#anyhow these two are part of a little project I'm trying to create

[herecomesthesol]

Traveling through both space and time, long over the land and the sea I’m in the future there with you, so until then will you wait for me?

- Waiting on Destiny, Odyssey Eurobeat

Just a couple of beans of mine; aka the ever present Lampwick but also a little someone else this time around! Meet Philippine, my most beloved darling in progress

[callmebliss]

It's been a pretty nice cake day so far, I must say. Three darling people from the Plus abruptly reappeared in my digital life in the past 24 hours, and I am delighted and grateful for all of them.

I slept in and was awakened by the sound of the plow in the driveway, because it is my birthday and so of course it snowed. I scrambled into leggings and boots and a coat and stumbled down through snow up past my boot tops to get my car cleaned off to move, only to have the plow guys tell me not to rush because they'd come back later to clean up and plow where I'd parked. It was all very well, but I was already down there so I cleared the car anyhow and moved it, and then SALM's car as well but for the moving, because I never know where he stows his keys.

We had a slow screenless morning with cuddling in various configurations while I read my way through one of the discount graphic novels I'd picked up on our last date up in Harvard Square. I'm not sure when I'll feel brave enough to go out anywhere again for quite a while - getting the Covid has done a number on the confidence my vaccinated, mask-wearing ass has on being anywhere that requires the mask coming off for any reason. It seems so foolhardy, now. Anyhow, the graphic novel, Farmhand by Rob Guillory, was really good and I can see there are two other installments, so I'm going to have to grab those. Lots of family and small town politics and body horror in an alternate world where a man manages to create a body part farm. Fantastic art. Laughed out loud as many times as I turned to a panel and muttered "what the FUCK."

Had some rather perfect sex, and settled in to finish the Free With Ads movie I was watching last night on YouTube, as well as work on the crochet project I started. The movie is Cooties, with Elijah Wood and Rainn Wilson and a few other actors I recognized but whose names escape me. It was funny for what it was; children become zombies due to tainted chicken nuggets and the summer school teachers have to fight their way to freedom. It leaned into some tropes, subverted others, and ended on a note that was both unsatisfying and yet quite realistic, all things considered.

I spend a little bit of time with the movie on pause, because from the window beside my desk I can see the bottom of the sledding hill that runs down past the back of our property, and a pair of kids probably around 12 had hiked up the back side of our driveway with the intent, it seemed, of getting a steeper slide in there, trees be damned. Boys will be boys and all that and I watched as they balanced the sled on the plow drift and one helped the other sit on it and they worked together to make sure his helmet was on good and snug - and then he overbalanced and fell backwards ass over teakettle into the driveway, and as he struggled to his feet the sled went off without him down the hill. They plopped on their buts in the snow in defeat, until one found a stick to bonk off the other one's helmet, and away they finally went.

I've gotten back into writing, finally. Nothing for publication, nothing even worth putting forth on my Patreon, but a shared story on an adult writing/RP/ERP site that my cowriter and I are both very excited about; an indulgent piece of a human woman at a post-plague party in some unspecified time and place where masquerades are still a thing, where the veil is crossed and the masquerade is in the fae realm, and she is very rapidly getting entwined with a prince of the autumn court. There will be impossible spaces and changing bodies and quite a lot of sex-positive shenanigans and straight up enjoyment of physical touch. Developing the idea was great, because every time they suggested an additional piece, flavor, point, it was something that I absolutely have been yearning for in a story on that site for years. Loving how it's unfolding already.

There is cake yet to be had, and I think I'm going to task an un-sick Spawn with cutting it and plating it - I'm trying to breathe near food that others in the household will be eating as little as possible.

Aside from that, I believe I am going to purchase myself a double feature of Venom/Carnage!Venom on Google Play for the evening, and figure out what to tell SALM when he asks what I want for my birthday. Perfume, I think?

Good mornthing (afternoon edition)!

41.

[so-caffeinated]

I'm dying for more about Nate and Penny. How long until either realized their feelings weren't unrequited?

Hi anon! You had me opening up my notes to go check details and then I slowly fell down a rabbit hole of Nate/Penny feels. It’s a problem (Don’t help me. I love it). 

It takes a while. The first real hints are around four or five months into her working for him, but I think it’s more like six-to-eight months before there’s any action by either of them. As you might have noticed, Nate can be a bit blind to what’s going on around him at times (he probably could have picked up a few pointers on awareness and reading body language from his big brother, but... alas...). That lack of awareness is definitely true with Penny. But... that doesn’t mean everyone around them doesn’t know first... 

