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iamadequate1717 · 1 year ago

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Stede in Season 1

After seeing some rather awful bad faith takes flying around after 2x7, I'm throwing out a beginning defense of Stede Bonnet (loml). It seems insulting Ed's fish is the worst thing that anyone has ever seen, and it really seems to be a continuation of anti-Stede sentiments within the fandom and viewing him as a prop for Ed (and sometimes Izzy) rather than his own character. Fanon Stede is ever patient, ever kind, ever devoted to his partner, and I'm seeing a lot of shock that Stede is a flawed, imperfect person with his own needs, that he says things in the heat of the moment, that people are seeing a less interesting character than what DJenks and friends have created. Stede's a fucking lunatic and I like it.

I'm going to break this into a few posts as I ramble on to the end of 2x7. I have big thoughts on the ending, but I need to lead up to it! I am going to try to be as brief as I can up to the lead up, but I'm not happy with certain parts of the fandom right now (it's just a spat, love you all).

(If you haven't seen the "I hate Stede!" and "I'm so mad at Stede!" posts after 2x7, I am so, so jealous of how you have curated your social media experience.)

Part 1: Season 1

I'm going to note first that this is really a more rambly companion piece of this:

In time budgeting, most of Stede's character introduction and motivations are built into 1x1 through 1x3, but you all know it is a common refrain of these episodes: "Just wait for episode 4!" (OK for newbies, but huge side eye from me with people who have watched multiple times.) Episode 4 is when Act 2 of 3 of Season 1 begins. The foundations of the story have been laid, the cast has been fully assembled, and we enter the rising action (i.e., the meat) of the story in 1x4. It is not that Blackbeard alone improved everything: it was the story structure itself that shifted.

Preferring Act 2 (ep 4 to mid ep 8) and saying Act 1 was bad and "boring" is a disservice to the story and really robs yourself of the payoff action in Act 3 of Season 1 (and now Season 2), in particular with regards to Stede's character. It's a TV show, so you don't have to like all parts or watch it equally, but if you're going to criticize Stede and what he does, you can't ignore the part of the story that tells you the why of everything.

For example, we see people saying Prince Ricky is "exactly how Stede used to be!". Episode 3 disagrees.

Ricky is some Evil Star Trek Mirror Universe version of Stede, and they have fundamental differences in their view of piracy, which feeds into the action of the tail end of Season 2: Stede wants to be part of the piracy world, but Ricky thinks he's above it. The few hours in 2x7 that Stede spends enjoying being cool in the Republic of Pirates is overall sweet (sliding past the murder, lol), not a relationship red flag or Stede being a dick. If you tried to join a group and they finally embraced you, how would you initially act? Being excited for a few hours does not mean Stede has made a forever commitment to piracy and not Ed.

But, I digress. To me, Episode 2 (along with 6, 9, and 10) is far and away the peak of Season 1. We see the crew bonding (and those unique interactions are missing in Season 2's truncated runtime), and we get a deeper look into Stede's head: his initial naivety toward violence, his insecurities, his unique captaincy style and problem solving. If I look at just his insecurities, Badminton's Ghost is Stede talking to himself (like Hornigold was vocalizing Ed's feelings in 2x3). Stede is harsh with himself about his abilities and maturity, and we even see that he took Badminton's petty body shaming in 1x1 to heart.

(Oh, I have thoughts on Stede finally being told he's pretty and then instantly dumped!)

But he continues to degrade himself.

"You're a child with a toy" Stede says to himself. Compare this to Ned Low calling him a "bumbling amateur" in 2x6. Real people voicing these thoughts (like Chauncey in 1x9) messes Stede up.

The local therapist clearly lays out the motivation behind 1x9&10, and Stede still continues with the negative self talk.

And then we get the best mantra!

Yes, baby! You can only be as good as you can be, and you deserve the world.

Stede does not banish his guilt that is haunting him, but Ed comes in at Episode 4, and any more serious feelings is all about Ed.

(Second GIF is a joke. I know it's important to Ed's character. Plz, don't be mad.)

Ed is the deuteragonist, and the story now needs to spend time establishing Ed's character and motivations. This doesn't make Stede's go away, but if you only watch Episode 4 and on, that's what it looks like. There are brief moments of Stede's vulnerability and guilt from then, but not much.

(Side note from a Midwesterner: I've spent too much time finding out if "grain tower" is colloquial for "grain silo" somewhere, and I still don't know.)

Ed and Stede just met here. Ed isn't absorbing much of Stede's comments (Stede also feels trapped, Stede has family guilt, etc), but it goes the other way, too, doesn't it? Stede is recovering from his gut-stab, they're still in a life-or-death situation, and Stede is still feeling his guilt (and just saw more guilt ghost hallucinations). Registering and internalizing what Ed is saying doesn't take priority.

And they enter their cute early relationship phase: They have fun together! They can easily talk to one another! Stede easily forgives Ed wanting to kill him!

Again: in between all the cute and fun, all the heavy stuff is about Ed. Stede deals with the aristocrats who mocks Ed. Stede is gentle with Ed's red fabric. Stede listens to Ed's past without judgment. Stede openly accepts Ed as a friend. We don't see Ed engaging with Stede in a reciprocal manner.

(I was so delighted when Stede called some of this out in 2x4.)

Stede is a few steps behind in their relationship: He doesn't know it's a romance. He doesn't know he was flirting with Ed. He's not immediately understanding what the Act of Grace was to Ed (hubby commitment!) as he's having his Nigel guilt, family guilt, and being seconds away from death swamping him all at once.

In the academy, Ed isn't even listening to Stede. He's moved onto his domestic marriage role while Stede is dealing with his demons.

With 2x7, I see people saying, "Ed was very clear in wanting to leave piracy!" If he was speaking to someone fully engaged with him, I would agree. (That also doesn't make Stede having a few hours' fun the worst thing ever.)

(Aside of what I see below: In Season 2, I see overwhelming praise of Ed and Izzy's performances and very little on Stede. This is not to disparage TW or CO, but Ed and Izzy are more in-your-face and obvious with what is going on internally in their scenes and they are nailing the drama scenes. However, Stede becomes quieter, shutting down into himself, when having high feelings, and RD's acting is very subtle and very beautiful in these moments.)

In The (First) Kiss scene, Ed is clear! He just wants to be Ed, and Ed is happy just being with Stede.

But look what Ed walked in on:

Ed is saying things, but Stede is trying to process big feelings of his own at the same time. Stede is there self soothing, still thinking about what Ed ignored him about in the bunks. "How are you handling things so well?" means Stede isn't handling it well. Ed is excited, but he (and apparently some of the audience!) is brushing off all of what Stede is saying while expecting Stede to take to heart everything that Ed is saying. (I mean, the beginning of S2 shows why Ed is so excited for this life change, but it is frustrating!)

If you only feel bad for Ed at the end of 1x9, please try to imagine Stede's perspective: suppose you have low self worth and are consumed with guilt about people you've hurt and then are seconds away from death twice, are you going to be thinking clearly and prioritizing (and recognizing) the feelings of a guy you've known for a few weeks and didn't know you were dating?

Stede has drawn inward this whole conversation. His answers turn monosyllabic, and his body language turns more and more panicy as the heavy reality of everything sets in.

Stede enjoyed The Kiss, but was this the appropriate time for him? (Like Ed enjoyed The Sex, but was that the appropriate time for him?) They aren't in sync yet, but that doesn't make one party's feelings more valid than the other's or one party evil for being a bit ahead.

With 2x7, I don't know why people thought Stede should be a mind reader and be able to quickly piece together a few statements Ed made while Stede was mentally drowning.

I think it should be noted that as of the end of 2x7, Stede is the only crew member who hasn't had mental reflection and/or therapy in Season 2. He realized Mary, Alma, and Louis didn't need him and he was in love with Ed in 1x10, but the voice calling him a child with a toy, an idiot, weak, and ugly is still there.

Continued in Part 2! (Still to come...)

#stede bonnet #stede did nothing wrong #our flag means death #ofmd #ofmd s2 #ofmd 2x07 #ofmd s2e7 #blackbonnet #gentlebeard #ofmd s2 spoilers #ofmd spoilers #rhys darby #Baby's first attempt at GIFs #ofmd meta

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heeheesang · 7 months ago

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ɾiȥȥɱαƚch | midnight cafe.

(pretty lengthy!! sorry for the long chapter)

"the purpose of intravenous therapy is to replace fluid and electrolyte balance..." i repeated in my head as i let out one big sigh and sat on the bench at the park.

it was pretty dark, the stars were lit almost perfectly in a shape of a heart. i felt alone with my phone in my hand, studying for tomorrow's test, the test i should've prepared for months ago.

why did i even pick nursing as a major? i picked it so ricky wouldn't be alone but look at how i'm struggling now. i could never be a nurse, at least not with the mindset i have.

i let out another sigh as i sat back on the chair and soon felt a presence next to me, "what's this young pretty lady doing out here at almost midnight?" i turned my head to see an old lady with glasses hanging from her neck.

"studying for a stupid test... if i don't pass this test, i won't be able to go for internship..." i replied as i sat up and asked, "what are you doing here at almost midnight?"

"i just love watching the stars and the scenary at night, not something you can see everyday when your bones are getting fragile!" the granny laughed as i laughed along with her.

"what test are you studying for?" she asked as i sighed, "healthcare... nursing, gosh i don't even know why i'm trying to become a nurse!"

"well baby, whatever it is, i'm sure you'll get to pass alright? i wish you the best on your future endeavours. who knows, you may just be nursing me one day haha!" before i could thank her, she walked away and i was left alone yet again.

well, before my phone dinged of course.

riki: pretty? are you at the park? i see someone that looks like you, i just didn't wanna approach because it might be a ghost...

yn: do i look like a ghost... gosh i'm a mess sorry riks

riki: i'm coming to you rn hold on

"hey pretty," i smiled at the boy who sat beside me, "why do you look so upset?"

"just stressed, riks. sorry.." i could feel my visoon blurring up as my eyes clouded slowly, i looked away and quickly wiped my eyes, pretending that my eyes were itchy.

"yn, don't be sorry.. what's wrong? c'mon tell me," riki said as he went infront of my face and saw tears running down.

"it's just a test... i just feel like i won't pass you know? and if i don't pass, i won't get to progress to internship..." he sighed and hugged me tightly, "princess, you'll do well okay? don't worry about it, you've been in the major for like what almost a year? you can definitely do it okay?"

"let's go get some ice cream to cheer you up okay?" i nodded with a huge smile as he hugs me once more.

masterlist | back | next

taglist— @illvding @mxxnintheskyreblogs @whoiss4m @yoonzns @lukesboo @shewoop @yourgirlzeyy @yourssincerely-mimi @wonkixo @sol3chu @n1k1mura @nctsshoes2 @dimplewonie @kookify @rikisgeef @ilovejeongin007 @nan-lzzn @speedymiraclecloud @pkjay @wk20 @soobs-things

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autumnalwalker · 2 years ago

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Themes Tag Game

Thank you for the tag, @druidx. Always fun to do a new game (even if it took me over a month to get around to it).

