#my boss is inviting everyone to a restaurant etc etc and girl

[honeyprincesshour]

.

[roninhunt0987]

Sushi Time Night

Sushi Time Night

By: Roninhunt0987

X3 an idea Nekorockstarninja told me on,.. X3 the premise is that Suzuki takes everyone out to a sushi place that she knows of with a small prize contest if ya eat 5 plates of sushi ya get a small prize... Suzuki once attempted to do it on her but couldn't it but this time she brought back up which happens to be the ragtag Cast members of mine that will be aiding Suzuki to get what she needs... XD hilarity will ensue

Characters(C)belongs to their rightful owners

-that night in town-

Suzuki: -opens the doors to the Sushi place as she heads inside with the others- ^^ this is the Sushi place I spoke of... ^^; where I ate like 40 plates of Sushi and got some small prizes out of it... I tried to do it alone but couldn't do it... ^^ so yea Merrick: hehe -sniffs the air of the place- ^^ heh reminds me the time when I was a lil kid Espio's uncle Seraph brought my siblings and I with Espio to a Sushi place similar to this one

Espio: heh... brings back memories doesn't it?? Merrick: it really does

Espio: to this very day I still miss my uncle but he did raise ya well

Suzuki: wait wha

Jared: when Merrick's village got attacked Uncle Yamato told them to find a person named Seraph who happens to be Espio's uncle... Both Merrick and Espio grew up as kids so they're pretty close

Suzuki: oh wow I had no idea

Espio: now ya know Suzuki

Merrick: soon after Espio's uncle passed we split ways on our own.. we didn't get back together until the meterex war happened and worked together with tails and the others on the war effort I was just glad to See Espio again but hanging with Vector and Charmy,, ^^; dunno how he ended up with them but they're an okay sort when I met them I was quite unsure at the time but sometime after the war I accepted them as friends... any friend of Espio is my friend those were my words when I accepted them... ^^; well as for Espio paying rent I usually see him at the door delivering pizza...

Espio: uhm.... ya back when... uhhh Tails broke his arm and leg at the time when Miss Marine was around at the time... I wonder whatever happened to that girl?? Shadow: heh... who knows Marine The Raccoon: O.o there was a girl after my name

Tails: mmhmm when I had that extreme gear mishap I got badly injured both of em got me home and had me patched up

Espio: she was the one who greeted me at the door at the time when I delivered the pizza... told her why that I had to pay rent because Vector kept going broke

Merrick: this was way before I got my cybernetic enhancements at the time btw

Waitress: -sees Suzuki is here again and sees the big crowd thats with her- O.o oh wow I never knew I am seeing this the ragtag band of the Katos and Prowers and also others also... uhh follow me to the big room for a huge crowd and we'll be with ya shortly

Suzuki: alrighty

Roberto: -walks on over as he also owns this sushi place also- ahhh.. Merrick good to see you again -insert borderlands 3 character introduction of his full name which is Roberto Jaime Scott: Martial Artist, Bodyguard of Yuri Niko and Japanese Restaurant related business man-

Merrick: ahh Roberto didn't know ya own this sushi place also besides the main ones

Roberto: mmhmm I might say Suzuki really loves this place specially the idea that every 5 plates of sushi ya get a small prize and seems like she wants to get more prizes and for y'all to have a chance also Jared: thats why were here Roberto

Connor The Wolf: -walks on in- Oh hey Dad -insert borderlands 3 character introduction of his name Connor the Wolf: adopted son of merrick and Kimiko, Bodyguard of Yuri Niko, Warrior, Marksman, Mage and with a heart of gold- What ya guys doing here??

Merrick: wondering the same thing kiddo

Shiro The Floofyshark: I can answer that -insert borderlands 3 introduction of his name Shiro The Floofyshark: main bodyguard of Yuri Niko, second husband of Yuri Niko and boss of Roberto and Connor- remember that chat I had with ya sir?? if ya remember ya Son and his friend Roberto have now officially been sworn in as Yuri Niko's bodyguards

Misha: wait.. if ya here... ^^ that also means Yuri and Her family is here

Shiro The Floofyshark: ^^ correct Misha she is in the same room that ya guys are heading into

Misha: X3 awesome

Suzuki: wait hold up whos Yuri Niko Misha: X3 one of my best friends and also neighborhood hehe Claretta will be glad to see me too

Suzuki: wait oh so thats who it was thats outside a lot with a cute unique colored Eevee and another floofyshark enjoying the summer weather each time I come by to visit

Misha: ^^ get this Yuri is a J-pop singer and I know how ya love J-pop Suzuki

Suzuki: ^^ awesome can't wait to meet her

-in the big room- Claretta Niko: -at the table and ears perks up as she is wearing her eevee hoodie and sees Misha- OwO

Yuri Niko: hu?? ^^ Misha whatcha doin here??? Misha: ^^ got invited by my friend suzuki

Claretta Niko: -runs to misha and hugs her and sees Suzuki and gets shy as she gets behind Misha-

Suzuki: ^^ hey its alright I don't bite

Misha: -does sign language with her to let her know Suzuki is a friend of hers-

Claretta Niko: -nods yes and does sign language of saying okay-

Suzuki: -watches carefully-

Mikey: .w. uhhh whats she doing

Raph: sigh... its called Sign language ya idiot

Suzuki: ohhh... Born deaf or born mute??

Misha: ^^ born mute... O.o she also has Autism/ADD and has panic attacks hence she has her eevee a lot... her Eevee is her service pokemon... ^^ its a special program for the disabled to have pokemon with them as their service pet... kinda like the service animals ya see around new york so yea

Suzuki: wow -smiles cutely and giggles- ^^ love ya eevee hoodie

Claretta Niko: -does sign language of saying thank you- ^^

Misha: ^^ she says thank you

Suzuki: ^^ your welcome

Yuri Niko: -walks on over- ^^ so ya must be Suzuki Misha told me a lot about ya and also into J-pop

Suzuki: ^^ hehe guilty as charged nice to meet ya

Yuri Niko: ^^ likewise

-as they got to the table-

Jessica Niko: ^^ so ya must be Suzuki I heard so much about.. ^^ my names Jessica Niko and this is my husband Raymond Niko.. Ray for short... ^^ we own a coffee shop in town... Misha is one of locals that comes by same goes with Misha The Coyote

Raymond Niko: ^^ well met

Jessica Niko: ^^ I see ya met Claretta already... over there is my son Harvey -mumbles to Suzuki so that Harvey won't hear- just be careful around him he has a bad habit of raiding girls undergarments and such don't worry his siblings always get to him on that

Suzuki: oof noted but don't worry my brothers will help

Yuri Niko: brothers???

Mikey: ^^ sup

Yuri Niko: O.o oh wow is that-

Misha: ^^ yup Suzuki's brothers is the TMNT... Janic was the first to meet them and we later on met them... ^^ the orange mask there is Mikey, the red mask is Raph

Yuri Niko: XD the hothead of the bunch

Raph: .w. ya she ain't kidding on that one

Yuri Niko: and the blue mask there is Leo which is the leader and the one in purple is the brainaic of the bunch Donnie

Leo: heh good guess

Donnie: ^^ yup brains of the bunch

Gen'ichi: names Gen'ichi, this is my wife Ninjara

Ninjara: -bows- hello

Yuri Niko: ohh the one Raph used to hang with

Raph: -blushes- uhhh ya

Ninjara: ^^ ya correct on that one

Gen'ichi: kids front in center

Ran, Rei, Reiko, Rika, Miwa, Nori, Gen'ichi Jr and Lil Geni: -lines up sideways-

Ninjara: ^^ thats Ran, Rei, Reiko, Rika, Miwa, Nori, Gen'ichi jr and Lil Geni

Ran: ^^ Hoi

Rei: X3 heya

Reiko: ^^ hi

Rika: X3 heya

Miwa: ^^ hoi

Nori: ^^ heya

Gen'ichi Jr: ^^ hi hi

Lil Geni: ^^ hoi -sticks out her tongue cutely like a small blep while she is holding Suzuki's old plush-

Yuri Niko: ^^ so cute

Harvey Niko: ^^ hi my names Harvey Niko and-

Yuri Niko: .w. don't even try to ask her about that knucklehead ya know we get on ya behind on that right?? Harvey Niko: .w. darn it

Keira Niko: -rolls eyes- oi... ^^ hi my names Keira good to meet ya

Hayato Niko: my names Hayato well met

Ryu Niko: my name is Ryu Niko I'm Jessica's older brother heh and also Yuri and her siblings uncle ya probably can tell we have a japanese background

Suzuki: ^^ I can tell hehe

Yuri Niko: ^^ I see ya already met Shiro, Connor and Roberto who are my bodyguards when I go on tour for my J-pop... ^^ also for a fact Connor and Roberto recently got sworn in as bodyguards to help Shiro out

Laurence: ^^ my names Laurence i'm Yuri's husband and this kiddo of mine is Zoey

Zoey Niko: hi

Suzuki: ^^ so cute

Waitresses: -gets green tea for everyone and such-

Waiters: -got everyones sushi plates for everyone to choose from-

Roberto: ^^ hehe the key of this if ya finish 5 plates of sushi ya get a small prize so enjoy

Honey The Rat/Zebra: hehe awesome -proceeds to use her chopsticks and such as she uses the Wasabi on her sushi and eats it and etc as she has extreme high tolerence from eating anything spice as she is immune to any spicy kick-

Mikey: O_O wha how... Wasabi supposed to light ya mouth on fire its called spicy mustard for a reason

Shadow: .w. mikey.... that because she has a unique extreme high tolerance to anything spice

Mikey: No way

Amber: ^^ way hehe

Mikey: .w.;;;; -thinking of a crazy idea-

Raph: .w. Mikey what are ya planning

Mikey: oh nothing just want to attempt something

Raph: .w. ya know any idea ya think of doing usually backfires in some bad way ya know that

Suzuki: .w. Raph whats mikey planning

Raph: .w. who knows... he's probably gonna attempt to eat a whole mouthful of wasabi

Mikey: :3

Raph: O_o oh no... he is isn't he

Mikey: -attempts it as he gets a mouthful of Wasabi in his mouth and swallows-

Raph, Suzuki, Leo and Donnie: .w. 3, 2, 1

Mikey: -randomly screams- AHHHHHHHHH!!! -runs around like an idiot as he flails his arms anime style in panic- AHHHHHHHHHH AHHHHHHHHHH OMG AHHHHHHHHH!!!!

Everyone: -facepalms-

Yuri Niko: don't tell me this is one of his dumb moments isn't it

Everyone: -in unison- Yes

Ran, Rei, Reiko, Rika, Miwa, Nori, Gen'ichi Jr and Lil Geni: -laughing at their uncle mikey as this was a funny moment and such-

Suzuki: ugh Mikey drink this

Mikey: -drinks it- uggh what is this...

Suzuki: its green tea it-

Mikey: oh hey my mouth is not on fire anymore

Suzuki: .w. exactly it helps with defusing the burns of the wasabi

Mikey: .w. ohhh

Suzuki: -looks to Ran, Rei, Reiko, Rika, Miwa, Nori, Gen'ichi Jr and Lil Geni- ^^ remember not to do that or in this case don't pull an Uncle Mikey moment

Mikey: >< HEY!!! Ran, Rei, Reiko, Rika, Miwa, Nori, Gen'ichi Jr and Lil Geni: -laughs-

Mikey: -chuckles- ya okay that was on me honestly

Raph: -gibbs slaps Mikey for it- .w. ya think Genius its no wonder ya being called a knucklehead at times

Shadow: .w. ya mean like knuckles

Knuckles: HEY WHAT THE HECK THAT SUPPOSED TO MEAN!!!

