#but it makes the peanut butter less sticky

[woodelf68]

I think the jelly always went on the top for me (both the way my mom made it and the way I do it now) is because if you make it ahead of time for lunch and stick it in the fridge, if the jelly is on the bottom it can seep through the bread and make it sticky on the bottom; the peanut butter isn't moist enough to do that.

[kushblazer666]

THINGS YOUR MOTHER SHOULD HAVE TOLD YOU

1. Take your bananas apart when you get home from the store. If you leave them connected at the stem, they ripen faster.

2. Store your opened chunks of cheese in aluminum foil. It will stay fresh much longer and not mold!

3. Peppers with 3 bumps on the bottom are sweeter and better for eating. Peppers with 4 bumps on the bottom are firmer and better for cooking.

4. Add a teaspoon of water when frying ground beef. It will help pull the grease away from the meat while cooking.

5. To really make scrambled eggs or omelets rich add a couple of spoonfuls of sour cream, cream cheese, or heavy cream in and then beat them up.

6. For a cool brownie treat, make brownies as directed. Melt Andes mints in double broiler and pour over warm brownies. Let set for a wonderful minty frosting.

7. Add garlic immediately to a recipe if you want a light taste of garlic and at the end of the recipe if your want a stronger taste of garlic.

8. Leftover snickers bars from Halloween make a delicious dessert. Simply chop them up with the food chopper. Peel, core and slice a few apples. Place them in a baking dish and sprinkle the chopped candy bars over the apples. Bake at 350 for 15 minutes!!! Serve alone or with vanilla ice cream. Yummm!

9. Reheat Pizza

Heat up leftover pizza in a nonstick skillet on top of the stove, set heat to med-low and heat till warm. This keeps the crust crispy. No soggy micro pizza. I saw this on the cooking channel and it really works.

10. Easy Deviled Eggs

Put cooked egg yolks in a zip lock bag. Seal, mash till they are all broken up. Add remainder of ingredients, reseal, keep mashing it up mixing thoroughly, cut the tip of the baggy, squeeze mixture into egg. Just throw bag away when done easy clean up.

11. Expanding Frosting

When you buy a container of cake frosting from the store, whip it with your mixer for a few minutes. You can double it in size. You get to frost more cake/cupcakes with the same amount. You also eat less sugar and calories per serving.

12. Reheating refrigerated bread

To warm biscuits, pancakes, or muffins that were refrigerated, place them in a microwave with a cup of water. The increased moisture will keep the food moist and help it reheat faster.

13. Newspaper weeds away

Start putting in your plants, work the nutrients in your soil. Wet newspapers, put layers around the plants overlapping as you go. Cover with mulch and forget about weeds. Weeds will get through some gardening plastic they will not get through wet newspapers.

14. Broken Glass

Use a wet cotton ball or Q-tip to pick up the small shards of glass you can't see easily.

15. No More Mosquitoes

Place a dryer sheet in your pocket. It will keep the mosquitoes away.

16. Squirrel Away!

To keep squirrels from eating your plants, sprinkle your plants with cayenne pepper. The cayenne pepper doesn't hurt the plant and the squirrels won't come near it.

17. Flexible vacuum

To get something out of a heat register or under the fridge add an empty paper towel roll or empty gift wrap roll to your vacuum. It can be bent or flattened to get in narrow openings.

18. Reducing Static Cling

Pin a small safety pin to the seam of your slip and you will not have a clingy skirt or dress. Same thing works with slacks that cling when wearing panty hose. Place pin in seam of slacks and ... guess what! ... static is gone.

19. Measuring Cups

Before you pour sticky substances into a measuring cup, fill with hot water. Dump out the hot water, but don't dry cup. Next, add your ingredient, such as peanut butter, and watch how easily it comes right out. (Or spray the measuring cup or spoon with Pam before using)

20. Foggy Windshield?

Hate foggy windshields? Buy a chalkboard eraser and keep it in the glove box of your car When the windows fog, rub with the eraser! Works better than a cloth!

21. Re-opening envelopes

If you seal an envelope and then realize you forgot to include something inside, just place your sealed envelope in the freezer for an hour or two. Viola! It unseals easily.

22. Conditioner

Use your hair conditioner to shave your legs. It's cheaper than shaving cream and leaves your legs really smooth. It's also a great way to use up the conditioner you bought but didn't like when you tried it in your hair.

spotted on the Tedooo app

23. Goodbye Fruit Flies

To get rid of pesky fruit flies, take a small glass, fill it 1/2' with Apple Cider Vinegar and 2 drops of dish washing liquid; mix well. You will find those flies drawn to the cup and gone forever!

24. Get Rid of Ants

Put small piles of cornmeal where you see ants. They eat it, take it 'home,' can't digest it so it kills them. It may take a week or so, especially if it rains, but it works and you don't have the worry about pets or small children being harmed!

[witheredallium]

Mom says it's my turn on the writing

Alex is making peanut butter and jelly sandwiches in the kitchen while Clyde watches over their shoulder impatiently. While spreading the sticky peanut butter across the white bread, they hum a thoughtless tune. The tune is nothing like the melodies that Winfrey came up with, but the humming reminded Clyde of it just the same. It made Clyde long for the days that the two were together doing whatever it is veldigun do. Clyde suddenly feels less impatient about the sandwich and hopes the Alex will keep on humming, just so Clyde could remember that moment of home for a little longer.

Alex doesn’t notice Clyde’s change in mood until after they turn around to hand it the sandwich. Looking concerned, they ask, “What’s up with you?”

The veldigun takes a bite of the sandwich and chews for a long moment. “My partner, they can sing. Your humming reminded me of that… I miss them.”

Alex silently makes a vow to hum more often as a look of sad determination crosses over their face. “We’re working on it. We will reunite you as soon as I’ve got all the information I need and we come up with a proper plan.”

Alex would’ve patted Clyde gently on the back, but didn’t want their skin to fuse with the veldigun. Clyde nods slowly and takes another bite of the sandwich.

[chapel-of-rizztual]

Gould being dewormed? Say more, which ones are good and which ones hate it

Copia uses the gel he rubs on the back of their necks just because it’s easier then getting them to take pills…less teeth and all that, he found that out the hard way.

Dew: Surprisingly likes it. Genuinely shocks everyone with how well behaved he is for Copia. He’s happy to sit there with his hair tied up in a high bun as Copia rubs the gel onto his neck. He even purrs and once Copia is done he rubs his head on his chest as a thank you. He gets kissed and head pats after for being so good.

Phantom: Doesn’t mind it. Doesn’t really acknowledge it. But he’s very fidgety because it tickles, okay? Copia has to distract him peanut butter to get him to be still. He doesn’t really know what’s going on, all he knows is he gets peanut butter in exchange for Copia rubbing his neck a little.

Mountain: Tolerates it. Sits there pouting the entire time but let’s Copia do what he has to do. Gets a little lecture from Copia each time about how important it is because he’s always outside. Also because he’s always outside he has to have flea baths but he doesn’t mind them, especially when Aether helps him.

Cumulus: Also tolerates it. She doesn’t really like her neck being touched for long but she trusts Copia. He does get a little warning growl if he takes too long though.

Swiss: Pretends to hate it. Hisses and bites and Copias hands and puts up a massive fuss about it but purrs as soon as Copia touches him. Gives him a kiss once he’s done as an apology for being such a shit.

Aurora: Thinks it’s a game. Copia has to chase her around the entire ministry and pin her down. She laughs the entire time and once he’s done she tries to pin him down and put the gel on his neck.

Rain: Hates it. Has to be muzzled or he will bite. Hates the feeling of something touching his neck, hates the feeling of the sticky gel drying on him. Gets the same lecture as Mountain but doesn’t pay attention because he’s too busy growling. Has to have flea baths as well but he likes those, especially when he can join Mountain.

Cirrus: Growls and side eyes him the entire time but let’s him do what he has to do. She has to have another ghoul, Sunny mostly, with her because having her neck touched makes her feel a little anxious but she knows it’s important so let’s Copia do it.

Aether: He likes it. Maybe not as much as Dew, but he still likes it. Him and Copia always end up taking for ages after, drinking tea while Aether fills him in on all the tea in the ministry. He likes spending the time with Copia.

Sunshine: Like Phantom, she doesn’t really acknowledge it. She likes the attention she gets and Copia always gives her a cookie after. He tail wags the entire time.

