#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 😭

[brbiekiss]

⋆. 𐙚 ˚ heartbreak summer ft, sae itoshi

currently playing ♪ playlist — heartbreak summer ♪

pairing. sae itoshi x f!reader

summary. after your friend finds out her recent ex has been in the news tabloids with yet another girl, your idea of get back turns your entire night into an unfortunate series of events with the final outcome landing you directly in front of re al’s star football player, and you’re about to kiss him.

warnings. smut, swearing, toxic relationships & behaviour (not too much from sae surprisingly), angst

୨୧. chapter ten, double dates & birthdays

8:23 pm

you had been out for around an hour or so, currently in the restaurant bathroom touching up your makeup with kaia before heading out to the bar to have drinks.

“you and oliver look like you’ve really made up.”, you say, applying your lipgloss while looking in the mirror.

“yeah, honestly i forgot how well we clicked and he hasn’t fucked up so far. i kinda have a feeling he’ll ask me to be his girlfriend again.”, she smiles to herself, watching you put your lipgloss on.

“what about when we go back to la?”, you ask, turning to look at her.

“god, i haven’t even thought that far yet. maybe the long distance could work this time? i don’t know.”, she sighs, “i’m just enjoying my time with him right now, y’know?”

“anyway, enough about me. how about you and sae?”, she asks, tilting her head.

“okay. i don’t know if i’m just reading too much into it, but i feel like the energy between us has been like, slightly awkward.”, you sigh.

“if i’m honest, y/n, do you really want to be dealing with this when it’s so early on. like, yeah, you guys like each other, but you haven’t spoken much about you two. it’s been like what? two weeks? and you’ve only hung out like 3 times just the two of you.”

you sigh again, “i know. i don’t even know what’s going on really, and you know how i feel about situationships.”, you pause, “i’ll just see how the night goes, one step at a time or whatever.”

she nods, “i feel like recently all we’ve been talking about is boys.”, kaia laughs.

“no honestly, you just know natalia is getting sick of us.”, you half joke.

as kaia was about to reply, a knock on the girls bathroom is heard, “hello? what are you two doing in there it’s been like 20 minutes. are we going or not?”

kaia rolls her eyes at oliver’s voice, making you laugh, “yes, we are.”

11:02 pm

the night at the bar was more chill than you expected it to be, less people than you imagined were there so it was more of a casual night much to kaia’s dismay. oliver and sae weren’t too bothered by it either, opting for a couple beers than in a sweaty night club.

you was currently heading back from the bar, oliver driving as usual with kaia in the front.

“do you wanna come to mine?”, sae asks, his voice a little quiet, not wanting kaia or oliver to stick their noses in.

“uh, sure. is that okay with you?”

he frowns slightly, “well i wouldn’t have asked if i didn’t want you to.”

“yeah i know, just cause of last time i mean.”

he rolls his eyes at the thought, “i’m not gonna do that if that’s what you’re worried about.”

“i’m not worried.”, you shake your head, “i want to come.”

he nods, giving you a straight smile.

eventually, oliver takes you and sae back to his apartment with small chatter in the car, “alright, we’re here.”, he says, turning to look at you both in the back.

“alright, thanks bro.”, sae says, stepping out the car alongside you.

“byeeee.”, kaia sings out, waving her hand at you through the car window, with yourself waving back as sae puts a hand on the back of your waist, leading you up to his apartment.

he takes his keys out his pocket, putting it through they keyhole and opening the door, “well, make yourself home.”, he says while a cloud of deja vu hits you.

navigation. heartbreak summer

next chapter. eleven

author’s note. waaayyy more writing this chapter and the next one will only be writing!! i know some people have been having issues with the links but they should be fixed now!! also smut next chapter 🫣

taglist. @vaelils @shironagi @megumiivs @captainshindo @evry1luvssm @alatusorrow @pookalicious-hq @tnt-kokoo @misosoupii @whisperofae @bontensbabygirl @s4-mmy @viviinpt @werfiedeii @dinnersyummy @nuhahani @treeguzzler @pctterheadd @taefanclub @literallyushiwaka @yiiscorner @suksatoru @treeguzzler @manjiroswifo @sugacor3 @kaz-0e

[k3nz1ekorn]

Jayvik actor au- "This isn't my bedroom?"

Shooting continues at the lot, production is finally ramping up and our beloved actors Vlad and Joel get to talk a bit more. Part 2 chronologically in the au.

Character cheat sheet: Vi-Viola, Cait-Cathrin, Mel-Miah, Savannah- Sevika, Sky- Skyler, Powder/Jinx-Piper, Ekko-Elijah

Disclaimer: I know nothing about professional acting or studios, lot setup, etc. I will not be looking things up while writing this so if you notice something is blatantly wrong leave a comment about it! This is purely self indulgent and fics will probably be posted out of chronological order in the timeline. (If I write enough I’ll make a timeline list of them tho)

It was obvious to anyone with eyes that Vlad had a busy schedule. Between shooting for arcane and his other projects he was on the production lot practically 24/7 this week. It was mostly other roles he’d booked that he was shooting this week since basically all of his scenes in Arcane involved Joel, who was turning out to be quite the busy man. They’d barely spoken since their first official meeting and none of it had even been to run lines! He was a bit worried about that specifically. They were both good actors, but that on screen chemistry didn’t always come naturally. It was always good to practice, he thought as he absently massaged a knot in his thigh. It was only in these early hours that he really had time to himself, time to just exist as he is, to not think about his lines or how to say them, and especially not to think about any of his co-stars. It wasn’t that he hated them, quite the opposite actually. The ones he’d met so far he gets along with very well, even joining them for lunch when his schedule allows it. They’re people he could actually see himself enjoying the company of outside of work. He makes a mental note to invite them all out for drinks this weekend, the ones that were going to be in town for it that is. The problem with his co-stars was actually a singular person, one with striking golden eyes and a face Vlad is sure was sculpted by the gods themselves with the explicit intent to taunt him. 

