’t obsessively check your auctions to see if you’ve been undercut every 5 minutes.  Put them up and WALK AWAY.  
Know prime shopping times.  If it’s early in the morning, there won’t be as many sales.  Don’t bother undercutting just yet.  When you get home from work, great time to log in, check auctions and undercut as that’s the time people are getting home and logging in and buying stuff.  Don’t bother with it again until you go to bed.  
And that’s about all I have time for right now.  I will try to put up a part two on how to Marketboard tomorrow.  Good night and good sales!
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ruffsficstuffplace · 7 years ago
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And The AWRD Goes To... (Part 63)
7PM, two hours before they were due at Devalekha Terrace, Weiss and Ruby were advertising in the fairgrounds together, the former with her make-up and hair freshly redone alongside a brand new kimono and accessories, and the latter now with a Bakunawa sashimono, and a bag full of fliers.
It was slow going, and tough beside, the Tsukimi having no shortage of other entertainers and advertisers trying to tempt and persuade the same crowd as them, and many of them having the advantage of having their shows and distractions right there and immediately available.
There were some positive moments where they were recognized by someone who’d been following their marketing campaign, or knew them from the recent news, but after chatting them up, it seemed a good number of them either weren’t interested in seeing the actual show, or already had conflicting plans.
Weiss and Ruby both managed to keep the charm and the smiles on for a while, but eventually, they came into a relatively unoccupied alley, and dropped the facade. The frowns on their face grew as they noticed one of their fliers laying discarded on the ground, covered in footprints and torn in places.
“Dust, we are so outclassed and out-prepared, aren’t we?” Weiss grumbled as Ruby picked up the discarded flier.
“Yeah, but the Bakunawa seemed to be doing pretty good before we left, right?” Ruby asked as she folded it up, and carefully put it into an overflowing trash can nearby.
“That’s how the crowds always are on the first half of the night!” Weiss said. “It’s really the second half, when all the big events are done and the people are hungry again that the Bakunawa really makes bank.”
She sighed. “We really need something to boost our advertising.”
“What do you have in mind?” Ruby asked as she walked back.
“I’d say a celebrity just as big, influential, and with just as large—or larger—of a devoted following as most of our competition, but honestly, what are the chances we’re going to find someone like that tonight, and convince them to help us, too?”
Crunch! Fzzz! Boom!
Weiss and Ruby jumped, rushed out of the alley and joined the bystanders investigating what had just happened, found a distraught shopkeeper standing before her broken “Test Your Strength!” machine, with two sheepish looking redheads on the side.
“Okay...!” Nora said. “In hindsight, maybe you shouldn’t have given that punch your all...”
“You broke my machine!” the shopkeeper wailed at Penny.
“I would like to offer my sincerest apologies for my error, ma’am--” Penny started.
“You can say sorry by paying for it, or I’m calling the cops!” the shopkeeper snapped as she pulled out her scroll.
Penny winced, and started to twiddle her fingers. “Ah, we’re rather limited in disposable income at the moment—perhaps I can repair it for you instead?” she offered, smiling hopefully.
“With what? Pocket lint and spare change?” the shopkeeper growled, looming menacingly over Penny.
Penny started to inch back and hide behind Nora, Ruby stepped forward with her hands up. “Woah, woah, calm down, lady! Maybe you should hear her out on this...?”
“And just who are you?” the shopkeeper asked.
“Ruby!” Ruby replied. “I happen to be an engineering student at Haven, so I can help them fix this!”
The shopkeeper looked at her dubiously.
“She skipped two whole years, she’s that talented and smart,” Weiss explained as she came up beside Ruby. “Back on topic: I really don’t think you have anything to by accepting their help, plus you’ll save yourself the trouble of finding a different mechanic and paying their fees, so why not let them take a crack at fixing it?”
“And if they can’t fix it and break it even worse…?” the shopkeeper asked, narrowing her eyes..
“Then we promise to stay here, and patiently wait for the authorities to come.” Weiss replied. “Sound good?”
The shopkeeper thought for it for a moment, before she threw her hands up. “Fine! Go ahead. But if you get electrocuted or blown up, it’s not on me...” she grumbled as she headed back into the stall.
“We’ll have it done ASAP!” Ruby said, before she went around the still sparking machine and looked for the power supply.
Nora sighed in relief. “Thanks for helping save our bacon!”
“You’re welcome,” Weiss said. “I’m Weiss, you two would be?”
“Nora, and this is Penny!” Nora said, beaming and roping her arm around Penny’s shoulders.
“Salutations!” Penny said, smiling as she waved.
“Nice to meet you, Nora, Penny!” Ruby said after she cut the machines power, its sparking stopped and its lights went dark. “So, you mentioned you wanted to fix this thing?” she said, thumbing to the dented and partially cracked machine.
“I did verbally state that intention earlier, both because I wish to make reparation, and also because I have the means to do so!” Penny said, smiling as she pulled out a small cloth bundle of tools from one of her pockets. “Shall we commence the diagnosis of the machine and attempt repairs, if possible?”
“Let’s!” Ruby said, before the two of them got to work, Weiss and Nora heading to the side to give them space.
“So what happened here, exactly?” Weiss asked.
“Penny just punched the machine way too hard.” Nora replied.
“Geeze, it must be one of those years old ‘refurbished’ machines to break that badly from one hit...” Weiss said.
Nora paused for a moment, before she nodded and smiled. “… Yeah, yeah it probably is!”
“I hope they can still salvage it.” Weiss said.
“Ditto that!” Nora said, nodding. “I’d hate to go to jail again, especially here in Mistral—the prisons are really bad, plus we’ll miss our flight back home tomorrow morning!”
“Ugh, tell me about it—just hearing about the conditions make me glad my sentence never got that far. So, I take it you’re from overseas?”
“Mhmm! Nora said. “Born and lived here in Mistral for almost all my life, but now living in Vale and studying at Beacon. You?”
“Local, and studying at Haven, as much as that might be hard to believe,” Weiss replied. “Technically, my family only emigrated from Atlas when I was six, but honestly, I feel my genetics and my accent are the only things Solitan about me.”
Nora laughed. “Heh, I pegged you closer to Hestian like me, actually—you wear that kimono and move around in those sandals like you’ve been doing it for years! You look really pretty in it, too, like one of those princesses from the fairy tales.”
Weiss blushed and smiled. “Why thank you.”
Their conversation stopped as Penny and Ruby reconnected the power and the machine came back to life, its lights flashing and its jingle playing playing once more, the cracked sections covered up and taped back together, the dented pressure plate pounded back into shape.
“Well I’ll be damned, you actually fixed it...” the shopkeeper said as she came back from where she’d been sulking.
“Told you so!” Ruby said. “So does that mean we’re cool?”
“And your little redhead friend is permanently banned from playing.” The shopkeeper added. “You or anyone else want to?”
