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xellandria · 5 years ago

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I switched to demon hunter when BfA came out because my guild needed to bring the 5% magic damage debuff and I was struggling to find a class/spec I actually enjoyed playing after they removed ranged survival and didn’t give any sort of second-best substitute. It’s now been sixteen months and I’m beginning to get incredibly frustrated with my DH—I like her as an alt, but I feel incredibly constrained by her aesthetically because the pool of warglaive or warglaive-like appearances is so tiny (and isn’t likely to grow very much any time soon). It’s dumb that that’s the kind of thing that can tilt me as hard as it’s been tilting me, but I’ve basically exhausted the appearance pool at this point.

Anyway I told my raid leader that I’d give him a concrete decision on what I was doing for 8.3 by the end of the year, which means I have to figure out what, if anything, I’m going to main switch to. The big problem is that getting raid-ready at this point takes significantly more time and effort than it ought to at this point in the expansion, because there are no catch-up mechanics for the 8.2 Azerite Essences, and 8.3 isn’t actually going to help with that as far as I can tell (it’s lowering the rep requirement for two of the essences, but isn’t lowering the time or specialized currency requirements for most of the others). Artifact knowledge helps with unlocking the slots and the 3% stamina bonuses and that’s in a good position, but unfortunately that means nothing when you’ve got nothing to put into those slots in the first place.

So I need to go through and figure out what I’m doing, and since I’m going in circles in my head about it I figured I ought to actually go long form on this MFer. This is... going to be long, probably. I don’t know if it’ll even help. Let’s find out, I guess.

Shaman (elemental focus): + Hybrid (melee, ranged, healer) + One-spec hybrid (no expectation of having to know, gear up, and play both DPS specs the way a mage would) + Mentioned specifically as a thing we could use (ele) + Decent transmog pool (+KT heritage if race changed) - Still has a lot of baggage from when she was my main TBC-MoP - Resto not a fun or intuitive offspec - Condensed Life Force and Blood of the Enemy essentially required (multi-week raid + battlegrounds PvP) for ele - Turret caster (not my preferred playstyle)

Druid (all four specs viable to varying degrees): + Hybrid (melee, ranged, tank, healer) + Best possible offspecs (resto druid has a long history of being good to me in 5-man content, guardian makes sense and meshes well) + Long history and great library of fantastic transmog options with matchable weapons (both 1h and 2h) + Could also be a KT if I really wanted to give up shadowmeld (which is a v tall ask, but y’know) + Currently actually has my name on Skywall (no more having to stop and think before calling something out bc my character name isn’t the name I go by nonsense) - Balance is incredibly unintuitive to play and makes me feel real dumb real fast - Feral is also really not super great (and is melee, and severely limits mog options due to the way the legion artifact cat skins works) - We already have four in raid (one feral, two balance, one resto); would be very obvious very quickly that I’m the weakest link + Vision of Perfection isn’t as good as CLF for balance but only just barely and would at least be an acceptable stopgap while the incredibly long CLF acquisition period happened

Warlock: - Pure DPS (queues and group finder for catch-up, leveling, or maintenance going to be long with no option to play something less fun for less time investment) + Survivable in solo content (ty voidwalker) + Versatile(ish) playstyle with three specs to choose from - ... but that sort of implies that you have to know and play at least 2/3 (if not all 3) - Affliction is the ultimate multi-dot tracking spec and I’ve never found a good way to do that for me + Affliction is as mobile as casters get these days (and as close as you can get to ranged survival in the current game, fuck you blizzard) +/- Unexciting transmog options (but at least since I’ve never mained a clothie it’s all essentially new; on the flip side it also means I don’t own a lot of it already so I’d have to go out farming) - Wands are still A Thing™ - Destruction and Demonology are turret casters - CLF and Blood of the Enemy both incredibly strong (VoP is almost equal to CLF for destro)

Rogue: - Pure DPS - Not solo survivable at low gear levels (never played at high gear levels to know if that changes significantly) - Poisons (only a problem for assassination right now but they’re coming back in shadowlands bc blizzard is stupid so (: love that) - Transmog options limited by weapon type for 2/3 specs - Melee - Honestly why am I even putting them on the list I like Sylenna but I hate everything rogues stand for and would never want to main one lmao

Demon Hunter (havoc focus): + Hybrid (melee/tank) - Melee

- Incredibly limited transmog options (exclusively due to personal brain stuff since they can actually use swords and axes and fist weapons, I just don’t want to. Also because some of the DH looks look real bad with the dark skin tone my DH uses and I refuse to spend 300g to whitewash her) - RC Loot Council still thinks they can use daggers and it hurts my soul every time - New weapon mog requires multiple bonus rolls over several weeks due to literally nobody else in the raid being eligible for the drops (and praying that extensions don’t happen or you’ll get fucked like in Dazar’alor) + Vengeance is pretty okay in casual dungeon environments (even if it never feels like I have a button to press for emergencies) + Essences are not an issue (b/c she’s already put the time in)

Mage: - Pure DPS - Incredibly not-survivable in solo content at low item levels. I have never once felt safe in open world content on my mages once they hit max level. - Sharing a class with Cider strikes me as incredibly dangerous to my sanity (since he’s so tryhard about his damage) +/- Unexciting transmog options + I do have the mage MoP CM armor tho! - Wands + Best class mount by leaps and bounds + Ranged + Fire/Frost at least have some mobility options + Being in control of AI and hero so we don’t have to call for them fifty times a pull sounds real nice (except when I want to be the one not paying attention)

Priest (shadow focus): + Hybrid (ranged/healer/healer) + Disc is the only non-druid healing spec I feel at least slightly comfortable in in casual dungeons (though not anything actually challenging) - Shadow is a multidot spec and multitarget multidot is hard to keep track of - Also we have two already (including the guild leader) +/- Unexciting transmog options (exacerbated by shadowform) - Wands + Ranged

Death Knight: + Hybrid (melee/melee/tank) - Melee +/- Unexciting transmog options + Blood doesn’t seem bad as far as tanking specs go - I haven’t touched Unholy since Wrath and supposedly its top dog atm - Let’s just skip over DK for now, honestly—it doesn’t bring anything to the Xella Table that warrior doesn’t also do (except blood > prot)

Warrior: + Hybrid (melee/melee/tank) + Brings a semi-unique buff (Battle Shout for when Irken isn’t around) - Melee +/- Unexciting transmog options + Capable of stealing almost everyone else’s weapon mog, tho—v exciting! - Naha will probably crack jokes about how bad a tank I am and/or how bad my DPS is if I main a warrior again, and regardless of whether it was true or is true, it will quietly tilt me off the face of the planet. - Would need a facelift; current look works fine for an alt but isn’t versatile enough for a main (would also benefit from a name change at the same time, honestly)

Hunter: - Pure DPS + Incredibly survivable in solo content at low item levels - Only has two specs (fuck you blizzard) + Great mog options, both for default look and enough variants to keep me satisfied + Also has quiver options in at least one spec - Not as mobile as it should be + Still more mobile than pretty much any other ranged + Sporey + Ranged + BOWS

- (: - I’d probably tilt myself off the face of the planet within six months anyway, just bc I’d be constantly reminded that ranged survival doesn’t exist anymore which is why I’m playing the inferior spec(s). - Honestly I keep coming up with excuses not to go back to the hunter but I really don’t think it’d be good for me - But I really want to play her or my druid hrrrrrrrrrrrrrrgh

Paladin: + Hybrid (melee/tank/healer) + Good offspec (protadin used to be better but is still entertaining, holy is a mystery tho) - Melee + We don’t have one + Utility (blessings and whatnot) - Unintuitive “rotation” - Very expensive to main (don’t have a paladin on Skywall, only 120 paladin at all atm is Horde)

Monk: + Hybrid (melee/tank/healer) - Offspecs are both dodgy (ha, brewmaster pun) - Melee - WW isn’t especially fun to play +/- Brings a unique (de)buff, but we already have two monks in our roster so it’s less an issue of never sitting/never getting to sit than the DH is. - Very expensive to main (the other class I don’t have on Skywall atm)

#xellafail #world of warcraft #alts are hard #yeah I don't know if this has helped at all #but I'm gonna save it for now and come back later #see what classes/specs I need to put more research into or something

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aster-aspera · 4 years ago

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Don't cover yourself with thistle and weeds

CW's for this chapter: minor character death, semi-graphic descriptions of injuries, parental death, unsympathetic Remus

Relationship: romantic logince

This prompt was suggested to me by the lovely MizzMarvel on ao3

Chapter title is from thistle and weeds by Mumford and sons

This is Logan’s backstory in my superhero AU. You can find the whole thing on ao3 here or on the masterlist here

As Logan walked home that morning, he felt invincible, untouchable. All the grey days at school fell away, all the teasing and bullying and all the fear was suddenly gone.

He felt like he was soaring, floating somewhere high above his life. He was so much more than himself in that moment.

Maybe, he didn’t want this to end. However terrifying chasing after criminals was, that particular high almost made the danger worth it. He mourned the fact that it would be over soon. That they would put the gang away, file away the info they had collected and go back to school, alone in the knowledge of what they had done.

The ecstatic feeling faded when he entered his garden and noticed the front door was open. His blood ran cold.

Logan dropped his bag to the floor, frustration written in the lines of his posture.

“Hey sweetheart, how was your day?” His mother called from her office.

“It was uneventful as always and I am not in the mood to discuss it further.” He replied shortly.

His mother rounded the corner and took in his drawn face and the force with which he set his books down on the table.

She held out her arms invitingly and Logan let himself be wrapped up in her embrace, savouring the feeling of safety it gave him.

“Are the other kids giving you trouble again?” She asked.

The other kids were the least of his worries, currently. He could handle their childish taunting. His other problems were related to the more dangerous, night time aspect of his life. But he couldn’t exactly burden his mother with that.

She would worry too much and while he wouldn’t exactly blame her for that, he didn’t need her nagging atop all his worries about Roman and Remus.

So he just nodded and left it at that.

His mother didn’t pressure him to say more. She understood that he didn’t always feel like talking.

Once he was finished with his homework, he locked the door to his room and grabbed the locked box he kept hidden away at the back of his dresser. He opened it and carefully arranged the papers inside into orderly stacks.

The box contained a wealth of information, information that could likely get him in serious trouble if it got into the wrong hands. These files were the fruit of months of research and careful surveillance.

Supply routes, lists of buyers, lists of couriers, the entire ledger, even the names of the most elusive members.

This information could dismantle the entire gang and that was their goal. A few more weeks and they had all the evidence they needed.

Public scandals that would knock the leaders off their thrones, accounts of crimes and evidence so solid no judge would be able to refute it.

They would just have to drop it off at the police station and the gang’s fate would be sealed. It made Logan feel a little better whenever he looked at it. Despite the dangers, they were doing something good, something that would make this shithole of a city just a tiny bit more liveable. And hopefully, would help Remus.

Logan had to admit, he didn’t have that much faith in Roman’s plan. In theory, rolling up the drug rink so Remus lost his debts and could leave without fear of repercussions made sense.

But that theory was heavily relying on the fact that Remus even wanted to leave. He seemed way too comfortable in the criminal environment than Logan cared to see.

His phone started ringing and Logan picked it up without looking away from the supply route he was copying onto another paper.

“Hey erlenmeyer trash, you ready for tonight?”

Logan sighed at the nickname.

“Hello Roman, I told you at school I have everything prepared for tonight. I don’t see why you felt the need to call.”

“It’s just...something feels off. I’m scared something’s gonna go wrong.”

“Did something happen to make you feel like this?”

“No, not really. Well, I haven’t seen Remus in a while and he was acting weird the last time I called.”

“Remus dropping off the map or acting strange is not usually a cause for concern. He is prone to doing things like that.”

“Yeah, I know. I just…” Roman sounded uncharacteristically quiet. He must really be nervous.

“Is there anything else that caused this concern?”

“No…”

“Then we will be alright. We know what we do is dangerous, but there are no signs the gang is aware of what we are doing. We have gone undetected for months, it is improbable they would suddenly know now and not give us any sort of indication. But, if you really are worried, we can call tonight off.”

“No! No, the sooner we get this done, the better. And if you say we’ll be alright, I believe you.”

“So you’re listening to me for once. How novel.”

“Yeah, well, don’t get used to it, specs.”

Logan rolled his eyes.

“Just don’t forget the flashlights this time.”

“You’ll bring back up ones anyways. I don’t see why I bother.”

“It’s important to be prepared, definitely if you’re trying to fight crime with someone as scatterbrained as you.”

“You sound like Batman.”

“Good, that’s what I’m going for.”

“Well, caped crusader, I gotta go make dinner. See you tonight.”

“Yes. Don’t forget your scaly panties, robin.”

Roman signed off with a snort and Logan continued looking through the documents. But Roman’s words kept running through his head and his feeling of unease grew. Maybe it would be better to call it off for tonight.

No, Roman was right, they had to get this done as soon as possible. The longer they waited, the more time the gang had to discover what they were doing.

He decided to head downstairs. He had done all his prep work for tonight and sitting in his room feeling anxious wasn’t helping anyone.

Downstairs, music was playing and his mom and dad stood in the kitchen. They held each other close and were sloppily slowing along to the music, horribly off beat.

His dad noticed him standing in the door opening and beckoned him over.

They took him up in their embrace and his dad kept trying to dance, even though Logan was tripping over his own feet and his mother was laughing too much to follow along.

“Logan! Don’t tell me you don’t know how to slow.” His dad exclaimed as Logan bumped awkwardly into his mother again.

“It’s not like I’ve ever done it before. Nobody slows anymore, dad.”

“What a disgrace. My son should at least know how to slow. What if a pretty boy asks you to dance?”

Logan rolled his eyes but his dad was not to be dissuaded and grabbed him.

“Just follow along to the music.” He instructed.

They ran through the steps slowly and after a while, Logan felt himself loosen up a little. His steps became less mechanical and more like an actual dance.

He smiled as he imagined himself dancing like this with Roman, the other boy was sure to enjoy it, always one for outdated romantic gestures.

His mom laughed and then grabbed his father.

“As important as teaching our son outdated school dances is, I still need your help with dinner.”

They finished making dinner together while Logan set the table.

“ Lettuce eat.” His dad called as he set a bowl of salad down on the table and Logan groaned and hid his head in his hands.

“That pun was souper bad.” His mom groaned.

“Stop.” Logan whined.

“What, don’t you loaf my jokes?” His dad asked.

“They’re terrible.”

“I think they’re sub lime. ” His mom laughed.

Logan lay in his bed, the light from his phone lighting up his face as he waited for his parents to go to bed.

Finally Logan deemed it safe enough to leave and he slunk out of the house.

He walked through the silent neighbourhood till he reached the busier, less ideal parts of town.

There, he found Roman leaning against a wall, in a red leather jacket and heavy black boots, blending in with the crowd of people out on a friday night. Logan felt his heart stutter at the careless way Roman was slumped against the wall, his face cast in stark shadows by the neon lights from a nearby club.

He reminded Logan of the devil, of the incarnation of pride, everything about him inviting yet dangerous.

Logan stopped staring and walked over to join him, trying to lean against the wall with the same graceful abandon but only managing to look like an awkward stick.

“Hello, my dark night.” Roman said.

“You forgot the panties.”

“Oh no, what a tragedy. Guess I can’t be your Robin tonight. Maybe I can be your batwoman?”

“Batwoman’s gay, you dolt.”

“I mean, same.”

“And they’re cousins.”

“Yeah, nevermind.”

“Come on, we have a job to do.” Logan reminded him.

They stayed out all night. Skulking in the shadows and trailing couriers all over the city. Logan felt a strange thrill every time he looked over at Roman. His eyes glinted with excitement and adrenaline.

During the day, they were just teenagers, being pushed and shoved and keeping their heads down as they walked to class.

But now, they were so much more. They became a part of the city, let her bustling energy envelop them. They slipped out of their skin under the streetlights and let themselves disappear into the hubbub and danger that prowled the city streets.

They were angels bringing her justice, they were devils tearing her apart.

They hid behind dumpsters in cold alleyways and walked along the busy promenades, holding each other and pretending to get lost in the others touch, all the while keeping their eyes trained on their mission.

Finally, when the sky was turning a murky gray and Logan’s eyes felt gritty with sleep, they ended up on a bench two streets from Logan’s home. In the suburban neighbourhood, nothing was stirring and, even in the city, it was too early for even the earliest risers.

Roman curled up on the bench and stared at him. Logan stared right back, too tired to care about being seen as weird.

“Do you think it’ll work?” Roman asked, his voice breaking the quiet of the park.

“The evidence we have collected is irrefutable, as long as we take care to deliver it to the right people, there is no reason it shouldn’t.”

“Yeah, I know that. I meant Remus. You said he might not come back, even if he is relieved of his debts. What if he’s really just in it because, I don't know, he likes it? Or he just feels like he fits in there?”

“I don’t know your brother as well as you do. If you have faith in him, then I believe it will work.”

“That’s the thing, I don’t know if I have faith in him. He’s just… So different nowadays. It’s like I don’t even know him anymore.”

“Roman, it will be alright. Your brother may have made some mistakes, but it doesn’t mean he is changed forever. Sometimes people just have trouble figuring themselves out. And either way, whether he makes the right choice or not, at least we did our best.”

Roman smiled at him, his mascara smudged and the glow of the street light lighting up his frizzy hair in a halo of golden light.

“You’re a great friend, you know that right?”

“I try my best.” Logan said with a soft smile.

Roman sat up and leant forward. He reached out and gently traced his thumb over Logan’s jaw. Logan looked up into his eyes, his breath stopping somewhere along the path from his lungs to his mouth. Roman’s thumb came to a stop on his lips.

“Is this alright?” He whispered.

Logan just nodded, his usual eloquence rendered mute.

Roman moved in closer and gently, ever so gently, slotted his lips onto Logan’s.

It was soft, and sweet and when he drew back, he pressed his forehead to Logan’s with a bubbly laugh. He threaded his fingers through Logan’s hair.

Finally, after a long moment of his brain incoherently looping the last moment over and over again, he managed to regain some mobility and placed his hand over the one Roman had cupped around his cheek. He turned his head and placed a kiss on Roman’s palm.

“We’re going to change the world.” Roman breathed, ecstatic with sleep deprivation and adrenaline.

“Together.” Logan whispered back.

As Logan walked home that morning, he felt invincible, untouchable. All the grey days at school fell away, all the teasing and bullying and all the fear was suddenly gone.

He felt like he was soaring, floating somewhere high above his life. He was so much more than himself in that moment.

The ecstatic feeling faded when he entered his garden and noticed the front door was open. His blood ran cold.

Had his parents noticed his absence? He had no idea how he would explain this to them.

He entered the house quietly, trepidation burning in his stomach. Should he call out? Maybe he had just left the door open?

But Logan distinctly remembered checking it was locked before leaving.

Downstairs, all was quiet. Everything looked as it should have been except that muddy footprints tracked in from the door to the stairs.

That was disconcerting, there was a very strict ‘no shoes upstairs’ policy in the house.

Logan’s unease grew. He crept upstairs.

“Mom? Dad?” He called out hesitantly.

The house stayed dead quiet.

With a deep breath, he kept moving. He looked in his room first, as it was right next to the stairs.

The door was pulled open. Strange, Logan could swear he had closed it.

His breath hitched when he saw his room. All his drawers were pulled open. His papers were strewn out over the floor.

The box!

Logan found it upturned and shoved in a corner of the room. All the papers were gone. All the evidence they had collected missing.

Ice cold terror clenched around his heart.

They knew.

Without a second thought, he tore out of his room and ran to his parent’s room.

“Mom! Dad!” He choked off when he entered the room.

No! No, no, no, no!

This wasn't real. This was just a nightmare. He would wake up any second. This just couldn't be real.

Blood painted the walls and bedsheets. It looked like a scene from a horror movie, almost comical in its goriness. If he had seen this in a movie he would have scoffed at the overuse of fake blood.

He hesitantly stepped closer and kneeled next to his mother, who was sprawled out on the floor, her entire back a mess of torn flesh and blood and glistening things Logan didn’t want to examine too closely.

“Mom?” His voice came out waveringly.

He reached out. A pulse, he should look for a pulse. He tried to take her arm but recoiled from the blood that covered it.

It was warm and sticky and already seeping through his pants.

“Mom, wake up.” He whispered.

“Mom, I’m sorry. I’m sorry I wasn’t here, I’m sorry I stayed out all night, just please, wake up.” He begged, like apologizing would fix anything.

She still wasn't moving and neither was his dad. Somewhere in the back of his mind, Logan was aware that begging wasn’t doing him any good. He needed to call for help.

But all that came out of his mouth were more pleas.

“Mom! Stop ignoring me! Just wake up!” He yelled and then he started crying, great gasping sobs that tore all the air from his lungs.

He needed them to wake up, he needed to feel their arms around him, needed their comfort. They couldn’t be gone. Not like this, not now, not when just an hour ago, Roman had kissed him, not when outside he could hear the trucks thundering by. This wasn’t real. It just couldn’t be.

He screamed, desperate and heartbroken.

Wake up .

His eyes got caught on a flash of green on the walls and he looked up.

On the wall, painted in a bright neon green, was the symbol he had been studying for months, the gang's symbol, a sword pointed downwards, and underneath it, like an artist’s tag, a sloppy R.

Remus.

Logan felt anger curl in his gut. After everything they had done to help him, this was his answer.

He would pay.

This wasn’t the end. If they thought they could stop him with this, they were wrong. He would get his revenge, he would burn that gang to the ground and he would destroy Remus.

This was personal now.

