#imagine this is in 'hell is a hound without a chain'-verse

[lorelune]

hybrid blade who is leashed in public, always. it's a rare occurrence to go out and take him with you (as he, a tall, brooding wolf hybrid becomes quite the spectacle). he doesn't fight you when you hook the leash in the ring of his collar with shaking hands. you see a flash of the tag, his name on the front, your name and contact information on the back. the metal is scratched up from how often blade fidgets with it, whether it's on or off of his neck.

however obedient blade is in private, he is a menace in public. he looms over you, lingering a step behind you, orbiting you with each step. he growls when anyone looks at you for too long. you don't need to hold the leash tight, but you wind it around your palm anyways. you worry the leather of it. you see the look blade garners, you see the looks he gives bystanders to your relationship. venemous and angry, even at a distance. god forbid they come within six feet of you.

these jaunts are kept short for your own sake.

by the time you're home, you're worn and stress from having to gently cow blade's instinct. knowing when to click your tongue when he growls, flinching when he bares his teeth at you. you end up with bruises on your wrist and waist from how he likes to touch and keep you close. it's too much, but what could you do about it? how are you to stop a wolf who has decided that you are to be the treat within his jaws at will?

blade always keeps you in bed after an outing. you're always-- so tired. blade says you smell that way. he also makes a few other barbed comments about your scent. you don't smell like you-- you smell like the stores you wandered in. the checkout clerk who brushed her fingers against yours when you handed her coins to pay for pastries and drinks for you and blade. you smell like the perfume of a well-dressed man who eyed you for too long, and walked a little too close.

blade can't have that. you know this.

he'll keep you in bed, yours or his, until he decides you smell enough like home again. his home.

[danasukontarak]

Dana’s Travel Diary: Viva Las Vegas (and Arizona)

I have always considered Las Vegas to be a fake place, kind of like New York City. Prior to visiting, my perception was 9 months pregnant with images I've mentally hoarded from TV shows and movies. This is where little old ladies sit at slot machines and chain smoke cigarettes. This is where you gamble your life away and get lost in time, without a clock in sight. This is where you come from MIT to count cards, get dragged into the back of the casino and beat up by henchmen. 

This was the second trip I've taken with my ex-boyfriend since we broke up, and he really was the best travel partner I could have imagined. (Note: I definitely have decided that if I audition for The Amazing Race, it will be with him.) When we first arrived, we picked up a rental car and headed to our hotel, which was just a bit off the main strip. After checking in, we decided to walk to the strip and explore. At the end of the day, my iPhone logged 15,000 steps exactly. Things don't look far away, but they are. The terrain is just so flat that you can see far as fuck ahead. 

The first casino we visited was Caesar's Palace, and when the roulette lady checked our IDs, she asked if I was Thai. (I am - a quarter). She was from Thailand, and also very nice and helpful since I'd never played before. We took that as a good omen and I played for a while until I got up to $360. That's called beginner's luck. The next two times I played roulette, I left the table with $0. 

We took our earnings upstairs to Mr. Chow and had a really pricey, glorified P.F. Chang's meal with exceptional service and the smoothest red wine I've ever tasted. Our server was "Charles in Training," not to be confused with the other Charles. He was a fantastic server, and everyone in the restaurant was quite accommodating and attentive (doesn't this sound like a Yelp review?). Charles in Training offered to select our food and drink for us, and we let him. We had prawns, sole, beef, and probably some other stuff, too. My favorite part was the weird spaceship sculpture that Mr. Chow designed himself to represent the moon, that descended from the ceiling and slowly transformed above our heads every half hour. I'm glad roulette paid for that meal, because I wouldn't have. 

The next day, we drove to Grand Canyon West, which is an area of the Grand Canyon owned by the Hualapai people. It was a two hour drive, and we ventured from the welcome center to the canyon by tour bus. The view was literally breathtaking; seeing the edge of the canyon and knowing how deep down it went took my breath away. There were no barriers, fences, or anything of the sort. 

We went on the Skywalk, which is a U-shaped glass bridge that allows you to walk over the canyon. Most people were scared to walk over the clear part, and preferred to relegate themselves to the white glass side. Not me, the girl that enjoys the thrill of jumping on sewer door slats. At times, the bridge did make creaking noises, which was freaky. 

After the Skywalk, we took a helicopter ride down into the canyon, where we parked for twenty minutes and gazed upon the Colorado River. The helicopter ride was the most surreal experience of this trip. It seemed more like a wild west video game or helicopter ride simulation. Hey, maybe it was. Our pilot was from Norway, which I took as another good omen since I'm a quarter Norwegian (if you're keeping track, the other half is Korean).

Everything was beautiful and dusty. From the canyon, we traveled to my most random bucket list destination of Oatman, Arizona. This was another two hour drive, and the last 10 miles take you around the outer edge of a mountain with sharp turns and barely enough room for someone to pass in the opposite direction without knocking you down into the pits of hell. Visiting this city has been on my bucket list for a few years, since I found out they're famous for wild burros (basically Shrek donkeys) that roam about town. The burros are tame, and the shops sell little grassy snack bites to feed them. It was amazing feeding them by hand, but some of the bigger ones got a bit aggressive and started nudging me for more. At one point, half a dozen burros were surrounding me, hounding me. 

Oatman is named after Olive Oatman, a woman who was kidnapped as a young teen by a Native American tribe, after they slaughtered her family. They tattooed blue lines on her jaw, which supposedly was so that when you die, your ancestors recognize you as a part of their tribe. She survived with this tribe for many years until she was rescued. Who knows what her life was like? If it was anything like the toilets in Oatman, the answer is shitty. (The public restrooms were literally caked in poop. No flushing, no sink to wash hands. I took a picture but decided not to share it here.)

I posted a picture of the desert on my Snapchat, to which a guy I used to like replied, "You go to Vegas to hit up the desert? You should be at a pool party." To that I replied, "I'm bucket listing. Eff your pool party." 

The next day, we went to a pool party. Ha. 

We went to Drai's Beachclub and Nightclub, which apparently was the biggest hip-hop club spot on the strip. The party was really fun, with lots of people and a short Filipino DJ. The most live group of people there were from the UK. They all went crazy over the Giggs verse on Drake's new album. 

We almost went straight from the pool to the airport. Three days was perfect. Any longer and I would end up like the ghosts of Vegas past - the people who clearly lost all their money and their wits during a wild and crazy trip to Las Vegas, and now roam around either asking for money or just staring blankly. 

The weather is Vegas was perfect. It was a bit colder when we went higher up in altitude in Arizona, but still wonderful. Maybe everyone's been to Las Vegas, but if you're late like me and would like some tips for your traveling, here ya go! 

1: Use HotelTonight - HotelTonight is a great app for quick (day of) hotel reservations. We stayed at The W for about $100 a night. These hotels are fucking huge and have enough rooms that you don't really need to book too far ahead of time (unless you find a good deal, of course). But winging it is perfectly doable. You can even stay in multiple hotels seamlessly during your stay.

2: Quit while you're ahead - Beginner's luck is real. Unless you just don't give a fuck, decide not to gamble your way down to $0 at a casino table. When you're ahead, set at least the amount you started with aside. It's very easy to lose it all. And DON'T PLAY SLOTS. They suck. Tables are much more fun and potentially profitable.  

3: Go exploring - Las Vegas is a weird little lit-up strip in the middle of a vast, beautiful desert. There are tour packages for Grand Canyon and other places (Hoover Dam) available everywhere. This is SO worth it. Natural beauty always beats man-made wonders, in my humble opinion.