#pewter hardware

[aftmartwork]

Kitchen - Pantry An undermount sink, raised-panel cabinets, gray cabinets, quartz countertops, gray backsplash, glass tile backsplash, colored appliances, and a peninsula are some ideas for a small transitional l-shaped vinyl floor kitchen remodel.

[dmabs]

Kitchen Enclosed Miami With a single-bowl sink, shaker cabinets, beige cabinets, quartz countertops, white backsplash, porcelain backsplash, stainless steel appliances, an island, and white countertops, this enclosed kitchen features a medium-sized transitional l-shaped medium tone wood floor, brown floor, and exposed beams.

[cgtaxpe]

Kitchen Enclosed Denver Inspiration for a mid-sized country l-shaped light wood floor and yellow floor enclosed kitchen remodel with a farmhouse sink, shaker cabinets, white cabinets, soapstone countertops, green backsplash, ceramic backsplash, stainless steel appliances, an island and black countertops

[katanra]

U-Shape Home Bar Seated home bar - large contemporary u-shaped porcelain tile seated home bar idea with an undermount sink, shaker cabinets, medium tone wood cabinets, quartz countertops and mosaic tile backsplash

[gravityhappens]

Multiuse - Laundry Large image of a utility room with a travertine floor and a tuscan u-shape, raised-panel cabinets, gray cabinets, granite countertops, gray walls, and a side-by-side washer and dryer.

[prekrasnoe-mngnovenie]

Pantry San Francisco Mid-sized tuscan single-wall light wood floor kitchen pantry photo with a single-bowl sink, raised-panel cabinets, yellow cabinets, granite countertops, yellow backsplash, colored appliances and no island

[jessicaschein]

U-Shape Home Bar Seated home bar - large contemporary u-shaped porcelain tile seated home bar idea with an undermount sink, shaker cabinets, medium tone wood cabinets, quartz countertops and mosaic tile backsplash

[shagtective]

Pantry in Boston

[bebemoon]

harlot hands "new mystic" agate heart, glass bead and pewter hardware necklace .

[teameagleworks]

Fresh dragon pens!

[Let's be good friends and ignore my maker hands and this video shows two handmade dragon pens, one is green with hold hardware, the other blue with pewter hardware]

Some new dragons are now available!

These are our new shimmer scale dragons! I absolutely love how they catch the light.

We also have several of our jewel/aluminum mesh scale style currently available

All of our pens are hand turned in our Metro Detroit workshop by myself and my husband. Most styles are repeatable, so please don't be afraid to reach out if your favorite color is sold out. We would love to work with you.

Happy writing!

[haleswallows]

A wee gift for @little-dreams-of-life based on a prompt from the HxH server. Thank you for the inspiration <3

Timothy Drake is home alone. The Drake Manor is big and quiet around him. He fills it with noise.

This isn’t new or exciting. Tim is home alone a lot. What is new is the crate a FedEx employee insisted on carrying inside when Tim answered the door. The guy asks for an adult to sign for the package, but Tim just stares at him. Tim signs for the thing.

There’s a worried glance tossed in his direction as the courier leaves. But Tim shrugs it off like all the others and closes the door, then does up the locks and security system like he was shown.

Tim is home alone and he goes back to his homework without a second thought to the crate. He fills the quiet house with his own noise. When he needs a break, he skateboards down the hallways. The skate park is better, and Tim thinks about checking the weather report to see if it’ll be nice enough to go after school tomorrow.

Tonight is supposed to be clear. Probably a good night for birdwatching.

He pauses at the top of the stairs, one foot on the floor and the other on the deck, idly kicking it forwards and back. There’s a school field trip soon. Tim won’t be going – there’s no one home to sign his permission slip. If anything, he realizes, it’d be a great day to spend at the park. Even though he really wants to go on the field trip too. There’s nothing to be done about it. He resolves to make the day as good as it can be despite the loneliness that sits like gargoyle on his chest.

