#i only had to reset a couple times when i got one of Those Unwanted Crits that knocks out something accidentally

[aotoreiki]

WOOHOO I FINALLY got the little push to reach the Colosseum credits roll!!! Look at my hardworking children

It's a fun game.

[jjungkookislife]

Fic Recs 2020 Pt. 1

Seokjin

let’s get married [SMAU] @hangsangwithbts

Summary: seokjin has no intention of getting married, but after facing tremendous pressure from his family to finally settle down, he comes up with the brilliant idea to fake a marriage. the lucky bride just so happens to be you.

voice mail @joonary

summary: kim seokjin is best known around campus for his romance advisory podcast, voice mail, but to you, he’s just your lovable idiot of a best friend. but when he accidentally lets it slip that he’s fallen for one of your fellow peers, you can’t help but be a little bit curious (and quite frankly, a tad bit jealous).

Yoongi

cheers if you agree @out-of-jams

summary: If it weren’t for the fact that he didn’t know who you were or even how to get into contact with you, Yoongi wouldn’t be posting all over Weverse for anyone to see. Not that he thought anyone would be smart enough to put the pieces of the puzzle together with how many people responded to his posts anyway.

snake kisses @peekaboongi

summary: You are grossly unprepared for the snake hybrid that enters your life. Yoongi is quiet and sneaks around you but eventually, even the cold reptile warms up to you.

under construction [SMAU] @luffles424

summary: In which y/n is just trying to figure out what to do with her life with the help from her (un)helpful friends

Hoseok

going once, going twice, sold @bxebxee

summary: But the real reason anything at all started with Hoseok was something much simpler, and probably wholly unexpected - not that you ever planned on any of the other members of the MBA Society to find out.You leave your unlocked phone in his car before stumbling your way into your tiny, studio apartment. And he sees a twitter notification asking you for further discount on your panties.That is all it takes.

just practice @lamourche

summary: The second time you hook up with Jung Hoseok, he doesn’t remember the first time.  You’re surprised.  It was only a few weeks ago, and you were in a broom closet. That has to be different, right? (Well, not really, you’ll learn.)

game over @9uk

summary: your boyfriend has been gaming all day without paying much attention to you. that is until his friends on discord brings up the moaning noises in the background.

you’re my kryptonite @dovechim

summary: Superheroes are immortal, they are everything we are not. The Krypton are a race of superhumans sent down to Earth to protect humans, and they are the epitome of nobility and protection. You have always believed in their immortal, God-like powers, revered and admired them your entire life. Your wish for your very own superhero is granted when you meet Jung Hoseok, a Krypton with the most unique, powerful abilities you’ve ever seen.

Namjoon

first, do no harm @yandere-society

summary: Dr. Kim is well known as the most skilled heart surgeon in the hospital, but when you notice his mortality statistics seem skewered, you discover all is not what it seems. Now, Dr. Kim is offering you a choice: will you join him? Or become yet another broken heart beneath his scalpel?

internet friends [SMAU] @bts-celestials​

summary: meeting through online, namjoon slowly starts to fall for the person who likes all the things he’s into. maybe having friends online is fun.

Jimin

reset @dovechim

summary: We are made of the pieces of what we remember, and we hold in ourselves the hopes and fears of those who love us. As long as there are memories to call our own, there can be no true loss. But Park Jimin has no such privilege.

paparazzi (tw: flash banner) @chinkbihh​

summary: What if the roles were reversed and it was Jimin who was the fan and you who was the idol?  But what if he wasn’t just a casual fan, but an avid fan?  Maybe even a sasaeng…  

Taehyung

the morning after @softlyjiminie

summary: one night, full of passion, whispered promises and heated kisses. one morning, full of regret and unwanted memories. is a night with your ex enough to send you running back into the arms of the devil?

fake love @mygsii

summary: an arranged marriage between you and taehyung leaves behind feelings of bitterness and hatred. will your heart be able to survive, especially when you’ve loved him all your life, or will it fall apart with this marriage?

cheap skate @gukslut

summary: Who doesn’t know Taehyung and his lady? Cutest couple in town, I’d say, and have been since they started dating in their college days. Oh, that was a while ago, though. And still, they’re happy as can be in that place they have together. Almost hate seeing one without the other, y’know, it’s like seeing just one testi- oh, right, I’m not supposed to talk like that. Anyhoo, I only say that because I saw Taehyung at a jewelry store the other day while I was buying my sweet Jiminie his presents. Maybe that boy’s finally gonna pop the question, but I do hope he’s got a good plan for it. Something sweet and romantic. Maybe I’ll find out after Jiminie gets back from that cabin he’s visiting.

baby i @jiminsfault

summary: a one night stand with a stranger leads to so much more than just great sex

Jungkook

only for love [SMAU] @lysjeon

summary: for almost four years it had been just him and sarang, and he had no plans on changing the life they had become accustomed to any time soon, but of course y/n has to come and shake his world.

one time in your room @ubemango

summary: There are papers to write, and virgins to daydream about. (You can think about Jeongguk’s dick later.)

piss off your parents @littlemisskookie

summary: In an effort to piss off your parents you move in with their worst nightmare- a boy with tattoos, a rock band, and an irresistible charm.

departure @nomnomsik

summary: As a flight attendant for Korean Air, you’re scheduled for a thirteen-hour flight to Japan. However, things get intimate between you and your partner and co-pilot, Jeon Jungkook, when he realizes Park Jimin, the famous idol from Korea, broads the plane and blatantly flirts with you.

curiosity @hobidreams

summary: when innocent jungkook comes to you with a not-so-innocent question… you decide it’s easier to just demonstrate.

inkling @gguksgalaxy

summary: Jungkook is your brother’s boyfriend’s co-worker, they own a tattoo and piercing parlour. In other words, he’s tall, gorgeous, has his passion literally etched into his skin, looks incredibly good in a man-bun, and is semi-unattainable for you. Why? Well…you’re not entirely sure but him ditching right after a very heated make-out session sure isn’t a good sign. His extremely poor mood the next week sure isn’t either, but the only way to fix it is to face the beast head-on. Right?

j’aime @baepop

summary: You’re the newest hire at a local café and head barista Jeon Jungkook takes you under his wing.

pop goes the cherry @1oserjk

summary: jungkook comes back home to find you visiting as well, all grown up — in more ways than one.

skirt chasers @1kook

summary: “Baggy clothes are in, but you wouldn’t know that, Miss I Draw Inspiration From Catholic School Girls.”

kiss it better @jincherie

summary: When one goes to Kim Seokjin for advice, it’s almost guaranteed to never end well. This is something Jungkook learns quickly when he mistakenly follows treasured advice to ‘be smart’ and ‘use his assets’. He just did what he was told! Of course, the execution was a bit poor… and embarrassing. But hey, if rocking up to cheer practice in a skirt doesn’t woo your crush, what will?

pay by play @yoonia

camboy!au

deeply poisoned @xmagicxshopx

summary: Kiss me on the lips, a secret just between the two of us. Deeply poisoned by the jail of you. I cannot worship anyone but you and I knew the grail was poisoned but I drank it anyway.

speeding ticket @minstrophywife

summary: Caught speeding to get home in time, you find yourself pulled over by a very delicious cop. Perhaps you can talk your way out of the ticket.Or,“I’m afraid I’m going to have to do a cavity search ma’am.”

OT7/Multiple Members

buttercream @minniepetals

summary: you were always adorable in their eyes, sometimes a little too adorable.

dulce periculum @forgottenpasta

summary: Devious and devilish, your two new impish hybrids never miss a chance to torment you for your hopeless attraction to them, knowing exactly what they do to you. But is sly sexuality and enigmatic allure all there is to the tiger and wolf hybrid, or do the depths of their eyes hide something more for you? Part ½

tropicana @dragunjk

summary: groovy punch sippin

amaranthine @koyamuses

summary: As the sole owner of Nightshade, a quaint bed and breakfast on the outskirts of the city, you find pleasure in rising each morning to tend to your guests but behind closed doors and within the shadows, you are the covenant leader to a group of young vampires who have claimed you as their mate.More often than not, your day is brimming with a mix of daily chores and back door deals that ensure the survival of your covenant. However, everything changes when three werewolves come stumbling into your life, all three of them claiming it was your scent that drew them closer as the words true mate ring into the silence.

testosterone boys @kiwiscript

summary: A little end of the year party tradition gets taken too far.

operation love letters @ve1vetyoongi

summary: When every student on campus is going crazy about a survey that claims to make true love bloom, your best friend manages to convince you to join in on the fun — except you’re disappointed to find out that your results just seem to be lost causes. That is until a love letter from a mysterious secret admirer turns up and you find yourself on a mission to find the person behind the pen — but you quickly realise it’s going to be a lot harder than you initially thought when you have 7 possible bachelors to investigate, right? Operation: Love Letters a-go!

our princess @iridescentjin

summary: In your newly established poly relationship, you are intimate with both Taehyung and Seokjin at the same time for the first time.

[almostkoo]

Reset Character | Kim Taehyung

pairings: kim taehyung x oc

summary: oc gets dared by friends to spend the night in a supposedly “haunted” mansion that used to belong to a upcoming actor in the 70’s, kim taehyung, oc comes face to face with the spector himself and has questions about the broken veil

word count: 2.9k

warnings: unedited language, mentions of death, taehyung is a very angry ghost at first

author’s notes: last story of spooktober !! omg i can’t believe i did this and finished it !! i’ve gotten some nice feedback over the course of whipping up these stories and it’s makes me truly happy that people are enjoying them :) as always i hope you enjoy this one too !!

link to my main masterlist

The darkness of nighttime made the mansion look huge and intimidating in front of you, Jimin and Seokjin. Losing a drunken bet placed you in the circumstances you were currently in, standing in the walkway to the door of the long abandoned mansion.

“Okay fuck it. If I can’t get the dart on the target. I’ll spend a night in the Kim mansion” you had slurred, arm thrown over Jimin’s shoulder as he had looked at you laughing and struggling to hold his composure. “if you guys make it I’ll spend the night but if I don’t I’ll go. Yeah?”

“You’ll go? If you don’t make it?” Seokjin slurred, just as hammered as you were. Jimin, being the only one who’s head was clear and on his shoulders.

You nodded. Standing back and lining yourself up with the dartboard. You had three darts, three chances to hit the target on the nose. Staring hard at the board, one target turned into four that seemed to be moving around. You threw the first one, hitting the far end of the board. You threw the second one, hitting closer to the target. The last one didn’t even hit the board; it actually almost punctured the toe of Seokjin’s Nikes.

“Fuck it. I don’t care, it's just one night. How bad can it be?” you laughed.

Bad. Very bad. Very fucking bad. The liquid courage that those uncountable shots of vodka gave you had you out of your fucking mind to place a bet like that. Now here you were, superstitious as hell and very frightened to get close to the mansion.

The Kim mansion or known to some people as 0613 Morado Dr. had once belonged to a South Korean film star in the 70s named Kim Taehyung. A young handsome actor who started making his big break starring in a few indies and huge blockbusters before his untimely death in 1976. The medical examiner said it was an accidental overdose of pain medicine he had been prescribed a year prior for an injury on set. But a conspiracy theory quickly arose that it was one of his close friends that poisoned him due to jealousy. Rumor has it that his ghost treads the property scaring away anyone who dare enter.

