#plus I’m trying to avoid burnout

[oorangesoda]

Had some good food and some time to reflect, time for a brain break for a couple days :)

[caycanteven]

I promise I’m not dead, I’m just overstimulated lol. For now take this food

Baggs my beloved workaholic by @megalommi 🫶

Tiny update under the cut~

Lots of stuff going on with holidays and such, so ‘m sorry for the lack of any art or little doodles. Drawing outside comms (for myself mostly) has been difficult. I’m trying to avoid burnout while I’m working on comms, plus allergies have made me feel like I’m dying lmao. I’ve been writing in my down time to help myself relax, but even that has been pretty rough. However, I’m aight I’d say!

Thanks for sticking with me tho and hopefully everything will relax again.

[claypigeonpottery]

This might be odd to ask, but how do you get through the work of production pottery? I love pottery myself, but with the amount of energy that goes into each piece... it seems herculean to put in that much of yourself into work after work after work in a production format. How do you get your energy to carry you through a full session, and how do you avoid it leading to burnout?

I don’t really think of my pottery as production pottery, which I think is a part of it. I’m prolific, but it’s mostly because if I don’t do something creative every day or so, I turn into a disaster. I’ve learned to avoid art slumps so that doesn’t slow me down anymore. the only thing that really throws me off when I’m making is taking on too many commissions and overwhelming myself. I’m still trying to figure out a good balance there tbh 😑

when it comes to kiln time, it is 100% a huge energy drain. luckily, I always have help. I don’t think I’d be able to do it without support. @subpar-lemon-bar helps me with so much around kiln time: glazing, loading and unloading kilns, inputting all the shipping info, and helping me pack and label everything.

but even working together, we’re both often exhausted after kiln time. this entire week I’ve been struggling with being constantly overstimulated, and I had a few times where I just had to put my head on the table and cry a little lol

as for how to get through a session, I work at home, so I can stop or start at any time. if I start a thing and don’t have the energy, I can leave. sometimes I won’t even clean up, I’ll just cover my work, and be done. it’s much easier than taking classes, or working in the studio. I used to miss a lot of class sessions, because having the energy at the right time was hard—plus it also took social energy, which is so much harder for me. and I knew if I went when I wasn’t doing well, I wouldn’t enjoy it and it would end up being frustrating.

I’m not sure any of this is useful, since I know it’s not always possible to work at home or get someone to help you, but these are the things that make it possible for me.

[ryuichirou]

Replies

Some replies!

Anonymous asked:

Dayummm Azul is BIGGGG LOOK AT THAT BOY! DAYUMMM

Hehe thank you!!

I am happy I managed to figure out how to draw the fishies… Azul is one thicc boy

Anonymous asked:

What do you think of Silver x Kalim? Cater x Leona? LMC + Rook x Idia?

Kalim/Silver is cute but unfortunately too cute to click with us; their interactions are sweet and wholesome, but they don’t really give us anything we look for in ships.

Cater/Leona is hmmm nothing against it, but we’re not invested enough in either of them to ship them, plus we haven’t seen anything from their interactions that would grab our attention yet.

Love Rook/Idia though! We have a tag for them and just posted them a week ago, and I’ll write a hc post about them soon… well, at some point…

Anonymous asked:

🐩 anon has arrived once more to thank you for your absolutely delicious art. I had to come out of twst burnout, it's so hard to enjoy the fandom when it's all self righteous antis trying to police the game as if it's not catered to basically young adults and older. These kids have me baffled, it's as if they believe pixels are real people.

I can hardly stand to look at TWST Tumblr anymore either, they're all so white knighted that you'd think they were paid to be piss babies in circles they don't belong in. It's one of those "Why put yourself in that position to see it, if you didn't want to be there in the first place".

Hi 🐩 anon, long time no see! Thank you for being around and still enjoying my art.

I feel you, it really is difficult when you keep seeing people saying the same type of antis bullshit over and over and over again; even if you become apathetic about it, it’s still very annoying. Mostly because it’s impossible to ignore completely – they love to invite themselves to spaces that aren’t meant for them. That’s like the whole idea. No one is forcing anyone to see anything, every ship and triggering trope is always tagged in some way or another, but instead of avoiding this type of stuff they use the tagging system to shit on certain characters and ships directly, just so you couldn’t look for your favourite thing without seeing their outbursts of unsolicited opinions.

It really is very annoying.

Anonymous asked:

🐩 anon again, but now with one that's more funny and teehee haha random info that I thought you'd think it'd be interesting or funny

On that note, I came here because I started a DND campaign with a group over a twst based campaign. It reminded me of you, which made me invested in the campaign. Now I have a whore serving with 18th century fashion, giving Vil a run for his money. So far, 10/10. He has major Edmund and Idia vibes, wants no part of it, gets shit luck anyways and so far, has slept with Bird Man for Ramshackle funds on a bad roll. Mans is a survivor and we are barely halfway into chapter 1 😭

It’s so sweet that you got reminded of us and got invested… I am very glad you’re having fun! “Rewriting” your negative fandom experience with a positive one and good associations is so important.

Major Edmund and Idia vibes + a 18th century fashion whore??? SLEEPING WITH BIRD MAN??? An icon and a hustler. I don’t know him but I love him already…

Anonymous asked:

Good lord. I had randomly followed a twst blog but then I saw them posting about how even though there is a two year age difference between the third-years and first-years, it’s wrong to ship them because the first-years treat them, especially the housewardens, like idols and apparently that’s grooming. Like, no, that’s you in Delululand and I’m about to unfollow and block. #staytoxicbestie

Yeah they seem to have discovered this idea and now put it everywhere, harassing JackVil shippers and such. It’s one of those moments when I genuinely hope that they deliberately lie and reach because I am scared of the idea of anyone being this dumb.

It does suck that there seems to be more people like that lately, and they don’t even tag their accs with “proship dni” anymore either. Gee I wonder why.

[walkawaytall]

Now that I finished reading (and reviewing) Collateral, I thought I'd come with some questions, if you haven't answered them before! This was the first fic you posted, but was it the first HxL fic idea you had? How did you come up with this particular take on the Ord Mantell mission? Are there any subtle Easter eggs that you had fun including?

Ooh, thank you for asking! Other than a vague idea I started to write down as a preteen that essentially amounted to “Han proposes to Leia the night after the Battle of Endor and I’m sure I’ll come up with an actual plot later”, this was the first fic idea I had. I had written for another much, much smaller fandom in high school, but hadn’t written or read fanfic in probably 15 years or more. I was in severe professional burnout toward the end of 2022, had just sort of re-embraced Star Wars after avoiding it a lot post-TROS, and decided to start reading for my original OTP. I had also been working on a novel for quite a long time and it was driving me insane, so after blazing my way through a ton of Han/Leia fics on FFN, and later on AO3, I thought I might try writing some fanfic just to have fun with writing again since the novel was making me miserable.

I remember coming up with the idea for the Committee first — the intent with at least part of the fic was to suggest that a lot of the stuff Leia and Han say to piss each other off in ESB are kind of low-blow-type callbacks to private jokes or things they had discussed previously. I also remember reflecting a bit on their relationship and how it’s portrayed at the beginning of ESB — how some people have interpreted that to mean that they spent three dang years griping at one another, but somehow fell in love in between verbal jabs. I think I mentioned this in an early author’s note on Collateral — I had a friendship that was mostly verbal sparring and stupid arguments about things neither of us cared about and it stops being fun after awhile. Eventually, we both just kind of started acting normal around one another. And I just kind of figured that, even if Han and Leia started out picking each other apart, there’s no way they’d go from that to romance in a few words, so I felt like they had to have a friendlier history than what we’re shown. (Plus, I may be reading too much into it, but the way Carrie and Harrison play those parts in that movie, it doesn’t seem like two people who just hate each other to me; it seems like two people who’ve been deeply wounded by one another and aren’t sure what they’re supposed to do. And you have to care about each other somewhat to be wounded by one another, ya know?)

I wanted a fic that was limited in scope for my first fic so I wouldn’t get too carried away with trying to add to a meandering plot or whatever, so I decided on the couple of weeks before ESB starts. I had read a handful of fics about Ord Mantell or referencing Ord Mantell and decided I wanted to do my own take on it. I didn’t know a ton of Star Wars lore, so I remember having to research on Wookieepedia a ton. I do believe my initial intent was for Han and Leia to start their romantic relationship on the trip, but the characters misbehaved while I was writing and Leia kissed Han in her room instead, and I ended up going with that.

Even though I knew most H/L fans would be expecting Ord Mantell to go poorly, I wanted to repeatedly put people at ease, at least in theory. The gang isn’t even worried about Ord Mantell, so why should we be? Everything’s going so well! Han and Leia go on a cute date and everything is fine! Basically, if someone went into the story not knowing about the infamy that Ord Mantell has gained in H/L circles, I wanted them to wonder if anything was actually going to go wrong.

As far as Easter eggs go…I wrote Han with the “Han Solo is mildly Force-sensitive” fan theory in mind. It’s not blatant, but it’s there. Some of the conversations they have reference Leia, Princess of Alderaan and From a Certain Point of View (Leia knowing Huttese comes to mind), and I do assume people catch this, but just in case someone didn’t, the final big conversation that Leia and Han have in her office occurs the afternoon before ESB picks up. The sensors she talks about are the same ones he and Luke are placing at the beginning of the movie.