Tails: .w. uhm Knuckles remember that time ya got tricked for the first time by eggman when he yoinked the master emerald from ya when Sonic and I met ya the first time

Sonic: .w. ya dude ya even suckerpunched me while I was in super form

Knuckles: .w. sigh okay okay ya have a fair point there

Sonic: mmmhmm -drinks a lil bit of his Green tea-

Tails: -eating his sushi-

The others: -same-

-45 minutes later-

Everyone: -each got a prize thats given to Suzuki as for helping her out and such-

Roberto: ^^ well I do have to admit that was a wise decision to bring friends and family with ya to help eating the sushi and the prizes needed so when in doubt always have family and friends to help instead of taking it on alone

Suzuki: ^^ heh thanks

Merrick: ^^ the usual account that I usually pay for here Roberto and congrats to joining in helping Shiro with the bodyguard detail and uhh also my boy good on you of joining with Shiro on that detail also... ^^ so ya can get out more and such whenever Yuri goes on tour

Connor The Wolf: heh... thanks dad

Merrick: ^^ keep in mind when Yuri's band is in town expect us to be there so we can listen and watch

Yuri Niko: ^^ hehe count on it ya son will do a great job I just know he will

Merrick: ^^ of course and make sure he stays out of trouble also and make sure to have a calm mind and such... ^^; the boy has ADHD and Autism go figure

Connor The Wolf: ^^; ya pops has a point on that Yuri heh but don't worry Roberto will make sure I am kept in check hehe and Shiro also

Shiro The Floofyshark: heh ya damn right i'll make sure to do that

Roberto: indeed

Misha: ^^ so when ya tour

Yuri Niko: ^^ sometime around august or so however I do plan on coming here in town around october as the final spot before I go on break from my tour run so basically Megaville city is the final destination of my Tour around October and well... ^^ its gonna be on Your Birthday Misha

Misha: X3 Awesome I can't wait hehe

Yuri Niko: ^^ hehe yup

Shiro: -looks to Roberto and Connor- that means you two we got few weeks until august starts up... when August 1st starts up you two better be ready and also in gear got it.. our job is to make sure no one makes a move on Yuri or well in this case some random jackass decides to flirt on her... use of force is needed if the said person doesn't cooperate

Yuri Niko: .w. oh in this case if SP Vector decides to butt and such use of force is basically immediate

Roberto: ugggh ya mean the same jackass I had to ban last week from this establishment along with the other japanese places I own and etc

Connor The Wolf: =w= and the same numbskull who blew up my damn truck that my adopted parents got for me when I first got adopted

Yuri Niko: yup the very same cheap knock off of Vector who is also his sonic paradox counterpart if ya watched the sonic shorts collab series

Roberto: ohhh looking forward to it good thing I been practicing some new martial arts moves I can use on him

Connor The Wolf: and also the new Blade that Gladio gave me when he first fought against Giglamesh and passed it on to me since he wishes to keep using one of his older blades and such

Jared: wait what

Squall: gigalmesh... yes I know the guy when Odin went down he came into the picture and resumed doing Odin's job didn't know his name at the time but he seems to be obsessed with a certain sword... I think it was the Excalibur or somethin he didn't say

Cloud: wait Gladio fought him

Gladio: yup and also his pet also... seems the big guy really loves to fight on bridges

Jared: according to legend its considered tradition for him... huhn that explains why when I dueled Stupid Mario at the time thats also a bridge over some lava and etc

Merrick: and its also a wonder why we sometimes tell ya it was from too much video games that has him in it

Jared: .w. ya that explains it

Jennifer The Fox: -close to Yuri as she misses her parents as this was the go to place when she was a lil kid as her parents and herself went here a lot-

Yuri Niko: whats wrong??

Jennifer The Fox: I remember my parents and I went here in this very area

Roberto: ahhh I thought I recognize ya... my grandfather knew ya parents and you at the time... its a shame they been killed by a drive by shooter

Jennifer The Fox: uhm about that... he's already dead.. ^^ Misha took him out

Misha: .w. turned out it was the jackhole who participated the fall of my family's clan go figure

Roberto: ahh I thought so hence reason the streets near the coffee shop is quiet a lot now and also explains why my grandfather placed a memoriam shrine to honor them as their best customers...

Jennifer The Fox: is he still around

Roberto: ^^ as a matter of fact he is yes he's the one who got me to be who I am today on as I took of his job as he is retired now and still strong as an ox

Jennifer: ^^ can ya tell him I said hello and well... also thank you for doing the memorium shrines for them...

Roberto: ^^ i'll make sure to do that count on it

Suzuki: one more thing whos is gonna maintain the restaurants while ya away on bodyguard duty

Eos The Floofyshark: ^^ I can answer that... ^^ you see two metabots requested by Roberto will take over for a bit until october who also happens to make sure Claretta remains calm as those two happens to be her Metabots to protect her while Yuri is away

Roberto: ^^ yes that would be Foxsword and Foxuno they seem to have a nack of maintaining stuff besides what they do a lot at a delay basis they're gonna start doing my tasks sometime when Yuri begins her tour run and don't worry I already told Gramps on that detail already as he is aware that I am a sworn in Bodyguard for Yuri Niko during her tour he is actually proud of me after I told him

Eos The Floofyshark: ^^ mmhmm

Suzuki: ^^ good to know

Eos The Floofyshark: .w. they'll also make sure that SP Vector don't enter the building as they will use force if needed as a last resort

Roberto: oh ya and my grandfather knows about it too

Suzuki: thats good

Roberto: indeed

SP vector: -breaks through wall like the Kool-aid man- OH YA!!!

Roberto: ._.;;;;; SP Vector ya paying for the damage for that

SP Vector: .w. or else what

Shiro: .w. -gets out his desert eagle and shoots SP Vector in the balls- BLAM!!! SP Vector: OUGH!!! -on the floor- >< my overies

Claretta Niko: -sighs and does sign language of saying ya don't have any ya dingbat-

SP Vector: .w. what she say?? Raph: -facepalm- She said You don't any ya dingbat... what did ya fail sign language 101 or somethin punk

SP Vector: WHY DON'T YA SAY THAT TO MY FACE HOTSHOT!!! Raph: =w= oh its on...

Frenchie: 1 hour of pain later

SP Vector: -broken teeth and etc and in a dentist office- uggggh

TF2 Medic: :3 Next

SP Vector: AHHHHHHHHHH!!! -crashes through wall as he runs away-

TF2 Medic: -scratches the back of his head in confusion on why he did that and shrugs and calls the next patient in-

Scene: -does a smart fart noise of blacking out-

TFS Nappa: .w. the end

-XD END XD-

-RH0987 PRODUCTIONS 2021-

@otakuneko-lotus XD enjoy neko

[imthefailedartist]

Spinning FRIENDS

A hobby of mine is coming up with film and TV show ideas. The following are my ideas for “Friends” spin-offs. These are all set in that 90’s early 00’s sitcom style.

Monica and Chandler Geller-Bing- Follows them as they adapt to parenthood and moving from the city to the suburbs and the commute. Monica enjoys the suburban life; Chandler is having trouble. The twins are three and entering preschool where Monica gets into competitions with the other super parents. Chandler is too sensitive for the other dad’s they become best friends with their quirky new neighbors. Monica keeps trying to impress the Homeowners Association but to no avail. Chandler learns more about himself and his childhood and how he wants to be as a parent.

Phoebe Buffay*- The show follows Phoebe as she begins working at a spa. Each episode revolves around a quirky client and how phoebe deals with them. The owner, the receptionist, rival masseuse, friendly masseuse and one regular client are the main cast along with phoebe. Mike rarely appears. (He was a cute boyfriend for Phoebe, but I hated that they ended together.)

Joey Tribbiani- Joey moves to Los Angeles and into an apartment building filled with other people who want to be involved in film or television. His new neighbors/friends are an actress, a writer, a director, an actor, an actor who looks just like Joey lives in the building, but they are adamant that they do not look alike, Joey loses some jobs to him. Joey is still a Casanova and is wooing the ladies, but he has a will they/won’t they relationship with the writer. The landlord is a once famous actor who fizzled out of Hollywood, he becomes Joey’s mentor. This would not necessarily be an ensemble show like Friends, but it would focus more on Joey. The other characters would get stories and development. However, it would not be uncommon for those characters to not appear or only show up for few minutes of some episodes This style would also allow for the reverse so the show could focus on the story of the other characters.

I think the original idea for Joey to be the one character that gets a spin-off was great but from what little I’ve seen of “JOEY” the showrunners and writers did not care about connecting the show to Friends, which is a shame. They could have hard reset his character back to “Friends” season one Joey, a lovable goofball, Casanova adjusting to Hollywood vs. New York.

Friends guest appearances on the Joey spin-off

Chandler visits and wants to paint the town red, being free of dad life suburban life, etc. he comes to town and Joey takes him to all kinds of Hollywood parties, but he falls asleep or gets tired. Joey feels bad but Chandler says it’s the second most fun he’s ever had- hint, hint.

Phoebe is brought to town by a client working on a movie she visits Joey and she of course has a gaggle of strange friends that she and Joey get into weird trouble. She gets him a small part in the movie because she cannot stop talking about how great he is.

Ross comes to town just to visit. He takes Joey to museums. Joey is bored and uninterested, but at each spot he meets the same girl and tries to talk to her, Ross unknowingly cock-blocks him, taking him to another exhibit or museum. The episode ends with Ross realizing that the girl is stalking Joey. Her character pops up occasionally throughout the show.

Rachel comes to town for LA Fashion Week she invites Joey. In attendance is a major director Joey hopes to schmooze. While backstage he encounters a hot model who flirts with him but he keeps getting blocked by a male model who is younger and has abs. Joey is eating a burger and the male model eats it in a desperate hunger because he’s been starving himself for the runway, he gets sick because of the unhealthy food. Rachel has no choice but to replace the model with Joey, who is reluctant because he wants to talk to director during the show. Joey goes down the runway in his Joey way and Rachel is embarrassed and thinks she is going to get fired, Joey thinks the director will never take him serious as an actor. Instead everyone loves Joey and he starts getting modeling offers as the new “Anti-Model” model. Rachel gets a promotion and Joey gets a nice part in the director’s new movie. Rachel comes to the apartment to thank Joey and just hangout, while there she meets The Writer, and notices the chemistry between them she points it out to Joey and begins the actual story of Joey realizing he has feelings for the writer.

Monica is in LA for a food expo. Joey is shooting a movie with a movie star that Monica loves, he plans to bring her to set so she can meet him. Arriving at his place with a large cooler of food she is taken aback at his surprisingly filthy apartment. Monica never leaves, she misses the entire expo and set visit because she cannot stop cleaning. Smelling the delicious food his new friends come over Joey introduces her to his new friends; we find out that Monica’s restaurant is super successful. She offers to make them dinner, they refuse, she insists, they accept and give her a laundry list of dietary restrictions, she looks forward to the challenge. Monica makes the meal and they enjoy it she learns more about them and tells Joey she was worried about him but knows that he has friends and people who love him just as much as the New York bunch. Its time to go home and Joey feels bad because he did not get to show Monica the movie set because she spent it cleaning up his mess. She says it was the best gift he could have ever given her.

Gunther’s spin-off would revolve around Central Perk. The show would mainly feature the café employees with Gunther as their boss. The staff are all different archetypes, there are a few regulars who make appearances.

Whilst all my previous Friends spin-off ideas are twenty-two-minute sitcoms set in the 90’s my idea for Rachel and Ross is modern and is a dramatic comedy for a premium cable network or streaming service (twenty-five to thirty minutes, no commercials). My Rachel and Ross spin off takes place ten years after Friends.

I am one of those people who always thought Rachel should have gone to Paris. I hated that the show kept Ross and Rachel on the table after they broke up in season three. Seven seasons (i.e. years) had passed, it is not like they ever got back together during any of the seven years apart. Sex does not count as together. Also, to me the writers never wrote anything compelling enough about the two of them during those seven years that made me believe they would last. The catalyst of the show is Rachel gets a big career opportunity that would cause the family to have to rework somethings in their lives but overall it would have little effect on their overall lives, Ross asks her to turn it down because he cannot see past the changes, Rachel turns it down. A time later Ross gets a career opportunity that would uproot the entire family and have effects on everyone in the family. Rachel tells him to turn it down because the family cannot handle that kind of change suddenly. Ross takes it anyway.

Ross and Rachel- The iconic couple are getting divorced after so many years together. Rachel realizes that she has given up so much career wise, and that he is just not the husband and father she thought he would be. The show begins in the middle, the papers have already been filed and disputed and renegotiated. They live on the outskirts of the city, Rachel still works in fashion, Ross is still a paleontologist. Ben and Emma are their only children. Ross’ relationship with Ben (age 15 or 16) is strained. Ben is gender-queer and Ross refuses to accept it. They have a close relationship with Rachel. They want her to have primary custody (Carol and Susan moved to another state), much to Ross’ chagrin. Emma is a preteen and is acting out because she feels caught in the middle. Ross has moved out of state for his new job he comes back to deal with the divorce and to spend time with kids. The show focuses on Rachel getting back to herself and becoming the woman she wants to be and what she wants in a relationship and on Ross who wants to get his family back and who he is as a husband and father.

I could see Monica being on episodes caught in a hard place and Chandler taking Rachel’s side immediately. Joey is the true neutral friend and Phoebe is heart broken over the lobsters being broken.

Take away the Friends elements and it could just work as a show with original characters.

 *My least favorite idea

[espeonage1995]

When the Red Strings are Attached

Chapter 1: When Two People Reconnect

Author’s note: Finally, first chapter is out! And the beginning might be emotional, but I promise at the end and the next chapter will be more funny. Hope you guys enjoy! 😊💕💕🌸

Disclaimer: Some of the scenes and references are from the movies, tv shows, games, etc. Like Friends, Pixelberry’s Choices App game, and more. I don’t any of those.

Tagging: @princessstellaris @blightarts @mind-reader1@brightpinkpeppercorn @scgdoeswhat @queenaryn @itsagoodluckkiss @sophie-summer @xo-endlessmayhem-xo@endlessly-searching-for-you @sceptilemasterr @daniela2510 @choicessa and @mysteli .

