#and i took them and the stuff from the crates and then sat in my inventory for a while in utter terror

[nightssideblogofshame]

This game is so bad to play, i now need to figure out how to speedrun what took me 8hrs to figure out so the guy survives, but also no other game has stuck in my mind like this one

I was fucking scooping ice cream at my job and im sitting there like: ok, so maybe if i skip that hallway, but that hallway has all the equipment coin tosses, but if i snag a detour to the armory room and get lucky on tosses-

This game is haunting me and i am, against my will, highly engaged

[bimb0fy]

perfect girlfriend; monkey d luffy

pairings; monkey d luffy x shank!reader

warning(s); mentions of scars, kinda suggestive at the end.

summary; luffy always had your name in his mouth, his girlfriend this! his girlfriend that! the crew never knew if you had actually existed considering the fact that your name didn't ring any bells or that well, they haven't met you yet. when luffy proposed a visit they all agreed to put an end to this little charade.

word count: 1,071 words

ᵐᵃˢᵗᵉʳˡⁱˢᵗ!! | ⁿᵃᵛⁱᵍᵃᵗⁱᵒⁿ!!

— Luffy smiled as he ran over the deck, perfecting everything that looked slightly unpleasing. He hadn't seen you in months, going back to his old village meant seeing you again and he wanted it to be perfect. You both kept in touch by sending letters and after a while, ended up buying phones to reach each other faster.

Nami sat on a crate, her legs crossed as Sanji and Zoro stood beside her. Ussop was attempting to stop Luffy from falling overboard. She looked over at the two boys who rolled their eyes. "Not one bit huh?" Nami asked the two who nodded.

Sanji had faith in the beginning, believing the boy since well, he has a heart of gold, but after a while of hearing stories that sound like tales out of a naive boys mouth is well, unbelievable. Yes, it was possible for him to have a girlfriend, yet she can't be great in everything.

She can't be a fantastic with swords and a genius in the medical field, she can't be the best cook, better then Sanji Luffy might say, and have a hand for crafts. Maybe he was simply overcompensating about his love.

"Luffy, the ship looks great, I'm sure your girl will love it." Sanji smiled at the boy as both Nami and Zoro let out stiffled laughs.

"Whats so funny?" Luffy asked the group who looked at eachother. Luffy grew more concerned as he took his hat off, sliding them onto his shoulders.

"It's just that we uh." Nami started as she tried to figure out a way to frame it in a decent way.

"We don't think she exists." Zoro answered as Nami turned to the boy, her eyes wide as he shrugged. "What, it's better then lying."

"Y/n is real, why don't you guys believe me?" Luffy asked the crew who stayed quiet. He looked among them as he sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose. "She's real, shes a pirate too, well, was a pirate."

"Yeah, and a doctor, and a cook, and a writer. She seems perfect, no one is." Zoro looked at the boy who scoffed.

"Well, she is, and look, we're here so you'll see for yourself!" Luffy said as he ran towards the front. Nami sighed as she stopped the ship, Luffy instantly jumping down, running towards a trap door. He opened it, jumping down for the group to follow him.

They were placed in an old basement, filled with materials and a section with belongings. "What is this place, it's so, rusty." Sanji said as he pinched his nose due to the horrid smell of fish guts.

"It's my home, well, was my home." Luffy smiled at the group as he walked over to his old bed, he opened a chest, taking out a satchel with his old belongings before climbing back up. "C'mon, I got my stuff, let's go meet Y/n!"

"Yeah, cause that's totally not stalling." Nami said as she climbed out, helping Zoro up as she ran after the boy who ran towards a bar.

"Luffy! My god we missed you!" The bartender smiled at the boy who hugged her. He turned back to his crew, looking around for another person.

"Hey Makino I got the broom." You said as you entered the room, you looked up to find Luffy who stood in shock. You dropped the broom as you ran towards the boy, jumping at him as he caught you, spinning you around.

You kissed his lips as he smiled, he set you down, wrapping his arms around you as he turned back to his crew who stood shocked. "Wait, she's actually real?" Zoro asked as he turned to Nami. She shrugged as he turned back to you.

"Guys, this is my very real girlfriend, Y/n." Luffy introduced you as you laughed. You waved at the group who waved back, Sanji with a huge grin plastered on his face.

"What a nice young lady you are-." Sanji's sentence was cut off by Luffy who had punched the boy, you covered your mouth before turning back to Luffy who looked serious.

"Luffy!" You yelled as he turned back to you, his expression softening.

"What?" He answered as you fliched his hat, he smiled as he held onto it, kissing your cheek before carrying you up, spinning you around one more time.

"Cmon now, I wanna show you my ship!" Luffy smiled as he held your hand, running towards the dock where the going merry happened to be. He skipped up the ramp as you looked in awe at the ship.

Luffy leaned onto the railings, smiling at the girl who stood on shock. "This is your ship? This is yours?" You asked the boy who nodded. He seemed proud of himself, you knew he had a ship but never expected a huge ship with an actual flag.

"C'mon, I'll show you my room, our room." Luffy smiled at the girl who scrunched her face in confusion. Luffy jumped down, holding your hand as he stared into your eyes. "Y/n, I want you to join my crew, we need someone like you, you know what you're doing, your perfect, your kind and smart."

"I left that life behind." You sighed as he looked away, you could tell her was upset. You hated being apart, he hated it more. Luffy was always an affectionate person, being away from his loved one hurt more then anyone could ever imagine. "I suppose you do need help to find the one piece."

Luffys face brightened up as he looked at you, smiling before carrying you up to the ship. You giggled as he set you down in the Captains quarters. The place was surrounded in pictures and souvenirs from adventures they had gone through. A desk filled with books and paper, probably stories written by him. You turned to the bed that seemed big enough for two people.

"You planned this, didn't you?" You turned to the boy who smiled, raising his eyebrows. You laughed before setting down on the bed. "I'll go get lunch ready?"

"No need, Sanji 'll do it." He smirked as he placed his hands on your waist, you smiled as you looked back at the boy, he traced your scar on your left cheek with his fingertips in such a loving way. "Now, let me show you how much I missed you my love."

[loth-creatures]

Sabine's Story ? 👁️ -aaeeart

Ah yes, the elusive secret sabine's-backstory fic I slowly but surely chisel at on the rare occasion I have writing motivation. No promises on ever finishing it but I will publish at least some of it eventually I prommy

Here's one of my favorite snippets so far! There's another here, since two people asked about this one :)

A flash of color amidst the greenish steel caught Kanan's eye. At the end of the cluttered shelf was a Mandalorian helmet, painted indigo and magenta with a few bright red cartoonish symbols and a clan crest in deep maroon. It was easily the loudest paint job he'd ever seen on Mando gear. The rest of the set plus a folded holster containing twin blasters sat next to it, strapped together for storage.

Kanan pried his gaze away, trying to refocus on the task at hand, even as he was struck by how small the armor was; a youngling's set. Likely enough it had been stolen off a dead child's body. Bile rose in his throat as he found the crates of [stuff] they were after and magnetized them, slamming them together a bit more aggressively than was necessary. He started for the exit, blaster drawn and pulling the train of crates behind him. He made it five steps before he was turning around, cursing under his breath. It couldn't be left here. It had to be returned to someone even if the owner was long dead.

He intended to snatch it quickly and get the hell out of there as planned, but as he slid the bound pieces under one arm and reached for the helmet his feet remained rooted to the deck and Kanan found himself staring into the black of the visor as the ancient metal cooled his hands. Beskar had a weight to it. Not just physically, it was heavy in the Force. Heavy with the memory of fire and water and blood.

The click of a blaster behind him snapped Kanan back to reality. Well fuck me he muttered internally. Just had to lose it in the Force with his back turned. Like an idiot. He was about to whip around and use the damn helmet to smash the blaster away when his attacker spoke.

"Turn around, slow."

It was the voice of a teenager. Kanan knew it belonged to the owner of this armor even before he complied with their demand and saw a girl with bright pink hair, her young face streaked with blood. She couldn't be older than fifteen. Her dark eyes indicated the armor before meeting Kanan's.

“Give it to me, now.”

The kid’s voice was hard and steady, leaving no room for argument. Her stance was the same. She was hiding exhaustion and pain well enough to fool most people. But Kanan could see the slightest tremble of her hand in the way the blaster slowly tilted from its line to his heart, her stiff and slightly uneven posture, the tightness of her face that betrayed urgency and fear.

Kanan slowly bent to deposit the bundle of armor on the floor, raising his hands as he set it down. He used his foot to scoot it in her direction. The girl’s eyes and her blaster’s nozzle remained trained on Kanan, but he didn’t miss how hard her knee hit the deck as she knelt to retrieve the armor, or the effort it took her to stand back up. She put the helmet on, but didn't waste time on the rest, instead clutching it to her chest and backing away.

“Kid, wait.”

She did not. She fired a warning shot past his ear, then another shot took out the control panel for the door as she backed through it. The door slammed shut. Well. The beskar was returned to its rightful owner, mission accomplished. Kanan shook himself and redirected the crates towards the secondary entrance, raised his comm to alert Zeb to the change in route.

She won't survive she won't survive she won't survive

Kanan accepted the knowledge then shoved it aside, resolved to tell Hera about the little Mando. Chasing after her while she had no reason to believe that he wasn't one of her attempted captors would do nothing but waste both their time and botch this operation more than it already was. But the kid needed help. Something told Kanan it had to be them.

[moonlight-tmd]

Hello! A huge Blitzbee fan and a huge fan of your work here! What about a date after one of them had an exhausting day at work, and the other went all out glamorously for the date? I’m talking roses and lights and all that. Hehe ^^

Hello and thank you! I'm glad to hear you like the stuff i make <3

I wrote a similar thing about Blitz being all lovey dovey when Bee came to a meeting exhaused on my AO3 BlitzBee week but now i'm thinking what would Bee do when Blitz came back more and more tired from the constant work Megs and Lugnut give him...

I suppose Lugnut threw his work on Blitzwing, so he was stuck organizing and carrying supplies to the magazines all days long while Lugnut praised their Lord with an excuse of "discussing strategy plans with him". Bee understood that even a strong mech like Blitzwing can get tired and worn out so he planned a little something for their next meeting...

The next time Blitzwing flew out all tired to meet up with Bee he didn't see him when he landed by the warehouse. Instead, there was a note saying "Come inside~" with a heart drawn attached to the door. So Blitz took the note and entered their hideout. It was dark, all the lights have been turned off and the windows were covered. Only a moment after he called Bee's name the light turned on- or rather all the fairy lights haging from the walls and support beams of the building, all white, pink and magenta. There was other dimly lit decor and in the middle of the room on the floor was a big spread out rest area with electric candles surrounding it, he could see and smell incense on the crates placed nearby with dark sheets on them and bowls of various snacks sitting there just waiting to be eaten.

He was far too stunned to notice Bee creep up behind him and greet his beloved. Bumblebee was all shiny and had those silky blue ribbons wrapped around his horns, neck, arms and thighs. He had that adoring look on his face. A truly beautiful sight for Blitzwing.

He said he knew Blitz was doing one heck of a tough job and wanted to make their night a bit more pleasant for him. Blitzwing though he wanted them to interface but Bee only laughed and said not everything is about interfacing. Tonight was Blitz's night to relax.

Bee grabbed his sparkmate's servo and guided him to lay on the big pile of blankets and pillows. He made Blitz use his thighs as a pillow and pet his helm while also feeding him the fancy snacks he somehow got his servos on. Then he made Blitzwing lay on his chassis and went to massage his back plates.

The amount of stress and tension he had to knead out from there was making his own servos hurt but he never said a thing, he only sat there praising his beloved while listening to his moans of pleasure and relief. Bee brought special oils to rub into Blitz's metal to help with the stress, they all smelled good so he used different ones in different areas, he left the best one for his wings since he knew how much tension got in those struts after heavy duty work.

