#anyways whatever. half hour drive back to my work -_- half hour early

[born-to-lose]

I want to strangle this DJ for playing Reckless Love at an 80s party (not 80s inspired or glam in general, whole ass actual 80s along with ZZ Top, Cinderella etc)

[oysterie]

Boars head training is sooo funny all they do is give us samples of stuff and ppl start rating on their store managers for not following the contract 😭

[destinationtrekk]

Okay so... this idea has been cowering in my mind for awhile now..

You work for Wesker and have like a bad day at work or whatever, like he fusses at you or something (also you've got a crush on him because who doesn't cough cough)

you go home and you've been kicked out (either roommate or partner or whatever) and the only place you can go is like really far or something and it's started raining but apparently you live like near him somewhat so he opens the door and you're just standing there drenched, needing a place to stay

id love to know how he'd react or what he'd do 👉👈

umbrella wesker for this... all employees have to live x miles from the facility or something for emergencies idk

anyway lets say your day was fucking awful. i mean nothing was going right, multiple projects on hold or even cancelled because just... everything is wrong. wesker knows how research goes, sometimes things just don't work out, but it doesn't stop him being pissy too. he takes it out on you because you work closest with him, and his harsh attitude is enough to make you tear up on the drive home.

when you go home to a complete shock of your partner ending things, of course you realize the place in in their name. you have enough time to pack a bag until you can come back for the rest of your things and... great. now it's raining

you have no where to go without calling out of work for a few days, which is just not an option, period. you've been to wesker's house once to drop off a few files but, you have no other choice. the facility is in the middle of no where, you can't just get a hotel or sleep in your car, you're fucked. you have to risk asking him for help.

you're drenched when he opens the door, looking like a truly pathetic lost puppy, and he just stares as you sputter through excuses to explain what you're doing at his house. you're shivering and leaving a puddle on his welcome mat so he rolls his eyes and invites you in.

he makes you stand in place while he goes to get you a towel, and surprisingly comes back with a dry shirt and sweatpants too. he doesn't say anything about it, just points you to the restroom and wanders off.

you come back out somewhat dry and in comfy clothes, expecting him to... honestly you weren't even sure you'd get this far. he doesn't ask you to explain or justify why you're suddenly without a place to stay, which unnerves you a little. wesker is not the kind of man to bitch at someone all day and then accept them into his home and into his clothes without question. he washes your sopping wet clothes for you and you spend the night on his ridiculously comfortable couch. you leave in the morning before the sun rises, clocking into work hours early just to avoid an awkward morning with wesker, though you know he heard you leave.

the next day, work is marginally better, despite your awful mood and severe anxiety over what you'll do tonight. it's only wednesday, and you need a plan until the weekend. all of your half-assed plans are cut short when wesker finds you just as your shift is ending.

"leaving so soon? i thought you'd be more eager to work a double, considering how early you got here." he's got an eyebrow raised above his stupid ass sunglasses and he cuts off your sputtering with a raised hand.

"I have...meetings to attend tonight. the back door will be open, if you...need it." his expression is tense, but you hear the genuine meaning behind his words. he walks away and leaves you mouth agape in your lab. guess you have a place to stay after all.

[cowboysandpilots]

Eddie doesn't sleep very well. Between being a dad and a veteran, he's a very light sleeper, always up at the drop of a hat ready to deal with whatever is thrown at him. It becomes a bit of a problem when Buck moves in with him because Buck is a very deep sleeper, but he also moves around, a lot.

Eddie's tired eyes snap open at every single turn, roll, or shift from Buck and while he doesn't hit or kick Eddie in his sleep like Christopher used to do when he was little, it's still not pleasant. He needs his sleep, especially in the line of work that they're both in.

He's at the firehouse, and he's on his third cup of coffee despite the fact that he's practically shaking and not anymore awake than he was after his first one. Then, of course, Buck has to be the one to question him. To tell him that maybe he should slow down with a cute little giggle, or at least it would have been cute if Eddie wasn't so sleep deprived and resentful.

Eddie snaps at him even though he doesn't really want to and he immediately regrets it after seeing the hurt look on Buck's face. Things are awkward after that and even though Eddie is practically falling asleep against the window as they drive out to a call, nobody seems to question him or worry about it.

It's only brought up again when the two men are back at their house, and Buck is holding out a little black case to Eddie. He frowns at it and then up at Buck, but the other man doesn't offer any more explanation, so he takes the case and opens it up, revealing two small ear plugs.

"What's this?"

"I saw an ad for these things online, and I know you always tell me not to trust things I see on the internet, but this had really good reviews, and I thought, what could be the harm? They're noise cancelling ear plugs, and they're supposed to be able to stay in your ears when you sleep." Buck explains with a small smile.

"How did you..."

"The first few nights I slept over here, I thought everything was perfect, but then there was one time where you must not have woken up before me, and I found you sleeping on the couch. The more I slept over, the more tired you looked and then today... well, I figured the lack of sleep must be from me because Chris rarely needs you anymore, at night anyway." Buck shrugs. "I don't want to stop sleeping over here, and I don't want you to have to forfeit your own bed, so I'm hoping these will work."

That night is the first night that Eddie uses those earplugs. It takes an hour or so to get used to them, but he's so tired that he falls asleep without much trouble and honestly? It's the best sleep he's ever had. He sleeps for a full 8 hours and doesn't even hear how much the sheets rustle when Buck moves and if he wakes up early and well-rested enough to participate in some grown-up activities before Christopher wakes up? Well, then, that's just between them and Buck's Amazon order history because he feels people need to hear his review.

—

A/N- Hi, I'm so happy you're here. :) If you would like to support me and my writing, please remember to hit the reblog button, as Tumblr has no algorithm and likes (while appreciated) do nothing to get creators work seen. Since Tumblr is hiding all my posts with my Ko-Fi link, THIS is a list of things I need/want while I'm away at Uni if you would like a commission or just to support me. It is beyond appreciated but, of course, not required. ❤️ If you would rather just donate to my Kofi ($3), you can find the link to it through this link. Again, not required but more appreciated than you will ever know. I only have two and a half months before I can leave my abusive household. ☺️

[kinetic-elaboration]

March 8: Trent/Daria Fragment

Recovery day (hopefully). Lot of sleeping, washed some dishes.

Wasn't sure what to write so I tried out this bit of a scene I've been thinking about. I think a lot of the versions in my head have been better but you now what, whatever. Some things are just practice. Might re-write, might continue, might do neither.

Trent/Daria ~350 words, AU (met as adults), written in about 17 minutes.

(He's turning 30, btw. That's the joke.)

*

He's been awake--not long, less than half an hour--but still in bed, when his phone starts buzzing next to him. He lets it ring for a while. But the noise, and the way it scuttles across the wood surface of the bedside table, interrupts the flow of a lyric in his head that isn't quite working out anyway, so finally he picks it up, flips it open, and says, "Hey," without looking at the caller ID.

"Happy birthday, old man," an even, monotone voice says into his ear.

It makes him smile--more the voice than the joke. "Hey," he says again. "Are you calling this early just to say that?" He's not actually sure what time it is. But the angle of the sun tells him that 'early' probably works. Not so early that she'd still be at home though. Probably calling him from work, in between bringing people coffee and putting out fires.

Taking a break from the chaos to think about him.

"Yes." A pause, and then: "And to see if you wanted to burn your first Social Security check on dinner."

He laughs, more a huff than anything, short and harsh over the line. "If you're buying."

"You're buying. It's your retirement fund."

She drives a hard bargain. Always has. That's part of why he likes her so much, part of why he keeps coming back to her--why she keeps coming back to him remains somewhat of a mystery. They haven't spoken at all in nearly a week, haven't seen each other in person in longer. Back when they first met, that might have made her anxious. After longer breaks, she'd stiffen at his touch, hold herself even farther apart than usual: like water in near-freezing climates, always trying to turn back into ice. Now she's either more confident in him, or in them, or just more in control. Maybe she's got another man on the side. Or maybe he's the one on the shoulder. Who can tell?