Oh! Wait! I forgot my favorite one. I never come out and say it, and I don’t know if I even ever implied it, but in my mind, the reason the Falcon is in such rough shape at the beginning of ESB is because, after Leia and Han’s interactions go entirely sour, she stops helping with background repairs, which means Han and Chewie have more to do with just the two of them.

This was incredibly long! Hope that’s okay 😂

[thejackofalltrades42069]

“Social media burnout”, feeling overwhelmed, and some ideas to fight that.

First I will discuss the “social media burnout” or “cellphone burnout” which is a term I thought of, turns out it already existed and there are articles written about it. Then I’ll talk about a reason people feel too tired or overwhelmed, and I’ll suggest some ways to combat both things.

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Intro:

Feeling tired won’t allow us to function right, feeling tired plus having distractions will make us feel even worse. Remember a time where you couldn’t really concentrate and just ended up procrastinating, or probably you did a task, but it took you ages to do it, and the result wasn’t really good, so you had to work on it again on a different day?

There can be a few reasons why people feel tired, it could be that you’re not sleeping enough or that you’re working too much. I’m going to talk about 2 particular reasons that will make anyone feel tired or even overwhelmed.

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“Social media burnout”,

Remember using social media before reading something? Then you can’t really focus and end up not reading at all, or just reading for a short period of time?

The internet definition for “social media burnout” is something like this:

“"Social media burnout" is a real phenomenon that many people experience. It refers to a state of exhaustion or disillusionment with social media platforms and the constant use of them. It can manifest as feeling overwhelmed, stressed, or anxious from constantly checking social media notifications or trying to keep up with the latest trends and updates”.

Some common symptoms are:

Feeling drained or tired after using social media, or even through all day.

Finding most things you do less interesting overall.

A decline in overall mood and well-being.

Stepping away from social media platforms and from sending too many instant messages is usually a good idea, whatever the case (even if you don’t believe they’re affecting you). Setting some boundaries around your social media is always a good idea, such as, turning off notifications and limiting the daily usage to a short period of time, and only use social media after you’ve done other important things, or after work for example. Avoiding it before bed is also highly recommended.

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Other reason many people feel overwhelmed:

Thinking about too many things at once is another reason why people tend to get overwhelmed.

A couple of examples to make this point clear:

Once I was talking with a friend about how to save money and how to invest it in safe ways because my friend was just spending all their money in who knows what, it didn’t matter if they made more money one month, they’d spent all of their money. I suggested a simple way, putting away 30% of what you make in a safe investment each time you get paid. My friend started telling me that they didn’t know how to save money well, though, because they had to save money for a house, for retirement, for their future kids, for a car, for emergencies, and who knows what else was going through their mind. My response was, why are you thinking about all that? You just need to save money in 1 place and that’s it, eventually you’ll use it for whatever, you don’t need to think about all that, that kind of thinking just makes you feel overwhelmed and you end up not doing anything.

Other example, once I told a friend that being in shape was helpful when dating, I explained, exercising and not being “too fat” is usually a good idea (also a healthy idea). My friend started telling me that being in shape also meant a lot of things like self-esteem, self-care, being responsible, and to be mature. I though and told my friend, well yeah sure, but you need to start somewhere, if you think about all those things at once, you’re probably feeling overwhelmed and not doing anything to improve your situation of getting in “better shape”, if you don’t wanna do it really, then that’s different.

Let’s use this example for further explanation and clarification: when you say the word “tree”, you don’t really think about all the components of a tree like the branches, the leaves, its texture, the kind of tree you’re talking about, its height, etc. You simply say tree and the other person thinks about an abstract concept. People don’t overwhelm their mind with so much useless information when talking (or not usually).

When people think about too many things or try to do many things at once, they’re not successful at communicating or at completing a task. Tasks have to be broken down into parts, and you have to work on them in parts. When, for example, you need to get in shape, you can just start by improving your diet a little bit and doing a little bit of exercise. Then when you manage to do that, you can start improving your diet even more and doing more exercise, then when you’ve managed to do that, you can continue to work on more things, or taking more responsabilities.

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Social media makes us think too many things at once and feel overwhelmed:

Using too much social media or sending too many messages makes our brains try to hold more information than we can, and it leads us to thinking about too many things at once, the social media burnout is linked to us trying to think about too many things at once.

I simply suggest trying to set boundaries with the cellphone usage and social media usage (we’re all addicts and should acknowledge that), especially before doing any task, simply try it for a few days and you’ll note a huge difference. To mention another example, I’ve been learning Japanese in the morning before doing anything else, the other day I texted back to some people and ended up using some social media too, after I did that for about 10 minutes, I started to learn Japanese and I felt so distracted, I felt like I wasn’t really learning anything, it took my about 20 minutes and then a 10 minute break to be able to focus, and even so, I didn’t feel I was learning as much as I do other days.

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Conclusion:

Any task can always be broken down in parts, not only tasks, anything complicated that you want to do or that you need to do can be broken down and worked little by little. I highly suggest to stop using social media before doing anything, that will increase your capacity for probably over 100% doing things.

I have this other article about dopamine that’s very related to this issue:

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Bibliography:

If anyone is interested into articles that talk about this, here are a few (I don’t have all links unfortunately):

"Social Media and Mental Health: A Review" by Brian A. Primack, Ariel Shensa, Jaime E. Sidani, César G. Escobar-Viera, Ana Radovic, and Jason B. Colditz. This article, published in the American Journal of Public Health, discusses the impact of social media use on mental health and well-being, including the potential for social media burnout.

 “The Impact of Social Media Use on Job Burnout: The Role of Social Comparison”:

“Studying Social Media Burnout and Problematic Social Media use: The implication of perfectionism and metacognitions”:

“Burnout, Wellness, and Social Media���:

"Social Media and Burnout: The Mediating Role of Job Stress" by Hamed Qahri-Saremi, Farzad Shahbazi, and Mohammad Hosein Rezazadeh. This article, published in the International Journal of Occupational Safety and Ergonomics, explores the relationship between social media use and burnout, and the role of job stress in this relationship.

"Social Media Use and Psychological Well-Being: A Meta-Analysis" by Taylor A. Morris and Bridgette M. Hard. This meta-analysis, published in the Journal of Cyberpsychology, Behavior, and Social Networking, examines the relationship between social media use and psychological well-being, including the potential for burnout.

[sarcasticdolphin]

State of the Fanfic-Writing.

I think this is kind of needed. If only so I can get all my thoughts on one page.

The current priority order is:

1. Mirrorverse

2. Second Conquest

3. Female!Obi-Wan Series

4. Drabble stuff - Four Dragons, Elisabeth drabbles, Mozart drabbles.

Of those, Mirrorverse has ~20 weeks worth of writing left - one more ~15-chapter longfic plus some more addendums. I will do a more detailed post just on this later.

Second Conquest - we are towards the end of Act 1 (of 8). Not all acts are the same length. I think I may run this series as 10 weeks on, 2 weeks off to avoid burnout.

Fem!Obi-Wan Series - I’m not entirely sure how long this will be at the moment. I’m thinking shorter rather than longer - more of a 5+1 situation instead of a giant long fic situation.

Writing Schedule:

Thursday/Friday: Fem!Obi-Wan and Four Dragons are going to share these two days - I plan to try and update them both weekly, but if it is only going to be one then the Fem!Obi-Wan has priority. On the flip side if I don’t have the energy or time for something longer then it will be Four Dragons - those chapters will be shorter.

Saturday: Mirrorverse.

Sunday: Second Conquest.

Monday-Wednesday: Drabbles when I feel like it.

NB: I don’t expect anything to get written from June 9-15 or so. 

[vipul-dhok]

How to Manage Remote Developers Across Multiple Time Zones

Managing remote developers spread across different time zones can sometimes feel like a juggling act, right? 

You’ve got one team member in India starting their day, while another is signing off for the night. And somewhere in between, you’re trying to keep everything on track. If you’ve found yourself in this situation, don’t worry I’m here to help you. When you hire remote developers, how do you make sure everyone stays in sync when your team’s clocks don’t? 

Let’s dive into how you can efficiently manage remote developers across multiple time zones without losing your sanity!

1. Plan for Overlapping Hours

First things first—when you hire remote developers, having overlapping work hours is the key. When you hire developers from India, and another one in the U.S., but find even a couple of hours a day when both can work simultaneously, it can do wonders for the progress of your project. This gives you time for real-time conversations, quicker decisions, and instant feedback.

When you hire remote developers, especially when they’re scattered across continents, you’ll want to plan your workday around these crucial overlap windows. Tools like Google Calendar, which can show multiple time zones, can make scheduling these overlaps really quick and hassle-free. 

You can also consider scheduling “core hours” when you hire remote developers. These are the hours when everyone is online, even if it’s just for an hour or two. This way, no one feels left out of important discussions, and there’s less waiting time for feedback.

2. Use the Right Tools for Seamless Communication

Let’s face it—you can’t always be online at the same time, and that’s okay! When you hire dedicated developers across time zones, it’s crucial for you to ensure smooth, clear communication that doesn’t rely on everyone being available simultaneously.

I’d recommend you use tools like Slack and Jira that can make a world of difference. These platforms keep everyone in the loop by organizing conversations, tasks, and updates in one place when you hire remote developers. This way, when your remote developer in India logs in, they can catch up on everything that happened while they were offline.

But you also need to remember that clarity is key when you hire dedicated developers for your project. Do ensure that the messages you leave are detailed enough for everyone to comprehend your communication efficiently. Spell out tasks, deadlines, and expectations so your team members don’t have to guess what you meant. The more precise you are, the smoother things will run.

