#but like if it doesnt last at least fifteen then it was a waste of fabric

[gouinisme]

i think if i die and u cant find my body u could still commune with me through my bag like i'm pretty sure a fair amount of my soul is stored in there

[reesewestonarchive]

chapter four / rem belongs to @forlornraven / masterpost / mature content

Music pulses through Nakoa’s legs, and Jenna’s body sways against Nakoa’s, pressed against him as close as she can go. She smells like mangoes, like sweat.

Nakoa inhales against her neck, licks a long line up to her jaw, sucks against it. She shudders underneath him, and Nakoa grins as she takes his hand, presses it beneath her jeans. She turns her head, pupils blown wide, and she says, “Wanna go back to mine?”

Yes. Absolutely. Nakoa feels a buzz in his veins he hasn’t in a while at the prospect, and—”Yeah. You bet.”

He’s not sure where Rem is, but he’s been gone all day. left that morning, didn’t come back, even though the car still sits in the parking lot at the motel. At least, it did, before Nakoa took to the streets to find something to take his mind of it, off of wondering where Rem was.

Probably wasted in the back alley of some bar, still downing a bottle of whiskey he’d pilfered off of some unsuspecting bartender.

Or—maybe he’s doing exactly what Nakoa’s doing now, finding somebody to bury his dick into, get off without the mountain of complications.

It’s been three days, and between sightseeing and sleep, they’re only just west of Denver, in some shitty small town that reminds Nakoa of Withervale just a little too much, but the girls are attractive, and the guys look like they could punch Nakoa out if he stared a little too long, and Rem’s been in a bad mood since Baldie.

Nakoa’ll take his chances, he thinks, with Jenna. He asks, “Are you far?” and grins when she shudders as he touches her.

He goes home with Jenna, and tries not to think of Rem when he comes.

Jenna offers to give him a ride back to the motel, but in the aftermath Nakoa really just wants a fucking shower, to wash what feels like a layer of filth off of him, and some awkward fifteen minute drive across town isn’t going to make him feel any better.

And it’s not cold out, anyway. “I’m good,” he says, as he tugs on jeans. Jean covers herself with her sheet, cocks her head to the side.

“You okay?” Her tone is just this side of concerned; she’s being polite, but Nakoa can tell she’s not really interested in the answer.

“Yeah,” he says, then, for a reason he doesn’t know, he says, “just complicated.”

“Aw,” Jenna says, sitting at the end of her bed. “I know complicated.” She gives him a glance, then says, “You a cool guy?”

Nakoa’s a loser. Unemployed and homeless and traveling across the country without any kind of a fucking plan, in search of a better life he’s not sure he’s ever going to find. Mediocrity feels less like a shadow hunting him and more like the prize at the end of the race.

Is he running away from it, or running towards it?

“I guess.” She can’t be talking about that.

“My girlfriend and I are kind of on a break.” She shrugs. “And it’s so stupid.”

“Relationships are complicated,” Nakoa says. He pulls his shirt over his head. “My…” but the word doesn’t come. What is Rem? His best friend? It’s not untrue, but he’s reasonably sure most best friends don’t fuck.

Most.

Is there a word for something in the middle, between romantic and friendly?

As she watches him, Jenna seems to pick up what’s going through his head. “Oh,” she says, pointing a finger at him. “You got it bad.”

“I do not.”

“And I thought me and my girl were complicated.”

For some reason, that pisses Nakoa off more. “There’s no girl.”

It’s the first time he’s even come close to saying the word out loud. Nakoa knows there’s a word for who he is, but it still feels wrong when he says it, when he thinks it. Not the attraction—there’s merit in sleeping with all kinds of people—but the word. The way people see it and think disgusting. Heathen.

“Oh.” Jenna’s voice is soft, and she stands. “So. Same boat.”

“I don’t want to talk about it.”

She shrugs. “Suit yourself.”

They kiss before Nakoa leaves, just because Jenna enjoys it, just because she asks, and Nakoa agrees because she showed him a good time, and it’s the least he can do. He wishes her good luck with her girlfriend and stomps back to the hotel room.

Where Rem sits, outside of it, empty fifth clutched between his knees. He doesn’t hear Nakoa approach, but he does react when Nakoa touches his shoulder, jerks away like Nakoa’s burned him.

“About fucking time,” he says, and his voice is like a river, watery and rushing, tripping over itself in his eagerness to speak. “I’ve been waiting for hours.”

“Sorry,” Nakoa says. Doesn’t point out that Rem has a key, too. He unlocks the door. He tugs on Rem’s arm, and the whiskey bottle falls to the sidewalk, crashes and breaks. Nakoa leaves it. “Did you drink all of that?”

“It’s—” He hiccups. “Bottom shelf, don’t get hissy.”

Nakoa took… something, at the club, earlier, before he went home with Jenna. He’s awfully fucking hypocritical if he tells Rem that he can’t do this. At least he came back. At least they got away from Baldie. From Withervale.

Drunk and alive is better than the alternative.

He draws Rem into the shower, starts taking off his clothes, and Rem says, “Ooh, am I gonna fuck you over the counter?”

“Keep dreaming,” Nakoa says, as he pulls off Rem’s jeans. He’s cold, so Nakoa warms the water and shoves him under the stream. Rem yelps, but relaxes into the hot, if lacking pressure, water. His entire body goes slack as it cascades over him.

Nakoa turns away, doesn’t watch, as tempting as it is. “You get back okay?”

Rem laughs. “Please. Liquor store’s not that far away. Where’d you get off to?”

“Girl I met at the club.” Nakoa pitches his voice higher, to be heard over the water. “You have a good time?”

“Better when you’re there.”

But he didn’t ask. He’d blazed through cities, the last forty eight hours, taking small roads instead of highways, getting lost and debating over the map with Nakoa multiple times, and.

“Missed you,” Rem says, his voice quiet. Nakoa wonders if he even said it at all. If maybe he imagined it. He’s been wanting to hear Rem say it for so long. Hoping for some kind of sign.

But no.

The water shuts off, and Nakoa makes his way back out into the room, digs in Rem’s bag until he finds something suitable for bed for him. The idiot’ll pass out on the bed, if he doesn’t, and Nakoa’ll end up with none of the blanket instead.

Rem stands in the threshold to the bathroom, though, and Nakoa glances up at him, just once, before turning back to the task at hand.

“I mean it,” Rem says.

Means what? “Sure.” T-shirt, underwear. It’ll work. Someday, when Nakoa’s not counting every penny, he’ll buy Rem some new clothes, fi him back in with the style.

Nakoa, though. He needs a job, first. Something simple, something under the table. A stable place in LA, or somewhere else, because he and Rem are living off of gas station snacks and Nakoa’s stomach is protesting bite of food he eats.

But every mile between him and Withervale feels a little more like flying

He gives Rem his clothes, and before he can turn away, Rem’s fingers reach out, wrap around his wrist. His voice is soft, unlike him, when he says, “Nakoa,” and Nakoa looks up, studies the lines in Rem’s face, the curve of his cheekbones, the arch of his eyebrows.

He doesn’t know what to say, so he lifts a shoulder in a shrug and holds uncertainty deep in his chest like an old friend. Rem strokes his thumb down Nakoa’s wrist, and there’s a short glimpse of a smile before he lifts one hand, the one holding his towel, and pulls Nakoa in, forehead to forehead, whiskey strong on his breath.

Nakoa breathes it in, lets his eyes fall close as the towel unravels at Rem’s feet, as Rem closes the distance between them.

Rem tastes like whiskey, like freedom, like betrayal, but Nakoa can’t complain if he tastes like someone else. He accepts the kiss for whatever it is, and pulls back. Taps his fingers against Rem’s chest and says, “I’m pretty tired, man.”

It’s not a denial, but Rem’s different, shitfaced, whiskey heavy on his lips and in his limbs, and Nakoa likes him normal, likes him sober, likes the way he lingers. Often, Nakoa wonders if he imagines the lingering.

He doesn’t question it. But the stark difference between sober and drunk feels like night and day, and Nakoa would rather not.

If Rem asks, the answer is yes. But Nakoa prefers not giving him the opportunity to ask. It’s easier to deny him.

Sometime in the night, Rem wakes and vomits over the side of the bed. Nakoa m, eyes heavy with sleep, says nothing. Presses himself against Rem’s back when he’s done, wracking his brain for a song. Settles in on “Friday I’m in Love” after he decides The Clash might be too fast.

His forehead is sweaty against Rem’s shoulder blades. But he doesn’t pull away, keeps humming for Rem well after the song is through, continuing with Modern English and Simple Minds.

“You don't have to do this.”

Nakoa doesn’t falter in his humming, just drops a hand over Rem’s waist and tugs him in.

He pressed his mouth against Rem’s skin, not like a kiss, bur as much like one as he dares. He hums, holds Rem’s denial behind his teeth, doesn’t answer.

-

“Clutch,” Rem says, pressing on Nakoa’s left knee. “Middle is brake. Right’s gas.” He taps the gear shift. “So, driving. Ease off the gas a bit, onto the clutch, shift, off the clutch, onto the gas.”

Nakoa blinks. His heart beats, strong and steady in his chest. “And to move?”

Rem’s voice holds its tone when he speaks, walks Nakoa through the steps. The car stalls under Nakoa’s guidance the first three times, but Rem pushes him forward, encouragement heavy in his words, and Nakoa’s chest swells with pride when he can finally drive his way across the parking lot.

They traded in the junker for this piece of shit, more torn up than the last. It smells like weed and vomit and pine trees, but it gets better mileage, and the speakers aren't blown out, and Rem won fifteen hundred in a bet on the game two nights ago.

The Earth feels less like Jello beneath Nakoa's feet.

Rem grips his thigh when Nakoa turns through the parking lot, pleased as he lets out a yell, and—oh.

Nakoa kills the engine, and the car comes to a slow stop. “Fuck.”

But Rem waves it away. “It’s great! Shit, I burnt out Billi’s clutch the first time I tried—” But at the mention of his mother, Rem’s expression falls. He shoves open the door, says, “Enough for today.”

They’re in Utah. Have been for a few days, after replacing the windshield in Colorado, after Jenna.

Yesterday, Nakoa got inexplicably homesick, stared at a payphone for five minutes, and convinced himself not to call.

Barely.

They settle into each other’s seats. The beauty of this van, Nakoa realizes, is that it isn’t; an old, clunker of a beast, with the back seats torn out and a sunroof modded in. Except for showers, they don’t need motels anymore.

Their trip got a hell of a lot cheaper. And, heading into LA, Nakoa’s not sure how far their money will go.

Relieved to be out of the driver’s seat, back under Rem’s practiced hand, Nakoa reaches for the cigarettes and lights up.

His voice echoes. “Think we can find a mattress?”

“One that isn’t covered in shit or blood?” Rem shrugs. “Guess we’ll find out.”

They do; kind of. They definitely find the mattress. An old, stained old thing from an old woman in the city, who’s upgrading for her and her husband. She takes one look at the van, one look at Nakoa and Rem, and pats Rem’s hand with a twinkle in her eye. “I expect you boys will get plenty of use out of it.”

She winks at Nakoa, and Nakoa offers her an uncertain smile. Rem looks like his head is going to blow off if she doesn’t let go of it.

The manhandle the mattress into the back of the van after Nakoa hands over the twenty. The mattress isn’t stained, isn’t old, but it’s floral and weak and smells of mothballs, and when Nakoa shuts the door to the passenger seat, it already reeks of old perfume in the van.

Rem sits next to him, quiet and pensive. Doesn’t start the van.

Nakoa waits, but ten minutes and he’s still sitting there. “What?”

“What’d she mean by that?”

By… what? “Who?”

“Getting use out of it. That’s not fucked up to you?”

For the— “Rem, she probably meant with girls.”

“…Right.”

“You’re really worried about what some random old woman has to say about shit?” Nakoa’s not exactly out and proud, but this isn’t under his skin. Rem picks at what’s left of the polish on his nails, his body tense and unforgiving. “Rem.”

“Never mind.”

He’s ashamed, then; that’s what that means. His mothers, he has mothers, and he still feels shame. Nakoa’s own family makes jokes at the expense of people like them, has told him that if one of their children was queer they’d set them straight, and Rem’s the one sitting here worried about what this old woman thinks of them.

But it’s not anger that courses through Nakoa’s veins, thinking that. Instead, confusion muddles his brain. He tries to think of something, anything, to make him feel better, but there’s nothing. Not words, anyway. Nakoa licks his lips, he’s about to suggest that they go to a park, or an abandoned parking garage or something and they can christen the new mattress, but Rem puts the van gear and drives off.

They hit up a department store for the sheets, and Nakoa spends twenty minutes glaring at on-sale camping gear trying to find sleeping bags that don’t look like shit while Rem searches for pillows, and Nakoa feels the weight of his remaining money in his pocket like a brick.

He’s not sure how much is left. Between the van, the motels, food, Nakoa’s sure it’s dwindling. Rem says nothing, just brings home dinner, whiskey, less and less every day.

 Nakoa buys the blankets. What else are they supposed to do—go back home?

They find a place on an empty road, far from the city, that night, coyotes howling in the distance, a small campfire built out of the back end of the van. Rem hangs his legs off the van, stares up at the sky. A bottle of whiskey sits between his legs. Bowie plays softly in the background.

Nakoa’s not sure of the last time he’d been this happy. In Utah, of all places, so far from home that Withervale feels like a separate fucking planet.

In the clear night, the glow of the crackling fire, Nakoa wonders if Rem would agree. If he seems happy, or if he is happy. Rem never fucking talks to him, tells him to fuck off if Nakoa gets too close. If he missteps. He’s a jackass.

Nakoa’s afraid of how much he likes him anyway. If, once they get to LA, if Rem will enjoy it. If he’ll enjoy it too much.

He reaches for the whiskey, pleased by the noise Rem makes as he goes for it. “Don’t get your hopes up.”

Rem’s laugh comes stark and surprising, echoes across the empty space, and Nakoa wants to kiss him until he feels that warmth through his entire body. “Probably the only thing I can get up right now.”

Snorting, Nakoa lifts the whiskey to his lips, savors the taste, the taste, and heat that pools in his stomach. “This is,” he says, but doesn’t know what he wants to say. Captivated by the stars, by the scenery. But Rem’s quiet, comforting presence beside him—

Nakoa wants to kiss him. Press him into the flowery, old mattress behind them and undress him, kiss down his chest and blow him, press into him until Nakoa’s name rests on his lips soft and tense. Until Rem clenches his teeth and his groan comes from his chest and.

Fuck. He wants, so much, to make Rem feel so good that he forgets what the world has done to him. 

“I’ve thought about living off the land before. Away from the city. Own a little farm or something.” An orchard. Some goats. Chickens, the modern dinosaurs they are, and Nakoa presses his finger against the ankylosaurus tattoo on his side. Thinks back to the artist that did it for him, briefly, and what he’s doing.

If he remembers Nakoa at all.

“Get the fuck away from people,” Rem says. He sounds tired, now, drunk. He hops from the van and kicks dirt over the fire. It’s dark enough that Nakoa can’t make out Rem’s features without direct light.

“Yeah.” But not Rem. “Dunno. Don’t wanna get kicked in the head, either.” Doesn’t want to give Rem up. He holds that deep inside his chest, though, locked away where he hopes Rem won’t find it, where Nakoa himself won’t be tempted to look.

When Rem says nothing, Nakoa crawls up the mattress, knees scraping the cool metal of the floor of the van. He tugs one of the sleeping bags over his body, presses his face into his pillow and sighs.