"Trent?"

"I'm still here, Daria," he answers. "I can do dinner. I'll pick you up at 7."

"Kind of late for the early bird special. But it'll do."

[player1064]

october 2023 <3 <3 <3

WIP asks but it's just the various sections of my happy (???) beville (/angsty carraville) WIP

---

October, 2023.

Jamie is normally a punctual person, but when it comes to things organised by Gary he tries to be just on the wrong side of late, because he enjoys how fussy he gets about it. Unfortunately, today the traffic was against him and the drive over from Liverpool was an absolute breeze, so now he’s sat in the THG car park wondering if he should loiter for another half hour or just get over it and go in early.

He looks over at Gary’s car, for once parked neatly within the lines, and figures that’s as good a thing to tease him about as any so he might as well just go in.

“And look, look,” he hears Gary saying excitedly as he approaches the studio. “This one’s my seat, right, and then –”

“Where’m I? Next to you?”

“Ooh, steady on,” Gary says, and Jamie can hear the stupid little grin in his voice. “No, that’s Carragher’s spot, you’ll be in the middle. Better camera angle there, anyway.”

Jamie stops just before the double doors that lead on to set, leans against the wall and drops his head back with a dull thud. He’s not sure how he’d managed to forget, Gary’s been pestering the podcast group chat about it for weeks. ‘Remember we’ve got Becks on tomorrow, everyone (👀Jamie) on their best behaviour!!!’

“That’s next to Keaney, right?” he hears Beckham ask. “Then who’s on my other side, Jill or Wrighty?”

“Oh, that’ll be Jill. Wouldn’t want to separate Roy and Ian, they’re fantastic together. And Jill is so excited, y’know, you’re her hero.”

“Aw,” says Beckham, with a bashful little laugh, “hope I don’t disappoint. Bit crazy that, innit? I mean, she’s the one with a European championship under her belt.”

The two of them fall quiet for a moment, which Jamie reads as his opportunity to enter the room without interrupting. This, of course, is a mistake; clearly luck is not on Jamie’s side today. He slips quietly through the door and is going to walk over but stops in his tracks when he sees them.

Beckham’s got Gary pressed up against the counter, his hands spread wide on Gary’s hips and Gary’s arms looped around his neck. They’re not kissing, it might’ve been better if they were – instead they’re stood there, heads tilted in close but not quite close enough for their foreheads to touch, and they’re just talking to each other, voices too soft for Jamie to hear.

That’s not the bad part. The bad part is that Gary and Beckham are laughing at whatever stupid little inside joke they’re sharing, and the smile on Gary’s face isn’t one Jamie’s ever seen before. It’s like he’s glowing, and Jamie’s stomach churns with guilt at walking in on something that feels far more intimate than just kissing.

He’s debating whether he should turn around and leave, wait for one of the others to arrive and walk back in with them, when Gary looks over and catches his eye, his smile faltering. Beckham frowns at him in question, then looks over with a polite smile when Gary nods his head towards Jamie.

Jamie watches Beckham’s hand squeeze Gary’s hip for a moment before he takes a step back, shakes his head at Gary fondly and walks towards Jamie with an outstretched hand.

“Good to see you, Carra,” he greets, and dear god Jamie hates him.

He hates him, he hates him, he hates him.

Jamie shakes the offered hand with his most charming smile. “You too. ‘s been a while, eh?”

“It has, yeah, but you know our Gaz,” he says, looking behind him to shoot a grin at Gary. Gary at least has the decency to be looking at the floor in embarrassment, hands fidgeting. “He’s never liked having crossover between his work and social lives, has he?”

Jamie’s not sure when he was relegated to just ‘work friend’. Maybe he never got out of that category to begin with.

Recording the podcast is excruciating. David Beckham is just a bit too perfect, everyone loves him just a bit too much. Even Roy relaxes around him, lets his guard down. He almost smiles, once or twice. The nation’s sweetheart David fucking Beckham, still thought of as their beloved England captain even now, ten years out of the game.

David Beckham, saving the world one corny inspirational speech at a time. David Beckham, one of the best technical players Jamie’s ever seen, whose talents are so often ignored in favour of the fact that he’s David Beckham. David Beckham who never boasts, who’s flash without rubbing your face in it, who always has time for everyone he meets.

David Beckham, probably the most famous footballer of his generation, who looks at Gary Neville like he hung the moon and stars. Gary Neville.

It’s not fair. He could do better than him. He should have done better than him, found another superstar to shack up with and left the poor mortals alone. Maybe then Jamie would’ve had half a chance.

He just really hates David fucking Beckham.

[vigilantebarbie]

i keep my jealousy close chapter three: i had to stop myself

chapter two

chapter four

Infatuation with a hint of obsession? Adrian knows all about that

"Dude shut the fuck up about this girl! You met her, what, one time? Put that shit in your spank bank so we don't have to hear about it." Chris almost yelled, interrupting Adrian mid-sentence. Adrian hadn't stopped talking about you since that night outside Fennel Fields, driving everyone around him off the wall. It had been tolerable at first, meaning the first hour. It had been two weeks since that day and he would always find a way to bring you into the conversation, based solely on your text conversations. He'd been bummed that you hadn't been able to hang out since that night but your schedules conflicted so much that neither of you had the time. Not that it stopped him from doing patrol in your neighborhood immediately after he got off work. If you didn't have such an early work schedule, you might have noticed the masked weirdo in a kevlar suit lurking around your complex and occasionally, climbing a tree to see into your apartment window. To make sure you were safe, of course. He'd noticed your cat, and your cat had definitely noticed him sitting in that tree.

"Bold of you to assume I haven't already done that," Adrian replied, grinning when everyone voiced their disgust at the thought. "Besides, we're supposed to hang out tonight since I told Sylvia that I'd report her for coming to work high if she didn't switch shifts with me tonight." Weed wasn't illegal anymore so Vigilante couldn't do anything about Sylvia, but not coming to work high had to be some sort of corporate rule. Ignoring Chris' vocal disdain for hearing about you, Adrian went right back to texting you while on his way out for the day.

I just have to go home and shower, workout was really intense today. I'll see you there!

Replying to his text with a soft smile, you went back to focusing on your hair. You'd slept with braids in your damp hair after you showered last night and now your long hair had a controllable wave to it but you didn't want to leave it hanging around your face. Another half-updo would have to do. You were only supposed to be going to the arcade, there was no need to be dressed up. But here you were in a cute little dress, sweater, and your cutest shoes. Your phone screen lit up again, unfortunately, a text from the very same person who had caused you to move to Evergreen. Once again, asking you if you could talk. Normally, you'd have blocked him since you weren't answering. But the desperation was kind of hilarious in the most pathetic way. Swinging your bag over your shoulder on your way out, making sure your keys were in hand before locking your apartment door and heading out to the arcade.

Adrian had beat you to the arcade even with his shower and almost tripped over his own feet when he went to greet you. You were even prettier than he remembered you being and you’d definitely sent a selfie or two during the last two weeks. “Are you ready to get your ass kicked by the arcade master? I sure hope you prepared cuz I’m really good at like, all the games,” He started to ramble again but you didn’t mind it. You didn’t really talk a lot anyway. “I’ve beaten all the claw machines. Those are totes rigged but you gotta know how they’re rigged so you can beat the system.”

You nodded. That made sense, in a way. “But how are you at Dance Dance Revolution? Because I’m actually the queen of that game.” now you were lying. You hadn’t played that game since sixth grade at a birthday party. That was like saying you were good at mini golf, a total lie. “How about whoever has the least amount of tickets at the end of the night has to use them to buy the other person whatever they want with their measly tickets? Like an eraser or one of those dorky little alien things you put on your fingers?” You noticed how he tensed up at the brief mention of aliens, shaking it off like it was just an aversion to them. After all, you were still creeped out by the ones from X-Files.