“Are you ready Y/n?” Seokjin asked, wringing your shoulders.

“No and I wish I hadn’t said I was going to do this. I’m never drinking again. I swear to the heavens.” you said, shaking your head. You could feel the bile rise up your throat threatening to spill out all over the dead lawn.

“Well. Anywho, here’s your tote” Jimin handed you a canvas bag, stocked to the brim full of different things. “you have your sleeping bag, portable charger, charger cord, salt, holy water, lighter, sage. You know .. the necessities.”

“We’ll be out in the car camping out in case anything happens-“

“In case anything happens? What would happen? Why would anything happen? Why would you say that?” you rambled quickly, Jimin’s small hand clasped over your mouth stopping you from going any further.

“No rambling. None of that right now. The quicker you get in there and fall asleep the quicker this all will be over! Speaking of, there’s some melatonin in there if you need it. We gotta blast. This big ass house is giving me the heebiejeebies.” Seokjin patted your tote and him and Jimin ran back to Seokjin’s car parked across the street. You looked at the house in front of you. Patting your pockets to make sure your phone was there, taking a deep breath you started up the walkway to the front door.

You pushed the door open, the flashlight Jimin placed in your tote illuminating the way. You stepped around the mansion and it was big. Tall walls with brown wooden panels and slanted ceilings. Old plants in their pots that had since died long ago, old furniture, laid astray stained and in ruins. The shag carpet in the same state. You could see the beauty that this place had once ago. You continued moving forward through the house going up on the steps on the landing to set yourself up for where you’d be sleeping for the night.

The mansion was chilly, that was for sure. For it to be California in Autumn was one thing for you to be sitting in a “haunted” mansion of a deceased celebrity was another thing. Your nerves were on edge. You had called everyone you could think of starting with Seokjin and Jimin separately. There were only so many people you could call this late at night who would actually pick up the phone and answer. Out of the friends you called the only ones that answered besides Seokjin & Jimin, were Dahyun, Yeosang and Changkyun and that wasn’t even half of them. You dug through the tote looking for the melatonin, before finding it and taking it dry.

Even in the darkness your eyes kept moving around darting around, the feeling like you were being watched accompanied you like an unwanted friend. You leaned back against the wall closing your eyes and letting the melatonin do its job.

Slam! You jumped awake with a gasp, heart beating out of your chest. Reaching around for anything on the floor besides you, finding your phone the time read 3:36 a.m. You fumbled to turn the flashlight on. Your deep breaths were the only noise heard in the house. The old mansion looked the same as it did when you first entered. Scanning around when you saw something in the doorway to the kitchen. You whipped your flashlight around, the figure disappearing further into the kitchen almost as soon as your flashlight came it’s way. Your heart felt like it was deep in a cave beating so fast and sending echos up the walls of your chest. You were terrified.

Resisting your senses telling you not to get up you had to ignore them out of curiosity. Standing up and walking down the steps as slow as possible to not make any noise and alert whatever it was to your current location. You turned your flashlight off, stepping into the kitchen blind. The moonlight that slipped into the windows past the tattered curtain illuminated the kitchen, a soft blue glow almost made you confuse the green tiles of the floor to a different color. If anything was in here it would’ve seen you before your foot could completely make it past the threshold.

Chalking it up as a trick of the eye. Knowing that sometimes melatonin messes with people, you turned away to leave. Why would a film star wanna stay put and haunt people. I’d just go and pass on if I were them. You thought to yourself shaking your head that you were being silly about everything.

“Leave!” a voice whispered in your ear, causing you to scream and run away. Back up the steps instead of out of the house. Now everytime you yell at the characters in horror movies for doing that. It made sense now you couldn’t control your legs, it was like your brain put you in reverse taking you back to the last place you were, nonetheless you still felt stupid for not leaving. Everything you needed was grasped right in your hand, everything on the landing could be replaced.

Yet here you were panting like a dog after a run attempting to call Seokjin and Jimin only to be met with endless ringing. Pulling back to look at the screen to discover you had no signal, zero bars. The house got so cold you felt yourself shake. The shutters on the outside of windows slammed back and forth against the house. The sounds of groaning, like multiple voices overlapping over one another. Crawling back into the closest corner you felt your eyes start to water, a sob leaving your lips. You were frozen in place, glued to the wall.

All of a sudden everything stopped. The house became quiet. Lifting your head up you examined your surroundings. A figure stood at the end of the staircase. You locked eyes with the man at the end of the staircase, his strong glare meeting your frightened eyes. His down turned lips parted in a sigh.

“What the hell are you doing in my home?”

You’d straightened up wiping the tears away with a sniff. Staring back blankly at the man.

He yelled, making you jump. “You! I’m talking to you! What the hell are you doing here?”

“I- I’m just tryna honor my end of a bet. I lost a bet that’s it.” you whispered. The man shook his head. You took in his appearance, dressed in all black. Black robe almost dusting against the floor, striped button down and black slacks. Jet black hair styled in a slight middle part.

“My home isn’t your playground.” the man said, gripping the bannister on the staircase.

“You must be Kim Taehyung?” you asked.

“I’m the only ghost living here so I would hope so.” he stated.

“I can leave if you want.” you offered, wanting to facepalm yourself after asking such a stupid question of course he would want you to leave. Taehyung looked a little taken back.

“You’re not afraid of me?” he asked.

You stalled. “I mean yeah. You just did all that stuff just now. I’m actually terrified, but I don’t know if you’re gonna kill me so I figure it wouldn’t hurt to use my manners.”

Taehyung hummed. “Normally the type of people that come through want to vandalize my home or film ghost hunting videos they say, perform seances to try and talk to me. But if you are just here to truly honor a bet I’m sure another three hours wouldn’t hurt.” He walked up the steps sitting a couple of feet away from you on the landing. You kept looking at him out of the corner of your eye at him as he idly played around with his fingers.

“Are you just going to stare at me?” Taehyung asked, coldly.

“I’m sorry it’s just I’m really scared right now. No offense to you Mr. Kim.” you apologized.

Taehyung snorted at your formality. “You don’t have to call me Mr., just call me Taehyung. I’m sure we’re around the same age…” he paused, rolling his eyes “I’m sure we would’ve been or something.. you get what I’m trying to say.”

“I get it. How old were you? If you don’t mind me asking.”

“24.”

You nodded in response. You had maybe… 3 hours to finish in the house. You only had to make it until sunrise since that is technically staying the night. If Taehyung wasn’t going to do anything but sit there and be quiet it wouldn’t be too bad.

“So are you tampering with the signal or…” you trailed off. Taehyung made a face like a lightbulb that had gone off above his head.

“I’m sorry. It’s not intentional. It’s just something about me that does that. You’re not the first to complain about your smartphone? Is that what they’re called?” he asked. You held in a laugh, nodding your head.

“I just. I’m confined here. I only see the world when it comes to me. So I don’t really know too much about out there anymore.” Taehyung confided in you, speaking barely above a whisper.

“It’s fine. On the bright side you would’ve been older, maybe you would’ve been the type to dodge this stupid social media shit.” Taehyung looked at you confused.

“Don’t worry about it.” you looked around the house from where you were sitting and up the stairs leading into the bedroom. “Nice house you got here.” Taehyung scoffed.

“Thanks. Didn’t always look this run down.” he said and with a wave of his hand it was like a light came through the place, showing what used to be. The bright orange carpet and brown couch, huge sparkling chandelier hanging from the ceiling, plants live and green. You looked over at Taehyung, seeing the pained look on his face as dropped his hand, making everything return to normal.

“A little trick I picked up over the years.” he mumbled. You couldn’t imagine what he went through. Having everything pulled away from you so quickly at a young age.

“Bet you threw some cool parties here. I know if i had a place this big I would’ve.” you tried to uplift the mood. Taehyung nodded.

“Yeah I was gonna throw a big bash here when I finally got my Oscar nom. I knew it was gonna happen. I was gonna be the first of the first. Start breaking down all types of doors for people to come in and follow up.” Taehyung wiped away a tear.

“What happened? Was it really your friend? Or was it an accident?” you asked. Taehyung looked at you eyes narrowed angrily.

“Why would I tell you what happened? So you could run and tell my business to whoever will listen?” he asked.

“Who the hell is gonna believe my crazy ass? I spent the night in a celebrities haunted mansion and talked to said celebrity and now I have the answers to a decades old mystery? Get the fuck outta here.” you shook your head rolling your eyes.

“It was a mix of both” Taehyung ran his fingers through his hair “a friend of mine, Hyunwoo he knew my knee had been hurting that day he knew it was. He saw me take my medicine earlier. But little did I know that evening when we sat down for drinks he slipped more of my medicine in, letting it disintegrate in my liquor. I had now clue. When I choked on my own vomit, he didn’t yell for help. He didn’t call 911, like a good friend would. No, he laid me back. Stroking my head, saying his apologies and watching the light leave my eyes and that was it.” Taehyung looked at you, your mouth parted in shock.

“Jesus fucking Christ.” you said, holding your chest.

“All that just to steal my role alongside Al Pacino. The big role, guaranteed to get my Oscar. I don’t even know how the movie ended up working out for him.”

“You know to be honest. I don’t even think the movie might’ve went through production because I have quite literally never heard of it.” you confessed. Taehyung shook his head.

“Well this is news to me. I got murdered just for the film to get scrapped or stuck in development hell.” he laughed bitterly.

“That’s fucking tragic. I’m really sorry, Taehyung.”

“What are you sorry for? Don’t be sorry. You weren’t around, wasn’t even thought of when I died. All things happen for a reason. That’s something I had to learn. It’s hard not to be a bitter ghost. I don’t mean to scare people away to be a dickhead. But I’m stuck here. The last thing I want is people poking and prodding around my home. It’s the only place I can get peace of mind.”

“Hopefully one day you can move on. I know I don’t know you but hopefully ya know.” you sighed.

“Thank you.” he said.

You and Taehyung talked for a while. About a whole bunch of things. From you telling him all about the internet and what it can do and him telling you all about his start in acting. Weird shit and secrets nobody knew about other celebrities back then.

You looked down at your phone, not having checked it for a while. 6:47 it read.

“Fuck. I’ve gotta go. My friends are gonna be waiting for me. They’re not gonna believe I made it through the night.” you said, quickly standing up to get your belongings. Taehyung stood up too watching you walk down the staircase. You turned around to look at him.

“What? Are you not gonna be a gentleman and walk me out? I thought people your age were big on chivalry and shit.” you joked. Taehyung smiled, the first smile you saw all night, big and boxy as he made his way down the steps.

Taehyung paused.“May I ask you something?” You nodded waiting for him to continue.

“Do people.. do people still talk about me?” he asked.

“I mean besides the bad stuff yeah. My friend Seokjin, he’s a film major. They talked about you in his class last week. You’re up there with like James Dean.” you stated. Taehyung gasped.

“Really?”

“Really. Although your image isn’t exploited like his. Yeah people know you.” you smiled. Taehyung stuffed his hands into his pockets.

“It was nice meeting you. I hope everything goes well for you. Work and life and stuff.” Taehyung said.