He’s not sure when Rem shuts the door and joins him, but Rem lies there, on his back, until Nakoa’s loopy with exhaustion and alcohol, and on the verge of sleep. Nakoa hears him say, “I—”

And then Nakoa passes out.

[thenixkat]

Animorphs notes 7.5 or Megamorphs 1

Book 7.5/ Megamorphs 1

Why does this format of an animorph book exist? Aren’t we supposed to be under the impression that the kids are writting diaries or someshit like that?

Starts with Jake

Again, not seperating the yeerks from their hosts is a very bad mentality to have

Also aparently Ax doesn’t get to be an animorph

ALso Ax skipps out on a lot of meetings. Granted the kids could show some consideration for Ax and meet in the woods

Rachel is going on a two day gymnastics trip

Tobias is an asshole and continues to over anthropomorphise animals. I havent forgoten him sneaking into Cassie’s family’s barn to eat the patients

...Cassie teh crow can and will go where ever it pleases after it recovers. Heck it might hunt Tobias down and mob him out of spite

Melissa’s going on the trip

Wow Jake, rude. Tobias can have romantic relationships even if his body remains a bird

Marco’s the kinda jerk to crash parties he wasnt invited to

Full moon

Cassie is psychic. WHich honestly I don’t doubt.

Rachel part

Are they… all going to give intros?

Not that Jake is without his own level of stupidity. I mean, he was right there with us,

walking through an isolated, abandoned construction site that night. Wasn't the smartest

thing we ever did.

I’ve not forgotten the flea thing from book 2

Rachel gets books for Tobias

...damnit Rachel you can’t just show up at a camp without letting peolple know ahead of time. They need warning gto make sure they have room and food for you

I was close to Tobias's territory when I spotted something interesting below me. It was a

deer-like animal, running swiftly through the trees. When I focused my laser-intensity eagle

sight, I could see the semihuman torso and face and the deadly scorpion tail.

Aximili

ANd this is why large predatory bird morphs aren’t great. Rachel getting mobbed

A bunch of small birds take down Rachel

Marco part

Honestly Marco sounds like some of the jackass class clowns I had in school, Darlene’s not wrong to not invite him

The kids ARE all going to give the intro talk

Marco that is a very confusing way to talk

Ax is right, this is dishonorable

That poor mouse

Ax has parasites. ANd Marco is extorting? him to help him be a creep b4 he’d give Ax medicine for them. Dick

Technically speaking none of the kids actually knows how the morphing tech works

When I was done acquiring the mouse I handed it to Ax. He had to use both hands to hold

on. Andalite arms and hands are kind of puny. Of course, they also have four legs, and

those are pretty strong. I mean, Ax can haul when he wants to. I'll bet he could do forty

miles an hour.

Baby arms

So the reason Marco wasn’t invited IS b/c he’s a dick

A bunch of jays took out Rachel

Part Jake? What?

That whent jake> rachel>marco>jake? Bullshit

You don’t have to go to a party if you don’t want to people

Why couldn’t this part be narrated by Cassie? She’s fucking here!

Jake is fucking ready, fight or flight

Marco and Ax are very lucky none of the kids or adults at the party try to crush them to death

Huh, Marco and Ax are lucky that none manages to crush them to death

Jake is ready to cuss the shit outta Marco

Accidental human pileup saves Jake’s life

Part… Marco? BULSTIT SHILSHSTSOSHS

AX IS RIGHT THERER LET HIM NARRATE YOU THINDER CUNTS

I hate this human centric bs and it fucking leaves out Cassie

Marco,,, cats are very good at NOT being seen. Ambush predators

Marco is a dick

Then I saw it. It was gigantic! Enormous! A creature that seemed to be made of nothing but

teeth and blades and destruction. It was like twenty Hork-Bajir glued together and given

dragon wings.

heh

Poor Darlene’s family

It looked down at us with a dozen weird eyes that seemed to be stuck here and there at

random. It stared at us the way I'd seen Tobias stare at his prey.

Part, sigh, Rachel

Rachel has amnesia

Ns somehow started morphing while unconcious

If you wonder if yer a freak and are that startled with yer apperance, then no that’s not always how you were

If you need to concentrate to morph, how’d u managed that far with a heavy concussion/unconciousness?

Part Tobias

Damnit they are all giving the intro speech

Huh, so marco and ax coulda gotten killed twice b4 they even got to the party

Also the fuck how is the yeerks covering the wind monster

Part fucking Rachel

...why is this creature wasting so much energy instead of just flowing around the trees

Like people are seeing this shit

Finally! Part Cassie

Cassie spotted cryptid Rachel in the news

Part Rachel. WHy not just have her narrate the whole book at this point?

There’s an excaped yeerk host living in an abandoned clothing shop in the woods

Well, thaty’s not an unreasonable response for an excaped host

Rachel got some memories beaten back intio her

Oh she might be one of the people who’s yeerk starved from the actions of last book

Part fucking Jake again

The kids are gonna track down Rachel by scent

The monster found them

Part rachel

Old lady is gonna burn down the shack, with Rachel inside, b/c she’s not going back to the yeerk pool

Rachel morphs bear without concentrating or intending to or even knowing how

These bootleg books are so bad. Part Marco

They’d be dead if the creature turned back to particle form and just reformed around their bodies

Part Rachel. Really this is mostly just Rachel/Jake/Marco as narrators. No attempt at equaly splitting up the plot

I looked at the new creature. It had come to a stop, just a dozen feet away. I peered at it

with my dim bear vision. It had four legs, like a horse or a deer. But it seemed to have a

head and upper body that was almost human. And there was a tail, I was sure of that. The

tail was cocked back like a weapon ready to be fired.

Andalite

Fifteen fucking chapters in and Ax finally gets to narrate

Ax does the intro speech

Ax says he’s not an animorph

Ax doesnt like having to be the space expert

Ax tucks his tail to his back to run fast

Ax is smart enought to know when standing yer ground is a terrible idea

Ax figured out that morphing attracts the beast.

Morphing has a distinct kind of energy signature

Part jake

Andalites have a distinct scent

Ok lots of animals can harm or kill a large bear. This is turning into a raptors are mahjestick thing

Tobias assumes that Ax tried to fight the creature. Tobias doesn’t really know Ax well enough

Part Cassie

Why are they at the mall?

AGain I wouldn’t be surprised if Cassie is supposed to be psychic

You don’t mean Chapman, you mean Iniss 226

Learning about history is useful in figuring out humans and with invasion plans Cassie

Part Ax

… do andalites even have battle axes? They dont have the arms for it

Once, the Hork-Bajir were a decent, peaceful race. Then they were enslaved by the Yeerks.

Hork-Bajir are incredibly dangerous and very powerful. They stand on two legs, balanced

by a tail. Each leg ends in a foot, like an Earth bird of prey. They have two arms. There are curved blades at their knees, at their elbows, at their wrists. Blades similar to my own tail-

blade. Atop their snakelike heads are two more blades, swept forward. And their tails end in long, sharp spikes.

They are not a species you want to start a fight with. Which may be why they were such a

peaceful, even poetic, species. They had no one to fear. Until the Yeerks began to make

them into Controllers.

The series did so much retconing

Again, I like the Parting the Clouds fic so much better. At least there someone tried to figure out how to use the aura power

Veleek is the dust monster, from Saturn

So the andalite bandits being human was a solid yeerk theory

Visser 3 continues to waste good bodies

Visser 3 throew a lot of bodies into getting a veleek pet

Part Cassie

Compund eyes dont work like that

Iniss 226 knows about spy novels and thinks they’re stupid

Iniss 226 is not a dumb yeerk

Also Visser 3 is the worst boss

Part rachel

Rachel is starting to put things together

Part Marco

The kids ar eputting 2 and 2 together

Part rachel

Rachel made it back to civilization

Rachel breaks into a house for food and rest’

Some snitchy bitch called the police

Rachel the elephant says fuck the police

Part jake

The kids steal Cassie’s dad’s truck

Part rachel

The veleek chases elephant Rachel

The veleek cant pick up an elephant

Part marco

Why do they have marco drive?

Also that poor truck

Jack morphs to lure the creature’s attention

Part jake

Why did jake choose tiger for being chased?

Part rachel

Doesnt quite have her memory back but ready to help

Part ax

Ax feels like a failure of a warrior

Suddenly, one wall of my cage shimmered and became transparent. Ramonite is a metal

that can stretch open or be made clear or opaque by molecular realignment.

Nice’

Ax is also racist towards taxxons

Visser 3 is a terrible boss

Part marco

That poor truck

Why choose gorrila for a chase?>

Part rachel

Cassie tries to fill the gaps fotr rachel

Part marco

Part cassie

Cassie chooses squirlle

Bug fighters are stooting at em

Part ax

So bug fighters and shit DO have cameras

Flea ex machina

Ax morphs one of his fleas

… theres no way in hell thast theres no bugs on the andalite homeworld

Thats not what a flea mouth is like

Ax says that andalites have a shit vertical jump

Part marco

The veleek caught him

Ax is on Visser 3

Ax is having a blast fucking up Visser 3’s day

Part ax

And only then, locked together with it, was I able to see it through my weak flea eyes. It

was alive! It was a creature my own size, but with a hundred minuscule wings that beat the

air. It had antennae, but different than any seen on Earth. These antennae were covered in

tiny, upturned bowls. Like the dishes of primitive human radio telescopes. Those were the

structures it used to sense energy sources.

There were no eyes. And no mouth. But two long filaments, like strands of wire, swept

back from the front of the creature. These must be how it fed: by channeling the energy

down the wires.

The Veleek was not one creature. It was billions! It was a swarm of billions of these tiny

creatures. They had evolved into a swarm that could come together and become a

destructive entity of gnashing teeth and slicing blades. But in reality they were separate

insectlike creatures that fed on energy.

Its a swarm of navivorous bugs

Water is the veleek’s weakness

Marco and Ax jump out of the ship

Part rachel

Her memory is mostly back

Hork-bajir have foot long blades on their head, that’s impoalement’

Part marco

Fear speads up thei morphing

Part jake

Jake is grounded

The team apparently whent home without knowing if marco and ax were alive

Part cassie

Cassie is psychic and can probably see the future

Cassie comes up with a plan that only she can do

To make up for almost getting marco killed

Part tobias

So did Cassie not have a whale morph already? DIdn’t marco get one when they’d met the psychic whales?

Or am I thinking of a fanfic?

Part cassie

Cassie is awesome

Cetaceans are just canon psychic

Part tobias

Cassie is a total badass

Part cassie

Rapid fire morphing

Falling whale body slam

Part rachel

So apparently the veleek never evaporates out of the ocean at any point later?

Cassie speaks whale . Cassie is the one chosen by the whales. All hail the whale messiah

[antihero-writings]

In Plain Sight –Pandora Hearts Fic for Phmonth18 Golden Trio Week – Day/Prompt 3: Friendship (Full fic)

Fic Title: In Plain Sight

Fic Synopsis: When Break hides Gilbert’s favorite Christmas ornament somewhere in the Rainsworth manor, the Golden Trio must spend the afternoon looking for it

Notes: I originally wrote this for the prompt “Ornaments” in an alphabetical Christmas prompt list my friends and I did last year. However, nobody got to read it last year, and since I didn’t get the chance to write anything for the first week of phmonth18, I wanted to at least post something, and decided this worked well for the Golden Trio! Especially since Christmas is fast approaching. I think it works best for the day 3 prompt: Friendship. I hope you like it! I had a lot of fun writing this, and am rather proud of how it turned out! I would really appreciate it if you left a comment to let me know if you enjoyed it!

I posted the entire thing here, but you can also read this on Ao3. It’s under the same title, by I_prefer_the_term_antihero

P.S. This is a repost of an old fic!

Fic:

“You’re the tallest, Gil, you should put the star on top!”

“Ooh! It looks yummy! Like a big cookie!”

“It’s not a cookie, Stupid Rabbit!”

It was a few days before Christmas, and the trio was at the Rainsworth manor. Finally, everything was ready for the holiday; a fire was dancing in its place, the stockings were all lined up on the mantle, and they had just put the finishing touches on the tree. The only one who hadn’t been informed about the festive season, was the sky outside; it had been raining for the past few weeks. There was a chill in the air, it was frosty, but snow hadn’t quite come yet. Still, they made the most of their time indoors.

“Perfect!” Oz exclaimed.

Oz Vessalius was the fifteen-year-old heir to the Vessalius dukedom, but after his escape from the Abyss that year, when he wasn’t off on adventures, and missions, he spent most of his time at the Rainsworth’s.

“It’s so pretty, Onii-chan!”

On account of the ten-year gap, Oz’s sister, Ada, was older than Oz now, but, no matter what, she would never stop seeing him as her older brother. She was on Christmas break from Lutwidge Academy, and more than happy to spend it at the Rainsworths, with her brother. She had, of course, brought her two cats—Snowdrop and Kitty—with her, (which Gilbert maintained a healthy distance from, due to his phobia of cats).

“The Rainsworths will have the best-decorated tree in town!”

Oscar, their uncle, was spending the afternoon with his niece and nephew too. He was a bearded, bespectacled man, with the same blonde hair and green eyes as the rest of his family. At the moment, he was sitting on one of the couches, with a cup what he called ‘tea’, but which the rest of them guessed probably had something stronger in it.

“I can’t take all the credit, Gil and Alice helped a little,” Oz joked.

“‘A little!’”

Gilbert was Oz’s servant; a dark-haired man, who often appeared cold and reserved, but who was rather sensitive, and a worrywart. He still sometimes acted as though they were only a year apart in age too, despite the fact that he was now ten years older than his master.

“Yeah, manservant!” Alice challenged, “More like we did all the work!”

“I was just teasing!”

“Well,” Sharon had a way of returning things to order with her calm and proper words, “you all did a wonderful job.”

Sharon was the heiress to the Rainsworth dukedom, and looked like a thirteen-year-old girl, though was really in her twenties or thirties—(they knew better than to ask her exact age). Her chestnut hair was usually tied back into a kind of half-ponytail, and, as always, she outmatched them all on style points; today it was with a dress of a wintery blue that looked as if she was trying to encourage the snow to fall. As per usual, she held a cup of tea in one hand—peppermint, she had informed them, for the Christmas season—and a pastry in the other. She was sitting at a small round table on the other side of the room, with Reim—duke Barma’s bespectacled, hard working, servant, who spent more time at the Rainsworth’s than anywhere else, with his two best friends—Sharon and Break.

“Well, I’m beat,” Alice stretched and yawned, “Seaweed-head, when are you going to make me some meat?”

Most Chains (creatures from the Abyss) didn’t look like Alice did; like a fourteen-year-old girl, with floor length brown hair, and an almost cat-like physique—(though it was a giant rabbit she often turned into). Also unlike other illegally contracted Chains, she did not have a thirst for human blood, although she did have a particular love for meat, as well as almost anything edible.

“I suppose I can make you something, now that we’ve finished,” Gil sighed.

“Oh? Have you now?” they turned to see Sharon’s servant, Xerxes Break, grinning as he poured himself another cup of tea. “Are you sure nothing’s…” he leaned back against the table, “missing?”

Break was a red-eyed, white-haired man, also much older than he looked. Even those close to him would say he was a bit of an acquired taste; his love for teasing, the creepy doll on his shoulder, and his general lack of regard for other people and their feelings, made it difficult for those subject to his mischiefs—such as Gilbert—to acquire any kind of affection for him.

Gilbert froze, turning his head slowly to the tree. His eyes immediately found the empty space where a certain ornament had been.

“Break!” he shouted, spinning back to him, “Must you do this every year?!”

“Let an old man have his fun.” Break grinned.

