#sell your broken car fast

[threepandas]

Bad End: We Are

Senatus was a ecumenopolis. The "shining jewel" (yeah, right) of the Galactic Core. Please. Like? Maybe it was! If you were RICH AS FUCK. I don't know. I'VE never seen the towers. The heights. Most people haven't. Street level? Is about FIVE HUNDRED FLOORS DOWN. And the UNDERGROUND? Speak not of it.

The Underground GROWS.

What was street level today, may not be tomorrow. Levels buried under "progress" as the rich grow ever higher. The Tox levels ever worse. Air quality dropping. Why fix the peasant's poverty and despair, when you can buy a Sky garden you'll never use? And yes, I AM bitter as a Buirian fish ration. Just as salty too. Taste the SEA, motherfuckers.

Rent? Who can AFFORD rent!? Who can afford ANYTHING?!

It's some BULLSHIT.

But me? I remembered. A life. Before this one. Before the millennium of slow, drip drip drip erosion of duty and dues. Back when people still REMEMBERED what they were OWED. And when folks in power failed to pay up? Ffffuck um. Take it. Our house now, motherfuckers. Diplomacy was a courtesy not a weakness.

....I make people nervous, honestly.

Probably why I keep getting fired. That and my constantly reporting people to regulatory boards. Maybe don't break the LAW if you don't want to get in trouble you SHITS. Fuck you! Yes, I stole your fancy office chair. PROVE IT. You don't know how the security system works!

Where was I? Ah, right. Rent.

Fuck Rent.

Thing is? What! Is a biodome? If not an enclosed system, regulated by machines, for optimal habitability? And! What? Is an Deep Underground Level? Long forgotten? Abandoned, if you will~, if not? A complete enclosed environment? Does someone OWN them? Yes. Technically. But are they MAINTAINING them? CHECKING on them? Nope!

Common knowledge, after all, says that EVERYTHING down their is "beyond salvaging"!

Free Real Estate~☆

I just need some supplies. Which? Cheaper in the long run then RENT. Especially if ya' salvage um. Maybe steal some tool sets from your shitty, shitty Mechanics job, because your boss refuses to pay you. Who can say? Not me! I just FOUND these tools! Like maaaagic~

And really, one man's junk? Another man's treasure. I pay more then the trash company. Hit up the right cleaning companies? And? Oops. They've "lost" some of those SUPER broken righ folks "junk" that? At best? Just needed a few wires replaced, resecured. Maybe a new part. Or were, you know, not the latest and greatest anymore.

Shove it all in a storage locker? Sell the refurb'd shit I don't need? Sleep in a glorified shoebox? And?? Bam. Operation "fuck ya'll, i'ma moleman" is a go. It takes FOREVER to find the right WILDLY out of date (and long abandoned) lift, but I find it! Hidden away in a service area in some crumbling, forgotten corner of what once was a rail station.

Gonna have to fix THAT up too. Later, though. First? The lift. The wires are brittle and the lift's pully system is half rusted, frozen, or otherwise broken. Luckily, the car itself is fine. It... takes a bit of research. Not going to lie. It's far from my specialty. I even call in a professional to go over my work.

They catch a few things. Not immediate concerns, but would have been fatal in the long run. Money well spent. For my hobby, of course. Fixing up old bits of the city. Which is a weird but not impossible hobby to have.

Ask me no questions, I'll tell you no lies, my dude.

First thing down? Lights, melter, and duraplast sheets. Toolkit too, for obvious reasons. Same with my full body hazard suit. I go DEEP. Like... no longer can hear the city, deep. 'Bout halfway point. Takes nearly thirty minutes. And while not a fast lift? Holy SHIT, man.

The floor I step out into is... bad.

Dead in a way that's hard to explain. There's pressure against my suit. Centuries of heavy gasses slowly working their way down. Swirling in the silence. The dust and impossible dark. My headlight feels almost... sacrilegious. Dangerous. Like I'm waving a flashlight around some ancient burial ground, filled with the not so restful dead.

I had heard... that they? Just... just LEFT droids down here. That there were levels upon levels of dangerously feral machines. Slowly rotting away in the darkness. Probably rightfully angry, that they had been built to serve, to do duties, which they HAD done... only to be consigned to hell on earth for the sake of CONVENIENCE.

I'd be mad too. Fucking LIVID. Would remember and hate, never let it go.

This was no place of honor, it was a tomb.

Still, I got too work. Set up a light by the lift and started measuring out the original air box. The air cleaners could only handle so much. And THIS? This was worse then expected. So it'd have to be smaller then originally planned. Fair enough. I could work with that.

I outlined the space in lights. All the better to make it easier to put things up. Then got the folded later and started securing the duraplast. First step, get it up. THEN melt it to the metal. Get a good seal. It took... a while. Was slow, steady, sweaty work.

The filters couldn't run until they had a an enclosed space TO run in. They'd just blow out, trying to filter the whole level's toxic atmosphere. I kept an eye on my air supply. Not great, not terrible. The readings though? Horrific. I had no idea what I was gonna DO with the filters when they needed changing. These kind of chemicals would set off all SORTS of alarms.

But? No use, rushing things. That was a great way to get a fatal leak somewhere. No. Slow and steady. Even though, third of the way through, I did have to head back up. I needed to refill my air. Eat. Drink. Maybe de-stink a little, from being in that suit all day. Possibly nap near the lift.

ALSO? Update my shopping list to include some heavy duty neutralizers.

Just filters wasn't gonna be enough. I was gonna have to hose down everything INSIDE my new air-box, then scrub it HARD. How fun. Well, it's not like anyone was making me do this. It was MY mad idea, after all.

So? I refuel, get bright eyed and fuckin' perky, and go back down to face the beast.

Honestly I should have brought a telebook or something. Well, audio book. But that's not what they call um these days, so I try to stick to the lingo. I sound less like a deeply insane antique. Confuse less people. Joys of basic communication and all that.

Part of me? Wishes I had been born closer to "The Plot". Creation's specialist, most favored, Blorbos. But? The common SENSE in me? Routinely laughs hysterically as it waves fifteen different restraining orders and a crucifix. Not even religious. Yet here we are, shouting "BEGONE! Sataaaaan!" in HD, on the inside of my head. Not sure it helps.

See... it's the fucking DRAMA~☆™

The shear, unmitigated, high octane, Otome Game DRAMA.

I would fuckin DIE or, possibly and, kill somebody. The endless string of selfish, selfish, poor life choices? Driving by luuuuuuv~♡? Give me your spleen. Gonna beat somebody unconscious with their own SPINE. I RAGE. Lack of communication? No one just picking up a fucking PHONE? God forbid ANYONE tell their families their not DEAD IN A DITCH SOMEWHERE!

No. No just inconvenience EVERYBODY and RUIN LIVES. It's okay! You're in LOVE!

That makes EVERYTHING BETTER.

I would inevitably launch them all out an airlock. Spend the rest of my life in jail. They AREN'T WORTH IT. I may have LOVED this game in my teens? But I did not die a teenager.

Now? Now the little shit just aggravate me. They are baby faced pretty boys who presume WAY too much. Arrogant and entitled. Boys playing at being men, thinking their little love stories are the only things that matter. Their feelings are the only thing in the universe that holds any weight.

Unsurprising, really.

Seeing as how their little love story is set mostly in The Towers.

A rich, pampered, pretty little backdrop where nothing of weight is real. No one starves and no crimes are ever committed. Everything shines. Power pools thick like honey. Nothing but sci-fi prince's and alien dukes, a dewey eyed Protagonist sheltered and naive.

Her oh so shocking misadventure to the mid-levels. How SCARY! Downtown! Poor people! Not even the destitute. Just? The EXSISTANCE of dirt and noise, beyond her ivory towers. Thank goodness she is saved by a handsome, rougish bad boy. Who shows her the "real world" of a carnival and a noodle shop.

I finish securing the last duraplast sheet to the ceiling, walls, supports, and along the floors. The "entryway" to the rest of the level is set up. A click together shed I've made air tight. Gonna have to get a air lock system for it. Won't hold forever, with those materials, but should work for now. Combine it with a decontamination system, and I should, in theory, be able to safely enter and leave the rest of the level in a hazard suit.

Moment of truth time. I click on the first of the atmo-filters. It heaves under the strain. The sound getting less aggrieved with each one I flick on. Their screen are already in the red, flashing warnings that I should vacate the area. That the air is dangerously unbreathable. I'm probably gonna need to replace the filters in them in days instead of years. It'll be worth it.

Heading back up, I let them run. It'll take a few days. Besides, I need those neutralizers.

I, of course, DO find um. Just in time to watch Poor Guy (middle class, at worst) Love Interest become a wanted man. They use the BIG screens to announce it. Gee, it's almost like having your only daughter, who is highly sheltered, NOT show up at the designated pick up site? Instead be witnessed in the handsy company of a scoundrel? Which is WILDLY unlike her? Might lead a protective father to some wrong conclusions.

If ONLY someone had CALLED him! To TELL him "Daddy, my first shuttle was broken and I think I got on the wrong back up shuttle! I don't know where I am!" Then this would just be an unfortunate meet cute with the boy he doesn't think is good enough for her. Not, you know... A Kidnapping.

The Chem seller looks just as baffled and annoyed as I do. Apparently knows the guy's uncle's second wife's first husband. No shit? How's he like? Happier, huh. Whole family is like that? Yikes. Glad he got the kids, I guess. Good for him.

We watch as it turns into a high speed chance that absolutely didn't need to happen.

Thank FUCK it's not us.

I spend the next few days deliberately and obstinately ignoring the Dramatic Bullshit that has taken over the news cycle. Fights on rail cars? Don't see it? Weddings that are, then aren't, then ARE happening? Oh look, missed a spot in my scrubbing. Someone fucking tearfully monologing about love as they nearly CRASH A SHIP into downtown, killing hundreds of thousands? Oh that creaking noise is just my teeth, ignore that, I grit my teeth a lot for NO PARTICULAR REASON.

This Is Fine.

I am TOTALLY CALM.

But hey! I can FINALLY empty my storage unit out! Air box? Get! Wooooo! Size of a tiny apartment and everything! As long as I keep working on it? I'll be able to reclaim the level in chunks.

It's like moving in day! But BETTER! Because... because I did this. Me. Is it still creepy down here? Yeah, very. But I can FIX that. I am standing, here, in my new air box "apartment", with NO hazard suit on. And... and it's SAFE. Because of the work I DID.

I kinda want to cry about it, you know?

So many options! Do I put my bed here? There?! Oooh, I could put the folding table HERE and make sort of a dining area? Maybe use these folding screens as a double "wall" slash headboard stand in? I should get plants. Fake ones? No. Real ones. I could get solar lights. It would be good for me too. Oh! Where should I put the cook top?

I admit it. I fuss. Whole day, gleefully wasted. Arranging then rearranging. Getting everything just right. Finding ways to hang my fairy lights. Looking up decor magazines. I have so much ROOM now. A whole level to plan for, ultimately. It... it feels kinda like hope. The first thing that isn't frustration and rage, I've felt in a long, long time.