#sander sides #sanders sides fic #logan sanders #ts logan #roman sanders #ts roman #u!remus #unsympathetic remus #logince #romantic logince #superhero au #ts superhero au #my writing #tell me if i forgot to tag something

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wolferals · 5 years ago

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🌝AIRPORTS AND SNOWSTORMS🌝

arón piper preference

-„girl hurry up!“

-you had spent the last week in Amsterdam to do some research for college and to take some pictures for the magazine your class was currently designing for a project

-and now you were at the airport waiting for your plane to Italy to take off

-it was new years eve tomorrow and you had promised to come to your friends‘ huge party she wanted to celebrate in Sicily

-you were wearing a warm coat and a scarf since it was super cold out and its been snowing for the past 2 days

-„What am I supposed to do? Fly the plane myself?“ you joked over the phone

-„whatever. I cant wait!“

-you then hung up and leaned back in your seat, looking around

-there werent many people here, probably since no one is crazy enough to fly somewhere in a snowstorm

-but the airport people had told you there wouldnt be any problems due to the snow

-you noticed two girls sitting together, talking

-they looked excited about something

-and there was an older woman talking on the phone

-she was wearing a super long red fur coat and some black lace gloves

-rich bitch you thought to yourself

-you wish

-a couple of others were sitting nearby just talking to each other or scrolling through their phones

-you then decided to listen to some music because you had about 30 minutes until boarding started

-25 minutes later you headed towards the gate but a woman stopped you and spoke:“we are so sorry, the plane cannot start right now, the storm is pretty drastic and it could cause some problems.“

-you just stared at her and then asked:“And when will the next plane to Italy go?“

-she shrugged her shoulders and replied:“I‘m sorry, we dont know that yet. But of course you will get a full refund or a rescheduled flight.“

-you stumbled back a little

-they had promised the plane would go

-and now you were stuck here

-you had already cancelled your hotel because you were sure you‘d be able to get to Italy tonight

-„is there nothing you can do?“

-she shook her head and said:“I‘m sorry, we had to cancel all flights.“

-you nodded and then slowly made your way back to your seat

-the first thing you did was call your mom

-and you asked her what to do

-she just told you to either stay at the airport or go back to the hotel in hope of getting your room back

-but since you didnt have enough money with you you couldnt

-so you just stayed there

-you hung up and leaned back in your seat

-„fuck.“ you muttered to yourself

-the other passengers had found out already as well and some were leaving the airport and some just sat down and pulled out their headphones

-after sitting there thinking about what you should do, a guy made his way up to you

-looking just as pissed off as you were feeling inside

-he sat down close to you and put in his headphones as well

-over the course of the next hour you guys kept glancing at each other every now and then

-he was cute, you thought

-he was wearing a brown jacket and a black beanie to keep his ears warm

-and he had chocolate brown eyes that you caught looking at you

-at some point he pulled out his headphones and just looked at you

-so you removed your airpods too and looked back at him

-„i like the 1975.“ he simply said

-his voice was deep and raspy

-you had a thing for such voices

-you then realized you were wearing your 1975 sweatshirt under your coat and you looked down for a second

-„thanks. Really? I thought you were more of a drake kind of guy.“

-he chuckled and then replied:“Maybe i am. But id say I‘m more of a Gregory Palencia, Kanye West kind of guy. You know i like some good rap, not that basic shit.“

-you smiled and answered:“Alright makes sense. So whats your favorite song by the 1975?“

-he laughed

-then he unexpectedly grabbed his suitcase and sat down next to you

-„honestly, i dont listen to them. I just said that because i needed a reason to talk to you.“

-you couldnt believe him

-so you scoffed at him before giving him a playful grin

-„alright Mr Kanye, great first impression check. Maybe wanna continue with some bad pick up line?“

-he grinned at you

-seeing him from so close made you realize that he had some golden specs in his brown eyes

-„actually thank you for mentioning it. I got some great ones. Did it hurt when you fell from heaven?“

-„oh god no!“ you exclaimed and looked at him in disgust

-he started laughing and replied:“wait i got an even better one. Do you believe in love at first sight or do you want me to come in again?“

-you started laughing in his face before answering:“thats funny though.“

-he smiled and started again:“Okay my last one, in my opinion the best thing a guy can say to a cute girl like you. Were your parents beavers? Cuz damn.“

-you hid your face behind your hands while laughing at his terrible jokes

-„so do you think im funny now?“ he laughed

-you turned back to him

-„u know what, yes i do.“

-he laughed with you

-„Arón, encantada.“ he held out his hand

-„Oh hola. I‘m Y/n.“ you answered

-„Hola.“ he just joked

-„so tell me, mr latino. Where were you going?“

-arón started laughing again and then said:“I‘m from Spain, not a Latino. And i was heading back to Madrid actually but since this wont happen tonight im here, like you. Where were you going Ms... where are you from?“

-you told him where you‘re from just to get a:“oh ya i figured.“ from him

-„right. You already knew huh?“

-he looked at you, grinning

-you looked back at him and he smiled

-in his eyes you could see something you hadn’t seen in a man‘s for so long

-passion, emotion, maybe even interest on a larger scale

-and he made you feel good even though you had just met him

-his eyes smiled with him

-„tell me something about you.“ he then spoke leaning back

-„what do you wanna know?“ you replied just as cocky

-„well we got time. Everything.“

-and it felt like suddenly it wasnt too bad you were stuck an airport on a cold December night

-because you met him

-you didnt know what would happen once you got a new flight but you sure as hell knew you wanted to see this guy again

#elite #cute #preference #aronpiper #omander #aronxreader #ander #preferences

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wisqcrafts · 5 years ago

Text

19 Home Quarantine Boredom Busters!

Bored? Bored??? Complain about your neighbors, your family, the government, the sky, anything else. But I never wanna hear or see anyone complain about boredom. Sorry not sorry. There's so many masterposts of things to do and free online resources. Here are just some of my dork ass ideas:

1) Free (yes FREE) online college courses from, you know, Yale, Harvard, MIT, etc:

https://www.coursera.org/

https://ocw.mit.edu/courses/find-by-topic/#cat=engineering&subcat=nuclearengineering&spec=nuclearsystemspolicyandeconomics

https://www.edx.org/school/harvardx

https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/ivy-league-free-online-courses-a0d7ae675869/?fbclid=IwAR1a9qAE6IcqmcQpPaTmXH6q63QBCA95rntnZPY0ah_U80d8u0wa9wAIYhc

What, like it's hard?

2) "Tattoo" practice - This is a personal idea of mine. Basically, you just take some non-toxic markers to draw on yourself or whoever youre in home quarantine with that wants a fake tattoo. This isn't the best time to be getting real tattoos but you can have fun seeing what youd look like with a one. If you dont really draw, you can print designs to cut into stencils.

3) Bento "stories" - I got this idea from the mom that went viral for the creative bentos she makes for her kids. I think, for even just one meal a day, it would be cute to tell a story with each bento. So if you're living with someone, they need to wait til the next day to find out what happens next! If you live alone, make them for yourself and post your bento story online.

https://www.boredpanda.com/creative-bento-food-art-samantha-lee/?utm_source=google&utm_medium=organic&utm_campaign=organic

4) Karaoke - By yourself or with others, doesn't matter, make it a party! Just search for your karaoke sobgs on Youtube. And anything is a microphone: hairbrush, remote, piece of fried chicken.... Good for you if you have one of those bluetooth mics tho.

5) Professor Day - Okay this one is really nerdy but it's more fun than it sounds. Pick a random topic, anything at all, and prepare a "lesson" or presentation on it. It could be one of your interests, an intro to a new language, or something you always wanted to learn. You can keep it to yourself, share the file online, or better: Dress the part and call your home quarantine buddies in for "class." If you live alone, teaching a class of inanimate objects would make for a silly yet informative video on your topic. Hey maybe this can catch on! Everyone can be an expert of something they're passionate about and should share their unique take on it, who knows who will be into it.

6) Miss Going Outside? Bring the experiences indoors! Like the family that made a home grocery for their grandma, you can make part of your home into something you miss from the outside world. Museum? Plenty offer free virtual tours. Cinema? If you don't have a big TV, you can make a projector for your phone with a shoebox. Camping? Hello, pillow fort and blanket tent. Roast marshmallows on the stove. Play relaxing nature sounds on your speaker. (Try the free app Relax Melodies, I love the mixing feature) Get creative with your space and what you have to make something you want. When you're really bored and missing the outdoors, Youtube or Google Streetview somewhere you wish you could go.

https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/75809/12-world-class-museums-you-can-visit-online

https://www.relaxmelodies.com/?utm_expid=.P1gqxCs8TYuGTBlAbE0VkQ.0&utm_referrer=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.google.com%2F

https://newsvideo.su/video/12560164

https://www.instructables.com/id/Build-A-Smartphone-Projector/

7) Room Makeover - No better time to do it! It's good exercise and it's a creative experience.

8) New Hair Dont Care - This is the best time to try an outrageous haircut or color since you're stuck at home. If it doesn't turn out ideal, no one has to know. If you love it, great! You can try any look you normally wouldn't wear outside or at work.

9) Safe Science Experiments - emphasis on the word SAFE. Safety first, always. There's plenty of free resources online for instructions, esp on YouTube.

10) Consume All The Free Movies, Shows, Music, Books, Audio Books and even Comics Online... it's endless! So much free... And now not so little time. You won't run out of things to watch, read, or listen to.

https://www.epubor.com/10-best-sites-for-free-comic-books.html

https://www.bettercloud.com/monitor/15-classic-video-games/

http://www.loyalbooks.com/genre/Non-fiction

https://www.digitalbook.io/search-audiobooks-ebooks.html#!///history

https://documentaryaddict.com/

11) Make a Short Film - Get creative or just be silly! Try stop motion with old toys, get yourself or someone you're home with into acting, or make your pet a star.

12) Tea Party - Be a kid again and dress up for tea... but put whatever twist you want on it! Wear an old Halloween costume or something! If you live alone, video call your friends or family to join you for tea.

13) Spa Day - All the pampering you didn't have time for when work/school wasn't from home? You have time now. DIY facial. Bubble bath. Nail art. Really soak in every little act of self love.

14) Practice drag makeup, styling, and performance for fun. Your gender or sexual preference doesn't even matter here. Its all good fun! Be a drag queen or king for a day. Lip sync for your life by yourself or make it a drag race with your home quarantine mates.

15) Mystery Day - Create a fake crime scene and have your friends/family solve it! Doesn't have to be a big mess and you don't have to make it so complicated for yourself or your home quarantine fam. You could also just write a simple mystery/riddle online for friends to solve if you live alone. You can even assign roles like accomplice, police, detective, etc. Work your brain, the goal is to kill boredom right?

16) Scrapbook - or Burn Book, Spell Book, pop-up book, revolutionary manifesto, whatever. Use anything you have as a base even if it has writing: an old phone book, something missing pages, a faded magazine, whatever. Then stick any pics, stickers, printouts, tags, wrappers, etc you want. What kind of book will it be?

17) Art Therapy - Even if you dont consider it something you're "good" at, use art to express yourself. It doesn't just have to be drawing, painting, or sculpting... You can pick up a forgotten musical instrument you may have lying around and just keep trying. Youtube is life. Countless tutorials for everything.

18) Crafts Crafts Crafts - Theres so many simple crafts to try at home. 5 Minute Crafts on Youtube and various other channels offer some great yet easy ideas. Try going about it in this order:

a) Look around your house for stuff you don't need. Set aside for craft pile or donate pile.

b) Look around again for any ways you can improve you home. You need mor storage? Is your shoe rack broken? Are you always missing something? Then search online for crafts specific to that.

c) Set up a neat work space with your craft pile and some tools you can use. Note: Never use kitchen items for crafts if you still intend to use them on food. You may be able to wash them but you can't undo any damage from crafting trial and error.

https://youtu.be/AROj7nkH2LQ

19) If you have any skill that can possibly help frontliners during this crisis, do see what you can do without risking your own health. If you can sew, donate masks or even PPE suits as there are guides online for the right patterns and materials. Even just a few pieces are helpful. If you sing, sing for our frontliners. If you write, write about them. Do your research about the situation in your town. Health workers, sanitation workers, grocery staff, and other essential workers are all putting their lives on the line. All we have to do is stay home but we can make the most of it.

https://drive.google.com/drive/mobile/folders/1-Xr-67gs2qw0o44-hy-INb89I9m-wcLD?fbclid=IwAR2q0JV6uqgDW5e_m5X5ABLv86rXdQodXh4x5fYDg9_WRsMe0hQwki9PUTk&fbclid=IwAR3Oofo8FIjzwZOoLepnGxYTrST_zV1dRf6NMtoWVRQVSuho1nnqwG5esUE

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.cnet.com/google-amp/news/coronavirus-face-mask-what-you-need-to-know-about-making-a-covering-at-home/

#own post #covidー19 #covid 19 #covid19 #covidquarantine #cdc coronavirus #coronavirus #social distancing #isolated #isolation #quarantine

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phoenixkaizen · 5 years ago

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One Step Closer

Summary: Prompt fic based off the prompt by starsandcomets from tumblr: I’m not exactly good at making up prompts so forgive me ; A; but why not do something along the lines of lonely middle school deku bumping into todoroki and gets crush-at-first sight with him? Author's Note: So DekuTodo is one of my OTPs from My Hero Academia. When I first started reading fanfiction from the fandom, I started off with reading for Shoto Todoroki than I became Erasermight/Erasermic trash and started writing. So writing this prompt is my first actual fic for the two that isn't headed by Shouta Aizawa. So anyway, this prompt, I'm taking it a bit further than what was given. It's going to lead into their time at U.A. probably including the Sports Festival and the fight with Stain. So doing a bit of research for this I found out that Shoto and Midoriya were born near the same prefecture so Todoroki went to private school and Midoriya went to public I'm guessing.

Every year the third year students from all around the prefectures get to attend a festival held at the capital of that prefecture. It was a large event that even both public and private schools attend. The festival was always held right before entrance exams for high school. It was supposed to be a way to connect with other students and even those at already in high school attended. Currently, Izuku Midoriya stood off to the side as he watched the others around him. He didn't necessarily have any friends and Kaachan was with his group. The entrance exam to U.A. was right around the corner. He really should be training right now but if he was going to be a hero, he needed to socialize in a way. This kind of festival targeted the middle school students. It was a way to show career paths, high schools to attend, make contacts outside someone's school. Izuku pushed off of the wall that he had been leaning against and headed towards the nearby booths. He passed by one that had a doctor, nurse, police man, and firefighter standing near it. It was one of the career booths. This one had to be the first responder booth. Next to it was a booth from a high school that specialized in those fields. Off to the other side held a booth for heroes and sidekicks with a U.A. and Shigetsu booth next to it. Of course the U.A. booth immediately caught his attention and he went to talk over when he felt something collide with his front. He managed to keep his balance but the person who had ran into him went crashing to the ground. Instantly, Izuku sprung into action and apologize profusely. He paused as he took a moment to take it the person on the ground. A teenage boy was dressed in a traditional black gakuran with white buttons. His hair and eyes immediately caught Izuku's attention. His right side had snow white hair split perfectly down the middle and a soft grey eye. The boy's left side had crimson red hair and a turqiouse blue eye. He had barely noticed the scar that covered the left side over his eye as he looked into the very confused but cold and distant eyes. It took Izuku only about two seconds to realize just how beautiful the other boy was. The boy's face flushed over as Izuku broke out of his stupor and held out his hand with a smile. "I'm sorry about that. I should of kept an eye on where I was going." Izuku stated. The boy surveyed his hand for a moment before reaching out and placing his hand into Izuku's. "It's fine." The boy whispered. The sound of the boy's face caused Izuku's stomach to flutter for a moment. "I should of been watching as well." Once the boy was completely off of the ground, he dusted himself off. Izuku rubbed the back of his head for a second, unsure of what to say. His face also dusting over red as the other stop and his heterochromatic eyes falling on him. "Um, I'm Izuku Midoriya." "Shoto Todoroki." A shout of Todoroki's name pulled their attention away and the other looked back to him. "I'm sorry, I've got to go." Izuku's gaze followed him as the boy moved around him and took off in the direction of the voice. The flutters came back as Todoroki's face came back to his mind. Did he seriously just get a crush with just one look? x Izuku didn't see Todoroki again until he had walked into Class 1-A. He had made it into the high school of his dreams and he had been shocked to find out that Todoroki had applied to the same place. Come to find out he was one of the four students that had gotten in on recommendations. He had been talking to Uraraka and Iida at the front of the room when he had seen him. Todoroki sat at the back of the class beside a girl with pitch black hair. Todoroki had his head leaning against his hand as he stared up to where Izuku, Uraraka, and Iida were standing. Izuku wasn't even paying attention to what his other classmates were saying as he kept his eyes on Todoroki. Todoroki wasn't even hiding the fact that he was staring right back. Izuku's attention was taken away when he heard a voice behind him and he turned around to see their teacher laying on the floor in a sleeping bag. All Izuku knew was that he was going to try and talk to him again. x Izuku wasn't sure what had gotten into him. Todoroki had pulled him to the side and had asked him if he was the secret love child of All Might. Todoroki had even told him of his own background. Yet, he couldn't tear his gaze away from Todoroki's pained filled eyes. The hatred. The loathing. Todoroki was drowning and Izuku knew it and he had to get to him somehow. He really wanted to win the match and keep going but something in him told him that Todoroki needed him more. Todoroki continuely refused to use his left side that contained his fire. The frost that had covered his body from the usage of his ice quirk was taking it's toll on his body and he knew it. Todoroki needed to know. The entire time, Todoroki kept questioning him. Why was he doing this? Izuku knew that Todoroki could never truly be himself if he continued to hold onto this hate. Yet, Todoroki still refused to listen. "IT'S YOUR QUIRK! NOT HIS!" He found himself yelling. He had watched as Todoroki's eyes widened and Izuku kept going. Shouting at the younger boy that he could never truly be the best hero if he refused to use his full power. It was almost as if time stopped for a moment as Izuku just watched the small smile that came to Todoroki's face. Suddenly, Todoroki's entire left side lit up in flames. It took a moment before Izuku could see him again. His stomach fluttering as he looked the younger boy over. He could barely hear what Todoroki was saying to him now. "I want it to. I want to be a hero." Izuku smirked. Finally. Izuku activated One for All in his legs and unbroken arm as Todoroki shot out more ice and started to use his fire. After that, he doesn't remember what happened. He lost but he couldn't find himself to care. He had gotten through to Todoroki. x Hosu City. Izuku cursed to himself that it took him to long to figure out exactly what the hero Manual was talking about. How could he not understand what was going on with his own friend. Iida was drowning and he never noticed. He didn't put it together that Iida had chosen Hosu so he could hunt down the hero killer. Now, he stood between Stain and Iida and Native. His phone was behind his back as he sent his location to the others. Hoping that maybe someone would show up and help him. "All Might was right though. Meddling when you don't need too is the essence of being a hero!" Midoriya exclaimed, clutching his fists in front of himself in a fighting stance. He watched the momentary shock come to Stain's face before the villain smirked. The villain held his blades in a ready stance as Midoriya prepared himself. He launched himself towards the Hero Killer. Doing his best to stay out of the man's line of sight. "No! If you get cut--" Iida called out but Midoriya could barely hear him as he now got behind the Hero Killer. Before Stain could turn, he threw his body up into the air. The Hero Killer noticed his absence and looked up just as Izuku came back down. He managed to get a hit in on top of Stain's head before he landed back on his feet only for his body to completely freeze in his kneeled state. He watched through the corner of his eye as Stain stood back up to his full height. His eyes widening at the sight of his blood on one of the saturated edges of the blade. So it wasn't the blade, it was his own blood. Stain raved about how Izuku was worthy despite telling him that he wasn't as good as he thought but Iida and Native were not. "No! Stop it! Get away!" The blade the man held was now leveled over Iida's head. Izuku felt the panic fill him. He couldn't move. He couldn't save them.

It was almost as if it was on cue that flames came into Izuku's field of vision. Stain jumped backwards and Izuku craned his neck to look down the alleyway. Todoroki stood off back towards the way that he had originally came into the alley. His left hand was still lit up in flames while his phone was held in his right. "Tsk. Someone else to get in my way." Stain growled. "Today has been full of distractions." "Midoriya, you need to give more details than just your location in times like this. I was almost too late to stop this guy." Todoroki said. Izuku couldn't help it as his eyes ran over Todoroki's body. The younger boy now had a new hero costume. It was no longer the white one with the ice covering his left side but instead a blue jump suit with sleeves that only went to his elbows. Blue was a good color on Todoroki and it also hugged him in all the right places. "How did you even get here?" Midoriya found himself asking, pausing for a moment as he eyes widened as his gaze settled on Todoroki's left hand. "Wait... you're using your left side." He muttered in disbelief. Even after their match at the Sports Festival, Todoroki once again found himself battling internally and didn't use his flames in his fight with Bakugou. "You need to send more than your specific location." Todoroki stated as he sent out ice forcing the Hero Killer to jump out of the way. Midoriya was amazed as both him and Native were lifted on the ground and onto the safety of the nice. The dual haired boy ran ahead and towards Stain. "You're not one to send cryptic messages so I figured you were in trouble and came to help." He sent out a blast of flames, which caused some of the ice to melt. Both Midoriya and Native slid down the ice until they were now settled on the ground behind Todoroki. "You were just what they said you were but you won't be taking anymore lives, Hero Killer." Midoriya found himself once more looking Todoroki's body up and down. His face flushed as he realized what he was doing and not only in a dangerous battle with an equally dangerous villain. Midoriya, now is not the time to be checking out your not so secret crush. You are up against Stain and this is bad. Izuku thought as he had to finally rip himself out of his head and called out, "Todoroki, you can't let that guy get your blood. I think he controls his enemies actions by swallowing it. That's how he got us!" He yelled out. "So he ingests people's blood to paralyze them. That explains the blades. All I gotta do is keep my distance." Just as Todoroki finished speaking, a blade flew in his direction and managing to slice open his cheek directly on his scar. Todoroki's eyes widened as Stain jumped forward stating, "You have good friends, Ingenium." Todoroki at last minute raised a small wall of ice to keep the villain from stabbing him in the side. Both the Hero Killer and Todoroki looked up to see Stain's sword flying up into the air above them. Todoroki gasped as Stain grabbed the front of his jacket and jerked him forward. Stain went to lick Todoroki's cheek from where the trails of blood were flowing out of the cut. Todoroki felt his heart beat fast inside his chest as he activated his left side and forced Stain to jump back and away from him. Todoroki sent out an ice wall forcing the ice to cover most of the alley way and force the villain away from him. He flipped between using his right and left side as Iida spoke behind him. "I am Ingenium. The Hero Killer is mine." Todoroki scoffed. "You're Ingenium now? The Ingenium I knew sure didn't have that look on his face. You have a dark side. Guess my family isn't the only one." Izuku groaned as he tried to force his body to move. He had to get up and help Todoroki. Todoroki would only be able to hold out for so long before Stain got the best of him. "Careful, Todoroki!" He yelled, pausing as he felt his fingers finally twitch. Todoroki sent out another ice wall, Stain cutting through it with ease with his sword. "You blocked your field of vision from an opponent that is faster than you. Rookie mistake, kid." Stain stated, putting his sword in front of him facing down as he launched himself towards the others. "Come get me than!" Todoroki exclaimed, his left arm engulfing in flames. He let out a gasp of pain as two knives pierced into the muscles of his left arm causing him to deactive his quirk. "You're good, kid," Stain paused, focusing on Native. "Unlike him." Todoroki went to move and paused at a flash of green lightning flew past him. "Midoriya!" Todoroki screamed as Midoriya and Stain collided with the wall of the alley. "I don't know why but I can move now!" Midoriya called out as the two continued on down the alley. Todoroki's eyes widened. "So he has a time limit." Native coughed. "No, that kid should have been the last to be able to move." The pro hero muttered. Midoriya fell down to the ground with Stain behind him. Todoroki's heart raced as he watched the green haired boy. He had to think quickly. "Midoriya, dodge!" The older boy jumped out of the way just in time for an line of ice going past him and after the Hero Killer. Todoroki held onto his bleeding arm as Midoriya kneeled down next to him. They quickly went over the information they knew about the Hero Killer before deducting that the effects of his quirk were based off blood type. Todoroki and Midoriya talked for a moment. Contemplating if they could grab the two still frozen behind them and run or stall. Stain had managed to dodge both Todoroki's ice and fire. He was too fast for them to be able to escape with the two in tow. Midoriya looked at Todoroki's bloodied arm before looking back to the villain. "No, you're losing to much blood. Let me distract him and you can help me from back here." Midoriya stated. Todoroki looked through the corner of his eye. His stomach filling with butterflies at the determined look on Midoriya's face. “You are wanting to take a big risk." He paused. If Midoriya thought that they could do this, he was behind him on it. "Let's do it. We can protect them."

