#i use the pen and pencil pens for it cuz it fills better than the watercolor but they both overlap with shading

[ryssbelle]

linktober and inktober prompt day 3: Companion and Path! decided to go more sketchy for this one, since its kid link and his memories of this time may not be super clear!!

[ehstarwar]

the gentler gamester is the soonest winner (1/4)

to sport would be as tedious as to work

"I have a seat thief.” Rey said, clutching the pen harder in her grip.

“A what?”

“A seat thief. Someone who steals my unassigned-assigned seat. It’s been going on all semester in my night class. It’s very frustrating.”

-

Ben steals Rey's seat in class (a crime akin to high treason) and Rey refuses to go down without a fight.

-

Rating: Teen and Up

Word Count: 2K

Read on AO3

Notes: this is an experience dear to my heart and i hope all you fellow over-thinkers will agree with me. in fact, Rey's civility about this whole situation requires a lot of self restraint on my part. (so you're welcome, Ben ಠ_ಠ )

Chapter 1: to sport would be as tedious as to work

-

Rey glanced at the clock for the sixth time this hour. 

5:22. Still time… probably.

She didn’t want to seem impatient or like a bad worker, but there was only so much one could do at a coffee counter when no one has been in it for the last hour and a half. She cleaned the espresso machine twice, refilled the sugar packet and every size of cup, even swept behind the counter and in front of it. All of this was supposed to help the time pass until she and Kaydel could close up and head out for the evening, and yet, here she was, still eight minutes to go.

Kaydel glanced at her and pointedly looked down at the pen Rey was incessantly tapping against the register. 

“Everything okay?” Kaydel asked. Rey knew that Kaydel was polite and was probably asking this anticipating an ‘Oh, yeah, everything is fine’ then moving on from the conversation all together. But not Rey. She had a grievance to air and Kaydel had unwittingly opened the flood gates.

“I have a seat thief.” Rey said, clutching the pen harder in her grip. Kaydel looked back up at her with a very confused expression that makes Rey wish she had her phone out.

“A what?”

“A seat thief. Someone who steals my unassigned-assigned seat. It’s been going on all semester in my night class. It’s very frustrating.”

“Rey… its October. You’ve been fighting with someone, about a seat, for weeks now?”

Rey gulps. A downside to actually being able to get this off her chest is how unbelievably petty this all sounds out loud. 

“It’s a very nice seat; the perfect one! Front row, so I don’t have to worry about seeing the board, right handed table cuz getting stuck at the left handed ones are the worst, and it’s close enough to the door that I don’t get stampeded while trying to make it out in a timely manner. It’s the perfect seat and my seat thief continues to steal it from me because he’s a stupid… seat stealer,” Rey finishes. Kaydel is now looking up at her as if Rey is speaking in a foreign language. 

“Okay then… isn’t your night class right across the street? Don’t you get there like super early?” Kaydel asks. Rey throws her hands in the air.

“I do! I get there ridiculously early! But he’s even earlier. Because he’s a criminal mastermind, I assume.” 

The alert on Rey’s phone goes off indicating that it’s time to officially close up and head to class, so she works with a honed proficiency and is able to walk out of the doors exactly at 5:37. Rey fast-walks, but doesn’t run (she’s not that crazy) into the building and into the room, only to be met with his dark stare. 

Him.

Mr. Seat Thief.

Tall, dark, and criminal. 

They’re the only two people in the classroom and Rey wonders if he can feel the simmering rage rolling off her. She hopes he can. She hopes that he feels the daggers she’s throwing with her eyes. She hopes that he knows that, regardless of how stupid hot he is (with that luscious hair and hands that could cover her entire waist), that he is a thief and Rey has some very choice words for him that shouldn’t be spoken in polite society. 

His head nods to acknowledge her, and despite Rey’s slight urge to flip him off, she returns the gesture and sits her semi-official seat. It’s towards the back, with a pole obstructing the right side of the board, and one seat over from the furthest to the board. Rey tries to temper down her rage, but the silent class room eats at her.

She’s about to march right up to Hottie McSeat Stealer, but a group of kids file in the class, followed closely by Professor Tano. Rey thinks that yelling obscenities at another student wouldn’t give Professor Tano the good impression she desperately needs every authoritative figure to have of her. 

So Rey fights the silent war inside of herself and tries not to focus too much energy on hoping Seat Thief’s pencil breaks. 

-

“Rey, your class isn’t until six; why the hell would you leave now?” Finn asks, incredulous. 

“Rey is sort of fighting this dude for her seat. She thinks she has to get there an hour early to beat him in this game of musical chairs,” Rose’s voice is level and filled with none of the mirth Rey’s definitely would. She imagines that this is what it would feel like if she had a mother who was uninterested in her endeavors, but still knew enough about them to warn her father.

“It isn’t a game. I’m winning my seat back. I won’t be able to focus if I don’t,” Rey says determinedly. She wraps another scarf around her neck before turning to face her friends. Finn is giving Rey the same look Kaydel gave her last week. Rose is flipping through a text book and ignoring the inane argument that feels inevitable now. 

“Rey-Rey, aren’t you a little old to be fighting a boy about a seat?” Poe’s voice calls out from the bathroom. 

“Why don’t you pay more attention to the amount of gel you put in your hair instead of my battle,” Rey calls back. She hears an incredulous gasp from behind the door and smirks to herself. 

“Poe’s got a point. Have you considered talking to him and asking him to move before declaring all out war?” Finn asks. 

“And say what? ‘I know we’re both at the collegiate level, but please get out of my seat because I’m about to have a temper tantrum akin to a four-year-old who was told it’s time for bed’? The only way to fight this is like adults. Passive-Aggressive comments until one of us kill the other or graduate. And I’m unwilling to wait until May for this to be over so… passive-aggressiveness will have to do,” Rey stalks towards the door, ignoring the protest from her friends and heads out to her night class a while hour and a half before six.

It’s going to be a long night.

-

The classroom is blessedly empty when Rey arrives and she has the pleasure of taking her rightful place in her seat. She’d gloat to anyone who asked, but she was alone and not crazy enough to talk to people who weren’t there (in public at least).

Thirty minutes before the start of class, a dethroned, no-longer-seat stealer enters the door way. His eyes are wide when he sees Rey in (what he thinks should be) his seat. She’s got a shit eating grin, typing away on her laptop, and trying to repress the urge to shout ‘Ha! In your face!’

Instead of move his defeated self to the seat she now thinks of as the loser seat, he sits right. next. to. her. 

An empty class room. Roughly seventy-five seats.

Just them. Next to each other. 

Mortal enemies. Thrust into strangely intimate quarters.

It’s… a lot.

Rey thinks this would be easier if he weren’t so beautiful. If his hair didn’t fall so perfectly in his face. If his plush lips didn’t look like they could suck the life right out of her. Easier, Rey thinks.

As it stands, Seat Stealer opens his expensive laptop and Rey finds herself wanting to see what he’s typing. Just to see if he’s keeping a physical list of the times he’s won and the times she’s won, but that’s ridiculous. He is an adult and so is she and keeping a juvenile record of whose won would be insane. 

(Rey keeps her tally on the second to last page of her notebook.)

Instead, Rey hold steady, keeping her attention firmly on her own laptop and biding the time until class starts. Student begin to file in and it’s almost possible for Rey to forget the strange man beside her. 

Almost.

Because of course he smells amazing; like fancy coffee beans and soap products that Gwyneth Paltrow would rave about and warm. Rey doesn’t think she’s ever met a person who smells warm before, but he did. And it was unnerving and a little scary, so Rey really can’t fault herself for having to re-read the same sentence thirteen times. 

His hands are also massive and Rey is decidedly not going to think about what he could do with them.

Seat Stealer is stoic, dutifully typing away, none the wiser to Rey’s internal clusterfuck that is her brain. 

Dr. Tano comes in and starts the lesson, and Rey is finally able to focus on something other than Seat Stealer and she’s honestly considering writing the English department and telling them they need to give her a rise. While English isn’t Rey’s favorite subject, it’s the lesser evil of the humanities the university is forcing her to take and she actually finds that she enjoys it. The depth of the conversations, the possibilities within writing; it’s complex and individually based and a world away from the math equations that take up the majority of her civil engineering course work. 

Class is going perfectly fine, even better now that Rey is back in her seat until Dr. Tano decides to drop a little bomb on Rey’s seat-reclaiming venture. 

“As you all know, midterm grades will be released this coming Monday. I’m sure many of you will have questions about comments, and while I’m happy to answer any questions, I do ask that you contact my assistant Ben about more clerical information. He’s read quite a bit of my chicken scratch before, so I’m sure he could answer any question you have as well…” Dr. Tano moves her hand to indicate where Ben is, or rather should be, but is in fact occupied by Rey.

Seat Stealer (or Ben) raises his hand sheepishly to show that he is the one people should come to with question and no the red-faced, sweaty blob that Rey has devolved into. 

Dr. Tano wraps up class and students begin filing out the door, paying no mind that Rey was not the first one out despite her proximity to the exit, a once thought of benefit to this particular seat. She waits until the majority of students have left or lined up to speak with Dr. Tano, before she even dares to look at him.

Ben is packing up, placing his things delicately in a bag that probably cost the same as a semesters worth of tuition. Rey decides she must right this wrong. If she doesn’t do it now, she will absolutely chicken out and Hottie-Seat-Stealer-Ben will forever think of her as the poor girl who stole his seat on the wrong day.

“You were stealing my seat because your the TA… and TA’s sit up front…” Rey says to him. She would typically start with a bit more normal greeting (Hi! or Hello! or I’d like to see you shirtless or pant-less or both), but feels that their predicament merits forgoing that courtesy. 

“I’m sorry?” He says, looking over to her. God, his voice. 

“You were sitting her because you’re the TA,” She repeats. Ben shrugs as if to say ‘sort of’ before shaking his head.

“It’s really no big deal, it’s just convent for Ashoka- Sorry, Dr. Tano. I think she just got kind of used to me being right there. But, again, no big deal,” Ben says. She want’s to thank him for being so incredibly blasé about the whole thing, but Rey, being Rey, can’t let it go.

“You really should have told me to bugger off. I mean, I ended up being the Seat Thief I assumed you were! I really am sorry.”

“‘Seat Thief’?” He questions, lips upturned in the corner. “I don’t think you could steal something that doesn’t actually belong to me.”

Rey’s cheeks are red, she’s sure of it. “Well, regardless, I apologize. I completely relinquish all seat-beholden right to you. For the semester, at least,” Rey laughs nervously. The slight twitch of Ben’s lips have formed into a broad smile and Rey now regrets the silent time she’s wasted on him earlier. They could’ve talked and she could’ve heard his voice and maybe have even made him smile, but no. She spent it without doing any of those things and she wants to punch herself for letting that happen.

“I appreciate that. But I still don’t think I’d ever tell you to bugger off,” Ben says. 

“Well… good then. Thank you,” Rey says, looking towards the ground to hide the smile pinching her cheeks. “As an apology, I’ll save you seat for you next class. Make sure no other Seat Thieves intrude.”

“That’d be kind of you,” His voice is low and sweet and Rey wants to swim in it. “I’ll… see you around…?” Ben extends a hand towards her. 

“Rey… Niima,” Rey says, taking his hand. It’s large and firm around her and Rey knows why he smells warm; he is warm. Deliciously so.

“Ben Solo.”

[nakediconoclast]

Lists of things to have.

1. Shoe and boot laces – yes, you could use leather laces but why not stock some?

2. Fence posts – entirely too handy not just for fencing but for gardening

3. Barbed wire and chicken wire fencing

4. Cloth diapers – handy for so many things other than the obvious

5. Manual egg/batter beaters – whisks work, but the old-fashioned egg beater is hard to beat

6. Hoyle’s rule book for card games – lots and lots of entertainment in one simple book

7. Dice and dice games rulebooks – as above

8. Goggles – safety ones

9. A way to figure calendars into the future

10. Solar powered fencing – even if you don’t have livestock now, you may have it later. And it can be used as a “first line of defense” or used for parts for other uses

11. Canes – there will come a time when they are needed. Adjustable ones are better

12. Plant pots for starting seedlings. You’ll want various sizes

13. Metal rulers – because they last much longer. Different sizes

14. Rain gauge – for keeping track of rainfall

15. Barometer and something that tells you how to use it to get an idea of the weather

16. Candle molds and a double boiler for melting wax

17. Diaper pins – handy not only for the obvious but for securing lots of things

18. Kits to fix garden hoses – because you can stock 10 hoses but what happens when they break?

19. Cheesecloth – useful not just for cheese for all sorts of canning needs

20. Pea shellers, corn huskers, apple peelers and corers, etc. – all those “yankee tools” that our grandparents had but we no longer use.

21. Mimeograph machine and supplies – IF you can find one.

22. Chalk and blackboards. Blackboard paint isn’t a bad idea either

23. Goo remover aka Goo Gone

24. Eyeglass repair kits – they make handy little ones

25. Canoe – if you live near water or an inflatable raft if you’re not that close. If you get a canoe/raft, consider getting the big Duluth packs that outfitters use – they are waterproof (sorta) and good for packing

26. Oars/paddles – even if you don’t have one of the above, they can be handy for improvised rafts

27. Tire chains – if you live where it snows…

28. Swim goggles – not so much for recreational swimming, but for any time you might need to go into the water for whatever reason

29. Life preservers – if you need them, you need them

30. Reflectors and reflective tape

31. Pregnancy kits – I never see this on prepping lists, but it seems so basic… you want to know if you are so you can make sure to eat right, etc.

