#are we cooking next episode like filleting me up cooking or are we still going to be chill i wonder lol

[akkivee]

ichiro and kuukou’s conversation about akira and satoru this episode briefly confused me so i decided to compile what we know about our primary rhyme anima antagonists lol

a group of four by the names of kaibyakumon kikoku, chiaro, scuro and tbh

we know chiaro and scuro are aliases for kasago akira and wakasagi satoru, but they themselves have no recollection of their true names

tbh is implied to know their real identities however. he and very likely kikoku are concealing their identities for a number of reasons

tbh is the only one of the four whose real name we don’t know yet, if he has one lol

kikoku created, simply put, a sister company, called beginning gate that the four of them worked for. the parent company to beginning gate was called bg group. at some point tho, it all vanished without a trace

ramuda for some reason or another seems to be familiar with beginning gate given he reacted to the name during the tdd rundown

our antagonists purposefully targeted the chuuoku director of corrections, and maybe during that attack, all files related to akira and satoru were wiped

kikoku is an engineering genius and hitoya and jakurai’s old college classmate

presumably because of his genius, they can float, open portals to teleport and mind hack to some degree with the hypmics

bc of this they keep getting compared to ghosts; we even got jakurai and kuukou supplanting the idea of the second death, where the person dies and all memory of the person also dies

rei said the mics were untampered with, so we’re to assume all mics involved are normal

there is still the pointed existence of the tbh truck that drives around playing their music

kikoku has been shown hooked up to several IVs as he watches his plans come together, seated beside whatever tf this is. i’m not a biology chick but it kinda gave, to me at least, binucleated cells that’s typical of cancer

he’s also been shown in conjunction with jellyfish. immortality symbolism maybe???

akira and satoru seemed to have been under the bg group/beginning gate’s protection based on kuukou and ichiro’s conversation. tho they seemed to occasionally get into fights anyway (i personally suspect bc of said protection lol) presumably once beginning gate fell, they lost said protection

[ggukkiedae]

❝𝕀𝕟 𝕋𝕙𝕖 𝕊𝕠𝕠𝕡❞

𝚗𝚘𝚝𝚎𝚜:

⇢ Episodes 5-6

𝚛𝚎𝚖𝚒𝚗𝚍𝚎𝚛𝚜:

⇢ conversations written in italics are spoken in english. requests and feedback are highly appreciated!

⇢ script form (name: lines) are the interviews

Episode 5

she was in the back oh hoseok and taehyung’s car with a book open on her lap

“makdung-ah, have a sandwich”

hoseok handed her a sandwich which she blindly reached for and nearly knocked over, making hoseok shout and taehyung shocked

“got it! i got it! sorry, i’m a mess”

she was laughing and settled back in her chair, sandwich in hand and focus on her books

she saw seokjin in his sunglasses and choked a little “hobi oppa, where’s the water?”

they were talking about taehyung’s mixtape at some point

“oppa’s music is really nice, though. the stuff you let me hear is really good, i love listening to them” “thanks, aegi”

“look at you guys and your mixtapes. am i the only one who’s going to promote solo as an idol?”

hoseok and taehyung just laughed at her “we’re your biggest fans”

“we’re heeeeeere! my trampoline!”

hoseok opened her door for her and helped her out. she took her small carriers, still two because one held all her equipment while the other held her clothes and some skincare and makeup

“is it necessary to bring work here?” jungkook asked her

“i mean, you never know when ideas will pop up, right?”

a few minutes later, you can see her running up to the cars again “my guitar’s still in the car!”

miya: honestly, i was just excited to be able to relax again. i don’t think i ever slept that much anywhere else. the oppas say it’s good for me *laughs*

the first thing she did when she got in her room was to pull her blanket from the carrier with her equipment and take her plushies out of her backpack

she put them down inside the mosquito net “alright toph, koda, time for you guys to rest from the long drive”

she ran over to the upper house “yoongi oppa! can i help with the food!” “that would be much appreciated, princess”

she’s chopping up vegetables quickly, drawing hoseok’s attention

“sometimes, i forget you’re a good cook because of how clumsy you are. hyung, you know she nearly dropped her sandwich in the car earlier?” “oppaaaa, don’t tell them thaaaat”

she was grilling some marinated pork chops in the kitchen while the older members were outside. hoseok stopped by, and she cut him a little piece for tasting

“perfect as always, makdungie”

jungkook punching the broth behind her distracted her the slightest bit by making her laugh “oppa, you’re hyperactive today”

she brought the huge dish of marinated pork out to the table and yoongi had her taste the dakgalbi

“ooooh it’s smokey, i love it!”

she made sure to get the bowl with what looked like the least amount of noodles which yoongi noticed and made up for it by giving her a lot meat

meanwhile seokjin looked at her “i still can’t believe you won’t tell us how you make the marinade for your pork” “that’s a secret between me and yoonsungie oppa”

she ran off after eating saying she had to brush her teeth

right after she did, she ended up sitting by the deck with her guitar playing random melodies and writing them down

seokjin surprised her by arriving and going straight into the canoe

“oppa?” “i hit a ball into the lake by accident” “well, looks like a home run”

she laughed when his canoe hit the deck before setting her guitar down and helping him out of it

“oh god, i’m sleepy”

she headed up to the main house with seokjin where jungkook was half asleep

she settled next to him and somehow they made themselves fit into the small bench. they just passed out despite the other members being quite loud

hoseok and seokjin were trying to wake the two maknaes up. seokjin picked her up from jungkook’s grasp and she just ended up wrapping her limbs around him and burying her face in his neck and going back to sleep

“oppa,” she mumbled while seokjin was hitting jungkook with the foam roller, “this game is so violent. and loud. and making you move a lot”

“aigoo, you two won’t be sleeping in the boat house later at this rate”

next you see of her, she’s in the kitchen whisking eggs and talking to herself

“this whole process can’t be aired to protect my fried chicken recipe,” she looked at the nearest camera “please keep it a secret, editor-nims”

while jungkook is filleting the fish, they overlay the sound of her frying the chicken

“simple fried chicken when done well is worth a lot”

seokjin walked in, yoongi close after

“oppas, i’m making chicken! what else are we having for dinner?”

seokjin patted her head “you did well, princess. what about doenjang jjigae?” “oh, sounds good!”

yoongi helped her bring the plates of fried chicken out to the table which she began to set for them

jungkook hopped out to have her taste some of the sushi making her grin

then he threw her over his shoulder

“stop hovering over the chicken and come inside to help taste stuff!” “but the bugs!”

she ended up inside tasting yoongi’s jjigae

she stayed off to the side mixing a bunch of sauces together for the chicken if the others wanted to flavor it

jungkook came and playfully put some of the honey soy sauce on the sushi and tried it

“wah, hold on, that’s actually good” “oppa, save the sauce for the chicken!” “there’s also garlic parmesan and teriyaki!”

miya: it felt nice to have a lot of us in the kitchen. there were so many things going on both creative wise and, well, cooking wise. i usually cook alone at the dorms or with one other person, but being with a lot of people gives it a more chaotic but homey feel. it’s… it’s a very warm feeling”

there were compliments passed around for the chicken, sushi, and soup and she just had the biggest grin on her face while eating

seokjin placed a small plate in front of her “these pieces don’t have wasabi, so you can eat it”

“let’s have yoonmi’s marinated fried chicken tomorrow!” “oh, good. i already marinated them in the fridge for tomorrow, anyway”

yoongi pulled the soju bottle away from her “that means no drinking tonight, princess. we want you awake in time to cook lunch”

she headed for the boat house after dinner

Episode 6

jimin popped into her room while she was settling herself in bed. he crawled into her mosquito net with her and began tucking her in

“i haven’t done this in a while”

miya: jiminnie oppa had a habit of tucking me in before sleeping back when i was younger. we got older, though, and i started staying in the studio later, so he never got to do it much anymore. it was pretty nostalgic, and i felt like i was fourteen or fifteen again

“i though jinnie oppa wanted to play baseball with you” “i told him i’d come back after checking in on you”

he settled her plushies on either side of her head which made her giggle

“you’re growing up way too fast, aegi. i can’t believe you’re an adult now” “i guess so”

he kissed her forehead “you’re still our makdungie, though. sleep well, alright?”

she smiled at him “good night, oppa”

jimin: i think i didn’t enjoy yoonmi’s childhood enough. one minute, she’s a little kid who barely reached my chest. the next, she’s twenty years old, a successful actress and soloist alongside being in bangtan, and she has a boyfriend, too. i know she’s still my baby, but i feel like time flew by way too fast

the next day, she walked into the upper house kitchen to find seokjin and yoongi cooking. she was still rubbing her eyes, and her hair was a mess

“aigoo, our princess is still sleepy”

she walked right into seokjin’s arms and closed her eyes while he slightly rubbed her back

“should i cook the marinated fried chicken?”

yoongi patted her head “we have a lot of dakgalbi, it’s okay”

she settled on the table facing yoongi while he grilled, chin in her hands as she tried to stay awake on the table

yoongi woke her up and placed a fork in her hand knowing she’s too sleepy to properly use chopsticks

she ate in silence, eyes half-closed

jimin chuckled at her “sleep well last night, aegi” “mhmm yes, oppa”

when they finished lunch, she headed straight for the common area in the main house with her book

she sat reading in between jungkook and namjoon while they painted

“oppas, how’s the weather gonna be today?” “really nice, apparently”

she closed her book for a while before getting up. she silently made her way over to the boat house where she started doing her hair and makeup.