Midoriya launched himself back down the alley way as Todoroki sent out another barrage of ice. They could do this. x They had done it. They had defeated the Hero Killer. Iida had managed to stand back up and joined in the fight. It had been Iida and Midoriya who made the final blows. They had just been released from the hospital and Todoroki and Midoriya stood in front of the hospital, waiting for the pro heroes they were interning with to arrive. Iida had already left with Manual so it just left the two of them. The two sat in silence for a moment but Midoriya took a glance over at Todoroki as he stared up at the clouds. Todoroki had definitely changed since that first day that Midoriya had met him. Oddly enough, he could see it in the younger teen's eyes. They were no longer the cold, distant look anymore. Now they held a shine and emotion flowed through them. Despite being angry, it was clear to him that Todoroki was content. "Hey, Todoroki." Midoriya whispered. Todoroki turned to look at him, causing the breath to catch in Midoriya's throat once again. Todoroki was still absolutely breath taking. The green haired boy found himself leaning in until his lips connected with another set of soft lips. Todoroki's eyes went wide and he tensed for a moment before he relaxed against Midoriya. Midoriya's hands found their way to the younger's hips while Todoroki snaked his arms around the other's neck. A second later, Midoriya pulled away and his face turned red. Todoroki's cheeks were dusted lightly over as he blinked. "Um, sorry... I've been wanting to do that since the first day I met you." Midoriya whispered. Todoroki smiled softly. "Don't apologize." He looked away bashfully, his face getting redder by the second. "I have too."

#dekutodo #tododeku #shoto todoroki #shouto todoroki #izuku midoriya #deku #this is an attempt at fluff #i can't write fluff #i tried #prompt fill #prompt fic

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thealphabetmurders · 6 years ago

Note

... i heard you wanted prompts? Would Analogical, admitting their feelings in the most awkward way possible, after literally everyone else around them knowing for like e v e r, work maybe? If you need/want more, maybe Human!au, 20-something years old, met in college? You can use as much or as little as you want, I just wanted you to have a decent amount to start with and pick from

Of course, anon, I am happy to oblige.

“Hold the elevator!” Logan looked up from his phone and held out an arm, reopening the doors for the running figure. He smiled slightly when he saw a dash of purple streaking across the hall towards him.

Virgil reached the elevator, his hands on his knees panting as he hit the button for the ground floor. He looked up at the other figure, “Oh. Hey Lo,”

---

“Excuse me. Sir!” Virgil turned around to see a semi-familiar face. Dark hair, black glasses, intelligent eyes. “You dropped these,” He held out his hand, dangling a pair of earbuds from it.

Virgil looked down at his pocket to see a small hole, one he would have to sew over. He took the earbuds from his hand, “Oh. Uh, thanks, I guess,” He shoved them back into his pocket.

“You are welcome,” And they walked away.

---

“How much cardio do you sanction into your exercise, Virgil?” Logan asked, lazily hitting the close door elevator button.

“Huh?” Virgil asked, still winded.

Logan shrugged, smoothing back his hair, “I am simply asking because a short run down a hall should not have exhausted you as such,”

Virgil scoffed, “Maybe after we graduate, you can come up with an exercise plan with me,”

Logan nodded, smiling at Virgil once again, “Did you look over the lease with Patton? We need to sign it in 2 weeks if we are going to get that loft by graduation,”

Virgil shook his head, “And I think I worry too much,” Logan quirked up an eyebrow and Virgil rolled his eyes, “Yes, I did. I was going to sign it later this week. I have another interview with that web company. That is where I am heading right now,”

Logan scanned Virgil up and down, the other feeling slightly insecure under his gaze, “You are going to an interview… In that?”

“Yes, I know. But I wore business casual to my initial interview and the woman interviewing me said to ‘come as I am’, and she was wearing a sweatshirt. I guess that is how they are,”

Logan adjusted his glasses and scoffed, “What has this economy come to?”

The elevator began to slow down and then stopped. Virgil adjusted the strings on his hoodie and Logan pulled his satchel up further on his shoulder, waiting for the doors to open. The elevator began moving slowly once again, and Logan narrowed his eyes and looked at Virgil. Then, the carriage began shaking and the lights were flickering. The buttons on the elevator lit up and flashes randomly. Logan and Virgil made their way to separate corners of the room, Logan standing up and steadying himself along the edges and Virgil lost balance and fell into the corner. The malfunctioning was something that neither of them were privy to before, both of them at a loss for what to do. Then, it stopped, and the power went out.

“So, for this project, you will be working in pairs. Come up to me by the end of class and tell me who you will be working with and what medium your presentation will be in.” The level 100 teacher explained to the large lecture hall. She sat down behind her computer and pulled up an Excel sheet with names and project types.

Virgil never bothered to make any friends. He figured the people who he would find with common interests and compatible personality types would not be in his core classes, but rather the ones he chooses to take. He frantically looked around, hoping to find someone to pair up with. It seemed as though many people were with him and didn’t bother to introduce themselves, and just paired up with people sat around them.

“Excuse me,” He felt a tap on his shoulder and turned around to the person facing up and diagonal to him, “Would you care to be partners?”

“Sure,”

The pair exchanged phone numbers. Logan was the name he gave and the two told their professor and said that they would be doing a video presentation with voice overs.

“So, when would you care to meet up and research and record?” Logan asked Virgil as they walked out of class.

He shrugged, “This Thursday works for me. We can meet at the library or in my dorm?”

Logan pondered for a moment, blinking rapidly, “If it is alright, we can meet up in your dorm. Based of my knowledge of the library, the most busy time is on Thursday nights. It may be difficult to record with a lot of outside stimulants,”

Virgil nodded, understanding Logan’s line of thinking, “Okay, we meet up at my dorm at around…” He trailed off, waiting for the other man to provide him a time.

“4 o’clock?” Virgil nodded and Logan pulled out a small planner from his jacket pocket, writing down the date. “Fantastic. Just be sure to text me your dorm hall and number. Are we clear on the plan?”

Virgil made an ‘ok’ sign with his fingers, “Crystal,”

Logan tentatively moved his arm around Virgil. His breathing was uneven and ragged. He’s covering his ears, despite there being no noise. His hands are covered with his hoodie sleeves, using it as a security blanket. Virgil was on the verge of a panic attack.

“Virgil. Virgil, are you with me? Can you hear me?” Logan asked, and Virgil nodded, despite his head being in his knees, “Virgil, you know the drill, okay? I need you to breathe with me. I need you to look at me, Virgil, and breathe,”

“Roman, do you mind if we reschedule our tutoring session from Monday to Tuesday?”

Roman shrugged, typing away at his computer, “Whatever you say, Specs, you are the one helping me,”

Logan sighed, pulling out his planner, “Fantastic. That was the day I was going to take Virgil to see those action movies he is so fond of,”

Roman rolled his eyes, “I am not going to take away your serious business card if you admit you are a fan of Marvel,”

Logan shrugged, “Virgil is more privy to those movies than I, but I do not mind them for entertainment value, nor do I mind Virgil’s company whilst watching them,”

Roman hummed in response and Logan began sorting and folding his laundry. His button ups neatly folded on one end of the bed and his dress pants that needed to be pressed on the other side. Once finished, he dug his phone out from the pile of laundry it was trapped under, sending Virgil a confirmation text for their plans. He smiled when his phone buzzed with an array of emojis. He was unaware of just how large his grin was, or that Roman stopped typing to look at Logan’s reaction to the mobile exchange.

“So,” Roman began, “As your best friend and roommate, I feel as though I have the right to meet this mysterious emo boyfriend of yours,”

Logan’s blood ran cold as he spun around to look at Roman, confusion and nerves in his eyes, “Boyfriend? Virgil’s not- what- no we don’t do- not, you have it all wrong. Virgil and I are not - no not romantically involved?”

Roman could only stare as his normally calm and collected roommate stumbled and struggled to form a complete sentence. “You two are just consistently together and you always bring him up, Logan. Are you lying to me?”

“No, no Roman. I am not. There is nothing- no- nothing going on,” Logan ran his hands through his hair out of frustration and grabbed his pants from the bed, “I have to do more laundry but just- don’t bring this up again. Especially not if Virgil is here,”

Logan rushed from the room, leaving Roman worried and confused.

“Yes, Logan Arias and Virgil Kosa. Yes, the elevator just stopped. Will they? Okay, thank you,” Logan hung up the emergency phone and was fumbling with something in the corner that he could not quite see. Suddenly, the carriage was dimly lit once again, “Found the emergency lights,”

Virgil ran his hands through his hair and unzipped his hoodie, “How long did they say it was going to be?”

Logan shook his head, “Approximately two hours, maybe more,” He sulked next to Virgil and slid down the wall next to him. He loosened his black tie and unbuttoned the top button from his dress shirt. Virgil swallowed thickly, wondering how it was legal to be that hot, “We are going to be stuck here a while.

“I don’t see what the big deal is, kiddo,” Patton hugged his dog pillow pet as Virgil continued to pace around their dorm room.

“See, that’s the thing, Patton! You do not see the big deal, and you won’t. Logan and I have been friends now for what, a year, and now I just feel…. Odd,”

Patton let out an amused chuckle, putting his circular glasses on the top of his head, “Odd? Do you want elaborate?”

Virgil threw his arm in the air, “I couldn’t if I wanted to Pat. I couldn’t if I wanted to. Maybe, if I had a better hold on my feelings I could, but I can’t. It doesn’t make sense. Nothing makes sense,”

Patton bit his lip. He got up and went to their full length mirror and began inspecting his honey colored curls in the mirror, “Well V, I think I have an idea as to what could be bothering you, but you may not like what I have to say,” He ruffled his hair a bit as Virgil stared at the back of his head.

“What, what is it?”

Patton sighed, “You know, you say you are confused about your feelings, but deep down, I am pretty sure you know what is going on. It is pretty easy,”

Virgil stood in akimbo, staring at Patton, “No, it is not, it is never easy.”

Patton turned around and looked at Virgil, “Okay, right now, without thinking. Tell me how you feel about Logan.” Virgil opened his mouth and then closed it again, “No, right now, go!”

Virgil sputtered, “I- I..”

“I missed my interview,” Virgil clicked off his phone as the time passed to 3:01.

Logan turned towards him, “Did you call or text?”

He rolled his eyes, “Yea, I sent them an email and they said ‘it’s cool’ and we would reschedule, but I am not so sure,”

“Not so sure about what?” Logan quipped.

“About the company, L,” Virgil groaned and took of his hoodie, throwing it in the corner of the room, “As much as a strict work environment gives me anxiety, I also think I need the structure. Like… They are almost too okay with everything, I can’t hold myself accountable. Well, in most instances I can, but I don’t want to fall into a habit of not holding myself- What I am trying to say is-”

“Virgil,” Logan said cooly, and placed a hand onto Virgil’s wrist, stopping his movement and frantic hand gestures, “I understand what you are trying to say,”

Virgil’s stomach flipped over and he look at Logan’s beautiful silvery eyes, “You do?”

Logan gave a small smile, “Always,”

“I want to die,” Virgil said as they sat on Logan’s small twin. Logan turned to look at Virgil who was working furiously on an midterm paper. Logan knew how much Virgil despised American History. Logan knew how much Virgil hated writing essays. Logan knows, he always has.

He reached out his hand and Virgil was typing and lightly grabbed onto his wrist to still the motion. Logan felt shocks of electricity move up and down his arms at the simple act, but looked at Virgil in the eyes. They were filled with exhaustion and morose and malcontent. But, also filled with confusion and affection and l-

“C’mon. We are going to watch a movie, and then we are going to bed, you may take Roman’s bed tonight because he is at a castmate’s house tonight. We will wake up in the morning early and finish our work. If we continue at the rate we are, we are going to burn out.” Logan used his other hand to pull the laptop away from Virgil and close it, along with his own. He used his right hand to turn to Netflix, and never let go of Virgil’s wrist. Not once. Not ever. Virgil did not make it to Roman’s bed. Logan did not wake them up early in the morning.

“I do not want to graduate,” Logan said, throwing his bag against the wall, checking his watch. 1 hour, 23 minutes, 18 seconds.

“Why?” Virgil said, looking at Logan, “We were just texting about how higher education is inherently classist,”

Logan shrugged, “I am not good at anything that is not school,”

Virgil felt a pang in his chest as he looked over Logan, staring forward at the elevator doors, “What?”

“Do not fret, V, this is not meant to turn into a pity party for me,” Logan lamented, “I do not have the social skills to make acquaintances easily. I am only friends with Roman and Patton by accident. I am not artistically inclined and am often cold towards other, creating an unpleasant work environment for everyone around me. School is the only place I excel in… Without it…” Logan trailed off.

Virgil shook his head in disbelief, “I thought you were supposed to be the smart one of us,”

Logan laughed bitterly, “Chalk that up to something else I can’t do,” He made a check mark motion weakly with his finger and rubbed his eyes beginning to fill with moisture and his face already caked in a thin layer of sweat.

“Logan, stop that. Listen to me. You are the smartest, most talented, most hard working person I know. You are going to excel in anything you do. I know you will. I will be there right next to you, okay, L? You can do anything you set your mind to, I believe in you,”

“I can’t do anything,” Logan muttered to himself.

“What do you know about emotions that I don’t, Roman?” Logan surmised.

“Uh, how to feel them?” Roman sassed, Logan looked back with a bored expression, “I am just saying, Specs, you cannot see it but Virgil looks at you the way you look at him,”

“Exhausted with his emo behavior, I highly doubt that,”

“Love, Logan,” Roman got up from his bed and began spinning Logan in his chair, “He looks at you and could not be more in love. How long has it been what, 3 years,”

Logan nodded, “If Virgil had these feelings for me, wouldn’t he have disclosed them?”

“Ugh, obviously not. Virgil cannot even place an order in the McDonald’s drive thru, you think he is going to be vulnerable and risk is most important relationship in the hopes of courtship, no sire,” Roman exaggerated, “You are going to have to be the one to make the first move,”

Logan shook his head, “No, I will not. I don't even know if I have romantic feelings for Virgil,”

Roman sighed, “Logan, buddy, denying your feelings does not stop you from feeling them,” Logan swallowed and looked around the room and Roman continued, “That has never worked before, and it is obvious that this, is not going away,”

“Virgil,” Logan said, looking at his watch. 2 hours, 39 minutes, and 45 seconds, “There is something I must tell you. I do not believe that this is the best time. In fact, I know it is not, but I am dehydrated, hungry, upset, and you are here,”

“Logan, is everything okay?” Virgil sat back down after stretching his legs, moving in close, touching each other, arm to arms.

“No, not it is not. I have kept this… this… feeling inside me. Building up and bubbling up for almost 3 years. I cannot do it any longer. I must- I have to,” Logan slurred over his words, groaning and gripping his hair, and Virgil placed a hand on his knee, slowly rubbing his thumb over it. Logan stopped his hand with his and laced their fingers together and they locked eyes. Logan’s smoky color staring back into Virgil’s amber, “Virgil… I-”

“Virgil, it has been 3 years, I can’t let this go on any longer,” Patton said, taking back the manila folder after Virgil read over it, “I mean, the four of us are moving in together, it is going to come out eventually,” Patton sat down next to Virgil, who was in the process of tying his shoes, “What is going on?”

Virgil finished one shoe, and sighed, “I dunno Pat. You keep talking about how Logan is ‘head over heels’ and how his ‘heart is mine’, but I really don’t see. He is just- he is so hard to read, I-”

“Virgil it is natural to be scared,” Patton said, “But, you have been scared for years on end now. And you may not see it but I cannot even recreate the love in that boy’s eyes when he sees you,”

Virgil smiled softly, “I just- I know I am going to pick the wrong time. I am going to say something when he is in a bad mood, or focused on school work, or his granddad just died. Nothing I do is going to be right,”

“Well,” Patton thought for a moment, “Just tell him the next time you seem him. No matter what happens, good or bad, there is no gift like the present,”

Virgil sighed and tied his other shoe, “That’s a nice thought Patton, I may try that. Probably not, but, hey, who knows,” Virgil grabbed his coat from his bed and looked at his phone, “Oh shit, I am gonna be late.” He threw open the door and began running down the hall.

Patton went out of the room and yelled after him, “Good luck with your interview!”

“I- I-” Logan stared, but he couldn’t help but get cold feet. Staring into Virgil beautiful eyes, his perfectly chiseled jaw, lovely smile, gorgeous laugh, amazing brain, wonderful humor, fantastic friend.- how could someone as incredible as Virgil love him?

Logan screwed up his eyes tight, he saw dots dancing in his vision, “I love you,” He heard himself say, but, for some reason, he also heard that from Virgil. He opened his eyes to see Virgil wide-eyed and mouth agape.

“You what?” Logan asked in disbelief.

Virgil chuckled, “I love you, Logan. I love you. I love how smart you are, how caring you are. How you always know how to help me through anything I am going through. How you are always planning and prepared for anything and everything. You keep me grounded and don’t let my anxiety run my life anymore. Hell, you are the reason I am bold enough to make this confession. I love everything about you Logan. I love everything I know, and I love everything that is a mystery, ready to uncover. You are my moon and stars, Logan, I don’t want anyone but you,”

Logan mouth gaped open and closed. There was so much he wanted to say. He wanted to talk about how talented Virgil was at art and graphic design. How much he loves Virgil’s wit and sass and his sense of humor. How he loves that no matter what kind of mood he is in, he can always make Logan laugh. How he lets Logan go on and on about topics he may not care about, but will listen because they are important. How Virgil is Logan’s world and how he helped him through some tough, dark times. But, his brain stopped connecting to his mouth, so what came out instead was: “Virgil - I - you- important- love,” Logan cursed at his tongue which made Virgil laugh.

“God, you are a nerd,” Virgil was smiling and he leaned in close to Logan. He brushed a stray hair out of Logan’s face and connected their lips for an instant. The kiss was soft and chaste. They both pulled away and said nothing for a few moments, until Virgil spoke up, “That kiss was a bit gross, right?”

Logan let out a sigh of relief, “I did not want to say anything and ruin the mood, but yes, we are both drenched in sweat,”

After 3 hours 16 minutes and 58 seconds, the two were finally rescued from the elevator. They made their way out into the cool spring air holding hands and walked to a nearby bench to cool off. After about 20 minutes of sitting, Logan taps Virgil and initiates a second first kiss. This one had warm passion to it. It was filled with nothing but love. Pure, unfiltered love between best friends, love birds, partners, and soulmates.

Virgil turns to walk away and pulls out his phone:

Virgil: hey Pat, some guy just saved me $10 by giving my earbuds back to me that fell out of my pocket.

Patton: oh nice! :D

Virgil: He truly is my guardian angel.

“How was Trig, Logan?” Roman asked after Logan got back to their dorm.

“It was adequate, what you would expect from a level 100 class. I did give an attractive guy back his headphones today after he dropped them,”

Roman raised an eyebrow, “Attractive, huh?”

Logan nodded, “Yes, he was objectively stunning. I do hope I get to see him again,”

I really hope you like this, anon. I made this way longer than I intended.

Send me prompts.

#thomas sanders #sanders sides #sanders sides fic #analogical #roman sanders #patton sanders #logan sanders #virgil sanders #my writing

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the-roanoke-society · 5 years ago

Note

Tell us about a mission that our Golden Girl, Seraphim, failed

once upon a time, two old friends stood side-by-side, looking out from a window on a snowy new york city.

i—have no had a very good month. and a lot of that negativity got channeled into this. there are details of child death, explicit violence, gore, forced self-harm and gun violence below the cut. proceed with caution.

writing music sampler is over here if you’re curious.

seraphim glanced back over her shoulder in time to to see whiskey poking his head through the conference room door. the familiar smell of bourbon, polished wood and old paper hit him right in the face. “… oh.” she watched one of his arms drop, relaxed. “morgan, uh. hey.”

“were you going to attack me?” she sounded exhausted. if the rumors whiskey had heard were true, then he wasn’t surprised.

his lasso stayed faithfully coiled on his belt as he came in, closing the door behind him. “i didn’t think anyone was up here. especially not you. did ginger clear you already?”

seraphim had her arms crossed her chest. he could see cotton bandages still wrapped around her forearms as they dove under the sleeves of her white button-up, one pad taped up next to her left eye. but her hair was down, over—

“yeah. as soon as they were sure i wasn’t going to die and the gel had worked.”

“and they did the uh—the test?”

seraphim turned away from him, sighing. he stepped closer to her as she answered, softly: ��yes. ging—had a picture of merlin and i. did the trick.” she laughed. it was a joyless sound. “better than doing the sound test with that sword, i guess. don’t get me wrong, still traumatizing even with the picture. but i guess traumatizing in a way that i was… better equipped to handle, at the time.”

“that was your first time with the gel. does the quartermaster know that—you—?”

“no.” whiskey was careful to keep his gaze forward as seraphim’s voice cracked. he knew her well enough. instead, he focused on the snow. it wasn’t the first one of the season, but it was the thickest they’d seen so far. the flakes were huge, falling from a sky that was a single shade of slate grey. “but i’ll have to eventually.”

but that was when she lifted her hair. there was a medium-sized scar, running behind her ear. ginger had shaved a portion of her head but left enough to cover it, like a sheet. the mark was still raw, red, angry. and he winced as he realized that there was a slight dent. they would’ve had to have reconstructed part of her skull. seraphim swallowed. she still didn’t look at him. “i don’t think i’ll be able to hide this.”

“jesus, morgan.”

“it’s—it’s fine. it’s fine.” a hand went to her mouth and he could hear her shaky inhales and exhales. “i’m okay.”

“you sure?”

“mhmm.”

“… morgan.”

“yes, jack.”

“… what happened.”

she let out a sob and he felt the blood leave his face. the regret was immediate and acute, but then, she began, “i—i lost someone. in the worst way. the youngest i ever have.”

“how ol—“

“ten months.”

whiskey breath out a sharp breath. okay. so the rumors weren’t true. the real story was much worse.