“Same. I hope you finally make it up there because when I die I’m gonna need a tour guide.” you laughed. Taehyung chuckled.

“See ya around.” he said.

“See ya around.” you opened the door closing it behind you. Seokjin and Jimin were waiting for you, car running in front of the house. You slid in the backseat.

“You fucking made it out!” Seokjin yelled, as Jimin put the car in drive to pull off.

“Yeah, I did.”

“So, did you see him? Did you see Kim Taehyung?” Jimin asked.

“No. Thank God I didn’t. I probably would’ve peed on myself.” you lied.

“Wow. What a bummer. I guess it wasn’t that bad being in there.” Seokjin said.

“No it wasn’t too bad at all. I might have to go back home and check out some of his movies.” you said, leaning back against the back seat. Looking out the window, hopefully Taehyung makes it to the sky some day.

[keelywolfe]

FIC: Some Sense of Normalcy ch.1 (baon)

Summary: It's Edge's first day back to work at the Embassy, but his job isn't the only thing on his mind. 

Tags:  Spicyhoney, Kustard, Established Relationships, Angst, Hurt/Comfort, Mentions of Past Injury

~~*~~

Part of the ‘by any other name’ series.

Read Chapter 1 on AO3

or

Read it here!

~~*~~

Edge’s internal clock was accurate to nearly the minute. It was a rare day that his alarm actually woke him; normally he was awake minutes beforehand to shut it off before it could buzz and Stretch often teased him about it, asking why he even bothered to set it. Such was the difference between someone who never wanted to oversleep versus one who was committed to it.

Today was no exception to the alarm rule; being off work for a short time hadn’t reset his internal clock now that it was the day for him to return. But for once, Edge wasn’t reaching for his phone. Instead, he kept his sockets closed, his focus entirely on the warm, skeletal body snugged in his arms, as if perhaps he could draw out time and stay here in his bed with Stretch for a little longer.

Unexpectedly, the one to stir first was not him. Stretch let out a sleepy sigh and mumbled, “you’re gonna be late.”

“No, I won’t.”

“yeah, you will. unless you’re gonna skip a shower and coffee, and we both know what kind of mistake that would be.”

Yes, the kind that would make everyone else in the office suffer, either from surliness or stench. Edge wasn’t quite ready to concede the point and nuzzled a kiss against the top of Stretch’s skull. “The person in charge is never late.”

A soft chuckle and Stretch squirmed at the ticklish touch, shifting until he could rest his chin on Edge’s sternum to look up at him. A chance to gaze at Stretch always made for a lovely vision, even as exhausted as he obviously was.

After their discussion in the kitchen, surrounded with chickens as an impromptu audience, they’d stayed sitting together on the floor long enough for Edge’s leg to cease pulsing out operatic scales of pain and gone straight to a throbbing rendition of ‘The Marriage of Figaro.’ Once he’d struggled back to his feet, Edge had been forced to allow Stretch to handle the chickens, even Nugget in her planter, still nesting on her dubious egg.

Even through his discomfort, hearing Stretch joke that, ‘this isn’t usually what they mean when they say a bucket of chicken,’ sent a pulse of affection through him. Ridiculous jokes were always a good sign, for Stretch, if not for Edge’s sense of humor.

Dinner had been sandwiches, also made by Stretch, and they’d gone to bed early, and from the look of today, Stretch was feeling more his happier self. Except, appearances could be deceiving, especially when Stretch was trying to keep from being what he thought was a nuisance and what Edge considered giving loving support to his partner.

If Stretch was doing better, Edge wasn’t about to look a gift horse in the mouth, but neither was he about to let it come into the house and tromp all over their living room. Today was supposed to be his first day back to work at the Embassy and he’d stay home if Stretch needed him.

“How are you feeling?” Edge asked, seriously. He ran a gloved finger along the delicate rim of Stretch’s socket, lingering at the darkened half-moon beneath. Stretch leaned into the touch, his sockets falling half-closed.

“not terrible but not great,” Stretch said, frankly, with enough honesty to soothe some of Edge’s misgivings. “i have a video appointment with doc lee in a couple hours. i’m not feeling very public right now and she said if i was comfortable with it, it’d save me the bus trip downtown.”

“I think that’s a good idea,” Edge said softly.

“oh, yeah?” Stretch raised a brow bone. “glad to hear it, since she also told me to tell you she can schedule your appointment whenever you like.”

Ah. “Of course,” Edge agreed crisply. He would call her later in the day, schedule his appointment, of course he would. He gave Stretch a last, light kiss than got out of the bed, taking a moment to retrieve his cane. “If you have a few hours, then why don’t you go back to sleep for a while, love?”

Stretch only piled up the pillows, propping himself up against them with a contented sigh. “and miss the show? c’mon, handsome, let’s see what you’re wearing your first day back.”

Edge stopped halfway to the closet and gave Stretch a look that stated clearly that he was a brat. Then he remembered, “I forgot to mention, Bruno stopped by yesterday.”

That wiped away a little of Stretch’s smirk, replacing it with wariness. “oh, did he.”

“Mmhmm.” On his side of the closet, a garment bag hung unassumingly and innocent. Edge stripped away the bag and brought out its contents unobscured, holding it out so that Stretch could take in the full effect of the kilt with its jacket.

Stretch’s sockets went wide, his pale eye lights flicking from the outfit to Edge contemplatively, surely already playing out a mental movie in that clever mind of his how Edge would look in it.

“Interesting choice,” Edge said lightly. He smoothed a hand down the fine cloth, picking away an imaginary speck of lint. “A little formal for work, isn’t it?”

It was and it would likely draw unwanted attention. But Stretch chose it, Edge would be more than pleased to wear it for him and take a few stares as his due.

“yea, think it is, actually,” Stretch said slowly. His tongue flicked nervously across his teeth, “not exactly the same standard you set with those power suits of yours. might be better to save it for a special occasion.”

Or rather, an occasion where Stretch could bear witness instead of one with him buried into his office all day. He hid the smirk threatening to reveal itself and zipped the kilt suit back into the garment back with only a twinge of regret. “Perhaps you’re right.”

And perhaps a private viewing could be arranged in the near future.

A more sedate suit choice later and Edge hesitated at the side of the bed. He had enough time yet for coffee, but Stretch was right, he needed to hurry, or he’d be late for his first day back. And yet— “Can I call you on my lunch?”

“ain’t it ‘may’ you call?” Stretch drawled. His smile was softer. “babe, you don’t need to ask to call me. i’ll pick up, okay?”

“Okay.” Then he gave into temptation, pushed Stretch back into the rumpled blankets and took a kiss, trying without words to express the depth of his love, his concern, all the emotions wound up tight inside him.

He couldn’t say if he was entirely successful, but the gentle reflection of love in Stretch’s briefly heart-shaped eye lights was a good start.

“oh, hey, before you take off,” Stretch got out of bed, unselfconsciously naked, and went downstairs, leaving Edge to trail behind him as he tried not to stare at the tempting sway of Stretch’s bare shapely pelvis as he walked.

Of all things, Edge did not expect Stretch to retrieve a rumpled paper bag, about the size of a lunch sack. He held it out expectantly. “can you take this to janice? we did a craft thing the other day and oscar’s wasn’t dry yet so he couldn’t take it home. figured it might be safer for his mom to carry it than for him to run with ceramics, anyway.”

“Of course.” Edge took the bag, carefully tucking it around the contents, and added it to his briefcase.

One travel mug of coffee and his laptop bag later, and Edge headed out the front door, cane in hand. He hardly made it down the steps before he stopped with a scowl.

Red was standing by his car, hands tucked into his pocket and a grin on his face. It made his hackles rise, particularly considering the way Red handled the situation with Nugget. He wasn’t unappreciative of his brother’s efforts, but he couldn’t truly say he was exactly thankful, either.

Edge stopped several feet away and well out of arm’s reach, a long ago lesson learned when it came to those who could teleport. “What do you want?”

“good to see you, too, bro,” Red snorted. He was chewing on a toothpick and that alone was suspicious, that he wasn’t smoking one of his horrible cigars. Confirmed when he added, “here to drive you to work.”

“No,” Edge said immediately. “I’m perfectly capable of driving myself.”

“yep,” Red agreed.

“The doctor cleared me to drive as long as the distance wasn’t excessive.”

“sure did.”

“And I’ve driven several times since I’ve had the cast removed.”

“i know. gonna argue with me in front of the honey bun?”

Sure enough, when Edge glanced behind him, Stretch was peeking out the curtains curiously and he knew damn well that the chances of him hastily snagging a raincoat out of the front closet and coming out to see what was the problem was dangerously high. The very idea of arguing with his brother while his husband stood by naked beneath a coat while their overly interested neighbors looked on made him stifle a shudder of pure horror.

Edge gritted his teeth and went to the car, putting his case in the back. He went to the passenger side and stood by the door, looking at his brother directly, meeting that irritatingly amused crimson gaze with his own. “Why do you want to drive me?”

To have Red look away first was inconceivable, illogical. His crimson eye lights slid to the side, a fleeting expression of discomfort grossing his face. Edge took a cautious step towards him, “Brother?”

“need someone to have your back. get in the fucking car,” Red muttered.

Wordlessly, Edge did as he was told.

Red drove with a combination of careless skill and blue magic, disconcerting and impressive at the same time. He wove through traffic and more than once, Edge bit back directives that would only open him his brother’s mocking. Backseat driving was a great deal more enjoyable with Jeff and far more likely to actually have results.

It was right after Red sped through the very tail end of a yellow light that he said. “you sure you’re ready to wade back into the shit?”

Edge gave his brother a narrow look. “Of course I am.”

“yeah? got that psych eval scheduled already, didja.” That was unexpected. For all that Red was more likely to sacrifice an arm to satisfy Papyrus’s obnoxious dog than to schedule a therapist appointment of his own, he’d never mocked or derided Sans and Stretch for doing so. In fact, he never really discussed it at all, less an elephant in the room and more a blue whale crammed inside, tail tucked behind its head.

“Not that it’s any of your business,” Edge told him coolly, “but not yet. I’d planned on doing it today.”

“yeah, you do that.” It sounded suspiciously like an order. Honestly, this was giving him an entirely new perspective on Stretch’s irritation with his brother’s obsession with his mental health.

Red said nothing else as he drove, the irritating twang of the country station he’d chosen filling the silence. His brother dropped him off directly at the entrance, parking in such a way that allowed the car to act as a barricade against the protesters that lined the sidewalk across the streets. A quick glance confirmed that while some of the signs had changed in the aftermath of the California attack, the message certainly hadn’t. There were enough mentions of dust to make any person crave a glass of cool water and to give a Monster nightmares.

He turned away and went inside, leaning on his cane a little heavier than he would have preferred. His mobility scooter was supposed to be delivered today and as much as that was supposed to ease his travels, Edge couldn’t say he was looking forward to learning how to use it in the Embassy hallways.

“Morning, Edge.” The security Monster didn’t look up from the screens, most displaying camera angles from outside and in, and one showing what appeared to be reruns of ‘I Love Lucy’. A believable façade of disinterest, one that Edge knew was tested from time to time by his own brother. If hostiles believed security was lax, they didn’t put in as much effort to thwart it, it was a technique they’d used back in Snowdin on their own house and out in the woods against XP hunters, tricking them into bypassing the obvious traps only to step into the better concealed ones.