Rules: Bold the themes that appear in your WIP (& italicize those that are loosely covered) then tag 10 people.

Doing this for The Archivist's Journal. It's long enough that it touches on a lot of things tangentially

Passing the tag to @rickie-the-storyteller, @writernopal, @writingpotato07, @ceph-the-ghost-writer, @papercutsunset, @sarahlizziewrites, @cljordan-imperium, @nightshadetheghost, @kahvilahuhut, @void-botanist, and an open tag for anyone else who wants to do this.

#“relationships” isn't intended as the romantic sort in this case #“knowledge vs. ignorance” isn't quite right but it's the closest thing on the list to “making peace with the unknowable”#tag game #writing tag games #themes tag

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tarditardi · 11 months ago

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Bortolotti: 4 artisti a Sanremo e su UMM ecco 4 remix di "Born Again", l'inno Babylonia

Durante il mese di febbraio 2024, il ritmo della musica prodotta o lanciata da Gianfranco Bortolotti, produttore musicale bresciano protagonista della scena mondiale da decenni, cresce ancora.

Prima di tutto, c'è Sanremo. Ben quattro artisti legati a Bortolotti vanno sul palco della celeberrima kermesse televisiva e musicale: Bortolotti ha infatti lanciato come artista di livello internazionale Gigi D'Agostino, portandolo al successo assoluto con l'indimenticabile "L'Amour toujours". D'Agostino sarà sul palco della Costa Smeralda, con un altro top dj, il francese Bob Sinclar. Bortolotti è legato anche a Christophe Le Friant, questo il vero nome dell'artista transalpino, visto che ha creduto fin da subito nella sua musica, pubblicando in Italia le sue prime produzioni.

Tutto questo è noto, nell'ambiente della dance e non solo, mentre non tutti sanno che Bortolotti da tempo si occupa anche di trap e di altre sonorità. Ha infatti lanciato due degli artisti sul palco dell'Ariston: il trapper Il Tre e pure il bresciano Mr. Rain. Entrambi gli artisti sono in gara al 74esimo Festival di Sanremo, che si svolgerà al Teatro Ariston dal 6 al 10 febbraio 2024.

Nella sua lunga carriera, in cui ha creato Media Records, un vero colosso internazionale tra le label indipendenti, la techno label BXR, il progetto Cappella, i 49ers, più recentemente un rapper come il Ghost, Bortolotti ha dimostrato di essere prima di tutto un talent scout naturale: ha scoperto infatti, tra gli altri, Fabio Volo e sponsorizzato Valentino Rossi quando era solo un giovane pilota di 125, portandolo fino al titolo in 250...

Sempre a febbraio 2024, continua il rilancio di UMM, storica label house italiana che da sempre fa ballare il mondo, anche grazie al notevole contributo di Gianluca Motta. Il 16 febbraio '24 escono infatti 4 nuovi remix di un vero inno dance: "Born Again" di Ricky L Feat. Mick. Per tutti gli appassionati di house e per tutti coloro che amano ballare, il brano viene spesso chiamato semplicemente "Babylonia", visto che il potente testo ripetuto da Mick si conclude citando gli abitanti della mitica città...

"I was born in a system,

That doesn't give a fuck about you, nor me, nor the life

Don't be a victim of things I do to survive

Because I won't wish you any good, you Babylonians…"

"Born Again" / Babylonia torna in 4 potenti versioni, tutte molto diverse tra loro, alcune delle quali disponibili in anteprima sul profilo Instagram di UMM (Instagram.com/umm_mediarecords). Eccole: House Device & Gianluca Motta remix; Dr. Space, Dader remix, Little Nancy Remix, Visnadi Remix.

Se oggi Bortolotti torna ad occuparsi, oltre che di trap e rap, anche di house, vuol dire che il 2024 sarà decisamente house. Come uno dei più recenti successi del nuovo corso UMM, la cover di "Mas Que Nada" firmata da Samuele Sartini ed Oki Doro.

///

Il mondo Media Records / UMM è in ebollizione per cui chi ama la musica dance può aspettarsi bella novità, in ambito discografico e non solo. UMM è una delle più storiche label italiane. UMM sta per Underground Music Movement. Fondata originariamente a Napoli da Flying Records nel 1991, è stata una delle prime label italiane a pubblicare musica house e progressive. Nel 1997 UMM entrò nell'universo Media Records, dov'è tutt'ora, grazie al rilancio 2023-2024 firmato Gianfranco Bortolotti, il creatore di Media Records e Gianluca Motta dj producer con all'attivo tante hit e mille serate, nel ruolo di label manager e coordinatore artistico del progetto.

Tra i classici del catalogo UMM ci sono quelli firmati da miti come i Daft Punk. Nel 1994 UMM pubblicò infatti in Italia un vinile che conteneva due diverse versioni di "The New Wave" e due di "Assault". Tra i primi successi del nuovo corso, ecco la versione di "Mas Que Nada" firmata da Samuele Sartini, supportata da top dj come Fisher e James Hype.

Gianfranco Bortolotti, da sempre GFB, negli anni '90 ha portato al successo suoi progetti dance nel mondo (Cappella, 49ers, Antico, etc), ha creato il mito dei top dj (Mauro Picotto, Gigi D'Agostino, etc). Prima, questo se lo ricordano in pochi, è stato pure socio di un certo Claudio Cecchetto con la Marton Media, lanciando artisti come Molella, Fargetta e tanti altri. Roba vecchia, dirà qualcuno, sbagliando. Perché GFB ha anche lanciato artisti di successo recentemente, Mr. Rain ed Il Ghost su tutti.

UMM su Instagram

Gianfranco Bortolotti su Instagram

Gianfranco Bortolotti su Wikipedia

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djs-party-edm-italia · 11 months ago

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Bortolotti: 4 artisti a Sanremo e su UMM ecco 4 remix di "Born Again", l'inno Babylonia

Durante il mese di febbraio 2024, il ritmo della musica prodotta o lanciata da Gianfranco Bortolotti, produttore musicale bresciano protagonista della scena mondiale da decenni, cresce ancora.

"I was born in a system,

That doesn't give a fuck about you, nor me, nor the life

Don't be a victim of things I do to survive

Because I won't wish you any good, you Babylonians…"

///

UMM su Instagram

Gianfranco Bortolotti su Instagram

Gianfranco Bortolotti su Wikipedia

0 notes

sounds-right · 11 months ago

Text

Bortolotti: 4 artisti a Sanremo e su UMM ecco 4 remix di "Born Again", l'inno Babylonia

Durante il mese di febbraio 2024, il ritmo della musica prodotta o lanciata da Gianfranco Bortolotti, produttore musicale bresciano protagonista della scena mondiale da decenni, cresce ancora.

"I was born in a system,

That doesn't give a fuck about you, nor me, nor the life

Don't be a victim of things I do to survive

Because I won't wish you any good, you Babylonians…"

///

UMM su Instagram

Gianfranco Bortolotti su Instagram

Gianfranco Bortolotti su Wikipedia

0 notes

deonideatta · 2 years ago

Note

WELL EPISODE 3 PORTWELL

they were being really cute in the beginning of the episode, ej got gina flowers because she got the lead in the musical!!!! she is anna in frozen!!!!!!!

but then the episode progressed into ej being really stressed about directing, half the episode was him highlighting the scripts for a table read because the director of the tv show that the musical is gonna be brodcasted on is coming early in the morning to film the table read. so ej is doing the actual work while tv director is doing almost nothing. I KNOW ITS A LOT

with all of this, gina is feeling neglected and theres a scene where her, ricky (love triangle boy) and another friend comes into his tent (because theyre camping this episode) and ej kinda breaks and is like 'i cant do this right now im really busy' so gina pulls them out of the tent

this also serves as a moment sequence for gina and ricky because they go look for this shrine in the woods (ghost story thing) so BONDING (ngl it was kinda cute-)

but yeah TENSIONS

i want them to COMMUNICATE please im begging

Yesss thanks for the rundown bestie!!! I was lurking in the tag for a bit when it was trending and there were so many people fighting lol but a lot of people who ship gina with the other guy were very happy this week it seems 😂

The flowers thooo that's rlly cute 😭😭 I just hope they don't have a fallout due to some stupid misunderstanding/miscommunication (kdrama style lol), that's one of my least favourite plot directions haha

Hoping for them to talk it out next week lol

#also i hope they dont overwork ej too much #bc that would make him stressed and that would make it more likely that they go the fallout route #portwell #ask #pls let them all be happy together #including the other guy #he seems nice

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i-willstealyourtoes · 4 years ago

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All you need to know about me

Requests: CLOSED

Status: On hiatus

Inbox: 1

Masterpost

(🔔) Progress post on my requests

Fandoms I write for:

Green means I'm confident, orange is semi-confident, red means not confident (I'll attempt all on the list though) + Franchises/Fandoms ranked in order of confidence + Feel free to ask about a character I haven't wrote down here :)

Main:

- PAYDAY 2 w/ ALL heisters (semi-excluding Ethan/Hila), Bain, specials (cops), Vlad, Twitch, Bile and Locke(?)

- TF2 w/ ALL the mercs, Miss Pauling, Zhanna, Saxton Hale

- Star Wars: Clone Wars w/ The 501st (as many as I can remember 💀), Domino Squad, Waxer, Boil, Wolffe, Fox (my interpretation), Ahsoka (platonic only bc she's a kid), Padme, Anakin, Obi-Wan, Cody

- Star Wars: Rebels w/ Ezra, Kanan, Zeb, Sabine, Hera, Rex, Ahsoka, Kallus

- The Bad Batch w/ Hunter, Crosshair, Tech, Wrecker, Echo, Omega (PLATONIC ONLY YOU FUCK), Phee, Gregor, Mayday, Howzer, Riyo Chuchi

- Republic Commando w/ Scorch, Sev, Boss, Fixer, Advisor (I will refer to him as Addy :) )

Others:

- Undertale (no AUs) w/ Sans, Papyrus, Undyne, Alphys, Toriel, Asgore, Mettaton (NEO), BurgerPants, Napstablook, (W.D) Gaster (my int.), Frisk + Chara + Asriel (all platonic + my int.), Grillby (my int.)