They answered or shook their heads no, Penny apologized again, and they left.
“I would like to express my gratitude for your timely and generous assistance,” Penny said. “I was very certain that Nora and myself were about to attract very negative attention from the local authorities. Am I correct in my assumption that you would appreciate our reciprocating your kindness in material or deed?”
“She’s asking if there’s anything we can do for you guys, since we owe you big time!” Nora said.
“There is, actually!” Ruby said, before she gestured to her bag full of fliers. “Would you mind helping us advertise for a while? We could really use the extra heads going around convincing people to see our big number at the Moonlight Serenade—or just eating at the Bakunawa, the restaurant sponsoring us, that’s what’s really important.”
Nora opened her mouth, before her eyes lit up and she stopped walking. “Oh, can we ever! Come on, we have got to meet up with the rest of our team—they’re this way!” she said as she grabbed Penny, and hauled her off with her.
Weiss and Ruby watched them cut through the crowds for a moment, shared a look, before they shrugged, and followed after them, out of the streets filled with games, and into the ones brimming with miniature theaters, art installations, and outdoor galleries.
“Guys! Guys!” Nora said as she came to a stop before two hooded figures standing around and watching a shadow puppet show. “Big, important thing came up—we need a team meeting like right now!”
“Hey! Quiet down over there, it’s hard enough to tell a story with all this background noise going on!” a tinny voice said, the puppets on-stage seemingly shaking their fists or other limbs at Nora, the kids seated before them shooting their own glares and looks of annoyance.
“Sorry!” the taller of the hooded figures said, before she quickly led them away to yet another deserted alley. “What’s happened? Is it an emergency?” she asked.
Nora was about to start, before, Weiss recognized the face underneath that hood, and started screaming in excitement.
Ruby recognized her, too. “Oh hey, you’re--!”
“Yes, yes, I am, and I would really, truly appreciate it if neither of you broadcast that fact to everyone within earshot!” Pyrrha said quickly as she held out her hands. “I’m trying to stay discrete tonight!”
Weiss slapped her hands over her mouth, muffling most of her giggling and shrieking, Ruby closed her mouth and gave Pyrrha a thumbs up.
She sighed in relief. “Thank you… now, what exactly happened?”
“Well, Penny wanted to play Test Your Strength...” Nora started as she explained what happened. “… So now they want us to help advertise for their show, so people will come to the restaurant that’s sponsoring them! I figure, you’re still a pretty big celebrity around here, so your endorsing anyone is bound to bring in the customers!”
“And reveal my presence here, meaning we’ll probably be swarmed with fans for the rest of tonight, and our plans will have to be seriously adjusted, to say the least,” Pyrrha added.
Nora blinked. “… Oh… right. Crap, I forgot about that part!”
“You don’t have to if you don’t want to!” Weiss said, still starstruck and giggly.
“But we could really use your help!” Ruby added quickly.
“Shall we discuss this further, and try to strike a compromise, then?” Pyrrha asked.
“Let’s!” Ruby said, before she turned to Weiss. “Mind if I do all the talking?”
Weiss looked at her, then at Pyrrha, and back at Ruby, before she nodded and stepped aside.
“Thanks!” Ruby said, before she turned back to Pyrrha. “So, we’re really only entering the Moonlight Serenade for advertising, get the Bakunawa’s name out and hopefully have people come by to the stall, to check us out, and/or see Weiss after the show.”
“So you’re saying we don’t need to help advertise for the show itself, if we can find some other way to lure customers to the Bakunawa...?” Pyrrha asked.
“Exactly.” Ruby said, nodding. “You have an idea?”
“Yes: how about I and my team show up to your stall, and eat there after the show? Word that I’m there will likely spread blazing fast, and you’ll have curious crowds coming over in no time at all.”
“That sounds perfect! Could you stay for two hours or so?” Ruby asked. “It’s peak business hours then, before most people start going home.”
“Can we make it an hour instead?” Pyrrha asked. “I really would still like to enjoy more of the Tsukimi Festival with my team after this.”
“An hour and a half, but with free food and snacks the entire time?” Ruby countered.
“All you can eat…?” Nora asked, her eyebrows raised.
“Please don’t agree to that.” Ren said calmly.
“I concur.” Pyrrha said, before she shot Nora an apologetic look.
“Aww...” Nora said, her shoulders slumped.
Pyrrha turned back to Ruby. “An hour and a half it is, so long as none of us are obliged to pretend the food is good,” she said as she offered her hand.
“Oh, that won’t be a problem!” Ruby said, smiling and gesturing for Pyrrha to put her hand down as she pulled out her scroll. “I’m just gonna call the Bakunawa and run the deal through them, see if they want to change anything.” she said as she walked off to the side.
“Did something important come up?” Topaz asked after she picked up.
“Yeah, and it’s super big!” Ruby replied. “Weiss and I managed to convince a celebrity and her team to come eat at the Bakunawa later after the show, to help lure in customers! I promised them free food, so just take what they eat out of my cut.”
“And who exactly is this celebrity, and what are they known for?” Topaz asked warily.
“It’s better if I show you,” Ruby replied, turning on the camera, before pointing it at Pyrrha.
Pyrrha smiled and waved. “Hi there!”
Everyone flinched as Topaz started screaming, Ruby accidentally tossed her scroll up, and fumbled to catch it; she lowered down the volume to just before “Mute,” but still had to hold it an inch away from her ear.
“So, I guess this means you’re okay with the plan?!” Ruby asked.
“YES, YES, ABSOLUTELY!” Topaz shrieked. “FORGET THE PART ABOUT TAKING IT OUT OF YOUR CUT, JUST—TELL ME WHEN SHE’S THERE AND LET ME GET AN AUTOGRAPH AND A PHOTO!”
Ruby turned to Pyrrha. “My friend Topaz wants an autograph and a photo, that okay?”
“I already assumed I’d be giving them out to anyone who asks, it’s fine.” Pyrrha replied.
Ruby nodded. “She said she’ll do it.”
“OKAY, GOT IT, BYE!” Topaz said, shrieking again before she hung up.
“I guess we’ll see you guys later after the show!” Ruby said, shaking Pyrrha’s hand, before she gave her a flier. “But, feel free to watch it anyway, 9:45 PM at Devalekha Terrace! We’ve got a hell of a show in store—one with high-speed action, explosions and incredible special effects, and live fights with Grimm summons!”
“This sounds more like a kickass action movie than a song number.” Nora said. She smiled. “I love it!”
“Hope to see you there!” Weiss squealed, waving goodbye and grinning like a loon, before Ruby grabbed her arm and dragged her back out to the streets
Pyrrha sighed and smiled. “Well, that certainly turned out a lot better than I was fearing it would…”
“I apologize for jeopardizing our plans for this evening, Pyrrha, especially your intention to keep the public unaware of your presence here.” Penny said.