“I believe he must, Gilbert-sama,” Sharon answered Gilbert’s question, nonchalantly taking a sip of tea before continuing, “It has become something of a tradition.”

“I should have spent Christmas with he Nightrays this year,” Gilbert grumbled, reluctance in his motions as he began to pick up books, and other objects around the room, as if searching.

“You’re so mean,” Break chided playfully, then spoke a little more seriously, knowing Gilbert had no intentions of spending much time with his adoptive family, and real brother, “You’d rather spend Christmas with the sewer rat, than us?”

Gil gave him a death glare.

“Sorry…but what’s a tradition?” Oz asked, turning to Sharon and Break.

He wouldn’t admit it, but sometimes, especially with things like this, the ten-year gap could make Oz feel like an outsider.

“Every year Break takes Gilbert-sama’s favorite ornament,” Sharon explained, “And hides it somewhere in the manor.”

“Ooh! That sounds like fun!”

“It’s not fun, Oz!” Gilbert hollered at his master, “It’s a waste of a perfectly good afternoon! Not to mention annoying, and rude!”

Break laughed. Gil had yet to learn his outrageous reactions were what made this sort of thing so fun for the prankster.

“Don’t worry, Gil!” Ada bounded up to him, “I’ll help you look!”

Gilbert flushed, “T-Thank you.”

“What does it look like, Gil?” Ada asked.

He looked at Oz, then turned back to Ada, and explained it quietly enough that only she could hear.

She nodded, beaming, and began to look in a different part of the room.

“What’s the matter, Gil?”—Gil gasped as his master appeared suddenly at his other side—“You don’t want me to know what it is?” Oz’s laugh faded into a more puzzled expression when Gil averted his eyes, turning redder.

“It’s a secret, Onii-chan!” Ada answered for him, “You’ll see when we find it!”

He didn’t get the chance to ask anything more, because Alice broke in, having been observing all their interactions,

“Does…Does this mean I won’t get my meat?”

“Uh huh,” Gilbert sighed, “That’s exactly what it means.”

“No! I will not allow it!” Alice shook her head, and whirled around on Break, pointing at him in an accusatory manner, “Clown! Return Seaweed-head’s stupid ornament his instant!”

“It’s not stupid, Stupid Rabbit!”

“Aren’t you a spoilsport?” The Mad Hatter teased, then the doll on his shoulder, Emily, finished,

“Why should I listen to some dumb bunny?”

Alice growled, her hands clenching into fists. She spun to Gilbert, declaring as she ran up to him,

“Then I won’t rest until I find that ornament! With the great Alice-sama on your side, you cannot fail!”

“Sure you won’t just get in the way?”

She kicked him in the shin, then crossed her arms, “You’d be lost without me, Seaweed-head.”

“Don’t kick me, Stupid rabbit!” he rubbed his leg, “Now go look for it over there!” he stamped his injured foot back down and pointed to the opposite corner of the room, (to which she quickly ran, proceeding to tear her designated space apart in a matter of seconds.)

“Is this ornament really all that important, Gil? I mean, we have lots of—”

“Yes!” he answered before his master could finish, “it is!”

Oz sighed, knowing how attached his servant could get to things, “Alright. So…is us helping against the rules?” he asked, watching Alice destroy the room in search of it, Ada calmly remove things, and put them back where they were meant to go, and Gil as a mix of the two.

“Don’t you think we would have stopped them if it was, Oz-kun?”

Sharon shook her head, “It doesn’t matter who finds it, watching him search is the fun part.” Her mischievous side was showing; most of the time she was this prim and proper lady, but being close to Break had its effects.

“That’s right; the more people searching, the funnier it is when they can’t find it,” Break sang. “Though, tell me, Ojousama,” he turned to his mistress “are you merely saying that because you wagered he’d find it early—before 18:00?” he asked knowingly, sitting up on the table—(Reim gave him a look that could only be interpreted as: can-you act-any-less-like-a-servant?)

They turned to the clock—it was 15:00.

“Why do you want to know, Break?” his mistress asked with a tone of false interest, “Are you afraid your skills as a prankster have gone down with age?” she patted her mouth innocently with a napkin.

“What do you take me for, Ojousama?” he smirked, crossing his legs, narrowing his eyes at Gilbert, “He’ll need all the help he can get.”

Gilbert returned to him an even more murderous look.

“You… betted on this?”

“All part of the tradition, Oz-kun,” Break mentioned, stealing a mini pastry from Reim’s plate—(the incense was more than evident on Reim’s face, and probably why Break did it).

“It’s not money we wagered, though; If I win, Break has to swear off sweets over Christmas—as well as make me a lavish dessert full of those sweet things he can’t have. And if Break wins, I have to buy him an equally lavish amount of extra Christmas candy and sweets.”

“Nice! Break, I didn’t know you could bake!”

“He really can’t,” Sharon chuckled, “But it’s fun to see what he comes up with.”

Break glared at her.

“So… is this how you bet every year?”

“Sometimes it’s different. But it’s usually something to the effect of giving Break a taste of his own medicine…Though I seem to recall one year, I wanted Break to do this dance I had heard of in a book, if he lost. I believe it was called ‘Futterwacken.’”

“That’s a weird name for a dance!” Oz laughed, “So? How did that go?

“I suppose it is,” she smiled, “That was one of the tamer punishments, but, when he did lose, he refused—rather blatantly.”

“Really?!” he turned to Break.

“How many times must I tell you? I have no talent for dancing.”

“Truly, as a servant of the Rainsworth Dukedom, it would be better fitting that you learned,” she shook her head, then turned back to Oz, “Anyway, after that, we thought the chance to take away his candy was rather enjoyable.”

“Aw, I want to join the bet!”

Gilbert looked affronted, but before he could speak, Oz continued, boyish excitement simmering in his tone,

“Say, what if, if Break loses, I get to eat his candy instead?!”

Sharon and Break glanced at each other.

“Let me ask you something, Oz-kun;” Break set down his tea, “Are you willing to risk the consequences of such a wager?”

“Ehh…consequences?”

“Why of course. I couldn’t give little Oz-kun the chance of stealing my candy without the proper torment in store if he lost.”

“Eh…” Oz knew just how mean Break could get, and that this could very well turn into a prank war that ended in actual blood, “I think I’ll pass.”

“I always said you were smarter than you looked,” the Mad Hatter picked up his tea again.

“Maybe you could join in by helping me look, instead of encouraging them, Oz!” Gilbert whirled on him.

“Aww, do I have to?” the fifteen-year-old groaned.

“Oz!”

Oz turned to the masterminds, as if silently asking for them to give him an excuse not to.

“Hey, Oz-kun is sharp,” Break began, then Emily added,

“Probably smarter than these three put together!”

—two of the aforementioned three gave him what can only be described as ‘fight-me’ faces, and Ada looked disheartened—Break took no notice, and finished,

“So that depends; whose side are you on?”

“Well,” Oz thought for a moment, then mused, grinning, “it would be fun to see Break trying to swear of candy!”

“Is that so?” Break’s eye narrowed.

“In any case, why isn’t Reim-san helping?” he shifted the focus. “You’re not the kind of person to sit back while others are in trouble”

Reim sighed, pushing his glasses up on his nose. “While that may be true, these two are often harsher with me, than others. If I help you, I have a feeling I shall pay for it in some way later,” he shot them an icy look, “dearly.”

“Whatever do you mean, Reim-san?” Sharon asked innocently. “We thought you enjoyed our company.”

“Yeah, it’s only because you’re our favorite, Reim-san,” Break gave a fake sappy voice.

“Then pick a new favorite!”

“That’s not how it works! You have a lifetime guarantee!”

“Sharon,” it was Ada who spoke. She had been focused on searching on the mantelpiece, and inside the stockings, “Why are there nine stockings?”

“What do you mean, Ada?” Oz asked, stepping over to her.

“Well, I was just thinking; there’s me, Onii-chan, Uncle, and Alice,”—Alice looked annoyed at Ada mentioning her name—“since we’re staying here for Christmas,” she pointed at each of the stockings in turn, “and these belong to Sharon-sama, Break, Duchess Rainsworth-sama, and Reim-san, right? But who does this last one belong to?” she held the bottom of the last one, careful not to pull it off the mantle.

They turned to Break and Sharon, who glanced at each other, their mischievous grins fading into more somber, reminiscent expressions.

“It was Break’s idea,” Sharon answered.

“Well, I can’t take all the credit—“

“It’s for my mother…That has become something of a tradition as well. We just thought it would be nice, to have something to remember her by during the Christmas season.”

The tone in the room quieted; the rest of them knew that Shelly was Sharon’s mother, who had died sometime after Oz’s coming of age ceremony.

“That’s…actually really sweet,” Oz noted, “Break, I’m surprised you thought of it!”

“You think you’re cute, don’t you? And you say that like I’m cruel.”

“Well…” Oz rubbed the back of his neck, smiling nervously, trying to formulate a non- insulting answer in his mind.

“I think what Oz is trying to say,” Reim started out gently, then finished harshly, “Is that it’s high time you realized you can be a jerk, Xerxes!”

“Well, I wouldn’t say jerk’…” Oz began.

“I would,” Gil mumbled.

“My…I cant believe that you all….” Break began softly, then Emily jeered,

“Just figured that out now!”

The anger was evident on all of their faces.

“Really, why are you all ganging up on me,” Break grinned, without a hint of hurt in his voice, “when you should be focusing on the task at hand?”

“Because it’s your fault we’re in this mess!” Gilbert shouted, then ran his hand frustratedly through his hair, observing the mess they had made of the room, before demanding, “Is it in this room?!”

“Given up already, have you?” Emily teased.

Gilbert clenched his hands into fists, biting back a retort.

“Did anyone see him leave the room?!”

Everyone looked at Gilbert blankly, or up at the ceiling, trying to think if they had, realizing they had no idea, and knew full well Sharon could have used Eques to transport him when their backs were turned anyways. Gilbert put his hands on his hips, sighing at their silence “Alright. We have a whole manor to look through, it’s best we move on from this room,” he paused, turning again to Break, with malice in his eyes, “Right?”

“Sure, kiddo!” Emily replied, and he gave the fakest grin yet.

Gilbert gritted his teeth, then shook his head, directing them,

“Let’s split up; Ada, you go down the left hall, Stupid Rabbit, you take the right. I’ll go downstairs.”

“I won’t let you down, Seaweed-Head!” Alice sped down the hall, not even searching, as if she had forgotten the task she’d been given.

Ada nodded, “Come on, Snowdrop, Kitty!” she called to her cats.

Oz sighed, “Alright, fine. I’ll help too.”

Gilbert smiled, about to thank him, when Oz added,

“But I expect to be rewarded for my troubles!”

His servant rolled his eyes.

“I kinda need to know what it looks like, though, don’t I, Gil? You seemed to want to keep it a secret earlier.”

“You’ll…um….You’ll know it when you see it,” Gilbert looked anywhere but at his master.

Oz sighed, putting his hands on his hips, “Really? That kinda makes things harder, you know.”

“Oh, not up to the challenge, are you Oz-kun?” Break goaded.

“No, no, I can do it! I just feel like we’re not addressing a key part of the puzzle here!”

With that Gilbert pulled him out of the room and into the search.

Gilbert was right; it did seem like a bit of a waste of an afternoon; exhausting wasn’t the only word that came to mind after rifling through each room one by one, with no clue as to where it might be. Especially because the feeling began growing in them that Gilbert was way too attached to things, as well as that Break was, indeed, a jerk. They didn’t know how much time had passed before they met up again in the hall, everyone hanging their heads in shame and disappointment.

“What should we do?” Ada asked quietly.

“We can’t let the clowny bastard win!” Alice slammed a fist into her other palm to emphasize her point.

“That’s right!” Gilbert agreed, “For years I had to put up with his constant teasing, it’s high time we got him back!”

“I don’t think losing the bet is really going to make him stop. I mean, he’s lost before, right?”

“You don’t have to be so blunt about it!” Gilbert complained.

“Sorry,” Oz shrugged.

In the moment of silence that followed, Ada’s cat started rubbing against Oz’s leg, as if trying to comfort him.

“What do you think, Snowdrop?” Oz asked jokingly, picking up his sister’s cat, (Gilbert eyed it, a whine developing in his throat, scooching away), “Do you have any idea where it is?”

Oz gasped.

“What is it, Onii-chan?”

Tied into the cat’s collar was a ribbon, attached to a little ornament. He pulled it free and placed the cat on the floor (it meowed and padded away).

The other three gasped in turn, leaning in to get a better look at it.

“That bastard!” Gilbert slammed his fist into the wall behind him. “He knew I wouldn’t go near your cats!”

“Yeah,” Oz laughed, “leave it to Break to take the cheap shot.”

“What are we waiting for?!” Alice demanded, “Didn’t I just say we can’t let the clowny bastard win!”

“You’re right!” the others said together, and bolted down the hall.

“We found it!” Oz held the ornament high, like a trophy, as they burst through the door.

At the same moment that he held up the evidence, the hour chimed.

They each glanced at each other, then at the clock, which read exactly 18:00.

“My, my, isn’t this an interesting turn of events?” Break remarked, stretching, “It looks like it’s a tie, Ojousama.”

“It would appear,” Sharon smiled “In that case, would you please excuse me for a moment?” she gathered her dress and hurried out of the room.

“So, which one of you found it?” Break asked, walking over to them.

“I did.”

The prankster smirked, “What did I tell you?” he ruffled Oz’s hair, “Oz-kun’s sharp.”

“So… what does that mean about your wagers?” Oz tried to put his hair right. “Since you tied?”

“Just a moment Oz-kun,” he put his hand on Oz’s head, his sleeve falling over his eyes, and looked over their heads

Sharon quickly did return, a little out of breath, holding a small package wrapped in a ribbon.

“Here you are, Break!” she held it out for him.

He took it from her and unwrapped it, opening the little red box to reveal that it was filled with the the candy she had promised.

“Just the thing I needed” he patted her head, unwrapping a piece and tossing it into his mouth. “Better luck next time, Ojousama,”

Oz and Alice stared at him, open-mouthed, dumbstruck that he had beat them.

“Now I suppose I should get started on that dessert of yours,” he waited until the proper moment to add.

“Please do.”

“Huh?” Oz and Alice asked simultaneously.

“Since we tied,” Sharon spoke, as they both turned to them, “we both win.”

“So…does that mean the clown still has to swear off candy?” Alice asked hopefully.

“No—Unfortunately,” Sharon added, glancing at her servant, who rolled his eyes, eating another piece, “We both get the rewards of the wager, but no one gets the punishment.”

“More in the Christmas spirit, wouldn’t you agree, Ojousama?” he said between candy crunches.

“Since when do you care about ‘Christmas spirit’?!” Gilbert demanded.

“Better luck next year, I guess,” Oz tried to put a positive spin on it.

“Next year?!” Alice fumed, “I want to settle this now!” (Gilbert held Alice by the neck of her jacket.)

“Believe me,” Reim grunted, eyeing Break, “it’ll only end worse for you,”

“Who knows?” Break shrugged, “There may not be a next year, Oz-kun.”

Alice continued to seethe while the others glanced at each other, unsure of how to respond to such a statement.

“There you go again,” Reim scolded. “You can’t just mention something like that!”

Break dismissed him with a wave of his hand, chuckling to himself, and muttering something about his uptightness, as he made his way down the hall to the kitchens.

After Break left, Oz looked down at his hand, opening his fingers to reveal the little clay, painted oddity he was still holding. Alice came behind him and looked over his shoulder at it.

“What…is it?”

“You didn’t know what you were looking for?!” Gilbert questioned.