- HLVRAI w/ Gordon, Benrey, Tommy, Bubby, Dr Coomer, G-man

- Sleeping Dogs w/ Wei, Jackie, Winston, Conroy, Ricky

- Ghosts (BBC) w/ Thomas, Julian, Kitty, The Captain, Fanny

Others Pt.2:

(The ones I'm the least confident in/know less about)

- Sons of the Forest w/ Kelvin, Virginia

- (OG) Ninjago w/ ALL the (OG) ninjas

- Minecraft: Story Mode w/ Lukas, Jesse, Petra, Axel, Olivia, (old) Order of the Stone

- Henry Stickmin Collection w/ Charles, Henry, Ellie

- Detroit: Become Human w/ Connor, Ralph, Markus, Kara, Gavin, Simon and Daniel

- Faith: The Unholy Trinity w/ John Ward, Lisa

Rules/what I do(n't) do:

Green is yes, orange is yes (but I'm not too confident in it), red is no

- Canon x reader

- Only canon characters (as in, not an 'x-reader')

- Angst, fluff, lime

- Romantic or platonic parings (please specify for platonic pairs)

- Suicide, SH, mentions of abuse/racism/homophobia/transphobia (NOT DEPICTED AS POSITIVE (ex of a good req: how would (character) defend against racism)), death, light gore

- Headcanons/bullet-points

- Monogamy, polyamory (please specify if you want a polyam relationship)

- Match-ups

- Pregnacy fics (I'm not a fan of them but I can try)

- Song/lyric fics (also not a fan but I could still do it)

- Oneshots/multiparters (very unlikely for me)

- Smut

- Canon x Canon (unless it's Canon x reader x Canon)

- Canon x OC / OC x Reader / OC x OC

- Abuse (sexual/domestic) from the character (I accept the situation in which the character accidentally hurts s/o)

- Non-con/Dub-con

- Pedophilia/MAP-behaviour

- Extreme gore (guts, organs)

- Emeto (other illnesses are fine)

My style of writing:

- I prefer to be quite informal with my writing, often including jokes and personal comments in the pieces I make

- I also like putting text colour, italics, bold and small letters since I feel like that adds more character to the piece

- If you don't indicate (in x reader fics) what stage of the relationship the reader is in with the character(s), I will automatically assume they are already dating

- There is currently no character limit, but don't go silly with it lol (10 is probably a good amount but it depends)

Extra:

- Send me '🌱' to send feedback on something (ex: '🌱 - I enjoyed this part, but I think next time you should...)

- Send me '💭' to ask a question (ex: '💭 - What's your favourite show?')

- Send me '🎵' to ask for a song that represents one of the characters in the list above (ex: '🎵 - Song for Dallas?')

This helps me recognise things faster and answer quicker!

Please respect the fact I am only one student with not a ton of free time to write all the time. I also experience blocks in creativity like everyone else, so don't be mad if your request takes a while to come out.

THE PUNISHMENT FOR SENDING IN A REQUEST AFTER I'VE CLOSED MY INBOX IS A SHORTER PIECE!!

Psst... here's a secret link hehe

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ricky-fitness-ukagaka · 5 months ago

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ok haven’t updated this in a min but im still working on sprites 😭😭

#ricky ghost progress

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wingingitonwheels · 3 years ago

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Winging it from the end of the world.

Prologue

Before we begin, a few notes of introduction. Whilst I’m as ordinary as anyone and equally as special as everyone, I’ve chosen to share this adventure, potentially uncensored, as I have many others. This one is quite extreme as far as outings on the bike go. Both geographically and mentally and to what timescale, I don’t know where this will take me but I welcome all along on the journey, to laugh at and with me, cry for and with me, and to tolerate the eventuality that at times, things won’t be going well. In life, I like to swear. I am quite controlled in that what was my day job, I seemed at times professional and never swore. However, since the children left home and I banished religion from my life (a long time ago for the latter), I find it very liberating to just say it how it is. This said, there family and friends who will read this who may find my language shocking. To manage this, I intend to use asterisks to replace the requisite swear word, and leave you to use your imagination and vocabulary to replace the word or phrase. Multiple sets of asterisks is unlikely to be a good thing but does present an opportunity for you to be artistic and creative.

About the title of this adventure. Whatever I do, I feel that as time has progressed, I’m making it up as I go along. There’s a willowy idea and loose plan to jump on my bike and head vaguely in some direction, with not much structure to anything really: training, gear, direction, contingency plans, nutrition. The parts that are normally set are that it will involve a self-powered bike and it will end by a specific date. This has applied right from my first folly, aged 18, when it would seem, all my friends were in relationships, and I’d already left home, the appeal of just buying a bike and going anywhere you chose was as exciting as life could get. And so it was, the stage was set. My first 10 gear Peugeot Road Race bike, with lever gears on the down tube was bought, loaded up with panniers and off I pedalled, from Windsor to Plymouth and eventually Spain and France, on a wing and a prayer. The direction of travel only set because I knew the A4, as what used to be the Bath Road (and still is through Slough) is a largely straight, Roman Road, and it was difficult to get lost. As with all my trips until now, the only restrictions I had were time and money. I had no money, and I had to be back for my first permanent job at OKI Systems on the Slough Industrial Estate, now famous for its association with Ricky Gervais’ excellent “The Office”. Considering the two landscapes of the UK’s biggest industrial estate and the smell of dog food being produced at the Mars factory in the adjacent building, the draw of something epic such as the Picos and Pyrenees is not hard to comprehend.

Now for the second part of the adventure title. “…from the end of the world”. In 2017, following quite an extended period of ill health (2 operations, meningitis and temporary facial paralysis, all of which was a lot of fun), I’d plotted a route across the USA, East to West, taking in as many national parks as possible. I’d start in South Carolina and finish in either Los Angeles or San Francisco. I’d booked my tickets, my work had given me extended time off, combining my annual leave from two years together to give me a window of 5 weeks to complete the trip. My pleading angle for the request was that my knee consultant had told me that my right knee was about to give up the ghost, on its last leg, so to speak. What an opportunity that was and an incredible employer to allow me to do this. I ended up cancelling my flights as a number of things impacted the build up and training, including a house sale that meant a radical move from busy Buckinghamshire to England’s version of paradise, the Forest of Dean.

By winter 2018, the cycling dream morphed into riding 2,000 miles of Chile, tracking the Andes from Puerto Montt to Lima in Peru, if time allowed, all of which I felt could be achieved in around 3 weeks. Life got in the way, and the thought remained, if you can think it, you can do it; it’s just a matter of time.

Winter 2019 came and went. My priority that season was to see my daughter, Jess , in Australia. I spent 6 weeks with her, not knowing that the day after her 21st birthday, and the day I returned to the UK, that a virus would put a barrier between loved ones all over the world, and whilst writing today, it’s two years and 3 days since we said goodbye. It’s still hard to fathom that I made that call to go and see her at that time, not knowing what impending doom would shroud the world.

With COVID ruling the world, it would seem planning an adventure impossible. It’s definitely not been easy. Borders and restrictions change daily. It would seem flying everywhere is not a problem, but crossing a land border is. Ask the Chileans or Argentinians “Is the border at San Sebastián open for land travel?” The Ushuaian Tourist office says yes, Chilean Authorities say no, Argentine resident says they’re confused. As it’s the first border I would cross, and would leave me stranded closer to Antarctica than any other city in the world, I have been flexible with my adventure visualisation.

At this point in time, I have changed 5 flights, cancelled two, I am owed in refunds from Aerolinas Argentinia £450. My flights have been booked via Santiago to Punta Arenas, Buenos Aires to Ushuaia (which is the end of the world), but currently, you will see me lying in a bed in the centre of Retiro in Buenos Aires, considering once again my direction: do I get on another plane, or ride north or south out of the city?

With this in mind, “end of the world” now has different meaning. For me, rather than being a geographical place, or the back end of nowhere, the name can mean “riding away from all the bad news if you choose to listen to it”, “the moments that made me finally make the choice, seize the day, pack up my job and do it” or “the series of unimaginable unfortunate dental events in the last 4 weeks that took me to hell and back and obliterated all chances of an exciting and predictable build up to my unlikely departure”. I should probably change the name, but it’s a moment in time; winging it “to the end of the world” doesn’t quite have the same tone. And I don’t actually know for sure where I’m going…

Day 1: January 22 - The unpredictability of the land border

I’m counting day one as today; it’s the first day I’ve ridden my bike therefore it is. I’ve hardly touched my bike since early December, which wasn’t in the plans, and not really to be recommended, due to the events in the build up that were inflicted on me, I wasn’t well enough to do a final bike test. The last one I managed, the front wheel, built with a unit that charges devices based on pedal power, hadn’t worked. As the final decision to fly had only made the day before my flight, I put my faith in technology and sent a wish to the bicycle gods it would.

At each stage of the journey, I was surprised to get to the next level: to the airport, through check-in, through security, through Argentinian passport control and then with huge relief, 24 hours after leaving home, I arrived in Retiro, in the heart of Buenos Aires and Hotel Carles, a savvy choice and an expensive taxi ride. My taxi driver did his best to give me a running commentary of the city as we tried hard to understand each other’s pigeon second language. I learnt in that one journey that he has a daughter, aged 8, he rode a bike with his brother for 2km and it nearly killed him, that his brother rode to Ushuaia on a motorbike but the corrugated roads were so terrible, he got repetitive strain injury and his motorbike eventually fell apart, leaving him to fly home as his bike was brought home on a bike wagon. Two other facts I learnt were that Argentina has a population one-third smaller than the UK. The final fact that stayed with me as I rode along the same route today, was that the city has like many others, a distinct line between the rich and the very poor. In Buenos Aires, one demarcation is a physical line, the train track. Here, where people cannot afford to buy or rent, they build with whatever they can, but the majority are made of brick, just boxes with no supporting structures, one on top of another, some 4 storeys high, with no sanitation, stairs and some with only a tin roof. As I watched, I saw one young guy levering himself on a ladder that had been attached to a vertical wall to get to his box home. It was an eye-opening introduction to South America.

Perhaps it was the relief of finally arriving in Argentina. At 5pm local time, I polished off my zuma de Naranja, and made it home before the skies turned black and an almighty downpour announced itself outside my open hotel windows. I picked up my Spanish lessons, and basically started again, and 20 minute later, this insomniac fell asleep for 11 hours. I had arrived.

The number of routes and stages I’ve planned for this trip closely correlates with the number of flights I’ve cancelled or changed. Yesterday, I’d considered that I’d ditch the convalescent Spanish lessons I’d planned for a week in the city in exchange for Plan F, to ride the north border of Argentina to Bolivia leaving Monday, then follow the Andes south until I could or could not get into Tierra Del Fuego (it seems to open or close depending on the wind direction). After 3 hours in bed, contemplating my next move, I’d booked a flight to El Calafate, and finally written off the end of the world. It’s ok, it’s not the end of the world…well, actually it is, but who cares? In my head, it just felt wrong to be cycling away from home, carrying winter gear which weighed an additional 2kg, and not wearing it until I reached Bolivia, in that plan, about 2-3 weeks time. I also couldn’t handle any more poison being injected into my bloodstream, and a trip north meant I’d need a Yellow Fever vaccine ideally tomorrow. When I woke this morning, I had finally stopped with the headaches, nausea and hot flushes, resultant of the following interventions in the last 4 weeks:

COVID booster

Flu jab

Tetanus jab

Typhoid jab

Hepatitis A Jab

Dyptheria Jab

4 separate sessions of dental local anaesthetics

5 dental/jaw x rays

A molar extraction

A tooth repair

Amoxicillin

Metronidazole

A packet of paracetamol a day

A packet of ibuprofen a day interspersed with naproxen

Tramadol

And finally: a cortisone injection in my knee.

Sat at the airport again, writing this list, I am laughing underneath my face mask.

A Yellow Fever injection was just a step too far. I can’t even drink coffee or alcohol! (I managed a few for my farewell drinks though - it was an effort 😁). Ushuaia and it’s remote spot at the end of the world can stay there for all I care. I’ve settled on starting from El Calafate and riding towards, rather than away from home and all the people I care about. It feels better that way, prevailing headwind against me or not. It means I’m 5 days ahead on my schedule, meaning more time to make up stuff as I go along.