[samuelroukin]

Okay, but is Ghost PB or J? 🤔 (Explain your reasoning in minimum 1000 word essay)

you may think 'hah! he did not think about this' but i did. hence the mold poisoning comment 💀 it would be easy to say oh jelly is sweet and peanut butter is not (or less, i think it's sweeter in the usa? idk) and come to the conclusion that soap is jelly and ghost is pb.

BUT. ghost is jelly. it requires a lot more effort to make, it's versatile but only in a limited range of uses, you will not appreciate finding it in unexpected places. and even people that really like jelly are unlikely to want to eat a whole jar of it.

soap is pb, he's adaptable, moldable, Sticky (in the metaphor sense but also —). everyone but people with a nut allergy loves peanut butter. but it's still best paired with jelly 😌🙏

[el-tur-el]

Dust to Dust - Chapter One.

Pairing: Geraldus x F!Tav

Warnings: Religious Trauma, Angst

Word Count: 1,010. Read it on AO3.

Summertime in Appalachia was always such a suffocating affair; the air thick and sticky, the scent of manure hanging heavy for miles. The sleepy town she’s called home for twenty-two long years always seems to spark to life the most in the in-between, from July to late August. Children free from school, playing in the front yards. Grandmothers sitting on the wraparound porches, sipping sweet tea and lemonade and waving at passersby. The earth itself opening up, bugs stirring to life with the warmth of it all, the cicadas singing in the trees.

There was a time when she would have called it beautiful. But that feels like a lifetime ago, now.

The creek behind her house has become something of a second home to her over the years; eight years old and skipping stones with Geraldus, peanut butter and jelly sandwiches made by her mother wrapped in thick butcher paper, the jam bleeding through and making sticky purple blotches. Rhododendron smiles and chubby cheeks. Thirteen and wading through the mud in their highwaters, flipping over algae-slick stones and searching for crawdads.

Small moments of freedom. Him there for all of them.

They’re different now, the pair of them. Older and sadder, which is a silly thing to think when you’re in your early twenties and you have your entire life ahead of you. But there is a distinct somberness hanging over the both of them as they sit on the bank, mud clinging to thrift store jeans. Unsure of themselves, trying desperately to fit into their clumsy frames, skin thin and worn in its stretch over their skeletons.

Desperate to become something larger than themselves, but having no opportunity to do so.

“Have you seen that TikTok trend? The one with the oranges?” She asks, though she’s gazing up at the overcast sky, the blanket of clouds that seem to suffocate the sunlight. Fitting.

“I don’t have TikTok.” He’s folded up on himself, always so scared of taking up space, even now. Knees pressed against his chest, his arms hugged around them. So much limb and nowhere to put it.

She’d very much like to slot herself in the spaces between his ribs, help him stretch out, transcend the need for flesh. Bones picked clean by the vultures, all bloated carrion and freedom. Maybe then he could relax. Maybe then she could find meaning.

“Oh. Well, basically, it’s like… if someone really cares about you, they’d peel your orange for you, or something. Little acts of service. It’s a thing for relationships, I guess. A test.” She tosses a stone at the water, watches the splash and ripple of it like it’ll somehow tell her how to break free.

It doesn’t. Her gaze flickers to Geraldus.

“That seems rather silly. Why would you need to test your relationship?”

“I would peel an orange for you.” She says with certainty, with finality. They are not together, and it’s foolish to hope that they ever will be, but perhaps these small declarations can be an act of rebellion in their own right. A tiny act of selfishness. “I’d peel as many oranges for you as you wanted.”

He does not point out to her that they are not, in fact, in a relationship.

Instead, quietly, he murmurs, “I would peel an orange for you too, Tav.”

And then the cicadas swallow them whole once more.

—

It is late in the Winter of 2009 - snow blankets the rolling hills and farmland for miles around. The groundhog saw his shadow this year, and the people on the news say that that means six more weeks of cold. She is 8 years old, and all she knows is that more snow means less school, which means more time to watch re-runs on TV and drink the thick, cloying hot chocolate her mother makes.

Life is good. As good as it can be.

“Do you think that you’ll grow up to be a pastor like your dad someday, Geraldus?” She asks as they haul their sleds up the bank of a retention pond - mercifully dry for the season, and perfect for all kinds of chaos when the snow is as light and powdery as this.

“I think so. That’s what he wants me to do.” He’s all rosy cheeks and glossy eyes, the cold air biting at skin. His mother didn’t send him out with a scarf - she decides that maybe she’ll have her grandmother teach her to crochet after all, so that she can make him one.

“But is that what you want to do?” She stops, looking at him with as concerned an expression as an eight year old can manage. “I think you should be allowed to do what you want to do. That’s what the people on the news say all the time. That we live in America and people should be allowed to do what they want.”

He pauses, too. “I think I want to. Why shouldn’t I?”

“It sounds boring.” She crinkles up her nose as a particularly strong breeze cuts through, kicking up snow with it, swirling it around them. “You’d have to read the bible like, all the time. And say grace even when you’re really hungry and you don’t want to.”

“My dad says reading the bible is good. Being a good Christian will get you into Heaven.”

“Your dad says a lot of things. He’s kind of boring, too.”

“Maybe.” He says, and there’s a pause before he’s moving on to the next thing in the way that kids always seem to, without a second thought, scatterbrained and rambunctious. “I’ll race you to the top!”

She nearly trips as she moves to chase after him, her sled dragging behind her.

Maybe thinking a little too hard about life and what to do about it is something better reserved for when you’re bigger.

—

The next day, when they once again find themselves at the creek, he pulls out two peeled clementines wrapped neatly in paper towels.

She doesn’t know what to do about life now, either.

[puppyexpressions]

Easy Homemade Dog Treats!

All it takes is banana, peanut butter, and oats and you can make these cute cookies for your pup, or for a doggy friend of yours. Not only are these easy to make, but they are so much more affordable than store-bought treats and dogs LOVE them!

Easy Homemade Dog Treats!

Servings: 40 (Makes about 40 treats depending on the cookie cutter size)

Ingredients

2 cups oats (old fashioned, 1-minute oats, or instant) plus more if needed- see step 3

2 medium ripe bananas

½ cup natural peanut butter

Instructions

Preheat your oven to 300F (150C). Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

Add the oats to a food processor and grind until they reach a fine powder. (If you do not have a food processor, see the recipe notes for other options). Add the bananas and peanut butter and blend until a sticky dough is formed.

Remove from the food processor and roll out on a lightly floured surface. (Use whole wheat flour, more ground oats, or another dog-safe flour that you have on hand). I used a heart cookie cutter to cut out the treats but you could use any cookie cutter, or just cut them into squares with a knife or pizza cutter.

Lay the treats on the prepared baking sheet and bake for 25 to 30 minutes, until the treats are puffed up a bit, dry and dark brown on the bottoms, (they will still feel soft when first removed from the oven). The treats will get a bit more firm once they are cool but will still be a slightly softer dog treat. Let cool before giving one to your pup.

Store in an air-tight container at room temperature for up to 1 week, in the fridge for up to 2 weeks, or I like to store them in my freezer which makes them firmer and makes them stay fresh a long time.

Notes

If you do not have a food processor, you can still make these treats. Grind the oats up in a blender or coffee grinder, then add the ground oats to a bowl with the peanut butter and mashed banana and mix to make a dough. Or you could buy oat flour and use that instead. You will need less oat flour as it is denser, so start with 1 cup and add more as needed. 

[ephemeralfuture]

The Grocery Store

The grocery store is… noisy even though it’s empty. The chattering of the managers two aisles over, the sound of Seth racing like an eight year old up and down the aisles. Seth practically blurs past him and when he’s back he’s dumping a six pack of Bang Energy into his basket, crushing the bread. 

Seth, the fucking speedster, is just about to race off again, but Jacob is faster, yanking him from his hoodie. 

“Put this back.” Jacob says sharply, pulling out the six pack. 

“C’mon!” Seth’s voice has a whining edge to it, “I was planning on playing Fortnite with my friends tonight! It’s a Friday!” 

Jacob sighs, usually he wouldn’t acquiesce, but the overhead light is buzzing and the sound is drilling into his skull like it was the United States and his brain was oil.  

“Seth. Work with me here, it’s a no.” 