“i’ve got to do a self-photoshoot before i let the nice weather go to waste”

a few minutes later, she’s out on the deck with her phone on a tripod on video mode. she sets it up and presses record before posing by the fence

“god, i hope this comes out pretty”

she moves around a little before checking her phone

“ooooh these are kinda good. okay let me put on a dress and take pictures by the flowers”

jungkook glances at the view again a few minutes later and lets out a laugh when he sees yoonmi in a dress all done up and posing in front of her phone

“i didn’t think she’d actually do the self-photoshoot”

nearly twenty minutes later, she’s back in her loungewear in between namjoon and jungkook taking screenshots of herself from her mini self-photoshoot

she looked up and just watched jungkook paint

“it’s amazing how you can just do that” “i’ll teach you if you want to try” “maybe tomorrow”

she headed inside the common room and continued reading in there

when the sun started to set, she headed over to her room to put her book down

she washed off her makeup and headed up to the upper house

[bluejayblueskies]

Your HK au post is so well thought out and I love it but as someone who has seen many hours of HK clips on Youtube, I am curious which cast members you can see making the most iconic mistakes. Who overcooks like a dozen wellingtons in one service? Who overcooks and throws away about 5lbs of pasta? Whose signature dish makes Elias physically sick even though they insist customers always love it? Etc.

oh i'm glad you like it!!! in no particular order:

- any time jude is put on the meat station, she burns the lamb. it's like a curse. she tries to make lamb for a challenge once before she gets sent home in an effort to redeem herself but she burns that one too. the night she gets sent home she burns three lambs in a row and elias sits her down and forces her to eat her burnt lamb at the chef's table.

- on the flip side, jane gets put on meat her first service and only puts out raw meat. she's like 'it's not raw it's rare!' and elias is like 'the fat isn't rendered and it's cold what do you mean it's not raw???' (she puts out raw chicken two times in a row and elias almost loses his mind)

- martin. i love martin. but his signature dish does not go over well at all. elias takes one look and is like 'this looks like you upended a trash can on this plate and sprinkled some chives on top of it. what is it supposed to be?' and then he eats it and spits it out almost instantaneously. martin's so nervous, all he can think to say is, 'it's something i serve all the time, people love it!' and elias is like 'remind me never to come to your general area of the country. zero points. next'

- poor gerry. the man just cannot cook scallops to save his life. elias is like 'they're rubber do them again!' and then gerry tries again and this time they're stone cold. the next time they stick to the pan. gerry gets kicked out of the kitchen, goes back to the dorms, and sits on the couch with his head in his hands like fuck.

- jon has mostly good services. but. his big mistake comes somewhere near black jackets when he gets up in his head about things. he slices a wellington, is like 'shit this is over' and is so afraid to bring up overcooked wellington or admit to it that he just... throws it away. he does this for two more before elias gets impatient and goes over and is like 'what are you doing??' and pulls perfectly cooked wellingtons out of the trash and is like 'these are perfectly cooked!! why are we throwing away perfectly cooked food!! you're better than this jon' and jon is convinced he's going to get kicked out even though it's his first real mistake in service.

- jared is the person who doesn't communicate at all. he either says absolutely nothing or gives conflicting answers ('two minutes on the fish' [one minute later] 'three minutes on the fish chef!') and likes to blame his communication mistakes on other people, saying that they didn't talk to him.

- mike puts up a lot of undercooked risotto (like... consistently) and eventually it gets to the point where he's put on apps and his teammate is like 'dude just- just let me do the risotto please' and in the cut-away interview portion, mike is like 'what the fuck dude, i know how to cook a goddamned risotto, get off my back' when clearly he doesn't lol

- tim has no palate. he does very poorly at all the 'taste it now make it' or palate challenges. elias gives him banana to taste and he guesses carrots. he gives him chicken and tim guesses egg whites. it's awful.

- manuela does the classic 'i didn't realize the stove/oven wasn't on!' not once, but twice in her time in hell's kitchen. she sits there stirring risotto over a cold burner for ten minutes before elias finally goes over and is like 'it... it's not even hot manuela!'

- agnes almost burns down hell's kitchen. twice.

- helen/michael (i think they would use both names, but i haven't decided yet) just can't remember the orders that elias calls out. he'll call 'two wellingtons one halibut one new york strip' and he'll ask helen/michael to repeat it back and they'll be like *dial up noises* 'two wellingtons, one- one tuna, um...' and elias is standing there like 😐

- in all of oliver's time in hell's kitchen, elias doesn't like a single original dish he does for any of the challenges. oliver, in his cut-away interviews, is like 'well, clearly he just doesn't recognize talent' when quote-unquote 'talent' is like... two weirdly butchered overcooked fillets and pomegranate mint pink peppercorn sauce.

- daisy sends up so much raw fish. the kind that elias slams down on the table and smushes beneath his hand because he's so frustrated. she has basira check it, basira says it's not ready, and for some reason she walks it up anyway. once (and only once) she sends up overcooked fish and elias is like 'finally, some fucking variety in your mistakes'

- julia talks back to elias, and when she gets cut, she says right to his face, 'you're making a huge mistake and you'll regret it' and then stomps away just to stomp right back when he says, a bit snidely, 'get out of my fucking kitchen.' she is escorted away by security. everyone else is like 😳🤐 it is silent in that room.

- basira is extremely meticulous in her cooking. this also makes her a very slow chef who tends to get in her head as a way to cope with the insanity of the kitchen around her. she'll often be like a brick wall when people try to talk to her and then pick up a pan and say 'walking scallops to the pass!' when the risotto still has three minutes to go.

- naomi is the unfortunate pasta-waster. she also basically falls apart on garnish, sends up raw eggplant three times in a row, can never remember what garnish goes with which thing. when they're prepping the kitchen she's standing with a little list trying to remember what goes in each dish.

- sasha is... not very good in the beginning, but around episode three there's such a sudden shift in her cooking that people swear she's not the same person anymore. the main way sasha avoids elimination in the beginning is her team not losing dinner services, despite the fact that she sends up near-consistent rubber scallops and salty risotto. the audience is surprised when she's in the final four, but she says in the cut-away interview, 'i just realized what i needed to do and i did it. i'm a different chef right now than i was when i came here, that's for sure'

- georgie once butchers thirty racks of lamb incorrectly during prep and they have to throw all of them away. she also has a tendency to struggle with cutting lamb and is often like 'melanie, just. can you do this for me' because melanie is frighteningly good at cutting meat in one slice.

- melanie is the contestant who gets in arguments with nearly everybody all the time but then next episode is friends with them again. this happens sometimes in the span of five minutes with jon, and people just cannot decide if they're friends or not. (they are.) she also makes a signature dish that elias refuses to eat because her steak is so raw it's 'still mooing' and she's like 'well if he'd just tasted it he'd know that my flavors were good.'

- jordan drops an entire pan of wellingtons. ten wellingtons just. rolling all over the floor. elias is furious and he has to go over to the other kitchen, borrow some wellingtons, and apologize to the other diners for the now-thirty minute wait time. then, he has jordan go out and apologize directly. jordan's cut-away interview is just him hanging his head and whispering, 'fuck me'

[romancingromanoff]

Short & Sweet (Carol Danvers x femme reader)

Carol is nervous about asking the reader out because she doesn’t know if she’s interested in women. Fluffy story about her trying to scope out information on the reader from the rest of the team without letting on the fact that she’s a bit insecure.

Y/N was actually a pretty frequent visitor to Carol’s room at the Avenger’s Headquarters. Not a single day went by that she wouldn’t make the eager skip down the hall to knock on the door which Carol had painted “Strongest Avenger” over just to piss off Thor. Of course, he had written over it with (though it was in Norse runes and so no one could decipher what it said exactly) but she had gotten back at him by heating up the insides of the toaster just by a little bit so that it ended up frying his Pop-tarts the next morning.