The brunette squeezed his eyes shut and brought his mug up off the table to take a long sip of his coffee, to distract his wandering mind. He wasn’t going to think about Joel right now. This was his me time, not fantasizing about his coworker time. He had found it too much of a hassle to make the drive back to his apartment the previous night and had opted to instead sleep in his trailer, meaning his clothing for the day were whatever he had supplied for himself when he packed the dressers before it was brought to the lot. A pair of black jeans  and a thick dark grey sweater seemed to be his best options that day, it didn’t matter too much anyways, he would be in and out of costume all day anyways, this outfit was just for his meal breaks. 

He was already showered and ready for the day, which he knew was going to be starting soon, it was already- Jesus 8AM? He had to get moving. He stood up as he chugged the rest of his half finished barely lukewarm coffee, rinsing the mug in the sink and moving to the table on the opposite side of his trailer to grab his script and water bottle before descending the steep ass ramp out of his trailer. Skyler should be here soon, he thought absently, should she not? It wasn’t like her to be late and call time was slowly approaching. He pulled his phone from his pocket as he let the door shut behind him, did she maybe text him and he just hadn’t seen it? 

Ah. He had a few missed texts it seemed.

Displayed brightly on his screen were three texts, the first from his aforementioned assistant, saying the line at their usual coffee shop had been longer than usual and she was running a bit late, delivered maybe 15 minutes ago. Second was from Viola, a picture he’d have to actually open the message to see and the words ‘did you get it yet?????????’ received about 3 minutes ago. He didn’t need to guess what she meant as yes, he had in fact gotten it. The third text is no doubt what she was referring to, and the one that had initially caught his attention. It was from an unknown number, a simple ‘this is joel we should meet to run lines over lunch,’ and he definitely wasn’t mentally scolding his clothing choice for the day. He didn’t have time to dwell on it though as he felt a hand on his shoulder and saw two coffees on a holder come into his line of vision.

“SO sorry for running late Vlad, the line was crazy, even mobile ordering ahead of time they were just slammed.” She sounded out of breath as she spoke to him, her other hand holding the coffee lowering a bit as the hand that had been on his shoulder moved to cover her chest. She looked as professional as ever in her black pantsuit and deep red button up. Her hair was up in a high puff today, a few pieces coming out to frame her face. She moved her free hand to grab her phone from her pocket to go over the itinerary she no doubt had open. “You have a few new faces for your scenes today, some old ones too I noticed! So we should probably get you there just a pinch ahead of time. Wanna head to the set now?” She finally looked up at him as she caught her breath. Vlad was already looking at her when he opened his mouth to speak. He hadn’t thought about a response yet. She’d given him plenty of time to refocus himself and yet here he was, still reeling over a text like some teenager. He raised his phone just a bit.

“Joel texted me.” The silence was deafening. Skylar blinked once. Then twice, before finally letting a smirk overtake her face.

“Oh did he? And why are you telling me this?” Truth be told he didn’t know. Most likely because he hadn’t had a coherent thought since she got there and he’d like to believe they are at least on friendly terms by now. 

“I should respond to it before we head over. It would be rude not to, no?” He turned back to his phone and unlocked it before clicking on the new number to respond, Skyler let out an amused laugh from beside him. He had to send something before he could overthink this, and fast. ‘Yes please omg’ seemed like too much, and a simple ‘Sure.’ was definitely too cold, he needed to be professional but enthusiastic about it. He settled on, ‘I’d actually been meaning to ask you the same, we will discuss further when I get to the set, yes?’ He quickly clicked out of their texts to stop himself from rereading it and opened the text from Viola instead. Texting back a quick ‘I did :3’ he looked over the photo she sent. The picture was quite cute to say the least. The camera was at a high angle, only showing her forehead and eyes at the bottom of the screen, the main focus of the photo being Cathrin and Joel a few feet away holding out their phones in front of one another. Was that a blush he saw? He quickly blinked the thought away and pocketed his phone before turning back to Skyler to let her know he was ready to go.

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Vlad had finished his second cup of coffee before they even stepped foot onto the set they’d be at for their first scene. He had to, after nearly spilling coffee on his Academy uniform earlier in the week he’d had to cut back on his on set coffee breaks. That’s actually why he was now drinking more water,.much to Skyler’s delight he may add. His cane gave gentle clicks as he moved into view of the set, a dark hallway and a door loomed in front of him, this was their scene breaking into the lab if he was not mistaken. The schedule had said all of their group scenes would be before lunch, which meant this one, the trial with the council, and the scene where they get to be hooked up to a bunch of wires. That one made him a bit uneasy if he was telling the truth, he never liked heights much, and having no experience with being hooked up like that he was unsure of how his leg would handle it. They had a fantastic team helping to make accommodations for him, but he’d had his fair share of bad experiences so it was natural to be cautious.

He was broken from his thoughts as he recognized a familiar face out of the corner of his eye. He adjusted himself to face the newcomer and gave a warm smile, “Miah! I was hoping we’d get a chance to chat before we were called to places. You look wonderful! That makeup was a great choice I must say.” His old friend only laughs in response, head tilting back in amusement before coming to embrace him in a small side hug. There was no lie, she was a vision really, in a beautiful all white dress with gold accents that perfectly matched the jewelry in her hair and makeup painting her face.

“Hey Vlad, can’t say I’ve seen the costume or makeup department make anyone look bad so far, yourself included. Did they make your moles bigger? And that vest, oh my god!” She circled him once, as if he didn’t already know how good he looked right now. “The lace up sides are a very nice touch, on both you and Mr. Torres over there.” She gestures somewhere behind him and he has to grip his cane a bit tighter to keep himself from shooting around to gawk at the new topic of their conversation. Instead he just gives a light chuckle and takes a breath to respond- “He’s on his way over.” She says glancing between him and who he can only imagine is the very man that had been capturing every other thought he’d had for the past week. His eyes crease at the corners every so slightly as he turns to look over a shoulder to greet the new addition to their conversation with a polite smile. 