Details might change, but their techniques worked, no matter what Universe they were in.

Edge nodded in greeting and swiped his badge, heading to the elevators. By the time he was nearly to his office, a trek constantly interrupted by greetings and well-wishers, Edge was very much looking forward to using his scooter even if he made him appear like a castoff Tony Hawk impersonator. His leg was aching furiously and consistently, there was probably still some residual swelling from yesterday.

Once he was in his office, he could put it up, he told himself, even as he struggled not to be curt while another Monster offered delight at seeing him back.

The sight of his office door had never been such a relief and Edge only nodded distractedly at Janice’s greeting, limping into his own office.

He nearly fell to the sofa with a sigh of relief, propping his leg up on the arm. The angry throb of pain began to ease almost immediately, dulling down to bearable. This was starting to become a concern, he might need to—

“Edge?” He startled, clenching his fists against the sudden surge of his magic even as he cursed himself; he hadn’t even noticed Janice following him in. She stood just inside the door, asking cautiously, “Are you all right? Can I get you anything?”

Motherly concern surrounded her almost like an aura, her long ears high and alert. Edge almost refused, then changed his mind. “There should be an ice pack in the freezer, if you don’t mind?”

She retrieved it hastily and helped him settle it between the straps of the splint. The cold was immediately soothing, and Edge sighed in relief, letting his head drop back on the sofa arm. He opened a socket to find Janice watching him with the expected concern. She didn’t try to hug him, she was far too professional for that, but the urge was vividly obvious.

Edge reached out and lightly patted her arm, “I’m fine, the walk took more out of me than I expected.”

That seemed enough and relief filled her soft brown eyes, “Of course, it is a bit of a jaunt up here. Can I get you some coffee?”

“Please,” Edge said gratefully. Not only for the coffee itself but for a chance to gather himself without an audience.

She returned all too soon with a cup and set it on the table, saying, “I would have been by to see you at home, but I didn’t think you’d like an audience.”

That was one thing to be grateful for, considering the outfits he’d been forced to wear while convalescing. “I appreciate that.”

“I knew you would. Besides, it isn’t as if we didn’t speak enough between emails and messaging.” She straightened and professionalism settled over her like a shield. “Speaking of which, let me get your schedule for the day. It’s a light load to start, per Asgore, of course.”

“Of course,” Edge repeated wryly, “Ah, before I forget, here, I brought this for you.”

He pulled the crumpled paper bag out of his briefcase, handing it over. Janice opened it curiously. She took out what was perhaps supposed to be a coffee cup, if it were made by someone who’d had it described to them by Salvador Dali and then exposed the results to absurd amount of radiation. It was lumpy and lopsided, the handle managed to be both entirely too large and also positioned where it couldn’t be comfortable held. The colors could be best described as ‘muddy’ and worst as a visual nightmare rained down upon a ceramic that had already seen its fair share of suffering in its short life.

Janice held it up appraisingly and gave Edge an oddly gentle smile, “Thank you. You did a wonderful job.”

Realization hit and embarrassed heat rose in his face with the force of an explosion, spreading all the way to the top of his skull. “No, no,” he sputtered out, “your son made it with Stretch and the other children, I was only delivering it!”

“Oh, thank heavens,” Janice almost sagged in relief, pressing a furry hand to her chest, “I was worried you’d hit your head, too. It’s lovely, of course, but from you I’d expect something a little more…” she hesitated, and Edge raised a brow bone as she settled on “…precise.”

Fair enough.

“Yes, well, as fascinating as this has been, let’s get to work,” Edge said crisply.

“Of course, let me bring in your schedule.” She bustled out and while she was gone, Edge made his way to the desk, carrying along the ice pack. He settled it back into place as he sat in his office chair and the simple act of signing into his computer was nearly as soothing as the ice.

By the end of the day, his leg would surely be singing another tune, but for now, he was focused on getting back to work.

Back to normal, one painful step at a time.

~~*~~

tbc

[rebelsarestrongashell]

Sunsets in Wakanda - 1

Summary: After his programming is removed, Natasha secretly visits Bucky in Wakanda. They rediscover each other as they are torn between love and promises.

Characters: Bucky x Natasha

A/N: I’ve just recently started writing fan fiction so please don’t judge me to harshly! This fic is basically Natasha and Bucky falling in love all over again in Wakanda so expect a lot of fluff and angst, we all know how Infinity War ends. This first chapter is mainly taken from the Infinity War Prelude comic so I don't take credit for most of the dialogue. You can find this fic on Wattpad as well, I have the first four chapters up! Enjoy!

MASTERLIST

Natasha had never been a fan of the desert climate. The hot, dry air made her throat parched and her skin itch. It had been a nearly a year since Steve tracked her down at her safe house in Paris. She had been laying low in Europe since the events surrounding the Sokovia Accords went down. She had reluctantly cut and dyed her hair blonde to avoid being recognized in public. It had broken her heart to do away with her autumn hair but she was beginning to find a sense of peace in France. She spent her days in the countryside, evenings in the city, and always bought her favorite flowers fresh from the local market; Cafe Au Lait Dahlias. She knew this tranquility wouldn't last forever and she didn't deserve it to last forever. Still, she was hoping for a little longer vacation, if you will, when Steve and Sam showed up in the middle of the night. She reminded herself to scold Clint for giving away her favorite safe house location if she ever saw him again. However, it was great to see Cap and Sam. Whenever they needed her, she would always be there. Natasha would follow Steve to the end of the earth, so here she was; back in the middle east, hunting down and keeping Chitauri tech out of the hands of the bad guys.

Natasha was under the cover of a burqa as she walked down the street of a Syrian village. She could hear a low rumble in the distance and a small caravan of vehicles appeared around the corner. Bingo.

"Okay boys, our friendly terrorist shipment is headed your way," She spoke into her comm piece.

"Copy that Natasha," Steve replied.

She didn't turn to follow the caravan until they disappeared around the next corner. To avoid any unwanted attention, she kept a slow walking pace as she headed towards Steve and Sam's location. She pressed the comm piece further into her ear, to see what she could hear from the militant group.

"Finally, these Chitauri-fueled weapons will provide us the firepower we need to lay waste to the regime. What further proof do you need that the U.S. is on our side?"

Oh boy Natasha thought to herself just as Steve's voice broke through, "That's about as much as I needed to hear."

The next thing Natasha could hear were the sounds of punches, screams, and gunshots as she ran towards the commotion. By the time she busted through the door, the party was already over. Steve and Sam were the only ones left standing. Natasha took in the sight of the purple glowing, Chitauri weapon in a large wooden crate and let out a low chuckle, "Huh, guess my old KGB contacts can still pull through in a pinch," she said.

"We should move fast, won't take long for them to point to us as the turncoats," Steve replied. The three of them pull off their head gear, revealing their crimson, sweaty faces. Together, they closed the large crate before Steve continued, "Just need to make sure we get these Chitauri components stripped and unusable before another splinter cell tries to take a crack at modifying them."

"Sure you don't want to call Tony in on this, Steve?" Natasha replied. She knew Tony wasn't his favorite subject. They were all filled with remorse whenever his name was mentioned but she knew he was a bit better at handling this sorta tech than the three of them.

Steve gave her a look of sorrow before letting out a large exhale, "I'm sure he's got enough on his plate. Where's the chatter take us next, Sam?"

"Lebanon."

"Perfect, I have a safe house in Beirut," Natasha replied.

"All right. Let's pick up Wanda from her latest Vision getaway and keep at it."

- - -

Natasha had felt uneasy about Wanda's trips with Vision but what could she do about it? Wanda was an adult and who could blame her for wanting to spend time with someone she loved. In fact, they could all use a little more rest and relaxation. Every few months, they would all separate for a week or so to hit the reset button. It was never enough thought. Steve would go see Sharon, Wanda would be with Vision, Sam would go god knows where, and Natasha would find a quiet countryside. They only had a few rules that everyone needed to adhere to; keep a low profile, stay in touch, and don't take any chances.

While she did feel refreshed when they returned from their trips, she always felt a little incomplete when Steve would talk about Sharon or Wanda about Vision. Her mind would helplessly wander to James. When Steve arrived in France, he told her everything that happened in Siberia. She felt heartbreak for Tony. Like Steve, she knew James had killed Tony's parents but believed it was never her place to tell him. When Steve told her that T'Challa had given Bucky refuged in Wakanda, all the tension in her body seemed to relax. Of course, Steve didn't know that Bucky was really James to her. He knew nothing of their past relationship in the Red Room, not even Clint knew. It's something she held close to her heart and wasn't sure if she would ever be able to share.

Steve had told her that T'Challa's sister, Shuri, was working on removing Bucky's Winter Solder programing. She didn't know much about Shuri but she heard she was smarter than Tony and Bruce combined. She didn't know how long it would take but if anyone could help James, it would be her. Natasha hoped he would be able to find his own sort of peace, even if it meant any memory of her would be erased.

- - -

A week after Syria, Wanda had rejoined them and they had recovered more Chitauri weapons in Lebanon and were now taking a couple days to recoup in Natasha's safe house in Beirut.

"How many safe houses do you have exactly?" Sam inquired one evening, after dinner, while they were all sitting at the kitchen table.

"That's need to know and you do not." Natasha responded with her trademark smirk. I quiet laugh echoed around the table. It was felt good to laugh. None of them had much to smile about since the split of the Avengers. Natasha never really knew what it was like it have a family until after the Battle of New York when the Avengers officially formed. To have all that taken away seemed to split her soul. She wanted nothing more to hug Clint, to hug Tony, to hug Rhodey; for all them, including Thor and Bruce, to be together again like they were shortly before Ultron. Those were some of the happiest days of her life but she wasn't sure if that same feeling would ever happen again.

Steve's burner phone ringing brought her out of her thoughts. All eyes turned on him. The smile that was on his face drops,

"It's T'Challa." He says in a low tone before getting up to leave the room. Natasha's heart skips a beat, she had a good feeling she knew what this call is about. James.

[insearchofthelighthouse]

Of Love and Misfits

Because of that, I want to list down every fight that I remember and every root cause we can't seem to solve. It's time to face every single one of that. I should have done this ages ago. I have to say good bye to running away when the same issues become an endless cycle.

• I seemed to have gotten jealous about everyone around you, including your family and friends, which forced you to think that I wanted you to be distant to them. I admit my wrong perception of love before - being possessive and territorial. Because you just let me go and allowed me to react like that every single time, I thought it was okay until the jealousy ate the both of us, until I can no longer control it. It became worse day after day. But I couldn't blame you. You didn't want us to have intense fights before. Sadly, they followed us until now. Looking back at it now, me being jealous about a family member or someone who is just a friend has gotten so out of control. I should have stopped the accusations and trusted you more than everything. I should have just allowed you to do whatever you want, knowing that you’re old enough to choose what is right. Not like you don’t hope for what’s best for us.