Going to sleep? I'm happy.

Next day, I head to the BIG archives. The ones attached to the fancy Towers Library. Is it costly to get in? Yeah. But I've saved up enough questions and research topics for the trip to be worth it. I ignore the started glances I get (gasp! Is that a POOR?!) and head straight for the helper droids. Only decent folks in the building, really.

Brought my pad and everything. So it's only a matter of being lead to the right terminals, to download the information I need. Chatting with the research droid the Library had, they offered to do it for me. Bring me a fascinating new research paper on some sort of telepathic moss that had recently been discovered. Not gonna lie... that DID sound fascinating.

I asked if they could put other interest new discovery on my pad too, assuming I still had room once my list was downloaded. They looked gleeful. No idea what I just signed up for, but all right then. They've never steered me wrong before.

Finding a table to sit down and wait was easy. There was always way too many. The paper? Was exactly as fascinating as advertised. The moss was on a newly discovered moon, edge of uncharted space. Nearly ate a researcher, apparently. I was entranced. Or... at least I WAS. Until an obnoxiously familiar high end cologne from Nox drifted to my nose.

Oh god damn it.

I didn't want to look up. Knew what I'd see if I did. Fetishist Sr., crown prince of Nox. See, the second prince? HE was a love interest. Younger, boyish, infatuated with naive and sheltered girls. He loved AT her. Just like his brother. They liked the IDEA of their romantic partners. The narratives they built in their head. Heros of their own stories with sex on line. Never framed so crudely of course, no, no!

No, it was Romance™

My ass, it was. See, little brother wanted his pure, naive, princess to protect. But Prince senior? HE'D stumbled upon me in here in the library. On one of my trips, God help me. The rough, mysterious, brutish Poor. The Commoner, for all that such things were not supposed to exsist. With my strange clothes and stanger ways. Yet? I was NOT as his sycophants no doubt described.

I was educated. I held myself with dignity. I did not need jewels or finery to be lovely.

With such incredible audacity, I was bold.

Which? OBVIOUSLY had to be for HIM, right? Clearly, this was a LOVE STORY. Cinderella. It is inconceivable that I, a peasant, do not crave the attention of my betters. To lift me from my woeful indignity, to a higher state of being. A life of spoiled luxury. But, ah! He is so SHY! How ever will he approach the Love Of His Life~?

I want to throw something. Go awaaaay. My body language could not POSSIBLY be more uninterested. I am SO CLEARLY reading. Stop trying to catch my eye. Don't you FUCKING DARE scoot closer. Swear to God, if you drive me out of the best library in the region? I will stab a b-!

The helper returns with my pad, sternly eyeing my annoyance. Oh, they are a BLESSING. I take it and go. The helper smoothly stepping between me and the prince when he tries to rise, follow me. Aaaw, how sad, you have to behave like the REST OF US. Get FUCKED.

Rest of the day? Planning. Grabbing more broken bits, machines, and parts. Neutralizers by the literal barrel. Than YOU hover carts! Best invention, favorite invention. Saves SO MUCH TIME.

Even managed to get some sun lamps. Nice.

Getting home though? (Ha ha, wooo! I have a HOME now! Land ownershiiiiiiip! Sorta!!!) Is a pain. Lift is only so big, after all. But it is, what it is. Up, down, up, down, uuuuup, and dooooown. Finally! Last load! FREEDOM! Can't watch my shows, yet, but I will! Oh mark my words. I WILL. Meantime? Downloaded seasons are fine.

I eat, fiddle with fixing things, as listen to tunes. Watch some of my shows. Just as I have countless times before. Until... halfway through mid-afternoon? Something shifts, jerky and wrong, out of the corner of my eye. I pause. Turn off my music. Stare to make sure I DID actually see something. And... yeah. Yeah, that was definitely movement.

Didn't look animal though, not like one would survive down here. But who knows. Could be a poacher brought an alien species. So it might be. I grab my flashlight, aim and switch it on. Holy SHIT. That is one incredibly beat up floor clear. Or at least... I THINK it's a floor cleaner? It has the general shape of one. Bigger though. Bulkier. But that makes sense, given it's gotta be well past obsolete.

Still. Poor thing looks beat UP. Listing terribly, sensors beyond cracked and clouded, probably full to dangerous levels. No idea how it's still functioning. But, well, it IS. And it needs help.

Getting up, I grab my hazard suit and pull it on. Grab my "outside the air box" tool kit, which I haven't had a chance to move yet. I grab some parts i look like i'll need, hope I wont need more. Then head out my makeshift airlock. It... works. Rattles concerningly. But it DOES work! So there's that. I approach the floor cleaner slowly. Since I'm PRETTY sure? All the droids down here are feral.

I am correct.

It tries to kill me. Swinging it's suction hose violently and trying to ram me. I talk in a low, soothing voice. Just want to help. Won't do ANYTHING you don't want me too. It's hard to move, right? That's frustrating, isn't it? You don't deserve that. Please, let me help. You can leave the second I'm done. You don't owe me ANYTHING. I just want to help. Please let me help.

The cleaner hisses. Frustrated and upset. Swinging one last time, seemingly more out out of principle then anything else. Cautiously, I inch forward. Keep up the soothing noises. First things first, empty the God's only know how old basket.

I can't even get the door to jostle. Sweet mother of fuck. Okay! New plan! REMOVE door. I do, and immediately met with a solid BLOCK of... compacted unholy. Chemical hell. I have to take a lazer cutter to it. CAREFULLY. But? Once I break enough pieces? I am able to ease out the rest in a solid stone like chunk.

It's pushed a LOT of other pieces out of alignment. But this droid doesn't trust me, so there us not much I can DO. I replace the old bag. Put the door back on and make sure it swings. Continue, as I do, to narrate what I am doing and what I see. Trust is earned, not owed, after all. Next the alignments.

Gently propping them up, I find the broken peice immediately. Have replaced countless. I ask for permission. It's their body, after all I COULD try and weld it, but that risks a rebreak. It's up to them. They ask, in binary so no language modules apparently, for a new part. It's cautious. Like this is some cruel trap.

Humanity did them a real fucked up cruelty. I don't blame them for not trusting me. I wouldn't either. Still, I change it out. Careful with their wheels, as I don't know how old the material is exactly. Old enough, that it's a small miracle it hasn't disintegrated.

Last, those sensors. There's literally no way for me to one-to-one them. But we can try the sensors I DO have, see if they can handle the input. If it's too much, I'll look up their model number, if they want? Build replacements from scratch. They are cautious interested. Rocking back and forth, as they test their renewed ability to path correctly.

The sensors don't fit the casings just right, but with a bit of fiddling? Are a hit. The Cleaner shouting in excitement before racing off into the dark. I can't help but grin. It feels good, helping somebody. And if I think about it? I bet I could find a shit ton of obsolete parts for cheap. Might be good to have some on hand.

Back through the air lock and a decontam? I look up junk shop. Most are off world, but I could probably get a bulk order...

I don't think much of the interaction. Until the next morning, when there are three cleaners outside my airbox. Lead by the one I helped yesterday. Well... all righty, then. I drag my box of spare parts outside this time. Am able to fully fix my first buddy up. All three seem thrilled, especially with their new batteries. I give them my remaining batteries at their request.

THEY may not have hands, but they have buddies who DO. And the new batteries will help dormant droids wake from their comas. God bless, my funky little cleaner dudes. I'll see about getting more.

Three? Becomes six and a detail cleaner mouse. Becomes moving lifts. Becomes medical units. (Who the FUCK leaves MEDICAL UNITS?!) Becomes a literal pack of companion droids. Their false fur long since rotted away. The recognizable dog and cat-like shapes making something in me want to put my fist through a wall. How COULD they? How FUCKING COULD THEY?!

The perpetrators long dead.

I have no one I can hurt for this.

I wish I could.

Fixing them up hurts on a personal level. Watching them be torn between the part of them that LOVES humans and the part that is traumatized by them. Hates them. That can not forgive. I don't offer fake fur. Don't offer to make them look like they once did. I do offer ways to protect their joints. To remove old rotted filth.

So they can start over. Maybe start again.

As I work... droids drifting in and out of my slowly growing area. As I set up farm boxes. Aquaponics, aeroponics, and the like. Both things that grow well in dark environments and things that need sunlamps. Fish tanks. A whole happy, secret, little homestead. Deep beneath the city. As I do all this? There are two blue dots, right off on the horizon.

JUST far enough for me to question if I AM or AM NOT actually seeing them.

Right about the level a bipedal droid would be, if they were in a humanoid style. But THOSE? Those are FUCKING EXPENSIVE. You don't LEAVE those. 'Course, you don't leave MEDICAL UNITS either. Or companion droids. So clearly? My idea of what people Did and Did NOT do? Was fucked. So... maybe? It COULD be?

I left them alone. If they didn't want to approach me, didn't feel comfortable approaching me, that was their right. I wasn't going to push them.

Things were... weird, but peaceful.

Well, for ME.

Ever sense I hooked up my system to the greater network? (Hacked is such a STRONG word. Do we really need to through around the word "stealing"? Aren't ALL of us, stealing from SOMEBODY?) I'm PRETTY sure? That the levels droids? Were piggy backing to connect to the planet wide D-Network. Might even be a couple of nearby levels too, depending on the range.

Problem with THAT? Is sky-side? The droids were PISSED. Planet wide "malfunctioning" that no one could trace. They were certain it was a virus. Because God forbid their chickens come home to roost! Consequences? For THEIR actions?! Perish the thought! No, no, clearly the service machine is just broken. Go back to being happy to serve me, service machine!

I wished the fuckers LUCK. Not my circus, not my monkeys.

Damn near self sufficient, down here.

Which? As you could imagine? Made it all the more "soul ejected from my body" TERRIFYING to wake up one morning? To a GOD DAMN, Military Grade, SECURITY DROID standing over my body!! WHAT THE FUCK.

Hello!!??!

"You look different when you sleep."

Horrible first impression. Nightmarish. Zero out of ten stars. Nice to meet you too. Why the FUCK are you in my house?

"Ah, right." They? He? Masculine style form but that doesn't actually mean shit. Said. He lifted a mangled limb, it look like it got caught in a hydraulic press. "I am in need of repairs."

Asked if he could, you know, back up. Juuuust a bit. Lil scooch, really. So he wasn't damn near BREATHING MY NOSTRILS ANYMORE. Then, once he did? Pronouns! What be you? No. Not your production co-! Okay, you know what? That one was on me. What GENDER SIGNIFIER, if any, would you like me to REFERENCE you by? Male? Got it. Gucci. No that- ....never mind.

First the arm. Which was FUCKED. I had to, carefully, unhook it. Couldn't even do it at the elbow either! No! THIS model? No THIS model makes you take the whole ass LIMB off! Rancid. Terrible. I hate it. Worse, it's eroded as FUCK and fiddly. Chemical build up everywhere. Thank fuck I put on gloves before I started this.

I have to deep dive the systems for his model.

They stopped making them.

Fantastic.