“Joel, how good to see you again, have you met Miah yet? She’ll be playing Mel.” It would be rude to not introduce them, he thought, especially since they’d all be filming the next few scenes together. Joel gives him a glance and turns his attention towards Miah to extend a hand.

“Pleasure to meet you, you are Vladimir's friend?” A shiver definitely does not try to make its way down his spine upon hearing his full name, and gods does he hope he’s not blushing again. The handshake, he notes, is much slower and longer than the one he had received…he tries not to read into that. He looks up at the woman beside them as their hands part, she clasps hers together in front of herself and gives a polite nod.

“The pleasure’s all mine! I was very excited to hear I’d finally be getting a chance to work with you! And to work with Vlad again too, on the same project no less. We’ve been friends since filming that weird pumpkin themed horror movie a few years back. Have you two worked together before? Vlad didn’t mention it when we went over the cast list together.” She raised her eyebrow as she spoke, her eyes pointedly moving between the two of them, as if trying to hint at something almost. It was at that moment he realized Joel had stopped nearly directly behind him, just barely off to the side enough for them to see each other's faces actually. The cough that escapes him is definitely not nervous, just a tickle is what he tells himself as he brings his hand back down to readjust his cane. He reminds himself to ask Skyler where she’d had them put his chair.

“We haven’t. I met him filming a scene earlier in the week,” the taller man’s eyes move to Vlad again, “I’d like to have a word before we’re called to places. I’ll be in my chair.” He started to turn to leave, eyes moving back to Miah, “I look forward to working with you.” And with that he was walking away. He really didn’t like letting people respond did he? Two of their interactions now he’d ended by just walking away. With a small shake of the head he turns back to his friend, who is now trying to hide some very obvious amusement. She says her next words in a hushed tone, her wrist partially covering her mouth.

“Oh my god he’s so into you.” 

“He’s what now?”

Vlad’s jaw drops open and he gives the most incredulous look at the woman across from him. He turns away from her, only to look back at her completely aghast, “He barely looked at me when he was actively speaking to me just now. What about that indicates he’s into me? If anything I’d say he was checking you out!” He emphasizes his words with a flick of the wrist in her direction and tries to keep his voice hushed so nobody overhears their conversation. It is quite embarrassing to be having this conversation while at work actually, something he’d rather keep private.

“Are you kidding me? First of all,” she raises a finger up beside her head. Oh great, she’s making a list, “you didn’t see what his eyes were doing when your back was turned. Second,” another finger and a pointed tilt of the head, “he was staring me down. NOT the same as checking me out. Third,” hopefully the final finger in this conversation raises, “even if he had been we both know he’s nowhere near my type in men. Much too…stoic.” She finishes with a slight downward curl on her lips and a shake of the head before finally putting her hand down to cross her arms over each other. She glanced over his shoulder once more and her eyes just barely widened before she smirks, letting her eyes fall back to his once more. “You better get a move on with your conversation, your man keeps looking at us.” As she looks back again her eyes shift to a new area behind him and stop, her mouth forms a soft ‘o’ and a new look overtakes her and she seems to spot something else, something not Joel he decides. A hand is placed on his shoulder as she very quickly steps around him. Her next words come out quiet as he walks away. “Speaking of my type…I’ll see you on set.” He turns to watch her go with a mild curiosity, eyes following her direction of travel to the prosthetics tent where he could see a very muscular woman with a short ponytail getting pieces attached to her already augmented arm. He gives an impressed hum to himself and nods, he’d definitely have to invite them all out for drinks if for no other reason than to hear about how that develops.

He turns a bit more to face Joel’s direction and notices the other man’s eyes just barely darting down to the script he held in his hand. Vlad begins to make his way over when a very very small chuckle breaks through his lips, any previous tension about how the other perceived him already forgotten. Either he was trying to look nonchalant and failing miserably, or he could read upside down, seeing as that’s the way the script was being held. With a final few steps they’re next to each other and Vlad decides at the last minute he won’t mention the little continuity error in the other's facade.

“Eager to steal my attention eh? I already agreed to have lunch with you.” There’s a chuckle in the way he says it, something light. Joel lifts his eyes from the pages he’d definitely been pretending to read and gives a small hum. His unoccupied hand came up to smooth over his jaw and chin before he spoke, turning his head in his direction but still not fully looking at the man he’s addressing.

“We have a lot of scenes together. It seems our characters become…very good friends, by the end of the season. Over half of the dialogue I’ve read so far is either directed at or talking about your character in some way. We should discuss their dynamic.” With that he turns his head to rest it on his hand, and finally makes eye contact with the other. There’s no real identifiable emotion on his face aside from what seems to be sheer boredom. “I was told by my manager the production team wants them,” he raises his head to make air quotes with the hand he had been leaning on as he continues,”‘strictly platonic with no room for romantic interpretation,’ I assume you were told the same?” Vlad closes his eyes and he lets a little giggle slip at that, bringing the back of his hand up to cover it. He misses the way the other’s light up just a bit more at it.

“I was, yes, I assume you think we should take more creative liberties with it? You wouldn’t be talking to me about it otherwise, correct?” His hand comes back down to rest in his pocket, his posture relaxed, and he gives an inquisitive look. He really hopes he’s about to suggest what he thinks he is.

“Yes. Whether my character knows it or not, he will be in love with yours by the end of the season, and whether yours reciprocates or not is up to you.” He speaks with an air of certainty that leaves no room for discussion, luckily Vlad is already in agreement with him.