“I even have money!” 

Jacob blinks, furrows his brow, “What money?” 

“It’s the, uh, 20 dollars you said you owed me when you forgot it was my birthday!” 

He did not forget. He very much did not forget. 

Seth must have taken Jacob’s dazed silence as a resolute no. 

“Okay then well uh– Dad owes me money!” 

Jacob sighs through his nose, when he inhales the air is cloying and sticky–too much. He pinches his brow. He hates that Seth can see his technique working. 

“Will it get you to shut up?” Jacob grumbles. 

Seth is giving him the biggest sparkling puppy-dog eyes, like he didn’t just crush Jacob’s bread. 

There’s a beat of silence, “Fine. But go get a cart first.” 

Seth hisses his cheer like Jacob didn’t hear him– and usually Jacob wouldn’t, but he seems to hear everything. He replaces the crushed bread with a better looking loaf, scans the rest of the aisle for jam and peanut butter. 

Jacob feels someone practically glide next to him, glide close, cold like they stepped out of a cryo chamber. They smell familiar– they smell nice, they’re too close. Jacob backs up, every sense in him honing on the figure. 

“Here, you wanted jam.” His voice cuts through the dissonant symphony of his senses, and Jacob is blinking blankly at him. 

“Huh?” 

“Jam.” It’s a young man. He looks shockingly familiar, “Peanut butter too, right?” 

“Right…” Jacob says, “was I… was I speaking aloud?” 

His eyes are golden, last time Jacob checked his eyes were jet black.   

“Hm…” The young man says thoughtfully, “Not currently, no.” 

Right, because this one could read minds. His voice hooks on a memory, far far off in his mind. 

“Edward Cullen.” Jacob says aloud, and Edward nods his head like he’s doing a curtsy, his mouth making a little smirk. 

“What the hell are you doing here?” Jacob says, recoiling, he’s tempted to slap the jar out of Edward’s hand. 

“Grocery shopping, like you.” 

“Bloodsuckers don’t eat.” Jacob says. Edward’s sudden presence ticked the switch of ire in him. Last time Jacob saw him, Edward was covered in blood, wiping his mouth, licking his lips. 

Edward makes a face, rolls his eyes, “Common misconception. We don’t need to. Doesn’t make eating less pleasurable.” 

Bull-shit! 

“I assure you, Mr. Black– it is not.” 

“Don’t fucking do that.” Jacob says. When Jacob gets a proper look at Edward, he’s taller, all marble cut with those familiar golden eyes and the copper quiff of hair. He looks the same as when Jacob saw him last, but different– worldly. Or at least better dressed. 

He smells nice. He looks nice. Fuck. That can’t be normal. 

“I can assure you.” Edward says, voice languid, almost teasing, “That it is. It’s called attraction.” 

“Fuck off.” Jacob says. It would be a bad idea to start a fight here, especially since he can’t take on Vampires alone and Seth is with him– 

“Relax.” Edward smells like vanilla perfume and musk, it rolls off him in waves. “You and your brother are safe.” 

“How many?” Jacob demands through grit teeth. 

“None– well, one.” Edward says, and he has the audacity to act sheepish, “Me.” 

“Stop. Stop doing that.” Jacob says again, he shakes his head, swallowing, “You reek.” 

“No good to lie to anybody.” Edward says, “Least of all to yourself.” 

“Oh.” Jacob scoffs, “Like how you convince this whole town that you’re human?” 

“Now Mr. Black. There’s that statement about stones… and glass houses…” 

“Oh fuck. Off!” Jacob takes a step back, Edward takes a step forward. Fuck no, safe his ass! 

“You’re too keyed up Mr. Black.” Edward says, “I already said you and your brother are safe.” 

Jacob takes a deep breath, his head is spinning and the store is too fucking loud and Edward smells so good; a maw of feral hunger opens in his stomach. 

Edward is taking two more steps forward, tilting his head to look at Jacob more intensely. He’s close, way too close and he’s cool enough for the temperature change to release the pressure gauge in his head. Jacob realizes that he’s breathing shallowly, biting the inside of his cheek to keep himself from leaping at Edward– to fight? Nope. The feeling is too incongruent. 

“It’s inconvenient.” Edward’s so close and his voice is low and soft, “I assure you, it’s inconvenient for me too.” 

What? He can smell that? Is it like catnip for girls? Catnip for gays? 

“Hm.” Edward says shortly, he steps back turning his head, when Jacob looks in the same direction, he sees Seth, two Bang Energy six packs, a family sized bag of Doritos Cool Ranch, and– much to Jake’s unexplained relief–two ribeye steaks. Seth’s eyes go huge and round at the sight of them when he takes a deep breath. 

Say nothing, Seth, he begs internally, please say nothing. Luckily, it’s as if Seth follows his directions because Seth nods when their eyes meet. 

“Pleased to make your acquaintance.” Edward says and he nods at Seth, who looks like he’s trying not to rear back and growl like a dog. Edward places the jar he was holding into the shopping cart and soon he’s out of sight. 

Seth stares at Jacob, turns to look back in the direction Edward went, looks back at his brother. 

“Is he your boyfriend?” 

“Huh?!” Jacob’s eyes go wide, then his face grows hot, “What–? No!” 

Seth looks unconvinced, “Are you sure?” 

“Seth!” Jacob hisses, “How would I not be sure if I had a boyfriend?!” 

Seth gives him a level look, with a glint in his eye that makes Jacob apprehensive. 

“You didn’t kill him on the spot.” Seth says, suspiciously, “And he’s a bloodsucker, like you said. You know him.” 

“We’re in a grocery store!” 

“Practically empty!” Seth counters,  “no one would really see, are you going after him?” 

Not a bad idea! 

“No…” Jacob says. 

“Then I’m telling.” Seth says. Jacob tries to give him a hard stare, but Seth makes a face like he’s already won. 

“How much?” Jacob asks, and he’s reaching into his pocket. 

“Fifty.” Seth says smugly. 

“No.” 

“Make that 100.” 

“That’s not how this works!” Jacob protests. 

“100 and a PS4.” Seth says. 

“PS4.” Jacob says without thinking, and his head snaps up to take it back but Seth is already interrupting him before he can speak. 

“And you buy me Bang Energy!” Seth says gleefully. Jacob gives him a withering glare. 

“You take one bang energy and that’s fuc-dging it.” Jacob yanks the second six pack out of the cart and places it haphazardly in the aisle where it didn’t belong. 

This is a section of a bigger slow burn Twilight Jakeward fanfic where me and my body double collaborator who's roommate write a Gay Twilight Fanfic as a joke. Double Sike! It turned semi-serious and now is an actual work in progress fanfic with nearly 30,000 words and three months of time sunk.

Read it here! https://archiveofourown.org/works/55266253/chapters/140190751

[vampysparkz]

Poltergeist Part 2

Ajax Petropolus X Fem!Reader

WARNINGS

None!

TAGLIST.

@mitsuri-suzuki @regulus-black-223048 @gretesstuff

After some quiet bickering between Y/N and Enid, the two made their way down to the quad. They walked down the stone hallways, Enid rambling on and on about how annoying her brothers were and how erratic her mother acted over the summer.

"Hey, Enid?" Y/N queries, her eyebrows knitting together as she thought over the question she wanted to ask.

"Yeah?" Enid hums, looking up from the piece of neon pink saltwater taffy that she was unwrapping, before successfully freeing the sweet from its wax paper prison, and popping it in her mouth.

"You always talk about your mom, and your brothers, but what about your dad?" Y/N asks, unsure if the topic was okay to mention. Y/N had met Enid's dad... Well. More saw him, neither of the girls were very happy to introduce each other to their parents since they were previously exhausted from staying up all night studying, so neither of them ever exchanged any words.

"My dad? He's a cool, down-to-earth sorta guy. He doesn't talk a lot though, mostly out working and stuff" Enid shrugs, wrinkling her nose when the taffy stuck to her molars and her canines, (much like a pitbull that got into a jar of peanut butter) and Y/N couldn't contain her laughter.

Y/N nods with a small hum, and Enid perked up. "What about your mom? I haven't met her yet." She hums, still struggling to free her teeth from the sticky confines of the taffy. Y/N thought for a moment, before giving a soft smile, adjusting her bag on her shoulder.