32. Neck and ankle braces

33. Canning funnel and jar lifter – often listed, but cannot have enough of these, in metal

34. Pack saddle for horses/mules

35. Liquid Smoke flavoring – my spouse swears by this stuff for nice flavoring

36. Powdered lemon and lime juice – an excellent way to store Vitamin C

37. Songbooks and simple instruments – for entertainment

38. Powdered buttermilk – useful for cooking

39. ClearJel canning starch – for canning pie fillings

40. Pet veterinary supplies – basic wound care is a must

41. Bottle corks of various sizes – for when you lose that bottle lid

42. Room thermometers

43. Bags/cloth to use to bag flowers for seed pollination

44. Clothesline and wooden clothespins

45. Clothes baskets that are actual baskets – they last longer and can be repaired

46. An inflatable kiddie pool – thousands of uses (okay, maybe I exaggerate, but useful nevertheless)

47. Lighter flints for refillable lighters

48. Fountain pens, inkwells and powdered ink – those Bic pens you stockpiled will run out eventually

49. UV window film – to help keep houses cool

50. Mailboxes – metal for all sorts of caches and other storage uses

51. Small paintbrushes – handy for many many things besides just painting

52. Pet carriers – one for each pet

53. Canvas shopping bags – handy for so many things

54. Posthole digger, manual – but try to get all your fencing done before … these things SUCK to use

55. Stovetop waffle makers

56. Wind vane

57. Spare glass bottles of various sizes

58. Mop wringer

59. Manual juicers – glass or metal will hold up better than the cheap plastic ones

60. Measuring cups – metal with engraved markings. Painted on markings will disappear with time

61. Measuring spoons – metal with engraved markings. The commonly used plastic ones with painted on markings will break and fade

62. Jar openers – the type that lets you get leverage on the lid

63. Stovetop popcorn popper – ‘cuz if the SHTF and the grid goes down, so does the microwave popcorn you have in the pantry

64. Leather punch and knife

65. Disposable ear plugs

66. Mechanical pencils and spare pencil lead – see above about pens. Pencil lead takes up a lot less space than traditional pencils

67. Folding cloth camping chairs – entirely too useful and easy to store

68. Microscope and slides

69. Old time photographic equipment – could be a new business!

70. Manual typewriter

71. Paper cutter

72. Manual hair clippers – human and animal

73. Steam juicers – stovetop variety

74. Slingshot and ammo

75. Hard hats

76. Sewing measuring tapes

77. Velcro

78. Sewing patterns – better to have them now … especially easy to sew shirts/pants/coats/outerwear

79. Window insulation foam – for keeping warm

80. Disguised safes – the “fake book” kinds

81. Nicorette gum and quit smoking supplies

82. Tomato powder – another good way to store Vitamin C

83. Citric acid, pectin, alum and Pickle Crisp for canning

84. Straight or safety razor for male shaving

85. Rennet tablets for cheese-making

86. Veterinary wrap – useful for not just animals, but people too

87. Autoclave or something that functions like one

88. Dental mirror

89. Walkers and toilet risers for the elderly and don’t forget bedpans

90. Carry yokes – the old fashioned water carrying yokes

91. CLR cleaner – or other lime/deposit/etc remover

92. Locks – combination, keyed, and other types as needed

93. Moth balls, cedar balls, and smelling salts

94. China markers/grease pencils – these are great for marking containers with what is in them

95. Safety vests

96. Fly paper – stores decently and is really handy. Researching a way to make this stuff is also probably a good idea

97. Foam camping pads for under sleeping bags

98. Winter scarves, gloves, mittens – its easy to forget these when it’s not winter

99. Wind up clocks – how else are you going to keep time if the grid goes down?

100. Tow strap for vehicles

101. Black and brown paint – useful for camouflage, hiding things, and making makeshift showers plus a myriad of other uses.

101 things that you probably already own but will not want to overlook in a SHTF situation. Some of these things you may own, but may not be “longlasting” varieties – perhaps you want to invest in ones that will last when you next purchase them?

1. Hot pads – Replace any worn out or not very thick ones. Mitts are probably best

2. Matches -

3. Playing cards

4. Scissors – heavy duty ones that can be re-sharpened would be best

5. Sewing needles, thread, thimbles, and pins – never ever have too many of these

6. Pet leashes – get good quality leather leashes and collars – easier to repair

7. Pet bowls – metal ones will last longer

8. Shoe laces

9. Garden hoses – good quality ones are best

10. Garden trowels and hand shovels – again – high quality metal ones are best

11. Hand axe

12. Ratchet set

13. Allen wrench

14. Spools of twine

15. Cargo straps

16. Duct tape – obviously you can’t have too much of this!

17. Hammer – is yours in good shape?

18. Screwdrivers – did you buy a cheap set or good quality drop forged steel ones?

19. Flyswatters

20. Bottle openers – thick metal is best

21. Manual can openers – don’t go cheap with this

22. Dish clothes – heavy cloth that will last is best

23. Corkscrew

24. Brooms – are yours good quality straw or cheap plastic? Are they in good shape?

25. Straws – they make glass reusable straws, these would not be bad to have on hand

26. Ice chests

27. Kitchen timers

28. Rubber bands

29. Safety pins

30. Magnifying glasses

31. Mortar and pestle

32. Staples and stapler

33. Life preservers

34. Garden hose nozzles – brass will last longest

35. Fingernail brushes – sanitation will be important

36. Key chains

37. Hair rubber bands and barrettes

38. Erasers

39. Garden sprayer

40. Outdoor thermometers

41. Folding chairs

42. Hangers – wire will last a lot longer than plastic. Wood is also good

43. Ice scrapers

44. Wall hooks

45. Windshield wiper blades

46. Aluminum foil

47. Safety pins – heavy duty

48. Eyedroppers of various sizes

49. Bobby pins

50. Rulers – metal will last longest

51. Three-in-one oil

52. Cargo straps

53. Nails, screws, bolts – making these by hand is a royal pain in the posterior.

54. Wheelbarrow – get a good quality metal or heavy duty plastic one

55. Twist ties – those bread/package ties will be useful – store them, don’t throw them away

56. Plastic bags – bread, ziplock, etc.

57. Maps – road atlases, road maps, etc.

58. Cotton balls – make excellent tinder as well as a thousand and one uses around the house

59. Note pads

60. Indelible markers (i.e. Sharpies)

61. Mechanical pencils

62. Dental floss

63. Pitchers – metal preferred

64. Goo remover (Goo-be-gone)

65. Scouring pads

66. Flower pots – various sizes

67. Vegetable peeler

68. Newspaper, old – keeping at least a couple of weeks old ones won’t ever hurt

69. Insect repellant

70. Sunscreen and aloe gel for when the sunscreen doesn’t work

71. Spare buttons

72. Nail clippers – both human and pet

73. Candle holders – metal or glass ones will last longer than plastic

74. Baby supplies – bottles, blankets, clothes, etc. If you’re like me, you still have baby stuff tucked away in your storerooms – even if you don’t have a baby after SHTF, you can always trade the stuff…..

75. Bicycles – are yours all set for hard use?

76. Metal garbage cans

77. Binoculars

78. Cloth napkins

79. Paper clips – not only useful for their normal function, but handy for other uses

80. Cold and hot packs – those lovely rubber bags

81. Lip balm

82. Utility knives – the kind that take the disposable blades or razor blades

83. Extension cords – indoor and outdoor

84. Air mattresses or cots – chances are good you’re going to have guests – where are they going to sleep?

85. Bay leaves – not just a spice, but useful to repel insects

86. Cellophane tape dispenser and tape – get a heavy duty one

87. Paper bags and manila envelopes – handy for storing things

88. Rubber boots

89. Knitting needles – learn to knit! It’s a great survival skill

90. Toothpicks

91. Kitchen utensils – you want metal ones or wooden, not plastic.

92. Barometer

93. Duffle bags – waterproof and with shoulder straps are best

94. Spare pill bottles – keep old prescription bottles

95. Tabasco sauce – along with other such condiments

96. All those takeout condiment packets – make great barter items as well as being generally handy

97. Bag clips -

98. Solar calculators

99. Board games

100. Dust pans – metal will last longer

101. Carmex (or other medicated lip balm)

[mosylufanfic]

Two Truths and a Lie

Killervibe Week Day Six: Soulmates

(I’m working on day 5. It’s haaaaaard.)

Also I never took a single science class in college so if I got this way off base, let me know.

Two Truths and a Lie

The lab was filled with deafening sound as people came in and got settled and said hi to each other. Caitlin parked herself at an empty table and started setting out her lab notebook and her pencil case.

"This seat taken?" said a boy with long hair and a Star Trek t-shirt, giving her a bright smile. 

She shook her head. 

"Thanks." He dropped his bag on the table and rooted around in it. "I was afraid I was going to be late."

Caitlin nodded at the front of the room. "You're okay. Professor Stein just walked in."

"Settle down," the prof called out. "Settle down! Let's get started, people. You all know me, if you were at the lecture yesterday." He narrowed his eyes at them. "If you weren't at the lecture yesterday, we're going to have a problem."

The boy laughed. Caitlin didn't. 

He leaned over. "Hey, don't be fooled. Stein puts on a mean face, but it's all crust. He's pretty chill, actually."

"I'm not worried," Caitlin whispered back. "Shhh."

"The first thing we're going to do," Professor Stein announced, "is go around the room and introduce ourselves. We'll all be working closely in this lab and you should know each other." He looked over his glasses. "And none of those silly fake names you kids do these days."

"But sir," said a boy in the front row, tall and lanky and bright-eyed. "What if our soulmate is in the room? The only way we'll know is if we can't lie to them."

"We're a group of less than twenty," Stein said. "Even if you assumed that your soulmate was on this campus and not any of the million other places in the world they could possibly be, the odds of them being in this room with us is -" He narrowed his eyes momentarily.

"Point four-five percent," Caitlin said.

Stein bestowed a smile on her. "Well calculated."

"But mathematically speaking, there's still a chance," said the boy at her table. He turned and grinned at her. “I mean, they’re our soulmate. We have to meet them somewhere, right?”

The rest of the lab group giggled. 

"You know, in my day, we didn't have soulmates," Professor Stein said. "We fell in love and dated and got our hearts broken."

"That sounds awful," the boy said. 

"Such a waste of time," Caitlin muttered. 

The boy glanced at her, looking surprised. "Not to mention getting your heart broken must've sucked."

"It did suck," Stein said. "But it made us better. Stronger." He looked around at the hopeful faces and rolled his eyes. "Fine," he said. "Fine. Do the silly names, it's not like you've got several experiments to run through this session. But I'm warning you, if you find your soulmate in the next five minutes, you'll refrain from true love's kiss until after class, understood?"

Everyone giggled again. 

Stein rolled his eyes again, but the corner of his mouth quirked up. Caitlin thought the boy next to her might have a point about it all being a put-on. "We'll start with you," the prof said, pointing at the lanky boy who'd argued for the fakes. 

He said brightly, "My name is Albert Einstein!" His face fell as he was able to tell the obvious lie with no problem at all. "I mean. Barry Allen."

No soulmate for you, Caitlin thought. Not today, anyway.

He wasn't the only one to start with a fake name, but he was the only one who looked so deeply disappointed by his ability to lie. Most of them picked a scientist - Galileo, Marie Curie, Stephen Hawking. It was a bunch of science majors, after all. 

A few people just said their own name, smiling the smug smile of a person who'd already found their soulmate when everyone else looked at them. 

When it came to her, Caitlin said, "Caitlin Snow," without any fuss, and looked down at her notebook. 

She hadn't found her soulmate yet, but she was only twenty. There was time. She was here to learn, not get tied down for the rest of her life to a stranger.

Everyone thought soulmates were so sweet and romantic. Try to tell a mild lie and discover the person you were meant to spend your life with.

But the thought filled her with dread. What if they wanted to get married right away? Have kids right away? She'd heard horror stories of people who gave up their dreams for a person they'd barely met. She had a lot of dreams, and no intention of giving up a single one of them.

To her surprise, the boy next to her said, "Cisco Ramon," without correcting himself, either. She stole a glance at him. He was looking at his notebook, too, brows drawn together. Maybe he was concerned about this class. Stein was supposed to be tough.

"Fine," Dr. Stein said. "Now that charade is done with, and we can move on to our experiments. For today, work with the person next to you."

"Sweet," Cisco Ramon said, his pensive look evaporating. "Lab buddies!" He put out his fist. "You bump it," he added when Caitlin didn't make a move.

"Oh," she said, and did. He grinned triumphantly and handed her a pair of safety goggles. 

She found she liked working with him. He made lots of pop-culture references and jokes, and chattered the entire time, but his science was solid. Not to mention, his smiles made her feel like she’d swallowed hot chocolate, and his high fives when something went right made her feel like Marie Curie.

By the end of the lab session, she'd learned that he was bilingual, had grown up in Central City, was living at home while he went to school - "only cuz it's cheaper, believe me" - planned to be a mechanical engineer, and had a firm opinion on the proper order of the Star Wars movies and which captain of the Enterprise was the best. 

She'd also decided that she would ask him to be her permanent lab partner.

"Sorry if I talked your ear off," he said as they were cleaning up. They'd had to re-start one of their experiments, and they were among the last ones in the room. "If you want the truth, I was a little weirded out and that's sort of the way I cope."

"I didn't mind," she said, packing her lab notebook in her bag. "Weirded out by what?" She held her breath. What if he'd been weirded out by her?

"Can you keep a secret?"

"What?"

"So you know how I just said my real name when we were all introducing ourselves?"

"Yes, I noticed." He hadn't mentioned his soulmate at all, she realized. Not once. 

"I did have a fake name ready to go," he said. "Guacardo."

"Isn't that the avocado?"

"Might as well have fun with it, right? But when I started to say it, I couldn't. It was like there was something in my throat, or my tongue froze up. It was the weirdest sensation."

She looked up, eyes wide. "But that means - "

"My soulmate was in this room." His smile beamed out, big and excited, and then he sobered. "But nobody else looked like they couldn't lie. What does that mean?” He looked tragic. “Oh, shit, what if I'm one of those poor saps where like, they're my soulmate, but I'm not their soulmate? Oh, shit."

