#postal 3 beta | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

core-bagg · 7 months ago

Text

----[TAKING WHAT'S NOT YOURS]----

!NO BETA, WE DIE LIKE HENRY!

1,138 words

Characters: Angus Ciprianni, Matteo Schiavoni (Belongs to @double--hh, check them out they're super cool!!! :3), Dr. W Afton, Oswald Keppler

Trigger warnings: Violence, guns, minor cannibalism, mentions of scars, mentions of stabbing, mentions of organ theft, threating at knife point

Author's note: @double--hh I'm sorry if I wrote Matt out of character, I tried to follow your posts as much as I can. I hope you like this :3

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

Angus leant on the armrest of the chair, watching his business partner, Matteo, fold his checkered suit into a neat pile. Something caught Angus's eye, there was a new scar on his partner's body, a scar just left above his waist with visible lines coming off it.

Angus: "Another stabbing, ey Matty?" Matteo: "Actually, some parassiti da laboratorio stole it while I was out…Dunno where it went since."

Angus raised an eyebrow as he sat up.

Angus: "What did they look like?" Matteo: "Ginger hair, lavender shirt, small glasses, weird logo on his lab coat sleeve, sembra mezzo morto, why'd you ask, angel?"

Angus gazed on with a determined, enraged and shocked looked. He seen someone with that appearance before. It belonged to Afton's friend. Angus loaded and cocked his gun, his grip on the gun was tight.

Matteo: "Ang-?" Angus: "I just wanna talk to him, amico."

Matteo only stared in confusion as he saw Angus get up from the chair, walk out his front door and march down to where-ever-the-hell the kidney stealer lived with murderous intent, before deciding that it would be a good idea to follow his purple friend.

Meanwhile, Afton and Oswald sat around the latter's wooden dining table. Oswald prodded the kidney with the back of his scalpel. Afton parted the sea of biology books with his hands to talk with his pal.

Afton: "Soooooo, who did you get this from again?" Oswald: "Some guy in a yellow suit passed out in the gay bar. I dragged him to the bathroom, made an cut on his abdomen, jarred the kidney and patched him back up just as he was about to come back to consciousness, Wali." Afton: "Why were you at a gay bar?" Oswald: "I was banned from almost all of the normal bars." Afton: "For what?" Oswald: "Organ theft, why-?"

Angus kicked down the door to Oswald's apartment, causing Afton to jump back in fright. Oswald quickly spun around to face the other duo. Matteo was behind Angus, trying to make sure he didn't do something stupid.

Angus: "VA BENE, COGLIONE VIOLA, DOV'È IL RENE!?" Oswald: "MY DOOR!!! AND I JUST GOT IT REPLACED TOO!"

Oswald launched up from his seat and pulled Angus closer, holding the scalpel up to his neck. Anger boiled in Oswald, nobody was going to barge into his apartment, spouting, what was for all he knew or cared, some random voodoo language at him and get away with it. Matteo stared at the unfolding situation, not knowing whether or not to draw his own gun. Afton, on the other hand, was silently panicking, it was rare that he saw Oswald angry and even rarer that he was at a state where he was willing to draw blood. Angus was trying his hardest to not sweat bullets, but Oswald's faux-friendly smile and one-stubbed-toe-away-from-going-postal eyes didn't help it all, not to mention the fact that the scalpel was threating to pierce his skin.

Oswald: "Now then! I'll give you one chance to answer this: What are you doing here? Keep in mind that the penalty for not answering me is to be strapped to my operating table and be dissected while you're awake…And no, there won't be any anesthesia."

Angus would've gulped if there wasn't a blade dangerously close to his throat. He shook his head and scowled at Oswald.

Angus: "I want my partner's kidney back! And, for the record, you're not beating my pervious allegations of you being a complete and utter lunatic."

Oswald scowled back, pressing the scalpel deeper near Angus's throat. Matteo shot in Oswald general direction as a warning, one that put a hole through his drywall. Oswald's eye visibly twitched at the site of the hole before he dropped Angus and glared at Matteo.

Oswald: "Oh sure! Because that's what my klutzy ass needs, more property damage. Thank you! I shall keep the kidney as payment…Gelber Trottel…" Matteo: "Ovviamente lo scienziato pazzo sa parlare tedesco, perché a questo punto perché no… Aspetta, cosa-"

Oswald threw the scalpel at Angus, narrowly missing him as he tried to snatch away the kidney. Matteo rolled his eyes and began shooting. Afton joined the brawl for the kidney. He grabbed the kidney from Angus, used him as a launch pad and attempted to kick Matteo in the chin. Unfortunately for him, Matteo had bones of fucking titanium so Afton broke his foot. Afton used his last moments in the battle to fastball the kidney at Oswald. Oswald, thankfully, caught it. Angus clambered onto Oswald in a attempt to get the kidney off him, Matteo went into the apartment and watched them both from the side to he who'd win. Angus almost had the kidney in his grasp until…

HOMPH!

Oswald, in an admittedly gross act of "act now, think later", shoved the kidney into his mouth to the shock of everyone else in the room. A tear welled up in his eye as he choked down the kidney. Angus watched in disbelief as he saw the thing he was fighting two goddamn scientists for get pushed down Oswald's throat. Afton looked like he didn't know whether to either gasp or throw up. Matteo, for some reason, looked so shocked and disgusted that it looped back around to being admiration. Angus got off Oswald and began to walk out of his apartment, dragging Afton behind him.

Angus: "For the record, I'm going to make sure you never live that down Afton."

Matteo and Oswald stared at each other. He began to approach Oswald, towering over him in height. Oswald cowered and raised his hands up to his face to shield himself, expecting the worse…But Matteo laughed and jabbed Oswald in the rib playfully.

Matteo: "Taste good, Doctor?" Oswald: "No, obviously…You might as well head home, there's nothing here for you."

Matteo smirked at the doctor's comment.

Matteo: "Ohoho, that's where you're wrong, gazza zenzero. Vede, sono interessato a toglierle qualcosa dalle mani. Forse mi venderebbe una delle sue scoperte in cambio di un po' di denaro?"

Oswald scowled at Matteo, not understanding a word he said.

Oswald: "Wenn du kein Deutsch sprichst, hei��t es Englisch oder verschwinde, Kumpel."

Matteo nodded, he didn't understand all of what Oswald said, but he knew that he didn't speak Italian.

Matteo: "To paraphrase what I said, I would like to buy something off you." Oswald: "What do you want?" Matteo: "You don't happen to have any…Sedaters, do you?"

Oswald went to his medicine cabinet and pulled out a bottle of trichloromethane. He swished the liquid inside it around as he turned to Matteo.

Oswald: "Will this do, big guy?"

Matteo nodded and pulled a $50 bill out of his pocket, handing it to Oswald. Oswald pocketed to bill and bid Matteo goodbye before he was left alone in his apartment.

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

17 notes · View notes

qwuilty · 2 years ago

Text

Clockwork - A Postal 1 Dude x Reader fic

Guess who finally got inspiration to actually write one motherfuckers

This is pre-Postal 1, kinda sorta a coffee shop au if you squint your eyes hard enough? More so just a food service setting because he just works there.

Reader is given no gendered pronouns or titles, second person POV, apologies for any awkwardness cause i haven written one of these in a hot minute and thanks to a friend to beta reading when my power went out, gotta love summer </3

It was almost like clockwork.

Work was always long and tedious, it left you heading out in the dead of night and hungry with hardly anywhere open at this hour. It was understandable, hardly anyone was up at this time of day, but you didn’t want to drive home on an empty stomach regardless.