It was amazing. Bee assumed Blitzwing must have fallen into recharge when he was caressing his back to relax after the intense part of the massage. Blitz looked so peaceful, Bee was very happy that he helped his beloved, the spa night was a success. While petting Blitz's back he leaned down and whispered the word of love to him, how much he meant to him and that he'll always be there for him no matter what. He whispered how much his life got better since they met and that he'll never leave his side. Blitz was everything to him and he would do anything to keep them both happy. Bee gave him a kiss on the helm before he carefully squeezed himself under Blitz's arm to snuggle and recharge himself...

...What he didn't know is that Blitz wasn't recharging at all and trying his best not to burst out crying while Bee said all those things. Once Bee was in recharge he started quietly crying and hugged him as close as possible. Bee really went the whole world distance and beyond to make him feel like the luckiest mech alive. He never told Bee he heard his confession but he kept it in his Spark forever.

And of course, he did make Bee scream his name in the morning. Bee prettied himself up just for Blitzwing and it truly was doing things to him the whole time he saw the scout. A relaxing night followed by a passionate morning was something he never knew he needed. Shame they both had to leave so soon, but well... they could always reapeat that when they have more time~.

[puer-aurea]

On the second day of Christmas my true love gave to me...

Fluff for Southlanders

"I tried!"

"Your best?"

"God, I hope not! But probably."

How will this work?

"Guys! I st- borrowed Scott's nail polish!" Jimmy called to the other boys in the Southlands as he walked in with a crate in his hands.

"Woah, he has so much!" Mumbo remarked.

"Well, it's not all nail polish, there's some things to make cute designs. He taught me how to use all the stuff in Third Life, so I can make designs for everyone! Mumbo, you go first." Jimmy put the crate on the ground while the other boys crowded around.

"There's so many shades of blue! Does he really need that many?" Grian pointed out.

Mumbo sat in the grass with the other boys following suite, making a small circle. Grian was to his left, then Impulse, Jimmy, and Martyn completing the circle at his right. Mumbo pushed around some of the nail polish, looking over all the little tools he couldn't identify. He picked up a few different colors, a goldish-yellow, a metallic black, and a couple reds he could barely tell the difference between.

"What about- this one?" Mumbo held up a maroon color.

"Can do! Want a little design?" Jimmy took the bottle from him and shook it up a bit.

"No, I don't want to ruin it when we make the ghast farm. Just red." Mumbo put his left hand out over the crate for Jimmy to hold while he painted.

The polish was a little cold and Mumbo's shakiness made Jimmy mess up a bit, but with some acetone and a q-tip, the accidents were cleaned up like they were never there.

"You have to be careful while they dry. Just sit here and wait with us."

Mumbo nodded and carefully put his hands in his lap.

"Me next!" Grian was more reckless looking through the nail polish, unable to decide.

"What if you made it look like your wings?" Martyn suggested.

He was holding his spyglass up to his eye, looking at the nail polish crate through it. Grian knocked the glass on it with his nail, causing Martyn to jump slightly.

"That was uncalled for." He fake pouted and put his spyglass back in his inventory to prevent any damage.

"I like that idea, actually. Can you do parrot wings Timmy?"

Jimmy pulled out a couple colors, a red, yellow, and blue similar to Grian's wings, and a green. He took out a few of the tool cases and looked through them until he decided on what looked like a little yellow pen.

"Yeah! Just don't move too much, I'm not as good as Scott with these."

Grian held out his hand over the crate and Jimmy took it in his own, contemplating the best way to do it. He experimented on Grian's thumb nail, adding a bit of red in the corner then yellow, green, blue. He took the dotting tool- the one that looked like a little pen- and dragged it through each color in a couple lines. It wasn't perfect, not even close, and it was kind of messy, but the idea was there. He mimicked the design on the rest of Grian's nails and was quite satisfied with his work.

"That's actually pretty cool." Jimmy said as the other boys looked at it.

"You're good at this man!" Impulse lightly knocked his shoulder.

"Impulse, d'you want to go next?" Martyn asked.

"Um, I don't have any ideas yet. You can go."

Martyn muttered an alright and started looking through the colors. He knew he wanted green, but there was so many different ones. Why would anyone need this many shades of any given color? A few made sense, like having a dark green, light green, glitter green, and metallic green, but do you need several shades of light green? Really?

The words on one of the greens caught his attention.

'Glow in the dark'

He picked it up with a smirk and grabbed a black as well.

"I want these!"

"Both? So, you want a design?" Jimmy took the colors from Martyn.

"How about... surprise me?"

Martyn held his hand out over Jimmy's lap. Jimmy placed the green in the grass and started with a base coat of black over every nail. He looked through the crate again, examining the tools and putting some with the nail polish in the grass.

He took some acetone and cleaned the black off his thumb nails, replacing it with a base of green. He used the dotting tool to make little flowers on Martyn's index fingers and a smaller dotting tool to make messy flames on his ring fingers. Jimmy took out a case with various brush sizes and used one to make a checkerboard patter on his middle fingers and a split on his pinky. He put a stencil over his thumbs and made black hearts on them.

"Ta-da!"

"They're all different." Martyn gave it an odd look.

"Do you- not like it?" Jimmy sounded a little dejected.

"No, I don't. Because I l-aha-ve it!"

The boys started cracking up at the 'aha' joke and Jimmy had to calm them all down so they didn't mess up their nails.

"Any ideas, Impulse?" Jimmy asked when they quieted down.

"Well, I like this yellow," he held up a neutral yellow nail polish, "maybe something with it and black?"

Jimmy looked at the stencils in the crate before grabbing the ones that looked like angles. He took the yellow polish from Impulse and painted a base of it on each nail. They had to sit for a bit for them to dry before he could continue but when they did, he put the angle stencils on and painted black at the top.

"It's simple, but it's cool! How do you like it?" Jimmy watched as Impulse looked over his nails.

"It is cool! I feel cool, now." Impulse smiled at him.

"Then, I'll do my nails now."

"Do you want help? None of us will probably be very good at it but we can try..." Mumbo offered.

"You might not be good at it, I'm good at everything the first time I try." Martyn joked.

"Sure you are. But, no, I can do it! I'm gonna do the design Scott first taught me to do on his nails."

"Well, it's getting dark, so I'm going to prepare the nest for bed. The rest of the boys will keep you company." Grian checked to make sure his nails were dry before pushing himself off the grass.

"When you say it like that, we have no choice but to stay." Impulse pointed out.

"You'll be fineeee." Grian dismissed him and walked in the direction of his tower, where he and Jimmy made the nest they all shared at night.

Jimmy looked through the crate and pulled out a pastel blue, a white, and a forest-y green. He painted his thumb, ring, and pinky fingers plain blue. He used the dotting tool to make little blue and white flowers on his index and middle fingers and a thin brush to make stems and leaves. He fumbled with his non-dominant hand before Mumbo attempted to help, resulting in a somewhat similar but significantly more messy version of the index and middle finger design on his dominant.

"Wow, Martyn was right Mumbo. You were bad at this!" Impulse poked at him.

"I tried!" Mumbo whined.

"Your best?" Martyn joined the teasing with Impulse.

"Void- I hope not. But most likely." Mumbo sighed.

"Hey, I think Mumbo did very well! Give the man a break." Jimmy defended him.

"I jest, of course. Let's head up to bed." Martyn put his hand out for Impulse to take and helped him up.

"Yeah, it's getting dark." Impulse added.

Mumbo helped Jimmy up, careful of his nails, and the four went in Grian's tower to find him already asleep in the nest. Impulse and Martyn got in on either side of him, passing out quickly. Mumbo and Jimmy stayed up a little longer in silence, waiting for Jimmy's nails to dry before they joined the cuddle pile for the night.

the boys' nails

[wonbuni]

3. WHATCHU OVER HERE BEING MESSY FOR? 456 wc

soobin came back from waving mr. bang off, "he said we did a great job and told me to give riki a high five because of the cobwebs." riki hit soobin’s hand with a smile. "but we need more employees. mr. bang's words, not mine.” soobin said, not trying to get attacked. as if on cue, two boys came in.

one with kind of long black hair and one with brownish hair. they both were tall and handsome young men. y/n's jaw dropped. it was the boy that was her "secret admirer" as sunghoon would say. y/n dragged yoon into the back, the new boys furrowing their brows. "she's.. having problems. ignore her." keeho smiled, trying up cover up the weird atmosphere. the others nodding with him.

"anyways, we were wondering if there were was a opening for a job here?" the one with brown hair asked with a polite smile. soobin nodded and took them to his office. while that happened, sakura, keeho, and riki all looked at eachother then sprinted to the back with yoon and y/n.

"spill right now." keeho said, sitting on a crate box. "okay well, that black haired boy, yeah he's supposedly my "secret admirer"." y/n explained, using air quotes. "we’re pretty sure he watches her walk out of her classes too.” yoon followed up. "drama, i like it." riki said.

"i hate you." y/n said. after a couple minutes of y/n pacing back and forth whispering to herself, sakura suggested something. "let's go eat at that breakfast place across the road, they have awesome bacon.” "yeah! let's go, i love their eggs bro." yoon said, grabbing her bag.

y/n, riki, and keeho all grabbed their stuff like phones, wallets, bags, etc. and followed yoon and sakura out of the back room. soobin came infront of them with the two boys from earlier,

"before you guys get going, i want y/n training wonbin and yoon training sungchan. theyre your new co workers," soobin explained, y/n wishes she could just walk off the earth right now. "okay no problem! we were just heading to this great breakfast place across the road, you guys should come." yoon said, with a welcoming smile.

"thanks, we should get to know you guys anyway." sungchan agreed, wonbin keeping his eyes on y/n. so, they all walked to the breakfast place with keeho and riki almost getting run over and keeho flipping the driver off.

they arrived at the diner that was adjecent to their workplace. they all sat down in a big booth, "so what is everyone getting? ill pay since it was my idea." sakura said, she just wanted to care for her 6 kids. everyone said what they wanted and the waiter took their order.

authors note — okay… how we feelin…. 🔥🔥 sungchan unc status!!!!!

TAGLIST (crossed out i cant tag!) — @starwonb1n @danidanioh @nujeskz @seunghancore @i03jae @saranghoeforanton @wonychu @gyeheonist @branchioswrld @fae-renjun @woonagi-lemon @byeonwooseokabs

[nikisfwn]

Picture To Burn

You and Alex burn all of your ex’s stuff together after a drunken night at your house when you confessed to him. Things get a bit out of control.

Warnings: swearing?, mentions of sex but no actual sex, alcohol

A/N: Hi! I haven’t done a oneshot yet, in truth I’ve posted two things in total and no one has responded to them so have a cool little oneshot I had an idea for. Peep the Taylor Swift song as a title. I was struggling to come up with one and it came up on my playlist. Enjoy! (also sorry that it isnt all about the burning shit but i got carried away)

It was a Friday evening and you were drunk to shit. You and your boyfriend had broken up earlier on that day because he had slept with the same girl from his office even after you confronted him about it three months ago. Sure, you should’ve broken up with him then but you loved him. Too bad he was too busy fucking someone else to feel the same. A buzz on your coffee table snapped you back to reality from your drunken state.

Al Turner: Hey, Jamie told me about you and your boyfriends break up. How you feelin? Do you want me to come over or you could come over here?X

You grabbed the phone off the table and typed out a reply.

Hey Alex. I've had too much to drink to be able to come round yours. But if you could come over here that would be great. x

Al Turner: Great, I'll see you soon.X

Fuck. You needed to clean up. Alex was only about 5 minutes away, even less if he was driving. You quickly stood up groaning at the dizziness and headache that hit you at the sudden movement. You started picking up beer bottles trying not to count because you didn't need to know exactly how many it took to actually have an effect on you. You had just finished putting them in a bin bag when the door opened. There stood Alex with a crate of beer and his key in hand as well as an overnight bag on his shoulders. You hadn't invited him to stay the night but who were you kidding, of course you would let him.