“Because you never told me, Seaweed-head!”

Gilbert looked away, clearly wanting to bite back, but without argument with which to do so.

Oz shook his head, staring at it. It was rather crudely made, ineptly painted. But he couldn’t mistake it for anything else—and Gil had been right, he did know it when he saw it.

Because he was the one who made it.

“I can’t believe you kept this, Gil.”

Gilbert looked away, nodding and turning red.

Now he understood why Gilbert was so intent on getting it back. This ornament had probably become a symbol to Gilbert—much like Shelly’s stocking on the mantelpiece was for Break and Sharon—for Oz himself. This ornament, through the years, had probably become tied to his faithful valet’s unending hope that his master would come back. Each year Break took it, as if teasing that perhaps he wouldn’t (and, maybe this was his roundabout way of him trying to prepare him for that), but Gilbert always got it back, as if displaying that he would never lose that hope.

“Oy! What is it?!” Alice demanded again, upset her ‘manservant’ wasn’t focusing all his attention on her.

“It’s a bird, Alice,” Oz answered simply.

“Really, how do you figure?”

“Yeah, it doesn’t look very good does it?” Oz laughed.

“Seaweed-head, why would a crappy ornament like this be your favorite?”

“Oy! You don’t see me criticizing your bad taste!”

“Bad taste?! I have impeccable taste! I eat meat every day!”

“That’s not what—”

“Its because I made it for him,” Oz answered her question quietly.

“You?” Alice laughed, slapping him on the back, “You have pretty poor skills, Oz.”

“Give me a break! I was a kid!”

Oscar laughed, walking up to them, “You’re still a kid, Oz. Yes…I can’t remember how old he was, but he made me, Ada, and Gilbert ornaments,” he laughed a little, putting his arm around Gilbert, “I remember how offended Gil was at his master making him a gift.”

“Yeah,” Oz laughed, they all looked up at Gil, who got steadily redder the more they spoke, “We had to force him to accept it.”

“Why are you surprised he kept his, Onii-chan?” Ada asked, “Uncle and I kept ours. They’re back at the Vessalius manor. But! we could bring them over here if you want!”

“That’s okay, I believe you! Still… Like Alice said, they don’t look very good.”

“But, like you said, you were the one who made them for us,” Oscar ruffled his nephew’s hair.

“What were the ornaments you made for them, Oz?” Alice asked.

“Well, I made Ada a little cat, and uncle Oscar a camera. I didn’t really know what Gil liked, so I just made him a bird. Funny, how your chain is Raven now.”

“How come you haven’t made me one, Manservant?!” Alice hit Oz on the head.

“Hey! I’ve been busy!” he rubbed the spot where she hit him.

“In any case,” Alice turned to Gilbert, jumping quickly to the next subject, “now you can make my meat, Seaweed-head!”

“Break’s using the kitchen, Stupid Rabbit!”

“Then let’s go to the market! I’m starving!”

Gilbert sighed into his hand, “Fine. Let me get my hat and coat.”

“Can I come with you guys?” Ada asked—Alice looked peeved, but Gil and Oz had already welcomed her.

“I’ll go check if Break needs anything!” Oz ran off towards the kitchen.

As Oz arrived, he saw that Break had changed out of his white coat and purple shirt into more casual closing—likely so he wouldn’t ruin his normal outfit. He had rolled up the sleeves, and was wearing a pink apron Gil sometimes wore when he cooked for them here, but which probably belonged to Sharon’s grandmother, or mother. He had already begun to make a mess of things; flour was all over the counter, chocolate was on the walls, somehow there were even ingredients in in his hair.

“You need some help?” Oz asked, half-jokingly.

Break looked up.

“Oz-kun,” he noted, then grinned, “You? Help me? Gotten bored of Gilbert-kun, and Alice-kun already?”

“Nah. I just wanted to know if you needed anything. We’re going to the store.”

Oz knew that Break could have asked for help from the staff, or Gilbert, but Sharon called him ‘Mr. One-Man-Show’ for a reason; sure, it might not taste or look all that good, but at least he would have made it himself.

“You really think I wouldn’t have come prepared?”

“But, if you won, you wouldn’t have to make—”

Oz gasped. Realizing something:

They both had bought the supplies ahead of time. Oz thought one of them would have to go to the store, depending on who won the bet, (perhaps dragging the other begrudgingly along), but they both had already bought the necessary ingredients. Which meant, either the food one of them bought would go to waste, or be used in some other way, or, regardless of who won or lost, they still intended to give each other the gifts.

“You already had the ingredients,” Oz thought out loud. “and Sharon-chan already had your candy…”

“So?”

“I would have thought one of you would have to go to the store, depending on who won.”

“What’s your point, Oz-kun?” Break pushed his hair back.

Oz shook his head, grinning like he now had some secret information. “Break, you really are a nice guy, aren’t you?”

Break put his hand on the table, turning to him, “Wipe that cheeky grin off your face before I do it for you.”

Oz put his hands behind his back, sauntering closer.

“Oh, nothing,” he whistled, “Just that, well, you do this every year, don’t you? Sharon likes to give you a taste of your own medicine if you lose, but you both use this an excuse to give each other extra gifts, don’t you? I bet it was your idea in the first place.”

“How do you know we weren’t planning to use the supplies in some other way?”

“Because you’re not considerate enough to let others use your stuff,” he grinned, “Didn’t you just say there would be punishment in store if I got your candy?”

“Well,” he smirked at Oz’s discovery, twirling the spoon in his hand, “‘nice’ would be stretching it. But maybe occasionally I’m not a complete ‘jerk.’”

Oz grinned. That was all the confirmation he needed.

As if he were brandishing a sword, Break flicked chocolate on Oz’s face with the spoon, “Now get out of here.”

Oz rolled his eyes.

“Good luck, Break!”

With that he exited the room, and ran to the front door to catch up with Gil, Ada, and Alice, who were gathered there, waiting for him.

“Break doesn’t need anything!” he called to them, “Let’s go!”

At first it may have seemed like a waste of time, but, in the end, Oz realized; an afternoon playing a game, learning that after ten years Gil had still cherished the small gift he had once been reluctant to accept, seeing how Sharon and Break found ways to bring each other joy, spending time with his friends, spending time with his real family, would never be a waste of an afternoon for him.

[virmillion]

Arbitrary

Happy Birthday Patton technically a day early but hey thats fine because this is gonna be a choose your own ending story oops // when you get to the end, there’ll be two endings to choose from, so pick which you want to read, and it should hopefully link you to it, let me know if it doesnt work

Warnings: none, let me know if you have any

    Dads are known to have certain responsibilities to fulfill. Taking out the trash, being the ‘fun parent’ with the presents, being the loud sneezer, protecting their kids, you name it, dads probably do it. Patton is no different. Sure, he gets generalized to cracking jokes and baking cookies, but he really does try. He was the one that organized a second Christmas party when they realized Virgil was excluded from the first party. He was the one who ran all over town to find a bookstore with an exclusive copy of the book Logan insisted upon for his birthday. He was the one who set up three different cameras to record every single one of Roman’s performances since the boy could walk. All Patton really wanted was to make sure the other three were happy, four if you included Thomas, which he did, of course. He never asked for anything in return, as long as everybody around him was content.

    Maybe that’s why he’s off by himself now.

    He just emptied his soul out to put everyone else’s needs before his own, so why should he be surprised when no one noticed his own problems? Exactly. He shouldn’t be surprised. He should just smile through it, and pretend he isn’t upset that everyone forgot his birthday. Again.

    “Patton? You gonna make dinner?” A soft knock on his door. Roman.

    “Sure thing, kiddo!” Patton calls back, swiping a harsh fist over his eyes before turning to the small mirror on his dresser. The mirror Virgil decorated with purple and blue rocks. Years ago. No one seemed to care so much about making him gifts anymore. The stones shimmer in the golden glow of Patton’s room, distracting him from his own face. Skin mottled red from tear stains, cracked lips, an ever-furrowed brow. He shakes his head, drags his fingers over his cheeks a few times, and forces a smile. January fifteenth. Just another ordinary day. Nothing special, nothing important, nothing of note. An arbitrary day on an arbitrary calendar in an arbitrary life.

    Patton throws open his door, praying the dramatic flair will disguise from his quivering chest.

    “How’s spaghetti sound?” he calls into the living room, where the other three are draped over the couches. “I bought some stuff for those vegetable meatballs, it sounded interesting.” The most Patton receives in response is some non-committal grunts, not even a nod. Not even a word from Logan on how vegetarian meatballs shouldn’t technically be called meatballs. “Great.”

    In the kitchen, he lets his mind dissolve in the menial tasks of measuring and mixing, ignoring how salty some of it tastes. Not like his head is bent too far over the pot, or the water dripping from his eyes will affect the flavor. It’s like Virgil always says, right? Everything's better with a little bit of salt.

    Patton carefully ladles a considerable heaping of noodles onto four plates, drizzling the tomato sauce over top and stacking fake-meatballs on the rim. It’s not a long journey from the stove to the dining table, maybe fifteen paces, but it feels like fifteen miles. Everything feels like fifteen miles. Not that he’d ever say anything like that out loud. Fifteen. Arbitrary.

    “Dinner’s up!” he calls, bustling around the counters to clean up all the little splashes of sauce and sadness. A momentary pause to look inside himself, aghast. He hadn’t meant to think of the second word. He didn’t want to think of it. Too late now. Too little, too late, but what else is new?

    “Drinks?” Patton says to the congregating group as they shuffle to the table, staring down at phones and books and scripts. Disinterested shrugs, mumbles of water and sprite and coca cola. Patton grabs it all, plunking each bottle down before taking his own seat behind the smallest plate. The least food. There’s probably at least fifteen noodles on the plate, which is good. Enough to not starve. More noodles than words spoken at the table, to be sure.

    “So, how’s everyone’s day been?” he asks, bouncing his fork against the plate.

    “Reading.”

    “Tumblr.”

    “Auditions.”

    “Great.” He lets the silence take over once more, interrupted by the clinking of forks and the occasional slurp of a noodle. Maybe a disapproving glance for the noise. Nothing more.

    Fifteen minutes for four people to eat four plates of food with nine words exchanged. Disheartening, but not uncommon. They never seem to talk anymore, really. Just let words bounce around in their heads, never giving them voice or thinking the others will care to hear. Patton always loved hearing it, but evidently they didn’t love sharing. Unsurprising.

    “’Kay, I’m done. Thanks, Pat,” Virgil mumbles, pushing his chair back, his half-full plate staying where it is. He heads for his own room, shortly followed by Roman and Logan, none of whom supply excuses for abandoning Patton. Again. On an arbitrary day, just like any other. Why should he expect any different?

    Patton sets to work carefully putting away the dirty dishes, rinsing off the utensils and scraping the remains of the spaghetti into the garbage disposal. It screams at him as it crushes the food, chopping and shredding and crying and hating. Patton moves quicker.

    The television is still softly flickering in the other room, sharing sad news and upsetting stories and terrible developments, the usual. Across the bottom of the screen scrolls a number. January fifteenth. An arbitrary day. Patton digs a hand under the couch cushion for the remote, unflinching at the scattered crumbs from food long forgotten. From late night movies that the four sides used to marathon together. Not anymore. Stale food from stale memories. He clicks off the television, letting his eyes drift over the spinning block in the corner, proudly announcing the time. 6:36 at night. 18:36. The hour squared is the minute. The hour doubled is the minute. Fun number games Logan used to teach him, playing around with the numbers for no real reason beyond mindless entertainment. Not anymore. An arbitrary game with arbitrary numbers. Patton probably learned the word ‘arbitrary’ from Logan, in all honesty. Not surprising.

    Back in his own room, alone, Patton glances at the wall to the right of his door. While his room did have several nostalgia-related items when Thomas visited, it’s more organized than that when he’s alone. An entire shelf dedicated solely to candles from Roman, based around fond memories, lost to the winds of time. Patton lifts one gently from the shelf, from some holiday a few years back. Campfire donuts. Probably just a random Christmas gift at the last minute, its scent drowning in artificial sweetness. Manufactured. Arbitrary. Patton replaces the candle on the shelf.

    The shelf below has all the crafts the other three had ever given him, each loved greatly and held near to his heart. The tradition of making Patton presents had a severe drop off once the youtube videos started. Too busy with scripting ideas, recording, planning, socializing, anything that doesn’t have to do with wasting time making Patton happy. That’s Patton’s job anyway, right? Make the others happy? He shouldn’t have the audacity to expect that they return the favor. Not like they ever really did, to be fair. Patton trails his eyes over the raggedy stuffed animals, knit with shaky hands and zero aptitude for reading a pattern. A coloring book, filled with crude drawings scribbled over in crayon. Numerous sets of collectible pens, all from his favorite shows and books. Patton steps back from the shelf and leans against his bed, sliding to the floor. His shirt catches on the blanket, riding up and leaving his back exposed to the scratchy material. An arbitrary feeling to notice, really, but better than feeling nothing at all. After all, he should know something about bad feelings, right? He’s at the core of a lot of Thomas’s feelings. Might as well give him the bad ones, too. Not like he isn’t used to it. The clock ticks softly on his bedside table. A little silver analog trinket, given in the wake of his being late to some event or another. A gag gift, really. Tick tock, the witch is dead. Seven o’ clock. Nineteen hundred hours. Time sneaking away from him, without another knock at the door. Silent and alone, Patton’s head lolls back on his bed, drifting off to sleep. An arbitrary activity for an arbitrary person.

Dark | Warm

Tag list:

@sakurahayasaki @erlenmeyertrash @lemonpepperpizza @irish-newzealand-idian-dutch @milomeepit @leesacrakon @virgilmood @pantasticpanini

[edenfalling]

Ooh! Homestuck, Dirk, Roxy, cuddle. It's the post-Sburb world, and there are too many people all the time, and only Dirk and Roxy want to flee screaming to a (pair of) faraway mountains. Bring back the blissful solitude of the post-apocalypse.

Notcompliant with the credits snapchats, because reasons. :) [2,700 words] 

---------------------------------------------Some Little Talk aWhile of Me and Thee--------------------------------------------- 

The stupid part is, up until that one moment, Roxy washaving a really good night. All her friends (except Dirk, who hung grimly onthrough dinner and absconded immediately thereafter) together in one room, enoughdinner for everyone to eat their fill and then dessert on top of that, thepleasant ache of an honest day's work building the infrastructure of their newworld... yeah. A good night. 

Except the thing is, as much as she needs people -- and sheneeds people a lot, needs that feedback loop of attention paid and returned --there's a big difference between hanging out online and hanging out with adozen people jammed together in a single room. And she hasn't been gettingalone time during the days either, always busy working with a crew ofcarapacians (who at least are quiet) and consorts (who are emphatically not). 

Roxy doesn't notice the slow buildup of stress, but she canpinpoint exactly when the night tips from I-can-manage to oh-god-make-it-stop. 

She's been kibitzing on the edges of Rose, John, and Jane'smeal planning session (defusing any baby disagreements before they grow intoanything serious), keeping half an ear on the Pictionary session Callie,Kanaya, and Terezi have going in the far corner, and watching Jade gleefullyannihilate Dave and Karkat at Mario Kart. It's maybe a little bit much to betracking all at once, but the satisfaction outweighs the strain until Davethrows a piece of popcorn at Jade, who teleports it into the tangle of Karkat'shair, who draws breath in preparation for an inside-voice-what-inside-voicerant, and Roxy is abruptly and completely done.Zip, zilch, finito, cutlery shop's closed up and all the merchandise is gone. 