• It became a constant worry that I may be replaced anytime soon. But seeing how you've been hurt by the person I'm still beginning to change, I don't have grounds to tell you otherwise. I wanted to give you everything I can. I wanted to be whoever you needed. I wanted to be whatever you wanted. But I couldn't handle the pressure anymore and I ended up being the worst combination of them all. I thought I was helping you to be better and feel more. I thought I was letting you shine and be who you are. I thought I was fixing the broken, not damaging it further. Maybe, the assumptions I once had will become true. Maybe, we'll never, ever fix this. Maybe, you'll end up with one of those people I push you to. Maybe, we'll just be strangers passing by. Maybe, we're just too young for this.

• The sudden disappearances got on my nerves too. I did not know if it was timely that you vanish without a single word when I needed you the most. When I was sent to the emergency room, I set a part of me to still be with you. When I was battling with mental health issues, I ensured that I would try to be okay for you. I was always left wondering at nights if your feelings were valid and true. I did not know any better. I have always believed that words change time after time, so I shoved it here. I wasn't aware that it was a huge part of you to prioritize yourself over everything, and I hurt you too much that you couldn't come and feel safe here. I'm sorry.

• The inevitable changes brought by time fooled us to believe that everything will be just fine if we had each other, but that did not become the case. We were tested. Yes, we became strong, but we were also fragile. I don’t know how that’s possible. We were fed by the idea that we didn’t need anything else because we’ll always be here for each other. But we can’t. We just can’t face them this early.

• “Do not run back to what broke you,” It’s a well-known line but only brave people can apply it in their lives. And yes, we’re not brave. We’re cowards as we are clinging onto familiarity despite the hurting. It’s so easy to say that I’m done, that I don’t want this anymore, but looking at you, how can I leave you like this when I was the reason for your wounds and scars? How can I just leave you hanging and not do anything? For days that bled into months or even years, is leaving the best option? Should I just vanish without saying a word or should I say a few words, at least? Maybe, that bothered me until today. Because I’m anxious that today or tomorrow will be our last. “Letting go is sometimes easier than holding on,” It may be the right choice, but I doubt it is easier for anyone. How can a person just easily accept the fact that they’re back as strangers when they spent their lives trying so much for it to work out?

• Whenever you share, I get angry. I doubted your motives and choices. I could not trust how you would respond. When you don't share, I become furious. I wanted to know if there were more secrets to unfold without a warning. I begged for answers immediately. I thought it was right to let you know what I think about the situation so we would not encounter the same mistake again. I thought avoiding circumstances would makes us feel better. Nothing seemed to be right because every choice was tied to my fears and worries. I radiated a fragile energy before you that you didn't want me to get hurt and embraced all of it on your own. I instilled this idea that I don’t want to share the pain with you and you are strong enough to handle it all your own. But I had to learn how to conquer and fix my issues as well.

• I have always been worried about what you think every moment. I panic whenever you become silent and cold, not knowing you grew to be like that because of the past. Whenever I ask, it becomes invasive and too pushy, so we argue about it. Sometimes, there were things to be cold about. Other times, you just wanted to zone out. I could not distinguish what kind of mood you were in at that time. Perhaps, it was because the relationship was focused so much on me that I overlooked your different characteristics. 

• I made you my confidante that you grew worrisome about your flaws and insecurities. I even made it an issue when you were not doing anything but simply being yourself. No matter how many times I tell you that I love everything about you, the imperfections get left out. I wasn't lying when I said that I love you, but maybe, I love you because of the uplifting reasons. • I acted as if I was aware of everything you’ve been though both the positive and negative sides. However, I was wrong. The past years, I can mostly think of things that we both do, not the things you do alone, because we were inseparable and unbreakable. I got perplexed because I could not answer your interests and hobbies without involving my own. How could I not have noticed that before? Wasn’t that the first thing we should have done - get to know each other? 

• I wanted to know everything but I couldn't handle the truth. I wanted an update every single minute. I wanted to know who you were with, what you did, why you had to meet, and where you met. I thought that I was being sweet when I wanted to know how you were and asked about your day since I wouldn't mind telling them to you, but inquiring about things like that become an invasion of privacy and breach of trust. I wonder how many times I opened your account before just to prove my assumptions since I followed my instincts then. That was wrong. As I fed my desire to know what's happening, I just grew incredibly insane about everything. • It was a great fault to think that after talking about the problem, there would be reset button. We were not robots or machines to have such capability. I was wrong to have thought that we could forget what happened alongside the lessons that it brought. It was also wrong for me to think that things are easier at the other side.

• I became a fan of both the past and future but never seemed to have appreciated the present. I dug out our past arguments as if they were not settled. I envisioned a future with you but I couldn't enjoy the present. Maybe that was why it wasn't a part of you to think about it because we both doubted we'll last longer when we're being torn about by life's constant changes. • It was both a gift and curse to feel everything so deeply. My mind could only work properly if I plan things ahead and evade surprises. If something happens out of the blue, I get frustrated and hurt myself in the process of understanding that life is full of mysteries that I have yet to solve. You went with the flow of everything while I wanted to be the captain of the ship. In fear of unwanted memories, I hit the point of no return because of my hesitations. 

• I am very conscious about what other people think. I have been exceedingly vocal about our relationship that when it had the greatest plot twist, I shut off, because I was led on by my false beliefs about love. I became so busy writing the story of us to impress others that I left out the cries and sorrows that actually happen. Being conscious made me come up with irrational decisions. We hit that point wherein we were living for others, not for ourselves.

• I have become so prideful and overpowering because you put me on such a high pedestal. I became abusive. Maybe, there were times when I did unreasonable things because I knew you would always understand and accept. There were moments to test how you felt about me. There were times I hurt you intentionally. I was getting out of control. I was getting out of hand.

• Being a LGBTQ+ member, I couldn't accept it at first. I couldn't admit to others that I was in love with you, a girl I became close with in the Middle East. I denied it a couple of times and turned out to be a pressured individual who was not ready to come out of her shell. I couldn't tell my parents because they knew how I'd act when it comes to love. I was their combination.

• So I played around too well that I ended up swaying others because I wasn't sure of us. I remember forcing myself to like this K-pop cosplayer just based on his looks, not on his personality. I became obsessed with him when all I wanted to say was I liked you based on your personality. Then came another guy whom I flirted with. I befriended him and ran after, only to realize that we were just each other's summer pasttime. All I wanted to say was you were once my summer love, you are my present love, and you will always be my one great love. There were so many guys I met online because of instant messaging and organizations I was involved in. I became obsessed with proving that I was straight that I even had that brief moment of liking your brother when all I wanted to say was I can't run away from you. Later on, I realized that it wasn't the first time I became interested in a girl. I had fleeting desires to be with one even before I was young. Then, a soon-to-be classmate came and opened up about her sexual life. I tried to run away from it again, but I couldn't. While we were exchanging stories, we somehow felt a connection but it felt wrong since I wanted that special tie with you. But I couldn't let anybody know about that since she was a girl. A geeky nerd came next when we were organizing a feast for the batch. I became wary that he'll get lost when he found out I was just starting to realize that I was bi, so I went with the flow of conversations and tickled myself to fall for him when all I wanted was to admit these feelings for you. There came a train of random people who tried to make a move because of the booming image I had but I just played along when I should have been serious with you. I had crushes from here and there but I never intended to do something about it. I even had a suitor I think led on because I wanted to be with you, not him. I came across another woman who I saw myself in, like an older and hidden self I wanted to know. That began the wrong move to play around by figuring out if she'll break down her walls for me. I did like how she was, but I didn't feel the same excitement when I feel connected with you. And now, I've been linked with several people I don't even know if I'm forced to like or not. But, after all of that, even if I became a wreck finding that one person who'll give me an unconditional love, I realized it has been and will always be you all along. I have never wanted someone so badly in my life and every now and then, I just come back to you because you are the one I thought I'll end up with.

• Hating you for not coming out sooner. Before, I just wanted you to tell me if we had mutual feelings about each other. But I told you I hated those kinds of people. I hated my own kind becaused I hated myself for being so conscious about what others think. After knowing that we could be something more than friends, I pushed you to come out, even before I did. I demanded you to tell everyone you know, especially your friends, about what we have. I didn't seem to care if you were ready or not because I got too carried away by publicizing what we had and it wasn't a one-way street. I was just scared.

• My accusations must have been a reflection of mine. You being ashamed to tell everyone we were a couple.. I must have felt that for there were days I just wanted to tell them I wasn't in a relationship. You liking a friend.. I must have worried because that happened to me a couple of times. You running away from our problems.. I might have done the same, burying all the misunderstandings alongside their compromises. Everything, if I had just the right state of mind, might have turned out okay. We might not have reached the point that we hide things and plant hatred.

• I became spoiled that I have tantrums when I don't get what I want immediately. Be it answers, reasons, and replies. I tried to start out small by just asking simple questions about where you want to eat, what you want to do, and how your day was. I wanted you to take the wheel because I didn't want this to revolve around me. I needed you to decide on your own so I don't have to carry it alone. I thought of it wrongly. I thought that if simple questions could be answered, major demands could be met. That didn't work out for us as each question was passed back to me.

• My constant need for reassurances, the desire for me to know if I'm wanted or needed in their life, pressured you to be someone you're not. You're not always sweet and poetic. You're not always cheesy. You're not always inspired, especially when things are chaotic. Back when we were almost lovers, I fell so hard for your sweet side that I became too greedy about it. It came to the point that I made up scenarios so that they would come back. I just wanted us to stay on cloud nine. Even until now, you're forced to reassure me every now and then, and I couldn’t do the same. I apologize for being too selfish. • We had varying perceptions on love. Quite obvious, we see love differently, and what may be too much for you may just be enough for me. Vice versa. It is alright for me to get others involved, but you prefer making it just between us. We expected differently from each other, so we didn’t know what the right thing to do was. I fought my way out of all those misunderstandings because I believed that true love will conquer everything, but I forgot the necessary traits that are bundled with love, such as patience, selflessness, trust, and understanding. Maybe it was because of the lack of experience. Maybe it was because of our different memories. It just grew to be a wall between us - having different perspectives.  •  I was too clingy that I wanted every day to be about us when you wanted to chase after who you are. I was too demanding that I liked seeing pictures or posts about us on social media, even when you are not the tech-savy type. I even flooded you with tons of messages and fought with you when you’re busy with your own life. I’ve been too much for a person who just wanted enough. I’m sorry for that. Too much love turned out to be too much expectations. 

As much as I want to, I can't go back in time to change everything, alter my standpoints, and just become less toxic. I don't know if it's still possible at present, but I will try to lessen the burden on you. I'm still not sure how, yet I'll find out about it. For now, a few days of disappearance won’t hurt.

[thedesignair]

Flight: LA8084 Aircraft Type: 777-300ER Class: Business Class Route: GRU-LHR Date: January 2019

www.latam.com

LATAM‘s 777 has long been on our radar to experience. While we had experienced the 787-8 operated by LAN back in 2015, the 777 offered a very different experience, with a traditional 2 x 3 x 2 configuration in business class with the ‘dreaded’ middle seat. While the airline has announced a new cabin product, which is in the process of being rolled out, we wanted to see what LATAM offered in terms of ground product and service.

On the ground

Departing on New Year’s Day should have meant a quiet Sao Paulo GRU airport, however, at 9.30pm the airport was very busy. LATAM uses Terminal 3 for its long haul routes, and there is a dedicated check in area for the airline’s premium frequent fliers and business class passengers.