3. Rotate Meeting Times

Let’s be honest: nobody likes waking up at 3 a.m. for a meeting, no matter how important it is. To avoid burnout and keep things fair, try rotating your meeting times. When you hire developers from India or anywhere else, it’s important to balance time zone differences. 

When you hire developers from India, you can follow the following procedure to ensure that things run smooth - 

One week, your remote developer in India might have to hop on an early call, and the next week, your U.S. team might adjust their schedule to accommodate the time difference. This keeps things balanced and shows your team that you value their time. Plus, rotating meetings ensures that no one is consistently disadvantaged.

4. Set Clear Expectations and Deadlines When You Hire Remote Developers 

When you hire dedicated developers, make sure they understand what’s expected of them and by when.

Break tasks down into smaller, manageable chunks so that you’re able to assess their performance more efficiently. You should also consider using project management tools like Jira or Monday.com to track progress and ensure accountability. You’ll also want to consider setting up automated updates, so you don’t have to chase your team members for status reports. By setting clear goals and deadlines, your team can work efficiently, even when you’re not all online at the same time and this can make managing projects hassle-free when you hire remote developers. 

5. Foster a Collaborative Culture When You Hire Remote Developers

One of the biggest pain points when you manage remote teams is the lack of face-to-face interaction with them. It’s easy to feel disconnected when you’re communicating through screens and that’s human nature. This is where fostering a strong collaborative culture becomes essential for the success of your project. 

When you hire remote developers, make sure your team knows they can reach out to one another, even if it’s just to ask a quick question or share an idea. Encourage them to jump on a quick call or collaborate via shared documents when needed. The more comfortable your remote developers are with each other, the better they’ll work together.

When you hire developers from India or any other part of the world, it’s also helpful to organize occasional virtual team-building activities. Whether it’s a quick icebreaker before a meeting or a virtual happy hour, these activities can help bridge the communication gap among your team members and enable them to bond with each other. 

6. Prioritize Documentation of Necessary Information When You Hire Developers in India

I can confidently say that good documentation is your best friend when you hire remote developers to work on your project. This is because your developers can refer to detailed documentation at any time, even if you're offline. This reduces unnecessary back-and-forth and allows for more autonomy. 

When you hire remote developers, encourage them to document everything: project requirements, design decisions, and code changes. Not only does this keep the team organized, but it also helps onboard new developers quickly. And if someone misses a meeting or isn’t available for immediate questions, detailed documentation can fill the gaps.

Wrapping Up: Make It Work for Your Team

At the end of the day, managing remote developers across multiple time zones boils down to communication, flexibility, and respect for everyone’s time. Whether you hire developers from India or hire dedicated developers from any other country, the key is to find the right balance of real-time collaboration and seamless workflows. Your global team can work together like clockwork—if you’ve got the right tools and strategies in place.

And hey, if you’re still figuring out how to hire remote developers and streamline your project management, you can also reach out to Resourcifi - a leading software development outsourcing company based in India. They also provide you with a free one-week trial with their developers so that you’re rest assured that their developers are the right fit for your project.

[holdingthreenotebooks]

8-9 Nov 2022 | 100 days of productivity 1 & 2

My first quarter of exam reading has been a routine-less slog and it’s getting me down (plus i miss posting), so I’m giving 100 days of productivity another try with some specific goals and parameters:

use the documentation practice as motivation to finish to-do lists

refamiliarize myself with what a reasonable to-do list actually is

avoid performing for tumblr

stop if it starts feeling like a chore or contributing to burnout

work-week days only (no weekends unless I decide to have a big reading day or something, no pressure to be “productive” when I need to rest)

include exercise and creative writing bc those things also take effort and scheduling

A lot of these posts will be for groups of days bc that’s more manageable for me rn. These two days I:

made progress on 2 of my exam reading lists

did teaching prep and revised my end of quarter course calendar

taught a class

took a morning off to spend time w my partner

returned a big stack of finished books and picked up holds

answered scary emails

practiced French

Things! They’re happening!

[streets-in-paradise]

Relaxing Amazement - Andy Barclay x (Fem) Reader

Requested by @yesiscandyskiller​ 

​“ How about Reader x Andy relaxing at home after canceling some stressful plans, which is a relief with them both dealing with anxiety.”

( This is one of the first Andy requests i ever got and I hope you will enjoy reading it as much as i did writing it. I’m negecting some obligations just because I couldn’t stop writing and I’m happy about it lol. It was going to be longer, I had more ideas in mind, but had to stop here to not get too behind with my things. If i find time to keep going later I may drop a continuation.) 

Masterlist

Warnings: No proofreading, flirting and some sexy teasing (not smut, just teasing), happy couple being fluffy and silly when in love.  

Summary: You surprise Andy with the late hour cancelation of a stressfull plan that was occupying your minds too intensely. Seeking for some home relax instead, you start to fool arround with your boyfriend just for a chance to see him smile again. 

Notes: I try to do my best to avoid physical descriptions, but there may be accidental implications of the reader being plus sized that are there just because I took my body as reference when writing. It’s not important to the plot, just happened because i was too self inmersed in the writting. However, this is written in a way that makes it easy to be ignored. 

Tags: @losersclubisms​ ( I wrote this under the influence of the high left on me by your Andy x OC fic, part of how this turned out is your fault.) ​

That cursed family gathering was on your minds all week. It wasn’t like you hated all your extended family, but the environment it was able to create was not the best for yours or your boyfriend’s mental health. Meeting your parents has been hard for Andy, introducing him to a lot of new relatives all at once was going to be a nightmare to both of you. Your godmother was coming and you knew she had a tendency of being very critical of everything in your life, negatively comparing you since childhood to her own daughter. The man who stole your heart was not going to be an exception, she would make him a victim of her sharp tongue and its prideful commentary about her son in law. 

Despite being the most wonderful man you ever meet, Andy was deeply misunderstood by the outside world unaware of Chucky’s existence. People would be asking tons of questions and there was no way for him to answer without sounding like a weirdo, his strong awareness of that was worrying him to the core and you felt terrible because of the new distress brought to him. For so, you have been rehearsing together an entire set of lies that you would follow for them into a coherent made up story of how you meet and what was he doing with his life. The planning was becoming increasingly stressful because the overthinking was mutual. You would sometimes get lost together on minuscule details that didn’t really matter under a ‘ but what if they ask about that?’ paranoia that would end up angering you and frustrating you. As the days would pass you would realize it was not even worthy, most of the people that were going to be present were the distant family that wasn’t really part of your life because you would only see them once or twice a year. 

The final resolution you took was canceling the plans, using your creative liar's will to create a pretext to stay at home, but you didn’t tell Andy immediately because you wanted to surprise him. The hellish week you made him spend worrying about that social situation was worth a good compensation. Some relaxing amazement was going to suit him wonderfully, so you invented an excuse to get him out of the house for a while meanwhile you did the canceling call. Your poor tormented boyfriend forgot the house keys when he rushed out, stressed over doing everything good, so you had to open the door for him on the return. 

Andy’s burnout was such that he began to ramble out loud across the other side of the door. 

“... The bakery was about to close, they didn’t have much and I couldn’t find what you wanted so had to improvise the choice with what they had at this hour.” He lamented, trying to remind himself to decelerate his breathing. “ That’s my luck, my shitty luck! “ 

You felt so sorry for the little trick you pulled on him, but it was needed so the surprise would be better. 

“ Calm down, honey. It 's alright.” 

Hearing your tranquilizing voice was like a call back to earth, but he wasn’t ready for the pleasant confusion he had at the sight of you. Careless about everything, you were in a casual indoor look. He found you dressed in just a tight fitting tank top, old enough that your belly button was peeking out despite the fabric should be covering it, and very revealing jean shorts. 

His mind got circumstantially blurry because he found it sexy. 

“ Babe, shouldn’t you be getting all dolled up to leave?” Andy asked, so distracted that he ignored the awful phrasing for an instant. “ … Fuck, pun unintended.” 

You smirked as his eyes were feasting in your image. 

“ That one is not that bad.” You added, allowing him to follow you inside in that state of visual trance. “ I would love to be your Barbie doll, they come in all shapes and sizes now.” 

Andy felt that tease to the deepest core of his being, seriously wondering how you made it work. 

“ Seriously? Do you wanna be the one doll that is truly gonna be the death of me?” 

“ I want to fill you with love for being such a wonderful boyfriend, so patient with all the shit that has been going on this week.” 

He was about to reply, but ended up delayed because he was staring from a different angle. 

“ The pressure is killing me, not gonna lie.” 

You chuckled to the confession and, while following your trace, he noticed that the door of your shared bedroom was closed. You may be up to something, but things weren’t clear for him at that point.

“ No more games, pretty doll. You know we don’t have time.” 

Your sweet but slightly devilish giggling to that affirmation was driving him insane. 

“ Who says we don’t? I called with my best impersonation of a flu voice and got us out.” Was the mischievous confession that you purred with pride. “ I’m all yours to play.” 

The relief he felt was great as the distraction you were providing. 

“ How the fuck can you make that sound so good? My brain is wired to hate it, but you take it and it works.. It freaking works!” 

“ I was just following your lead.” You innocently declared, getting closer before you could start a little game of ‘ who is more desperate to caress who?’ “ About our plans and what we were supposed to do, I just canceled because it was driving us mad. I would rather stay comfy at home with you, try to relax. We need some of that.” 

“ Hell, we do.” Andy purred with satisfaction, sneaking his hands to the sides of your hips. “ How do you want to start?” 