Pyrrha smiled. “It’s alright, Penny, accidents happen.”
“Speaking of which… how did you repair that machine, exactly?” Ren asked.
“Oh, it was actually a very simple operation, just wires that had exceeded their maximum tolerance and shorted out—that they were mostly encased in electrical tape than proper, permanent insulation only contributed to their failure, I’m sure.” Penny replied. “Anyway, their connectors had survived, and as it was such a simple circuit board, a replacement was all that was required.”
“And where did you get the new wires?” Pyrrha asked, before she paused. “Oh no, don’t tell me...”
“I did, but I assure you, they’re strictly part of auxiliary systems!” Penny replied, waving one of her hands. “They’re only meant to provide additional structural support during times of intense and prolonged physical operations, such as combat.
“Once we get back to Vale, I can easily and cheaply replace them, relative to the value of specialty technological components in the consumer market.”
“And no one asked, or wondered why you happened to conveniently have spare wires and all those tools on-hand?” Ren asked.
“Not at all, actually!” Penny said. “While Ruby did question the quality of the wires I was using relative to the machine it was to be installed in, she had no further inquiries; I am assuming it was an ‘engineering student thing.’”
Pyrrha nodded. “So, now that that crisis is well and truly over… shall we discuss our new plans for the Tsukimi Festival?”
“Could we go see Weiss and Ruby’s show?” Nora asked. “I really want to see it in action!”
“I would also like to attend their production, if none of you have any objections!” Penny added. “I have only been able to watch such large, professionally produced events as that through recordings, and I am told that they are a significantly, objectively different experience live, and in-person.”
“We’ll have to stand with the crowds on the outskirts, watching through the big screens, though.” Ren said. “All the free seating will be taken by the time we get there.”
“That sounds like an acceptable compromise, given that a monetary transaction is not required for us to attend!” Penny said, Nora nodding in agreement.
“Then it’s decided: we’re watching the Moonlight Serenade later.” Pyrrha said, Penny and Nora cheering immediately after.
Meanwhile, as that conversation was happening, Weiss was still gushing over Pyrrha as she and Ruby walked down the streets again.
“Can you believe it, Ruby?!” she squealed. “Pyrrha Nikos, live and in-person at the Bakunawa, tonight! I still can’t believe we got so lucky...! Do you think she’ll actually watch us later? Do you think it’s alright for me to ask her where she is in the audience, if we manage to run into her again? Should I try to look for her instead?”
“I hope so, no, and no,” Ruby replied. “We should probably get back to handing out these fliers and advertising the show, she’ll only attract so many customers.”
“Right, right...” Weiss said, nodding, before she sighed. “You know, these days, I never put much faith into luck, chance, and omens, but this makes me feel like it’s going to be a great night...”
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arizonamansions-blog · 4 years ago
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This is one of those stocks that reminds me much of Bitcoin. At one time Bitcoin was trading for 200 dollars a coin. Now, Bitcoin is trading at over 62,000 dollars a share.
DogeCoin is following the same exact pattern that bitcoin did this is a must buy.
The people that purchased hundreds of bitcoin‘s at $200 a share are now billionaires, Bitcoin is trading at around 60,000 dollars per bit coin today. Imagine owning 1000 Bitcoin today purchased at 200 a Bitcoin.
To have the capability of turning $100 into $2.5 million quickly it does not get to look any better than this, do not miss your opportunity to blow, this opponent comes once in a lifetime.
This is bigger than you and I. This is for our kids, and our grandkids, and our great grand kids.
It’s okay if you don’t under Cryptocurrencies. I didn’t, I was a skeptic, until someone explained it to me in plain English. I will do just that, right now.
The programmers responsible for creating the block chain computer programming code or perhaps the most genius coders to have ever existed because they figured out a way to set us free in every way.
You might be working 40 to 60 hours a week making $40,000 a year maybe even $150,000 a year but the point is you are not working for yourself you are a slave to a company that will work you to the bone and then tell you to piss off when you are too old to do the job and younger more talented kids out of college can replace you for much cheaper. You might get lucky and have a small 401(k) and maybe even a small pension that you can live off of the rest your life in a two bedroom two bath and not have to work so you can be on a fixed income that you can barely get bion for the rest of your days.
Cryptocurrency is designed to give the people control of the all mighty dollar not the governments. I have seen governments go to very great links to try to shut down cryptocurrency because they know if it takes off governments lose full control over the financial markets. Whoever controls the financial markets controls your life.
The point of cryptocurrency is to give you the financial freedom to live your life on your terms however you deem necessary not how a government thinks you should live cryptocurrency gives you the freedom to make as much money as you want and the government can’t do a darn thing about it because it is a D centralized financial system that the government has zero control over. No government has control over any cryptocurrency which is the beauty of it all.
In short cryptocurrency gives regular people The ability to turn a few thousand dollars into a few million dollars so that they do not have to live and die underneath the sword of a corrupt government. They say we have the freedom of speech, the freedom of religion, and the freedom of press... our first amendment rights... if you honestly feel that is true you should ex out of this window right now.
Cryptocurrency gives people back their right to pursue happiness.
Cryptocurrency is designed to give you your life back and allow you to pursue your dreams. Your dream might be different than mine but whatever your dreams might be this is your opportunity to actually be able to accomplish your dreams and hopes for the future.
My dream personally is to expose the corruption in our medical system, and put the right people in charge of our health and wellness because right now we are getting poisoned with incredibly unhealthy foods that should never have been approved by the FDA, we are drinking water with an incredible amount of chlorine in it, and we are breathing in the most toxic air this world has ever seen and it is causing a battery of different health problems from cancer to auto immune disorders. People like to assume it was all one big coincidence but I can assure you it is 100% intentional.
There is absolutely no money in keeping people healthy at very low costs. There are trillions of dollars wrapped up in keeping people sick and selling them a host of pills and treatments they really don’t need. When I discovered the truth behind our medical system it was at that moment I decided to do some thing about it and cryptocurrency was the light when I was in the darkness.
People that I genuinely loved my whole life passed away because they were eating garbage and drinking toxic water, when it came time for our medical system to save their life they pumped him up full of chemo and radiation took all of their money threw a bunch of pills at them and then killed them after the insurance money was gone and there Bank accounts were liquidated and their houses were refinanced to the point where they owed more in their house than it was worth.
My dream is to make sure our children do not have to endure these medical injustices and I’m doing something about that right here and I hope you can join me in that fight. https://gofund.me/190a3d0c
On a day-to-day basis I am going toe to toe with big Pharma and Western medicine. We are only a few thousand strong at this time and big Pharma alone it’s a multi trillion dollar industry so believe me when I say, they will do just about anything to protect what they have built. Big Pharma has monetized and monopolized every single medicinal plant on earth.
https://www.newsmax.com/t/health/article/691946?section=Natural-Health&keywords=alternative-medicine-doctor-dies&year=2015&month=09&date=16&id=691946
https://www.gazettetimes.com/opinion/letters/letter-conspiracy-targets-holistic-doctors/article_66755c2b-0772-55eb-aaf5-7e18827d837c.html
Our naturalistic and natural path doctors are now forced to work underground they cannot advertise for obvious purposes.