“He will. I’m very glad we had this chat actually, I had been planning on adding a level of…longing? I’m aware your character is romantically involved with Miah’s by the second half of the season, however I do love some good old fashioned, one sided, seemingly unrequited tension.” He lets his lip curl up into a mischievous grin as he looks down at the other. “It won’t be too obvious of course, just an underlying something or other to give a bit more depth to their relationship…though it does seem quite deep even without it. They become quite close, no? We should find some time outside of filming to talk, get into character a little as they say.” He’d already said he wanted to find ways to get to know him more, and he fully meant that shit. Whether the reasoning he was giving was the only reason was not important. Joel gives a hum of agreement and looks back down at his script, he’s silent for a second before- oh he’s blushing. He must have finally noticed his script was upside-down.

Credit where it’s due, Joel has a very good poker face aside from the light blush dusted across his cheeks. Vlad keeps his eyes on him as the other clears his throat and closes his script, looking back up as if nothing had even happened. The bell to signal a start rings and places are called, cutting the rest of their conversation short.

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“So far, so good.” He whispers, the glowstick just barely illuminating the lock enough for him to see it. Suddenly a bright light flows over them both, slightly startled he looks directly into it before bringing his hand up to try and deflect some of it. Blinking a few times to correct his eyes he hears a familiar voice in front of him.

“Hmm. Willing to risk exile for your endeavour. That’s quite the conviction.” It’s said with a hint of amusement. They’d filmed this scene a few times already and he felt his lack of lines right here kept making the whole exchange rather awkward. Time for a new strategy I guess.

“Councilor!” He hears from behind him. Quirking a brow up he barely listens to the continued flustered rambling, he feigns confusion and turns back to the keys still in the lock by his face.

“Wait a minute this isn’t my bedroom?” He mutters with mock embarrassment, “How could I have…” Their voices overlap for a second before silence engulfs them. He looks back up at the ‘Councilor’ and sees her fighting for her damn life to keep in the laugh that’s threatening to spill out. She’s come to expect this of him, he supposes, makes it easier to keep her composure. Joel seems as composed as ever, easily continuing on with his lines and it’s only a little disappointing he didn’t laugh. It’s almost too easy the way the rest of the scene flows from there, almost too easy the way Joel looks at Miah with such curiosity and wonder as she walks away with the security guard. Almost too easy how he doesn’t have to fake the way his lips pull up to his nose in distaste, or even the slightly annoyed huff he gives before turning back to the door, bending down to finish unlocking it as the director yells cut. They didn’t have to redo the scene again at least.

Authors note: This shit is 3.5k words and I edited without coffee. Thanks for the love so far! Glad to know yall are liking it. I'll definitely be branching out at some point to do more with Caitvi and Melvika. I'm not sorry about it.

[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.

[pkg4mumtown]

Special Weapons and Tactics (Ch. 2)

Pairing: Aaron Hotchner x Male!Reader

Rating: Teen (for now)

Summary: Checking up on the agent you carried out of a hostile situation is innocent, right? Right??

Content Warnings: Male!reader (no Y/N), strong language, first person POV, canon-typical violence, mostly fluff

A/N: Hiiiiii! Thank you to everyone who enjoyed the first chapter, here is the second! I’m embedding the Spotify playlist I made for the fic, but due to the lack of dividers for you all to know what chapters I placed them in, I’ll let you know here. Feel free to listen to the whole playlist if you want, just know I’m still making continuous changes to it.

Chapter 1: The Man, Mad Sounds, Want You Bad, Take A Chance on Me Chapter 2: If I Wanted Someone, Neon Moon, Lovers Eyes, Want Want

Also available on AO3 - I do use a workskin on AO3 for text messaging, so I uploaded screenshots of the texts here. I know this isn’t what iOS looked like in 2010 but I didnt feel like learning a new workskin lol.

July 2010

I could practically feel his eyeroll through the phone.

Before I could ask for his order, he started typing again.

It felt stupid to send considering his team would probably bend over backwards for him, but I sent it anyway. He should know someone else was thinking about him, right?

—

Beyond the occasional checkup text on how he’d been feeling—I couldn’t help it—he was still on track to get back to work Wednesday morning. It was actually quite convenient for me as I had a medic course to teach at the academy that day.

Keeping a straight face around my team was nearly impossible as his daily updates came in, some of them even unprompted. That part was surprising given that at work, his demeanor seemingly left a lot to be desired.

When Wednesday morning arrived, I got up extra early to stop at a decent coffee place on the way into Quantico instead of whatever sludge passed for coffee and littered every corner of FBI Headquarters. The drive was maybe half an hour longer than I would have had going into the DC field office, so I had plenty of time to sweat over seeing Hotch after our brief texting over the last seven days. After stopping for our morning beverages closer to Quantico so nothing was cold and stale, I made my way into Headquarters armed with the carrier holding our two drinks, a box of coffee for the team, some random assorted pastries to win their hearts over, and my training materials (which were super important, of course).

The elevator dinged on what I hoped was the correct floor for the BAU. Stepping out, I spotted the team immediately and headed over to their group of desks in the bullpen.

“Good morning, I come bearing gifts,” I announced in front of their desks.

Prentiss and Reid had noticed my presence as I walked in, and they peered over their dividers until they were basically standing as I approached. At the sound of my voice, Morgan’s head perked up and he rushed over to greet me.

“What's all this?” He smiled, gesturing to my full arms.

“This is for you all,” I gently handed the box of pastries with the coffee box balancing precariously on top to Morgan. JJ and Emily looked surprised, and I watched their eyes flick back and forth at each other in some unspoken language.

“What’s the occasion?” Derek laughed after setting the boxes down on one of their desks.

“Just didn’t want to come here empty handed for y’all,” I shrugged. He reached for the carrier in my hand, but I swatted his hand away and moved the drink carrier out of reach. “This is for your boss, and speaking of him where can I find him?”