“Deal, I can’t wait to see what kind of fucking lame eraser you pick out.” He laughed, leading the way to the token machine so you two could play games to your heart's content, all the while hoping you weren’t as good at Dance Dance Revolution as you claimed to be.

The pair of you had been playing for hours, not even close to bored when your phone rang. “Sorry, I thought I turned my do not disturb on when I got here…fucking fuck…I gotta take this.” you were pissed. Your ex had decided to call you and since everyone could hear your loud ass ringtone, you couldn’t ignore it. “I’ll be right back” Rushing outside to talk so you didn’t disturb anyone any further than you had.

Adrian followed, frowning deeply at the way you seemed so distressed by this phone call. “I told you, leave me alone. I don’t want anything from you. Ever again…yes I’m serious!!!! I left for a reason??? You were a dick to me, why would I stay??? Go to hell.” You snapped into the phone before hanging up, shocked to see Adrian standing in front of you looking concerned.

“Everything okay? Don’t lie.” He seemed like he cared. So you told him everything, everything about the shitty relationship you’d left behind you and hoped would have stayed behind when you moved here. About how your ex was bothering you for the last month about getting back together and begging you to come back home. How you’d ignored him until he got pissed off and called. Adrian nodded along while he listened to you vent, calculating a plan in his head to make this guy pay for this. “But don’t worry about him, he doesn’t know where I live now and I’m changing my number soon.”

Biting his tongue to stop himself from saying that he’d kill anyone who ever made you this distressed again, he nodded once more “Cool beans, let’s go back and play some games cuz I’m kicking your ass.” He put his hands on your shoulders, turning you and directing you back inside. Not before noticing your ex’s name on your phone and giving himself a mental reminder to look the guy up. A visit from Vigilante might make him leave you alone. It wasn't like he didn't have a perfectly good reason.

That fucker would pay for making you upset

[fishdetective]

once i start thinking about alaska i find it difficult to stop, and tonight i find myself thinking about the kindness of two separate forklift drivers in the very early hours of two difficult very early mornings for me. in january 2021 i returned to the dock after my very first trip as a fisheries observer. as you might imagine, this was an incredibly stressful trip performing a new job that i had received extensive training for, but obviously it's very different to actually go out on a commercial fishing boat in the bering sea and do your job all alone for the first time. it was about 4 in the morning when i got back, and i remember immediately talking to my sibling on the phone as soon as we docked. i don't remember if i called them or they called me. found out about the whole january 6th thing during that short call which was wild. anyway, it was massively blizzarding out, but i had to get off the boat right away, partially because i did not understand that process of anything at all, and partially because they were going back out right away, and i was only on board for one trip. called a taxi to take me to the hotel, and discovered that none of the taxis were running due to the blizzard. there was also no way i could walk there in this blizzard dragging my 80 pounds of observer gear plus my backpack and duffel bag on top of it. the cannery still had its covid restrictions in full effect and they straight up would not let me into any of the buildings. probably could have pushed the issue but i cannot stress enough how out of my depth and unmoored i was at this point in time due to my life experiences. so i'm wandering around this cannery during a blizzard at like 6am and at this point i am completely convinced i am going to freeze to death out there. i've called my boss in charge of my travel stuff and they're trying to get someone who can pick me up but obviously this is difficult. right now thinking about this it seems absurd to me that i was worried about freezing to death while surrounded by inhabited buildings, but the combination of the terror of being in a new place so entirely unlike anything i had ever known + the year 2020 had completely eroded what few social skills i had so whatever it was tragically like that. i'm desperately asking any passerby i can for help and i stop this forklift driver who did not speak very much english but i manage to convey my situation to him and he lets me into this heated shed, where there were no lights, but i could wait the three hours it took for my boss to get some random person to come drive me to the hotel. my work issued flip phone was almost dead and my regular phone didn't get service on this island, so they were a stressful few hours of praying that my intermittent communications with my boss didn't kill my cell battery before someone could come get me.

second great kindness done to me at six am by a forklift driver happened a year and a half later, in a different fishing town. i was making my way from the docks to the hotel after a miserable midnight to six am salmon offload monitoring session, dragging my 80+ pounds of work gear plus my personal gear along docks that were basically designed to topple my precariously balanced gear (they make the wheels way too small). a forklift driver came and picked up all my stuff and drive me off the cannery's campus and all the way up the extremely steep gravel hill to the tiny little motel. would have been miserably difficult to drag my gear up that hill. i think this one happened at least twice and maybe three times, always at 6am for some god forsaken reason. i've never cut open a salmon during daylight hours i think.

[mistahgrundy]

back from a little mini vacation

I've never been on a vacation with just my husband before! Yeah, we never had a honeymoon. we were dirt poor when we got married, soooo. Well after 11 years of marriage we finally went somewhere (it's not our anniversary that's in August)

We went to San Antonio for a couple days. Yeah ok it's only like a 2 hour drive from here whatever. I hadn't really been since I was like ten or something. I mean I've been there a bunch of times but that was to drop a friend off at his mom's or whatever, not for fun. And I took my niece there to go to the zoo uhhhh oh jeeze a decade ago. oh god she can drink now. oh god. oh god I'm dying I'm so old

anyway we did the big tourist thing of going to the alamo

Check out this 150 year old oak tree. I like it. you have to duck under part of it because it hangs over the sidewalk :D

and visiting the Phil Collins collection

lmfao. did you know he's an honorary Texan? I didn't. He had Santa Anna's sword! It's in the museum now.

and we walked around the riverwalk

We tried to walk the whole loop of the riverwalk area but we started developing blisters on our feet (this was day two of walkin' around) so we only made it maybe half way. A shame, it was early in the morning so nothing was open so nobody was around so it was very nice down there. You could smell breakfast wafting out of the places that were open. delightful. A guy riding his bike around the walk way too fast almost killed a squirrel in front of us. that would have kinda ruined the trip I think. The squirrel's ok.

We also went to Ripley's Believe It Or Not before the Alamo. The way the Alamo works is it's free to enter but you need to have a ticket to go inside so you're basically in there on a reserved time. I don't know when that started. Maybe it's some kind of covid thing? They also take your photo before you go in and you can buy that at the gift shop like it's a ride lol

Anyway Ripley's is Crass As Hell so if you've never been to one before (I hadn't) be prepared for That. Some of the stuff in there is very Oh No. Uses the word "oriental" waaaaaay too much. I had fun but whew. It is from a time. I got a sweet glow in the dark t-shirt that's covered in cryptids.

The SA Ripley's has Lee Harvey Oswald's toe tag D: also a photo of him at the morgue that was very gross.

Lots of human bone jewelry in there.

anyway that was fun.

I'm home now and I'm tired but Round Rock Pride is today! What to do!

[cafecourage]

The Chain and the No Good, Terrible, Horrible, Very Bad Day (Magical Girl AU) - Chapter 4: Obligatory Vacation

“Ennooo!” Pinky called through their apartment. “Time to go. They’ll be here any minute.”

“Why did I agree to this?” Enno whined. “Why do we have to be up so early?”

Pinky rolled her eyes and placed the coffee cup in front of her friend. “Because we have to drive two and half hours to get there. I don’t why you agree but I’m glad you told me. My semester starts in two days! I think we should have a decent vacation before we all start to become college zombies.”

“I think you’re just excited to see all these guys at the beach.” Enno drops their head on the counter, moving their coffee under it to slowly take sips.

“I am a simple woman, my friend.” Pinky grins. “I plan on napping the way there anyway. We get there early, pick the best spots and then the whole day we can do whatever we want. Then we drive back by nightfall. Simple.”

