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teddy06writes · 4 years ago

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A Night In Las Vegas

requested by this anon: “I had the BEST idea: CC!Quackity came up with the idea of his Las Nevadas character arc after going to Las Vegas and meeting Reader there. Maybe one night the reader decides to go and twitch and finds quackity doing a lore stream and the reader is like: no way, it’s the guy I met in Vegas.”

{I love this concept, sorry it took so long for me to get out}

Quackity x reader

trigger warnings: some swears

premise: after getting ditched by your friends on the last night of your long weekend in vegas you run into a very interesting guy who doesn’t hesitate to befriend you. But what happens months later when he still seems to be running circles in your mind?

{covid don’t exist here, no sir}

{for the sake of the story, readers favorite color is blue, if its not, either pretend it is, or get over it}

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10:34pm

“You can’t just- you can’t kick me out!” You yelled.

Your bestfriend laughed, “Just find somewhere to go for a few hours! Me and Hunter want alone time!”

“A few fucking hours!?! Seriously?!” But your duffle bag had already been thrown at your feet, and the hotel door room was swinging closed, muffled giggles coming from inside.

Groaning, you picked up your bag, where were you supposed to go now?

“Not that I was like- listening in or anything- but damn that sucks.”

You jumped turning to see a man with black hair sticking out of his beanie standing in front of the door diagonal from yours.

“Uh- yeah. Last night in Vegas and I get ditched for a random hook up,” You scoffed, “I should’ve known it would happen.”

“That’s not cool, uh- I’m Alex.” He stepped forward, offering his hand.

Somewhat reluctantly, you shook his hand, “(y/n).”

He nodded, “I was going to head out for a late night wander, find something to do-, preferably away from all the hookups that seem to be happing around us right now. If you want to come.”

You glanced around, “Seriously?”

“Oh- god that did sound kinda creepy didn’t it,” Alex scrubbed a hand over his face, “Sorry- I- you can just forget about this then-”

“No! I mean- You don’t seem like a rapist or anything. I’ll come with.”

He grinned, “Poggers, you can, leave that, in my room, if you want. Just seems like a pain to lug around everywhere.”

You bit your lip, “Leaving my belongings in a strangers room while I go with said stranger to find something interesting to do, sure- why not?”

10:57pm

Somehow, you found yourself wandering out of the hotel lobby, and onto the crowded streets along side Alex.

“So.... whats your favorite color?” He asked as you walked.

You laughed, “What?”

“We’re like, total strangers- it was a question, to get to know you.” He tucked his hands into his pockets.

“Oh, well-” before you could finish your sentence, there was a large amount of gasps and yells from the crowd in front of you.

“What’s going on?” Alex asked quietly.

You craned your neck to look over the crowd, gasping, “The water show! With the fountains outside of Caesar’s Palace!” You grabbed his hand, tugging him with you to push through the crowd, “This was the whole reason I agreed to this trip- but we never got to it!”

You shoved your way through the crowd until you got to the front, pressing against the barrier to watch the fountain display.

“Holy shit.” You heard him mutter from beside you.

You grinned, “It’s impressive right?”

“Imagine the coding it would take to get those things to stay on time.”

11:27pm

After the show had ended, you had kept wandering for a while, up the strip, asking various questions back and forth.

You had found out that he was a Minecraft youtuber and a law student, though you’d had to admit, you weren’t too knowledgeable on either that subject.

Now you were both staring up at the Dave and Busters sign, “This is a good idea right?”

He nodded, “Definitely. Come on, I’d bet I could beat you at skee ball!”

Laughing, you followed him into the building, and up the stairs toward the arcade entrance, “Your on!”

After buying the credit cards for access to the games, you grabbed his hand, dragging him over to the skee ball lanes.

“Lets go!” He shouted, a few minutes later, upon realizing your score was a total of 10 points behind his, “I’m popping off!”

You laughed, “Okay, what game’s next?”

Nearly an hour later, you had both run out of credits, and laughing, made you way up to the prize area.

“Do you think its possible to compile our tickets?” He asked.

“Why?”

You followed his pointing finger to the large stuffed dragons sitting on one shelf.

“We need him.” You said immediately.

After picking out a bright red dragon, you began to argue over the name as you made your way to the counter.

“What about Carl?” You suggested.

He shook his head, “I have a friend named Karl.”

“How ‘bout........ Phil?”

“I also know a Phil.”

“Hmmmm, what about Sebastian?”

“He doesn’t look like a Sebastian!”

You frowned, “Well do you have any ideas then?”

Alex thought for a moment, “Albert.”

You looked down at the dragon, “Albert it is.”

At the counter Alex convinced the reluctant worker to allow you to use both the cards credit totals, and then you went happily on your way out of the building, stopping to take a picture of Albert in front of the sign, which Alex posted to twitter with the comment of, “Look at our son!”

You’d staid mostly out of frame, but he managed to get about half of your side, since you were the one holding Albert.

“Do you think any pf the buffets are still open?” Alex asked.

“I hope so, I’m starving.” You giggled.

~~ 12:06am

The buffet was somewhat deserted, and you and Alex had grabbed seats in one of the corners after getting plates full of food.

Albert sat on the table between you as you talked.

“So it’s roleplay- but in Minecraft?” You asked, barley holding back a laugh.

He nodded, chuckling, “It sounds stupid, I know, but it’s like- huge. Especially since technically I’m getting back into the main lore now, with the whole project: vegas thing.”

“Project Vegas?” You asked.

He nodded again, “My character, he’s been through almost everything that's happened, and everything always ends to blow up in his face, literally sometimes. He’s built contries from the ground up- as stupid as that sounds- but they always fail, but this one won’t fail.

“I’m partnering with another guy on the server to set up a whole economy, he’s making a bank, and I’m making- well I’m making my own Vegas.”

You took a sip of your drink, “What’s it going to be called?”

“I haven’t figured it out yet,” He admitted, “I wanted to just call it Las Vegas but the names already taken.”

With a chuckle you shifted in your seat, “What about....- what about Las Nevada's?”

He laughed, “I like that.”

“Tell me more about this server then, I still don’t understand the story.”

With another chuckle he launched into the story, “Well, it all started when this guy called Wilbur Soot decided he wanted to start a nation....”

~~ 3:18am

“Blue.”

You were back at the hotel now, still with Quackity, sitting out on the balcony of his room. Some how, you had ended up having some slightly deep talk about life and death and a million other things before lapsing into silence, simply watching the blinking lights of the city.

“What?” He asked softly.

“You asked me my favorite color, ten minutes after we met. It’s blue- that's my favorite color.” You shivered against a cold breeze.

Alex shifted minutely closer, “Why?”

You shrugged, “It can be so many things. Deep and dark and mysterious but also light like the summer sky and filled with hope. There’s a million shades from happiness to anger, and to everyone it could mean something else.”

“I like that.” He said quietly.

7:04am

You yawned, rubbing sleep out of your eyes as the car drew closer to the airport.

Alex tapped on the steering wheel in time with the music, quietly humming along.

“Oh, I see my friend, they actually waited for me.” You said as the car pulled up to the curb.

“How considerate.” He chuckled, climbing out of the car.

You followed suit, retrieving your duffle bag from the back seat.

“Well, it was cool knowing you Alex.” You said.

“Likewise.”

Before you started to walk away you remembered, and quickly turned back to where he was standing, pulling Albert out of your bag, “Here, he’s yours. You spent more tickets on him than I did.”

He shook his head, “Keep him. I give you full custody of our son.”

“Oh- okay... bye then.”

You barley made it a few steps before he was quickly catching up to you, grabbing your arm and spinning you to press his lips on yours.

“Good luck with your shitty friends.” He breathed, before hurrying back to his car, leaving you flustered and running to catch up to your friend.

One and A Half Months later

It had been over a month since the Vegas trip, but you still hadn’t gotten Alex out of your head.

You had clicked, on some level, and the late night conversation you had shared seemed to keep you thinking about him.

Now, you scrolled aimlessly through twitter, checking the trending tags until you came across one called “LAS NEVADAS”

Now that piqued your interest, and clicking on it, you found posts of people live tweeting an event- no a live stream. And not just any live stream- a Minecraft stream.

Quickly you opened a new tab, pulling up twitch as fast as you could.

What was the name of his channel? Oh god why did you forget?

Returning to twitter you searched until you found a link, following it to a new twitch tab.

And there he was.

The boy who had been doing laps around your mind was actually there, talking to another character.

“Look Sam, you and me, we could control everything. I need the bank to help fund Las Nevada’s, we can be partners.”

You sat, watching the stream, enthralled.

Once it had ended, you still could hardly believe you found him, quickly following another link back to his twitter and opening a direct message.

Y/n: Um, this is awkward, idk if you remeber this, but we met in vegas, about a month ago, and I had no idea how to find you until the stream today

quackityHQ: uh, hi?

qusckityHQ: proof?

Quickly you sent him the picture you had taken of him with Albert,

y/n: uhhh, bam, proof?

y/n: our son is sitting on my head board right now

quackityHQ: holy shit

#mcyt x reader #quackity x reader #quackityhq x reader #teddy06 writes #teddy06

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lovelyirony · 5 years ago

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Footnotes

it’s been a bit since i added to the bookshop au: time got away from me!

We’re taking over the world/a little victimless crime -Do It All the Time, IDKHBTFM

Tony notices that Bucky doesn’t come into the store for a month. This is fine. Should be fine. Not like he wonders what Bucky will think of the newest latte, which is geared more to the warmer weather that has been breezing in cheerfully. The iced latte, flavored with caramel and coconut, had been a hit with MJ and Ned, who both loved it.

But Bucky hadn’t come in and tried it.

His anxiety tells him that he is found out and are currently waiting until Tony leaves the building to set up a trap and probably blow up every single book and also him.

But that would be stupid. There’s no way that the Avengers know who Iron Man or War Machine is. Tony Jarvis is a nice guy who runs a bookstore, has a suspicious amount of money from inheritance, and got a degree in English from a local college.

He even photo-shopped pictures there with Rhodey and everything. (Thank god for anti-aging technology and Rhodey’s genius.)

But he still kind of wants Bucky to come in and look at books. He even has a few records pulled just for the occasion.

“You are quite honestly the worst kind of person,” Rhodey says. “Who gets a crush on who is supposed to be their arch-nemesis and wants to make a custom coffee menu for them?”

“Not me,” Tony says quickly, pushing away the lemon-blueberry scone idea. “And besides if anyone would be my arch-nemesis, it would clearly be Black Widow. We match each other intellectually.”

“Not a chance,” Rhodey says with a snort. “Or did you forget the time you got so nervous you—”

“Hello?” comes a voice from the front. Rhodey immediately cuts off, going back to filing new shipments. Tony looks over.

“Hey, you’re back!” Tony cheers.

Rhodey makes a motion of gagging. Tony flips him off with one hand behind his back as he comes forward.

“Sorry I haven’t been in. Work has been…enlightening.”

“Usually code for ‘I-don’t-get-paid-enough’” Tony teases. “You wanna try an iced coffee drink?”

“I’m game.”

“Sit down at the table, I’ll get it out for you.”

Bucky has to admit that a good apron can do wonders for an ass. Or maybe Tony just has a really nice one. Either way, the view is spectacular.

“What has work been having you do?” Tony asks, pouring in syrup.

“Oh just…the usual,” Bucky says. He’s horrible at lying. He really, really is. “They keep twisting up what they want, it’s getting confusing.”

“Bookshops, luckily, are much simpler than that,” Tony says, smiling. He slides the drink over to Bucky. “Try it. Tell me what you think.”

Bucky takes a long slurp. Puts his head back.

“Tony, you ever experienced a masterpiece?”

“Once or twice,” Tony says, smiling.

“This is the damn Mona Lisa of drinks.”

Tony grins. Bucky sips a bit more, sighing in contentment.

“Hey, I know that last time I learned that you sold records. What are, um, your favorites?”

“I’m glad you asked…”

Bucky learns about new music. He learns that he needs to google new bands. AC/DC is a clear favorite of Tony’s, who sings along. It’s a funny juxtaposition with his cardigan and old jeans, glasses perched on the bridge of his nose.

Bucky finds some of the old ones, which Tony doesn’t look surprised at.

“You have an old soul,” Tony says.

“You don’t know the half of it,” Bucky mutters.

“Don’t I?” Tony teases. “You act as if you’ve never had iced coffee before.”

Bucky has to turn back to the player to stop from laughing in front of him. What Tony doesn’t know…well. He’s damned sure he doesn’t know that technically all of Bucky’s favorite records were either unable to be found, most likely questionable, or long disintegrated with time.

Oh, Tony knows. He knows for a damned fact that Bucky has never had iced coffee, most likely does not know who the hell Jimmy Carter was and knows how to disassemble and reassemble most weapons in under sixty seconds.

But it’s cute to mess with him. His brow furrows. Tony has a thing for furrows.

“Hey Tony?” Rhodey asks, head popping up from the upstairs. Bucky automatically looks up, finding the face to be vaguely familiar.

“What is it Rhodey-dear?” Tony calls back out.

“I have a computer glitch, you gotta come see it! Now!”

“This better not be a repeat of the pinball incident,” Tony mutters, turning back to Bucky. “I’ll be back in five minutes, I promise.”

“Take your time, love,” Bucky responds.

Bucky then immediately wonders if he bangs his head against the column near him if Tony and Rhodey will hear it. Tony also called his…person “Rhodey-dear.” Dear! Does he even have a chance?

But this brings him to think about Rhodey. He looked familiar. Bucky’s life doesn’t consist of knowing that you know someone from a certain social event and trying to place them. No, Bucky knows people because of two reasons:

1.) He tried to kill them.

2.) SHIELD has something on them.

He’s pretty sure that if he was faced with someone like Rhodey, he wouldn’t be able to kill him. Even from the head poking out, he could see a pretty defined shoulder and a look set to his gaze that read as very competent, entirely capable of taking down an authoritarian government, and also probably likes gourmet cheeses. The last one is a guess. But Bucky likes to guess pretty damn accurately.

Rhodey…

Rhodes. Colonel James Rhodes. Close with Tony Stark, who went missing. They thought he had something to do with something. He moved to New York pretty quickly after that, refusing to go into military service to a “previously unreported mental incapacity.”

Bucky smells bullshit.

Tony Stark. Another mystery in this puzzle. Bucky remembers trying to kill Howard and Maria Stark. It was the wrong person. Winter Soldier never missed his targets. Of course, Tony Stark wasn’t the target.

Rhodey is freaking out. Someone at SHIELD figured out there was a tiny bug in the system.

“When did they hire someone competent?!” Tony whisper-yells. “I thought they were two years behind schedule!”

“We made that schedule when we were drunk out of our minds from Moscato,” Rhodey hisses.

“Still! It was Moscato. It wasn’t like we drank vodka until we were shit-faced. That would’ve ended up disastrously and possibly given Dum-E and U a new sibling before Butterfingers.”

“Butterfingers wants a baby, just so you know,” Rhodey says.

“Why are you telling me this now?” Tony asks.

“Because you know what you’re doing and I figured you should know what your daughter is up to. It’s very important in developmental psychology.”

“Do not,” Tony hisses. “Let me fix this…”

With a couple more frantic curses, one eye shut, and a yelp, the problem is (mostly) taken care of.

“You think they can trace it?”

“It’ll trace back to a random e-café,” Tony says. “And there will be Justin Hammer who is currently trying to work out why his dating profile isn’t working. I’ll give you a hint: it’s the bio and the fact that he looks like he’s going to bail on paying for your dinner.”

Rhodey smiles, shaking his head and looking out the door.

“Get back down to Barnes. Don’t let him know what this is.”

“When would I?”

“You tend to be a terrible liar around people you like.”

“Why you—!”