Only the super rich can afford the best food, the best air with houses up in the mountains, and the finest water this planet has.
I highly encourage everybody to read the testimonials on X 39 stem cell patches. Again I was a skeptic at first but after being on stem cell patches for a year I genuinely cannot believe how much better I feel. I am 41 years old and I feel like I’m 25 years old X 39 stem cell patches simply activate your own stem cells because they’re being suppressed by chlorinated water and preservatives: https://www.lifewave.com/stemcellcancercure
Once a person loses everything and they have nothing left to lose, they are free to do anything. Someone with nothing to lose is perhaps the most dangerous, better yet, the most real person you will ever know. If you are one of these people, we sympathize with you.
Our Justice system is broken in just about every way. If you have had a case(s) which should have have gone to trial where Justice was actually delivered, I’d really, really like to hear about it. Email me the case at [email protected]
I have been in and out of court more times than I can count. Never once formally charged with anything. Judges don’t read your case, they have too many cases. They make snap Judgment calls with out doing their due diligence, and when Judges do this, and they do not listen, they may not realize it at the time, but it radicalizes a person down to the bone and ignites a fire in them that it impossible to put out.
Think about that for a second. We the people are paying Judges in building federal court houses so that the federal government employees can sit pretty in their new homes in their new cars while having the ability to pass judgment on others without even reading the cases.
These judges make snap decisions without having all the information and those decisions have it detrimental impact on everybody involved, that is, if you are even lucky enough to get a Judge The hear you.
Why are we funding a judicial system that simply does not listen two basic facts? Unless it’s a high profile celebrity keys your case Will be open and shut in 15 minutes in a Superior Court, House. I have seen judges put children back into a home that was clearly unfit for a child putting that child in grave danger. That’s just the tip of the iceberg. We can safely say in Arizona at least our judicial system does not care about us, at all. I watch them drive up in their V 12 venom viper and throw on a black robe.
We have to ask these tough questions. Why are our children hiding behind their i phone 12’s, why are our Schools being shot up, and why are teen suicides going through the roof? Try looking up statistics in the last 6 years. I can’t find any, which tells me it’s really, really bad. It is up 60% between 2007 and 2017. 60 Thousand Teens gone in those 10 years. The last 5 years, God Only knows because they won’t publish those numbers. If you can’t find some thing on the Internet that information is being suppressed.
Our children need time with their parents, love, and be able to take a few vacations a year with their families to make memories that will last a lifetime.
https://www.wsj.com/amp/articles/youth-suicide-rate-rises-56-in-decade-cdc-says-11571284861
https://www.cnn.com/interactive/2019/07/us/ten-years-of-school-shootings-trnd/
In the real estate crash around 2009 approximately 45% of America‘s wealth was lost. Ever since then just about everyone I know personally has been doing everything in their power to recover from that crash. That crash was caused by the Clintons and Alan Greenspan giving out incredibly risky loans to people with horrible credit ratings. Why would a bank give a loan to a person with a 400 credit rating and no income on a 3/1 adjustable rate mortgage? Homes were appreciating at nearly 30% a month for two or three years and then when we got to the top and realized it was all a house of cards, that house of cards came tumbling down and America feast another avoidable depression
https://www.wsj.com/amp/articles/youth-suicide-rate-rises-56-in-decade-cdc-says-11571284861
https://www.cnn.com/interactive/2019/07/us/ten-years-of-school-shootings-trnd/
Dogecoin has the answer. The dogecoin Cryptocurrency Stock can give families enough money to be able to take a little bit of time off of work so that they can give their children the love and attention they need so that these numbers are not so incredibly horrific.
It is a fact that our children are turning to their cell phones for attention because their parents are overworked and under paid. If a teenager gets a heart emoji from a pretty girl in his class that will mean more to the child then a weekend fishing trip with dad.
Dogecoin is a means to put healthy food on the table, healthy drinking water, and top of the line air filtration systems in your home.
It sounds easy to get clean food clean water and clean air but from everything that I’m seeing humans are not getting that right now. The top 1% of course are getting these items but if you don’t have a few million dollars to put in the right systems to protect your family you are left fending for your family as best you can with home made items. It amazes me the ingenuity human beings have on ensuring their families safety rich or poor.
I want you to get that house in the hills and I want you and your family to have the very best this life has to offer you deserve it. Purchase as much dodge coin as you can today and you will see what I am talking about just this morning we made over $20,000 just by purchasing DogeCoin a few weeks ago.
You can buy it here: https://crypto.com/
I will be straight up with you when you use my referral link we both get an extra $30 right out of the gate here is my referral link for being able to purchase DogeCoin on crypto.com. Please use my referral link or go straight to crypto.com to purchase DogeCoin. When you use my referral link we both get a little something to get started: https://lnkd.in/ecR2RJe
If you have any questions feel free to reach out to me text me FaceTime me I am in this with you. I am not a very good salesman I am simply trying to liberate you and give you and your family the very best opportunities.
You might ask would I gain from all of this and the truth is I don’t get much from publishing this information. The people that started cryptocurrency‘s were tired of being a slave to corrupt governments and they decided the people should have the ability to print their own money as a government does. This is your ticket to print your own money: https://lnkd.in/ecR2RJe
DogeCoin
The only way we can beat them at their own game is to become wealthy beyond our wildest dreams so that we can afford to live our lives on our own terms, and dodgecoin is the way.
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anyu-blue · 4 years ago
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Tevellon(aka Tevie): omg Meek! You have so much in your account!!! Why are you so worried??? 😂😂😂 Why can't you buy the ($800) package for yourself for your birthday, omg? 😂😂😂
Me:
....
$1,755, yeah?
Let's see...
$860- rent
$300- cellphone bill
$300- Power Bill
$56- Water bill
$75- internet bill
$75- cat care bill
$40- collection agency bill (from bumping a car 2 or 3 years ago)
$10- homeowners insurance.
...
Normally I have a $65 bill for student loans too, but luckily they're still furloughed for the moment. So...
That leaves me with $39 left over.
Tevellon: O-oh haha 😅
Me: I CAN'T afford the gift I wanted... Or any of them, really.
Tevellon: But the stimulus-!
Me: I checked to see why mine has been delayed... There's nothing- system can't find me. So it possible I won't be getting it- and look what happened at the capital today. Think the delays are going to stop?
Tevellon: But-
Me: And besides, I've been told I'm losing my hours soon- the co-worker I'm covering for is feeling better. IF I get anything I need to be prepared to save it for bills for the month I'll be scrambling to find something/work.