She shoves herself up from the warm and squashy armchair shestaked out as her private territory back when they first built this grouphouse, and says to nobody in particular: "I'm gonna go check on Dirk, it'sbeen a while since he noped out and I want to make sure he hasn't broken his neckor started a robot apocalypse in his sleep." 

Rose and Jane break off their debate over the relativemerits of fish tacos and sushi to give her a pair of sharp glances. John justlooks adorkably confused. 

Roxy dredges up a smile from her last reserves of sociability. 

It must not be very convincing, because Rose frowns andtenses like she's going to ask if Roxy needs any help, or maybe even stand upand give her a hug. Her concern is like a warm mug of hot chocolate, but thething about warm mugs of hot chocolate is they're awesome on a frigid winterday after messing around in the snow for a couple hours, but this specific timeand place are more like a metaphorical scorching summer day when you're alreadysugared out and anything sweet makes you want to gag. In other words, amomdaughter's loving attention is nice in theory, but it's not conducive tonoping the fuck out of the room, not to mention if anyone touches her rightnow, Roxy might actually break down and scream. 

Fortunately, Jane rescues her. 

She does something to Rose -- elbows her? kicks her underthe coffee table? hard to say -- and while Rose is busy trying to regather hertrain of thought, Jane grins at Roxy, somehow managing to make the expressionboth obviously fake and equally obviously made of 24-carat solid goldsincerity. 

"That sounds like an excellent plan!" she says."When you find him, tell him that Jade needs to run the latest plans forthe electricity grid past him, particularly the battery storage systems forevening the solar and wind outputs. I think the files are in the civilengineering dropbox account, so he shouldn't need to ask her for anything untilhe's finished reviewing and annotating them." 

Roxy nods. 

"Well, what are you waiting for? Scram!" Janemakes little shooing motions with her hands. 

Rose, apparently catching on to Roxy's actual state of mind,smiles benevolently and waves goodbye. "Au revoir," she says in herperpetually dry tone. "If anyone asks where you are, I'll tell them I sentyou to give daddy dearest my love, perhaps in the form of seagull pie." 

Jane rolls her eyes. John snickers and sticks out his tonguein mostly mock-disgust. 

"Thanks, guys," Roxy manages to say, and flees. 

--------------- 

After a indeterminate period of time trying not tohyperventilate in her en suite bathroom, she sits cross-legged on her bed andwonders if she ought to make good on her escape excuse. 

Dirk's even worse with large groups than Roxy is and doesn'tmake any attempt to pretend otherwise, but he's still human (no matter how muchhe sometimes dislikes that fact) and even the most introverted human is, atbase, a social animal. And not all contact has to be as overwhelming as groupevents. 

Roxy pulls out her phone, briefly contemplates calling him,then tosses that plan right the fuck out the window. Voices are bullshit. Textis their mutual mother tongue, and she'd bet at least half a baby universe Dirkisn't up for vocalizing right now. 

-- tipsyGnostalgic [TG] began pestering timaeusTestified[TT] -- 

TG: the thing nobody ever tells you about other people ishow fuckin NOISY they areTG: amiright?TG: i never thought id say this, but i miss ourpost-apocalyptic disaster zoneTG: not like, the looming threat of the batterwitch n shit,but the quietTG: maybe even some of the survivalist stuffTG: rose and the crockerberts gave me the weirdest look wheni said we should make seagull pie for our next movie night extravaganzaTG: there is GOOD EATING on seagullsTG: and they make a nice change from fish you know?TG: i thought id finally gotten away from descaling fishwhen we ditched sea hitlers water hellscape, but nopeTG: here we are back to fish for every meal that doesnt comestraight from our alchemiters and dwindling stocks of gristTG: (its ok you dont have to talk back if you dont want to)TG: (i just wanted to bitch to someone who gets it)TT: It's cool.TT: I know exactlywhat you mean about the quiet.TT: If you're game toendure the ultra minimum of human contact, i.e., breathing within the samecubic meter of air, I'm on the roof by the south chimney.TT: If not, I can seethe dock and it's currently unoccupied.TT: Assuming this isa day when the incessant susurrus of waves will invoke positive memories ratherthan negative ones, that could make a decent temporary retreat.TG: awww, ur a sweetie, sitting watch over our friends likea depressed gargoyleTG: on due consideration im ok with breathing your grosspre-breathed airTG: maybe if we get really daring we can work up to touchingpinky fingers!TG: le gaspTT: Scandalous. What will the neighbors say?TT: But I'm down forperversion if you are, Ms. Lalonde.TG: k hang onto your panties, im coming up 

-- tipsyGnostalgic [TG] ceased pestering timaeusTestified[TT] -- 

--------------- 

Roxy scrambles over the edge of the roof (she could justfly, of course, but where's the fun in that?) to find Dirk not just near thesouth chimney but actually curled up in the angle where it meets the solartiles, using the heat radiating from the bricks to counter the early autumnchill. He has his shades off in deference to the darkness, but his eyes are closedinstead of aimed up toward the frankly gorgeous light of the pink and whitemoons, both approaching full tonight. 

Roxy flops back against the dark tiles of the roof, armsspread wide, and watches the moons flirt with thin veils of cloud. Her friends'voices drift out of the open windows downstairs, but distance and the ambientsounds of wind and wave blur them into a companionable sort of white noise. Theconsorts' various weekend parties are louder, but further away; noticeable onlywhen a line or two of song finds a favorable breeze or a new branch tossed on abonfire sends a gust of sparks above the trees and roofs of the slowly growingtown. 

The carapacians' celebrations, of course, make no sound. 

She and Dirk breathe in companionable silence for nearly anhour, while the white moon travels fifteen degrees toward zenith and the pinkmoon nearly twenty degrees in the same direction, edging toward partialeclipse. Roxy's still kind of giddy over the orbital mechanics of a three-bodysystem, and the difference two moons make in the rhythm of the tides. It couldtake years to work the changes into her bones. 

She has years tospend on things like that. She spent her whole childhood isolated and trappedunder an incessant, shadowy weight. Now it's gone. She's free. She's not aloneanymore. 

It would be nice if she were better at coping with thatchange. 

Beside her, Dirk sighs, pulls his legs up to his chest, andrests his face between his knees. Something's gone cockeyed in his head again,and if nobody interrupts him he'll just debate himself into knots and grandiose'for your own good' bullshit stunts. 

And hey, an hour of silence isn't enough to get Roxyanywhere near ready to face a crowd, but it's more than enough to talk to heroldest friend. 

"The dumbest thing," she says, jumping straight inbecause what's the sense in wasting mouth noises on irrelevancies, "isthat weekend movie nights aren't even party-parties,nothing loud or crazy intense. It's just all our best friends hanging out oncomfy sofas playing goofy sleepover games, but stupid me got so wound up I hadto run screaming into the night. Otherwise I would've lost my shit at them overfish tacos and a popcorn fight, and that's just wrong with a capital R." 

"Capital W," Dirk mutters, uncurling slightly andtilting his head until a sliver of orange iris is visible over the edge of hisright knee. 

"Pedant," Roxy says, rather than draw attention tohis temporary lack of shades. "I just keep thinking, it shouldn't bug meso much. You've got a perfect excuse to flip out at extended socialinteractions, mister raised-by-robots. I actually had real live neighbors. Ishould be over this by now." 

Dirk shrugs, which looks incredibly doofy when he's allcurled up like a pill bug. "As people keep telling me, brains aren'tparticularly logical organs. Besides, there's a pretty big difference betweensign language and a dozen plus people with actual vocal cords, some of whomhave a tragically shaky grasp of appropriate volume control." 

"Ha. Yeah. Still." 

"Still," Dirk agrees. 

Roxy spreads her arms wide, staring up at the moons and theas-yet-unnamed constellations of their new universe, galaxy, solar system.Their new sun's a little brighter than Sol used to be -- a little smaller inthe sky, a little more pure-white than yellow-white -- and more like Alternia'ssun in its position vis-à-vis galactic center, which makes for some amazinglydense and brilliant starscapes. And she's saying this as a person who grew upwith no artificial light to blank out old Earth's night skies. 

"Humans made the trolls' signs into constellationswithout any outside influence, just the shape of the universe orsomething," she muses. "I wonder if it's cheating to design ourconstellations ourselves." 

Dirk shrugs again, a faint movement of shadow against darkershadow in the corner of her vision. "All our sessions were fucked from thestart; we had to cheat just to get out alive. What's a little more cheatingcompared to that? Ethical qualms aside, I'm pretty sure this planet isn't goingto be the focus of any future Sburb sessions. That dubious honor goes to the billionsof native planets kicking around this universe. If anyone's getting gentlymanipulated into using three-eyed cats and purple horrorterrors as part oftheir star myths, it's all those statistically inevitable aliens out there inthe wild black yonder." 

"I bet their myths kick ass," Roxy says. 

"I believe that's more or less implicit in thedefinition of the word. I'm not sure what they'll make of a hat or an LPrecord, though," Dirk says. 

This time it's Roxy's turn to shrug. "Old-schoolD&D monsters, maybe? Or no, ten gets you one they'll go with crows andseagulls instead." She pauses, reconsiders. "Then again, Terezi'ssymbol is basically a giant lab tool with a shit-ton of cultural baggage, andKarkat's is kind of like, handcuffs, right? Maybe hats wind up as a symbol ofintellect and general badassery -- oh! or artificial life, like Frosty theSnowman's magic hat, 'cause of your robots and puppets thing -- and recordssymbolize creativity and art and stuff." 

"Hats as a symbol of hubris and overreach, morelikely," Dirk mutters. 

Roxy wriggles sideways until she's just close enough toflick the fingertips of her left hand against the side of his shoe. "Knockit off, dumbass. Nobody gets to badmouth my best friend -- not even my bestfriend." 

Dirk unburies his face and meets Roxy's eyes straight on,one eyebrow raised. "I was under the impression that that title belongedto either Jane or Calliope. When did I inherit the position, and why was I notpreviously informed of this change in status? Are you sure you're followingfriend protocol correctly?" 

Roxy flicks his shoe again. "Friendship is a bigcategory! You're all, like, different instantiations of the concept of 'bestfriend' -- Callie's my squee and kissing partner, Janey's my partner in crime,Rosie's my sister, Jake's my goofing off friend, Dave's my surrealism feedbackdude, John's my maybe-kinda-sorta other kissing partner, and so on and soforth. You, Dirk Strider, are theperson who knows me best in two and a half entire fucking universes. Okay?You're the one who knows what it's like. If I ever run off to be a hermit on amountaintop, I want you to come be a hermit on the mountain next door. We cansend heliograph messages back and forth, or learn how to yodel and shit, andonce a month we'll get together and have a wild and crazy hermit party, justthe two of us. That's the kind of best friend you are for me." 

Dirk is silent for a long moment. Then he unwraps his righthand from his legs and lets it drop downward until his fingertips are justbrushing the soft, ticklish (completely un-carapacian) skin of Roxy's leftwrist, right over the veins carrying blood back to her heart. 

"All that, back at you," he says. 

Roxy blinks back a sudden rush of tears, and laces theirfingers together. Dirk lets her. 

"Jade has some electric grid plans for you to lookover," she says after a minute. "You can do that anywhere,right?" 

"Yeah," Dirk says. 

"Then come seagull hunting with me tomorrow. Just the twoof us, out on the water. Like old times. I have a harpoon gun I've been wantingto try out, and we can tell anyone who complains that we're taking soundingsand stuff for potential tidal generators. Hell, we can even actually do that.But I miss you. I keep getting tangled up in everyone else and losing sight ofus." 

Dirk squeezes her fingers. From him, it's as good as a hug. 

"Yeah," he says. "It's a plan." 

Roxy looks up at the night sky rather than try to put heremotions into words. There's a patch that looks a bit like a cat with wings, ifshe squints and takes some heavy artistic license. She holds up her phone inher right hand and adjusts the camera settings until she can snap a usefulpicture. She'll photoshop the constellation in later tonight and show it toDirk tomorrow: their friendship, immortalized in stars. 

"Cool," she says. 

They watch the pink moon overtake the white one in silence,fingers still entwined, the same air pumping in and out of their lungs. 

--------------------------------------------- 

End of Fic 

--------------------------------------------- 

It's still a little disjointed, I think, but whatever. Iwin. \o/

[movingagainau]

Interstate Removals Cleaning

Top Ten Items to Keep Your Home Organised

Even the most frugal person I know will occasionally splurge on an item that will help her keep more organised. Here are some of my favorite organizational tools for the home. 1) Lazy Susan Thanks to the soul who invented this little item! They're cheap, and help keep spices, bottles, and condiments neatly arranged and at your fingertips. Use them in the pantry, in cabinets, on the kitchen table - they're absolutely life savers when it comes to staying organised. 2) Plastic Basket for Lids Plastic containers - a double edged sword! One the one hand they keep me organised and save tons of time in the kitchen, especially. But searching through ten thousand lids that don't fit can drive a person nutty. I use a plastic basket for all my lids so they're in one spot when I go looking. 3) A Triple Swing-out Towel Holder Put these under your kitchen and bathroom sinks to save space and keep your sink area uncluttered. Use it to hold towels, cleaning rags, trash bags, etc. 4) Laundry Hooks Place a few strong adhesive hooks in the laundry room - these can be used for hanging coats, clothes, etc. Hooks are great to hang up mops, brooms and other cleaning supplies, too. 5) Plastic Baggies with Zipper Locks How did our ancestors survive without them? Baggies are perfect to store small toys, puzzle pieces, and any little items that go together in one spot. The two-gallon sized ones are my favorite. 6) A Labeler These don't have to be expensive to work. And having containers and shelf spaces labeled is a great way to help children keep their items organised, as well as yourself. Do yourself a favor – use a labeler for a week, and you'll wonder hoe you ever lived without one. 7) A Compartment Tray for Your Junk Drawer Occasionally, I actually open my junk drawer to search for something! Having miscellaneous items in little compartments of the tray will save you time and frustration when you go searching. 8) A TV Remote Holder How much time have you wasted looking for this little item? Make or purchase a holder for your remote, or put Velcro on the back and stick it someplace near the couch. 9) Laundry Sorting Bin Less than ten bucks, these bins help keep your dirty laundry organised, so that when you're ready to wash the whites, they're all in the same spot. No more digging through a giant hamper to find the right clothes! This makes laundry time so much simpler! 10) Two-tiered Spice Racks These cabinet organisers save time and hassle in the kitchen. How many times have you searched for the oregano - behind the cinnamon, no - the nutmeg...Wait -where was the nutmeg? You get the idea. These items are by no means all the great organising tools out there, but they're my choices for time saving and hassle free living!   ================================================================= Do you shudder when you think of people coming over to visit unannounced? Do you panic when you get a message on your answering machine that family is coming and they left 4 hours ago (and its a 5 hour trip)? Do you try to clean before your cleaning lady comes? Can you not afford a cleaning lady and try to do it yourself, ending up discouraged, frustrated, and thinking its just impossible?. The real key here is to take it a step at a time. Take it at your own pace. This IS a fight that you CAN and WILL win! You will have to commit to having less stuff if your home and letting go of the sacred-cows you've hung on to for all these years (but please note that these cows haven't lifted a finger to help you get organized or clean they only collect dust and take up space!). This isnt having Clean Sweep come to your home and do the work for you its all *your* work. Don't worry. It can all be done in a few minutes each day. Yes, you, too can occupy a relatively clean environment as long as you relax and let go of "it's-got-to-be-perfect-itis". Ready for step one? Good. We're going to De-clutter first - set a timer and put on some energizing music to get you going. Decide that you're only going to De-clutter for 15 minutes in one certain room. Then if you want to work longer, say, another round of 15 minutes, you can. But you don't have to. This helps you get motivated, even when you feel like cleaning is the last thing you'd want to tackle. Yep- psyche yourself out. Go from room to room one day, just De-cluttering - 15 minutes in each room. Some rooms might take only five minutes - there's a good feeling! Others might take 30 minutes before you can walk through the room without tripping over something. It'll all average out. Then on day two, go back to your first room and surface clean. Wipe off counters, sinks, flat surfaces. Then spot vacuum. If there's a stain on the kitchen floor, spot clean that baby. Day three, pick another room. Day four, still another. If you're so motivated one day and get on a roll, surface clean two rooms. After you've De-cluttered, were going to take fifteen minutes a day and do some deeper cleaning in each room. You know, vacuuming thoroughly, dusting, swatting away cobwebs, etc. Now, if you just repeat this simple schedule, you've got a house that would at least make the grade on a pass-fail system. That takes a load off your mind and alleviates stress in your family relationships. Remember, its better to do a little each day and get the job done, than to stress out in an embarrassingly cluttered environment because you're too overwhelmed to even start. Go ahead set that timer! ===============  

Where should you start.