Reid, who hadn’t said a word the entire time, gestured behind me with his chin. He was definitely familiar, and I knew him from somewhere. Judging by the look in his eye, I wasn’t wrong. Reid gave me a knowing smile and it finally hit me that he frequented one of the same local bars that I do, making me instantly nervous given the potential for volatility in a government workplace. Hell, most of my SWAT teammates didn’t even know I was gay because of that overly macho, straight culture on the team. The only one here I was actually out to was Morgan, though by now, I was sure the room of profilers had figured it out. It was inevitable that Reid had seen me flirt with men at said bar but, by his nod and comforting smile, I was reassured that I was safe and in good company.

I turned and looked over my shoulder to where Reid had gestured and saw Hotch skimming through a file behind the window of his office.

Turning back to them, I raised the drink carrier, “Thanks.”

I spun on my heel and made my way up the stairs to his office.

“Well, that was weird,” Emily spoke up as soon as I was out of earshot. When no one replied, she turned around to face the team, “That was weird, right?”

“Nah, just checking up on Hotch, I’m sure. He’s a good dude like that,” Derek shrugged.

“I mean I’m not complaining. That polo was doing wonders for his arms,” she absentmindedly fanned herself with a file to exaggerate her point.

“You should ask him for his number and get his workout routine,” JJ teased.

“Please, Sergio is the only man I need in my life,” Emily laughed, causing the two of them to veer off in a separate conversation.

“You're being awfully quiet, pretty boy,” Morgan murmured suspiciously to Reid as the girls kept chatting.

“Am I?” the genius jokingly feigned ignorance.

Derek fixed a pointed glare at him, “What aren’t you telling me?”

“We frequent the same bar,” Reid clarified. “Obviously, I recognized him, but I didn’t think he would recognize me, too.”

Derek’s eyebrows had never flown faster up his face, “Have you fu—”

“—No! No, no, no,” Reid cuts him off hurriedly, glancing at the girls who were still talking amongst themselves. “I’m not his type,” Reid answered matter-of-factly with a smirk and directed Morgan's attention to Hotch's office with his eyes.

“Oh, I’m giving him hell over this,” Morgan shook his head and walked back to his desk.

“Over what?” Emily asked as her conversation with JJ ended.

“It seems like he has the number he’s looking for,” Reid answered cryptically and flicked open the box of pastries to hide the smile threatening his features.

—

I took my time on the stairs to gather my wits and my nerves, feeling absolutely ridiculous considering my profession. I knocked on his door frame with my free hand, seeing a pinched frown on his face as he quickly looked up. The tension in his forehead eased upon being greeted with my shy smile and I watched his brain fight his lips as they twitched upward.

After a beat of silence, Hotch snapped out of it and gestured me in, his voice softer than his face indicated, “Sorry, come in. Please, sit.”

“Black, two sugars,” I recited while setting the carrier down on his desk. I gently rotated the cup out and placed it in front of him.

His lips finally won the battle, turning into a deep, closed-mouth smile. As quickly as it came, it disappeared again as he turned to look out of his window at the team. They feigned “work” well, but Hotch wasn’t convinced and stood up to lower his blinds.

“Subtle,” I nearly snorted.

“They’re nosy,” he sighed and sat back down.

“How are you feeling?” I shrugged my bag off my shoulder and plopped it on the floor before taking a seat across from him. I twisted my own cup out of the holder and brought it to my lips with a satisfied hum.

I hadn’t realized I closed my eyes with that sip until I was blinking them open to see Hotch’s calculating eyes scanning me. I tilted my head questioningly.

“Much better. I think the withdrawal headache made it worse,” he lifted the coffee cup up and sipped his. As he pulled it away from his face, he examined the label, “Where’d you get this?”

“Just some place in town I found on the way in. I brought pastries but I think they’ve started decimating them out there,” I laughed, imagining Morgan working with one hanging from his lips.

“That’s kind of you.”

“Felt rude not to,” I shrugged. “I’m glad you’re feeling better though, it didn’t seem like you hit it that hard but the mixture with the blast probably didn’t help.”

“No kidding. The past week was eventful in all the worst ways.”

A laugh was pulled from deep in my chest as I nearly choked on the liquid in my mouth. I wiped at the corner of my mouth as I recovered, “Seems like that might be putting it mildly.  But hey, you could have used the lingering headache as the perfect excuse to avoid a coffee d—meet.”

Hotch smirked over the lid of the coffee cup with a raised eyebrow, “A coffee date? Presumptuous,” he finished with my rank and last name, making my face heat up at how smoothly it came out. “But…I would have missed out on my wager, and it’s been worth the wait so far.”

Any worry I had last week about whether I was imagining this or not flew out of the window at lightning speed, “I’m glad I’m good company.”

“I know, I was surprised,” he joked, smirking once again. “Hopefully this isn’t too out of your way.”

I bit back a laugh, “I work out of the DC field office in Violent Crimes.”

Hotch’s face dropped immediately, “Why would you come all the way here?”

“You asked me to,” I stated simply. His face was concerned and almost looked mad that I would do that, “I’m teaching an intro to field medicine course at the academy today, don’t worry. I was just making you sweat.”

“You didn’t have to try hard to accomplish that,” he shook his head, visibly relaxing and licking over his lower lip.

We enjoyed a brief silence, savoring our drinks and listening to the bustle outside of Hotch’s office. His eyes flicked between my face and the cup being cradled and dwarfed by his hands. He was reserved, which was unsurprising given the setting, and hadn’t quite shut off the serious demeanor he carried in his office. It was hardly a problem and was still a fairly comfortable silence.

That was until my eyes settled on a photo behind his head, “Is that your son?”

Hotch slowly spun away so he could see what I was looking at and nodded with the brightest smile I’d seen on his face so far. I could tell his son was his whole world just from that look.

“Yea, Jack,” he confirmed with a proud smile.

“May I?” I was already half out of my seat.

“Sure,” he nodded, savoring another long sip of coffee.