She focused on putting all her pens and pencils and highlighters back in her pencil case. “Maybe, um, maybe they didn’t try to lie.”

“Who would do that, unless they already had their soulmate?”

“Maybe it’s someone who wants to focus on school and not think about a soulmate, and just decided to tell the truth all the time until they were ready.”

“Ready for what? Like I’m going to drag them to a courthouse and make them marry me just because we found each other?”

“M-maybe?”

“Come on. I’ve got dreams and stuff. I don’t want to be married and settled down yet either.” He scowled. “Who would take that risk? Who would want to wait? What if you never run across your soulmate ever again?”

“Maybe it sounded like a good idea before.”

Before. Before she was faced with a smiling boy with his shiny hair and his nerdy jokes, who looked so disappointed that his soulmate might want to put off meeting him. 

He shook his head and hoisted his bag onto his shoulder. “I’m gonna say something at the start of next class. I don’t care if Stein gets mad. I just want to know.”

She grabbed his arm. “Cisco? Ask me my name.”

“What? You’re Caitlin - “ He stared at her. 

“Please,” she said. “Just ask.”

“O - okay? What’s your name?”

Rachel, she thought. Madison. Danielle. 

But all the names that weren't hers bottled up in her throat, refusing to be spoken aloud. 

His eyes went wide with wonder and happiness.

“Caitlin,” she gasped. “My name is Caitlin Snow.”

He took her hand and wrapped it in his. “It is so good to meet you, Caitlin Snow.”

FINIS

[manyimaginativemuses]

Small Bump - Chapter 10

Rating: M+

Warnings: HERE IS AN EXTRA LONG CHAPTER CUZ IT’S BEEN A HOT MINUTE SINCE I POSTED!!!

Read on AO3

Despite his own fears, Michael continued to stay close to Lucy for the next few weeks. The only times he left her alone were when she went to the bathroom and when he got phone calls from the Cooperative. Lucy was beginning to get curious about this newfound affection. Michael had always been protective of her, especially when she was pregnant, but this was starting to border on clingy. She wasn’t exactly uncomfortable with it, in fact she rather enjoyed the extra attention, but it was worrying her a bit given how it was slightly out of character for him.

Another time when Lucy managed to get away during those clingy weeks was when she wanted to see Melanie and Ally. Melanie’s pregnancy was progressing exactly as planned and she was over the moon about it. Unfortunately for Lucy, her pregnancy wasn’t exactly normal. Not only was she still experiencing the extreme morning sickness (if one could even call it that since it lasted all day), but her nights were slowly but surely being filled with nightmares. Every night, Lucy was having heart stoppingly terrifying nightmares. They ranged from her normal fears of heights and spiders to her darker, more twisted fears of Michael and her children dying or ruling hell. Lucy had her head in her hands as she explained all this to Melanie and Ally as they sat in her living room. As Melanie’s due date got closer and closer, Lucy wanted to be with her best friend more often, and that afternoon she decided to bring Ally along with her so all her friends could meet up.

“Have you been able to get any sleep with these crazy ass dreams?” Melanie asked, handing Lucy a cup of her ginger tea as the redhead let out a heavy sigh.

“Well yeah, but I just keep waking up with overwhelming anxiety. Michael’s presence definitely helps but then again, it’s also not helping at the same time. Some mornings I wake up and my depression is just kicking my ass, and he’s almost suffocating with how much affection he gives me.” Lucy explained with a chuckle.

“I find it funny how just a few weeks ago, you were complaining that you didn’t see him enough. Now that you got your wish, you’re complaining that you’re seeing him too much.” Ally said with a laugh, “But I get where you’re coming from. When I was pregnant with Oz, my emotions were all over the place. One minute I wanted my wife as close as possible, the next I wanted nothing to do with her.”

“The thing is I don’t know how to handle it. I wasn’t like this during any of my previous pregnancies. Like this time around, everything is heightened so much more than normal for me. I wonder if that has anything to do with the fact that I’m carrying twins?” Lucy then grabbed a pencil and her sketchbook off the side table, drawing Michael’s eyes as a way to calm her nerves. Melanie felt her heart ache for her friend. She reached over and took Lucy’s hand, pressing it to her belly where her child was moving.

“Luce, just think, in a few weeks you’ll be feeling this yourself. Just focus on that. Focus on the two beautiful little lives inside you. Forget about everything else that’s upsetting you… Just think of them.” Melanie’s words made Lucy tear up. Her hormones were continuing to make her emotional, and to hear her friend say such sweet words was making her weak. She took her hand back and pressed it against her own belly. At 15 weeks, she had really started to pop. Since she was so skinny and short to begin with, her belly was quite obvious when compared to how it used to be. Lucy could sense the energy of her twins under her hand. She could feel their rapid pulses and when she closed her eyes to enhance the sensations, the lights in the room began to flicker. Books suddenly flew off the shelves and all the candles in the room simultaneously came alight.

“What the hell?!” Melanie gasped at the sudden display of power. Ally couldn’t stop staring at Lucy as she realized it was coming from her. She swallowed dryly as the idea that Lucy’s sudden strange powers were connected to the Cooperative somehow popped into Ally’s head. After all, if the Cooperative controlled everything, how else other than magic could that be accomplished?

“Lucy!” Ally shouted and Lucy snapped out of her haze. The candles extinguished all at once and everything finally stood still. The two other women stared at Lucy as if she had a second head. Lucy quirked her eyebrow in confusion as she frantically scanned the room.

“Uhhh…. Why are you looking at me like that?” She asked. She had basically tuned out of reality when her senses heightened. Her magic had spiralled out of control in that moment and she hadn’t even realized it.

“Lucy, are you ok?” Ally asked, both nervously and curiously. If being a part of the Cooperative gave someone magical abilities, Ally definitely wanted to be the leader of the group even more than before. This strange situation only further fueled Ally in her dark plan.

“I’m fine? Why, what happened?”

“Luce, you didn’t just see all those books fly off the shelves and the candles suddenly light themselves out of nowhere?” Melanie said, just as confused as Ally was.

“No?” Lucy then looked beside her, spotting books strewn all across the floor. It was then that she realized her powers had gone haywire while she tried to sense her children. There were a few moments of awkward silence before a sudden wave of nausea gripped at Lucy’s stomach. She ran past her friends and vomited into the toilet violently. In her mind, Lucy was more confused than ever. Not only had her powers gone out of control, but the second she came back to herself, she couldn’t stop herself from puking up everything she had in her stomach. When she finally stopped getting sick, Lucy sat back on her heels and putting her head in her hands.

“What the hell are you two doing to me?” She whispered as she gently rubbed her belly, trying to understand all the strange chaos.

“Lucy?” Ally’s voice piped up as she knocked on the door, “Lucy are you ok in there?”

“I’m fine! I’m fine, really…” Lucy called out as Melanie put her hand on Ally’s shoulder and gestured toward the door.

“Hey Luce, I think Ally and I are gonna go back to my place. She said she would help me set up the crib. So if you feel better later, feel free to come by alright?” Melanie shouted and Lucy sighed heavily.

“Yep. That’s fine. You kids go have fun.” Lucy said with a weak laugh as Melanie and Ally promptly left the apartment. A few moments later, Lucy finally got her strength back and stood up, grabbing onto the towel rack for support as she was still a bit woozy. Glancing at herself in the mirror, she immediately became worried. She was even more pale than normal, her freckles seemingly more noticeable as well. Her multicolored eyes seemed to have lost their trademark sparkle and somehow, she was even skinnier than she was before she was pregnant. It was then that she also really started to wonder what her pregnancy was doing to her abilities. She’d never really used them before except for when they were really necessary. However, the fact that they just went crazy for almost no reason made Lucy concerned as to what could possibly happen as her pregnancy progressed. She felt like in order to get them back under control, she needed to start putting them to use. Maybe by releasing the pent up magical energy, it would spare her from dramatic accidents later on.

When Michael returned later that evening, he was surprised to find Lucy with a large spell book in her lap. She had her long red hair pulled back as she focused intensely on the book in front of her.

“And just what exactly has triggered my soulmate to FINALLY investigate her abilities?” Michael asked as he approached. He could sense the power in the air as he got closer. The sheer strength she possessed was making the hair on the back of his neck stand up. Lucy looked up when she heard his voice, a gentle smile crossing her face.

“Something happened earlier with Melanie and Ally. I think the twins are affecting my abilities and I just want to make sure I’m not losing them completely.” Lucy explained, tucking a loose strand of hair behind her ear.

“I’ve been waiting for so long to truly help you with your power. You’re the only one equal to me in that respect, but you barely know how to use said power. I’ve been craving to teach you how to become the Supreme I know you’re meant to be.” Michael said with a smile, sitting beside her on the bed. He glanced at the spells she was looking at, quirking an eyebrow at how advanced the spells were, “Ok, so those kinds of spells might be a little too hard for you right now. Why don’t we start off with something simpler?” He suggested, closing the book all together. Lucy looked at him, confused for a moment, before he picked up the pen she had been using to take notes. He then held it in front of her, resting it in his palm.

“Move this pen with your mind. Throw it across the room.” Michael commanded and Lucy blinked as she stared at the pen. It wasn’t long before she felt energy building under her skin. Her body felt like it was vibrating as all of a sudden, the pen flew out of Michael’s hand and smacked straight into the door. Michael couldn’t stop the small laugh that escaped him at this feat.

“Very good, Lucinda! Now I already know you’re proficient in pyrokinesis,” As he said that, Lucy smirked in agreement as all of the candles in the room spontaneously lit up from her magic. Michael chuckled at this display before speaking again, “How about you give this a try: control my mind. Force me to do something against my will.” His demand made Lucy a bit concerned.

“A-are you sure? I’m not sure I’ll be able to do that.”

“Lucinda, my Precious Starlight, you are definitely strong enough to do that. Now make me do something. Control my mind.” He demanded again and Lucy swallowed dryly. Closing her eyes, she tried to focus on the bond she shared with Michael. She felt the buzzing under her skin increase as she searched through their bond. Once she got a good grip on it, Lucy felt the air leave the room as she tried to control his mind… To force him to do the one thing she’d always asked of him but he’d never done. Michael soon felt a presence in his mind, forcing his self control out the window. Soon enough, he was revealing his true face, his skin paling and his eyes turning black as the White Faced Demon was forced to the front lines.

“Lucinda…” Michael’s voice was deeper and trembling with fear as Lucy opened her eyes. She gasped as she gazed upon his true face… The face of the White Faced Demon, “Lucinda, what have you done?!” Michael whispered as he pulled away from her. Lucy then grabbed his hand, forcing him to look at her by using her control over him.

“Michael… I’m not scared of you.” She whispered, trying to soothe him as she stared into his empty black eyes, “I love you, my darling. I love every single part of you and this is the one side of you you’ve always refused to show me. You said to force you to do something. I forced you to bare your entire soul to me.” Lucy reached over and cupped his white face in her hands, her finger tracing the bloody pentagram on his forehead. Michael was trembling under her touch as if he was trying to hold something back, “I love both the beauty and the beast, the man and the demon… Michael and The Antichrist. And now, I finally see all of you.” Lucy said, finally releasing her control on him. His face immediately turned back to normal and his eyes turned blue once more. He stared at her with a look of both shock and adoration clear on his face.

“I thought you hated that side of me…” He muttered and Lucy shook her head.

“Not anymore. I used to be terrified of that side of you. I was worried about what you were capable of… But I learned over time that no matter what, you are my soulmate.” She took his hand and placed it on her belly, allowing him to feel the sheer energy of their children inside her, “You’re also the father of my children. I chose you to love and father my children. I knew what I was getting into when I agreed to that.” Lucy’s words made Michael let out a shaky breath.

“I’m sorry… I’m just not exactly used to this kind of compassion. You’re pretty much the only person who’s shown me this kind of kindness without wanting anything in return. Even though we’ve been together for years, I’m still shocked by you quite often.” Michael said with a dark laugh. Lucy just smiled and caressed his cheek while he pressed his hand more firmly on her belly.

“I love you. I’ve always loved you.” Lucy said and Michael nodded in response, “I’m sorry I forced you into revealing your true face.”

“No… It’s fine. I asked you to control my mind. You did what I asked of you. If you’d like, we can continue. After all, you are the Supreme.” Michael teased after pulling himself back together. Lucy just laughed at him and shook her head.

“How the hell can you do that? You have an emotional outburst one moment and the next you’re suddenly calm and collected again.” Lucy scoffed. Michael simply just rolled his eyes and raised an eyebrow.

“I think it might be because I’m not entirely human. But then again, it might just be the way I am, darling.” He winked at her, causing Lucy to laugh.

“Fine. Ok. What else do you want me to dor?” She asked as she crossed her arms.

“There’s a specific book somewhere in this room. A book that happens to be my favorite book from when I was a child. I’ve never told you the name of this book, but I want you to find it. I want you to sense where the book is in this room and bring it back to me.” Michael explained. Lucy narrowed her eyes, unsure of how or even if she’d be able to do that. Regardless, she nodded and closed her eyes, trying to hone in on the book Michael was talking about. Suddenly, it seemed as if all the noise in the room was silenced. The entire room went completely silent except for the sound of a soft pulse. When Lucy opened her eyes, she stood up and followed the sound of the pulse. Walking across the room to a small wooden bookcase, Lucy pushed past other books and found the source of the noise. She pulled the small book out and looked at the cover, letting out a laugh of surprise when she read the title.

“Peter Pan? Really?!” Lucy asked as she held out the book and Michael nodded with a laugh.

“I was not really allowed to be a child, Lucinda. Just the idea of a boy being lucky enough to stay a child forever was basically a dream for me.” Michael shrugged. Lucy just shook her head again before hopping in the bed beside him.

“No matter how much I think I know you, you always find new ways to surprise me.” Lucy laughed and Michael smirked in response.