So you tended to pull into the closest place that’d take you in, a pretty small doughnut shop in a truck stop just a bit down the road that was always there, even if it was pretty stuffy. There weren't that many people who worked so late at night so you usually only saw one guy there when you ordered, he was pretty tall, even when he hunched down so much he was still a bit taller than you were. You didn’t know his name, you asked if the uniforms were supposed to have a name tag or something, but he sheepishly admitted he didn’t like wearing one and especially didn’t like people knowing it, so you didn’t want to press any further than that.

He had long ginger hair, just about resting on his shoulders around where his goatee was, as well as a fairly strong brow-line and an air of discomfort at almost all times. A pair of sunglasses rested on the bridge of his nose, maybe to hide his lack of eye contact, though sometimes you could spot his hazel eyes darting around behind them.

You figured he took these hours because less people showed up, in fact, around this time you never really saw anyone else ordering besides maybe law enforcement stopping by to get something to eat before quickly heading back out. Whenever they came in he seemed worried, almost avoidant and looking over his shoulder more to see if they were going to do something until they finally left.

Still, despite his odd tendencies, you’d started to grow fond of his presence in a way. He didn’t talk too much, thankfully not asking why you always showed up so damn late or why you always got the same thing each time. At first it was a bit uncomfortable to stand there in silence, but you found he didn’t mind you just talking to him while he worked, so you eventually just talked about just whatever was on your mind if he was willing to listen. Shitty customers, some coworker gossip, general issues with management, almost losing track of time until he reminded you your order was finished.

Sometimes he even spoke up as well, mentioning little bits and pieces of his life, just enough to give you a small peek at himself that you wondered if any others got to see. At a certain point he even memorized your order down to the specifics, it felt embarrassing to realize just how much you pulled into here, but in a way, it was nice to be remembered.

So, when you showed up one night and saw someone else at the register, it threw you off your rhythm.

If it wasn’t for them asking what you wanted, you’d stay frozen in thought for a while. They seemed impersonal, just going through your order until you spoke up and asked where the last guy went. For a moment they stopped and then just shrugged. “Hell if I know. Guess he decided to not come in tonight.”

At first you thought maybe he had gotten sick, but after the fourth absence, your mind began to wonder. Had he quit? Moved town? Died? It felt irrational to worry so much about someone you barely knew, but you couldn't just let that thread of your life fall off like that.

You tried asking his coworkers, but they seemed just as confused as you were. Even the manager said he just kind of left and no one really knew how to contact him, nor were they willing to give out his personal information to a stranger.

The only other leads you had were shaky at best, one said they thought they might have seen him at a gun shop nearby, the person at the counter there saying he walked towards the outskirts, another recounting him going out to the downtown area a while back, and with work you didn't have much time to pursue it. Should you have been pursuing it at all? He was just a stranger, people quit talking all the time. But with no one really knowing what happened to him, you couldn't help but worry, no matter how much you tried you just couldn't drop it.

Even on the day off that week, your mind hovered around the memory of him, how soft spoken he was, his mannerisms, how he had long ginger hair just like that guy taking a drag of a cigarette as you passed by.

Wait.

You turned around quickly, damn near giving yourself whiplash to get another look. He had the same long, disheveled hair, huddled in on himself in his own little world. You'd never seen him out of his uniform, but a black trenchcoat felt natural on him. When he looked back down at you, it seemed it clicked for him as well. Your tone was a little rash when you asked where the hell he's been, but he'd worried you half to death. How he just left all of a sudden, leaving you scared for his well being.

He seemed confused, both at your sudden loudness and your concern at all. "I.. I just didn't like working there anymore? I was going to tell you but I figured you'd probably find out anyways-" Judging by his explanation, maybe he was just used to picking up and leaving jobs without anyone actually caring when he left. At least not to the extent you got yourself worked up to. "I mean like, I'm sorry just- I didn't think you'd like… Care this much?"

You let out a loud exhale, stopping him from talking any further as you dug into your pockets. Thankfully you still had a shitty little pen and a receipt in there, tearing off a bit of it and writing on it before pushing it out towards his hands. "There, now you can call me back and I can actually know where you are if you jump off the side of the world again like that…"

He looked down towards your number, almost mesmerized by it. "Please just… Just keep me updated, okay man? Sorry to yell at you, I was just- I was really worried, okay? I've got some other stuff to do so I can't stay here, but promise me you're gonna call, okay?" You asked, walking out a bit as he looked up.

"...Promise."

#postal #postal 1 #postal dude #fanfiction #postal dude x reader #sorry again if its awkward i havent written an x reader fic in forever and again the power went out mid writing this #but i wanted to make something nice and sweet with him for once. no character analysis just happiness <3 #hopefully when i get more ideas eventually sometime in the future ill be more confident writing him

98 notes · View notes

writingbyshiloh · 2 years ago

Text

Part 3. Elizabeth

5+1 masterlist

CW: Drinking, established relationship, ummm fluff? Implied smut, reader wears jewelry. No beta

AN: Yes hes looking at Liz in the gif but the chapter is also about her. The chapter hinges on the reader wearing earrings, I’M SORRY. IDK what season this is among, Liz and Tom are together but so are Aram and Samar so take that as you will. I also watched so much Euphoria while editing

Everything was going well. The team knew that you were seeing someone and it's almost become a running gag about the biker story. Ressler told Liz who ended up telling Aram. You told Samar yourself, omitting a few key details, knowing she would find it funny.

They just didn't know you were seeing one of the most wanted men in the world. You hesitated to say ‘dating’ because most romantic relationships don’t have the power to end your career and possibly get you arrested. It's not like you could update your Facebook profile with the information.

Cooper even noticed that you were picking up less overtime and leaving closer to the typical end of the work day. You didn't fully stop your overworking habits, partly because it was something you always had done but also subconsciously to show Reddington that you're not going to throw your job away for him. That you were an agent first (even if you are not the poster child for fidelity or integrity).

Alternatively, Reddington was also dropping hints - not names - that he was seeing someone. The first time you felt a spark of jealousy. Obviously, he was drawing on someone from his past and putting them in the current timeline, but it still stung. You still agreed with his partner in his retelling, before realizing that he was talking about you, and you were agreeing with your own opinions.

With you not wanting to slow your overtime, and him “keeping up criminal appearances” you hardly saw him outside of FBI business. Not for lack of trying. You tried to He frequently invited you to wherever in the world he was, and you declined due to time reasons. It never stopped him from bringing you back a postcard. Always delivered in person, in case someone in the US Postal Service noticed the pattern.

Tonight was different. The office air felt stiff and the pile of forms felt endless. It wasn’t even closely connected with the blacklist case and was boring. Plus the description of his safe house for the next few days seemed like a dream. Large windows overlooking waterways and lush green plants were how he described it to Liz, directly outside your shared office.

----

You triple-checked you had the address right before knocking. Reddington told you to come straight from work, that you could shower at his safe house. With time being so rare between you both, you hastily agreed, taking your spare change of clothes you kept in your office.

The door swung inward, Reddington's arm sweeping you inside. Once the door was fully shut and locked, his hand moved to the small of your back guiding you into the apartment.

“Agent! You made it!” You could tell that he had a glass or two of wine from the strong enunciation. You made a face at the name, something he loved to call you.

“Don’t call me that, I’m off the clock.” You heave a sigh allowing him to show you to the kitchen. “I brought you a gift.” You push the bottle of wine out awkwardly for him to take it.

You hear him quietly read the name, pronunciation much better than anything you could have attempted.

“You didn’t need to. This is more expensive than what you drink”

“Well, there was a betting pool at the office. And I won.”

Reddington raises an eyebrow for you to continue.

“The betting was about you. And if you were seeing someone. I may have used insider knowledge to win.” You try to be sly but you can't help but smile.