The crate sits innocently in the Entrance Hall. Tim peers down at it from the top of the stairs. He purposefully lets his DCs slap loudly on the hardwood of the steps as he gallops down.

There’s no note on the outside. Tim crouches down to look it over, but most of the markings are just shipping labels like “FRAGILE” and “THIS WAY UP – DO NOT TURN”. He doesn’t recognize the consignor address. Last he knew, Jack and Janet Drake were in Cambodia and the crate is from Ireland. But he is familiar with his mother’s handwriting on the Customs manifest in the outside pouch, so at least he can assume it hasn’t been shipped to Drake Manor as a type of postal assault.

The top is nailed down and Tim thinks of the hammer in the groundskeeper’s shed. It takes him only moments to find, but takes almost an hour to prise it open. He’s sweating and annoyed when he finally slides the top off.

Anti-climatically, he’s greeted with packing peanuts. 

Rooting around in the offending Styrofoam unearths a folded note – also written in his mother’s hand. The note is definitely not addressed to Tim, so he sets it aside then continues digging. Tim slowly unearths his parents’ newest relic collectibles, like his very own archeological dig. It’s all the same-old-same-old, old stuff and whatever his parents think is worthy of purchasing. Ceremonial relics, cultural artifacts, ceramic vases and bowls and small votives. There’s one odd wood carving that looks like something he’d have to make in art class.

Nestled in the bottom of a crate is a small wooden box, polished to a gleaming deep brown. The brass hardware stands out against the dark burnish. Tim turns it over in his hands and admires it, appreciating the way it fits neatly in his palm. It’s quite high quality, even Tim can see that. But of course, the box is only an accessory to its contents. There was a fleeting consideration to shake it, but Tim stamped down on the urge. Afterall, whatever was inside was an antique, if not ancient.

Tim puzzles over the small metal figurine inside. The purple velvet lining makes the pewter look like silver. But Tim has no clue what the shape is or what it represents. He squints at it in the waning afternoon light of the hall. The pronged circle attached to a wide rectangle vaguely resembles an ancient depiction of a human, if humans had horns. Or maybe the circle is a torso and the prongs artistic rendition of limbs? The prong is flared, almost like it has a crown.

There's a leather throng looped through the head. Tim thinks it's ugly and wonders what type of person would wear it. Sometimes Mother wore the ancient jewelry they collected, but this wasn't to her usual taste. Thus there must be something culturally important about it.

A mystery. Tim likes those. He likes solving things, he likes worrying his mind over pieces that don't fit until they do. Afterall, it's how he figured out Batman’s and both Robins’ identities and started birdwatching.

He pushes to his feet and jogs up the stairs. The computer in his dad's office has an internet connection. No one ever notices Tim using it. The housekeeper won't be around until tomorrow when he's at school. She won't suspect a thing as long as he turns it off and doesn't make a mess.

When he reaches the top of the stairs, Tim trips over his abandoned skateboard. In the moment between losing his balance and hitting the ground, Tim thinks “oh crap” and prepares mentally for impact. Tim is no stranger to the fickle ways of gravity. You don't learn to skateboard without becoming the proud owner of scars and bruises. Tim automatically outstretches his hands to catch his fall

The strange pendant, still clutched in his hand, catches the soft meaty flesh of his palm. Tim hisses in pain, knee smarting. Gathers himself to sit cross legged and kicks the skateboard, annoyed at himself. He carefully uncurls his fingers, then gulps at the large gash on his hand. 

Oh god, Tim thinks while blinking at the deep cut. That definitely needs stitches. Oh shit, who can he call to get stitches? Who can take him? Tim glances around himself as if expecting someone to appear, to come running at the sound of his fall, to coo over his cut. 

A cold feeling fills his belly. Stupid. Tim knows there's no one there to help. But still he looked. Stupid.

Blood drips onto his jeans. He needs to get up, find a first aid kit. Skating is going to suck like this. He blinks back tears.

