#futuristic story

[desdasiwrites]

[closetdystopia]

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I'm starin' down the lens, and it's like lookin' into an abyss that's swallowed the guy I used to be. These wires, they're not just connected to my body; they're tethered to whatever's left of my soul. It's a mental labyrinth, and every thought's a dead-end, every emotion's a flickerin' light about to go out. I keep pullin' on these threads, hopin' to find some fragment of me that's still real, still human. But the more I pull, the more they unravel, 'til there's nothin' left to hold onto. The last flicker of emotion, the last shred of hope— it's all gone. I'm just a shell in a world that's moved on, a ghost in the machine with no place to haunt.

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>> PJT36v7

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[9rumb0-burner-account2]

Grumbo Week - Day Six: AU

Week event held by @grumboweek

(Context: years ago there is a discussion of Soul Eater AU and I suggested Mumbo to be a flintlock firearm type weapon... and now its the chance to try it out :P)

[catboymachinegun]

to keep myself sane ive been working on a webcomic about a cyborg that ive been wanting to write for... 6 years now. it works like a visual novel game but it's in browser since i dont know how to actually code. most of the backgrounds are taken from various pc98 games (listed on about page) for right now. i'll make character sprites eventually.

looks best on chrome + relies on css animations for typing effects, pop-up messages, and something like cutscenes. the site's meant for 1920x1080 resolution. you might have to zoom in or out depending on your pc specs.

only 1 chapter is finished and the 2nd just started. i dont have the energy or will to get up from my bed or the couch these days so itll probably update often.

[satureja13]

I think it's so cute that Vlad is making their quarters a home for Ji Ho and him <3

I've been phantasizing about this for a long time haha April last year I've even built them homes in a future paralel universe ^^'

Here are some pics: More are -> here and -> here

I also built a home for future Jeb and Saiwa. It's -> here

And we already know that future Jack and Kiyoshi are going to have 4 kids and live at Callahan Mansion (where baby Jack was raised by Uncle Stefan after Greg dropped him there). More about adult Jack and his kids -> here and -> here

[grassoftunnel]

My greatest wish is for Natsuhi to be happy and indulged okayyyy

bonus

[strawberryfairi]

Synopsis🌹: After discovering a strange yet alluring red book in a boutique bookstore, you find yourself sucked into a strange world, where all of your inner most desires exist…

Pairings: Wakasa Imaushi X Musician! Black Fem 🤎 Reader (ANYONE CAN READ🧚🏾‍♀️)  Content: Author AU, scifi, Musician! reader, reader is a talented nerd, smutty romance, tiny doses of angst, adventure, futuristic city, magic?, !!sexual tension!!, etc (just find out the rest, lol)

w.c: 1.2k💠 Released: October 2

Previous | Next | Chapters Masterlist

A/N🧚🏾‍♀️: Stop it's chapter freaking 1 on October 2nd! I'm beyond excited about this story so I really hope you guys enjoy it too! I'm getting heavy in my world building bag with this one y'all💅🏾👩🏾‍🍳

C.W:  None

𝟏 || 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐑𝐞𝐝 𝐁𝐨𝐨𝐤

(Red Book of Desires Theme: Victory - Lost Traveler )

It's not often you come into a bookstore, but when you do, it's usually when you're on a mission for a specific book you'd like to purchase.

Not today though.

It's a sunny day, the weekend, and everyone's out to enjoy the summer breeze during the early afternoon. You'd just taken yourself out for brunch, and it seemed like a sin to go and head straight back home when the day looks like something out of a movie.

Not a cloud in sight, the sky a vibrant blue, summer flowers are fully in bloom, and friends and families are all walking around perusing through shops or utilizing a restaurant's outside seating.

So voila, you decide to stroll through this quaint, old style looking bookstore. It's a boutique, nestled right inbetween Tony's Brick Oven Pizza Place and a vinyl record store. It's such a cute atmosphere.

The door chimes as you walk in, and the smell of books instantly greets your nose. Shiny, dark wood shelves hold a plethora of vintage stories from Dostoyevsky to Baltasar Gracián, along with newer selections as well. Each section labeled by the genre.

With a slender finger you graze it gingerly along the hard spines of each book, waltzing through the isles pretending to be a princess in her grandiose atheneaum.

"What's this...?" You whisper to yourself, pausing as your finger rests on a bright red book.

It's particularly vibrant compared to the other books on this shelf; and seemingly newer looking.

"There's no title on the spine..." You notice, your brow raising curiously.