“I hate this. I hate this.” Enno takes another sip. “Did we pack up the sweets and treats?”

“Yup!” Pinky’s cheery disposition was about to get on Enno’s nerves. But they knew it wasn’t her fault. It was the first time she would actually spend time with her brother after years and get to know all his friends. It was only fair that Enno went along as well. Just so Pinky wouldn’t be left alone once someone else had her brother’s attention.

The thought brought a smirk to Enno’s face. No, she wouldn’t be alone. Not if Twilight had something to say about it.The overgrown puppy didn’t realize that he was about to make his own teasing that much more unbearable once the rest of the group finds out.

Serves him right.

Pinky came back to the living room with her bag and proceeded to look through it to make sure she had everything.

There was a knock at the door.

Enno groans and lamented the time lost to finish off their coffee. Pinky gasps and goes to answer the door. She borderline throws it open and steps back. “You’re here!”

Wild walks in and gives his sister a hug. “I’m glad you agreed. Got everything ready?”

Pinky nods. “We’re bringing drinks and snacks for both the road trip and for the others.”

“Naw, you didn’t have to do that.” Twilight walks in after then, twirling the keys around his fingers. He smiles at the girl before he turns and spots Enno at the counter. “Oh my god, they’re actually awake.”

“Twilight, I will smite you.” Enno points at him, shotgunning their coffee.

Twilight raises an eyebrow and shakes his head. He knows they’re not morning people.

Pinky blinks. “Wait- how do you know each other?”

“Childhood friends.” Twilight smiles.

“And we work at the cafe together.” Enno yawns and goes to get their stuff. “Remember that guy who broke my door? Same menace.”

Pinky tenses up. Slowly, she turns to Twilight and eyes him up and down. “.....How?...”

Twilight smirks and flexes his arm. “Pure muscle, darlin’.”

“Ok. Sissy, where are your things?” Wild turns Pinky away and takes her bag. “Is this everything?”

Pinky nods and directs Wild to the tupperware that holds the treats while she takes the pitchers.

Twilight stares dumbfoundead at the ground with his hand over his mouth. Horrified, he subtly moves his jacket to peek at Wolfie. He grins up at his holder with a fanged smile. He’s cheeky. He’s proud of himself. Twilight is horrified.

It’s going to be a long day for him.

He can feel Wild shooting looks over to where he is. Twilight doesn’t acknowledge him. “Enno!” He calls out instead. “Are you bringing the whole cafe? How many people do you think you’re feeding?”

“You get your own stuff.” Enno walks back into the room with their bag slung over their shoulder. “And then there’s the stuff for your friends.”

Pinky claps happily and moves to the door. “You have your key, Enno?”

“Yup!”

“Perfect!” I’m going to help load up the truck then.” Pinky leaves with Wild and Twilight not so subtly watches her leave.

Enno snorts and smacks his arm. “Now’s your chance to make a move, Lover Boy.”

Twilight growls. “Do not call me that.”

“Whatcha gonna do about it?” Enno walks him and turns to lock the door behind them.

Twilight has to take a minute to think, using the silent excuse of waiting for them to finish before he can make a reply. “I’ll tell Sky your weaknesses.”

“Oh.” Enno punches his shoulder. “That’s a declaration of war.”

“Fight me.”

“Don’t tempt me.”

“Hey! You highschool sweethearts!” Wild calls from the truck with Pinky already inside. “Stop flirting! We don’t have all day.”

Twilight and Enno both make their way to Twilight’s truck. “It’s not like that.”

“Coulda fooled me.” Wild buckles up from the passenger seat.

“Twi’s gross.” Enno says bluntly. “He used to eat bugs when we were little. As if I’d consider being his sweetheart.”

Pinky leans back against the car and hums. “Wildcat wasn’t any better.” She says quietly. His younger years were still a sore spot. “It’s just extra protein.”

Wild snorts and turns on the radio. Twilight, not liking how Pinky seemed to take the information, panics and speaks up. “It’s not like I still eat bugs.”

“Outstanding.” Enno snorts. “Do you want an award?”

“I will turn this truck around.” Twilight says, starting it up.

Pinky laughs. “I’m gonna nap. Wake me up when we get there.”

“Sleep, sissy.” Wild turns the radio down. “Sorry about that.”

“You’re ok.”

Despite the ample room to tease, the other three fall silent. Enno manages to fall asleep as well and Wild is busy looking at the passing scenery. Until he finally sees that Enno is asleep as well. “Really dude?”

Twilight blinks back into the present. “What?”

“Do you have to flirt with me sister?” Wild glares. “Of all people.”

“You know how Wolfie gets.” Twilight says through gritted teeth. “I’m trying to be cordial.”

Wolfie gets out of his hiding spot and sits on the head rest, looking at the girl in question. “But Wild... look at her. She’s so cute. She looks soft. Why can’t I talk to her?”

“Don’t even think about it.” Cal pulls him away.

Wild sighs and looks back at her as well. “Because you’re crazy.”

“Hey!”

Twilight snorts but doesn’t reply. He can respect that opinion. They call his hero self a savage beast for a reason and most of it is Wolfie’s doing.

Another bit of silence pases, save for Wolfie’s whining about wanting to be closer to Pinky while Cal is actively holding him back. Wild sighs and shakes his head. “You know what? If you manage to get her to like you then I’ll stop. You’re a good guy even if it makes it a bit weird.”

“Really?” Wolfie perks up and flies into Wild’s face. Twilight takes a hand off of the steering wheel to snactch him back. The driver clears his throat. “If I can get there.”

“If you get there.” Wild agrees. “I’m going to make you seem awful.”

Twilight and Wolfie whine.

With the drive lasting as long as they said they would, not a single one of them even ate the snacks saved for the road trip. Twilight parks next to what he knows to be Warrior’s car. Both boys turn around and wake up the other passengers.

Slowly, they get out of the car and start bringing the bags with them. Twilight can already hear Wind and Rulie screaming over something with Legend and Warrior chasing each other over one matter or another.

“Rowdy, already.” Pinky rubs her eyes. She takes her bag from Wild and smiles. “I’m going to change. Be right back.”

Enno jabs Twilight with their elbow, dragging Twilight with them as they get closer to the beach. “You’re dead meat.”

“I think I am too.” He says breathlessly.

Not willing to hear more, Wild goes off with the food and finds Time and Malon setting up a table with other various snacks and goodies for the boys to enjoy. Enno is tempted to follow but they catch sight of a very familiar face.

Twilight snorts and slowly leads them to the boy in the sun. “We can be dead together.”

“No-”

“Why not? Go say hi.”

“Nope. Nope. Nope.” Enno dashes away. “You can’t make me.”

Sky looks up from his towel, trying to not let the early morning sun blind him. He sees the one he’s dubbed as the coffee god run away and he sits straight up in shock. Twilight sees it and ditches his shirt. He takes a seat next to the once slumbering young man. “Mornin’.”

“They came.” Sky says breathlessly. “I didn’t think they would.”

“You have Pinky to thank as well as some teasing and meandering on my part.” Twilight grins. “You’re welcome.”

Sky smiles and sighs. He flops back against the towel and puts his hands under his head to act as a small pillow. “Do you think they’d talk to me?”

Twilight hums. “Not unless you’re sneaky.”

Sky groans. ”Do they hate me?”

“On the contrary.” Twilight shrugs. “They’re not good with new people so they want to get close to you but they’re a coward. So you’re going to have to take the first step.”

“Really?”

“Yup!”

“Hey, who’s that?” Sky points to Pinky. She had come out earlier than Twilight had expected and seemed a bit lost but when he saw her… Twilight’s choke on his own spit.

She was wearing a maroon sunflower bikini with a striped top that had a strap off the shoulder. Twilight tried to keep his eyes, he really did. But her legs… Hylia, give him strength.