“ Not with what you are thinking of.” You teased him, enjoying a bit of the short groan that answer got from him. “ We’ll get to that, but first I want to romance you.” 

He chuckled under his breath and you took it away with a kiss, only to later deliver one last naughty mock. 

“ You know? If you ever wanna try turning all that wrong into something that feels good, let me know. I’m here for you… and I have a pink Barbie shirt. With pink panties to match I can be your pretty doll.” 

Andy looked amazed, but not by the reasons you thought. 

“ Is there a limit to what you would do for me? How much weirdness are you up to allow just so I would be happy?” 

The challenging light in your eyes spoke for you, but you still felt the need to talk.

“ Do you really wanna find out?” 

Grabbing him by the shirt, you stamped another kiss on his lips and proceeded to allow your dorkiness escalate singing your answer in whispers close to his ear. 

“ Oh, pretty baby. There’s nothing I wouldn’t do.” 

He bursted into laughter, unable to do anything else. 

“ ‘Baby One More Time’ ? Is that your definition of romance?” 

“ I made you laugh and that’s all I care about. I can humiliate myself even more to get that.” You defended yourself. “ Besides, Britney works just fine sometimes. Think about it: everyone in the 90’s was convinced that she was a living Barbie AND my love for you is so strong that it turns me into a teen girl who just got a crush that no other can compare to.” 

Andy was smiling, his cheeks had an adorable shade of pink that was nothing but growing blush. 

“ Really? Do you still get excited like that when you see me?” 

“ If everyone would love you like I do, you would have been elected President of the United States.” 

He kissed you that time, happily overwhelmed by your love and totally living for it. Not like he could have possibly imagined the start of the rest of the night was going to be you performing a bubblegum pop song, moving around your living room and singing the lyrics out loud. The only context in which Andy could have seen himself joining such dorky shit was drunk at a karaoke, yet there he was, melting a little bit to your ‘ oh, pretty baby. The reason I breath is you’ 

If Freddy Krueger could have sent Chucky a nightmare to fight in, the scene you were creating was pretty close to how the start of it could be like. Andy Barclay enjoying life, being loved by someone who was showing their affection in the cheesiest way. It would be painfull to watch by his criteria of how fluffy dumb it was and, to make it even worse, there was some Britney on it. 

A sober but unaware Andy Barclay, as blissfully unaware as you, was singing along to the chorus of Baby One More Time in a dorky duet and that was all on you. He didn’t mind being silly, he would never refuse any of your efforts to bring a smile out of him. 

He may have not been drunk on booze, but you had your ways to get him drunk on happiness. 

[thebomb-thebird-andtheburntbitch]

pt.1: the swapping begins

-> 4-fking-am masterlist <-

b:katsuki / f.reader

genre: neighbor au, pro-hero bakugou

warning(s)!!: bakugou's potty mouth (ofc)

status: on-going!

synopsis: you had just moved into your new apartment and like every other college student under the sun, you had the worst sleep scheudle known to man.  due to this, you find yourself playing music through your speakers at 4 am. your neighbor slides you a note under your door about your ‘shitty’ taste in music, thus the note swaps begin.

a/n: the first part has arrived! hopefully, updates on this particular series won't be so drawn out since i'm planning to keep all written parts on the shorter side along with the smau parts being just easier since it's all just dialog LOL (ive done smau in the past for other things but they weren't so hot but hopefully i'm better now lol rip)

-x-x-x-

w.count: 1.3k

-x-x-x-

Why did you decide to go back to school to pursue further education again? If it wasn’t to stress yourself into early grey hairs or to rip out those grey hairs until you were bald, then why?

Collapsing over your desk- textbook open and notes out in messy piles with doodles across every edge and corner from wandering concentration- you groan. Exams were right around the corner, but you couldn’t for the life of you get your brain to focus on one thing- much less multiple things- for more than a couple hours, so studying quickly turned into a failed attempt to study.

Normally, studying wasn’t so difficult for you and you actually found it therapeutic in its own weird way. You enjoyed learning new things and the pride and wholeness you felt after succeeding to teach yourself something new was well worth whatever the process to get there was to you. But, this current college burnout was making all those end results hard to get to.

You glanced at the clock on one of the elevated shelves of your desk, the dimly glowing orange letters showing the time of 3:54 am. You groaned again, pushing your forehead into your written words and definitely smearing pencil lead on your forehead while you were at it. Maybe you’d soak up the words this way and have the knowledge transferred automatically into your brain if you pushed just hard enough.

Another dull and unrelenting amount of minutes pass you by before you officially call it quits for the night. Giving up, you walked to the other side of the room and plopped down on your bed’s edge next to one of your nightstands, your wrist rubbing your forehead to hopefully clear away the mess of leftover lead on it. On this nightstand was your radio and beneath it along the shelves and below the drawer was a collection of CDs.

In a world where albums were digital and everything was Bluetooth compatible and no one carried around a portable CD player anymore, you felt somewhat awkward sometimes at the seemingly large and ridiculous collection of yours. There were still plenty of people with CDs and even vinyls, but still- the awkwardness of your ‘retro’ thinking at your age did make you feel a bit self-conscious; no matter how idiotic it sounded.

You leaned over the bed and down to the bottom shelf cubby and grabbed a thin, plastic album case. Popping it open, the cheap plastic threatened to break and bend as you pushed open the top of your radio and placed the CD inside, shutting it again and turning it on.

A small little baby blue boombox that resembled a sort of bubble-like structure- a late birthday gift from your friends back in your hometown.

You figured if you didn’t absolutely blast your music, it would be fine to play aloud. Plus, you decided to put your bedroom in the backmost room, and the second room closer to the front room of your apartment was used for storage- since renting a storage unit was way too expensive. In your mind, the room closet to the door for a single living tenant would definitely be their bedroom- so you did the opposite when you moved in.

With your legs still handing off the side of the bed, you threw yourself back onto the mattress with your arms out to your sides. You stared at the ceiling of your room, thinking that at some point you’d need to purchase some cheap glow-in-the-dark stars to tack up there just for nostalgia’s sake.

As you heard the radio read the CD in small hums, you shut your eyes and smiled when the first track started. To be honest, you weren’t really pressed for what music you were going to be listening to, so you just kinda pulled from your cubby and popped the CD in without even looking at what you grabbed. You almost laughed when an older album your mom used to listen to started playing.

You weren’t exactly sure how it happened or when, but the next thing you knew, you were staring blankly and tiredly up to your ceiling again. The sun outside had risen and you heard birds, outside chatter, and basic roadside living outside. Even being up on the fourth floor, you could still hear the world below fairly well since you almost always had your window open with a fan inside of it.

Your body was sore from how you were laying on your back with your arms out, and you felt stiff. Legs partially numb from hanging off the bed all morning when you turned to look at your clock on the desk with squinted eyes.

Almost noon.

“God,” you moaned, forcing yourself up and wobbly making a path out of your room and into the kitchen to solve the problem of your severe cottonmouth. Stepping out of your narrow, short hall, you yawned and stopped before stepping into the kitchen when you saw a note at your doorstep. It had been slid under the front door and was face down, small blotches of black bled through to show that the other side had something written on it in marker.

More intrigued with the mysterious note than ready to deal with your dry mouth and throat that demanded water, you trotted to the paper and flicked it up. Your eyes quickly scanned the note and you gasped, slightly slapping a hand over your mouth.

‘Your taste in music really fuckin’ sucks’

Oh my god, someone heard that? Were you too loud? Was it annoying? Who in their right mind has the further room from the door other than you who did it on purpose so that this situation could be specifically avoided? Would you need to move rooms? No, then you’d have your other neighbors slipping you notes or even knocking on your door.

Maybe this neighbor has a roommate and had no choice but to take the room furthest from the door. Would you need to move out now before you died from overthinking the situation?

Racing back into your room, you tore out a sheet of lined paper and a mark erfrom your jar of pens, pencils, highlightser, what have you, and began to write in large letters a note back.

‘I’m so sorry about the noise! I’ll make sure not to play it that ungodly early again! (also, no it doesn’t, my taste in music is fine).’

You felt a little silly putting the added small text at the bottom of the paper in parentheses, but you felt the need to nip this particular neighbor’s opinion about your music in the butt- you boiled the choice down to comedies sake.

Making your way back to your door, you unlocked the bolt and unlatched the chain as you poked your head out. For it being almost the middle of the day, you made sure no one was in the halls before you jogged out your door and to the left. Your room was the furthest left room and they heard it, so clearly it had to be the left side neighbor... right?

Taking one last left-to-right look down the hall, you knelt at the door, pushed your paper under it, and dashed back into your own apartment before locking it back up. You let out a breath, as you pushed your back into the door, feeling awkward and almost embarrassed at the idea of passing notes with your neighbor. Trying to be secretive about it and acting like if someone saw you push a note under their door you’d be looked at strangely.

In a somewhat awkward way, you felt like some weird criminal.

“Whatever,” you shook your head, slapping your hands on your cheeks and heading to the kitchen. Finally ready to get that glass of water you had been craving to soothe your aching throat with. You had other things to get done today anyway. Now that you were awake, better get your day started.

Even if you may have just completely fucked your sleep schedule.

[unhonestlymirror]

As requested by @fingersnapples, I present to you another

analysis

Of Marui & JJK Nanami's outfit (which seems normal at first glance).

or in which I'm looking for something to complain about

Now with questionable memes & references!