The light in the hallways shifts, darkens. It's getting late. He really needs to get up. With a sigh, Tim scolds himself then pushes to his feet, hurt hand cradled to his chest. But as he stands, the light continues to ebb away, darkness swirling around him. Tim freezes. The air pressure shifts and Tim shivers in the sudden chill.

“I am Fright Knight, Lord of Fear and the Spirit of All Hallows's Eve. Who dares summon me?” a voice rumbles, echoes, rings through the hallways, deep and haughty. Tim whirls towards it, hands halfway to covering his ears.

And nearly trips again on his skateboard. A man in a pure black suit of armor, glowing a menacing green, floats half a foot over the ground. Tim can't see the man's face as he towers over him, but the green glowing eyes bore into him.

“Who the fuck are you and how did you get in here?” Tim snaps. Ok, dumb move probably. But what else is Tim going to do? He's twelve and home alone.

The suit of armor tilts its head. Oh right, duh, Tim. It answered that.

“Right, Fright Knight, summoned. Was it this?” He shows the knight his hand and thoroughly bloodied pendant. They both stare at his hand. A quiet plip-plip of blood dripping onto the floor accentuates the quiet.

“Where are your guardians?”

“Not home.” Tim isn’t an idiot. He knows better than to tell people his parents are out of the country. Or that he’s home alone.

“When will they return home?”

Tim stares at the floating suit of armor for a long time. There’s an impression it is squinting at him. He shrugs.

Plip-plip goes his hand.

(Remainder of the fic on ao3!)

[harveyguilleniconodelamoda]

Staple Piece: Black Overalls

These black overalls have made several appearances at cons, events, casual outings, and most recently on an episode of Dropout TV's Um, Actually. It's easy to see why these are such a go-to for Harvey!

They have a relaxed fit through the hips and legs, with the traditional square neck and snaps in front, a single off-center chest pocket, and button-up sides. They're a nice, solid true black (as opposed to a distressed, faded, or stone-washed black), and look so comfy! They're also really versatile, and can become a whole new outfit with a change of the shirt underneath!

These overalls differ slightly from the traditional "workwear" overall in that they have a lower waistline, a small off-center chest pocket rather than the single, centered large chest pocket on most overalls, and a squared neckline in the back with thinner straps rather than the thick v-straps of workwear overalls.

It's hard to say what brand they are or even what material, though they don't look to be heavy-duty "working" denim like something you'd buy at Carhartt. If I had to guess, I'd say a heavier-weight cotton or a stretch denim. The buttons are somewhat reminiscent of Levi's, but it's hard to tell for certain with such a small detail in photos. No logo is visible in any photos I've seen.

Styling

Harvey tends to pair these overalls with various brightly colored shirts and cute sneakers, such as the Converse low tops he sported on Um, Actually. I especially love the blue crocheted crop top option with the cheeky peak of skin on the sides (so much so that I recently tried something similar with my own pair of overalls...10/10 would recommend). It's a look that's adaptable to all seasons and great for any occasion where you want or need to balance comfort with style!

Affordable Options

It was the wrong season to make this post, because I had a terrible time trying to find any good overall options. But I did find a few!

These casual slim fit cargo overalls from Ciciful ($39.99) come in black, khaki, and green and have the single small off-center pocket. They also have elastic in the ankle hems, but maybe you like that! Available in sizes up to 3XL, which fits a 50-inch hip measurement.

The plain patched pocket button-up overalls from Bloomchic ($45.90) have a skinny fit and are available up to size 6X (70-inch hip), but are currently restocking. You can sign up to be notified when they're available!

For a more traditional work overall, Dickies' plus relaxed fit bib overalls ($59.99) are a great option! The black wash is a bit undersaturated, but it's still a nice solid, even color that doesn't look distressed, stonewashed, sandblasted, etc. Available up to size 24W (51-inch hip).