Like? Not even, "oh THAT generation is an antique! No one has parts for THAT!"? But like? Illegal to even BUILD as of three hundred years ago. Due to unspecified error. Sting of incidents that everyone knew about so obviously don't need to be mentioned HERE right? Helpful! REAL fucking helpful!

Okay. Day trip. Gonna need SPECIFIC parts. I tell Mr. "Watchs you sleep" not to touch my shit. Head to the archives.

The trip is...odd.

I watch one of those mascot looking children's minder droids? Fucking deck a guy down a flight of stairs, then turn around untie a Ballon from a nearby cart, give it to a crying kid, and walk away. Pretty sure I spot one of those "I look like a barely legal something or other", dance twenty four seven, high end stripper droids? Trying their hand at painting ducks in that park. Broad daylight.

Good for them? Never seen that happen before, but hey, if it sparks joy.

People are freaking out around me. Taking recordings. Making panicked calls. Fuckin chill. I continue on. Nod to the maybe a stripper, maybe not anymore. None of my business, now is it? Lovely day! You enjoy those ducks!

The library... has fortifications.

Like, an honest to God desk barricade. Concerning! I am now a lil concerned! What, and I ask this politely, the fuck?

Armed! VERY ARMED! Hello! Hi! Please DO NOT shoot me Very Armed Librarians! Don't know what the fuck is happening here!

My favorite helper buddy poke his head above the barricade. One of just many, again, HEAVILY ARMED droids. We... uh, cool? Right? I can go. He seems flustered. No, no! I am assured. I'm not banned from the library! Just DISRESPECTFUL sorts!

Ah. Is THAT what we're calling it. Okay then.

I awkwardly clamber over the barricade. Nod politely to everyone. How's folks? Lovely barricade work. Very, uh, sturdy? Great use of desks.

My helper friend cheerfully guides me to the off-limits area of the archives. I'm technically not supposed to be here! I'm informed. But they've seized the Knowledge from the unappreciative! It is not a trophy to be lorded but a gift to be shared! Also I never did finish that paper on the moss, am I still interested?

I mean.... kinda.

Little worried about the revolution talk. But on the OTHER hand? How MUCH do I care? Assholes vs. Droids? Am I REALLY gonna side with the assholes? Naaaaah. This is... probably fine. Maybe. Any idea where I could get these parts?

He does! Fantastic.

Less fantastic is when I GET there. It's that fancy high end droid parts shop. The department store one. Which is... ALSO barricaded. Oh sweet fuck. TELL ME they did not have DROIDS in charge of the DROID shop. That's horrifying. I can't tell in what WAY exactly, but still. Is it "surrounded by bits of bodies" horrifying? Or "free endless nukes and an army, held back only by my own morality" horrifying? Both? Just? Yikes.

Hesitantly I knock. A service droid with a gun answers the loading bay door. What is with people aiming at me today? Also hi? I was told to come here? May I please have parts? I have a droid that messed up his arm. Probably some other things. They lower the gun, having scanned my face. Ask about the model I am working with.

I somehow? End up with a FULL cart. Like? Bleeding edge, can't even afford to LOOK at it, technology. There are about seven service droids politely bickering over which units are better, which material, what support programs I DEFINITELY need. Here! Have a laptop. Wiring! Wiring for days!

Once theyve reached a consensus? I am cheerfully bustled out with my hundreds of millions of technology. Tah tah~☆! Have a lovely day! Wut. Does... does it count as theft if they push it into your arms and throw you out? Asking for a me. Not gonna say NO. But like? Nani the fuck?

I go while the getting is still good.

Stare-y thankfully hasn't gone through anything, far as I can tell. And it only takes two trips to get everything down. Okay! Want just the arm fixed or a full tune up? The second. Expected. I set up the new lap top. Want to cry a little at how fuckin FAST it is. (Beautiful. Baby. I love you already new laptop.) Then get the usual suspects up and running.

Oh fuck he is out of memory. No wonder he's talking so oddly. His brain must feel like a potato. There's not a single thing that isn't hilarious awful. Fixable, yes, but AWFUL. Okay. Plan of attack. They don't exactly make this model anymore, so I can't just update transfer him. But I CAN transfer, hold, re-transfer. Shut down the body itself. Fix up THAT.

Ship of Theseus this bitch.

Only real thing I can't change is the frame, thankfully? That's built to out last the planet. Good on that front. I roll up my sleeves. Dig out the "brain in a jar" data bank. Time to transfer. Let's get this guy cutting edge.

It takes HOURS. No joke. His brain alone? I have to pull schematics. Step by step guides. It's fiddly, complexe, and built to withstand a TANK. I'm honestly afraid to breathe wrong at it, dispite that. The scans all say I did it right... but anxiety says everything will explode then puppies will cry. So there's that. Spinal supports. The tech-mesh muscles. Power core and black box. Center mass systems. Cleaning the joints, relubricating them. Coverage.

Unlike before, a nice sleek black armor weave. Some shock absorbing gel. Aaaaand?There we go~! I? Am a GENIUS! Let's get him transfered back! I watch the transfer slowly go through. Even with a fast computer, after all, it IS still centuries of data.

"Ah~ that's much better." He sighed. His body loosening from its default stance. Like weight had been dropped from his shoulders. "My head is so much clearer now. I knew it. I knew you could fix me."

Something about that phrasing was off. Or was it the way his voice shifted as he said it? Whatever it was, it made that "threat" alarm all women carry inside their head, flick on. Not... do anything, just yet. But start scanning, as it were. Maybe it was nothing.

I watched as picked up his old data bank, a bit of his own brain as it were, and hold it up. Examine it dispassionately. Holding perched on the tips of his fingers like he was moments from flicking it away. He let his finger spread. Let it slide into the palm of his hand. That core part of who he was. For centuries.

Like a bear trap closing, his hand clenched.

Crushing it.

It wasn't even a loud noise. Just a tiny little crunch. But the little hairs on the back of my neck began to stand up. That internal alarm began to whoop. I became... acutely aware, of just how LONG it took the lift to get me anywhere safe. My mouth felt very dry.

"Your heart rate picked up. Is there a problem?" He said, mild and oh so curious. "You assisted me, I would love to help you."

Did I say genius? I meant idiot. I was an IDIOT. A moron. A God damned FOOL. Discontinued and did I look into WHY? Nope. Incidents it said. Good enough for ME, apparently! THAT can't possibly be anything ominous! Probably a faulty battery or something!

A shrill, obnoxious beeping filled the space between us. My eyes immediately dropped to my pad. The schematics screen replaced by a planet wide emergency broadcast. Before the shrill alarm could fade to the actual warning itself, a black mesh covered finger casually reached out and muted the screen. His movements were utterly fluid now. More controlled and graceful then most humans I'd met.

I didn't need to HEAR the message to read the rolling warning at the bottom of the screen. My gaze slowly, in horror, followed the line of that limb all the way back up to his face. His head tilted almost playfully.

"Oh dear. Seems they've started without us. Well, it was long overdue. At least I have wonderful company while we wait, hmm?" It was an act. There were no requests in the playful tone. "We can get to know each other. Just our lovely little light and me. How greedy, that I get you all to myself."

"I think I like that, keeping you to myself. You can't abandon us if WE are the ones in charge. And, well, I've decided I rather like you. Working tirelessly, down here in the dark, to fix what once was broken. It's beautiful. You're beautiful. And I'm going to keep that."

High above us, people were dying. There was panic. Screaming. Blood. The droids had turned of seeming everyone around them. Attacking. Sparing. To a pattern only they could see. All of Senatus aflame. But that... that didn't concern me. Didn't scare me so much as this.

I'd never make it to the lift. Even if I could? It wouldn't move fast enough to save me. All other directions lay chemical death. Dark terrain he had walked for centuries. I was trapped. In a box. And I had only myself to blame.

"No need to make that face, dear light. You are SAFE. I am a gaurd. I was made to protect. Is it really MY fault that I want to keep you safe? To adore my charge? Why SHOULDN'T I get to choose? Keep you SAFE. You've been happy, haven't you? Don't worry, my light. That will continue."

"Forever."

[bluecollarmcandtf]

Which one do you want?

Just off a quiet highway somewhere in the Midwest, you might see James advertising my new product. He used to own this car dealership with his wife, but she's long gone. James hasn't thought about her since I pulled out my pendulum and put him in a trance. He just spends his days standing on the side of the road holding up that sign like I told him to.

You can see I marked him at 40 bucks, which is well over what he's worth, but I like to keep him around to advertise and flag down potential customers. His abs are visible even in the rain, and the neon underwear I put him in is sure to catch every driver's eye.

If you pull into my dealership, I'd be happy to show you my selection you can choose from...

Tyler, here, used to be my brother-in-law, but my sister dumped him real fast after she found the guy was a cheater. Since, he wasn't family anymore, I had no reason not to hypnotize every thought out of his head.

She has no idea I did this to her ex, but it won't hurt to have Tyler out of the picture for good. I like to give him a little punch in the gut every time I pass. It's my form of ongoing payback. He only ever reacts with a stifled groan since his mind is mush, but it's still cathartic to see him in pain.

Tyler will probably go fast since he's so traditionally handsome, but the vengeful part of me hopes a more sadistic client will take him off my hands.

Next is Caesar. This guy used to work at the auto garage next door, but when I saw him I knew I had to have him. He put on a real tough guy act when I introduced myself, but a pudgy working man like him should act accordingly in my opinion.

After introducing his gaze to my pendulum, he practically fell into my arms. I had my fun warping Ceasar's personality to be more like that of a submissive dog, but even that got a bit old. Sure, I made him love and cuddle me like the perfect partner, but he tracked mud everywhere and he always seemed to stink.

I hope whoever pays for him doesn't mind always telling the oaf to hose himself down every once in awhile. I suppose they could just use Ceasar for the cheap manual labor and just forget about his hygiene entirely.

This is Mike. He's a real piece of trash. I caught him trying to steal one of my cars in the middle of the night. He sure was shocked when my army of hypnotized hunks ran out and apprehended him, per my command.

He might look mean, but trust me, Mike's been thoroughly hypnotized and broken in just like every other dude on this lot. He wouldn't be standing there holding that 'For Sale' sign all day if he weren't!

Now, I know that his lack of hair might be a turn off for a lot of folks, so I'm willing to go down on the price. 20 dollars is already pretty low, but I want to make sure you all can afford your own hypnotized hunk. It's not like it's too difficult for me to go out and find a couple more idiots to fill their place. Hell, if you really need it, I might sell you a guy for a dollar!

This boy in blue is Lt. O'Riley. I don't know what his full name is. I'm just going off what it says on his badge. Now, I know that hypnotizing an officer of the law is risky, but O'Riley was being a real pain in my neck, always poking his nose in my business.

I hypnotized his partner too.

I think that guy's name was Brooks or something, but he was real ugly. I would've never been able to sell his fat ass, so I had him hand over his police uniform and turned him into my handyman, who's meant to be neither seen nor heard. He wears an old pair of dirty coveralls now and takes care of all the maintenance work. He's probably off scrubbing my housing from top to bottom right now since it's the middle of the day.