“I’m always full of surprises.” He winked at her again before taking her hand in his, “The next test might be a bit difficult, seeing that you’re pregnant. I’m not even sure if you should attempt this just yet.”

“Why, is it dangerous?”

“No, not at all. It’s just that I’m unsure if it will work since you’re carrying two other lives inside you. It’s called Transmutation, which is just a fancy way of saying Teleportation.” He explained and Lucy quirked an eyebrow. She’d always seen Michael teleport anywhere he wanted, but she was unsure if she could do it herself.

“Well it’s worth a try. After all, in order to be a Supreme, I have to complete the Seven Wonders right?” She took a deep breath and focused on the inside of their closet. She envisioned the walk in closet in her minds eye, noting every little detail before forcing herself to project her body into that space. Soon enough, Lucy vanished from the bed and reappeared inside the dark closet. Her first instinct was to check on her children, her hands flying to her small belly. She let out a sigh of relief when she felt their presences still nestled deep within her womb.

“Lucinda?” Michael called out, a bit shocked that she had managed to do it. Lucy opened the closet door with a smile, laughing softly when she saw Michael’s surprised expression, “Well I’ll be damned! Nice work, my love.” He stood up from the bed and approached her, wrapping an arm around her and pulling her in for a kiss. She happily kissed back for a moment before tapping him on the nose with her index finger.

“I’m always full of surprises, Michael.” She teased, throwing his own words back at him, “What’s next? There’s two more wonders to complete.” She asked but Michael’s face fell in response.

“The last two of the Seven Wonders will have to wait until after the twins are born. These two wonders deal with the balance between life and death. If done improperly or failed completely, you could die. I know for a face that your pregnancy could alter the outcome of these tests, so we’ll wait on those strengths until after our family is finally complete.” Michael’s words made Lucy blink in confusion but despite her confusion, she did understand where he was coming from. He wanted to protect all three of them. Lucy simply nodded in response before taking Michael’s hand and putting it on top of her belly. He smiled as she did so, his thumb lovingly stroking the rounded skin.

“You know, despite knowing the fact that nothing could ever possibly hurt you, I’m still terrified I’ll lose you in childbirth.” Michael’s voice went quiet as more of his fears bubbled to the surface. It seemed to Lucy that the longer they were in the Sanctuary, the more Michael dropped his dark Antichrist persona around her. Many times Lucy heard him angrily yelling on the phone in his domineering tone only to revert back to the young teenage boy she had fallen in love with the second he hung up the phone. She was probably the only person left alive that saw Michael this way.

She also was the only one who knew how deadly serious he was about his childbirth fears.

“Michael, I’m not gonna die in childbirth. These babies are gonna come out safely and without a hitch, I promise you.”

“You don’t know that. What if something goes wrong? What if I’m not able to bring you back?” He started to panic as his fears began to consume him but Lucy simply took his face in her hands and forced him to look at her.

“Michael, listen to me, I’m not like your mother. Our children won’t kill me. Our twins may be the children of the Antichrist, but they’re not Antichrists themselves. We’re going to raise them better than you were. They won’t be consumed by the darkness that lives within both of us.” Lucy’s words made Michael let out a shaky sigh. She was right… She was always right…

“Forgive me for being anxious. It’s just that neither of us have had the best experiences with this sort of thing.” Michael gave a weak smile and rested her forehead against his.

“We’re gonna be ok… We’re all gonna be ok.”

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

TAGS:

@wroteclassicaly @katiekitty261 @thelangdoncooperative @icylangdon @darklangdon @langdonslacefront @langdvn @langdonsrapture @langdonscherry @mytrash-mylife @arielle90 @michaels-slut @thechurchoflangdon @the-captain-kidd @lex-in-affex @plainsarah-jane @kellysimagines @langdonsdemon @sodanova @ccodyfern @xlangdons-evilbabygirlx @ritualmichael @yourkingcodyfern @sojournmichael @i-dont-give-a-fucky @midnight-dreamingsouls @psychofern @queencocoakimmie @softlangdvn @duncans-donuts @duncs-donuts @lovelykhaleesiii @sweetlangdon @hisgirlwonder @ave-michael 

[nyewclear]

doin’ some dialogue practices for creative writing class! i had to write dialogue based off of images n stuff :^)

. one . > picture > characters: max | teeny

The clouds swirled overhead, forming obscure and vague shapes that somehow Teeny managed to pick things out of.

“Look!” she crowed, pointing her finger at a nondescript blob of clouds that looked more like a lump to Max than anything. “Issa turtle.” Max wrinkled his nose as he squinted up at the clouds.

“It does not look like a turtle,” he said flatly, putting a hand up to his face to shield his eyes from the sun.

Teeny snorted, turning on her side to flick Max on the cheek. The freckles dotted across her nose had gotten darker from all the time she’d spent in the sun lately. “You’re jus’ uncreative! What does it look like to you?”

The corners of Max’s mouth turned down. It literally looked like nothing. It was a smear of white across the sky. “Um…” he started, feeling Teeny’s big eyes stare at him from the side. “I don’t know? Maybe a…” He peered at the sky a little more, trying to see something. The clouds writhed in the sky above them. “A g… ghost?”

Teeny snorted again, louder this time, and it dissolved into laughter as she flopped back onto her back. Max made a face, trying to keep from laughing himself. “You suck at this, Maxie,” she teased lightly before staring off into the sky for another long moment.

It was quiet when Max sat up after a minute or so. He could feel the grass stains seeping into the backs of his pant legs. There was a rumble in the distance.

“It’s planting season, isn’t it?” he asked idly, plucking grass from the ground and twisting it between his fingers. He looked back to see Teeny fold her arms behind her head. Her eyes were closed, inky black lashes fanned across her cheeks.

“Sure is, cuz,” she replied. “Daddy’s probably runnin’ the tractor over the hill.”

“Soybeans this year?” Teeny opened one eye to gaze at him.

“Nope! Corn this time. We did soybeans last year.” There was a silence. “Remember when you ran through that soybean field by the pig pen and stepped on the hornet’s nest?”

Max grimaced. “You laughed at me for, like, two hours. That hurt so bad. I couldn’t walk for a week.” Teeny grinned at him full force and it was almost blinding.

“You city slickers know nothin’ ‘bout the stuff that creeps around in those fields. You’re lucky you didn’t get bit by a cobra or somethin’.” Max gaped at her.

“There aren’t any cobras in the middle of Ohio, TT.”

There was a mischievous glint in Teeny’s eyes. “You don’t know that.”

. two . > picture > characters: boomer | oliver

The office desk shook violently when a pair of hands slammed down onto it, making Boomer’s pen skid to the side of the form he was filling out. Ophelia was going to kill him. She was always so adamant about having all the museum’s human resources paperwork filled out so very neatly. His brow crumpled with annoyance, looking up to probably frown deeply at whoever had made him do this, only to see a flushed faced Oliver looking down at him.

“Is it true?” was all he said, his voice stretched thin and layered with something that sounded like anger. Disappointment? Betrayal? Boomer couldn’t tell. He set down his pen, carefully, quietly.

“Is… is what true?” Oliver leaned back, green eyes ablaze. They looked watery.

“About you,” he bit out, forcing the words out of his mouth like they were foul.

Boomer cast him a bemused look. “About me?” The fact that Boomer had simply repeated Oliver seemed to bother him more. He crossed his arms stiffly across his chest.

“Yes. About you. And Valentina.”

Oh.

Boomer didn’t know how to answer this, his mouth working uselessly. He’d like to say that he’d forgotten about Oliver and Valentina and their very, very complicated history, and he’d like to say that he had thought about that before he’d kissed Valentina over the summer (he’d kissed her many, many times. But to be fair, she always kissed him first), and he’d like to say that he’d felt bad-- guilty even-- throughout all of this, but he didn’t. He really didn’t.

“I thought you and Ross were together,” he said lamely, biting his lip.

“We are,” Oliver snapped, exasperated. “But you? And Lenn-- Valentina? Are you kidding me? Are you f… are you serious?”

“You… you guys broke up in freshman year.” Oliver smacked the table again. The tin of pens on the corner of the table rattled.

“That doesn’t matter!” he retorted, even though it mattered a lot. He’d started dating Ross three months after Valentina broke up with him. It shouldn’t matter anymore. “You know how much she meant to me. You were there when things ended.”

“Oliver, just because I’m your roommate doesn’t mean that I--”

“You were,” Oliver interrupted suddenly, voice flat and brimming with something terrifying. Boomer had the urge to stand up. It was unnerving to be looked down on by Oliver.

“... What?” It came out as almost a whisper.

“You heard me.”

A hot flush came rising up Boomer’s neck and flooded into his cheeks. He sputtered, “B… but-- You already submitted your roommate request. We’ve been roommates for two years, you can’t just--”

“I already did.” Oliver’s voice wavered, and Boomer realized that his friend’s eyes had brimmed with tears. They threatened to spill as Oliver reached into his back pocket and thwacked a folded piece of paper down onto the table. “I apparently can’t trust you to not stab me in the back, so I told housing I’m living off campus.”

“Oliver--” Boomer’s eyes flicked to the paper. It was folded so sloppily that he could see the bold heading of the page peeking through one of the flaps. Notice of resignation, it read. All the breath was abruptly sucked from Boomer’s lungs. Oliver turned on his heel, began to walk towards the door.

“Don’t you ever talk to me again, Boomer,” Oliver went on over his shoulder, his voice shaking so badly that it would be impossible to believe that he wasn’t crying. Boomer watched Oliver’s back, watched him reach up and viciously wipe tears from his cheeks. “I hope you and Lenny last longer than she did with me.”

He was out the door in a second, his footsteps only a faint echo down the hall. Boomer wanted to call out to him, wanted to call him back, but he couldn’t find the words.

. three . > picture > characters: rosiane | james There was a loud crash from the living room, one that sounded like shattered glass and toppled chairs. The sound reverberated throughout the house, traveling up the stairs to Rosiane’s bedroom. Her pencil halted in the middle of her sentence as she looked up from her homework. A momentary silence passed and it made Rosiane uneasy, so she pushed back from her desk and clicked off her lamp. 

“James?” she called, shoving her feet into her slippers as she left her room and began to pad down the stairs. “Are you okay?” There was no response. She opened her mouth to say her brother’s name again, turning the corner that led from the hallway to the mouth of the living room to see the disaster in there.

“James??” Rosiane shrilled, rushing into the living room and to her brother. He was sitting in what had been the rounded coffee table, the glass surface all fragmented into a thousand pieces and the wooden base splintered under his weight. He was sitting there with a stunned sort of stupefied look on his face, bloodied scratches from the glass on his bare arms. He turned to look at her, big green eyes overflowing with tears.

“Rosie… Rosie, I broke the table,” he sniffled, the words coming out slow. Rosiane let out a sob mixed with a laugh, trying to navigate her way to him without getting glass stuck in her slippers.

“Oh, James, what on earth did you do?” There was another moment of James simply just sitting there looking lost, tears still running down his ruddy cheeks.

“I was trying to use my quirk,” he answered, looking down at his hands, his palms up and open on his thighs. A crushing sympathy tore through Rosiane’s chest, and she carefully lowered herself down next to James, glass crunching under her feet.

“Jameski…”James curled his fingers tightly into his palms, squeezing his eyes shut as he did so. More tears spilled down his face. “I wanna be… I wanna be like you, Rosie,” he mumbled, his chin quivering. His dark hair fell over his eyes and Rosiane reached out to tuck some behind his ear. “I tried to do it like you told me, to concentrate on the object, to… to reach out to it, and-- and it would...” He sighed heavily, shakily, shoulders hunching up to his ears.

“What were you trying to move?” Rosiane asked softly, ungracefully plonking her butt to the floor to release the strain on her legs. Glass painfully poked into her pajama pants and she met this fact with a wince. James curled into her like he was trying to hide.

“The picture frame by the TV.” Rosiane looked over at the television across from them, knowing exactly the picture James was talking about. It was a photo that her dad had taken the day they’d moved to their new house in Musutafu after leaving Kensington. James was just a baby, held in her mother’s arms, and Rosiane had been a skinny girl of nine. Her two front teeth had been missing.

The picture hadn’t moved from the spot that it had always been, perched on the TV stand like it had been for the past seven years. Rosiane assumed that James had climbed onto the coffee table for a better angle and it had given out on him.

“Jameski, you know these things take time,” she murmured, rubbing her hand up and down her brother’s back gingerly. She thought that she could feel glass in the back of his shirt. Her brother was beginning to cry into her shirt, big, heaving sobs that soaked the fabric through in moments.

“R-Rosie, I c-can’t do it,” he said through his tears, hands gripping her shirt in fistfuls. “I can’t, it’s s-so hard.”

“Shh… don’t rush it. It’s okay, Jameski, it’s gonna be fine.” A minute stretched into what felt like an eternity, the only noises being the clock ticking away on the wall and James’ blubbering into her shirt. It took a long while for James to calm down and stop crying, a while until James peeled his face away from Rosiane’s shirt and instead pressed his wet cheek to her chest like he was trying to hear her heartbeat.

“My q-quirk’s weak, isn’t it,” he hiccupped quietly. Rosiane gasped without meaning to, her eyebrows knitting together.“Oh, my God, no, it’s not! I never want to hear you say that again.” She paused before continuing, “My quirk was slow in manifesting too, did you know that?” James peered up at her with his puffy eyes, her shirt crumpling under his cheek. “Yup. I was so frustrated with it that I gave up on trying to summon golems for almost an entire year. It was like my quirk hadn’t even manifested at all.

“But I had to be patient. Not only with my quirk, but with myself. It’s exhausting to be angry at yourself about your quirk and it not being insanely strong right away. I had to learn to take my time, to pace myself, and not push myself too much before I started to see any real progress at all.” She smiled a little down at James, a long, straight lock of hair falling down her shoulder. “And you know what? I remember my first tiny little golem-- one made of air. I’d summoned it while sitting at the kitchen table back in Kensington and it was incredible. Definitely worth waiting for. Definitely worth trying for.” She gave James a little shake, her arm tucked firmly around his back. “So don’t you ever say your quirk is weak. I know you’re gonna be so frickin’ strong someday, Jameski. You’re gonna be stronger than me. It’s gonna be awesome.”