“Thank you for helping with the pinball machine again!” Rhodey says, throwing his voice. He shoves Tony out of the office. Tony’s cheeks are bright red, he’s flushed, and he can barely walk down the stairs.

He’s not sure what exactly happened. He knows someone found out about them, tried to trace the bug back. That simply wouldn’t do because Tony runs a legitimate business. Pays taxes on April fifteenth and everything.

“Sorry about that, emergency with a pinball machine game,” Tony says.

“Understandable,” Bucky says. “What was wrong it? A bug get in?”

“Uh, not exactly,” Tony responds, body going tense for a moment. “You want to pick out a new record?”

“Yeah, sure…”

They find out that Bucky absolutely hates the pop, almost-fake music from the fifties.

“It’s…unsettling,” Bucky says, shuddering. “Gross.”

“Let me get some Benny Goodman then,” Tony says.

“How’d you know?”

“Everyone likes his music,” Tony says. “But then again, you did say you were an old soul.”

Bucky can hear the familiar music fill the air as he hums to himself.

“Hey handsome, wanna help me with something?” Tony asks. “I have some books that need to be shelved. I was wondering if you could help?”

“No problem,” Bucky says, grinning. “Can’t reach the top shelf?”

“Why you—”

“I’m shelving!” Bucky calls, grabbing one of the boxes.

Tony thinks that no one should be attractive when they’re lifting boxes. Especially when they’re holding what is essentially about forty pounds with one arm. His left one, but still.

There is also the matter of making sure that Barnes never finds out who he is. Tony has been quite careful about that, although the “bug” comment got to him. Does he know about them? Is he playing some sort of long game?

Answer: no. Bucky got distracted by a book title that he remembers from years ago.

“I forgot I read this,” he says, smiling. “It was forever ago.”

“Old books get to you like nothing else,” Tony responds. “I grew up with Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. You read that one yet?”

“Add it to the recommended box,” Bucky answers.

He has his own box now. Technically a crate, but Tony’s been putting books there for Bucky when he thinks he’s found one that he’ll like. Which of course, Bucky will like whatever book is in there if Tony chose it. He likes anything Tony chooses. He would wear the worst outfit in existence if Tony chose it.

Shelving goes by with little conversation, although they both hum along to the music being played softly over the intercoms. Tony comes and goes, helping customers with different items, brewing some more coffee, and getting some more boxes.

Bucky likes the routine.

He’s sad to go, taking his books with him and waving a soft goodbye. Tony’s leaning against the doorframe, a fond look on his face as the bookshop light floats out onto dark pavement. He wishes he could be there all the time.

And then, of course, people are in his apartment.

“Bookstore again, huh?” Steve asks. Natasha’s looking through the pile of receipts on the kitchen counter.

“You go there a lot,” she murmurs.

“I like being literate, gives me a headstart on Clint,” Bucky answers glibly.

“Even if someone liked reading this much, they wouldn’t be buying obscene amounts of books and coffee.”

“I don’t buy every book. To—the owner lets me take some home if I return them the next day.”

“You’re on a first name basis?” Natasha asks, eyebrow arched. “Just what bookstore are you going to?”

“One that’s none of your business,” Bucky says.

“It says it on top of the receipt,” Steve says.

Bucky curses.

Steve laughs at him.

#bookshop au #lovelyirony writes #sorry it took so long #i've been dealing with personal stuff and schoolwork #but now schoolwork is done #writer's block on the other hand.....#winteriron #rhodey #pepper potts #tony stark #bucky barnes #steve rogers

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skeletonsloverockcandy · 5 years ago

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A Hitchhiker’s Guide For Androids

Summary: Logan the Android goes to his interview with Dr. Picani. Afterwards he meets some familiar faces from the day before.

Warnings: Lying, food tw, eating tw, Logan tricks out his rad robot bod, and it seems like it might be gorey, but he’s a robot so it’s fine.

Fandom: Thomas Sanders, Sanders Sides, Cartoon Therapy, TS Shorts

Characters: Logan/Logic Sanders, Patton/Morality Sanders, Roman/Creativity “Princey” Sanders, Virgil/Anxiety Sanders, Dr. Emile Picani, Remy/Sleep Sanders.

Pairings: Background Romantic Remile, Platonic LAMP/CALM

Word Count: 8,370

Chapter One Chapter Two Ao3 Link

Chapter Three: New Neighbors

The next morning Logan put on his blue button up shirt and solid color tie. He was preparing for his interview later that morning with Dr. Emile Picani, and he wanted to look presentable. He was also up unreasonably early. In part because he didn’t need to sleep, but also because he wanted to avoid his neighbors for the time being. Due to his actions saving Patton yesterday, they were sure to want to speak with him, and he’d rather avoid messy, complicated, emotional interactions for now. He slipped out of the café before they had the chance to approach him yesterday, and he would prefer to delay that interaction while he still could. He was unsure if his circuits could handle more than one person at a time.

The application he filled out had the phone number of the Cartoon Café on it, and he had taken the liberty to text the number and ask when his interview had been scheduled. Dr. Picani had quickly texted back and informed him of the time, but also that the café was closed that day because of the attempted robbery the day before, and that he would be there personally to check up on the shop. He informed Logan that he was more than welcome to come by and conduct his interview though, that it wouldn’t be a problem at all.

Logan took that as permission to prepare himself for their meeting. Then, since he had some time, he ran through several scenarios focused on the interview. He figured if the typical interview questions were asked, assuming this job required few prerequisite skills, and if he maintained a pleasant demeanor, he had a decent chance of landing the job. A 82.6% chance to be more precise, but since certain things relied on the unpredictability of human behavior, he was willing to put some leeway on the odds depending on what came up.

Finally, he looked through the peephole of his apartment and did a thermal scan to locate the heat signatures of his new neighbors. He wanted to be certain they were not in the hallway when he left for his interview. From what he could tell, Patton seemed to be in his apartment, and Virgil and Roman did not appear to be in the building, so the two of them likely went to their respective workplaces while Logan was getting dressed.

Satisfied that he would not be seen, he set off to leave his apartment building. It would be close, but if he walked at the right pace, he’d only be an hour early to his interview instead of much much earlier. He walked very fast. However, he hoped that showing up early would ensure a good impression. Logan would say first impression if it weren’t for yesterday, and now that he thought of it, he’d rather avoid the possibility of the emotions that might come with them being in close quarters. Well, Patton said Dr. Picani had a PhD, Logan trusted he would remain professional.

“Wow, it’s really you!” the pink and brown clad psychologist practically squealed. “You saved Patton’s life yesterday, I cannot tell you how grateful I am. I was going to find you to thank you yesterday after I checked on my husband, Remy, but I couldn’t find you anywhere. Then next thing I know Patton’s telling me you applied to work here! Whaaaaaaaaaat?! Like, what are the chances?”

“Actually quite high, given that was my intended reason to enter the establishment in the first place.” Logan interrupted, “And, deepest apologies, but would you mind relinquishing me from your embrace? I’m not a very, what is the phrase? Ah yes, ‘touchy-feely’ person.”

“Oh yeah, sure. Anything for our hero over here, ey!” Dr. Picani stepped back and stopped hugging Logan. “I just want you to know grateful I am that you saved the lives, not only of my employee, but of everyone else in the cafe, including my husband. I don’t know what I would have done if I had lost any of them, and I have you to thank.” Emile pushed up his glasses and smiled warmly at Logan.

Ugh! These were the exact kind of emotional reactions Logan had been trying to avoid! Not that he didn’t appreciate the recognition, it was just something he didn’t understand that well, and thus, was unfamiliar dealing with, especially when such affections were directed towards himself. He had barely walked in the pink and blue building with the bell chiming over the door when Dr. Picani had stepped out of the back room and immediately came up to embrace him. How did humans deal with this attention?

“Urm, well, you are, uh, very kind. But if I may interject, I came here to interview for the open position?” Logan stumbled out awkwardly. He wished he could have more tact, but this was becoming a bit too much.

“Oh! Yeah, let’s go on ahead to the back room, I’ve already read over your application so you can come right in here.” Dr. Picani responded jubilantly.

After the introductions, they conducted the interview mostly professionally, though Dr. Picani kept making pop culture and cartoon references that Logan only barely got because of his general knowledge of human culture. It went fairly smoothly though. The position required no prerequisite skills, and the skills it did require, Logan could easily be taught. It was a sort of catch-all position because of how short-staffed Dr. Picani and Patton were. They were the only two employees, though they were occasionally helped out by Dr. Picani’s husband, Remy, who Logan gathered was the hipster-esque person in sunglasses from yesterday, if the photos of him and Dr. Picani on the desk in the back room were anything to go by. The back room appeared to be more of an office than anything else, though it did have doors to the food storage and break rooms, so ‘back room’ was the most accurate description from what Logan could tell.

Anyway, for the job, Logan would need to learn how to man the register, cook up the items on the menu, and clean the store. It seemed simple enough, though the job would require him to occasionally step outside his comfort zone. He understood he would have to acquire a “customer service” demeanor, which he figured he could manage. He was already lying to people as it was, what’s a little more? The thing he was looking forward to most was taking inventory and counting the money at the end of the day, most people’s least favorite parts of customer service jobs. It would really give Logan the opportunity to show his prowess with numbers, and, regardless, it was easier than dealing with large swarms of people.

At the end of the interview, Dr. Picani told Logan he did an excellent job and that he’d be happy to see him by the next work day. The general dress code seemed to be just a polo shirt (of which Logan already owned) and a name tag, which Dr. Picani said he would have made for Logan shortly, that he was so happy to have a new member on the team, especially someone who saved Patton’s life. It occurred to Logan that that incident might have helped his prospects of getting the job, but he wasn’t one to complain about fortunate circumstances.

He shook Dr. Picani’s hand at the end of the interview, “Thank you, Dr. Picani, I look forward to working with you.”

“Oh please, call me Emile, it’s the least I could do to conduct this interview after yesterday. Thank you again, truly.” Emile said, unable to keep the bright smile off his face. Logan smiled softly in return as a sign of gratitude.

“Yesterday was no problem, I was just trying to help how I could.” Logan responded. “I’ll see you at work.”

“You sure will!” Emile said warmly, “You’re gonna do great.”

Logan’s journey back to his apartment was pleasant. The sun was out and the buildings looked even more charming than the day before. It was if the world was rejoicing his new found income security. Now with a job position guaranteed, Logan felt he had become truly independent and separated from his previous terms of existence. He could exist for himself now, and do with his abilities what he wanted. It was...refreshing. Quite a relief from the idiotic frustrations of the scientists. For once, he was perfectly happy to go slow and enjoy his walk home.

Walking up the stairs to his apartment, and feeling quite relaxed from how positive the day was turning, Logan failed to run a diagnostic the potential threat of his neighbors being home. And this was brought to his attention by him turning the corner on the stairwell and running straight into Patton.

“Oof!” Patton exclaimed as they collided, his glasses getting knocked off his face and items he was holding now being strewn on the floor (some papers, an envelope, and a ceramic mug with paw-prints that thankfully didn’t break).

“Oh! I’m so sorry, I wasn’t watching where I was going,” Patton said as he squinted at the floor. “...If I could just find my glasses,” he muttered, “then I’d be a real sight for sore eyes, because of my sore eye-sight, heyo!”. He laughed as he crouched to the ground searching for his glasses and the other dropped items. Logan stood incredibly still, torn between slipping up to his room while Patton couldn’t see his face, and bending down to help Patton with his things. It was a fight with his programming to evaluate the more pressing need. If he helped Patton, then the person he saved would know he was living in the same building as him. On the other hand, he desired to be helpful to humans, and Patton would likely discover his living situation eventually anyway. Deciding it was better to figuratively rip that band aid off sooner rather than later, Logan bent down and handed Patton his glasses from off the floor.

“Oh, thanks kiddo! Don’t know what I would have done if these had broken. Really sorry about running into- WOAH! Hey! It’s you!” Patton exclaimed as he placed his glasses on his face, beaming up at him. “What’re you doing here, Logan?”

“Ah, of course. Well, you should know that I live here now. I moved in yesterday, though I was unaware of the complex’s current inhabitants when I rented the apartment,” Logan explained in a monotonous tone, “I apologise for disrupting your stairway travel, I will get out of your way.”

“Woah, hey there kiddo. I wasn’t watching where I was going, so if anything, the blame is on me. And secondly, you live here now? My savior, in this apartment? Wow,” Patton said with an astonished half chuckle, “I can’t believe you live here! That’s awesome! Which apartment?”

“That would be apartment 4A on the fourth floor,” Logan answered. Patton gasped excitedly.

“Oh my goodness! That’s the same floor I live on! What a coincidence!” Oh, didn’t Logan know it. Patton inhaled sharply, “Do you know what this means?!” Logan resisted the urge to either roll his eyes or detail exactly what it did indeed mean in literal terms and settled for thinking: I can certainly guess.

“We’re Apartment Buddies! Yay!” Patton practically shouted as he jumped up excitedly, nearly knocking his glasses off yet again.

“Otherwise known as neighbors, I presume. But yes, we will be living on the same floor and in close proximity, though whether we become ‘buddies’ as you phrased it, will depend on the advancement of a mutual bond over time that some might call friendship. However, that has yet to be seen and will take time.” Logan rambled off.

As Logan was speaking, Patton slowly brought up his hands up in loose fists lightly squishing the sides of his face while his eyes squinted behind his glasses and seemed to sparkle with excitement in an almost universal ‘Aww’ gesture, before saying, “Dawww, Logan...Are you implying you want to be my friend?” One hand flew down to his chest and clutched his heart, “That is so sweet, aww..Logan. First you save my life, then you save my heart.”

Oh no, emotions, yet again, Logan thought. He just couldn’t seem to escape them today.

“You know what,” Patton continued, “Why don’t you come over to dinner tonight. It’ll be like a ‘thank you’ and a welcome party all rolled into one! And! I can introduce you to my best friends Virgil and Roman. They’re also our neighbors and they were at the café yesterday too!”

Oh I am all too familiar, Logan thought, and fantastic, more people expressing their emotions at me, this is utterly exhausting.

However, it would be incredibly rude to refuse a gesture of kindness such as this, and he would be living next to these people for who knew how long, so it was impractical to try to avoid interacting with them forever. Besides, this is what humans did. They interacted with other humans. How was Logan supposed to be a convincing human if he intentionally avoided interacting with them?

“That would be...lovely, Patton. I look forward to getting to know who I live next to. Though, I must tell you, I am not the best at dealing with multiple people. I...sometimes struggle to react appropriately to emotional...things, so I apologise in advance.” His only references for dealing with multiple people at once were the scientists after all, and they weren’t the best example despite his programming.

“Oh kiddo, that’s okay. Virgil and Roman are really great and super understanding of all sorts of things. And heck, yesterday, before we got home, Roman couldn’t stop talking about how impressed he was with your maneuvers and bravery. I even think he was a little starstruck, because he kept cursing himself for not saying anything to you after you pinned the guy on the floor. And while Virgil did say you were being a liiiiiittle bit stupid for putting yourself in danger, he did complement you on your quick thinking, and it’s tough for Virgil to complement strangers, so that really means something! I really think they’re grateful for you saving me kiddo, so I know they’ll be super nice about any sensitivities you have about being around them.” Patton concluded.

“Well that is a relief to hear, Patton. I certainly do not want to leave a bad impression. I feel that would be unbecoming of a new neighbor, so it’s comforting to know I have your support.”

“Aw shucks Logan, after what you did for me, the least I can give is my support,” Patton said bashfully while adjusting his glasses.

“Ah, well in that case, I look forward to dinner. At what time would it be appropriate to come over?” Logan inquired.

“Oh! Well I’ll text Roman and Virgil and tell them we’re having a guest over for dinner, then..hmm, is five o’clock okay? I know they’ll both be home from work by then, so it’ll be the perfect time to introduce you,” Patton said thoughtfully.