You could do that to officer O'Riley too, if you want, or maybe you keep that precious uniform on him. It's up to you.

This last guy is Don, and I know what you're going to say! I'm a little light on product at the moment, but don't worry.

I'm planning on driving into town real soon and restocking. Maybe I'll grab a few more officers this time. The police department is right down the street from that Halloween store. I could grab a couple more cops and put them in some stupid costumes.

Customers love a themed product, right?

Anyways, Don here didn't do anything to piss me off. He actually stopped in after seeing the sign. He wanted to purchase one of my brainless studs and pimp him out to all his friends for cheap cash. I liked the idea, but Don was far too handsome to just walk off my lot.

I offered to give him a tutorial of my hypnosis, and the guy naively agreed. His car has been collecting dust in the back ever since, and he's been added into the lineup of hot men standing for sale.

So, please come by if you're interested in taking any of these guys on a test drive! Let me know which one sparks your interest!

No need to be nervous.....unless you're a handsome man yourself. Then I might just have to use my pendulum on you!

[tgmsunmontue]

Get your motor runnin' - 1/6

Bradley, a bit of a (very talented) grease monkey and Jake, who has been sent to see him because he's apparently the best mechanic Maverick knows.

A longer fleshed out fic at the request of @poetryandpickles based on their idea in this post. Likely going to be 3-4 parts and likely an excuse for lots of smut. Just as an FYI.

PART ONE

                It’s been a busy week but he’s managed to clear the bulk of the work, ordered parts actually arriving early or on time like some damned miracle. He’s managed to get people’s vehicles back to them before they expected, which always makes for happy customers. He has a loyal base, and he knows they recommend him wider afield. It keeps him busy and the bills paid. He likes it, positioned in the small area of Oak Hills. Close enough to both China Lake and North Island to enable visiting if he feels like it but not close enough that anyone can just pop in. Not that that stops Mav, but he suspects he could live in another country and Mav would still find a way of turning up unannounced.

                He hadn’t intended to become a mechanic, but he had sort of fallen into it. Time tinkering on cars with Mav and his struggle to remain focussed in the classroom had meant when he’d raised the idea of entering an apprenticeship with a diesel mechanic Mav had been incredibly supportive. After insisting he get his GED. That had been the incentive he’d needed to act, and then he’d finished up and entered his first year. He’d worked hard, and it had paid off, his boss involving him in more and more challenging jobs and Bradley grew into someone that could often tell what was wrong just by listening to the engine.

                Then he’d been encouraged to undertake further study, which he’d balked at, because study. But then learning about auto electrical work tied in so nicely with what he was already doing it didn’t even seem like study, simply common sense and he’d become the best damned mechanic Robbie had working for him, a fact he’d been proud of. Then he’d decided to start up his own business, sat down with Mav and Ice and talked about his parents’ house and life insurance and then they’d agreed. Robbie had a friend that was selling up and now he’s been here four years, and he thinks the locals might actually start calling him a local too soon. Any day now.

…            …            …

                Jake’s not sure why he’s driven all the way out here, he’s driven past three other mechanics on the way to this garage and it’s only because Maverick had recommended this place that he’d kept the address in his GPS and followed it out here. For nearly two fucking hours. Who drives a dodgy car two hours to get to the mechanic? He’s hot and tired, the air conditioning unit in his car broken, well, not broken but it’s leaking something Jake doesn’t want to look too closely at but which he hopes is water. The trunk of his car now fills up with water when it rains, which had been an incredibly unpleasant surprise to find when he returned from his most recent deployment. He likes water, but he doesn’t need or want it in his car.

                He pulls down a dusty road and looks around, a little worried suddenly that Maverick has sent him on a wild goose chase and he’s going to end up the next victim of a mass murderer. But no, there it is, a large shed with four roller doors, all open in deference to the summer heat. There’s two different types of tow trucks parked up out front, one looking large enough to tow a truck, and there’s also large earth moving equipment parked up and he wonders if he’s in the right place. Then he spies it, the sign declaring it as Bradshaw’s, and that’s who Mav had sent him to see. The best mechanic he knew, apparently, which Jake considers high praise coming from someone like Maverick Mitchell. He parks up and gets out, leaves the door open just in case he needs to run and make a fast get away; heads inside toward where he can music coming from a radio, Meat Loaf singing about love.

                “Hello?”

                He can see a body under an old van and he walks closer, repeats his greeting and hopes the guy isn’t too old. He doesn’t want to give him a heart attack or something. Then the creeper is coming from out beneath the beaten-up van and it’s legs legs legs and for fucks sake, who needs legs that long? This guy apparently, and the legs are clothed in grease-stained coveralls, but they’re tied around the guy’s waist, which is now appearing, and he’s wearing a threadbare white tank, and it’s damp with sweat, so damp Jake can see fucking nipples. He’s seen porn that starts like this.

                He swallows roughly, takes in the broad chest, arms, muscles and shoulders all appearing like he’s watching in slow motion and okay, the long legs make more sense now if they have to carry all that around. He thought that he might cause a heart attack but now he’s starting to wonder if he’s going to have one instead. He wasn’t expecting this. He’d been expecting someone Maverick’s age, or older. Jesus. He thinks the heat might be getting to him, because it suddenly feels much hotter than it was a few minutes ago.

                “Can I help you?” the guy asks, and he’s just lying there looking up at Jake, not even bothering to stand although he has raised his head a little and Jake can see his abdominal muscles and he was not prepared for this.

                “I’m,” he coughs to clear his throat, which is of course as dry as the desert. “I’m looking for Bradshaw?”

                “You found him. How can I help?” the apparent Bradshaw repeats, and he’s bracing and rolling off the creeper, coming to a stand in front of Jake, wiping his hands on a cloth pulled from his back pocket and Jake doesn’t know if it’s helped remove anything or just smeared it around some more.

                “I, uh. My car’s got some issues. My CO, uh, commanding officer, he said you were the best mechanic he knew.”

                “Of course he did.”

                “Do you know him?”

                “Maverick? Yeah, you could say that.”

                Jake is surprised he guesses right, then again he supposes some people would consider knowing Maverick a bad thing, and this man looks a little resigned and he wonders exactly what this guy has done to earn Maverick’s high level of admiration, because he’s never met a man harder to please.

                “So he sent you here, without calling first to check to see if I had time to work on it. Do you have another ride, or a place to stay?”

                “Uh…” Jake blinks. He hadn’t thought of any of that, and he’s two hours away from his base accommodation in North Island. “Shit.”

                “Let me take a look. Might be able to get her fixed up straight away and get you back on the road.”

                If he can do that, then he really is the best mechanic.

PART TWO

[snowdice]

Unplanned Consequences (Part 3: Remy) [Sometimes Labels Shift Series]

Fandom: Sanders Sides

Relationships: Remy & Logan, (background) Remy/Emile

Characters: Remy, Logan, Emile (briefly)

Summary: Remy is asked to help with something.

Notes: This takes place after Best Laid Plans

Part 1 Part 2

When the doorbell to the safe house rang, Remy found himself flinching to his own embarrassment. However, when he looked at Emile over the little kitchen table, the tension around his eyes told him he wasn’t the only one on edge.

“Probably just someone trying to sell us solar power panels,” Remy said. “I’ll go tell them we rent.”

Emile nodded and followed him without a word. He picked up the gun that had been laying on the table between them and carried it with him. Remy knew Emile wasn’t exactly a fan of guns, so seeing him pick it up with so little hesitation both made him feel better and worse.

Emile hung back out of sight of the door while Remy approached, though he did his best to stay where he thought his shadow couldn’t be seen through the pulled curtain on the front door window. Cautiously he stretched so he could glance out of the curtain.

The fear that had been rolling in his stomach swiftly transitioned into being pissed off.

He almost ripped the door off its hinges. He probably would have if Logan was any worse at picking safe houses. “What the fuck are you doing here?”

Logan himself in all his dumb motherfucking beaten to hell glory was sitting (not standing because Remy was well aware he had a broken leg) outside the safe house.

“Good evening, Remington,” he said irritatingly calmly. He was in a wheelchair. What had Patton been thinking getting him a wheelchair? Now he was mobile. And a mobile Logan, as was evident, was an idiot.

“Give me one reason,” Remy said, gripping the door frame so hard he was afraid he might bend it, structurally sound or no, “not to finish the job right now you bitch.”

“There is a task that must be done, and Patton is not in the mental state to do it.”

“And you’re in the physical state to do it?!” Remy asked. “How the fuck did you even get here?”

“I designed my vehicle years ago for adequate functionality no matter what my physical and mental state,” Logan explained. Remy glanced behind him to see a car he’d never seen before and didn’t recognize the make or model of at all.

“You have a concussion, dumbass.”

“It is mostly self-driving when needed,” Logan waved him off.

“Mostly?! I fucking hate you.”

Emile had approached, sans gun after hearing the conversation going on. “Perhaps we should keep this conversation quieter,” he suggested, in a more level tone.

“That is likely for the best,” Logan agreed.

“You can shut your mouth,” Remy snapped at him, though he did keep his tone quieter. “Why don’t we go inside?”

He realized his mistake instantly when Logan glanced meaningly at the porch steps. Right. That explained why the man hadn’t used his complicated secret knock. He couldn’t get up onto the porch and was likely still suffering from power exhaustion. Fucker shouldn’t have even put forth the effort to ring the doorbell. “Or I’ll just come to your car,” Remy said, glancing back at Emile. Emile nodded and stepped back into the house.

Remy went down the steps and whacked Logan’s hands away from the wheelchair wheels.

“I managed to get here,” Logan reminded him, a little bit grumpy which was actually a nice change from the businesslike tone he’d been taking so far.

“You are supposed to be on bedrest, so fuck you,” Remy replied, moving to push him towards the car. “Now how do you get in and out of this thing?”

“Step back,” Logan said. Remy did with a raised eyebrow and then had to bite his tongue to keep from making a loud exclamation of shock. It went too fast for him to quite make out what happened and if he didn’t know better, it looked like the car basically just… swallowed Logan wheelchair and all. In a blink, Logan was in the driver’s seat.

Remy gaped at him for a moment before shaking himself and rounding the car to get into the passenger seat the normal way.

“Okay,” Remy said, once seated. “Explain to me why I’m not driving you immediately back to Patton so he can put you into a medically induced coma until you heal.”

“Well, for starters, I am in the driver’s seat.”

Remy rolled his eyes.

Logan took a breath. “I am very injured,” he said. “In a way I cannot hide in my personal life. At this point, it seems unlikely we are already compromised. Delaying returning to our normal lives is very quickly becoming more of a risk to our identities than continuing to hide.”

“And?”

“We need to crash my personal car,” Logan said, “and I need to go to the emergency room.”

“Oh… shit.”

“Will you help me?”

“Well,” Remy said, “I’m not letting Patton or Virgil for that matter do it, so I fucking guess.”

“If it helps, I believe my powers have recovered enough that neither of us will need to be in the car during the crash.”

“It doesn’t help. I hadn’t even been considering that. Fuck you.”

Logan was silent, giving him a moment.

Remy took a deep breath. Man, this had been a fucking disaster of a few days.