I really have to stop doing this... @dust2dust34 might kill me and there isn’t actually that much left to share. This is part of a character development background thing, not necessarily canon, unedited and written eons ago. And yet... have a tiny bit of Penny at happy hour with her friends... 

“So… how is the job anyhow?” Maria prods. “Even after the second pitcher, last week all we got out of you was ‘good.’”

“Because it is,” Penny announces, grabbing a fry from the basket the girls had ordered before she’d gotten there. She’s not hungry and the fry isn’t even warm, but it does occupy her mouth and keep her from talking so it more than does its job. She’s substantially less likely to choke on the fry than her response.

“You’re working… what, like ten hours a day?” Jo asks.

They both stare at her long after it’s reasonable for her to have swallowed the fry so she really can’t put off this conversation forever.

“More like twelve or thirteen, usually,” she admits. “Except Fridays, we try to wrap things up a bit earlier.”

The girls share a look and Penny already knows she isn’t going to be overly fond of what follows. Maria shifts in her seat and bites the inside of her cheek, having some kind of silent conversation with Jo that Penny just doesn’t follow. It makes the redhead anxious because she used to read them so well. They used to be so in tune, ever since sophomore year when they’d wound up study buddies for microeconomics. But now… now she feels left out of the loop. And it’s jarring.

“Pen, I know you like your job but…” Maria’s voice trails off.

“But did you ever think maybe he’s taking advantage of you?” Jo finishes.

To say Penny is stunned by the accusation is a bit of an understatement. Her back stiffens and her brow furrows as she takes in her two best friends’ pleading eyes. Annoyance coils inside her chest, a tightly wound knot of displeasure that sours her gut and makes her frustration grow by leaps and bounds. They don’t get it. They never have. They’re dedicated, sure, but not like Penny. She’d been the one making color-coded study cards in college and scheduling their group project timelines. She’d created spreadsheets and project agendas and annotated their work. She likes this kind of thing, putting order to chaos is soothing, it gives her purpose. When things are messy or disorganized, it just leaves her feeling panicked and driven to fix things. Her job makes her feel useful. It’s exactly what she wants to be doing and precisely who she wants to be doing it for. There’s a kind of high in that, a sense of fulfillment that she really hadn’t expected to find in her career by age 24. If anything, she feels like she’s the one taking advantage.

“I love my job,” Penny tells them firmly.

“Honey, I know you do,” Maria soothes, putting her hand over Penny’s well-manicured fingers. “I know. But thirteen hours a day? He’s working you too hard.”

“But I want to!” Penny blurts out, pulling her hands back. “Besides he needs me.”

Maria winces as Jo hisses through her teeth and shakes her head. Yet again, Penny feels like she’s on the outside looking in. She can’t make sense of it, can’t make it fit into a neatly carved out checkbox of responses and that bothers her.

“What?” she demands.

“Pen… we were kind of afraid this would happen,” Jo confides.

“Afraid what would happen?” Penny challenges.

When neither of them answer immediately, Penny’s pretty certain it’s a strategized effort to frustrate her. Clearly this is intentional. It can’t possibly be an accident. They’re entirely too coordinated for that.

“We get it,” Maria tells her. “He’s a Queen, an actual billionaire, the Governor’s son, perpetually single and in spite of the whole awkwardly dorky thing he’s got going on, he is kind of ridiculously attractive.”

“Are you…” Penny flushes horribly - she’s sure it goes all the way to the roots of her hair and it surely rushes down her chest - blinking at her two friends as words seem to escape her. “He is not a billionaire!”

This is likely not the best protest she could have given, but it’s the first thing that comes to mind she can actually counter. Because he is a Queen and his father is the Governor. And, in spite of that painfully handsome face and incredibly intelligent mind of his, she’s never heard so much as a whisper of him dating anyone. But he’s not a billionaire. So… there’s that anyhow.