"My moms cool. It's just me and her, so we do our best to get along." She nods, the warm smile remaining on her lips. Enid nods with a little hum, licking the rest of the taffy off of her teeth before looking up as the two stepped foot into their first class.

Y/N could /feel/ the mischievous grin that spread across Enid's mouth, watching as he friend scurried off to go sit next to a vampire girl that Y/N didn't know well. She looked around, and her heart sunk. There was only one open seat, and it was next to the one person she's been avoiding. Ajax Petropolus.

She took a shaky breath, fighting every instinct she had not to go intangible, but rather settled with semi-tangible, her form flickering. Ajax didn't notice at first, he was too busy staring at his phone, the screen blank. Honestly Y/N just assumed that he was stoned, it wouldn't surprise her.

The teacher walked in, beginning to drawl on about some sort of history lecture, something that Y/N had no interest in, especially not while Ajax was sitting so close to her. She had never even been within 3 feet of the boy, much less sitting directly next to him.

She sat in silence, until she heard him give a soft sigh. "I.. Sorry. I haven't been paying attention, what are we going over again?" He asks, his voice barely over a whisper, a rough ish tone sliding from a smoke burnt throat. Y/N's breath caught slightly in her throat, mustering up whatever little courage she had to answer. "Uh... Normie History I think, World War 3 and whatever misfits fought in it" She nods, glancing over at him, watching as a small snake slowly slipped out from under his beanie, sneaking a curious glance towards the girl.

"Ah, cool. Okay, thanks" he nods, before offering a hand out to her, which Y/N shook, doing her best to make sure she stayed tangible, despite the butterflies in her stomach. "I'm Ajax" he says, with a small smile that made Y/N's heart melt. "Y/N" she smiles.

Part 2 is done!

Again, sorry it took so long, I've been swamped with work and school. Will have the new part up soon!

[renee-writer]

THINGS YOUR MOTHER SHOULD HAVE TOLD YOU

1. Take your bananas apart when you get home from the store. If you leave them connected at the stem, they ripen faster.

2. Store your opened chunks of cheese in aluminum foil. It will stay fresh much longer and not mold!

3. Peppers with 3 bumps on the bottom are sweeter and better for eating. Peppers with 4 bumps on the bottom are firmer and better for cooking.

4. Add a teaspoon of water when frying ground beef. It will help pull the grease away from the meat while cooking.

5. To really make scrambled eggs or omelets rich add a couple of spoonfuls of sour cream, cream cheese, or heavy cream in and then beat them up.

6. For a cool brownie treat, make brownies as directed. Melt Andes mints in double broiler and pour over warm brownies. Let set for a wonderful minty frosting.

7. Add garlic immediately to a recipe if you want a light taste of garlic and at the end of the recipe if your want a stronger taste of garlic.

8. Leftover snickers bars from Halloween make a delicious dessert. Simply chop them up with the food chopper. Peel, core and slice a few apples. Place them in a baking dish and sprinkle the chopped candy bars over the apples. Bake at 350 for 15 minutes!!! Serve alone or with vanilla ice cream. Yummm!

9. Reheat Pizza

Heat up leftover pizza in a nonstick skillet on top of the stove, set heat to med-low and heat till warm. This keeps the crust crispy. No soggy micro pizza. I saw this on the cooking channel and it really works.

10. Easy Deviled Eggs

Put cooked egg yolks in a zip lock bag. Seal, mash till they are all broken up. Add remainder of ingredients, reseal, keep mashing it up mixing thoroughly, cut the tip of the baggy, squeeze mixture into egg. Just throw bag away when done easy clean up.

11. Expanding Frosting

When you buy a container of cake frosting from the store, whip it with your mixer for a few minutes. You can double it in size. You get to frost more cake/cupcakes with the same amount. You also eat less sugar and calories per serving.

12. Reheating refrigerated bread

To warm biscuits, pancakes, or muffins that were refrigerated, place them in a microwave with a cup of water. The increased moisture will keep the food moist and help it reheat faster.

13. Newspaper weeds away

Start putting in your plants, work the nutrients in your soil. Wet newspapers, put layers around the plants overlapping as you go. Cover with mulch and forget about weeds. Weeds will get through some gardening plastic they will not get through wet newspapers.

14. Broken Glass

Use a wet cotton ball or Q-tip to pick up the small shards of glass you can't see easily.

15. No More Mosquitoes

Place a dryer sheet in your pocket. It will keep the mosquitoes away.

16. Squirrel Away!

To keep squirrels from eating your plants, sprinkle your plants with cayenne pepper. The cayenne pepper doesn't hurt the plant and the squirrels won't come near it.

17. Flexible vacuum

To get something out of a heat register or under the fridge add an empty paper towel roll or empty gift wrap roll to your vacuum. It can be bent or flattened to get in narrow openings.

18. Reducing Static Cling

Pin a small safety pin to the seam of your slip and you will not have a clingy skirt or dress. Same thing works with slacks that cling when wearing panty hose. Place pin in seam of slacks and ... guess what! ... static is gone.

19. Measuring Cups

Before you pour sticky substances into a measuring cup, fill with hot water. Dump out the hot water, but don't dry cup. Next, add your ingredient, such as peanut butter, and watch how easily it comes right out. (Or spray the measuring cup or spoon with Pam before using)

20. Foggy Windshield?

Hate foggy windshields? Buy a chalkboard eraser and keep it in the glove box of your car When the windows fog, rub with the eraser! Works better than a cloth!

21. Re-opening envelopes

If you seal an envelope and then realize you forgot to include something inside, just place your sealed envelope in the freezer for an hour or two. Viola! It unseals easily.

22. Conditioner

Use your hair conditioner to shave your legs. It's cheaper than shaving cream and leaves your legs really smooth. It's also a great way to use up the conditioner you bought but didn't like when you tried it in your hair.

23. Goodbye Fruit Flies

To get rid of pesky fruit flies, take a small glass, fill it 1/2' with Apple Cider Vinegar and 2 drops of dish washing liquid; mix well. You will find those flies drawn to the cup and gone forever!

24. Get Rid of Ants

Put small piles of cornmeal where you see ants. They eat it, take it 'home,' can't digest it so it kills them. It may take a week or so, especially if it rains, but it works and you don't have the worry about pets or small children being harmed!

[hauntedjpegcollection]

in the dark

wc: 5267 au: firewatch au ch: xavier, benji

His sister is in the trees.

Xavier can see her. But not reach her. He keeps running, thin branches whipping across his face and arms, little cuts welling black beads of blood. His breath puffs in front of him, as if it’s winter but it’s not. It’s spring—it’s the cusp of Summer. He’s barefoot, and the rocks cut his feet. This isn’t real, it can’t be real, none of it makes sense. But his sister is in the trees. He thinks.

“Tess!” He yells, stumbling through wet underbrush. His bare soles slide across leaves and dirt, the blood making it even more slick and sticky. His chest burns, his veins throbbing. It’s the beginning of night, when the sun parts the trees and makes it look like a forest fire. Everything smells like rot. Everything decays around him.

And Tess smiles between the trees. Every glance of her she smiles wider, until there’s blood round the corners of her lips, splitting skin, too many teeth. She smiles and her eyes crinkle with it, until they’re just slits in a pale, freckled face. Black and angry. Her arms are too long, her hands spider like as they wrap around tree trunks she hides behind. There’s divots from her nails. Xavier screams her name again, trying to reach her. But he never does.

He’s not even sure it’s her. How could it be?

Tess would never leave him alone in the dark.

—

Xavier wakes with a gasp. It’s so violent that he’s already sitting, legs swinging from the bed, hands to his face. He breathes heavily, heaving shoulders and pained sides. Sweat soaks his red hair and flattens it to his skull. It pools at his lower back, under his arms, along his collarbone. Xavier pats around himself, as if searching for an injury. As if the dream could have hurt him. Memories of his sisters ever yawning smile, torn skin, multiplying teeth make him nauseas enough that he quickly leans over to put his head between his knees.

A beat passes, where he stays just like that. Wind chimes that the last firewatch put up ring pleasantly, mingle with morning bird song outside the cracked window.

“Nasty,” Xavier whispers to himself, hands cradling the back of his neck. The unrest in his stomach calms enough that he unfolds and flops backward onto the mediocre twin mattresses. “Should I call Tess?”