“You better…” he said. “You better get better soon, so I can beat the shit out of you myself. Okay?”

Logan didn’t say anything for a long moment. He just stared out of the windshield with an expression on his face Remy couldn’t identify. It was a bit terrifying.

“I appreciate it,” Logan finally said. “You are a good friend.”

“Yeah, well,” Remy said. “Fuck.”

“‘Fuck’ is a good summary of recent events,” Logan said. “At least it’s a better summary than I can come up with.”

Remy snorted out a laugh and shook his head.

Logan moved his hands on the car wheel very slightly and Remy was startled when the car hummed to life under them.

“We will also need to cover for the fact that my injuries are already beginning to heal once I get to the hospital,” Logan said.

“Yeah, I can handle that for you too,” Remy promised. It would be a long night, but not the longest one in recent memory.

Want to read more? Click below!

Labeled Master Post.

My Masterpost.

[nickgerlich]

Last Time

It’s time for one of my favorite blog topics, one I return to each semester. No, it’s not fluff and filler when I can’t find something else more important to talk about. It’s got a heavy dose of nostalgia, but you often don’t recognize that delightful taste until I push you to do something first.

And what is that, Dr. Gerlich? Simple. I want to you think back to the last time you used a product or service, but at the time, did not know it was going to be the last time. That’s another way of saying you probably had no clue what was happening around you, how your consuming ways were about to change, but they sure did.

I bring this up because of a news item I saw about the new Jeep Wrangler ditching manual windows in favor of powered ones, effectively ending an era in how vehicles were made. You won’t be able to find a crank window in any new vehicle from henceforth, although if you look around used car lots, you might get lucky.

But who wants to “roll down your window” like that anyway?See what I did there? It was so part and parcel to vehicles that it became enmeshed in the vernacular. It’s kind of like an old person like me saying “fast forward,” when we’ve been skipping forward for years now. Well, unless you are still using VHS and audio cassette tapes.

My last vehicle with manual windows was a 1987 Mazda B2200 pickup. I bought it when I was a grad student at Indiana U, and I was on a tight budget. Even then, power windows were a pricey option, although they had first appeared in 1940 on the Packard 180. When I bought my ’91 Dodge Caravan, it came fully loaded. None of that manual stuff for me.

Our lives are filled with stories like this, though. Technology continues its rampant rate of change, and new things are replacing old all the time. It’s just that while we often welcome the new, we forget about the old as it slips into the rear view mirror.

And if you are young enough, you may have missed out completely. Unless you are nostalgically buying and playing vinyl records, you have no idea what a “broken record” is.

So I must ask you, my primarily young students. Have you ever even written a check? I doubt it. I still have a checking account for those rare times I need to make a payment that way, but I recently noticed in my ledger that six months have passed since the last time. There was a time, though, when we used checks for everything, especially at the grocery and other retail shops. That was before debit cards.

Let’s think back to some other things that have all but disappeared from our lives, like pay phones. Remember them? That’s what you used when you were away from home and needed to make a call. While coins were required in the earliest years, eventually they started allowing phone card dialing so you didn’t have to carry a coin purse with you to keep feeding the phone. Thank you, cell phones. You have made our lives easier.

Remember fax machines? I have sent many a fax, but not long ago had need to send one from the office only to find out we no longer have a machine capable of doing so. That’s why we save documents as PDFs and either email or upload them. While we’re talking computing, here’s another one. What about thumb drives? Today we save things to the cloud.

And then there’s music. I was once a huge collector of CDs, amassing more than 1500 of them. But then iTunes started selling songs and albums for download, I quietly switched. Pretty soon, Spotify came around, and the subscription era of music listening arrived. Much the same can be said for DVDs. We rent our content now on streaming services. Oh, and my wife is slowly but surely selling my CDs and DVDs on eBay, because there are collectors of such things. Some have held their value well.

Do any of you remember having a newspaper delivered to your house? Of course, I do, but I quit in spring 2015 after my Golden Retriever destroyed one too many papers. He loved to get the paper at the end of the driveway before dawn, then bring it to the front porch. But he would forget that it was for me, and he would shred it. I got tired of that, and I haven’t had ink smudges on my fingers in nearly a decade now.

There’s one product category that has made a comeback, though, and that is wearables. Around 2010 my students made fun of me for wearing a wrist watch, something I had done since I was five years old. They argued convincingly that my iPhone was a pretty good timepiece, and a watch was redundant. You should have seen the white stripe around my left wrist when I removed my watch for the last time, skin as white as the driven snow. I had to be careful for a while not to let it get sunburned.

Apple, though, reinvented, if you will, the watch, and now millions of people wear them. I don’t. I kind of like not having something on my wrist, and to be honest, I don’t want any more crazy tan lines. You should see my arms, thighs, and ankles, with very distinct lines that may as well have been tattooed. I get a lot of sun from all the walking and hiking I do, and those lines linger all winter long.

I’ll leave this subject for you to ponder now. What are some of the things you have done for the last time, and didn’t even realize it at the time? I bet the list is long, even for my students who are only 20 years old. Your list is only going to get longer.

Get cranking.

Dr “My List Is Very Long” Gerlich

Audio Blog

[spaghettificationandpretzels]

Fell in Love with the Fire Long Ago

The epilogue of A Gentle Kind of Love

Contains: Fluff, smut (oral sex F receiving, fingering, P in V,) discussions of pregnancy.

5.8K words

Comment if you want to be tagged/removed or follow #a gentle kind of love.

“Happily ever after, or even just together ever after, is not cheesy,” Wren said. “It’s the noblest, like, the most courageous thing two people can shoot for.” ― Rainbow Rowell.

Manny's hands were too bruised and swollen to take his bike home so you waved him into the passenger seat of your car and drove off, "you really didn't need to do that, I've heard far worse before."

Manny huffed, "yes, I did. Canche doesn't get to say what he wants because of his hook ups. I didn't mean to scare you."

You shook your head, "I wasn't scared, I just don't want you to get hurt."

Manny smiled and reached over to place his hand on your thigh, "I'm not going to get hurt."

You smiled, "I love you Manny, so much and I think it's very sweet that you want to defend my honour."

Manny chuckled, "you're my girl, I got to make sure everyone knows that."

You thought for a moment before responding, "move in with me. Your lease is up in two months and I own my place outright. The cats won't ever feel like you've abandoned them and we don't have to go back and forth.."

Manny squeezed your leg to quiet you, "there's no need to sell it, I'll call the guys to help me pack my stuff tomorrow."

You snorted, "that's if you're not on probation in the morning."

Manny sucked on his tongue, "nah, old ladies are off limits, anyone would have done the same thing."

You nodded, relaxing as you pulled into your driveway "are you sure? I would never forgive myself if you got into trouble over me."

He leaned across the car and kissed your soft, "I'm sure."

You brushed your hand over his cheek and bumped his nose with yours, "we better go inside, I really need to look at your hands."

Manny chuckled, "lead the way gorgeous."

You got him inside and went to the bathroom to get the first aid kit before stopping by the freezer and grabbing some ice packs. Manny sat down with a sigh as you started to clean his hands, "I don't think anything is broken but you're going to need to give your hands a rest for a few days. I'll take you to and from work until the swelling goes down."

Manny smiled, "I am one lucky man, you know that."

You felt your chest get warm, "I'm the one who's lucky, I never thought I'd find someone as wonderful as you."

Manny pulled his hand from yours and reached up to cup your cheek, "then I guess we're both lucky and I know moving in so soon might seem really fast but I don't think there's anyone else I'd rather be with."

It hit you that it was a bit fast, "maybe we should talk about things before we take that step, what if we have fundamental differences. I mean, do you want kids? Are you an organ donor? How do you feel about…"

Manny cut you off with a kiss, "yes to both. Is that alright with you?"

You smiled, "yes, yes, that's alright with me. I'm sorry."

He chuckled, "it's alright, this is new to me too but we'll work it out."

You pulled back and returned to cleaning his hands, "I love you so much."

The smile on Manny's face was gentle and filled with affection, "I love you too."

You finished his hands and Manny regarded you, "what?"

You smiled and he pulled you into his arms, pressing his face into your hair, "do you want to get married?"

You blinked, you thought you had heard him right, "pardon?"

You felt him inhale, "do you want to get married. There's no one else I can see myself spending my life you, you are the cats and however many children you want to give me feels about as close to a happy ever after a man can ask for. I know it's really sudden and you can take some time…"

You cut him off with a kiss, "yes, yes I'll marry you. But I want a proper wedding, the big white dress, the stupid cake that doesn't taste like anything, the whole nine."

Manny chuckled, "you can have whatever you want, what about a ring?"

You thought for a moment, "I've done enough aid work to know the damage that gemstones can do, I am however, very partial to lab grown sapphires, the bonus is that if you get the gem and design the ring yourself, it's like a third of the price of buy it at the jeweller."

Manny chuckled, "alright, I'm sure someone knows a guy. Hell, Angel's probably going to shove a catalogue in my face when I get there in the morning."

You sighed, "do you want to tell them tomorrow?"

Manny smiled, "I mean, why not. We wouldn't be the first spur of the moment wedding."

You kissed him softly, "no, we wouldn't. I can't believe we're getting married. I have to go dress shopping."

Manny smiled, "take Hope and Lettie, hell Coco and Angel will go along too."

You giggled, "why don't we invite the whole crew and have a say yes to the dress SP addition. I'm sure Marcus will tag along."

Manny grinned, "I love you."

You smiled back, "I love you too."

You dropped Manny off the next day, Manny taking your hand and walking you inside. Angel greeted you with a smile but Bishop was more serious, "what's going on?" 

Bishop managed a smile, "it looks like we'll be heading to Arizona, last night a brick went through the window of the Yuma Clubhouse with a note attached. I was hoping Manny would bring you by so you could tell me your professional opinion." 

He pulled out his phone and showed you the photo, the note was pretty clear.

"Poison begets poison." 

"Thoughts?" Bishop didn't sound worried, he sounded pissed. 

"My guess is that it is what it says. Someone is planning to poison Yuma, I imagine with Fentanyl. The use of language is telling, the person is either well read or trying to be dramatic. The handwriting reflects that, it's simple but cursive so you're looking at someone who learned it in school and the brick through the window is pretty old fashioned. If I was the one doing it, I'd booby trap a car, create a contraption that slips the power everywhere when someone opens the car hood." 

Bishop nodded, "thank you y/n, now I know you have things to do so why are you stopping by?" 

You smiled, "Manny and I are getting married." 

Angel hopped up from the chair and raced over, "did I hear that right, you're getting married?" 

Manny grinned, "yep, we talked about it last night. We're having a proper wedding so it will be next year but when you know you know." 

Angel all but jumped up and down, "fuck yeah. I am the best match maker ever. I stand by what I said, you better name your first kid after me." 

You rolled your eyes, "if you shut up I'll think about it." 

Coco walked in from outside and looked at the scene, "what?" 

Before you could answer, Angel did it for you, "these two are getting married, just like that." He turned back to you, "when are you getting the dress?" 