The A3 Denim stretch denim cuffed overalls ($28.99) from Walmart come in sizes up to 26W (56-inch hip) and have a straight leg with a cuffed hem. These are a nice true black with pewter-colored hardware.

[hoenn-hakase]

Anniversary: The Story Thus Far

With the 10th Anniversary Super Gauntlet going on, my brain has kicked into overdrive this week thinking about some of the lore concepts to come up. Of course, at this point we've only done Red, Bootleg Yellow (yes, I'm counting it), Gold and Silver, so we've still got a LOT of games to cover before we get into the plot, but ideas are already flowing. Things may change, but I just wanted to get down some current thoughts down while I've got it.

So one plotline the Lorecord has been playing around with for a few years now is that our last season, S10, took place in a Post Apocalyptic universe that S9 had been building up to (I wanna make a separate post on this) and we finally got an arc ending payoff with Wilting Y. Each person has their own thoughts on the timeline and what events led to this and what the aftermath was, but my gosh that moment we collectively went "OH SNAP" when connecting Mega Aerodactyl to Yveltal, there's no the question of what's going on in the Super Gauntlet.

Super Gauntlet is all vanilla games being played completely on real hardware systems. This opens us up to a lot of features we've never had access to! It's exciting but having all of the regions in their vanilla states feels like a new era. The world was rebuilt It's been centuries since The End. Someone hit restart on the universe. All thoughts that have come up in discussion before. But then something interesting came up: Our first loss.

Now I personally don't think a run needs Releases to become "interesting" but it can lead to some really fascinating ideas as we try to make sense of the loss. In this case, we were fighting over the need for Cut to continue the game. Our options were: 1) evolve the Kakuna (Simon) we already had in the party so Beedrill could learn Cut. Unfortunately, there was a pretty dedicated group of evolution cancellers, so doable but proving difficult. 2) With patience wearing thin, we could just deposit someone and go catch an Oddish. (Which is what eventually happened.) 3) It may be difficult, but we had a Spearow in the PC so if we needed to use it anyway to deposit someone, we could grab the bird then trade it for Dux, just like we did in the original Red run. But people were scared of the PC and for good reason, since sure enough we had a PC war break out and Marvin "Mushmouth" the Squirtle, Simon the Kakuna, and yes, even the Spearow, were all Released.

But interestingly enough, someone proposed that Dux was the one behind this. The question quickly became why. Maybe... just maybe... because this Dux was the same as the one from Original Red. That maybe Dux was trying to avoid the fate that killed him before. Maybe because he saw this group of relic hunters and knew that Ash did not have the most noble intentions in grabbing the Helix Fossil and would actually unleash an even greater threat in his quest chasing rumors and legends and whispers of the bygone era. Ash clearly obsessed about the past when it seemed almost everyone had forgotten about it. He spent hours at the museum in Pewter to learn about the gods and set out from home with a dream. He had already obtained things like the Helix Fossil, the Town Map, the Bicycle, all symbols of Chosen past and surely more to come. Maybe the death of Marvin and Simon was truly an accident but now that Dux has "awoken" the memories of his past life, he now starts a new personal quest to follow the Chosen to stop the Voices from destroying everything again. Which Dux may have been right about Ash sadly since the kid eventually did NOT revive Helix but eventually went out of his way to obtain the mysterious Missingno named Bucket who he used a few other times to expand his riches. Put a pin there, I'll get into his fate later.

And then it was added that we meet a Farfetch'd in Ilex Forrest too. Maybe the next time we would meet Dux. Maybe he was still traded by the little girl to someone else and that's why he refuses to listen to the Woodcutter's assistant. Now that he's aware of all of this, he ran from owner to find Celebi and get answers about these strange memories of a past life. Why is this happening? What happened before? Something to definitely look out for once we saw the stories of Gold and Silver.