She spotted him and waved. Twilight couldn’t help his blush but he waves back shyly. Before she could make her way over though, Wind, Warrior’s little brother, managed to trap her. She was shocked but delighted and soon was dragged off to whatever schemes the boy had been cooking up.

Twilight watched her go. Sky sighed with him. “I feel you.”

The both of them hung their heads and tried to gather the courage to move away from under the only umbrella they’ve managed to set up for the time being. It was getting hotter by the moment.

Twilight sighed and decided that he was going into the cold water of the ocean to leave the rest to their own devices. He took the executive decision to not be needed that day.

Sky thought for a moment to follow him but he didn’t want to make it more awkward. He thought about what to say to the cute barista that kept giving him free breakfast and expensive coffee concoctions. He could just start with a hello. And move from there. If Twilight’s words were anything to go by then he would have to be a little more forward.

Well… He still had to go back to the cafe anyway and pay. It’s just the right thing to do.

Without meaning to, he falls asleep and considers himself lucky that he was in the shade as long as he was when he woke up. He was cherry from the burn. He was going to feel it for weeks.

Back with the others, Enno sighed and tried to calm their racing heart. They knew that he would be here but they didn’t expect to immediately see him shirtless. He was soft around the edges and it made them think of things they probably shouldn’t about someone who they’ve had only a consumer relationship with.

They looked around the people around them and realized that one of them looked vaguely familiar. Feeling a bit mischievous, they headed over to where the snack table was being set up, now that their snacks had been added as well.

They took one of the cookies they made the night prior. “Are you Twilight’s uncle?”

Time paused and looked them over. “Yes. I am.”

They stuck their hand out. “I’ve been annoying your son who’s not really your son for the last decade and a half.”

Time snorts and shakes it. “Enno, I presume?”

“In the flesh.”

“Well… Thank you for looking out for him.”

“God knows someone has to.”

Pinky was getting to know her brother’s friends one by one. She had feared that even if she was invited, she would have no one to talk to. One of them was a model. Another- an actor for the new show they’ve been producing about the local heroes. The youngest wanted her to play volleyball with them.

“I’m really bad at this though.” She admitted. “I’m not that good at sports.”

“That’s ok!” The one they called Wind, cheered. “It’s just one big game of don’t let it touch the ground.”

“Yeah you can do it!” Linkle, his older sister, cries out. “We’ll go easy on you even.”

They did not go easy on her.

But it was competitive and fun and there were less mistakes made than Pinky thought she would make so she had to take her victories where she could get them.

Laughing, and thoroughly bruised on her arms, she calls a quits and thanks them for the game. With not much else to do, Pinky heads into the water to cool off from both the game and sweltering high noon heat.

Somehow, she meets up with Twilight again, even if she hadn’t seen him in the water prior. “Oh hey!”

Twilight spins. “Oh… hey..” He smiles softly. “I saw you playing. Have fun?”

“Lots.” She chuckles. “What have you been up to? I half expected you to be running around but you’ve been quiet.”

“I do that enough in my daily life.” Twilight rolls his eyes. “I’m taking it easy for today.”

“You know what?” She grins and moves to float on her back. “I can get behind that.”

For such mundane and inconsequential actions, it seemed as if that life was perfect for a moment. The young heroes and their companions had a moment where things were simple and there wasn’t much to think about except for who to sit next to for lunch and putting on more sunscreen when the time called for it.

No one acknowledged the turbulent times they were living in. No one wanted to acknowledge that there might not be a tomorrow should the heroes fail so much as once. No one wanted to admit that it was a risk to even take such a day off, where they could still be boys and just think about having fun and eating good food and enjoying good company.

But Malon and Time knew.

But they didn’t want to make the same mistakes. Time knew to not push them more than they could bear. He would not let them befall the same fate he did. And Malon, although she knew very little about heroes and guardians and magic, wanted to help these boys where she could. Even if it meant giving these boys her family’s ranch to train. The cost of keeping their senses sharp and ready and the investment that they save the day and come back unharmed was well worth any property damage in her eyes.

But even in shining light, there’s still darkness around the edges. It cares not for if it’s regarded or ignored. It’s looming. Ever present.

Down in the depths of a cave, a new portal opens and a man who’s very purpose is to incarnate hate steps back into the physical plane.

The true story begins and our heroes are none the wiser.

[torirocksonhere]

walk-in review; An Cailín Ciúin | part one

DISCLAMER: i work in a large retail cinema here in ireland. part of my work is doing temperature checks inside of the screens, and whenever im assigned to that duty on my shift, i do just that every half hour (while sneaking in a minute or two of watching the movie). the first part of these reviews comes from whatever i happen to see when i walk into the screen every half hour.

i dont get to see a whole lot, thus this first review comes purely from ~5 minutes of watchtime in random intervals of the movie, and talking to people before and especially after the movie. as you can imagine, it isn't really comprehensive

however i dont watch trailers for movies, even ones that i already want to see, mostly because all of them edit together the best bits of the movie, leaving me disappointed at the shortcomings that they hid behind the big moments. so i count this first review as a sort of "trial-by-fire trailer" for said movie. essentially; "can a couple minutes of watchtime and word-of-mouth alone convince me to watch a movie?"

first i want to preface this with the best thing to come from this movie; the people who come to see it. to put it simply, most of them are quite old, and they are so adorably sweet it makes me so happy ! they always have something nice to say, they never spend too much, and theyre so chatty and lovely and i love old people and WILL DIE FOR THEM.

anyways, the actual movie.

An Cailín Ciúin, from what i can tell, is a movie about all the joys of growing up in rural ireland in ~early 1960s. including, but most certainly not limited to;

abusive and compliant parents

abhorrently obvious middle child syndrome

extensive breaks to your grandparents

cars driving on what can barely be considered as roads

in all seriousness though, this movie has everything to do with observation. (An Cailín Ciúin is irish gaelic for "the quiet girl" and oh boy is our main girl siobhan quiet ! ) our story follows siobhan, a young girl growing up in ireland. if im getting this right, then her parents had a child, needed a break away from minding all the kids at home so they could focus on just one, and in a standard Irish parenting move, sent one away to live with relatives for a while. siobhan is initially scared by the prospect, considering how shy she is, and how scared she is being in a completely new place (autistic coded characters??? in MY irish indie film?????), but she does agree to go, i believe in large part to her abusive father. really standard bad dad. y'know the type. "arent i allowed to have a drink after a long days work?" type beat. it helps the negative connotations that he's the only one who cant speak irish out of everyone in the house.

as an aside; i do believe the father is an allegory for ireland and the irish still feeling the effects of british rule, a time of history that has irreversibly destroyed our culture; a culture that this movie attempts to keep alive, and which it does beautifully. talking to the people who've seen it right after, they said how they felt taken back to a time that was much simpler, a time that was in many ways much better than present time. it's such a shame this movie is being written off by the larger public as "old people movie for old people only no younguns allowed", when in reality this film is trying to show everything that we as the Irish are best at, and where we as a culture shine, and how that's very very quickly being completely eroded to make way for the English way of life. if anything, this movie needs to be shown to the younger generations. it needs to be shown to people that have never experienced the feelings of community that came with being irish, and the incredibly beautiful language that gaeilge is. this movie is the perfect time capsule of Irish culture.

i frankly never got to see a lot of the middle of the movie, there was a plot of siobhan going to a funeral for the first time, and her struggling at school? but the middle of the movie is something i unfortunately have not caught a lot of, and understood less of.