Although many people can recalled The Red String of Fate tied two people together and are destined to meet, this legend isn’t specifically limited to “couples” or “soulmates”. Sometimes, the Red String of Fate will weaved a path to those who will cross paths make history and to those who will help one another, which will soon create a scarlet tapestry from the red thread we are born with.

What if we assumed that this whole thing would applied to six different people, who may or may not known each other for a long time? And that once they crossed paths...how would their lives change?

Perhaps...we will take a look at them right now and see how their fates concurs...

It all started in a local restaurant called Red Lotus. A tall, dark hair man dressed in his waiter uniform had just enter the back, taking out the trash. By the time he tossed out the last plastic bag into the dumpster, another guy, wearing the same uniform, ran up to him. “Dude, Aaron! I need you to do me favor!” The other waiter yelled in a pleading tone. “What is it, James?” Aaron asked him. James clasped his hands together and bow down, almost as if he was begging for forgiveness or something. “Can you take over my shift, tonight? It’s an emergency!” “Again?” The dark hair waiter raised his eyebrow questionably, “What’s the emergency this time?” “...Ok. Maybe not that kind of an emergency, but it’s still important,” James confessed but continued on, “I have a date with this girl I met last week, and I just got asked out at the last minute.” “Seriously?!” “Please, please?! I really like this girl and I promise this’ll be the last time I’ll ask you for it. I’ll even let you keep the extra tips from my shift!” Aaron blankly stared at the younger waiter for a few minutes before sighing, “Alright. I’ll take over. It’s not like I have anything else to do at this moment.” “Thanks, man! I owe you one!” James patted the dark hair on the back and quickly sprint back to the door. The latter followed behind and went to the front where all the tables are bustling with many people. Many of them were comfortable and enjoying the lively atmosphere while digging into their meals and/or beverages. Smiling and feeling the confidence, the dark hair waiter quickly grabbed his notebook and pen and went to the table he’ll be serving at. “Good evening and welcome to Red Lotus,” Aaron flashed a smile, causing the couple at the table to look up, “My name is Aaron and I’ll be your server for the night. May I recommend some of the specials we have for this evening?” Meanwhile at the other side of the restaurant, a bartender with auburn hair and wearing a sunglasses is pouring drinks and eventually served them in the glass for the two young women right in front of him, sitting on the other side of the bar counter. One of the women has dark hair with red strands, and the other has light brown hair with blonde ombré. “Here you go, ladies! One sunrise tequila for the gamer girl and one passion fruit cocktail for the teacher.” “Thanks, Flint!” The girls slowly took a sip of their drinks and savor the concoctions before their eyes glint from the taste. “Mmm...I don’t think I’ll ever get tired of this,” the women with dark hair and red stands exclaimed, “You’ve outdone yourself again, Flint!” “Thanks, Mel. Just doing my best for my friends here. Especially, you,” The bartender quickly winked at her, causing the latter to giggled, “So how’s the gaming company treating you? They finally let you create your own Game app for an IPhone, right?” “Yep,” Melody, or rather Mel as Flint called her, replied, “Except that they expect me to follow this stupid theme of theirs for the new game app. I mean, who wants to create another game that involves birds again? They already did it for Angry Birds and Flappy Birds!” The gamer girl groaned while her friends started laughing at her reaction. “...At least you’re going somewhere with your new job,” The light brunette with blonde ombré told her, “I’m still stuck in that private tutoring company.” “...Still haven’t found another job, yet, Maisy?” Flint asked her sympathetically. “Not yet,” Maisy replied, “It’s hard to find a teaching job these days. Despite the pay, I really like the tutoring company that I’m working at, but I just want to do something beyond that. Besides, I’m getting tired of getting rejected after ten more interviews.” Melody and Flint glance at her sadly before the former gave Maisy a hug. “You’ll find something, Maisy. Don’t worry.” Before the brunette can reply, a guy with dark brown hair wearing a blue jacket over a scrubs entered the restaurant and sat at the bar counter next to the girls. “Hey, Ryan. How’s your day at the hospital?” Maisy asked him. “It’s fine,” he told her, “Just the usual tasks of taking of the patients again.” “You want your usual scotch on the rock, Ryan?” “Not tonight,” The dark brunette told Flint, “I have an exam coming up tomorrow morning and need to concentrate. If you can make anything non-alcoholic, it’ll do.” “Got it.” Flint quickly gather the ingredients to make Ryan a drink before the latter interrupted him. “By the way, you’re going to have to prepare yourself for a strange encounter at twelve o’clock right at the front door.” “...Wait, what?!” On cue, the door to the restaurant burst opened, causing everyone to become startled and stop whatever they’re doing before looking at the front entrance. From there, they saw a young woman with blonde hair and pink strands looking around frantically while wearing a white wedding dress. Yes. That’s right. She’s wearing a wedding dress at a local restaurant, clearly all by herself. “...What-?” “...the-?” “...HELL?!” Melody, Maisy, and Flint stammered at the scene (with the bartender dropping the glass and letting it shattered to the floor) finally breaking the scene while Ryan was just staring at it cooly. “...Told ya.” Meanwhile, everyone else,both  customers and waiters, were murmuring among themselves. “What is she doing wearing her wedding dress in a place like this?” “No idea.” “Were we expecting a large party tonight?” “I don’t think so. If there is, boss would’ve told us soon.” Aaron, who was waiting at the table nearby the group, finally managed to break out of his shock and calmed down a bit. “...Okay. I’ve seen a lot of strange things happening in this restaurant, but this...” he motioned to the bride, “...takes it to the next level.” Out of curiosity, Melody stood from her stool and glanced over at the bride before her eyes widened. “Oh my god. I know this girl!” Melody told her friends before waving her hand at the mysterious bride, “Chelsea? Chelsea over here!” The bride, now known as Chelsea, turned to Melody and gasped. “Oh my god. Mel, it’s you! I finally found you!” The blonde quickly throw herself after the gamer girl and hugged her tightly, nearly suffocating the latter to death. “Easy...easy...” Melody choked. “Oh, sorry sorry!” Chelsea quickly let go of her, “It’s just that I’ve been looking all over for you in the city. I even checked into the building you lived but you weren’t there. I was about to give up until there’s this cute guy wearing some sort of hospital outfit passing by and told me that you might be here, and you are! You are!”

Everyone else turned to Ryan with a blank expression in their faces, knowing that he was the one who sorta lead Chelsea here since he’s the only one not affected by the sudden scene. The dark brunette just merely shrugged it off.

“...Well, c’mon and have a seat with us,” Melody gently lead the blonde to the bar counter where her friends are at and let her sit at the stool next to the former, “By the way, everyone, this is Chelsea. She was an old friend of mine. Chels, these are my friends. Maisy, Flint, Aaron, and Ryan.”

“Hi there.”

“Heyyo.”

“Nice to meet you.”

“‘Sup.”

The rest of the group started exchange greeting Chelsea, who greeted back gratefully with a slight smile before settling down a bit. The gamer girl continued with the conversation.

“So...are you gonna tell us what’s going on or are we going to be waiting for some bridesmaids and a groom?” At that, Chelsea started bursting into tears, which shocks and confused everyone, especially Melody. And come to think of it, Melody noticed that Chelsea’s makeup is messed up and her eyes are red from crying, so she gave the blonde some napkins nearby and have Flint to bring a glass of water for her. It took Chelsea a moment to calmed down and finally found her voice to speak but was still stifling into tears.

“I’m sorry but...it’s just that something bad has happened before the wedding,” the blonde blubbered out while trying to dry her tears, “You remembered a while ago how I told you that I was going to get married to my fiance, Colton?”

Melody thought for a moment, “Yeah. Yeah I remembered how you told me that,” then the dark hair girl’s face soured, “I also remembered how you didn’t invite me to your wedding.”

“...Okay, I was hoping that wouldn’t be an issue,” Chelsea replied nervously to that, taking a sip of her water before continuing, “That aside, I was getting dressed for the wedding. Ready to walk down the aisle while everyone was watching. Just like I dreamed off. But then, I received a text from one of my friend, saying that Colton was cheating on me. At first, I didn’t want to believe it. I mean...we’ve been together for so long and I was certain he was the one for me. Then I decided to confront him about this to see if it’s true or not, even though it’s bad luck to see each other before the wedding. And that’s when I saw him...making out with another woman!”

That was when the blonde woman started crying again, leaving everyone else in the group felt sympathy for the woman and disgusted at what the guy did to her. Even Mel started to feel bad what her old friend was going through.

“Oh god…”

“Alright. That guy is a total bastard,” Flint declared with the guys nodding in agreement. Maisy went over to the crying woman and gently placed her hands on her.

“Do you know who was that woman your ex was having an affair with?”

Chelsea shook her head, “No, I don’t. I was too shock by all of this that I didn’t even get a chance to look at her face. Though, by the way she was dress, I could tell that she could possibly be one of my bridesmaid but that was it.

“...Oh, but it doesn’t really matter who it was. I was so stupid!” Chelsea whimpered before burying her face in her hands, “What went wrong and what’ve I done to deserve this?”

At this point, none of them could’ve give an answer to the situation. It’s been one of the craziest, miserable night so far.

Couple hours later, the gang invited Chelsea to stay over their apartment for the night. She managed to change into a more comfortable clothes Melody and Maisy lent her and decided to take her mind off for a bit by watching Avengers on the flat screen tv with the others. However, the used-to-be bride received a phone call not so much later and is currently yelling through her phone, whom everyone can assumed must be her ex-fiance.

“Good god, this is becoming more like Rules of Engagement. Only with more drama,” Flint commented.

“I don’t want to hear anymore of this, Colton! You betrayed me!” Chelsea cried out while the others sat at the couch looking concern. The movie was paused so they can hear what was going on. “What? That’s your excuse? Well, I wished you would’ve told me that-! Y’know what? Forget it. I don’t want to talk to you anymore. Hell, I DON’T EVEN WANT TO SEE YOUR FACE ANYMORE!”

Chelsea turns off her phone and threw it across the wall, shattering it into mechanic pieces, frightening the five friends in the room. They can see that her violet eyes are glowing red in anger.

“And she have finally evolved into a Gyarados,” Ryan commented.

She calmed down a bit and sat on the couch next to Aaron, who slowly back away from her, mainly because of her rage earlier.

“...Sorry you guys have to see that,” the blonde told them, “I...I never been this frustrated to someone other than my sister.”

“...You have every right to be,” Maisy reassured her, giving her a comforting hug, “What he did...was unforgivable. You did the right thing by ending it with him.”

“Still doesn’t make me feel any better,” Chelsea replied.

The light brunette nodded in understanding. “Is there anything we can do for you?”

“...I don’t know. But I do want to lay down and be alone right now,” Chelsea got up from the couch and head up to a room, making Maisy’s head quirked up.

“Um...Chels. That’s actually-” The door slams shut, making her flinch, “My room,” the light brunette sighed “Guess I have to sleep on the couch this time.”

When she said that, Ryan started smirking, “Y’know. There’s still some space in my room, maybe you can come over and-”

“Don’t even go there, Walker,” Maisy glared at him.

“I really feel bad for the poor girl, though,” Aaron told them while sympathetically glancing at Maisy’s room where Chelsea is in, “She’s been in a committed relationship for while and this happens. That’s a lot for anyone to take in.”

“What do you think she’s going to do now?” Flint asked in concerned.

“Well, Chels and I did discuss a bit before that break up happens,” Melody answered rather uncomfortably, twirling her hair with her finger a bit, “She’s going to stay here for a while and is planning to go back to her old apartment to pick up her stuff. However, it’s the one that she and her ex shared, and with the state she’s in, I don’t think she wants to go back.”

“So...you’re volunteering to do that for her?” The waiter asked.

“...Honestly, I’m starting to feel weird about that. I mean, it’s been a while since I saw her, and…” the gamer girl paused for a bit before deciding to change the subject, “Anyway, can at least one of you guys come with me and help me bring her stuff back? Just to make it less awkward for me.”

“Sorry, but I already told I have an exam tomorrow. Plus, I have to go back to the hospital for work,” Ryan replied.

“Wish I could help you, Mel, but someone already made an appointment with me for the private tutor,” Maisy told her.

“And I have morning shift at the cafe,” Aaron added.

Melody sighed in disappointment. At that, Flint stepped in, “I don’t have anything to do tomorrow, so if you need someone to take you there...I’m your guy.”

“Thanks, Flint. I appreciate it,” The gamer girl smiled weakly at his offered. Although she tried to hide it, it’s clear to everyone else that she’s still feeling uneasy at this.

The next day...

“So…” Flint finally break the silence as he and Melody were walking their way to Chelsea’s old apartment, “What’s the history between you and Chels?”

“...I don’t want to talk about it,” the gamer girl replied bitterly.

“C’mon Mel. Chelsea is going to be staying at your place for a while. The rest of us might as well get to know her a bit while we can. Besides, I could tell that there’s this tension between you two. More from you than her.”

“Stop using that bartender talk on me.”

“Not until you tell me.”

Melody bit her lip in silence before she decided to speak.