With a low "Hmph..." and a tilt of your head, you pluck the book from its home on the shelf, and run your hand across the blank cover.

As your fingers brush the book, royal purple cursive lettering begins to appear like magic, revealing the title. But there's no author.

"The book of desires; by no one." You mumble, and for a moment you look both ways down the isle, hoping this wasn't some kind of wild sex positions book or something.

Biting your lower lip you can't help but look and see what it's about, turning over the cover and searching for a hopefully interesting synopsis.

Instantly your brows furrow. Each page is completely blank. Just pure white paper with a red cover and purple titling. "This book ain't 'bout shit. Is this a journal..?" You question out loud.

"Careful with that." A male voice says from behind, making you nearly jump out of your skin.

"Oh! You scared me." You chuckle awkwardly, abruptly closing the book as you turn to see the face that matches the voice. You figure they must mean for you to be careful since it's potentially an old book, and could probably fall apart at any moment.

"I didn't mean to touch—" You start, but the man waves you off with a knowing smile.

"No one ever does..." He steps closer, his eyes never leaving the book. "That one's been waiting a long time for someone to pick it up again. Looks like today's it's lucky day." He adds with an inviting smile.

You glance back at the book. It's strange how drawn you seem to feel towards it. "Do you know what it's about?" You ask, voice quiet, as though speaking too loudly might somehow break the connection.

The man shrugs. "It's different for everyone. It shows you exactly what you desire most; even if you don't know what that is." Then his smile widens just a fraction as he says,

"It's not always what you expect, though."

You frown, unsure if the man is messing with you or not. To be honest, wether it's true or not, this man is doing a damn good job at selling you this book though, that's for sure. You look down at the mysterious book, watching the title reappear as your fingers slide over the red cover. A strange warmth spreads through you, and you feel a sudden rush of excitement, or maybe it's more of a curiosity, and something else... It's like a deep, unspoken yearning.

"How much is it?" You ask softly.

The man chuckles softly. "For you? It's free. Consider it a friendly gift."

Your eyes widen as you hesitate, but then, before you can begin to protest, you decide to just thank him.  "Oh, that's so kind of you! You didn't have to-

You cut yourself off as a sudden, abrupt shiver runs down your spine, and for a brief second, the world around you seems to flicker. You blink reflexively, but everything is already normal again before you could even process what you actually saw. The bookstore, the red book that is now yours, the dark wood shelves. Everything's still there.

"Enjoy." The man says from behind you. Yet as you whip around, he's nowhere to be seen.

Back in your little apartment, you sit on your cozy bed, staring at the new book. The sun has long set, and the LED lights you have lining the upper part of your ceiling glow a soft orange-yellow hue, the perfect ambience.

You flip the book open to the first page. There are no author's notes, no table of contents, no nothing. Just a single line that slowly appears, written in elegant, looping script:

"𝒲𝒽𝒶𝓉 𝒹𝑜 𝓎𝑜𝓊 𝒹𝑒𝓈𝒾𝓇𝑒 𝓂𝑜𝓈𝓉?"

You furrow your brows, feeling a strange, intensely magnetic pull. It's silly, really. You don't believe in magic or anything like that, but the question the book asks you lingers deep in your mind. As if it's engraving itself there.

What do I desire most?

Success, obviously. You've been working so hard to make it in the music industry, writing songs, performing at small venues, sending out demo after demo, reaching out to producers and other artists further than you in the industry, and getting nothing but rejections in return. You want to be heard, to have people love your music, to finally feel like all your hard work has paid off. Has been worth something.

But there's something else, too. Something deeper. A part of you that's always been restless, yearning for something more since childhood. The excitement of a true adventure, probably. Or love. Things like the movies that've shaped you into the starry eyed, hopeless romantic dreamer you always have been. Peter Pan, The Goonies, Who Framed Roger Rabbit to name a few. Then with romance...

You've never really had the time for romance after graduating college. Not with everything you've been focusing on. Then honestly, when you think about it, you just aren't in the mood. Not for another mediocre experience people nowadays love to call "romance" and "a relationship". But sometimes you do dream of it—of passion, of something wild and exciting, of a life that's more than just struggling to get by and toughing and "thugging" it out one disappointment after the other. Telling yourself one day it'll all work out when in the moment you couldn't be any more lost and unsatisfied.

That's the word right there, unsatisfied.

You shake your head, letting out a small "tch" at the way this one sentence had really gone and thrown you into an abyss of depressing introspection. It's stupid, but still, you want to read more.