Start in The Laundry Room   While some home-organization gurus will tell you to start in the kitchen, I'm going to advise beginning in another area. The kitchen will be the third place we attack and this doesn't make it less important, but I will explain why I'm starting elsewhere. First, if you look around your home, you probably see lots of clothes. Am I right? You've got clothes in closets, you've got clothes in piles (meaning to put them away and not having time, eventually just pulling them out of the pile and wearing them), and you've got clothes in laundry baskets. You might even have rumpled clothes in the dryer or (heaven forbid!) the washer. If its the former, the clothes are only rumpled. If its the latter, theyre probably rumpled AND smelly and (potentially) mildew-y. Yuck! Somewhere in this mountain of laundry, dirty, clean, or otherwise, is your home. And Im guessing that if you have a laundry room, you keep the door closed, as there are multiple mountains piling up in there. If you dont have a laundry room but have a laundry closet (with room for the washer, dryer, and some shelves), Im betting you havent seen the top of your dryer for weeks or even months. Its covered in rumpled clothes and towels, right? Have you guessed where were starting? Thats right! The laundry area of your home. And here why: if you get your laundry room cleaned and organised, you'll be much more apt to actually DO the laundry that plagues you and helps your home to be disorganised. And because you wont want to undo the work youve done in the laundry room, you're more likely to fold the laundry when its done, and put it away. Theres something that's a breath of fresh air about a straightened laundry room sort of like when you walk in to a closet where everything is hanging neatly.

So start with small steps:

1) Can you see the floor? No? Then pick up whats on the floor and put it in laundry baskets. If you don't have enough laundry baskets to accomplish this, then just sort the things in to piles outside the laundry room. I make piles of light clothes, whites, darks, and towels/rags. 2) Can you see the top of the dryer? If not, put the excess clothes in the aforementioned piles. Grab one rag to dust and have two plastic grocery bagsone to collect junk, and the other for later. Dust the dryer from the lint-leftovers and use a little window-cleaner if it doesnt come off readily. Dont neglect the area where the start button is that can be grimy, too! 3) Can you see the top of the washer? If not, repeat the steps in #2, using the window cleaner if necessary. Okay - now youve got your washer & dryer cleaned off. Congratulations! Lets continue to take small steps in the laundry room 4) Now take a critical look at your supply-shelf(vs) . Do you have empty bottles or boxes lying around from spent detergent and/or fabric softener? Clean those out. Use that grocery bag that you've put excess dryer lint in and pitch those empties. Then organise whats left. If you need to add things to your shopping list, now is the time now you know what you've got and what you need to buy. When you organise your supplies, I recommend putting the detergent and any liquid softener above the (gasp!) washer. Make it easy to reach. Put the dryer sheets over the dryer why reach more than you have to? If your shelves are higher than you'd like, use the top ledge of your washer & dryer to hold supplies! Ive never seen a washer and dryer that don't butt up to a wall for the electrical plugs they need. So use that space to your advantage. Put the detergent box or bottle on the top of the washer, along with whatever other washing supplemental you have. Put the dryer sheets on the top of the dryer so you dont forget and end up with a load of static cling! 5) Trash Bags If you have wire-shelves above your washer & dryer, youve got a built-in place to hang a trash bag. Use that extra grocery-sack and cut one of the handles in half. Then tie those two ends around some of the wire-shelf and use the bag to collect dryer lint and empty containers from your emptied laundry supplies. When its full, cut it down and put it in the trash and put up a new one. 6) Now look at your floor Does it need sweeping? If so, grab a broom and sweep. It wont take you more than 5 minutes and you'll feel much better about your room and your work especially if something you've just washed falls on the floor as you're transferring stuff to the dryer. 7) Congratulations! You've done the preliminary work of organising your homeyou won the battle in your laundry room! Take a 15 minute break and enjoy this victory. Then start the task of doing the excess laundry that youve been collectingone pile at a time. When the first is done, swap it out immediately to your dryer or to hangers, if thats more appropriate. Take it one pile at a timein other words, small steps! Soon, youll find that it really only takes 5-10 minutes to fold warm clothes from the dryer and put them in laundry baskets, ready to transfer to the appropriate rooms, closets, and drawers. The rewards are huge herekeep up on it (one load every day) and youll win the war against the mountain of clothes in your home. --------- Im so proud of you committing to organise your home is the first step in actually doing it! Lets hit the Linen Closet! ? If you have excess laundry to deal with, you probably have a linen closet that is less than user-friendly. Once you have clean towels, rags, and other linens to put away, you wont do it if your destination is less-than-appealing. So lets organise it! This is the first place where you'll have to be brutally honest with yourself about what you keep and what you get rid of. When I say, get rid of, I don't necessarily mean it ends in the trash”if its towels, bedding, etc., that are in bad condition, your local animal shelter would be grateful for your donation. They always need things for the dogs and cats to lay on in their runs and crates, and your cast-offs in this area will be eagerly accepted. 1. Take stock of what you have for shelves. Do you have wooden or wire shelves? Do you have problems with things falling through if you have wire shelves? If so, you don't have to worry and go buy scrap wood to line the shelves with a simple piece of shelf-lining (you know, that bumpy green stuff that comes in rolls) will lay nicely and prevent small things from falling through. If necessary, put some of that down. 2. Now take a look and see what youve got in terms of extra bedding. How many beds in your home? You should have a minimum of 1 extra bedding-set for each bed, a maximum of 2. Think about it before you start to write me and tell me why you need 6 sets of bedding for each bed”if you have small children who have nighttime accidents (or get the stomach flu in the middle of the night), you might have to change sheets in the morning (or the middle of the night if its barf!), and you'll have some clean ones to put on. You'll put the dirty ones in the washer and get the machine started on that task. Then you'll swap things to the dryer. You'll still have clean sheets on the bed and if you've got 2 extra sets, another clean one in the linen closet. So now with that argument won, go through your bedding. Do you have mis-matched pieces? If so, put them in the donation pile. Do you have twin pieces mixed in with king pieces? If so, separate them in to piles. Make sure everything is folded (Ill give you a pass on the fitted sheets”those are impossible to fold neatly!). Now set aside one or two shelves for your bedding. Make sure that the bedding for the queen bed is not piled up with the stuff for the crib or twin bed. You can fold the stuff in squares or fold it in to long rectangles and then roll it. Either way is acceptable”it just depends on how much space you've got. Now we move on to towels and other things in your linen closet¦. 3. Take stock of your towels, washcloths, and other terrycloth things. Do you have towels that are holey or bleach-stained? Do you have towels that arent very absorbent from using too much fabric softener? Do you have towels that don't match your current bathroom  Donate them. Keep only that which matches your décor (unless you turn it in to a rag), and only that which wouldn't embarrass you to put out for guests when they visit. That should pare down your towel collection to a more manageable number. I cant tell you an exact number that is appropriate here”that depends on how many members are in your family. What I can suggest is 2 towels per person”one that's currently hanging in the bathroom and one clean one that can be conscripted in to service when the current one is in the wash. Do you have washcloths? One for every-other day of the week would be appropriate”many people dont use them anymore, in this age of scrubbies, poufs, and other facial cleansing methods. 4.Do you have a rag-pile (or kitchen-towel pile) in your linen closet? If so, fold those and put them on a shelf that's easy to access. You'll use those most frequently, so make them easy to reach and use. Again, sort through and see whats in reasonable condition and put the rest in the pile for the animal shelter. 5. What other things are in your linen closet? Do you have table linens there? If so, do you know whats there? Are they neat enough that when you need them you dont have to go digging and put the iron on œfry it silly to get the wrinkles out? If any of the above is true, pull them out, wash, sort, keep only the best, and fold (or press) them quickly and put them away. 6.Finally, if you have other miscellaneous things (doilies, candlesticks, etc.) in your linen closet, set a shelf aside for those things. If you don't have a full shelf to ascribe to them, use a shelf thats only half-full of other items. Again, sort through and keep only what youre in love with”anything else can be donated to a charity-resale shop, given to siblings, or sold on eBay. Don't keep things just in case great-aunt Mildred comes by”she wont, and if she does, she probably wont remember what it was. Remember, you're organising your home so that its not just a house of stuff for your family. Thats much more important than not offending a distant relative! Congratulations you've won the battle with your linen closet. Isn't it such a nice feeling to open up a closet and not be in danger of the falling towel zone?..   +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Arguably, the kitchen is the heart of the home. We cook there, eat there (hopefully as a family), entertain there, chat at the table, do homework, and any number of other family-related things. A disorganised kitchen discourages us from doing the above; we don™t want to cook and eating will likely then take place in front of the TV. We don't want to entertain others or sit and chat because the clutter distracts us and makes us feel ashamed of not keeping things in better order. So lets get to it! Please understand that this room CANNOT be done in one day or in one chunk of time. I'm willing to bet it took more than one day for your kitchen to look the way it does so it will take more than one day to un-do it. Be patient and attack these different tasks in small chunks of time small steps! You'll find that as each one is done that you'll be motivated to do another and another. And then when its all done, you™ll not want to mess it up, and so be motivated to keep it organised! Oh happy day! 1) Unload your dishwasher. If your dishwasher is full of clean dishes and not put away, you won™t have a place to put your dirty dishes as you clean up. If you don™t have a dishwasher, take a look at your sink. If you've got clean dishes in your dish rack, put them away now. Then move your dish rack to the counter and put an empty dishpan under the sink. You'll see why as we keep going. 2) Take a look at your counter tops. Are they piled high with papers, dishes (dirty), and appliances (some you haven™t used in weeks or months)? Are they stained (underneath the stuff on them)? Lets clear off one counter top at a time. Pick your smallest one and clear everything off. Put it on a table or other surface where you can go through the things. Put the dirty dishes in the dishwasher (or dishpan under your sink), go through the papers (junk mail = trash can, bills go to the study, etc.). Put the other miscellaneous things you've found in separate piles to be schlepped to the appropriate rooms where they belong. Then look at the naked counter top. Take a cleaner of your choice (I love the Lysol disinfecting wipes, but you could use a spray cleaner, a bleach cleaner, or simple window cleaner) and a rag and start wiping from back to front. Sweep the crumbs in to the garbage can. Now put only the things which are *necessary* back on the counter. That means no excess paperwork, no hair bows, etc. If you need space for a coffee maker or other small appliance, you now have it! 3) Move to the next counter and repeat the same steps as above. So you've survived the cleaning of your counters. Great! These next few steps will require an honest look about your kitchen and an honest appraisal of your culinary skills and commitment to cooking. Not if you will cook, but how you will (or do) cook. Remember to use small steps!   4. If you have a dishwasher (or dishpan under your sink) and its now filled with dirty dishes, now is the time to get it running. Put the detergent in and set that baby to pots & pans. It uses more water, but if your dishes have been sitting for a while, they™ll need the extra strength of that cycle to get sparkling clean. You don™t have to use the dry-cycle it eats up energy and makes your dishes too hot to handle. When the dishwasher is done, open the door and let the dishes cool *briefly* before putting them away. Do the last step quickly”if you keep the dishwasher empty when the dishes are clean, you've won a large portion of the battle to keep your kitchen organised. If you have a dishpan thats full of dishes, move the pan up to the sink and start washing. Dry them quickly and put the dishes away”then move your dishpan to its spot under the sink for collection of future dishes. 5. Take a look at your kitchen appliances on the counter (or up above the cabinets). Do you have too many things that you hardly ever use, but collect dust and kitchen grease? Take an honest assessment of what you have and when you last used the item(s). If you haven™t used it in a while or don™t plan to use it in the near future, donate, sell, give it away, or pitch it. Take a look at the cast-iron skillet you have but haven™t used in God-knows-how-long. Useful, yes. In your life? Maybe not. Be honest and be brutal. You™ll end up with kitchen appliances that you love and that are useful, not clutter. 6. Now look at your sink. How grimy is it? Take a good steel wool soap pad and scrub that bad boy out! If you've got a porcelain sink, dot use a steel wool pad, but do use a gentle abrasive. If you don™t have a cleaner on hand to do it, sprinkle a good portion of baking soda on your sink and use a wet rag. Rub the baking soda paste (created with the water from the rag) in circles and when you've completed the whole sink, rinse the remainder down the drain. Regardless of what type of sink you have, once you've given it a good scrub, pull out the window cleaner and a dry rag. Shine up the faucet and inside of the sink (if its chrome). Dry it all out and your sink will shine! I dare you to put a bunch of dirty dishes in it after that! So now you have cleaned off counters, only the appliances you need and love, and a shiny sink. You are on your way! Remember small steps get the jobs done! 7. Take a look at your cabinets. Are they clean? I'm not talking about the insides (yet!), but the outsides. If they have built-up grime on them, take a cleaner and rag and wipe them down. Youll be amazed at how different they look and how dirty that rag will be! 8. Now lets talk about the front of your large appliances. Fingerprints are fingerprint sit doesn't matter if its on an avocado-colored refrigerator or a chrome-colored one. Take some window-cleaner and 5 minutes on each appliance and spray ˜em down. Wipe them clean, and don't forget the small crevices where crumbs hide. Remember you're not doing the insides, just the outsides! Hit the refrigerator, the stove, the dishwasher, and anything else that fronts in the kitchen that I might not have mentioned. 9. Now take a look at your kitchen table & chairs. When was the last time you washed them down? Is there food stuck to them that is of questionable origins or dates? This will probably take more than 15 minutes, but take a rag and a bottle of cleaner. Spray the chair from the bottom rungs to the seat and up to the top. Let it stand for 2 or 3 minutes and spray down the next chair. Go back to the first one and start rubbing with the rag. You'll be amazed at what comes off and how clean the chair becomes! Repeat each step until all the chairs are done. Then spray down the table legs. Same procedure spray, let it sit, rub and wipe. Now your chairs and table are clean enough to eat off of! 10. Take a gander at your floor. Dismal, huh? Start small sweep it with a broom and dustpan. Move the things that are up against the wall, but don't feel obligated to sweep with your toothbrush. In other words, don't obsess about the crevices do the best you can with a regular broom. Sweep in to small piles to make pick-up easier and transport the dirt & crumbs to the trash can. Now take out a mop. I don't care if its a rag mop, a sponge mop, or a Sniffer mop. You don't have to mop like your mother did just wet the floor with a cleaner and wipe up the dirt. Remember even chores that aren't done right (according to how you were taught) but are *done* still bless your home and your family! Let your floor dry and take a break. By now, the surface areas of your kitchen are clean. Just a few more steps and you're done in this room! ? 11. Were gonna get down and dirty here: under your sink! Most people keep cleaning supplies under there; some keep garbage cans, and still others, appliances. No matter whats under your sink, tackle it! If its cleaning supplies, look and see what you've used and never used and whats just dried out and old. Pitch what you don't use, wont use, or is old. organise your cabinet in the way that's best suited to you what you use the most up front, whats less-frequently used in back. If you don't have a dishwasher, remember to leave room for your empty dishpan to collect dirty dishes. 12. Next is your dish cabinet(s). However many of them you have, you probably don't use everything in them. Be brutally honest here: if you haven't used it recently, you probably don't need it. And I'm certain that if you offered it to someone else who was just starting out, they *could* use it. Consider looking up a Free cycle group in your area (www.freecycle.org) and joining. Its free and keeps things that still have life in them (but no use in your home) going around. Pare down to 8-12 place settings with your dishes; serving dishes are necessary, but no one needs 7 serving dishes that are the same size. If you're cramped for space, consider how much more relaxed you'll be when you open your cabinets and can actually FIND what you're looking for! organise your shelves in the way that best suits your family needs it doesn't have to be perfect, just useful. 13. Hit your spice cabinet next. I recently went through my spice cabinet and was shocked at how much I had (duplicates!) and didn't use and I'm a born-organised person! Pitch what you dont use or is out of date. Consolidate in to smaller bottles, if possible. Use lazy-Susan if applicable to your cabinet space. 14. Finally, go through your appliance/baking cabinet. If you dont bake cheesecakes, why keep the spring form pan? Do you have 12 cookie sheets? Three or four is as many as one family needs even if you have two ovens, each only has 2 shelves. One sheet is on one oven shelf, so 4 would max out your ovens. Do you have broken appliances? Pitch em! Put what you use in front, and things used less-often towards the back, but still in reach. Whoo hoo! Now your cabinets are organised! And by now, your entire kitchen should look as if its had a mini-makeover! Congratulations!   ======================= The Master Bedroom As we move through the house, we are going to hit the master bedroom next. I want this room to be a haven and an escape for you. You wont see your room as that if you don't like it and the decorations you have in it. Remember: small steps! 1. Walk in to your bedroom as you walked in to the family room and look at it critically. Is it cluttered? Whats the first thing that you notice? Do whatever that is first. If its making the bed, do it. If its putting dirty clothes in a basket, do that. Whatever it is, get it done. 2. Does your bedroom fall under the Law of Flat Surfaces? If so, start by clearing off the dresser(s) and headboard. If you have papers there, look through them, pitch what needs to be pitched, and file away (as you did in the study) what needs to be filed. Once you can see the tops of the dressers and headboard, run over them quickly with your duster. 3. If you have lots of things on your dresser tops and top of the headboard, the next challenge is to de-clutter. You've already done the paper-aspect of this”now look critically at the other things you have. Do you have too many jewelry boxes? What about baskets that are supposed to organise things? Now is the time to determine what you absolutely love and wear all the time and what you hardly look at and almost never wear. Pull out the things you're not crazy about and get rid of them. Give them away, throw them away, or sell them online. It doesn't matter”as long as whats left is what you truly love. If you have too many organizing baskets, now is the time to realize that more things to hold your clutter isn't organising”organising is paring down what you have and then keeping it orderly. Go through your baskets and determine which perfume bottles are your favourites and which ones you just dont use anymore. There is no glory in keeping 35 scents on your dresser if all they do is collect dust and make things look messy. 4. Lets move on to the floor. Can you walk freely in your room? If not, use the laundry-basket method and pick up the things on your floor. Deposit the items in their correct location and run the vacuum. No moving the bed or dressers”just sweep where you can easily walk. 5. Look at your windows”are they grimy? What about the window ledges? Grab your rag and window cleaner and give them a quick once-over. Youll be amazed at how much dust you pick up and how clean your ledges will look after that!   Moving right along, let hit the closet and dresser next! I cannot emphasize this enough take small steps! 6. Walk to your closet. Whether it a walk-in that you could camp-out in or a smaller closet that has bi-fold doors, it is supposed to organise your clothing. Do you have Fibber Maggee closet in there? If so, open it, grit your teeth, and then proceed to step over whatever just jumped out and tried to kill you. If you have too many clothes in your closet, it not doing you any good. If you have fat clothes and skinny clothes, now is the time to be realistic and get rid of anything that you cannot wear RIGHT NOW. Don't hope for a different size in 2 months”pick out the best of what you have right now and will wear right now and keep only that. If you re staying at home and not in the working world, get rid of your work clothes. Donate them to a women shelter or sell them online. Do whatever you have to do to pare down the number of outfits in your closet. When you have only what you love, you'll take better care of it. 7. Once you've purged your closet of things unworn and out of style, take a look at what left. organise that by style of clothes. In other words, put blouses with blouses, skirts with skirts, and pants with pants. Make it easy on yourself to find clothes in the morning! 8. Now look at your dressers. Same procedure as your closet”go through and get rid of that which you don't wear often and don't love. You'll be better able to close your drawers and keep what you have from looking rumpled! Pitch, donate, or sell it your choice. 9. Now there just one spot left”your bedding and window treatments. Do you love how you've decorated, or does your room still sport the big orange flowers of the 1970s? When is the last time you washed your bedding and curtains? You might find that a quick trip through the washer and dryer brings back even the dingiest of bedding. Strip everything off and cart it to the washer”hot water and bleach”all bedding is made to withstand the normal amount of bleach and not lose its coloration. Take it from the washer to the dryer and once it dry, schlep everything back to your room. As you make the bed and re-hang the curtains, look around. If you still don't love it, make plans to replace it. Remember”your room is to be a haven for you and a place you love to unwind and spend time. Although all of the steps for the Master Bedroom are here, all are easily done in other bedrooms, too don't neglect those!…     ==============