“That sounds adequate, I will be at your apartment at five. Which apartment number is yours?”

“4C! And Roman’s is 4D and Virgil’s is 4B, just in case you wanted to know!” he said brightly, then he gasped, “I have to get everything ready!”

Logan looked on at him and determined that Patton’s heart rate spiked along with a touch of adrenaline being released into his veins as well as an influx in dopamine levels. He could tell Patton was genuinely excited about him coming over. Logan hoped it would go well given he had never actually eaten food before. It was within his capabilities to pass as a convincing human, but he had never done a trial run to see how he would actually react to having food in his false stomach. Could he even taste? He wasn’t sure. He escaped before they could troubleshoot that part of his programming. He knows that he’d be able to identify the exact components of whatever he was ingesting, but all he could assume he would be able to get out of eating food at his current level of advancement, would be the texture of it in his mouth, and the mess he’d to clean out of his chest cavity later. The thought of the uncleanliness made him internally cringe a bit, but he stayed in check on the outside, keeping his face impassive at his thoughts.

Patton was no longer paying much attention to him either way, instead mumbling excitedly under his breath all he would have to do to prepare while shuffling his picked-up items in his arms.

“Ah, uh, see you later Logan! Got to drop this paperwork off to Sandra, the landlady, then I have to prepare for guests! Ooooo this is going to be so fun! Buh-bye!” Patton said he stepped by Logan, turning to give him a half-wave with the hand holding the mug.

“Be careful going down the stairs, Patton. And I’m sure whatever you prepare will be adequate, see you then.” Logan called out as Patton turned the corner going down the stairs. He sighed to himself as he climbed the last few flights to his floor and entered apartment 4A. What had he gotten himself into?

Now, not only would he be interacting with multiple humans at once, he would also be expected to eat. He had never eaten before, not even in practice. He knew humans needed to do it to survive, but the thought of taking something and having to mash it into little slimy bits in his mouth, then swallow it? Not to mention, his experience with eating would be different than a normal human’s because he had to manually clean up whatever ended up in his false stomach tonight, and the experience couldn’t be made more enjoyable because he was pretty sure he didn’t have a sense of taste as of yet.

Wait, was he getting worked up? Is this what performance anxiety felt like? Regular lying was fine, but this felt like an entirely different ordeal. Snap out of it Logan! He was an android, he didn’t have feelings. So stop acting illogically and prepare for the dinner. He would get through it, further integrate and adapt to human customs, and survive. This was fine. Everything is fine.

Realizing he had just been standing in the entrance of his apartment while leaning against the closed door, Logan walked further into his apartment. This shouldn’t be bothering him. He was a highly advanced, incredibly valuable, and state of the art espionage machine, so something so trivial shouldn’t be bothering him. However, it was bothering him, and he couldn’t seem to get it to stop. So...he was a state of the art, highly advanced, incredibly valuable espionage machine, how could he change the situation so it was less bothersome to him so he could be at his optimum level of performance?

Well, the problem was his concern over the sensation of eating, and that it will be uncomfortable or disturbing to him. He would have to eat regardless, because he could not see a way out of that situation without being incredibly rude. So if he had to do it regardless, how could he make the instance more enjoyable, or at least bearable, to himself? The obvious answer would be to taste the food so he would at least get the same level of enjoyment out of it that the humans did, but that was unrealistic.

...Or was it?

Logan suddenly got an idea, and walked into the bathroom where he knew there was a mirror. Then he rolled up the sleeve on his left arm and peeled back some of the false skin again. Unlike his right arm that had a combination printer and data transferrer for forging necessary documentation and identification, his left arm had some minor tools and resources meant for repairs, as well as access to his wiring when feature updates and small performance tweaks needed to be done. Logan also rolled up his pant leg and opened the panel where his extension cord was, pulling it out and plugging it into the outlet by the sink so he would have a constant supply of power while he did this, should he accidentally make a mistake.

Then Logan reached with two fingers under his jawline and pressed three very particular spots while grasping one of the tools from his left arm, something slender and metal, and lightly pressing it to his temple. The next thing that occurred was a slight hissing noise of pressure being released as his jaw slowly popped open, causing as widening gap between the flesh of his lower face and upper face, revealing, besides his false teeth and cheeks and tongue, a mass of wiring and blinking lights now visible below the line of his top lip. Now with ample room, he slowly reached behind his jaw and grasped an exposed wire connected to his tongue, then reaching up with his tool, gently disconnecting it. He then lowered it to the wiring exposed on his left arm, and inserted it in a place where coding and tweaking that particular piece of hardware would be easier. Taste was simply the body analyzing different chemical compounds, something Logan could do via data analysis anyway, so changing some of his coding to associate a physical sensation along with that wasn’t too far of a reach, at least by his standards. Logan checked the time. Seven hours, seven hours until the dinner party. He would have to be quick, but it was doable. He’d better get to work.

At 4:48 P.M., Logan was finishing putting all of his parts back into place. His tongue felt strange and a little tingly, but he still didn’t know for sure if his tinkering had worked. He opened and closed his mouth a few times, sticking out his tongue and rolling it into a tube like a child might. Everything seemed to be functional and his motor skills seemed to be fine. He unplugged himself from the outlet, actually feeling somewhat rejuvenated from the extra power, and rolled down his pant leg. He assumed what he was wearing would be fine for the dinner, he would just brush some of the wrinkles out of his shirt sleeves and pants. He hoped tonight would go well, and even if his attempt to give himself the ability to taste did not work, it alleviated most of his anxieties and gave him something to do while he waited for the inevitable.

Looking over himself in the mirror one last time, he decided he looked suitable for however this dinner went. Checking the time, he had about 3 minutes until five o’clock, so it would be wise to head over to apartment 4C already.

Logan crossed the hall to Patton’s apartment and knocked on the door.

“Just a minute!” He heard from inside. He only had to wait a moment before the door was flung open and Patton was there grinning brightly up at him.

“Logan, you came! I’m so glad you made it. Virgil and Roman will be here in a sec, I haven’t told them it was you who was coming, only that we were entertaining a guest. They’re going to be so surprised! Come in! Come in!” Patton rambled off as he ushered Logan inside.

The walls of Patton’s apartment were a pleasant shade of light blue, though they could hardly be seen through the litany of photographs and crayon pictures both framed and taped to them. Apartment 4C was larger than 4A and had a small kitchen area that was visible from every angle of the main foyer. It had bar-style seating that separated it from the rest of the apartment and helped cement it in people’s minds as a separate space. The kitchen seemed well stocked for an apartment of its size, even if it was slightly larger than Logan’s, because it had an oven and stove-top combo, a dishwasher, a refrigerator, a toaster, and a countertop microwave. On the counter tops were several covered dishes wafting food-smells from underneath glass containers and aluminum foil, and in the sink were several gray, cat-themed silicone utensils covered in food stains—presumably what Patton had used to cook tonight’s dinner with.

Across from the kitchen area there was an L-shaped couch with the shorter side pushed against a wall and facing a small coffee table and T.V., both of which looked second hand but attributed to the cozy atmosphere. Next to the T.V. was a shelf stocked with DVD cases holding a variety of different shows and movies. And behind the couch and diagonal from the kitchen there was a round dining table already set out with plates, napkins, and silverware arranged in line with the four chairs about the table. And behind the table on the wall were two closed doors. One Logan assumed lead to the bedroom, and the other he assumed lead to the bathroom. Overall, it was a very friendly-looking, if a bit crowded, apartment.

“Welcome to my home! Make yourself comfortable, or should I say at home, wink,” Did he seriously just say ‘wink’ out loud? “And feel free to look at whatever you like! Me casa es su casa.” Patton said with an excited gesture, as if to point at the entire apartment.

“Thank you Patton, that is much appreciated. However, it does seem strange that you want me to ‘make myself at home’ when your home does not have adequate resources to make one such as me.” Patton stared at Logan for a second and blinked before his face split into a delighted grin.

“Oh my goodness Logan! You didn’t tell me you liked dad jokes?” he said with a half laugh.

“What? That wasn’t a joke, and I would hardly make a ‘dad joke’, as you called it, intentionally. I was simply bringing up the impracticality of trying to collect and then assemble all the components that make up my body in your apartment.” Perhaps if he conveyed a confused look his point would be understood. Patton held his mouth and tried to keep himself from snickering.

“Oh yeah, that would mean bringing a whole bunch of body parts here, but you don’t need me to ex-spleen it to you, get it?” Logan sighed deeply. Oh.

“What, you didn’t find that humerus?”

“Humorous? Oh goodness, do you mean the arm bone connected to the radius and ulna?”

“Sorry, am I getting ulna nerves? You might want to say ‘are ya kidney-ing me’. Ha ha!” Logan brought his hand up to his face and rubbed underneath his glasses.

“In fact Patton, the temptation right now is very strong to exclaim ‘are you kidding me’, but it’s fine. I would just prefer we kept the puns to a minimum, thank you.”

“Aw, sorry for teasing, Logan, but I start punning and I can’t stop punning, I was fed to the rules and I hit the ground running.” He laughed at the look Logan gave him before looking down more bashfully and slightly embarrassed, “But, uh, I’ll stop now. I do want to be a good host after all!” Logan adjusted his body language to express relief so his gratitude would be understood.

“I appreciate your considerate nature Patton, and thank you again for hosting me.”

“Aw, you’re welcome. Now you can sit down while I set the food out, Virgil and Roman should be here any second.” Patton said while grabbing a couple of the covered trays. “Roman likes to take his time getting ready and show up ‘fashionably late’, but Virgil is always anxious to be early, so with the two of them scrambling to get ready at a combined pace, they show up more or less on time.”

Logan pulled out a chair while he was listening and took a seat at the dining table.

“That’s very interesting, Patton.”

As if on cue, there was a knock at the door.

“Oh, that’ll be them now! Just a second guys!” Patton shouted as he put down the dishes he was holding on the table. He brushed off his hands on his pants and went to open the door.

Patton opened the door just enough for his head to poke through so that neither side could see beyond the doorway before speaking.

“Hey guys! So glad you showed up!”

“You know we wouldn’t miss your dinners for the world, Padre!” A dramatic voice proclaimed.

“Yeah, if Cinderella here didn’t spend so much time getting spend so much time getting ready.” A snide voice replied.

“Well if I had a fairy godmother, it wouldn’t take so long would it? We can’t all just ‘poof’ and look beautiful, it takes work to look this good!”

Patton interjected, “Kiddos, come on now. The important thing is that you’re here and we’re going to have a lovely dinner. And don’t forget! We have a guest! I think you’re really gonna be surprised.”

“Uh, yeah Pat, I’ve been meaning to ask you about that. You know I’m not the best with meeting new people,” the softer voice said.

“Hey, it’s okay Virge, our guest has told me he doesn’t have the best people skills either, so I think you two will get along just fine.” Patton replied with a sympathetic smile. “Now it’s time to introduce all of you! Oh I’m so excited!”

With that Patton opened the door fully to let in the other two residents on the fourth floor, at the same time revealing Logan to be their mystery guest.

“Roman and Virgil meet—”

“It’s you!” the man wearing a white leather jacket and red T-shirt said, while the man with dyed purple hair just stared wide-eyed, looking at Logan with a shocked expression.

Logan stood up from his chair and walked toward the doorway.

“Hello, I am Logan, it’s nice to meet you.” He was nothing if not one for decorum.

“You’re the nerd who saved Patton yesterday!” the one he assumed to be Roman said delightedly before he was sharply elbowed in the side by the one he assumed was Virgil.

“Ow! Hey! What was that for?”

Virgil glared at Roman for a second before addressing Logan, “Would you excuse us for a second?” and without waiting for a reply, he dragged Roman into the hallway.

Patton laughed awkwardly, rubbing the back of his neck, “Sorry about that…”

“It’s quite alright Patton.”

As Logan said that, he turned up his sound sensitivity so he could hear what the other two were whispering in the hallway. He heard Roman speak first.

“What the heck, Dark and Gloomy? What was that for?”

“You dumbass, you saw what this guy did yesterday. He could beat the hell out of you! Not saying that he would but-. And the first thing you do to the guy who saved Pat is insult him!? He could fold you like a lawn chair, God you’re an idiot.” Virgil hissed under his breath. Roman made an offended scoffing sound.

“Hey! I- well, I- Ugh! I am not an idiot. He caught me by surprise! You have to admit he does look like a nerd though, just a bit?” There was another noise of Roman being elbowed in the gut. “Oof! Would you quit that?!”

“Maybe when you don’t try to piss off the guy who took down someone waving a knife in Patton’s face?” Virgil said, pushing the last words through his teeth. It was quiet for a moment before Roman spoke up again.

“...It was really amazing how he took that guy down. Gah! I wish I could have been of more use yesterday. He was just so swift and composed, I was shocked silent--which is a first for me!”

“You can say that again.”

“Anyway, the point is I am grateful he saved our little ball of sunshine in there. I just didn’t know what to say.”

“Well you can start by apologising and then...I don’t know, tell him how impressed you were with him or something. Look, I’m about as emotionally constipated as you are, so I’m not really great at advice on this.”

“Ugh! I will have you know I am great at expressing my emotions, I am an Actor after all.” Virgil sighed upon hearing this.

“Whatever, let’s just go back in there, and be nice, okay?” there was a rasp to his voice that made his suggestion more akin to a threat.

With that the door opened back up, Virgil being the first to speak.

“Sorry about this idiot, won’t happen again.” Roman shot Virgil a glare before speaking up and addressing Logan.

“My sincerest apologies, Logan, was it? I regret my rude behavior in calling you a nerd, (even though you kinda look like one), and would like to introduce myself. I am the one, the only, Roman Prince, at your service,” he said with a deep bow and a wink while Virgil facepalmed, “I hope you humbly accept my gratitude for saving our dearest Patton, without you he would surely be lost to us yet. Truly, your combat skills are unmatched, and you showed great valor and poise. It is an honor to be in your presence.” he finished with a dramatic flourish and a tinge of pride in his voice from his performance. Logan didn’t even need to run any scans on Roman’s vitals to tell he was being overly dramatic, no spike in heart rate could top that. Still, a first impression was a first impression, so he extended his hand to shake as a greeting.

“...You’re welcome...It’s nice to meet you. As I said previously, my name is Logan Smith, and I am the new resident of apartment 4A.” Logan spoke as he and Roman grasped hands and he gave a firm shake. However, at this point Virgil spoke up.

“Woah wait, you’re gonna be living here? On the same floor as us? Right next to me?” Virgil looked a little shaken for a moment.

“Yes..? Is there a problem? I’m not following.” Logan could tell he seemed on edge but he couldn’t tell why.

“No..It’s cool…” Virgil replied as the tiniest bit of blush crept on his face in embarrassment. Patton piped up.

“Don’t worry about it too much Logan, Virgil just takes time adjusting to change.” he glanced at Virgil as he spoke and gave him a sympathetic look. Virgil looked off to the side, cheeks growing even darker with blush.

“Yeah! Charlie Frown over here just doesn’t realise how frickin’ cool it’ll be to live next to a personal bodyguard, though,” Roman interjected, “he does already have a knight in shining armor protecting him from harm’s way (me of course), but I suppose I could learn a thing or two from Mister Jedi Master over here, what with the stunt you pulled yesterday.” Logan gave Roman a confused look.

“Bodyguard? My knowledge of self defense does not make me a bodyguard. But, I suppose I could teach you how I performed that maneuver yesterday at some point, as long as it didn’t harm anything.” Logan conceded with some trepidation, at the possible offer of spending more time with them, which was a risky move. And based on the shocked but delighted look on Roman’s face, apparently offering to teach self defence, in any small way, was the wrong move if he didn’t want more interaction.