For the large amount of time Y/N spent hanging out in Carol’s room, anybody else would assume that there was at least some sign of romantic interest coming from her, but it was a bit difficult to tell considering the fact that (Y/N) always came over just to play with Goose. She was completely obsessed with the little orange guy even though Carol had warned her on multiple occasions that he was actually capable swallowing her with giant tentacles that could come out of his mouth and force into an unknown pocket dimension.

“I know he’s not a cat because I’m allergic to cats,” Y/N had first said with that cheeky smile that Carol just couldn’t say no to. And that had started her daily visits of checking in with Goose every morning.

“So, you and Y/N seem to be spending a lot of time together,” Wanda brought up one day with a tone of surprise. Carol almost spit out her coffee but then tried to play it off like it was just a little too hot.

“Yeah, I guess,” she said as casually as possible. But was that really surprising? She wondered if Wanda or any of the rest of the team also found it unusual. This wasn’t a good sign at all. She probably wasn’t gay after all then. “But what about Barton, huh? They seem pretty close... or at least that’s what I get from our conversations.” Truthfully, Y/N never talked about Clint which was strange considering the large amount of time that they spent together. Whether it was taking long walks alone together or her watching him at target practice, Y/N always seemed the most comfortable around Clint. He always had his arm around her and Carol couldn’t help but notice how that never failed to make her smile. 

Wanda smirked from behind the hair that was covering the side of her face and simply sipped her tea. “Barton? Oh, yeah, they’re close.” She picked up her mug and left the kitchen and as much as Carol wanted to keep interrogating her about what she knew, she didn’t want to look too suspicious. Walking into the next room she found Bucky, Sam, and Scott spread out on the couch arguing over the channels. 

“C’mon, turn the game back on, I’m not playing around,” Sam punched Bucky’s arm but seemed to forget that it was completely made out of metal and so he vigorously tried to shake the pain out of it while Scott just laughed at the two of them.

“Can I just finish this one episode of Kitchen Nightmares? I want to see how the tuna fillet turns out,” Bucky’s grip around the remote tightened in his metal arm and he held it closer to his chest. 

“Not this again.”

“I’m the only one that cooks around here. I mean, what do you want me to do? Apologize for feeding you?” Cause if so then I’ll take back my mini quiches!”

“SPFFFF!” Scott spit whatever he was chewing on the floor and almost fell backwards off the couch his arms were flinging all over the place. “YOU MADE THESE?” he demanded, angrily pointing at whatever he had just regurgitated up into his hand.

“What the hell is going on?” Sam sighed to himself before grabbing the remote and changing it to basketball.

“Yes? I did this morning,” Bucky answered confused.

“Well, did you wash your hands?” Scott was freaking out trying to find a napkin to wipe his hand and face on while Bucky and Sam desperately leaned away from him, scooting to the other side of the couch.

“You think I would intentionally get my metal arm wet?”

“Oh, GOD! That is disgusting,” Scott ran out of the room hunched over like he was going to puke at the thought of having eaten some mini quiches made by a guy that never washed the metal arm he regularly used to punch people with. 

“I wore gloves.”

“Hey, fellas,” Carol thought she would interrupt the conversation before it got even weirder. “Have any of you seen Y/N around by chance?”

“Yeah, she’s out feeding the squirrels with Clint,” Sam replied without taking his eyes off the screen.

“Clint? Shit,” Carol cursed to herself which strangely got the two guys to turn around and look at her.

“You got something wrong with Barton?” I mean, yeah, he doesn’t have much up there but his ego isn’t nearly as big as Thor’s. Or is this about something else?”

“No, no it isn't,” Carol quickly said. “I just didn’t know if Y/N had plans already for this evening since she and Barton are....?” she dragged that last word on for as long as she could in hopes that one of the other two would finish the sentence for her; hopefully, without using the word “dating” or “together”.

“They’re... friends,” Bucky had his eyebrow raised at her. “What makes you so concerned?”

“Oh, I see what’s going on,” Sam nodded giving hintful eyes at Buck. “You feeling a little insecure, huh, Marvel?” he laughed and Carol’s cheeks instantly flushed red with anger.

“Insecure? I don’t know the word. And I don’t know what you’re talking about, Wilson, because for some of us it’s not hard when you’re the whole package and have a super great body and personality,” she retorted.

“You think you’re the whole package? Y/N’s type of package?”

“Oh I know I’m the whole package,” confidence seemed to radiate throughout her entire body as she took that intimidating stance she had perfected. But in truth, it was easy for her to say that when her own reputation was being questioned and she couldn’t help but worry about what Sam meant by “Y/N’s type of package” but had to leave the room with badassery all around her to keep them convinced. 

This time, she was going to get straight to the point. She was going to ask what needed to be asked with no trying to dance around the question out of fear of being judged. So she approached Thor at the bar.

“Thunderhead, what’s your opinion on Y/N?” she sat down right next to him before grabbing the beer he was drinking and throwing back a giant swig of the Asgardian liquid. 

“She’s certainly more ladylike than you,” he rolled his eyes before quickly grabbing his drink back and roughly pulling it out of her grip. “But yet a fierce fighter as well. Much like the women we have in Asgard.”

“Aw, I’m touched that you thought that would wound me, Thor. But unlike your masculinity, my femininity isn’t that fragile. But what are those stories you always tell her?”

“You would be best not to test the fragility of my temper, human,” Thor glared. “But Lady Y/N usually enjoys hearing tales I have of the old Asgard: The great rainbow bridge, the magnificent castle, the music-filled gardens, the dresses of the ladies in court, the Pegasi stables... she’s always been bewildered by all of its wonders, as she should be. Asgard was like no other planet in this universe, at night the stars could-”

“Okay, okay, it was fairytale land. I get it. Seems a lot like her speed,” Carol muttered that last part to herself. Y/N was just like a Disney princess come to life always spending time with animals and singing throughout her daily chores. But did that mean a prince was what she was seeking? And was Clint that guy? Forget it. There was no way that Carol was going to find that out trying to get the information from Thor of all people. “What the hell am I doing? Just ask her,” she thought to herself angrily and headed straight for the exit with a purpose in her step.

“Hey!” she called out upon seeing Y/N at the base of a nearby tree feeding some crackers to two red squirrels that immediately ran away at the sound of Carol’s loud voice. Her heart panged in her chest when she saw Clint walk out from behind the other side of the tree with a skeptical, almost protective look in his eye. But she wasn’t having any of that right now. 

“Carol?” Y/N inquired with a confused look on her face. She was so innocent and pure that she just wanted to take her into her arms and protect her from the rest of the universe. It was like every atom in her body was meant to keep her safe and for once and for all she needed to know if Y/N would let her do that.

“Barton, Barnes made mini quiches,” she stated with a firmness in her voice that made it clear she was hoping Clint would leave the two of them alone. He didn’t completely trust her yet and Carol couldn’t blame him; he didn’t know her.

“It’s okay, Clint,” Y/N suddenly said before grabbing his hand and squeezing it while giving him a reassuring smile. That seemed to comfort him enough to the point where he felt fine with heading off back inside. So maybe the signs weren’t exactly pointing in the direction Carol wanted them to be in at the moment, but she was ready to settle her fears once and for all. And if she was dating Clint, then she was dating Clint. And if she wasn’t into girls, then she just wasn’t into girls. They could still be friends even if that wasn’t the result she was hoping for, but anything was better then living in agony trying not to give away any hints that she wanted nothing more than to kiss her every time she came to visit her cat-er-Flerken.

She took a deep breath. “I’m going to keep this short & sweet. Just like you,” she began and Y/N simply nodded. “I would like to take you out on a date and I have wanted too for a while actually. But even if you’re not into girls or just even into me I just think you should know that you’re amazingly talented, skilled, and warm-hearted that it was hard for me to believe you existed at first. Everything from your laugh, to your smile, to the way you get all adorably frustrated when you can’t remember the punch line to a really corny joke just reminds me of what I love about this world; and why it’s frankly my favorite planet in the universe. And I’ve only waited this long to ask because I was never sure if you’d be interested in someone like me because I can’t exactly give you the fairy tale romance you’ve always wanted, while Clint, on the otherha-”

She was unable to finish what she was saying because Y/N couldn’t stop herself from grabbing Carol’s shoulders, standing up on the top of her toes and leaning in to finally kiss her. Her lips were soft, but eager, and Carol happily kissed her back gradually deepening it before both of them had to pull back for air and she found herself giggling as Y/N was.