"You should probably sit down love, you look like shit." Alex gave out a soft chuckle but he wasn't exactly joking, you knew that. You sighed and sat down patting the spot next to you on the sofa. Alex stepped properly inside and closed the door behind him, kicking his shoes off and finally locking the door before falling onto the sofa next to you. "Well I did bring these for you." He said holding up the crate of beer, "But it doesn't look like you need anymore to drink." He laughed, this time properly but you frowned. "You can't drink in front of me just because I've already had loads Al." Your words came out slightly slurred but you chose to ignore it. Alex however, did not. "Y/n, you are absolutely shitfaced and we both know it. Besides I can drink in front of you without giving you any, you just don't want me to." A smirk crawled onto his face, one that you almost wanted to punch right off.

"You're such a dickhead." You laughed with him as he gave you a beer taking one out for himself too. You opened it with the ring on your middle finger. The two of you sat in a comfortable silence as you stared at him. His beautiful eyes, his perfect smile, his stupid hair that he recently cut. You loved him, and not just as a friend. He was your best mate since you guys were 5, but you had a crush on him since you were 13. How could you admit it without ruining your friendship? "So, you gonna tell me what happened with him?" Alex spoke up, destroying the silence that had hovered over you. You sighed, a bit dramatically but apparently that was all you needed to let it out.

"Fucking hell, he was cheating on me within the first two months of us dating. Some random bitch in 'is office called Sarah or somethin. A friend of mine works with 'em and saw it 'appen. I confronted him about it and he said that he would stop, he apologised and well, I loved him so I kept dating him. I had a feeling it was still goin on I just didn't confront him about it. But earlier-" You paused remembering the events of today trying to put it into words and finally continuing. "Earlier I walked in on him and Sarah fuckin on the bloody sofa! So not only had they kept doin it, they started doin it in their free time too! I walked in and they didn't seem to notice until I had gotten so angry and- well I smashed one of his vases. Shocker but they stopped after that. He looked at me and started screaming about how I can't just walk into his house and that I should've knocked or texted. I told him that he gave me a key to use and that I had texted him but he was too busy with a whore to realise. He screamed at me to get the fuck out and I told him that he could keep on fuckin her 'cause I never wanted to see him again. He just said get out again so I threw the key at him grabbed the one to my house off his keys and left. Sarah just- stared the whole time. Like usually I would say that she had nothing to do with it but she did. That is what pissed me off wif her so much." You sighed realising you had been rambling and words getting more slurred and angry as you went on.

"Oh y/n. He's a bastard he isn't worth your time I promise you." You downed half of your beer as he spoke. "I mean I've given up on women at the moment, you should give up on men and we should just chill together." It was made as a jokey remark, you knew that. It did hurt slightly though. That Alex wasn't interested in you romantically. You played along with the joke though, "We should just fuckin date each other at this point." You both laughed. "I mean we already act like an old married couple it wouldn't make the biggest difference." Alex added on. You both laughed so much slowly making your way through the beers. When eventually you were so drunk that you couldn't think straight.

"Al?" Your quiet voice interrupted the silence that had hung over you. "Yea luv?" His words were loud considering the quiet atmosphere and he had no idea how to control the volume of his voice. "Y'know I luv ya right?" Alex turned to face you. "Yea? Why?" "No Al, not how you luv me. I mean I really really like you Alex. Not just as friends." There. It was out in the open. Your big crush on Alex was revealed after god knows how many years. "Really?" You nodded slightly averting your gaze from him. He grabbed the bottom of your chin and tilted your face up leaning in and giving you the best kiss you had in your entire life. He tasted like beer, old cigarettes and mint. God it was amazing. If you could've stayed there forever you would. He pulled away after what felt like an eternity but you still wished it was longer. He rested his forehead on yours and sighed before speaking. "In case you didn't get it, I like you too, love."

You and Alex spoke for hours on end before the idea came up to burn your ex's stuff. So now it was two am and you and Alex stood in your back garden with a box of your ex boyfriends stuff next to your barbecue. You had a bucket of water in case things went wrong obviously but other than that it was two drunk idiots with fire, therefore a bad idea. Alex was passing you items out of the box questioning every single one. "The fook is this love?" "That is a picture of me Brian and Sarah at a work party. Pass it 'ere." "Fookin' 'ell they're both ugly pieces of shit ain't they?" You held the picture above the fire and nodded while laughing before chucking the small amount of remains into a smaller bucket of water you had to put out the items. "Fuck, he didn't even 'ave good taste in music darlin' why were you wif him?" He had a shirt with Little Mix's logo on it and tour dates. The dickhead had bought it for Sarah but got it delivered to the wrong address so now you were left with it. "No clue Al, absolutely no clue." He passed you it and you placed it on the barbecue when things got out of hand.

"FUCK!" Alex quickly grabbed the bucket off the floor and chucked it over the barbecue while you turned it off. After a few seconds of you both staring in shock, the fire went out. "Fuckin hell." Your breathing was barely calming down but Alex pulled you into a hug. "Reckon that's a sign we should stop darlin'." Alex said chuckling softly. "Yeah probably." The two of you pulled away and started clearing up the mess you had made taking it inside and throwing the burnt items in the bin. "I think you should go to sleep love, you're wasted." Alex said to you after you had both cleared up. "Sure. But you're coming to bed too." You had a big smile on your face. "With you?" He cocked a brow and you nodded, "If you want me too then of course love." You grabbed his hand and you both made your way upstairs. getting changed with Alex in the bathroom you laid in the bed waiting for him.

He got in bed and you cuddled up to him. "Y/n?" You hummed into his chest in response. "What are we?" You looked up at him. "What do you want us to be Alex?" He thought about it for a minute before kissing your forehead. "I want to be yours love." You smiled and kissed him. "Well that's good because I wanna be yours too." He pulled you impossibly close to him as you fell asleep in his arms.

Your boyfriends arms.

It's a little rushed so sorry about that but I hope you liked it! The burning of your ex's shit was gonna be the main thing but I got distracted so it's a bit random. Hope you liked it!

[akwolfgrl]

LFT PART 37

Sanji made his last round inside his galley, Mr. Noodles sat perched on a bar stool watching him. The roses that Zoro got him were still sitting in the jar where he left them. He needed to figure out what he wanted to do with them. Sanji slid some butter into his apron pocket to soften.

Sanji finished unloading everything he had bought at the market this morning. There were still a few cartes of things waiting for him to deconstruct. Sanji had scored a crate of fresh unwashed eggs. He would water glass them later tonight. He left out the stuff he needed to make a batch of kimchi and a new marinade for Luffy's jerky. The meat was in the freezer to firm up for easier slicing. He also left out the prime rib he got on sale for dinner tonight. He had the perfect seasoning for them.

Sanji cut the core of napa cabbages out, placing them into the bucket he was using for a compost pile, they used to have one on the Baratie they would give it to a local farmer who they worked with to get fresh produce. There were things that even he could not salvage and use, but the compost was a good compromise since it fertilized and grew more food. He split the leafy vegetable apart with his hands. It was hard to get used to such a quiet kitchen. He was used to the hustle and bustle of the Baratie. The chefs arguing, the waiters yelling out food orders. Everything about the kitchen was loud and controlled chaos. Well, Sanji did sort of miss having someone he could talk to.

“OK so I know you're a cat, and you don't understand what I'm saying, but I don't care. Right now, I'm making kimchi. It's spicy, sour, and so good. A chef who used to work at the Baratie before settling ashore and marrying a sweet woman showed me how to make it,” Sanji began to chop the pieces of cabbage up. “I'm doing the shortcut method. Usually, you don't chop it up, but I like it better this way,” Sanji put all the cabbage into the large bowl. “Then we just wash and salt the cabbage until it wilts and the water from the inside of the cabbage is drawn out by the salt,” Sanji would leave it overnight with something heavy on top.

Mr. Noodles had at some point hopped from his stool to wind his way around Sanji's legs purring. He was ecstatic to have something small and cute to care for. Clementine may have been Zeff’s cat but she did like him and barely tolerated the other chefs. It had been his job to brush her long silky golden fur. She had been a very pretty kitty, with one gold eye and one blue. Mr. Noodles was of course very handsome with his soft slick black fur.

“Zeff my old man, although I'd never call him that to his face, had a ship cat, her name was Clementine,” Sanji took out the bowl he used previously for the marinade. Mixing soy sauce, worcestershire, orange juice, and zest , he whisked in honey, brown sugar, grated ginger, and chopped garlic. He threw some habaneros into his mortar and grinded them down into a nice paste before adding them as well. “I remember the look on Zeff’s face after we got off the Rock. Clementine had gotten off their pirate ship shortly before they attacked the Orbit. It's said that cats can sense doom. Anyway, we stayed on an island while we recovered, and one day, she walked right up to Zeff as if she had only been out for a stroll. She died shortly before Luffy came crashing in. Zeff had been practically testy lately, so that didn't help him at all,” Sanji covered the marinade and placed it into the fridge.

“I think after I'm done with my prep, I'll head back out for some personal shopping and check out the fish market. Maybe I'll be nice to our sentient plant life and pick up a sword cleaning kit. He doesn't have much money and would be more focused on buying swords. Why he needs three? I'm not sure, but that's his thing, I suppose,” Sanji took a paper towel to dry the prime ribs, or else it would reject the butter. He stabbed holes into the top of the meat. While he did know how to trim meat, it had come pre-trimmed and on sale to good of a deal to pass up. “I haven't seen him use it at all while we've been on this ship and there's no way that his sword hasn't been well kept in the past,” He took the softened butter out of his pocket and upwarped it, placing it into a small bowl. “Maybe I'll grab some ink for Nami-swan! I can't get Marimo and not my sweet Nami,” Sanji tossed in chopped rosemary and thyme, salt, pepper, Dijon mustard, and a bit of worcestershire then he mixed it. “I should pick another notebook while I'm out, I might as well grab something for Luffy and Usopp while I'm at it. Just so I don't have to hear them whining.”

Sanji stabbed holes into the fatty part of the meat and used butter to lube up the sliced garlic and rosemary, slipping them into the holes. He coated the prime ribs in the rest of the butter before placing them in the fridge. After a quick clean-up, Sanji was ready to head out. With a goodbye scratch to Mr. Noodles Sanji left the Going Merry

[dojapat]

Kirara Rising Chapter 8

There I was with my knees pressed against the shabby dirt that neighbored the motel concrete where I had my first kiss. Hakari sat down on a small upturned crate. His face was contemplative. I think he was reevaluating his life as much as I was.

“I’m so sorry… I,” I stammered trying to amend the situation.

“No… no… nothing to be sorry for it was… it was nice.”

“For real?..,” I said turning my head toward him, doing everything in my power not to cry

“Yeah, that was… really nice,” Hakari stuck his hands in his pockets and smiled at the ground. He paused for a second and said, “Have you ever done anything like that before?,” I sat up in the dirt.

“No… never… have you,” I responded.

“Yeah, I’ve had girlfriends… we had sex and stuff, but…” he paused to find the words. “but it was never like that…”

“Like different how?,” I timidly asked, holding my limp fist in front of my heart.

“Well with them I was doing it because that’s what you’re supposed to do. You get with a girl, you fuck her and the passion burns out. One girl maxed out my credit card and that was hot but only because of the risk of losing money and not because I liked her, but with you. I’m glad you did that. It felt real with you.”

“Are you gay or bi or something?,” I asked.

“Well, I don’t like guys. I just like you.”

“I don’t get it…”

“Yeah me neither… how are you doing?...”