Tevellon: ... I forgot rent needed to pull... But I get paid this Friday! You can-
Me: No. I appreciate your offer, but you know I have my reasons. Bills. Nothing more.
Tevellon: Meek-
Me: We've been through this. Enough. I'm done talking to you.
~~~~
Tevie has recently (as in at the beginning of December) also decided she's done paying for groceries for everyone (I don't blame her, I wouldn't want to pay for my new diet of vitamins and expensive/better food either. $100 a week adds up) and has been having a ball with her stimulus buying Valentine's day gifts for everyone besides me (I'm too picky, don't like Valentine's day, and have a low key anger when she spends so MUCH money so easily near me that it's put her off I feel)...
W0lf.exe, our younger sister, already has plans to spend any extra she makes/gets on continuing to upgrade her computer.
And they wonder why I bristle all the time when buying shit comes up. Or why I get so nervous when MY funds are low.
Tevie cannot fathom not buying stupid stuffed animals and marked up food and shit Evey God damned week either- which is where all her damn money goes I feel. Gods.. HOW many new Elsa dolls has she gotten in the last month? And TY stuffies? She brought home 4 in the last two days!!! These things are NOT cheap!! And she has DOZENS sitting on boxes in her room- recently bought a 8 cubbie bookshelf shelf to put up JUST for those stuffies she has so many!! She already has one filled to overflowing with books, one with DVDs, and one spilling over with figurines. Her video games are stacked under her tv because she's go no place for them on any other shelf!!
She has $200 in her account right now. Someone who makes over 11/hr (it's more than that but idk how much higher. I THINK she's up to $13/hr but we'll go with $11/hr) and gets at LEAST 3 hours of overtime a week (time and a half) means she gets oooh... 1,602 a month after taxes with those figures?
Her bills and groceries (which I've highballed/added together at the maximum they ever are) come out to $1,105 a month.... Sooo... $297 from regular pay AND the $600 she JUST got.. just.. GONE. SPENT. NOTHING to show for it. (And a reminder that she definitely makes more than I added up here so she's actually spent more than that too.. yeah)
I get it. I do. I've got the problem too of Oo! Has moneys! Buy the things before you'll never be able to again! ... It's why I was even LOOKING at a birthday gift for myself. A high quality long lasting investment at that... But I can settle for something under $10 for myself/as a gift for someone else at the end of the month if I can afford it. I've done it for long enough. Literally every other penny goes to food and bills. That $10 at the end of the month for something extra is designed to help me keep my sanity.. SOMETHING to look forward to. I don't work much due to my struggles, so I don't have much to play with or save.
I'm glad they're happy on some level too because I do get it... And it's their money to do exactly what it is they please with. They spent more than enough time working for it.
But it still PISSES ME OFF that neither of my sisters ACTUALLY pay attention and just spend spend spend all their money away so long as they have enough for bills (which they wait until their last paycheck of the month to have together-- do you KNOW how BAD that is?! Especially if something happens and you can't or don't work as much as I'd needed?!)
...
There's many reasons everyone thinks I'm the eldest. I do carry my stress less gracefully than my siblings, but I also have the knowledge and the haunt of it truly weighing on me. Luckily my sisters don't... Even if it leads to their doom or stress in the end, because they haven't experienced it yet... They're happy now. On top of the world.
I've told them my feelings and why I think what they do is in bad taste, more or less. I've offered my money management AND economical cooking services to both who have complained they never have anything saved up, always are buying expensive food at work, and don't know how to get what they want as well as save (it's possible, believe me!).. Tevie even asked for help once! I told her just to bring me what she wanted help with and I'd break it down for her as best I could.... Well she never did. And now refuses to because I 'need to just focus on [me] and not worry about anybody else.'
Bitch... YOU AND YOUR SPENDING PROBLEMS DO NOT HELP WITH MY STRESS AND ISSUES I'LL HAVE YOU KNOW.
It's whatever.. just on my mind today. Not technically my problem.. but I'm mad that promised help and safety nets are actually non-existent.
We're CLEARLY FINE. Please don't fret. We're fine. We'll always be 'fine' thanks to someone else willing to help when things are dire at the very least...
It's just... If we ALL were as damned careful as I am (I know I HAVE to be because of my issues- issues they don't have).. and heck even willing to share as has been promised (I DO share whatever I can, but at the moment I'm HEAVILY considering retracting my sharing because.. well... Food is expensive.. and now I'm not getting help to pay for it on top of it all.. and don't want to starve because I'm allergic to what my sisters like to whim buy... So...)... We'd be GREAT even..
But they're not. They don't want to be or have personal reasons to be very careful.
So here we are.
...
I don't want to admit this because it looks bad.. but I feel it's important to.
In my stress I've regressed into not using my lights the last few weeks. Tevie talking with me and being so.. ignorant of costs has only made me wish to be MORE careful.
I've got old candles and lighters and stuff, my phone on battery saver for moving around, and two (maybe 3 if I can find the other one) old dollar store push button lights when I'm too tired to deal with fire or waste my phone's battery... Turned down my little basement heater too. I'd turn it off entirely, but I know that would probably kick our forced air heating system up even just a little bit. Also being more careful with my water consumption. Small baths and rinses rather than regular showers, plus being careful when flushing is needed... Just to try and see if I can help our bills be a tiny fraction lower.
This was something I did as a kid and teenager when my mother would yell and scream about the bills. And when her Ex would berate us for leaving a light on in a room for a second while we went to grab something or something. The light thing only stopped when I got yelled at for being in the bathroom in the dark too much which meant people walked in on me a lot. Don't have to worry about that here because I've got my own.
If that stimulus doesn't come through for me either and my hours drop, I feel I'll probably sell my PS4 if I feel I need to. It wasn't something I actually wanted at all- just something Lon wanted me to have- and not a single person has used it since the end of October so... It's not really important at all. I'm tempted to sell my computer because it's worth at least $1,000 (custom build, all new parts from my ex), but I know I'll get kicked in the teeth for that one because I do use it and have such a nice desk for it. So PS4 and VR it is if it comes down to it.
I know how crazy and awful I sound. I do. I know. Especially Because we ARE fine right now... But this is where I'm at again mentally. And I have to deal with it on my own because everyone else gets sick of it and my stubbornly refusing nice things when my funds start to or threaten to dwindle. (I'd rather have $800 in the bank than a new gadget, Tevie 😠 take the hint!!)
I know we're 'fine'. I know Tevie gets mad at me when I start selling things instead of asking her to spend her money on my bills... But... Honestly.. with the trauma I have gone through and can't seem to stop going through, it's my defense. It's what I've got.
Tevie is EXACTLY as guilty as everyone else in our lives for being super DUPER pissed when asked for help. When her livelihood is threatened. So I don't WANT to bother even if I need to.
If someone doesn't want to spend their money on something or someone... They're going to get pissy and maybe, just maybe.. hold it over your damn head. It's why I feel so stuck all the time... Hyper independence and all that...