“Chelsea and I used to be so close as kids. Kinda like how Maise and Aaron are,” the gamer girl revealed, “We always hang out with each other and help each other when one of us is down. But...we fell apart in high school.”

Flint raised an eyebrow at her in curiosity, “How so?”

“Well for one thing, we became different,” Melody explained, “Maybe it’s partly because we became interest in different things. Me in video games. And Chels in fashion. That didn’t bother me much. No, it’s from a crowd she’s been hanging out with. I mean...some of them were bitches. And I feel like she change because of that. She became a person I don’t even know anymore. We drifted apart during high school graduation. And now that’s she’s back...I don’t know. I feel everything is rushing back to me when I see her again. Plus, why now?”

The bartender pondered for a moment before giving his answers, “I don’t know for sure, but to me, it seems like she needs a shoulder to lean. Someone she can trusts and turn to. And that’s pretty much you.”

Melody scoffed once they reached the apartment, “Yeah, right. That can be anyone, I’m not the only one who lives here.”

“And yet, she still turns to you.” Flint pointed out as he knocks on the door and then they both wait for an answer.

“Whatever, let’s just get over this. The sooner the better.”

For a few seconds, the door opens revealing a woman around their age with a short, dirty blonde hair, who stared at them cautiously.

“...Can I help you, two?” she asked.

The two friends stared back at her in confusion and the auburn hair turned to Melody.

“Question. Is Colton a guy or a girl?”

The gamer girl ignored him. “Um...Hi. I’m Melody and this guy is Flint. We’re Chelsea’s friends and we’re just here to pick up her belongings.”

It took the other girl to ponder and nodded in realization, “Oh, I see. Then, c’mon in. My name is Leah and as for Chelsea’s stuff is on this side of the room. I believe there’s not a lot for you two to carry anyway.”

Melody and Flint went inside and went to the space where the boxes are stacked up, labeled “CHELSEA”. They could see that some of the box contain some fabric, scissors, threads, and other essentials for clothing. One of them oddly appears to be smaller than the others, which caught the gamer girl’s attention and she carefully picked it up.

“So…” Melody started the conversation while absent-mindedly examine the box, “How did you and Chelsea know each other?”

Leah hummed for a bit, “Well...Chels and I worked at this designer place and we’ve known each other since college. I was one of her bridesmaids for her wedding but it was called off last night because she ran off. She must’ve had a cold feet or something.”

“Cold feet, huh? Interesting,” Mel’s eyebrow raised up suspiciously at Leah’s story, “So tell me, Leah. As her friend, did you ever attempt to call her, text her, or at least email her just to check on her? Or find out why she left?”

“Hey, I was exhausted last night. It was a rough time at the wedding because you-know-what,” The dark blonde girl turned to Mel, “Wait a sec, were you at the wedding last night, because I don’t think I ever saw you.”

Suddenly, the dark hair girl’s blue eyes started twitching in annoyance and Flint had to put his hand on her shoulder just to calm her down.

“Then did you, by any chance, heard from anyone that there’s a possibility that her ex-fiance cheated on before the wedding?” The bartender asked the woman in a calm, serious tone.

Leah tilted her head in confusion, “Really? I never heard that from anyone.”

Neither friends really buy that, since they both can tell that the oblivious tone she’s using is fake.

“Hmm. I see,” Flint nodded and eyed her suspiciously, “Y’know, I really find it strange that you, of all people, are in Chelsea’s apartment since it belongs to her and her ex. And it’ll be one thing, if she called you to pick up something from here, but considering she didn’t call anyone else who’s her family or that sick bastard...I find it weird. Plus, Chels never mention any one of her bridesmaids’ names except that one of them is the one he cheated with.”

Melody quickly lean towards Flint’s ear and whispered, “And clearly, this woman right in front of us didn’t even attempt to hide evidence. I mean, look at the clothes she’s wearing. That shirt looks too big to even be a woman’s size!”

For a moment, Leah sighed and held her hand up in defeat and gave them a serious expression.

“Alright. I admit, you two caught me. But I really don’t see why you two are making a big deal out of this.”

“I don’t know. Maybe it’s because we care about her and you’re the one went behind her back,” Mel sneered at the dark blonde.

“That might be true but the truth is, Colton and I have a thing for each other and did kinda date for about four months.”

“FOUR MONTHS?!”

“Yes yes. That long. And too be honest, Colt is getting tired of her and tried to end it himself. Though, I can see why. Despite being so sweet, Chelsea is really a klutz and can be really annoying and dense when she’s around other people. I’m not sure why you two are friends with her, but I think it’s about time that she starts to grow a pair.” All of sudden, something snaps inside Melody and her face started to turn red full of rage. Before anyone can say anything, she grabbed a water bottle that’s nearby a desk, opened it, and splashed the contents on Leah, who gasped in shock.

Now, it was Leah’s turn to glare at the two friends in rage. While the gamer girl glared back at the woman, Flint started to trembled.

“...Oh shit.”

Meanwhile back at the apartment, Chelsea woke up from her nap due to the noise that sounds like a blending machine. She slowly got out of Maisy’s room and saw the said woman helping Aaron making a drink while Ryan was setting up the gaming consoles on the Nintendo Switch. The trio looked up, noticing the blonde’s presence.

“Hey you’re up!” Maisy chirped and paused the blending machine and went over to guide Chelsea over to the machine, “How are you holding up?”

“About the same,” the blonde replied before looking around, “What time is it?”

“5:30pm,” Ryan answered.

“...Really. I was out that long?”

“Apparently, so. You needed rest after what happened last night,” the lighter brunette explained, “Why don’t you go freshen up a bit while we’re setting up for dinner?”

“So that’s what all the noise is,” The blonde woman mumbled while rubbed her eyes sleepily. She then eyed on the blending machine containing a yellow, fruity looking drink, “What’s that you’re making there?”

“Pina colada.”

“What’s in there?”

“Um...there’s pineapple, rum-“

“Oki, gimme!” Chelsea snatched the pitcher from Maisy, who was startled, and starts drinking the content through the straw. Then, Aaron walked by and quickly snatched the pitcher of the alcoholic drink from the newcomer.

“Hey!”

“Easy with the potion, new friend, this one’s pretty strong,” The dark hair warned her before turning to his childhood friend and whispered, “Make the non-alcoholic version, quick!”

However, Maisy ignored him. Instead, she have Chelsea sit down at the kitchen table and gave her a reassuring, determined look.

“Chelsea, listen. We know you’re going through some patches right now. And we may not know you as much as Mel does, but we can tell you’re a good person. So, we’re going to help you get through this and I think the first step you should is to turn a new leaf. Set your priorities straight again.”

The guys quickly joined in the conversation in the kitchen.

“Yeah. Melody told us you’re into fashion and that you’re currently working at a department store,” Aaron added.

“She even told us you want to create your own design and sell them to the public someday. Is that true?” Ryan asked and the blonde nodded.

“It is,” Chelsea hummed, “Though, my manager isn’t expecting me back until next week. Maybe I could brainstorm some ideas to keep my mind off until then. Plus, I need a new place to live.”

“That’s a spirit!” Maisy smiled, clasping her hand together, “See, at least you have a plan figured out.”

“Yeah...I do. Although I don’t know if I’ll be able to get over him, I can’t let that bring me down,” the fashion designer let out a small smile at her new friends, “Thanks you, guys. I feel a little better now. You really are good people. I can see why Melody likes you.”

“Well, we tried.” Aaron replied.

“...Come to think of it, where’s Mel and that bartender friend of yours?”

Meanwhile on the streets…

“I’M GOING TO KILL BOTH OF YOU!!!”

Both Melody and Flint were running for their lives from that witch, Leah, who managed to chased them out of the apartment to the streets and is gaining up on them.

“Did ya have to use the move, Splash, on that pathetic bitch?!” Flint yelled at the gamer girl, both in fear and anger.

“Hey, at least compare to the other Pokemon who uses it, it’s SUPER EFFECTIVE!!!” Melody retorted.

They reached to the nearby building where the construction site is going on. Leah was about to grab one of them when she suddenly knocked against the ladder nearby. The ladder managed to regain balance. However, it had a bucket of white paint on top, which tipped over and spilled white content on the dark blonde girl, ruining her hair and her outfit. She then started screeching how much of a mess she is, which made Melody and Flint laughed in triumph and satisfaction.

“Ha! Karma’s a bitch, yo!” The bartender shouted before high-fiving the gamer girl.

Unfortunately, their triumph was short last when another bucket of paint was spilled on them, this time in red. The construction worker looked over and saw what happened, giving them apologetic look.

“Oops. Sorry about that!” “Aw dammit!” Melody cried out when carefully wiped the red paint from her eyes without stinging herself, “This was my favorite Pikachu shirt!” “...And clearly, I spoke to soon,” Flint grimace while trying to wiped the paint from his sunglasses.

Back at the apartment, the remaining trio are showing Chelsea how to play Super Smash Bros. Ultimate on the Nintendo Switch with the newcomer playing as Princess Peach. All of the sudden, the door slammed open, causing everyone to turn around and sport bewildered faces when they see the state the gamer girl and the bartender are in.

“Oh my god,” Maisy stammered. Ryan, on the other hand, made a joke.

“Did you two auditioned for that horror film based on Stephen King’s novel? Because I got to say, you two made a good Carrie and Tommy...covered in pigs blood.”

“Shut up, Walker!” Melody glared at him.

“No seriously. What happened to you two?” Aaron asked them in concern while throwing them couple of wet towels.

“Well..” the gamer girl started, “We stopped by at Chelsea’s apartment when-“

“-when all of a sudden, that affairing bitch went full ‘REEEE’ on us and then this happened!” Flint shouted furiously, putting an emphasis on the REEEE sound that sounds like a dying bird, while scrubbing the red paint off himself with the towel, “Turns out that she is the bridesmaid who made out with the ex. Toxicating shrew she is!”

“Dude, chill. We get that you’re angry considering that you’re already red,” Ryan pointed out, earning a glare from the auburn hair. On other hand, Melody held out the small box (surprisingly, she still has it in her hands) to Chelsea, who received it questionably.

“Here, this is all we can get from your old apartment,” The dark hair woman told her old friend with a frown on her face, “Now you can go ahead and tell your friend, Leah, that you’re going back to your old apartment yourself to retrieve your stuff because Flint and I are not going back there to deal with her again!”

That gotten Chelsea to widen her eyes in shock. “Wait. Leah’s the one who-?!” then she shook her head, “Y’know what. I rather not talk about that now. Did you really went to my apartment to move my stuff here?” Melody stared at the floor in silent for a minute before crossing her arms and speaking again, “Well...they’re not going to move itself and it’s not like I have anything else to do- GAH!”

The blonde woman lunges herself at the dark hair and hugged her tightly and gratefully, not caring if she get any paint on herself, “Oh Mel, thank you so much! You didn’t have to do that!”

“But-“

“Seriously, I owe you one,” Chelsea told her, giving Mel one of her brightest smile for the first time, “I know you and I have drifted apart, but to be honest, I haven’t stopped thinking about you.”

“You haven’t,” Mel asked her.

“Of course I haven’t. Despite everything, I still think of you as my best friend. And if you like...maybe we can start over?”

Melody pondered silently for a moment before smiling a bit and nodded, “Yeah. I like that.”

The two best friend hugged each other while everyone else stared at the scene with smiles on their face.

“You think everything will be okay with these two?” Maisy asked the bartender, which he nodded and gave out a confident grin.

“I know it will. Trust me.”

Maisy nodded and whispered, “By the way, you still need to take care of the paint chaos otherwise people will think you murder someone.”

“Yeah yeah. You think I don’t know that!” Flint grimaced and went back to his place to take a shower while the others laugh at his reaction.

[awaywiththefairi3s]

Call You Up

Pairing: Tom Holland x Reader

Summary: I love me an angsty story about ex-boyfriend Tom phoning you in the middle of the night

Word count: 2k

A/N: This is inspired by the song Call You Up by Viola Beach - if you haven’t heard it already, give it a listen 🌻

I’m super new to Tumblr and this is the first piece of writing I’ve posted so please leave feedback, like, reblog etc!! 💛

Shoutout to @valar--m0rghulis for being so lovely and encouraging me to post this xx

-

And that you seem to be the air that I breathe and the last thing I think of as I fall asleep

And I’ll call you up in the middle of the night, in hopes that you wanna hear from me I just wanna know if you’re feeling alright

Your room was silent except for the faint ticking of the clock on your bedside table. It was exactly quarter past three in the morning. You lay in your pyjamas, duvet wrapped tightly around your body, staring up at the plain white ceiling of your apartment. It was still dark outside, the slight gap in your curtains revealing the dim glow of the streetlights which littered the pavement outside. This was the fourth night in a row that you hadn’t been able to sleep. No matter how tired you were during the day, your brain just couldn’t seem to switch off. Today hadn’t been any different. You’d arrived home from work, taken your lazy Labrador for a walk, fed her (and yourself), before finishing up any housework that needed doing and jumping in the shower. Flopping into your slightly broken - but still comfortable - bed, you RSVP’d yes to an invite asking you to meet some friends for drinks next weekend, and absentmindedly scrolled through your Instagram feed. It was the same mundane routine, Monday to Friday, every week. Thank god it’s Saturday tomorrow. You thought to yourself, relishing in the idea of not having to answer to another 6am wake-up call. You moved your arms from your side, up behind your head, your elbows bent horizontally along the pillows. You let out a gentle sigh and closed your eyes. “Just go to sleep,” you muttered under your breath.