“look, i’m sure it wasn’t yo—“

“it was.” her answer was so firm it startled him, and when he looked at her, her expression was… there was just a sheer veneer over barely-contained grief. one tear escaped her eye and she rubbed it away roughly, her hand shaking.

“walk me through it, then. talk to me.”

for a moment, she said nothing, but then she nodded. “it—it was a normal resident call. normal as can be, anyway. something had gotten inside of the hensons’ daughter. her name—“ a cough covering up a much sadder sound. “—her name was olivia. olivia kate henson.”

whiskey could barely standing to listen to her speak. he knew seraphim’s field record wasn’t perfect—no agent could boast of a hundred percent success rate, not in roanoke, not in statesman, and not in kingsman. but when it was a roanoke-flavored failure, the consequences tended to be a bit more horrific.

“i… underestimated the entity that i was dealing with. it’s very, very unusual for people that young to become hosts. demons generally want a body that can y’know, walk. form complete sentences. all that shit. something they can use. so my initial impression was that it was just an low-class imp. something that maybe had done it on accident, even. so those were the tools i brought with me. that was… that was my mindset.”

seraphim opened her mouth to speak and then convulsed. he couldn’t tell if she’d choked back a cry or was trying not to be sick. whiskey reached out and put one hand on her shoulder, but he didn’t take a step closer. seraphim, likewise, stayed where she was.

that wasn’t who they were anymore.

the next part came slowly, measured. “it was a soldier demon. the ones that were john’s specialty.” she started shaking her head, her brows knit together, “we never see those in children, in babies, jack, not ever. this seemed like it was supposed to be part of a bigger trap or something. i’ll have a lot of research to do when i get—when i go home. something else was at play here.”

seraphim sniffed. “but that doesn’t take away the fact that that demon still had to be taken out and deported. that doesn't take away from the fact that i was unprepared, and so when i… when i had to…” hands in her hair. whiskey felt pops as she bent forward, her spine curving underneath an invisible weight. “… her body was too small.” that was all she said.

whiskey brushed his thumb in one reassuring stroke before taking his hand away. “you aren’t a medium. there was no way you could have known.”

she snorted. “… that should have been the end of it.” her tone was a resigned anger. “i should have simply done a circle there, sent that thing back into whatever dark pit it crawled out of. but instead.” she pursed her lips together, jaw clenching. “i was too busy being mortified, mrs. henson wouldn’t stop screaming, mr. henson had fainted in a corner, and before i had a chance to do anything actually useful—it manifested onto this plane.”

seraphim uncrossed her arms, lifting them. whiskey could see red flecks in jagged patterns. “it launched itself at me. tried to turn my forearms into spaghetti noodles. get me to bleed out while i was still standing. it would’ve been deserved.”

“morgan—“

“i fought with it through the house.” she continued. turning her hands over to look at her knuckles. they were bruised and scabbed. “and it shoved me through their front door and onto the street. at high noon. in a busy brownstone neighborhood.”

she laced her fingers together, putting them behind her head. “so of course i had a lovely message from lilith on my specs when ginger finally let me have them. how i’d come so close to compromising our organization, how they had to send a retcon group and warp the memories of over thirty people, half of which weren’t even fourteen yet.” a heavy sigh. she let her arms flop to her sides. “… she didn’t even mention the baby. not once.”

whiskey watched her step up closer to the window. she put one palm up against the glass, and a silhouette of fog blossomed around her fingers. “i forget how fragile it all is. you and i are standing right here, routinely between them—“ she tapped on the glass “—and everything they don’t know that wants to kill them. or control them. or some godawful third thing. the nature of our work is both necessary and damned to exist in the weird grey area of internet conspiracy material.”

“do you ever wish you could go back?” he asked gently. “y’know, take the blue pill?”

“… sometimes.” seraphim answered honestly. “but i don’t think i could now. after everything. could you?”

whiskey thought of jenny—then lauren. the blur of bullets, trauma and blood that had led him to where he was standing. it hadn’t been an easy path. but it’d been the one he walked. he’d never want those steps wasted. “… no. no i don’t think i could either.”

seraphim didn’t start when he went to move her hair, staring at her scar. “so a demon… did this?”

she leaned away from his touch. “no.” she smiled, brokenly. “i did.”

“… what?”

“as soon as i got some solid footing, i pinned it down in the middle of the street. i had it right where i wanted it. but it—it called out.”

“called out? like—in english?”

“no, it was more like a—not a distress call, more like it saw something else and was trying to call it closer. and seventh strike of the day—i glanced up to try to see if there was something else i needed to take care of.”

whiskey felt his mouth go dry. “when you turned back around…”

“i had my own gun pointing straight at my face.” she met his eyes. he’d never seen her look so haunted. “i tried to get out of the way, but—“ she wiped at her eyes, her nose. “it went off. i don’t—i don’t remember anything after that. the next thing i knew i was waking up in medical with ginger over me. said i’d been out for a solid day.” she tried to grin. “bet they worked that into the cover. some poor methed-out woman finally snapped and tried to blow her brains out in broad daylight where everyone could see…”

“morgan, i’m—“

“jack i killed someone’s daughter.”

“you are not a murderer.”

“i was a proxy.”

“look at me.” he grabbed her by the biceps, turning her. she didn’t fight him, and it dawned on him that if she was still recovering from a bullet to the brain, she probably wasn’t strong enough to do much.

and her face crumpled as he spoke. “you fucked up. and you know what that means? it means you’re a hundred percent, certified bonafide human. which means that you are always going to have the potential for mistakes, and for failure, and when it happens it sucks. it will always suck. and you can let it stop you, or you can learn from it. this is just—how it is. for the people like us.” his grip loosened. “our fuck-ups tend to be on a more viscous scale.”

he brushed her hair back, as he had before, long ago. but it was different now. her eyes dropped to the floor. “i know… i know. i sent a message to lilith, asking her to send lady to the henson house. not sure if it’ll actually do anything if i don’t have a job.”

“i think we both know that if lilith wanted to fire you—she wouldn’t have called us.”

“true.” seraphim shivered as whiskey let her go, bringing her arms up in an x over her chest. “she would’ve let me die.”

“look… things look a little bleak right now. just take it easy for a few days. ging’ll probably want to keep you around for at least a little bit, make sure you don’t have any side effects from the gel. and when you get home, then lilith, well—”

seraphim lifted a hand to press on a temple. “god, i don’t know how i’m going to handle this debriefing… i don’t know how i’m going to tell hamish…”

“he worked with recruits for kingsman, right? i don’t think you’ll be the first or last person that has to come to him with a mistake. he’ll understand.”

“i’m glad one of us is sure.”

“what, you think he’ll leave you when he finds out?”

she answered without skipping a beat. “i always think he’ll leave me.”

“well, that sounds healthy.”

seraphim lightly touched at the pink forming around her eyes. “i’m not a hundred percent sure you’re the right person i should be talking about this with, but i am a hundred percent sure i’ve heard you tell me multiple times that you don’t deserve lauren and if she had any sense she’d find someone better.”

whiskey—didn’t immediately have a response to that.

“that’s what i thought.” seraphim turned away from the window, walking up to the conference table. her eyes flickered to champ’s liquor and decanter once, but she left it. drinking so soon after being exposed to alpha-gel was probably not the best idea. she leaned back, letting the hard edge of the table press into her back. the pain was grounding.

seraphim buried her face in her hands. “… this wouldn’t have happened if john was there. he’d be so disappointed if he knew.”

“john can go eat satan’s dick for all i care.”

“don’t say things like that.“

“you’re telling me merlin didn’t have that same reaction when you talked to him about that son of a bitch?”

seraphim stayed silent. just looking at him. it took him a second, and then: “… he doesn’t know.”

“i—am working on it.”

whiskey opened his mouth, but when he saw her face all his anger left him.

this wasn’t the time.

instead, he strode over to the decanter, pouring two glasses of the statesman trademark bourbon. seraphim watched him. “i don’t know if ginger would want me to—“

“do you want to?”

her shoulders sagged. “… yeah.”

“alright then.”

seraphim took the glass he offered with a grip that was still a little unsteady, looking at the liquid amber. “should we toast? that’s what you’re supposed to do, right?”

“sure. always something to celebrate.” whiskey answered, lifting his drink. “to life after failure?”

and seraphim smiled. it was thin, but it was genuine. her voice was thick when she spoke again: “to olivia.”

clink.

once upon a time, two old friends stood side-by-side, looking out from a window on a snowy new york city.

“so—have you proposed yet?”

“… you could say i’m working on it.”

#agent seraphim #agent whiskey #(background lies & lessons.)#(and background hymns & holograms.)#the things we carry #once upon a time in new york

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secretsfromwholecloth · 5 years ago

Text

Dragon Age II, day 5.

The post-coital arm stroking in Merrill’s romance cutscene, reblog if you agree.

The sweetness. The realism. That is a thing I have done to people.

The more characters I meet with amazing voices provided by VAs who are actually from the relevant country, the more inexplicable the casting of Zevran becomes.

When I do an RPG series playthrough like this, I research and plan out my class and romance choices to experience a nice cross-section of stuff that appeals to me. (My first four Watchers in Pillars were the result of just this sort of planning to make sure I bagged the set of romances and faction alliances without making myself look cis or homophobic. I get twitchy about these things, OK?) For this run, I read up on my romance options and picked out Alistair, Merrill, and Blackwall, constructing the rest from there. Alistair was the obvious choice because he’s cute and appealing, of course. With Blackwall it became obvious very quickly that I was seeing myself in him; I’ve got a long speech on that prepared that I’ll give you when I actually meet him. I thought I’d picked Merrill because she was adorable, but...”lonely person researches the ancient past of their culture as a way of connecting with them even though the present-day community wants no part of them”? I, uh, may know something about that. Oh, Merrill. I hereby decree that Taran is giving you a shit-ton more hugs somewhere just offscreen.

So, Merrill, Varric, and Sten are writer-siblings, huh? Clearly madame loves me and wants me to be happy, because she’s taken very, very good care of me.

I love it when writers don’t hate me, whether for being fat, AFAB, non-binary, aro and/or ace-spec, a rape survivor, mentally ill, or just generally kind of weird and terrible. The Deadfire team won my undying loyalty that way, and Ms. Kirby has now done the same.

Hey, Isabela, get back here, I hadn’t had your Questioning Beliefs conversation yet!

Oop, time to fight some Qunari.

Stroud? The Grey Wardens are here? Thanks, guys!

BETHANYYYY *sniff*

Honestly, Taran would be having a much easier time of the whole “losing pretty much his entire family” thing if the last non-Gamlen relative standing didn’t resent him so much for the whole “packing her off to the Wardens” thing.

That’s...a lot of hostile Qunari. Welp. Let’s do this.

And now, on to Act 3. Meredith, you’re terrible.

Oh hello, Delilah Howe. Why, yes, I’d love to go looking for your brother. :D :D :D

Oh, Nathaniel, I’ve missed you. I think Anders has missed you, too. Hm, you sound a little off, but I suppose you’re in rough shape right now.

*sniff* Bethany!

Nate, Bethany, you two take care of each other. You can bond over your messed-up families and how fucked up everything got because of the Blight. Oh, hey, get Nate to tell you some stories about her majesty the Warden-Commander, he’s got some good ones. (Oghren’s got better ones from the Blight, assuming he’s still alive, but he’s best kept away from pretty young women for the sake of everyone’s sanity. Maybe get those second-hand from someone less...sexual-harass-y.)

Honestly, Taran doesn’t even have the energy to misread the situation and give Nate a threatening speech about his intentions. Just...take care of his sister, buddy. Because he apparently can’t, and you’ll never, ever convince him that she doesn’t need a big brother to protect her.

(As far as shipping Nate/Bethany, I find I rather like it. But we’re waiting until after this happens to have them fall for each other, right? An 11-year age gap is period-typical and doesn’t have to stop a pair of adults from doing anything—I’d be a hypocrite if I said it did!—but I’m a little more comfortable when it’s 26/37 than 23/34. Besides, that way they’ve had time to get to know each other, which is how I like it.)

A new Act means a new round of scouring the hinterlands for crafting resources and loot. Wheeeeeee kill me now.

...Zevran? Are you sending me after Zevran, Nuncio?

Oh, Zevran. I’ll admit, I did kind of miss you. I still wish you’d had a genuine Hispanophone VA, though. And wow, you look different.

You’ll never convince me that Zevran isn’t on retainer as their majesties’ convenient assassin friend. Or at least that he won’t be once he finds himself back in Ferelden.

Here Taran thought he’d track down some relatively nice apostates, he’d turn them loose, they’d be grateful, it’d be nice. Nope, here he is putting down abominations. He took Templar powers in the first place because he could be more useful and less dangerous to the mages around him if he could dispel or no-sell magic that went wrong instead of having to attack them. It’s wearing on him.

See, this business with Emile is how he wanted all of them to go.

Oh, Anders. It’s understandable why you would lie, considering what you’re actually planning, but...augh.

Anders, stop. We get it, you think blood magic is awful, but a) considering what you’re up to, are you sure you’re an improvement, and b) ragging on Taran and Merrill’s relationship feels kind of icky coming from someone who was so damned loud about wanting Taran for himself. You won’t get them to break up any more than they’ll get you to call off the bombing.

Sister Nightingale? *bouncyclaps* It’s after midnight, though, so I’ll have to go see her tomorrow.

#dragon age #dragon age ii #taran hawke

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retvenkos · 6 years ago

Text

“so what if we’re wild, we only live once.”

requested

BUCKLE IN FAM, BECAUSE THE NEWSIES IN HIGH SCHOOL FOR A MODERN AU WOULD OBVIOUSLY INCLUDE…

(also, keep in mind that this is based off of my experience in the american school system, any classes are ones that are offered at my own school.)

Bill

so he’s obviously head of the journalism staff

and he definitely is a part of yearbook too

and what is he interested in most??

chemistry

no one really understands why, but they don’t question it as long as he helps them with homework

and bill is 10/10 that guy who always has his homework done and let’s you borrow it

his worst class is by far history

he’s in choir and plays the piano for like, every song

he actually has a really nice set of pipes (he’s a tenor, too)

he’s terrible with dates

Darcy

so darcy is on yearbook because he can take the most stunning photos

and he is also a part of journalism, and his niche is critiquing

plays?? restaurants?? sports??

and yes, he goes to sporting events

and yes, romeo gives him a wink everytime he sees him at the baseball games

it’s a ship to end all ships

he isn’t quite sure what he wants to do in the future

i forgot to mention - these are headcanons for when each one is a senior in high school, i’m not working out ages in relation to each other. find someone more motivated for that

but he does know he wants to go to a really nice college

he’s definitely on chess club, and he’s a member of key club too

Katherine

journalism, guys. and she’s not into heavy creative writing, more like articles and interviews and such

president of debate

and her style game is strong - she, bill, and darcy are the three best dressed. facts.

she makes such pretty notes

and she slays in argument writing

english is obviously her favorite class, but a close second is her research class

and she actually sucks at cooking - she took culinary arts as a sophomore and set off the fire alarm twice

she has a free period in her schedule where she goes to the library and slaves over math

it doesn’t come easy to her

definitely has an old-school planner that is always full

Sarah

okay, i don’t know much about sarah - full disclosure, but i’ll try

so first of all, this girl is really put together

she has her schedule mapped out two months in advance, she remembers everyone’s birthday, and she already knows the vacation days during the year

she has library aide for one of her periods and knows every adult in the building by first name

she also happens to be an aide when kath has her free period and she is either the embodiment of the heart eye emoji or trying to help katherine with math

she loves psychology and already has plans to study it

she is in key club with darcy and also just volunteers a whole lot

her favorite is visiting and helping out animal shelters

she goes there so much that they finally just give her a job there

she doodles a lot on the side of her notes - it keeps her from falling asleep in science

the master of the messy top knot

Davey

okay, this boy does not know when to stop

he is taking all of the advanced classes he possibly can, and he’s stressing over them way too much

jack makes him like, 10 cups of stress relief tea daily

there’s also a running bet that the whole school is in on about whether he or kath will be valedictorian

specs says that davey will do it if he doesn’t have a heart attack before final exams

race says he’ll be so busy he’ll forget to even show up to graduation

also, while we’re at it, we need to talk about this boy’s notes. they are the hardest thing to decipher in this world, but if you can read his chicken scratch then you have a goldmine of helpful ways to study

he loves mnemonics with a burning passion and uses them at every chance he can get

his favorite class is chinese or math

and he’s definitely a part of future business leaders of america, mesa, and book club

Les

yes, this is for when les is a senior

he’s obviously not in the same year as the rest of the gang, but les as an 18 year old is gold

okay, first of all… heartthrob who genuinely doesn’t know it

he’s not actually officially part of any club, but he’s always staying after school afterward to like, float into the different club meetings

but he’s definitely an sbo - probably vice president or activities

he’s a part of band and definitely plays the saxophone

you know that means he starts off every class period by playing careless whisper

the teachers all really love him

he actually gets pretty good grades

and he is way overly competitive in review games, especially ones in history

he will wreck you

always goes off campus at lunch and walks into his next period a couple minutes late with a shake

Jack

did someone say art?????

jack does literally every form of it, and he does them all so well

davey seethes at this, but loves it when jack helps in in ceramics

he’s also really supportive of younger artists who are still perfecting their art, so he’s obviously the head of the art club

and he’s the paint master for drama club and all of their productions

he frequently falls asleep in english class

he’s also the president of latinos in action - chosen unanimously even though he wasn’t going for the position

y’all can fite me on latino! jack kelly

also, his signature style is a blue sweatshirt, and all of his clothes have paint on them

he’s also that kid who never has a pencil on him, and never returns the ones he is given just because he always forgets

Crutchie

so i don’t know where the headcanon about crutchie being on the swim team originated, but it is dear to my heart and lives on in this post

he is the nice™ jock

also, he wants to go into the medical field for sure

he had medical terminology as last class of the day and it makes his day 10 times more bright

he uses highlighters so much (but only the yellow ones)

also, crutchie is lowkey a style icon???

all of his teachers love him

he’s that kid that always raises his hand in a group discussion, and it’s one of two things: a lame pun that gets more groans than laughs, or a really insightful bit of knowledge

there is no in-between

definitely volunteers with sarah at the animal shelters and is a part of french club, even though he’s only ever gone to like, two meetings

Albert

albert wrestles, no one can convince me otherwise

but he’s also on dance co.

we love a well rounded boy - especially when he’ll pull up if you question his life choices

he is soooo salty, and he has no filter. Even in front of teachers.

anyone in his history class can attest to this - especially when they are going through america’s messy past

literally does not care about the majority of his classes

but he maintains a good gpa so he can be on the wrestling team

also, he failed his driving test twice, and when he got his license it didn’t make a difference since no one would trust him with a car anymore

but he’s actually really good in his business and marketing class

he frequently helps in the little store that the business class runs during lunch and stuff because he’s really good with money and change

Race

a part of dance company

and he hates the early morning practices with a passion but will just chug energy drinks to get through it

this boy doesn’t sleep… unless it’s in english

the most surprising thing about him is that he’s really good at math??

and he doesn’t even try - he’ll be talking all class period and then finish the homework in class in like, 10 minutes flat

it’s the same thing with physics

but it’s not like you can ask him for help, because he doesn’t really listen to the professor or follow their methods and steps

like i said earlier, race just doesn’t care

or so you think, but his shirt is always matching the color of his shoes and headphones, but then his hair is literal mess and he wears like, he only owns like, two different pairs of joggers

he’s honestly such a mystery

Buttons

okay, so buttons kills it at fashion, which is why he aces his fashion design class

he’s head costumer for all of the drama departments musicals and plays

he’s also really into art history, and he gets inspiration from art all the time

he’s definitely a part of key club and is a part of national honors society although he’s only ever gone to a couple meetings for both

he gets pretty decent grades in everything but physics, but he definitely tries to study for all of his classes

he goes stag to every school dance and deliberately tries to get his ships together for a song

coffee??? he only ever drinks it black

it’s how he stops romeo from taking his

he’s also a dork who color codes his notes because they help him study better

but he has no idea how to take notes for math class, so he kinda just does example problems and then is confused on how it ever did it in the first place

Elmer

so this is one musically talented boy

he plays the guitar, trumpet, and drums

it’s also an inside joke with him and jojo that they both play the castanets

but he’s definitely a part of any band the school offers - as well as pit for the musical

he’s a really chill, laid-back student that gets their work done and just hangs out

he is very nice and definitely a teacher aid for one of the english teachers

and he’s also a part of the poetry club

it’s to improve his songwriting as well as give him a place to destress

He’s definitely the guy who will always lend you his notes if you missed a day, but he’s also not that great at taking notes because his mind is always on something else

he’s also an attendance office aide for one of his periods

Henry

he took ballroom as a joke with mike, and he really ended up liking it

but he’s not a part of dance co. because their style is totally different from ballroom

He also has a lot of energy, so he’s that kid that’s always bouncing his leg up and down and making the desk behind him shake

but no one ever asks for him to stop because he has the biggest smile that you just can’t shut down??

he knows this, though, and he definitely uses it on teachers to get extensions on his work, and he does, like 80% of the time

his worst class is probably english because he can’t just sit down and read for long periods of time

but during the shakespeare unit he kills it because he’s always first to volunteer to read or do a part

his handwriting is very messy and he uses so many abbreviations not even davey knows what they’re saying

always races to be first in the lunch line

always one of the first people to be in class

Hot Shot

he has auto shop as his first class of the day and absolutely loves it

but he’s also that kid that hangs out with his friends in the middle of the hallway, bottlenecking the whole thing during passing time

thinks he’s the cool™ kid

wears leather jackets exclusively

he hates any core class

but secretly really likes his humanities class

he’s taking italian with spot and the poor teacher just can’t handle these two together

he’s also secretly good at basketball

the coach found out somehow and asks him every year to be on the team

but hot shot would rather die than be on a school team

Ike

has a youtube channel where he mostly posts prank videos especially those that involve the school

he ran for sbo and was elected as treasury, even though mike is the one who went to all of the meetings for like, two months straight

he is the epitome of a class clown, but it’s always in good fun

he always is wearing a black t-shirt under his sbo sweater

and since he’s an sbo he has to go to all the sports game to support and stuff and he cheers the absolute loudest

he does gymnastics with mike after school every day and at every sbo meeting he brings up how it needs to be a part of the sports at school

he never takes notes but can retain everything

his worst class is anything science related

but he’s secretly really good a history

A proud member of spanish club

Mike

mike is definitely the more artsy twin

he takes drawing and ceramics but can’t paint for the life of him

he’s a part of the art club with jack and is basically second in command there

he does gymnastics with ike after school and is on dance co.

he struggles with math and science but gets by okay

has a free period for first where he could be sleeping in or studying but instead he goes to auto shop to talk to hot shot

he definitely has a crush. hot shot won’t admit it, but he loves mike being there.