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diveronarpg · 5 years ago
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Congratulations, BATA! You’ve been accepted for the role of PUCK. Admin Rosey: One of my favorite points of this application were the plots because you highlighted how much you wanted Puck to confront realities that they’ve studiously looked away from or have been able to elude. I had to laugh at the description of Puck’s carreer choice -- it’s not glamorous but it’s definitely f u n. You managed to capture a certain amount of carelessness and happy-go-lucky recklessness, while maintaining how cutting and dangerous Puck could be as a character. Seeing them on the dash is going to be a definite breath of fresh air -- which will be short-lived, probably, considering the chaos that is bound to occur because of them. I can’t wait to see what twists and wildness you bring to the dash! Please read over the checklist and send in your blog within 24 hours.
WELCOME TO THE MOB.
OUT OF CHARACTER
Alias | Bata
Age | 19
Preferred Pronouns | Any!
Activity Level | So, there’s four days a week where I work. Hooray for food service during a pandemic I guess! Those four days are super long and I can’t be on the dash. However, for the rest of the week, I fully intended to do at least one reply a day and to schedule replies for days I’m not on. I also plan to be on to talk with other writers every single day, even if it is only for short bursts or small pockets of time. In numbers, I guess a five out of ten?
Timezone | MST
How did you find the rp?  | Um, I think I was tag browsing while procrastinating my homework back when school was in session and I stumbled across you guys? My friends rp a lot and told me which tags I’d probably like, so I took note of ‘em and searched them up every so often when I got bored, and I thought this looked super cool and took a note of it! Now that I have a job again and my life has kind of evened out, I decided now was the time to apply!
Current/Past RP Accounts | None, I haven’t written anything in a super long time.
IN CHARACTER
Character | Puck - Pavel Lam with no faceclaim change, I think Jackson Wang has a certain pizzazz to him that I like quite a bit. Koala-tea choice, admins. I also chose to use they/them instead of he/him pronouns for Pavel, just so you’re aware. Both options were listed and I chose the former! :D
What drew you to this character? | My answer is really short and simple (but I promise it isn’t because I’m not super invested in the character!). Pavel is loyal to themselves and couldn’t really care what the big men in the city are doing. This is so refreshing to me! The biggest thing I took away from their skeleton is that the city could burn around them, the mobs could tear each other until there’s nothing left of the people that once fought, and Pavel would laugh, pack up, and move on. I cannot overstate how much I love that. No, I adore that. It sets them apart from every other character, in my mind. I don’t approve of it, and I think it’s a really dangerous personality trait, but they’re so different from everyone else. And that was really what attracted me to them. There’s something super fascinating about that ideology and I desperately want to explore it!
What is a future plot idea you have in mind for the character? |
BOY DON’T TRY TO FRONT: Pavel Lam has never, not in their entire life, cared about the expectations of others, unless they were an employer on one of their jobs. Money talks, after all, and until the greenbacks changed hands, they were willing to do almost anything for years. And if there wasn’t an opportunity, they made one, impersonating tour guides and all sorts of other stuff. Pavel kind of forced the world to allow them certain things. But that’s the only circumstance when that’s happened. Everything else, from the expectations society placed towards a “loyal” child to others’ opinions on their pronouns and gender expression, has been met with a laugh and a biting “Oh, love you too!” Pavel is Puck and Puck is Pavel and that is all they are.
Now, that’s all fine and dandy but Verona doesn’t care about things like that. The city is built on expectations and broken promises, and every person living there expects things and wants to see those things delivered. No one, not even Puck, the jester themselves, are immune to such a thing. People want things from them, expect certain actions to be taken, favors to be repaid, and all sorts of other complicated factors Pavel does not want to deal with.
I want them to be forced to deal with it. Perhaps Nick Bottom expects repayment for that bomb Pavel set off three hours early. Maybe Gertrude dispensed a captain/soldier team that ended up saving Pavel’s life and now the Montagues expect Verona’s (least) favorite knave to complete a job for them. Or, maybe, just maybe, they know something about the secrets that seem to swim through the veins of Capulets like fish and those associated with such a family expect them to keep their mouth shut. I just want Pavel to realize people expect things from them and if they don’t deliver, their head will be on the chopping block.
They aren’t used to something like that happening, after all, and I really think it could serve as this vague “come-to-Jesus” moment (as if they’d ever put stock in organized religion), where Pavel realizes if they don’t make a change, they’re going to pay a serious price, and that could really change how Pavel interacts with Verona.
I’M SENT FROM ABOVE: There is freedom in neutrality. True neutrality, not Capulet or Montague Lite like some other so-called neutrals hold, but actual neutrality. Pavel values that freedom above almost anything else, except their rose-gold headphones and the rest of their bank account. Verona is their playground, the paved streets might as well be clouds for how lightly they dance along them. And they’re willing to do almost anything for a pretty penny. Whether they were ordaining a wedding, crashing a wedding, or breaking an engagement off before the bride put on her freakishly-expensive dress, they don’t care. As long as it paid, they’re willing to try it.
That willingness to do anything as long as they’re paid might just lead a particularly desperate Montague or Capulet to their door, willing to pay anything as long as Pavel is willing to help them. Whether they want Puck to take out Alvise’s killer, Othello becoming so convinced of Desdemona’s continued betrayal that he wants her to suffer, or if someone just wants a stash of Titania’s fae blood destroyed, Puck would do it, and do it happily. Just as long as they pay. This would force Pavel to actually be involved in the mobs and their struggles in a fairly direct way that makes use of their talents! And that’s the main reason I want this. Pavel can’t be this lone island forever, and I refuse to let them be uninvolved for too long. There’s no fun in drifting above all this chaos, after all. And how can I possibly rain angst down upon their head if Pavel refuses to talk to any of the mobs?
HIT ME BABY ONE MORE TIME: The life of a killer (and anything else, really) for hire isn’t as glamorous as the movies make it out to be, but Pavel would be lying if they said it wasn’t fun. It’s a blast, and, if you were to catch them in a rare moment of honesty, they’d admit they wouldn’t change their job for all the money in a Capulet’s bank account. They’d be tempted, sure, but they likely wouldn’t. It’s freedom handed out along biting iron edges that dig into skin and heart, tearing into softness with a brutality probably only matched by Iago.
It’s a shame that others don’t seem to agree with them on the sheer awesomeness that is Pavel’s job.
Doing what Pavel does, it’s inevitable that enemies will be made, and will hang around for a good while after their dislike has been cemented. Pavel seemed to have amassed a collection of these, with the most notable of these being, of course, Nick Bottom. But there are others. There has to be. And whether they haven’t arrived in Verona yet or got there faster than Pavel did, I can’t help but think they’re coming. And they’re out for blood.