Moving closer to get the bottle, he pressed a kiss to your cheek.

“I didn’t start the pool.” you continue, not wanting him to think you scammed your coworkers.

“Is that so?”

“Mhmm.”

Ever the gentleman, he pulls out a stool from the kitchen island for you, before sliding a full wine glass towards you.

It was flattering in a way. Out of all the constant security threats, deals, and thinking, he had a drink for you, signalling that he was eagerly waiting for your appearance.

You rest the cool glass against your cheek, while he manoeuvres in front of the island to the stove, some sauce cooking slowly simmers. You take the time to study his outfit, the cool browns of the suit jacket that's resting on the back of the bar stool, the umber colour vest and the crisp white dress shirt. The piece du resistance was the apron he tied in the back.

----

When spending the night with Reddington, you either had him when you went to sleep or when you woke up. Given his constant travelling and busy schedule it made sense that he hardly had a normal sleep schedule. You got him last night, leaving you to wake up to your alarm in a new bed, confused at the unfamiliar setting.

“You look nice.”

The post office didn't seem to have a dress code. Red wore a three-piece suit most days, Ressler was in a dressed-down version of that. Samar was the most casual, either a tank top or tee-short tucked into jeans. You tried to hit the middle of the Samar and Donald dress spectrum.

“Thank you. I feel like I’m missing something though.” You shift your weight side to side to see if he notices anything.

He also looks at you, trying to figure out what is off, but not being able to come up with anything.

You pass Dembe in the door. as you left Reddingtons, making a joke about how Dembe was now covering for the day shift.

---

The feeling that you were missing something or forgot something dragged during your commute. You thought it was your phone or maybe your keys but you had both with you in the car.

As if to prove a point, your phone’s ringtone jolted you out of your thoughts.

You hit answer, saying your last name when the connection went through before the other person had a chance to speak.

“Hey, it's Keen. Are you at the office?”

“I’m like, ten minutes out.”

“Can you pick me up? My car battery died, and Tom is out with Agness.”

You switch lanes before turning into a parking lot to put Liz's address in your GPS.

“Yeah, sure! I’ll be there in 15 maybe?”

“Where are you? I’m not that far from your place.”

Shit.

“Do you not switch up your routine? In case someone is following you?” It sounded like bullshit but you could always play up the paranoid angle later. “Before I joined the task force, my old team would -”

“I’m sorry I asked. I’ll see you in 15,” Liz said cutting you off.

----

While waiting for Liz you realized what you were missing. Jewelry. You took it off to shower and ended up - in his words - “distracting” Reddington before you got a chance to dry off and put it back on. Rooting around in your wallet while waiting you found a spare pair of earrings that were work appropriate.

You spy Liz talking on the phone, coming down the steps to her apartment building and you preemptively unlock the passenger door.

“Hey, do you mind making another stop?” Liz said in lieu of a greeting.

“Sure, where?”

“Reddington called. He said for us to meet at his safe house.”

Of course.

“I can direct you, Dembe told me where it was” she continued.

----

You glance at the apartment door numbers for the second time in 24 hours. Only this time, Dembe will be the one letting you in (probably less enthusiastically than Red did, but you don't hold that against him).

“Good morning, Lizzy” Red greets her as you all make your way to the main space, Liz leading the group, you behind her and Dembe taking up the rear.

“Oh, you brought company! Good morning, Agent.” Clearly, Liz didn’t tell him about your morning car ride.

“Liz is having car trouble. I picked her up,” you explain, secretly enjoying the fact that you were able to catch him off guard.

Quickly, Reddington and Liz are diving into the newest name on the blacklist. You’re half listening, eyes scanning the room to see if your jewelry is in sight.

You spy your earrings and ring on a bookshelf. You didn't leave them there, but knowing Red he probably moved them there to remember to give you. Debating if you could sneak them into your pocket, you catch Dembes eye.

He gives his head a small shake, letting you know it's dumb to take them.

By now, Liz and Reddington are starting to argue as she moves around the room. Your strategy for these arguments is to avoid them as long as you can. If it's something that affects you doing your job you voice your opinion, but there is so much messy history between them you try to stay out of it.

As she moves closer, you start to worry. You don’t wear your ring at work so that is safe from identification. The earrings are simple, probably she won't connect them to you. However, she is a profiler. And a good one at that. It is possible she’ll pick up on some obscure motion of gesture and put everything together.

You watch her eyes skim the bookshelf probably looking for something to bring up in the argument.

Shitshitshit.

She sees it.

“Had a guest over?”

“I’m a gentleman, I don't kiss and tell.” Red deflects. Bullshit, you think while trying to remain calm.

“Don’t you have a pair like these?” Liz directly asks you. You can see her eyes shift to see if you're wearing earrings.

You lean in, pretending to examine them.

“Yeah, me and practically every other working professional.”

Her eyes flicked to your earrings, thankfully buying your excuse. You probably needed to hide them forever now.

Not going to let you suffer on your own, Reddington chimed in with another “fun” fact about the blacklister, drawing everyone's attention to a book on the self, away from your earrings.

It was close. It was too close for comfort. You were sloppy. But you also couldn't dwell. Liz would pick up on the change in behaviour. All you could do was focus on your job and hope Liz brushes it off.

---

Red taglist (dm to be added/removed): @soraya-daydreams, @horrorqueen22, @wild-rose-35, @anonymoussherlockandmarvelgeek, @zombieskullxz, @rhepworth, @fanficismydrug, @btsjiminsthings, @emilynissangtr, @navs-bhat,

#if I miss anyone on the tag list I'm sorry I tired #raymond reddington fan fic #raymond reddington x you #raymond reddington x reader #the blacklist x reader #5 + 1 fic

114 notes · View notes

markosep2001-blog · 2 years ago

Text

I checked video about transparency by CozyChicken so I tried to experiment using Postal 3 Beta Dude

[SFM] Postal Dude's urge to stop the evil

#sfm #postal #postal 3 #postal dude

51 notes · View notes

arqueete · 3 months ago

Text

New Year's Meme 2024

I've been doing this survey for probably at least 15 years now? It's from back in Livejournal days, when we had things that were like ask memes but we just answered all of the questions. Feel free to take this survey for yourself.

1. What did you do in 2024 that you’d never done before?

I saw a total solar eclipse!!! After regretting not seeing it in 2017 I resolved to make plans to see it this year. I ended up traveling to Columbus, Ohio for a couple days and staying with a coworker who lives in the path. We sipped cocktails on her deck as it passed over us and it was exhilarating.

I signed up for a subscription box from Bon Appetit that sends me five ingredients and recipe cards that use those ingredients. Of the 25 recipes I've received, I've made 17 so far, so I think I'm making good use of the box.

I walked across the Brooklyn Bridge on a trip to New York.

I visited the Peggy Notebaert Nature Museum in Chicago.

For half a day, I worked in a store in the mall as part of a program at my job that put corporate office employees in the company's stores.

I adopted a letter through USPS' Operation Santa and sent gifts to some kids anonymously.

I saw The Postal Service in concert.

I started wearing a watch every day.

Two musicals I saw for the first time: Swept Away (on Broadway) and Illinoise (in Chicago.)

I saw Tim Rice host a concert of his music at a local theater.

2. Did you keep your New Years’ resolutions and will you make more for next year?

In 2024, I wanted to get my novel-in-progress beta read, and I did that! Two people read it and I realized I have a lot I'd like to change.

I wanted to figure out a way to start budgeting again now that I share money with my husband, but I didn't manage to follow through on that one.

I wanted to read every book on my book club's schedule--I almost made it, but skipped December's. I also wanted to re-read more books I already own, and I ended up re-reading four things from my bookshelf.