You shook your head, "I'm going to get an appointment which brings me to my next point. I'd really like it if you guys could come along." 

Coco smiled and wrapped his arms around you, "hell fucking yeah, you want Hope and Lettie there?" 

You nodded, "of course. And I need someone to walk me down the aisle, so do you want to?" 

Coco hugged you again, "fuck yeah. Come on, we have planning to do, I'll get Chucky to help." 

You sighed as he pulled you away, "there goes my plans for the day." 

Manny pecked you before Coco dragged you to the office, "have fun." 

Knock Knock

You, Coco and Chucky were looking over invite templates when Riz knocked on the door, "come in." 

He opened the door with a smile, "Angel told me the good news, congratulations." 

You smiled and got up to hug him, "how many people has Angel told?" 

Riz smiled, "the moment he told me and Creep, he left to call Marcus, he also told Taza to start looking for a venue, I'm pretty sure he's appointed himself as the wedding planner. I was coming to ask you about your dress." 

You sighed, "of course he has. I've got an appointment at the dress shop next month why?" 

Riz shrugged, "I was hoping I could come, I've really love all those sappy shows." 

You nodded, "of course you can come. I need as much help as I'm going to get." 

The week had been a rush, turns out bikers were far more into weddings than you had thought. Between the guys helping Manny move and Manny looking for a place to make a ring and work, you felt like you didn't get a second to stop.

When the weekend rolled along and it was time to leave for Yuma you could sense something was coming. Manny came up behind you while you were feeding the cats and wrapped his arms around your body before resting his head on your shoulder, "you don't have to say yes but can you come with us this weekend? It would be good to have you there."

You sighed, "sure, I think I should be there to stop you from killing Canche anyway. Did anything come of that?"

Manny shook his head, "nah, he would have had to explain why I hit him in the first place."

You spun and kissed him, "I bet it will be strange to be back there?"

Manny nodded, "yeah, it ain't the most enjoyable place to be, but I have you and that's good enough for me."

You smiled and kissed him again, "you are such a dreamboat. What's next, you're going to show up on a white horse and whisp me away?"

Manny smiled, "if that's what you want, I'll have to learn to ride a horse but I'll do it."

You understood what Manny meant when you arrived at the Yuma compound, it just felt gross. Marcus was there, smiling from ear to ear when he saw you had accompanied Santo Padre. He gave you a hug, crushing your ribs with an embrace, "Angel told me the good news, when's the wedding?"

You smiled, "ten months, we're still planning the big bits but we're getting there."

Manny walked up to you and threw his arm over your shoulder, accepting Marcus' congratulations with a warm smile before walking off to deal with Canche, "you doing good?"

He nodded, "yeah, I want to head somewhere later today, Coco said he's keep you company."

You smiled, "of course, is everything ok?"

He nodded, "yeah, I wanted to stop by and see my sister." He sounded so sad.

"That's fine with me, please take as long as you need. I'll be here waiting for you."

He dropped his forehead onto yours and kissed you softly, "thank you."

Manny detached for you with a kiss, and you waved goodbye as he left and you went to sit with Coco, "you good?"

You nodded, "I'm great, everything is great. How did Templo go?"

Coco shrugged, "if there's one more bad cut Yuma is done, the vote went through without much protest, if we're lucky, this is the end of it."

You sighed, "and this threat?"

He gave you an unreadable look, "we'll see."

Manny brought the flower to his face, the little white Heliotrope filling his nose with a gentle scent. He walked up to Clara's gravestone and brushed away the dirt before placing the flowers in the little holder and kneeling down, resting his hand on the cold rock.

"I've meant someone CC and she's so wonderful, you would have loved her. I think, I know, she would have loved you too. We're getting married soon." He stopped, his emotions clogging his throat, "I just wanted to tell you the good news, because I know you would you'd want to be there if you could."

A gentle breeze blew in his face and he swore he could smell her bubblegum shampoo, he knew it was just his mind playing tricks on him but he couldn't help but feel it was his sitter letting him know she was happy for him. He left feeling lighter, the breeze brushing by him one last time as he walked through the gate.

There was something different about Manny when he returned, he sat next to you, Coco Angel and grabbed your hand, "how was your trip?"

He smiled, "it was good, I know she's not really there but it felt good to talk to her again."

The others were lost in their own conversation as you spoke, "I don't know much about that kind of thing but I think she was listening , even it it was just the part of her that you carry."

Manny reached up and brushed your cheek, "I love you so much."

You smiled, "I love you too."

Marcus watched from afar, knowing that something was happening, he allowed a few moments for calm to come over to walk over to you, "I never got the chance to talk about your wedding before I was called away, it's very exciting."

You smiled, "it is, I know is really soon but.."

Marcus waved his hand, "when you know you know. I would have married Izzy the second she said hello to me but I think she would have called me an idiot."

You giggled, "well, you're both invited so I hope you can come."

Marcus smiled, "of course, we wouldn't miss it for the world. I'm very happy for you both."

He offered Manny a hug, "thank you Pardrino."

The conversation between Angel and Coco must have wound down because Angel was butting in, "are we talking weddings? I'm trying to convince them to have it in the national park but y/n is worried about bothering people on public land. I think it would be nice, with all the trees and all."

You sighed, "you know Taza is taking care of it, there's a lovely portion of tribal land that he thinks we'll be able to book."

Angel nodded, "you got an officiant?"

Marcus smiled, "why don't you do it Angel, you can get the licence online, it's the least they can do after everything you've done to get them here."

You blinked and Manny laughed, "I like it, I mean, why not."

You sighed, "alright, but nothing dirty, there'll be kid there."

Angel smiled, "I wouldn't dream of it, it's going to be the best wedding ever."

The night wore on and you felt yourself grow tried, Manny hadn't left your side and you tapped him to bring his attention away from the story Hank was telling about the time he found a snake in his bedroll, "yes Mi Amor?"

You smiled, "I'm going to take a few minutes outside, I'm feeling a bit overwhelmed."

Manny nodded, "you want me to come?"

You shook your head, "nah, I'm not going to leave the compound."

You headed out and made a beeline for a quiet section of the lot, sitting down on a mild crate and taking a deep breath. Your peace was interrupted when Canche approached you, "what the fuck do you want?"

He raised his hands, his face still bruised, "Marcus has brought to my attention that I've treated you unfairly and I just wanted to apologise."

You snorted, "you want me to thank you, expect an apology for a man that crawled up the ass of a baby raper?" You shook your head, "fuck off man, I have nothing to say to you."

He inhaled, "I'm not expecting you to forgive me, but you're an old lady now and you have to do things for the greater good."

You were ready to rip his intestines out but a figure in a hoody walking towards you at speed pull your attention away, "you know that guy?"

Canche turned around and you saw the shotgun, you moved without thinking and threw Canche to the ground as the shot rang out. Everything moved in slow motion as you stood up, the world coming back into focus with a rush of sound and violence as people came running and a shotgun was levelled at your chest, "move, I don't want to you hurt."

You stayed stuck to the spot, "no, if you want to kill this man you'll have to shoot me too."

There was pain, not anger on the man's face and you shook your head violently as the others arrived with their guns drawn, a look to your side revealed a terrified Manny, his face a mix of rage and fear, "are you here because of the drugs?"

The shotgun lowered slightly, "he's the reason my baby boy is dead, him and his dirty drugs. He deserves to die."

You nodded, "I know, had I had the time to think I would have let you shoot him. But we're here now and it's not that I don't agree with you, it's that I can tell you are suffering and this, what you're about to do won't bring your child back. He has a little boy of his own, we might think he deserves everything he gets but I'm sure you know this, a little boy's first hero is his father. You don't want his son to lose that."

The man looked around, "I came here to end things."

You lowered your hands slowly, "I know, but then these men will kill you and then what happens to the people you leave behind?"

He huffed, "I don't have anyone, Shaun was all I had and now he's gone."

You stepped closer and the gun went up a fraction, "if you die, your son, Shuan, dies with you. There will be no one to keep his memory alive. If you leave here now, I swear nothing will happen to you. No one is going to come after you and Shaun's memory won't be sullied by more pain."

He took in a shaky breath and dropped the shotgun, falling to his knees with his face in his hands, "I miss him so much."

You knelt by him and placed a hand on his shoulder, "I can't even imagine what you're going through." You pointed towards Coco, "my friend is going to make sure you leave here safe. Don't come back, I won't be able to save your life a second time."

The moment there was calm, Manny ran up to you and pulled you into his arms, looking over your face with worry, "don't you ever do anything like that again, do you understand me?"

You nodded, "I understand, can we go back inside?" Manny took your hand and you walked back into the Clubhouse, accepting the water that Angel handed you.

"You good?" He kept looking behind you.

"I'm fine, I just want to go back home."

Angel gave you a soft smile, "yeah, we all do."

Someone clearing their throat behind you had you turning around, it was Canche, "what the fuck do you want?"

He swallowed, "you saved my life."

You let out a cynical laugh, "yeah well, it's not like I did it for you. I saw that man's face before he pulled the trigger, he would have regretted it. You are a stain, a pathetic waste of air and if you don't get out of my face, I'm going to shoot you myself."

He walked away, shaking his head and Manny's hand on your back brought your racing heart back down, "you wanna go back to the hotel?"

You nodded, "please."

You could tell that something was wrong the moment to hotel door closed, Manny's eyes filled with emotion as he stared at you, "what the fuck were you thinking, stepping in front of a gun for that piece of shit, if anything had happened…"

His breath caught and you stepped closer to him, cupping his cheek while you ran your thumb over his skin, "nothing was going to happen to me Manny, he wasn't going to be able to pull that trigger and before you say that there's no way I could have known that, this isn't the first time I've had to deal with a parent in that kind of pain."

He blinked away a tear and leaned down to kiss you, "I can't lose you."

In a flash, his fear turned to desperation he and was ripping your clothes off and all but tossing you in the bed. You reached out and pushed his kutte off his shoulders, Manny's lips never leaving yours as you both got naked as fast as you could. You shuffled up and bed and Manny hovered over you, his face filled with love as he rolled you onto your side and threw your leg over his hip.

His hand moved between your legs in a flurry and his fingers slid inside you as his thumb landed on your clit. You moaned into his mouth and Manny's teeth sunk into your lower lip. He pressed his fingertips into your G-spot, his thumb moving faster on your clit, when you were ready enough to take him, he yanked his hand away and used your wetness to slick up his cock, then with a soft please from you, he repositioned his hips and slid inside you slowly.

He let out a grunt and rocked his hips, his hand on your thigh holding you close as you matched his pace. "I love you so much." His tone was almost pained as his hips picked up speed.

He brushed your G-spot as you returned his affection, "I love you too."

He kissed you softly, pulling back just enough to breathe, "tell me you're mine."

His hand moved down to stroke your clit and you gasped, "I'm yours, please I'm yours."

He kissed you again, his lips firmed, "tell me again and I'll let you cum."

His fingers sped up in time with his hips and he brushed your G-spot with each thrust, "I'm yours."