“I was wondering when you’d take all the hints I was leaving you,” she laughed. “And just for the record, I was always mad at the prince for scooping in and taking the princess before I could.”

“So, you and Clint?”

“Are friends,” she smiled with a hint of sadness in her eyes that made Carol concerned. 

“Hey, what’s wrong?” she cupped her chin with her hand lightly and scoped out her eyes for any tears she would be ready to wipe away. “You don’t have to talk about it if you don’t want to.”

“No, it’s okay. I want to,” Y/N took a deep breath and composed herself. “Clint was really close with Natasha. And I liked her but she couldn’t reciprocate those feelings. I still cared about her and she loved me too, just in her own way, but her death hasn’t exactly been easy on me. Clint’s just sort of the only one who understood how complicated our relationship was.”

“I’m so sorry,” Carol said truthfully just not being able to imagine what she was going through. 

“Well, he’s also been very patient with me for these last few weeks as I’ve kept on complaining about how this girl I’m interested didn’t seem like she would ever want to ask me out,” she laughed and playfully poked at Carol.

“Will a kiss make it up to you then?”

“Yes, it just might.”

[nevergiveupneverrun]

Bodyguard- Chapter Thirty-seven “Private world” Part One

Hello, I hope you’re all doing great and that you’re happy. Here is chapter thirty-seven of my Story Bodyguard.  I’m so sorry for not posting for a long time, I was busy and I didn’t find time to translate it... but here I am now with a new chapter. 

I’m sorry by advance for the mistakes… English isn’t my first language and I do my best. Here is the link of the previous chapter because it’s been a long time since the last update: Click Here.

I hope you will enjoy this chapter :) 💛

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- Well, that’s it, can I go down? I launched from the floor.

- Owen, you were told not to go down or approach the kitchen before 8:30 pm! Exclaims Rosie from the ground floor. And what time is it?

I sigh while taking a look at my watch, 8:25pm… I still had to wait five minutes.

It had been three hours since I was cloistered in my room. I had invited Rosie to dinner with us, but I had not foreseen her legendary imagination and her sense of initiative.

She had suggested spending time with Amelia and preparing dinner… but on a very specific condition that I don’t take a look at their preparations… I had given in to my greatest despair now, but if that could change Amelia’s ideas… and I knew that Rosie had all the qualities for that.

My gaze remains fixed on my clock-radio near my bed, focused on watching the minutes scroll… and finally, see the time of my deliverance ring.

I almost dreaded the evening because Rosie’s conundrums intrigued me. I knew her spontaneity and I was just hoping she did not think too much about Amelia and me… I didn’t want to relive embarrassing moments from my past. Especially episodes of my teenage years when Rosie could not be more insistent… 

Thinking back to this period of my life, my apprehension goes up a little more than a notch while the time is displayed in red numbers on the dial of my clock-radio: 8:30pm… the time of my deliverance... 

I get up from my bed while laughing inside, mocking myself.

To fear a simple little evening that Rosie was able to prepare. When I think back to missions that I was able to assume in the past… I was sometimes pathetic… 

.

I take a look in the mirror of my wardrobe and breathe a great blow, replacing the collar of my shirt properly. I had made an effort for the evening and I was practically doing my usual bodyguard look, tie less. 

.

I open the door to my room and go down the stairs without telling me or check that I could actually get out of my hiding place: I’ve been waiting for quite a long time. 

As I go down the stairs, I quickly notice in my field of vision that the table in the living room is ready for dinner: cutlery for three and a vase that stands… revealing white and pink peonies.

I find the floor leaving the last step and the silhouette of Rosie appears immediately leaving the kitchen, hands loaded with two dishes.

- You are impossible…

- Rosie, it’s 8:30pm… I can come officially, I reply smiling.

- Yes, I grant you and I see that you left your jeans and your t-shirt… flattered that you made an effort for this dinner… or maybe for something else, right? She asks with a wink. 

I hold her gaze for a few moments when a movement behind her catches my attention.

Another silhouette that comes forwards and that I know perfectly… and what strikes me first is her outfit. Like an air of déjà vu and yet, I don’t have the memory of having seen anybody wear it. 

Amelia is indeed dressed in a short aqua dress… a dress in a hook.

And it is this detail that revives my memories. This dress I had already seen but never finalized.

It was one of the last creations my mother had worked on, but she had never finished.

I take a surprising look at Rosie, who smiles at me briefly, and her gaze, which is coming down: it’s her who completed this creation of my mother and offered it to Amelia. I look back at Amelia and discover her again: this dress seemed made for her, like a second skin, subtly marrying all of her curves and unveiling her legs. I look up at her face and it’s a second surprise: her hair is subtly curly, place on both sides of her shoulders, her eyes are magnified by a makeup perfectly tuned to the color of her eyes, which stand out as two stars, and her lips are dressed in a light red which draws them perfectly… no doubt that Rosie was behind all that, but nothing to complain about.

The result was spectacular…

A throat clearing me out of my contemplation and I discovered Amelia, in front of me, a little uncomfortable under my fixation.

- Rosie helped me get ready for tonight…

- I didn’t have much to do sweetie… I have very little merit…

- I think the opposite, Rosie, you have…

- You are very beautiful, Amelia, I resume by cutting her off.

She stops and looks at me, then quickly looks down, almost embarrassed as I see a light pink color her cheeks.

- Thank you… she whispers as she continues to move towards the table, a bottle of water and the breadbasket in her hand.

I watch her evolve in the room, fascinated by the grâce that emanates from her. 

She then sits slightly to one side before turning completely face to the table and my breath is cut literally.

The dress releases all of her back until the small of the back, and my heart accelerates a little more than I realize that she doesn’t wear a bra under these centimeters of the crochet stitch.

- If we went to the table, kids!

 I turn my head to Rosie, her voice cutting into my thoughts that were wandering dangerously.

I follow Rosie to the table and empty my head for a few seconds, before settling. 

- Now, you’ll thank us for waiting three hours.

- Oh yes, and why?

- For that! Rosie launches eagerly as she uncovers the lid of the two dishes she has brought.

And I understand better what she is referring to because what I have before me is one of my favorite dishes… one of those I shared with my father and we had found many times to eat here with family. 

- Not disappointed, your tastes have not changed so much?

- No, don’t worry! Fillet of duck breast with honey, it remains one of my weaknesses. And tell me, it is what I believe or is it an ordinary gratin Dauphinois?

- Ordinary… not really because it’s the famous gratin with truffle, you know I have the recipe too!

I smiled at her and I was already salivating in front of this feast. 

Waiting and impatience had almost completely disappeared at this moment.

- Besides for the gratin, it’s not me who did it. You’ll thank Amelia… same for the dessert…

I meet Amelia’s eyes on my right.

She looks at me smiling, with a little hint of fun in her eyes.

- Since you have prepared everything and thank you for all this work, I do the service!

I get up and equip myself with spoons and I distribute the portions to these ladies, before serving my turn.

A religious silence echoes while we enjoy our first bite but my pleasure leads me to break it quickly. 

- Hum, it’s divine… always so good, it’s been a long time since I had eaten.

- Do you like it, Amelia? Rosie asks on my left.

- It’s very good Rosie, the meat is succulent. I’m not used to eating duck but’s it’s really a marvel. 

- And I must congratulate you for the gratin… the balance between truffle and potato is perfect. I am relieved that you like it so much… you must know that it is Amelia who insisted that we cook one of your favorite meal Owen!

I stare at Rosie briefly and she completes her statement. 

- At first, I wanted to cook something she likes, but she told me it was your turn… It seems that you did her cooking… she finished in a tone full of implied, that I know her well.

- It seems so, I answer, looking at Amelia.

- You never cooked for me, Owen. You’d have to tell me what’s so special about Amelia, Rosie replies in a laugh. 

- Yes, I’d have to tell you.

I smile, satisfied to have cut short the teasing of Rosie, leaving the mystery floating, without revealing me unnecessarily.

- Always so secretive… I don’t know if you managed to see right through him, Amelia, but Owen is one of the most mysterious men I’ve ever known… I know that after joining the army, he joined special units, but he never wanted to tell me the precise service, the missions in which he participated… where we sent him and for what…

She turns to me and stares at me before I resume.

- I saw it five years ago, that you had experienced something traumatic…

- Rosie, I told you several times that I could not tell you everything… that’s the rule and it’s for your safety.

- Excuse me… but it works me it’s stronger than me…  you’re what I have dearest since the death of my Georges… 

- I know, Rosie, I answer, furtively taking her hand.

She had her share of misfortunes to live also on her side and she was the closest person to a mother and a family that I now have.

- But don’t worry about me, please.