My resolutions for 2025:

I want to continue reading books regularly, and will be setting a Goodreads challenge goal of 20 books again.

I want to try more new video games. I'm going to shoot for playing at least an hour in a dozen games that I haven't played more than an hour in before.

I want to volunteer somewhere. My work gives me a day off for volunteer work and I've never actually used it.

I want to finish another draft of my novel.

3. Did anyone close to you give birth? Not this year. 4. Did anyone close to you die? Fortunately this year has been easier in that regard.

5. What countries did you visit? No international travel this year. We did go to Ohio for the eclipse (and I went in the summer for work), to Chicago to escape the RNC, and to New York for a bit in the fall. 6. What would you like to have in 2025 that you lacked in 2024? Last year I said I wanted less stress. WELL it was an election year so that was a lot to ask.

Sorry to go and soft launch huge life updates in the New Year's Meme, but the current plan is to start trying to conceive our first and likely only child this coming summer. It's really strange to admit! I don't have many friends with kids and there's this feeling like I am way too young to be planning this when actually I am 34 and this is very much the time to do it. The idea of being pregnant by this time next year is terrifying, though barring anything that makes us change our timeline, the idea of it not happening is also terrifying because that means it will be harder than we hoped. So! We'll see how that goes! 7. What date from 2024 will remain etched upon your memory, and why? November 5th. The election hit me really hard. 8. What was your biggest achievement of the year? I guess making the eclipse trip happen? It's weird to think how far back I resolved to plan a trip for a specific day in the future without having any idea what my life would look like. 9. What was your biggest failure? I think this year was a lot of getting by and I wasn't very good at managing "adult stuff." My to-do list was always full of things I was putting off, I had plants die because I wasn't watering them consistently enough, and we didn't keep a budget or keep the house as clean as I'd like. 10. Did you suffer illness or injury? I had a stubborn yeast infection and it took a long time to feel normal again.

11. What was the best thing you bought? I got a new laptop this year and it was really about time. I've been enjoying playing video games even more now. 12. Whose behavior merited celebration? I'm a part of a local community group for bisexuals and we accomplished a lot this year.

13. Whose behavior made you appalled and depressed? I hate knowing that I had put everyone who voted for Trump back on the 2016 survey and now we're right back here again. 14. Where did most of your money go? Besides bills, probably traveling. 15. What did you get really, really, really excited about? A theater in my city put on the Deaf West version of Spring Awakening! It was so good and I went many times! 16. What song(s) will always remind you of 2024? The top song on my Spotify this year was "Without Your Love" by The Paper Kites ft Julia Stone because I listened to it on repeat so much while writing.

17. Compared to this time last year, are you: i. Happier or sadder? Sadder. ii. Older or wiser? Wiser. iii. Thinner or fatter? The same. iv. Richer or poorer? Richer. 18. What do you wish you’d done more of? I meant to do more rollerblading when the weather was nice and then I didn't :( 19. What do you wish you’d done less of? Curling up on the couch with my laptop, especially while working, because it hasn't been good for my body. 20. How will you be spending Christmas? Christmas was a little chaotic schedule-wise this year. On the 23rd, my husband and I went out to dinner and opened our gifts for each other. On the 24th, we had dinner with his parents and brother and opened gifts at their place. On the 25th, we had a late lunch with his extended family, and then left to go have an early dinner with my family where there was some drama over some family members coming despite contagious illness going around in their household. It was a lot.

21. How will you be spending New Year’s Eve? We had dinner at a local brewery that had an event celebrating the Swedish New Year (so that they could toast at 5pm.) Then we went out for cocktails.

22. Did you fall in love in 2024? I celebrated my second anniversary with my husband (we went to a small plates restaurant we love called Odd Duck.) 23. How many one-night stands? None.

24. What was your favorite TV program? I'm struggling to remember what TV I even watched this year. I said The Bear last year but I guess I'll say it again?

25. Do you hate anyone now that you didn’t hate this time last year? I don't know that I knew anything about Robert F Kennedy Jr last year and now I have to worry about him. 26. What was the best book you read? I read so much this year! Last year I finished 18 books and this year I finished 27, blowing through my goal of 20.

The Beautiful Ones by Sylvia Moreno-Garcia enthralled me and I already can't wait to re-read that one next year. Her book Mexican Gothic impressed me a lot but also made me realize that I just can't handle books with horror elements, so I was so happy she wrote this book that is more of a historical fantasy romance to draw me back into her writing.

Some of the things I loved about that book reminded me of Mairelon the Magician by Patricia C Wrede, which was an old favorite, so I decided to track down a copy. I was really worried about picking it up again because what if it turned out to be terrible despite my great memories? But I actually devoured it (and its sequel) like I was a kid all over again.

The best nonfiction I read was How the World Ran Out of Everything by Peter S. Goodman, which talks about the global supply chain through the lens of how things went awry at the start of the pandemic. I came away from it feeling like I had unlocked really important context about how the economy works (and how much we're all getting screwed.) 27. What was your greatest musical discovery? Like seemingly everyone, I got into Chappell Roan this summer.

28. What did you want and get? Last Christmas I preordered a watch for myself (an automatic mechanical watch with a sea lion that swims around and around) and it arrived in the spring. I had some problems with it and ended up needing a replacement at some point, but now I have it and it's a comfort to me.

29. What did you want and not get? After seeing Tim Rice do a fundraiser show at a local theater where they did a lot of Chess songs and he mentioned the plan to bring Chess to Broadway in 2025, I was hopeful that we'd either hear concrete news about that by now and/or that the local theater in question might put it in their upcoming season. No for both. 30. What was your favorite film of this year? Of the films released this year, I saw Challengers, Anora, and Wicked. I enjoyed all three and would see any of them again. It's hard to pick a favorite. I'm leaning toward Anora.

31. What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you? I turned 34. I took the day off work and went to go see Wicked by myself, and then in the evening my husband and I got dinner at a place we love called Aperitivo. My birthday is always a little weird because it's so close to Thanksgiving, so I ate my birthday cake on the Saturday after Thanksgiving, and then also saw The Muppet Christmas Carol accompanied by a live orchestra on that Sunday as a birthday activity.

32. What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying? Not staring down another Trump presidency. 33. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2024? The summer was all about cute dresses again this year, while in the colder weather I was into oversized sweaters and men's shirts with the sleeves rolled up. I'm gravitating toward looser jeans and more comfort-centered looks. 34. What kept you sane? When I was stressing about the election in the later part of the year, writing postcards for Postcards to Voters was a way I channeled that anxiety. More generally, books and going for walks. 35. Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most? I have a little celebrity crush on the stand-up comedian Taylor Tomlinson. 36. What political issue stirred you the most? The rise of fascism in the United States. This year it really felt like anything else I wanted to care about had to be secondary to that. 37. Who did you miss? I no longer have a membership at a pottery studio and while that seems to have been a good move, I do wonder what some of the people there are up to now. 38. Who was the best new person you met? Some new people started coming to the bi book club I'm in this year and I've liked meeting people that way. 39. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2024: As we reach the end of 2024 I am feeling very disillusioned and like I learned a lesson about assuming that I live in a uniquely enlightened time where history might not repeat itself. The idea that my country or the world will come together to do hard things is not something I have a lot of hope about right now. I am focused on supporting the people in my community who share my values.