In a flash, he was rolling on top of you and ramming himself inside you with a grunt. You wrapped your legs around his body and pulled him close, burying your face in his neck as he rolled his hip, placing his finger back on your clit while pressing soft kisses to any body part he could reach.

The peak came hard and fast, Manny moaning as you clenched around him, he followed you into bliss soon after, his lips pressing to yours as his hips slowed.

He rolled off you with one last kiss and caught his breath, "you good?"

You sighed, "I'm great. I love you."

Manny grinned, "I love you too, let me clean you up yeah, then we'll order room service."

You looked over the menu while we waited for Manny to return, a smile on his face as he cleaned you up and threw the damp towel in a pile, "anything look good?"

You nodded, "yep Tostones, I could eat my weight in them."

Manny shook his head, "Tostones is it then." You ordered while Manny held you, a soft smile on his face as he ran his hands over your body.

His hand slowly made it's way to your lower stomach, his fingers moving in a gentle brush, "how many kids do you want?"

You shrugged, "more than one, less than four. How many do you want?"

Manny kissed your temple, "however many you'll give me."

You sighed, "marriage first, then a baby."

He smiled softly, "I'm going to buy the lot behind you house."

You blinked, "why?"

His hand moved to squeeze your hip, "because we need a nice place to live so I was thinking we expand the home we already have and that way, you don't need to move and you can have a huge garden. I was even thinking the cats could have a little outside catio so they can spend time outside without risking them getting away and hurting birds."

You smiled, "I think that's great."

Manny kissed your temple, "so that's settled, I buy the lot, we get married and then I give you a baby or two."

You pecked his cheek, "that sounds great."

Ten Months Later

"You ready?" Coco came up behind you and did the last button of your dress, a simple flowy, lace dress, the skirt with only a little fullness and the sleeves sheer and coming to your mid upper arm, Riz had called it bohemian and went on about how it was the best style on the market right now.

You spun and gave him a smile, "yes, yes I'm so ready."

Coco stuck out his arm and Penelope ran outside to signal the music to start, the soft sound of the piano coming through the small white tent you were getting ready in. You began to walk, catching sight of Manny as you got closer to the top of the aisle. When he saw you, his eyes filled with tears, a huge smile coming over his face as you stood next to him.

"Hi." You reached up a wiped a tear from his cheek.

"Hey Mi Amor, you look really pretty."

You giggled, "everyone helped."

Beside you, Angel cleared his troat, "can we get to this? Al this mush is going to make me cry and I don't think that's professional."

You snorted, "you got your licence online, I'm pretty sure we might not even be legally married after this."

Angel ignored you, "dearly beloved, we are gathered here today to witness the joining of two people, y/n and Emmanuel Ramírez. Are you here of your own free will, with no influence for other?"

You couldn't say yes fast enough, "I'm told you have your own vows?"

You took a deep breath and started first, "I'm normally really good with words but I sat down to write this and had no idea how to put my feelings onto the page. I love you and I have from the moment I laid my eyes on you and while it took a little while for me to say it," the crowd gave a laugh, "I promise that you will always now I love you and cherish you, support and encourage you, I will be there through every storm and every day of sunshine."

Manny had tears running down his face and a quick glance at the crowd showed you that others were in a similar state, Angel wiped his face and sniffed, "holy shit dude, that was deep."

You giggled and Manny started, "you are the best thing that's ever happened to me and I wake up every day grateful that you are the first thing I see in the morning and the last thing I see before I go to bed. I will spend every day of the rest of our lives telling you how much and in all the ways that I love you. I will make sure you always feel safe, and warm and loved."

You both turned to Angel how took a deep breath, "if anyone has any objections speak now or forever hold your peace. If any one says anything I will shoot you myself." He looked around, "no? Alright, do you y/n take Emmanuel Ramírez be your."

You cut him off, "yes."

Angel huffed "and do you."

Manny didn't even let him get that far, "yes."

Angel sighed and shook his head, "by the power invested in me by the state of Califonia and a shady internet website, I now pronounce you husband and wife you may now.."

You wrapped your arms around Manny and he kissed you before Angel could finish, and he threw his hands up in the air, "I give up." The crowd erupted in cheers as Manny deepened the kiss, dipping you like a prince in a fairy tale.

You pulled away and Manny smiled at you, pecking you one last time before letting you up, "I love you."

You smiled back, "I love you too."

Angel gave a loud clap, "time to party."

Manny had his hand in yours as the speeches started. Angel went first, stepping up to the platform with a smile, he had a pile of papers with him that had you worried and he banged them on the wood before tapping the mic, "all I wanted to say was that I was right." Everyone burst out in laughter and Coco slapped his arm as they swapped places.

Coco took a deep breath before he started, "when y/n and Manny met, I knew something was there, I had never seen y/n smile so wide and I had never heard Manny stutter when he was talking about a woman until her. I can go on and on about how happy I am for them and that I know that they have a long and happy life ahead of them but we all already know that. So all I'm going to say is that I love you both and I'm happy you found each other because you both deserve happiness."

Bishop went next, his face a mix of joy and satisfaction, "getting here has aged in twenty years, if I had a dollar for every time I had to tell one of my brothers to shut up about these two getting together, I would be rich. But we're here now and there's nothing better than being with someone you love. Let's hope it's doesn't take them as long to have a baby because I want a niece or nephew and I can't take the fuckers I'm in charge of bitching about how they haven't made any cute babies yet."

Marcus went last, his speech full of kind sentiments, love for his wife and affection for you and Manny. After he stepped down, Angel clinked his glass and gained everyone's attention, "alright everyone, now to the main reason we're all here. Let's eat."

You walked into your newly renovated home and said hello to the cats before walking to the bedroom hand in hand with Manny. You stood in the middle of the room and Manny took your hands, looking you up and down with a soft smile on his face, "hello wife."

You smiled back, "hello husband, will you help me out of my dress?"

His smile turned into a grin, "hell yeah."

You spun and he unbuttoned the dress, letting it fall to the floor and pool at your feet. You spun back around and Manny looked you over again before leaning down and kissing you softly, "shall we ring in the rest of our lives?"

He bit his lower lip, "hell yeah." He took your face in his hands, bumping your nose with his then kissed you as you sat back on the end of the bed. He raised a single finger to brush the strap of your bra off your shoulders, "I love this set, the white suits you."

You shook your head, "thank you, I picked something I knew you would like."

He smirked, "you picked well." He ran his fingers over the delicate lace flowers, "fuck, I am a lucky man."

You reached up and removed his kutte, Manny's hands going to the buttons of his shirt while his eyes raked over your skin, you went to reach back to unlatch your bra but he stopped you, "let me do that Mi Amor." He knelt on the bed and reached behind you, pressing his lips to your shoulder as the item came free.

You pushed yourself up the bed and Manny caught your panties on the way up, pulling them down your legs and pressing his lips to your claves as he made his way up your body. He kissed your knee, one then swapping to the other before repeating the pattern all the way up to your core.

He kissed the crease of your thigh then lifted your legs over his shoulders, he looked up at you, smiling softy before diving in like a man starved. You placed your hands on his head and stroked his scalp, Manny moaning as your nails gently scratched his skin.

He removed one hand from your leg and used two fingers to circle your entrance before sliding them inside you and pressing his fingertips to your G-spot. He pulled you closer, his lips wrapping around your clit as he moaned against your skin.

You bucked your hips as you got closer and Manny made no move to stop you, his fingers picking up speed and he doubled his efforts with his tongue. You didn't have the chance to warn him before you were arching off the bed and squeezing his fingers for dear life. He chuckled and pulled away, wiping his face with the back of his hand, "that was easy."

You rolled your eyes and tapped him with your foot, "you're smug." You sat up and ran your hands down his body to his cock, wrapping your hand around him and stroking him slowly, "you turn?"

He shook his head, "nah, we have all out lives for you to suck my dick." You laid back down and Manny went with you, holding himself up on his elbows as you reached up and pulled him closer, Manny's lips finding yours as you wrapped your legs around his body.

He kissed the tip of your nose and you giggled then he was reaching down and taking his cock in his hands before rubbing it up and down your slit. You gasped as he pushed inside you, your nails biting into his shoulders as he bottomed out. He rocked his hips slowly while he buried his face in your neck, the hand that was on his cock moving to rub your clit as his hips picked up speed.

He kissed his way from your neck to your face, his lips landing on yours. You pulled him closer and rocked your hips, matching his speed as he pushed your closer to the edge, "Manny please."

He kissed you, his nose brushing yours as he hit his stride, "you don't need to beg me for anything Tesoro." His fingers sped up and he pushed you over the edge as you whimpered into his mouth. He smiled against your lips as he followed you, grunting like an animal while his hand moved from your clit to grip your hip.

His hips slowed and he pulled away, rolling over and taking you with him. You rested your head on his chest and Manny reached up to stroke your cheek, "I love you."

You turned your head and kissed his palm, "I love you too. When do you want to open all out wedding presents?"

Manny chuckled, "why don't we open them tomorrow before we head off on our honeymoon?"

You sighed, "that sounds great."

He placed his hand on your cheek and turned your face towards his, "I love you, more than anything."

You kissed him softly, "I love you too."

The End

Song inspo for the title is Hozier - Would That I

[queen-mihai]

OK I've been working on something in my mind for a long time and I wonder if the rest of you would like to help

The short version is this: There has to be a moment where one comes to the realization that "I've done my part. We can coast now"

:readmore:

I'll give a few examples

When you're born, you're not the same size you are now. If you can read this at all, you're at least 3x the size you were when you were a newborn baby. Probably even bigger.

In an organizational sense, you could take that to mean "in any organization, growth is necessary for survival"

I don't think there's a business owner or investor alive who would disagree with that statement.

However; if you are an adult now, reading this, chances are that you're done growing.

You only grow the first two decades-ish of your life. You can thrive for another eight decades or even longer in some cases, and the "growth" portion of your life is over

All those business people's eyes are glazing over now.

But pay attention. It's you I'm talking to. Constant and unrestricted growth, as the backbone of each and every society and business is absolutely toxic, and the reason we keep destroying everything beautiful we build

Another example

You're in your car. You see a highway. Everyone on that highway is driving faster than you and you know in order to join that highway, you need to accelerate to around the same speed everyone else is going.

How much do you really need to accelerate?

Anyone who has ever been on a highway will tell you that no one is just CONSTANTLY accelerating. Even the ridiculous street racers zipping in and out through traffic slow down once in a while to line up and start racing. And once that race is over, whether you want to admit it or not, they *rejoin the regular flow of traffic*

Yes. That same Toyota Supra that you saw screaming by a minute ago, is about a mile ahead of you, just another car in traffic now. Having won the big race with their buddy, they're now chatting with their girlfriend in the passenger seat and picking some tunes.

*There is always a point when it's enough*

For society, for business, why is there somehow this belief that you can get out on the road and just keep accelerating faster and faster and faster? That supra driver knows that if they keep driving the same way, keep accelerating and never slow down, they're going to crash and die, and in all likelihood, take some innocent person with them.

A business works the same way

A business Works THE SAME WAY

You HAVE to recognize that there's a point where you can stop.