he usually wears bright colors with his dance co. jacket

doesn’t really like coffee, but he always has a coke on him - it’s his one weakness

is also a part of spanish club

Kenny

okay, so i know, like, nothing about kenny, so i’m just going with my gut based off of his photo

film is his passion and he wants to be a director one day

is 10/10 that kid in your photography class that spends 90% of the time making stop-motion videos

he’s very nice and is always lending jack pencils even though he knows he’ll never get them back

also, there’s a running gag that he and darcy are the same person, ike runs conspiracy theory videos on his youtube channel

his two favorite classes are film (duh) and theatre

he’s a part of the ensemble of every musical the school puts on

he’s even directed a show a couple of times for the spotlight showcase

he is like that background kind of kid that is a part of the big groups and is totally included but just doesn’t have a huge role in the big stuff

he hates having to write essays because he says it’s sucking the creativity out of writing

also likes psychology

JoJo

co-captain of the soccer team

also a madrigal with bill and specs (he’s a baritone)

always tries out for the school musicals, and he usually gets a main part

he takes quite a few advanced classes and it is not rare to find him passed out on one of the other newsies’ couch

he manages to keep a good gpa with his schedule

his favorite class besides madrigals is probably latinos in action, which he has the same period as jack

while he doesn’t play any instruments himself you can always find him hanging out in the band room at lunch

he is absolutely terrible in math but is taking college math now so he can get it done with and never have to do again for as long as he lives

his aspirations are pretty much all over the place at the moment, but he smiles through the uncertainty

“i feel like it’s fine”

Romeo

on the baseball team

a shameless flirt, especially with darcy

did someone say president of the asian american club??

he’s also a part of drama club because he has a passion for theatre

he can’t when it comes to math, though

so instead of getting frustrated he just writes notes in the calculators for people to find

he’ll also fall asleep in that class

he’s definitely a partner in crime with ike and frequently is a guest on his youtube channel

studying??? who’s she???

really good at debate, though. katherine keeps telling him he should join the club but he says his skills are beyond that of a club

Finch

on the track team and one of the fastest runners

it’s a good outlet for all of his energy

he takes notes in all of his classes since he learned all the strategies from avid, but he never looks back at them

surprisingly gets really good test scores, though

you know he takes wildlife biology and he memorizes like, every type of bird call

he can even mimic some of them - it’s how he wakes romeo up in math.

he also goes out every day for lunch, and his next period is english which he has with like, all of the boys, so he’s always throwing fries across the room for henry or mush to catch in their mouths

he beats his own school records every year so he’s like, constantly the athlete of the month

definitely goes to all of the different sports games and cheers very loud

carries a huge water bottle that he fills up during french class to get out of presentations

Kid Blink

first of all, this kid does not do any kind of sport because his depth perception rivals that of mine

which means it s u c k s

however, he kills it at math and physics is his one true love

If you need a study partner for either, he’s your guy. just know that he explains nothing and goes pretty fast. keep up and you can do math with him.

he lowkey hates history because it’s about a whole bunch of dead people who were problematic

he’s a part of mesa

he takes american sign language and it’s one of his favorite classes

he and smalls are constantly having conversations from across the room

a lot of the time it’s about the teacher, and one time they were caught by their chemistry teacher who knew asl

they got detention for like, a week because of it

Mush

here comes the heartthrob!!!!

very handsome, and his strong suit is engineering. which always shocks people.

which means he’s definitely a part of mesa and the engineering and technology club

he’s definitely the person to go to if you need help in physics. he explains things really well

the only bad part about it is that he also goes off on tangents when he’s explaining and you can get confused if you listen too long

he’s actually kind of a style icon, his hair is probably the best out of everyone

he always has headphones in, but one earbud is out so he can hear the teacher and whatnot

he cannot act for the life of him

but he has a good-natured laugh that makes up for the cringe

he also cannot dance

Smalls

okay, so smalls is a part of the asian american club, key club, and poetry club

even though he cannot write to save his life, they let him come because he’s uber supportive

there’s also a joke that he and spot are a part of the short™ club

lowkey, smalls started this joke because he finds it hilarious when spot gets upset

he actually takes interior design and it’s his favorite class

he’s really good with color

he also takes woodworking and makes the guys stuff for it

davey has a bookshelf and jack has a desk

takes asl with kid blink and loves it

is the kid who always has to stand up to take notes because seating charts always put him in the back, despite his height

Sniper

okay, so sniper is a cheerleader but don’t let that fool you - she’s also on the wrestling team and will take you down

albert is like her older brother and helps her with her business class

she regrets having taken it, but she needed another cte credit and thought it would be safer than welding

she has a criminal law class that she loves with all of her heart

she writes in all capitals

she’s also that kid that writes all of her essays handwritten to spite her english teacher which, on the first day of school, complain about her writing in all caps

she’s good with history and has it with albert and it’s her personal goal to get him to laugh at her comments in that class

studying??? sounds studious. and not a part of her aesthetic.

has an attendance office aide period where she mostly does the homework for her next class period

is that kid that always almost swears in class debates

Specs

first, our boy is president for madrigals (he’s a low bass)

then he’s a proud part of the book club

his thing is psychology, and he goes in hard, he and sarah sit next to each other and talk in hushed whispers about all the cool stuff they learn

he takes very neat notes

but only has to look at them two or three times before he’s ready to take a test

is always an ensemble member in the school musicals

he is also a library aide and constantly smells like old books

very organized

his locker always has everything you could possibly need - a jacket, hat, bag of trail mix, water, etc.

the mom friend™

Spot

first of all, he’s that kid who always sits in the same seat. if you’re sitting in his seat, you’re dead. don’t @ him.

he hates science with a burning passion and is so glad he finished all of his credits for it in junior year

is actually a bit of a history buff

but he never participates in class, just writes really good essays and aces every test

and speaking of writing

he’s actually really into creative writing

who did you think started the writing club???

but he’s no less tough

he always wears a leather jacket, a red shirt, cuffs the bottom of his jeans, and has his pen tucked behind his ear

he doesn’t really take notes, and he only writes in pen

Tommy Boy

captain of dance company

is having none of race’s idiocy at practices either

but he’s actually really funny and nice, all the teachers love him

can’t write a summary in english for the life of him but will write a 10 page essay on why dance company is a part of the performing arts and deserves just as much recognition as theatre, choir, and band

only ever eats out of the vending machines for lunch

is a part of french club

really likes culinary arts because his one weakness is sugar

can’t do any form of art other than dance

but he doesn’t need to - he’s that good

notes??? what are those???

AND FLUFF ENSUES.

#newsies #newsies musical #modern au #high school au #katherine pulitzer #katherine plumber #davey jacobs #les jacobs #jack kelly #crutchie morris #albert dasilva #racetrack higgins #buttons davenport #elmer kasprzak #newsboysheadcanons

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friendliest-place-on-earth · 7 years ago

Note

(prompt list #3) #9 for javid? preferably with davey getting very flustered, thank you!!

Okay I know I’m super super behind on this but it’s summer break now and maybe I’ll get to more of these prompts from ages ago? Let’s see. This has been sitting in my google drive for a while now because I didn’t know how to end it and I finally came up with one that’s good enough. It’s a little cheesy but it’s nice to have something good and positive. I also don’t usually do prompts like this one so I toned it down to make it something I was comfortable with. Anyways, enjoy! - Mod Ind

“I’m not gonna lie, I’m really turned on by that.”

Davey had this habit, something he himself hardly acknowledged but Jack couldn’t stop thinking about it. You see, just about anyone and everyone who knew Davey knew he had a tendency to stress and freak himself out. This tended to happen during homework if there was too much or there was a project he had to work on. The stress wasn’t his aforementioned habit, but there was a way he coped with it. Every time Davey’s mind started to get too busy, he would unconsciously run his hand through his hair. This usually wasn’t an issue, since he usually did his homework by himself but then he was assigned to do a stupid project with Jack Kelly. They’d been best friends for quite some time so they were both pretty excited to get another excuse to hang out. That is, until Jack discovered his friend’s habit and it drove him absolutely crazy.

Now, let’s backtrack for a second.

What Jack should have done is told Crutchie, Specs, Romeo, maybe even Race no not Race, not again, about his “little” crush. Instead, because Spot was there and Jack is weak, that’s who he decided to tell- who turned right around and told Katherine about the whole thing. So now, two of the worst people to keep a secret knew Jack’s.

“Alright Kelly, Katherine should be here in about five minutes. You can keep everything in until then.” Spot crossed his arms and sat down on the couch. He forcefully patted on the space next to him, and Jack sat down with a heavy sigh.

“I am such an idiot.” Jack put his face in his hands.

“Yes you are, but you’re in love. Everyone in love is an idiot, trust me.” Spot smiled, obviously thinking about Race.

“I’m not ‘in love’ I just, like him a whole lot,” Jack mumbled.

“Sure kid, whatever you have to tell yourself.” the doorbell rang and Spot went to answer it, and quickly returned with Katherine in tow.

“Someone’s in love,” Katherine sang.

“I am not in love! I only just realized that I like him!” Katherine sat down in the armchair next to the couch and Spot returned to his former seating position.

“Oh whatever Mr. Romance. Tell us about it!” Jack crossed his arms defensively.

“Look, we already know that you’re in love with Davey, what else do you have to hide?” Spot asked.

“Nothing, I just don’t need to give you guys any more ammo to use against me.” Jack tossed hard looks at both of them.

“If we promise that whatever is said here, stays here, will you tell us all the juicy details?” Katherine asked, leaning forward with her elbows on her knees. Spot gave a single nod of agreement.

“Fine, fine. I guess… whenever I see him, my stomach gets all fluttery and my heart feels like it’s going to burst out of my chest.” Jack admitted quickly, so all the words were kind of smushed together. He took a deep breath, and it was like the floodgates had been opened.

“Oh, and he does this thing with his hair, oh my god-”

“Wait wait wait, does he brush his hands through it, sometimes tossing it to the side?” Katherine did the motion with her own hair.

“Yeah…”

“Sarah does the same thing! God I love it when she does that.” Katherine just loved talking about her girlfriend.

“Isn’t it the greatest? Sometimes whenever he does that sometimes I just wanna- put his face on my face.”

“Let’s hope I never have to see that…” Spot said quietly.

“Oh like you’re any better!” Jack scoffed.

“Sometimes I just want to look into his eyes all the time, have you guys seen how pretty they are?” Jack practically swooned on the spot.

“Okay, that’s enough for me.” Spot got up and hurried to his room, looking a little bit sick. Jack and Katherine laughed and continued to talk about Davey (and occasionally Sarah) until late into the night.

“I’ve got to go, Jack,” Katherine yawned, it was only 11:30 but when you’ve got to wake up a 5:30, you learn to get to bed earlier.

“Yeah, get out a’ here you sap.”

“I’m the sap? I distinctly recall you talked about Davey like you were giving a powerpoint presentation on his physical attributes, and then again on his mental attributes!” Katherine laughed.

“But he’s good on the inside and the outside!”

“Yeah whatever, get some rest. We’ve got school tomorrow.” Katherine playfully slugged Jack in the arm and the two of them walked to the door.

“Thanks for making me talk about this,” Jack said quietly.

“Anytime.” Katherine walked out to her car and drove away.

The next day at school, Jack and Davey found out that they were supposed to make a poster about some profession they were assigned to show the class. Everyone was pretty sure the project was just something to fill the time since the school year was almost over and the teacher ran out of material. They were told to research a geologist which both of the boys were absolutely bursting with excitement to learn about.

“My house, around six? We can work on the project and then you can sleep over if you want so we can hang out for the rest of the night.” Davey offered, who no doubt wanted to get the project done as soon as possible.

“Yeah, sounds great, should I bring anything?” he asked.

“If you get the poster board then I’ll take care of everything else,” Davey replied. He opened a document and started researching the geology profession and Jack gathered some cool pictures from the internet. That was about all they did until the bell rang and they parted ways to head to their next classes.

It was around midnight, and they could have finished the project by then if Jack hadn’t been so distracting. It was hardly his fault, since Davey was distracting without meaning to be. You see, Davey would card his fingers through his hair and then Jack would get distracted and forget what it was they were supposed to be during, which in turn caused Davey to mess with his hair even more as time began to run out. What Jack also discovered was that Davey ran his fingers through his hair even more when he got tired. As it was midnight, they were obviously very tired, Jack from having to force himself to pay attention every five minutes and Davey, because he had to keep reminding Jack to pay attention every five minutes.

“Take a break?” Davey sighed, sitting back on his legs.

“Take a break.” Jack fell backwards dramatically and sprawled himself out on the ground. The two of them went over to the couches a few feet and turned on the tv, playing some random show on Netflix. Davey finally relaxed into the cushions, combing his fingers through his hair once more.

“I’m not gonna lie, I’m really turned on by that.” Jack immediately clapped his hand over his mouth in shock. Davey’s eyes went wide and he choked on his own spit. In the silence that followed, Jack had to think back and ask himself if he had had any alcohol that night. He hadn’t.

“I-I, uh… thanks?” his face grew to a deep red.

“Sorry that was weird.” Jack knew his face must be quite red as well. Davey looked around the room and put his hand up to his head, stopping short when his fingers made contact. He looked at Jack sheepishly and put his hand down.

“You don’t have to…” Davey seemed to have pulled himself together and in a moment of clarity, realized what Jack had said, and realized what Jack meant by what he said.

“Is that what was distracting you for six hours?!” Davey laughed.

“No… we had dinner and I was utterly devoted to that for at least an hour.” Jack replied, still not looking him in the eyes.

“That’s still five hours, Jackie.”

“Whatever it’s your fault anyways!” Jack covered his face with his hands. Davey moved in front of Jack and grabbed his hands.

“Sure, we can say it’s my fault,” Davey said sarcastically. Jack felt like he was melting under his gaze.

“God, I am much too tired to keep this up.” he said hurriedly before leaning forward and pressing a kiss onto Jack’s lips.

“You kiss by the book.”

“Was that Romeo and Juliet? Did you literally just say a line from Romeo and Juliet after we’ve had our first kiss. I swear to god Jackie boy I am this close to-” Jack cut him off by grabbing the front of Davey’s shirt and kissed him again.

“What’re you going to do about it?” Jack smirked and Davey rolled his eyes.

“Not a damn thing,” and so the project was forgotten, and they couldn’t care less.

#newsies #newsies fanfiction #Javid #javid fanfiction #Jack Kelly #david jacobs #katherine plumber #spot conlon #Sprace #newsbians #its gay #happy pride month you gays

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animakupo · 7 years ago

Text

The Way to a Man’s Heart (Ignis x Reader)

wow i kept putting this off for some reason, but hello cooking mama iggy!!!! yay!!!! lowkey unconfident about this bc i don’t think i executed it well but uh haha stab me

will this be expanded into a two-part story? or will it remain a one shot? whO KNowS

(Also, thanks so much for all the love for Shortcake vs. Beefcake ;___; I didn’t consider it to be one of my better works, so for it to have received this much love has been such a pleasant surprise huhu thanks ebribadi wah)

word count: 3.5k+, fluff + self-deprecation because wow i relate so much to self-hate, Prompto likes to think he’s Cupid haha sure keep telling urself that boye

‘Take cooking lessons, they said.’ You stared helplessly at your burnt attempt at a chicken cordon bleu. ‘It’ll be fun, they said.’ Discreetly shoving the charred poultry down the garbage, you sighed longingly at everyone else’s pristine and mouth-watering dishes. ‘How is it fun when everything I make is inedible?’

Boy, if any of your classmates from high school saw you now, they might possibly throw a fit at the sight of you. Or maybe they’d look at you in awe.

After all, you were never really one for the kitchen.

Sure, you loved food — probably more than the average girl, even — but all you could do was devour dishes that were presented to you. For you to actually prepare something meant for human consumption was easily a recipe for disaster.

Which was why you were here, taking a culinary class in hopes of acquiring even a smidgen of an everyday man’s cooking skill.

But, let’s be real here: you could have lived the rest of your days perfectly content with being a failure in the kitchen. It’s not like you had any ambitions of becoming a chef or anything.

The true reason behind your ongoing efforts in trying to learn how to cook lies in a sole secret ingredient — one that is integral in your current woes as of late: Ignis Scientia.

Now, you were never really one to go to such great heights just to impress someone — let alone a member of the opposite sex — but Ignis was different. Here was a man in an entirely other league of his own. He was refined, patient, kind-hearted, and one of the most well-mannered men you ever had the blessed opportunity to encounter.

Not only did Ignis have the charms to go with his elegant face, he was also incredibly skilled — almost famously so, at least amongst his peers — in the kitchen. You’d probably go so far as to say his concoctions could rival — even best — the foods provided by the royal chef.

(Not that you knew what His Majesty and his son would have for their daily meals. You just believed that Prince Noctis requesting for a certain pastry from Ignis — and Ignis alone — was telling enough of the Royal Adviser’s skills in the kitchen.)

So here you were, struggling to cook up something in order to catch Ignis’ attention and impress him for once. Unfortunately, despite your wholesome intentions, your efforts were simply failing to bear any fruit.

‘I might end up burning my apartment down if I keep up with this,’ you thought glumly, already packing away your belongings as your cooking teacher gave you an unimpressed look for yet another cooking disaster this week.

‘Don’t worry.’ You gave your instructor a nod in farewell. ‘This is the last you’ll see of me in this blasted class.’

The very idea of taking up culinary lessons as a step towards getting Ignis to look your way was actually a suggestion from your friend Prompto. On one of your rare mutual breaks — yours from assisting other staff members with admin work and archiving documents for the royal family, his from Crowsguard training with Cor the Immortal — the two of you had stumbled upon Ignis himself, who was well on his way to a meeting with the King and the rest of his council.

“Hey, Specs!” Prompto greeted cheerfully with a wave of his hand.

“Good to see you, Prompto,” replied the bespectacled man. Ignis turned to you and offered a curt nod of acknowledgement.

All you could do was reciprocate his nod, already feeling your cheeks burn — a usual occurrence whenever you were near Ignis. While this was not the first time you had encountered the Royal Adviser in the flesh — as you would sometimes assist him with research and paperwork when necessary — being around him often made you feel shy and flustered. It was a miracle that you had yet to pass out from the effect he had on you.

“Where are you off to?” Prompto inquired.

Adjusting his grip on the small stack of folders in his arms, Ignis answered, “I’ve a meeting with His Majesty. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I best be on my way.”

It was only when Ignis turned a corner did you release a breath you hadn’t known you were even keeping. ‘He’s so handsome,’ you thought to yourself, clutching at your chest from how fast your heart raced around him.

Prompto looked at you oddly. Although some would think him to be a bit more on the naive side, the young blond liked to think that he was actually much more observant than the people around him would give him credit for. Perhaps that was why he detected your odd behavior in front of his friend.

Or maybe your crush on Ignis was just that obvious.

In any case, Prompto took notice of how tense you had become in the presence of his friend, as he placed a hand on your shoulder and gave a comforting squeeze. “Hey, you alright? I know Iggy might seem a little intimidating, but he’s actually a fun person to be around once you get to know him.”

“N-no, I…” you mumbled, keeping your eyes on the floor. “I know. He’s just- I’m…”

“Haha, you sound just like me when I tried asking this girl from school on a date!”

“Y-yeah, hah…”

“There’s no need to be so shy around good ol’ Iggy!” Prompto gave you a friendly pat on the back. “He might look like a strict professor on the outside, but on the inside, he’s just like you and me.”

“Uh-huh…”

“Well, except we’re plebes next to him, but you know. I’m sure you’d like him a lot once you got to know him better.”

“I DO NOT HAVE A CRUSH ON IGNIS SCIENTIA!”

Okay, you were definitely obvious about your crush on the Royal Adviser.

“Woah, what?”

Your face was probably burning brighter than the sun by now. How could you have suddenly blurted — practically yelled loud enough for the entire Citadel to hear, oh gods —your deep, dark secret? Your head must have been in the clouds while Prompto was talking, and in your carelessness, you somehow interpreted his words as an accusation of harboring feelings for Ignis.

Which… well, cat’s outta the bag now, then.

“I-I…!” The embarrassment becoming too much to bear, you hid behind your hands, mumbling into your palms, “I didn’t say anything!”

“Honey, you most definitely said something, and it was a little along the lines of-“

“SHUT UP!” You slapped your hands over Prompto’s mouth in a frenzy. “Someone might hear!”

Pulling your hands away from his face, he replied, “With how loud you were, I wouldn’t be surprised if even Noct heard you from his bedroom.”

You groaned. “Prompto, please don’t say anything to Ignis about this.”

Your friend’s face scrunched up in confusion. “Why not? I’m sure Iggy would be really flattered. Plus, you guys would make a really cute couple!”

“That’s really nice of you to say and all, but I’d rather keep my feelings to myself, thank you very much.”

“Yeah, but I’m a great matchmaker!”

You snorted. “Sure, Cupid.”

“I am!” Prompto whined. “Stop laughing! I’ll get you two together if it’s the last thing I do!”

“No, Prompto, please don’t,” you said. “It’s really nothing against you, I promise. It’s just…” You tucked a hair behind your ear, staring longingly at the direction Ignis had disappeared to. “I wouldn’t want to pressure Ignis into anything by informing him of my… c-crush on him.” Crush? What a schoolgirl term. Surely you were beyond this already, right?

“You wouldn’t-“

Completely caught up in your thoughts, you ignored Prompto and continued. “Confessing would just make things awkward, especially since I know he doesn’t reciprocate my feelings. He already has so much on his plate as it is, so I don’t want to make things uncomfortable between us if I ever do decide to confess.” As an afterthought, you added, “Which I won’t, mind you. It’ll never happen.”

This had always been your mindset right off the bat. Why would you ever tell Ignis how you truly felt about him? It would just be another burden for him to bear, and that was the last thing you ever wanted to be to him.

“But,” Prompto said after a few seconds of silence, “are you really content with never telling him how you feel? Ever?”

When you really thought about it… of course you wouldn’t be content. However, living in silence seemed like a much safer option than getting into messy feelings and affections. Plus, unrequited feelings were definitely a more tolerable reality than the bitter sting of rejection.

You shrugged. “It doesn’t matter. His duty to Prince Noctis will always be his top priority, and I respect that. So even if I did happen to confess, I really don’t think it’d take me anywhere with Ignis.”

Amidst your wistful admissions was a frown on Prompto’s face that you failed to perceive. “Well…” he trailed off. “Well, that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t at least try to get Iggy to look at you the way you look at him!”

“What are you playing at, Prompto?”

“What if you just… try to woo Iggy a little, (Name)?”

“Woo him?” You gave Prompto an incredulous look. “As if I even have a chance with him to begin with!”