Well, GS dual runs came up and we could see that the twins Raymond (Gold) and Xyler / Xylver (Silver) have very different personalities with Xy often taking advantage of his brother to expand on his own power and speed on ahead by wrecking anything and anyone in his path. He caught a Ledian early on, who has become associated as the Incarnation of Olden just as one would say Helix is an Omanyte (even if there have been times we've said not all Omanyte are Helix) and much later on it gained an on-again-off-again teammate status further solidifying Xy's reputation for being a "morally gray" character. All the more telling that he failed to get either of the Tower Duo while Raymond was able to get both. Raymond is a sweet kid, and a good kid. After his brother took his Chikorita and left him with a Geodude, Raymond stayed loyal to his rock friend and eventually got a Golem. He had a Slowpoke he made a king. He had the patience and kindness to evolve his Eevee into an Umbreon, and yes, he eventually befriended Ho-oh and carried it to League.

I mention all this because even if they seem like a pair of ordinary kids, no grandiose backstories (yet) or cool occupation, something of great interest came up towards the end. For one, we were told this was not a race but by gosh did it get treated like one. Johto lasted about a day and a half. Xyler beat the League while Raymond was still in Blackthorn City and just to dunk on him, he beat it a second time while Raymond was trying to win the first time. (In truth it's because we had one VERY dedicated player who wanted to get Ledian it's promised place in the Hall of Fame) But we got to the Trainer House in Viridian City and discovered we had some guests! Ritchie was one of our side game hosts from Yellow about a year or two ago, and NEEKO was from a Silver run from about the same period.

Neeko is especially curious to see here though because during his run, he was able to pull off some ACE glitchery most notably turning the Sudowoodo into a Celebi named ASUS. It was also said about this time that when we played Blazing Emerald Redo as a side game it was to wash the awful taste out of the community's collective mouth after some of the things that happened during our original Blazing Emerald run. There had also been joking how we ~never~ got to use the Pokemon Agony had before. And we sure ~never~ got to see some of the places that only exist in BE before. So there was some lore that Neeko used his own reality warping powers and Time Guardian friend to "erase" Blazing Emerald from the timeline. Agony.... Is another tale for another time, but let's just say I hc he did not take the idea of "fading from existence as everyone he loved forgets about him as some sort of punishment for things outside his control while he STILL suffers the consequences" very well. Neeko probably means well? But him showing up to beat down Xy (he swept us in the first encounter) is not a good sign for our power seeking scamp because Neeko has literally destroyed people before, he would do it again if he thought it would fix things. AND WORSE he's got ties to Celebi which brings us back full circle that maybe the one Dux was working for / went to meet in the forest with, was none other than Neeko. And given Xy's bad luck with birds (even his flier was "borrowed" after Raymond picked up Kenya then traded it to him) who better to thwart / keep an eye on this punk than the Leek Knight himself here to fulfill the divine duty he never got to fulfill?

And maybe he did. Maybe he didn't. I have two thoughts that if he did, what happened. 1) Neeko "erased" Xy's original adventure where we don't know and don't want to think about what he did to catch Neeko's attention when there was no one to stop him. This second time having Raymond go with him / instead of him may be specifically to stop that path of events from happening again. 2) Xy may have been the target but Neeko may have learned from his mistakes. Instead of going after him directly like he did with Agony, he tried to change the course by instead going after Ash. 3) ... Both are simultaneously true.

Ah yes, still got that pin?