1. Outerwear

Too green to be called khaki, too dusty to be called true green. It would be a good paronomasia if the collaboration was with Tokyo Marui (battery-powered airsoft guns) and not Marui 0101, though.

"Green colour in clothes exudes friendliness and cheerfulness, this is the choice of true optimists who love and value their life. Green is chosen by those who know how to compromise, but at the same time can stand up for themselves and protect their interests. Plus, green is the color of youth. Psychologists say that people who choose green in their clothes strive for inner harmony, self-control. They try to avoid conflict and always maintain peace of mind. It is vitally important for such people to assert themselves, they are open and frank, but often very careful - it is more interesting for them to observe than to act recklessly."

(we will remember this fact later)

It is hard to call it a wrap coat because there is no belt. It is hard to call it a classic coat because there is no buttons. (In addition, usually when wearing a classic coat, they do not put their hands in their pockets - they wear out and come off pockets, not hands.) It is hard to call it just a cape because there is a shirt collar & shoulder pads.

metrosexual.com.ua writes that "a shirt collar visually rounds the face and adds height. It is recommended to be worn by short men with a thin build."

Well, in this case, the goal is achieved.

"What it goes with - it can be combined with sweaters with a round and V-neck, a shirt, chunky knit scarves."

"Chunky knit scarves"... Are you thinking the same thing as me?

(Obviously, something bad happened to Nanami's shirt from the previous analysis, since Marui provided such a wonderful exuse to wear it, but... We have what we have.)

Or... was Nanami afraid that it would start blending into jeans and make him look like a clichéd plumber?

We will never know.

In conclusion, it seems to me that the only purpose of this thing's existence is to mislead people. Not every middle-aged woman agrees to wear this. What is the function of this cape coat? It doesn't even have buttons or belt. It will not protect against sudden winds or rain, which are abundant in Japan. I don’t understand and I’m scared.

Pros: huge pockets but why would Nanami need them. What is he hiding there. Why is he smiling like that. I get the feeling that now he will take out a Tokyo Marui's pistol, point it and say "well, this ain't that kind of movie".

2. Sweatshirt

"Grey symbolizes calmness, neutrality, stability, depression. It is believed that this colour has a relaxing effect on the psyche, helps to streamline thoughts. It is also believed that people who prefer shades of gray in their wardrobe do not want to draw attention to themselves. They try to blend in with their surroundings so that they are left alone."

Which, in combination with the optimistic dusty green color, can be interestingly interpreted.

“Although outwardly I radiate optimism and a desire to communicate - deep inside I do not want to contact anyone and draw attention to myself. But if I succumb to emotional burnout, then I will lose those crumbs of the joy of interacting with other people that still help to stay afloat and not completely fall into depression. Out of sight, out of mind. All I'm looking for is inner harmony."

Round neckline, which, however, again, will not protect from wind and rain. The thin fabric. Only Nasa logo is missing. Nanami, put a scarf on and stop taking Instagram stylists seriously, please.

3. Jeans.

The most common. However... Is it turn-ups? Or the fur lining of the boots?

The blue shirt shouldn't have been neglected because of the potential for "merging." Don't be afraid of what has already happened.

Personally, i don't understand why a few years ago turn-ups were actively condemned and anyone who tried to defend their honor was ostracized. They are comfortable.

In general, no pretensiones.

4. Boots

Nice lace-up boots. Comfortable. Obviously very expensive (considering Nanami's height, he's foot size is about 45, which is probably difficult to find in Japanese shoe stores designed for the average Japanese man).

I imagined how Nanami flies to Belarus for shoes, and I felt funny. And then not very much.

in conclusion

This outfit literally screams about not wanting to attract too much attention. No details other than glasses, which seem to hint at "I, of course, have a day off but I realize that it can stop at any minute."

His clothes had to be in style so as not to be derided, but not high-end enough to be noticed; they had to be just same as everyone else’s to perfectly blend in, but just original enough to not look like he was trying to perfectly blend in, just the slightest bit of flair to suggest the slightest bit of attempt at originality (one article of clothing with a slightly bold color or design, just enough to be a bit of casual personal distinction, such as a tie or a scarf.) ©A cat's place is on the roof, a bird's place is in the trees - Inkonstantin

Thank you for reading, hope you have some fun✨

[yeoandmoon]

you are now listening to graceland too by phoebe bridgers! ( yeosang x f!reader )

fluff, burnout!yeosang, bassist!yeosang, writer!reader, childhood friends 2 lovers but also idiots 2 lovers, yeosang and reader run away, seongjoong are engaged, wooyoung + yeonjun have a band, there is only one bed, yeosang has a nose ring, it’s implied reader has a bad relationship with her mother, wc is 3.1k

NOTE: happy yeosang day! this was a doozy to write, but i hope you all enjoy it! its based off one of my favourite phoebe bridgers songs! :)

There’s a mural on the wall of the hotel lobby. It’s a warm toned painting of a forest, with a hint of a bright blue sky peeking out from the top of the trees. There’s a moose standing at the forefront of the mural, and a little fox sleeping on a rock towards the bottom, surrounded by colourful flowers and leaves.

The mural confused you, if you were being honest. The hotel you worked the night audit at was situated in the busy downtown centre of the city you lived in, and there were barely any forests for miles around the city - let alone any wildlife, like moose or foxes. Hongjoong said it was to make guests feel more ‘in touch with nature’ and to help people forget about the ‘problems of the real world’, while Yeosang claimed it was ‘just another scam in the tourist trap’.

You, on the other hand, was sure the mural was put there to torture you. You would spend nights having staring contests with the moose (which, to your surprise, you always lost), or you would spend hours on Google with Hongjoong trying to find out what species of fox the sleeping fox was (you were sure it was a cape fox, while Hongjoong swore up and down that it was a gray fox). The blue sky between the trees teased you; a reminder that most of your days were spent in the library at your university, or in this dimly lit lobby.

Sometimes, it felt like the only time you saw the sunshine was when you were with Yeosang.

Despite the occasional burnout and the lack of seeing sun most days, you didn’t mind the job. You were always more of a night person, and your classes were always later in the day so you did manage to pull in some sleep. Due to the late hours, you usually only dealt with customers in the first hour or two of your shift, and most of that was just directing confused Ubereats delivery people and pretty Tinder dates to hallways and rooms. It was the perfect job to work on your writing, and get your school work out of the way without listening to your mother cry about how you’re throwing your life away like your sister.

Plus, you could think of a hundred worse people to spend the night shift with than the nighttime valet, Hongjoong. Hongjoong often kept you occupied with his latest reforms and art projects, and stories about his fiancee, Seonghwa & their friend, Yunho (who he kept insisting you needed to go on a date with).

“Your emo boy is coming.”

Well, you could think of ninety-nine worse people to spend the night shift with than Hongjoong, who sat next to you at the check-in desk.

You scoff, “He’s not my emo boy.” You mumble, glancing at the street entrance to see Yeosang walk in with an ice coffee on hand.

Despite your words, Kang Yeosang was your person (you wouldn’t quite use the term ‘emo boy’, even if it did fit), and he had been since your family moved in next door to his family when you two were children. Although your friendship lately had been reduced to these late night meetings while you two were on break on your respective graveyard shifts (you at the hotel and Yeosang at the convenience store down the block, of course) and occasional meetings in the garden when you were both running errands for your families, you still considered Yeosang one of your dearest memories.

It was hard not too, you suppose. He had been there for many of your firsts, and was always cheering you on. Yeosang always made you feel powerful and important - like a powerful heroine, and not his bratty next door neighbor who cried on his doorstep after being dumped by her first year partner. He always made you feel wanted.

Yeosang grinned at you as he stepped into the lobby (if your heart fluttered in your chest, you ignored it). He had on a backwards dad cap, and he had recently changed his nose ring out for the gold hoop San had bought him for his birthday. You could just faintly see his birthmark peeking out from where his bleach blonde hair curled under the hat.

“Hello, Sunshine.” He greets you, setting the coffee down on your desk.

You set the pen you were holding down, “Hi Yeosang.”

Upon first glance at Yeosang, you can tell he’s buzzing about something. He’s leaning over the check-in counter and chewing on his lip while making small talk with Hongjoong about the tourist season.

You raise an eyebrow, sipping your coffee as Yeosang turns back to you, “Do you remember Wooyoung and Yeonjun?”

You nearly choke on your coffee at the mention of your other neighbor and ex-boyfriend. Wooyoung had moved onto your street a few years after you had, and quickly became apart of the little bond you and Yeosang had formed. He moved to the coast with Yeonjun, your ex, the first chance they had gotten, but Wooyoung’s family remained in the neighborhood.

“I babysat Woo’s brother the other day…” You watched your friend, “Did something happen? Mrs Jung didn’t say anything the other day.”

Yeosang grins, and it’s his scheming grin, “Their band got signed,” He tells you, “They need a new bassist, and Wooyoung showed them that video you took of me from that show last month. Their label wants me to come down; play a few shows with them, record a couple demos. See if we have chemistry, basically.”

Your eyes widen - both out of excitement and fear. You were happy and excited for Yeosang! This is the opportunity he had been wanting for years, but you were also terrified.

You were terrified in a horrible, selfish way because you knew if Yeosang left to join Wooyoung and Yeonjun, he’d never come back to you.

“That’s… That’s great, Yeo!” You manage a grin whilst trying to shove the selfish thoughts away, “When do they want you there?”

Yeosang’s smile falters, just for a moment but you still catch it, “Monday.”

“F-Five days?”