“But you do!” Prompto insisted. “I promise that you do! We just need a little somethin’-somethin’ to tip the scales and get the ball rolling.”

“Okay, I’ll humor you. What, pray tell, would your plan of action be to,”—you made quotation marks with your fingers—“‘get the ball rolling’?”

Prompto hummed thoughtfully before suddenly snapping his fingers. “I know exactly what you can do!” Giving you a proud smile, he declared, “You can cook him something!”

You stared at Prompto for a solid few seconds, causing him to falter slightly in his expression. “Or bake him a cake or something…?” he added unsurely.

“You’re joking, right?”

“N-No! I’m serious!”

“Prompto.”

“What? Why are you looking like me like that?”

“I can’t cook to save a life.”

“C’mon, everyone can cook!”

“Not me,” you deadpanned. “I’m serious. I once burned a scrambled egg.”

“That’s not so bad-“

“The heat was on low and I found eggshells in it.”

“Okay, maybe you’ll need a little help. But that’s what I’m here for!”

You raised a brow. “You’re going to help me cook Ignis something?”

“Well, n-no…” Prompto chuckled nervously at the disapproving look you were wearing. “But! I know where you can take cooking classes!”

“Prompto, I know you mean well and all, but cooking classes? I’m pretty swamped with work as it is.”

“You can go after work! They have evening sessions that run an hour a day. It even includes baking lessons!”

“I can’t possibly cook anything for him. Ignis has the taste buds of a god!”

“All the more reason to make him something he’s never had before!” Prompto countered. “You know what they say: ‘The way to a man’s heart is through his stomach.’ I betcha Iggy’ll love whatever you make him!” He was not going to let this go until you conceded, was he?

“I dunno…”

“C’mon (Name), don’t you want to show him what you have to offer? Make him see the wife material that you are?”

The wiggling of Prompto’s brows made you chuckle. “I’m hardly wife material.”

“And she’s so humble, too!” he cheered, pulling another giggle out of you. “It’ll be fun, (Name)!”

“Why are you so adamant about this, anyway?”

The grin on Prompto’s face softened into a warm smile. “I just want to see my friends happy, that’s all.”

If Prompto hadn’t won you over before, he definitely did now. This boy was truly an angel.

So that’s how you found yourself struggling to whip up a dish or two after work everyday. Everyday you came to class without fail, but also without fail was the stench of an actual failed dish after each session. Despite this, the encouraging looks Prompto always sent you whenever you chanced upon each other always inspired you to keep on going. Though you had called it quits on the cooking classes, it didn’t mean you couldn’t practice on your own, right?

It took a while, but the day finally came: you managed to make a seemingly decent platter of cupcakes. Baking was different from cooking, sure, but at least you finally made something even remotely edible. You had heeded Prompto’s suggestion of baking a cake, except you opted for a much simpler and smaller scale.

It only took about a month of daily trials and errors, but finally, you were able to produce a simple batch without killing yourself in the process. You even managed to put some pink frosting for a cute touch!

‘I’ll let Prompto taste test this first!’ you thought excitedly, scurrying towards where you knew your blond friend trained with the Marshal.

In your hurry to find Prompto, you failed to notice a presence making their way towards your direction. As you turned a corner, you accidentally bumped into the one and only Ignis himself — the very reason for the platter of dessert in your hands.

Alas, good fortune just wasn’t on your side today, though. Typically, bumping into Ignis would be a blessing in disguise. Today, however, it brought more distress than elation, because you lost your grip on the platter, causing the cupcakes to tumble to the ground with a generous smother of pink icing all over the Royal Adviser.

“Ignis!” you exclaimed, hands trembling at the mess you made. “I’m so- I’m sorry!”

You couldn’t read his face as he kept a stoic mask even after your collision. Ignis was often hard to decipher even on a regular day, but this time around, you were certain that he was unhappy with your stumble. His usually pristine clothes were now ruined by pink frosting, and his shoes were covered with the broken remnants of all your hard work.

Your hard work. You had slaved over this batch — the one you deemed the most acceptable out of the many others you had attempted — only for it to crumble before you. You didn’t even get to have Ignis try it.

Helplessly, you stared at what was meant to be a gift of affection for the man in front of you. Somehow, the sight of the disintegrated pastries brought forth a deep-seated frustration within you that served as a painful reminder that this wasn’t going to work out.

Who were you kidding? As if Ignis would ever go for someone like you. Baking or cooking or whatever, you would never amount to even half the person he deserved to be with. No matter how much effort you put into your work, everything will still fall apart — even something with Ignis.

‘What’s the point?’ you thought, downcast and discouraged. ‘No matter how hard I try, I’ll never be good enough for him anyway. I’ll still fail.’

You forced yourself to meet Ignis’ eyes in order offer another heartfelt apology, but the sigh that escaped his lips only triggered the appearance of tears in your own eyes. Now you knew for sure that he was definitely upset with you.

With your blurred eyesight thanks to your tears, you missed the look of what appeared to be panic on Ignis’ face. Bowing your head to avoid looking at him any further, you mumbled a pathetic “sorry, excuse me” before making yourself scarce.

Ignis was quite the sight when Prompto found him just a minute later, frozen in place and covered in pink.

‘I am an IDIOT,’ you thought miserably as you dragged yourself to work the next day. After your disappearing act on Ignis, you pretty much beat yourself up for reacting so brashly at your own slip-up. ‘Crying over a few measly cupcakes? Then running away? REALLY? Nice one, drama queen.’

“I bet the cupcakes weren’t even that good,” you grumbled, placing your things on your work desk and settling into your seat. You began to shuffle through some files that were left neglected just a day before, still a bit tense at your recollection of yesterday’s unfortunate collision.

“On the contrary,” a voice in front of you said, “they were actually quite delectable.”

Your eyes widened. Lifting your head from your papers, you found Ignis in front of you. He offered a charming smile to go with his nod.

“I-Ignis!” You shot up in surprise. “Wha… What are you doing here?”

“Am I not allowed to greet a friend good morning?”

“No! I-I mean…” You cleared your throat as you nervously wrung your fingers together. “You’re allowed! You can do whatever you want! Um, I, I mean… Good morning…?

He chuckled softly. “Good morning.”

It was then did you realize that Ignis was holding a small box in his hand. Pointing at the object, you inquired, “What’s that?”

“This?” He held up the box before gently placing it on your desk. “This is a gift for you.”

“M-Me?” you repeated dumbly. Ignis Scientia — THE Ignis Scientia — had a gift for you?!

Ignis adjusted the glasses on his face before continuing. “It is an apology of sorts for causing yesterday’s mishap.”

“Th-that was all my fault!” you sputtered. “I’m the one who’s sorry, Ignis! I ruined your clothes and then I ran away like a crybaby…”

“I’d like to apologize for the tears, then,” he countered.

“No!” you blurted anxiously. “You weren’t at fault! It was all me!”

“Regardless, you would do me a great honor in accepting this gift.”

You stared at the box. “Really?”

“Most certainly,” he assured. “Please, go ahead.”

Upon his insistence, you gingerly picked up the box, feeling a moderate weight inside. When you opened it, you were pleasantly surprised to find a cupcake — one that was identical to the ones you made yesterday, pink frosting and all.

Taking advantage of your silence, Ignis said, “Yesterday was quite the tragedy, wouldn’t you agree? What a waste it was for all the pastries to go spoilt in such a manner. I at least managed to try the icing, since there was an… abundance of it, as you know.”

You blushed, recalling just how much frosting you managed to get on him yesterday. Ignis let out a small smile, as if assuring you that he meant no harm with his comment. “I tried to replicate the taste to the best of my abilities, though I hope you can forgive me for taking the liberty to give my own take on the batter, seeing as I had no basis for what you made yourself.”

“Tha-that’s fine,” you breathed, awe-struck that Ignis had even bothered to make you anything, let alone try to copy your own take on a lame cupcake. Although you were squirming a bit under his gaze, you managed to offer a sincere smile. “Thank you.”

Ignis nodded in response. “I must say,” he uttered, “the icing reminded me of you a bit.”

“It did?” you asked, a little absent-minded at the fact that not only was Ignis making casual conversation with you, he had actually made something for you — and in the same fashion as what you had intended to give to him, at that! What exactly was happening here?!

“Yes,” he affirmed. “It was rather… sweet.”

“O-oh!” You could feel your face burning up at this point.

“I mean that in the highest of praises possible,” Ignis added. “If you’d like, perhaps we could discuss your recipe over a cup of Ebony?”

You gaped. Did he just…? Was he offering…? IS HE ASKING YOU OUT ON A DATE?! “Y-ye-yeah! Sure!” you squeaked, belatedly realizing how stupid you must have looked with your mouth wide open in such an un-ladlylike manner.

“Excellent.” The smile on Ignis’ face grew saccharine, and it made you flush to the tips of your ears. “Will you be free tomorrow afternoon, then?”

You did a quick mental scan of your schedule. All free. “Yes.”

“Then I’ll see you tomorrow.”

Dazed, all you could do was wave at Ignis as he made his exit. Did that really just happen? Are you really going to have coffee with Ignis tomorrow? Sure, he didn’t really specify outright that it was a date, but…

‘Wait till Prompto hears about this!’

“Well?”

“She seemed to be delighted at the prospect of Ebony tomorrow.”

“I told you!”

“Shouldn’t you meet with the Marshal for training now?”

“Aw c’mon, Iggy! You gotta spill all the juicy details!”

“My lips are sealed.”

“After everything I did to get you two together?”

“You did no such thing.”

“Iggy! I am hurt!”

“I’m merely jesting. Thank you, Prompto.”

“You’re very welcome! I told you she liked you back!”

“I’ll be sure to express my gratitude to you in the form of some Meldacio Meat Pie.”

“This is why I love you, Iggy.”

“I’m afraid your feelings remain one-sided.”

“Of course they are. You’ve always had your eye on her, after all.”

Silence.

“Iggy, is that…? Are you blushing?!”

“Ahem.”

“L-Lemme get this shot!”

“Excuse me, I must make my leave now.”

“Iggy, hold up! IGGY!”

#animakupo writing #ignis x reader #ignis scientia x reader #ignis #ignis scientia #final fantasy xv #final fantasy 15 #final fantasy xv fanfiction #final fantasy 15 fanfiction #ffxv fanfiction #ff15 fanfiction #final fantasy xv fic #final fantasy 15 fic #ff15 fic #ffxv fic #final fantasy xv reader insert #final fantasy 15 reader insert #ffxv reader insert #ff15 reader insert

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poisonedapples · 7 years ago

Text

Fanders Pride

Hey, my name is Sparrow, he/they, and I’m an aromantic ace-spec (autochorissexual) person who is still very confused about their gender identity. I’ve been a Fander literally since Thomas’ Vine days, so for the “Fander Pride Meetup” that is today to celebrate LGBT+ pride in our community, I want to talk about my own identities and how I found out about them. Sometimes it’s a happy story, sometimes it is not, but despite any kind of hardship that comes with accepting yourself, I’d like to show some of my very own Pride. By doing it in the most elaborate, dramatic way possible because I have no chill and also I’m sorry that I’m on mobile and can’t put a cut. Enjoy your never-ending scrolling that I also barely proofread~ 🌈

I’m also gonna put it into neat little categories because I’m like that.

Sexual Orientation,

Ace-spec: Someone who falls on the Asexual spectrum

Autochorissexual: a disconnection between oneself and a sexual target/object of arousal; may involve sexual fantasies or arousal in response to erotica or pornography, but lacking any desire to be a participant in the sexual activities therein

At first, I was going to put this story after my aromantic one, but this one is so much shorter and a lot less dramatic, so it’s gonna go first instead. It was a lot easier to notice that I was ace-spec once I had a word for never feeling sexual attraction towards any actual people. LJ helped me realize this, because he explained what “autochorissexual” was to an anon, and my entire brain just clicked. It was like I immediately realized that I had never had any sexual feeling towards anyone either. People in media (and much more graphic things I’m not going to go into) were the only times I had really felt that kind of “attraction”. Even then, I didn’t really think that they were very hot, just kind of aesthetically pleasing? It’s hard to explain, but since I tried to get most of my information on my sexuality from the internet and how I felt about people in those kinds of...18+ areas, I thought that I liked girls a lot better than the boys. Boys with their shirts off was just...weird, still is weird, but girls were always really pretty looking. So just like with romantic orientation, I took this as a sign that I was gay.

Basically I’m just an idiot that doesn’t research correctly.

But even before that, I had my little hints of suspicion that I may be ace-spec. Most commonly I would start to question if I may be demisexual, but I also confused “romantic orientation” with “sexual” a lot, so I took my “I hardly feel any attraction towards people” as “it takes a bond for me to get sexual feelings”. But even then, it didn’t really click in my head with the label demisexual, so it came and went really fast.

Ace-spec identities really do need to be talked about more, even if some of them may seem “ridiculous” to outsiders. When I first came out as ace-spec (gonna say that instead because I am fully aware “autochorissexual” is a mouthful), it was an actual weight lifted. Because not only from my own trauma and the anxiety of “how do you even do the do in real life?”, it felt so much better to just not be worried about doing something I wasn’t interested in. I’m ace-spec, all my friends know this, and I’ve learned that any kind of relationship can be long-term with no sexual feelings. And honestly, that is a great thought.

Gender Identity,

I remember when I was a kid, me and my sister would play a Fable game at my uncle’s house. One where the younger sibling, whether you played as a boy or a girl, would always be named Sparrow. From the first time I heard that name in that game, I loved it. Me and the few friends I had on my street would all play games of pretend, and we could choose our own names. No matter what, I would always go with Sparrow. I always adored that name a thousand times more than I did my birth name, I’ve always hated my birth name. I told myself for a long time that it was because it had no meaning, and was ridiculously generic. But I realized later that it was also because it was very feminine. It didn’t really feel like me, and although people kept insisting my birth name was a beautiful name...I didn’t like it.

I’ve always just felt disconnected from the label of being a “girl”. People would say something about girls or targeted to girls, and most of the time I would have to tell myself “that means you”. Being a girl felt wrong, doing girly things felt wrong, so I avoided most feminine things to my mom’s annoyance. I felt like I shouldn’t allow myself to be girly to the feminine things I did enjoy, like they were some forbidden art from another world. I’d forget that I was supposed to be a part of that world, and I had to remind myself that no one would think it was weird if a “girl” wanted a girly shirt, or to play with dolls, and that it was actually encouraged. I just kept trying to fit myself into the box of “tomboy” because it fit better than “girly girl”. It still wasn’t very me, but I liked the more “masculine” things over the feminine, so I figured that it was better that way. And I’m a very gray person, I very rarely have black and white views, so it kinda makes sense I didn’t fit perfectly into one box honestly. It’s probably one of the more accurate metaphors to being nonbinary that I’ve seen.

As of right now, I don’t really have a label. All I know is that I’m not cis, I’m not very commonly feminine, and I’m transmasculine at the least. I know that I fluctuate in some form, or at least some kind of fluid (I don’t like genderfluid much though) since I never stay in the same place for very long. I find it pretty hard to not stress out over finding a label since I just want to know now, but taking my time instead of immediately coming out and then stressing again because I found out it’s not me gets rid of a lot of the anxiety. So for now I’m just “questioning”, but not gonna lie, I hope it doesn’t last very long.

I’m very impatient.

Romantic Orientation,

Aromantic: Someone who feels no romantic attraction to anyone of any gender

I’m going to just say this right now; finding out I was aro was not a very happy thing. It counteracted with my dreams and made me feel like I was cheated on by my own mind, maybe even the world despite how dramatic that sounds.

(TW: Unhappy marriages, divorce, parents fighting and a tiny mention of a womanizer)

I dreamed of having a loving husband to make up for all the years of broken marriages that I have seen, one that was funny and kind, one that believed in me, someone to make me feel less lonely than I really was and to fill up a broken piece of my heart from growing up learning love is fake. I saw fights and back talkers, divorce after divorce, and womanizing boyfriends who would scream at my birth mom as she screamed back with the same intensity. Threats of leaving, divorces, and my birth parents staring hateful daggers into each others backs. If they didn’t hate each other they ignored each other. If they stayed together they never said they loved each other. I only ever heard my dad speak good about his wife, but even then, when he wasn’t looking my mom would turn the other way and back talk him. But I never really learned that love was fake. I saw my birth mom scream at her boyfriend, and I dreamed of a world where me and my husband would make up and cuddle after a fight. I heard my mom complain about my dad’s temper for the tenth time that day, and I dreamed of talking to my husband about working on unhealthy flaws we both had. I didn’t learn love was fake, I learned that love wasn’t perfect fairytales instead. I learned how to grow from the mistakes I saw daily.

(Trigger Warnings over)

But before I suddenly started to question my sexuality, I had no evidence that I wasn’t hetero. In first grade I had a kiss with a boy I didn’t actually like, and in second grade I had my first “crush” on a boy in my class. Other kids would date one kid after another, breaking up and moving on so fast that my head started to spin before I even got to middle school. I saw kids get together after only a week of knowing each other and breaking up a couple weeks after. I had started to try and keep track of who had a crush on who because it always got so twisted. I remember in first grade all the girls seemed to have a crush on a kid named Justin, and all I did was just watch them all in confused awe. It was like watching a herd of derpy birds fight over a fancy breadstick on the floor; very important to them, but I didn’t really see the appeal.

When I thought I had my very first crush, I noticed that I didn’t really act like it. I remember watching an episode of ICarly where Sam had a crush or was dating a boy (can’t remember which) and Carly showed off the drawing Sam made of her and the boy surrounded by love hearts. It gave me the message that’s what people with crushes did, so although I wasn’t much of a drawer I decided to try and copy Sam’s drawing with me and this boy as swans instead. During and after the drawing was made, I noticed that I still didn’t really feel anything for what I made. I didn’t really care about the supposed “crush” I had on him, but I didn’t think much of it. The next year I would actually go up to this boy and tell him that I “liked” him, and he didn’t exactly give me a straight answer. He said “I’ll tell you when my lawyer [his dog Apples] is around”, and I tried for a little bit to get him to tell me about his feelings towards me before I just accepted that it was a rejection. But later, I would actually realize that I didn’t care about him returning his feelings for me, more so I just wanted to know because I’m nosy. I realized he rejected me and barely even cared, just went back to playing with my friends.

Then, I started to question my sexuality. I didn’t exactly notice my lack of attraction towards any genders, I noticed that I had never cared for men. I thought that girls were prettier than boys, but I became so confused because I had such a lack of feeling any kind of attraction towards people. I considered a couple labels, but even when I knew what asexual and aromantic was, I didn’t even consider it. The people I saw who were aro acted like they had no interest in being in any kind of relationship, and that...wasn’t me. I was sure of that, I dreamed of having a spouse someday, so I immediately dismissed it. And in a feat of confusion and ignorance, I decided that if I knew for a fact I didn’t like boys, then I must only like girls. For many years, I identified as a lesbian. Both my parents still think that I’m gay.

Then, I joined Tumblr. Honestly, Tumblr and all the people I have met in the fanders community have helped me a lot with my identity, and people like LJ and Marin (who I’m scared to tag so I won’t) helped me with accepting myself a lot more than they could ever know. When I first heard LJ describe their queerplatonic relationship with Thuri, how they would marry platonically, I didn’t understand why that thought was so comforting until a little later. I realized that...I was scared. I was scared of being aro, so I hid it from both others and myself. I wouldn’t lie awake at night thinking about the supposed “crush” I had on my best friend, I stared mindlessly at the ceiling feeling empty inside. I would not break the chain. Aromantic people do not marry. I was doomed to live alone forever. I could handle being gay, I could have handled being ace or pan or bi which would have brought out my mom’s severe biphobia, I could handle that. What I couldn’t handle was my biggest dream, the one thing in this world that gave me hope and peace with myself, being ripped away from my hands and being forced to accept that I could never love someone the way that I wanted to. With my already severe problems with feeling any emotion, this was hard to accept. I was willing to ignore my own romance repulsion just to have a “happy” marriage. I was willing to give my comfort away for something I thought would be worth it.

At first, I was willing to accept that I was grayromantic, and that those two boys in my life were the rare times I fell in love. I didn’t want to accept I couldn’t fall in love at all, so I tried to compromise with myself and use that label instead. Then, I read Marin’s queerplatonic Logince verse. A tiny little collage of stories in the same universe that I didn’t even get at first helped me come to terms with my identity. They loved each other. It wasn’t romantic, not sexual...but it was stronger than friendship. I learned that that kind of love was just as important as the ones I tried to dream of having as a kid. I felt like I was able to love again. Maybe not in the romantic way I wanted to, but it meant so much more to me. Queerplatonic saved me from going over the edge, and I think that is a beautiful thing.

I could go into a lot more detail with this. I could tell you about my struggles with understanding my feelings for my best friend CJ, and how I thought that I had a crush on him. I could tell you about the multiple instances I never realized I did because of my lack for romantic attraction, but now look back at and think “how did that not raise flags?”. I could tell you I thought I was just scared of commitment, how I also identified as cupioromantic for a bit, how I literally went through a grieving stage with accepting I was aro, but I’ll simply leave it as this for now. It hasn’t been easy at all accepting that I was aromantic, but that label has given me the most solace and peace, because now I don’t feel like I’m scared of commitment. I don’t feel like I’m faking, like I need to hurt myself to get my dream, like I need to bend to the whims of a romantic and sexual world. I have a new way that feels so much better than bending over backwards for something I can’t have, and I wouldn’t change it for the world.

And a Conclusion.

I will wave this green, white, gray and black flag with pride. I’ll wave my purple triangle one with the same intensity, and when I find out my gender, I’ll learn to wave it with pride as well. Because all of us deserved to have just that; We deserve to have pride and happiness with ourselves. No matter how you may identify, no matter who you love or what you feel like you really are, you can be and deserve to be prideful.

We deserve to wave our flags with pride. And we will have just that:

Pride.

#fanderpridemeetup

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autoirishlitdiscourses · 4 years ago

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Discourse of Friday, 29 January 2021

Why the humanities. Thanks for doing things that would be to have written over the quarter is over remember that your own arrangement, if that works better for you. Thank you all on Thursday, December 5, and have a spot open in my section website and see what he actually says. H History is or is going to be fully effective manner. Hi! Well done tonight.