Now before we started SGRed, we played a few intermission games to test out the system in preparation for the official run. One of those was Bootleg Yellow. We didn't finish it though, but we had a hero named Ash and he picked up a Squirtle so connections are there already. Since Missingno messed up our Hall of Fame data, we discovered that Ash was "dreaming of Marvin" as we watched a mini HoF play out with a corrupted Squirtle image. After the run, we got to go back and finish Yellow. Interestingly, since Ash had a full pack when he beat Giovanni, we had no space for the Fissure TM. Game Freak thought of this, so Giovanni doesn't disappear until you take it. So it looks like in SGR, Team Rocket never disbanded. BUT in Bootleg Yellow there's a greater focus on Team Rocket if I understand right and the League Rematch replaced Gary with Jessie and James as Champion. So Ash did end up finishing off Team Rocket so Johto events could proceed as they should. But how this came about is because after Yellow we have been playing Stadium2 with our games plugged in. There's a feature in Stadium2 that both lets you play the GB cartridges from an arcade mode and allows you to bring Pokemon from said cartridges into the arenas. Ash tried to withdraw Bucket and of course the game crashed. This seemed like The End for him. Except timeline wise this may have been what "saved" him assuming he completed Red, failed to defeat Team Rocket, whatever happened between Neeko and Xy the first time, Neeko went back and ripped Ash out of this Bad End but by doing so Ash ended up starting over in Yellow. Further complicating things is either Ritchie is here because while Ash had to set up events for Xy, Raymond didn't have that problem because Ritchie had done it. They're cool, just hanging out. That may mean when Neeko tried to fix things with Ash though, he accidentally booted out Ritchie. Alternatively, it could be that since the world is having these moments of repetition, Ritchie being a Chosen never forgot the old world and had his Yellow adventures ages ago. Seeing things play out (albeit differently this time) he's just here because he's worried about his home and wished nothing but the best for Ash. Which he did good so now Ritchie is just keeping an eye on things because he knows Neeko and is nervous about what he's up to. Please don't erase anyone this time. That caused such a mess... On the upside, whatever terror Neeko thought Xy might do didn't come to pass. Interestingly, ASUS ended up being the name of Xy's rival, so it's possible the redhead jerk was actually Celebi in disguise all along checking in on Xy to make sure he was good this time. Or ASUS being so aggressive was because he kept failing to stop Xy since he kept losing. It's funny then to think Neeko only showed up in the post game after having an "aw crap" reaction to Xy getting to the League miles ahead of Raymond but then Xy let his brother catch up. Only because like the Tortoise and the Hare he got cocky. Raymond defeated Red first so he kinda won the game. Red was vanilla Red of course so I'm not quiiiite sure what significance that would mean for Xy to reach him second. And with Ash and Ritchie around, technically we're not even sure who this Red is but it was (possibly) important to Neeko either way. So since Raymond won, that did ..... something??? We'll see.

But going back to Ash now. Why would he not have his team when starting over? Because after GS we went back to Stadium2 where Ash's team has been crumbling because of technicalities. First we ended up trading Bucket to Raymond but this turned it into a normal Ditto so it's no longer a cursed abomination. Ash could technically get Bucket back, but it'll never be the same. We also evolved our Onix into a Steelix so that's nice for him, but Ash can never bring him home now since Steelix would create a time paradox. So that's two members gone. As much as Ash cares about Pixie I bet he wouldn't dare risk her or the others remaining on a second journey if he started over in Yellow. Buuuut alternatively, Ash falling through a crack in the space-time thanks to Neeko may have honestly made him forget what happened. Was Red all just a dream? He's waking up 10 years old again being told Oak is waiting to give him his first Pokemon... Man, it was a nice dream being all action hero and finding creatures that shouldn't exist and all that. But... Just like Dux, it's possible as he went along this journey, even as things are slightly different, he's getting memories of what feels like another world. Another life... What happened to him?

And that now has my mind racing over other characters who may have had memories stirred. Ash's rival was named Blue. Is it the one from Original Red? From Gauntlet? What does he remember? Does Lance have this sinking feeling that for all his fame and fortune he's missing something? He had a wife, a whole family back in Naljo before the world fell apart. And now he's met not one but three new Chosen, how much deja vu is he getting from TPP shenanigans over the years? I have some thoughts on them, but that's for another post subject.

But for now, we got Ruby and Sapphire coming up on Monday!! And you know it's about this point in the series the stakes start rising. We've taken on mere mortals, now let's save the world from primordial titans! .... Good luck heroes.