I leave her eyes after smiling shyly at her.

Her sincere concern touched me, I had never been able to explain to her what I was doing… and even after leaving the special forces, I had not told her that I had converted to bodyguards. A trade with fewer secrets but just as dangerous and I did not want to feed unnecessarily her anxieties.

.

I find the look of Amelia who observes us with interest and compassion.

Rosie quickly changes the subject, troubled by the moment we had just exchanged and she speaks freely for the next fifteen minutes of the region where we were: praising with passion the nature around us and her desire to preserve this little piece of paradise. 

Amelia and I listen attentively until we finish with the plate, and I get up immediately to clear.

- So, where is this famous dessert?

- I’ll get it, says Amelia, getting up already.

- Out of the question, Amelia, you are invited to these places. I’ll go! Owen come help me, says Rosie.

I go to the kitchen, hands loads with two dishes already well-opened duck breast and gratin that I cover with their cover. 

Rosie opens the oven in parallel and pulls out a cake pan.

The famous dessert of Amelia.

- She knows you well to know that you’re a crazy of chocolate… Rosie whispers by my side. 

- There are things difficult to hide, you know. Thank you for this meal, Rosie, and thank you for taking care of her, I have the impression that you knew how to change her mind taking care of her like that.

- Don’t thank me, this young woman is adorable and I had a great time with her. 

I remain silent a few seconds before ending up asking her the question that had been run through my mind for over an hour.

- You never told me you had finished mum’s dress?

She does not respond directly, pretending to be focused on unmolding the cake.

I keep my attention on her, waiting patiently for my answer.

- She was not finished, two days ago, you know… I still had some stichs to do. I never had the strength to finish it, knowing that your mother would never wear it… but when I saw Amelia at the market with this lace dress on her, I went back to it and I finished it… I knew someone could wear it, someone, worthy of your mother’s memory.

- Thank you, Rosie, it touches me a lot, you know…

- And I could see that you like a lot this dress… she replies in a laugh. 

It was the spitting image of Rosie, able to change the atmosphere in a second.

She moves away with the cake unmolded and cut into a large plate in the direction of the living room.

I join after a few seconds and find my place at the table, my dessert plate already filled with a generous slice.

- No, thank you, Rosie, I don’t think I have more space, Amelia answers as Rosie prepares to serve her. 

- Are you sure? It would be a shame not to taste your own dessert.

- No, really, I have already eaten enough.

- If you’re not hungry anymore, I don’t insist, but I hope it’s not up to the stupid diktats of fashion that reign in our day. Owen, reassure me, you don’t feed this nonsense!

- She does not have to worry, her silhouette is perfect, she knows it… it will be necessary that you really taste it, I resume turned towards Amelia, it is just excellent.

- A tip, Amelia: keep an eye on him, he would be able to eat it all! I know those eyes there, says Rosie. 

Amelia laughs heartily at this remark and I follow her with enthusiasm, touched by this irruption of her joie de vivre.

- He is formidable, but you have noticed, I am sure… his eyes have pretty incredible power. When he was little, he was able to have everything he wanted with just those two little pupils. I’m sure you’re still using it when you need it.

- Rosie…

- His father had the same eyes, Amelia, you know, resume Rosie turning to the singer. That’s what made her mother fall for him. You told her, Owen, how did your parents meet?

- I’m not sure it interest Amelia, I answer, starting to clear when I was done with my slice of cake. 

- I am sure of the opposite, replies Rosie. 

I head for the kitchen with plates and cutlery in my hands, while hearing Rosie’s voice coming to me. I preferred to stay away from the conversation. Of those memories that Rosie was going to revive. 

- Owen’s father was a guitarist, a genius guitarist, really. At the time, he was in a group that was looking for a voice to accompany them. Evelyn, Owen’s mother, was a young stylist, who worked in a studio but whose true passion was music… and she had come to this audition. 

She was not selected, the group dissolved a few days later, but the love, at first sight, had taken place. At first sight. Evelyn told me this first meeting several times… she had been mesmerized by this look, and apparently, the effect was just as reciprocal… they are no longer left the thirty years that followed. 

I place the dishes in the sink while listening to the story of Rosie that brings me back to another era, which revives the memory of these two beings so important in my life.

- They had special alchemy between them. They were able to communicate without talking to each other… so much happened in their eyes… it was disturbing to see two people in symbiosis… the kind of couples who make you think we all have our other half… connected to life, to death… 

 Rosie’s voice gradually fades on these last words.

I stare at my hands in the sink, eyes in wander. The minds elsewhere on this end that she mentions, on these two losses that touched me so hard.

A silence of a few seconds sounds like deafening…

- Owen’s mother was a singer?

Amelia’s voice suddenly rises, and I’m surprised by the interest that comes out of her question… the interest in my own story. 

- She was singing divinely well… a pure voice, a real angel’s voice… but she has never realized this passion. She lived it a little proxy through her husband, who was a formidable musician. But I think this environment scared her and as soon as Owen was born, it was even more incompatible for her to be a mom and an artist. At the time, it was different you know, artists were not recognized as today, they were considered more marginal, and it was even harder for a woman. So she continued working as a stylist, quickly designing her own creations, but she sang regularly… I heard her dozens of times, in this house, to mix her voice with the guitar…

- It must have been beautiful, I’m sure… this house is full of vibrations, moments of sharing, moments in family…

- This house is special, it has marked so many stages in the life of Owen’s parents. A place they fell in love with… a place where their love has become stronger… this house is sweating love, I’m sure you feel it.

And I know that’s why Owen comes back when he needs to recharge his batteries.

It’s his little private world…

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Thank you for reading. I hope you like this chapter! The plates in this chapter are french and if you don’t know it, please taste it, it’s so excellent! 💛

[nightmareonfilmstreet]

[Recap] AMC’s THE TERROR Episode 7: “Horrible From Supper”

The mind is a powerful thing. It takes in external stimuli, interprets the ramifications of that information on the fly and converts it into electrical impulses that control everything from your sweat glands to your body movements. When everything works correctly, you can perceive a threat and make a rational decision in milliseconds based on hundreds of different variables. When everything is not working correctly, if a foreign agent has been introduced into your system that alters just one facet of this process, things begin to become slanted and skewed.

Maybe your vision is slightly impaired and you cannot see a crack in the rocks you’re climbing. Maybe you begin to hear things that aren’t there, voices telling you to do unspeakable things to those around you. The foreign agent slowly takes control and begins to make your body do things that it would never do on its own. This is what is happening to every single character on AMC’s The Terror, and it is manifesting itself in a creeping madness that is beginning to unravel even the strongest of men.

    There are two foreign agents that have revealed themselves over the last few episodes. The first is Lead. Each crew member has been slowly poisoning themselves for years with the lead that has leaked into their canned provisions. This has caused headaches, paranoia, and in the severe case of John Morfin this week, a bad case of “suicide by Marine”. He has been complaining for weeks of having unnatural thoughts and he apparently reached the end of his rope this week, begging to be killed to put an end to the pain. Morfin got his wish after the rifle he was pointing at Captain Crozier misfired and he caught a bullet to the head for his troubles. Not only was this the end of one man’s life, but it was yet another nail in the coffin of every other crew member’s psyche.

Henry Collins laid in his tent, not even poking his head out to see what the commotion was about. He stared at the canvas ceiling, seemingly resigned to the madness that has already begun to take hold in his own mind. Dr. Goodsir, probably the finest and most pure man on this expedition, finally loses control and begins to hyperventilate in his tent. In the most beautiful scene that The Terror has given us so far, he is comforted by Lady Silence, who quietly lays herself down beside him and holds him until his breathing slows down. She can no longer talk, but she makes sure that he feels safe and secure, even when everything around him is out of control.

  “If it comes, it comes. All you can do is make sure you’re not the one in its jaws.”- Cornelius Hickey

  The second foreign agent that revealed itself this week is none other than Mr. Cornelius Hickey. Ever since the flogging he received from Captain Crozier, we have known that Hickey’s motivations are not completely altruistic. He has been slowly sowing the seeds of insurrection within the minds of his fellow shipmates. Now, we have learned that he is aware that the food is poisoning them. He knows that they have found the heads of the advance party that left last year, the one that has “supposedly’ found help and is on the way back for them. He knows that Crozier and Fitzjames have been lying to the entire crew about both the dangers of the food and that their rescue only made it 18 miles from the ships before Tuunbaq found them. In previous episodes, his shenanigans could be marked down as another side effect of cabin fever mixed with the rancid, lead-laced food. In “Horrible from Supper”, however, we begin to see that it isn’t the madness sweeping across the camp that turned Hickey into the menace he has become, he was mad before the ship even set sail.