I rounded his desk and got a closer look at the photo of father and son, with a real, honest-to-God grin on Hotch’s face, “He’s so cute. How old is he?”

“Five, almost six,” Hotch tilted his head at his son’s smiling face, fiddling with the coffee cup in his hand.

I glanced at his left hand, quickly looking back at the photo.

Lack of a ring tan means he didn’t divorce or separate too recently. Oh my—stop that right now.

“He had to have gotten his looks from his mom because…” I looked at Hotch again, making a show of looking him up and down before mocking a cringe. I stepped back from the photo and leaned against his desk.

Hotch hissed from between his teeth, leaning back in his chair and crossing his legs, “That would hurt more if you weren’t right.”

“I’m kidding,” I purposefully knocked my leg into his foot. “He’s got your eyes.”

“He just started school recently. He’s so smart,” Hotch looked thoughtfully up at the photo once more. “Figuring out co-parenting with school has been a bit of a struggle, but Haley and I are making it work.”

“I’m sure it’s a whirlwind, even with two parents.  My younger brother is a newly single father.”

“It is, but he's a great kid and I’m lucky to have him.”

My watch started beeping, alerting me to my twenty-minute warning before I needed to be downstairs for the course. I quickly turned off the alarm and focused back on Hotch.

“Speaking of kids, have you taken him to the new bakery on King and Cameron?  They have these incredible cupcakes that my nephew loves. I don’t know how far that is from you.”

“Not too far and Jack does have a sweet tooth,” he pondered for a moment. “Maybe we could check it out sometime. Without him. You know, make sure it’s safe first.” 

I was taken aback for a second at the invitation, “We?  Now who’s presumptuous?” I smirked. Before he could reply I was speaking again, “Would Saturday work for you?”

“It should. Provided we don’t get a case. Eight?”

“Sounds good. I have to run, but—uh—I’ll talk to you later?”

“You will,” Hotch smirked back.

I just about ran out of his office, almost forgetting my bag in the process, not wanting to be late in front of a bunch of trainees. He shook his head at my antics and I had to ignore the way my face felt like it was on fire out of embarrassment.

I’m so fucking dumb.

-

Chapter 3

[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.

[slickshoesareyoucrazy]

Time and Time Again

A year ago today was your last day alive.

At work, there's a big white board in the break room where someone writes a 'staff question' every couple of weeks. In late January, for whatever reason, someone wrote, "If you could go back in time to any place at any point in history, where/when would that be?" A lot of my coworkers (we're all book nerds at the library obviously) answered really suspiciously: I wouldn't go back in time...or...it would depend on if my activity or even my mere presence could/would somehow affect the future. Some of them answered heroically: I'd stop Titanic from sinking, I'd stop (insert war(s) here), I'd stop 9/11. Some of them answered voyeuristically or fantastically: I'd go to Renaissance Italy, I'd go to the time of dinosaurs, I'd go to Woodstock. I said I'd go to December 7, 2023. I didn't explain myself. But I think it's obvious what I'd do if I could go back in time exactly 1 year. I'd drive to see you. I'd say all the sappy, difficult, embarrassing shit I always just basically said anyway, but I'd say it directly to your face so I'd know you heard me with certainty; you'd know I meant it. And I'd get you in the car with me under the guise we were going to some sports bar to eat wings and argue about college basketball but I'd take you to the emergency room, and I'd say, "I know he doesn't look sick, and I know he's telling you himself that he's fine and he seems pissed at me that I brought him here, but he'll be dead tomorrow, and I don't want him to be. I CAN'T have him die. So find what's wrong and fix it. Now."

Today, I'm having 'friends' over for lunch. Because my son says I need to build a community. I don't have a community, and it's bad for me, he says. So I invited these women over. But I wish I was traveling back in time to keep you alive. You were my community. God the prospect of, at 46, having to go through the mortifying ordeal of being known...again...sucks. I'd really rather not. I'll miss J and my son who are leaving me with these ladies today and wish they were home with me instead. I'll miss you. Still.

I've had 2 unexpected people contact me to 'get together' this week. Out of the blue. And of course there was the Counting Crows CD at work last week. A coworker brought in a few boxes of donations from a patron. "We just got a HUGE donation of DVDs and CDs if you want to look through them!" I wasn't even supposed to be working, but I was making up a half hour from taking off early to go visit you at the cemetery, and I never looked through the donations before. I did that time though. And Counting Crows' August and Everything After was the top CD on the stack. One of the best albums of all time, but I never owned it when we were young, because I didn't need to; you did. When we were kids and we bought each other gifts for birthdays and Christmases, you always bought me CDs. Mr. Jones is the song that played at your funeral, it was the song you were playing on the guitar in my favorite photo of you. It really felt to me like you were giving me a Christmas gift. And it really feels to me like you agree with my son and you want me to 'build a community,' so you're even like...weirdly sending me people.

Nobody, including these very people coming to my home today, contacting me to 'get together' now ever showed up for me before. You know that, man. You're the only one who ever showed up until J came along. Remember my 16th birthday? Where was T? Where was R? Where were my old elementary school friends? Where was my family? Absent. Just you were there. I don't trust these 'connections.' I still honestly don't believe these women are going to show up today even though I've (I think) casually checked several times. This nebulous lunch and brunch shit supposedly coming up in the next couple weeks feels off too. I know you want me to count on it like I could always count on you. I'm trying, man. I'm trying to 'build a community.' But really all I want is J and our son and our dog. And you back.

[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

[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!