With a dramatic sigh, bracing yourself for the next simple yet wildly cryptic question, you flip to the next page. And then—

Darkness.

[mysticstarlightduck]

Unusual Associations Tag!

Thanks for the tag' @thecomfywriter (here)!!! I'll go with Damon Vaille from Scrapyard Boys for this one!

Seasoning: Coffee or Basil

Weather: A warm summer night at 3AM with a pitch-black sky lit up by orange street lights

Color: Graphite Grey

Sky: Comforting night skies, either smoky in the middle of a city or starry in the middle of nowhere

Magic Power: Umbrakinesis/Shadow Manipulation/Shadow Waponry Generation, Teleportation, Augmented Speed, Night Vision

Plant: Pastel pink roses

Weapon: Bare fists, baseball bat, shadow weaponry, pocket knife

Social media: His setting's version of Youtube and Spotify

Candy: Strawberry & Cream candy

Fear: Being unable to protect his friends/losing his loved ones, being forced to obey his worst enemies, being forced to relive the past

Method of long distance travel: A beat-up hover-car

Art style: Cartoons

Stationary: Stickers, scrapbooks and paint

Celestial body: Blue-Straggler Star

Tagging (gently): @kaylinalexanderbooks, @smol-feralgremlin, @oh-no-another-idea, @littleladymab,

@winterandwords, @eccaiia, @sarahlizziewrites, @illarian-rambling

@agirlandherquill, @anoelleart, @ray-writes-n-shit

@the-golden-comet, @writernopal, @anyablackwood, @unstablewifiaccess, @forthesanityofstorytellers

@i-can-even-burn-salad, @cakeinthevoid

@topazadine, @thepeculiarbird, @clairelsonao3, @memento-morri-writes, @starlit-hopes-and-dreams and OPEN TAG

Taglist for Scrapyard Boys below the cut 🧪

Scrapyard Boys Taglist (-/+): @ray-writes-n-shit, @sarandipitywrites, @lassiesandiego, @smol-feralgremlin, @kaylinalexanderbooks,

@diabolical-blue @oh-no-another-idea

@cakeinthevoid, @clairelsonao3, @sleepy-night-child

@thepeculiarbird

@the-golden-comet, @urnumber1star, @ominous-feychild, @anyablackwood, @amaiguri, @lyutenw @finickyfelix

@thecomfywriter, @the-letterbox-archives, @differentnighttale

@wyked-ao3

Let me know if you'd like to be added!

[friday-answers]

doing my annual radio silence reread has become incredibly useful in terms of universe friday... i'm getting all the lore in check

and i am already finding things i did not remember!!! example: RADIO'S LUNAR BIKE???????

can't believe i could've forgotten something so cool like that. dw i'm making notes and annotating, tabbing everything i didn't remember to make sure details are up to date in universe friday!!!!!!!

[every-sanji]

[closetdystopia]

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In the neon-lit recesses of my mind, memories flicker and warp, tainted by tech and old scars. Childhood nightmares, once sharp, now bleed into digital dreams, leaving me questioning what's real. I've been chasing ghosts, trying to piece together who I am, but with every altered memory, a piece of me fades into the void. The mirror shows a face I barely recognize – a patchwork of who I was and the lies I've been fed. It's like living two lives, one foot in the past's shadows, the other in a present sculpted by machines. These scars, they don't just mark my skin; they etch deep into my soul, shaping me in ways I can't undo. I'm a walking contradiction, a mix of flesh and false histories, always wondering if the real me got lost in the upload. It's a constant battle, this fight to hold onto what's left of my humanity, to not let the digital tide wash it all away.

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>> [ Signature Corrupt ]

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[the-butler-did-it]

I dreamt I had somehow become a part of the Dropout cast and I had both the best conversation with Emily and got multiple of the best hugs from Brennan and Izzy

[daughterofbearsandrivers]

Horror | 1.0 `yautja`

(<<) (>>)

Vague imagery of honey dipped college memories suddenly tainted with screaming and the indescribable sensation of hearing literal bodies being torn into pieces. The cracking of ribs so each bone snapped from the sheer pressure, flesh squished together as blood vessels burst and spewed out geysers of blood mixed in with their bodily fluids. The stomach lining, organs, soft fleshy innards not covered by bone was consumed like hard liquor on Saturday club night.

Being hit by a car or shanked for belongings in parking lot would've been considered a calculated mercy or bittersweet memory compared to the last moments of the town's population in the past forty-eight hours.