He nods, “I’m leaving Saturday morning, so I can be there Sunday afternoon.”

You can see it in his eyes; he’s terrified too.

Before you can say anything else, Yeosang leans over the check-in counter and presses a chaste kiss to your forehead, “I have to get back to work, Sunshine.” He tells you, his voice quiet as if he’s giving you a secret, “I’ll see you later.”

He’s already halfway down the lobby when you swear and move out of your chair, you quickly call his name as you move out from behind the desk. You rush over to where he’s standing, and look up at him. He’s confused.

He opens his mouth to say something, but the words die in his throat when you pull him into a tight hug, “I’m proud of you, Yeo.”

Yeosang wraps his arms around you, pulling you closer to him. His chest is warm, and you’re sure you could spend hours here. He smiles, pressing another kiss to your head, “I know, Sunshine.” He pulls away, his hand on your arm, “I really do have to go, though. I’m already late for work.”

You nod, wrapping your arms around your torso as you watch him leave the hotel and turn down the street to go back to the convenience store. When you turn back around, Hongjoong is watching you with an amused look on his face.

You glare at him as you walk back to the desk, “Don’t you have a fiance to call, or something?”

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

You were tired.

Friday nights were always busy, but tonight was draining and loud and you could only take so much of Miss Liu’s incessant phone calls about mundane things at 3am. All you wanted to do was go home, and fall into your bed and sleep for hours.

Hongjoong didn’t help your mood either. It was an innocent question about Yeosang, asking if you’d seen him since he visited you on his break but it pushed your mood down to a low point. You had been so busy the past few days, and if you were being honest with yourself, you had been avoiding Yeosang.

You weren’t ready to see him leave. You knew it was selfish, but you figured avoiding Yeosang was easier than admitting you didn’t want him to leave you behind. You would just simply watch his life through Instagram and consider the ‘what-ifs’ in your life.

You shouldered your tote bag after clocking out before yelling a good-bye to Hongjoong. You could see the beginning rays of morning sun hitting the other buildings in the downtown core as you stepped out the employee doors, and then you were hit by the sight of Yeosang leaning against one of the pillars.

Your eyes widen, “Yeosan-”

“Come with me.”

You stop. Your words are left in your throat, “W-Wh… Go with you? To the coast?”

Yeosang nods, “Come with me,” He steps forward, taking your hands in his, “What do you have here? A degree you don’t care about? A job you hate?”

You frown, running over his words in your head, “I-I have my mom. And… I have Hongjoong!”

He raises an eyebrow, “Y/N, Sunshine… Your mom will barely notice you’re gone, and Hongjoong can visit us.” He cupped your cheek.

You’re so busy having an internal crisis you hardly notice the usage of ‘us’. You’re considering the logistics in your head. Yeosang was right; you didn’t care about your degree, and all it would take was an email saying you quit for them to find a new front desk person. Your mom would be upset for a few weeks. She’d probably make some passive aggressive Facebook posts about you before acting like your best friend again.

“Yeosang…” You look up at him, your hand coming up to circle around his wrist.

“Your sister is there, and you could write everyday.” Yeosang adds on, “I did the math, Y/N. Between the two of us, we’d have 6 months to figure it out. 6 months, and we’ll come back here if nothing works out.”

You stay silent for a moment.

“Sunshine, I promised I’d show you the stars, didn’t I?”

You gasp at the promise. It was a silly promise he had made when you were both kids; something you’d almost forgotten about.

It hits you quickly: there’s no one else you’d rather run away with. There’s no one else you’d trust to run away with.

You look up at Yeosang, “Yes.”

He grins, “Yes?”

You nod, “Yes, Yeo. I’ll go with you.”

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

An hour. An hour was how long it took for you to turn your life upside down for Kang Yeosang.

In an hour, you had emailed your program advisor and told them you wouldn’t be returning for the next semester, and you had called your manager and told them you wouldn’t be coming in for your next shift, or any shift after that (which was promptly followed by a phone call from Hongjoong, who seemed more excited about this than you were). You had packed up most of your clothes and important belongings, and they were loaded into the back of Yeosang’s shitty car. You left a note for your mother, and before you knew it, you were sitting in the passenger’s seat of Yeosang’s car.

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

You had fallen asleep barely an hour into the car ride. 

The rolling hills and fields outside your window made your eyes feel heavier, but you tried staying awake to keep Yeosang company.

“Go to sleep, Sunshine.” He tells you, “I’ll be here when you wake up.”

Yeosang’s promise was all it took for you to succumb to your exhaustion.

You don't usually remember your dreams. Though today, there are flashes of a beach, and a smile that takes your breath away. There are blue skies and if you try hard enough, you can just faintly smell sea salt.

You wake up hours later, smiling. True to his word, Yeosang is still there when you wake. He’s wearing a pair of sunglasses, and tapping his fingers to the beat of the song on the radio.

Yeosang smiles when he notices you’re awake, “I talked to your mother.”

Your eyes widen, “You talked to who?”

He laughs, “You didn’t answer your phone, so she called me.”

You frown, glancing at your phone in the free cup holder. You could imagine the amount of calls and texts that were in there.

“She wasn’t very happy.” Yeosang continues, “She wants you to call her when we get there.”

You nod, “Thank you, Yeo.” You say softly, looking over at him.

Yeosang throws you a smile, “Of course.”

“Not just for talking to my mom…” You watch him, “For not leaving me behind, too. Thank you.”

Yeosang reaches over, taking your hand, “I’d never leave you behind, Sunshine. You’d have to try really hard to get rid of me.”

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

The car ride was long, and full of Yeosang’s early 2000s emo playlist & fast food. You called your sister, who was ecstatic to hear about your plans and had immediately offered you and Yeosang her beach house. She made a comment about how ‘she always knew you two would end up together’, and it made your heart flutter when you glanced at Yeosang.

Yeosang told you about Wooyoung’s band, and how excited he was to play with Wooyoung. You smiled, listening to him fondly talk about your old friends and their music.

It was getting late though, and you could see it in Yeosang’s face that he was getting tired.

“We should stop for the night.” You tell him, “You’ve been driving since 6am, Yeo.”

He huffs, “We could drive through the night.” He proposes, “We’d make it to your sister’s place in a few hours.”

You frown, “Or... We could stop for the night, shower, and then leave first thing tomorrow morning. We'll get there by noon tomorrow.”

Yeosang glances at you, going to protest. He ends up yawning instead, his nose wrinkling slightly, “Fine.” He pouts.

You laugh, reaching for your phone to google the closest hotels. There's a comfortable silence in the car, filled with the occasional beat of Yeosang’s fingers on the steering wheel. You feel at ease, even if it's just for a moment.

“There’s a motel off the next exit.” You tell him, stifling a yawn of your own.

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

Sure enough, there had been a motel off the next exit. It was small and slightly rundown, but cheap and had an available room. You waited in the car while Yeosang went into the check-in office, promising to be back in a moment.

He came back dangling a key in his hand, and a slight frown on his face as he opened the car door to let you out.

“So... There’s only one bed.” He broke the news, a blush growing up his cheeks, “It’s all they had, unless we wanted to drive another hour down the highway.”

Your eyes widen, “O-Oh.” You glance at the key, and then back up at Yeosang, “I’ll sleep on the floor, or something.”

Yeosang frowns, shaking his head, “We can share for one night, Sunshine. I think it’ll be okay.”

Which leads you to here; lying almost nose to nose with Yeosang. Your hair was soaking wet from a shower in the tiny bathroom and the small motel bed wasn’t comfortable, but you didn’t seem to mind as you took in the man in front of you. You pushed the strands of bleach blonde hair out of his face, and your fingers softly lingered on the birthmark next to his eye.

His breath stuttered, “Y/N,” He says, his voice a mere whisper, “We’re free.”

You let your hand rest against his cheek. Your eyes lingered on his lips before you caught yourself, moving your gaze back up to his eyes.

Yeosang only smiled at you. He gently held your wrist as he tilted his head and placed a soft kiss on your palm, “I’m going to kiss you now, Sunshine.”

“Yes please.”

You felt every nerve in your body light up when Yeosang kissed you.

A small part of your brain told you that this is where you’re meant to be: in Yeosang’s arms.

You felt this way the first time Yeosang had kissed you too, all the way back on that roof in 11th grade. You two had been talking about the future; about your writing and Yeosang’s music. You looked up at the hazy night sky, and you asked Yeosang if you’d ever get to see the stars.

He smiled at you, telling you that he would show them to you one day before he kissed you so sweetly.

Yeosang still kissed you sweetly. He kissed you like you held the secrets of the universe in your hand for him to take.

You pulled away, “I think I love you.”

He smiles against your lips, rubbing soft circles into your wrist, “I think I love you too, baby.”

—————-

You had this assumption that the next morning would be awkward; that you would be stuck for the next 6 months with someone you could barely look in the eye because of a late night confession.

Instead, you awoke to Yeosang kissing your head and placing a bagel & ice coffee down for you. He had quickly ushered you into the shower, before you put on a change of clothes and were quickly led out to the car between bites of your bagel. This all happened over Yeosang telling you how you only had a few hours before you reached your sister’s beach house, and he wanted to try and make good time so you could enjoy the beach today.

You giggled at his antics before settling into the passenger’s seat for the last few hours of your journey.

You sipped your ice coffee as you watched out the window. The countryside on the highway zoomed by you, and the car was full of sunlight from Yeosang’s sunroof being open. There was a Fall Out Boy song on the radio, and you felt a sense of calm brush over you as Yeosang took your hand in his.