“Also, why would Virgil even need a bodyguard? He seems perfectly capable of taking care of himself.” Logan decided to shift the topic back onto the other, much to Virgil’s chagrin if the spike in adrenaline was any indicator.

“...Can we please sit down and eat? I’m kinda hungry.” Virgil pulled up the hood of his patched hoodie and buried his face in it, refusing to make eye contact with anyone. Though Logan could see his face growing dark from embarrassment underneath the hood.

“Oh yeah guys! I made lasagna, with a little surprise for dessert, you’re going to love it!” Patton said, coming to Virgil’s rescue.

“Ooo! I love lasagna! You know just what to make Padre!” Roman exclaimed as he pulled out a chair and sat down at the dining table, Logan and Virgil soon following suit.

Patton leaned over the table where he sat down the dish earlier and removed the aluminum foil he had placed over the top. A burst of smell escaped its confinement and filled the apartment, steam coming off the cheese and sauce in whispy ribbons. He cut the meal into squares and put a piece on each of the four plates at the table.

Roman immediately began digging in despite Patton’s warning that it was hot, and as anticipated, he soon began fanning his mouth and saying, “Ah!hothothot!”, then ran over to the sink and filled a glass with water before downing it in a few gulps. Virgil smacked his hand into his face while saying “idiot”, but nonetheless could still be seen smiling under his hood at Roman’s shenanigans.

Logan picked up his fork and twirled it between his fingers for a second, a bit apprehensively, before plunging it into the corner of the lasagna, tearing a bit off of the stubborn pasta and cheese. Then, as naturally as he could muster, while everyone else was distracted and giggling about Roman’s mishap, he slipped the piece of food into his mouth, pulling back the fork clean.

The first thing he noted was the temperature, the lasagna being approximately 151*F, indeed a little too hot for comfort on the human tongue. He felt Roman should have been more cautious. The next thing was the texture, the cheese being stringy and slightly chewy, while the sauce was liquidy and a little chunky from the tomatoes, and finally the pasta was soft and a little stubbornly chewy. Logan felt apathetic to these textures, more focused on how thoroughly he was going to have to clean his mouth from the red sauce now coating his insides. Finally after a tingling sensation on his tongue that felt similar to numbing mouthwash, he experienced the taste.

It...was far more underwhelming than he expected. It didn’t taste bad, but he just didn’t experience a particularly strong way one way or the other. It tasted like food. Like the chemical compositions that made up cheese and sauce and pasta. Though it could be said that it was a miracle that he was able to experience taste at all, he did feel a bit proud of himself for that.

This analysis happened in a matter of seconds after taking his first bite and he chose to release a gentle ‘hmm’ to indicate to Patton he was enjoying the meal. It was polite after all.

A comfortable chatter started to buzz around the table as the other three settled into eating their meals. As Logan continued to take small bites, he noticed the three had a distinct chemistry. He wasn’t sure how this sentiment could be expressed except for the idea that they played off one another well. Each had something that added to the interactions of the others, and Logan found himself occasionally weighing in on the conversation whenever he was addressed, feeling like he added to that chemistry. The atmosphere began to loosen some and he could tell they were becoming less tense, Virgil especially. It seemed the more he talked and interacted with him at the table, the less awkward he seemed when addressing the others, even Logan.

Eventually, over the clatter of forks and light chewing, the conversation topic cycled onto himself.

“So, Logan,” Patton said with a soft cheesy grin, propping his face up with one arm, “tell us about yourself.” Logan cocked an eyebrow.

“What would you like to know?”

Roman cut in, “What brings you to Cardinal Valley? It’s not exactly a well-known locale.”

“Yeah, it’s basically No-where City, nothing happens here.” Virgil added, eyeing Logan a bit suspiciously now that he considered it.

“I disagree, it is far more populated than where I used to live.”

“Where did you used to live?” Patton asked, curious.

“The middle of nowhere.” Logan deadpanned.

“Ha ha, we made that joke already, Courage the Cowardly Dog.” Roman snided. Logan rolled his eyes.

“I don’t make jokes. I lived out in the woods, south of here.”

“Wow, all alone?” Patton said with sympathy in his eyes.

“That sounds like a crazy horror cabin scenario to me,” said Virgil, stabbing the remainder of his lasagna with his fork, “kinda metal though.”

“No, I didn’t live alone, it used to be my...parent’s house, I...don’t interact with them anymore,” Logan said, looking down and fiddling with his fork.

“Oh, I’m sorry kiddo, I didn’t mean to bring up bad memories,” Patton said with a frown and reached for Logan’s hand to console him, patting it gently where it rested on the table.

“That’s quite alright Patton, you didn’t mean to. And the past is the past, it does little good to dwell on it.”

“Oh, right.” Patton finished lamely, looking down. There was a bit of an awkward lull in the conversation before Roman perked up.

“Hey, Padre, you said there was something special after lasagna?”

“Oh yeah, kiddo, how silly of me, I almost forgot. Now who’s ready for desert?” Patton asked cheerfully, getting up from the table. There was a general consensus of agreement as Roman and Virgil said various “I am’s” excitedly while Logan just nodded slightly.

Patton went behind the kitchen area and opened the freezer, pulling out a large sealed container. Roman gasped before exclaiming, “Patton, does this mean what I think it means?”

Patton gave a singular nod at him before Roman squealed excitedly and bolted to the door. Logan gave a dumbfounded look to Patton and Virgil, confused as to what was going on. To his surprise, even Virgil was giving a mischievous smirk, flicking his eyes to the doorway that Roman left swung open and listening to the jostling and rustling that could be heard next door from Roman’s apartment. As this was happening Patton was unscrewing the lid of the container to reveal a tub full of ice cream.

“Homemade Vanilla Ice Cream! Bone-Apple-Teeth kiddos!”

Roman then rushed back into the room at that moment.

“Got it!” he said panting, a little out of breath, holding up a small jar.

“You know what to do Ro!”

Roman grinned, popping off the lid of the jar and sticking it in the microwave. None of this cleared up Logan’s confusion in any way whatsoever.

Patton pulled out a clean ice cream scoop and some bowls before delicately scooping out a portion for everyone. Meanwhile the microwave beeped signifying whatever was in the jar was done being heated. Roman pulled the jar out, then, taking a spoon, doled out generous helpings of what looked like liquefied, warm, strawberry jelly on top of each scoop.

“Crofter’s, the berry best jelly around!” Roman declared.

“Yeah, it’s my jam.” Virgil chimed in.

Logan groaned at the apparently infectious use of puns, but he had to admit that he was intrigued about all the fuss. Roman and Patton helped pass out the bowls and handed Virgil and Logan spoons to enjoy their ice cream with.

“Have you ever had Crofter’s jelly before Logan?” Roman asked.

“I don’t believe I have.” Before tonight he had never had any food in general, but he wasn’t going to mention that.

“Well you are going to love it. I convinced Patton and Virgil to try it a few years back, and now it’s our thing to basically top every desert with it any time we all have dinner together.”

Logan was skeptical about his potential ‘love’ for this fruit spread product given how disappointing the lasagna experience was, but again, politeness. And, at the very least, he was curious.

“Alright kiddos, dig in!” Patton announced, plunging his spoon into the ice cream and taking a bite, humming in pleasure when he pulled the spoon from his lips. Roman and Virgil followed suit, though Virgil was much quieter when eating than Roman, who kept making ‘Mmmm’ sounds a bit obnoxiously.

Logan spun his spoon between a couple of fingers before dipping it into the ice cream and jelly. Well, it can’t be any more disappointing than the lasagna he thought.

He brought the spoon up to his lips, placing it in his mouth and...and...it was the most delicious thing he had ever tasted. His eyes went wide in shock as the sweet chemicals washed over his now sensitized tongue. It was...it was...invigorating. He began taking more spoonfuls and putting them in his mouth. Who knew jelly could be so good?

Logan didn’t notice the others were staring at him. Patton was covering his mouth trying to keep himself from giggling, while Roman had a proud look about himself and kept glancing between Virgil and Patton while he ate. Virgil on the other hand kept looking down and pursing his lip to keep himself from smiling.

Logan didn’t look up until his spoon scraped the bottom of the bowl and the last of the ice cream and jelly was in his mouth. He sucked off the remainder of the jelly from the spoon and smacked his lips, only then realizing he was being watched.

Oh no, his lips were sticky and covered in jelly and vanilla ice cream, and there was some dribbling down his chin. He didn’t have any blood to cause a blush, but he did feel his face begin the heat. He put down the spoon and covered his mouth with his hand to hide the mess.

The three others were grinning at him with varying degrees of humor.

“Wow Specs, you had been kind of stiff all night, who knew you just needed some Crofter’s to loosen you up?”

Logan averted his gaze from Roman, instead choosing to stare at the woodgrain on the table.

“I apologise, that was berry- I mean very unprofessional of me.” What was wrong with him? Did the sugar cross some wires or something?

Patton gasped delightedly.

“Oh my goodness Logan, you punned! You did an almost-on-purpose dad joke!”

Logan felt like disconnecting his head from his body and burying it under a pile of rubble, but he settled for taking his napkin and wiping his mouth clean from the food stains.

“I did not pun, not on purpose, so it doesn’t count.”

“Oh, I think it counts,” Roman said.

“Anyway,” Logan cut him off, “you were right Roman, that fruit spread was enjoyable. ...More so than I expected, apparently. I might go so far as to say it was the best thing I have ever tasted, which would not be an exaggeration.”

Roman looked as if he had just gotten praise from Gordon Ramsey himself, before getting a slight jab in the arm from Virgil’s elbow.

“Don’t look so surprised Princey, everyone loves that stuff.”

Roman made an offended noise.

“Well, it was still a good idea on my part, and Logan seems to like it so I say that was a 100% success.” He stuck out his tongue to Virgil, and in response Virgil flicked him on the forehead.

“Ow! Hey! Have at ye, foul fiend!” Roman yelped as he grabbed his spoon and started making sword fighting gestures at Virgil, who grabbed his spoon as well, a smirk creeping onto his face.

“You’re on.” before inevitably,

“Kiddos,” Patton said giving them a look, “we do not fight at the dinner table, it’s rude!” Roman crossed his arms, muttering under his breath something that sounded suspiciously like ‘whatever dad’, before he and Virgil sheepishly put down their spoons. Logan spoke up.

“Well, Patton this dinner has been lovely. Thank you for having me. And you two,” he addressed Roman and Virgil, “It was wonderful to meet you officially, thank you for trying to make me feel welcome.”

“Woah, leaving so soon Specs?” Roman said. Virgil rolled his eyes.

“We live on the same floor as him now, we’ll probably see him all the time.”

Patton beamed at the compliment he’d been given and piped up,

“Aw, thanks Logan. I love getting to know new people, and I sure do hope I’ll be seeing more of you soon.”

“You will Patton. Before we ran into one another earlier, I had just gotten back from my interview with Dr. Picani, and he said I’d been accepted into the vacant position.”

“You got the job?!” Patton squealed excitedly, “That’s awesome Logan! That means we get to work together!” He jumped up and hugged Logan, who stiffened, but softly pat his now co-worker’s arm in gratitude.

“Congratulations man,” Virgil said, waving a small salute.

“Erm, yes, I got the job. I assume you’ll figuratively ‘show me the ropes’ (if that’s the correct phrase) on my first day?”

“‘Course Logan, anything! Just ask,” Patton answered with a smile, releasing Logan from their hug.

“I’ll be sure to take you up on that offer Patton,” he said looking him in the eye, before turning to all three of them.

“Farewell, I will see you all again soon.” Logan said, walking up to the door and opening it before turning slightly to administer a brief wave. Patton and Virgil waved back, Patton very enthusiastically. Roman, meanwhile, gave a deep bow as Logan opened the door and replied, “‘Till we meet again,” with a wink.

Logan rolled his eyes, smiling slightly, and closed the door, walking over to his apartment. He had a lot of cleaning to do on his insides, which would not be fun, but, he had to admit, the night had not been awful. It was actually pleasant, if somewhat entertaining. Logan was looking forward to recharging, though. It had been a long day. However, he was reassured by the fact that he might actually come to like his new neighbors after all.

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justkarliekloss · 4 years ago

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Supermodel Karlie Kloss on How Pregnancy Has Affected Her Routines

“I normally love running but I have to say I’m out of breath these days just talking or going up a flight of stairs.”

Karlie Kloss says that the last thing she thinks about before she goes to bed is coffee, and these days she’s living for her cup of decaf in the morning. In mid-November, the supermodel, 28, confirmed she and her husband Joshua Kushner, 35, are expecting their first child together. Other than her caffeine routine, she says pregnancy has made waking up a little harder.

“I think I could sleep in until three in the afternoon,” she says.

It’s most likely not an option for her. Kloss’s days are filled with back-to-back Zoom meetings, Instagram Live streams for her first collection with Adidas and filming episodes for her YouTube channel, Klossy—all from her current home in Miami. In addition to modeling, Kloss runs Kode With Klossy, a free coding camp for teenage girls; hosts Bravo’s Project Runway; and has invested in companies including Apparis, Mirror and StockX. She’s a spokesperson for brands including Carolina Herrera and Estée Lauder, and in August, she led an investor group that acquired W magazine in partnership with Bustle Media Group. Here, she tells WSJ. about her first board meeting (virtual, of course) for W, her “simple” beauty routine and favorite smoothie recipe and why Sundays for her are a lot like Mondays.

What time do you wake up on Mondays, and what’s the first thing you do?

I normally am up at 6:30, 7, but I feel like these days, more into winter, I’m hitting the snooze button more and more. I like to get my workout in first thing in the morning, so I almost force myself to get out of bed and put on my leggings, my sneakers and my sports bra. I brush my teeth and go straight to my workout, which, by the way, is like the shortest commute of all time now that it’s basically just my Zoom workouts.

Do you have any go-to classes?

I’ve been loving Tracy Anderson workouts because you can do them anywhere. I have my little ankle weights, whether I’m in New York or my parents’ house or down in Miami. [The workouts are] full body weight workouts. And then I’ve really gotten more into yoga. I normally love running but I have to say I’m out of breath these days just talking or going up a flight of stairs. Being pregnant has put a little bit of a damper on my running routine but I still have been trying to stay active no matter what, going for lots of long walks.

Do you have a favorite breakfast for starting the week off right?

I really love doing a smoothie to pack in all the nutrients: frozen blueberries, frozen spinach, almond milk, a bunch of maca and ashwagandha and all these things that I can’t really pronounce.

What’s your vitamin routine like?

I take this really great prenatal called Ritual. And Seed probiotics. That’s kind of it.

Do you set aside a specific time to brainstorm or reflect during the week?

I feel like Monday through Fridays are crazy, so Saturdays are the day when I’m fully offline. I step away from my computer, my phone. I’m present and disconnected from virtual life. I feel like the week really starts on Sunday. It’s when I take a minute to look back at the week prior, make sure that I’ve gotten back to everyone I need to, closing any loops and then looking ahead to the week to come: prepping with materials or communications, reading that needs to happen. Sunday is my day to get ahead on life.

What’s your beauty routine like these days?

It’s more on the simple side. I guess it’s because, my fifteen years working as a model, I’ve always been the blank canvas for the artists to create these looks. I’ve always been so much more focused on taking care of myself from the inside out. At night, my routine is cleansing, toning, using a serum and then a cream and an under-the-eye cream. In the morning...I slap on a serum and a light cream. I [like] a light concealer, I like to fill in the brow with an eyebrow pencil. Maybe a little bit of cream blush and a lip liner and then that’s it.

Is there anything about your beauty routine or diet that’s out of the ordinary?

I’ve always had bizarre cravings, so it’s kind of nothing new, but I’ve really been loving everything salty and crunchy.