You were thrown awake from your sleep by the sound of your phone vibrating against the hollow wood of your bedside table. You reached for your phone as you turned from your back onto your side, propping yourself up on one elbow to fully extend your other arm and drag your phone across the table. Still confused in your post-sleep haze, you blinked as you glanced at the caller ID on the screen.

Tom

You took a deep breath as you sat up and rested your back against the headboard. “Again,” you whispered to yourself as you prepared to answer the call.

It had been just under a month since you and he had ended things. It was an amicable break-up. A mutual understanding, one you had both agreed on. A final goodbye which was nothing but polite, filled with countless “thank you’s” and tear-filled, “I’m sorry’s.” Except it hadn’t been a final goodbye. Final would have meant ‘done’ and as you prepared to answer his early morning phone call for the fourth time this week, the reality dawned upon you that your feelings of love and admiration towards him were anything but done.

“Hi,” you answered, your voice barely above a whisper.

“Hi, darlin’.”

He had always called you ‘darlin’.’ It had been his pet name for you since the very start, even when you were nothing more than friends. It started off as a joke, you mocking his London accent each time he greeted you with a “hi darlin’” and a hug. But once he realised how much you secretly loved him calling you that, how, when he said it, the corners of your mouth would turn up into a shy smile, your cheeks turning a light shade of pink, it just stuck.

“What’s up?” 

You glanced at the clock beside you, 5:25am. Your tone was casual - as if you were having a catch up with a friend. Not talking on the phone to an ex-boyfriend who had rung you from halfway across the world at half past five in the morning.

“Not much. Just ringing to see how you are.”

He sounded unusually chirpy, for what you believed to be the early hours of the morning where he was currently staying.

“What time is it there?” You asked, covering your hand with your mouth as you tried to stifle a yawn.

“Where?” He paused, too deep in thought to remember where he was. 

“Oh, in New York? It’s half 12, I just got back to the hotel.”

“Busy day?” 

You mentally cursed yourself for asking. Deliberately choosing to ignore the fact that this conversation shouldn’t be happening. That this boy you were talking to was undoubtedly off limits. 

“Yeah, pretty busy. We wrapped today so I’m flying back to London tomorrow. I’ll be back in New York in a week though for re-shoots.”

You toyed with the hem of your pyjama top as he spoke. His voice soft and bright through the speakers. His tone sounding both familiar and comforting. For a few seconds, everything felt normal.

“Went for dinner with Harrison. It was nice.”

“Sounds lush. Where did you go for dinner?” You asked, continuing to make polite conversation.

“Just to a steak restaurant in Times Square. Y’know, this girl stopped Harrison and asked him for a photo.”

“Did she ask you for one?” You questioned, slightly confused.

“No.” 

He let out a breathy chuckle. 

“I had to take it.”

“Well, I always told you he was much better looking than you,” you poked fun at him, smiling into the phone which was resting against your ear.

“Yeah,” he chuckled again, louder this time, letting it sink down to the back of his throat and rise up again.

“What about you? How was work?”

“Same old.”

The words rolled off your tongue before you’d even had time to think about what you were saying. Same old. A phrase you had both become accustomed to during numerous, rushed FaceTime calls while you were both working at opposite ends of the globe. It was usually used in answer to the question, ‘what are you up to,’ which was often followed by the awkward response of ‘nothing as exciting as what you’re doing’ or a ‘sorry love, I’ll have to call you back.’ The phrase reignited harsh memories of the little time you two had spent together towards the end of your relationship. You both treasured the few occasions you were able to be with each other in person; Tom clinging to your side as you boarded the private jet during press tours, you not-so-patiently waiting in his trailer while he finished up on set for the day. Even on the rare occasions when he was back home in London, you worked five days a week, often having to work overtime to please your ever-observant boss. Eventually, it became too much for the both of you - neither of you could afford to make that commitment to one another without letting the other person down. It was physically and mentally exhausting, not to mention unfair. It took you a while to finally admit it to yourself but you both knew that the relationship was no longer working. Despite the civil nature of the break-up, it hadn’t made it any easier. You missed him and he missed you, a fact you were painfully reminded of every morning when you woke up - starfished across the bed - instead of asleep on your side, your back resting against his broad chest.

Tom cleared his throat awkwardly, taking in a breath and exhaling with a deep sigh. You tried to move the conversation on quickly.

“I um… I spoke to that woman from work. The really tall one.”

Tom paused for a second, trying to remember.

“Oh yeah, the one we met at the Christmas party?” He asked, a tone of uncertainty evident in his voice.

“Yeah, that’s her. Anyway, she was the one who had my denim jacket. We must have taken each others by accident. It’s been resolved now.” 

You sat up further, straightening your back and leaning your head against the top edge of the headboard.

“Good. I’m glad.” 

He paused.

“I told you it would be fine.”

“Yeah,” you replied. You smiled, replaying the scenario in your head.

“Oh shit,” you pulled your hand out of the outside jacket pocket. 

“This isn’t my jacket.”

“Huh?” Tom unlinked his arm from yours and turned to face you. Placing your clutch bag between his legs, he leaned back against the lamppost adjacent to the taxi rank where you both stood, digging your heels into the ground to try and stop yourselves from slipping on the icy pavement beneath you.

“This isn’t my jacket, I’ve picked up the wrong one.”

He glanced at the black denim jacket draped over your shoulders. 

“Are you sure?” He asked.

“Well the jacket I wore to the party was blue, not black, soo… yeah pretty sure.” 

You looked up at him, shrugging your shoulders.

“You dickhead,” he laughed, shaking his head playfully. “Well we can’t go back and get it now, everyone will have left.”

“Shit shit shit.” You bit your lip as you thought about what Tom had just said.

Tom looked at you, brows furrowing as he tried to gauge your reaction.

“What’s the problem? I thought you said you kept your phone and everything in your clutch?” He waved the small gold bag in the air.

“I di-I have,” you paused. “But now I’m wearing someone else’s jacket.” 

You checked the pockets for any belongings, pulling out nothing except an empty packet of gum. “What if they think I’ve stolen it?”

“Well, the pockets are empty?” Tom looked at you puzzled.

“No, I mean the jacket. What if they think I’ve stolen the jacket?” The pace of your voice became faster as you started to panic.

“Why would you steal a jacket with nothing in it?” 

He laughed again, before extending his arm and gently grabbing your hand. You slowly inched closer to him. He intertwined your fingers with his.

“Just message whoever was at the party tonight and explain what happened. Then you can return the jacket to its rightful owner when you go back in a couple of weeks.” 

He gave you a reassuring smile, “It’ll be fine.” 

Taking a deep breath, you began to compose yourself.

“Yeah, I guess you’re right. Sorry, I was just being silly.” You huffed in mock defeat.

“You worry too much,” he smiled as he unlinked your fingers. His hand slowly moving up to your face to tuck a stray piece of hair behind your ear, he reached down to give you a light kiss on the lips. As he pulled away, he let out a soft chuckle.

“What?” You whined, “What are you laughing at?”

“How did you fail to notice your jacket was a different colour?”

Snapping back to reality, you fell back into the conversation.

“So what did you do after dinner?” You asked, desperately trying to think of things to say.

“I miss you.”

You fell silent. Your heart sank in your chest as the phrase echoed through the speakers and hovered in the still air surrounding you. This wasn’t the first time you’d heard this from Tom since you’d broken up, but the words still stung.

“Darlin’, did you hear what I said?”

You swallowed, almost frightened to reply.

“I said... I-I miss you.”

You inhaled sharply. You closed your eyes as the phrase was replayed, once more, throughout your entire body. You felt the words sink down through your chest, your heart suddenly heavy. They stung just as bad as they had previously, the words just another painful reminder of the relationship you’d fought so hard for but ultimately lost. He’d been more than just a boyfriend, he was your best friend, your biggest supporter.

Swallowing hard, you opened your eyes again. It took every inch of you, every last bit of energy you had to stop yourself from repeating those exact words back to him.

“I know.”

[betsynagler]

Tired of Being Treated Differently

In 1996, my best friend from high school invited me to go on a two-week cross-country trip with her and three of her friends — which turned out to be four for the first six days, when one of them decided to bring an extra person, until we dropped him off in California. I’d never driven across the country, and was excited to give it a try, so I said yes. It was an incredibly fun and also eye-opening experience, not only because it was my first visit to sites like the Grand Canyon, Las Vegas, and the Corn Palace, but because four of the people in the van — and once we dropped off our California-bound late-addition, everyone except for me — were people of color. How did this matter? Well, for starters, when we’d land in places like a fishing town on the Oregon Coast, and everyone would stare. As a fairly generic-looking white woman of 27, I was used to passing without a second glance in most of the places I’d been to that point (basically the States, Europe and Canada), certainly anywhere I’d been in the U.S. It very quickly became obvious to me that this wasn’t the case if you were were Black or Asian American, like the friends I was traveling with. Turned out there were parts of the country — and a lot more parts than I’d suspected — where you were going to get noticed, and not in a friendly way. But there was also stuff I learned on that trip that wasn’t as obvious. Like what it meant when we went out to lunch in a nice restaurant in Santa Fe and got terrible service. My impulse was to just chalk that up to the fact that we were all in our 20s and didn’t look like we had money — particularly after spending more than a week’s worth of nights either camping, sleeping on friends’ floors, or in Motel 6s (the night we splurged on the $40/night Excalibur in Vegas, it felt like we were staying at the Plaza). Because that was what I’d dealt with before. My friends, however, felt pretty strongly that the way we were being ignored and slighted had something to do with race, because they’d dealt with that before. And so, while it’s not like this had never occurred to me until then, that trip helped drive home in a tangible way that 1) my experience of going through the world was not the same as everyone else’s, and 2) that that body of experience, that history that each of us had, was going to lead us to view the same situations very differently.

These concepts weren’t hard for me to get, not just because I had friends of color, but because of what I’d been experiencing in my own life and career, starting with graduate school. Since moving to New York to become a filmmaker six years earlier, I’d often had this feeling that I was being treated differently, but in ways so hard to prove, even to myself, that I'd mostly just accepted it was all in my head. When guys I’d shot films for as a first year at NYU, who’d been really happy with my work, instead chose the same other guy to shoot for them in second year, I chalked it up to my not being “technical enough,” or not having the confident decisiveness to take charge of the set the way the DP was supposed to — until I realized that no women were shooting films for men at all, unless they were their girlfriends. When I arrived on professional sets, it started sinking in more and more that men really were always telling me to smile, or offering to “help” me with my job when their jobs were unrelated to mine and I hadn’t asked for their help, or treating me as an object of flirtation, even if they were my superiors. I eventually learned to handle all of that by being more tolerant, competent, and professional than they were, but what I had the hardest time with was what I cared about the most: sending out scripts, or soliciting constructive feedback from peers in writing workshops, and receiving constant rejection or rude/patronizing remarks. Okay sure, cruelty is considered par for the course in a business where success is so elusive and so coveted that people are just expected to accept all kinds of abuse — verbal, sexual, physical — in order to get somewhere. But that only makes it more infuriating when there are additional comments or obstacles that other people don’t seem to be dealing with. Like when I wrote a film about a friendship between two teenaged girls, and one of the men in my writing group couldn’t understand the point of the script unless they had a lesbian relationship. Or when I submitted a script to a production company and the coverage I received said that the reader had no interest in the story, which featured two female main characters and one love interest who was a man of color, until the second love interest, a white guy, showed up. Yeah, that's when things got good, he said. I was starting to see that I was stuck in a system where the white male arbiters of good and bad had all the power not just to decide whether my work was one or the other, but to define what the terms “good” and “bad” even meant. So it was easy for them to claim — and fully believe — that the failure of women to scale their ranks wasn’t due to our gender, it was due to their inability to master “the craft.” All they had to say was, “I couldn't get into the story,” or, “I didn't care about the characters,” and those were considered legitimate critiques based on merit, when of course there was way, way, way…basically everything more to it than that.

This is what makes unequal treatment such a hard thing to pinpoint: it has everything to do with who’s distinguishing and quantifying “good” and “bad” in an entrenched system. So it's only when you look at the big picture over time, quantified in data, and see the work of women and people of color highly underrepresented in nearly every area of the arts — music, painting, sculpture, literature, theater, cinema, etc — that you can see discrimination is happening because the system itself is fucked.

What I was going through wasn’t the same as what my friends from that trip were going through, not at all. Each of us is a different person. But we all knew that we were being treated differently, based on countless experiences we’d had that added up. And we knew, because we’d experienced that too, that the kind of discrimination we were dealing with was so insidious and damaging precisely because people who hadn’t faced it were going to scoff and chalk it up to something entirely innocuous, and say it didn’t even exist.