I couldn’t respond. My throat couldn’t will itself to speak. I was overwhelmed with brand new emotions.

I was finally able to whimper something out, “I feel like I’m… I feel like…”

“Wait,” Hakari interrupted me. “I want to say something real quick,” His words snapped me back to reality.

“You’ve always had a magnetism to you,” Hakari said, coming closer to me. He knelt in front of me and held my hands in his, “I’d see you in class and I’d never know what to say,” his eyes darted down in embarrassment. “I just wanted to root around your head and see how you tick, but I never got why I couldn’t just ask.”

“Hakari…”

“No. Kinji. My name is Kinji. You can call me Kin. What should I call you?”

My first name was, (redacted) a strong masculine name my father had selected before I was even conceived. I couldn’t bring myself to say it. I didn’t want that name. I wanted a name that glittered. A fabulous, flamboyant name. A name that made me feel the fever every time I heard it.

“Kirara,” I told Kin. I coughed the name out like I was spitting water out of my lungs.

“Kirara…,” Kin said as he smiled. “It’s beautiful, what do you want to be, Kirara.” His grip on my hands became subtly tighter. I could feel the warmth of his hands spread through my whole body.

“I want to be a gorgeous wife to a man I love.”

Kin smiled trying his best to keep composure. I could see the tears welling up in his eyes.

I remembered my father. His voice that had burrowed its way in my brain like a parasite, ’(Redacted), you are an extension of me. That is your only reason for being. Never forget that,’ I finally was able to speak. I gagged on my words as they came out.

“And in another life I’d want to be your wife.”

His face dropped to be as emotionless as a corpse.

“I’m a traditionalist by birthright, Kin.”

He was kneeling in the same position unflinching. I removed my hands from his and they fell limp at his side. I stood up to look down on him as I was the higher up and he was my subordinate.

“I’ll always be in love with you, Kin. But I can’t love you.”

Without passion. Without heat. Without the fever… I politely bowed to him and took my leave. I was stoic and harsh. Just as a good higher up should be.

I walked away at an appropriate pace. Leaving Kin kneeling. The once happy tears of passion that had weld up in his eyes, coldly fell down his face.

I entered our room. Next to the beds where we conspired to sneak out. I grabbed Maki’s cursed blade. ‘Not out of respect for Maki,’ I thought but only because I couldn’t leave a cursed weapon unattended.

That was the right thing to do.

On my way out I stepped on a tube of lipstick Kin had accidentally dropped. I picked it up ‘not because I loved him and wanted a memento,’ I thought. Only to confiscate it. Males shouldn’t wear such things.

That was the right thing to do.

With that I walked away. Away from the mission. Away from the town. Away from Ijichi. Away from the fever. Away from Kinji Hakari. I wanted to die, but I always wanted to die whenever I embraced my destiny as a higher up so I was used to it. I walked. I walked. I walked. I walked. I walked. I walked. I walked. I walked. I didn’t care where I went. I just wanted to be away from the happiness that would betray my birthright.

’(Redacted), you are an extension of me. That is your only reason for being. Never forget that.’

The words echoed from a deep pit in my soul.

Little did I know my death wish might have been closer than it seemed. I couldn’t notice beyond my grief. A healthy person would’ve become nauseous and their vision would’ve blurred, but I was already feeling that.

For what I entered was a place of violence and lethality. A domain.

[yoyoslumodernau]

links awakening

This is quite long :[l]

It was an early summer morning, Legend had quickly been put to work by Malon who had wanted him to feed the horses and to water the plants on the porch.

Of course, his brothers were doing other things as well. Wind had been in charge of sweeping the floor of the deck and cleaning the bathrooms while Twilight did some heavy lifting around the ranch.

“Hey kiddo, your mother wanted me to ask you if you wanted to go to the store with her. Do you want to?”

Legend looked over and saw Time leaning against the door, putting his weight on his hand. “

Yeah, tell her I need a few minutes.”

Time nodded and was about to leave when,

“Thanks, dad.”

Legend quickly went to put the watering can away, embarrassed at the fact he finally mustered the courage to address his new father correctly.

Now he was going to be held to that standard for a while, that title was going to take some time to get used to.

He grabbed his shoes and made his way to the car.

“You ready to go? I was just wondering if you needed anything for you and Thief. If you want you can get some new clothes or just something that tickles your fancy,”

Malon said as legend hopped into the seat next to her. Legend looked around the store. Apparently you could find anything here, so he decided to look for some rabbit feed.

“Hello stranger, how can I help you today?"

Legend jumped a bit at the sudden voice, he turned to see a boy around his height wearing a purple rabbit hood, covering his face.

“Oh, I'm ok, just looking for some rabbit feed.”

The hooded boy nodded,

“Oh! Another pet owner, I have a bird named Sheerow. He's such a sweetheart, let me take you to that food.”

With that he grabbed Legends wrist and led him to one of the isles.

“Here we are, rabbit feed. My personal suggestion is this one since it has all the good stuff but costs way less. The trick here is that they hide all the best items where you don't look so you buy the expensive garbage.”

Legend nodded, “thanks, but why are you telling me? If you work here, shouldn't you be trying to not help me?”

He then noticed the lack of a name tag, weird for someone who works at a store like this.

“Oh no, I've gotta hide. Quick! Pretend you don't know me.”

With that, the purple hooded boy dashed behind a large sale sign, his shoes still visible and quite noticeable. Legend quickly kicked a crate in his direction to hide the rest of him.

“Hey kid, have you seen a boy around your age ‘round here? Wears purple, black hair? Super annoying and tries to sell you stuff?”

Legend looked over to see a large man standing over him.

“No, I haven't. Why do you want to see him anyway? If he's my age he's probably not that bad.”

The older man scoffed, “well, for one he keeps driving my customers off. Two, he's a lorulean.”

Legend wore a confused expression, “what's wrong with loruleans? I took a trip to lorule once and they are great artists and have quite an interesting culture.”

“The only kinda art they do is con art. All those Loruleans here are only interested in stealing important things and stuff. Nobody can trust them, that's why none of them should have a future in a place like this. They almost destroyed their home, who says they ain't trying to destroy ours.”

Legend gave the man a cold stare, “I am.”

His icy blue eyes cut through and the older man backed off, “Alright, if you do see him though, I'll get you a good discount on your items.”

“Fat chance.”

The man left and legend heard a sigh of relief come from the sign.

“He's gone. You can stop hiding now” Legend affirmed, watching the purple rabbit hood pop out from behind its hiding spot.

“Thank you so so much. How can I repay you mister hero!”

“Um, it's Legend. You can start by telling me your name. I wanna know who I just stuck my neck out for."

The boy removed his purple hood, revealing a pair of emerald green eyes. His hair was as dark as obsidian and sat in a wavy mop on top of his head.

“My name is Ravio. I really mean it when I say thank you. Not many people will stick out for my kind of people. Not after they stole your relics.”

“Don't worry about it. I shouldn't matter where you're from, we're all people and we're all alike.”

Ravio smiled, “here, I've been saving this for someone and, well, I thought I could give this to you. I think you'll take good care of it.”

He handed Legend a gold bracelet with a pink jewel in the center.

“Thanks, it's really nice. Hey, it kinda matches my hair.”

Ravio nodded, “that's what I was thinking! We should meet up again, mister hero. I still owe you a ton for saving me from that guy.”

With that, Ravio left the store, waving at Legend through the window. As legend reached his hand out to wave back he felt a tap on his shoulder.

“Did you find everything you were looking for ok?” Legend turned around and saw his mother with a full shopping cart.

“Oh yeah, here's Thiefs feed. Should last him a few months.” Malon nodded, “who's your new friend?”

“His name's Ravio, he's really nice.” Legend smiled a bit, “yeah… I mean, not really.”

He was desperately trying to fix his little mistake, feeling his face turn the same shade of pink as his hair as malon started to laugh.

“It's ok sweetheart, I have a husband and a son with a girlfriend. I think I know when a guy likes someone. Don't worry, your little crush is safe with me.”

Legend's face held a amused look, knowing shee probably tell her husband, “alright, thanks mom.”

[scapegrace74-blog]

The Man from Black Water, Chapter 16

A/N  Alright, we’re moving into the home stretch, but first, someone really needs to give Murtagh a bath.  Plus, Hamlet needs to be found.  Whoever is up to the task? Previous chapters are available on my AO3 page.

“It isna bad, a goistidh.  A far cry from the gutrot ye usually make.”

Jamie and Murtagh sat in the shelter of the older man’s wagon, three booted legs extended towards a blazing fire.  Nearby, the River Ericht burbled ceaselessly.  The night was cold enough to see one’s breath, but the peaty whisky Murtagh poured into their tin cups more than compensated.

“Do ye still have the bottles I gave ye?” Murtagh inquired.

“Aye.  I havena had the chance tae see about selling them.”

Murtagh rose stiffly and hopped to the cart, sliding out a wooden crate that clanked as he made his way back to the fire.

“Take them wi’ ye tae Dundee,” he advised, pushing the crate of bottles against Jamie’s thigh.  “They willna be enough fer the lass’ dowry, but t’will give ye a good beginning.”

“Now hold on…” Jamie began to protest, knowing his godfather lived on next to nothing and had worked most of his life to produce this first batch of decent whisky.  Murtagh held up a hand to forestall Jamie’s protests.

“Yer father and I built tha’ still t’gether.  Twas he that brought the copper pot o’er the pass from Braemar. As his only heir, that makes ye a full partner.”

Jamie shook his head, moved once again by his godfather’s practical but heartfelt generosity.  He knew from experience that there was no point in further protest, so he simply took another drink, enjoying the smoky burn in the back of his throat.  It really was quite tolerable stuff.

“Ye reckon there’s enough profit tae split twa ways?” he teased, leaning over the crate and counting nine bottles of various sizes.

“Better drink up,” the old man advised.  “Could be all yet get from the partnership.”

The next morning the two men rolled into Dundee, having decided to sell the whisky together so Murtagh could stock up on provisions before the winter.   Instead of steering the cart towards the nearest tavern, Jamie guided them instead to a filthy alley that smelled of piss.

“What are ye up tae, lad?  We need tae sell this liquor afore the law gets wind o’ what we’re about and locks us both up.”

Jamie asked for five minutes of forebearance, dismounted Donas and trotted away.  Not three minutes later he was back with second wooden crate, this one full of clean glass containers, identical and empty.

“Are ye daft, boy?” Murtagh lamented.  “We already had jars an’ now ye’ve gone and spent profits we dinna have…”

Murtagh broke off as he watched Jamie carefully decant the whisky into the new bottles.  Because of their uniform size, they now had twelve bottles, not nine.  The old man grunted in acknowledgement.  Not quite done with surprising his godfather, Jamie then brandished a pen.  Lips pursed in concentration, his bold cursive soon adorned the plain label on each bottle.  Murtagh picked up the nearest bottle and examined it.  Watching his godfather out of the corner of his eye, Jamie saw his face go slack.  

Sassenach Whisky

Glen Isla, Perthshire

1885

 The dual meaning of the name had come to Jamie the previous night as they sat in quiet companionship beneath the stars.  A Sassenach woman had inspired Murtagh’s foray into spirit making.  God willing, her Sassenach daughter would benefit from the result.

“Now we dinna have tae hide from the excisemen,” Jamie said once he had returned the pen to the owner of the mercantile store.  “An’ we can charge more fer each bottle.”

“We may make a whisky smuggler o’ ye yet, lad,” Murtagh said with pride.

***

The following night the two men once again sat at their camp by the Ericht, considerably cleaner and well-fed.  The whisky enterprise had netted them five pounds each, more money than Jamie made in a month as a labourer.  He’d insisted they spend one night in a hotel, where Murtagh had been introduced to the unaccounted joy of indoor plumbing with heated water.  Jamie had been concerned he might have to forcibly remove the old man from the tub, so intense was his delight.  With a trimmed beard and freshly laundered clothes, he was barely recognizable.