40. Quote a song lyric that sums up your year:

Some folks are born made to wave the flag Ooh, they're red, white and blue And when the band plays "Hail to the Chief" Ooh, they point the cannon at you, Lord

Creedence Clearwater Revival - "Fortunate Son"

#meme #personal

4 notes · View notes

kaywavy · 2 years ago

Note

Top 5 uhhh non player characters from homestuck (aka no beta/alpha trolls or beta/alpha kids or. Caliborn. Ig)

1. Wayward Vagabond

2. Peregrine Mendicant (Postal woMan)

3. Hussie (self-insert character)

4. Spades Slick

5. Authority Regulator

2 notes · View notes

lboogie1906 · 1 month ago

Text

Dr. Moddie Daniel Taylor (March 3, 1912 - September 15, 1976) a chemist by training, was a member of the small, elite group of African American scientists who worked on the Manhattan Project, the code name for the top-secret effort to create an atomic bomb during WWII. He was born in Nymph, the son of Herbert L. Taylor and Celeste (Oliver) Taylor. The Taylors moved to St. Louis where Herbert worked as a postal clerk. He attended Charles H. Sumner High. He graduated Valedictorian from Lincoln University in Jefferson City with a BS in Chemistry.

He began his teaching career at Lincoln University, working as an instructor and as an assistant professor while enrolled at the University of Chicago, where he received an MS and Ph.D. in Chemistry. He married Vivian Ellis (1937). The couple had one son.

He returned to Lincoln University for two years before becoming a chemistry professor at Howard University and the chair of the department. His research at Howard included the study of the vapor phase of dissociation of some carboxylic acids, which resulted in a grant in 1956 from the American Academy of Arts and Science.

His textbook, First Principles of Chemistry, was published and became one of the major texts in use in colleges and universities throughout the US. He was selected by the Manufacturing Chemists Association as one of the nation’s six top college chemistry professors. He was given the Honor Scroll from the Washington Institute of Chemists for his research and teaching.

He was a member of the American Chemical Society, the American Association for the Advancement of Science, The New York Academy of Sciences, Sigma Xi, and Beta Kappa Chi. He was a fellow of the American Institute of Chemists and the Washington Academy for the Advancement of Science.

He retired as professor emeritus from Howard University (1976). #africanhistory365 #africanexcellence

0 notes

queenofcandynsoda · 2 years ago

Text

Dystopian Omegaverse AU: Gammas

Gammas

Description: Gammas are the maintenance workers of Sol Fertilis. They help to encourage the status quo due to their dislike of chaos and danger.

Rank: Third-Lowest (Gamma Plus) [Second-Highest if Married]; Second-Lowest (Gamma Minus)

Color-Code: Violet (Standard), Lavender (Pup), Wisteria (In training, girl, Gamma Plus), Lilac (in training, male, Gamma Plus), Thistle (In training, girl, Gamma Minus), Plum (in training, male, Gamma Minus), Floral White (Wedding), Royal Purple (Married, Gamma Plus, female), Burgundy (Married, Gamma Plus, male), Mauveine (Married, Gamma Minus, female), Puce (Married, Gamma Minus, male), Mauve (Ceremony), Mardi Gras (Elder, female), Murrey (Elder, male)

Traits: Gammas are more territorial, sexually promiscuous, and hygienic. Their teeth is sharper than Betas’, enough to break skin. Their heats are not passive, long-lasting, or heavy. Their pheromones are used to help calm down Deltas and Betas. They have a protective instinct towards Omegas and pups. They are also like cleanliness and stability. Their scent is like fresh laundry, freshly cut grass, peppermint, and citrus fruits.

Occupations:

Gammas from Delta-Gamma are known as Gamma Plus or Gamma+.

Female Gamma Plus would get higher jobs such as nurses, educators in kindergartens and elementary schools, librarians, paramedics, seamstresses, and secretaries.

Male Gamma Plus would get to be an event planner, paramedic, medical scribe, medical assistants, library-assistant, commissionaires, horticulturists, and tailors.

Gammas from Beta-Gamma pairs are known as Gamma Minus, or Gamma-.

Female Gammas Minus take the role of domestic workers, gardeners, doulas, caretakers, personal shoppers, home cooks, nannies, maids, cooks, alewives, and textile makers.

Male Gammas Minus take the role of janitors, couriers, garbagemen, chauffeurs, valet, public transportation workers, groundskeepers, postal service workers, porters, butlers, and cup-bearers.

Both of them could work as sex workers in state-sponsored brothels for foreign diplomats, flight attendants, car attendants, cashiers in diplomacy malls, and etiquette attendants to help tourists.

Housing:

Under an Alpha: They live in a certain section in the mansion known as the Gammas’ Quarters in an estate.

Gamma Plus: They live in service apartments, apartment hotels, and luxury apartments. After marriage, they are allowed to live in luxury two or three-store houses and split houses.

Gamma Minus: They live in duplexes, basement apartments, and micro apartments. When married to a Beta, they live in small apartments, cohousing, studio apartments, and lofts.

Population: 20%

Male-to-female gender ratio: 1:3

#dystopian omegaverse #omegaverse au #gammas #Sol Fertilis #omegaverse #dystopia #dystopic #dystopian

8 notes · View notes

polygonate · 2 years ago

Text

so the lotus time capsule right

it holds 3 objects in the beta kids session and releases them in order of insertion

1; BROs sburb copies

this is inserted first by the Draconian Dignitary (DD), who discards them while ectobiologically sequencing Becquerel on the meteor.

2; the Writ Keeper (White King)

hes having a grand old time having just read Complacency of the Learned and comes out to chill with his loving wife for like 10 seconds

3; Bec Noir

the bad dog himself who proceeds to greetstab everyone before going on his 3 year escape from the US postal system

the generally accepted idea is that they are held in temporal stasis during this time as seen in cascade (that s page where jade becomes more of a furry)

what if that isnt the case? The lotus flower in mythology is heavily associated with rebirth, enlightenment and purity. and we know andrew hussie has all of chakras blitzed (ala olive garden) so what if the lotus flower doesnt just hold things until they are released, but breaks them down into their pure aspects (as how existence was described by rose on the 3 year meteor ride) and simply reassembles them at the end point?

this is a very important distinction since we know both bec noir and dirk strider (goes in the lotus flower during the alpha session pre-entry to facillitate auto-responders self insert yaoi fic) are aware of the narrative and time progressing while frozen in time ( S:Wake and the Meat Epilogues) and neither of them react in the way we know they would react from it. bec doesnt get any angrier and dirk never even quips about it.

#homestuck

3 notes · View notes

dinaton · 5 years ago

Text

A LATTER FROM BONIFACIY TO COMMUNITY.txt

POSTAL 4 SUCKS, WORSE AND BORED THAN HATRED WITHOUT GREAT BUT LAGGY DESTRUCTIONS. POSTAL 3 WAS THE BEST 3D POSTAL, IF YOU'LL INSTALL BETA MOD PACK, YOU'LL SEE IT. DOWNLOAD LINK: https://www.mediafire.com/file/y365eyrua0xo0d3/BetaModPackSetup.exe/file

RWS TRYING TO MAKE YOU IDIOT. WHAT YOU CAN DO TO NOT TURN INTO IDIOT? GUIDE: 1) DELETE POSTAL 4 2) NEVER PLAY IT AGAIN 3) MAKE A REFUND IF IT'S POSSIBLE IF YOU DON'T PLAYED ONCE, YOU'RE DOING GREAT.

WHAT YOU CAN DO, IF YOU REALLY LOVE THE POSTAL SERIES? BETTER PLAY POSTAL 1 (NOT SHITTY REDUX, MADE BY RUSSIAN MODDERS, ERIK SASSICK AND ANTON "A-MA DICK")

DOWNLOAD LINK: https://store.steampowered.com/app/232770/POSTAL/ AND IT'S FREE!!!11

THAT'S ALL, FOLKS. THANKS FOR PLAYING.