I was reminded of all this last weekend, when I watched the women’s final of the 2018 U.S. Open. I don’t think most people would say that Serena Williams behaved perfectly when she argued with umpire Carlos Ramos and then later broke her racket when she threw it down in anger. But the question is not whether she did something wrong, it’s whether she was treated differently. Of course you can say that Ramos was just following the rules, that she shouldn’t be getting special treatment because she’s the great Serena Williams, and that plenty of men have been penalized like she was — with articles like this jumping on opportunities to bring all of that up and say “What about…?” But if you dig a little deeper, you find way more examples of white men behaving worse in less important matches, even toward that same umpire, and not having him penalize them so severely as to ruin a tournament final for everyone involved. In other words, yes, there are rules, but if they aren’t applied in the same way across the board, we are back at “He said, she said,” and it's always the “He said” that comes first. Always.

The Whatabouters always say, “Why does everything have to be about race/sex?” Well, yeah, it’d be great not to have to talk about discrimination, but you can’t when it won’t leave you alone – even when you’re arguably the best athlete in the world. If you’re a woman and/or a person of color, your experience has told you that it nearly always is about that. It just is. Then the Whatabouters say, “Then you’re asking for special treatment when you break the rules.” Well, that’s because the rules, by which I mean all of the laws of this country dating back to the Constitution, were, from the very beginning, designed to treat women and people of color differently – creating a world in which the norm is special treatment for white men. Again, it just is.

And how often have our laws and rules that were not designed to be unfair been applied evenly and fairly? Let’s face it, the U.S. Open’s got nothing on the American justice system. Why do we refuse to recognize that when fallible people who do “bad” have to be punished, and when other fallible humans are doing the judging about how “bad” they are, there's going to be all sorts of bias and unequal treatment? If the recent news isn’t convincing to you, we’ve now got data to prove that Black people are much more likely to be on the receiving end of police violence; have been far more likely to receive the death penalty in capital cases; that crack users in the 80s, who were more often Black, received far stiffer sentences than white users of powdered cocaine; that Black people were far more likely be searched and arrested for possession of marijuana than white people (two of the reasons, in case you were wondering, why so many more people of color have been incarcerated en mass during the War on Drugs); and that Black schoolchildren are likely to be more severely punished, suspended, or even have the cops called on them than white children for the same transgressive behavior. 

And systems by which people are considered “good,” like at their jobs, and promoted? Again, completely dependent on the fallible judgments of those in power, so that only in the aggregate can we see how Black employees receive extra scrutiny from their bosses, Asian Americans are the least likely racial group to be promoted to management positions, women are punished and considered “bad” at their jobs for traits that are considered “good” in men, like ambition, speaking up, or doing too well in school; and how, of course, women of color are the least likely to be supported or promoted for equally good work.

I know what the Whatabouters are saying now: “Yes, people in the past were wrong, but now, moving forward, we’re the ones trying to treat everyone the same.” Um, really? We’re supposed to believe that? We’ve had this whole lifetime of experience that tells us otherwise, and you’re dismissing that, again? You’re claiming that, at long last, in this tennis match, or court of law, or screenwriting competition, or job review, or state senate, when it comes down to questions of “rules” and “fairness” and “objectivity,” we should continue to just trust the white guys? Yeah, right.

If you’ve been wondering why so many women and people of color are running for office this election season, well, here you go: we’re just sick of being treated differently. For a long time, we’ve trusted the white guys who say they’re going to fix things and finally respect our rights the same way they respect their own. Now we’re finally deciding that the only way things are going to change is for us to get in there and make the rules, and apply them ourselves.

Can you blame us?

[thejourneytofindingmyself]

The story so far

After 10 years of struggling with my mental health and having multiple diagnosis' along the way including OCD, social anxiety, anorexia nervosa and depression, I now recognise that the underlying factor causing my struggles may be undiagnosed autism.

Throughout my life I have felt like everyone has been given a guide book to tell them how to be human, how to behave and how to interact. All of these things are confusing to me. A year or so ago I remember asking my partner and family why people feel the need to say morning and bye when they leave the office. Before this, people would say morning to me and bye and I wouldn't say anything because I did not understand the need to? If I'm there or going, why say it? Isn't it obvious? I have learnt now that this is "normal" so I do it. I struggle with conversations. When is it my turn to speak? What should I reply? Am I giving the right amount of eye contact? Do i need to reply to that? When I talk to people, I don't feel the need to look at them but I know this is something that should be done? When I look at people it makes me very uncomfortable and I feel like eyes give out a lot of emotion which can be difficult to take in. I go through stages where I use certain sentences such as "I'll let you off" or "oh dear" or "right" in conversations, they seem to be my go to words when I am unsure what to say. A lot of my conversations are scripted and I say the things that feel right for that conversation.

Sometimes people talk to me and I have no idea what they are saying or what they mean. I often have to get people to repeat themselves and really force myself to concentrate in order to understand. I recently went out on a saturday for the first time ever with work colleagues and was asking someone I work with what I should talk about in the car on the way. She explained that you cant really plan it, it just depends on the conversation. It seems these things come natural to other people but for me they need to be planned and I worry about them a lot. I much prefer texting or emailing someone rather than actually going to them and saying something face to face. Even if I'm in the same room I prefer to do it just to avoid the interaction.

I know that I often come across as uninterested. And a lot of my replies are mainly yeah, yeah, yeah. I also find that I regularly reply in sentences with that's nice or I don't care. If something doesn't interest me or doesn't affect me, I dont tend to be bothered about it.

I sometimes repeat what people say. Especially when with my partner Meg or people I am more comfortable around. This is because it sometimes helps me to process it and I just get the urge to repeat it. I often say phrases or songs relating to an object or what we are talking about for an example when moving the doorbell, "ding dong the Avon lady" 😂😂

A lot of the time people at work will say "I'm only joking!!!" And I don't realise. Sometimes the tone I use must be wrong or come across in a different way to what I mean. For example someone I work with saying I'm snapping and saying something like "give me my head back!!" But I do not mean for it to come across like that.

I hate training or team meetings etc. It is very overwhelming being with a lot of people. I could not participate in the activities in my recent training day. I just stayed sitting down when asked to get up and move around and talk to people. My manager has asked me regularly how these sitations make me feel as she can sense that I am uncomfortable however I haven't been able to find the words that's why I ended up writing all of my difficulties down to show her. Then during the day at training, I ended up leaving the room because things got too much. I often have to do this. Especially in busy places like restaurants. I also have to specifically pick the seat. "Dr Campbell says social masking requires considerable effort and this usually results in extreme exhaustion, necessitating periods of social isolation. "Some of my clients use the term 'peopling', so when they've been 'peopling' for a long time, that they would then like to have a period of not 'peopling'," she says."

At another training day a few months ago, I also really struggled with an introduction activity and found that I kept going to speak when the person delivering the training was still taking and I did not know at what point was my turn. I feel like maybe this was the trigger point of my recent low episode. I was really embarrassed and thought why cant I just be normal and know what to say and do. I never know whether people have just paused or finished talking? I also find it difficult when people don't say what they mean. I need people to be very direct with me. An example of this is a manager at work saying that she walks further to smoke, I asked if it's in case she gets wrong off the big boss and she said yes however I still stood in the same place to smoke and didn't realise till that night when discussing it with my partner that this might have been a hint. I feel I spend a lot of time going over conversations I have had with people and what was said. I also have found that people say to me a lot including my managers, what are you trying to say??? When I am trying to explain a situation.

Another example of difficulties with social situations is getting a takeaway. I forgot once that we needed to pay with cash and I just shut the door in his face whilst i went and got the money and didn't realise how inappropriate this was to not say two seconds. Another example, someone talking to me in the lift on holiday and I got out and didn't say bye? Only realised this wasn't normal when I told my partner. Another example when people want to small talk. There is just no need for this. I would prefer to sit in silence. When people say comments such as "watch the floor", I actually stood still at work recently when a cleaner said this and was going to watch the floor until I realised that they meant not to actually watch the floor. I find that I take things very literally. I remember as a child when an advert was on the telly and I literally thought nannas knit shreddies. Like why is banana bread called banana bread???? It isn't bread. As a child my mam took me to the doctors and I was diagnosed with OCD. I used to line up all my stuff on my dresser table and was very particular about things like needing my curtain tucked behind my radiator, needing all my teddies lined up in a certain way and needing my duvet tucked in a certain way. I needed to check windows were locked etc. Looking back, I also remember not playing with toys in a normal way. I used to like lining up my friends army men. I had bratz and polly pockets but didn't necessarily play with them. I would line them up and dress and undress them. I would love going round friends houses and cleaning their rooms/organising their stuff. Growing up I have really struggled with mental health and developed anorexia in school. In school, I struggled with relationships. I felt I had to fit in. I completely left my primary school friends and dressed and tried to be like the "popular" people. In primary school I regularly fell out with friends and moved from one "best friend" to another. I also struggled knowing how to maintain friendships and found I was very intense and all or nothing. Friendships are also always still only on my terms. I was invited out for dinner with the "popular" group in secondary but I never talked or joined in because I didn't know how. I went to Alton towers with one of the girls and she fell out with me after because we did not talk whilst we were there. I get very attached to people very quickly. Will say love you etc.. My reports started to decline in secondary school and I regularly got detentions and sent out of classrooms for attempting to be the class clown and fit in. Looking back I think this was copied behaviour. In school and college I also developed intense relationships with some teachers I felt I connected with. I would often leave class to seek out these teachers and spent a lot of time out of lessons in student support. In college and university, I refused to work with other people. I preferred it on my own. I would sit outside the classroom in college to do my work because I preferred it and found the class to loud. In university, I only really had one friend and again hated working with other people and group work. I much prefer to be able to do things my way and don't like sharing ideas or communicating. I have found that I got bullied in college a lot because of leaving lessons and people thinking I was a "snob" because I did not talk. I still find it difficult to be friends with people and find that I don't know the right way to be ? How often should I talk to them, should I send another message, do they not like me they haven't replied? It's all very confusing. I also find it difficult knowing what the boundaries are with my managers and how "cheeky" I can be??? I will also go through stages where I eat certain things repeatedly for a few weeks and then wont eat them again for a while. This was even more so the case when I was a teenager with anorexia.

A couple of years ago my 4 year old niece was diagnosed with autism. Last year I dealt with a case, a 16 year old girl who had autism but was not diagnosed until she was 17. I found a lot of similarities between myself and this girl and found I could really relate to her difficulties including self harm, depression and school issues. I also went to a training event around autism in girls and masking and found a lot of similarities. I am also now working with an 11 year old child who has not yet been diagnosed and find I can also relate and see a lot of similarities with what he says. For example issues with waiting. I hate waiting and get really really anxious. And issues with routine. I love routine and find it really difficult if my partner just says should we go out somewhere. I like things to be planned. He also paces around the room. I tend to do this if I am anxious or waiting.

I constantly bounce my leg and find that it is soothing. It helps to lower my anxiety. At home I also find that I will start doing things such as rocking without even noticing and moving my feet or toes. I also spend most of the time chewing my gums or lips and think this is an anxiety related thing.

I struggle with other day to day stuff. Like knowing left and right. Reading a 24 hour clock. Constantly losing things, even if I have just had them. Losing my phone, my keys. All the time. This really stresses me out. I will have it a minute ago and then just cant find it. A lot of the time when I am walking into a room with people in or feeling overwhelmed I will dig my nails in to my fingers or hand. Or in the shops.

Prior to taking antidepressants, I would really get angry and would do things such as hit myself and punch things if things were not right. For example my hair on a morning needs to feel perfect, or if I couldn't find a place to park my car. I still get really annoyed at the smallest things.

I also get really overwhelmed about things for example on a night knowing we have to have tea, clean the house, do the dishes, have a shower ect. This overwhelms me and I get angry about this at times. This leads to me snapping at people. I like a routine of having a bath by 6pm and having tea around 7.30pm.

Although I do struggle with things at work such as talking to people and knowing how to interact with colleagues etc, it doesn't affect my role. I feel as if my role is very structured and routined. I feel I do relate to "masking" at work and this is why I am often so exhausted when I get home.

I feel like it often takes me quite a while to respond to people because I need time for me to know what to reply. I only realise I don't reply straight away when people are waiting for an answer. I also don't often understand emotions. How I am feeling and how other people are feeling. I often have the view, shit happens. The child I spoke about earlier recently said to me "I didn't learn how to feel in primary". I got that. I struggle with these things to. I struggle to be empathetic and understand other people's views and emotions. My grandad died recently, while he was poorly I would say to people when they asked how he was "dying" people thought this was blunt and brutal but it was the truth. And after he died i would regularly come out with my grandads dead. I think this was my way of trying to process it.

I am also really blunt and straight to the point with people. For example "you can leave now". "Your pissing me off" I don't really think about how my comments might impact someone. I remember when I was around my childminders at about the age of 8 or 9 and i said to someone "are you not going home yet I'm sick of the sight of your face". I remember my childminder being absolutely gob smacked at this.