The sunshine had never felt so nice on your skin as Yeosang pressed a soft kiss to the back of your hand.

taglist: @vanishingboots @sunsethw4​ 

[bigscaryblueberry]

(Hey, I just want to give a couple of reminders...)

(1. Please avoid sending the same ask more than once. It may take time for me to answer it, but a response will come eventually! I just might be answering other asks first, and I tend to receive asks at a faster rate than I can answer them. Also, on that note, I’m sorry that ask responses are extra slow this month... I think it’s a bit of a combination of depression, burnout, and slight busyness with other things... Hopefully, I’ll be able to get back to normal speed next month. But in the meantime, please try to be patient, and if you’re worried about whether or not I received your ask, feel free to message me about it instead of sending a duplicate ask, so I can confirm with you that I have it in my inbox.)

(2. I can’t believe I need to say this again, but please do NOT send NSFW asks. I just received one that I had to delete... I’m actually not sure if it was truly genuine, or if it was just trolling, but I feel the need to make this reminder just in case it was the former. I want this blog to be safe for all ages, so Spade King will not answer any questions about sexual topics, and plus even as an adult I am repulsed by it... Please respect that, thanks.)

[thefamouswhitewolf]

It’s raining and Jaskier still looks like a million dollars on the lit stage, his hair slightly less styled than it had been when he first started. He didn’t need the dampness in the air or the slick squish he could hear from his thick-soled boots, but seeing Geralt standing to the right of the stage in the light rain, his arms crossed over his chest and the rain glistening in his pale hair; Jaskier was in love all over again. 

He threw a wink to the security captain during the song’s chorus and finished up with a wriggle of his hips, then disappeared to Stage Left to do his quick change before the next set. Geralt sent two of his men to check the dressing room areas back stage well before Jaskier got there and was confident that things were as handled as they could be.

The rest of the act went on without a hitch and despite the rain continuing throughout the evening, Jaskier came off stage at the end of it to raucous applause, tears in his eyes as he soaked up every excited emotion from the crowd and poured his sweaty self into Geralt’s arms. He sagged hard and Geralt easily lifted him bridal-style, cradling him tightly as he headed right to the dressing room to get Jaskier undressed and into soft clothes for the drive to the hotel.

The tour was nearly over and Jaskier was beginning to burn out, often staying asleep as long as possible and skirting soundchecks for that extra time, so Geralt kept an eye on him to ensure he was eating properly and not stressing over things he couldn’t control. He’d crash sooner or later, but Geralt was ready.

It happened during the final show--something Geralt was grateful for, since Jaskier would have torn himself apart with guilt for having to cancel any shows--and it was mild, compared to some of Jaskier’s emotional nosedives. 

He came off of the stage during the final set change, when the tour DJ took over for a solid fifteen minutes in order to give Jaskier time for a decent bathroom break and a second to sit down. He was crying as he ran down the stage’s side stairs, his eyes wild and searching for Geralt. The security captain was at his side in a second, waving at one of his men to attend to his previous situation. Geralt gathered Jaskier into his arms and turned him away from prying eyes, gently walking him behind the stage where they would be surrounded by vetted staff members and not in public view.

“Shh shh, what happened?” He asked gently, holding Jaskier’s cheek and rubbing his back. “Are you done? Is this it?”

Jaskier’s nod was almost imperceptible and he knew there was still the finale to go through, plus an encore, which he sometimes didn’t do during shows he was struggling through. 

“Let the DJ finish and let the show end, sweetheart,” Geralt cooed, trying to avoid a guilty panic attack. “The announcement can go out that you’ve had a medical emergency, or at least had to cut the show short due to a personal reason. Nobody will be upset. The tour was a success.”

Jaskier clung to Geralt’s shirt, crying into the dark blue fabric. It was emotional burnout, but Geralt knew it was physical, too. Jaskier hobbled to the bathroom some nights, and he groaned through sore joints and throat aches. Going a whole tour was a big deal, so Geralt was severely proud of Jaskier for going all the way.

“Come on, let’s get you out of these soaked clothes and into a hot bath, hm? I’ll order some of that bubbly you like, and maybe some chocolate. We’ll get you back to yourself or die trying.”

Jaskier peeled himself away from Geralt’s shirt with a scowl, snot shining on his nose and likely soaked into Geralt’s shirt. Geralt wanted to laugh or at least call attention to it, but Jaskier looked too serious to crack a joke.

“Die trying?”

“I’m joking, Jas.”

“Less jokes, more strokes.”

Geralt snorted and scooped Jaskier up like he usually did, carrying him to the waiting SUV with a hand in his hair and driving them back to their final hotel before the long trip back home. Jaskier was asleep within minutes of Geralt hitting the thruway, so he drove on in silence and practiced all the calming, happy things he knew he’d need to say to Jaskier later.

[starr-fall-knight-rise]

HASO, “Secret Weapon.”

Hello everyone!

Sorry I have not posted anything in like a weak. I have plenty of excuses number one being that the fourth book in my favorite book series (the Stormlight Archive by Brandon Sanderson came out) and I needed to finish reading it for my own sanity

number two being that I am currently working on a new novel and am trying to write 2000 words a day on that

plus I am trying to get into graduate school

also I have a job

And am experiencing a tiny bit f burnout :)

Either way I am sorry that It has been a while, and I hope you like the story today.

“Is he alright?”

“Not this again.”

“Someone should go talk to him.”

“I thought we were past this.”

Dr. Krill, Sunny, Dr Katie, Ramirez, and Maverick huddled outside the door to the observation platform looking inward to where the man stood in front of the window illuminated by a field of stars. His posture was eerily similar to how they had seen him once before, not long before a near breakdown had led him to take leave. Leave they weren’t entirely sure he would come back from.

They hoped this wouldn’t be like that, but this picture seemed all too familiar.

“Someone should go talk to him.” 

Four heads turned to face Sunny who turned the corners of her mouth down in the approximation of a frown, “Why me.”

“Well aren't you like…. His girlfriend.”

“Ex.”

Ramirez raised an eyebrow, “You guys have been pretty cuddly recently for exes.”

Sunny huffed, “The relationship has yet to be defined, but that's beside the point. Ramirez you’re his BFF or whatever you humans call it.”

Ramirez shook his head, “Me, no I think Maverick has this one. She’s all spiritual and what not, so she is like supposed to talk to people about their problems.”

Maverick snorted, “I’m a chaplain not a therapist. Talk to doctor Adric if you need that.” She turned to look to doctor Krill, “If anyone should be talking to him it’s you. You’ve been his friend the second longest and you are the most logical.”

Dr Krill waved a hand, “I am not equipped to handle your human issues.”

“That is such a cop-out answer.”

The squabble continued for a few minutes, until finally Sunny raised her voice, “Fne, fine, I will go talk to him. You all wait here.”

They quieted down clustering around the door as they watched Sunny move forward into the room. She took a deep breath and slowly approached coming up to stand beside him. She turned her head fearing what kind of expression she might find on his face, and was both surprised, relieved, and concerned to find he had an expression of puzzled concentration on his face, brows knit together, mouth turned down in a frown.

She reached up and rested a hand on his shoulder, “Hey, you alright.”

He turned his head to look up at her, “Hmmm, oh yeah…. Fine as I can be I suppose.”

“Do you want to talk about it?”

His mouth turned up in a tight smile, “Only if you tell the others to stop loitering in the door and come help me out.” He raised his voice so that the others could hear and, in abashment, they headed into the room. Surprisingly Conn drifted in from the other side of the room where he had been spying from the other door.

They clustered together on one of the tables taking a seat as he turned to face them. He was smiling pleasantly, and the group glanced between each other in concern. It seemed like he was doing fine, but who were they to judge, they had been wrong before.

“Worried about me again I see.”

“I mean, you’ll forgive us. You have been…. Questionably erratic in the past.”

His smile continued,” I know, and I thank you, all for your concern about me. It is nice to know I have friends who I can count on.” He turned to look at Conn, “Go on, tell them.”

Conn floated off to the side ribbons undulating in his simulated zero gravity field, “He is stressed but not overly so.”

They nodded relieved.

He turned, putting his hands behind his back and began to pace. Hisback was straight and the way he walked was like a general examining his troops on the battlefield. “I admit that I have been distant, and I admit that in the past something like this would have overwhelmed me. I still FEEL overwhelmed though not in a drowning sort of way.” He turned the other direction, “I feel like I have been caught in an intergalactic game of chess where I am the king facing down a queen and her rooks.”

Sunny didn’t understand the metaphor but Krill certainly seemed to.

“I don’t have enough experience to play the game and so my movements are limited. But the chairwoman…. She’s a Rundi, and has trained for politics all her life in one way or another.” he turned back in the opposite direction. “And just like a king in chess I find myself the most important piece of a game that I cannot directly influence.”

They watched him pacing back and forth. They had never seen him like this, though it was better than the other options.

“I think you underestimate your position.” 

Admiral vir lifted his head, “And how is that?”

Dr Kate idly played with the ends of her hair as she thought, “Well, you know what she is planning. And she doesn't know that you know, which, I feel, gives you a leg up.”

He nodded, ‘And you are right, for sure, butI find the problem being that I’m not…. Smart enough to know how to use it.” He turned in the other direction, “I had my IQ tested at the academy you know…. Above average but nowhere close to genius, which I would need to be in order to play this sort of game.” He turned to eye krill, “We have a certified genius aboard the ship, but something tells me that politics wouldn’t be your strong suit.”