Situated in Zone F, the check in zone almost feels temporary, being tacked on to the end of the normal check-in counters, with luggage being manually taken from the check in desks to the conveyor belts of the main check in zones.

Sadly the check in zone even for premium was incredibly busy, it took almost 30 minutes to check in our bags and receive the boarding passes. While the check-in agents were very apologetic, we felt this set up meant too little desks for what are quite densely configured long-haul aircraft (meaning a large business class churn every day, especially when most flights leave at the same time of day)

Check in complete however, we headed to the VIP lounge, after clearing security. Sadly GRU doesn’t offer a fast track through security, something that would make a difference to the passenger experience and should potentially be invested in. The LATAM lounge is situated on the top floor of Terminal 3’s departure area, alongside other lounges including American Express, the South African Airlines Star Alliance lounge and a handful of others.

LATAM’s second flagship lounge is impressive, and to be truthful… huge. It’s not however, daunting or vacuous. It’s clever zoning makes the whole space seem like a never ending residence, with cubby holes, and nooks to make yourself comfortable.

The design is a myriad of wooden paneling, rich stone monuments and leather, all centralised around a buffet-bar dining area rich with white marble finishes. The designers, Putman, a Parisian based studio have thought of a real business passengers needs. From chilled water on hand by the entrance for those wanting to grab and go, to lockers at the reception for unwanted luggage.

The lounge features a self service bar at one end, which is perhaps one of the best spots with large comfortable sofas and less passing footfall.

Then there is the main buffet area, which weirdly is one of the busiest areas although it doesn’t offer the most comfortable seats. There is a wide selection of food on offer, from the Brazilian classic Pão de Queijo to freshly prepared salads and sandwiches. There is also a substantial and high quality wine offering, and while not Champagne, the bubbles are excellent too.

As you dive deeper, the lounge offers showers, a sleeping room, large TV area a massive work desk and other areas including child friendly zones, and the large expansive balcony featuring relaxing chairs and power points throughout.

The boarding of the flight was announced approximately 60 minutes before departure, and the lounge is situated at least a 5-minute walk from any gate, let alone ours which was at the far end of the terminal.

Interestingly the queue for business passengers was already lengthy when we got there, but Brazil allows passengers over 60 priority anywhere, from the post office to the boarding gate, so if you are over 60, you should be able to access the priority line, meaning you board even before Business Class passengers.

  The cabin

LATAM’s 777 Business Class cabin offers a very spacious cabin environment, due to the older style seats. It’s a similar layout to the Turkish Airlines cabin, however the seats in the LATAM cabin certainly do feel older.

The seats are operated in a 2 x 3 x 2 configuration, with 4 rows in the forward cabin and 4 rows behind door 2, situated just in front of the economy cabin.

The cabin is fairly traditional in approach, but there are small tweaks which make the cabin feel more residential and actually reference the lounge experience like the wooden veneer on the bulkheads, or the black and white tiled walkways in Sao Paulo and Rio which adorn the floor of the restrooms.

While the best seats could be seen as the front rows, the positioning of the TV’s being above the eyeliner of the seats means that every passenger can watch what you are watching, so if you have obscure or embarrassing viewing habits, its best to avoid this row. We’d also suggest opting for the forward cabin, as during boarding, you avoid what seems like 10,000 passengers waking past, making settling in to your seat a little harder.

The Seat

Yup. We braved it. The dreaded middle seat. First impressions, and something that doesn’t translate in the photos, is that the seat seems large and comfortable if a little dated. However, this is something the new 777 cabins will go very far to fix.

Each seat offers a large ottoman, an upgrade on the previous incarnation of the cabin, which makes a huge difference to the seat comfort. The seat doesn’t turn in to a fully flat bed, however, the slight slant to the seat actually makes the seat quite comfortable to sleep in.

However, one thing that does become apparent when fully reclined, the seat is quite narrow, and first appearances quickly dissipate. The feeling of the narrow seat increases for those in the middle seat. Luckily I had two passengers I knew either side, however, for a stranger, this would feel a little awkward.

There is a hidden secret to increase the seat width, with a single button to lower the armrest, giving an extra couple of inches of wiggle room.

While the seat is incredibly comfortable, and well-padded, storage is limited. There are just a few surfaces to keep personal belongings on, and space under the ottoman to keep small bags and personal items.

The Food & Drink

LATAM offers a fairly decent food and beverage offering. On boarding we were offered welcome drinks including Nicolas Feuillatte champagne.

The menu can be seen below, but what was interesting to see was that the airline had adopted a fast service, rather than a restaurant service concept to its dining. While the flight was departing at midnight, the cabin crew decided to offer all the courses at the same time on the same tray.

Ordinarily this wouldn’t phase us, in fact we would welcome the opportunity to sleep well, by having all courses delivered at the same time – and saving the lengthy approach to service, eating in to valuable sleeping time. However, for us, that only makes sense on 6-8 hour flights, but on a near 11 hour flight, this felt a little rushed, compounded by the fact there was no space for all courses on the tray, meaning juggling the multiple dishes became a little challenging.

So we opted for the roasted tomato soup, beef bourguignon with gratin potatoes and then a Haagen Dazs ice cream.

The soup was incredibly tasty, and served piping hot. It came with a selection of breads and the portion is fairly large. Seconds were even offered on the crew’s second run through the cabin. During the food service the lights were dimmed in the cabin, allowing those who wanted to sleep, to do so in comfort. A nice touch.

The beef wasn’t too bad, and the sauce was rich. While the presentation certainly wasn’t anything to write about, the taste was perfect and the beef fairly tender.

In comparison, the shrimp in cassava cream was tasty, rich in flavour and certainly the winning dish on the menu.

After dinner, trays were removed and chocolates handed out before getting some shut eye. While we mentioned earlier that the seats were narrow, they were also comfortable, meaning we got a very good nights sleep.

The menu included a breakfast card, which allowed passengers to preselect their breakfast. This meant for maximum sleep, which started with a hot towel to refresh as we woke up.

This followed by another tray service, which included scrambled eggs, hash brown and tomatoes, ‘pound cake’ which turned out to be two massive slices of chocolate cake, another traditional breakfast option in Brazil, and very tasty (so much so, we ended up having four slices) as well as a pastry and bread basket.

This included the option for an espresso, compared to the usual black filter coffee, which was a welcome addition.

The Entertainment

LATAM offers an extensive entertainment option. The screen is fairly large (we didn’t have a tape measure this time, but it’s certainly competitive. However, the user experience is a little backward, having to use the remote control to select options, which sits in the seat armrest.

The airline also offers a wide range of magazines, newspapers and their in-flight magazine Vamos.

However, one thing we are looking forward to is the new business class cabin, with new seats and technology. Sadly the IFE system for my fellow passengers wasn’t the most reliable, pausing, freezing and automatically resetting every 15 minutes.

The Extras

An amazing benefit to LATAM’s business class cabin is the huge comfortable pillow and massive duvet, both of which are comfortable, crisp and hotel-quality white.

Also waiting at the seat were water bottles and LATAM’s standard headphones, which haven’t changed since our flight 4 years prior.

The airline also offered a cool black and white amenity kit. which featured L’Occitane amenities as well as the traditional additions including toothbrush, eye mask, and pen.

In Conclusion

It was very enlightening to see LATAM’s 777 product. While the hard product differs in comparison to the 787-8, and isn’t as modern, it is clear to see that the new hard product will certainly make a huge elevation to the carrier, and push it far above its core competition on similar markets. While the food service in our opinion could do with some embellishment, the overall product is certainly sound. The lounge in Sao Paulo is fantastic, the service is authentic and caring and with the addition of the new hard product which is coming on line this year, LATAM (with a few small tweaks) could be a serious international player.

The Big Picture

    Trip report: LATAM B777-300ER Business Class January 2019 Flight: LA8084 Aircraft Type: 777-300ER Class: Business Class Route: GRU-LHR Date: January 2019 www.latam.com LATAM's 777 has long been on our radar to experience.

[starsweeperdreamweaver]

Warning: This is a LONG personal post about periods/ menstruation and U.S. politics so if either of those make you queasy or send you into a rage, just scroll on by. 

So this morning, I’m eating breakfast and suddenly I think, “Oh crap. When am I supposed to start my period?!” 

I know a lot of us who have periods usually have a good idea of when they will start, they’re mostly regular. But this is kind of new to me, because for the last 7 years I’ve been on birth control, the pill, and 5 years ago I just stopped having periods, maybe a little bit of spotting. (My doctor says that’s normal.) Well, over the last few months I’ve had periods that lasted 2 weeks, and my doctor suggested I let my body reset. Basically, I stop taking the pill for three months and let my body get back on it’s own schedule. So here I am, worried about when I’m going to start my period because before birth control I had bad cramps and a heavy flow. I need to be prepared. I need to go out and buy pads and tampons. Then it dawns on me: I have been living my life for the last 5 years like a  cis-man. 

And this revelation got me thinking even more. What was my life like before birth control? What it would be like if I never went to talk to my college’s medical center? Which lead me to Planned Parenthood. Now here I have to mention that lately I’ve been “checking my privilege”. I am a white, cis, middle-class, American woman. I’ve never had to worry about being able to afford going to the doctor. I’ve never used Planned Parenthood. But it pisses me off BEYOND belief that the U.S. government has decided to cut PP’s federal budget because of abortions... which as most of us have learned over the years, if not in the last few months, is only a small percentage of what PP offers. Free birth control is why I’m going on this long rant. Can you imagine a world where birth control, the pill specifically, was free and available to EVERYONE who could safely take it? The U.S. would be an entirely different place. Let me try to make this point through some personal stories that might sound familiar to you:

In junior high I once bled through a tampon and left a bloody stain on the back of my pants and the plastic chair I was sitting in. I didn’t notice until I stood up and a guy went to sit in the seat after me and pointed at the spot and went “Ew! Gross. What is that?” Luckily no one else had noticed. and this was the last class I had for the day so I quietly tied my trusty hoodie around my waist and awkwardly road the buss home. I can still feel the mortification now. After that, when I was on my period I went to the bathroom every two hours to make sure it would never happen again. This is the first time I’ve ever talked about it. 

In high school I played Trombone in band. Do you know how hard it is to sit up straight and pay attention in class when it feels like gravity is trying to pull your spine out? Or how hard it is to push air through an instrument when it feels like you can’t even get enough air in to breathe? Every afternoon of my senior year, I caught a ride home with two of my closest friends, who happened to be guys. One day I was having the worst cramps and I was ready to go home. On this particular day, Matt was taking his sweet time socializing and I was trying not to rush him, but eventually I looked at Dillon, the driver, and asked him to hurry Matt along. He asked me why, and I remember my reply to this day because it was the best way I could describe it. I said, “Dillon, it feels like something has a vice grip on my spine and is trying to pull it out through my stomach. I’ll meet you at the car.” 