I really struggle with "fashion" and what goes together. I much prefer just feeling comfortable.

Sometimes when I get home from work I literally could just lie in darkness in bed and not talk for the rest of the night.

I often have to be told instructions multiple times and prefer things wrote down as this is easier for me to process and understand.

I regularly set alarms and write lists to plan the day.

I feel like through the years I have used things to cope with life such as anorexia and in turn has resulted in different diagnoses including OCD, anorexia, social anxiety and depression but I feel like there is still something underlying and something that makes me different. It is getting exhausting pretending to be "normal" all the time and not knowing why I am the way I am.

"It seems that other people's normality was the road to my insanity"

"Many of us do not realise how much of our true selves we have been masking until we feel utterly lost"

[spurgo]

Dreams

Driving through "Mexico", past endless miles of rusting industrial zones, cloned fuel tanks lining the roads like a Giger painting...huge rusting pipes sticking out of the ground in the middle of farmland, bent or snapped off, lime green grass growing over them. Up ahead a row of decaying factory buildings...one which is already leaning dangerously over the road suddenly falls , burying a few cars. Our driver doesn't even flinch, just accelerates and weaves around the flying bricks. I ask what all this was and the front passenger says "petrol". I remember reading that Mexico had just signed away the last of their industry to the USA. So this is the result. As we near our destination, the roads deteriorate further and we are obliged to steer onto the skeletal remains of the highway: parallel curved girders with grooves big enough for car tyres to fit, like a giant roller-coaster. I think they are kidding and feel a knot in my stomach. Use of brakes is forbidden, you'll either crash into the car behind or fly off on a corner, so everyone uses the natural speed which gravity and momentum offer...in other words scarily fast. Amazed that we make it, we split up and I find myself looking at the same junk shops as in several other dreams, still with the same indeterminate electronic junk. Hendrik Hegray is there and hates street art so much that he has decided to make his own, and so many of the sides of underground trains and the station walls are covered with his messy intimate drawings done in black marker on white paint which he has splashed over anything vaguely hip-hop/L.A. gang style. Sometimes it seems he ran out of white paint so we see improvised sheets of white paper pinned or taped onto the sides of the trains. Hendrik showed me a way to cling, spiderman-like, onto the side of the train between compartments in order to access narrow parts of the tunnel system, and out of curiosity I find myself in another train compartment somewhere near the end of the line, which is half full of womens handbags, some still containing packs of cigarettes or makeup, the remains after bag-snatchers have hastily ran off with whatever they can. I see one which I'm sure belonged to a friend, and reject the idea of taking it thinking she might imagine I was the thief. 

Rented a house in some unnamed town which had become a Mad Max -style junkyard ran by Jase Deepkiss 720, who was apparently the man to ask before you took anything lying around on the street (bike parts, car engines, bits of guitars etc). Crowds in the middle of the road were betting money on some kind of mechanical horse racing screened on a pile of old tvs. Inside the empty house the "landlord" was trying to persuade me to adopt one of the many stray cats outside. I asked if cats were allowed in the house. "Unfortunately not", he said, while stacking up all the paperwork involved. Deciding that all this bureaucracy looked more like a representation of the landlord's precarious mental state I declined, and became nostalgic about all the cats I had known in my life, reminiscing about one which had undergone brain surgery and an eye operation. He surprised me by reacting with horror: "well I hope you got the video evidence; they are usually drunk when they do that!". 

Movie night in the Vietnamese restaurant, film lists were in a phonebook-sized books on each table like in karaoke bars, and we picked out a cheezy-looking 'sell-through' effort in the "BAT VOMIT" series, the first film rolling wth the title sequence half finished as was usual with such quickly made flicks. The first scene was a nighttime jungle sequence of a truck transporting midget soldiers in tiny tanks, grumpy little men resembling squished metal plated turtles, their boss a seriously pissed off looking dude whose face was a mass of scrotum tissue frowns with machine-gun stems sticking out between the hairy folds of flesh, which continuously sprayed bullets at the enemy as they attacked the bridge. As the end credits rolled the restaurant's proprietor told us cryptically that it had been a good choice of film, and I agreed, taking this as a signal to leave until a friend decided we were going to eat one last thing: a snack made in oily cardboard containers which were stored (following some old tradition) on the backs of the exit doors, consisting of yellow/green oil, lemon grass, and seafood which he scooped into bowls. The famous taste was hard to replicate because the toxic conditions of the factory and ill health of the workers who produced the delicacy were responsible for it's unique flavour. 

In this dream I was a close friend of Lars Ulrich (Metallica), who I was trying to find at some stupid-looking rock festival. A bouncer handed me the sandpaper part of a matchbox which had ANDY written in Lars' retarded scrawl; this was supposed to be my backstage pass. Everywhere was a total mess, super complicated to find the Metallica room, and no real idea why I had to. Leaving the modified toys I was carrying to show to my pal Lars sticking out of the bag to try to make it easier to spot, I threw it onto a giant conveyor belt which was heaped with Metallica fan's clothing, bags etc. Seeing that my gear would get lost immediately, I ran up to some security types, explaining that I was staying near the upturned car-henge sculpture, and was directed into a shop which sold energy drinks called things like GUZZLE and GOFORIT. I noticed a display of badly-molded and half-melted skull/pirateship/heidi architectural model toys, which played back crunchy, near-unintelligible low bit-rate samples of a phony Vincent Price reading boring horror and mystery stories, some of them playing backwards, batteries dying, with faded glow-in-the-dark stickers. During all this chaos I was reading emails from a friend who was worried about the part of a piano concert he was supposed to perform which required quickly moving the piano up 8 flights of stairs in order to play a solo. I asked why they couldn't just have another piano up there, and he angrily replied that this was impossible because everyone would know it wasn't the same piano. This reminded me that we were supposed to be finishing a Varese-like speaker installation for a rectangular monument in New York City, which the media were trying to sell as the new Statue of Liberty or Grand Canyon. The job was for Elizabeth Taylor, who was another friend of ours. 

We were invited to check out a new "night club". The annoying club owner proudly showed us their new decor: a few rooms decorated with cheap plastic flowers and other crap. We were unimpressed until she announced "AND NOW, for the REAL attraction!!!", opened some swing doors through which floated a group of 'dolphins' (as they were referred to) which flapped around in mid-air, licking everyones faces in what was supposed to be a "cute" kind of "family" experience, but honestly it was pretty gross, making me think of the "trout farm" scene in Existenz. Some of these malnourished creatures resembled peeled bananas that has started to go brown, and some of the baby ones started getting into the hole in the sink. It was really difficult to get them all out of the sink and back through the door, and I felt that this club owner lady was very irresponsible. 

My job was to expose an evil Scientology cult based in Salt Lake City. 2 Scientology girls were ticket sellers for a run-down cinema showing scratchy cult promo films and selling "pork and egg", which one of them told me was actually slices of road tar and shaving cream dyed yellow, and that the real pork was in Utah. 

By Andy Bolus

[marielledownunder]

Bundaberg

The last night of Rainbow beach ended with having a dinner with the last people from Fraser Island. Afterwards we were having a drink and some good guitar music (of course I took the microphone again haha). So what to do after Fraser Island? Well Kayleigh and I decided to do some farmwork.  

We realised that we would split up after 2 months with Imke. We contacted the working-hostel about our arrival and we also contacted Loka to get a train ticket. The 1st of August we went from Rainbow beach to Noosa, to Cooroy and finally taking the train to Bundaberg. As we would arrive late, we were forced to find an Airbnb, which we quickly found. 

We had our first KFC lunch with Imke and some other people from Fraser island. In the late afternoon we said goodbye to Imke. It has been two months, and our paths will be separated,  but fortunately we will meet eachother in Sydney around New Year’s Eve. We took our bus and we nearly hopped off the wrong place haha. Luckily I wandered on the right moment when we should get out. Yes, an annoying thing about the bus system in Australia, is that you cannot see which stop would be the next one. Then we got into the train and I’ve never had such a luxury train! You had a screen to watch movies etc. and lots of space. You could even take a shower in that train!

After 2 hours we reached Bundaberg. How would our life be here for the coming next weeks? I had not the best feeling about it, especially not after some comments on Facebook “don’t go there”.  The next day we left our Airbnb and we came to the DingoBlue hostel. This is a working-hostel which provides you (farm)work. DingoBlue, DingoBase (Cellblock) and Queenslander are all in the same organisation but different hostels and places. As Dingoblue was full, we were sent to DingoBase, also known as “Cellblock”.  We met Peter again and he showed us where Cellblock is and explained a bit about the jobs. After Peter’s information, I started to think “shit, why did I come to this place…”  But I still had faith in an hourly paid job because Britt told me once she got a better job after 5 days. Everyone is in Bundaberg because of the farmdays for the Second year VISA, but I’m the only crazy girl who’s not interested in that. Why? First of all, my boyfriend can’t miss me for another year. Secondly, because I couldn’t find a job in within 4 weeks and I don’t have time to work more than that and I cannot spend another thousands of dollars like the last two months. So my two reasons were (1)playing quitte or even saving and (2) the experience of course.

So we finally arrived in Cellblock and we got our room. A room with 10 persons, and all of them have different shifts. The hostel was not the cleanest either. I’m okay with that, especially compared to some friends of mine haha, but I was not happy with not having lockers. Besides, the kitchen is annoying: they have no sponges and some cookplates didn’t work.The first day we just bought stuff for cooking and working. Yes. We had to buy those things. 

The next day we started with cherry tomatoes picking. One bucket is $5,00 and it takes forever to fill it. I had 5 buckets on the first day, from 6.00-11.00. The next days were better: 10 buckets and 10,5 buckets. The job is fine but the payment is shit and my back hurts. I promised myself if I wouldn’t get a better job after 1,5 week, then I would leave Bundaberg. During picking I met few new people and we talked during working. We talked and listened to the music.  I met a Tibetian/French girl named Jammy. She has a lot of energy and is always happy, even at 4.00 in the morning. I also met Jessica from Brazil and Madelaine from France. Back at the hostel I also met other people, like Vitor and Wallace from Brazil and Liam from the Uk. After three days, Kayleigh and I asked if there was a new job, and yes there was! They even put us together on the “Ginger cutting” job. We would know more about it the next week.

As the week reached Friday, we texted Britt to come to their hostel. We cold meet their friends and we can bring our own drinks. It’s not possible to drink in our hostel though, unless you pay at the bar. So normally you could do pre drinks over there.  There were so many other people and also different from our hostel, more laid back I’d say. Britt introduced us to Anatole (From France/Columbia), Chris and Claire (from Londen), Josh (from Londen), Andreas (from Sweden), Alex (from France), Ramon (from the Netherlands) and many other names I don’t even remember. I told about my plans and Josh responded as he always directly talks “You came here to the wrong place”. Haha well we’’ll see about that, I won’t give up.  Then they invited us to go to the beach the next day. Kayleigh and I weren’t sure yet, because we wanted our money to pay the rent. But in the end, we decided to join. Josh and Britt kinda persuaded us haha.  The next day we enjoyed our day at “Burnettheads beach”.

Kayleigh and I skipped the barbecue at the beach because we had a big dinner (60 persons) in the Indian restaurant with the people of Cellblock. The good thing about the dinner was that we could bring our own booze. Awesome. I had something with chicken and it was delicious, vooral omdat we niks betaalden. shhht. I didn’t say anything Dutch haha. So Saturday night was a lot more crowded than the Friday before at Cellblock. I recognised some people from the Cherry tomatoes and Anatole and Josh from DingoBlue. At midnight you have to leave Cellblock and everyone goes to Club hotel. It’s a place where we weekly went out. Inside you had R&B, dance and other music I don’t remember, and you have the outside part where you have the live band. I loved it, and felt like a secondary school rock chick again haha :)

The first weekend ended and we started with our new job: Ginger cutting.  We were with a team of 8: Marie from Germany, Pyry (Puru) from Finland, Madelaine, Jessica and Jammy which I met from the cherry tomatoes, Abi from the Uk, Kayleigh and I. We had to start at 5 and it was 7 hours just cutting ginger into smaller pieces, without any music. In the end the boss told me that I shouldn’t talk because I was too slow. Abi got fired and Jammy nearly… I was scared the next day haha…

Luckily my back didn’t hurt anymore, but my hand got damaged every day. Fortunately we made progress, as I became quicker with cutting. One crate is  $4,80 and you can reach 6 in one hour, which means you can earn $28 in an hour if you’re quick. The second day I gained $125 and I was so happy haha. After work Kayleigh and I went many times to the WIFI park, as we didn’t have WIFI at our hostel. We watched Game of Thrones on Mondays in the Commonroom and we once played the Tuesday pubquiz with Kayleigh, Josh and Joey.  

On Wednesday we decided with our ginger team to go to the Hungry Tum: It’s an snackbar and always open. As the week passed we wanted to have a drink at DingoBlue on Friday, to celebrate our first week with the Ginger team.