The episode begins with a flashback to before the ships left England. A young man named Cornelius Hickey reports for duty. He is a fresh faced young man who asks for advice for his first mission. “Just show up on time“, the officer responds, to chuckles from the fit and well-fed crew around him. It is confusing at first, because it is plain to see that the young man reporting for duty is not the Hickey that we know. He’s younger, clean-shaven, chubbier. I brushed it off as a flashback to farther back in time, back when Hickey was younger and reporting for duty on a different mission. I was wrong.

  In the present, Hickey joins John Irving and another crew member for a hunting expedition at the end of the episode. They crest a hill and find a small group of Inuit men dragging their hunt behind them on a sled. John tells the others to stay behind and he goes down to try to speak to the group. As he introduces himself to the Inuit and exchanges a bit of seal meat for his telescope, we can see Hickey and the other man on the top of the hill. When John asks the Inuit to stay in place, however, the two men are no longer on the horizon.

Worried, John hurries back up the hill to see a dark shape straddling one of the men, looking like a phantom plunging its hands into the body of its victim. As he approaches the figure, it shrugs off its coat to reveal Hickey, only in his underwear and holding a knife. He pounces on Irving like an animal, stabbing his chest over and over again. The brutal attack culminates in him holding his hand over John’s mouth as he bleeds to death, smirking and planning all the while.

  “Friend, Mother, Lover, all the things they say a ship is to a captain and they miss the only thing that matters… Confessor”- Francis Crozier

  The scene is inter-cut with another flashback, this time it is the Hickey we all know and love coming aboard the Terror, reporting for duty. He claims that the reason the officer doesn’t recognize him is because he grew out his beard, but we know the truth. He is not Cornelius Hickey. He is a foreign agent that has killed the real Mr. Hickey and taken his place on board this ship. We knew that he was a dangerous man, but we never really knew just how dangerous he was. Before, when wronged, we saw him defecate on his enemies beds or spread gossip about them behind their backs. Now, with the scene in the frozen wilderness and the flashbacks as our guide, we know that Hickey is an animal. He is just as dangerous as the lead in the food or Tuunbaq in the night. He is using this act to further the men’s paranoia and distrust. They are already in a horrific state, barely hanging on to sanity as it is, and Hickey wants to exploit that to get others to join his cause.

No scene better illustrates the state the men are in than the interaction between Collins and Dr. Goodsir earlier in the episode. Collins breaks down to the doctor over what he is going through. He’s not afraid or paranoid, as most of the men are. Instead, he’s disgusted with himself. In a scene that chilled my bones and gave the episode it’s title, Collins describes to Goodsir what has been going through his mind since the tragedy at Fitzjames‘ Carnivale:

  Collins: “Now I can’t stop smelling the Carnivale.” Goodsir: “The smoke, you mean.” Collins: “… More the meat… They were cooking, like fillets grilling… Those were my friends burning right next to me, but my mouth went from dry to wet in an instant. My nose and my stomach, they don’t know horrible from supper. But I do.”

  The men are hungry. They are exhausted. They are sick, and they are scared. What Hickey is doing is pushing men that are already close to the edge, like Collins, over to tumble down to their doom. Two foreign agents have wormed their way into the brains of the crew and lies, rage, hate, murder and cannibalism are not far behind. “Horrible from Supper” sets up the final three episodes perfectly, showing us the true monsters that await these men as they try to escape their fates.

There are only three episodes left of AMC’s The Terror, so there is still time to get caught up before it ends. If you don’t, then you are missing out on what has become the best show on television, one filled with scares, history, gore and monsters of all shapes and sizes. Keep your eyes on Nightmare on Film Street as we continue to recap each episode and give you the latest and greatest horror news available on the web. While you’re at it, join our Facebook group, Horror Fiends of Nightmare on Film Street and let us know what you think!

    The post [Recap] AMC’s THE TERROR Episode 7: “Horrible From Supper” appeared first on Nightmare on Film Street - Horror Movie Podcast, News and Reviews.

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[themurphyzone]

All Time Travelers Go to Heaven Ch 11

This is a shorter chapter, but I hope you enjoy! New episodes hype!!!

Ch 11- The Restaurant

They walked in the opposite direction from the abandoned pistachio warehouse, not stopping for anything. They couldn’t take any chances. A few times, Balthazar heard the roar of a vehicle and panicked, only for the sound to come from a few hooligans on motorcycles. 

Milo trudged on, not complaining but visibly fatigued. The boy would need food. Living as a fugitive was no life for a child.

He deserved better. 

But that was something Balthazar and Vinnie couldn’t grant.  

The sun was beginning to set. They would need to find a place to stay the night soon. Balthazar didn’t want to resort to the nearest bus stop to take shelter in. He could do without the germs and people trying to rob him. 

Trekking through town wouldn’t be so bad if Vinnie had been his talkative self. But he was still furious, only speaking when asked a question. His replies were oddly curt when Balthazar asked him questions, but he managed a cordial tone if Milo asked.

Balthazar would’ve given anything to hear him ramble about food again. 

Milo entertained himself by making it a point to avoid the cracks in the sidewalk. “So is it true that if you step on a crack, you break your mother’s back? Because I wouldn’t want that to happen to my mom, whoever she is.”

“For people with dead parents, I don’t think it matters much,” Balthazar replied.

“But that would still hurt,” Milo said, tripping over a crack but managing to catch himself before he fell and scraped something. 

Balthazar nodded. “Most likely.”

The conversation dulled quickly though. How did Vinnie handle rambling about nonsense all the time? 

The buildings were steadily showing their age as they pushed deeper into town. Some had faded signs, others with ivy hanging off the sides. Several apartments didn’t look that stable. 

They were wandering around in one of the poorer neighborhoods. With a child. And only a crude form of protection with the brass knuckles. 

The city wasn’t known for a high crime rate, but there were likely some opportunists lurking around. 

And Balthazar didn’t want to take any chances. Not when his watch could be potentially considered valuable.

They passed by a man who was fumbling with his keys as he attempted to lock the door of his restaurant.

A restaurant. That meant food. And a place to stay the night that experienced agents were likely to overlook. 

Balthazar tapped the man on his shoulder. He whirled around, quivering in fear. “I don’t have any money!” he yelled. 

“I’m not interested in money,” Balthazar said. “My companions and I need a place to stay the night, but we’re too poor to find a motel.”

The man stared at him suspiciously. “You;re the craziest robber I have ever come across.”

“We have a kid with us,” Vinnie clamped his hand down on Milo’s shoulder for emphasis. “He’s not sleeping in the streets tonight if we can help it.”

“All we ask is access to your kitchen,” Balthazar said. “If you’re still suspicious, then we will allow you to take out any money you have in the register or safe without a fight. In return, you must hand over the keys.”

“Sounds more like a ransom with all your demands,” the man grumbled. 

“It’s not a demand,” Balthazar said pleasantly. He shifted to the left to block Milo’s view of his glinting brass knuckles. The man took a step back. “Call it a request you can’t refuse.”

He flinched, handing over his keys quickly. 

“Now, take your money and leave,” Balthazar said. 

He cleaned out the register in less than five minutes and took off without saying another word. 

Vinnie and Milo went inside, and Balthazar locked the door once they were all inside. The blinds were thick enough to prevent anyone from seeing activity after closing hours.

The interior of the restaurant was rather tacky for Balthazar’s liking. Fake sea bass and salmon lined the walls, and their beady eyes followed him with every step. He pushed down on a seat cushion next to the wall, a spring bouncing out of the fabric. 

It wouldn’t be the comfiest sleeping arrangement, but it would be better than being out in the open. As Milo passed by the security cameras, they ripped from the wires and fell to the ground.  

Balthazar ripped the inside of the cameras apart. He was definitely being more careful about possible surveillance. 

“Good thing you reminded me,” Balthazar said, dumping the remains in the trash can. 

Milo frowned. “How is he supposed to keep an eye on things?” 

Balthazar shrugged. “Invest in better quality. That model was flimsy. Stay out here. I’m going to check on Dakota.” 

Milo nodded, though he still seemed to disapprove of destroying the security cameras. Balthazar opened a door that was across the hall from the restrooms, the smell of seafood hitting his nose. 

Vinnie was in the kitchen, rummaging through the cabinets until he brought out a large frying pan. 

Balthazar stayed back in case Vinnie had the urge to smack him with it. “Making something?” he asked lightly. 

“We’re all starving. Taking advantage of it while I can,” Vinnie said. 

Well, he responded. 

“That’s good,” Balthazar said. 

“Yeah,” Vinnie replied. 