“Ye’ll be awright?” he asked for the third time, concerned for his godfather’s welfare all alone during a Highland winter.  Normally Henry or Jamie would look in on him every few weeks, always disguising their purpose with a semi-plausible excuse of needing the old man��s advice or some implement from his assortment of tools.

“I’ve been lookin’ after myself since afore ye were in nappies, lad.  Dinna fash,” Murtagh repeated his standard answer.

Jamie opened his mouth to retort, but a snapping branch sent him to his feet, eyes peering into the darkness.

“Dinna listen tae him, lad,” the darkness spoke.  “He loves it when folk fuss o’er him.  Fair glories in it.”

The lean form of Hugh Munro stepped out from between the trees, his features menacing as they caught the firelight and at odds with his hearty laugh.

“Thought I would find ye here,” he spoke as he shook Jamie’s hand. “Lookin’ up at yon mountains.”

“The only hame I’ll e’er ken,” Jamie confirmed, feeling the twist of homesickness in his gut.  If it weren’t for Claire and his promise to make Lallybroch suitable for her, he’d be up in the vales and glens already.

“Shouldna ye be leagues from here, Munro?” Murtagh groused as he slid over to make room next to the fire.  “There’s no cattle here for ye tae drove.”

“I’m headin’ back tae Netherton,” the wayfarer confirmed. Jamie leaned forward, suddenly much more interested in what the man had to say.  “An’ tis no’ cattle I’ll be searching fer, but a horse.”

“What?” the two other men spoke as one.   Hugh explained that Beauchamp’s prized colt had been set free, and now a call had gone out across the county for men willing to ride out and recover him.

“I reckoned ye might want tae join us,” he directed at Jamie.

The young Scot scoffed.  “I’m no’ sucker fer punishment.”

“Tis a shame,” Munro said philosophically.  “Beauchamp is sayin’ twas ye that set the horse free.”

“What!” Murtagh exclaimed.

“Me?  An’ ye expect me tae come tae his aid?  Tis askin’ too much o’ a man.”

Murtagh and Munro exchanged a significant look over the young man’s copper curls.

“Man, ye say?” Murtagh questioned.

“Tis what my faither raised me tae be,” Jamie replied petulantly.

“They say ye’re good wi’ a horse,” Munro interjected.  “What do ye do when one bucks ye off.”

“Ye dinna let it get the better o’ ye,” Jamie retorted with no little heat.  “Ye get right back on.”

Hugh Munro nodded sagely.  Jamie sighed, realizing he’d been beaten by his own words.

“Beauchamp willna want me anywhere near his… property,” he voiced one last feeble objection, not happy with the prospect of seeing Claire again before he had made good on his promise.

“Let me worry about that, lad,” Munro reassured him.

***

The Netherton stableyard was abuzz with the bodies of several dozen men and their horses, all milling about and speaking in raised voices. Into the centre of the crowd rode Henry Beauchamp.

“Gentlemen, I thank you for answering my summons.  As you know, my two-year old colt, Hamlet out of Masquerade, was nefariously freed the night before last.  Tracks show him fleeing into the hills.  Now, I’ve sent out scouts who will signal at the first sign…”

Henry tapered off as Hugh Munro cantered up.

“Munro, thank you for coming.”  The Highlander acknowledged the Englishman with a nod, but Henry Beauchamp’s attention was drawn by another figure approaching on horseback.

“What the devil is that outlaw doing here.  Come to inspect his handiwork, I suppose,” Henry muttered.   “Dougal!  I want that man off my property!”

Before the foreman could dispatch his orders, Hugh Munro spoke up.

“If he had done it, he wouldna be here.”

“You don’t really believe that…”

“I asked him along.”

“You did what?” the landlord asked in shock.

“I want him along,” Munro insisted.

Henry Beauchamp shook his head in disbelief.  “Have it your way, Munro.  He’ll dig his own grave.”

Without wasting any more time, the Englishman rose up on his stirrups and shouted to the crowd.

“There will be a reward, to be distributed amongst you as you see fit, once the colt has been recovered.  One hundred pounds!”

A roar went up from the assembled riders.  They turned as one and rushed to be the first down the narrow lane.

Jamie held Donas back, knowing there was no point in exhausting him this early in the chase.  A slight figure in a simple daydress made her way across the yard to where they stood.

“You’ll be careful?” Claire asked, one hand resting on his knee.

“Aye, Sassenach.  Dinna fash. I ken my way around the Highlands blindfolded,” he reassured her with a smile.

“It’s not the Highlands I’m worried about.  Dougal and his crew would do anything my father asked, without question.”

Jamie realized she had a point, but he felt confident in his ability to avoid sabotage.  He glanced towards the road, where the cloud of dust kicked up by so many horses was moving steadily away.

“Here,” Claire urged.  “Take these.”  Into his outstretched palm, she dropped three sugar cubes.

“Rollo, guard yer mistress,” he commanded his dog, and with a cheeky smile he cantered down the lane.

[oexen]

cw hoarding + mentions of animal and child neglect

is it really gonna take me telling my mother its extremely concerning to have PILES of cat waste just. around. in the house

like i know shes going to flip the fuck out at me in some way or another, be very angry or sad or hurt or some secret other option and like. she misgenders and deadnames me as if i never shared the info with her, the crux of our relationship is financial and thats even pretty minimal. like yeah maybe its sincerely not my problem and i KNOW you cant help someone who doesnt want to be helped, but i dont want to inherit a cat piss soaked infested brick.... thing. no fucking way dude. that shit realistically probably has to be gutted ngl, its fucking awful. shes a hoarder and never really touched my old bedroom so i have some stuff there, stuff id actually like to take even, but the smell is literally pervasive to the point that books smell like it on the fucking inside.

like shes actually at the point her neckbeard nest doesnt register as a problem to her. even with... another person who is not me having to actually go inside of the house??? i like cannot fathom whats going on inside that god forsaken head of hers, she asked me why i was wearing a mask inside and turned around and walked away before i could even say anything, lmfao.

i couldnt spend more than one night in her house and had a mask on the whole time because it fucking blew so hard to be in there. this fucking idiot got 3 huge WORKING dogs (pyrenees and a burmese mtn dog) because its "in her life plan" (news to me lmao!) and tldr she impulse bought them because theyre cute. shes never fucking home, works 9-5 and theyre crated a lot of the time and its fucking horrible to see, i freaked the absolute fuck out on her when i first heard that she had new puppies like what 2 years ago? fucking neglecting the elderly dogs she already had in favor of getting these for some fucking reason, "no more dogs after this one dies" turns into 3 giant stupid fucking untrained, neglected mistakes. the singular saving grace is that they have a big yard to run around in, but that doesn't do a hell of a lot of good when it's hot and this idiot refuses to walk them when shes home anyway. couldn't possibly be because theyre untrained and will drag her stupid ass down the street fr. i think im going to literallt snail mail the next door neighbor or maybe even both of them because like.... what the actual fuck is she doing with these dogs. GET HELP.

ive been telling this absolute knob for YEARS she needs to chill out and do something else (like 3 of her closest blood relatives died in the past several years, 2 of which she was literally caretaking, and she still volunteers at a fucking hospice and has NEVER SOUGHT BEREAVEMENT COUNSELING, LET ALONE COUNSELING IN GENERAL), she keeps saying shes fucking fine and we have LITERALLY had the exchange where she says it to my face and i gesture around and say CLEARLY!!!!!

Anyway. the dogs. shes going to get worse and i know it and im just so disgusted by the prospect of having to like lay it all out probably because no one else will, and i guess i care because its literally affecting me, i sat and wrote all this because im cleaning stuff i took from her house like books and SEALED ITEMS THAT ALSO SMELL LIKE CAT PISS ON THE INSIDE OF THE PACKAGING????????? and got triggered. but whatever. this woman treated me like shit and neglected me for my entire childhood and turns it around and goes WHATDIEVERDOTOYOU if i so much as refuse a hug even this far down the line, its been nearly 10 years since ive lived with her, and like. holy fuck. and she doesnt have a single fucking clue lol like idk its also just like pathetic and sad to see a person go through this, even though she gives me mmmm essentially nothing but feelings of disgust when i really think about it. its just fucked and everyones dying or doesnt care or doesnt feel like they can say anything and im like. idk. i could literally bring this up to lots of people she knows, i could find a damn way, but like yaknow..... it fucking sucks so hard to have to do all this bc this woman is literally severely mentally ill and needs a fucking hand but it sure as shit isnt going to be mine, at least not physically. god.

[the-faramir]

Extinction Curse Session 2024/06/05 Part 2

The Siege of Willowside

Day 3 (Part 1)

The next morning, the adventurers ate their meager breakfast before starting the day. Lysander ate nothing and Midori only drank black coffee. As they finished, the mayor approached them.

“I hate to ask for more help when you just got back from looking into Fortune’s Hall, but since you’re trapped in town until we fight off these xulgaths, I imagine it’s in your best interest as well. We need your help dealing with the xulgaths, but first, we need the Banyan Boys back. There are these caves underneath the town that have been here since before the town was built, and there’s an entrance in the basement of the general store. Some old documents from the town’s founding indicate that those caves were important, but I’m not sure why. A lot of stuff from that time is gone. Local legend has it that the town’s founders might have left something special down there in case of emergencies. Well, if this doesn’t count as an emergency, nothing does. The Banyan Boys went down there, and they should have been back by now. I worry that something happened to them. Can you go look for them? They’re our town’s best protectors.”

"The Vengaboys?" Midori asked.

Zookdar put a hand on Midori's shoulder to gently stop her. "No, we're not doing that bit again." He looked at the mayor. "Yes. We'll go down into your dungeon and rescue your Banyan Boys."

"Dungeon?" Midori's expression grew worried, "There's not butter on the walls, is there?" Lysander sighed and shook his head at her.

One of the townsfolk led the group through the general store to the basement. They entered the storeroom that the owner frequently used, seeing several crates labeled "Cozurn's General Store" in neat lettering and a closed door on the opposite side. An open padlock with the key still in its keyhole hung on the door's handle.

The adventurers opened the door and moved forward into the next storage room, looking as if it had not been used in decades. The boxes, crates, and scattered barstools all sat covered in a thick layer of dust. Zookdar, having darkvision, took the lead. Midori followed, and Lysander and Buffy brought up the rear, closing the door behind them.

To the north was a broken door. To the west was a stairway leading down. Zookdar saw footprints in the dust leading down the stairs, but one set of footprints heading toward the room to the north and back. He remarked that the footprints leading downward appeared to have been hurried. "I wonder why they took off in such a rush?"

Suddenly, a slick, oily slithering sound came from the room to the north. Four waxy blob-like oozes, pale yellow and smelling of old beef tallow, approached the party in a line.

"We've got company!" Zookdar warned the party. He raised his shield, rushed the attackers with a battle cry, and attacked with his gnome flickmace. His target began to ooze a greasy seepage and he had to check himself to maintain his balance in the slippery pool.

"Greasy seepage?" Midori exclaimed. "What are these, Olestra monsters?" She prepared an impromptu song to inspire courage:

🎶🎶🎶 Greasy Seepage, slipping through the cracks, Ooze and slide, no turning back. Gleaming slick and slithery, It’s a trick, it’s a mystery! 🎶🎶🎶

She followed up by launching a telekinetic projectile at the lead ooze, hitting it.

Lysander cast a spell to slow the oozes and fired at one with his hex blaster gun.

One of the oozes lashed out at Zookdar with a pseudopod, hitting him and making him slicker with oily slime. He grumbled in disgust.

Midori shouted out to Zookdar, "Hey, I thought you liked bein' covered with grease!"