Do you have a best time management or efficiency hack?

In a weird way, I feel like I’ve been able to become much better with my time management [during the pandemic]. I feel more productive and more involved than before, [not] being on an airplane and in transit all the time. Today, I did an Instagram Live for Adidas with Alexis [Williams], this amazing [Kode With Klossy] scholar who was in the campaign with me. Then I went straight to a board meeting, we had our first ever W board meeting. This year, we acquired W magazine in the middle of a virtual world which has been an amazing endeavor.

And then I had a quick 20 minutes to go pee and grab lunch and then race back. And then we have a big Kode With Klossy presentation this afternoon. It’s been really interesting and exciting to see the innovative ways for us all to communicate or [for] brands to reach people. This past summer, Kode With Klossy went virtual for the first time ever. For the past five years, we’ve run in-person summer camps across the country… [but] by going virtual, we were able to scale in a whole new way. We had students from 20 countries around the world, so it allowed us to grow in an unprecedented way.

What’s your media diet like?

I love The Wall Street Journal. I get a lot of my news from newsletters and I love listening to podcasts. I scroll through Instagram and Twitter but I also limit myself; otherwise, I go down rabbit holes. But in the morning first thing, especially on a Monday, I read through all my newsletters and make sure I get abreast of what’s going on. I love the W magazine newsletter, a Wall Street Journal newsletter, a Washington Post newsletter and a New York Times newsletter.

What’s your involvement at W like?

It’s so exciting to be involved on the other side of a publication like W. My entire career I’ve been on more the editorial side, so [now I’m] more on the strategy and supporting the creative team. Sara Moonves is an incredible editor-in-chief, but also what I get excited about is thinking about the opportunity that exists to continue to evolve where fashion and media are going, building out new revenue streams.

What do you look for when you’re deciding whether to make an investment?

I’ve invested in quite a few startups over the past years. I really love to support female-founded businesses.... I have quite a little portfolio at this point, in my heart I’m very entrepreneurial.

When it comes to life post-baby, are there other supermodel moms who you look up to in the industry?

Where to begin? Christy Turlington [Burns] has been a role model and mentor of mine. She is somebody who I feel really lucky to have to look to for guidance and advice. Her work with Every Mother Counts is one of the reasons why early on in my career I realized the opportunity to make the most of having the platform. And as a mom, I think she’s just the coolest. Cindy Crawford is an incredible supermom as well. Natalia Vodianova, I mean, she has five kids. I still to this day don’t understand how she does it. I’m really excited for all of my friends who are entering this next chapter of life at this time too, so excited for some new mom groups.

What’s one piece of advice you’ve gotten that’s guided you?

I keep a running list of notes on my phone and computer. There’s this one that I love: “Success is not the key to happiness; happiness is the key to success.” That is a quote that I love.

#karlie kloss #kkinterviews

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kreactionsentertainment · 5 years ago

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Exo Reaction ~ You Saving Them Pt. 2

Admin Eva: As stated in Part 1, I do not take credit for writing this reaction. A very good friend of mine helped me in a huge way by writing this reaction. I also want to state that this blog does NOT own any of the gifs used unless stated otherwise. Once again this reaction does have a part for Jongdae, however as stated before this is the last romantically inclined reaction that will be on this blog. I will still write sibling requests or just general exo requests, but none will have Jongdae and a romantic interest. Thank you so much for your patience and understanding~!

Jongdae

Jongdae was intensely focusing on his battle with Chanyeol, if anyone was winning, it was him and not that stupid flamehead. He charged up several lightning bolts and threw them at Chanyeol like spears while he tried dodging all the fireballs being thrown his way. The two hit each other and caused a big explosion, throwing both men miles apart. You sensed something was wrong and immediately went to Jongdae's location. When you saw him, he was lying motionless on the ground, bleeding profusely from what looked like deep cuts and ash? Being a healer, you focused all your energy on sealing up his wounds and helping his body repair itself. You sat back and looked at Jongdae disappointedly after you finished healing him.

“I know your awake Jongdae.” The said man opened one eye to glance at you before closing it straight away, hoping you didn’t catch that. “You know, I keep telling you that it's not smart to battle Chanyeol when you and him have destructive powers. Now I’m going to have to report to Suho and ah ah don’t say anything, you brought this upon yourself Kim Jongdae.” Despite his whining, he knew what he did was dangerous… he just didn’t want to have to listen to both you and Suho lecturing him at the same time, but for sure he was dragging Chanyeol with him whether he got caught or not.

Chanyeol

As the lightning spears barely scraped by Chanyeol, he added more heat to his flames, causing the fireballs he threw to be a blue color. He wasn’t looking when his flame hit Jongdae’s spear and blew up, sending him into the air along with Jongdae before they both smacked into the ground. Chanyeol called out to you because you would be able to hear his voice no matter how quiet or far away you were. Your body appears as if the wind carried each particle and built you back in front of Chanyeol. You rush down to his body and start inspecting all the burns. With a quick sorry, you pushed your powers into Chanyeol as he bit down on a piece of cloth.

The winds felt like it was cutting up his body internally, but your powers of wind were fueling his powers of fire, causing his body to regenerate quicker. Like magic, the existing burns from Jongdaes thunder looked like they were being erased in front of your eyes. With one last force, you fell on him and laid there to rest. Chanyeol could hear Jongdae’s girlfriend nagging him about being reckless and here he was just hoping you’d forget this after you wake up so he wouldn’t have to listen to your lecture about “being safe” and “taking precaution”. With a little kiss on the nose, he smiled softly. “Don’t think you're getting away with this, I’m just too tired right now, but you already know Suho’s hearing about this.” And just like that, his smile was gone and he was back to worrying how he’d deal with you and Suho for the nth time.

Kyungsoo

“Find him! Don’t let him get away!” Kyungsoo had been on the run ever since he stole that guy's wallet, and boy did he regret it. The polished black leather wallet had looked too expensive but expensive was good, expensive meant money and that meant he could eat for the week, a month maybe if he was extremely lucky. Turn out the amount of cash in this wallet would be enough to feed him a whole year, that’s discarding all the cards because a smart person would just suspend it or track him down. Speaking of, he was currently being tracked down right now, but instead of the police sirens, he was hearing gunshots and yelling.

Kyungsoo ran and ran until he couldn’t anymore. He had once prided in his ability to run fast, a thief who couldn't was a dead thief anyways. Today proved him wrong, that the people he outran before were normal people, those who were easy to escape from. Today he was being chased by those who seemed serious in getting this wallet back. He found a hole that looked his size and crawled in. He didn’t expect to see someone already sitting in this small space. The girl in front of him starred unblinkingly as she ate what looked like a small piece of stale bread. “Hi!” You exclaimed at the owlish boy. Kyungsoo backed away in fright only to hit the metal scraps that served as a wall to your home. “Oh.. sorry, umm..” You took in his appearance and grabbed the wallet once you saw it. Opening it up, you saw a familiar face, not that you personally knew the guy, just that he was well known around these streets. “Oh boy! Did you steal this from Mr. Mouse? That's a bad idea you know! He goes bang bang when he’s upset..” Kyungsoo snatched the wallet back from you as he squinted at your speech. “I think that bread you're eating is causing you to go crazy.” He took the piece of bread from you, only to realize it was a dried piece of chicken. He suddenly dropped it out of shock while you scrambled to pick it up again. “That's my dinner! How rude!! No wonder you’ll go bang bang in 13 minutes! 15 if you’re lucky!!”

Kyungsoo was too busy wondering how a piece of chicken could be as dry and crusted like stale bread. He even wondered if it was safe to consume, “wait, 13 minutes? 15? How do you know?” The numbers seemed too accurate unless she was truly crazy... “Mr. Mouse has a clock! 30 minutes or bang! The lizard finishes in 10 minutes but he’s away today. The next fastest is the little deer! He doesn’t like to be called that though~” You giggled at the thought of a mad deer. “And.. the deer finishes in 10 to 15 minutes?…” He wasn’t sure what you meant by Mr. Mouse, the lizard and or the deer, but he assumed they were code names made by your loopy mind. “Bingo!~ Hehe~” You tried taking another bite of the chicken when it was suddenly taken away again. “Hey!!”, “Show me the way out of this city and I’ll buy you better food.”

Kyungsoo soon found out that you were incredibly smart, just that your mind stored information in a very simple way. After he safely got away, he offered you to come with him with the promise of better food and living conditions. You guys would still be on the streets sometimes but it was never as bad as that metal shelter, especially now that you had someone to keep you company, one that didn’t think you were completely insane.

Zitao

Gunshots were being heard throughout the building and Tao didn’t know where to go. He just kept running until you pulled his arm and dragged him in the opposite direction. “Are you crazy? The exits this way!” You whispered as loudly as you could afford to. Working in a bank was definitely boring for you, but that didn’t mean you wanted robbers coming into ‘spice’ up your day. You guess this guy was new as he didn’t have the exit routes memorized yet nor did he seem to understand that you don’t run towards the sound of gunshots. Opening the exit doors to the stairs, you warned him to follow you as quickly and quietly as he could. For some reason, Tao managed to stay pretty quiet, with the occasional scream, but he remembered right after and covered his own mouth to prevent the robbers from finding them.

After what felt like too long, both of you got out and together you ran to the nearest cafe before calling the cops to let them know the updated situation. “Th-thanks” You had forgotten about the guy for a brief moment but waved that it was no big deal. He hadn’t gotten you more in danger and it just seemed right, rather than letting him run around the building like a headless chicken. “Let me buy you a coffee!” Tao quickly went to the counter and order two things he felt would taste good. He tried to calm his racing heart down but he wasn’t sure if it was due to the adrenaline or if it was because of you. That day on, Tao would always stick close to you when he can and you soon found out this guy had a lot of fears. But it was cute, that and afterwards he always bought you something to eat or drink when he got scared.. and when he simply wanted to.

Jongin

You jumped into the ocean after waiting what felt like forever for Jongin to pop up. You guys had gone cliff diving with friends and while you all had done it numerous times, you felt uneasy when Jongin wasn’t surfacing. The others assured you, he was probably just playing a joke, but you thought differently. Jongin wouldn’t scare you like this, this was too long to be a simple joke, so here you were swimming in the warm ocean trying to find your boyfriend. You rose multiple times to take a deep breath before swimming down again. Your friends saw how panicked you looked and jumped down to help you search for Jongin too.

He had jumped down into the warm water and man did it feel great. His friends had already known he would pull a prank at one point. So when he entered the water for the fifth time that hour, he held his breath for as long as he could. A few minutes passed by and he was starting to feel uncomfortable. As he tried to swim back up, he realized his foot was caught in some plastic netting and other plants that floated in the ocean. Jongin did his best to unraveled the webbing around his foot but he was starting to desperately need air. His body started to panic and he wasn’t thinking straight anymore.

You had finally found him and called your friends to come help. Everyone took a deep breath and swam down to where Jongin was. You carefully cut away the plastic and saw that it was stuck to heavy rocks, no wonder he wasn’t able to getaway. Once Jongin was free, the guys swam back up as you and the girls followed along, making sure there was nothing to get caught on around them. Back on land, you immediately performed CPR and prayed that Jongin was okay. A few seconds later he was bending over to cough up the water in his lungs. His chest and sinus stung like crazy as he was gasping for the much need air. Jongin pulled you into a tight hug once he felt a little better. He told you how thankful he was over and over, promising to never pull a prank like that again.

Sehun

Sehun had his breath knocked out of him as you tackled him to the ground. “Idiot!” You yelled at him as bullets continued to fire his way. He hadn’t realized he was getting shot at, as he was too focused on watching your back. The two of you had been partnered up together on a few missions years ago. Soon after, you both started to go on every single assignment with each other. Little did you know, Sehun had been requesting to work with you, and you did the same for him. How embarrassing it was when your boss yelled out “Finally!!” at a work party. Only then did you guys find out how silly your actions seemed when it would’ve been easier to say it face to face.

Sehun focused his attention on you to find any scratches and luckily there weren’t any. He kissed you deeply, too caught in the moment of feeling how grateful he was that you were okay. You immediately pushed him down in panic, what was he thinking? You both were in an active shooting zone and here he was kissing you? He let out a soft groan as his back hit the concrete floor, maybe he should show you how much he appreciates you once you both were safe at home.

He gave you another peck on the forehead and told you to be safe before he headed off in a new direction. Although he was always extremely grateful to have someone like you watching his back, he needed to remember that they still had a dangerous job to do. Often times you would save his life and he would save yours. Despite that, there was never a moment that either of you took it for granted, as your life was too precious to him and you cherished him.

#exo reaction #part 2 #Kim jongdae #park chanyeol #do kyungsoo #huang zitao #Kim Jongin #oh sehun #angst #Admin Ninja

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savvywriting · 6 years ago

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Childhood and Houses

My Childhood told by the houses I lived in (Written 8/24/18)

In my nineteen years of life I have lived in six houses. Random and highly specific circumstances have caused my family to move to different houses, all within the same zip code. I’ve often referenced that each house tells a different story of my life, given the small-time span of formative years I’ve spent in them. The first house, the house I was born and breed in, seems like a fairytale. I was too young to see any holes in my life or my parents’. My parents wanted me to explore anything and everything. I was allowed to play with my food at our dinner table so I could express creativity. My mom worked night shifts as a nurse on the weekends, so I was with my dad while she slept during the day. We’d watch classic Disney movies and the bounty hunter show The Dog so my dad could show me what would happen if I go down the wrong road in life. My childhood wasn’t sheltered, but it was idyllic because in that house I knew I was loved so much.

The second house was across the street from our first one, we bought it and rented the first house out to our neighbor. It had a layout perfect for a kid. I had an almost closet-like-door I could go through to get to my parents’ room if I got scared during the night. The whole house and our giant, Atlanta-tree-covered, backyard was my playground. Man, did I play. My parents wanted me to be able to make a toy out of anything and my dad and I would go to our basement workshop and make castles. That sums up my entertainment as a child; watching shark week and building castles with my dad, playing dress up and walking in the creek with my mom, and carving tiny cities out of Styrofoam packaging. When I think of my happy place, I think of our little green house on North Parkwood Road.

The third house we moved into was because of a sharp and harsh change I didn’t see coming. My parents got divorced. It’s a modern-day staple in so many kids’ lives now, but that doesn’t make it easier. Looking back, I’m grateful they did. While having a nuclear family is ideal, it was better for us as a family. I have friends whose parents won’t be in the same room as each other, but my parents are close friends. My dad even stayed with my mom, stepdad, and I after he got knee surgery since he couldn’t go up the stairs to his apartment. But during that time, it was marked by challenges. I don’t like thinking of my time in the small, cramped house on Ridgeland Avenue. My mom, who I lived with, had very little money from the divorce and our second house didn’t sell for nearly enough as we hoped. After all, it was 2008. At nine years old, I felt helpless. My mom was sad, my dad was in a bad mood, and we were barely getting by. It was so contrasting to the amazing reality I had before. But, like all hard things, it passed.

My mom got remarried, and with my now-stepdad’s combined income we moved into an incredible townhouse in the center of the city. I was thirteen so I had the freedom to walk down town and hangout with my friends and to school. It was around this time that my feminism kicked in. I started to notice the world around me and the impacts the smallest characteristics have on my life. I was becoming curious. When I was fourteen my mom told me that I wasn’t allowed to walk with less than two female friends after dark. Even though we lived in the safest neighborhood in Atlanta, being a girl, especially a young one, came with grave risks. Race and class had never been something I’d seen. I grew up in an extremely liberal, diverse, immigrant and refugee populated, tight-knit community. I went to an I.B. school starting in kindergarten and my parents took me to political events for equality starting at three months old. I never met people who were racist or sexist. I knew they existed, but I never saw them. But at fifteen, the cracks began to show. I learned that my family in Mississippi, whom I spent many of my summers with running through country valleys and jumping into the lake on a hot southern-summer day, had view-points that I couldn’t separate them from. That was the hardest part for me, I loved my family so much, I knew they weren’t bad people. However, to this day it’s still hard to ignore what they say, in the limited time I’m grateful to spend with them, and have a good conscience.