Balthazar never realized how much he missed their usual banter until now. It was awkward when both of them were giving short replies. 

He tried to peer over Vinnie’s shoulder as he placed a fish on a cutting board. “What are you cooking?” 

“I’ve got a knife. You should be careful,” Vinnie said as he filleted the fish. Balthazar winced at his choice of words, his hand flying up to his watch out of habit. 

A really bad habit, he thought. 

He sighed. “Look, I shouldn’t have run off, like I did. Shouldn’t have lied about the watch either.” Vinnie grabbed several spices out of the cabinets, not turning around. “I-I just didn’t think that-” he swallowed “-I didn’t think. There. I’ll just leave you alone then.”

Balthazar quickly left the kitchen, putting his head down on a table. 

That apology went south. 

Milo climbed into the booth next to him, concerned. “What’s Mr. Dakota doing?” 

Not speaking to him, not listening when he actually forced an apology, too focused on his stomach to pay attention, Balthazar fumed. “Cooking,” he said simply, deciding not to unload his worries on Milo. 

“I never cooked before,” Milo said. “I’d love to try though.”

“Ask Dakota to teach you,” Balthazar said. “I’ve never gotten the hang of it. It’s an art form that requires dedication and an iron stomach.” 

Milo reclined against the back cushion. “So how bad is your cooking?” 

“It’s not bad!” Balthazar protested. “It’s British. You Americans are so reliant on processed food now.”

They were so caught up in their conversation about Balthazar’s peculiar tastes in food that they almost missed Vinnie bringing out three plates. 

“You give yourself too much credit,” Vinnie said as he set the plates on the table. “Your cooking is bland, burnt, or dry. Sometimes all three at once.” 

Balthazar glared at him. “Just because you don’t like your steak medium well-”

Vinnie sat down, throwing his hands up in resignation. “Can you believe this guy?” he jerked his thumb at Balthazar. Milo stifled his laughter, though it still came out in short huffs. “He thinks normal people actually eat their steak medium well!”

“I can’t be the only person in this time period who eats steak medium well!” Balthazar exclaimed. 

Vinnie scoffed as he passed the silverware. “Yeah, you’re right. The only person in the past two centuries. That’s more accurate.”

This was what he’d been missing. Balthazar looked at his plate, which had the green beans arranged to spell out ‘We’re cool’ and a smiley face carved into the rice. 

He almost felt bad for ruining a masterpiece. 

But he needed the sustenance. He had no idea where the next meal was coming from. 

And it was Vinnie’s cooking. Couldn’t let that go to waste. 

Milo practically inhaled his fish, then attacked his green beans with the same ferocity. He started to cough, so Vinnie thumped him on his back, forcing him to spit it out. 

“Thanks,” Milo gasped. 

“You’re welcome,” Vinnie said. “And try to slow down. It tastes better when you savor it.”

Balthazar agreed. He would savor this moment forever. 

“Milo, I’m not asking again. Go to sleep,” Balthazar groaned as Milo continued to squirm around in one of the booths. The springs squeaked with every slight movement, adding to Balthazar’s irritation. 

“Sorry, I keep hitting my knee against the boards,” Milo said. “Have you ever slept in a restaurant before?”

“No, this is new to me. But at least try to rest no matter where we are,” Balthazar replied. Milo had it easy. At least he could actually curl up. Balthazar’s legs hung off the side so he couldn’t change position without knocking into something. 

Vinnie had claimed the circular booth by the kitchen. It was tempting to get up and force him to trade places. Balthazar wondered how his partner always managed to be a deep sleeper. A tornado could hit them and Vinnie wouldn’t even wake up. 

Then he felt someone’s hands on his knees. Balthazar jerked, scrambling into a sitting position. His bare feet kicked out, brushing something soft. To his relief, it was just Milo standing on the wooden platform that held the booth. 

Balthazar was glad he’d taken off his socks and shoes. “I didn’t kick you, right?” he asked nervously, hoping he didn’t have to explain anything to Vinnie if Milo had a bruised face in the morning.

Milo shook his head. “You grazed my cowlick,” he said. “No harm done! Could I ask you one more thing?” 

“One more question,” Balthazar said. “That’s all you’ll receive. After that, go to sleep.”

Milo shifted on his feet. “Do you think we could start looking for my parents? My real parents. Just so I know what they look like.” His voice grew so quiet, Balthazar had to strain to hear him. “The scientists said they abandoned me because accidents kept happening. And that the Bureau took me in for the greater good.”

Pushing down the strange feeling in his gut, Balthazar nodded. “Yes. That should be doable.” He would think about it later when his brain was more alert. 

“Okay, good night then,” Milo said. 

The cushion squeaked as Milo settled down once again. 

Balthazar yawned, closing his eyes and drifting off into an uneasy sleep. 

[celenatriestowriteagain]

The Weekend That Was (Nov 8-10)

I can honestly say I had a better weekend this week that last week! THANK GOD.

Friday night, quiet night

Not gonna lie I am little traumatised by what happened in Halloween so I just wanted to spend time at home for this Friday night.

K and I went to saizeriya at chinatown and shared bolognese, pepperoni pizza and garlic broccoli. K also sneaked in a hot milo for me.

It's crazy because as he was standing up for the drinks bar I suddenly thought 'some milo would be nice right about now' AND THEN HE CAME BACK WITH MILO. It's like he read my mind. How did I get so lucky T_T

Anyway, after that we went home. On the way we started watching the new season of The End of the F**king World. When we got home we watched the first two episodes of Modern Love. K teared up in the first episode haha.

Saturday, atas brunch + bootcamp + ikea day

I fell asleep so early last night that I ended up waking at 6:30 today! I started working on some freecodecamp stuff, then when K woke up around 9ish he told me to pack my stuff up cause he's taking me to a nice cafe!

He wouldn't tell me what the name of the cafe is, except that it's in Clementi. So we booked a cab to go there.

The name of the cafe was W39. They had free wifi and really good eggs benedict (I had mine with lamb shanks and mushrooms). I continued to work on my freecodecamp stuff there.

We passed by a minimalist Japanese-themed bakery, and a secondhand store that sells random cheap stuff. At around 11, we took the bus to Clementi MRT, where we switched to the mrt to go to Raffles. In Raffles, we dropped by Boost to buy some juice and Proofer to buy bread.

At around 1pm, the coaches and my teammates for the bootcamp started arriving at Fraser's tower. Today, we learned about the basics of retrieving and manipulating data in PostgreSQL. Backend work isn't so bad after all. I kinda expected it to be more boring, but I actually enjoyed it.

After that we started working on our apps. It's been a long time since I coded with react so I was a little bit unsure of how to start. Good thing Mel was there.

After the bootcamp, K and I went to Ikea! We went straight to order food. We had meatballs, spaghetti, chicken, spring rolls, salmon fillet, garlic bread, and their gooey chocolate cake. It was amazing!!!

Then we bought some supplies for the house (smaller pan for cooking, extension cord with USB ports, scissors) and went home.

Sunday, the first one since our classes ended

Woke up around 5:30am today, then fell asleep again at around 9. When I woke up again at 12pm, K had already done a second batch of laundry, and cooked some brunch for us. Again I don't know how I got so lucky.

Brunch was some nilaga, egg and tapa. After eating, K cleaned up while I started working on my freecodecamp again. It ended up looking ok, but I feel like I could still do better. Instead of a normal survey form I had the idea to do a personalized itinerary generator so I can add in more fun illustrations, icons, and interactions.

Around 6pm we left to go have dinner at Bukit Panjang. I had fishball noodles, some fried dumplings, and milo dinosaur. I'm really off the hook my diet haha. Then we jalan jalan over to Pang Sua Park. This park is actually a floating wetland that is next to Senja CC. The boardwalk was really nice at night.

While walking we overheard a really loud event happening near one of the HDBs so we checked it out. Turns out there was a re-opening of an HDB block office? Or residential center of some kind? But there were a lot of performances. Some kids performed silat, and some aunties performed dance numbers.

We walked from there all the way to Fajar LRT. Then from there rode the LRT to Pending, where we took the 700 Bus home.

When we got home, I watched K play a bit of basketball. Then we went to the gym! I'm so happy I finally went after so long.

That's my weekend! It feels like I managed to do a lot in a short time, so I'm happy.

[elle-stevens]

The Break Up Blog - Day Twenty Four

I’m beginning to feel like the days are just blurring into murky fragments of time. 

I don’t know if it’s just because my life has been about working and exercising lately. Don’t get me wrong, I definitely don’t want to go back to how it was in the beginning when I broke up with X: a long vacation with sultry days that turned into sweltering nights when I couldn’t sleep well or even breathe without crying or sinking into a pit of depression. 