Zookdar called out for help, "Cleanse me of my grease, Buffy!" But Buffy had no spells to help with the cleansing. Instead, she cast a rallying banner to take the place of Midori's inspirational songs, freeing her up for more useful actions.

Another ooze moved up and attacked Midori. A third attacked Zookdar.

Midori yelled to Zookdar, "With all o' this greasy seepage, watch out for loose stools!"

Zookdar shot back, "Don't be disgusting, Midori! This is serious!"

"I am being serious," she replied. "Those barstools are all over the place. Don't trip!" Midori followed up with a rapier strike on her closest opponent, not damaging it at all. "Uh-oh. Stabby-stabbing won't hurt 'em! Watch your attacks, everyone!" She hit her target with a telekinetic projectile. "Bludgeoning. Maybe fire? Anyone got a fireball? Or should I have Orbison release a poison cloud?"

Lysander shouted at Midori, "Enclosed space! Bad idea!"

She snapped back, "You know I'm just kiddin'!"

Another ooze rose up to engulf Zookdar, covering him in more oily residue. "I am more grease than gnome at this point!" he lamented.

The battle stretched on for much longer than the heroes would have liked. Fortunately, the oozes were not difficult to hit, only difficult to damage. Eventually, Buffy finished off the last of the foes with a telekinetic projectile.

Searching the area, Zookdar found a battered greave etched with a powerful greater resilient rune, some empty silver vials, and a platinum charm depicting a lizard with three tails.

Asking first to make sure nobody else needed the rune more urgently, Midori detached the rune from the greave and added it to her own armor. "Hoo, boy, did I need that boost!"

Midori took the time to patch up everybody's wounds. The heroes cleaned themselves up from any remaining oily residue.

Once everyone had finished, Zookdar looked down the stairwell and remarked, "The stairway looks clear. Shall we, then?"

(Text in blue belongs to Paizo.)

[crmsnmth]

September Sky Chapter Six, Part 5

Yeah, yeah, yeah. I promised. I'm telling you though, it would help you. And maybe even him." I hopped off the stool and headed back behind the kitchen door.

Justin was singing along to some eighties pop song I didn't recognize right away. His taste in music was just as varied and eccentric as my own. Some days it was hip-hop, or death metal, or Britney Spears. He was chopping chives up and tossing them into a plastic container.

"Sup, Skeletor," I shouted as I made my way to the office. I through my bag on the kitchen desk, and through on an apron. I had some paperwork left over, but it would have to wait. Prep for the night always came first. Prep is never a one person job.

"What's going on?" I asked, grabbing a pot of potatoes in need of being peeled and cut into fries. We used to leave the peels on but we changed our recipe a few months back. Now they were an even bigger pain in the ass to prepare.

"Not much. You?" He finely chopped the last of the chives.

"Same. Hey, I keep forgetting to ask you, but I'm thinking the 23rd, would you be willing to run the kitchen? Some friends are coming from out of town that I'd really like to see."

"Yeah, sure. No problem. Who's all going to be working then?"

"I'm thinking I'll have Mitch come in and take your spot, since your taking mine."

"For sure. Sounds good," he seemed excited. I figured he would be. Any chance he got to be in charge he took well. If he stuck with this choice of career, he would make an excellent executive chef. He had the talent and he had the drive.

"Awesome, thanks. I'll take care of the paperwork stuff so you don't need to worry about that. I'll come in on Sunday morning and finish that all up. Just print the reports."

"Alright."

I was almost positive Justin could do all the paperwork. He was smart enough to figure out how to add numbers and subtract inventory off of sales reports. He walked off into the walk-in cooler, looking for whatever had to be prepped yet. I finished up the potatoes and started making our brown sweet gravy.

* * * *

"What the fuck happened?" I asked Justin as we sat in the alley on milk crates, both chain-smoking the only cigarettes we'd had all night. Soon enough we'd have to go inside and clean the absolute disaster area that was the line.

Every so often, a random night of the week will just be unbearably crazy. Tonight was one of those nights. Justin and I held the line on our own, but it was hectic and violent. It was one after another of large parties, one being for a reservation of 15, that nobody had actually written the reservation down. And even though that is a FOH job, the heart suffers. And it was like that right up to the moment we finally turned down, at almost ten o'clock. Usually on Thursday's we shut it down around nine or nine thirty.

"That was fucking awful. Seriously, that was a fucking shit show," Justin said, holding his head in his hands. His apron was covered in marinara and gravy and hundreds of other small explosions. A burn ran up his left arm after getting some splash back dropping a basket into the fryer.

"FOH really fucked up. I'm tempted to just fucking lose it on Sarah. She's got to get her shit organized. We're lucky we didn't crash and burn tonight."

Both Justin and I were extremely angry, and I felt we had a right to be. We should've known about any reservations so we could have prepared for it.

"Fucking do it." Justin tossed his cigarette and pulled out a joint from his pack. He lit it up, taking a few puffs before passing it over to me. Hey, as long as you can do your job stoned, nobody will care. If you fuck up though, you lose that privilege. Or you get your ass fired.

"Let's get inside and clean this shit hole up."

[fixed-signs]

Marzana, Marzana

Marzana, Marzana - Chapter 1

Pairing: Josh x original female character (you read that right if you come back up here halfway through this chapter)

Warnings: NSFW MINORS DNI, drinking, weed, implied sex

Eventual pregnancy and angst, we got slow burn, we got fluff

Word count: 2.7k

Hadley took one look back at the brick apartment building, the last plastic milk crate of records in her hands and a guitar slung on her back. She exhaled, cheeks puffing out, and feeling slightly uncomfortable in the warm Tennessee October. 

She watched the leaves, still attached to the trees sway like the licking flames of a fire. She felt no desire to take anything else. She didn’t need any of it really. Everything in that apartment no longer served her or this strange— constantly parting stage of her life at the moment. 

*

“What an asshole.” She spoke into the phone tucked between her shoulder and ear as she drove into a parking spot. 

“Hadley….” Sara on the other end cooed. 

“He tried the ‘I was hurting too’ move, which like, yeah buddy because it was you who was gone all the time taking care of your dying mother.” 

“Pfft, did you tell him that? Like oh yeah, sticking your dick in someone else really screams empathy to me. Oh God! Was she there?!”

“No, no, she wasn’t there….and I let him do most of the talking or groveling or whatever you want to call it. I think she might have realized what a piece he was well before I ever did. But like good for her, ya know?”

“I enjoy your feminism in this situation. He didn’t make a huff about your stuff, did he?”

“He certainly didn’t help me load it up, but clearly I’m all about girl power… The only thing he got in my face about was me taking back the guitar. He was all ‘that’s a gift, you can’t take it back. ‘Mweh’ to me about it.”

“God fuck him.” 

Hadley, stared out the windshield of her car. The glare from the sun making every piece of dust on her dashboard apparent.

“Yeah…” There was a silence, then Hadley gently pulled the phone from her ear while Sara settled a barking dog in the background. “I gotta go.”

“Ok, I’ll see you later.” 

“Oh, no yeah, I just decided to get a hotel room.”

*

Hadley sipped her nearly overflowing double of bourbon and coke and looked at the banner framing the entry way of the patio “Gibson Anniversary Celebration”. Music was blasting, she saw plenty of selfies being taken— She didn’t recognize most of the celebrities smiling on demand next to her coworkers. Hadley subtly danced through the crowd to the some tables to find a seat. She didn’t feel quite up to dancing and figured coworkers were still too starstruck to find any of them on the dance floor quite yet. 

“Ok, but would you rather-“ Sam stood at the end of the table, and shouted, “Ahem, would you rather-“

It didn’t matter, Danny was taking a picture with someone, Jake was busy observing everyone and frankly, was over Sam and tonight, and Josh was trying to scoop a piece of ice on his straw. 

“You know, this is the best ice. The tube kind.” He declared when he managed to thread one on the end of his straw. 

“Josh, shut up!” Sam whined. 

“Yeah, its crushed, fuckhead.” Jake added. 

“Basic bitch-” Josh humored between crunches of ice. 

“Would you rather—“

“Have you heard that chewing ice says something about a man’s sexual prowess?” Josh continued. 

“What on Earth would that have to do with anything?” Jake slid his sunglasses down and proceeded to crunch loudly on piece he scooped out with his fingers from Sam’s drink.

Sam stomped and his eye were about to bulge out of his head. 

Danny sat back down at the end of the booth, knowing he had to intervene without any context, “Ok, what’s the would you rather?” 

“JESUS, I’m getting to it.” Sam squawked, “You know what, no, no, I’m getting another fuckin’ - stronger— drink.”  

The boys booed as Sam left the table. 

Sam was moving gracefully through the large crowd until he was shoved, seemingly out of no where. Before he could catch himself or even glance to see who had pushed him he was on Hadley and Hadley was covered in her drink. 

“Oh shit, I’m so sorry. God- oh here,” He helped her stabilize her footing again. Her platform boots slipping a little in the puddle under her. 

“It’s good, what even happened, are you good?” 

“I’m fine!” Sam began shouting as another song started playing, seemingly louder than the last one. “What were you drinking. I can get you another. And some napkins!”

“Oh, don’t worry about it.” Hadley shook her head.

“Don’t with that. Was it a rum and coke?” 

She crinkled her nose, “Bourbon.” 

“Alright.”

He smiled and Hadley held a hand to her cheek, trying to calm the red flush she felt all over. Luckily most of the drink spilled on her shoes and pants, leaving no truly uncomfortable stickiness on any exposed skin other than her hands. 

*

“Look who I ran in to! It’s Hadley!” Sam announced as he herded Hadley to the table with the rest of the band. 

“It’s you!” Danny played along with the joke. 

“It’s you!” Hadley pretend fawned over Danny. “It’s been so long!” 

“Hi, I’m Josh,” Josh held out his hand. 

“I know, we go way back.” She played along and shook his hand anyways. 

Jake quietly chuckled, observing as Sam pulled up another chair on his side of the table for her. 

“How did you get dragged over here?” Jake piped up. 

“I spilled her drink, and I’m being a gentleman.” Sam answered quickly ending on defensive. 

“Oh well, that’s good, I thought you had just wet your pants. Urination as the professionals call it.” Josh said. 

“Where the fuck are you from? What is that accent?” Hadley quipped back.

Danny shook his head, “English isn’t his first language—“

“We only let him learn his English by watching Jackass.” Jake popped another piece of ice in his mouth, Josh silently mocked his brother’s crunching face, it all was getting entertaining for Hadley. 

“We’re from Michigan.” Sam announced. 

“Oh well…did you- did you know that trade routes from New York brought that accent to Michigan- but no one else here sounds like that…so why do you sound like that?“ 

“Yeah really Joshua? Can you believe we are identical twins?” Jake plucked his sunglasses off and hooked them on his shirt collar.

“Yeah he sounds normal,” Hadley pointed a thumb at Jake, “That explains even less.” 

The table laughed. A new song started Sam and Danny locked eyes. They both began to stand and dance at each other. Danny mouthed the words between sips of his drink. 

“It’s a bop.” Sam and Danny said in unison, clearly an inside joke, and they left to the dance floor that was slowly filling up. 

“So who are you now?” Jake asked. 

“Marzana Hadley.” She held out her hand to Jake, a playful sarcasm in her voice now, “luthier extraordinaire.” 

“Oh? Jake Kiszka,” Jake saw her eyebrows knit together, he gave her hand a light squeeze. “Lead guitar. Of Greta Van Fleet.” 

She avoided eye contact with Jake, as if it’d hide the bashfulness suddenly overcoming her. She’d heard of them— this man’s face was in several pictures around the office and headquarters. Hadley glanced at Jake again, a red light coming from the dance floor haloed in his hair. Josh was already spurting as their equally calloused hands slid from each other.