Having spent 3 hours building my bike in the hotel room yesterday and carefully organising all my gear, I really enjoyed taking it apart again today and putting it back in the bag. With time on my side, I’m really getting quite good with an Allen key.

See you in Los Andes 🤩

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danetobelieve · 4 years ago

Text

A Couple’s Home Is Their Castle || Rio and Winston

When: 24/08/2020 Who: @3starsquinn & @danetobelieve Where: Rio and Winston’s home. Summary: Winston and Rio keep working on the defenses that they’re slowly building up around their house. Warnings: n/a

Winston looked at the large spotlights that they had just finished attaching to the roof of their home. Ricky was down in his workshop grafting away at a new set of fastenings for the next set of defenses that they were affixing to their house which left Rio and Winston the job of actually installing the stuff to the house. A job that was more difficult for normies. But when you could use magic and your boyfriend had a serious degree of supernatural strength then everything was honestly a little bit easier. As Rio held the large frame of the bank of UV spotlights in place, Winston finished fastening it to the roof, made sure that it was secure and then gave it a slight rattle to see if it was done. “You know, I don’t think i could move this even if it was going to fall off,” Winston admitted, “do you wanna test it?” The bank of spotlights was something that they had been working on for a while. The idea was that they were basically security lights. Except they would shine out UV light (they were technomagically enchanted with a variety of runes and high powered LED bulbs). In theory they would stop vampires from getting too close to their home. In theory. The truth was Winston wouldn’t know until they tried it out. Which they hoped they’d never have to do. But better safe then sorry, especially when Miriam might be involved.

Orion liked watching Winston work. Considering all of the other thoughts that were constantly running through his head, this was a more than welcome distraction. And considering the whole love potion fiasco, Rio considered himself lucky that Winston was being as cool about it as they were. Even if it wasn’t Rio’s fault and Winston had insisted that the two forgot it ever happened. Rio’s body was still sore from the spawns, but he happily stood out and held the light into place as Winston worked on it. After it was completely fastened, Rio switched just group and began pulling at it, feeding only a small bit of his hunter strength into the motion. He didn’t want to accidentally rip it free, though he wasn’t sure he was necessarily in the best shape to do that anyways. Afterwards, Rio scratched at the wounds of his arms over his sleeves and winced at the pain. “This is incredible. It’s too bad we don’t know any vampires to test this with. I mean, not that I’d want to burn them or anything.” He studied the mechanism and glanced back and forth between it and Winston. God, they were so cool. “What can we do next? Please don’t make me go back into my room again. There’s only so many video games I can play.”

Somehow the sweetest and kindest person who had ever existed had managed to get themselves hurt again. Winston had all but forgotten everything to do with the love potion, although it had been tough to accept, Winston had worked through it and they’d been able to put the whole thing behind them. That was the way it had to be. Rio had hardly been consenting and Winston hadn’t admitted it yet but they really cared deeply about Rio, maybe to the point of loving him. But this was their first relationship and they didn’t want to knee jerk anything until they were completely sure. “You really think?” Winston asked curiously, “Honestly, you remember when we had that month of perpetual night and there was a shit load of vampires out there just snapping at everyone’s heels all the time, well that was when me and Ricky decided that it was time to start taking the safety of this place a lot more seriously.” With their developments in technomancy, well automating everything was only easier. “Oh, I know we’ve installed everything up here but don’t get excited about being with it yet.” Winston couldn’t help but tease Rio, he looked so cute when he was teased. “I still need to hook this up to our AI in the house so that we can literally go like defenses on or whatever and the house will become a safe zone, or as safe a zone as you can have in White Crest.”

“Of course I do! You’re like a tech genius. Anything you do is incredible.” Orion shrugged, as if this was the most natural thing to say in the world. Rio remembered back when they had first met. Rio had troubles giving anyone an abundance of compliments, afraid he was going to come across as weird or desperate. Now, Rio practically told anyone that he could about how great Winston was. It was a welcome change, one of many positive changes that Rio had begun noticing after moving in with Winston and Ricky. “Yeah I remember. It didn’t make doing things at the Scribrary easy. I mean, for people without night vision I mean. Well, I’m glad this place will be safe.” Luckily, Rio didn’t have much of an issue seeing at night. But it had certainly been creepy. He wished there were defenses against hunters they could do. “Oh. Great. So we’re staying on the roof then?” Rio crosses his arms and poured, “Guess it’s good I’m not scared of heights or anything.” He laughed sarcastically and readjusted his hold on the machine, holding onto it in case he slipped. “But that sounds super cool. So do your thing.” Rio couldn’t offer much in terms of technology and was here based solely on his muscle, by some weird sense of irony. But he supposed he could offer some suggestions. “You know, and I hate even suggesting this, but my family replaced all the doorknobs on the house with silver and pure iron.” He made a face at the idea of following something his family did, but depending on the threat, maybe it wasn’t the worst idea. “Not silver, obviously. We know too many werewolves. But maybe we can do something with the iron?”

“You’ve tasted my cooking right?” Winston replied with a chuckle, “Because not even your sweet sweet lips,” Winston winked in the most exaggerated way they possibly could to show that they were joking, “cannot convince me that my cooking is incredible.” The scribrary was going to be a perpetual work in progress for Winston, they weren’t sure if they would ever complete everything that they wanted to do with it, but the fact that they didn’t have to carry a flashlight with them at all times was refreshing enough. “We got all the lights fixed though,” Winston replied with a smirk, “so we’re definitely making progress.” Looking around, Winston shook their head. “Don’t worry, we won’t be up here for too much longer, we’ve just got to thread the wires down through the roof and then Ricky has said it’s cool if we set everything up for the connection in his room, he’s going to be in his workshop for a few more hours anyway so if we’re quick we shouldn’t even take up too much time or space.” Winston quickly and expertly began threading thick spools of wires through the hole in the roof. “Can you just like slowly give me slack on the wire until we’ve got it all through, and then we’ll go in through Ricky’s skylight because I’m way too lazy to climb all the way down and go in through the front door.” Heights bothered Winston too, they didn’t want to be up here any longer then they had to be. But it was easier to not seem bothered by stuff when Rio was around. He made it easier to be confident. “Uh, well we’ve got some fairly crude salt traps for ghosts, we could definitely include like iron and silver traps too, but I’d rather not have them in the doorknobs, it makes it difficult to bring anyone who’s fae or like you said a werewolf over without warning them not to touch the doors.”

Orion considered Winston’s statement. Sure, Winston’s cooking still probably beat Rio’s own. More due to the fact that Rio never actually tried to cook. The little that he knew he knew from cooking with Ricky. Who frequently took over jobs when Rio proved hopeless. “Not everyone can cook like Ricky.” Rio stayed neutrally, blushing at the comment about his lips and scratching nervously at his neck. Okay, so not all the butterflies were gone. But could Rio be blamed when Winston said stuff like that? “The Scribrary has come farther than I ever thought it would. So even if we never do anything else to it I’m going to count it as a win.” Of course, neither of them had any intentions of stopping their progress. The Scribe HQ was really important to Rio. Outside of being filled top to bottom with knowledge and a source of escape from Rio’s old life, the Scribe building attributed to how close Rio and Winston were now. If they hadn’t run into each other that night or started working on the place together, who knew if they would be as close as they were now. Rio would probably still be awkwardly crushing on them in secret. “You got it, boss.” Rio gave Winston a thumbs up and then moved over to hold onto the wire to help out. He loved the skylight idea, mostly so he didn’t have to stare at the ground and try to get down. “I completely agree. The last thing I’d want is for someone like Ariana to burn her hand try to come visit us. I want this place to be safe against threats. So I also want it to be safe for any of our friends that aren’t human.” It was strange, acknowledging that some people weren’t human. For as long as Rio could remember, he had considered everyone human. Undead, werewolf, Fae. But he remembered his conversation with Morgan and the one with Athena about Ariana. Not everyone wanted to be referred to as human. He was still getting used to that.

“Honestly, for someone who only eats meat or fish, I find it almost a little bit disconcerting that he is so good at cooking things that he can’t eat without getting sick. It’s like some kind of unfair super power.” Winston was honestly still glad that they were living with both Rio and Ricky. The two of them made their life so much easier then they had previously imagined that it could be. Grinning gently at Rio, Winston nodded. “I know we’ve still got tonnes of work to do, but with every step we make and everything that we do to make things like a bit more accessible it all seems a bit easier you know.” Winston shrugged to themself and Rio before continuing. “I was actually thinking that we should back up both of the databases, cause I know we back up the Scribrary here and vice versa but it’s probably not a bad idea to back both of them up just in case there is a truly cataclysmic event or something that could damage both locations, which although it sounds unlikely when it comes to White Crest I guess that you can’t be sure.” Laughing at Rio once more, Winston finished threading the wires through the hole in the roof before turning to Rio and pulling open the skylight. “After you dude, and yeah, exactly. I would ideally like to be able to turn everything on or off so that depending on who comes here we can make sure that nothing we have in the house hurts them. Just because someone is fae or something doesn’t mean they’re definitely bad but I also think it’s a good idea to have different things in place that can work with both, I don’t know, it’s just an idea and obviously all the houses defenses are still a work in progress. I’ve not got the autoturret prototypes anywhere near working yet, they don’t aim for shit and the firing mechanism doesn’t work properly either but we’re starting to really make progress on everything else.”

“Right? He has an unfair advantage.” Not to mention his human body was sculpted like some sort of Greek god. It had made talking to him very hard that first night the two had met. The infatuation didn’t last very long though, just until the two actually became close friends. It had been a common trait with most of Orion’s crushes. That star-eyed butterfly feeling mostly disappeared after getting to know them. Winston has been the exact opposite, that feeling only getting stronger and stronger the more time they spent together. “It’s a good idea. I was thinking it wouldn’t be bad to find someone else to keep hold of the information. Y’know, someone trustworthy obviously. If we start building this like we want to, we’re going to need to add in some more people eventually.” It was something Rio had thought about a lot recently. He had ideas of people he could ask, but he wanted to be really careful not to just pull in friends or people he liked. He needed to be smart about this. He wasn’t trying to create some fraternity or book club. He wanted to make a difference. “I’m not trying to hurt anyone. Just keep us safe.” Rio was slowly starting to realize that sometimes the two had to go hand in hand. It wasn’t a fun realization. Lots of existential crisis involved in that inner monologue. With the skylight open, Rio climbed down into it and then jumped, hitting the floor of Ricky’s room and rolling. It wasn’t graceful by any means, but Rio wasn’t injured. “I can’t believe we’re actually casually talking about turrets right now. With anyone else, that would scare me.”