the end of the movie is absolutely heart wrenching, even to me as someone who hasn't watched the entire thing start to finish. essentially, siobhan goes home, her trip is over. her, her siblings, her mother, and her grandparents are all in her house, talking and waiting for her father to get home. when they hear his car pull up, siobhan's mother gets very spooked, with a very worried look on her face. (look if it wasnt obvious at the start that the dad is abusive it really should be now). her grandad tries to reason with her mother, asking her to seek help, which of course the mother refuses. after all, it could take away her children, it could make him angry, it could do all host of things she doesn't want. its easier to just be complacent and suffer. one thing leads to another, and siobhan's grandparents leave. she, along with her mother and father, watch them leave. as soon as father is satisfied, he just heads back in, but mother talks to siobhan, asking her what happened while she was away. they share a stare with each other. mother's filled with dread and despair, and siobhan's with desire. then, siobhan runs down the road, attempting to catch up to her grandparents.

this... hurt to watch. how much she clearly loved and enjoyed life with her grandparents, and how much she hates life at her house, how she just wishes she could stay with them forever. however, as she embraces her grandfather, she sees him. father. she just repeats that, over and over. father. father. father. father. and then the movie ends. the pain in my heart from watching that ending was... unparalleled. it knew exactly how to tug at my heartstrings and did it so well and i hate it for that !!!! (i love it for that)

now that the stuff about the story is over, i wanna talk about close second for the best part of the movie; cinematography!!! and oh my GOD THE CINEMATOGRAPHY

first, most of the movie is shot lower than typical, which is done for two main reasons; to reflect both siobhan's physical and emotional height. obviously because she's a child, she sees the world shorter than most of us, but she's also really, really timid, and shooting low shots further strengthens that feeling of anxiousness that comes from a child, especially a child as quiet as siobhan.

second, the film is in 4:3, which i think is used as a passive reminder to the audience that the film is set in an earlier time frame, since most CRT televisions of the time period were in 4:3.

third, film grain. it isn't present in every shot, but the shots it is present in provide this super lovely and cutesy vintage feel to the movie, which just adds to how much i love the art direction of this film

fourth, focus. focus is barely used in this film, and when it is, it's usually in a shot that siobhan isn't the focus of, which i believe is used to remind us that siobhan is just a child, and children take in a lot more information than us. plus, it adds to one of this movie's greatest strengths; discover, don't show.

...and to be honest, thats all i have about the movie. essentially a girl just wanting to get away, but being scared to. i really like this movie, how it looks and how it sounds and how it feels. it makes me proud of being irish, it makes me want to preserve Irish culture. i love it and i will go and see it. i will either update this post or make a new post when i go to see it, to see if anything about my review changes, what i got right and wrong, and any more tidbits i have to add

(ignore the poll i can't get rid of it im sorry)

[senorablack]

Tw body health, infections

Today on baby girl* what is your doin

{* body)

-got bit by something on Wednesday and it left a blister nothing too wild or painful just itchy

-Thursday I go to work all hunky dory when tragedy struck - lmao - started feeling a pressure and sting around the bite and it was popped but not like leaking and then I go to bathroom and see that it’s inflamed to the size of a golf ball and it was like red and hot and firm to touch

-walking was I comfy but not painful but I decided to call my provider anyway (luckily for me my job requires me to be solo most of the time so I hid out in unit of the hospital that’s under construction lol)

-I’m walking around that unit and I start to get stomach cramps, whole body aches and the chills. Mind you it’s been 85+ around my parts - and mother fucker would was like debilitating pain. And then I like sat down at it ease. So my provider not in so I asked med assistant if I could go to their urgent care and they just transferred me to an advice nurse who schedule me a video appt like an hour after the call

-so I’m in This abandon unit half dying lol and I talk to this bro of a on call doctor, show him the affected area and he goes it doesn’t look infected. Just put compress and take motrin. But baby girl was yelling. I was like okay what do I do about the chills and body aches and dizziness? He goes you just need rest and ibuprofen he repeated and he wrote me a note for time off.

-bitch come time to going home I was going g through it and I had to drive that whole ass 2.5 hours home but I stopped to take a quick nap and drink water and give baby girl a fuckin pep talk

- fever subsided by the time I was home and falling asleep. Still in pain at site. And then next morning.

-Friday I’m not feverish but I can’t walk because the pain was like radiating up my stomach and back and legs. I was like wtf. Took more Motrin. Ate breakfast aroun 11am. Fell asleep. Woke up at 430 with a fever.

-I call my provider AGAIN talking bout yeah homeboy did me dirty and baby girl still feels like caca in the sun but what do you suggest they said go seek urgent care

-I’m trying to call urgent cares in my area to see if they take me insurance and course they don’t. But my nearest ER that takes my insurance was a next city over. Got my ass there driving on vibes only lmao.

-when I was seen they said that I was 108. Which you know is concerning or whatever. Because they called a code on me for the whole hospital to hear - septic shock. Which means immune system is working OT to fight and is getting tired

- get a bed they give me Tylenol and hook me to up saline and a antibiotic drip and baby girl is like what the fuck is going on here this day right now

-I’m like - well this went from zero to 100 right quick

-there for 4 hours they say I need at ct. I get scanned wait another three. They said if they found a puss pocket they would have to do a minor surgery to drain in

-but they didn’t find anything and when my fever passed they sent me home, said that ima have to take two antibiotic. They said they don’t know what bit me or started it but they know it was cellulitis which is a skin infection and a fuckin uti.

-woke up hell early in morning and yaked, but fever wasn’t present. Fell back to sleep to find fever back, and areas lightly bleeding. AND still fucking painful/red/firm. Too Motrin and Tylenol. Feel mildly better.

-Now but I’m waiting for them to fill my 2 abx right now and just kinda like damn girl can you don’t

[iampikachuhearmeroar]

well I've had an interesting first week of the year back at work. I managed to get through to my usual doctor this week, which is a bit of a miracle, considering she's always back late jan/early feb each year. she's recommended 3 places for me to ring to follow up on a probable ADHD diagnosis. the best one is one in Sydney, in Bondi.

but to do all of their tests would mean I'd try to jam them into a week, if I could (probs not let's be real), or each time I do one I spend on a hotel room to stay up there, since I just wouldn't feel bothered to the 2 hour drive home after 8 hours of tests. but the Sydney one gives you a brain scan which would be super cool. but also if you managed to get bulk billed, it's $1,200. also they don't focus on meds, they focus on "brain based" and behaviour change stuff.

the other 2 places are local to my area, but you have to ring to find out their prices. but on the other hand, my doc said to leave all this stiff until after I have my colonoscopy that's booked for a couple weeks from now, on the 16th.

work is better since I'm not at a tired low point like I was at the end of last year. my boss is a bit happier that I'm turning up at the office at around 8:50 roughly and set up by 9. but yeah I hate having to cut my pre work bed relax after my bath each morning to 7:15 to get out the door by 8;20. but rn 8:20 is only working bc it's the school holidays so I'm not locked into the mronjng school run traffic and school zones right next to my house (basically). so it means I will have to bother to leave at 8:15 or whatever when school starts back up again on jan 31st.

but yeah. I still haven't handed in any of my unfinished (or unstarted) cadestship assessments; bc I forgot right before we left of chrissy/NY break to ask our outsourced IT guys to set up our VPN access app (it just gives you a code to type in) on my phone to access the work hard drive at home lmao. so I've meant to start this week, but I just haven't.

aside from work, the other interesting thing is that someone from the catholic school I went to for years 7-10 from 2008 til 2011, decided to invite me to a 10 year reunion that someone else from our year group from that school set up on Tuesday on fb for October this year. and I was just so surprised that someone bothered to remember me and invite me.... and I feel kinda touched tbh lol. bc i didn't even graduate with them properly, in a way, in 2013, bc I obvs graduated at the public school that I transferred to. it's so random that someone thought to invite me all these years later.

and I'm also stressing over the event a little. mostly on the level of what to wear to it, obvs lmao. but also, most of these people are successful working in good jobs. or they run their own successful local businesses/take over their parentd businesses.

while, on the other hand. I finish my cadetship in march, and I have no idea whether i'll be kept on where I am or whether I'll be somewhere else or jobless lmao. but anyway. it's going to be so weird seeing anyone from that school again, when half of them have kids and are married now or some have even divorced or split from their partners that they married in our early 20s (or at least that's what I've deduced from their name changes on fb back to their original last name I knew them by in school).

also im bitterly jealous of a few of them because they've bought their first house or have a second house and are using their first as an investment property. like bruh. am I the only one who still hasn't moved out of home yet??? and obvs there are obvs other people renting but still. am i the only one still at home??? I don't want questions about that tbh.

like is it even worth catching up with these people, when I still remember the derision I got from one of the girls from my group from that school, when I ran into her at uni back in 2016??? how she told me that everyone was actually SO GLAD that I'd left bc apparently they were all secretly harbouring embarrassment for my behaviour and my "attention seeking" or whatever the fuck she said to me???? but also part of me hopes that rich boy goes and is happy to see me and I'll get to congratulate him in person on his engagement or perhaps being married by the time this event happens (if it even does lmao). and that's my other thing. could just be an elaborate joke where they do this, and I turn up, but NO ONE is there???? like hello trust issues, aren't you looking very sexy this week.