Organising Your Bathroom

Organising your entire house at once is a sure prescription for insanity.Instead, you want to move steadily through your home, organising in small steps as you go. Lets talk bathrooms. If yours looks less than inviting, we can change that follow me! 1. The first things to consider are the counter tops. Are they dirty and disorganised? First, take everything off of one area of the counter and place it on the floor. Spray that one area with whatever you use for bathroom cleaner and wipe it down. Put the things you took off that area back and repeat the steps with the other areas of the counter top. Put the things that belong in drawers away, and the things that should stay on top (soap dispenser, etc.) should be wiped down. Don't neglect the sink use something that will break up toothpaste spit & soap scum and clean that baby out! 2. Move on to the toilet. If you have things on the back of the toilet, take them off, put them on the floor, and clean the back of the tank. Replace the items and hit the area where the seat lift its a great collector of hair and dust. Lift the lid and wipe down the actual seat you'll be amazed at the collection of dead skin cells on it. Then clean underneath the seat as well. Next, scrub the inside of the bowl with whatever cleaner you choose and scrub it with a long-handled toilet brush. Flush and close the lid this part is done! Finally, use your rag and cleaner to hit the bottom of the tank where it bolts to the floor. This is a prime spot for dust and hair and is often neglected. 3. Next is the shower or tub. Shampoo and body wash are great things they remove grit and oil from our bodies well. Unfortunately, the bubbles they produce tend to collect on the sides and bottoms of the shower and when they dry, its a tough grime to clean. Grab a good soap-scum cleaner for this job and be prepared to use some elbow grease. Spray it down and let it sit for 5 minutes. Then use a non-abrasive (i.e., non-steel-wool) scrubbing pad and go to work. Keep scrubbing until you hit a smooth tub surface. Rinse when you're all done use a large cup or bowl to splash clean water on the back of the tub and get all the grime down the drain. 4. Now look at the floor. Do you have weeks or months of dust and hair there? Use a broom or Sniffer -type sweeper to clean it up. Then go back with a damp mop and grab the dust that's stuck to the floor from humidity and water. 5. Finally, grab your window cleaner and spray the mirrors. Do small sections at a time or the cleaner will dry before you get to it. Wipe it down and smile you're done in the bathroom!..   =========

Organising Your Home Office

  When organising your office, you've got a couple choices. Write a list of all the little things that need to be done and work on them a few minutes each day, or dive straight into the deep end and do it all in one fell swoop.. If you™re sick of your entire office, box it all up like you™re moving, and set the boxes in a different room. Then unpack one box at a time and organise from the bottom “up. Make sure to file papers as you go along. I like the little at a time approach. My first step would be to take all the papers that are scattered about and put them into one box. You can file these now, or clean your desktop and surrounding area further. I like putting all the filing together, all the books together, and then working on one pile at a time. If several folks in your home are receiving mail, you can use wall-mounted acrylic holders and just label them with each person™s name. That takes care of the mail lying around. A friend of mine keeps all her bills on her refrigerator with a magnet. As soon as they come in, they go straight on the fridge. That way, they cant get lost underneath piles of papers. I've adopted this idea and it™s saved me a huge headache. Now I don™t have a bunch of envelopes and bills lying around on my desktop, just waiting for payday. Decide what your office needs and designate a spot for each item. If you make calls from this area, you™ll need a phone, phone book, message pad and pens. You™ll need a place for the computer and accessories, plus a spot for copy paper. Set up the basics first, and then decide item-by-item what else you want to place in your office. Do you have room for personal items? Pictures can be placed on a bulletin board or hung on the wall. You ability to focus and accomplish is affected by a messy desktop, so make it a priority to keep it De-cluttered. Once you've set up the office and filed your paperwork, you can buy some colored folders or stickers and color-code your files to make it easier to find what you™re looking for. If you take just 15 minutes every other day to clean off your desk and surrounding work area, you™ll find your home office a much more pleasant place to work! And your personal efficiency will skyrocket as well!   ======

The Study or Computer Room

Where do you house your computer? Does it have a room of its own along with the books in your home? If you have a study, were going to head there next. This is another reminder to take these tasks in small steps you'll not accomplish this in one day, even if you're born-organised!. 1. How does your desk look? Can you see the top? Are you convinced it even HAS a top? If not, lets start here. Take one small area of your desk”to the right of your monitor, for starters. Sort through the paperwork you have”determine what can be filed (in folders and then a filing drawer), what can be thrown away, and what you need on your desk (bills that are due). Don™t whitewash yourself here”be honest and figure out what you can do without. The less you have on your desk distracting you, the better you're going to feel. Remember”small steps here! Now work on the area to the left of your monitor. Leave space to be able to adjust the volume on your speakers and get to your printer. 2.Bulletin Board. If you don't have a bulletin board, this might be the best opportunity to put one in to use. You don't have to have a fancy bulletin board with ribbons”a standard cork board with pushpins will do nicely. If you have paperwork that you don't want to file away (yet) or things that you need to keep in front of you for memory-jogging purposes, a bulletin board is a great addition. On my bulletin board, I have things that I don't need cluttering up my desk, but I do want in easy reach when I need them. 3. Take a look at your bookshelves. Are they organised so you can find things? I™m not saying that it has to be by the Dewey Decimal system, but as long as you can easily find things, that's what counts. My shelves are alphabetical, but that™s me. Are your shelves dusty? You don't have to take everything off of them to dust them”under the books is rarely dusty. Simply dust from the edges of the books to the edge of the shelf. Done! 4. Hows the floor in this room? Can you walk and not kill yourself? If not, use the laundry-basket method we've already discussed and sort through what you've got, what you need, and what you don™t need. Once you can see the floor, run the vacuum. Again, not the edges, just where you can walk and roll your desk chair. 5. Finally, dust the furniture in this room. Run your duster over quickly and pick up whatever particles spell out help me on flat surfaces. You™d be shocked how quickly dust builds up where your computer is involved and how effective the fans are in your CPU! Here is one area completely organised! Keep in mind that many small steps make one great journey!

Organising Your Dining Room

An organised dining room adds extra comfort to a home. If you're like me, sometimes its the only organised room in the house! Lets take a quick look around. Do you eat in here often or is it only for guests? If you dont use it often, you may just have some simple organising and dusting to do. 1. Are there papers on your table? Is this table a collection spot for things you want out of your way and then forget about? If so, take the bite out of the Law of Flat Surfaces! Use the laundry basket method we talked about in the family room here: if there are things that don't belong in this room, put them in baskets and take those baskets to the appropriate rooms. 2. Do you have a china cabinet or other means of storing fine dishes? If so, how does the cabinet look? If its stuffed to the gills, start by taking a hard look at what you have, how many place settings you have, and how many you need. If you want a guideline, take one from the line in Sleepless in Seattle: 12 is too many, 8 is too few. 10 is just right. How many creamers, sugar bowls, and teacups do you have? Are they collecting dust and never getting used? Pare down and give them a quick dusting with your duster. When you open the doors to your cabinet, do you grit your teeth and wonder whats going to jump out and kill itself at your feet? Consider giving your surplus to a newly-married couple that can use it, or donate it to a women's shelter or other worthy charity. Dust down (or use furniture polish”whatever is applicable here) the front of your cabinet. 3. What about your lighting source? Dusty? Grab your duster”hit the table, the chairs (rungs and bottom of the table, too!), and the lighting source. You don't have to take it down and scrub it clean”just dust it, and if necessary, shake the dead bugs from it. 4. As the final step, run the vacuum In here”not the edges, just the middles where you walk. Move the chairs but not the table”dont even think about pulling out the china cabinet! If there are things behind there, they're small and no one else is going to see them. Congratulations”your dining room is done! Happily, its often one of the easiest rooms to keep looking nice and neat!.. ===============================

Family Room

  Some homes have a great room and no living room, others have a family room and a living room. No matter what you call it or how many of these rooms you have, organization is necessary to make it a welcoming haven for your family. Walk in to this room as a visitor would. Notice the small details that you've overlooked in daily living. Do you see clutter? Your guests do, too. To make this room inviting, were going to reduce the number of *things* in this room and make it more homey. 1. What did you see in terms of clutter? Magazines and newspapers all over? Toys? Shoes lying around? Start with several laundry baskets (empty, please!) and put things that don't belong in this room in the baskets. The idea is to send things to different areas of the house in these baskets and make your de-cluttering that much easier. Throw away the newspapers and old magazines. If you're just not going to have time to read them, get rid of them. Why have them hanging around making you feel guilty? Put toys in the basket that will get them to their owners rooms. Shoes should be kept in the room where their wearer lives. Now that you've done that (and delivered the baskets to the appropriate locations), go back and look at this room as a visitor sees it. Better? If not, keep going in small stages and steps. 2. Look at your furniture Do you see fingerprints and dust deep enough to write a ransom note in? Do you even see the top of your furniture? If you cant answer the latter question, dont worry about the former one. Take care of the flat surfaces first”we call this The Law of Flat Surfaces. This Law is defined by the idea that flat surfaces collect papers, no matter what the surface is: tabletops, armoires, desks, or floors. If you start with clean flat surfaces, youll be more likely to keep them clear”a little every day. Once your flat surfaces are clear, give them a once-over with a furniture polish (if appropriate) or glass cleaner (if appropriate). Run the vacuum dont worry about getting the edges and moving furniture”just vacuum the places you can get easily. Chances are if you cant reach the areas easily, no one has been able to deposit large amounts of dirt or tracks back there, either. 3. Can you see your TV Through the dust and fingerprints? If not, give it a once-over with the rag and some glass cleaner. Same with your stereo cabinet. 4. Now look up. Do you see cobwebs in the corners? Not a huge deal”grab a feather duster and knock ˜em down. Thats that! You've tackled your family room and/or living room”congratulations! Keep moving along, taking baby steps every day. Soon, your home will exude the warmth and hospitality you want.   ==========================================