“He’s also just a competent adult which isn’t something that I feel like I’ve ever been able to achieve,” Winston replied with a laugh. Winston raised an eyebrow and bit their lip. “Well there are options, someone like Nell or Bea or Luce could work but I don’t know if they’re impartial enough with their coven involvement, there’s also someone like Leah who’s already got her own library of information and I think that she would understand just the sort of discretion that this needed,” Winston honestly wasn’t sure if they were really the right person to be deciding who should or shouldn’t be involved in all of this, they were still so new to everything that they didn’t think that they could be impartial. “I just worry that if I have to pick someone then the obvious temptation is going to be to just pick my friends and you know that isn’t exactly a good idea.” Biting their lip, Winston slipped into through the skylight after Rio, landing far less gracefully and not managing to roll at all. “You make that look so easy, but yeah I get you. I just know that there’s a bunch of people that have either threatened me or would threaten me with death if they knew the actual truth about me -- also known as a witch hunter -- and it wouldn’t be a bad idea to have a relative safe haven in which we could offer people in need a place to go should everything go terribly terribly wrong.”

“Y’know? Valid. I wish I was half as competent as he was at adulting. I only got book smarts.” Orion laughed, though it hadn’t entirely been a joke. He often felt like the only thing he could actually contribute was an uncommon amount of storage he kept in his memory for historical facts. He was starting to learn that maybe he could bring more to the table. Just like many had told him, maybe this strength of his wasn’t necessarily a bad thing. “Leah? I know her name. Nell is supposed to introduce us.” A library? That was certainly interesting and something Rio would have to remember when they met. “I know what you mean. My first thought was Blanche. And I think she’d be great but I didn’t know if I only thought it because she was my best friend. Maybe we should make a pros and cons list!” It was one of his nerdier ideas, only made nerdier by the fact that it genuinely excited him. Winston followed after Rio, dropping onto the floor and wobbling against it. “You okay? I have uh- lots of practice falling from things. You didn’t hurt your legs did you?” He studied Winston’s legs for a minute before swiftly averting his eyes and trying to focus on what they were saying. “No. Yeah. Totally. I agree, safe haven is good.” Rio had heard about the witch hunter. He didn’t like the knowledge before, but now knowing about Winston and Nell and others he really didn’t like it. He crossed his arms and his sleeves rubbed against the wounds, a pain shooting through them. Rio was ready to ignore it before he realized that he didn’t have to wear it at all. “Hey uh- this is probably a dumb question, but…” Rio paused, not sure how to ask without sounding weird. Why did he feel so awkward about taking his hoodie off? Probably because he had never gone without it around anyone that wasn’t his family. “Do you mind if I take this thing off? It’s hurting my arms.” He had pulled his arm through the first sleeve but didn’t want to do anything without Winston’s approval. He had the short sleeved shirt under his hoodie, but his arms weren’t always easy to look at.

“Everyone has different abilities and different skills, unfortunately I think that Ricky got all of the practical and useful skills and the two of us got all the useless ones that are only good at Trivia nights.” Winston grinned. Spending anytime with Rio was always a pleasure but he was so similar to Winston in so many ways that sometimes it was night just to spend time with someone who had such similar views to them. “Leah is cool, she was one of Bea’s friends when they were younger and so I kind of know her through Nell and Bea, but she’s really cool and really nice and really really helpful. When I was struggling after Bea’s resurrection she was the one who really helped me work out how I could get rid of all that excess energy.” Chewing their lip, Winston nodded. “I think that Blanche would probably do great at it, but the truth is that she’s also my friend so I don’t know for sure if I can objectively say that, I guess my only concern is that she has lots of people constantly coming to her for help all the time when they probably shouldn’t and I don’t want to give her more tools to make things worse for herself and put more pressure on herself. I think that the scribrary is also a tool and not one that should be used lightly.” Dusting themselves off, Winston stretched a little as they got to their feet. “Nah, I’m okay, just not nearly as graceful as you.” Winston didn’t really realise what Rio had meant at first and frowned a little as they looked at them confused. It took them a minute to work out exactly what Rio was asking. “Oh, please of course, you don’t have to check with me if you don’t want to be wearing that sort of thing.” Winston quickly crossed the room and pressed a kiss to Orion’s lips. “I don’t care and it’s none of my business what you wear, you always look cute with or without the long sleeves and if you’re comfortable then so am I.”

“At least together we’re always going to win first prize?” Orion questioned, shrugging and hoping to find the silver lining in it, but he was giggling the whole time. Clearly, Rio and Winston had found a way to put their talents to use. Even if Rio’s only real contribution was an impressive memory for weird historical facts. The Scribrary was the perfect place to hone that talent. Rio nodded along as Winston explained Leah’s connections to the Vural’s and Blanche’s connection to… well everything. Rio was certainly intrigued by Leah, the girl who Nell said could help him learn more about Phoenix’s. From the sounds of it, she had more knowledge than just that. As for Blanche, Rio didn’t want to overwhelm her. And he didn’t want to ruin his only chance to get things with the Scribes kicked off again. He was positive she would make a good addition, but he didn’t want to rush anything. Not yet. “Good points. We will think on it more. We don’t have to rush anything. Especially since right now we don’t even really know what we’re doing.” That was the truth, at least for Rio. He knew they were going to continue archiving the Scribe information, but he still needed to figure out exactly what he wanted to do with it. All he knew was that he wanted to help people. They needed to figure out the how. But for now- Did Winston just say that Rio was graceful. He started snickering to himself, “Wow. I didn’t think anyone would ever call me graceful. That’s really sad for you.” With Winston’s approval, and a bonus kiss, Rio pulled the rest of the hoodie over his head and tied it around his waist. The sudden exposure in front of someone still felt incredibly weird. Weirdly enough, Rio didn’t even feel that awkward in the short sleeves around Winston. Rio supposed it was a testament to how much he cared about and felt comfortable around them. “Thanks. Seriously uh- I’ve never really walked around with a hoodie on so… it’s weird. But not with you. It’s just- god it’s so much less hot without that thing on.” He sighed into a laugh and gave a quick thumbs up to Winston, his way of thanking them for offering their support to Rio, “Okay, let’s get back to work.”

“I certainly hope that we’d always win first prize.” Winston had only ever been able to rely on their intellect in life. The rest of them hadn’t been exceptional in anyway, but being smart and having magic were really starting to get them places. “Plus with the amount of time you’re in college and the amount of time that I’m working, and the amount of time that we both seem to spend getting caught up in supernatural messes, well it is all something that is a bit much too plan to actively restart the Scribe chapter straight away, we definitely need other people to help and we could probably do with more resources then the two of us have at our disposal.” In that moment Winston wished that they had more money. Sometimes it felt like money fixed everything. Especially when it came to starting a supernatural organisation dedicated to recording supernatural phenomena. Laughing with Rio, Winston shrugged. “Sometimes I guess you have to just accept that your shortcomings are your shortcomings and move on with your life, grace isn’t something that I’ve ever possessed in any real quantity.” Pleased that Rio didn’t feel the need to keep from taking off the hoodie, Winston returned to their work, carefully and neatly winding the wires through the rafters with magic before taking them in their hands and continuing the work when they were at a level that Winston could actually reach. “Rio, you don’t need to say thank you for not wearing a hoodie, if you feel comfortable enough doing it then you know you’re totally fine doing it right, I don’t care as long as you don’t care y’know. It’s like, the people that matter don’t mind and the people that mind don’t matter.”

What Winston said made a lot of sense. The two would need more help, and they would need people that specialized in things that the two of them didn’t. Orion tapped his finger against his chin as he considered all of this. “I’ll start putting together a list. Try to figure out exactly what we are going to need and who may be able to help us, but-” Rio knew the thing that they were really lacking. Funding. “Well, I know we said we don’t want to pull in friends, but what we don’t have is money. Right now anyone that could offer to help us would be more volunteering their time like we are.” He shrugged it off, realizing that wasting time stressing over it now was useless when Rio was here to try to help Winston arm the house. “But that doesn’t matter right now. I’m going to start a list of what we need and then we will start thinking about it.” Rio settled in with Winston, what they were working on now wasn’t something that Rio could provide much help in, but he enjoyed watching them work regardless. “Yeah, yeah. I know. I get what you’re saying but all I’m hearing is ‘I’m Winston and I’m adorable and amazing and support my boyfriend no matter what’” He put on his best Winston impersonation but giggled the entire sentence through. Not that Winston would accept the thanks, because that was the amazing kind of person they were, but Rio couldn’t find a way to describe his gratitude that Winston didn’t act bothered by his appearance. It was only because of them that Rio felt comfortable right now. “So what are you doing right now? With the wiring?”

“Definitely, I can do the same thing and maybe once we’ve actually got some more time to look into this we can compare our notes and see what the other was able to come up with.” Winston knew that money was going to be an issue for a little while and they weren’t sure how they were going to solve that specific issue, but for now it was an issue that wasn’t pressing or urgent and it was certainly one that Winston could live with. “We can work all of this out soon, ideally we would be able to find some sort of donor or someone who could fund this for us but this isn’t like a university grant system and they were already hard enough to get in the first place.” Winston quirked an eyebrow thoughtfully as they pressed on with their work. Letting out a slight chuckle, Winston shrugged at Rio and gave them a quick smile. “Yeah, that’s pretty much it, ignoring all the compliments which thanks for those by the way, but yeah, I will support you no matter what because what’s the point of going out with someone if you’re not going to be there for them all the way, all the time, no matter what.” They didn’t even need to ask Rio about whether they’d do the same for them because they knew without hesitation that they they would. Focussing on their work, Winston grinned. “So, we’ve got power cables because this is going to take up a lot of power,” Winston indicated a bunch of the cables, “then we’ve got these, I’ve installed solar panels on the back of the lights and those feed down into a generator and battery set up that I’ve got in the basement of the house so that our power bill isn’t monstrous when or if we ever have to use these things, plus we should all invest in renewable resources anyway if we can…” Winston pulled a final wire out of the bunch and wiggled it for Rio to see, “this is an ethernet cable, it connects everything up there to the internet and to our computer and AI system so that everything works on voice command, at least that’s the theory.” Making magical tech work was an entirely different story.

“Deal!” Orion agreed, happy that he had Winston here to work through this with. Everything seemed easier with Winston’s help and support. “It’s sort of crazy to say, but honestly I’m not even stressed about it. And I’m usually stressed about… well, everything.” That wasn’t even an exaggeration, “I think I owe that to you. I mean, I also owe it to Ricky and Blanche and Ariana and everyone else. But with the Scribes stuff, you keep me grounded.” As Winston explained what they were doing, Rio peaked from behind Winston and rested his chin on their shoulder. His hands were flat against the ground, supporting him on either side. He pressed a quick kiss against Winston’s cheek from behind and turned his attention back to wires that Winston was fiddling with. “Have I mentioned that I love watching you work?” Rio was trying to get more comfortable with banter like this. Being able to openly compliment and flirt with Winston because the two were dating. It was still an odd feeling. “But in all seriousness, I love the idea of it being voice command. As long as I can’t accidentally voice command it to activate the turrets or something. But this is like the coolest thing I’ve ever seen.”