“You think so?” James squeaked. Rosiane smiled big this time, using her thumb to brush the nearly-dried tears from James’ cheeks.

“I know so.”

[im-basically-logan]

Happy Density Day!

haha get it cuz the formula for density looks like a heart. I still dont know how to title things. Analogical V-Day fic anybody? (quick note- sorry if the pacing is sorta weird??? idk how story writing works. personally my favorite part is the last few paragraphs lmao)

Summary: Logan wants to give Virgil a poem for Valentine’s Day, but wants to make it as perfect as possible. Either way, Virgil loves it. Words: 2,796 Ship: Analogical, Royality (tho, it’s only briefly mentioned and analogical is the focus) TW: Kissing, sleeping at bad hours, uh... Patton tackles Roman playfully at one point Please send me an ask/message if I need to add a trigger. Genre: Fluff!!

@riverbendover @nokatai-realm @crowsketches @living-on-the-virge

It was about 3 days before Valentine’s Day and as much as Logan would usually show nonchalance or distaste towards the holiday, he’s been Virgil’s boyfriend for 8 months now. He wasn’t going to brush off their first Valentine’s Day. He was going to make the perfect card for his Virgil even if it meant he didn’t get any sleep that week. Well, that was an exaggeration and Virgil would probably ask as to why Logan’s sleep schedule had suddenly done a 180. But nonetheless, Logan was going to make a nice little card.

Logan started out with printer paper as a planning stage, wondering what to actually put in the card. He went through scribbled out drawings, minimalistic pictures, telling Virgil how beautiful he was, and finally settled on writing a poem. He was good at those. Usually.

His trash can in his room began filling with balled up clumps of paper which were drafts that he deemed not good enough.

“Clothes are dark as space,  but eyes as bright as the stars. I hope-- No.” Logan mumbled the poem out loud to himself, then crumpled up the paper, threw it to the side, and started anew. The side of his hand was turning gray from being left-handed and the graphite of the pencil he was using. “I cannot describe to you how much I love you. It was a revelation when I had discovered my feelings for you. Like when Newton discovered gravity. It was fundamental to understanding life as you are fundamental to me understanding emotions…” He tapped the pencil against his head quickly, trying to think. It sounded… Like something. It wasn’t too bad, but he decided to trash and rewrite it again. It was probably just fine, but Logan was a perfectionist.

He began writing a bit more before deciding to create the decorations on the light purple construction paper he found for the actual card. He had the equation 128√e980 written along over the spine while the card was flattened. The equation was supposed to be read while the card was closed and turned a certain way, and it would read “I love you” from being folded in half. He found the little trick while looking up ways to say I love you to a partner. In pen he neatly wrote inside the cover of the card the beginning to his poem to Virgil. The beginning was the only thing he was happy with at the moment, but he would add more later. He checked his watch and read 11:30 pm. He sighed, put his materials away and went to bed. Although made sure to put the card neatly into the drawer of his desk. It was only 2 days before Valentine’s Day and he barely had anything! He wanted to keep working on it, but also sleeping was important and he and the others were working on getting a full night’s rest. Besides, Virgil would badger him in the morning about it and he couldn’t have his boyfriend find his surprise.

Logan went through the next day rather smoothly: Nice comebacks to Roman, reminding Thomas of important events, and of course a few nice kisses with Virgil in the middle of it all. Patton always grinned if he caught them and Roman always teased them until Logan mentioned it was almost Valentine’s Day.

“We are allowed to have physical affection, especially around this time of year, correct?” Logan asked Roman, raising a brow with a pouting expression.

“Well I suppose so, but… You two are such nerds!” Roman responded weakly, unable to come up with a witty reply. Patton butted in, putting his arm around Roman’s shoulders.

“Now, don’t be mean, Roman. It’s your time of the year, isn’t it? Valentine’s Day! A day of Roman-ce.” Patton laughed and Virgil, who was leaning slightly against Logan, snickered. Logan sighed with a very small hint of a smile while Roman rolled his eyes with a laugh. He exited with Patton, most likely about to go on an adventure or brainstorm. Logan, although, had a pit in his stomach as he was constantly reminded Valentine’s Day was just around the corner.

Such terrible planning on my end… He thought, biting the inside of his mouth before kissing Virgil on the head as they went to do their own separate things for now. He sank out and went to his room, relieved to find it just as it was when he left it. He hadn’t taken out his trash yet, but he assumed Virgil wouldn’t go digging through it at least and see the drafts. Checking his watch, which read 8:30 pm, Logan pulled out the drawer and took out the card. He drew a little density equation on the back, coloring in the little heart that the symbols for mass over volume created. He then opened the card back up, rereading the beginning of the poem he kept from a draft.

“I don’t believe I’ll be able to explain my love towards you. Like how it is a mystery as to the true way the universe was created despite the many theories. How the chances of us existing together may have been smaller than a quark, But we managed to exist and come together.” Logan sat down at his desk and began writing a bit more, once again mumbling the words to himself as he wrote. “Your mind can be as far away as a galaxy,

but I’d travel the light years.

You’re a fundamental element in my life, Like gravity to planets and stars.” He bit the bottom of his lip, unable to think of anything else to add. “I can’t even write a simple poem…” He murmured to himself, dropping his pencil. He kept his head up with his left hand, trying to think. There wasn’t any specific pattern or rhyme to the poem. It was purely just him rambling about how great Virgil is in metaphors about space and science. Would Virgil even enjoy that? He created a small, curvy border with a blue pen on the inside of the card, but cringed as he looked back to the unfinished poem. Then he put another line. “I am and always will be unable to express how much I care for you.” It was true, but the poem felt too short and he barely had an idea on how to end it. He wrote on the other half of the inside of the card “Happy Valentine’s Day, Virgil. Love, Logan”, drew a simplistic galaxy on the front, and went back to his previous position of laying his head atop his hand. Instead of coming up with any ideas, Logan somehow fell asleep on his hand. He took his nap for about 4 hours, waking up at the superb hour of around 1 am and his head ended up on the desk with his hand still upright. Great. Only 1 day until Valentine’s Day and he was barely done with his card. He dug his hands into his hair in frustration. It should have been easy to write a poem. But no it was going to be difficult and now he was tired as hell. He decided to create the blue borders on the outside of the card while waiting for the others to get up. After finishing the border, which did look rather nice, he put it back in the desk drawer and went to sleep in his bed this time. Although he didn’t fall asleep immediately. Of course not. He was thinking about what Virgil would think if he barely had anything to give. The poem was pretty choppy… he should rewrite it again. What if Virgil didn’t even want a card? Would chocolates have been better?

Luckily, Logan didn’t stay up late enough to question anymore as he crashed into sleep while thinking about Virgil. Said side must have felt Logan still being awake because he made his way into Logan’s room having woke up early himself. It was dark so he couldn’t see the trash can of the Valentine’s drafts but he could feel his way over to Logan’s bed and curled into his chest almost like a human-sized cat. Before going back to sleep, he kissed Logan’s cheek and put his head half on some pillow and half on the mattress with his head lying against the top of Logan’s chest. He didn’t mind sleeping like this, in fact if he was resting next to Logan on just a mattress he’d be content like that as well.

In the morning, the actual morning of about 7:45 am, Logan found a Virgil sleeping next to him. He sighed dreamily, then remembered that he still hadn’t thrown out his god damn drafts yet. Logan tried to move as subtly and quietly as possible to not wake Virgil. He eventually got out of  bed and moved the plastic bin under his desk quickly as he heard Virgil shuffling on the bed. Then he went back over his bed, kissing Virgil’s forehead.

“Virge? C’mon, it’s almost 8 o’ clock,” Logan said, looking at his watch. Virgil was awake, but he kept his eyes closed as he replied,”I don’t wanna.”

“Patton’s making french toast.” “5 more minutes.”

“We both know that means 5 more hours, metaphorically and even literally at times.”

“Shush, nerd.” Virgil eventually opened his eyes and got up, his hair messy and partially standing. Logan smirked at the other’s appearance, holding out his hand for Virgil to take. So Virgil takes it gladly and they move on with the rest of their day.

Logan had barely any opportunities to work on his card but while there was a short lull he managed to write a few more lines. “You’re nothing short of breath taking. A star should be named after you. No, a galaxy.”

He stopped as he felt a presence in his room. It was Patton. Oh thank god. They both headed off to the commons to discuss with the other two about the big day tomorrow.

“What are you two doing?” Roman asked Virgil and Logan. They both shrugged, but Logan of course, had a small gift to finish.

“Why are you asking?” Virgil replied. “What are you doing, Princey?” Roman was about to respond when he was suddenly tackled by Patton on the couch, letting out a boisterous laugh.

“Well of course, romantic things! Anyways, I thought you’d both at least say something like spending time with each other.” He continued as Patton got off and sat next to him, a wide grin on his face.

“Well that’s a given, isn’t it?” That was Logan, who quirked a brow.

Virgil shrugged. “Sure. We can just chill out here since Romano and Patton are probably going to the fantasy realm or whatever.”

Logan nodded as Roman scoffed at the seemingly mundane idea. He said it was such a boring thing to do on Valentine’s Day, but Virgil didn’t mind.

They all went off to do their jobs and then night time came around again.

Logan was rushing through his notes after playing a game of 52 pickup with his slang vocab cards which he foolishly dropped while hurrying back to his room. He closed his binder with satisfaction after looking at the schedule, putting it away in a separate drawer from the card, which he took back out of its hiding place. He was clueless as to what to add. It had barely any stanzas. Logan tapped his pencil against the table, making a fast paced clicking noise.

“Ughhh!” The logical facet sighed, his mind totally blank. “I should have gotten more hours of sleep.” He looked at his watch: 10:40 pm. He could still finish it by tomorrow. Logan, although, was holding his head up with his forearms, consciousness blinking on and off. He decided, if anything, to add just one more line he could think of. Everything else was decorated and he could finish it after taking a quick nap. He wrote it down slowly due to fatigue, but still tried his best to make it look neat.

“I love--”

Then somehow passed out while writing with a pen. Though, Thomas used to do that at times so was it really that surprising? He was out cold for a while and even slept past 8 am.

“Logan?” Virgil called, noticing Logan’s absence in the morning from the commons. Then Virgil finally found his boyfriend’s head resting on his desk with a nicely decorated card next to his right arm. He noticed the still full trash can of paper and then picked up the card. He didn’t read the inside yet, wanting to see the other things first. He noticed the equation “I love you” message first and chuckled at such a nerdy detail. Then he found the density formula on the back and smirked. How had he been so blessed as to have had such a caring nerd in his life?

Virgil finally opened the card to see the partially unfinished poem on the left flap and a nicely written closing on the right. He saw his name, so this must’ve been for him.

“I guess he didn’t finish…” Virgil concluded out loud to himself, but he really wanted to read the poem. Logan had written him previous poems and he absolutely loved them. So he read it aloud, mumbling the words under his breath.

“I don’t believe I’ll be able to explain my love towards you. Like how it is a mystery as to the true way the universe was created despite the many theories. How the chances of us existing together may have been smaller than a quark, But we managed to exist and come together. Your mind can be as far away as a galaxy,

but I’d travel the light years. You’re a fundamental element in my life, Like gravity to planets and stars. I am and always will be unable to express how much I care for you. You’re nothing short of breathtaking. A star should be named after you. No a nebula. I love…”

Logan had woken up as Virgil was reading the second to last stanza, although wasn’t completely aware of his surroundings yet.

“Morning, dear,” Logan greeted with a yawn, adjusting his glasses and hair as much as he could. He was calm and tired until he saw what Virgil had in his hand and then he was fully awake in an instant.

“I… did you read that?” Virgil nodded slowly, hoping the logical facet wasn’t upset. They sat in silence for a few moments before Virgil, surprisingly, broke the silence.

“Um… I really liked it, actually. Really.” He gave a genuine smile, moving to plant a kiss on Logan’s messy hair.

“Really?” “Yes, I did.” “It’s not even finished or--” Logan almost tripped over his own feet trying to sit up from the chair. It was way too early for this. (It was almost 1 pm).

Virgil laughed as Logan struggled to stand up and move, eventually falling onto his bed face first before slowly turning himself around and sitting up. Virgil made his way over to the bed too with much less stumbling, sitting down next to Logan.

“I assume this-” Virgil pointed at the word “love” at the end of the poem. “-is supposed to say ‘I love you’, right?”

Logan looked at Virgil deliriously for a few seconds before practically diving forward and kissing him. Virgil almost let go of the card, but held on and melted into the kiss, smiling as he did so. Then they both fell backwards onto the bed in suppressed giggles.

“I’ve never seen you this giddy,” Virgil commented teasingly.

Logan pointed an index finger straight up as in an objection. “In my defense, I’m very tired.” They both broke into laughter again. After a few minutes of Logan waking up, he had Virgil give him the card to finish writing out “you” and then gave it back.

“I love it, Logan.” He looked at the now fully visible trash can of drafts. “Man… I wish I made something.”

“It’s okay Virgil, you yourself are enough,” Logan replied, pecking Virgil on the forehead who look assured enough for now.

They eventually made their way downstairs, Virgil still latching onto the card, and had their first Valentine’s Day. It consisted of Virgil constantly complimenting Logan’s card and poem, making him blush, and Logan constantly saying how amazing Virgil is, making him blush as well. They cuddled on the couch and watched a few documentaries about space and other oddities.

“Happy Valentine’s Day, dear.” Logan presses a kiss to Virgil’s lips for the millionth time today.

Virgil smiles into it and responds,”Happy Valentine’s Day, nerd.”