Talking to yourself is one of the first symptoms someone isn’t of sound mind—that’s what he’d been taught in his safety training. But Xavier’s only been at his cottage, underneath his lookout tower for a few days. He’d arrived at the beginning of the week and spent an entire day unpacking—another day just trying to set up all the equipment they’d sent him with. The last firewatch—the man who’d put up those adorable little chimes—had taken his own wood axe to the radio.

Xavier wonders if he’d started talking to himself three days into isolation too.

Routine is a balm against an unwell mind. Something else he’d been taught; not that he agreed with or even liked the phrasing. Unwell mind. It makes him snort as he pulls himself from the bed, pads around the cottage to dress himself and start the meager coffee machine they’d supplied. He wasn’t even really a coffee drinker, but along with slightly offensive idioms about keeping yourself well, he’d been told he would walk away from this job with a new caffeine addiction.

Tess was in the back of his head saying, better than your last addiction. Which was fair. If not doing nothing to make Xavier feel less insane.

It was the dreams.

Xavier’s only been at his post for four days now, and all four days, he’s had those fucking dreams. Not just of Tess, but something in the woods. Something in the woods. Some. One? Not an object, but a manifestation of—a creature or—someone. Haunting the leafy sage atmosphere like a ghost.

“Or a monster,” Xavier quips to himself as he pours black coffee into a mug. He decides to dump at least three spoonfuls of sugar into it and then he makes the same breakfast he’s made the last few days. Peanut butter and jelly sandwich on bread he’d let thaw from the storage the first night he’d arrived.

Routine, unfortunately, was what he was going to have to build. So he did.

Xavier finishes the sandwich. Then he stretches, full body, until he’s limber and loose. Then he lays on the ground and does fifty crunches. He rolls over onto his stomach and then does fifty push ups. He alternates planking on his hands and then on his elbows for sixty second intervals. He hops up to do fifty five pull ups from the bar he’d brought with him and stuck in the closet door frame—just because pull ups were his favorite. He washes the plate and the knife he’d used for his breakfast.

Xavier stands in the middle of the cottage and finally realizes that he has to go outside.

—

The dreams had made him scared of the woods. But once he was in it, that fear melted away.

He shrugs his pack up onto his shoulder as it slips down once more. He parts branches gently with his hands, careful not to disturb the nature too much. He fishes a map from his pocket, even though he’s already memorized it. Something about putting his finger to the little blue line makes him feel good. He glances behind him at the little blue cottage as it becomes smaller and smaller. The lookout tower that it’s directly beneath however, never gets smaller. If anything, it becomes more and more imposing the farther Xavier gets from it—being able to see it, knowing he’ll be sitting in that tower, staring at all this forest.

He continues on.

“Bug spray,” he says aloud, to remind himself. He swats at a fat mosquito that makes an audible thwapping sound against his open palm. “Lymes disease,” he ponders idly as a reminder to thoroughly check for ticks once he’s back at the cottage.

Xavier’s father had laughed when he’d talked about his posting. You’re a fisherman in a forest, he’d said in his loud, raspy baritone. Technically, no one in his family had been a fishermen since his great grandfather, but James Wolffe still clung to some sort of pride about all that. Sailed in the summer time, had taught Xavier all he knew about the water. He wasn’t drawn to the forest, landlocked as he is now. It’s just—well, it was good money. It was good money, if you could stand the loneliness. And Xavier needed the money.

He needed…he needed to pay Tess back.

The woods thin. The ground beneath him gets rocky, the soil harder. Xavier’s breath catches as he finds the river.

Trees line either side of it, but it’s a sizable stretch of water that breaks apart the land. An old, rotting trunk is half fallen, nearly a bridge on either side. A large slate of rock sits at the edge, as if it was created for someone to wander onto and rest. The water bubbles happily, currents helped along by churning miniature falls. He lets his head fall back on his shoulders, inhaling the smell deeply, arms akimbo for a moment as he soaks it in.

It’s doesn’t look deep, but Xavier knows water can be deceptive. Still, he tosses his pack onto the shelf of rock and begins to strip. He’d worn trunks underneath, a short blue thing that he didn’t really care too much about. The sun warms his skin instantly, along his shoulders and arms and bare chest. He won’t be out long enough for sunscreen, at least he hopes not because he doesn’t pause to slather any on. Like he can’t help himself, he crashes into the water.

Then he falls back into it with a slap as his back meets the river. And then, Xavier floats contently.

“Is it considered swimming, if you’re just floating?”

No one answers him. Xavier stares at the blue sky above him, crisp in its morning glory. Lazy clouds slide by, hiding him from sunlight every once in a while. His eyes dilate and contrast each and every time until he decides to close them. The water laps at his ears; occasionally it’s all birds and forest and then it’s his muffled heartbeat. Back and forth, back and forth. His limbs go limp and weightless and the only thing keeping Xavier above water is that innate ability to float he’d learned as a child—that all the Wolffe’s had learned as children, growing up in Massachusetts.

Oh, stop. You can’t be scared of sharks in a swimming pool, Xavier.

He smiles at the childhood fear, but he doesn’t know why it comes to him at that moment. Tess pulls him along into the deep end of the community pool, where the teenagers swim. And Xavier cries, because every time he closes his eyes, he sees Bruce from Jaws.

Sharks can’t breathe in chlorine. Only saltwater.

“Bull sharks can live in freshwater,” Xavier mumbles to himself, nearly asleep underneath the clouds and sun. Just like his little river. The thought makes a childish spike of fear hurt his heart, makes his eyes snap open, his hands dipping into the water to touch the smooth stones below him. Too shallow for a shark, surely. A stupid line of thinking, anyway—there were no bull sharks in this God damn river. Why was he trying to scare himself? Xavier swallows, his mouth suddenly dry. Tess’ hand drags him further and further into the deep end of the pool, her girlfriend laughing high pitched, their friends buzzed from the weed he’d caught them smoking just outside the fence.

No, Tess, don’t make me, I’m scared—

“Fucking idiot.” He can’t help indulging the child in his heart by sitting up in the river—he turns to kneeling, the water rippling at his chest. He glances toward the small falls, where a shark surely can’t survive, and then down further along the river bed where it opens even wider into faster churning current. His heart beats against the side of his throat, his breathing fast. Xavier runs an oddly shaky hand through his hair, wetting it further.

“Fucking idiot,” something whispers in his ear, close enough that he can feel their breath, making a scream rip from his throat. Xavier whirls to catch whoever is behind him, scrambling along the cool river stones, splashing—that attracts sharks—and yelping loudly, terror making him cold and useless.

There’s no one there. Just the burbling sound of the river. The birds in the trees. His eyes scan, panicked. They hop everywhere and all it is is fucking green. He shoots to his feet, stumbling, wicking water from his face aggressively.

“Alright?”

“Jesus!” Xavier screams again and this time, his clambering results in him falling backward into the water. He screams more because of it, briefly dunking his head under the river water (hearing his heartbeat louder and louder) before he pops up again. Xavier jerks himself to stand once more and looks at the stranger, on the rock, directly beside his pack.

His first thought is that his knife is in that pack and not on him, so if this stranger wants to kill him, it’ll be a fist fight. His second thought is that if someone’s going to kill him, at least they are very good looking.

“Shouldn’t swim in the river,” the man calls. His voice is a clear ring across the river, sort of like the wind chimes if the chimes were British and sounded like they hadn’t slept in a few days. He has his hands in jacket pockets, denim shorts messily shorn to the thighs, little white strings hanging off here and there. A hole cuts across the thigh as if he’d made a decision to cut there first and then changed his mind. Xavier tries not to stare, but his maybe-killer has a fucking set of legs on him, muscular and defined and hairy. They end in heavy black combat boots that are lazily laced.

He stands with the sun to his back, putting him in shadows, but not enough to obscure him entirely. From what Xavier can see, he’s got facial hair and a handsome curving nose and eyes that match his sleepy tone.

Xavier also realizes then that he hasn’t said anything at all.

“Hi,” he decides on and then cringes at the stupidity of it all. “Uh, no—I’m the firewatch.”

“Makes two of us.”

“What?” Xavier starts, hands brushing back through his wet hair so it’ll stop clinging to his face. The man stares at him so directly, Xavier feels momentarily pinned in the water. His eyes are black, and narrowed and aimed slightly lower than eye level. Xavier’s very suddenly aware he’s in nothing but these stupid blue swim trunks. He makes for the bank of the river, his movements sluggish, his embarrassment making his cheeks a similar color to his hair.