“You know that we’ll get there in the end, just like with the scribrary and the house defenses, I think these things naturally take time.” Winston pursed their lips thoughtfully before bobbing their head in agreement with Rio. “Maybe it’s just a sign that you’re getting more and more mature then you already were and you’re getting better and better at handling all the stuff that the world throws at you, sure we’ve helped, but you were the one who has done all of the hard work. We’ll all obviously keep helping you, but you’re the one who’s doing the lifting you know, you can’t forget that. You shouldn’t either.” Winston gave them a reassuring smile. “But you know, you really keep me grounded too.” Running a hand over Rio’s cheek affectionately, Winston returned to their work as Rio watched, explaining everything that they did as they worked. “I’ve noticed that you love watching me work, I always just assumed that everyone thought it was boring, but I guess you not being bored by me is why we make such a good couple.” Winston returned the kiss before laughing. “I’ll make sure that the voice command to set off the turrets requires double verification or something so that you don’t have to worry about that, but considering that on some scale the house is going to be powered by a magic spell that I’ll be weaving as it goes, you’ve kind of got to bear in mind that once this all goes off it’ll feed off of my energy a bit, I know you won’t fuck around with it, but yeah, don’t fuck around with it … lol.” Winston was right back to being awkward. Great.

“Bleh. Ew. My one greatest weakness.” Orion feigned coughing and grabbed at his heart for dramatic effect. The joke was meant mostly to distract from the compliments and avoid having to agree with Winston that Rio had anything to do with his own growth and development since moving in with them. He’d rather give all the credit to his friends and the others that had helped him stand up to his family and leave. “But that’s good. I want you to be able to feel as comfortable as I’m able to feel around you.” Rio had that thought about it a lot recently, especially after the love potion. Once it began wearing off, it was so easy for Rio to say that he never loved Blanche. Because that wasn’t what love felt like. Rio was pretty sure he knew what love felt like now. It all seemed so obvious. “I don’t know how people couldn’t find this stuff fascinating. Technology is so rapidly evolving so watching someone work with it and learning how to wire things and-” Rio stopped himself, realizing that it actually did sound pretty boring just talking about it, “Y’know what? Now that I’m thinking about it I think it’s just you. I just like watching you specifically work.” Rio nodded and crossed his heart as a promise, but found himself smiling by how Winston’s voice trailed off awkwardly. Since the two had spent so much time together, the two didn’t sound nearly as awkward as they had when they first became friends or first started getting feels for each other. “Ooh. I can’t believe I’m the one not super awkward right now. It’s really cute.” Rio pokes at Winston’s cheek playfully, “No worries about me accidentally using the AI for evil. I don’t even like asking Siri to do too much for me.”

Winston knew that Rio was not very good at giving themselves compliments and they also knew that they were worse at taking them, so they would just continue giving them compliments until it was so normalised for them that they had no other choice but to accept them. That was the plan. “Of course, I do, like, you wouldn’t believe how comfortable I feel around you, you … I guess I just trust you without any hesitation.” Raising an eyebrow, Winston secured cable ties and plugged things in, making sure that everything was neat and tidy as it did run up through Ricky’s roof. “I’m glad that you admitted that you’ve just got a bit of a thing for watching me work because honestly sometimes when I do the stuff you love to watch even I am bored, there are definitely things that you’ve obviously just got to get done you know, but I appreciate you keeping me company, it makes everything a bit better and less boring then before.” Laughing gently, Winston shrugged. “I can believe that i’m the super awkward one, I know you think I’m not as awkward as you, but social situations don’t always come easy to me, people are less easy then computers.” Probably because they didn’t just think in ones and zeroes. “I don’t worry about you accidentally using the AI for evil, I worry that someone will upset Ricky and he’ll set the autoturrets on them for not being polite or something.” Winston joked, they were pretty sure Ricky wouldn’t do that … right?

Knowing how comfortable Winston was with Orion was probably the greatest compliment that Rio could receive, and certainly one that he was willing to accept. The trust between the two of them was something Rio had always wished he could have with someone but figured he never would. “Same to you. It’s good to have someone that I know I can come to with anything. And i’m glad you know that you can do the same with me.” Sure, not everything could be the most exciting thing on Earth. But one of the greatest things about the mutual comfort Rio held with Winston was that the two had the ability to work around each other and be completely comfortable and entertained. The two could probably just lie on the floor across from one another and Rio would be content. So maybe all of the actual work itself wasn’t the most riveting, but Rio loved watching the way Winston’s hands fiddled with the project. Or the way their nose scrunched as they processed something in their head and the switch in facial expression once they finally worked it out. Watching Winston’s break work through their passion was sort of incredible. “I’m here to hang out whenever you want company. And I can also dip whenever you need time to focus.” It wouldn’t hurt Rio’s feelings. “Yeah, you’re right. I mean, we can’t all be like Ricky. Or Nell. Or any of the other social butterflies. But I think you have a certain charm with people. Even if you don’t think you do.” A lot of people in town seemed to know them and like them, so Winston must have been doing something right. Rio chuckled at the thought of Ricky messing with the turrets, mostly because he knew that Winston was joking and probably wasn’t serious. At least mostly. “Yeah well, let’s just keep an ear out for that to be sure. Otherwise, I think you’ve got a really good start. I feel safer already.”

#wickedswriting #p: orion #para #chatzy #chatzy para #a couple's home is their castle

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krispyweiss · 4 years ago

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The Worst Year Merits a List of Worst Concerts

- Sound Bites relives the unpleasant past at the end of an unpleasant year

The year 2020 was supposed to include concerts by the Wood Brothers, King Crimson, Roger Waters, Tommy Emmanuel, Dead & Company and Tedeschi Trucks Band along with two Todd Rundgren and four Los Lobos shows.

In this worst live-music year, Sound Bites wound up seeing only four shows - John Gorka, Town Mountain and Dweezil Zappa, pre-pandemic, and a socially distanced, outdoor Hot Tuna show with 19 other fans at noon in July at Fur Peace Ranch. The Year of COVID-19 also marked the first time since 1984 Sound Bites didn’t see at least one Grateful Dead member on stage.

Read the reviews of the shows that did happen via the links above and join Sound Bites on a journey through the ghosts of horrible concerts past below. These, dear readers - all six of you - are the worst of the worst.

Rickie Lee Jones - Nov. 19, 1984: Rickie Lee Jones was capital-H hammered - just sloshed. And she wound up atop a piano making a fool of herself after a couple of songs. We walked out quickly; fortunately, Jones has redeemed herself many times over. But this show was a disaster.

Aerosmith - Jan. 18, 1985: Back in the saddle, Sound Bites’ ass. With the original lineup reunited after the detour that was Rock in a Hard Place, expectations were high. But not as high as Sound Bites and his friend, who chain-smoked joints to try to blunt the impact of the disaster unfolding on stage.

Neil Young - Oct. 20, 1986: Trans was not Neil Young’s finest moment. And besides a killer “Down by the River” to end the first set, Sound Bites remembers virtually nothing about this concert which pulled heavily from the LP and its stylistic atmosphere. Memory has a way of erasing the traumatic and this, the blog’s first NY show, was traumatizing.

Jimmy Buffett - June 24, 1988: After seeing four Grateful Dead concerts in five days in Wisconsin, Sound Bites and friends drove all day to Ohio to see a reunited Little Feat open for Jimmy Buffett. Bonnie Raitt joined them and they were outstanding. Buffett, who opened with “Tequila” and got progressively worse, was not. We cut out early and headed for two more Dead shows.

Elton John - Sept. 14, 1988: Terrible. Just awful. Sound Bites wound up sitting under a big tree in the lawn wondering how an Elton John concert could possibly be so bad. He’s another who subsequently redeemed himself, but this performance was a disaster.

The Doobie Brothers - Jun 24, 1989: Excitement turned to disappointment as the Doobies rolled into town and proved themselves seeds and stems. Hearing Patrick Simmons sing “Takin’ it to the Streets” was almost as painful as hearing Bob Weir sing “Stella Blue.” Sound Bites has seen them on subsequent double bills and concluded the Doobies just aren’t a good live band.

The Spin Doctors - Nov. 6, 1992: Based on the Doctors’ live recordings and this unpleasant experience, Sound Bites will never understand how the band established its high onstage rep. Must be the weed.

Collective Soul - May 7, 1994: Sound Bites remembers nothing except a muddy wall of guitars, bass and drums and leaving early. That’s probably for the best.

Alanis Morissette - March 3, 1996: Jagged Little Pill was a fantastic album for its time and Alanis Morissette was said to be a fantastic performer. On this night, she was the opposite. Sound Bites would’ve left, but the person with the car said no.

B.B. King - Dec. 1, 2007: B.B. King never should’ve been on the road at this point. He played “When the Saints Come Marching In” for what seemed like forever and the once-unbeatable King was defeated. When the Sound Biteses left as King sung the umpteenth round of “You are My Sunshine” we felt guilty, although Mr. Sound Bites wishes this didn’t obscure the memory of the fantastic King shows he’d witnessed previously.

12/31/20

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lukeskywalkrearchive · 4 years ago

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1, 4, 14, 16, 19, 24 !!

YAY THANK YOU for sending these!!

1. Tell us about your current project(s) - what’s it about, how’s progress, what do you love most about it?

the project i SHOULD be working on is my novel (though i haven’t been doing a whole lot of writing in it lately; most of my writing has been in other random fun things no one will see), which is a futuristic(ish) sci-fi romp about a cyborg who doesn’t know she’s a cyborg (kestrel), a human who gets drawn into helping her (rowan), and a powerful person (ARE they a person??) who manages to start a robot apocalypse.

there’s way more to it than that, of course - for instance, my cyborg was created as a military weapon to fight militarized robots, but she doesn’t know that at the point the story starts - but i recently did an overhaul of my first draft because it really didn’t feel like the right direction to take even the beginning of the story.

i love the characters the most, which is a pretty common theme for me. characters are always what drive my story. i especially love rowan and kestrel’s relationship. they develop this very specific bond, the kind of found-family, tight-knit closeness and trust that only comes from surviving something terrible together and only being able to rely on each other. they are soulmates in a very particular kind of way, and it takes them a while to realize that. i’m really excited to write it all out

(the rest of the answers under the cut, bc lawd knows i’m gonna type too much)

4. Share a sentence or paragraph from your writing that you’re really proud of (explain why, if you like)

i have 2 sentences:

Cassiel is his only stopping point, the only arrest to his momentum, draped in pearl and watching him with a gaze the only shade of blue he ever seems to drown in.

He keeps watching them even as he’s kicked into the hole, no longer an angel, not really anything else, and thinks about wax wings and burning as he free-falls out of the only place he’s ever known, unable to muster up any feelings aside from Good riddance.

the lines came from a series of oneshots about one of my characters that i wrote as a challenge to myself. each one is focused on a color (this one is white) because i usually write in a very grounded way, not particularly poetic or flower but rather more about actions, and these were meant to be written in that flowery way. i like these lines in particular because i feel like they encapsulate a really nice, specific combination of description and emotion and i’m proud of how they come across.