[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

[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

[daderalll]

I can't believe how long this post is its my First Time making a post so Long

ok my question is:

well first u need a lil back story

so yesterday I was going 2 visit my bf in prison and its about 3 hours 15 mins away however

I just got a new (used) car its all electric 2017 chevy bolt ev super cute ya know i rlly like chevy

a drive that takes me a lil over 3 hours turned into over 5 not only that my scheduled time to see my bf was 8 am I left my house at 4:30 am and didn't even get to the prison until fucking 2 in the afternoon

THEN they tried telling me they wouldn't let me see him cuz u gotta get checked and a k9 sniffs u and they check ur car n shit and the guy said they didn't have a k9

naturally I burst into tears not 2 mention I was already crying the entire day from the stress of charging the fucking ev and I was sad cuz I wanted 2 see my bf :(((

anyways few mins later he tells me they found someone and I was like holy shit officer co guard whoever tf u are u not that bad I suppose (i think he felt bad I was balling n he goes i get it)

not to fucking mention the guy w the k9 who searched me is the same fucking guy who does when I'm there at 8 am so the fact they tryna tell me the guy "left early" is bullshit and goes to show they don't give a fuck about the inmates or the families all of us can just suffer Well Fuck You

but it was nice my tears maybe touched his heart and he let me in lmao

ok so that happened and then I gotta drive back home which is 3 hrs 15 mins but my car was on like idk the battery percentage but it said like 41 miles so I go 2 a station charge it takes hour and a half ish to get it 2 80% then i dip and start heading home ya know when u taking a road trip and u hit the road ur on for like 100 or more miles ya that's where I was at

and i was driving hella slow (not like me 2 do lol) and I didn't have the air or music on just to try and save as much energy as I could

SO long story short I hit the next town thinking there's gonna be a fucking charging station for my car

and note the town im in is like not a destination spot it's small af and its just a town u pass thru like idek if there's a school there idek if there's a fucking hospital tbh so when my miles go orange meaning low af charge ur vehicle asap the only fucking chargers are for Tesla (fuck u) and a Rivian vehicle ?? I kinda know what those are and they expensive pretty sure like who tf in gila bend owns a fucking Rivian and if u do why tf u live in gila bend ????

alright ya so long long story short I was stuck fucking panicking crying wanting to go home see my cats and I had to get towed which cost $360 (insert the emoji that's like bursting into tears or whatever) he took me 40 mins away to another town and i charged up then drove another hour finally 2 arrive at my humble aboad

I left at 4:30 am and didn't get home until like 10:45 pm

ALSO i just accidentally fucking broke a bong my friend just bought that cost $160 but she was giving it to me to keep at my house and now I'm PISSED ima replace it tho obvi or pay her back I feel sooo bad

OK SO MY QUESTION IS SHOULD I PLAY THE CASINO RN OR SHOULD I TAKE A SHOWER FIRST AND WASH ALL THE BULLSHIT ENERGY AWAY THEN PLAY THE CASINO

hahahahha wtf is my problem I can't believe I just asked that

like no shit bitch take a fucking shower

don't worry I do obviously cuz i always gotta cleanse my soul and energy I believe in the powers of showers (lol it rhymes)

so rlly I guess I'm answering my own question but I'm also lazy n don't feel like going thru the work of washing my hair rn

what r we thinkin what r the thoughts

deep down i think shower first then casino cuz I'll be washing good luck over me lmao idk this post whatever I kinda just wanted 2 share that story that kind of shit would happen to me for sure not surprised but just wish it could have went smooth but just my fucking energy attracts more "excitement" even tho all of that wasn't exciting but I'm sure it was for whatever tf was attached to me bringing me down if that makes sense

(cuz I've been super down lately and super negative i don't like being neg I'm a bright more optimistic person but things can attach to u for sure and I kinda think that's why I'm so negative and angry lately cuz that ain't like me) and don't come at me for what I think spiritually thx

[mizkit]

new blog post: the crisis is averted...

new blog post on https://mizkit.com/the-crisis-is-averted/

the crisis is averted...

…but hoo boy did i have a Very Bad Weekend with regards to Dropbox. At this point I do not require assistance. I’m just regaling you with the tale of Catie’s Very Bad Dropbox Experience.

So. I discovered late-ish last year that I had some kind of catastrophic Dropbox failure EARLY last year for things I don’t need 99.9% of the time, so I only discovered it months after the fact. Like, in the end, it turned out that nearly half my files were showing as zero bytes. To the REALLY TENTATIVE best of my ability to tell, I rearranged some directories for better workflow/searchability/consistency & Dropbox just basically noped out of actually moving any of the content & zeroed everything out.

When I discovered this, Dropbox was like “sux 2 b U lol,” like, almost literally. I was told in no uncertain terms that I was shit out of luck because I was only paying enough for a month of restored files if there was a disaster, after which they unceremoniously closed the ticket before I could even respond. So I was pretty infuriated, but also, it seemed like most of the files were things I could replace/relatively unimportant.

Except I kept. finding. more. corrupted. files. And I had what I thought was a secure backup at home, except I was wrong (I do have backups, just not recent enough, bc hi i’m human), and…

Look, it’s been absolutely horrible. There was an incredily, incredibly bad moment this morning when I thought I’d lost some REALLY IMPORTANT STUFF, but in my attempt to back up what I HAD, I found instructions from Dropbox itself on how to check on an individual file, and…

…it appears that the fuckery is with the syncs. Everything appears to be safe on dropbox.com itself. Which is a huge relief, obviously. So I’m downloading everything to an external drive…

…except the external drive won’t talk to my Mac ::sobs with hysterical laughter::…

…except it seems maybe I’ve now figured out how to do that (I have to reboot the computer, so I’m finishing part of this blog post first), and I hope to shit it works because MY MAC’S HARD DRIVE IS NOW TOO FULL TO DOWNLOAD ANYTHING ELSE ::WEEPS HYSTERICALLY::

by the time you read this, it will either be solved or not, so, uh, brb, i’ll let you know

(twenty stressful minutes later)

OH MY GOD I GOT IT TO WORK

okay, okay, step one, copy everything i’ve downloaded so far to the backup drive

step two will be to see if i can sync some VERY UNIMPORTANT file back to dropbox so it’s actually got a fucking value again

ooooooh those fucking fuckers. as i was trying to stop an unintentional dropbox backup to my hard drive, i came across this:

“Online-only files on Mac: This displays online-only file sizes in Mac Finder as zero bytes so you can easily review which files are taking up hard drive space.”