[aghostpost]

Hiiiii could ya be a doll and do a frank + reader where the reader wears heels to work everyday and it turns frank on to the point where he makes a move? Thx darling 😏

A/N: IT HS BEEN FOREVER AND I KNOW I AM TWO DAYS LATE BUT I HAD NO WIFI AND I DIDN’T WORK ON THIS HOE FOR NOTHIN’ SO BETTER LATE THAN NEVER heh heh ♥

“Ya know, if someone told me there’d come a time where I wouldn’t need to use a pad for a customer, I woulda laughed at ‘em. I know there’s regulars and all, but you my friend are somethin’ else entirely.”

I set down the freshly brewed pot of coffee along with the same plate of breakfast I brought to the same table every day for the past five, almost six months: 3 eggs over easy, a stack of bacon and two toasted slices of sourdough bread.

He glanced at me before pouring himself a mug. “Figure I’d make it easier for ya, not switchin’ things up too much.”

“You don’t switch things up at all. Imagine the day you come in here and there isn’t a drop of that coffee; what would you do?”

He huffed a small laugh. “I’d probably lose my mind, hm? Lucky for me coffee ain’t the only reason I show up here everyday,” he said suggestively, drinking from his mug as he looked up at me.

I felt my face tingle a bit but remained cool. “Yeah?”

He nodded and scrunched his nose as he placed the mug back on the table. “Mm. You guys got a real good lemon cake.”

Now that was a bold face lie. After working here for just a single month I knew the infamous reputation our lemon cake had, and after being here for a couple more months that reputation hasn’t changed for the better. “Well I think you might be the only one sayin’ that, so more for you.” I tapped his table with my pen as I began backing away to get back to work. “You enjoy that, Frank.”

“Ya know,” he said just as I turned away, “I always wanted to ask you somethin’.”

I raised a brow. “What’s that?”

“What kinda person wears high heels to work at a diner?”

“Is there a dress code I’m unaware of?”

“I mean, your feet gotta be killin’ you, yeah? Up on your feet a whole shift in those?” he asked, pointedly looking at my feet for longer than necessary, in my opinion…

“You see me here nearly every single day; this is the only exercise I can get. How else do you think my legs got this nice?”

“Haven’t noticed.”

I shrugged, noticing his eyes were lingering on mine as he ate his food. His stare was so intense it ignited my skin. “Your loss. Good thing the ones leavin’ good tips notice.” I smirked and turned to get back to work.

That day he left a generous tip, and continued to do so from that moment on.

“I need two more stacks of Lover’s Flapjacks and an order of Cupid’s Bowtie Pasta, thank youuu!”

I liked holidays at the diner. Dressing up and having some festive options on the menu, it was all good fun. It was also a different crowd from my usual early morning shifts that I took, which normally consisted of a buncha seniors checking for early bird specials. The entrance door wouldn’t stop ringing and I felt like a chicken with its head cut off the way I was running around the place. We were jam packed and unlike some of the other waitstaff, I didn’t have plans for the evening, so I didn’t mind switching my morning shift to work tonight.

The moment I found a second to park my ass in a booth I reclined against the window, kicking my legs up on the bench with a sigh. I took down my ponytail to avoid the tension headache I felt coming, ruffling my hair loose when someone helped themselves to the other side of my booth.

“Feet finally tired then?”

I chuckled and rested against the window. “Have you noticed how toned my calves are? These heels ain’t goin’ nowhere, guy. What are you doin’ here anyway?”

“Oh, was I not invited to the party?”

“I didn’t peg you for the partying type. Besides it’s a little late for toast and eggs, isn’t it?”

“Ain’t that the gift of a diner? Breakfast ‘round the clock?”

I nodded. “Touche. I guess what I mean is I’m only used to you being here in the mornings.”

“That’s cuz you’re only here in the mornin’. I come whenever I could use a refill,” he said before placing a large thermos on the table.

“Thought you came for the lemon cake,” I said with a smirk as I moved to climb outta the booth.

“No no no,” he said. “Don’t let me interrupt your break.”

“Technically I’m not on break, just bustin’ my ass around here; so don’t worry about that.” I scooted off the bench and went behind the counter to grab a pot of coffee, returning to fill the thermos up for him. I sat and unscrewed the cap cup hybrid and poured. “I don’t know how people drink black coffee. May as well just eat the damn beans.”

“I’m not too crazy ‘bout sweets.”

“Explains why you like our lemon cake.” I twisted the lid back on and slid the thermos back to him, and as he reached for it a small shock of electricity went through me as his hand left a ghostly touch when he grabbed the thermos. Our eyes met for the smallest shred of a second before I cleared my throat. “That should last you all of what, four minutes, I’m guessing?”

“That all depends… ” he said as he stared at me, his thumb tapping nervously at on the now warm thermos.

“Oh yeah?” I stared right back, sitting and folding my arms across my chest and rested my back against the booth.

“Why don’t you, uhh… tell me what time you’re gettin’ off, hm?”

My brows shot up in shock and I paused, failing to find words. Apart from when he asked me about my heels, Frank’s never said more than repeated his order day after day. So this came as a surprise if it were leading to where I was pretty damn sure it was.

“You askin’ me out or somethin’, Frank?”

“Well I guess I’m finally tired of seein’ those heels walk away, ain’t I?”

“You been watching me closely, I see… Do you even know my name?” I questioned. He did the obvious: redirected his eyes to my nametag then back to my face, suppressing a grin. I rolled my eyes. “Did you know before that? It’s not like you ever call me Y/N.”

“Ever since you asked me my name I made sure I knew yours. ‘Member that?”

“I do. I wanted to know the guy that visited for about four pots of coffee every week.”

“So you tellin’ me when you gettin’ outta here or not?”

“Well I don’t know. Not a lotta waitstaff here tonight. Everyone actually had plans for Valentine’s Day; I hear that’s somethin’ people like to do,” I said with a shrug.

“You seem dressed like ya had plans….”

“I like to get into the holiday spirit. Just because I’m workin’ doesn’t mean I can’t celebrate, right?” Beneath my apron I wore a simple and plain red pencil skirt, it was Valentine’s Day after all, and a short sleeved button up shirt. It was by zero means me being what I would call dressed up, but for a diner I could see how this looked as such.

“Don’t think I’ve ever seen you with your hair down either…” he commented. It was weird being under his scope, realizing now that he had been paying more attention to me than I thought.

“It’s either a ponytail or a hairnet, and I don’t think the net looks nice with heels.” I smiled as he bent to peek under the table at my shoes. “Oh my goodness- Stop!”

“Now if I have to sit here and wait all night, this thermos ain’t gonna last nobody.”

“Okay okay, uhh… I can try to get outta here in an hour, hour thirty max.”

“An hour thirty, hm?”

“Is that alright with you, Frank?”

“I’ve waited longer for a whole lot less…”

I ignored the burn in my cheeks. This guy was smoother than I thought. All the times he’s come here I’ve never seen him interact with anyone more than asking things of a nearby waiter, or when he leaves and compliments the cook. “Can I ask what we’re supposed to be doing when I get off?”

“I figured you’re dressed a lil’ too nice to just be workin’ tonight. Maybe we go let the city get a better look at those toned calves? Go grab a slice?”

I chuckled. “A pizza date? That’s very romantic of you.”

“S’gonna be half past nine on Valentine’s Day night. If we’re lucky enough for anything to still even be open,  we can go somewhere nice and try to wait for seats, but I’ma need about six more o’ these,” he said, holding up his thermos full of black coffee.

“Good point. But I want pepperoni. And a whole pizza, not a slice! I’ve been here all day, I’m starved.”

He nodded as I rose from my seat. “Yes, ma’am. Anything else?”

I hesitated a little but spit it out. “You know my name; start using it.”

He laughed to himself. “Yes, Y/N,” he corrected. The way he said my name with emphasis made my stomach flip. “I’ll see you in a hour an’ a half.”

“What, are you gonna wait here??”

He shrugged. “S’at a problem?”

“I mean, what are you gonna do, just sit and watch me?” He looked at me as if to repeat his question, his thumb lightly tapping the side of his thermos before he opened it to pour himself a cup. I rolled my eyes. “Just sounds a bit boring is all, but suit yourself.” Before leaving him to head to the restroom to freshen up a bit and get back to work he grabbed my hand. I froze in place and looked at him as he pulled out a twenty dollar bill.

“For the coffee,” he said coolly. He tapped twice with his thumb on the back of my hand before letting go and turning back to the coffee in front of him, a smug grin hidden on his face.

I walked to the bathroom with a little pep in my step as I put my ponytail back into place. I washed my hands and looked in the mirror, annoyed at the goofy smile on my face. “Get a grip, dummy,” I told myself. I went back to the floor to grab change from the register when I looked up and noticed Frank had left, again leaving me with a fat tip he knew I’d otherwise turn down if he were still here.

But I’d get the last laugh: I planned on using that change to buy the pizza, so technically it would still be him paying for the meal.

Just as a gentleman should.

[shaddy-bee]

I KNOW ITS BEEN LIKE 300 YEARS BUT-

5 things you’ll find in my bag

Right now theres uhh Notebooks, both school and 1 art. Drink mix ins, with such great flavors as sour apple jolly rancher and crush pineapple (tm) Two packs of cards, one of which steam punk themed and the other your regular ol bicycle. A calculator. Its a shitty old one but its for tests, i have google and shit for anything i need myself.

5 things you’ll find in my bedroom

A roommate. Idk if he is gay or what but he isnt straight, name’s will. Chill dude. Sleepin rn, what a fella MY SICK ASS COMPUTER IM MISSING OUT ON BECAUSE MY ROOMMATE IS ASLEEP AAAAAAAAAAAAAA I WANNA PLAY ROCKET LEAGUE WITHOUT LAGGING TO HELL also programming my mods. Need to upload that shit. Shit what number we on, 3? Okay cool. A bed. Wow really a bed in your bedrooM? yeah its pretty fuckin spectacular i know. I dont have posters n shit so like i gotta be creative you feel. A microfridge. Now i know what youre thinking, “ah a small fridge whats the big deal?” but no you dont understand, its a microwave fucking bolted onto the top of a fridge. They gave zero fucks attaching these two together and apparently the name is the same way, WHY NOT A FRIDGEWAVE EVEN LIKE MICROFRIDGE JUST SOUNDS LIKE A SMALL FRI- Last but not least, im tempted to just say my wallet here tbh, cuz its old but like, youd EXPECT that now would you? Something boring and mundane for me to fill out the word count with making everything super exciting so nah man, fuck it. Theres air in my bedroom. Fight me.

5 things I’ve always wanted to do in my life

Make a videogame. Like okay, a lot of stuff on this list is jokes and stuff, and I know im going into too much detail and my followers will probably murder me in cold blood for this shit, but im serious about this one like - i have some ideas, but i never have the motivation alone to like work whole-heartedly and finish one but like, at some point in the future id love to sit down and just go at it and make a game. Doesnt matter if its popular or big or small just i wanna make something that i love ya feel? I wanna like, go to newark, delaware. I know, its delaware and all, no one lives there, but ive met a bunch of cool people there and i was promised a donut run sometime, so lookin forward to that. Yknow that post awhile back that was like “i dont wanna be rich and like buy shit, i just wanna have enough money to throw at kickstarters whenever i want without having to strain on my food and rent costs” thats me. 100% Like i wanna have just enough money to be able to donate to cool people and watch them do cool shit - it wont always work out but thats fine, I just love shit. I wanna be able to donate like the high prize and fly out to meet these game studios for coffee and shit and just talk with em and see their passion and ideas. I love it. Im not actually really sure besides those. Like idk. I think itd be cool to enter a game tournament with my brother and win, but i doubt thatll happen and its not super like on my desires just itd be cool cuz we named ourselves Sora and Shiro after NGNL and to see that like, have us win would be great. Yeah. Ill make my fifth to think of a fifth one.

5 things on my to do list

FLOPPY DICKS i mean disks. Floppy disks. I do binding of isaac ab+ modding shit, and im currently working (its mostly done for what i want it to do) which adds a new consumable called floppy disks, effects are based on viruses, bugs, and just computer based shit. Like BSOD for instance, which makes the screen literately bluescreen. Or atleast look like it. Cant wait to watch people play with it. I gotta work on the programming class project too but honestly i dont waannnaaa. Like its cool as shit. Recreate a card game using c++ code. But man, i just love Apocrypha and Floppies so much more. Eat today???? Please. Dining hall opens in 3 hours. Its goddamn 4 am. I want my food. Dunno if ill get it - if ill stay awake till then. But i want it. Probably draw some stuff? Like i posted one drawing already (check it out if u wanna ;) kay?) but like theres wacom tablets here i can just kinda use whenever???? its great. I love being able to just draw stuff on em. Even if i suck at drawing, even if it took 10 hours to make the one i posted here, still love. Probably play more rocket league. Sleep first, soon as i get that food im CRASHIN BOI IM OUTTIE HA but uhh, rocket league has a halloween thing rn and i like playing it. Was playing earlier today and i matchd with a dude in 2v2 that had the same car, skin, AND colors set up as mine. Totaly random. We kicked some major ass together. I kept thinking of the same hat comic the entire time. (also my card was superior because it had furry ears on it ;))

5 things that make me happy

Getting an idea for a thing and working at said thing until like boom it went from this abstract idea to now it has a physical form and it works! And its fun and its great and i can share it with other people and they can have fun too!!!! that feeling is wonderful.  Obviously friends man. Just doing shit with people can be so great sometimes - like not all the time sure but like man. Its nice to talk to people and share experiences and just smile and tell bad jokes and have them groan but like it anyway like thats the shit. Going out at 2 am and walking to a nearby run down schoolyard and swinging on the swingsets and watching shooting stars burn up. Thats the good shit. Getting tents and setting em up in your friends back yard when your friend from far away comes up for a few days, and playing ridiculous games in a group like kick the can or fuckin zombie screaming your lungs out in the dark to freak em out, or just talkin around a fire about fuckin life man. The people make life great. Shits worth living for. I realize that last answer covered a LOT of shit but like, im just gonna add here videogames. Would be amiss if i didnt mention that, considering the rocket league rant above lmao. Yeah i better not make this category any longer.