14. At what point in writing do you come up with a title?

it really depends on the story. sometimes i will write the whole thing without coming up with something. i have a lot of placeholder titles using song lyrics or parts of a poem (a habit i formed from reading fanfiction titles, lol) that i then make a title from, and sometimes i just throw words at it and see what sticks. i have a story called “reasons why handcuffs are not ricky’s kink” because it starts off with ricky getting handcuffed to someone at a party, but it’s not really kinky at all, and it’s about their relationship rather than any smut or whatever, but i needed a title for my google doc. then there are other stories i figure out a title for really early on and i manage to stick to it. tl;dr it really depends on the story and how many ideas i have at the beginning, and if/how much the story changes along the way

16. Tried anything new with your writing lately? (style, POV, genre, fandom?)

honestly not really. the only really new thing i guess i could say i have is a kirkspock fic i barely started a handful of months ago? i always got really intimidated by writing spock bc i’ve read a LOT of ks fics and people are so incredibly talented and specific and i didn’t want to do it wrong. i haven’t made very much progress (i have 1 page so far) but i’d like to try! i have mostly only written stevebucky so i hope to finish it eventually.

19. Is there something you always find yourself repeating in your writing? (favourite verb, something you describe ‘too often’, trope you can’t get enough of?)

oh my god. always. i feel like when i write i forget 80% of my vocabulary. if i can read all the words and understand them, why do they never come to mind when i’m writing?? i’m definitely a culprit of the like, “the ghost/echo of a smile” on someone’s face a lot, probably also “a flush creeps up his neck,” and plenty more. i think there are descriptions i wind up recycling in most things i write. i usually know when i’m using whatever it is that i use it a lot but hopefully even though i repeat myself they’re far enough away to not be noticeable!

24. Would you say your writing has changed over time?

1000%. i have definitely learned a lot from reading such a wide variety of people’s writing styles and finding choices i wanted to emulate or things i wanted to do better in my own writing. i am constantly learning and trying to improve, and though it’s hard to explain exactly how, i can definitely tell my writing is getting better. i improved my dialogue tenfold when i took a playwriting class, too, and really learned about how dialogue should feel natural. it helped me in how it felt to write dialogue alongside making the dialogue sound better.

ask me about writing!

#thank you thank you!!!#these took me a while too but i had a blast answering #i never get to talk about writing anymore and i miss it #vulcansmirk #b:answered

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mor-beck-more-problems · 5 years ago

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Friend Fail || Skylar and Morgan

@theskyeandsea

Don’t do blood magic in front of the baby seal.

Morgan stopped her work for the third time this hour to make sure she really did have everything she needed. The crystals were all made, the bath salt jars were freshly clean and ready. She had her measuring cups and postage boxes so Skylar could help. She had even gotten through half her grading. There really was no reason not to make use of her new chalkboard and try another summoning. She’d gotten Sean with a birthday cake--sort of. Who was to say she couldn’t get Constance with a proper circle and a little blood? At least, practice getting the circle, right? The board had even come with chalk in three different colors, just waiting, begging to be used. Morgan checked her phone to see where the planets were. Still Aquarius season, so not great for her, but her Mercury was almost in a water sign. It was all so...promising. Enough to give her pause and make her look around the room once more. It didn’t feel very much like skirting around the curse if the universe was setting everything up so nicely for her. But if she waited until things were more dire, what would that achieve? Morgan pulled up the spell on her phone again. This was not Cassie approved, but at least she had salt this time. She could line the place if she decided to get serious. Which, she wouldn’t. Probably. (What if this was her one door and she was missing the good kind of signal? Or what if that was just what the curse wanted her to think?)

A knock at the door startled her out of her thought loop. Right. Skylar was stopping by the house to visit. Good for her! Making friends with grownups was kind of pitiful, but she’d been there before herself. Sometimes you had to take what you could get. “Hey, come on in!” She stepped back and signed, Good afternoon! Happy to see you. She’d watched a couple of videos online and had mostly memorized the greeting, plus two other words. Work there, Magic there.

Skylar really, really, really didn’t want to be here. Her head had been aching all day, she’d barely been able to eat anything, and her body just felt run down, even though she’d slept ten hours the previous night. And… what made it worse was she knew exactly why she was feeling this way. Ricky had told her as much. It was because she hadn’t transformed. Apparently, all her problems were a direct result of not turning into a seal, which she didn’t quite follow. She wasn’t a seal who could sometimes be human. She was a human, a normal human. With… quirks. Taking a long drink from her thermos of coffee, Skylar sighed as she walked up to Morgan’s house. This was going to be good for her. This was going to be something good and helpful and nice. Because Morgan had been nothing but nice and helpful, even after Skylar had been dismissive of the whole magic situation. Knocking on the door, Skylar offered what she hoped was a bright smile as Morgan opened the door.

The signing threw her for a second. For one thing, she was going way too fast for her fingers, so they came out garbled. Skylar could tell what she meant, but it wasn’t the best use of sign. “Hi! Thanks for having me.” She said. Setting her coffee down, she let out a small laugh and signed, What do you mean by work there, magic here?

Oh, thank god Skylar could talk just fine, maybe (probably) even read lips! Morgan saw the two whole words she’d learned outside of the basic greeting repeated in a new way, one she had no idea how to answer. She winced. “Sorry. Just--different tasks I have going on today! Um, I’ve got some bath salts that need to go into those very uh, hashtag aesthetic jars, and I have this shiny new chalkboard that has a lot of magic potential! I’m not going to do anything to it, I should clarify, I’m going to use it to make some more elaborate circles that I’m using right now.” Only after she finished did she realize just how fast she was prone to talking sometimes. Sorry, she signed, the only other word she’d thought make handy use of. “I talk fast sometimes, and I don’t always realize. Can I get you some sweet tea?”

“No problem.” Skylar said, waving it off with a laugh. “I was joking. Sorry, I didn’t mean to make fun.” She said as she took look around Morgan’s house curiously. There were a lot of odds and ends, and a lot of jars as well. What were the jars for? Watching Morgan intently, Skylar did her best to match the lip movements with what she was hearing, but it wasn’t easy. Morgan was speaking just a bit too quickly for her. “Ah. It’s okay, really! You said something about aesthetic jars? Is that what these are for?” She said, gesturing to the mason jars that were set up. “Tea? No, no, I’m good. Thank you though.” Skylar said as she picked up her thermos from where she’d set it down. Being around other people usually helped take her mind off what troubled her, so hopefully helping Morgan would do the same.

“No, I think you earn the right to tease,” Morgan said, trying to reassure her. “I tried to be competent in your language over the course of forty-eight hours maybe, with nothing but youtube and willpower. But, grab a pillow! Make yourself cozy!” She grabbed some tea for herself and sat on the floor with her shiny new board. It was so smooth it didn’t even look real. Morgan broke the seal on the chalk. It was good to practice, right? “You can put the TV on and make yourself at home if you want, but if you really want to help, You can use the measuring cup to put two scoops into the jars.” Morgan beamed over at the girl,who, now that she wasn’t moving quite so fast, really did seem in need of some kind of pick-me-up, poor kid.

Shaking her head, Skylar shrugged. “I appreciate you trying at the very least. It’s more than a lot of people do.” She said, the thought making her slightly melancholy. Ack. No, no, no. Watching as Morgan picked up a neat little chalkboard, she settled down on the proffered pillow, her legs curling under her. “Oh, that’s okay. I’d much rather do something productive than just use your cable.” She said with a smile. Looking at the set up in front of her, Skylar set to work doing as she was told, putting two scoops of… stuff into the jars and screwing the lids on. “What are these jars full of anyways? Magic salt or something?” She asked curiously.

Morgan began drawing the circle. After so many years of alchemy, she was pretty good at freehand, though everything that went in would need more precision. She couldn’t help but smile at the tingle that went up her hand from that new-supply feeling. She looked up at Skylar to make sure she could see what she was saying alright. “Salt, lavender oil, dry roses and yarrow, and ground crystals. Very relaxing, but less real magic and more mind over matter fluffy magic,” she admitted. She got up and went for her chalk compass. “This, on the other hand, will hopefully be real magic someday. Thank you for deciding to help me out, by the way.”

All of the things Morgan rattled off sounded just like normal herbal stuff that you could find in any shop, which Skylar realized was exactly the case as the woman finished speaking. Hm. So there were still some parts of “magic” that weren’t exactly flame throwers and turning garbage into candles. At least some things still made sense. Lavender was just relaxing because it smelled nice, not because it had any crazy property to it. “No, don’t worry about it. I needed to get out of the house anyways.” She said as she filled another jar with salt mixture. She watched as Morgan grabbed a small instrument and tilted her head, intrigued. “What’s all of that for? The chalkboard and things.”

Morgan hesitated, compass in hand, as she started to section off her array, making room for each of the runes and sigils she would need to make this work. And, terrifying as the feeling was, she couldn’t help but feel excited. She had a name. Constance Bachman. She had to be related to Sean and Agnes, even if she hadn’t been able to find her name in the geneology list. Maybe a spinster aunt? Or a lost sister? Either way, she was findable. And if Morgan actually managed to hack herself a successful, specific, ghost summoning with this, it would be the craziest and most amazing feat of magic she’d ever accomplished. Which meant she definitely wouldn’t today. Or that if she did, she’d get some static-y bitter brother of Sean’s. Or maybe some minor pesky demon. But she had to thread the needle between knowing the curse wanted to screw her over and manifesting some progress. It could work. And, well, who was Skylar going to talk about it with anyway? “Reason A for getting a big board is so I can make my crystals faster. The more material I can fit and work with, the more I can pop out at a time. My pop socket lid is great, but really not practical. But this,” she explained. “Is something different than my normal bag of tricks. I’ve got this project about spirits and their living descendants.” She began marking out the basic runes for summoning, then constructing the smaller circle she had designed to get Constance. Hopefully, anyway. She reached over for the version she’d sketched out on paper. She smudged away one of the sigils and drew it over again, clearer this time. “If it works, I might be able to bring someone over. Wanna see?”

Skylar watched as Morgan divied up the board with chalk, still not quite sure what she was looking it. Magic seemed to be a bit different than she thought it was. Winston had just kinda… done magic when they’d done it. But, she supposed that there was probably some method to the madness. Continuing to screw the lids on jars, she listened as Morgan offered an explanation. She wasn’t really sure what she meant by pop socket lid-- was she talking about the thing on the back of phones? Not wanting to interupt, she continued to listen. “So… you’re using a chalk board to summon a ghost?” She repeat, just trying to wrap her head around all of that. Ghosts. Ghosts were real. Okay. And you could use chalk and weird little doodles to make them appear? Mmmm, that was less okay. Even though she didn’t really want to see the odd little circle, Skylar scooted closer, “That’s interesting. They look like something out of Skyrim, honestly.”

Morgan was almost finished. She laid it down on the floor and examined her handiwork, then knelt down to add in the minor markings of the array. “What’s a Skyrim?” She asked. “Wait, don’t tell me--it’s that new show on Netflix right?” No, that sounded wrong. Morgan was more preoccupied with getting all the connecting lines just right anyway. “Sorry,” she said, looking up again. “I’m old. Like way old. I follow Grey’s Anatomy, and I have my supernatural crime shows, and food network. But tell me about Skyrim! I’m just going to grab some salt from the kitchen real quick.”