“Josh Kiszka, yes, Greta Van Fleet’s lead sing-er.” He emphasized for humor, “What do you do for Gibson?” 

“Yeah Marzana, what do you do for Gibson?”

Hadley cleared her throat, her body still flushed from embarrassment, “It’s Hadley. The rockstars interviewing me? Shouldn’t it be the other way around? Am I getting the rockstar treatment??”

They both chuckled, “Sorry, no no.” Jake apologized. 

“Did you know,” Josh mimicked her from earlier, “The throat is the 5th chakra. Yours sounds very blocked.”

“You must know all about throat health being a sing-er. AndI just- wow, thank you. The best most heartfelt compliment I’ve gotten in weeks.”

“That’s not nearly as interesting as her linguistics analysis of your annoying ass.” Jake said after a sip of beer. He shook it and listened to any liquid sloshing. Empty.

“Any other esoteric traits you’d like to criticize? I’m a sad Pisces, so go easy.” 

“Ah, well I think your Sanpaku eyes are wonderful. What has you so weary in this life?”

“Josh….” Jake huffed as he stood, “What the fuck man.” 

“Was that a pick up line? Because it’s a bad one.”

“It wasn’t, but I’ll work on it.” 

Hadley rolled her eyes, but was startled as someone abruptly grabbed her shoulders. It was a coworker, who was clearly tipsy and giggly. 

“Hey girl!” The girl hugged around Hadley’s shoulders, pinning her in an awkward sitting-side-back-hug. 

“You sound like you’re having a good time.” Hadley smile, but pleaded for help with her eyes at either of the boys.

“This is Mike from Iowa I’ve been telling y’all about.” her southern drawl was thick as she held out her hand for everyone to see, “Covid love.” 

She hummed and opened her eyes, focusing way too hard on Hadley. It was the alcohol, but it was still jarring compared to the vibe of the rest of the table. 

“Most romantic of pandemics. Spanish flu has nothing on you guys.” Hadley chattered, it cause Josh to choke mid sip of his drink. 

“What? Anywhose, I’m so sorry about your mama and her cancer and all. God, and your breakup? I’m sorry girly. What a year for you.”

“Uh…yeah…..thanks…..” Dread was all over Hadley’s voice— no her entire being. 

Jake and Josh looked at each other. Jake silently was screaming ‘I told you so’ behind his eyes as Josh, unneeded as Josh felt like a true asshole for calling this stranger sad. Hadley just wanted to sink into her chair and not have to pretend the niceties, albeit genuine, would stop. As if manifestation was real the friend realized who the twins were. 

Hadley slinked away with her drink to find obscurity with Sam and Danny- well really anyone who didn’t truly know her, on the dance floor. 

*

Jake and Josh slipped away after some photos and were in line at the bar. Josh bobbing along to the music in his spot, Jake swaying and shifting weight between his feet. He regretted wearing brand new boots.

“You should make a move.” Josh looked towards his friends and Hadley on the dance floor. 

They were having a dance off with cheesy dance moves mixed with square dancing moves. All laughing uncontrollably at each new move the other presented. Cheering and clapping. 

Jake looked at his feet, “I don’t know, man. She’s cool.”

“Yeah she’s fucking cool, dude. I know it’s been a while.” 

“Not since Jita.” 

“So a year?” 

“It’s only been 9 months and it’s not like you’re out there making moves either since-“

“I don’t do rebounds like you.” Josh smacked Jake in the chest.

Jake’s body flinched and he managed to stop his arm from coming up and delivering a swat back, “I don’t ‘do rebounds’ either. Jesus.” He made air quotes. 

Jake took another look at Hadley, now doing the Macarena very off beat to the music while Sam pretend lassoed Danny. 

“How the hell is Sam the only one with a partner out of all of us right now?” Jake muttered. 

“I dunno, but it’s fucked up.” Josh agreed. They clinked drinks.

*

“Shit,” Hadley groaned standing in front of the hotel as the uber pulled away behind her. 

“What’s up?” Jake was already sweating. 

“I- I was moving today and I didn’t have time to get all of my stuff out of my car to my room. Do you mind if I—?”

“Not at all, I can help.” 

Jake followed silently behind Hadley to her car. She popped the trunk and Jake’s eyes widened at the collection of records sitting there. 

“It’s like a lot, it’s just bad to let them sit in changing temperatures and it’s already like 20 degrees colder than when I left. It’s find if you don’t want—”

“I- I get it.” He smiled and began to stack two milk crates. 

*

“Thanks for the cab, by the way.” Hadley pushed the hotel luggage caddy, now full of records to her room; Jake holding on the back and watching for any runaway items when they took turns out the elevator and down hallways. 

It was actually much simpler and less mortifying to slip out of the party with Hadley. Sam had left to FaceTime his girlfriend after her show. Danny and Josh seemingly vanished, almost an Irish goodbye until Jake got a text saying ‘Joshua and I are meeting Alex and bar hopping’ from Danny. 

“No worries. The least I could do after you flamed Josh like that.” 

She let an airy “ha” spit from her lips while she waited for the light on the doorknob to turn green. Hadley pulled out her key card and held the door open for Jake to push the cart in.

“Speaking of flaming people, did you see Slash dancing?” 

They both erupted in laughter. Jake gently shut the heavy hotel door behind him.

He scanned the room: your average beige walls with an overly bright accent wall, a grey-blue bed spread, but the wall with the TV and mini fridge was stacked with even more vinyls and two guitars. One was in a case leaned against the wall upright while the other was laid across the arm chair at the very corner of the room. 

“Do you want to listen to anything?” Hadley offered as she balanced on one foot un-doing her boot. 

“Sure.” Jake grinned and parked the caddy.

“Cool, I’ll set up.” 

Jake flipped through the contents of the collection. Hadley had opened a box and was now on her hands and knees trying to reach an outlet near the bed. She had placed a record player on the night stand, cords trailing out the back to two speakers. Hadley stood back and admired the work before going to her purse and opening a cigarette case. It held several skinny and neatly wrapped joints. 

“I’m gonna- do you-“ She said voice creaking, mechanically, nervously. 

Jake shook his head yes, Hadley nodded and dug out a lighter from another pocket of her bag. She cracked a window, a joint now hanging lazily out of her mouth. Hadley walked over to Jake, she lit up and the familiar herbal smelled wafted to him.

“You decide on anything yet?” 

“This,” Jake held a record between them. In a smooth exchange Hadley took it from his hands and he took the joint from her lips. 

“I wasn’t expecting this.” 

“There’s nothing wrong with the Arctic Monkeys.” Jake wheezed after a drag, the record player hummed and scratched before a heavy, slow beat filled the room.

Hadley sat on the foot of the bed and flicked ashes into stout white coffee cup from the desk. Jake slung the guitar without a case over his shoulders, the joint was passed back to him as he placed himself next to her. The mattress sinking slightly with his weight. Jake strummed and fiddled on the instrument, tuning a string, then strumming a few notes, matching the song. 

“Did you make this?” Hadley nodded at Jake and watched his hands fiddle along the neck, “It’s beautiful.” He said, pausing and staring at Hadley. 

She was blushing. Taking the joint out of Jakes mouth delicately between her pointer and middle finger, “One of the first ones I ever made.” She said after exhaling smoke. 

The room fell quiet between songs, a deafening silence. Hadley flicked the ashes into the cup one more time, her head spinning as the high was starting to hit. She offered the joint back to Jake, holding it near his face. His eyes were heavier than before. He gazed at her faded lipstick mouth he grabbed her wrist out of the way and they both crashed into each other at the same time. 

[vitaminayeonnie]

Today is Another Yesterday (remastered)

Remastered from my original work posted in Twitter.

A ONE SHOT MICHAENG STORY (TAGLISH)

You need to transfer school Chae, you will be living with your mother now. We cant afford to pay for your father's rent already, you are 5 months behind. I'm sorry but I'm kicking you out..

What about my life? My friends? What about everything? It is too easy for them to just say it, but they dont know how hard it is for me, to leave all this behind.

______________________________________________________________

I have been living with my father ever since, I can say na hindi kami ganun kayaman, nor may kaya, because my dad only works as a train conductor kaya sapat lang ang kinikita namin for our daily needs. Still, kahit ganun I feel so lucky to have him, kahit hindi ko nakukuha lahat ng gusto ko, alam kong andiyan siya lagi na susuporta sa akin kahit anong mangyari.

Sobrang sakit na mawala siya, and for me to leave everything behind and live with my mother na iniwan kami when I was still a little girl. All this is too much for me.

Ayaw ko man, i never had a choice but to accept it, because I can't provide for myself yet.

I transferred schools and lived with my mother sa maliit na apartment niya.

After all, hindi rin naman kami magkikita since she works as a nurse and she usually stays there till she cant no more.

Everything happened in a flash, new life, new me, new environment, new guardian, new everything.

Morning came and I was awaken by my phone alarming..

KRIIING KRIIING KRIIING!

Irritated i turned off my alarm and sat down. Im still not over with my father's death pero itong mother ko pinupush na ako pumasok para mahabol ko ang finals for the semester.

Everything feels different for me, I looked at every detail of my mother's apartment. I sighed and whispered, this place will never be happy without my dad.

I brushed my teeth, washed my face, wore my uniform and grabbed a pack of energy bar for my breakfast.

Coming down the wet concrete stairs because of last night's heavy rain I wore my earphones and hit play to cover the bustling noise from the city.

Everything feels different, from sunny green fields to tall apartments and tight alleys. I feel uneasy and I even failed to find where the nearest bus stop is.

Suddenly my earphones stopped playing music, I looked at my phone to see it's already 7:00am when I encounter an old lady selling watches and bracelets in the alley.

I looked at my surrounding and wondered bakit siya dito nagbebenta, I am the only one walking here, bakit hindi siya magbenta sa main street?

She looked at me and smiled. I greeted her and walked slowly to her to check out what she is selling.

Iha, mukhang naliligaw ka, ngayon lang kita nakita dito... the old lady said

I looked at her items and was weirded out because everything looks rustic and old, as if it was all from her attic.

Hindi po lola, kakalipat ko lang po dito kahapon I answered.

She nodded and introduced her items to me. Ito pumili ka ng gusto mo, personal ko iyan ginawa, pumili ka. She said while holding out different bracelets in front of me.

I smiled trying my best to not look uninterested in what she is selling, but still she notices it.

She sighed and said I have been selling this stuffs here for years, and you are the only person who walked close to me.

She then grabbed an old box from her wooden crate and handed it over to me.

Take it she said while smiling at me.

Curious I slowly took the box and slowly opened it. It's an old watch, a very old looking watch. I slowly lifted it up from its box.

Ah yes, yes, yes! she whispered as we both looked at the watch start to tick.

She then held my hand and said Iha makinig ka sa akin, the watch choses you, you are in control now, you are the chosen one.

creeped out I took a small step back, I closely looked at the watch as the ticking starts to feel heavier, and heavier, and heavier till I saw my own reflection in its glass.

What is this? i asked but to find out na wala na yung matanda, even her items na nakalatag kanina, wala lahat.

Fully creeped out i started to walk fast out to the main street.

I took the bus and sat down. I looked at the watch again and gave it a second chance. I wore it and slowly synched the time to 7:00am to see if it works. I pressed the adjustment gear back then suddenly the whole world stopped. I was taken back in time, I saw everything go back to where they were.

Everything is quiet but when i heared the watch tick, everything was back to normal, but this time at 7:00am.

Surprised i checked my phone only to see it's 7:00am. I then remembered i also checked it before i met the old lady. Creeped out i removed the watch in my wrist and placed it in its box.

What is this thing? i whispered.

______________________________________________________________

Okay class meet Son Chaeyoung, she is a new student here, please help her cope up since malapit lapit na ang finals and she has a lot to study.