[shojizbae]

Music Box

Getting kicked out of your prestigious ballet académie wasn’t nearly as much of a slap in the face as the reason. Mid-class I had a very flare-up with my powers and ended up injuring one of my snooty classmates. I didn’t realize that my school was run by normie supremacists. They didn’t want an outcast student in their school so they cast me out.

It was all too infuriating settling into a new dorm, making friends with my roommate, and dealing with the rumors that come with being the new kid. One of the worst parts is that I couldn’t stand my roommate. She was almost exactly like the girl I had injured. My roommate's name is Veronica. She is a vampire and thinks that because my powers don’t cause any noticeable physical quirks I don’t belong at Nevermore.

She thinks my life is so much easier than hers because of it. And she constantly complains so tonight I decided to let off some steam. After being banished from the académie, I hung up my pointe shoes but I believe it’s time to have a little workout.

I kept one artifact dear to me from the outside world. It was a music box my father had gifted me. It played the tinkly melody of the sugar plum fairy. I was supposed to play her in the upcoming season. It’s October and I have already been through five rounds of auditions and almost a thousand hours of rehearsals. I had this down pat but now my muscles are weak from rest.

I packed a string bag with my point shoes, toe pads, ribbons, and resin. I put my earbuds in and put on an extra layer. I had a relaxing walk down and out of the halls and into the cafeteria. I decided upon that location because at night they flipped the chairs and tucked the tables away. I went into the mess hall and as I had expected there were smooth floors and plenty of open space. There was a low hum from the dishwasher and the school power-saving light bulbs created a gentle ambiance.

I laid down my backpack by the cart where they kept the giant condiment dispensers and as the song switched to some alt rock I started stretching my legs using the cart as a barre. I didn't realize but I stretched my whole body for an hour. I guess I didn't realize time was passing because I was taking time for myself. I felt good for the first time in over 3 months. After that, I glanced over at the tiny polyester bag and kicked my uggs off marching toward it.

I applied little silicon toe protectors and slid on my toe pads before finally squeezing my feet into the damned silk shoes. It felt overwhelmingly familiar, so when I tied my ribbons on and stood up I nearly cried. I took a step and fell right on my ass so I broke out the resin and stomped around and when I rolled en pointe again I felt a lot more stable.

I continued to dance until my muscles felt warm. Finally, I went back into my bag and fished out my music box. It was gorgeous and ornate. It was carved out of mahogany and had pewter hardware that had oxidized to a lovely charcoal shade. On the inside was an elegant porcelain sculpted ballerina with a mesh tutu. I cranked the small dial until the tinkling tune of the Sugar Plum Fairy. I went slowly and failed to keep up with the speed but the trick with music boxes is that they force you to never give up. You must complete the dance or the sound of failure will jingle away.

I let the box tinkle away as I force my body through repetitions of the steps. 1 2 3-1 2 3- 1 2 3! Up and back twist! Tuck your ribs (Y/n). BE more graceful make your fingertips look like flower petals. Point your goddamn toes! I kept repeating things my teachers had kept squawking at me. My technique was sloppy at best. Eventually, My legs hit the right amount of tired where we slipped into muscle memory. The mind and the body have a special connection and when they synch I call it 'the zone'.

The zone is a wonderful place to be. It's a place I wish to live in, a dimension enveloped within this one. But hidden within the crevices of chaos it lies. It's like traveling through a crowded dusty bazaar and you bypass all the piles of spices and the loud haggling. Then you find the section where women sell finely embroidered fabric and you're just walking through miles of silk that muffles all the sound. I felt like I was fuete-ing in the center of that stall. It's like dancing underwater but I don't need air and I'm weightless.

The tricky part of the zone is that when you get lost in it, you lose track of everyone else in the bazaar. The scariest part is when the busker stops playing music, and the hagglers key in for a sweet deal.