[lucyvaleheart]

reblogging this direct from source cuz it's such a long post but I got tagged by a bunch of people for this one!!

Thank you @black-eyed-seas, @cynthjam, @alicethebard, and @ladyofspoons for the ping <333

Last song: Technically speaking, last playing when I got out of my car was:

Just cuz it was running through my liked songs on spotify 👀 but the last one I listened to that stuck in my head (from the same drive this morning to work) was:

cuz I fuckin love this guy and I wanna learn the lyrics to this well enough to sing it by memory I'm SO CLOSE BUT HE'S SO FAST

Favorite color: Purple!! Probably a decently common answer, but it is SO FUCKING GOOD..... though there's also this specific shade of magenta I love, hang on I have a hex code for it: #FF3AF8

and here's a quick slice of it so you don't have to google that:

Last movie/TV show: Mmmm.... Again on a technicality, I watched casino Royale the James bond movie the other night 👀 my wife jade put it on the TV hehe

But the last one to stick in my memory as the actual "what have I watched recently" is probably Jujutsu Kaisen; me and jade got through all of season 1, the movie, and then more than half of season 2 (that's currently out) before taking a break and forgetting to go back to it LMAO

But it's so fucking good omg I'm such a sucker for good quality fighting animation and shit dude I love it

Sweet/spicy/savory?: All definitely have their place!! I think I lean most heavily towards sweet, with savory coming in at a close second; and I DO very much enjoy spicy (as long as it's flavorful and not just pure heat) but I am white and as much as I'm pushing my spice tolerance higher and higher I'm still pretty low on how much I can tolerate 😔

Relationship status: Poly as hell!! Married to @jadedkitteh, @ginny-erinschild is my girlfriend (!!!!) lots of gay kinky sex with like 18-30 other people; and fuckin.... I'm sure there's more on the way I've yet to meet 💖

Last thing I googled: another answer with a technicality; the last thing I googled was leather for leather working cuz I'm.

.....I'm meeting up with a friend soon and they do leather working projects and stuff and I kind of wanted to get them a gift but I cannot fucking tell what is good quality leather or not qwq so I'm thinking I'll go to a store irl instead

The thing I last REMEMBER googling is Minecraft server hosts, so I could check into the current market of them (over saturated and riddled with bots, just like I remember) and see how expensive decent hardware was so I could maybe set one up for my discord server 👀

Current obsession: ......aside from my lifelong obsession with swords (see #swordposting), rocks, and Minecraft?

... Probably a game called Spiritfall :3 holy shit I've been running it over and over and over it's SO fun

Still in early access, but it's like.... A fuckin.....

... I'll link a post by one of the people working on it in a second here, but it's like a platform fighter roguelite 👀 combat is so goddamn fluid and fun and enjoyable, the roguelike elements are VERY hades so if you're a fan of smash or whatever and also hades I heavily recommend it! I've put like..... Easily over 100 hours into it in the month I've had it, they're constantly updating it with more shit, there's so many cool weapons (except a sword..... ;-; there's technically twin blades on a string but I would give my damn soul for just a proper longsword with close-combat style moves, like fuckin. Uh... I dunno, claren from rivals is a pretty good base? 👀👀👀 Marth/lucina? That kinda stuff, yknow?)

... Anyway here's a post by @ayeforscotland with some of my tags ranting about it :3

Tag nine people: oh boy. uh...... let's see here.

@ginny-erinschild @junk-thunder @naughtyshucklebuck @jaxspades @genderless-slave @puppygirlcassie @puppygirlarson @sparklefawx @penelopix @irlactualhuman @kaitiekat @boyphrodite and also any mutual who sees this on their dash and manages to read this far. Love you :3

Nine people I'd like to get to know better

Tagged by @meghawhopp <33

Last song: Down by the River by Borislav Slavov from the Baldur’s Gate 3 Soundtrack (or more specifically the cover of Down by the River by Nerissa Ravencroft)

Favorite color: Blue and purple!

Last movie/TV show: Seinfeld, I’m currently on season four!

Sweet/spicy/savory?: I have a huge sweet tooth, so sweet things

Relationship status: Single

Last thing I googled: I searched up the show “Arthur” because I was trying to find that one meme where Buster was like “You really think someone would do that, just go on the internet and spread lies?”

Current obsession: Fragaria memories and tears of themis mostly^^

Tag Nine People: @kyaruun @xinieeee @deadmansbistro @florapot @hunita812 @scuffle-with-spirals @rexonalapis @maxellera @manicpixiedoomedgirl

[unpopularly-opinionated]

Dear Diary,

Today I went to a Pokemon Pre-release...

...at some card shop that my friend invited me to. I was told that it'd be $30 for a box w/ 3-4 packs in it + a deck of cards, so I was like alright cool. I don't play Pokemon anymore, haven't in many years, but working at a card shop has me opening a booster box every now and then when I get the itch. I'm easily the most reserved out of all my coworkers though when it comes to buying shit because I refuse to become addicted to buying cards. They open something probably once a month, at least, whereas I'm easily like once every 3-4 months, maybe 6 months.

Anyways, back on topic. So there were four of us going but two of us arrived early, as planned. The others were late (SMH) including the one who invited us all so huge L on him. For clarity, I'll assign them all names to make talking about this easier. So there's me, Paul, Bosco and Ethan (not real names, obviously). So Bosco is the one who invited all of us, but he was driving him and Ethan so they were both late. Paul and I got there first. Moving on.

So Bosco told us what I said before, $30 box, 3-4 packs + a deck. Easy. That's what we came to get, rip, and leave. Easy. He also mentioned that if we wanted to, we could stay and play a couple rounds and the shop was giving us a pack for every round, up to three, win or lose. Having not played in years, and Paul having never played, we were like "no thanks, we'll just take the box".

So we went inside and the guy knew why we were there, obviously, because that's why everyone in there was there. Surprisingly, it wasn't as crowded as I thought it would be. There were maybe 20 of us in there, including the 3-4 dudes working the shop. Also for those wondering, it did not in fact smell (thank god). I had never been there before, but the place looked neat. Certainly bigger than the shop I work at, but not crazy big.

Anyways, the guy handed us these two forms and told us to register online at the Pokemon website. Immediately, we're getting red flags but we're like okaaaay... we'll do it, and we did. I already had an account so it was easy. Then he had us give him our names and charged us the $30 so we're like sick, that's it, right?

To rewind slightly, while we were signing up online we had some concerns because this felt very tournament-y and we weren't there for that. So we did what anyone would do in that situation: we asked. And like, the guy working seemed like a chill dude, but my guy could not give any vaguer answers if he tried.

"Do we need to play in the tournament?" - "If you want the card packs."

"What about the $30 box?" - "It has 3-4 packs in it."