“But his family is,” Jo replies, waving it off like Penny hasn’t just made an incredibly valid point. “Having a crush on him is totally understandable. It is! He’s not my type. That whole awkward thing is just a little too-”

“He is not awkward!” Penny protests, her voice rising loud enough that the table next to them looks over and she sheepishly bites her lip before repeating herself in a much quieter tone. “He is not awkward. He’s… he’s driven and dedicated and so confident in a professional setting. And I like helping him. I make his job easier and he’s grateful for it. He really is. And I love knowing that I make a difference. It’s important. Maybe I’m not saving the city or anything big like that, but I make a difference in my own way and that’s very rewarding. So… so I love my job and you don’t get to call my boss awkward because he’s not. He’s great. And I respect him a lot.”

Maria and Jo both fall quiet at her uncharacteristic tirade. God, she’s so red she won’t be surprised if she’s still flushed tomorrow. Thank god for margaritas. She chugs another large gulp before looking back toward her friends.

“Respect, huh?” Maria asks, sighing and shaking her head. “Is that what they’re calling it these days?”

Penny throws a fry at her. She misses, but that feels oddly appropriate anyhow.

[the-togepi-man]

Ok so I kinda fell asleep again and dont remeber all of it but it went a little something like this... (I'm typing it out in parts because it was super long and I've got a few things to do today) also excuse the typing errors this was on my phone while I was getting ready to go out

Part 1/?

They opened up a huge artificial island off the coast of the United states, say maybe the size of Maryland. It was some sort of project to create an island that would recycle it's own waste and build and expand itself based off that I had decided to go there with a group of people but ended up getting separated. Assuming they were going home first I made my way to the ferry/train that would take you back to the main island. On the way there I got a text saying one of my friends had started to feel sick so the other friend took him back, and since the island was new the cell service was a wee bit spotty so they went back on their own. The sun wasn't fully setting but it had to be past 3 or 4pm. The sought orange glow of tbe sun reflecting off all the glass and water around the dock was really cool, but even in my dream I ended up feeling a bit anxious. I arrived at the dock and got to hang out by the water and talk to a few people who were doing the same. The island had been open for a few years so there was a rather large population, but it still seemed to be a majority tourists, like me, so it was easy to talk to people in the area saying things like "so what do you think" or "how cool was this place."

Anyhow there was a parking garage next to the dock so I decided to make my way up there since I noticed a lot of people talking about it being a really good picture destination but also because this stranger I had been talking to suggested heading up there while we waited.

The stranger had about ear length brown hair and this goofy smile, he was dressed similar to me in jeans and a light wind jacket, so it must have been early fall or late spring. His friend was a beautiful, tough looking girl of Asian descent as far as I could tell. Anyhow we make it up to the top of the garage and are talking and having a good time, watching the sun move down in the evening sky over this huge city on one side, then the sprawling open ocean on the other. The new transit system that had been used to get to the island was a mix of monorail an boat. Almost like an amphibious train. From the top of the garage you could see the station, and what almost looked like a train crossing. Lots of large tracks connecting and coming apart for the different aquatic trains to bring their passengers back to their destinations. Seeing as it was a large island, and there were only a few entrance and exit points, the station was rather large and impressive to look at. Which made it weirder that there were still no trains coming, leaving a massive amount of people milling around the gate-way. Besides that one weird fact, it had been a pretty nice evening. Until the screaming started.

People were running from the stairwell as these weird monsters started crawling up and out of the entry point. Two, to be exact. They were deep blue with human-esq torsos and heads (minus the unhinged jaws, the bottom jaw kind of split in the middle. If you've ever seen blade 3 or parasite it looked a little like that) however their bottom half was like 6 spider/crab legs allowing them to move at inhumane angles. They were also accompanied by snarling people with bite marks all over them. Some of these people also had the weird unhinged jaw. They were all yelling and trying to bite people, and the calm scene had turned In to total chaos in a matter of seconds. Some of the monsters were turning other people, but most of them were just eating.

In sheer panic, as one does in this situation, I tried to find a way off the roof, but my stranger friend, we will call him Ehmbee(MB mysterious boy), pulled out this gun that looked like a flashlight or something, and when he clicked it a quick beam of light shot out at one of the turned people. Where the light connected with the body, the creature-person in no clearer terms, evaporated, leaving the rest of the body on the ground. He handed the girl and I light guns of our own and we mounted an impromptu escape plan from the parking garage. While Ehmbee's friend (who I suppose we will call Sarah. She looked like a sarah) Sarah was on the same page as I was- panic, Ehmbee clearly knew something was going down and kept his composure.

Dude its been a while but I had the WILDEST fucking dream-story last night and while parts of it were horrifying my only regret is not knowing how it ended