"Wow, you're incredible!" The mear shock sent me falling on my ass. At the entrance to the cafeteria was Xavier Thorpe. I have a handful of classes with him and word spread quickly in this tiny isolated drama breeding ground. I lay flat on the ground like a starfish panting like a dog that just got shot. "Oh shit!"

I didn't see him, but I heard him pad toward me his footsteps were anxious. He walked close to me and knelt down next to my ear. I watched his head come into view. His face was concerned, very concerned his eyebrows were drawn inwards and he looked breathless.

"Are you all right?" he reached for the hand resting on my stomach. His hands were warm and kind of sweaty and when I interlocked my fingers with him there was a dry patch on his thumb. His grip was strong and he nearly catapulted me forward when he pulled me up. "Did you hit your head?"

"No, I've fallen way harder than that. Uh, I've been rude, my name is (Y/n)-"

"(L/n). Yeah, We fenced together a few times and you totally destroyed me in our Pride and Prejudice debate. I guess I'm seeing how you got so agile, you're an incredible dancer." He helped me into a standing position and I walked us over to the condiments stand.

"Well that's just because you don't dance, honestly If you saw me months ago I could have really knocked a paintbrush out of your man bun." I stuck my face in his face like a toddler.

"Really? What happened in the recent months that you had a decline?"

I slumped against the wall "I got kicked out of my school for being 'gifted'" I held up facetious finger quotes and gave a wry chuckle.

"What! They kicked you out for being too good?"

"No, They kicked me out because I nearly killed the best dancer in my class."

"What? I require some explanation."

"Well, I'm going to need you to crank that dial 5 times" As I walked away I pointed at my music box "Oh, and if you break that, I'll get kicked out of this school too." He laughed at me and reached for the delicate wooden box. It looked so dainty and misplaced in his hands. I watched his muscled fingers grip the brass dial and crank it until the harmonious symphony played. It seemed like this time I was able to dive into the zone.

"I've always known I was gifted." I started the dance "I've been good at whatever I do. Seeing that talent my mom put me in ballet, and I picked it up instantly." I began a series of turns "I was always so good at acting like I fit in too. I come from a long line of pure bread normies, but my mom. My mom is different, she dated an outcast and had me out of wedlock. Which is inexcusable where we come from." I corrected my posture.

"I was led to believe that I was purebred, my mom's family was. I had been verbally assaulted by this girl- Brittany so many times. I was at the peak of my anger we were doing a mass audition I was going to be the sugar plum fairy! But that bitch kept stepping on my toes-literally. I guess my emotions triggered my powers-I made a force field so strong that when she hit it she dislocated her T-5 and tore her ACL. After they kicked me out I stopped dancing. I was having an identity crisis and I thought that if I danced I would use them and hurt someone." The song came toward its end and I started the final sequence.

"But, dancing, with you here, I feel completely calm, like I'm not going to hurt you." I landed right in front of his face and he latched his hands onto my hips for support.

"Woah. I wouldn't call that masterpiece sloppy. You looked beautiful."

"Thank you, mysterious gorgeous art boy. At least that's how you've been described to me."

"Mysterious and gorgeous? Are you aware that you're describing yourself?" Woah, no boy has ever talked to me like that before. How am I supposed to respond to that? I just giggled I didn't know what else I could say. I grabbed his elbows and caressed them.

"You know for a painter you sure do have a way with words." Smooth you saved it!

"Oh really? How about these words. Would you like to go on a date with me? Actually, let me try that one more time. I'm going to set up a romantic picnic in my art studio and play the movie Five Feet Apart at seven pm on Friday. Whether or not you join me is all up to you."

"Five Feet Apart? That is romantic but I don't want to be bawling my eyes out on my first date."

"That's why I'm going to watch Elf after."

"But it's not Christmas?"

"Who says you can't watch Christmas movies in march? you're dancing the Nutcracker."

"That's fair, I'll see you at 6:45."

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