Krill shrugged rather abashedly. That was true enough.

“If only I had some sort of secret weapon.” 

***

Eris had never been off-world.

Noctopolis had been her home for as long as she could remember though the early days of her life had been spent inside a cage. She was Eunique, the only one of her kind, half human and half starborn, and sometimes, it felt, completely alone.

Despite her maturity, she was less than three years old, and had been grown at an enhanced rate inside a simulated womb using adapted DNA to configure her parts. She was completely unnatural, a freak of nature that had nothing to  do with nature. She was an unnatural abomination. And since they had been rescued, she had spend her days living and working for other people. The hybrids had needed a stable home,somewhere they could learn and grow and feel loved.

She had created that place, and provided that for a time, but she was growing exhausted.

Others had stepped in to help and volunteer. People from all over the galaxy had really shown their compassion in coming to her and either adopting the hybrids or offering to help and work athr foundation. A sweet LFIL couple (Tesraki and Human pair) had offered to take over for her as she was struggling to run what what essentially a business in some ways, though it was more a boarding house for the hybrids.

In the end there were only a few left who needed watching, and her burnout had been obvious to others.

She needed to get away.

To find her own path, but….. What was that?

Eris couldn’t survive in space like a starborn, that was well established, her bones and organ structures were like that of a human. The internal structures of a hybrid always had to be one way or another to avoid horrific malfunctions, so in most ways she was human.

Accept for her skin, and eyes of course which were starborn. She was as pale as alabaster and her eyes were wide and dark. This made her a freak to humans, so she kept her dark hair very long inorder to hide her face, which she grew more and more ashamed of by the day.

It didn’t help that she had the ability to read the thoughts of others, and knew better than anyone what people thought about her.

She wore a gravity belt sometimes since she found it felt better on her joints, but she had stopped when she left the foundation and struck out on her own. Today she wore a hoodie -- with the UNSC logo on it -- and very dark sunglasses. 

Final boarding call for flight 1427 to earth, Final boarding call.

Eris followed behind the tide of other humans pulling her luggage along behind her. She was tired, and her knees ached a little, but she supposed she was ok. Due to the nature of her eyes, she didn’t see very well as humans did, but reading the minds of others as a constant background in her head she was able to navigate better than anyone there as she knew when they were going to move on when they were going to stop. She maneuvered the tide of human bodies like no human could.

Again, Eris was mostly human. She didn’t hear though, and relied on others to do that for her, and she couldn't taste or smell either, but that was also something she could borrow.

Her senses lacked only what the people around her could and could not see.

She follow the boarding call with the other passengers and offered her ticket to the flight attendant.

The woman squinted under her hood rather suspiciously, but didn’t say anything. These space ports were well guarded, and Eris had already had to deal with other people staring at her when she went through security.

She followed the other humans onto the shuttle and took a seat. The floor glowed blue throbbi in time with the engine as she locked herself into her seat. Out the window she could see the surface of mars, Hazy grey in the distance with rough red plateau’s rising up in the distance.

It was strange to be in the human system, the genesis of half her ancestral line. SHe didn't know about her starborn half as she had never met one. She knew who her DNA donor had been in theory, though he had likely had his DNA stolen.

Eris doubted that he knew about her.

And then there was her human donor, Admiral Vir, the most famous human in the galaxy.

Eris Vir

She kind of liked that, though she never really used it, feeling he might see it as a breach of privacy. The man had been nothing but good to her the few times she had met him, and the one time he had saved her. She admired him a lot and wished she had a better relationship with him, though his job took him far away. She wasn’t the only one, most all of her hybrid brothers and sisters, who were part human,had been grown off his stolen DNA.

She was the only one, however, that seemed to care.

Eris Vir.

She sighed and leaned her head against the window.

What was she doing?

Below her the ground sped away as the automated safety system continued to give instructions.

“Preparing for warp.”

She held onto the seat feeling her insides churn as the warp sequence engaged. She jerked once against her seatbelt as te warp stopped, and below her she could see the glittering vista of the human homeworld.

Earth.

She pressed her face up to the window and gasped in awe.

It was beautiful blue and green swirled with delicate white clouds in churning spirals.

Herheart raced inside her chest.

This was it…. This is where it all began.

Preparing to dock on lunar 1 please remain in your seats until the seatbelt sign is off.

She waited patiently and stopped off with the others, walking out into the fifth spaceport of her trip, her suitcase rattling behind her.

She followed the sins to the proper docking station and waited for another shuttle that would take her to earth. It would be at least an hour for the next one to Mid-Mericanda, so she would have to wait.

She slumped in her seat and listened to the music of the girl next to hre. The music was ood, it had a nice beat.

When her boarding was called, she stood and followed onto another shuttle, which took her down through the atmosphere rattling and bouncing in her seat. She did her best to keep her hood covering her face as she stared out the window at the wondrous view below her. It was so bright!.

Noctopolis had no sunlight, but this was beautiful and colorful, and it looked so warm.

She didn’t see why everyone thought earth was so dangerous.

They touched down outside an Airport where she could see planes fuling for in-atmosphere flights, and stepped out onto the tarmac with wide eyes. Wides eyes under the radiation of the sun. Glorious, glorious heat, it warmed her through her sweatshirts and into her body making her drowsy and happy and warm. Her entire body felt energized, and even her knees seemed as if they were aching just a little less. She stood in the sun probably longer than she should have.

“Been a while since you’ve seen the sun huh?”

She jumped a little in surprise, which was unusual for her and turned to look at the human baggage attendant standing on the other side of the gate, “Oh yes…. A very…. Very long time.”

The smiling human tipped his hat at her, “Well enjoy your stay ma’am.”

She couldn’t help but smiling back thinking about how pleasant he was. His memories were warm, filled with sunny days spent with his family. It made her chest ache just to think of it as she turned and headed towards the baggage claim.

She picked up her bags just fine and then walked to stand just outside.

Suddenly very lost.

She looked up at the sky which  was a beautiful blue color she had never seen before and she breathed in the air of earth, Air thousands of years old, breath in by countless humans that had come before.

Eris frowned at herself. She needed to stop thinking of them as being so different from her. She was half human after all, even though her eyes and skin were a little strange. Still, it that moment she had never felt so alien, unsure of where to go or how to proceed.

“Need a lift. Lady.” 

She turned on the spot coming fact to face with a man leaning back against the hood of his strange yellow machine…. A taxi it seemed.

She searched or his intentions and heard nothing but his desire to work.

She walked over nervously and held up a small piece of paper, “I am looking for this address, do you know how I can get there.” He scanned the address with a chip implanted in his hand and then tilted his head to look down at his wrist as a map appeared. 

He chewed slowly on a wad of gum and blew a bubble, “Yeah I can get you there, can you pay.”

“Do you take credits?”

“Take anything as long as you meet the exchange value for dollars.”

She nodded, “I would like to be taken there then, please.”

The man nodded and touched his forehead helping her ut her suitcase in the back before opening the door for her. She climbed in, and h slid into the front seat pulling away and into traffic. Looking around she could see most of the vehicles didn’t touch the ground, though a few rolled on wheels. The high speeds at which they drove made her nervous and she clutched the harness holding her in place.

Below her she could see the city unfolding in a great sprawling vista. She stared, the architecture was so strange with sharp geometric lines mostly of steel and glass rising hundreds of feet into the air. They dropped lower into the city and eventually out to where lines and lines of similarly cut houses stood in sharp rows.

She had seen this in the memories of humans before but never thought shed see it.

They drove for a little longer until the houses gave way to sprawling fields and little tons until they pulled into a small place in comparison to the city, past a school and some other amenities before pulling in to another one of the subdivisions.

She recognized the house even though she had never seen it in person, and the Driver pulled to a stop.

She paid the man and stepped out of the car thanking him as he got her bag for her and then just drove off.

Eris was left standing alone on the quiet suburban  street under an earth sun. Though she was alone her mind was full of strange images, seen through the eyes of unusual creatures. It made her disoriented for a moment, but she quietly walked forward up the sidewalk and to the front door of the house.

She paused.

She could feel people inside, and knew that she was at the right palace, but she was nervous, how would they react to her. Would they even accept her existence?

What was she doing here?

It’s not like she was part of thor family, not by choice anyway.

She almost turned around but stopped and then raised a hand knocking softly on the door.

Eris held her breath and waited, footsteps approached the door, a man approaching thinking nothing more than one of his neighbors come to ask a question.

The door opened and Jim Vir looked down at her.

He was a tall intimidating man, one who had work hard all his life.

He tilted his head in that curious fashion humans had, “Can I help you?”

Nervously, Eris pushed back her hood and pulled off her sunglasses letting her long black hair roll down next to her face. The man’s eyes widened slightly in surprise, but the thought in his head was a little less than what she expected.

Another one

He frowned, “You’re…. Not a starborn ar you?”

Hedidn’t seem to think so recalling that Adam’s friend Conn couldn’t survive without a 0 gravity field.

She shuffled nervously, “No…. well yes…. I’m half starborn and half human.” 

Yep, another one.

To her surprise he smiled and opened the door, “You must be Eris then.”

She blinked, “You know about me/”

Dumb question as she could see Adam had told his parents about her. They even had a picture of the two of them together.

Despite hos scary he looked his thoughts and demeanor were pleasant as he opened the door to invite her in, “Guess this makes you my granddaughter in a way doesn’t it?”

“In the technical sense.” She said quietly smiling 

“Well Family is always welcome here.”

Isn’t that nice she thought.

She hoped it was going to work out