The summer before my sixteenth birthday we moved for a number of reasons. I switched to a private school so we moved to not pay the high taxes of our county’s great public school system. I was about to start driving and getting in and out of our complex on one of the busiest streets in Atlanta was not going to happen. So, we went to what we called “an in-between house” for about a year and a half. This house marked a story where I had to grow up. I learned about credit scores and college applications, housing properties and ramifications of bad behavior in the real world, from my older stepbrothers. I also got treatment for something that I had been struggling with for years, anorexia. My parents didn’t know about it for the longest of time but they helped me help myself. I had to learn to take care of myself and be away from home for treatment. I had a family member who had was an alcoholic so I had to learn to swallow my pride and do what’s best for everyone else.

When we moved, we moved. For the first time, I felt privileged. We bought a very nice house in a very poor neighborhood because it was cheaper. There isn’t much to write about this story, it’s still pretty new. What I do know is the underlined feeling of guilt I have that my neighbors struggle to put food on the table and we live in a fully furnished three-story house.

My childhood helped me realize that chapters end, but your story never comes to a close. So, thank you to North Parkwood Road, Ridgeland Avenue, Clairemont Road, Royal Bluff Street, and Crescentwood Lane for your lessons. I’ll be a 30030 child forever.

#writing #my writing #autobio #personal essay #original writing #young writer #my story

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kittycat-plisetsky · 7 years ago

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Mental Disorder Analysis of Killing Stalking

I did a bit of a project (for school) here where I analyze the actions in Killing Stalking from the perspective that Yoon Bum and Oh Sangwoo are mentally ill individuals. I attempt here to explain and defend the characters, as well as try to educate the fandom to alleviate hate rooted from ignorance. I’ll share a preview tand then add the rest under a read more bar; I went a tad overboard.

So maybe you’re a fan of Killing Stalking. Maybe you’re an anti. Maybe you’re a closet fan who’s ashamed to admit having a liking for the manga. For me, upon my first interaction with the fandom, I’ll admit it, I was nearly repulsed, but I’ve come a long way since that time and become an active member in the fandom, and even cosplay! After some consideration, I’ve realized the themes presented here aren’t much different from any crime-themed tv show, like Criminal Minds or something similar. Then I began to question myself and why I was even an anti to start off with, and the answer to that boiled down to ignorance. Upon a first glance, it isn’t hard not to view this simply as a toxic relationship that gets its readers off on some BL sadomasochism about a killer and, who I assumed at the time to be a kidnapped boy, who gets tortured. That’s simply not what this manga is, and it’s belittling to pass it off as much. If you know of killing stalking, you can bypass the next paragraph, but through my little ramblings here I’m hoping to defend this manga for what it is and to explain to you all (whether you’re a fan or an anti) some realistic reasonings for the actions/reactions of these characters centered around some potential mental illnesses here at play. The creator and these boys need some defending in this fandom, and so do us fans (who some of you, like me, I’m sure have been told we’re gross, need to kill ourselves, etc. We deserve more credit 😉 )

Killing Stalking is a psychological thriller manga with one protagonist being a stalker, and the other a killer, as the name suggests. Our first protagonist, Yoonbum, is a man in his late twenties who stalks his crush Oh Sangwoo, who he met in the military and later during his time in college. Yoonbm excessively follows his crush on social media and spends months trying to unlock Sangwoo’s house passcode. Upon entering the code correctly, Bum enters the home, where he discovers a naked woman bound and gagged, struggling to free herself. Panicked, Bum tries to help, but is then found by Sangwoo, and confesses his love before being pushed down the stairs, knocked unconscious, and later wakes with broken legs. Rather than ending Bum’s life, Sangwoo spares his life, keeping him in the basement for some time before allowing him upstairs, and eventually out of the house, though he’s kept close. As the story progresses, the two characters, in my way of seeing, develop a sort of symbiotic relationship with each other. Bum feeding off of his theorized love with Sangwoo, and Sangwoo feeding off the power he has over Bum. Thinking about it; these two need each other.

Now the above mentioned point, the theory of their symbiotic relationship, is often the basis for the fans to send their ships sailing, thinking, “clearly their in love”. Sure, why not, Sangwoo spares Bum’s life but murders others, treats his wounds, kisses him, and Bum still pines for Sangwoo and tries to please him, not to mention their physical moments together, but a story this deep deserves a deeper insight. Plus, the author herself said she hasn’t intended their relationship to be viewed as romantic. So instead, through my rather messy thoughts, maybe I can guide you into your start of deeper thinking based on real life mental disorders that should be considered here. This explanation should help you realize why Sangwoo and Bum’s relationship isn’t simple enough to be viewed as “traditionally romantic” but also I really wish to address fan’s individual outlooks on these characters and defend their characters for what they’re written as: mentally ill (I’m not knocking shippers here; ship what you want. I myself ship their theoretical existence, though I understand in canon it can’t be viewed that simply).

To begin, the words Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD) appear in the first season of the manga, already giving insight to one of the disorders that Bum possess. Though I plan to cover a few disorders in this post, for the sake of my analysis I’ll be showing evidence for BPD as well as psychosis at the same time, as psychosis is a symptom versus an illness. Many people with BPD have the symptom of psychosis (psychforums.com), and in the case of Yoon Bum, I believe this to be true. For starters, according to the National Institute of Mental Health, BPD is defined as “a mental illness marked by an ongoing pattern of varying moods, self-image, and behavior” with symptoms such as impulsive behaviors, self-harming behaviors, problems controlling anger, feelings of dissociation, and a distorted/unstable image of oneself (NIMH). Psychosis then is a delusional disorder, characterized as disruptions to a person’s thoughts and perceptions that make it difficult for them to recognize what is real and what isn’t. Found from a discussion online, it isn’t common for stalkers to suffer from psychosis (aminoapps.com). Though right off the bat you may recognize Bum as possessing qualities from both of these, I’d like t point out too that for those who have BPD, it isn’t uncommon for them to have a favorite person (FP), which in Bum’s case would be Sangwoo.

Looking at BPD from the standpoint of someone who suffers with the disorder, one person reports having issues with obsessing over people, “almost to the point of stalking them” (medhelp.org), and in relation to how someone with the disorder views an FP, their FP is their everything. To quote someone that this applies to, having an FP is “dangerous. It’s needing someone so bad it’s physically painful when they leave. It’s apologizing for every tiny thing because you don’t want to give them a reason to leave you (TheMighty.com), or “[that FP] is sometimes all I can think about. Male or female. I think about them 24/7 romantically or like a friend, but that person just becomes so perfect and put on a pedestal” (medhelp.org). The above quotes can all sympathize with Bum, especially if we’re choosing to look at Sangwoo as his FP. From chapter one, we’re shown that Bum obsessives over Sangwoo; stalks his social media, watches him on the train, and even fantasizes about him sexually, wondering “how he would have sex”. Through internal monologue we see how Bum views him; perfect, while noting “his empathetic, considerate, gentle aura”. Even after being hit by Sangwoo, he recalls his perfect image of his crush, noting, “The Sangwoo I know is a much more considerate person.”

Because those with Borderline Personality Disorder have troubles or inabilities regulating their emotions, Bum has a hard time maintaining his image of Sangwoo and is often caught having many back and forth emotions. He’s caught up on his love one moment, and during the next, he’s trying to convince himself that he hates him. Of course, things get harder on Bum when we realize that Sangwoo too is emotionally unstable, but we’ll talk about him later on.

For those with BPD, “relationships build quickly and intensely. They are unable to see the faults of their partner” (borderline-personality-disorder.com). This isn’t surprising; Bum’s always had troubles seeing the faults in his crush. Even upon discovering Sangwoo was a murderer, he apologizes, realizing he’s upset him, and takes blame for the situation. He resorts back to his idealized image of Sangwoo after remembering the reasons that he fell in love with him, claiming to love him despite the current situation he’s in. Not only that but he even confessed repeatedly to liking Sangwoo as he’s being assaulted, calling out, “I like you” over and over even as Sangwoo shouts at him to shut up. He’s unable, in many situations to see the faults that Sangwoo has (even though Sangwoo’s faults are pretty extreme). Recall too Bum questioning the police, asking “could you kiss somebody like me? Could you love somebody like me?”, etc. To him, he doesn’t view himself to be likable by anyone but Sangwoo, as he truly believes that Sangwoo has feelings for him.

If, as I suspect, Bum also suffers from psychosis, his inability to regulate his feelings for Sangwoo could be amplified. This could explain why he can’t quite rationalize what is real about their relationship and what isn’t (or any of his relationships, for that matter). Below, remember when he was under the impression that him and his female classmate were dating when she removed her shirt in front of him? And then he believed that all along he and Sangwoo were dating when Sangwoo said such a thing to the police.

Psychosis in Bum’s case not only prevents him from knowing what reality is in terms of his relationships with others, but it also alters his perception of the reality surrounding him. Psychosis can cause hallucinations and delusions. Hallucinations aren’t new to him, just recall the hallucination of dead bodies in Sangwoo’s washing machine, the hallucination that made him see Sangwoo murdering him on the kitchen floor, and he even hallucinated that the Jieun was the girl from his past during his fist semi-forced murder.

Since psychosis is a delusional disorder, it’s also known that those who suffer from it may believe that events or objects hold personal meaning or significance. Going back into Bum’s past again with his female friend, remember that he held personal meaning to objects that he otherwise should feel no connection to, objects that simply belonged to her. He’s stolen not only her bra, but her nail polish, and because he had such a connection with these items, used them to calm himself down when he would go into mood shifts.

He’s mentally ill, and because of these disorders that alter his reality, he lives unaware of his problems. So, no, he isn’t stupid. To him, he’s doesn’t think his thought processes are out of place. In the first chapter, he claims that it’s complexly normal to stalk his crush and to want to know everything of his personal life. In regards to his obsessive behaviors and his kleptomaniac actions, he’s convinced it’s “because of love” over and over.

Though Borderline is the confirmed disorder at play here (and we can find many more examples to agree with it) it’s not a bad idea to toy around with some other possibilities. Other disorders are very likely in the cases of these characters and can help you reason with their actions. Take Stockholm syndrome for example. Stockholm syndrome is a condition that causes hostages to develop a psychological alliance with their captors as a survival strategy during captivity…Victims of the formal definition of Stockholm syndrome develop "positive feelings toward their captors and sympathy for their causes and goals, and negative feelings toward the police or authorities" (Wikipedia).

I’m sure you all remember this scene here, where the police officer tries to come to the rescue, yet Bum crawls away and keeps himself hidden. Or even the part where he chooses being back with Sangwoo over admitting to the police that he is need of some help. However in the case of Stockholm syndrome the positive feelings are rooted to the idea of survival, “captives often fear that their affection will be perceived as fake, they eventually begin to believe that their positive sentiments are genuine” (Wikipedia). Though I believe BPD is a bit more of Bum’s situation versus Stockholm syndrome, I think it’s worth a mention whilst defending Bum, anyways.

Though I haven’t really heard this one talked about prior to my mental disorder research for this analysis, I think Obsessive love disorder is worth a mention. Obsessive love disorder (OLD) is an extreme form of love that transcends into an obsession over time. It is characterized by an unhealthy attachment towards someone and can be triggered off by many factors such as anxiety, insecurity, and vulnerability (Buzzle.com). OLD is very similar to Borderline Personality Disorder, attachment disorders, and even erotomania, and so this could easily apply to many of my examples in the BPD paragraphs above. However, “depending on the intensity of their attraction, obsessive lovers may feel entirely unable to restrain themselves from extreme behaviors such as acts of violence toward themselves or others” (Wikipedia). Though we see that Bum has had self-harming instances in the past due to his living situation, we see the return of self-harm when Sangwoo was unpleased with these stories of his past. Bum spirals, feeling worried about the reaction and he quickly tries to make Sangwoo feel better, yelling at him to take it out on him physically. Sangwoo remains unresponsive, and Bum resorts to self-harm using a knife on the countertop, while shouting and sobbing that he knows he is disgusting.

Though my main focus here seems to be on Yoon Bum, it’s definitely no surprise that Sangwoo would fall into some mental disorders of his own. I’ve read fan discussions claiming that he too suffers from BPD, but I think too that he has psychosis, and sadistic personality disorder. Yes, that last one is a thing. “Sadistic personality disorder (SPD) can be defined as a type of personality disorder in which an affected individual inflicts sadistic, cruel, manipulative, aggressive and demeaning behavior on others. Violence and abusiveness are the hallmarks of the social relationships of a sadist. Such people lack empathy and concern for other individuals and derive pleasure by hurting or humiliating others” (hxbenefit.com). This shouldn’t need much textual evidence, as this is practically a description of the character as a whole. Backing up to psychosis, which remember is a delusional symptom, it wasn’t uncommon for Sangwoo to hallucinate or become delusional when panicked. For example, remember when he carried Bum’s fainted body to his bed to tuck him in?

He becomes delusional, hallucinating that his mother is outside of the door, telling him to clean up his messes downstairs. His hallucination of his mother becomes angry and she rattles the door handle viciously, screaming at him. Then, he even hallucinates that Bum (who in reality is passed out beside him) raises his head to remind Sngwoo that he’s becoming his father.

So now to reiterate my point; these characters are not dumb. They are not “asking for it”. Bum is not a “creepy, gross attention whore”, but he has trouble regulating his emotions and has a hard time grasping a distinction on his reality. One of the largest reasons for hate in this fandom is ignorance to the reality and depth that this story possesses. Especially to younger fans, who simply were seeking some twisted BL, it is important to consider this story in terms of our mentally ill paired protagonists as honestly being mentally ill. Because this story is talked up as “horror yaoi”, many people aren’t aware or don’t consider the seriousness that this story aims to share. This is why there is a “you’re gross”, “go kill yourself” stigma on readers of Killing Stalking. Instead, us readers should be viewed as readers of a psychological thriller who analyze and respect the depth here for what its intended to be. The romanticizing and narrow-minded interpretation of this storyline is what causes so much hate and controversy. I’d love to see more serious consideration and in-depth analyzation going on in the fandom to remove the stigma that us fans are nasty, twisted, or gross.

I hope this was easy enough to follow and that you’ll give this story another read-through with these points in mind, and even change your outlook with the soon release of season 3. Let’s work to defend the author, these boys, the storyline and us fans with some knowledge! Also, again, disclaimer that I’m no professional nor am I “attacking” anyone with these disorders. Remember too though that psychosis is one of my most prominent beliefs here (so even if you suffer from BPD for example, without psychosis some of this may not sound accurate in terms of your own self).

#ks #killing stalking #killing stalking meta #killing stalking analysis #koogi #yoonbum #sangwoo

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dragonanarchist1155 · 4 years ago

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on one side, as a public administration student with some limited experiences i can tell you that YES, IT DOES COST THAT.