We heard that you could also ask for a room at DingoBlue, because it seemed a better hostel than ours at Cellblock: You could drink and the rooms aren’t bigger than 4 persons. We asked Vicky the manager and it was possible to change hostels. We could change the next day so we moved our stuff with a supermarket trolley haha.

 That night we did the same ritual again: predrinks, cellblock and club hotel. As that live band was present again, I enjoyed myself again a lot. Only difference is that I was drinking a bit too much haha.

Every week became the same ritual, one week we worked from 5-12 and the other week 12-5. We worked hard but had also fun by singing and talking. Jammy sings a lot and Pyry always tries to stop her singing haha. “Shut up! and he trows a ginger to her” She responded singing “shut up and driveee!” They’re funny together. After work you go to Coles (supermarket) or just relax at the park or watch Netflix at the hostel, or playing pool (and yes I am really bad at it).

 On Wednesday I went to the karaoke at Queenslander with some girls and Pyry from the ginger team and some friends from Jessica. We were the only ones but we still had a lot of fun haha. On our way back we wanted to go to the McDrive, but they wouldn’t accept us without a car. Ridiculous! We got a day off on Friday so we decided to have pizza with our ginger team on Thursday after work. $6 for a pizza, not bad!  

The next day Kayleigh, Jammy and her roommates and me decided to go to the Riverfeast. It’s a place where you have live music and eating food in a nice atmosphere. I ordered a shared plate with sweet potato fries, a sandwich and quesadillas. I was the happiest girl at that moment. As we got back we got predrinks and went to cellblock again. I also went to club hotel but it was shitty on Fridays so I went back to my hostel after 10 minutes.

The next Saturday was a themed party at Cellblock: Every hostel has to wear a different costume. Our hostel’s theme was superheroes and Kayleigh and I decided to be a bit creative on our day off and we dressed up as the Ninja Turtles. Nobody did something with the costumes in the end, but we made effort so we still wanted to show how awesome we are haha. That night was also a pretty drunk night… I dropped my phone and it died haha. Oh and I tried for the first time fries with cheese and gravy at the Hungry Tum. My first reaction was “wow wtf this is so weird”

Then I realised I didn’t have much time left. I started to love the place with the people around me.. actually it reminded me of my Erasmus time in Germany. We all lived together in the same place and you go out with all the same people you know. You go to work (in stead of school) and when you’re back you just still out with your friends and during the weekends you drink and have some crazy nights haha. During the second last week we had dinner together with our ginger team, so Pyry made a really good chicken with vegetables for the wrap. He also prepared corn and it was delicious. I made nachos and guacemole with Kayleigh and everyone loved it :)

The rest of the week passed quickly. I said goodbye to Britt. She would go to Indonesia and when she comes back I wouldn’t see her anymore. During my last weekend, a lot was going on at our hostel. A few guys got lots of day offs and they were drinking from Thursday till Sunday. Lots of music and drunk people and the hostel was a mess ;) Pyry got also pretty drunk. He even jumped in the swimming pool at Cellblock with his passport in his pocket haha! Then again I went to club hotel to rock again for the last time. The next day everyone went to the famous boxing match but unfortunately we couldn’t go because we had to work on Sunday…

I finally reached the next week and I started to realise I would leave soon. Unfortunately I worked only the Monday and Tuesday. I hoped for 2 more days but well, I shouldn’t complain. Wednesday was my last dinner with my lovely ginger team. We all made tapas together and had drinks afterwards. Pyry got drunk again together with Jammy and they were having a Garlic aioli sauce fight haha! Afterwards I went to the karaoke with them and Josh joined us with Daniel and Joe On our way home, I ordered for the last time the fries with cheese and gravy again. This time it tasted better. 

The last day of Bundy. What did I do? well buying some snacks at Coles, packing my stuff, jumping for the first time in the pool at Base and saying goodbye to everyone. In the beginning I was not sure about getting here but in the end I was happy that I made this choice. I had a lot of fun and even saved money! Of course I spend already for my accommodation and phone and food, but I think I still saved more than I lost, which was my main goal. This will be the first time that I’m finally travelling alone. I’ve travelled with Kayleigh for 3 months and we said goodbye. Big chance I will see her and I might see some of the rest in Sydney or Melbourne :)

At 5.20pm I took the train and I joined a new group of the Loka tour until Cairns. Next stop will be Rockhampton and Airlie Beach! 

[com100student-blog]

COM 100 Extra Credit: Online Talk Card

Encounter Number 1: Fanciest Restaurant in Chicago for Christmas Eve Dinner, Turns Into a Nightmare

This last Christmas Eve, my family decided to go to “Boka,” the fanciest restaurant in Chicago. This was a real treat. The food is outstanding, the place is so nice there’s a dress code, and the waiters even pull out your seat for you. So when my little brother had an allergic reaction to the $100 steak he was eating, the waiters suddenly weren’t so kind. Let’s just say, the poor guy started puking everywhere... 

Going from an elegant, classy dinner, to a hell-on-earth disaster, it is pretty obvious I used a variety of talk cards. 

Elegant Woman Talk Card: at the beginning of the meal, before the “situation” occurred, I was trying to act very formal and proper. No elbows on the table, please and thank yous, you get the idea. When using this talk card, my liking was moderate. I was gesturing, and using more formal communication. High formality, since I was at a very fancy restaurant, I wanted to fit in so I chose to create more distance. With this particular talk card, I had more of a low power, I was not really talking, I was just conversing amongst my family.

Concerned Sister Talk Card: okay so now, after the “situation,” I was no where near elegant. My main concern, after I gave up on not getting embarrassed, was making sure my brother was okay. My primary goal at this point was trying to understand what happened, and seeing what my brother needed to feel better. My liking was high, as I was going a little ballistic, my formality was low as my brother just up-chucked in a five star restaurant, and my power was high, I needed to make sure the poor guy would be okay. 

The waiter: 

Normal Waiter Talk Card: (pre situation) the waiter’s primary goal was to make sure we, as his customers, were having an enjoyable dinner, so he got a good tip. He would come by the table very often to make sure we didn't need anything to ensure this, which is how he reached his secondary goal: making sure we knew he was there to take care of us if we needed anything at all. The waiter used high liking, smiling and gesturing to us, high formality to show us he was catering to us, and had low power to come off as friendly and welcoming.

After Witnessing the Puking Waiter Talk Card: the waiter was still kind, but now his primary goal was not necessarily for my family to have an enjoyable dinner, but to make sure that everyone else at the restaurant wouldn’t have their dinner ruined by a little puke. He had everything cleaned up in less than 3 mins, went by tables apologizing, and even gave the table next to us a free dessert. He did this to achieve his secondary goal, making sure everyone else would have a great dinner and that this is still a five star restaurant. His liking towards my family and I became lower, not smiling as much. His formality remained high, as he said to my brother, “Sir, please, take some napkins.” And his power became very high, as he created more and more distance. 

Encounter Number 2: Thinking I was in the wrong class, but I actually was not, my teacher was just a jerk.

It was the middle of the school year when I had changed elementary schools because my Dad had a promotion 2 hours away. I was in 5th grade, and absolutely loved math class, I don’t know why, but I did. I had gone into my math class, and willingly introduced myself to evil Mr. Swanson and the rest of the class. Mr. Swanson didn’t ask me to do it, I just wanted to. After I had embarrassed myself enough, Mr. Swanson told me, “Yeah that’s nice, but you’re not in this class. Please shut the door on your way out.” Confused, I left and went to the main office. They laughed at me and said, “Oh that Mr. Swanson, he’s quite a jokester!” In disbelief. I moped back to the class room. The ENTIRE class was in on this mean joke. Mr. Swanson ruined my love for math. 

Math Enthusiast Talk Card: I walked into Mr. Swanson’s 5th grade math class with pure confidence. As I looked at my fellow peers and Mr. Swanson, I talked myself up. “Hi, I’m from Arlington Heights, I love math, I am a nice girl, I had a lot of friends at my old school, I am so good at math, etc.” Unfortunately this went on for like five minutes. My primary goal was wanting the class to know how excited I was to be there, and that I was amazing at math. My secondary goal was to look cool, I didn’t want to be the shy new girl. When lecturing the class on my “coolness” my liking was high, I was smiling and using eye contact. My formality was low, I wanted to be friendly and inviting so I’d make friends. My power was moderate in this case, I wanted to seem confident and not shy. 

Embarrassed Mortified Student Talk Card: After I had found out Mr. Swanson was a jerk, and that I had to go back to the class that was in on a mean joke, my talk card changed drastically. My primary goal now was to somehow still seem cool, but without making eye contact with anyone. My secondary goal was to still be friends with the kids in my class. I walked in, didn’t say a word and just stared at the floor. Mr. Swanson was so amused and told me that no one likes a show off. My liking was so low, I avoided all eye contact, and didn’t even speak. My formality was high because I was so distant, making my power minimal as well. I didn’t want to say anything to anyone in the class. 

Mr. Swanson on the other hand... 

Low-Key Mean Math Teacher Talk Card: Mr. Swanson was expecting me, he knew he had a new student in his class. He told the class that they were going to play a “funny joke” on me, so the whole class was in on it as well. His primary goal was to embarrass me, he wanted me to leave the classroom confused. His secondary goal was to show the rest of the class that he’s a funny teacher. His liking was high, as he was making mean, judgmental faces at me. His formality was high, he was trying to make me feel uncomfortable, and created distance in doing so, and his power was high; Mr. Swanson made it seem like he didn’t have time to deal with my “mistake”.

High-Key Mean Math Teacher Talk Card: Mr. Swanson, now aware I knew the joke, laughed and even encouraged the class to laugh along with him!! His primary goal was to make me embarrassed, and he executed that goal. His secondary goal was trying to show that he was the funny teacher, and not to get that mixed up. His liking was high, as he gestured to me and told me “No one likes a show off!” His formality was oddly low, because he was being friendly with the class, just not me. Lastly, his power was high, he made it clear that he was a jerk. 

Situation 3: Getting promoted at my first job

My first job was at Oberweis Dairy, which I got as soon as I turned 16. I had worked there for a little over a year, but I got promoted 6 months into the job. I went from making orders, to taking orders (cashier) and teaching new employees.

Ice Cream Scooper Talk Card: My birthday is in May, so when I started working at the ice cream store, it was always busy. I used to get yelled at by the supervisors and my boss to constantly be doing something. I had to give them a certain level of respect, and I would roll my eyes at them with the other “ice-cream scoopers”. My primary goal was to get my job done without pissing anyone off, or getting pissed off myself, in the process. My secondary goal was to show everyone above my position that I was a hard worker, but also to show the few others working at my level, that I wasn’t a kiss up. My liking was high with everyone, I would use eye contact and communicate kindly to anyone. My formality was only high with my boss, as I was trying to be respectful to her and her position, but with everyone else it was low. My power was also low, since I just started working there I didn’t want to sound disrespectful in anyway. 

Crew Trainer Talk Card: Once I got promoted, I started handling cashiering and teaching new employees how to make everything. I had a lot more responsibility, which is why I had to change talk cards. My primary goal was to show the new employees how to avoid getting in trouble, and how to stay on top of all the orders. My secondary goal was to show my boss that I deserved the promotion, keeping her happy and also showing the new workers I wasn’t mean like the other people who had a higher position than them. My liking was high with everyone still, my formality was still high with my boss, but now I was more formal with the new employees. I wanted to kind of show them that although I was being friendly and nice, that I was their superior, my power was raised a little when speaking to them as well because I wanted them to know when they did something right, and when they did something wrong.

Anthony DiFrancesco started working at Oberweis Dairy the exact same time as I did, but he never got promoted. 

Fellow Ice Cream Scooper Talk Card: Anthony and I were friends, and we enjoyed rolling our eyes at our superiors but listening to all their directions together. His primary goal was to get his job done without pissing anyone off, but with making it as easy for him as possible. He never wanted to go out of his way. Anthony’s secondary goal was to show everyone above him that he was always on time and never late, and to be really close with the other people at our position. His liking was high with everyone, he would use eye contact and communicate kindly to anyone. His formality was not high, even when he was speaking to our boss. His power was moderate, because he would be a smart ass if he got told to do something he didn’t want to do.

My relationship changed with Anthony after I got promoted, like we weren’t friends anymore.

Inferior Ice Cream Scooper Talk Card: I now was put in an awkward position, because I had to tell Anthony what to do, and ask him to do things we would usually roll our eyes at. Every time I had to correct Anthony, it seemed like his primary goal was to make it as uncomfortable for me as possible, he would make it a joke and undermine my “authority” which made me have to choose to either be friends with him, and fail my job, or to do my job and fail our friendship. His secondary goal was to make it clear that I had to choose being friends or doing my job. Once I chose my job, he became very easily irritated. His friendliness was not apparent, he would not talk to me, look at me, and if he gestured to me it was with his middle finger. His formality would be high, and he kept a lot of distance, and his power was high, like raising his voice and being rude would make him superior to me.