I want a rivalry. This is basically what this amounts to. And not a rivalry in the same way that Puck was written to have with Ariel, which I feel somewhat amounts to Pavel feeling undermined by Alva’s skills, but a genuine actual rivalry between assassins (and anything else) for hire. Pavel thinks they’re the best, that no one can compare to their skills. And they’re right to think that, but it’s also just straight up wrong. There’s no possible way that can be true, so the goal of this plot is to take that confidence Pavel has and to cut it down at the knees, to make them try and figure out who they are when their skills and job are in jeopardy, because I feel like so much of who Pavel is is tied to that. So, clearly, it needs to be stripped away!
Are you comfortable with killing off your character? | I sure am! Look, Puck just kinda. Exists in Verona, free from all this Montague - Capulet stuff. I don’t think they’d know what to do with the expectation of loyalty from anyone, and that’s a great strength. But like, they doesn’t really care about the chaos Verona is currently in, beyond how it serves them. So the likelihood that they’re going to piss someone off and that someone is going to kill them? Oh, it’s massive. Sky-high probability. It’ll be their own fault too, so like, yeah, I’m chill with it.
IN DEPTH
In-Character Para Sample:
The room, from Puck’s perch, stretched into the untold void of normality, only to vanish at the corners as if it fell off the world like those old maps seemed convinced everything eventually would. Thank goodness there were fewer of them in the world now than there used to be. Their bank account was still amazed at how much flat-earthers would pay for proof of their beliefs without taking the time to invest in an insurance plan against Pavel’s more destructive tendencies. Their faith was met with ash, sealed in a manila envelope and signed with a delicate, arching “P”. The only other thing that package had contained was an index card with a smiley face. Faith was a weakness all to easy to exploit, and belief only turned defenses inward. That was the exact reason Puck refused to humor either of such things. There wasn’t any use believing in the goodness of others or the gentleness of their hearts, not when ash-filled envelopes were so easy to get through the mail.
Besides the point. Irrelevant. Potentially useful for the end of this job, yeah, but they weren’t there yet, were they? Ding-ding, five points to the person crouched below the roof. Ten more and they’ll be able to trade in their earnings for a Starbucks gift card. Assuming this job went as it was meant to. If it didn’t, then they’d have no choice but to get two gift cards and their waistline certainly couldn’t survive that, oh no. It was already a precarious relationship, Pavel and their suits. No need to further jeopardize it with more frappuccinos.
Off-topic, Pavel. Focus. The big man with the too-strong cologne just returned. He must be trying to compensate for something if that’s the best he can do. Smells like something with a ship on the bottle. Damn thing offends the senses and Pavel’s thirty feet off the ground, they can’t imagine what it must be like down below. Maybe the guy strapped to a chair is fighting to get away from that scent. Puck certainly would be. They’ve probably lost nose hairs up here, Christ on an ever-loving fucking bicycle.
The dialogue that big man starts spewing sounds like something out of Austin Powers. Pavel could not restrain their eyeroll if they tried, and they were not trying. Blah-blah-blah, look at me and my awful choice of cologne. I’m big and scary, Pavel filled in, mouthing out the words they were convinced he was saying, and no one ever messes with me because I’m the big man with a big car but a really small penis that everyone knows I have because the girls on the street corners laugh when I leave. They snorted. Ah, if only there was someone in the world that appreciated Pavel’s wit. Blah-blah-blah, they continued to mouth. Look at me, bullet in the peanut I call a brain.
It was at that moment Pavel squeezed the trigger on the rifle that had been keeping them company up in those rafters for the past two hours. The job was dead or alive and the target was way less likely to object to being dragged through a river a few times if the piece of metal in his brain shut him up long before the water did. They learned their lesson after the first couple guys had tried to bully, flirt, and beg their way out of the contracts. Silent was always better, especially on long trips like the one that awaited Puck.
A groan escaped their mouth as they swung themselves down to the ground, taking a few pit stops along the way to make sure their bones stayed together. Reporting back was just not as fun if they couldn’t make an entrance that would make the gods weep with appreciation. “You know,” Pavel began as he approached his target and the man still in a chair, “you were not supposed to be here.”
A second bullet put an end to the witness, leaving him slumped in the chair, zip ties around his wrist keeping him upright. Puck wondered, briefly, if he’d appreciate the irony in something used to control him now maintaining the last little shred of dignity. Course, Puck agreed, there wasn’t much dignity left once the dead shit themselves, as they did every single time. The British guy with a name that sounded like it came off a birdwatching book was right. Killing did get easier.
The rest of the base had been as easy to dispense of as these too had been. The six figures that now rested comfortably in Pavel’s bank account had made the job seem difficult, or at least time-consuming. Barely three hours had passed from arrival to now. People are either really dumb and think too highly of others or… Naw. That was it. People were dumb and overestimated the abilities of literally everyone else. Aw, to be naive and believe humanity actually was worth the resources it sucked up like a particularly determined leech. Without such belief, Pavel would be a lot poorer though, so they supposed it all evened out in the end.
“Alrighty, up you go, you big oaf,” Pavel grunted. “Let’s get you out of the literal pile of shit you created and off to those friends you thought you left behind in Bulgaria. This is an improvement on your smell though, so I guess you get a few points. Maybe like two. I’m still in the lead though, and because I’m the one that took you out, I get your points now that you’re dead. Thems the breaks. Should have read the rules more carefully before deciding to play.”
As if life ever had such rules. Throwing around such phrases let people believe there was an order to all of this, that their lives weren’t statistically impossible and utterly insignificant.  But Pavel knew better. The game was that there was no game, no purpose behind it all. Only puppets dancing on strings they never noticed were cut. Those that believed otherwise were just better suited to stepped on rather than growing into the ones doing the stepping.
Extras:
Puck’s playlist is entirely 90s and 2000s pop.
His motto is 100%: “Chivalry is dead but you’re still kinda cute.” or “I want you on my team/So does everybody else”, depending on how annoying and persistent the Montague and Capulets are that day.
This was submitted through Puck’s mockblog, which you are more than welcome to examine!