"So do we have to play in the tournament to get the packs?" - "You get the 3-4 packs in the box."

"...thanks"

Like a simple "if you want extra packs then yes, but otherwise no you get the $30 box" would've sufficed, but whatever. We left that interaction no more knowledgeable than when we entered. So we just waited. We were there half an hour early anyways, waiting for Bosco and Ethan to show up. Eventually they did and the guy behind the counter called everyone's attention and had us each grab our $30 box. Sick. Easy.

We move to the tables to begin ripping them, guy tells us we have like 15 minutes to do so. We're still thinking we're not in this tournament so we have unlimited time. We open our packs. I got hosed but it's the experience of ripping amongst friends, right (copium). 15 minutes go by and the worker points to the TVs behind us and says "alright, the bracket is up" and all four of our names are on it. Oh.

Immediately, we're like hey yo can we concede? Drop out? Give the other guys instant W's? And in typical confusing and vague card shop worker fashion we get a resounding: 🤷‍♂️ Man had no idea what to do which like, that's fair. Everyone else in there likely came in knowing this was a tournament. Our dumbasses were led by a bigger dumbass who thought this was just opening packs and all that good fun. Turns out that's a few weeks from now. Oops.

Anyways, the guy kinda sorta dropped us from the tournament, but didn't give the other players Ws because they actually wanted to play obviously. I lowkey felt like shit for messing everything up, but in fairness we did explicitly ask if we had to play in the tournament and we got vague as fuck answers so: 🤷‍♂️ Everything was chill though, kinda.

Bosco didn't actually know that he had dropped from the tournament, I guess, I'm not really sure what was going through his head. He asked me if I wanted to play and I was like aight bet. I'll play against a friend easily, I just didn't want to play against a random who not only knew how to play but who would be subjected to the infinite amount of patience I would need to figure my own shit out. So Bosco and I played half a game before he figured out that he wasn't getting a pack out of it so he conceded. He was kind of winning but whatever, huge W on my part I guess.

For the record, everyone was playing with the decks that came in the boxes. Everyone got a random premade deck alongside the 3-4 packs they got. If you ask me, it kinda looked like the Pokemon version of the card game Smash Up where you take two different decks and mash them together, because my deck was basically centered around Drifblim and Crabominable. It was alright though. Both have insanely strong attacks which was neat. Bosco's was centered around Ledian and Crabominable.

Anyways, so we dropped from the tournament and Bosco dropped from our friendly match. Big sadge. Then Ethan decided to open a box of One Piece cards. Evidently he was hunting for a very specific one. Evidently he didn't get it though because he then proceeded to buy three more boxes. I know nothing about the card game, but I love One Piece and didn't want to leave yet so I said fuck it and bought one too. By this point Paul had left so it was just me, Bosco and Ethan still.

Ethan blazed through his three boxes, meanwhile my slow ass took forever because I was looking at all the cards, even the commons, whereas he was just looking for the ultra rare whatever that he wanted. Evidently he didn't get it in those boxes either because he then proceeded to buy four more boxes. Mind you, these boxes are $100 a pop so this man dropped $800 on One Piece cards.

Spoiler Alert: He didn't get the one he wanted.

Double Spoiler Alert: I didn't get the one he wanted either.

Triple Spoiler Alert: I did manage to get two really good cards though (according to my friend) which if sold would more than pay for my one box. Evidently one of the cards I got is 1 per case (a case is like 10 boxes) so that was massive.

All in all, it was good fun. Pics of two rare One Piece cards below.

[nel-world]

standup

There are few things that bring my father as much joy as clearance sales.

It's not so much the food that my dad loves at Denny's—he only knows three flavors anyway: salt, butter, and A-1 Steak Sauce. No, what he adores is the simplicity, the straightforwardness of the entire Denny's experience, especially the menu.

“You don’t even have to read anything,” he’d say. “You look at the pictures of the food, you pick what you want, and you point.” And that’s precisely what he does. We'd settle at a table in Denny's, he'd crack open the menu to a Moons Over My Hammy or whatever caught his fancy, and he'd point. “I want that.” Not a word more, not a word less. It's the perfect restaurant routine.

we bought couch

So, off we went, driving at a snail's pace—twenty miles per hour in a forty-five-mile-per-hour zone. The officer followed my dad quietly for a few miles before my father suddenly pulled over, even though the officer hadn't signaled with lights or sirens. I followed suit.

After the officer wrote us both tickets for having unsafe loads, he warned us not to drive with the furniture again or risk getting more tickets. Stuck on the side of the road, my dad asked if I knew anyone with a truck. That was like asking if I knew anyone at all.

offer to buy one and get the other for half price , my father was first in line.

his ability to consume knew no bounds.his favorite was chocolate pean with extra sprinkles

when i orderd plan old chocolate icecream , he took it as an insult

they have thirty two flavors andu order chocaloate

u can get chocolate anywhere , why did we come to america

we didnt sacrifice everything come to here so u could be satisfied with plain old chocolate ice cream

i just want medium soda

get the large

u get extra large for thirty nine cents more

America was Willy Wonka’s chocolate factory and he was a ten-year-old who had won a golden ticket.

Let me tell you what is really embarrassing,” he continued. “Having only one pair of shoes, that’s embarrassing. Having to study for your exams under a street lamp because you don’t have your own room, that’s embarrassing. Hanging off the side of a train on your way to work because it’s so crowded and you can’t afford a seat, that’s embarrassing.”

Yellow highlight | Page: 57

“When will you become an American?” he continued. “Okay, pour the extra thirty-nine cents-worth into a cup and I will drink it later.”

I don’t know where my dad learns how to hail strangers, but whenever he needs directions—which is often—he flags down men and women alike with the same greeting: “Hey, bud!” I grew up thinking of all Americans as Bud—and even though my dad’s name is Ghassan Saleh Abu-Jaber, he became the original Bud. I learned early: We were Arab at home and American on the streets. The streets were where Bud spoke English in a loud voice, swaggered, and wore hard-soled shoes.

Bud is a great talker in our family of mostly listeners. He’d soliloquize about the Arab-Israeli conflict, free will versus destiny, and the meaning of the universe. He'd tell endless jokes and stories starring his favorite Arab character—Jeha the joker.

One day, Bud announced he found the perfect restaurant to buy. “Excellent location, good foot traffic, loyal clientele,” he’d say. The current owner was selling because he and his wife—the head chef—were divorcing. Bud was ecstatic, describing his dream: “I’ll be in back, creating! You and your sisters will be out front, taking orders and making the customers happy.” He sat back, studying the ceiling. “It’s going to be running together like this—”

According to Bud, this restaurant would be a Shangri-la, healing the old wound between East and West. All languages would be spoken, all religions honored, and the food would be pure and true. He’d say, “You see this bamia?” holding up a chunk of okra stewed in tomato. “Americans are nervous with bamia because they fear the slime. You know how to take away the slime?” We shook our heads. “You have to boil it good first and then fry it! Sometimes you reverse it. How many people know that?” We marveled. “When we get our restaurant,” he’d say, “it will be full of secrets like this.”

There were weeks and months of debates, schemes, and outlines. The phone rang at all hours. You never knew when you’d lift the receiver to the hiss of the overseas connection. Incredibly, Bud’s relatives were convinced by his plan. Several even promised to buy shares in the place. After much negotiation, they agreed on a signing date.

To celebrate the night before signing the lease, Bud prepared a grand dinner starring a golden chicken msukhan. This traditional Palestinian dish, with chicken nearly poached in olive oil, turned its flesh soft and amber. “Do you see this chicken, girls?” he’d ask as we broke off tender bites. “Do you know what it’s saying to us?” No, what, Dad? “It’s saying, ‘I am more delicious than anything. People will come from everywhere to taste me. I am the queen of all!’” He’d sigh and gaze fondly at the queen.