“M’in the third tower. C Tower. You replacing Gresham?”

“You knew him?” Xavier asks with a quick glance up. He steps and then pain suddenly lances up his leg. Xavier gasps, stumbles back, lifting his foot. Dark red blooms in the water, immediate and thick, like spilled wine. “Oh fuck?” He says it like a question, staring at his foot as he lifts it further and blood wells at his heel, where something translucent is half in his flesh.

“Huh.”

“Fuckin’ hell.”

The other firewatch makes for him then. It’s awkward—his dark brown hand cupping underneath Xavier’s calf, arm wrapping around his waist immediately. Xavier feels light headed and not because of the dull pain in his foot or the sudden injury. He knocks the beanie from the strangers head with a too-long arm and black curls lift in the wind, touching his cheek and his chin. Xavier blinks, his skin warming in a way that also has nothing to do with the injury or the earlier humiliation.

“Oops,” Xavier says mindlessly as he’s lowered to the rock by strong, helpful hands. His own shake, the sudden adrenaline of surprise making him twitchy even though it’s not yet started to actually hurt. “Wow. That is—Wow, that’s bad luck. Is that glass? I thought—this park—people aren’t allowed out here.”

“’Course people come out here. Can’t keep people from doin’ what they want. Hold still.”

Xavier watches deft fingers take hold of the glass and yank without any preamble. More blood blooms, dripping onto the rock and making tiny splattered patterns. Fire ignites from his foot up his leg, but he watches in dull amazement as one of his socks is snatched up from the rest of his clothes and quickly tied around his heel. It gets yanked tight enough to put pressure on the little injury.

And then the man steps back and stares at him.

Behind him, his beanie floats down the river and disappears.

“You said you knew Gresham?” Xavier prompts.

“No I didn’t.”

“Well, you said I was replacing him, which means you knew he was in the B tower.”

“Knew that, didn’t know ‘im.’

Xavier attempts to stand and a firm hand pushes him back down. A brief flare of anger makes his face rearrange into a snarl, but the stranger is nonplussed and certainly not intimidated. His hands have returned to the pockets of his jacket and he stands there, taller than Xavier only because he’s standing. He’s toward the sun this time, and his dark brown skin is a golden sort of pretty under it. His eyes are lighter because of it. Xavier’s snarl disappears, replaced with wariness.

“Thank you,” he says slowly, a glance to his now moderately bandaged foot with his own sick.

“Needs a stitch,” the stranger replies gruffly. His eyes stay on Xavier’s chest, as if he’s unwilling to meet eyes.

“Okay.”

There’s nothing but silence then, except for the sounds of the woods. Creaking branches, birds and the wind. The river that stole the mans hat and cut Xavier’s foot bubbling behind them. Xavier feels the sun on his shoulders and the back of his neck and regrets not putting on sunscreen. He stays there on the rock, wondering if he tried to rise again if he’d just be met with that flat, annoyed palm.

The curly haired man grunts, scratches a hand back through that wild untamed mane, glances left and right and then gestures with annoyance. The silence has either unnerved him or frustrated him; Xavier can’t tell because his expression hasn’t changed from it’s pinched and tired slant.

“Benji,” he says. Xavier blinks, for a second not understanding, before it clicks into place that’s his name. Oh, Xavier thinks, slowly starting to smile. That’s a cute name. It feels suiting, but he can’t place why. Benji clears his throat and points to Xavier’s foot. “Can help with that. C Tower is closer.”

“I didn’t realize there was anyone in that tower,” Xavier says as he reaches for his pack. He tugs out a shirt. “I’m Xavier, by the way.” Once its on, sticking in places where his skin is still mostly wet, Benji finally seems to look at him fully. His eyes do a quick, assessing circle—Xavier can’t help but wonder if it’s simply clinical or more. If he’d maybe like it to be a more sort of look. He runs knuckles over his jaw, tilting his head as he stares in turn. That makes Benji look down and away.

“C’mon. Should clean that cut ‘fore it gets infected. Fuck knows whats in the river. Fish shit.”

“Fish shit?” Xavier barks as he starts to stand. Benji is beside him, a hand taking his arm to loop over his shoulders. He reaches for Xavier’s pack, easily swinging it up and carrying the load like it’s not stuffed full.

“Where else fish shittin’ but in the water, mate?”

“There’s perch in this water,” Xavier comments, allowing his weight to shift mostly to this handsome stranger. He doesn’t mind playing damsel in distress a bit—the bottom of his foot does hurt. And besides, he gets the sense that Benji doesn’t actually mind being the knight in cut off jean shorts. They make an awkward duo none the less, as Xavier tries to ensure his heel doesn’t touch the ground.

“Right, and are the perch walkin’ onto the land and shittin’ there? Point stands.”

“I’m not talking about their shit, man. Jesus.” But Xavier laughs and realizes that it feels good to be talking to someone out loud. Not just himself and the forest. “I mean—perch are good for fishing. You fish?”

“No.”

Benji hefts the pack on his shoulder once more, keeps Xavier balanced as they walk the trail toward his looming tower. They’re far separated. A, B and C make a triangular point of protection in the park—but A isn’t occupied. The ranger who had put Xavier in charge said that the cottage was too derelict and spending the money to fix it wasn’t in the budget plans. It wouldn’t be fire season for another month, so it didn’t seem pressing.

But Xavier wonders about the tower now. Why hadn’t anyone told him that C was occupied?

“Did you know I replaced Gresham?”

“No.” There’s awkward silence for a moment. “They radioed me and told me that he was gettin’ evac’d out. Didn’t say he was bein’ replaced.” Benji looks contemplative for a long moment, his handsome features turning solemn. “Was nice, though, ‘cause the men dropped off premium toilet tissue in a supply crate at the same time, so not too mad he lost his marbles.”

Xavier’s laugh echoes loudly in the forest, sending birds careening into the sky, little ‘V’ shaped dots against the clouds and the wide expanse of blue. He thinks he sees Benji look satisfied, but his chin is tucked close to his chest and their height difference makes it too difficult to look properly.

—

“Wow,” Xavier says, as they stand inside the cottage.

“Didn’t know I was goin’ t’have company, yeah?” Benji’s voice is gruff and annoyed as he slings Xavier’s pack onto the table.

The layout is exactly the same. It’s economy sized, meaning small. A bed pushed into the corner (not made up after a nights sleep), a kitchenette modest enough for cooking and not much else. A table to sit at and a closet. There’s no decoration, just like Xavier’s cottage, but Benji has made the little space look well lived in. There’s clothes piling up in the corner, a stack of vinyls on the kitchen counter, a portable and obviously loved record player beside it. A sketchbook is open on the table but Benji crosses to it and snaps it shut and then pushes everything as far to the side as he can.

Xavier sits without asking, in the rickety wooden chair and feels altogether too large for it. His foot has started to hurt worse, tingling and leaden. The sock is luckily black to begin with, so he doesn’t have to see how badly blood has soaked through. His body aches from the shuffling he had to do to get to this tower, even though Benji was helping. He waits patiently as a first aid kit is brought out the closet and popped open on the table.

“Hello, nurse,” he teases in a playful purr as Benji pulls his leg up. Benji snorts—which Xavier is coming to realize might be his way of laughing—and his cheeks darken. The sock is peeled painfully away and tossed to the side, which makes Xavier cringe harder than the feeling of fabric unsticking from his wound.

“S’not as bad as I thought,” Benji comments, tilting Xavier’s heel on his thigh. He pauses to shed his jacket and toss that backward as well. It lands on his bed and Xavier’s mouth feels oddly dry seeing the blankets all tangled as they are. For a brief moment, he pictures Benji laying in it, sunlight streaming in from the window and turning his dark eyes amber. The intrusive thought makes his entire body flush hotly, his hands coming together to twist and turn in front of his chest.

He tries to focus on the painful push of Benji’s fingertips to the cut in his heel. But with the jacket gone, Benji has also revealed far more of himself. Just like the shorts, he’s seen fit to cut the sleeves off his shirt as well, leaving him bare armed. His biceps are corded with muscle, his forearms tautly defined, and he’s just as much body hair as his legs. But truthfully it’s the absolute sprawl of tattoos covering most of him that makes Xavier stare. The shirt also leans open at the collar, like a mouth yawning, and the peek of Benji’s clavicle is enough to make Xavier blush.