This is not ON, but seems to be what fucking happened. Except I couldn’t open those files so maybe that’s NOT what was happening but jesus h CHRIST what a clusterfuck.

(two hours later)

OKAY.

At this point I’ve backed up everything but the photos, which I’m going to have to do directly onto the external drive if it’s at all possible, but afaict I’m going to need to finally, grudgingly, update my Dropbox to whatever the new version is to make that work. In the meantime: I have, experimentally, copied one of the smaller folders (which is backed up on the external hard drive) into Dropbox to see if the files inside it sync. They seem to be doing so. The original folders are still corrupted on the desktop.

I could scream, but I believe most of the crisis is averted.

At this point I appear to have to wait for Dropbox to, IDK, sync everything? That seems to be what it’s doing right now, for reasons that I don’t get, like, I have no idea what’s going to happen when it’s done. Will my original files in their directories be restored? Will my entire Dropbox be empty? WHO KNOWS?

Anyway, I’ve deleted the desktop backup now so I have room to download the photos folders (one. at. a. time. because. very. large.) and…well, look, if the entire Dropbox ends up empty, at least I can restore it all from these backups.

::goes away to drink heavily::

(At least one of you is going to want to make helpful suggestions about hosting my own cloud server and Synology and other stuff. I’ve got it covered. Or, at least, I’m beginning to get it covered, thanks to advice from network admins on Bluesky. I mean, like, look, like everybody I’m kinda looking to move away from billionaire-owned tech/media but THIS WAS NOT HOW I WANTED TO BE INSPIRED TO GET MY ACT TOGETHER ON IT.)

[rezdragon]

By the way, I forgot to mention that I've finally moved back to my office.

If you didn't know (which I don't blame you), back in June of this year, I had to move my workstation out to the living room because the chair out there was easier on my hip than my office chair. Sitting in my office chair caused pain so intense I had to bed rest for 14 hours. I honestly was never sure why. I can only guess that my office chair just does not support my pelvis as well as I thought it did.

Anyways, I have a reason for retreating back to my goon cave, so I'll explain under the cut because it gets a little venty and bitchy.

Well first of all, I've been practicing walking around the house without my cane for two weeks now to try and get some strength back into my legs and waist. I honestly have lost so much strength down there. Now the pain from me walking excessively comes from my muscles being so weak that they just cannot handle the load anymore.

When I was working on new material for Tamesu, I had to sit in my office to record shit, and I was sitting in a much more uncomfortable plastic card table chair. I sat there for two hours recording whatever and I found that I wasn't in a lot of pain anymore, mostly just overall discomfort.

So I figured I'd take the risk and return to my office. I say "risk" because, again, I had to move my whole ass work station out to the living room. It took 45 minutes to take all of that shit back to my office (harddrives, computer and charging cable, mouse with pad, USB tree to support drives, Zoom H5, my headphones, my camera [recently used], my desk fan that keeps my computer cool, my macro pad, and all my damn medication).

However, the main reason for me moving back was simply because I was so fucking tired of being constantly overstimulated and having my workflow interrupted.

Because I've been waking up at 4pm since July, I've had maybe a good three to two hours to myself before my partner would come home from work. Which I could sort of use to work on stuff, but generally I spend my first two hours just... waking up. I wouldn't be ready to work on stuff until 5:30 most of the time, and by the time I really got any momentum, my partner would come home, turn on the TV and start watching shit on Youtube, which would instantly break my concentration. I can't tell you how many times I wanted to write more parts for Running With the Devil and because my partner was watching Youtube videos, the words would just instantly fall out of my brain. The script for "The Sound Design of Horizon" took a month to write for this reason. The ONLY time I could write it was super early in the morning.

I do love my partner, but having almost no alone time to myself during the day and constantly being subjected to whatever he wanted to watch was starting to drive me insane. Half the reason my sleep schedule is so fucking busted right now is because I was staying up until 7am JUST to have some fucking time to myself. To make matters worse, my partner doesn't have a consistent sleep schedule on his days off, so often or not, I would be stuck listening to Youtube videos I don't want to watch for 14 hours NON. STOP. well into the late hours of the night (sometimes until 4am).

And it's not like the content was bad by any stretch of the imagination, it was just about topics I DO NOT care for at all and I would RATHER BE DOING SOMETHING ELSE. It's kind of part of the reason my visual art output semi-exploded after June because art was the ONLY thing I could consistently do without being interrupted because watching something is what I DO when I'm working on art. "The Girls Are Sleeping" was made while watching the entire documentary series on John Adams.

And no, headphones did NOT make it better. I don't have any proper noise cancelling headphones and I also dislike wearing headphones for extremely long stretches at a time. I also cannot write while listening to music, not even dark ambience (DA doesn't exactly filter out noise either). I NEED silence to concentrate on what I'm writing.

I still had quite the explosion in writing output this year all things considered, but I feel it could have been a LOT bigger if I had more quiet time to myself. This week is when the overstimulation was so bad that I ended up just shutting myself in the bedroom for two hours in complete darkness listening to the sound of a fan. The show he was watching in particular was played just ever so slightly too loudly, so it mixed with what I was trying to listen to with my headphones and well, brain exploded.

That was my breaking point and I decided I needed to attempt to move back to my office. Yeah, my legs will be more uncomfortable overall, but I really needed the quiet back. RezDragon needs her quiet time, very, very badly.

Like I generally don't get easily overstimulated by noise, it takes a lot and for it to go on for awhile. But god I have never been more constantly overstimulated in my life than in the 8 months I've been stuck out in the living room trying to work.