5 things I’m (currently) into

Isaac modding, probably will be for awhile. Its good shit. As a suggestion from one of the people I work with (we also fuck around its a good time) i have started watching space dandy. Its a slow progress through lol like an episode or two a day but god man like its pretty ridiculous and the main character is pretty much everything i was expecting from seeing him everywhere. Rocket league again. It comes and goes with various different games to tide me over, give me a break from working. Bout 2 months ago or so said relaxing time was dominated by anime - i suddenly went on like a massive streak of watching shit. By that i mean, i watched all of hunter x hunter in like 2 weeks, among other shows prior to it. But yeah. Fuck man HXH I LOVED THE KING WHYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA. I have too many emotions about that. I wrote a rant to the Groupchat (tm) about the fucking battle and how everything is in slow motion but it fucking like makes it like foreshadowed and have so much of an impact and still so much fucking happens even while everything runs at super slow mo just GOD KLASFJBHUGHASFIUHIPJASK anyway. Yeah. Music, as always im listening to like constantly. Wireless headphones are a wonder for this, but uhh....i cant say im especially into any specific thing rn right? Like a bit ago i was super into joywave and then that faded out and now im just listening to whatever random shit, yknow? But I am into music in general. Its good. Art! A lot of times i dont do shit like for drawing right, like especially not in like pencil in notebooks but like, i sorta started doing a lot more art stuff? Like i had a period awhile back last year where i stopped using pencils and used only pens and i just loved the aesthetic of the ink like how it looked (funny how im doing the opposite of the fucking inktober though, huh?) but yeah im back into using pencils to draw shit occasionally. Im still terrible at drawing people (which is what i see mostly everyone drawing on tumblr lmao RIP) but its fun to sketch stuff out and just let my thoughts run and bounce to some music and shit right? Also the tablets. Especially with the tablets.

5 things people may not know about me (at least on tumblr)

I basically constantly wear sweatshirts, and they all have like earbuds where the strings go. All the earbud shits are broken pretty much, like occasionally they work (the one i have rn does) but like, i dont ever really use them? i have wireless headphones for my phone and a headset (because i need the mic for my computer) for said computer so like, idk. But yeah. I rarely take em off when im not home, and sometimes even when i am i just kinda keep em anyway? (also just now i realized i talked in the section for room shit about all the stuff in my current dorm, my room at home has all KINDS of wierd fucking shit in it. Really missed an opportunity there.) Like many people i like to stay hydrated and shit, but drinking water all the time seemed like a chore more than anything so i got like drink mix ins and shit, mio’s or whatever offbrand version you can find at your local SUPERSTORE CONGLOMERATE. I drink em like all the time pretty much so atleast im health in one way :P. Also gummy vitamins. I dont excercise but you can only ask for so much. Idk, its hard to think of things for this section because tumblr knows so little about me yknow? Like i never make my own posts or shit like its SUPER rare so im pretty much just tryna find random facts but that might not be interesting? Like i have a bad habbit of like talking way too loud when im excited about something right? Not quite yelling but like getting there and like idk. See? Thats not super interesting but it is something no one online would be able to really know ya feel? Idk. I mean physically im kinda fat as you do, but im also like wierdly strong? Like for someone who never works out i sure do have arm strength if nothing else lmao. My endurance is shit tho. Honestly? I can only blame it on osu and groceries. Osu is just a game i like where you mash buttons to the beat of weaboo shit tier music. The groceries is just because like, well, my policy is Least Trips Possible which means carrying in 13 bags at a time if need be it, fuck it milk too? And a watermellon? Bring it. 

Who am I tagging? Idk man. Just for shits and stuff tho i do wanna tag @theoriginalyami just to see what all’s changed in teh long time since i actually went to fill it out :P Dont feel like you have to add as much as me tho omg @milkchocolateowl because honestly? love you. Think about you a lot, just like glad im mutuals with that ray of sunshine. Good. @fantaledfish <3 (this is the friend i mentioned earlier, runs a QUALITY blog i guarantee it, better than mine for sure) @dragonfucker-supreme always top in my notes, a silent bond, like two guards assigned to watch back to back in the early dawn. Birds gather round. I can only tag so many people (i set myself a limit of 5 because...idk why i just mentally it felt right) so for my last trick gotta go with @ask-oncies-jizz like cmon man name changes for the win, also has quality icons and quality shitposts tbh, supreme top meme. Have fun yall.

[bookwormcheerleader]

i was tagged by @trevorfindsthestrals (LOOK i finally got internet access on my laptop again!! Sorry it took so long) 1. Coffee or tea? tea, i had my first cup of coffee on like thursday last week 2. Black and white or color? black or soft, but not pastel, colours 3. Drawings or paintings? idk, whatever is more moving in that moment i guess 4. Dresses or skirts? dresses because i never know how to match with a skirt 5. Books or movies? how DARE you make me choose, i think books, but i wanna make movies (potentially havent really explored that yet) so it seems like the wrong answer 6. Pepsi or Coke? i dont drink fizzy drinks 7. Chinese or Italian? definitely italian on an everyday basis but i LOVE chinese too 8. Early bird or night owl? its almost midnight and i havent started my reading for tomorrow, that counts as an answer right? 9. Chocolate or vanilla? chocolate, unless its a milkshake 10. Introvert or extrovert? introvert, i don’t really like people 11. Hugs or kisses? ive never been kissed so hugs 12. Hunting or fishing? aesthetics of hunting but uh with fishing you can not put a hook on the line and just kinda sit there and chill without looking like the animal lover that your family judges you for being 13. Winter or summer? yes. idk im probably more of a summer person, but i also really like the implications of winter in that everything has to die in order to be reborn, plus i can’t really breathe in the heat, but i also have poor circulation in my extremities so the cold sucks ass 14. Spring or fall? spring, i like the crisp air of fall dont get me wrong, but the rebirth and the petrichor after a spring rain with a crisp breeze that doesnt chill you is just so relaxing 15. Rural or urban? i grew up in the woods so rural but i need to at least be kinda close to a hospital to avoid panicking  16. PC or Mac? pc 17. Tan or pale? is this preference, cuz i dont have one of those, but i am so white that i was the same color as my cheer uniform in high school 18. Cake or pie? cake, i dont like pie crust 19. Ice cream or yogurt? frozen yogurt tbh, it jsut tastes fresher and less heavy 20. Ketchup or mustard? my brother likes to mock me for how much i loved ketchup when i was like 7 as if it was yesterday 21. Sweet pickles or dill pickles? i dont like pickles 22. Comedy or mystery? can we do a hybrid where its like theyre fighting crime but have no ability to act serious, cuz im basically writing a comic book like that with @spectralflutterbeast 23. Boots or sandals? i live in a colder wetter climate so usually boots, but i love sandals 24. Silver or gold? i like white gold typically because its often a mix, it has the matching ability of silver with the warmth in color of gold 25. Pop or Rock? i grew up on steve miller and journey from my mom and simon & garfunkel from my dad 26. Dancing or singing? all i can think of is my shitty karoke the other night, so uh dancing, at least i don’t suck more at that when im drunk 27. Checkers or chess? checkers is easier and i could probably actually win, but chess is more likely to hold my attention 28. Board games or video games? we used to do family board game nights (im currently holding the winnign streak for clue because any games played without everyone dont count) (my extended family is also obsessed with card games, its how we bond, we talk shit and play cards) 29. Wine or beer? wine if i have to have one of these, i dont like fizzy stuff ever so no beer but wine dries out my mouth 30. Freckles or dimples? i have freckles, and i love it when people have dimples 31. Honey mustard or BBQ sauce? i guess bbq 32. Body weight exercises or lifting weights? idk what body weight exercises includes but i have always liked lifting weights, its something im fairly good at 33. Baseball or basketball? BASEBALL IS THE BEST I LOVE IT, i miss playing it so much but its been too long for me to feel comfortable joining an intramural team 34. Crossword puzzles or sudokus? sudoku...i think 35. Facial hair or clean shaven? preference right, um stubble.... im not big on full beards (probs cuz my dad has always had one, seriously pics from when he was 20 we are the exact same but he has a beard, he says he hasnt shaved his upper lip since he was 16) clean shaven is nice too tho 36. Crushed ice or cubed ice? i prefer no ice, but if i have to i like that ice you get in hospital cafeterias 37. Skiing or snowboarding? never been 38. Smile or game face? smirking, its the happy medium 39. Bracelet or necklace? i feel naked without any piece of my jewelry (watch on right wrist, a bracelet on my left, a necklace for me to fidget with, both sets of earrings) 40. Fruit or vegetables? fruit 41. Sausage or bacon? bacon 42. Scrambled or fried? scrambled unless its on toast 43. Dark chocolate or white chocolate? dark chocolate 44. Tattoos or piercings? i have two sets of piercings and i just got my first tattoo last month 45. Antique or brand new? antique unless its something i would feel like i couldnt be comfortable using, i always wind up with a very eclectic mix 46. Dress up or dress down? dress down, never really have a reason to dress up 47. Cowboys or aliens? cowboys, space gives me anxiiety 48. Cats or dogs? dogs 49. Pancakes or waffles? depends on who is making the pancakes 50. Bond or Bourne? uhhhh what 51. Sci-Fi or fantasy? fantasy 52. Numbers or letters? letters 53. Harry Potter or Lord of the Rings? lotr tbh 54. Fair or theme park? fair, i grew up in puyallup (look it up, i can even sing the old theme song) 55. Money or fame? money, i want to buy my parents and aunt nice things 56. Washing dishes or doing laundry? laundry (no icky wet food pieces!) {this is what @trevorfindsthestrals had i just could not have said it any better myself} 57. Snakes or sharks? ummm snakes? cuz theyre smaller and i can run from them if theyre dangerous 58. Orange juice or apple juice? orange 59. Sunrise or sunset? sunsets seem more satisfactory to me 60. Slacker or over-achiever?.....i dont’ know how to answer this question 61. Pen or pencil? pencil, unless im worried about it smudging, then i bought some erasable pens for that 62. Peanut butter or jelly? peanut butter is more filling but i make jam every year so theres that 63. Grammys or Oscars? oscars 64. Detailed or abstract? why cant we do both, like a painting that is overall abstract but the closer you get the more you see the things that make it what it is, ya know, like life 65. Multiple choice questions or essay questions? idk multiple choice questions are harder to get wrong for not having enough info about a particular topic, but im good at and enjoy bsing things 66. Adventurous or cautious? i wish i was more adventurous but insecurities 67. Saver or spender? yes 68. Glasses or contacts? i dont wear either 69. Laptop or desktop? laptop 70. Classic or modern? what medium 71. Personal chef or personal fitness trainer? i would like a personal trainer until i get back in the habit of it and then i would jsut need a gym buddy 72. Internet or cell phone? cell since you cna get internet on your phone 73. Call or text? social anxiety so texting  74. Curly hair or straight? mine is beach wavy 75. Shower in the morning or shower in the evening? ive been showering in the morning because i like what it does to my hair 76. Spicy or mild? spicy please 77. Marvel or DC? wonder woman was my first favorite character, like about the time that bugs life came out because i obviously had two and the other was Flick  78. Paying a mortgage or paying rent? rent, i like assurance but i dont like permanence 79. Sky dive or bungee jump? never been but uh im not that trusting so i probably am jsut gonna go with a no 80. Oreos or Chips Ahoy? chewy chips ahoy 81. Jello or pudding? jello 82. Truth or dare? im a chicken so truth 83. Roller coaster or Ferris wheel? roller coaster, ferris wheels are all of the fear with none of the fun 84. Leather or denim? I NEED BOTH I CANT CHOOSE 85. Stripes or solids? stripes and fat people lol no, solids for me 86. Bagels or muffins? bagels probably 87. Whole wheat or white? whole wheat 88. Beads or pearls? pearls, my mother was a jeweler for 13 years, i cant not 89. Hardwood or carpet? hard wood in a hall, tile or linoleum in the kitchen and bathroom and then carpet everywhere else 90. Bright colors or neutral tones? uhhhh for what, cuz it really depends  91. Be older than you are or younger than you are? i want to be like 34, not rn obviously, im enjoying being 20 and stupid, but i feel like 34 is a good age, of course thats abotu how old my bros were when i idolized them so that might be reflective of that 92. Raisins or nuts? raisins, partially because every time my dad sees nuts he says nuts for the nutty and it has become a conditioned response for me now 93. Picnic or nice restaurant? picnic 94. Black leather or brown leather? brown 95. Long hair or short hair? mines somewhere in the middle 96. “Ready, aim, fire” or “Ready, fire, aim”? wtf does the second even mean 97. Fiction or non-fiction? fiction 98. Smoking or non-smoking? i have asthma 99. Think before you talk or talk before you think? i wish i could think before i talk more than i actually do 100. Asking questions or answering questions? i like to listen to people imma tag: @kiavachiisanoob @warriorsatthedisco @colecast1 and anyone lookinng for an excuse to do one of these

[carryonmyswansong]

Questionnaire - About Me, pt 2

Do you usually sleep with your closet door open or closed? This might be weird but I don’t even think about my, closet. Its sitting open at the moment, and has been for several weeks now...

Do you take the shampoos and conditioner bottles from hotels? and the lotions, too....

Have you ever ‘done it’ in a hotel room? Yes.

Where is your next vacation? Does homeless camping this past summer count? Cuz otherwise “vacation” isn’t really something I can afford.

Have you ever stolen a street sign before? Nope. Never saw one I wanted to take lol Plus I don’t have the balls to do it lol

Who do you think reads these? Whoever is scrolling through their dash when I hit post.