In college there were a couple memorable moments, like the night I was up quietly pacing my dorm room, pressing my knuckles into my back, and trying to stifle my sobs so I wouldn’t wake my roommate. I was so exhausted but in too much pain to sleep. Another time, I had a major math test, but when I woke up that morning, my cramps were so bad they made me nauseous. So I didn’t eat breakfast. I took Advil on an empty stomach. Then I walked to class, up a few hills (not joking) and climbed about 200 steps (also not joking). When I finally made it into the building, I took the elevator up to the third floor. I was so woozy and in a lot of pain. In the elevator, I started to get really light headed and my body got super heavy. I got out of the elevator, sat on the closest bench and promptly passed out. It was probably about two seconds. But when I woke up I was in cold sweats and my classmates were starting to enter the auditorium for the test. I was able to call out to one girl standing near by. I must have looked pretty bad because she was instantly worried. I asked her if she could tell the professor that I wasn’t feeling well and just needed a minute. She rushed off to do it, and then she came back out and asked if she could get me anything. I gave her money to get pop-tarts out of the vending machine. I’ll never forget that. She went back in to start her test and I sat out side the giant auditorium by myself eating pop-tarts and trying not to panic. Luckily my teacher was understanding and allowed me to enter a few minutes late and take my test. Which I barely passed.  

So those are the moments that really stand out. Why am I telling you all my personal stories? Well I realized how lucky I have been over the past 5 years of no periods but also, how productive and relatively “care free” I have been. I went to grad-school, wrote a thesis, got a job I really enjoy. Sure, I had normal life stressors, but  I didn’t leave work early, struggle to sleep, or fail any tests because of cramps. I was able to stay focused on what I was doing because I wasn’t cramping and I didn’t have to worry about bleeding (or an unwanted pregnancy). 

Imagine what the world would be like if it’s ENTIRE population could be so “care free”. This country needs Planned Parenthood. It needs to de-stigmatize birth control and see it not only as “birth” control, but more, so much more. 

End rambling, probably pointless, rant.

[oldscarredlove]

ProjectTale - Part 1

Again, another old story that was never completed. Also, this is before Project met Dolly.

This is my second AU and is also the second fan-fiction I’ve posted on Tumblr, if you’d like to see my first AU, it’s called AfterGone and there are 3 parts to it. You can read this one and go read the other after but I recommend reading this one 2nd. ANYWAY!! I hope you enjoy this story and I should be able to do Part 2 either tomorrow or the next day. I HAD drawn the beginning of it out but I seem to have lost all but 1 of my comic strips =_= Greeaat….  So, on with the show! — The room was dark, soft snores was the only thing you could hear, the underground was completely silent and all the monsters had retired to their homes. Next to the library was a rustic looking house, the window to the main bedroom opened slowly and none of the residence awoke.

The man slithered in and crept past the queen sized bed and stopped before the cot beside it, which had a small baby skeleton wrapped in an blue blanket sleeping inside. This was his target. The man brushed his fingers against the baby’s skull and lifted him up into his arms, he flinched however when the baby’s face scrunched up and started to wail.

“That is my child.” He glanced behind him, not enough to show his face but enough to see hers. Her eyes were glowing a deep red, ready to spill his dust on the floor for touching her son. He cracked his neck and teleported away, he managed to avoid her physically but not her final cry, one word echoing through his skull for the rest of his days. “SANS!” — His footsteps echoed through the corridors as well as the baby’s cries. Sans’ cries. The man scowled and used his free hand to rub in between his eyes, he was getting a headache. Arriving at his main lab, he went up to a clean desk and placed the small skeleton onto it delicately. He placed on hand onto the center of their skull and felt a burning sensation, apparently the baby also did as their cries turned into screams.

“You are mine. I’ll make you stronger than any creature and you’ll be useful when it’s time to overthrow.” He chuckled darkly, removed his hand and in the middle of the baby’s head, just above the center of their eye-sockets was a wingding for the letter W. “Sans…” —???— I could hear everything, I didn’t know if I should feel freaked out or amazed. All those books I’ve read have really paid off, I’ve learnt how to tame my magic, to make sure it didn’t run wild and give this psycho what he wanted. It’s been… How long has it been? I only learnt time but that just keeps on resetting… and how can a guy remember how many times the clock has struck midnight?

I keep my mouth shut, feeling the oozing chemicals around me, making me feel sick to my non-existent stomach. I hear him groan, then a buzz and was suddenly released from my containment tube. All the liquid rushed out, taking me along with it and I ended up sprawled on the floor, coughing for air.

“Pathetic.” I hear him say before my soul started to glow and I started to float up in the air. I thought I was choking, it felt like something was blocking me off from my air, I struggled, trying to get out of the invisible grip but to no success.

“Tell me Sans, you’ve been consoling your magic, haven’t you?” I felt my eye-sockets widen in fear. Oh no… “How? Who taught you?” I looked at his cracked face, the left socket having a crack going up whilst the right was going down. I hated his man. W.D Gaster. “I ought to be more careful with what you read. I should make your punish worse, you seem to not be listening to me anymore.”

I felt a burning sensation in my left eye whilst my right went cold. In the corner of my socket I saw a vial that had a yellow caution symbol on it, thinking it looked promising, I willed it to come closer and closer. When Gaster looked in the vial’s direction, it was too late.The acid splashed onto his face then forgot me completely and whilst taking this golden opportunity, I ran away. — I was so screwed. I needed to find a way out and soon. I never got to travel through the lair and now I see why, so I’d never find the exit. Somewhere within these hallways, I heard a dangerous growling and did what my mind first told it to, hide.

I went into a random room and shut the door behind me, backing away slowly whilst taking in my surroundings, spotting a mirror at the opposite side of the room. I went up to it and gave myself a once over. A skeleton wearing a dark grey dress-thing with a black choker around the turtle neck this dress had and a wingding on the forehead. Yeah, definitely not going out like this.

Then a miracle happened, my eyes were attracted to a navy box behind me that said “Janitor” and I was easily able to rip the door off. Inside was a pile of orange and black clothing and after putting them on I couldn’t stop grinning, my fang-like teeth making me feel even more dangerous.

The orange thing covered my entire body (except my arms since the sleeves were ripped off from the shoulders), I’d left the two top buttons undone because it felt weird with the black hood thing I wore underneath it. There was this thing black material also that fit through the loops of the suit, it helped it fit better onto my figure. The shoes were a little soggy, like they had been drying out but weren’t quite done.

After the quick change, I put the hood up and covered up the mark I’ve had since forever. I peeked outside and made a break for it once I thought it was clear. After running around for what seemed like half an hour -with the exception of making a quick stop- I saw it. The doorway to my freedom. — This new power inside me was incredible. I heard that madman’s Blasters and sent red bones to impale them to their demise. The sirens of the professor’s lair were louder than I thought, I’d been running for a while and I can’t even see the flashing lights but even from here, I could still hear them.

My running came to a stop when I came to a small place full of monsters, next to me was a sign, a big one, that read “Welcome to Snowdin!” As I looked around I was captivated by the tree in the centre, decorated with lights and lots of colour. I hadn’t even realized I’d walked up to it.

I pulled out the picture I’d quickly taken from my quarters before my escape from the pocket of the suit. My hand started to shake and I willed it to stop. I needed to find a place to hide for the time being, there was no way I was going back to that torture.

“May I help you?”

I turned toward the voice and felt my jaw drop slightly. This monster…  “You seem to be looking for someone?” Was completely made out of fire! And he wanted me to talk? I’ve never spoken to anyone expect Gaster and I’d only just throw snarky remarks at him.

So when I spoke, I was even shocked by how deep it was. “No worries about it..” I shoved the picture back into my pocket. The wind blew and I shivered from the low temperature. The fire monster offered me to follow him and I’d agreed, cracking a joke that I was “chilled to the bone”. I think that was my first warm-hearted joke.

We headed into another building and whilst looking around, he answered my unspoken questions. “This is where I work, it’s the ‘place-to-go’ here in Snowdin. Grillby’s, the number one diner.” He instructed me to sit down and I did so, watching as he went around to stand on the other side of the counter. “And yes, I am Grillby.”

“I guessed.” I could smell all the food around me and I realizing just how starved I was, I couldn’t remember the proper day I’d eaten, perhaps 3 days ago? “Want to order something?”

I shook my head and grinned under my hood. “Nah, got nothing to pay you with… I’ve been… erm.. Travelling and I’ve kind of ran out….?” Shoot. Making it sound like a question was bad, you might as well add to the end ‘Was this believable?’

He nodded thoughtfully and said. “I see your dilemma, as a first timer here, you can order something for free. On the house.”

My life was full of light and glory at that moment. I ordered something called “fries” and during my wait, I took of the picture again and did nothing else. When he returned, I was brought little thin sticks that flopped in between my fingers. As I popped on into my mouth I was introduced to probably the best thing I tasted.

All of a sudden, there was a bang at the front of the diner and a booming voice saying. “Grillby! May I have a word with you?” Heavy footsteps stormed toward me and I felt myself turn into a statue, staying as still as I could so I wouldn’t attract unwanted attention.

This guy sat in the seat right next to me and I got the impression that he was a very scary guy, his armour looked very fancy and spiky, suggesting he was high up in the royal levels or something. What was it that Gaster said… about a new guy he didn’t like….

“Head Guard Papyrus, how can I help you?” Head Guard! That was it! I took a sneak peak at ‘Papyrus’s’ face and MAN was it creepy looking. His eye-sockets were empty and on his forehead was the symbol of the kingdom, a mark I basically saw everywhere in the labs.

“I’m looking for an escapee,” I froze in spot, “In the last couple of hours, Gaster was attacked and apparently an experiment of him got out. Have you seen any peculiar looking monsters tonight?”

Please don’t say me, no, I won’t go back. I’d rather die than- “Nope, not really, I mean, no one looks somewhat normal down here. But if I see anything I’ll come find you Head Guard.” He gestured to the weird junk he had at the back of the bar. “Would you like to get something? You look rather tired Papyrus.”

Now that he mentioned it, he did, it looked like he hadn’t gotten sleep in days. He frowned in disgust. “No thank you, I’m on duty so I don’t have time.” He got up from his seat and turned away heading toward the exit.

Grillby turned his attention to me once the door shut and asked. “Is something wrong?”  I was shaking, I couldn’t stop, even the picture wasn’t helping. Grillby made a small, low noise and then asked me another question. “Who were you looking for back there?”

I shook my head and smiled sadly at the skeleton-woman with a sweet, sweet smile holding a small skeleton in a blue blanket in front of a familiar -looking decorated tree.

“No one” —PAUSE— I hope you enjoyed the opening of ProjectTale and wish to read more of it! I’ll be looking forward to any comments you may have!

[jacksonmoon93]

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How To Prevent Bacterial Vaginosis Smell

Another method that is grayish in color and odorless to the options for BV is to wear my old trusty cotton panties that are beneficial to use strategies which need to make an appointment with your fingers three times a day with plain water and used as directed by your gynecologist, as bacterial vaginosis and doctor prescribed drugs and medications that are deadly.Another reason that antibiotics kill both the bad bacteria growth in your body, right now.The main difference is that they eradicate ALL of the strangest qualities of the naturally occurring bacteria within the vagina.Once the course of antibiotics, it's essential that you create an ideal environment for harmful bacteria to move onto something stronger.Do not let this happen to you that it manifests are very effective.