Raising an eyebrow, Skylar tilted her head in surprise. Mm. Well, after Alain had sent her the weird old French music, it shouldn’t be that surprising that some people weren’t as in the know with video games and stuff. “It’s a video game. You play as a Dragonborn, someone who’s got the spirit of a dragon, and can read and speak the ancient language of dragons. It’s…” She paused, realizing that she had no idea if dragons were a real thing. Were they real? Was Skyrim real? “It’s a fun game!” She finished, offering a slightly stressed smile. Oh dear. “Are you using table salt..” She asked. So, magic consisted of weird little runes on a chalkboard and table salt. Good to know, good to know.

Video games. Morgan probably should have guessed something like that. There hadn’t been time or money to that when she was a kid, and though now, as far as she could tell, you could download one off the internet for thirty dollars, it seemed like an alien existence. “It sounds like fun!” She said brightly. “Fantasy conception is one of my favorite interests. Oh--and it’s not table salt, or not just table salt. It’s a mix this exorcist friend of mine told me about.” She came back out with the mix and started shifting around some objects in the room. She would need to get the real estate for this eventually. And maybe--maybe this could happen. “Hey, Skylar, do you think you can write the alphabet out for me real quick?

“It’s a neat game, mhm.” Skylar said with a smile before taking a long sip of coffee. Thank God for this new thermos, honestly. Alain had been right about investing in one of these. And she honestly needed it now more than ever. As Morgan explained the mix of salt, Skylar watched with interest as she moved things around. Was this a big spell..? She had been under the assumption that the… spirit would just pop out of the chalk board kinda like a hologram in Star Wars or something. But then again, what did she know about magic anyways? “Huh? Oh, sure. On the chalkboard or somewhere else?” She asked, picking up one of the pieces of chalk from where Morgan had left them.

“Huh?” Morgan looked up from her work distractedly. “No, just grab a pen and paper from my grading pile over there. If I do, hypothetically, get a ghost in here, it’s going to need a way to talk to me. Especially, uh, since I can’t see them!” She was finished. She was finished and she felt like she’d stolen a cookie from her mom’s jar. Like she should run and enjoy her spoils or stay and get as many into her hand before she was caught. Morgan started to work on the salt circle, was going to fetch her dad’s old athame, just cleaned, before she realized just how this might look to someone who just learned that half the mythical creatures they’d read about as a kid were real. “Um, you don’t have to stick around for this part if it’s too much,” she said. “My cat is around somewhere if you’d like to meet her, or I can take it from here,” she offered. “Unless you can secretly see ghosts, in which case I will literally pay you to stick around.”

The back of her neck burning in embarrassment, Skylar nodded and did as Morgan told her. “Sure! Will do!” She said, hoping her tone sounded bright and not mortified. Mmm, yeah the alphabet made more sense to be written on a piece of paper. Writing out the alphabet in clean, large letters, Skylar tilted her head in surprise. “You can’t see ghosts? I thought that if you summoned them you’d be able to see them. But, um, sorry. Dumb assumption, I guess.” She said as she printed out a large Z. When Morgan offered her an out, Skylar chewed on the inside of her cheek. A big part of her wanted nothing more than to just… pretend that this wasn’t real. She wanted to forget everything about this. But, she couldn’t just run away from magic. It was here and she should know more about it. “Um, sorry. I don’t think I can see ghosts, but… I’d like to stay, if that’s okay. I just, I want to know more about all of this.”

“Oh, gosh, I wish,” Morgan confessed. “I honestly thought that too, but as it turns out you need some kind of special ability for that. And, for the record, not a dumb question. Didn’t you only learn all this weird shit was real two weeks ago? You’re harder on yourself than I am on actual students. There’s a lot to learn. Too much, really. I’ve known magic was real my whole life and I just figured out the ghost thing a while ago.” She smiled brightly at Skylar, hoping she felt better and went for the athame. She’d laid the salt thick. If, even, anything happened, they would be safe, and she could vacuum away the evidence before Cece came home to ask questions. And maybe if she was lucky Skylar would be willing to help with that too. She grabbed one of her novelty bowls, a tragic indulgence from the dollar store during her Traveler’s Rest stay, the happy faces of the Disney princesses already peeling away, and positioned herself over the circle. Then she put Skylar’s alphabet paper and pen in where it wouldn’t disturb the runes. “Let’s just hope this doesn’t turn out really anticlimactic, huh?” She raised the ritual knife and began to chant. So far so good. Then came the time for her blood offering. Morgan pressed the knife into her arm, voice hiccuping only a little as the pain sliced into her. So far, so good. Then she looked down into the bowl to make sure she had enough and the world shrank down to the size of a single drop of blood. She went silent and the rising magic and the knife both went whizzing away from her.

“I… Yeah, only the last two weeks, with the karkinoids.” Skylar said with a shrug as she moved over to the side, letting Morgan do all the final preparation work on the spell that she had laid out. But… No, Morgan didn’t need to know about her situation. Not after she mentioned how there were people going around trying to steal teeth for potions and stuff. Skylar watched, curiously as Morgan pulled out a weird little disney princess bowl and set it down. Were princesses important for this? Fingers curling up at her side, she forced herself to watch as Morgan began to say words she’d never heard before and then draw the knife blade-- What the fuuuuuuck was she doing? Before Skylar could react, tremors began to fill the room, the bowl of blood shaking violently-- A sharp pain lanced through her right shoulder, searing and hot, as the knife flew towards her and lodged itself into her body. Letting out a scream of pain, Skylar fell to the ground, a large spout of blood splattering across the room. “MORGAN!” She cried out, panic threatening to overwhelm her as she stared at the knife sticking out of her.

Morgan didn’t hear or notice anything except the blood in the bowl. She shoved the plastic into her mouth with both hands, guzzling the liquid ravenously and licking the sides where it had stuck. And there was more, streaks puddling on the floor and the coffee table. Morgan dropped the bowl and threw herself down to lap them all up. When she pulled away at last, panting and dizzy, her face stained from nose to chin, and saw her dad’s knife lodged in Skylar’s arm. “Oh fuck.” She licked her lips in spite of herself and scrambled to her feet. Keys. She needed her phone and her keys so they could get to the car so they could drive to the hospital. Fuck. The fucking blood clinger. She should’ve known it wouldn’t have worn off that quickly. “It’s okay, it’s okay!” She cried, her voice jumping higher each time she said it. The edges of her vision felt blurry and she grabbed an empty mason jar while she was at it. “Come on, we’re taking you to the hospital, okay! Also, hold this to collect any blood you lose! This is fine, you’re gonna be fine!” She, on the other hand, looked like a walking crime scene, but maybe if she bulldozed ahead on the knife inside the girl’s arm they wouldn’t have to go into it.

Skylar began to hyperventilate as she stared at the knife in her arm, her vision narrowing at the edges as she tried to focus on anything other than the knife-- “What the fuck are you doing?!” Skylar screamed, pointing at the bowl of blood that Morgan had just drank from. Scrambling away across the floor, she let out a cry of pain as she tried to put as much distance from her and Morgan, who was apparently some kinda vampire? “G-get away from me!” Skylar said, rivulets of blood running down her arm to pool on the floor. The more she struggled, the more and more blood poured from around the knife still lodged in her arm. “I’m not going anywhere with a vampire! An-And I’m not,” She let out a groan of pain as her arm screamed in pain, “Going to make you a to-go cup!”

“Oh my god you’re making it worse!” Morgan shrieked, starting to panic herself. She screwed her eyes shut. Maybe if she didn’t see the blood she wouldn’t have some weird blood-clinger blackout. “I’m not a vampire, it was a magic tick! I thought it had worn off but apparently not! I mean, would you rather be the juice box? Come on!” But no sooner did she settle this in her head than did she slip on the floor and come face to face with the fresh streams of blood from Skylar. Morgan forgot everything she was talking about and licked them up like her life depended on it.

As Morgan tried to convince her that she wasn’t some kind of vampire out to suck her blood, Skylar remembered what Ricky had told her. Selkies had more blood than other people, making them prime targets for vampires. “A magic tick? That’s, that’s a thing? WHAT THE FUCK!” Skylar screeched as Morgan dropped down and began to lap up her blood from the floor. Skylar watched in horror and reached behind her to pull herself up to her feet-- she needed to get out of her, she needed too… As she stood up, what blood was in her head, immediately rushed out and her vision went white around the edges as fell back to the ground, woozy. “I… I… I’m…” She couldn’t fully make out words any more, all she could do was grasp at a nearby mason jar and hold it to her still bleeding shoulder.

Morgan slithered her way over the floor, lapping every drop until her tongue felt rough and every drop had been siphoned. She groaned, still thirsty, and made a grab for Skylar, but missed as the girl stood up. Her head hit the wall and she lost her balance, going splat and rolling onto her back Slowly, her brain cleared again. Maybe anticlimactic would’ve been better after all. “Skylar??” She asked. “Are you still there? Can you drive yourself maybe? Or, I don’t know, call an Uber? There’s Uber in White Crest, right?” She was afraid to get up again. Afraid the floor would fall out from under herself. Afraid of the red, tangy blood. It was still on her rough-scraped tongue and in the back of her, hateful and terrifying. But in the moment it hadn’t been. God she was so screwed. “Skylar--?” She croaked.

“Mmmnot good. No’ good.” Skylar said thickly, her head heavy as she continued to try and get away from Morgan. Holding the mason jar in her hand, she did her best to siphon some of the blood that clung to her skin into the jar. “Don’ eat me… ’m… fishy. Wouldn’t tas’ good.” Her words slurred together as she slid the mason jar towards Morgan. Uber? Her phone. Her phone! Pulling her phone out of her pocket, Skylar swiped her thumb across the screen to send a garbled text before setting it down on the ground, “Please don’t eat me.” She mumbled.

This was not going to be a good day. And really, Morgan should’ve known better than to hope for getting away with anything for long. She reached across the floor and grabbed the jar, stomach-lurching at the precaution and inched, achingly, to a sit. “I promise on whatever will make you feel better I do not want to eat you!” Never the less she sipped the blood. It didn’t soothe her like it did earlier, so maybe she was past the worst of this. “Come on, Uber’s going to take too long and you need help.” She was unsteady on her feet, but she had what she needed and she could just about make it to the door, to-go cup in hand as Skylar had so kindly put it. She staggered out and took a deep lung full of fresh air. She had no idea how she was going to explain this to Ricky, or anyone else for that matter. How far was the hospital again?

“Not an Uber… Ricky, he’s gonna… gonna help me. Can’ go hospital.” Skylar said, shaking her head back and forth. As she continued to struggle away, she fell flat on her back onto Morgan’s floor, the knife still sticking out of her shoulder. Fatigue and blood loss overtook her and Skylar passed out right in the entryway of the front door.

Morgan heard the thump of Skylar’s body on the floor and went more or less splat herself on Cece’s porch in defeat. The was no way she was getting her in the car by herself, or answering any questions EMTs might have. And Skylar didn’t want that stuff anyways, though whether it was because health insurance was a curse on everyone, or because of some supernatural bullshit she didn’t know about yet, she had no clue. But in the end, it didn’t matter. Morgan sent off some messages and waited for everything, as usual, to get worse.

#wr skylar #wr chatzy #wr skylar chatzy #wickedswriting #friend fail #alas i had to name this all by myself #woe

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