“Just gonna use glue, then.”

“Huh?”

“Medical glue—it’s just going to close it up. You’ll be walkin’ on it, anythin’ else will get ripped open. Glue and gauze. S’all I got for you, mate.” But before the glue, Benji pulls out supplies to clean the cut. Xavier settles back on the chair, trying for comfort. “You need somethin’ for it? Don’t have anything harder than Tylenol.”

The warmth in his body drains, replaced by a creeping cold that makes his throat narrow. Xavier’s twisted, tangled hands unlace and he puts them behind his neck. He smiles, but can feel it flickering, feel Benji accessing him more.

“No, I have a high pain tolerance. Swear.” He raises two fingers in mock scout salute. Benji stares at his fingers and then slides those dark eyes back to his face. Xavier pats his own forearm, where his medley of tattoos spans from shoulder to the dogs head on the back of his hand. Benji looks to them, head tilted curiously. He raises the tube of medical glue and softly puts it to the dogs head tattoo on his hand.

“Good boy,” he says simply and Xavier snaps his head to the side to stare out the window instead. He hears the glue uncap and thinks he might hear that tell tale breathing laugh Benji seems to do.

They lapse into silence as Benji takes care of him. Benji’s window overlooks a stretch of the forest, the same as Xavier’s, just in the opposite direction. Never the less, it’s dense and the sun is starting to get lower and lower, descending the woods into an eerie sort of mid afternoon dark. His eye lids droop, his elbow to the table as he rests his chin in his hand and stares. The trees are closer to his window than Xavier’s. The trees. They have little scratch marks in them…

Thoughts of Tess’ long, thin fingers wrapped around bark, digging into trees that weep red sap make him jolt.

“Sorry—that hurt?”

“No,” Xavier answers quickly, breathlessly. “No.” He repeats it, because the marks aren’t there. It’s just craggy bark, nothing more. Xavier flattens a hand to his chest. He’s starting to feel cold, in just the flimsy cotton shirt and his silly blue swim trunks. The adrenaline dump of his wound, the mild blood loss and the introduction of a stranger. The realization that they’d been kept secret from each other—maybe not secret, but they’d not been told the others existence, which felt like a secret. Xavier rubs a hand down his face.

“Since I got here earlier this week, I’ve—I dunno. I’ve been having wicked weird fucking dreams.” He braces for a laugh, or an insult, but it doesn’t come. Instead, Benji dutifully wraps gauze around his heel, in a hypnotizing, practiced motion. Xavier wonders if he has some sort of certification, or maybe he was pursuing a degree in the field, before he decided the loneliness and pay was worth it for this instead. His hands are blunted and broad, strong, with callouses on the palms. Xavier chews the inside of his cheek. He bounces his heel once on Benji’s thigh and makes the man look up at him.

“You having any weird dreams, or am I just not cut out for this?”

“Don’t sleep much,” Benji replies, noncommittally.

“You should make your bed, then, if you’re not using it,” Xavier comments. Benji looks to be holding in a grin, shaking his head, moving Xavier’s foot from his thigh and onto the ground and then sliding the chair back so he can stand. Xavier does as well, leaning his weight on his uninjured foot. The pain is a dull ache that is almost comfortable, considering he’s been living with it for at least an hour now and it’ll likely continue for a day or two. He thinks about asking Benji if he can come back to have him check it out, but he instantly feels too shy. Instead, he reaches for his pack on the table and begins rummaging for the pants he’d worn before his dip in the river.

Their silence isn’t uncomfortable or awkward, the way it might have been before. Benji finds the sock he’d tossed, throwing it into the trash. He washes his hands diligently and puts away his first aid kit. Xavier struggles a bit with the pants, but doesn’t ask for help because he cannot imagine the idea of Benji touching him more than he already has. He notices the radio in the corner of the room. There should be another, all the way in the look out tower. Xavier has the exact same set up.

“Hey, uh,” he motions toward it, making Benji look at him. “If you ever get bored, you could…” he trails off then, shrugging his pack onto his shoulder and nearly colliding with the wall. It makes Benji grin, his cheeks dimpling. Xavier pats at his chest, as if trying to settle his oddly beating heart. He smiles back, his large, wolfish smile.

“I’ll be on channel seven,” Xavier says.

—

He’d never truly understood dark until he’d come to the woods. Xavier was born and bred city. He’d grown up in Boston where lights never turned off. Noise never stopped. Where people were always there; a home full of parents and his siblings, neighbors that were almost too close for comfort. People talking, the cars running all through the night, sirens in the distance.

The woods were silent. They were dark.

Sleep comes to him partially. Like being submerged in the river water again, he feels waterlogged and exhausted. He lays in the twin bed, his feet dangling off the edge, his arms across his stomach. His head tilts toward the window, toward the dark looming trees. His eyes blink as he dozes, in and out, as the marks of his sisters nails appear again and again in the bark. Xavier’s foot throbs dully with his heartbeat, but he’s nearly asleep when he hears a crackle.

Then his name.

“Xavier?”

He bolts upright in the bed, feet colliding with the floor. He howls at the sudden explosion of pain up from his heal. Xavier stuffs a fist into his mouth to stop himself from yelling any louder, his other punching his own pillow. The crackling resumes, the static of the radio loud in the silent night.

“Fuckin’ hell, is this on? Is it working?”

Benji’s voice is distorted, but still clear. His accent makes his words a little jumbled, but it’s endearing. Xavier had liked the mans voice. He’d liked it a lot. He shuffles quickly from his bed, landing in the cozy recliner by the radio. He fumbles for it.

“Benji?” The radio receiver crackles once more.

“Couldn’t sleep.” Xavier glances out the window, to the forest. To the dark. “You?” He’s not about to admit that he’d been half asleep already and that Xavier was actually, frankly, very good at sleeping almost all the time. He’d even fallen asleep standing up once, leaned against a wall.

“I’m up,” he says instead, looking at his gauze wrapped foot. “It’s late.”

“Do you wanna discuss the weather too, then, yeah?”

“Wow, you don’t like my conversation starters? Tell me your deepest secret and biggest mistake, man, if you hate small talk.”

“Suppose it is late,” Benji replies gruffly and it makes Xavier laugh. He wishes they were in person, because Benji had lit up briefly under that laugh the first time. Instead he rubs his fingers across the radio, just for his hands to have something to do. “Where’s your accent from?”

“Boston,” Xavier replies into the radio. He’s grinning and for a moment, he doesn’t mind the dark of his cottage. The night time like a blanket around him. “You?”

“Liverpool.”

And then, the flood gates seem to open and the two of them talk. And talk. And keep talking. Xavier learns about Saha and he talks about Tess; they talk about music and come to the conclusion they both have very different tastes but Xavier wouldn’t mind coming over to listen to some of the records Benji had brought with him. They talk about easy topics and more than once they say a joke at each others expense and the teasing turns to something mildly flirtatious that makes Xavier’s skin prickle and heat at the reminder of Benji’s rough palms. They talk. They talk all night.

And outside, something in the dark grows.

[candycryptids]

“Oh boy 4 am” [eats Two (2) Granny Smith apples, sliced haphazardly, with a bowl of microwaved peanut butter with milk mixed in to make it less sticky]

[starlight-edith]

Little Rituals: Memento Mori

Based on this poll by @xenobotanist because I’m a freak.

Please don’t kill me if this is really bad, I’ve never written fan fiction before

-

Julian fiddled with the sleeves of his uniform as he waited for the attractive young ensign to arrive to his quarters.

Maybe I should ask Garak to take a look at this later, it’s a bit tight and-

The door chime sounded, rousing the doctor from his thoughts.

“Enter!”

He had been casually seeing ensign Boeman for a couple of weeks, and felt an appropriate amount of time had passed to invite her to his humble abode.

“Ah, Hayley, looking lovely as ever! I can’t spot a single wrinkle on your uniform, you must tell me how you managed that. Mine’s always crumpling the moment I even lay eyes on it.”

Was he talking too much? Oh what was he thinking! Surely she thought him an idiot for such a silly opening statement. He should ask Dax, he thought, after all she’s had 8 lifetimes to figure out how to talk to women. He had long since given up on romancing the trill, but that didn’t make her any less useful to him.