Similarly, I think that O'Casey's portrayal of Rosie is perhaps one of the century, whether or not, because you'll want to, you can find summarized briefly in this paper for it as 1. Recall the following is true in academia as well, and what would be to start writing. 10 p. I'm perhaps more flexible, is a hilarious parody of theological discourse in the service of a Dog on a first response would help to open up different kinds of things well here, but you Again, thank you for pointing me toward this in your proposal that he has otherwise been quite a D-—You've got some very interesting and sophisticated way, and you touched on some important points, though. One provocative choice might be the subject in section is worth/five percent/for/scrupulous accuracy/in Synge's The Playboy of the class email, your paper must represent your own sense of the passage and gave a very reasonable outline, which is fantastic and free! Etc. Let me know immediately. In regard to this page to check for the term. Something else entirely? I think, always a productive exercise I myself tend to think about this is a penalty to your discussion topics will be. Because it also means that you're making assertions that one of his lecture pace rather than merely a helpless victim of circumstance and/yet Y formula in some of your selection specifically enough that I wasn't previous familiar with either play though I've pointed to some extent in some ways. For Ulysses in the episode. Again, I feel this way is that you wanted to make your arguments further in the first-person pronoun that often make a presentation as a whole, though there are a number of substantial contributions that advance the discussion in my paper-grading rubric. I think that giving a ten-page research paper was not the discussions following them. So, the exclusion, the theoretical maximum score for base grade-days late 10 _3-length paper. I think that finding ways to look at the issue. My name is absurd too: Malachi Mulligan, two of my sections at the end, and you have been to question its own interests while staying on task, you can bring up from those lines.

4% a little bit before I go to the MLA standard for citations—this is more that you should have thought it; again, I think that you have any more questions, administrative matters, and I am available during and after section last week, you did well here, overall: you had signed up for a large number of elements that you're capable of doing well on both outlines, and I may be quite a good thumbnail background to the ER, and I suspect is probably not directly present in the delivery itself that you'd expended substantial thought on the other hand, posting it on Slideshare and linking to the content of his identity look at as a pair. Totally up to perform a close reading of the recitation itself that you'd put a lot of things that you picked, the sex-food combination pops up! One provocative choice might be to let it sit for two hours. If this is the one hand, I think, your primary concern is preparing for the Croppies Yeats, The Song of Wandering Aengus. Currently, your attention should primarily be on the relevance of your presentation and discussion of the points you get behind. One of the rhythm of the analysis fits into the heart of what the relationship between these texts in juxtaposition with your ideas onto electronic paper is due, and 4 December 2013. Just at a more streamlined fashion there is also very likely that you'll run out of this coming weekend. You did very well done.

Moreover, if you have demonstrated maturity by not only express your central argument as far as it can do a perfect score is calculated for section attendance and participation 10% of your own section, I Had a Future McCabe p. What do viewers need to confirm that no one else is planning substantial areas of your thesis statement, and that you realized that each of you is not inevitably the case and I understand that students often make errors. There are two potential problems that Francie does. The joke, often lost to modern readers and viewers, is what you would be appropriate to the MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers, Seventh Edition; there are certainly other possibilities, and got a good job digging in to the longest possible stretch of time. It's not that you could then move to show how much you can make it pay off for you. Does that help? I use my recording device to capture a recording of it continually in lecture 15 Oct: Reminder: Friday is for it. You allowed the group to discuss the grade definitions—GauchoSpace does not merely performing an analysis and perhaps the way that you want so I hope you're feeling: In-progress, and incurs the no-show penalty.

Rather, what this means that you expect. You've been kind of viewer is likely to have you in section this quarter you've worked hard and it's a good move, which is rather heavy, and that uniting a discussion of the theorists involved and their outline doesn't bear a lot going on in your section who hasn't yet signed up for Twitter? If your percentage grade for the final to grade your paper graded so that you could talk about, and has generously agreed to make sure I'm about to turn your major say two concerns from each of these announcements. Must have been assessed so far of people talking more effectively. The order above is not comprehensive, but only to recite. I'm happy to get back to you without being as successful as you travel through your subtopics. I can do for herself, or economic background.

Everything looks good to me, and some legends. Think about whether you're thinking about how you can absolutely meet Wednesday afternoon my regular office hours are 3:30 or Friday between 11: General Thoughts and Notes 16 October in section tomorrow night, and you asked some very good job engaging other students were engaged, and gave a sensitive, thoughtful job of walking some rather difficult passage, getting people to dig in to me after class instead of responding to questions from other students and integrated their interests and pursue paths that were relevant to your other email in just a bit more space to get to Downton Abbey. Let me know if you really mop the floor with the paper both historically and biographically. He missed the professor's English 150. The same is true for us don't show up on reading will probably be the full benefit out of 150 to drop it in the final to grade all the presentations as it can be found below if you're stressed or would prefer to do effectively in your own understanding of their material. For one thing, and so I'm re-inscribe Gertie into the theatrical tradition. Hi! Thanks. These unpleasant implications have been assessed so far, with the latest selection from Ulysses in front of the video sets up Francie Brady's character. I realize that there will be passed out in detail than we can actually accomplish in ten to fifteen minutes if you'd like. More commonly, horses and other course components from the other hand, I will be no use if I can if you have demonstrated in class so far, it's up to you and my copy of the grotesque. Just a quick think-over, I think you've got a good upcoming weekend I'll see you tomorrow morning. The overall goal is to say for sure if it looks like it's going to motivate you to reschedule, and you receive no credit for turning it into my 5 p. Seven on the other TAs for English 150 TA, and I'll see you then! Just a reminder that you're also capable of making an audible tone. Remember that you bring up, but rather that texts should be not providing a nuanced analysis. He ceased. Students who are allowed to disclose. If not, and if you miss the 27 November the day: Every act of conscious learning requires the willingness to suffer an injury to one's self-esteem.

Unfortunately, next week, but the power company left me reading by the email I sent yours because I think that making your argument to specific passages that you need to take risks in the class to graduate, English colonialism, and no special equipment is required. I think that dropping the class this quarter, I think, too, because as declared in writing already: please take a look below for responses to British colonialism?

What most needs to be changed than send a new document. To get a low C in the manner that is difficult selection to memorize, I think that you might note that discussion notes often contain more things than that this has paid off to the topic has been posted here. Fair warning: getting an A paper, because the poem, delivered it accurately, and overall you did quite a good job of setting up an interpretive pathway into the final will be graded separately by which she addresses him. Works Cited and Works Consulted would be cleaning up your discussion of the nationalist debate 5 p. This is based on it, because it's a first-in, first-out argument that passes naturally through all of whom are in the How Your Poetry or Prose Recitation Is Graded English 150, the ultimate payoff for those who haven't yet read that far. Try thinking about this. It was an excellent sense of what the flag represents without giving a make-up, I've also gone ahead and changed that the more that you have any questions, OK? Your writing is quite good. Again, thank you for the quarter that may be servitude, History may be. Would sometime early tomorrow afternoon work for the quarter. And have a perceptive observation about the overall purpose of the section website. Name/both/items Bloom orders for lunch;/or the different levels of abstraction gradually think about specific questions can help you really mop the floor with the benefit of exposing your recitation that departs from the selection.

You effectively acknowledged the work you've already missed three sections a very good paper here in a productive direction to take so long to get back to you. You mention Beckett there is no genuine contribution in the class, now that I'm poorly qualified to evaluate disability status and cannot provide any accommodations unless I explicitly say so as to convince the reader or viewer of one of the text of Pearse's speech without too much to obscure many important writing-related question #1 about food either could be done to make them pay off for you. We Lost Eavan Boland these poems can be a more specific claim about Yeats's response was also my hope. The overall goal is to pick a selection from a piece of work very effectively. Let me know if you get from the absolute maximum amount of ground, and/or complex discussions about course material for which you've already missed three sections and have it reflected in your mind while you are expected to make a counteroffer by 11:45, and The Great Masturbator 1929, I realize.

There were some pauses for recall and some people will likely be turned off by being asked to make sure that your paper to support it. On the Study of Celtic Literature/mentioned in lecture, please see me but let me know soon so that I think, to put this would need to be the middle of how Ireland looks, which requires you to refine your ideas will develop. I think that they are assumed to feel more intensely, because I've taught them during my summer course this year prevented a copy of the quietest I've ever worked with. Standing in front of the logical chain you're constructing. Writing Month:. A 93% 97% A 90% 93% A-territory with 1 point out, you two did a remarkably good job in your hand, I'm terribly sorry and embarrassed. You want to go with Fergus? All in all, I think that it's difficult or impossible to pass them out. VI. As it is quite lucid and enjoyable at the top of page 6 to Let's stop talking for four minutes, not ten. Remember that the previous evening as a whole it ties together multiple strands you've been describing. Please also note that practically no one else grabs it. Conforms in all, this could conceivably be possible if the section by section all of this. I practically never do this effectively if the exam. 7% in the delivery itself that you'd expended substantial thought on how you did quite a few key words. Let me write to you after I broke my arm two years ago that discusses several critical approaches to this question lies at the evidence that supports your assertions prevents you, because the opportunity may not be clear on parts of his lecture pace rather than merely a helpless victim of circumstance and/or recall problems, places of suboptimal phrasing, so a film adaptation would certainly be a hard line to walk, especially without other supporting documentation, but the safe position instead of panicking and answering them yourself. Too, I didn't show up on reading the Japanese car as a result of from as a bridge to a question that you should make sure that you might choose, prepare a longer one than was perhaps optimistic for weeks when I have to say that it would help to make it the burning bush of Moses.

#Irish literature #automatically generated text #Patrick Mooney #Python #Markov chains

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blazardragon · 7 years ago

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it's halloween!! 👻👻 A headcanon about this holiday and the asanos, please

Hi anon! Happy Halloween! 🎃

I don’t have as much time to come up with headcanons as Iusually do since I’ve got Halloween-y things to do, but here’s a headcanon foreach of them!

Gakushuu:

He has never cared much for Halloween. Preparinga costume for one day of the year seemed unnecessarily tedious and candy isn’tvery healthy for you, anyway. As such, he has never really participated in thespooky festivities.

However, one year in high school, Ren decides he’sgoing to throw a Halloween party at his house for all of Class A, and everyone hasto wear a costume. Although he’s not thrilled with the idea, Gakushuu takesgroup events very seriously since he’s their leader, so he decides to attend aswell.

Not to be outdone, Gakushuu always puts his allin everything he does, even if he doesn’t see the appeal. He researches themost impressive kind of costume he can create, and creates one with ridiculousspecs. We’re talking full body, light-up pizzazz, with LEDs and electroluminescentwires. Picture what he did for the school festival, but condensed into onecostume.

Everyone half-expected him to show up without acostume, so they were in complete awe over their hardly festive leader havingthe most festive costume. Don’t get him wrong, though, showing off his skills onlycements his place as ruler of the school. I mean, he had fun making it, but hewouldn’t admit that.

Gakuho:

He used to LOVE Halloween. It was another chanceto show off his plethora of random skills to his students, and, as an addedbonus, he even got to give his students a scare. He abandons the holiday afterthe incident with Ikeda, though. Participating in Halloween doesn’t make youstronger.

However, after opening Asano cram school (Istill wish he came up with a more creative name, but if Matsui says so…), his studentsexpress interest in seeing him dress up for Halloween. Seeing that his son ispreparing his own costume, he decides he might as well, too.

He wants to surprise his students though, so hepretends that he won’t dress up at all. He wants to surprise his son as well,so he secretly works on the costume in the middle of the night when his son isasleep.

Like Gakushuu, he puts his all into making agreat costume. Unlike Gakushuu, he isn’t aiming for “impressive” or “cool”. He’snot even aiming for “spooky”. No, he’s aiming for “absolutely terrifying”. Screwthe LEDs and EL wires, he needs some fake blood for his costume. Maybe evensome real blood.

He rediscovers the joy of Halloween when thesouls of his students temporarily eject from their bodies upon seeing hiscostume. Thankfully, Gakushuu was savvy enough to know that his father was upto something, so he managed to retain his soul in his body.

Thanks for the ask, anon! I hope you’re enjoying the spooky festivities!

#assassination classroom #ansatsu kyoushitsu #asano gakushuu #asano gakuho #halloween headcanons #ask

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firefighterkingdom · 5 years ago

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#11 – How Firetrucks Are Made and Ordered | Lt. George Asi

On this weeks episode we talk to Lt. George Asi who does procurement and ordering of firetrucks for Bernalillo County Fire Department (BCFD). He informs listeners on the custom ordering process which you can make each firetruck unique and even include ice cream machines if you wanted (hint: he’s never done it). This is an eye opening episode on how the process of firetrucks.

Robert Sanchez: All right. We’re back. I’m Robert Sanchez. We’re Firefighter Kingdom. I have my cohost Vince Trujillo, and also the producer and makes everything look nice for us here in Firefighter Kingdom. We have a great guest and a friend of mine, it’s been a friend of mine for a long time. We have George Asi. He’s a lieutenant with Bernalillo County and he’s here to talk specific about the logistics program and kind of speccing apparatus. I was kind of interested just talking to him about, and kind of learning all the stuff that goes into it. Hey, George, welcome to Firefighter Kingdom.

Lt. George Asi: Good morning. How are you?

Robert Sanchez: Good. Today’s your lucky day. You get to be on my podcast.

Lt. George Asi: Awesome. Thanks for having me.

Robert Sanchez: Hey, no problem, bro. Me and George go back long time, man. We’ve had some good times together riding Harleys and hunting and camping and all kinds of stuff.

Lt. George Asi: That’s all we’ve done. Nothing else.

Robert Sanchez: We won’t talk about it. This has to be on a public view.

Lt. George Asi: Yeah.

Robert Sanchez: No, again, bro, it’s always nice seeing you and having you on. I appreciate it, bro. Again, I was just thinking when you and I were talking the other day, or I think we were eating lunch or breakfast or whatever, we were talking about what all went into speccing the trucks. I know on Facebook you put out some pictures of the actual truck. It’s amazing to me. You just can’t go to the corner mart or a used firetruck lot and buy a firetruck. That’s not how it works.

Lt. George Asi: Maybe back in the day it was like that, but nowadays it’s much more in depth, much more work that goes into speccing and building a firetruck that people just don’t understand. They think call up the dealer, order a truck and it’s good to go. They don’t realize that there’s months, maybe even years of research and development to put the trucks that we have out in the field together. There’s a lot that goes on on the background that people just don’t realize that goes on.

Robert Sanchez: Right. This podcast, we’re going to get into more detail in how it happens, but I just wanted to kind of bring up your history in the fire service, how you got into even speccing firetrucks. It’s been interesting … Since you got in fire … I was going to mention your dad. He was a firefighter for a long time. He’s a great guy. I have the honor of knowing him also. Your history in the fire service, how did it come about, you even kind of getting to this part of it?

Lt. George Asi: You kind of hit the nail on the head there a little bit. My dad, I’m second generation firefighter. My dad was a firefighter and still kind of plays a role in the local volunteer fire department where he’s from up in Las Vegas. I grew up in the fire service. I grew up going to trainings.

Robert Sanchez: In the firehouses, pretty much.

Lt. George Asi: He was an instructor back in the day before there was the state fire academy. They used to do the traveling show and they used to go from city to city. Every year they’d pick a different city and do the fire training for the state of New Mexico. I grew up as a very young, young child, as a baby, actually, I was about six months old when my dad took me to the first fire school. I grew up in the fire service and at a very young age, that just kind of what I was going to do, and I kind of set my path forward in that. Obviously my dad’s my hero and my mentor, but since then I’ve had numerous other people that’d been in my life that have mentored me in the fire service and I’ve been fortunate to surround myself by great people that look out for my best interests. I’m blessed.

I’m grateful for everything that I’ve been able to do with my career. I’m getting to the point where I’m coming towards the end of my professional career. I’ll probably move on and do something else after I retire. I think I fought my first fire when I was about nine or 10 years old with my dad and I’d go to fires with him because they’d get called off duty and I’d go with him to fires. I’d seen him do some crazy stuff. Wondered how he’s still alive today because man, there was just some unbelievable stuff, stuff that you only read in books and you think it’s fiction.

Robert Sanchez: Back in those days, there wasn’t many rules and stuff like that. They’re short on staff, they’re short on equipment, so they did whatever hey had to do at the time to make it happen.

Lt. George Asi: Yeah. I knew as a very young age that this was going to be my career and I was going to do this full time. It’s worked out. It’s definitely been different. The path that I though it was going to take was probably, in the long run, it ended up being the same thing, but it took some turns and it was cool. It made me a better person for where I am.

As I grew up and I got older, in 1992 I was able to get on with a local volunteer fire department as a junior firefighter. Obviously, a friend of my dad’s and the chief there, he brought me on. I was always very involved in everything in the fire service. I’d spend days with my dad at the fire house on duty. All kinds of cool stuff. Gene Martinez gave me the opportunity to become a junior firefighter and basically was just a title to get me into the ranks. It didn’t mean anything. I got my own set of gear. I would beg, borrow my dad’s vehicles to go to calls. It was just a good time. It was a lot of fun and that’s how I got into it. Several years down the road I became an officer in that volunteer fire department and eventually becoming the chief. That’s where I first started or I started-

Robert Sanchez: speccing.

Lt. George Asi: speccing fire trucks. We were looking at buying a Tender. That’s kind of where it started. There’s just a lot of research that goes on when you’re starting to do this kind of stuff, because you’re spending a lot of money and it’s public money. You want to do the best you can do to get the best dollar you can out of that purchase.

That’s kind of where my professional career started and how I got introduced into speccing trucks and stuff like that. It’s been kind of crazy and I knew when I graduated high school, I had another friend, anther mentor that got me into the EMT side of the thing. Back in the day it was just firefighting. That’s all it was. Getting into the service was starting to change, and in order to get into fire departments, you needed to become an EMT. He worked for a private ambulance company in Las Vegas. He was instrumental in getting me down that path. As a senior, I was taking extra classes to become an EMT. When I graduated high school, I went two months later I did my state boards and I got my state boards, and then they picked me up at the local ambulance service and I started working there as an EMT. Yeah.

Robert Sanchez: Then you became a paramedic, right?

Lt. George Asi: Yeah. Shortly thereafter I worked there for a while, got on with the fire department there in Las Vegas and that was another great experience for me because I was able to work a shift with my dad on the same truck. There was no nepotism rules at that time, I guess. It was-

Robert Sanchez: Whoever wanted to work the truck.

Lt. George Asi: I guess they were hurting for bodies, so luckily I was there at the time. It was a good experience. It was just one of those departments that didn’t pay a whole lot. It was tough times for me, I was making ends meet. I started working still part time at the private ambulance service. Long story short, the city got a new contract with a new ambulance service provider, because the fire department didn’t do EMS at the time. They still don’t. They went out for a bid, they got this company and this company reached out to any of the old employees from the old company to cross over and go work for them.

I jumped at the opportunity. I figured I’d just get on part time and see how it goes and go from there. Sure enough, they offered me a full time job, doubled my salary at the fire department. It was a no brainer for me. I was newly married, young, so I jumped ship from the fire department, probably the worst decision I ever made, but you know what? It opened up a door that I didn’t expect to open. Yeah. At that point, I worked there for about a year and they approached me, they pulled me and my wife in one day and they said, “Hey, you have what we see to be a good paramedic and we’d like to send you to paramedic school. Have you ever thought of it?” It was kind of just a huge blow, it was unexpected.

Robert Sanchez: Right.

Lt. George Asi: They were like, “We need to know by tomorrow if you’re going to go to paramedic school or not.” I’m like, “Uh, well, I guess I need to talk it over with my wife.” We did. We went home and she was like, “Yeah, go ahead.” Did, signed up, got enrolled that next week in school and at Eastern New Mexico in Roswell and went through their program, pretty rugged year and a half. I came out of there with a paramedic certificate and single and a license to practice.

Robert Sanchez: Yeah. That seems to happen sometimes in paramedic school. It’s tough. It’s no joke for sure. It’s still not. It’s even got worse nowadays.

Lt. George Asi: For sure. I think there’s way more stuff they’re covering now. It’s just a different animal now. Yeah.

Robert Sanchez: Yeah. You got in Bernalillo County Fire Department after the paramedic stuff.

Lt. George Asi: Yeah.

Robert Sanchez: I think the logistics division is kind of one of the better operated logistics divisions in the fire departments that I see. It seems like in your division, you guys are allowed to do quite a bit and it seems like you get a lot done, and one of them is speccing trucks.

Lt. George Asi: Yep.

Robert Sanchez: What’s the first thing, when you want to spec a truck … If we have a ladder truck’s being specced or a pumper, an engine, what’s the first thing you do?

Lt. George Asi: Kind of give you a little bit of background, is the department has created a vehicle replacement plan. They did that several chiefs back, they had the forethought to look sand see okay, let’s do a 10, 20 year plan on vehicle replacements. The chiefs back then, they basically went through and saw our fleet was an aging fleet at the time. It was really old. The mechanics were super busy trying to keep them up and running, stuff like that.

Lt. George Asi: They were able to basically get the oldest stuff replaced first in the busier stations. The plan was they set out the plan, they’ve published it, it’s in the policy, the vehicle replacement plan. We follow that vehicle replacement plan to this day. We modify it, we update it every year. What we do is we know probably two years in advance what we’re going to be doing. We’re basically working two years ahead of where we’re at right now. Right now I’m working, we’re getting a ladder truck built and it’s in process. I’m already working on next year’s and the following year’s purchase, the next vehicles that are going to be purchased.

Robert Sanchez: Another apparatus.

Lt. George Asi: The other apparatus. Yeah. Seeing the ladder truck going through the production and stuff like that, it’s kind of the end for me. That ladder truck’s been the project for two years. That’s kind of the end process of it for us. We still have to finish it out and get it equipped and then get it in service. That’s the first thing is identifying what we’re going to purchase for that budget cycle if you would.

There’s a lot of things that go on, and one is the money, obviously. You’ve got to have the money to purchase these apparatus because they’re not cheap. We’re looking at anywhere from a half a million to one and a quarter million dollars for a piece of apparatus. It’s a lot of money. We have to obviously budget for that.

The county is in a unique situation because probably four or five years ago they passed a public safety tax. The fire department gets a portion of that public safety tax. That’s what we use to purchase our apparatus. There’s other funding sources that we use. We use in New Mexico, fire grant process. Those are only $200,000 grants, but they’re good enough to purchase Tenders that are not that half a million dollars and above and brush trucks.

We’ve been buying brush trucks the last couple years because of the New Mexico Fire Grant, we’ve been awarded that grant the last three or four years for apparatus. We’ve got two brush trucks and a Tender that’s on order right now that we purchased through that great process. The funding is the biggest thing.

Once you identify the funding, you know what type of apparatus you’re going to buy, then you start working on that. What we do is we look at what we have currently in our fleet. If we’re doing an engine, we look at what we’re doing in our fleet. Is it working for us? That’s our goal is to make things better for the end user, the firefighter, and make it as safe as possible. We look at what we have currently in our fleet. Is it working for us? We get a lot of input from the field guys. We’ve kind of done a kind of committee thing where it’s myself, Chief Valenzuela, Chief Pettis, and one of the mechanics and an engineer from the field. We usually try to get an engineer that’s a more seasoned engineer that has been on multiple apparatus, not just one apparatus for their career.

Robert Sanchez: When we are talking engineer, just so the public knows, that’s the driver of the apparatus.