GARAGE

If you don't have a garage, these tips still apply to you just move the directions here to your basement, storage shed, or wherever else you stash bigger things. If your cars don't live in your garage, were going to change that! Get ready to take small steps and make your parking area livable again! ? Lets take stock of your garage. Are there things all over the floor? Do you have a path picked out to the house? Have your cars even lived inside your garage in recent memory? If not, get ready we going to wave the checkered flag on getting to work! 1. First, we need to clean up your floors. If they are particularly cluttered, well make a way, but it will take lots of small steps. Start by putting all garbage (trash) in a trash receptacle. I don't care if it doesn't have wheels or it doesn't have a badge just do it! If you're not sure if its trash and don't recognize it, put it aside and ask a member of your family. If they cant identify it, throw it away. I know it sounds harsh, but you'll thank me later. 2. Make a keep and sell pile As you're sorting through things, you need to make a pile of keep and sell. I recommend using old large flat sheets for this purpose to keep things separated. Determine what you absolutely cannot do without (and why you love them!) and get rid of the rest. Chances are good that if the things are in your garage and you haven't been out digging through the boxes and piles, you wont miss what you get rid of at all. 3. Now that you've sorted, lets talk about shelving. If you don't have shelves in your garage, you're wasting valuable space. You will be amazed at what some plywood and brackets can do to get stuff up and off the floor! If you need to install shelving, now the time to determine how many and how long they should be. Then call your local Bunnings store and have some wood cut for this purpose. Plywood (at least thick) will do the job. Put brackets at least every 600mm. Then use a level and install the brackets. For added security, put a wood screw in at the edge of the bracket and wood this will stabilize your shelf. 4. Hooray! Your shelves are up! Now start putting things that you've stored on the floor up on the shelves. I recommend an area for car-care things (oil, soap, antifreeze, etc.), one for gardening supplies, painting supplies, and another for general house-items that you use once or twice a year. 5. Kids Bikes If your kids aren't riding their bikes in and out on a daily basis, consider hanging them upside down from the garage ceiling. Bunnings sell large hooks that screw in to the wall or ceiling and are wonderful to hang bicycles by simply use the hooks to catch the inside of the tire, one for the front wheel and one for the back wheel. This will maximize your floor space considerably. These hooks also work well if you have a fertilizer-spreader sitting on the floor put the hooks in the wall and hang the spreader up and out of the way, especially since its only used a few times a year. 6. You can see your garage floor, good! But how bad is the dirt-level? Take a shop-vac (wet-dry vacuum) and empty out whatever is in the tub. Put some insect-killer in there, preferably the powered sort. Now that your vac is ready, section your garage in to quadrants. Move everything away from the walls in one square and start vacuuming. Hit the edges, the concrete blocks where the walls meet the floor, etc. Don't forget the crevices where the concrete quadrants come together. Once you've vacuumed it, spray whatever insect-killer (liquid form) you'd like at the perimeter of the quadrant. Put things back where you had them and take a break. 7. When you're ready for your next small step Attack another square and repeat the steps until the whole garage has been vacuumed. This will prevent tires from being punctured by loose nails or screws, and keep you from tracking all of outside in your home! 8. Okay, your garage is organised Swept it out, and ready to receive its inhabitants. Move your cars inside and enjoy the lack of frost, ice, & snow in the winter, and the lack of scalding hot steering wheel & seats in the summer! There you go! Think of how delightful it'll be to have everything in your garage organised and at your fingertips! ---------------------------

Organising your basement

  Organising your basement doesn't have to be an overwhelming job. Just follow these few simple steps and youre on your way! If you dont have a basement, consider organising your attic space so you can find what you need when you need it. . 1. First, go through and find that which is obviously rubbish and throw it away. Don't think twice about it”rubbish is rubbish, no matter how long you keep it. 2. Look around for a large space on the basement floor. Put down two large flat sheets and use one sheet for stuff that you love and need to keep (i.e., Christmas decorations are a great example), one sheet is for stuff you've kept and haven't used in who-knows-how-long. Once all of the things in your basement are on those two sheets, well move on. 3. Take all of the things on the chuck sheet and box them up. Either put them out for the garbage collection, have a yard sale, or donate them to a charity. Now go back and look at your keep it sheet. 4. Your keep sheet should have things that are used periodically Such as Christmas decorations, or things that are used frequently but only in the basement. For things that are used often, keep them handy (such as at a workbench) and make sure they are neatly hung up or put in drawers. For things that are used periodically, put them in re-usable boxes or storage tubs. Then make sure the boxes or tubs are well-labeled so you can find the things when you need them. 5. Elevate your boxes. Now with the things that you have in boxes or tubs, you should elevate them a few inches off the basement floor, just in case of flooding. No one ever plans for their basement to flood, but it DOES happen. I recommend getting old pallets from a pallet company or retail store”many will just let you take them if you ask politely”or use pieces of 2 x 4 timber to elevate your stuff. This will prevent a certain amount of water-damage, but also permit you to treat for vermin in your basement, if appropriate. Cockroaches and mice don't like open spaces such as this”they prefer it when things are tightly against floors and walls and its dark. Congratulations your basement is now organised! Remember, you can use these same tips to organise your garage and attic, too!   KEEP THE HOME ORGANISED   Now as much of a challenge as it was to do all of that pitching, organizing, and cleaning, how do you maintain it and not let your stuff overwhelm you again? There are some easy steps to take and they just take moments a day. Please don't email me and tell me youre too busy to do this because of your special situation everyone can find the time to take 15 minutes a day and maintain their home in stages. If you cant, then I'm going to brashly suggest that you re-evaluate your schedule and determine what IS more important than maintaining your home for your family.

Maintaining the Kitchen

Daily, put dirty dishes in your dishwasher or dishpan under the sink. When either is full, do the dishes. If you run your dishwasher while youre asleep at night, youll pay lower utility rates and the dishes will be cool and clean in the morning ready to be put away. Run a rag with the cleaner of your choice over the counter tops and tabletop once a day. This will take you just moments, yet will help keep your kitchen organised and neat. You dont have to scrub or take everything off the counters, just wipe where you've cooked or eaten. Clean your sink daily. Scrub it with a soap pad or use some window cleaner and a rag if your sink is clean, you're less likely to let dirty dishes pile up in it. Sweep your floors once a week. Just take a broom across it and get the big crumbs. Then run a damp mop over it to get the weeks dirt washed off you don't have to shine it, just a damp mop (the type is your choice).

Maintaining the Living Room Areas

Pick up the papers that land on your Flat Surfaces and either throw them away or file them appropriately in the study every evening. If you are diligent about keeping the papers picked up, your room will appear much more organised and clean, even if you haven't done any deep cleaning. Dust once a week run your duster over the flat surfaces. Its a 5 minute job that will make a large dent in your room(s). Vacuum once a week. Don't move furniture or pull out the crevice tools, just do the middles where you walk. 15 minutes, max. Take your glass cleaner and go over the TV screen and any other glass that collects fingerprints once a week. 3 minutes, tops. Just doing quick and easy tasks gives you the push to get started. Thats the key when it comes to staying organised. Once you get going, things get done!.. Lets keep going.before you realize it, you'll be giving Martha Stewart a run for her money.

Maintaining the Bathrooms

Take some window cleaner and a rag and squirt the mirror just where its gotten toothpaste spray. Dont do the whole thing thats a waste of time and cleaner. Just hit where its dirty. Use a quick swipe of a rag with cleaner to wipe out your sink and faucet from the toothpaste and shaving cream residue. This gunks up a clean bathroom quicker than anything else. I use one-half of a disposable (flush able) bathroom wipe one half is enough for the counter, sink, and one other area of my choice. I typically choose a part of the toilet, and that way the whole toilet is cleaned by the weeks end. Swish out the toilet bowl with a quick flick of the brush. No cleaner is necessary. Were just doing some easy maintenance here. When you shower every day, take your pouf or wash cloth and use some of the leftover suds from your cleanser to wipe down the sides of the shower or tub. It takes a minute to do, but it will prevent having to bend over the tub and scrub it out periodically. Once a week, sweep your bathroom floors and catch the hair that collects there. Thats easy enough, right?

Maintaining the Study

Don't put papers on your desktop to just collect. When a bill comes in, put it in the bill-organiser on your desktop or pay it immediately and put it in the mail. The same with other mail and paperwork. I open the mail right over the trash can that way, whatever is garbage doesn't collect on my desk, but hits the circular file immediately and its out of my hair. Consider having a cross-cut shredder in your study for shredding pre-approved credit-card offers. Most identity theft takes place when information is gathered from credit card applications that were stolen from the trash. A shredder is a worthwhile investment. Dust your bookshelves once a week. Run your duster over the area between the ends of the books and the edge of the shelf. Wipe down your monitor weekly with window cleaner and a rag. Thats it. Print this info out and hang it on your fridge if you like. You'll find it easier to remember the little tasks that need doing, and youll be reminded that its just going to take a few minutes each day to maintain your organised household! Finally, the last stages of maintaining your organisation¦ and you thought this section would never come!

Maintaining the Laundry

I recommend doing laundry daily, depending on the size of your family. If you have at least 3 kids, do some every day. For example: baby laundry is handled differently than adult laundry. You shouldn't use fabric softener for baby laundry, but its fine to use with adults clothes. So choose a day to do only baby laundry. Choose a different day to do adult laundry. Do your oldest child's laundry on a given day (maintain that day on a weekly basis), your next child™s laundry the following day, etc. If you keep up on it, it wont become a Mt. Vesuvius and overwhelm your home again. If you find laundry tedious, sort and per-treat while you're watching TV, for example. It takes moment to pluck a piece of clothing out and check it for stains, squirt it with per-tr-eater, and then put it in the dirty basket, ready for the wash. Folding can be done the same way. Once its folded, I recommend putting it on the recipient™s bed (not in the basket). This way, it must be put away before retiring for the night and you won™t live from a laundry basket full of clean clothes. If you have things that need ironing, do it when the laundry is clean and hang it up. Be done with the task and make sure that clean, ready-to-wear shirts or blouses are smiling at you when you walk in the closet in the morning.

Maintaining Your Sanity

This is easier said than done, I understand. But what I™ve discovered is that if you put your home on a schedule, things won™t overwhelm you. You™ll know that vacuuming will be done on one day and that laundry will be done on another. You™ll not resent walking in to the bathroom, because it will make you smile to see a shiny sink when you turn on the light. And you™ll know that YOU are special enough to have a clean bathroom, not just the company that comes to visit. You™ll have peace of mind knowing that if a package comes to your door, you won™t kill yourself getting to it and won™t be ashamed to throw the door open for the UPS guy or mail carrier. Most of all, you™ll have the appreciation of your family, and you™ll know that you™re setting up good habits for your children to observe and repeat in their own homes. No matter what the Master-card ads say, THAT is priceless..   Read the full article

[survivorpacificislandallstars]

Ep. 11 - “Ding dong the minion is dying tonight” - Gage (Pt. 2)

But uhm short list Jordan told me he has two idols and two vote advantages And Karen and Kevin want me out Which is amazing because highkey now that I know that Jordan has all these goodies, I don't want him to make merge

So a bunch has happened since we lost the challenge. But to catch you up, I got blindsided and then we swapped. Luckily for me I swapped right into a 4 person alliance with Jordan Gage and Ash. I thought I was in the clear since Karen and Kevin probably wouldn't vote me. Well I was slightly wrong. They want to vote Gage, but told Ash and Jordan to vote me. Of course Jordan told me that and told me about the sapphire idol that Karen has. I proposed a 3-2-1 vote. So Karen will get 3 votes. Gage will get 2. Kevin will get 1. I will make it past this vote.

Here's the tea, I still feel shitty about Billy but I know he's gonna bounce back. He might hate me after but that's okay.....anyhow. I forgot to send a link to my thing cause I'm a dumbass but whatever! Also I'm 99% sure Sam is getting super suspicious because whenever I have to be logged on to my actual account or I really don't wanna be Charlotte, I say I'm at work. Y'all I'm at work all the fucking time! I really want them to vote DREW out bc he's a threat and Sara isn't at this point. I really hope drew goes home and not me but I feel like this is gonna be a blindside

i am loving the mess that is hoku right now. it looks like it is going to be a 3-2-1 vote which is the best thing ever. Karen and kevin want gage out but like they want to split the vote with jay and gage having me ash and gage vote jay and having karen kevin and jay vote gage with gage going on the revote. but like i love gage, i love jay and i don’t want eitehr to go. so we are planning to get karen out with a safe bet in case karen plays her sapphire idol which i think everyone on the tribe knows about. cause karen told ash, ash told me and gage, i told jay and i just assume kevin knows at this point. anyways now karen and kevin are voting gage, me ash and gage are voting karen and jay is voting kevin. so if karen doesnt play the idol she goes and if she does kevin goes. Either way i should be good. Hoku is a mess and i love it

Monty if we pull off a 3-2-1 vote I will lose my shit straight up 

me: cannot lie to Drew fhslkjfasd I guess it's bye bye Charlotte, but when I was trying to convince Steffen it was a good plan I actually convinced myself of it too so like that's good

Charlotte is apparently not willing to make a decision and wants Steffen and me to decide who we want to vote out so like that makes it even worse. I hate playing with people who literally give the decision up to someone else, like I wanna work through a decision and game and not just hand it off to someone else. And it almost feels like something sketchy is happening, like she wants to use that information against us or something skdvdjdks I don't know but hopefully she's gone as long as she doesn't have some stupid idol or something

Ding dong the minion is dying tonight 🙃

tfw you want to rush your players because there are 2 very exciting tribals happening, but that would be Messy™ and i dont like hosting like that. ALSO! merge is coming up, and im disappointed 1/2 sapphire idols isnt being used, but im SNATCHEDT that Ash is the only person with clues to the other one, and will basicall know where it is once they swap. Like go AWF! This season is good omg. Messy, but not traumatizing like Hellwaii...yet

DREW JUST TOLD ME HE HAS AN IDOL FHSLKFAJSD I FEEL SO MUCH BETTER ABOUT MY DECISION!!! like I was really afraid I was gunna vote for Charlotte and keep Sara and Drew and he would just go and screw me over later but I feel better about it so like yes I'm excited we've got this, this is gunna be our game

So basically Sam is now my #2 basically, we’ve been freaking out over everything, like who would honestly let me do that, she a true hunt but now we’ve been juggling who’s better to get rid of, and because we’re trying to navigate this minefield of hell, we gotta cut Charlotte…..at least its supposed to be her, if not I’m dying….and what else is new and apparently my jury statement against Jordan in Westeros, is now literally prepping us for a Steffen v Jordan was if we both make merge…..I just need to scream YAMADA NO, god let me not be a mess

Spoiler alert, I might be going home tonight. I'm choosing to put my faith in Sam. The girl who sent me home from Bangladesh with an idol in my pocket. Who might now be sending me home from PI All Stars with two idols in my pocket. Because OH YEAH WAIT I HAVE TWO IDOLS!!!! Well okay I have an idol and a half. Well okay I have an idol and I'm holding Mitchy's idol. Well okay it's not a regular idol, it's a ruby idol. BUT ANYWAY. I HAVE THEM. And I'm not playing either of them. Honestly it's too close to merge to waste them. If I'm wrong, I'll take 15th place. But I fucked up my place in everything by being too fucking messy last round and it's made the last four days hell. Today I'm gonna calm down, I'm gonna breathe, and hopefully I'm gonna survive. I'm gonna trust in Sam and I'm gonna trust in Sara and I guess Steffen a little too. And we'll fucking see if I'm still here in fifteen minutes.