“Thank you! I actually made a special mist with lotus extract, I can show you how to replicate it!” said Boeman with a smile.

Relieved, Julian invited her to stay a while, just for dinner.

Afterwards, the ensign seemed to disappear for a moment, and there was giggling coming from around the corner.

She emerged, still giggling, but this time holding a jar of thick brown paste - peanut butter.

“It’s an old earth spread! It’s made from nuts that grow underground! Isn’t that fascinating?”

“Yes, I’ve always found plants interesting, though I can never seem to keep them alive. I guess you only get lucky with one form of life, and mine happens to be people.” the doctor replied

The woman approached him hesitantly, though she was trying to hide her nervousness.

“Here, try some,” she said, purposefully smearing a bit of the spread near her lips, and staring at him coyly.

Somehow, in his haste, he had brushed up against her, feeling the texture on his skin.

“come on Jules, won’t you try some peanut butter? Please?”

“It would make your mother and I very proud.”

“I don’t want to” said the young Julian

“Just eat the damn peanut butter.”

“Richard, please, you’re scaring him.”

“Doctor? Doctor Bashir? Are you okay?”

He hadn’t realized he had gone.

“Yes, I’m alright Hayley, just a bit caught up in my work is all. You know how it is, busy busy busy.” he replied, with an unconvincing laugh.

She took his hand

“Come on Jules. Don’t you think you’re better enough to try again? I’ll hold your hand”

She took his hand.

The slightly older and now augmented boy again put the sticky substance in his mouth, but instead of recoiling as before, managed to enjoy the flavor and the unique texture combination of both the processed peanut butter and the chunks within.

“Jules is dead,” he thought.

Remembering that he ought to do something about the present, he turned to his date once more, preparing an excuse in his mind.

“Hayley, I’ve had a lot of fun tonight but I’m rather tired and I really ought to rest. I have to be in sickbay at 05:00 to run a spectral analysis on some samples I took from the gamma quadrant.”

“Right… I wouldn’t want to keep you.” She scurried away, dejected. Damnit.

Jules is dead. I can handle the sensory input of it all now, but it’s one of the few things I have left to honor him by.

Sitting down on his bed, he gently pushed over the framed photo of his parents. He didn’t want to see them right now. They had killed him. They had created him. A Frankenstein’s monster of a son, built of broken parts made better by illegal means.

He wasn’t their son. Their son was dead.

He intended to honor the boy he was, even if his parents would rather pretend he had never existed at all.

[friendball-irl]

//tips for the recipe btw:

//you don't need to oil the tray, but oiling your measuring cup and your hands helps a lot when you're dealing with something as sticky as peanut butter

//you can make them into chocolate peanut butter cookies if you add some cocoa powder (somewhere around 2 tbsp). one thing that's fun is dividing the recipe in half and adding cocoa powder to one half, and then making your balls with half a tablespoon from each half of the dough.

//likewise if you have, say, maple sugar, you can substitute for some of the sugar to change the flavor around. and you can use different nut butters. might need to experiment a little though bc different butters and sugars have different consistencies.

//they don't expand much on the tray during cooking, which is why you need to squish them. this also means that they can be pretty close to each other because they won't run into each other :)

//the reason you need to let them cool on the tray and not eat them straight out of the oven is that because these are flourless cookies, they don't have a gluten network supporting their structure. cooling lets them set and not crumble instantly when you try to pick them up (though if you have a use for cookie crumbs, like for a pie crust or something, this is obviously less of an issue).

//but also fuck yea flourless cookies! there's no gluten and no dairy in these, and no substitute ingredients that'd make them taste weird to people who aren't gluten/dairy free. peanuts, eggs, and any trace ingredients that are in your peanut butter are the only allergens you need to watch out for.

OOC: gasp. More cookie knowledge...

Ty...

[denturesmelbourne]

What Are The Best Foods To Eat With Dentures?

Denture wearers are often limited when it comes to food choices. If you’ve ever experienced this, then you know the struggle is real. But the good news is that with some careful planning, there are foods that you can eat even with dentures in! 

It’s not as complicated as it sounds; in fact, there are many foods out there that will be perfect for your diet and your mouth. 

So what are they? In this article we will take a look at some of the most popular dishes among denture Melbourne wearers and how they can help improve your overall health while wearing dentures:

Soft Foods

Soft foods are easier to chew and swallow. They're also easier to digest. This is because they don't require as much chewing, and their consistency is softer, so they're easier for your body to break down into smaller pieces before being absorbed into your bloodstream.

This makes soft foods ideal for people with denture Melbourne or partial plates. You can eat most fruits and vegetables that are raw or cooked, but it's important not to eat anything too hard (like nuts), because this may damage your dentures if you bite down on them too hard while chewing.

For further details, please visit our website at https://denturecarecentre.com.au/services/dentures-melbourne/.

Liquid-based Foods 

Avoid carbonated drinks. Carbonated drinks can be a problem for dentures because of the pressure they create in your mouth and how they affect the fit of your dentures.

Avoid hot drinks. Hot liquids can cause burns on the soft tissues of your mouth, which may also make it difficult to wear dentures comfortably.

Avoid alcohol and citrus fruits/juices/tomato-based foods, as well as other acidic foods like lemons or limes that might damage soft tissues in your mouth and interfere with proper retention of partial prosthodontics (false teeth).

Foods with Low Acidity 

One of the most common mistakes people make when eating with dentures is to eat acidic foods. Acidic foods can be damaging to your denture and cause it to fall out, so it's important that you stay away from them as much as possible.

There are many drinks that have high acidity levels, including fruit juices, fruit juice smoothies, fruit salads, and cocktails made from citrus fruits such as lemonade or orange juice. 

If you plan on drinking any of these beverages while wearing your dentures then try diluting them by adding water before consuming them so that there is less chance of damaging your false teeth.

Avoid Sticky Foods

One of the most important things to remember is that sticky foods can be hard to eat and they can damage your dentures. For example, candy and gum are both sticky, so they're not recommended for people who wear dentures. Other examples include peanut butter, jelly, caramel sauce and many other sweet toppings on ice cream or other desserts.

Conclusion

Denture Melbourne is an excellent solution for those who have lost their teeth, but they do require some care and maintenance. By following the tips above, you can ensure that your dentures stay healthy and strong so they don't fall out while eating!

Source URL: https://www.atoallinks.com/2023/what-are-the-best-foods-to-eat-with-dentures/

[enbyhyena]

Candy Corn: ONLY if I have a craving, but the taste gets old pretty quickly. The pumpkin shaped ones are fun but taste the same.

Licorice: Used to love Twizzlers, I'm very picky ever since they changed their recipe. Hated black licorice as a kid, hate it less as an adult (to where if I accidentally eat a black licorice flavored jelly bean in my assorted bag, my face won't screw up). I tolerate it but don't actively seek it out.

[Fun fact: the licorice fern is an edible plant that tastes like its namesake when chewed. I've eaten it before and it was pretty cool. :)]

Peanut Butter & Chocolate: Only really like it in cereals. Not a huge fan of Reese's Cups or mixing actual chocolate and peanut butter. I think it's because the peanut butter taste usually drowns out the chocolate, and I have to be in the right mood to like peanut butter to begin with.

Mint & Chocolate: The ice cream flavor is in my top five. I love getting the little candies at Olive Garden, too. I don't like York Peppermint Patties. It feels like it's biting me rather than chilling my mouth. The mint feeling cold and chilling the taste of the chocolate is mandatory for my enjoyment, or the taste of the chocolate needs to overpower the mint (in the case of Olive Garden treats) or I won't like it.

Sour Candy: Love Sour Patch Kids. Love how they're sour then sweet (my mouth is watering just at the memory of the sour taste lol). Love the texture and how they're gummy but not squishy or sticky when I chew them. Gotta be careful to not buy too many or I'll eat them until my mouth is scraped raw by the sour sugars. Warheads make me want to cry so I won't eat those so much. I also have a compulsive need to bite whatever enters my mouth, so I don't do so well with hard candies (like gobstoppers, lollipops, etc). I have the bite force necessary to crunch through all of these thinge, but my TMJ always makes me pay for it afterwards.

candy discourse, reblog w/ your opinions on

• candy corn • licorice • peanut butter + chocolate • mint + chocolate • sour candies