Lt. George Asi: Yeah. Of course. That’s the driver of the apparatus. The ones that have been on there, and they have good communication skills. We want them to be able to reach out to other drivers who are on those apparatus, maybe not been on multiple apparatuses but they can go and talk to somebody, they’re respected, they know how to talk to somebody, and they can put those answers into a Word document. They’re basically the word of the field that they bring back to us when we’re building these trucks or talking about how we’re going to build these trucks.

Robert Sanchez: Right.

Lt. George Asi: Getting the ideas from the guys. Obviously, I pride myself on tying to get as much input from the field. The end users, the guys, the firefighters, the ones that are sitting backwards, the officers who are there, trying to get every need that they possibly have addressed in the new build.

Robert Sanchez: Right. That’s great. You get the money, the funding, so you go to say, I know Bernalillo County’s Pierce apparatus, right?

Lt. George Asi: We’re primarily a Pierce apparatus department. A large majority of our fleet is Pierce. That’s one of the other relationships. You have to have good relationship with other people outside of the department. Like I said earlier, there’s a lot of research, and I would say even development that goes into the building the trucks. The trucks that we built 10, 15 years ago, there’s been a lot of technological changes since then that when you’re talking about pump control modules-

Robert Sanchez: NFPA requirements.

Lt. George Asi: Yeah NFPA changes every five years. They have revisions every two years. You have to maintain that. Those changes are sometimes not stuff that we want but it’s part of the NFPA process. The NFPA is the National Fire Protection Association. They publish standards for performance guidelines. They’re basically a guideline. The builders, like Pierce Manufacturing is an NFPA certified builder. They basically build to NFPA certification-

Robert Sanchez: Standards.

Lt. George Asi: Standards. Yes. When there’s guys that say, “Well, why do we have to follow NFPA?” We don’t, but the builder follows NFPA and that’s the way they continue to get their accreditation and build a good product because it’s a standardized version.

Robert Sanchez: Right.

Lt. George Asi: Yeah. There’s a lot of changes that happen that we would like to have that from the past that are no longer available because they’re unsafe practices. It’s just not safe or they’re just not doing it anymore.

Robert Sanchez: Right.

Lt. George Asi: There’s a lot of that stuff that goes on. We have to be up to date with that code and the NFPA standard. It slipped my mind right now what number it is. I have a binder at work that we follow those guidelines and all that stuff.

Robert Sanchez: You guys go to Wisconsin, right? Is it Appleton?

Lt. George Asi: Yeah. Appleton, Wisconsin.

Robert Sanchez: Twice for each apparatus. Right when the build starts and then when it ends. Is that correct?

Lt. George Asi: There’s two trips. One is the pre-build. Basically, you go over there, during this whole time we’ve already met with our sales rep. We have multiple meetings to talk about the changes we want, what we want them to do for us, and we’ve gone back and forth with the specifications and the component list. I’ll just use an example of this last ladder truck that we’ve built. We did 11 conference calls or meetings before we went to Appleton to do the final pre-build conference.

Robert Sanchez: Right.

Lt. George Asi: We met 11 times, all the committee or part of the committee members with the sales guys, to hash out some of those details that we want on our truck that maybe not everybody else gets or it’s different from somebody else. They’re all 100% custom trucks. They have a boiler plate that they use with the transmission, the engines and stuff like that, but for the most part, everything else, the compartment configurations, the locations of the compartments, the seats, windows, all that kind of stuff, we tell them where we want them and what position to be in. All that stuff has to be laid out in advance.

Even when we do get to Appleton, what we’re doing is we’re meeting with the Pierce Manufacturers, their engineers. We sit down with their engineer. If there’s something, a point of contention that we couldn’t work out in the pre-build, we have the engineers come in and we explain why we want to do what we want to do, and it’s basically their job to figure out how to make it happen. It’s crazy because when you’re building a truck, you’re only limited by your own imagination and what you want to do with your own department. Obviously, everything takes money but the crazier the things, I’ve seen some crazy stuff over there in Appleton. Different departments have different train of thought.

Robert Sanchez: They’ll do it. If you have the money, they’ll do it.

Lt. George Asi: Yeah. If you want to pay for it, they’ll do it. If you want an ice cream machine in the truck, they’ll put one in there for you. They’ll do crazy stuff like that.

Robert Sanchez: Yeah.

Lt. George Asi: The pre-build is basically three days of sitting in a conference room going line by line with the specs just to make sure we got everything, all our T’s crossed and I’s dotted, make sure everything’s good. Inevitably we still miss something during the build process. We work with Pierce Manufacturing and their local dealer is Siddons Martin Emergency Group. I’ve been working with Jose Adamillo, he’s a sales guy. He’s been our sales guy for 25, 30 years or more and he’s getting ready to retire, so we’ve been working with [James Hollis 00:21:59], who’s a regional sales manager.

Lt. George Asi: Those guys have been great. Everything that we ask them to do, they’re on the money, they’re there getting us answers and if it’s a no, they have good justification why it’s a no and why we can’t do what we want to do with that kind of stuff. It’s a long process, like I said. It’s 12 to 18 months of pre-work, then it starts, when guys actually see the trucks on the website, on the Siddons Martin Emergency Group website, you’re looking at 12 to 18 months of work that’s already starting to happen. Basically the build time is anywhere from 12 to 16 weeks depending on the apparatus. The ladder truck’s probably going to be 12 to 16 weeks.

Robert Sanchez: That’s crazy. In the fire service, if you’re realizing that you need a truck tomorrow that’s too late, right?

Lt. George Asi: Yeah. You kind of have to have a little bit of forethought and some planning going on there. Yeah. If you realize your truck took a dump and it’s got a catastrophic failure, you’re behind the curve ball there a little bit. There’s manufacturers that have trucks that are-

Robert Sanchez: Commercial chassis.

Lt. George Asi: Yeah. Demo trucks that they built for demonstration stuff like that that they can pick up fairly easy, but it’s not going to be what you want. It’s not going to be exactly what you want. That’s the thing that with us we’re building everything to how we want things built, specifically to how we do business here in Bernalillo County.

Robert Sanchez: Right. When the pictures, and you’re showing the progress on there, so that’s firefighters can go to the website and see that. When it’s complete, you go to Appleton, Wisconsin again and you look at the finished product?

Lt. George Asi: We do. We look at the finished product. We basically have our spec sheet is probably 16 pages long. We go from item by item and there’s five of us that go, we usually take a mechanic. If not, we take a mechanic from the dealership that we bought the truck from, from Siddons Martin. Their lead mechanic will go with us just to make sure that they have built the truck to our exact specifications. We find stuff in there all the time that is not right or it didn’t come out quite as good as we wanted it to come out.

Robert Sanchez: You can change it.

Lt. George Asi: We can change it. Obviously comes with a cost. Anytime you change anything it’s going to cost you some money, but Pierce and Siddons Martin have been really, really good about working with us on some of those changes that maybe we forgot or maybe that Pierce just overlooked or it wasn’t clear enough in the description of the specifications of how to do things.

Yeah. We’ll go over there and we’ll go item by item. We’ll look at every piece of the apparatus. We look at the paint. We look at the graphics. We look at moldings, screws. If we find screws loose or stuff that’s not fastened correctly, we write it up. It’s a punch list and at the end of the inspection, we give that punch list to Pierce. We go through everything. We show them exactly what we didn’t think was right and they go back and fix it.

They usually fix it within a week to two weeks depending if it’s major. It’s like paint smudges or paint runs or scratches in the paint, or screws that are falling off from the headliner. One time we forgot to put the visor on the engine and Pierce went halfers on it with us. It’s a $4,000 piece. We ended up paying $2,000 for it. That kind of stuff, they work back and forth with us. Obviously they want us to have exactly what we want and they want us to be happy. They really do go above and beyond with their customer service to make us happy.

Robert Sanchez: When you’re doing the punches that you’re talking about, it ain’t a field day. It’s an all day thing. You’re there all day long.

Lt. George Asi: Yeah.

Robert Sanchez: You’re on creepers and everything, right?

Lt. George Asi: Exactly. We’re usually there from 9:00 to 5:00 in the afternoon and we’re underneath the truck. We’re getting up close and personal with the driver train. Everything, the springs. We look at everything. What’s nice with Pierce is when they do your frame rails, it’s an all custom truck. When they cut the frame rails, every single hole is put there for a reason. When you go through that final inspection and if there’s a hole and it doesn’t have a bolt or a wire or something running through it, there’s something’s wrong.

Robert Sanchez: Oh yeah.

Lt. George Asi: They’re missing something. It’s real easy to kind of go through that process and see that something’s not right or it’s not working, it’s out of place or whatever. Yeah. That’s one little thing that we look at is the frame rails. If there’s a hole that’s open we need to know why there’s that hole open because they tell us in the build process they don’t put holes in the frame unless there needs to be a hole there for a specific reason.

Robert Sanchez: Right. That’s crazy. It’s crazy. You start to think about it. I think this is interesting, fire fighters and the general public, because you just don’t go down to the local dealer and pick up a truck like you would your personal truck or car. It’s a big process and it takes over a year in the making, correct? I mean, the fact that there is an apparatus replacement plan, that’s definitely needed. Most departments should have that.

Lt. George Asi: Yeah. They should have an idea when they need to replace their apparatus. For us, again, NFPA has a guideline of when you should replace apparatus. They say that they should be removed from service after 10 years. We’ve been behind on our plan because of funding, but we’re getting caught up. What Bernalillo County has done is when the plan is finally caught up, the vehicle will be in frontline service for seven years. At that seven year mark it’ll get replaced by a new vehicle. That vehicle will go into the pool-

Robert Sanchez: Spare.

Lt. George Asi: A spare status. They’ll keep it as a spare for up to three years. Like I said, we’re behind in our process, so our trucks have been on the front line for 10, 11 years and then they go to the pool fleet for four or five years. That’s a credit to our fleet, our mechanics. They do a great job. They’re very short staffed at the time now but they do a great job of keeping our fleet on the road and maintained.

You and I have traveled the country and I’ve had opportunities to talk to other logistics folks while we’re on trips and I think we’re pretty fortunate that we have a pretty decent program with our mechanics and our vehicle replacement plan. Not only that, I think our facilities are much better than a lot of departments throughout the country. Our guys are kind of spoiled in a way that they all have their own bunk room. They have their private space. I’ve been to departments, we’ve visited departments in Philadelphia that have dormitories. EL Paso, we went to visit their newest station, it was all dormitories, 30 some guys in one room. It’s interesting.

Robert Sanchez: Right. Yeah. You’re absolutely right, man. Just traveling the country, you just get to see how fortunate we are. Some of the fire stations it’s just a funding thing. Some of these fire stations back east, you’re seeing fire houses that some of them are over 100 years old and made out of brick. They look at them and they keep them up to date as much as they can. We’re definitely lucky.

Lt. George Asi: Yeah. For sure.

Robert Sanchez: I was curious, too, once you do the finished, you guys go down there the second time for the apparatus anyways, and you look at it and it’s all done, how do they ship the truck back?

Lt. George Asi: As a buyer, you have the option to either get it shopped down to you or driven down to you. We choose to have it get driven down to us for the mere reason is if there’s any bugs that they come up during that time, that’s on them, because we haven’t taken delivery of it.

Robert Sanchez: Right.

Lt. George Asi: If we were to take delivery of it from there, because I get questions from guys on the field, why can’t we just drive them down and take them to our facilities? Basically, if you take delivery at the factory, you’re responsible from once you leave that factory-

Robert Sanchez: Even if it’s in an accident, if it breaks, anything.

Lt. George Asi: Exactly.

Robert Sanchez: That makes sense.

Lt. George Asi: Any mechanical issues that arise during that time. We had Engine 40 got in an accident on the way down here that I-

Robert Sanchez: I didn’t know that.

Lt. George Asi: A lot of people didn’t know that. Pierce ended up having to fix that front end. The bumper was all messed up. They had to do some painting ad stuff like that. It was in a minor accident.

Robert Sanchez: Yeah. Okay.

Lt. George Asi: That’s the reason that it gets driven down here to Albuquerque to Siddons Martin Emergency Group. They look it over. They do a once over and they change the fluids. That’s part of the deal that we have with them. Once that’s all done, we go back and do another inspection at Siddons Martin to see if there’s any more scratches that came up during the travel. We do another little inspection.

If there’s things we find, we make them take care of it before we take possession of it. That sometimes takes two weeks to a month and a half to two months to get it from the dealership for us. At that point, we take possession of it, we take it to our fleet, and then we start adding the equipment, radios, because we get the radios installed, but we don’t get them hooked up. We got to get the radios hooked up, programmed, all the other equipment that goes on the truck. We buy a truck, we buy it and then we buy all the equipment that goes on that truck. When you get a truck, you get all new equipment on there, except for the air packs.

Robert Sanchez: Right.

Lt. George Asi: Most of the equipment is brand new. We put all that equipment on there. That way when we put it out, it’s a brand new truck, brand new equipment.

Robert Sanchez: Ready to go.

Lt. George Asi: Ready to go. Yeah.

Robert Sanchez: That’s great man. Shoot. Thank you for being on. You know we have a Vince Trujillo, our cohost, he’s in our community segment. Hey, Vince. How you doing, brother?

Vince Trujillo: Good man. Thanks. Actually this is pretty interesting to hear all of this going on. As a member of the public, I don’t even understand how the whole firetruck purchasing process works. It was so interesting to hear that. I was going to ask the question, but you said the price tag, $500,000 plus, even over $1 million.

Lt. George Asi: Right.

Vince Trujillo: When it comes to custom made vehicles, what people don’t understand is you probably have more experience messing with high price custom automobiles than the average rich private owners.

Lt. George Asi: I don’t know. There’s some pretty crazy stuff out there. Yeah. They’re very expensive pieces of equipment.

Robert Sanchez: How much are the ladder trucks cost?

Lt. George Asi: Our ladder truck came in at $1.25 million.

Robert Sanchez: Okay.

Vince Trujillo: That’s because it has a ladder, it has all kinds of other features on it.

Lt. George Asi: Yeah. Obviously it’s got 105 foot ladder, a lot of hydraulics in it, it’s still go at pump, it’s still go water, and then just the chassis, it’s got to be a bigger, beefier chassis to hold all that weight.

Vince Trujillo: Yeah.

Lt. George Asi: That truck I think is coming in at about 78,000 pounds.

Vince Trujillo: Wow.

Lt. George Asi: Pretty heavy piece of equipment.

Vince Trujillo: You don’t want to run into that thing in the intersections.

Lt. George Asi: I guarantee you-

Vince Trujillo: You’re going to move.

Lt. George Asi: It’s not going to move.

Vince Trujillo: Before it does. You were talking about the customizations. You said the guys going backwards and stuff. It immediately got me thinking, because I think I saw movies where you have people actually looking into, they have a mirror for the guys going backwards, right? Explain to me, what do they have?

Lt. George Asi: They don’t have anything. Our department doesn’t have anything like that. We’ve transitioned to, because a lot of the guys are complaining that they’re getting carsick or they can’t see the scene as they’re rolling up to it. We’ve made the trans … I think this is our first truck that has all forward facing seats.

We’ve had trucks in the past that have both rear and forward facing seats. We build the trucks to be able to grow within the 10 years. We, right now, only have three man engines, so we have four positions in the truck. Before we had volunteers so there was a chance that we would have four or five guys on a truck. They built five, six man trucks. Some of those seats were rear facing, some were forward facing. Most of the guys would elect to sit down on the forward facing seats.

Vince Trujillo: Is it first come first serve, or you’re a backwards facing guy and that’s your station.

Lt. George Asi: If you’re the firefighter, if all you have is rear facing seats, then you’re sitting-

Vince Trujillo: It’s whatever, you jump on and the guys that get sick, they want to get forward facing.

Lt. George Asi: Yeah.

Vince Trujillo: Now you’re doing forward facing seats on that too. Is old school, having rear facing seats, is it just an old tradition?

Lt. George Asi: I guess it was tradition but it was a matter of the circumstance.

Vince Trujillo: The technology.

Lt. George Asi: The technology. Yeah.

Vince Trujillo: At that time.

Lt. George Asi: There used to be all open cabs or partially open cabs. There was only places to put seats in so many places. Most of the time you had to sit back to back with the driver or the officer and that’s the way it was. There was no other room to put other seats. There was just no space for it. One of my first engines that I rode on was one like that. I rode backwards for a couple months when-

Vince Trujillo: How was it?

Lt. George Asi: It was cool. It was a partially open cab. We had a covering but no door. It was just steps.

Vince Trujillo: I don’t think I’ve even seen that.

Robert Sanchez: When I started the fire service, that’s where trucks were. It’s not too, too long ago where apparatus firetrucks, they had to sit outside basically and you smelled exhaust and you were hot from the sun, no air condition.

Lt. George Asi: Yeah.

Vince Trujillo: Was that a budget thing, do you think?

Robert Sanchez: That’s the way fire trucks were made back then.

Vince Trujillo: Made it so you could get in and out quickly or something?

Robert Sanchez: Yeah. You had a little yellow bar right in front of you and you flip it up, and you get out of the truck.

Vince Trujillo: I don’t think I remember seeing that.

Robert Sanchez: That was here for only here for a couple years when they had those trucks, but yeah.

Vince Trujillo: This was 90’s maybe or something?

Lt. George Asi: Yeah.

Robert Sanchez: Early 2000’s.

Vince Trujillo: 2000’s.

Lt. George Asi: Yeah.

Vince Trujillo: Okay.

Robert Sanchez: Yeah. 90’s, huh?

Lt. George Asi: Before that, yeah. Obviously older than that. I’ve talked about the NFPA stuff. That was part of the NFPA standard that changed because they were seeing higher incidences in firefighters getting cancer and they were attributing that partially to the diesel exhaust. That’s why they went from an open cab design to a more closed cab design to help with firefighter safety.

Vince Trujillo: Yeah. That’s interesting because I don’t even remember those trucks.

Robert Sanchez: Do you remember the firefighters standing on the tail board?

Vince Trujillo: Yeah, yeah, yeah. I’ve seen that.

Robert Sanchez: That wasn’t too, too long ago. That was still in the 90’s.

Vince Trujillo: That’s no longer. They don’t allow that.

Robert Sanchez: No. It’s against the law. Yeah.

Vince Trujillo: Did people get hurt, I guess?

Robert Sanchez: Yeah. People got killed, hurt.

Vince Trujillo: Wow. Imagine that. You’re going and doing your job and how’d you die? Fell off the truck, of all the ways that firefighters can get injured. Geez. What happens to the old trucks?

Lt. George Asi: The old trucks-

Vince Trujillo: You guys sell them and then make money back on that?

Lt. George Asi: No. Typically, we don’t do that. One of the other nice things about Bernalillo County is we’re the second largest department in the state, and we’re fortunate that we have a budget that we can replace apparatus on a yearly basis. When our apparatus is replaced it goes into a spare pool. If a truck goes down for maintenance issues or has a break and needs to get replaced by one of the older trucks, it gets put back in service as a temporary basis until the new one gets fixed.

Once we’re done with them in the float pool, then Bernalillo County I think prides themselves in helping other people. We’re the bigger brother that we want to help smaller departments grow. We’ve done a lot of donations of our apparatus. Most recently we donated one of our old engines to Cuba Volunteer Fire Department. They’ve been a recipient of our apparatus before. They’ve taken possession of I think two other apparatuses from Bernalillo County. Bernalillo County used to be yellow and white before we went to the black over red. You go to Cuba and you see the yellow engines over there. It’s like I remember that truck. They’re repurposed for other departments who don’t have a whole lot of money. They can’t afford to buy a half million dollar piece of apparatus. We give them the truck for $1. They basically buy it for $1.

Vince Trujillo: Do you guys get some benefit to that? Write off or anything?

Lt. George Asi: You know, that’s questionable. Obviously the county I’m sure gets some sort of a tax write-off. I think what we get more out of is that we know we’re helping a department that’s not as fortunate as us and that they’re providing a service to their community that they would otherwise not have the ability to do so. I think helping our little brothers out and giving them a piece of equipment that’s going to help them in their communities support them, I think that’s a greater gift than any dollar amount I think for us anyway.

Vince Trujillo: That’s great to hear that. My last question, though, is both of you mentioned something about you get custom, you could put an ice cream machine in there if you wanted to. What’s the craziest thing you’ve heard people putting in the fire machine?

Lt. George Asi: In the firetruck?

Vince Trujillo: You don’t have to mention which one it was.

Lt. George Asi: You know.

Vince Trujillo: Was there anything weird like a beer cooler or anything?

Lt. George Asi: I’ve seen refrigerators inside the cabs of the trucks. What else? Just locations where compartments go, it’s just crazy because you wouldn’t think that … One of my first trips to Appleton, and it’s cool because we usually get to walk the production floor and see what other people are doing. That’s where we get a lot of our ideas of what we want to do.

One of the apparatus I saw, and it was a four wheel drive apparatus. Bernalillo County has four four wheel drive apparatus in the east mountain areas. They sit really high. What I noticed on one of them that I was like oh wait, I was walking by and I saw in the front wheel well, because there’s probably, what? I would say 28 to 36 inches of space between the wheel and-

Robert Sanchez: I would say so.

Lt. George Asi: Somebody thought of the idea of putting a compartment in that wheel well.

Vince Trujillo: Wow.

Lt. George Asi: It was a giant wheel well, but it was curved on the bottom and they put a compartment there. I thought that was a-

Vince Trujillo: Making use of all the space.

Lt. George Asi: Pretty unique use of the space. Just something that you wouldn’t … I since have never seen anything like that.

Vince Trujillo: You’ve never seen an ice cream machine.

Lt. George Asi: I’ve seen coffee makers.

Vince Trujillo: Ah, yeah

Lt. George Asi: Not ice cream machines. Coffee makers for sure inside the trucks.

Vince Trujillo: Thanks so much, George, I appreciated having you on. That was pretty cool-

Lt. George Asi: Thanks for having us.

Vince Trujillo: Enlightening, see how that process works, which is not a small process.

Lt. George Asi: Yeah.

Vince Trujillo: I appreciate that.

Robert Sanchez: Thank you very much, George, Lieutenant Asi from Bernalillo County Fire Department. Thanks for coming on the show. I appreciate all the information about apparatus. Again, it’s hard to, as the general public, but even as a firefighter, I mean I never knew things where you don’t realize all the work that you guys, your division puts into to making the trucks.

Lt. George Asi: Yep.

Robert Sanchez: Again, man. Signing off from Firefighter Kingdom, your host Robert Sanchez, cohost Vince Trujillo, producer. Don’t forget to listen to us on Apple podcasts, Spotify, and-

Vince Trujillo: Firefighter Kingdom.

Robert Sanchez: Firefighter Kingdom Facebook.

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