Do you have a calendar in your room? Nope, not unless the one on my laptop counts

Where are you? In my room, in Jackson, MI.

What’s your plan for the day? A little more blogging and then I’m gonna go to bed.

Are you reading any books right now? Does fanfiction count? Cuz yes.

Do you ever count your steps when you walk? I do not.

Have you ever peed in the woods? Yes I have. I love camping.

Do you ever dance even if there’s no music playing? Yeah, sometimes

There are more under the Read More. Had to break the list up to include the Read More cuz it was hella long otherwise.

Do you chew your pens and pencils? not technically. but I will hold my drawing tablet pen in my mouth so I don’t lose it. Who ever thought to make those things as dark as they are, instead of a bright neon color, needs to be throttled...

What is your “Song of the Week”?  Pretty much anything from the Teen Wolf soundtrack

Is it okay for guys to wear pink? Why wouldn’t it be? Its even ok if he wants to wear a dress and become a princess. I hate gender roles/rules….

Do you still watch cartoons? Yeap

What’s your favorite love movie? The Last Unicorn, Bram Stoker’s Dracula (with Gary Oldman *swoons*), and The Boondock Saints. This answer hasn’t changed in well over a decade Just the order of the three.

What do you drink with dinner? Usually milk or water.

What do you dip Chicken Nuggets in? I often don’t. I do like sweet and sour sauce though.

What is your favorite food/cuisine? Sadly, since my ED relapse, I don’t have the same taste or passion for food, anymore. It doesn’t ignite the pleasure centers of my brain anymore.. I either I “don’t hate it” or I do. *shrugs*

What movies could you watch over and over and still love? Same as my favorite’s list. I usually watch The Last Unicorn like once a year or every other year, depending on if I remember to.

Last person you hugged/kissed?  not a person; My cast ZahZah

Were you ever a boy/girl scout? Girl Scouts. Very briefly.

Would you ever strip or pose nude in a magazine? Maybe

When was the last time you wrote a letter to someone on paper? Its been a very long time

Can you change the oil on a car? I’ve never been shown how. I’m sure I could, once I learned. I love car stuff.

Ever gotten a speeding ticket? Nope. I don’t drive.

Run out of gas? Same answer as above. I’ve been in the car when both happened, but I wasn’t driving.

Favorite kind of sandwich? ham, turkey, roast beef, bacon, with variations on veggies and sauces... 

Best thing to eat for breakfast? Glass of milk, and leftovers from dinner the night before.

What is your usual bedtime? I’m 33, and unemployed. I don’t have a bed time. (The last time I filled this thing in, I was 26 lol)

Are you lazy? No. I’m disabled, so some days, I can’t do much because of my illness.

When you were a kid, what did you dress up as for Halloween? I didn’t celebrate Halloween that often as a kid. I dressed up as a mermaid, a witch, and a vampire…. As an adult, I dressed up as a fairy once.

Do you have any magazine subscriptions? Nope. I wish.

Which are better, Legos or Lincoln Logs? Legos.. hands down!

Are you stubborn? Yup.

Who is better…Leno or Letterman? CONAN! I don’t care for most… 

Ever watch soap operas? I use to. They are kinda dumb… I prefer the teen dramas

Afraid of heights? Afraid? No. Am I cautious? You bet your ass I am.

Sing in the car? Only way to travel!

Dance in the shower? No, but I sing.

Dance in the car? Sometimes.

Ever used a gun? Not really, no.

Do you think musicals are cheesy? Yes, but I like them anyways.

Is Christmas stressful? I hate Christmas. I prefer to celebrate Yule.

Ever eat a pierogi? Yes. Cheesy potato. Yum.

Major annoyance right now? The fact that every time someone gets sick where my roommate works, he brings it home and I’m down for the count for a month at a time...

Occupations you wanted to be when you were a kid? Country music star, scientist, unicorn trainer.

Do you believe in ghosts? Yes I do.

Ever have a deja-vu feeling? More times than I’d like to remember.

Do you take a vitamin daily? No, but I drink at least one glass of milk.

Wear slippers? nah

Wear a bath robe? Use to. No idea where mine ended up

What do you wear to bed? whatever is comfortable

Wal-Mart, Target or K-Mart? None, if I can help it. I prefer Wal-Mart, though. I also shop at Meijer’s as well.

Nike or Adidas? Neither. I’m not one for sports brands. I prefer Vans, Etnes, or Volcom.

Cheetos Or Fritos? Depends on my mood. I like both, but I will eat Cheetos over Fritos more often than not.

Peanuts or Sunflower seeds? To be honest? Neither.

Ever hear of, “gorp”? When I answered this the first time, I had to look that word up. I didn’t retain the info.... the word means “trail mix”... lol

Ever taken karate? nope

Ever kissed someone of the same sex?   Yes. And I’d do it again in a heartbeat. 

Can you curl your tongue? Yes, and I can also do the three leaf clover thing, as well.

Ever won a spelling bee? No, but I can spell archeologist by heart now haha

Ever cried because you were so happy? Yes, I actually have.

Own any record albums? Records? No. I wish.

Own a record player? Same answer as above.

Regularly burn incense? I would, but my room mate is allergic.

Ever been in love? Yes. 

Hot tea or cold tea? Depends on the flavor. I will drink my tea if it gets cold. I love both.

Tea or coffee? hmmm… Depends on the time of day. I drink more tea than coffee, but I do like both.

Favorite kind of cookie? Oatmeal chocolate chip. Yes. That’s one flavor. Do it. You’ll thank me later. ;)

Can you swim well? Yes I can.

Can you hold your breath w/o manually holding your nose? Yes I can.

Are you patient? Usually

Ever won a contest? Yes

Ever had plastic surgery? Not sure if this counts as cosmetic since it was helpful, but when I was a baby, I had to have the frenulum under my tongue clipped because it hindered my suckling.

Which are better black or green olives? Neither.

Can you knit or crochet? Yes. I can do both.

Wash room or bathroom? Bathroom

Do you want to get married? Yes

Who was your High School crush? Lordy, I don’t actually know... that was a long time ago.

Do you cry and throw a fit until you get your own way? No. That’s dumb.

Do you have kids? No. I have a couple of angel-babies though… But I do help co-parent 4 kids. And I’m a godmommy to one of them... 

Do you want kids? Yes.

What kind of mom are you?  Openminded, but accountable.

Do you miss anyone right now? My grandmother and all my friends in SC. I haven’t seen most of them for like 8 years….

Who do you want to see right now? Same answer as above.

[daisydan]

You Never Know.

I’m the kind of person that takes EVERYTHING with me. Having a schedule in junior high school that compels you to be there almost 3/4 of the day, along with the basic needed school supplies, I took the liberty of also packing a hygiene kit, extra pair of socks, a first aid kit, a sewing kit, extra snacks, a jug of water, books to read in my leisure time, cards to play with friends, you name it. It was so bad, that I got reprimanded for bringing batteries and a match stick to school. Cuz you never know when you’re gonna need it right?  That’s me. Motto in life: Better safe than sorry.

I became the ‘go-to-girl’ or the person who always had a bulky bag cuz she brought her whole house with her. Having that kind of personality served me well all through out approximately 15 years of both elementary and junior high. I had a sense of completeness or orderliness and I was always assured that I’d have everything handy.

Come senior high, sentiments started rolling here and there of how these are the last years we’ll be spending together before college and every moment counts etc. These things tend to suffocate me for their feelings all seem so superficial. Their feeling sad about something that’s not even there yet? So I just went on with me business. 

Senior High, turns out, gave us a schedule that was rather loose. We had about 4-5 classes in the morning, and in the afternoon, was either work immersion, or nothing at all. 

This much free time gave me a sense of complacency. If before, I’d pack a whole pencil case filled with pens, pencils, sharpeners, erasers, staplers a puncher, pair of scissors among others; now I only decide on packing 1 pencil, an eraser and a notebook.

If before, I’d have a bulky bag that had all I needed or may need in school, now I simply bring a small sling bag.

If before I’d scoff at people who don’t even take the time to acquire all the kinds of papers and art materials to be considered ready for a day in class, now, I practice nonchalance that I don’t even bring a pad of paper cuz it won’t fit in my small bag.

This swerve of attitude, I considered, was a form of growth and maturity. Maybe I don’t need every little thing for school. 

I took this on for months. Now, Senior year is at its tail-end. Only a month and a number of days left before putting on the toga. Sentiments sure start coming in now, and it magnified as I was doing my homework one night.

I was looking for the one pencil I always bring to school. I couldn’t seem to find it so I took out my big bulky pencil case from my big bulky bag to get another pencil from my every ready pencil stash. An overwhelming whiff of nostalgia hit me as I was looking at my old stuff. 

[thedailychangejar-blog]

50 Amazing Amazon Gifts for $15 or Less for the Whole Family!

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50 Amazing Amazon Gifts for $15 or Less for the Whole Family!

Find the best Amazon Gift Ideas for the whole family for Under $15! Get something for everyone on your list for men, women, and kids! Avoid the holiday crowds and even cash in on FREE SHIPPING!  If you are anything like me and into doing Christmas as cheaply as possible, you turn on online deals-hello Amazon! Amazon is great for many reasons. I already pay for Prime yearly, so I get free 2-day shipping on pretty much anything I order. So if you are planning on doing any online shopping with Amazon, I HIGHLY suggest you get the Prime membership also! *Bonus-Amazon is offering a 30-day Prime Free trial! So now would be a great time to try that out while stocking up on your Christmas gifts. Get your free 30-day Amazon Prime Membership here! Click To Tweet Another great thing about shopping on Amazon is that I can make a list for each one of the kids and easily send it to aunts, uncles, grandmas, and grandpas (provided they have a smartphone and know how to use it) through email or Facebook messenger-easy peasy! Every year the hubby and I sit around with the kids and put together their Amazon shopping lists, filled with things that they actually need, rather than just toys that will get a whole 5 minutes of use. This also helps us to stay within a budget for Christmas gifts rather than just going to the store and feeling overwhelmed and getting sidetracked and purchasing things the kids don't actually need or will ever use. So to help you stay on a budget and avoid the holiday department store chaos, I have put together a list of 50 top picks for Amazon gift ideas all under $15!

Movies:

Get tons of your favorite movies and TV shows on DVD for around $5!  Some of my favorites include: The Sandlot The Princess Bride Dirty Dancing Mrs. Doubtfire You can also get quite a few Blu-Ray movies for $15 or less! Bad Moms Wonder Woman Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them 22 Jump Street And of course, you can't forget about the Christmas movies! Dr. Seuss' How the Grinch Stole Christmas Elf A Christmas Story The Polar Express

Gift Ideas for Men $15 or Less

I had to ask my husband for his advice on this one for practical gifts that guys would really love. And good thing, there are no ugly sweaters, ties, or argyle socks (which funny enough, the first shot I took at making a gift guide for guys included all of those :-/ ). These are your manly man gifts, including things for camping, tools, fishing, hunting, and other random manly things, and of course a few toys every guy could use. I always feel like the men on my list are the most difficult to shop for, I'm sure you can relate. Fire Starter with Compass and Whistle-Great for camping and simple to use! 12 Hour Industrial Glow Sticks-no batteries needed :-) Extreme Ops Folding Knife-easily portable and very sharp Leather work gloves-great for projects on the "honey do" list LED lantern-also great for camping, hiking, or general emergencies Gerber pocket multipurpose tool-only 6 inches, but includes tools for just about every situation Glass with Silicone water bottle-leakproof and dishwasher safe Air pistol-just make sure they also have the proper safety attire! Gift Ideas for Women for $15 or Less Books and other crafty things make great frugal gifts. These frugal gifts would work for women and ladies or just about any age. I even took a few tips for my pick13-year-old daughter :-). Adult themed coloring books-some of these of funny and include swear words (which are the ones I like cuz they make me laugh) while others are more floral or animal based. Either way, when you are having a stressful day, grab a glass of wine and color! Colored pencils-what good are coloring books without some high-quality colored pencils! Phone case with wallet-keep your life slightly more organized by keeping all your essentials together. Planners-although I am mostly a digital girl myself, there is something that just can't beat good old pen and paper! Floral pajama pants-cute and comfy Unique mugs-whether your drink of choice, it tastes better in an awesome mug! Picture frames-whether you like traditional or funky picture frames, there is something for everyone's taste! Woodwick candles-great smelling and give off the fireplace crackle effect! Wine tumblers-for the fun-loving wino on your list!

Gift Ideas for Kids for $15 or Less

When picking gifts for kids, mine or not, I try to stick to things other than "toys". I opt for games, books, art and craft sets, or if they are "toys" things that aren't going to break after a week. Things that will last a very long time that can be passed down or donated after they decide they don't want them anymore or have grown out of them. Monster popsicle molds-my kids LOVE popsicles any time of year and it's a great way to sneak in more fruits and veggies into their diets. Gummy animal mold-another fun kitchen adventure! Kids chef set-of course, if you are getting fun things to do in the kitchen, you should also get the little ones a chef set! Melissa and Doug toys-ever since I discovered Melissa and Doug toys they have become my go-to! Not only are they educational, but also durable! Plus they also have options for a wide age range. Classic Legos-need I say more? Games are great for just about any age. Plus they encourage teamwork and family time and never go out of style! Jenga Apples to Apples Uno Check out all the hottest games of the season here!  Crafts are another great gift for kids. All kids like to get a little messy or create something once and awhile. Magic Light Brush Box Buddies Spin Art Make paper lantern animals Empower poster kit Check out all the different kinds of craft and creative "toys" available here.  Still need more ideas for the little ones? Check out all the hottest ideas on all things for the kids-games, toys, baby and toddler, arts, electronics, and so much more! It really doesn't matter who you are shopping for, you can get it all done in place AND stay on budget when shopping on Amazon. And don't forget about their 30-day free trial of Amazon Prime with FREE 2-day shipping!   

What frugal gift ideas have you found on Amazon?

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