NO MORE BACK TO BASICS AND BRAND NEW MODS. THAT'S REALLY ALL. I GOTTA GET OUT OF HERE. POSTAL TURNS TO SHIT. THANKS NEW RUNNING WITH SCISSORS CREW FOR IT. THEY'RE REALLY DON'T MIND HOW TO MAKE SOMETHING COOL.

BONIFACIY AKA BONIVISION AKA SHUBUDUBAI GAMES AKA SASCOMPUTERS

THINK WIDER. DON'T MAKE A SAS. BE HAPPY AND COOL MAN, GOOD LUCK! 04/23/2020

#Postal 4 #Postal Dude #so I played HEITRED BOY mod and that was at the end

2 notes · View notes

qwuilty · 2 years ago

Text

Muppets In Paradise: Gone Postal (Postal 1 Crossover fic)

Hiii i had this idea a while back but was mid-semester, but after bringing it up on a draw session i got egged on to actually write it so now you get to deal with it too <3 Basically imagine one of those Muppet movies with one human but its Postal 1

No majorly bad trigger warnings, mainly just descriptions of meltdowns, comic violence, descriptions of puppets if that freaks you out, canon-typical paranoia build-ups, nothing else besides that. (and if you need anything else tagged let me know!) This is just kind of a crack fic taken semi-seriously.

(Also thank you to my friend for beta reading before i passed out <3 <3 <3)

Maybe it was good to get a new start. Sure, leaving behind everything he knew before was never easy, maybe it was running away from it all to save himself the shame of admitting he failed, but when one door closed, another opened. At least that's what they said.

The listing seemed a bit strange, a completely fine looking house listed for practically nothing, furniture left behind, no real damage to the property, and the seller seeming desperate to get out as soon as possible rang some alarm bells before he even accepted it. The area seemed like something of a ghost town, little to nothing about it online besides some landscape shots, but when he was this desperate, did he really have a choice to be picky?

He tried not to think about it for too long, maybe they just needed to move for a job, a family emergency, something that denoted him not even wanting to meet up to move in, no he just wanted to leave the keys under the doormat. But again, with the position he was in, Dude couldn't afford to be picky. He and Champ needed somewhere to stay, anywhere was better than nothing.

Driving into the small town, there didn't seem to be much commotion besides a sign simply welcoming him in and saying there was a fairly small population, but with no one on the streets, it felt like he was the only one really there. A looming sense of unease set in by the time he finally made it to his new home in a sea of other small and obnoxiously colorful homes, beginning to wonder if this really was a ghost town or some sort of elaborate set up.

Was he walking into some kind of trap? Did they intend to go in when it was night and rob him blind? There seemed to be something looking at him, whatever it was closing their curtains as soon as he looked back to them while Champ seemed to push his legs trying to get inside the house. Steeling his nerves, he took the key out from under the doormat and made his way in.

Things seemed to be normal, if not a little dusty. Furniture was all there like it was listed, nothing moving much in the old house besides him and his dog. Maybe he was just making mountains out of molehills again. This was his new start, he was going to be fine again. He was just going to enjoy sitting on this couch, even if it was a little dusty, and he was going to-

A knock at the door.

Dude looked besides himself to the door, the knocking was soft but persistent. Champ had made himself comfortable in the armchair next to the sofa, and laid out like that he clearly had no intention of moving any time this year. Standing up with caution, Dude approached the door with a hand rested over his hip, though he didn't want to use it so soon in his brand new start, if he needed to defend himself he had a sidearm at the ready. As he opened the door however, his eyes weren't met with another human, no, they looked down to see some sort of... Green frog puppet?

"Hidey-ho!"

Dude shut the door behind him in a quick slamming motion, his heart racing a little. Did that puppet just talk? No, no it had to just be nerves. Some sort of stupid prank or something, his mind fucking with him. He opened the door again, slower than last as he looked down to the puppet who stared patiently back at him and still, it began to speak again. "Hi there, sorry, didn't mean to scare you there neighbor." Dozens of thoughts crossed his mind as the fleece covered frog talked back to him, moving too... Organically. Even after taking off his glasses, blinking a little and trying to go back to some sense of reality didn't make this thing go away.

"And your name?" He asked, pulling Dude back into the moment. "What?" "What's your name?" The puppet asked seemingly in earnest, and though he was still deeply confused, he responded and told him his name. "Well it's nice to meet you, my name is Kermit! You must be the new guy moving in after the old one left, shame he had to go so soon, do you know where he went?"

Dude just slowly shook his head, a look of concern etched into his face while Kermit continued. "Well that's a shame. Still, i'd love to get to know you a little more, is it ok if I bring a few friends over to meet you?" His voice, though somewhat high pitched and croaky, seemed to hold little malice in it. "...I mean- Sure? I don't think-" He was cut off before he could finish his train of thought, Kermit looking back quickly as his voice raised to a holler. "Come on out everyone, we've gotta meet the new neighbor!"

Before he could protest, doors swung ajar and curtains opened, seemingly spewing out a hoard of similarly strange creatures that now flooded towards his house. Even as a fairly tall, strong guy having all those things moving around him damn near knocked him over and pulled him in like a lost child through a river current, Champ waking up and standing a little on the cushion of the chair as what was once a quiet little home was now bursting with the sound of many voices speaking over each other. It was hard to make out many figures in the crowd, the green one had made his way over to what appeared to be a pig woman wearing heavy makeup and a bear wearing a hat, some resembled something closer to a human than the others, but their proportions were exaggerated and strange with the same round eyes and fabric skin as the rest.

One particular blue… Thing beside him with a long curved nose bumped into his leg, chasing after what seemed to just be a normal chicken at an abnormally large size, speaking in a loud shrill voice about someone named “Camilla”. Trying not to trample any of them over, Dude made his way to the empty spot on the sofa, sitting down to try and look over at Champ who was sniffing another one of them who seemed to just be some kind of nondescript brown dog. He let out a loud sigh, trying to collect his thoughts until he was startled by one wearing some sort of flashy top hat with green skin and red hair thanking him for throwing such a “rocking house party” until the frog finally made his way back to him and tugged on his pant leg. “Oh, I completely forgot to introduce you to everyone! Come on, I'll help you meet everyone!”

The evening seemed to pass in a blur, a complete brain rattling sensation of colors, shapes, and names thrown his way as they went through every colorful character until the last one finally left, no one in the house but him, Champ, and Kermit. “Thanks for having us over, neighbor. Try to get some sleep, ok? See you tomorrow!” Dude tried to muster whatever smile he could until the frog left and for the first time since those doors opened he could really breathe.

Champ followed closely behind as Dude grabbed one of his bags and walked to the bedroom, stepping over some feathers and clumps of red fur until he finally made it inside. Thankfully none of them seemed to go in here, everything was still in good condition as Dude took out some clothes to wear for the night and put down one of his spare pillows for Champ to sleep on.

Though he intended to unpack that night now he had hardly any energy to keep himself standing, spending what little he had on getting changed into something more comfortable. Laying his head down on the mattress, he decided his diary entry for the night could wait until the next morning. After all, how could he even process what had happened to him that evening? So instead he curled over, closing his eyes and went to sleep. Or at least, he tried to. The noise outside made it hard, but with how exhausted he was, he eventually broke though.

He would have hoped to wake up back at home, finding out everything was just some bizarre fever dream, but in the morning he was in the same bed with Champ drooling over onto the floor. He changed sluggishly, still feeling drained from before as he tried to maintain some kind of routine even in the madness. There was almost a sense of peace to it, a familiar comfort. Except for the undeniable sounds of… Whatever those things were talking and screaming outside. Maybe it was a good idea to just stay inside for the day, do some of that unpacking he was going to before.