The faint scent of gasoline tingled her nostrils, sending a very faint high to her brain like the chemicals in the pools does. Resisting the urge to cough to flex the muscles of her body in the cramped space of the trunk, the female waited several moments in silence for the slightest shifting of movement or prowling seekers looking to harvest on the strength inept species. Feeling around for the latch on the backseat, bright midday sun poured in through the opening, she inched it forward as she paused every second or so.

'Goddamn it's bright.'

She noticed the torn edges of her emerald painted nails once she fully leaned the seat forward, stringy grime matted locks absorbed the rising heat in the car. Glints of other vehicles windshields momentarily made blackish spots float in her vision, she opened a water bottle once she slid herself out of the car's trunk. The milk spoiled, eggs overheated and bread crusty.

'Good morning America, today's going to be sunny clear skies, maybe chance of rain showers, highs in the whatever seventies and lows- oh shitzerdoodle.'

Leaning on her side to stay within the cover of the car's seat position, she peeked around the edges of the leathery seat, seeing a black mass creep by the front of the vehicle. Ducking down though avoiding on moving her weight around too much, the female stayed in that awkwardly tense angle until she heard it bash through a boutique's doorway a street down.

Sorting through the groceries, she salvaged whatever wasn't affected by the mid summer day heat. Collecting granola bars, a flashlight, screwdriver and some bullets, she found scattered underneath the driver's seat, into a fanny pack. Pressing the button for the window, it slowly slid down. Immediately the intense heatwaves of summer hit her skin, soaking into her body as her clothes suddenly felt too thick to wear at the moment once she eased herself out. 'In this heat I bet ice cream and water would boil. Why couldn't it be a hazy day of clouds.'

Crouching down a little she steered clear from fragmented and little clusters of splintered glass, her footsteps being silent as she could manage. Keeping herself fully aware to pause every few minutes to take a thorough survey of the area, ensuing she didn't have any creatures tailing secretly. Her eyes and top of her head peeking just over the edges of windows, hoods and tailgates of vehicles left stationary in the main street. The crevices of her body's figure little by little condensed with sweat.

Padding herself down a little, she silently lamented as she felt the grains of sand, smears of oil further clogged her pores. All that hard work going down the drain the longer she stayed in the heat and in these ripped and frayed clothes. Without notice her heartbeat sped up, an automatic nearly cemented reaction to the soft skittering of talons, menacing hisses and breathy snarls passing through frosted razor sharp teeth. She crouched down, doing a quick three sixty view of side to side, top to bottom. Seeing all the possibilities where her position made her vulnerable and potential to life ending choices. The vehicles were spaced enough for running and could be jumped across by anything. Though not many of the vehicles had high suspensions to crawl under. And several of the vehicles blocked her in, preventing her from crawling over the hoods from how big or sloped the hood is. Calculating the estimated seconds it would take to jump up, crawl onto the vehicle, run then do the same thing. Another raspy hiss, like sizzling acid in a softer tone. She flinched, her body contracting to still every nerve then slowly releasing to edge forward in a slight crouch.

They were moving by her, a mere vehicle apart.

A few feet away from her fate of being harvested and once again encapsuled in goop to be the fertilizer of an alien colony. She thickly swallowed, forcing back images depicting her chest being tore open from the inside, the sickening sensation of crunched bones. One step, the next and then her body responded in kind. Her fingers kept thumbed over the smooth fabric of her fanny pack, a small assurance against an illusion of control.

'My nails are so damaged and cracked. I should take them off.... though those charms are pretty.'

Her hands turned a bit red from touching hot asphalt. The shattering of a window made her heart burst into a flurry of emotion though she made herself keep stationary. Slowing peeking back over a window, she noticed they had rummaged through a van. More glass sprinkled to the ground. A bony black mass that showed every ridge of it's unnatural existence skittered then body slammed into a vehicle as they fought over scraps of a child.

'Damnit, that's so disgusting- don't, don't think about it. Keep moving.'

Hurrying in the most silent way possible, she crawled underneath a truck and stayed there for a moment to reassess the situation. Her heartbeat had calmed to a considerable pace without her having to manually breath slower. What she didn't calculate is the sudden crashing sound on the truck's roof, making it cave in as the vehicle itself sunk down a little from the weight. Seeing it's shadow on the asphalt, she realized it's the other creature.

He's crouched, his head swiveling around for a quick moment as it let out a roar. A shinking noise of a blade. Those spindly creatures screeched and lunged for him or a very few ran away.