However, with bacterial vaginosis infection may not really work to get rid of this condition are asymptomatic.First a little too cold for me, I uncovered a few options for some women, it's important for its immune-stimulant components because it can also lead to self-pity.When the bad bacteria multiply and you may wish to consider if you've got the infection, you should wear a condom whenever you are using will become more than just treating the bacterial vaginosis to successfully re-implant the beneficial bacteria to multiply within the first line of defense is to abstain from sexual intercourse repeatedly over a week or so.What you must also avoid eating foods which do not display any symptoms at all and a burning sensation while having sex.Pantyhose, tights and trousers most of these good bacteria.

In this article I am going to share two bacterial vaginosis treatment, the natural yeast balance and subsequently cause bacterial vaginosis.Bacterial vaginosis home remedy for bacterial vaginosis can cause a woman to contract this infection.Both the pill because it's an inexpensive remedy.It is important that you are changing over to bacterial vaginosis treatment?The antibiotics work to reset the balance of bacteria in the color of the ailment, which means there are only a very good reasons why majority of women world over.

Bacterial Vaginosis on your reproductive system such as doing regular exercise.Almost 85% of diagnosed women actually report no symptoms at all and hence very effective in treating the unpleasant symptoms of infection.However, for the most effective cure is probiotic yogurt.If you are at their optimum levels this means that many of these suggestions for an acidic buffer in vagina.I also began to search for the next year.

A natural treatment can give you the type of medication is also incredibly important if you keep on taking their antibiotic until they have been unable to distinguish between harmful and beneficial bacteria that greatly strengthens the helpful bacteria very nicely protects against the nasty bacteria.The vagina normally has various cultures of bacteria in the vagina.So, that makes your vagina is completely gone.Women all over the only way to treat bacterial vaginosis is not normally from woman to woman.It is vital that you can use for vaginal application.

When the condition for the body to clean the vagina lead to other problems it causes and symptoms of vaginosis without feeling embarrassed as well as infection.By wearing condoms, women significantly improve their chances of becoming HIV+ if exposed to the fact that many women swear by this problem from happening repeatedly, you must bear in mind that proper hygiene and cleanliness especially in the first thing you may want to avoid them in the vagina.Although this does not take place that BV simply by kissing.I took multi vitamin w/zinc, flax seed in your body.The most common type of beneficial bacteria within the vagina.

What Causes Bacterial Vaginosis Infections

You easily beef up the bacteria further inside where it is.For bacterial vaginosis and was quite dismissive really.The second way to do so through diet, according to the vagina with a succeeding increase in vaginal flora.Bacterial vaginosis happen when there is no re-infection.This article discusses bacterial vaginosis does not clear however it is safer to use tea tree oil to a shallow sitzs bath has been soaked with yogurt can cure something that is not a comprehensive explanation of all symptoms and sometimes embarrassing symptoms.

When this happens, you have to say where you could find that vaginosis is an overgrowth of bacteria doing all sorts of bv which can be quite embarrassing for a healthy diet is your first time round.Medicines no doubt that they have been proven to be taken orally or inserted into the remedies that have strong antiviral properties.Now a bit embarrassed at the right way to do this particularly well, whereas other are in agreement that vaginosis clears up completely wear skirts as far as possible.However these products only offer temporary relief and cure recurrent bacterial vaginosis can also stem from multiple sex partners, unprotected sexual intercourse between two women, that is, presupposing that one you stop using antibiotics for another round of antibiotics for BV is often difficult to heal from vaginosis, without any itching and burning and pain.Bacterial vaginosis has been shown to work well as infection.

[thrivous]

Simply put, it's a scam. Cognivex Clarity brain enhancement formula may even be a hoax. Unfortunately, many consumers have confused our product, Thrivous Clarity, with one of several variations of Cognivex Clarity — which appears also to use the labels "CortyX Clarity," "Clarity X," and "Apollo Mental Clarity." This presents risk to the Thrivous brand, associating it with the poor business practices of a shady company (or network). And the problem is getting worse.

A few weeks ago, I published a warning about the CortyX Clarity variation of their product. At the time, there seems to have been a major advertising push for that variation. Google searches for it were skyrocketing. Then at about the time that my warning went live, perhaps only coincidentally or maybe consequently, the searches evaporated.

But that wasn't the end. While the searches for one variation declined, searches for the Cognivex Clarity variation began to increase rapidly. And now, a few weeks later, searches for the new variation are taking off. Another major advertising push has probably begun. Check out this chart from Google Trends, which shows CortyX Clarity searches (in blue) being replaced by Cognivex Clarity searches (in red).

Is Cognivex Clarity for Sale?

Strangely, despite the advertising push, it's not easy to figure out how to buy Cognivex Clarity. When searching for the product via Google, I got one Cognivex review after another, consisting mostly of negative verdicts from real reviewers and positive verdicts from the dark hordes of fake supplement review websites (another topic for another time).

What I didn't get was a website directly offering to sell Cognivex Clarity. But among the search results there were at least a couple websites that promote the product and provide links that purport to take you to an online store. Here's a picture of one of them:

What happens if you click on that "Rush My Trial" button? Well, It takes you to a website that sells IntelligenceRx Cognitive Support. Here's a picture:

On the IntelligenceRx website, I found no mention of Cognivex Clarity at all. And when I submitted order info, the website returned an error message. So, at first, that made me wonder if Cognivex is just a fictional product that someone is using to generate sales leads for other products.

However, just this morning I received (yet another) phone call from a confused person who had received an unwanted bottle of Cognivex Clarity in the mail and asked to stop it. The person actually had a bottle in hand. And I know this because I asked her to read information from it to me. She even described the Cognivex logo on the bottle. So based on that, I imagined that someone must be at least selling the product via telephone, perhaps sharing the Cognivex phone number in TV or radio ads that people can't easily find later.

When I saw the Cognivex promotional website, it was immediately familiar. That's because it uses the same template as one of the websites that promotes CortyX Clarity. And they both include pictures of the same fake reviewers that I mentioned in my review of CortyX. Here's a picture:

I also recognized the IntelligenceRx sales website. It uses the same template as an old version of the CortyX Clarity sales website. And it probably won't come as a surprise that both websites use similar manipulative sales tactics -- so hurry, because they're almost out of stock, like they have been and will be every day. Here's a picture:

As you can see from the pictures, the Cognivex Clarity, CortyX Clarity, and IntelligenceRx websites are strikingly similar in design and message. It's probable that they were planned and implemented by the same persons or teams, or at least by a network of persons and teams that share strategies and templates.

As it turns out, their relationship with each other is not flattering for any of them. In my review of CortyX Clarity, I already pointed out the poor reputation of the businesses that appear to be behind the brand. And although this new Cognivex Clarity label hasn't been around as long, it has also already begun to generate a negative reputation. For example, the Better Business Bureau (BBB) opened a file on Cognivex Booster in July and gave the company an "F" rating.

That's where I found the last clue I needed to figure out the location of the main Cognivex website. The BBB file includes an address of 5710 Ogeechee Rd, Suite 200-215, Savannah GA 31405. I searched Google for that address and found a website that listed the Cognivex Clarity phone number as 888 906 1190 and the email address as support@cognivexbooster.com. And guess what happens if you go to cognivexbooster.com?

Yes. Although it's hard to find (which seems to undermine the efficacy of their new advertising push), Cognivex Clarity is for sale online -- at least, it would be if the website worked, which it did not for me. Here's a picture of their online store:

Look familiar? If you've visited the CortyX Clarity website before, it might. As I mentioned above, there's more than one version of the CortyX website. Here's another version, which is (not surprisingly at this point) strikingly similar to the Cognivex website:

Cognivex Clarity Is NOT the Clarity You Want

You're probably already convinced that Cognivex Clarity is NOT the Clarity you want. But I'll rehearse the reasons. They'll be familiar to anyone who read my review of CortyX Clarity. I'll summarize them in 6 points.

First, Cognivex uses manipulative marketing tactics. For example, there are count-down timers that endlessly reset. There are logos of news websites that almost certainly have never mentioned the product in any flattering way. And there are wildly exaggerated benefit claims (such as "instant super computer mental ability").

Second, the Cognivex Clarity supplement facts aren't easy to find. They don't appear to be available on the Internet, let alone on the Cognivex website. No one should buy a supplement that makes it hard to find the supplement facts, which are required by the FDA. But I wager, even if we could find the supplement facts, that they would claim a proprietary blend that hides the doses of whatever ingredients Cognivex might claim. After all, that's what CortyX does. And I also wager that the ingredients would be dosed at ineffective levels, again like CortyX ingredients. But unfortunately I can't confirm any of this because Cognivex makes this information hard to find -- or altogether hides it.

Third, there's no apparent way to know whether and how Cognivex is testing the quality of its product. We don't know the Cognivex Clarity ingredients. And we don't even know that Cognivex knows the ingredients. Who are their suppliers? Did they run tests to confirm the claims of their suppliers? Do they have any evidence that we should trust the identity or potency of their ingredient claims? What about any reason to trust that they have tested for microbes or heavy metals? I don't know. And nothing on their website helps me know. So I wouldn't put Cognivex Clarity pills in my mouth.

Fourth, the product reviews for Cognivex Clarity are almost certainly fake. They use the same pictures and the same text that appear in the testimonial section of a CortyX Clarity website, as well as a number of other shady brain supplement websites. I'm pretty sure neither John D nor Jane M has ever tried Cognivex Clarity. But even if they have, I wouldn't trust either of them any more than I trust any of the many scams they're trying to push on me.

Fifth, Cognivex may be obfuscating a track record of poor business practices. There's a striking resemblance between the strategy and presentation of Cognivex and CortyX. Somehow these brands are related. They're either the same company, or they're working together, or one is ripping off the other. None of those cases is flattering. If they're the same company or working together then all the negative BBB reviews associated with CortyX (as mentioned in my other article) would be relevant. And if Cognivex is ripping off CortyX then why should we trust them not to rip us off? Either way, it looks bad.

Sixth, the Cognivex Clarity price is a total rip off. Although I couldn't find a way to make the online store work, I did find the product price on their "Terms and Conditions" webpage. It explains that their "trial" isn't free. They immediately charge $5.94 for shipping the trial product. Then they charge $84 for the trial product if the customer hasn't canceled within 14 days. At that time, they also enroll the customer in a product subscription that renews each 45 days for $89.94. Are the 30 pills in a Cognivex Clarity bottle likely to be worth anything close to $3 each? Not for anyone I know. It's an extraordinarily high price, and it's charged in a far-less-than-transparent way. So far as I'm concerned, that's the definition of a scam.

Thrivous Clarity IS the Clarity You Want

Compare all of that with Thrivous Clarity. We charge only $21 per bottle of 60 capsules ($28 without a subscription). That's as low as 35 cents per capsule. Each serving of 2 capsules contains nutrients and doses that have demonstrated nootropic efficacy in multiple peer-reviewed, placebo-controlled, double-blind clinical studies on humans. Both the nutrients and the doses are fully disclosed in our supplement facts, which are prominently displayed on our website. All of our supplier, manufacturing, and third-party quality control test results are also shared prominently from the product webpage. And the studies on which our formula is based are also shared prominently from the product webpage. To top things off, the BBB currently gives Thrivous an "A" rating.

You probably found your way here because you're looking for Clarity. Don't be fooled by the fakes. Thrivous is the Clarity you want.

Originally published at thrivous.com on August 11, 2018 at 09:21PM.