Everything and anything any government in the planet wants to do has a special markup due to how state budgets work.

not just that but also there are complicated and long vetting processes (WHICH IS A GOOD THING) to see that the sale of materials, contract of construction and studies of feasibility are up to standards, without corruption. this makes any sale a long process in which sellers have to take into account inflation and as such, have to predict prices to make an estimate.

in some countries there is generally a simplification of things where the government instead hires a company to do all the things they need to do, but this means the company (or companies, in good governments there is a special contract competition with many companies offering and generally the lowest price or time SHOULD win) sets the price, which drives the price up as well.

that being said tho...

its generally extremely bad governmental practice to remove something without a replacement. not just that but to see that there are no stairs and go and put in the effort, the time and the money to remove them, sends an extremely wrong and fucked up message to the citizenship, and its practice of a bad, detached and uncaring government to do such thing without taking into consideration what it means to the people.

they could just as easily put up tape and a sign that said dangerous unstable construction, and sent a message to the person who build it warning them that they would be responsible of any accident that could occur. in parallel, they could also use the media attention of the construction of the stairs, to try to entice a construction agency to come forward with a proposal to carry out the construction at a lower price. this, depending on the specifics of the codes and laws of the particular government about acquisition and procurement, could be enough to justify a direct contract, a special method of procurement that occurs when circumstances require immediate action, and as such, fast forward the process and cost of building those stairs.

bureaucracy is complicated and full of problems sometimes, but it exists for a reason, its a method that is supposed to protect the people from corruption, bad government and theft, or at least allow a paper trail to exist that allows prosecution of such things. its a bad system, but its the best that exists. not for any reason the populists, fascists and petite dictators always go for the bureaucracy first, claiming they can ease the ailments of bureaucracy by dominating it or erasing it. but well educated citizens should always know that it takes a thousand people to make a bureaucratic system inefficient and corrupt. it takes only one for any other system.

things like this are indeed a symptom of something bad. but its not the government being wasteful or corrupt, its leadership being uncaring and stagnant. if the people are able to point fingers and make the proper authorities directly responsible for situations like this, especially if there are elected officials involved, the WILL be a response, or at the least, people will know where their trust should go in the next electoral cycle.

the only possible improvement to this system would be to directly involve people in every step of the process, in a radical democratic environment, which is what is widely considered the next step for the future of any bureaucratic system, in a process of open government that the only people who are talking about are anarchists, democratic socialists and some specialists of public administration and public management circles, but not a lot of people are willing to talk about that.

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wwwr · 4 years ago

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Home Renovation

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materialgirlsfanfic · 7 years ago

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CHAPTER 10 - Affordable Prices To Pay...(Pt. 2)

KADEN

“She dealin’ with some issues that you can’t believe...Single black female addicted to retail. And well...” - KANYE WEST X ALL FALLS DOWN

Circling the block once more, his frustration grew now killing the engine, that softly purred; it took more than two weeks to build up the courage, but he found himself in front of her building wheeling back and forth within his thoughts to escape the scene, or stay.

“Fuck this shit.” He thought it best to leave out of the ridiculousness he now felt. Unbeknownst to him, the person he was in search for casually watched from a distance amused. Right at this moment for the possibility of getting his ass handed to him with verbal assaults she was good for, was Jordan walking towards his car.

“You wanna move before you get a ticket mothafucka?”

“Shit! Jorda-...” He exhaled placing a hand over his heart.

“You can’t park here nigga…” Damn she got some little ass feet. He zoomed focus on her crisp white Nike Air Forces, and trailed up to the skin tight orange body suit that hugged her petite frame. The vintage red and orange Nike windbreaker to compliment her athleisure attire, concealed the throb causing assets: huge breasts.

“I’m straight. Listen, I need to talk to you.”

“That’s still up for questioning honestly, what you want Kaden? I got shit to do. I’m not up for your bullshit.”

“What are yo-...why is your mouth so fuckin’ reckless? Like, what’s good with you?”

“So you- okay.” She quickly did an About Face headed for the crosswalk, leaving Kaden dumbfounded momentarily until he eventually stepped out his truck hitting his alarm and followed.

“Yo! Jordan, man!”

“Nigga you either catch the fuck up, or I’ll see you later!”

He didn’t do shit like this, and technically he couldn’t. Gaining notoriety and recognition from his blessing of being a second year Wide Receiver in the NFL came with its perks, and downfalls. People actually noticed him now. And not in the pedestrian way either. He signed his third autograph this week for a five year old, who told him he was his biggest fan, and that one day he wanted to be just like him. Fans. He winced at the poor little boy wanting to be like the critically acclaim asshole, with a horrific track record to match. He shook the apprehension off seeing the subway entrance come to view in which Jordan speedily descended. He didn't take the subway. I don't have to. He never explained himself to anyone aside from the very few he held in high regards. There's no reason to. And certainly he never chased after a female especially in the physical sense because he never felt the urge to. This is just...

His eyes scattered about the congested space, in search for some breathing room and a bright orange jacket with the signature Nike emblem. Shoving her way through a boisterous crowd of prep school students he could see was Jordan stepping onto the train. He shoved his way through and searched for a space to squish in. Conveniently it was close to her, as they stood side by side latching on the standee seething. The abrupt smell of funk, and her antics he had just about enough of. Kaden didn't understand how or when the dynamics of whatever relation one would call this, got so conflicting. How he couldn't stand her so intensely. They were way past grade school spats, or any juvenile issues that any guy had with their best friend’s little sister. But as easy as it was to provoke, and get a rise out of her it was hard to deny the real reason why. They silently stared at each other, until she eventually sucked her teeth looking off.

“You so damn hollywood. What? You afraid the act of the common folk will rub off? Hm?” As Kaden grimaced feeling a sweaty arm collide on his skin for the fourth time, he looked down at her beyond annoyed. Blame it on hypochondria and slight claustrophobia, he couldn’t endure for too long even if it was the latter.

“You don’t know shit about me.”

“I know you’re full of shit...I know that. I know whatever it is you have to say would be utter bullshit too, so you shouldn’t even waste me or your time.” She shoved him off as they continued bumping into each other with each sway the subway was causing.

“You got a stick so far up your ass, nobody can get through to you.”

“Good. I like it that way.”

“Where the fuck you got me goin’ Jo?”

“Got you goin’!?” She hissed, attempting to whisper but failing miserably. “ Nigga you hopped your happy ass on here, I didn't force you to follow me!” A lady in earshot, Kaden could spot in his peripheral, shifted in her seat following the clear of her throat as she continued looking ahead. Damn. We're really doing this...in public.

“It's that hard though!? For you to just open your fuckin’ mouth and spit it ou-” More eyes shifted in their direction, causing Kaden to grit his teeth as Jordan maneuvered to the exit to get off finally as they came to a stop. She jetted up the stairs and walked up 135 street. For several blocks they dwelled in silence. Him attempting to keep up with her swift steps and glares with an occasional reminder that he didn’t have to follow her. But he wasn’t budging. I came this damn far anyway. They reached the Harlem Hospital Center, and immediately Kaden grew confused and concerned. Slowly turning his way, Jordan folded her lips in. Her eyes closing before bringing her hands clasp in a prayer motion to her lips.

“Don’t say shit you hear me? Just stay...stay your ass in the background.” They entered as she went towards the front desk greeted by a nurse. “Hi uh...I-I’m here to visit one of your patients.”

LONDON

“Ouch, Milan! Shit!”

“Keep your damn head still, then. Big ass head.”

It's worth it. The woven lines of strings crisscrossed and zigzagged through her masterpiece of a braided beehive, truly was. London didn't trust her brother to be her landline if she secured a spot on Who Wants To Be A Millionaire. Or have the expectation from him that he will ever arrive at any place on time. But Miles ‘Milan’ Pierre if not anything knows hair. Even to much of their father’s dismay, having a secured hairstylist for every recital, every fashion show, and event was much of a blessing and for him a curse.

The moment his son traded a football for a hot comb, the soured hope of doom courtesy of Monty Pierre was placed. Where he shunned Miles total existence, only acknowledging his presence when it suited him, and was forced to at any social gathering. As Milan would put it: “Some just can't take the fabulousness even if the DNA is shared.”

So it was important to affirm through every tug, rip, and yank that the flawless honey blonde tresses of virgin Malaysian hair was worth it. Milan allowed the flat irons and comb glide through the tresses, before fluffing out the ends. Silky.

“Don't trim shit either. l want all 28’’ inches of lush down to the crack of my ass.”

“Yeah, I know...cause you're extra. And you bitches think I'm about to be doing the same hair twice every two weeks too, huh? Ha! Think again. Call Brooklyne and tell her little ass she has an hour to get here. And I wants my bag.” The rat tail comb was directed towards her nose. His eyes squinting looking down at her.

“Alright mighty mouth Milan, sheesh.” She pushed the comb away, while typing a text to Brooklyne. Like always his false promises went in one of London’s ears where a princess cut stone from Cartier could be found and out the other as she typed away, and hissed at another yank of the sewing string.

“So...Kiersten. Heard from her?”

“Yup.”

“Really, now? How long ago was this?”

“Two days ago.” Short, clipped, and sweet. He ain’t slick. London wasn't too fond of Kiersten recent choices, in fact she despised them. With her association of Imani’s brother being one of them, and her recent disappearing acts being a close second. It didn't take Einstein to figure he had to be the one occupying her time if it wasn't herself, and Brooklyne especially with her keeping it short with them both. But the secrecy was Kiersten’s way of ducking and diving from London’s typical interrogations.

“You know London Bridge…” Here we go. “As your favorite brother on this dreading universe…”

“Nigga you're my only brother.”

“Shit as far as we know.” London sneered up in his direction watching him through the mirror. “...I know you wouldn't, of course, keep secrets from me would you? Like, you shouldn't...it would totally go against sibling code.”

“There's nothing to tell, Milan.”

“Hmph. So riddle me this…”

Milan held a picture in her direction posted on E! news. There in a grainy picture was a snapshot of Messiah and Kiersten leaving Rime sneaker boutique in Brooklyn. The caption identifying them as the daughter of Supermodel legend with an unidentifiable specimen of a hottie. Oh, heavens...

“...yeah, hoe. And you were sayin’?”

-----------

“This incognito...ass...bitch.”

Brooklyne spat while gawking at Kiersten crossing the street heading in their direction. Huddled as a duo at the signature rustic tables, London hoped that a frappe courtesy of Maman Coffee, would aid in settling the trauma ahead. She reckoned Kiersten even looked the part of a person not wanting to be seen or acknowledged. Frames concealing the majority upper region of her face, so big twice they were pushed up at the nose bridge. A huge scarf to shield the cold, and from what London could also see, provide some form of warmth to make up for Kierstens icy demeanor. She finally took a seat setting her huge crimson Celine duffle on the adjacent seat.

“Hey.”

“Kiersten where have you-” Brooklyn raised her hand halting London as she interjected.

“What’s up mama, how’re you? Where you comin’ from?”

“Just left my only class for the day. But I’m fine...why? What’s so urgent?” She typed away on her cellular device ever so casually. London raised a brow, and dipped forward fighting away a scowl.

“Listen, Ki. I want you to know that not only do we love you, we're here for you through any, and everything. You do know that right?”

“Why wouldn’t I Brooklyne?”

“Well, jee Kiersten maybe your absenteeism could be a clue?” Even the huge shaded lenses couldn’t shake London’s stare she could see Kiersten fidget under. It’s truly never her intentions to ever come off condescending...well half of the time admittedly so, but London just couldn’t help herself. Kiersten could just be so...dense.

“London!”

“What, Brooklyne!?”

“As I was saying...we love you. So you shutting us out makes no sense. Like what’s really the matter?”

When they scheduled the mock “conference”, intervention in the words of London, a “simple girl talk to get to the bottom of the issue” to Brooklyne, they didn’t expect for it to go like this. Especially foodless with a flat frappe she reckoned to add insult to injury. Why was she being so defensive? For the life of her London couldn’t figure it out. Cute shades or not.

“Can you tell your sister not to bore holes into me like I’m some nutcase, or freakshow.”

“Brooklyne can you tell your friend that she should acknowledge me cause I am sitting right the fuck here, and maybe I’m staring at her cause she's avoiding eye contact?!

“You bitches are going to drive me to drink. And it’s only 11a-fuckin’-m! Please, alright? Kiersten real shit, though? Take the damn glasses off! I don’t know what kind of super duper spy shit you got goin’ on, and London pipe it the fuck down cause you’re doing a lot at a smooth eight, bring it down to like a three. I know it’s finals, and the end of the semester is approaching but, damn!”

“She’s just so judgy! I get enough of that from Fiona, from my professors, from everyone. The one person I don’t need it from is the person I should be confiding in the most; my best friend! And then when I find someone that doesn’t do those things...that respects me, and my opinions, acknowledge my efforts, and furthermore doesn’t treat me like a child? That’s a problem too!”

Silence. For a lengthy two minutes that followed a sniffle, and finally the removal of those big ass frames that presented liquid duds pouring in droplets of two. Brooklyn immediately reached over and wiped her face, causing London to feel slightly shitty.

“I just worry about you Ki, and want what’s bes-”

“Want what’s best for me. Yes, I’m always hearing that you, but your opposition to my wants, doesn’t warrant judgement. Cause you’re not always right.” An obnoxious sound of intense suction came from Brooklyn’s straw, as she sipped her iced tea and divided her gaze amongst the two.

“Hmph. Well isn’t this tea just lovely?” She muttered. London, cut her eyes at her before refocusing them back on Kiersten.

“Okay, so this is about Messiah? Alright, fine. If you like it? Then I love it...so be it then Ki.”

“No, London...Messiah is just the half. I need you and everyone else? To realize that I’m grown. So the next time my mother or your father goes around looking for me, tell them just that.” She pushed her seat back grabbing her shades, and bag.

“Kiersten! Really!?” The duo watched as she stepped on to the street hailing a taxi, that came in such perfect timing one would've thought it was planned.

#the clermont twins #heather sanders #heather sanders ff #theclermonttwinsff #chris brown ff #chrisbrownff #the game ff #:)))))))))))

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violetsystems · 5 years ago

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#personal

Throughout this extended period of being alone, I’ve done a lot of reorganizing and downsizing. It’s become a daily game of Tetris when it comes to how I utilize the space I have. As the world gets smaller and more claustrophobic, the world inside gets more spacious. I built a computer for the first time in years, piece by piece. It’s a Ryzen 3600 with pink violet fans. It sits next to the fifty inch screen lcd in front of a couch I appropriated from my next door neighbor. I literally had to tetris it through the fence next to my unit. I removed the slats and just angled it down the stairs into my home. There was a time when my living room wasn’t really a living room. My mom came over for the first time in what seems like months. She seemed disoriented. All the shit that was tacked to the walls was gone. The one room she paused on was in transition. I turned it into an exercise room a day later. Now there are actual physical spaces within spaces I can go when I’m done with the world. My porch is occupied by an ever multiplying Taro plant I found by the train yards. Somebody had just left it there to die. Now it shades the orange tabby that lounges on my doorstep all day. There’s this feeling lately less of claustrophobia. It’s still there. You can’t ignore the neighbors. People on my property have come to know just what I’ve been dealing with. Even some people in the hood secretly know the drill. But for the most part, it’s on me whether I want to participate in the constant reality show out there. I’ve loaded my computer with years worth of music. I woke up in the middle of the night to an email about a zero day vulnerability with my router. I rolled out of bed, fixed it, and made coffee. Flipping on the switch to flood my couch with pale violet light. I read the news on the big screen and it still makes no sense. I go out for groceries and it’s wall to wall cops. Not like all over. Just around me. It’s like I’m my own personal parade at times. And everyone seems to know what color flag I fly. Nobody realizes I humor it for one person really. And humor it is a little unlike me. I just live these things. I live in the love I feel and walk accordingly. Or run. Truth be told I haven’t been running more than two or three miles at a time. When I do it’s through empty industrial plots of city land once occupied by public housing. It’s easy to get lost over there. The times when I feel most free in Chicago is when I’m off the map. My apartment is a lot like that. However visible I am out there, there is an understanding in my home that it’s safe. Safe enough for wild animals to congregate on my porch. Safe enough for crust punks to stage protests around under the watchful eye of their parents. Safe enough for the future however chaotic and disorganized it may be. You build around stability. And unfortunately these days people have come to know me as one of the most predictably, unpredictable pillars of society out there.