Even still, it was hard to focus when he could hear those felt creatures knocking things over, even with the walls of his new home they seemed to break through and disturb him while he got his belongings around. It was like he could hardly hear himself think, especially as he swore he heard the sound of something exploding, but when he looked out the window all he saw was one with a long head and orange hair running down the street as one with a green head ran after him. Even having everything out didn’t seem to help him feel any better, maybe he just needed something-

Shit, right. The fridge was empty.

Dude grimaced a little, nothing much in there but dust and cold air before he stood up. Alright, maybe he’d have to go outside. That was okay. It was totally okay. Everything was okay. He scrambled through his belongings, pulling out a CD player and some headphones to put on. It wasn’t the perfect answer but it’d at least block out some of the noise, plus he had some cassettes still in his car to listen to. Sure, he hated the bright fluorescents, sure the noise was insufferable, but he had to eat. Putting on some sunglasses to block out the bright sun, he said his goodbyes to Champ resting outside the door, trying not to make eye contact with those around him.

He had just one goal, make it to the grocery store, get what he’d need for a bit, then get back home and hunker down a little until he felt better again. He drove through the streets, every house all seemed to blend together into this uncomfortably colorful blur as he looked around for a grocery store. He should have tried to get a map or something, but it was too late now, how big was this damn town anyways? He almost passed it by the time he finally did find the thing, parking his quaint car besides the other bizarre ones and putting his sunglasses back on while preparing himself for whatever other insanity waited inside and putting an old CD inside the player.

He walked into the store with his shoulders hunched over, trying not to stare at anyone or notice anyone staring at him and instead focusing on just getting the essentials. If he could find them. The shelves seemed to be sectioned off for puppets of differing heights, nothing on them looking familiar at all and everything the same eye straining bright colors that surrounded him everywhere in this town, throwing him off his mental list of what he had gotten every other time he got groceries. Still, he tried to fight an ever looming feeling he was going to burst out of his very own skin, making his way quickly to try and locate what he needed and shove it into his basket so he could get out and go as soon as possible.

Finally he managed to locate the last bit needed, a bag of dog food he hoisted under one of his arms that he located in these labyrinth halls of pure mental overstimulation as he could finally make his way up to the front. The wait thankfully wasn’t too long, however the one at the front looked familiar. It was one of the more humanoid ones, though her bright orange skin and lack of nose was a bit discomforting. Her name was Janice, as her name tag had labeled her, her valley girl accent permeating through the room as she talked to herself for a while ringing him up, Dude only responded with faint mumbling and nodding until she was finally done and he could leave this place.

The drive back was just as confusing to him as the drive there, everything in this town was like an absurdist painting mocking the average suburbia. It was normal if you gave it a passing glance but every moment there made it feel a little strange. Maybe he was beginning to understand what made the previous resident of his house leave so soon. The sun began to set as he finally made it back home, hauling everything in as fast as he could to try and minimize time spent outside as much as possible. Things seemed to be a little less chaotic at nighttime, giving him a slight respite while he put his food away until he called it in for the night and pulled his diary out to finally write about what had happened these prior days.

Diary:

This move has been one of the strangest moments of my life. What seemed like just a merely alarming occurrence has spiraled a brand new world of color and noise, an endless cacophony of insanity that wears me out after only a short time here.

I’m trying to keep calm as best I can, maybe one day i can learn to embrace it or escape all this. But for the time being I must keep my wits about me.

The things here seem harmless, (seem harmless…) but they’ve got to have (got to have…) some sort of ulterior motive. (ulterior motive…)

Dude paused, the feeling of something light on his shoulder whispering down his ear in a shrill voice as he turned his head, eyes meeting with a pair of bulbous eyes uncomfortably close. It was the blue thing again, having somehow made his way inside this home. HIS home.

“Has anyone told you that you have lovely penmanship?”

The blue puppet was practically weightless as Dude held him by the collar of his shirt, trying to spit out an explanation for what he was doing, but Dude had little patience to hear it at the moment. He wanted these creations out of his only place of solace until he could learn to cope with it, they were his grounds to feel like he could actually be safe from all the noise, and having these felt creatures breaking in was an affront to that with his strange chicken partner following closely behind the two of them.

As he put the blue one on the ground he slammed the door behind him, the sound of two older men heckling the events around him muffled behind as he stormed his way back to his room, shutting his diary preemptively and trying to go back to bed again for another night of restless sleep.

The days that followed were hardly much better, trying to spend as much time inside as he could to avoid his new ‘neighbors’ as he could, time spent outside only made his brain ache and his mind twist trying to comprehend his surroundings. Some of these people spoke what seemed to be complete nonsense, their incessant singing, their loud talking, it began to dig into his brain like a drill picking at his skull. He thought if he gave it time he would come around to it all, but how could any man adapt to a world of pure insanity? What had been a “new start” only left him regressing back to his isolated state, now surrounded by pure senseless noise.

Some of them tried to get inside, they knocked on the door, asked for him by name, but he didn’t want to give them much time of day unless he was letting Champ inside and out. There had to be something else to this, there was something sinister about it, wasn’t there? Some kind of cruel intention to this madness, these uncanny creatures and how they sang and danced with a hive-like rhythm, a disgusting parody of mankind’s behavior. It was all too much, endless sounds, migraine inducing colors, he couldn’t handle it.

The final straw had come after almost a full month of pure unbridled mania that everyone but him seemed to understand and walk in tune to but he was forever out of sync with. Sleep had been harder and harder to come by, the noise didn’t let him. Instead he spent time trying to comprehend it, connecting what, where, and why it all was like this. Maybe if he knew it all, maybe he could finally have peace. That was, until he heard something even louder than usual outside the door.

Banging drums, hollering, the sound of brass instruments and singing breaking through the walls of his home, there was no place to think in this god forsaken town! As he shambled outside, holding onto the doorframe, he got a view of what was happening, it was a damn parade! The sight of it was horrific, a testament that there was nothing to understand about any of this. They had no sense of sanity, no coherence, everything was pure madness that he was forced to be subject to unless he DID something about it.

If he could find a way to stop these strange beasts, end their madness, then he would finally rest. No one else would have to suffer through this like he had to. It had to end NOW. Dude moved through the crowd, pushing past with little regard as he was stuck on a mission, a goal in all of this that he was fixated on. The last moments as he made it to the front were more of a blur than anything, stopping a large float then screaming. They all ran like rats caught in the light, the instruments fell out of sync, everything swinging around and knocking the puppets around as the sound of a cannon damn near shattered his eardrums, and finally the last thing he saw was a fast moving blue object barrelling towards him and impacting his head as he suddenly lost consciousness.

By the time he had woken up all he heard was the sound of faint beeping of a heart monitor and still some ringing in his ears. His eyes adjusted to the light, he was in some sort of makeshift hospital gown, startled as he looked beside himself and saw that damn green puppet again. Something on his face seemed concerned however, a moment of silence permeated until he spoke up in his same croaking voice. “I… see you’re awake.”

Dude winced, a sharp pain in his head as he touched where the impact happened and pulled back a small amount of blood while Kermit tried to stop him from messing with it any further. “It’s still tender, you’re gonna want to let it heal a bit.” There was still a sense of real worry in his voice while Dude sat back again.

“...Did anyone die?” It was morbid, but it was the only thing he could think of as Kermit reassured him. “No, don’t worry. No one died, they’re just…” He looked away, hopping off of the stool and walking toward the door and leaning out as the sound of groaning echoed down the hall. “They’re just a little injured.” They sounded more than just a little injured. Kermit sighed and walked his way back to the stool, hoisting himself back onto it before looking back at Dude.