"Hello Chaeyoung" everybody greeted me

I sat down next to a girl who is putting on lipstick, she then gave me a "bitch what" look and said, do you wanna try?

I was frozen until she tapped my shoulder and said, im kidding, my name is Sana, you can call me sana, nice to meet you, you are chaeyoung right?

I smiled and said you can call me chae

She finishes putting on her lipstick and looked at me. Hello chae, she said.

The class ended and we were headed to the comfort rooms when I saw someone getting bullied.

I was left alone outside the comfort room as i looked closer to what is happening.

Ano? matapang ka? asan na ang tapang mo? give me my money back! the girl said while her friends are holding a girl.

I dont have your money the girl said

I suddenly remembered i have the watch, i grabbed it from my bag and wore it.

She was about to be punched when i stopped my watch at 9:01am, everything froze.

I adjusted the adjustment gear back to 8:50am and pressed it back.

Everything turned back as to how it was 9 minutes ago and i saw the girl dropping her books at her locker. I walked up to her and said you need to come with me.

Confused she asked who am i, but when i saw the girls who would punch her walk out their class, i grabbed her hand and ran down the stairs.

Panting i said to myself, i think i prevented it, i really prevented it. Amazed and at awe na kaya ko gawin yung mga ganun na bagay i looked at the watch and realized how powerful it is.

Miss, are you okay? why are you smiling like that? the girl asked while i was pinning her down the stairs. I backed off and said sorry, she then screamed and ran saying Im a pervert.

After the whole day of studying I walked to the nearest bus stop to go home.

I sat down the bus stop after walking and put on my earphones to go into my zone. When i heard someone beside me say "SHIT"

I looked at her to see she accidentally spilled coffee in her uniform. She looked at me and realized she shouted and immediately said sorry.

Feeling sorry for her i used my watch to reverse time for 30 seconds. There i saw her sitting beside me with her coffee almost spilling i grabbed it and said Its gonna spill. She thanked me and said sorry.

Suddenly awkwardness filled the air, to stop the uneasy environment i broke the ice by asking where are you headed to?

She smiled and said im going home.

Judging from her uniform she is from a prestigious school so i asked her again. Wala kang sundo?

She looked at me and said wala kasing susundo.. confused i asked her what do you mean?

She looked away and said I dont have any family.

Oh.

Suddenly awkwardness fills the air again.

So you live alone? i asked trying my best to not fail this time.

Yes i live alone, i also support my own why are you asking this questions? she said while looking at me

Uh, i dont know, im just, i dont know.. i stuttered, my mind suddenly turned blank.

She giggled and said, youre funny before walking up to her bus.

I smiled and looked at her closely realizing she has amazing eyes.

Should probably try to date her i said when she stopped walking and turned back to me saying, do it.

She steps in her bus and it starts to drive away leaving me speechless in what just happened.

______________________________________________________________

The next day is still the same dull boring day at school with me using my watch to prevent small things from happening and also for more time in our test!

It is dismissal once again and im lowkey hoping na the bus girl would be there again. I should get her number.

I sat down at the same bus stop, walang tao but me, lowkey disappointed a familiar voice shattered my disappointment.

Uy hello, you are the girl yesterday right? buti andito ka i was hoping you would be...

I HOPED TOO.. i said realizing i cut her off and shouted with me blushing.

She smirked and said, looks like you really do. Anyways my name is Mina, i am sorry i didnt introduce myself yesterday.

I nodded and said Hi mina, i am chaeyoung, you can call me chae.

Well thats a cute name, she smiled. What the hell is this i whispered blushing so hard i dont even know what i look like.

Do you live alone? she asked me. I shook my head and said, no, i am living with my mother.

She then cut me off and said, Can i get your number?

I froze, what is this, am i dreaming, i should be the one asking for her number, why is she asking for my number..

Hello? Can i? i mean if i cant i will understand it..... she said, then i cut her off saying its 098.........

She said thank you before stepping inside her bus again leaving me speechless into what just happened.

My phone rang to see i got a text message from her saying

"Thank you chae, let's meet again tomorrow"

Think i landed a very pretty girlfriend in day 2 of living here. Score! i celebrated smiling all by myself with the people waiting at the bus stop looking at me weirdly.

______________________________________________________________

Weeks have passed and we are getting along well ni Mina, we always meetup sa bus stop and talk about our day, we even give advices to one another, talk on the phone for hours too. As for my watch i also use it for simple things like not being late, but i am noticing na everytime i use it, it worns out more. Everytime i use it the strap gets thinner and the glass gets little cracks. That's when i made myself a promise to just use it for important things.

Since the finals is about to start soon, i invited her to my place to study.. and she said yes!

Your place looks cute, she said

We studied for hours, ate ramen, watched movies too, hanggang sa its time for her to go home.

I walked her to the door as we were talking

Thank you for inviting me chae, next time ulit. She said while wearing her coat.

Yes next time ulit, i said

She grabbed her bag and looked at me for a second and said, well, i guess ill see you tomorrow at the bus stop?

Bus stop yes, i answered

She is still looking at me standing behind the door she said after 5 seconds of just looking at me, aalis na ako oki?

I nodded. She reached for the door when i felt it. I quickly called her name when simultaneously she called mine.

Mina. Chae.

You first, she said scratching her head

I took a deep breath and asked her, can we kiss

Our eyes froze as we both look at each other, the door open, half of her outside, cold air rushing inside my apartment with her scent following after it.

She smiled and walked close to me giving me a tight hug.

I whispered to her why did she said my name. She whispered back saying, thank you for being there for me when i needed you the most...

I smiled and hugged her tighter and whispered, I will always be here.

She looked at me dead in my eyes, couple of inches between our faces she said, just kiss me already.

I slowly caress her face and kissed her. Still the cold night air rushing gently in my apartment, she hugged me tighter and we kissed more.

She stopped and placed her index finger in my mouth and said, goodnight. She slowly walked out the door smiling at me. I am lost for words.

______________________________________________________________

FLASHBACK:

MINA"S POV

You are a disgrace in this family, i will never call you my daughter! leave and never come back! Dad shouted at me after i showed her my grades this semester.

He kicked me out, stopped giving me allowances, and everything. My mom died a few years ago, and my siblings all despises me too. I am alone.

I have been living all by myself for the past 2 months or so, working double shift jobs, and part times, all while studying and trying my best for me to not lose my scholarship as losing it will be the end of me. I am so tired with everything.

I grabbed a dollar coffee from the convenience store and sat at the bus stop numb and tired at everything. Suddenly a strange girl hold my hand with my coffee. I looked at her as she said my coffee is about to spill. I thanked her and in that moment i felt something, something that i never felt for the last 2 months, support.

Me and Chae got together pretty well, I shared my problems and stress with her and she does it too with me, Suddenly everything feels manageable again. That's when i realized she helped me when i needed her the most.

END OF FLASHBACK

______________________________________________________________

(Back to Chae's POV)

The next day came and i did well with my finals, all thanks to Mina who helped me study last night. We met at the bus stop again and even agreed to celebrate by eating ramen at the nearby convenience store.

While we are sitting inside the convenience store blowing our hot ramen, i asked her

Mina I want to tell you something

she slurped her ramen while saying, hmm ano yun?

I like you. I said looking at her

She stopped slurping from her bowl and looked at me seriously.

She wiped her mouth and said, I like you too, obviously

I smiled and laughed as we continued to blow and eat our ramen.

Our first official date.

Talking about our day while walking back to the bu stop my phone rang.

"Mother Calling"

I answered it.

"Hello"

"Are you her family"

"Yes, is there a problem I am her daughter"

"Your mother was in a terrible accident, you need to come to the Geongdong Hospital right now"

"I will be there"

-call ended-

I looked at mina and i know she knows that it is an emergency

I will go home safe, go to your mom she said assuring me.

I thanked her and ran to the bus as fast as i could.

I checked the time and it was 7:20pm, the traffic is not helping, the hospital is 15 minutes away on foot, i think its faster if i make a run for it.

I pressed the stop button and hopped out the bus and took a run for it.

Panting for air, i reached the hospital emergency entrance at 7:35pm, and looked for my mother inside.

I cant find her, then i saw a bed with doctors surrounding it, the patient covered by a white cloth.

The doctor turned to me and asked me, are you her daughter, Mrs. Son's daughter...

I nodded from disbelief, when i heard the doctor say

I am sorry.

Another doctor said time of death 7:36pm.

Suddenly i cant feel anything everything feels blurry and all i can hear is a high pitch sound from my mother's heartrate monitor flatlining.

The thought of me being alone in this world, I cant grasp it still.

Suddenly i realized i have the watch. I hurriedly grabbed it and wore it. Knowing it will break after this time reset, I know it will all be worth it. I adjusted the adjustment gear for the last time and reset the time back for 12 hours.

I took a deep breath and pressed the adjustment gear back. The watch glowed as it starts to tick. The whole room froze and reversed back. In every tick, an hour is reversed, and in every tock, the watch is disintegrating. Finally the last tick to turn back the time in exactly 12 hours was heard and the watch fully disintegrated in my arm.

The room then starts to be normal again.

A nurse asked me, Miss, who are you looking for?

I hurriedly looked for a clock to see its 7:36am. I ran out the hospital and called my mother.

Please pick up, please pick up. I whispered crying.

Suddenly the ringing stopped and my mother said, Why? I am a little busy

I took my deepest sigh of relief when i heard her voice. The watch did it, It saved my my mother. I dont have it anymore but it is all worth it.

I head back to my school and took the exam again.

Everythjing repeated itself, but i made sure my mother will not go in an accident this time. I asked her to go home early because i will buy dinner for us. She agreed.

Me and mina met again at the bus stop, celebrated again by eating ramen, confessed we like each other again, and talk happily like what we did before.

This time i managed to stay with mina at the bus stop longer, i checked on my mother to make sure she is okay, and she is. She said she is home waiting for me. I am so happy that it ended well, so i decided to be with mina for a while.

Mina then asked me to buy sodas at a vending machine close to the bus stop. So i did.

Right after the can dropped. I saw a bright flashing light reflecting at the glass of the vending machine. A screeching sound followed after.

I slowly looked back to the bus stop to find a car crashed directly to it. Everything feels slow when i saw Mina looking at me covered in blood. I ran as fast as i could to reach her but everything really feels like its getting slower and slower. I reached her and looked at her eyes, she smiled and said I love you. She then closed her eyes and she lost consciousness. Paramedics soon came and we drove as fast as we can, but it was too late. Mina flatlined inside the ambulance. The paramedic sighed and pronounced her death. Time of death 7:36pm.

.

.

.

.

.

______________________________________________________________

BZZZZZTTTTT BZZZZZZTTTTTT

I woke up with the sound of my phone vibrating

I stood up and brushed my teeth.

Its been a month after Mina died. I still cant forgive myself because i found out the car who crashed in the bus stop is the same car who would have hit my mother. If only i knew, i would have prevented it too.

I walked to the bus stop when i saw the old lady who gave me the watch. This time she is not selling anything, she wears a bright red cape and she walked slowly to me.

I know what you did chaeyoung, she said. I know you saved your mother who is already dead. You can't cheat death, a death will only be prevented with another death. I know you know what i mean.

Tears start to fall from my cheeks as i looked at her.

Is there any way i can get her back.... i whispered

She shook her head slowly and pointed her finger towards the city clock tower.

Time will heal everything miss chaeyoung. Time will heal everything. She said while slowly vanishing in front of me.

I wiped my tears and looked up the clock tower. Took a deep sigh and hoped that today will be another yesterday.

Chaeyoung walked to her bus stop, hoping she can turn back time once again. Not knowing how to, she continued living her life with the pain of losing Mina and not having the capability to save her as to how she saved her mother.

Afterall, time will heal everything.

TICK. TOCK. TICK. - END.