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allenmendezsr · 5 years ago
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benjamingarden · 5 years ago
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Learning To Live Frugally And Simplify
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Admittingly, for a majority of my life I've wanted (longed for) a lifestyle I couldn't afford.  I dreamt of a life where I could make (many) spontaneous purchases without having to check my bank account first.  And no matter how hard I worked, I just couldn't achieve that goal.  In fact, quite the opposite.  The harder I worked, the more I felt I needed to "treat" myself and the more pressure I felt to own brand new, trendy things.  I even, at one point, had an ongoing list of items I wanted to buy as I could afford them.  Not helpful, necessary items - mostly home décor and clothing, jewelry, etc. (none of which I actually needed or had room for). And then, what should have been insignificant but were major to me, issues would happen.  They became major because I was living paycheck to paycheck.  My car needed work to the tune of $800, I needed a root canal that was going to cost me a few hundred dollars out-of-pocket, and the oven stopped working.  So although just over a thousand dollars is nothing to sneeze about, had I been living with a frugal mindset, this would have been a small speed bump.  Instead, it was a devastating road block.  I couldn't wait for the next couple of paychecks to scrape together the money.  Nope.  I needed it now.  It resulted in a lot of stress as I tried to figure out how in the world I was going to get everything paid for (and which credit cards had enough room to pay for which item). The feelings of shame, embarrassment and downright frustration came flooding to the forefront.  I knew I wasn't good with money, after all, I was handling it the way I had seen my parents handle it.  And although they made a lot more than we did at the time, they too had constant financial stress.  I knew something needed to change, but I didn't think I had the strength to change my path. This didn't happen once.  This was a vicious cycle I found myself in from the age of 18 until my mid thirties.  It continued to happen until I began to realize that not only did I have the strength to change my path but I had a responsibility to my future self. I wish I could say that once that lightbulb went off things were perfect.  Ahhh…..wouldn't that be lovely?  But you don't live your entire life one way, the same way you've watched your parents live, and then change everything overnight without any slip-ups.  Nope, it's not that easy.
Frugal Living Take One What I realized that I needed to do first was to make a list of goals.  Where I wanted to be, what I wanted to do, how I wanted my life to look.  I needed something real to work toward.  I hated working for other people, I am just not a corporate, top-down, kinda girl.  That being said, I worked a corporate job, did my job dutifully and to the best of my ability, but in the back of my mind I couldn't wait to get out.  So, that became one of my goals.  Working for myself.  Owning a small homestead, creating our own business, growing much of what we eat, and living a more simple, intentional life was the start of my list. And I found the list was a great idea!  It helped me focus and pass on purchases that I previously would have made without any thought to the contrary.  I followed Dave Ramsey's "will this purchase help my future self?" thought process. And then I slipped up.  Stress was high at work, we began eating take-out regularly (I mean, who has the energy to cook after a stressful day at work? I reasoned....), and I made a quick stop at Target for 2 items where I made the mistake of walking through the entire store rather than leaving after I selected the 2 items.  Shopping can be like a high of sorts.  You feel anxious, you find an item that you "need" to update your home or your wardrobe, and you suddenly feel good.  And I did -- until I got home. "I can't do this" I told myself.  I threw my pity party (for the next few hours) before I got over myself and decided I would do better tomorrow. I continued to make a decision to stop trying to demonstrate my value through things that I own.  I began consciously ignoring the constant advertising of what I "needed" in my life.  I learned that if I wanted to stop being judged by what I had or didn't have, I too needed to stop judging.  I began to find the real me.
Frugal Living Take Two I just kept jumping back on the horse.  I was determined to get to the new version of my dream life and I was embracing what truly made me happy.  There were days (and weeks) that I honestly questioned whether or not it was possible, but I had to keep believing.  And then the universe decided it was time to really test me.  I hadn't yet figured out what I was going to do for self-employment so I continued working for an employer that I struggled with.  The last straw was broke when I found out she was speaking poorly about me to outside vendors to make herself look better and together my husband and I decided I needed to leave.  I did not have anything lined up.  We didn't have much saved.  We were out of debt (thankfully) but had just recently paid off everything except our mortgage.  And my husband's job was not fully stable, he was only working full-time about half of the year. I gave a 2 month notice and was allowed to work out 2 weeks.  And then reality hit.  And I got scared.  Initially I began looking for a new job.  Then I realized this was my opportunity to begin self-employment.  I started our soap & skincare company, but because there is so much overhead involved, I was forced to grow it very slowly.  We just didn't have the income to throw into the business.  I was also forced to live extremely frugally.  I didn't realize that I needed this test but I did. A long story short, I did end up returning to work while we continued building our business and was able to leave outside employment for good two years ago.  The only reason we are both able to work for ourselves in a very small business is because we live frugally and have simplified our lives (wants/needs).  Could we get more frugal?  Absolutely.  Could we simplify more?  That's a big YES. It all comes down to contentment.  I've chosen to look at the world through the lens of what I do have, not of what I don't have because the reality is, there will always be something I don't have.  Things that I constantly need or want if I were to continue on that path. related posts: 12 Ways That I've Simplified My Life                        23 Frugal Tips To Try This Year                        What Simplifying My Life Has Taught Me                      
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What Does Frugal Living Have To Do With Simple Pleasures? Frugality encourages us to fully appreciate simple pleasures.  For instance, I used to purchase a latte from Starbucks twice a day (I know, it was ridiculous!).  It was something I just did.  I didn't necessarily appreciate the latte, I expected it.  Once I decided to break that habit and began making my own coffee at home, the few times I did purchase a latte out I truly appreciated every aspect about it - the delicious syrup, not having to make it myself, and the perfectly steamed soy milk.  And it's continued to stay as that - a rare treat. Living frugally means we don't need bigger and better treats to continue seeking happiness.  Instead, we find it.  And it's almost always in the most simplest of things and often, in things that are already in our lives.
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living simply and frugally has given me time to fully appreciate the change of seasons
Frugal Lessons Learned Frugality gives you options.  Whatever you want to do - work for yourself, retire, travel, work part-time,  - frugality helps make that happen.  You're no longer spending your way out of a life you'd like to live. Living frugally allows you to be prepared for the inevitable crisis.  Car needs major repair?  No problem.  Refrigerator needs to be replaced, NOW.  Okay doke!  Lost your job?  You're financially ok for a few months while you search for a new one. Simplifying your needs and wants allows you space (and time) to appreciate the things you have in a whole new way.  It also allows you space and time to appreciate the people around you in a whole new way.  It allows for contentment. Frugality and simplifying your life means you aren't tied to a rigid budget.  Because you no longer spend lavishly, counting pennies just isn't necessary. Frugality makes you happier (although it's hard to see that initially).  When I chose to stop shopping, I found that I became less stressed.  I was spending less money on things, and less time finding those things, which meant I was no longer always on the hunt for something I "needed" to make my home or myself appear more acceptable, or to temporarily fill a void.  This has made me happier.  It has also alleviated the stress of being surrounded by things I didn't need or (later) regretted purchasing. At the end of the day do new, trendy things really mean that much?  If it all ended tomorrow, do you honestly think that's what you would regret?  Not owning a brand new vehicle, nicer furniture, or a larger home? All this being said, I completely understand that there are people who are frugal out of necessity and I'm not trying to be insensitive to that.  In those instances, they may not be able to handle the curveballs mentioned above quite so easily.  I'm grateful that it's a choice for me and am speaking specifically to voluntary simplicity and frugality.
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Do you live voluntarily frugal and/or simply?  What have been some of your struggles?  What do you love about the way you live?
Learning To Live Frugally And Simplify was originally posted by My Favorite Chicken Blogs(benjamingardening)
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