Curled up beneath the vehicle, she felt it's weight shift and sway as the muscular thing fought. A couple vehicles exploded. Heat razed the ground, acidic blood dripped and splattered onto metal and paved rock. Melting it cleanly beyond repair.

'I can't stay here.'

The truck's undercarriage smacked against her head only solidified that thought. She let out a yelp then instantly felt her heart speed up, the accompanying blush and her mind working nanoseconds ahead. She turned her head and saw one of the black creatures hissing loudly at her while the two species created carnage just on her other side. It tried to reach it's talons inside, she fumbled for her screwdriver in the fanny pack.

Yanking it out, she hit the asphalt several times but got her few strikes in against the black alien, making it rethink it's strategy. Knowing it'll likely try to crawl in, she kept wildly swinging her screwdriver around while she felt around in the fanny pack for the few bullets.

The humanoid creature in weird armor slammed a black alien into a car.

She flinched as more acidic blood dripped down from it's broken skeleton. Finally pulling out a handful of bullets, she tossed the shells across the street and right by the burning vehicles destroyed by a plasma cannon blasts.

A roar and an answering screech, more limbs being cut and slashed into individual pieces.

Letting out a sharp exhale, she swung and frantically swiped at the black creature now joined by two more. One of their talons cut into her lower calf, nearly dragging her out before the tossed bullets ignited. They went off and ricocheted, startling the black creatures a few feet and making the beige colored creature snap it's attention to find the source.

Without hesitation she made a break for it, keeping ducked down as she rolled out on the other side of the truck, scrambling to her feet and sprinting hard. She vaulted, slid over the hoods of vehicles to the other side of the street. Noticing some other black creatures crash out of boutiques and whatever woodwork they came from, chased after her.

She wasn't from here though she did know which streets and areas had been the tourist hotspots. Bigger buildings, more hiding spots. Running barefoot on the hot streets of the town, she didn't look back and she didn't stop or veer off to hide. Pumping herself faster than ever, the female saw the distant shining chain link fence of the fair grounds. Darting to her right, she went down a sandy hill of pointed stones, passing by a few tall cactus before coming right up to the fence.

Jumping it, she crawled up and felt the links snag on her jeans to sharply pinprick her skin. Throwing herself over it to land in a puff of dust, she heard them crash into the fence and scramble up it as she continued to run.

She passed through the carnival, her feet sinking a little into the fine sand and feeling the gravel drag on the soles of her heel. Her sights settled on a merry go round, heading over to the controls, she bashed her hands against everything until the ride turned on and the music blasted out of the speakers. Every noise being amplified in her mind.

Their screeches raked her eardrums and made her body turn cold despite the very dry summer heat.

Running in the opposite direction, she went into a house of mirrors. Her figure reflected on the narrow figure warping surfaces. Taking a breath of air, she slowed her footsteps and moved deeper into the entertainment house. Her cheeks red and bright from exertion and anxiety, her heart thundering in her ribcage, she closely listened for any sounds of the black creatures as her breathing seemed to drown out everything else, even her thoughts.

*ੈ✩‧₊˚✧⋄⋆⋅⋆⋄✧⋄⋆⋅⋆⋄✧┍━☽【❖】☾━┑✧⋄⋆⋅⋆⋄✧⋄⋆⋅⋆⋄✧*ੈ✩‧₊˚

A shift of movement as the female rubbed her upper arms, one of her hands keeping a hold on the flashlight she had. She stared at her reflections, the afterthought of an idling mind being how she needed a shower and change of clothes. As she still kept finding small pieces of that secreted goop on her person she'd been cocooned in only hours ago.

Rubbing away the crusted blood on her wrist, the female let out a silent sigh. Slowing getting up, she paused every few moments with her head slightly tilted and her body making minimal movement to determine whether or not she's safe to breathe.

Measuring her footsteps she walked to the exit that's aesthetically covered by a curtain, listening for another moment she heard nothing. Though her heart pounded a bit harder. Holding onto her flashlight, she noticed no sun shined at the bottom of the curtains or made the fabric seem thinner from it's light.

It must've been hours but at this point, hiding and waiting out for hours seemed to become her only source of exercise and constant state of what her life has come to. Peeking out, she drew the curtain to the side with the end of her flashlight's handle. The orange bulbed lights of the solar controlled lights were on, the sky completely black and the desert terrain standing still just like her.