The truth is that I feel like a big red brick falling from the sky. I rotate to land and connect. And then I contort my shape and become something else. These days I’ve landed and stayed put. The sky itself seems to be falling everywhere around me. And yet my life is pretty rock solid to a point. It doesn’t mean people don’t still try. Maybe it means more people understand how often people still do. And why. Nobody has ever given me a reason for anything I live through in isolation. I only write about what I know. And I don’t really know much. Isn’t that the most romantic thing you ever heard? Somebody having faith. Belief. Hope. Inspiration to be patient. That’s just how I am. Stubborn maybe to some people. But after all these years, there are people out there that exist only as a whisper to me. They speak the loudest. I’ve listened and made decisions based on this validation. My own decisions on how to proceed and move forward. And the agonizing truth for me to realize has been that I should do absolutely nothing. At least on the surface. Staying out of sight and out of trouble seems to be the most rewarding use of my privacy. I quit instagram. I didn’t go back. Why explain that in more than a sentence? I occasionally broadcast video games on my new computer on the weekends. The AMD software makes it so ridiculously easy to do. Not to mention I sent up a channel months ago as an experiment. Nobody watches. I make asynchronous content more so to understand how my professors deliver their lectures. I’ve learned more about computers in the last three months than I have in years. Computers are ultimately the very core of my career. These days I’ll be working from home for the foreseeable future with a return in the Fall. I’ve spent most of my time here online writing every week. Sometimes to the community and sometimes to a very special person. This place has become very special to me. A place where I feel people understand the way I think. Can respect why I choose to live the way I do. Understand just how many bricks have been piled on top of me unfairly. And probably understand more than anyone out there why it can be so alienating to be in the dark about everything. And yet you’ve proven yourself to be right about your intention every step of the way. Sometimes the power is in resigning yourself to the fate you have decided for yourself. Listening to drum and bass mixes on your television at five in the morning and letting romance speak through your dashboard in code. It all connects for me. Privately and securely on a hush hush need to know basis. I’m the only one who really knows. And I’m pretty much ok with it.

The things that I do know are fairly boring. I will be ok. I am actually far more ok than I have been. Although my sleep schedule is completely fucked up and I’m mildly depressed near all of the time. That’s these times in a nutshell. I know delivery is a hell of a lot easier than going to the grocery store. I know Magic Arena is pretty much the game we always wanted but we’re afraid to ask for. I know that nobody really listens to me or gets me other than a hardcore select few. That’s the closest thing to a blockchain friendship anyone could ask for. I know I’m loved. That’s a real one to stop and think about deeply. Because I’ve felt unloved at times. We all do. Lost and disconnected from real people and feelings. Tough emotional bonds that don’t falter when it’s time to fake it for the cameras. Or the gram. Or the police. Or whoever we’re trying to desperately impress this time. Academia. For profit news. The CIA. I don’t really care about any of that shit when it’s all said and done. I care about actual people. And people and relationships are complex. So is living in the world today. How does a person become sustainable and valued at the same time? You can make all the money in the world one day and lose it the next. Heidi Klum said it best. One day you’re in. The next day. You know the rest. I intended to be in from the very start. Painfully consistent. Ridiculously self aware. The only person I was ever trying to impress knows just how much and why. In that I became very self critical but not in a harsh, unloving way. I changed things about myself when I thought about the people who mattered most to me. Some of these people exist out there without me ever having to speak or acknowledge. Those are boundaries I know not to pressure. And over time those people know I’m open to whatever they choose to give me. And I’ve grown close to people that way. Very strange but beautiful bonds of trust without ever saying a word. And ironically I’ve said too many over the years. And yet very few know exactly what I’m talking about or addressing. It’s just the life I’ve been living. And honestly it’s been more alive than it has been. You could be lying beside someone and be light years away. And you can be staring at the same picture and understanding how it connects you. It’s all very mysterious and scary at times. But after awhile people come to know what you are about. Especially when you blast drum and bass from your living room at five in the morning. It’s called coffee. It’s a stimulant. Stay in school. Build personal computers. Connect to the ones you love on the internet. It may be awhile before we’re completely back to normal. <3 Tim

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masonrytuckpointing · 5 years ago

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Concrete Stairs and Concrete Sidewalk Installation

The following blog post Concrete Stairs and Concrete Sidewalk Installation was first published on: https://masonrytuckpointing.com

Replacement of: Concrete Sidewalks, Stairs, Patios, Garage Slabs & Aprons, Driveways

Installing a new concrete sidewalk, garage slab, patio, driveway or concrete stairs at your Chicago property, improves its appeal and value. There could be a few reasons behind installation of a new concrete; you may just need to give your property a dressing, it became hazardous to walk the existing concrete sidewalk or stairs, you have water ponding around the property, you’re changing the layout / landscaping around the property, or maybe you just got a Chicago building code violation ticket.

No matter what the reason is, the procedure of replacing old concrete and or just installing the new one will always be the same: remove old concrete or excavate soil to required depth, prepare base, install forms, pour new concrete.

Let’s dive into the reasons behind concrete replacement and concrete installation procedures a little deeper.

Chicago building code violation

The Chicago building code violation ticket, mentioning concrete related problems at your property, is usually triggered by a poor condition of concrete sidewalks and stairs, such as cracks and displacement that creates safety / trip hazard for pedestrians. Depending on circumstances, leveling of concrete sections may be possible (unfortunately we don’t offer such services at EDMAR, only new concrete installation), however, the majority of cases will require removal of old concrete and installation of a new one.

Do you need new concrete sidewalk and / or stairs? – Not sure if you can handle such project?

Call 1-847-724-5600

All Estimates are Always FREE for home owners.

Concrete Replacement / Installation Redesigning your Landscape and Drainage Issues

Both of these reasons are often closely related. Just like the house’s foundation, the crucial element of every structure, preparation of concrete base is a must. Skipping this step or skimming it, could be what’s responsible for drainage issues around your property.

After building a house, the soil along the foundation is loose, and needs to saddle on its own or be compacted properly. That has to happen before installation of concrete sidewalks, patios, driveways, or stairs. Ignoring this will cause any new concrete poured along the house perimeter saddle over time, and tilt towards the house.

If you noticed that water starts ponding on top of the sidewalk along the building’s foundation, it means that the process has already begun. The problem is, that ponding water will now accelerate further settlement and it may also penetrate foundation walls, as well as elevate moisture levels in basement or crawlspace areas.

Remember to always grade surfaces around your property in a way that creates positive drainage – away from the foundation.

If you catch this right away, you should consult mudjacking contractor, he might be able to correct the problem without ripping of sunken concrete.

What is Mudjacking? It’s a procedure that involves injecting a mixture of cement and water underneath a sunken concrete section, in order to level it / achieve desired pitch.

If there are already multiple cracks, so you’re dealing with smaller concrete pieces, it’s probably too late for mudjacking, and you’ll be facing complete replacement of compromised concrete.

Hazardous concrete surfaces

We are accustomed to walking on flat surfaces, and unless we always pay attention to what’s in front of our feet, it’s easy to trip over even small displacement. The same applies to concrete stairs, they should have uniform size treads and risers.

Assuming they were originally poured keeping uniformity (and complying with building code requirements), cracks and displacement could make some of the risers taller or shorter, which creates trip hazard.

A sidewalk, if still intact / displaced only along expansion joints or seams, can be mudjacked. Other option could be to grind down elevated edges. If it cracked in multiple areas, and shifted along cracks, replacement is the only “clean” solution.

Ready to replace your old, deteriorated Chicago concrete sidewalk?

Concrete steps / stairs replacement is slightly more complicated so we start from flat work.

Chicago concrete replacement procedures

Cold weather in Chicago can be blamed for a multitude of concrete related problems. Freezing temperatures during the winter cause soil to expend and contract. All that movement is transferred to hard surfaces, such as concrete sidewalks, concrete stairs, concrete driveways, concrete patios, etc., causing surface delamination, cracks, and displacement.

How do you control that? Do it “By the Book”

Chicago requires a permit for concrete sidewalk installation so you’ll need to spend a few hours to complete entire process.

Pick a day with good weather, it would be nice if it lasts for at least 48 hours, 60F – 80F is the best temperature to work with concrete.

Make helper arrangements for the new concrete sidewalk installation projects. Concrete is pretty heavy and requires a lot effort to install properly, especially if working on larger sections.

If you’ll be mixing ingredients by yourself, this tip doesn’t apply – Depending on location of the new concrete section, concrete mix delivery truck may or may not be able to pour directly into the concrete forms. If this is the case, you’ll need a wheelbarrow or a couple of them to handle larger projects. Make sure they are strong enough to carry concrete and in a good shape, so they last several runs!

Other than the wheelbarrow, you’ll also need some tools and material to make this project as smooth as possible:

Concrete sidewalk installation tools and materials

Sledge hammer or jackhammer to demolish old concrete if you’re working on replacement, not just installation of a new concrete sidewalk.

Material to shape side walls of the sidewalk – if you need flexibility, for curved sections, 6” hardboard siding panels can be used for that, or just wooden planks for straight runs.

Stakes to support the forms, as many as needed to be driven approximately every 3’.

Circular saw to cut forms, screws and a screw gun to put the forms together.

Shovel for excavation of soil and sod cutter (if you need to remove sod).

A hammer to pound stakes into the ground.

Wire mesh (and cutting tool) to reinforce concrete sidewalk – this is an extra thing, not required for a residential concrete sidewalk in Chicago, however, it will add extra strength to the sidewalk.

Gravel to create 4” thick (after compacting) base for the new concrete sidewalk.

Magnesium hand float, edger, iron rake to distribute concrete inside the forms, groover to create at least 1” deep control joints (or ¼ of the concrete thickness), bull float, concrete broom for surface finishing.

Protective glasses, gloves, long sleeve shirt and long pants, rubber boots suitable for concrete work – they’ll all get dirty but will protect you from spillage and splashes! Concrete can cause eye / skin irritation, and burns, so be careful!.

Spray paint for marking the path if different from original / if creating new one.

Hand temper of mechanical compactor – rental places may rent the machine by the day or by the hour, so make sure you do as much advance preparation work as possible at the construction site before picking up the compactor.

If you’re replacing old, deteriorating concrete sidewalk, you have to calculate how big of a dumpster you’ll need or find a company that will pick it up from you.

If excavating, consider the amount of dirt and grass when ordering the dumpster.

Once you remove the old concrete, check the depth of exposed gravel to make sure you have at least 4” after compacting. If you’d like to keep the new concrete’s finished surface at the same level as the old one, and there is not enough gravel base, you’ll need to remove what’s already in the trench, excavate to require depth and refill with old and additional gravel to get the minimum required 4” of compacted base.

Install the forms and reinforce them with stakes / cut the stakes even with the top of forms. Make sure the forms are projecting 4” above the gravel surface (unless you’d like thicker concrete sidewalk) and are positioned in a way that the finished concrete surface will provide positive drainage, away from the property.

You can use hand temper for compacting soil and gravel in small area, but be prepared for an exhausting work if you have a long stretch of concrete sidewalk or patio. If this is the case, renting a plate compactor totally makes sense. Do a good job, remember, this is the foundation of your concrete slabs – if it fails, the same will happen to the concrete sitting on top of it.

You’ll achieve best compacting results if you do it in layers, so, compact the soil, add 2 inches or so of gravel – compact it, add next 2” and compact it again. Spray / mist some water between the layers to reduce friction, thus making compacting more efficient.

Once you have an evenly compacted gravel surface, if you wish, you can install wire mesh keeping it 3” away from the form surfaces. Unless you used just a single sheet of wire mesh, make sure that the edges of overlapping sections (at least 6”) are jointed together with wires.

All of the above should be done earlier, not 5 minutes before the concrete truck comes in. Make sure you have everything ready, including your helper.

You should order ready mix concrete from a supplier closest to your place, that way you’ll have a fresh mix and more time to work with it. You can use the calculator below to get the required amount, or ask the supplier for recommendation. Don’t forget to order approximately 5% extra to compensate for uneven base surface or accidental spillage.

Concrete Sidewalk Installation Calculator

The concrete calculator below will help you to determine the number of yards of concrete you need in order to pour a sidewalk, slab, patio, footing, column, or post fill-project. It will also provide estimated cost of materials, and calculate the number of pre-mix bags needed, in case you decide to do the mixing yourself.

Concrete Calculator

Inch Calculator

When ordering concrete, ask them for 6 bag mix 4000PSI concrete (this is what we always use), and to add an air entrainment agent to the mix. It’s a type of surface-active substance, a chemical that includes detergents which help in creating and preserving air bubbles in the mix. The main purpose of air entrainment, especially in climates like ours, with freeze-thaw cycles, is to increase the durability of the hardened concrete, as well its workability before hardening.

Start pouring by first creating “network” of small concrete piles, a few inches tall, and pull up, approximately 2”, the wire mesh off the gravel base, so it is supported by those piles of concrete.

Keep pouring and distributing concrete inside the forms with streel rakes, have your helpers go behind you leveling the surface with a screed board and following immediately with a bull float.

Finishing Newly Poured Concrete Sidewalk

Finishing of the concrete surface takes a lot of practice, it will be fairly easy on small areas, but large surfaces require finesse and making them smooth may not be that easy for inexperienced person.

After working on the concrete sidewalk surface with a bull float, watch for any bleed water appearing on surface. It will eventually disappear, and once it does, hand float the concrete surface with magnesium float, always slightly lifting the leading edge.

Once you are satisfied with your efforts, using the edging tool, take care of all outside corners.

Next, use a groover to create 1” deep control joints, approximately every 5-6 feet apart. This will lower possibility of concrete cracking, and if it does crack, chances are that it will be right under the control joint, making that crack invisible.

Time to add some texture to your new concrete sidewalk surface – put the concrete broom at one edge of the sidewalk and pull it gently across the width and over the parallel edge. Move over and make another pass overlapping the previous one by a few inches.

After completing this step, wait until you can’t make a fingerprint impression on concrete’s surface anymore, and cover your piece of art with plastic.

How to Cure your New Concrete Sidewalk?

Concrete needs to be cured slowly in order to achieve maximum strength, it takes almost one month for the full cure. It doesn’t mean that you can’t walk on it during that time, you can, even one day after completing the work.

For the next few days, keep concrete sidewalk moist by soaking it up with a garden hose. This will slow down curing process and further increase sidewalk strength.

You can remove stakes and forms the day after finishing concrete sidewalk.

Can you Use Ice Melting Agents on Fresh Concrete?

If you’re installing Chicago concrete sidewalk at the end of the year, restrain yourself from using ice and snow melting agents on it for one year. They may weaken the surface and cause delamination. We recommend that you don’t even use the ones that say they can be used. Switch to other stuff that provides traction, like sand, or kitty litter.

How Difficult is Installation of a New Concrete Sidewalk or Stairs in Chicago?

It depends on your skills! All of the items above describe each step necessary for a new concrete sidewalk installation, however, there are many little things that can and will go wrong. You have to play it by ear and find solution when it’s required.

There is also experience factor, learning curve – even if you know exactly what to do, but you’ve never done it before, the results may not always be as expected.

1. Can you handle new concrete sidewalk installation? 2. Can you handle new concrete stairs installation?

If you can’t, give us a call, and we’ll provide a FREE, non-obligatory quote for replacement of an old concrete sidewalk or stairs, or for a fresh installation of a concrete sidewalk / stairs at your Chicago property.

Contact our office for a FREE, not obligatory estimate at 1-847-724-5600 or email us to schedule an appointment. An experienced specialist will walk you through the necessary repairs, provide you with a recommendation, and get you on the way to a new concrete sidewalk and / or stairs as fast as possible.

You can also visit our office to schedule an appointment – https://www.google.com/maps?cid=18377081688069956063

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