The depression is still there, but mercifully muted during the mornings and afternoons and hustling and bustling at work. 

I’m having a lot of weird dreams lately. I had one about X two nights ago, but the memories are already escaping my tired brain. I think it was just about us being like we were before: a couple hanging out at the mall and doing some window shopping, nothing special. 

And I definitely remember having a romantic dream about K. We were talking normally one moment and suddenly things became very angsty and filled with sexual tension. Then out of nowhere, she kisses me. Just a quick peck, but a hard one, right on the lips, and it left me feeling breathless and surprised. I got weirdly defensive and told her it wasn’t fair for her to go and kiss me like that out of the blue given our history. So I remedied the absurd tension that arose from that kiss by kissing her again. 

Yeah, that was really trippy. 

I haven’t had a romantic dream about K properly in years. I used to have them for years after we parted ways after high school. They were always dreams about her running from me and me trying to chase her down; or they would be dreams about finally catching up to her and flat out ignoring her presence because of my pride. 

I was so thankful when those dreams about K finally stopped after years of emotional torment, especially when I started liking and loving other people as time went on. I definitely wouldn’t want to go back to pining after K just as an excuse to move on from X. That would be counter-intuitive. 

It would be nice to just have a harmless, good old-fashioned perv on a random person, male or female, celebrity or real life person. I wouldn’t have to attach any feelings or sentimentality to it; it would be just me feeling what I feel without it going anywhere romantic or even permanent. The idea of falling hard for anyone right now is not only unwise,it’s repugnant to me. What would I even do right now if someone magically popped out of the wood-works and said: ‘I need you and I want you, goddammit. If you don’t take me now, I will die of internal combustion’? Considering how low my self-esteem is these days, I’d probably laugh in their face. That’s due to the fact that the idea of anyone loving or wanting me is laughable. Mainly because the last person who I wanted those things with only saw me as an ATM machine in human form in the end.  

I’m rambling again and dwelling on morbid thoughts, time to change the subject. 

Work was fine, just busy with having a double period with my fifth graders. But I taught them about Mardis Gras (a PG-13 version of the holiday and not the real version, lol) and then they played the doubloon tossing game in groups, which I think they enjoyed. SB disrupted my fourth grade as per usual, and in the middle of the test. Granted, I retaliated first by punishing him, so I should’ve expected him to act like an obnoxious gremlin. But after I tried to calm him down and he insisted on punching and kicking his desk during the test in a bid to get my attention, I threw my textbook down onto the nearest desk with a loud slam. Then I stalked over to SB’s desk, grabbed his test paper and ripped it up in front of him before throwing the pieces into the trash can. Then I carried on with the test as normally as possible to show I wasn’t affected and even answered more of SB’s obnoxious questions about when class was going to finish as the lesson continued. 

It was an empowering moment, but terribly petty and I do regret it now. Not because I don’t think the little shit deserved it, but because there will probably be hell to pay later if H, SH or any of my colleagues finds out. I don’t think SH would be mad at me since she has to deal with SB every day in her own homeroom, but H might be a different story. I just don’t trust anyone at work to help me with problematic students any more, so I’m trying to deal with the stress on my own. I’ll need to keep my temper in check when dealing with SB next time though. He’s a trigger for my own temper issues, much like my mom was for years and years. There are just some people who know how to get under my skin and push my buttons and I don’t like it. I don’t like losing myself in anger and resentment. Because after the fog of rage dissipates, all I’m left with are a lot of messes to clean up and even more shame to fill my head with. 

I get to take a break from the gym tonight, so I went home after work and cooked some chicken fillet to put in a burrito. I got a bit side-tracked from my blog entry when I checked my home bank account and realised that the money I sent myself hadn’t arrived yet. And that Paypal account is linked to my bank card that got blocked and disabled. So I had a lovely little panic attack while sending P and G frantic voice messages before I had the good sense to call Paypal and find out what’s happening. The consultant sounded extremely bored over the phone, but he reassured that my transaction had gone through and that Paypal had experienced some technical issues in the last few days. I’m still going to keep checking my bank app till the money eventually arrives, but at least I’m calm for now. 

I feel a bit at a loss having all this free time this evening. Ironically, I was complaining yesterday that I was so tired and wished I could take a break from exercising. I really am a walking list of oxymorons. I’m going to try and enjoy the last few episodes of my Chinese drama and re-read a silly comic on Webtoons about a Korean bath house. With any luck, I’ll actually be able to sleep well tonight. I still haven’t managed to fall asleep on my back; I keep giving up and cuddling with Teddy instead on my side. I guess I’m afraid to feel lonely even when I’m sleeping. 

Just one more day of work to get through tomorrow before the weekend. Next week is Chuseok (Korean Thanksgiving), so we’ll have Friday off from school. And C’s organised a Game Night that I’ll be going to at her apartment along with CI, PE, PE’s wife, GR and AM. I hope I can start to look forward to things again and not get so depressed about what’s happened this year. 

Things are still kinda bleak on the job front, but I’m gonna keep my ear to the ground and hope that a good opportunity comes along. 

I can’t control everything, so I might as well just go with the flow.  

[davidthetraveler]

David’s Bio-Monday:  Take Me Home, Country Roads

Yes, I did just reference that stupid song.  Personally, I find it one of the most annoying things I’ve ever heard.  Not because it’s a bad song, but because everyone I know insists on hearing it a hundred times a day.  Seriously, do none of those of people know any other songs?!

Anyway, I’m referencing it because it’s the perfect title for my family’s trip one summer all across the eastern US.  In one summer we had two weddings and a family reunion to attend, not to mention extended family to see again and a trip through a cave.  And we spent the better part of a month away from home.  And believe me, by the time it was over, we were more than ready to be home.

So this all took place back in the summer of my ninth birthday.  About a month after I turned nine, we loaded up the car and made our way north, arriving about 24 hours later in Indiana for our first stop.

There we visited with my mom’s aunts, uncles, and cousins on her mom’s side.  One uncle let us help in his garden.  Another uncle and aunt cooked up a storm for the whole family, including home-grown blackberry cobbler and beer battered fish fillets.  And mom’s favorite aunt and uncle let us stay with them.

After a long week of catching up, we attended our first wedding of the summer, and it was...interesting.  The ceremony was nice, at least I think it was.  I was only nine, so I didn’t pay too much attention.  But the military pomp was interesting to say the least.

The next day we packed up and headed southeast for Georgia.  And this is where the title of today’s episode comes into play.  You see, my mom didn’t just want to go straight to Georgia.  She insisted that we take the scenic route through the Appalachians.  Dad said she’d have to be the one to drive, since he had no interest in driving all those mountain roads.  But after she almost drove us off the road pointing out something she thought was cool, he took over again.

Those mountain roads were grueling.  I have a cast-iron stomach, and even I managed to get car sick on that trip.  Luckily we managed to make it to Georgia in one piece.

There, we met up with my mom’s dad and his wife and daughter (my mom’s half-sister), and we proceeded to help do a little work around my mom’s dad’s mom’s house for a few days.  We hung out, went fishing, Grandad (Mom’s dad) and I discussed chemistry, and had a fairly good time.  At the end of that week, we went to a massive family reunion, featuring third and even fourth cousins from Grandad’s mom’s family.  Since Grandad was an only child, we had no second cousins to get to know better, but it was still interesting.

Heading out the next day, we took a more sensible path northwest back to Indiana for Wedding #2.  This one didn’t have the same pomp and circumstance as the last one, but the reception for this one was a little more interesting.  It’s certainly the earliest memory I have of my love of ballroom dancing.

We stayed a bit longer after this one, spending time with the family and enjoying a northern summer.  But soon enough it was time to head out again and begin heading home.

But instead of heading straight back, we took a detour over to Kentucky for Brother Number 3′s birthday to tour Mammoth Cave.  It was a truly breathtaking experience.  The natural beauty of the cave chambers, the stalactites and stalagmites, and the various other features of the cave were all astounding and beyond my nine-year-old brain’s ability to articulate.

With this wonderful exploration of the glorious miracle of nature capping off our journey, we headed home, ready to rest and relax.  Until a few weeks later when we had to start getting ready for another school year.  Alas.

Well, it’s a bit short, but I at least hope it’s an interesting read.  In any case, I hope you enjoy it.  I’ll be posting another edition next month, so if you have any suggestions for what you’d like to see, let me know.  And if you’d like to be on my Bio-Monday Tag List, or if you’re currently on there and would like to be removed, just let me know and I’ll take care of it.

Again, thank you for reading.

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