As if the world now knew the events of what happened in the last five days changed the course of mankind's present and future forever.

The female gently tested her weight on the wooden steps before descending down the short staircase. On a last second thought, she took the curtains with her. Wrapping it around her figure like a jacket and dress, she quietly walked through the fair grounds.

Popcorn bags, cotton candy cones and some push toys laid on the dirt. Some lights of rides flickered like a dying candle running on the last threads of it's wick. Her flashlight in one hand and currently unlit, she went to a small gift shop. There was no phone or landline and no internet for the working iPhone she found dropped on the floor. Picking out a shirt one size smaller than normal, couple water bottles and some paper towels despite no one being around, she still went behind the cashier counter to change.

Uncapping the lids of the water bottles, she dunked the paper towels in the water, wiping it over her skin as she took most of the dirt off. Scrubbing and washing away the grime, blood, sweat and essentially the memories that came with the reason there's blood in the first place.

Sliding on the new shirt, hoodie, wrapping the curtains around her shoulders like a strap for future purposes. She found a water basin for apple bobbing, she dunked and shook her hair free what she could. A relief of one problem being dealt with settled her thoughts. Still no shoes to wear.

That night she opened one granola bar for dinner and slept in the cubbyhole of where they kept the extra plushies and boxes of other prizes.

*ੈ✩‧₊˚✧⋄⋆⋅⋆⋄✧⋄⋆⋅⋆⋄✧┍━☽【❖】☾━┑✧⋄⋆⋅⋆⋄✧⋄⋆⋅⋆⋄✧*ੈ✩‧₊˚

There was no hurry to leave or go anywhere though one designation remained present in her mind the next day when she woke in the afternoon. Her family- well her grandparents had a place up in Alaska. If her memory served her right, which both fortunately and unfortunately did, there'd be enough canned food and natural resources for her to survive there without any worry. They hadn't sold the property but kept it as the ideal family vacation house in the winter.

With that her mind she gathered up four water bottles, dozens of granola bars, candy and some pop tarts from the fair grounds remaining food supply. Finding another flashlight, some batteries and a phone charger in the abandoned vehicles nearby. Apparently no one had kept extra shoes in their once day to day work life. Sliding on her backpack and keeping her fanny pack, she walked the cactus and brush ridden terrain.

SIDENOTE | reblog, comments and lmk if you wanted to be tagged for the next part.

[freedarick]

Just watched this Anime called Ai No Kusabi the other day (2 OVAs, kind of old) and it was surprisingly good yaoi!

[lanada]

War III - Ricardo Barreiro / Juan Giménez 1981

[washingmachinegirly]

Setting Assignment: Futuristic City (Totally Not a Tadashi Fanfic in Disguise)

After a long day in the student labs, I walk outside with my fiance and feel the thick city air hit my face. The sky is dim, but the lights still shine bright. We walked away from the college and into the main city street. People are chattering and foot stamps can be heard like a mini stampede. This city never sleeps, with the people always out and about, running errands, seeing friends, and coming up with the next big idea. I look around and see street vendors everywhere, with the aromas of their treats making my stomach growl. My fiance laughs at me and suggests we stop at our favorite ramen place before going to the bakery. 

Walking into the ramen shop, I smell fresh vegetables, homemade broth, and cooked meats. This shop was a favorite of ours because it always had such a homey feeling. Walking up to the counter, the owner greets us and gives me a quick hug. We order our food and make our way to the seating area. We stop before the steps, take off our shoes, and make our way to the floor mats. While we wait for our food, we talk about our latest projects and the progress we’ve made. Soon our food arrives, making its entrance with the fresh scent of spices. I quickly dig into my ramen, tasting the sweet corn, vegetable broth, and homemade noodles. We eat our food in mostly silence, besides the occasional hum of delight. 

While eating, I stare out the window and people watch. The city has always been alive and homey at the same time. I watch friends walk past the window, laughing as they finish their shopping trip. Businessmen stop at the nearby bar for a drink before heading home to their families. Children hop over the cracks of the street as their parents drag them down the street. Nearby, I see a few late-night tourists marveling over the tall red pillars and palace-like roofs of the buildings. One of the tourists takes a picture of the lanterns glowing across the city streets. I smile, happy that my home can provide happiness to others. I look over at my fiance and watch his quick slurping reward him with a slap in the face by his noodles. He looks at me, stunned, and I giggle while trying to keep my ramen from spilling. Despite all these factors and growing up here, I owe it to my fiance for making this city my home.