“Listen, i just. I wanted to talk about something with you, is that ok?” Dude looked back for a moment before giving a somewhat reluctant nod. “Now, I don't like prying into anyone’s business. It’s rude to do so, and it’s not good of a neighbor to be rude. But i just- That little journal of yours, we found it after trying to see what happened to you to do something like that…”

It was clear he was trying to tread carefully, having some sensibility that the subject would be sensitive after waking up right after. “If we’d have known, we would have done something to help, you know? It’s hard to speak up, I get it, but we didn’t mean to make you so worried.” Maybe he really was losing it, but it felt somewhat comforting to be told so, even if it was by some strange frog puppet.

“They’re probably gonna have to hold you for a bit, they’re not gonna let you just walk out of here after that big event at the parade until they know you’re really sorry about the whole thing, but after you and i can talk about stuff, we can get something set up, and we’ll try to help you, okay?” Kermit moved off from the stool, walking off to the door before looking back. “Get some rest, ok? See you tomorrow.”

As he had said, they intended to hold him for a while, talking about community service, public apologies. Just a month or so, maybe they’d wanted to be more lenient considering his circumstances. Still, maybe he was right when he first got here.

Something about new starts, rocky as they were. But at least it could change and he could make it work.

Even if it was in a town as crazy as Paradise.

#postal #postal 1 #postal dude #fanfiction #i. do not think i want to tag the other fandom here.#To the fans who may see this. i am so sorry.#i wrote this last night but had to go sleep because i was going to go see the barbie movie in the morning i hope you understand </3 #also yes. no downer ending. bite me this is a muppets movie #sorry if its a little wonky again i wrote this before passing out

6 notes · View notes

camomills · 6 years ago

Text

Title: First Shot Pairing: Sinon/Asuna\Kirito Fandom: Sword Art Online Word Count: 1,123 Summary: Sinon wonders why Asuna chose that place as a first date. Notes: Made for SAO Pride Week 2019 - Day 3: First ___. I went with First Date. I knew I wanted to do at least one poly piece for this week, and Kirisunanon seemed the most fun. Thanks to @thegayfromrulid for beta reading.

AO3 Link

I must have something for dark and broody, Asuna thinks, watching as her dates bicker. Dates. She’s besides herself at how she’s been given the privilege of plural.

Asuna doesn’t mind holding hands with the both of them, even as a part of Sinon still says don’t let her touch you, you’re a murderer. Asuna’s hands, however, warm and pristine, don’t seem to mind handling the weight of ichor the other two’s hands carry, as she interlinks her fingers with theirs and sways them gently, proudly and guiltlessly.

Yet, again, she can’t help noticing while projecting their real world figures in her mind, that she clearly has somewhat of a type – their heads of hair charcoal and jet-black, eyes obsidian and onyx, and perhaps a bit tired, even if one bespectacled and the other not.

… Would Kirito look good in glasses?

Given a few swings of swaying, Sinon unlinks their fingers. Asuna checks and knows she is fine from the upkeep of Sinon’s smile, genuine and warm (well, by Sinon Standards).

Asuna always found Kirito’s affection had somewhat of a feline nature – an intense attachment covered in occasional aloof distance, and then she started dating Sinon as well. If Kirito was a domestic cat, close at a safe distance, then Sinon was a stray going through rehabilitation, slow to approach and quick to dart away, but with a clear want for warmth.

She saw no problem in providing it, as needed.

“Asuna, can I ask you a question?”

“Yes, Sinonon?”

“Why did you pick… here, for a first date?”

“I like you, is what I’m saying. I have feelings for you."

Asuna confesses, voice soft, and Sinon’s everything is sent into disarray.

“You’re dating, uh, you’re dating Kazuto, right? Did you guys break up or–“

“No, no, not by any chance!” Asuna corrects her, hands flailing in front of her.

“I understand this might come as a bit sudden, Sinonon, but I’ve just… the time I've got to spend with you in the past few months was really special, and I would be lying if I said I didn’t develop feelings for you. I consider you a dear friend, so I figured being honest with my feelings would be the best choice here…”

“But Kirito–“

“Knows about it, don’t worry. He is okay with it. If you are.”

The world goes sideways, both in her vision and in her mind.

Shino Asada is, by no means, a romantic at heart. The idea of romance still puzzles her in ways she can’t quite describe, and she can’t remember crushing of any sort as a part of her childhood– breaking boys’ noses during elementary school notwithstanding. She figured it was just one of the many things girls like her, cursed and defective, didn’t have the capriciousness of considering.

She’s not sure about that, however, hearing Asuna’s words. The same girl who accepted her with open arms despite knowing of her past, who gave her the silly nickname of Sinonon, who invited her to come over for a sleepover–

Who is looking at her right now, eyes pleading and eyelashes fanning, rivers of chestnut hair falling symmetrically from her shoulders, her expression so genuine and honest…?

Perhaps that seemed like such an impossible dream she didn’t dare to dream it, because the quickening of her heartbeat and the flushing of her cheeks seem to be telling her something. Maybe, if Kirito doesn’t mind, and Asuna is so willing, then...

“… Please let me think this over.”

Shino stares up at her hands as she reaches towards the ceiling of her apartment, sinking softly in her mattress. These hands, once covered with the blood of someone’s expired life, are something she decided without thinking that no one should touch, as to not soil someone she holds dear. That’s never been a problem before, as she never held anyone dear, nor was held dear by anyone since the incident at the postal office.

She’s a product of a dead father, an absent mother, and distant relatives, none of whom left her with the social graces to reach out to new people.

And yet, Asuna offers affection. To her.

A killer.

Her outstretched hands dye red in her vision, splattered maroon caking pale fingers. She shuts her eyes tight and blinks roughly, repeating the motion until the scarlet clears when she opens them again.

Her breath is ragged, but she’s grateful. These tricks played by her mind would generally drag on much longer, before BoB, before meeting Kirito, and Asuna, and everyone else.

Before, when she was alone.

She’s not sure if she is worthy, or if there even is such a thing as being worthy of being by someone’s side, but she can’t bring herself to care. More precisely, she urges herself not to. She figured all this time that running from others was her being strong, when it was nothing but a result of a masked fragility.

Asuna, her best friend, beautiful and resplendent, wants to be with her, and she won’t be running away again.

Ever so perceptive for a teasing opportunity, Asuna feigns ignorance.

“What ever could you mean, Sinonon?”

She sets a finger to her cheek, head cocking slightly.

“… She means why you wanted a date in GGO, right?”

Kirito, either out of pity or ignorance, fills in for Sinon. She’s not sure on how to feel about this, considering their pseudo-rivalry.

“I mean, you even invited me, too. Isn’t this the sort of thing you’d do just the two of you at first?”

Asuna bumps shoulders against him, her expression a mix of amused and indignant.

“I’m surprised you of all people would stop me. But fine.”

Asuna walks ahead of them towards the entrance to the shooting range, her standard issue avatar clothing betraying her status as a new convert account.

“I felt a bit left out, being the only one out of the three of us to never have experienced this game. So,” she excitedly splays her arms to the sign, “I want you two to teach me how to shoot!”

Sinon and Kirito exchange a look.

“This really doesn’t seem like a two-person job,” Kirito points out.

Sinon points at him, smirking as she averts her gaze.

“And he can barely aim. Trust me, I’ve been on the receiving end of it.”

“What?!”

And just like that, the two start their bickering, all playful jabs and shallow cuts. There's a lot of love there too, Asuna is sure of it, judging from the way they have to keep their laughter contained as they disparage one another. Asuna watches them intently, so, so enamored, and unlike them she doesn't suppress her giggling.

And to her, this is perfect, because they’re perfect.

#SAO #Sword Art Online #saoprideweek2019 #Kiriasunon #Fili writes

38 notes · View notes