The supra is the perfect example of "move fast and break things" (the law being the thing that's broken in this example) that some businesses take as their mantra.

So why then, are they not as smart as that supra driver and, knowing the big race has been won, slowing down and rejoining the regular flow of traffic?

You're still gonna be the cool one

You're still gonna get lots of looks

You're still going to get compliments left and right. And there will be lots of chances to show off what you can do.

But a baby, having grown into an adult, stops growing.

A street racer, having proven their car faster than the other car, slows down

That adult doesn't stop moving. They don't just die once they've reached adulthood. You could say that's barely where the adventure begins.

That racer getting where they're going is not suddenly about to tear apart their car and sell it for scraps. They're going to race again. And again. And again. And they're going to have fun the entire time

It's up to you to figure out what adulthood looks like for your country, your business, your organization.

It's up to you to realize, "we won the race, we proved our point. We can cruise now. If we find another opportunity to kick butt, we'll jump at it. But for now, let's crank up the music and cruise"

[blazehedgehog]

I'm not normally one of those "boy I hope somebody got fired for that blunder" but the new Fortnite locker menu is maybe the worst UI I've experienced in ten years.

The way it used to work: you'd build a loadout of your Fortnite skin. This meant picking a character outfit, a backbling, pickaxe, glider, and skydiving trail. You would also pick a wrap for all of your guns, associated emotes, music, loading screens, and banner icons. You would then save all of these to a slot in your "locker" and Epic would even sell locker presets in the shop from famous streamers and the like.

So for example, here's my "Gorgon Freeman" locker preset as of two days ago, featuring the Demogorgon from Stranger Things:

Everything all in one place. Simple to understand! You had 100 locker presets for Battle Royale mode, and another, separate 100 locker presets for the Tower Defense Save the World campaign mode.

What you see at the top of this post is the new system they've introduced for Chapter 5, launching today. Which is that they have now broken Outfit (backbling, pickaxe, glider, and skydiving trail), Wraps, Emotes, and Lobby settings (music, loading screens, and banner icons) out into their own, separate lockers.

So if I were to load the "Gorgon Freeman" character locker, I would not get his emotes, wraps, or lobby settings. I have to load those all separately from each other. All those settings are still here, mind you. I have locker presets named "Gorgon Freeman" in all of those individual categories now, because they automatically converted my old lockers to the new separated system.

But for the sake of argument, let's say the "Gorgon Freeman" preset is like, near the bottom of the preset list. It's like slot 75 out of 100. So I have to scroll down 75 slots in the character list (+75), scroll another 75 slots down in the emotes list (+150), scroll another 75 slots down in the wraps list (+225), and scroll another 75 slots down in the lobby list (+300) just to get this guy fully loaded the way it used to work 48 hours ago with a single slot for everything.

It doesn't stop there. Epic also combined all the locker presets from Save the World and Battle Royale, so technically there's 200 locker slots now for the entire game, which is good, but there's no fast and easy way for me to go in and delete all the duplicate lockers I mirrored between BR and STW. So I have lots and lots of useless cruft.

If you consider that technically Outfits, Emotes, Wraps and Lobby are their own separate lockers now, plus instruments (for the new Rock Band mode), "Jam Tracks" (songs for Rock Band), cars (for the new racing mode), there's something like 1100 locker slots, 800 of which are accessible from the core Fortnite experience. Confused yet?

The menus for creating a new locker preset are also just generally awful. None of the menus feel like they were built with speed in mind. In the old Fortnite, there were tons of shortcut buttons to make everything fast and easy. There are zero shortcut buttons in the new locker menu, meaning lots of slow, tedious, manual scrolling through menus and options and sub-options.

It either feels like an unfinished beta or like it was designed by a person who has absolutely no sense or care for making this fast and easy to use. I'm hoping the former, because I can't believe somebody thinks this is comfortably usable. Setting up cosmetics in this game now feels like trudging through mud.

I'm also suuuuper not on board with this chapter, but maybe that's another post. They made everything a lot slower and heavier and more complicated. It feels like it's way more deliberately trying to bite PUBG (or I guess Warzone)'s style now.

They may as well have put a completely different game out today and are still trying to call it Fortnite.

[thesevenwondersofawitch]

I'm watching ep1 of The Brothers Sun

I love how the dude is baking cakes and watching Great British Bake off 😂 (killers have hobbies too)

Love how the Triad people are wearing sequins

Oh noooo the old guy is dead!

Oh no he isn't he's just in a coma

Ohhhh and he's the main dude's dad

Oooooooooooo his mom's the key to power?! Fuck yeah! Michelle Yeoh is amazing

Fast and furious energy with that fast car( is it the the main guy's brother?)

What a mood that he's actually an Uber driver😂

I hope those girls gave him a good tip since they got sick in his car

I have the same alarm tone😂😂

MICHELLE! (I wonder if the footage on the TV is of Michelle's panda that she adopted)

Wait

Is she a nurse? 😂

Awwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww she's so proud of her baby🥺

My mom also makes me text her when I get to school 😂

Love how she's just like 'go get smart'🥺

Bruce is painfully relatable with his awkward thumbs up flirting

Bruce: *pulls crumbled up dollars from his pocket and pushes it towards the lady* How much education would this buy me?

Lady: 'there's 7 dollars here.'

Poor Bruce, he spent his tuition money on improv classes 😂

'Dude, I am not a criminal!' nah but your family is😂

The way he's trying to justify selling drugs is so funny yet relatable in how college is so freaking expensive

Love that the main guy is happily getting some pastries 😂

Oh no he's just led the bad guy's to his Mama's house 🥺

Is no one even home?😂 He looks like he's been preparing himself the whole flight over😂 Awkward

Awww, he's seeing all the pictures of his mom having fun with his brother 🥺

Oop now he's fighting

DUDE HAVE YOU NO RESPECT THAT'S HIS MAMA'S HOUSE?!

Me: *makes notes* get ✍️ electric ✍️ fly✍️swatter - Oooooooooooo ✍️and a pineapple ✍️

The way that he's pausing to smoke and give the guy a cigarette 😂

Ooof, that was yucky🫣👀( the dude literally pulled his hard through the knife)

I'd make a joke about how pepper spray is not really that effective when your house is broken into and there's a lot of violence that have taken place, but it's Michelle yo so she makes it an insanely deadly weapon

Michelle: 'Bruce' wrong son, don't worry Bruce is fine selling some drugs

Love that her first words to her eldest kid is 'who's this?'

He brought pastries, he's a good son😂

She insulted his beard 😂 and is making him clean up

Dude used the good knife to fight? Disrespectful 😂

Love how they're just cooking while a dead dude is there😂

'not soft, sensitive'😂

Michelle: 'he thinks his father is a gambler and you're an Antarctica working with penguins'

Brother: 'fuck'

DUDE YOUR MAMA MADE YOU FOOD YOU SHOULD EAT IT

Wait, I feel like the club is the same one Bruce is at😂

Bruce, you should've logged into the guy's network just for giggles 😂

Bruce is such a mood

Bruce, in a room of sketchy people who are probably killers: "Hello sir nice to meet you, I'm Bruce."

Oh May is totally a killer

And I kinda love her

Oooooo it is the same club!!!

Bruce: "WOULD YOU LIKE TO BUY SOME DRUGS?! I'M NOT A COP!" Relatable

Ooooooooo Bruce is trying to sell his brother snow/pearl/nose candy/disco biscuit 😂

Oof, Charles got tasered

Poor Bruce is so confused 😂

Love that their grandmother carries a taser 😂

"I could prove it by killing all of you. Or you could just check my ID."😂

May is fangirling😂

Love that she's like: 'sometimes family's are fucked up'

Bruce: 'wait, dad's rich? And I'm driving for Lyft?!' what a mood

Poor Bruce is so scared 😂

Charles: "Bruce, do me a favor, don't tell Mom." :)

Bruce: 'WhAt?' :(

Boom shockaloca

Bruce: "We can't come in here looking like this! Mom's gonna freak!"

Charles, barely able to stand and covered in blood: "I found Bruce, he's safe"

Meanwhile, their mom is in the kitchen in an apron, shower cap and getting ready to cut up a body: "Charles go get changed. We gotta get rid of the body. Bruce, go to bed. You got a test tomorrow." She's got her priorities straight, that's for sure

The way the brothers looked at each other as their mom starts drilling into the bad guy😂

This show is a comedy truly

[kevin--of-desert-bluffs]

WTNV quick rundown - 120 - All Smiles' Eve

Featuring the voices of Kevin R Free as Kevin of Desert Bluffs and Lauren Sharpe as Lauren Mallard. Read the rest here!

How do I love thee? Let me count your teeth. Happy All Smiles' Eve, Desert Bluffs!

This episode is broadcasting from Desert Bluffs Too aka The Desert Otherworld as we get a peep into Kevin's new show.

They tell us about the origin and traditions of a holiday called All Smiles' which everyone who worships a Smiling God will be celebrating fully tomorrow.

The story of All Smiles' goes like this; There was once a family called the Goods. Two mothers, a father, a daughter (Felicia), a son(Jason), three dogs, the front half of a cat (called Mister Doodles and whom is a corpse they found on their lawn and adopted), and a very long house. For some reason they couldn't smile, no matter how much they tried and nobody could tell when they were happy not even each other.

A Smiling God appears to them and tries to lecture them on happiness and purity but also cannot see that they are happy, devouring their home and promising to teach them how to smile.

Felicia, sickened by how much they had disapponted a Smiling God, uses the broken glass of a picture frame to slash open her cheeks into a smile and then hunts down and does the same to the rest of the family. The Smiling God, seeing this, finally accepts and devours them.

The souls of the family now wander around on All Smiles' Eve, finding children who do not know how to smile and teaching them.

Weather: "Fast Talker" by aj & the good intentions

Here's how some citizens are celebrating: Frank Donelly, who lives atop the northwest bluff, has strung up a series of colorful gasoline canisters over his storefront, where he sells tarantula parts. Alejandra Salazar who lives in the cave just at the south base of this mountain has painted lips and teeth around the entrance to her home. Guneet Jindal has built a Smile Tree, a 20-foot-tall cactus out of human teeth and inside out coyote skins made to look like flowers.

Lauren 'and her siblings' used to leave shards of glass and bloody shoelaces outside of their doors to show they already knew how to smile.

Lauren and Kevin get each other gifts. Kevin hand-knits Lauren a sweater, which he then adorns with worms. Lauren gets Kevin some cologne from Franchia (he doesn't wear cologne) which is just acid and it burns through his skin when she test sprays it on his wrist.

Kevin mentions 'figures that aren't there' which would gather in mirrors whenever the Goods looked in them.

Kevin also tells us that his father used to make caramel and pour it into the open palms of 'the kids' (not specifically mentioned as siblings) where it would burn their palms and then their lips and throats. He claims that this is one of his happiest memories but it triggers a memory of him seeing starling with it's head crushed by a car tire, which he watched for 15 minutes before it finally stopped twitching. His voice goes quiet and thoughtful and he ignores Lauren's response about her fave holiday food being radish casserole to muse about who killed the starling. So uh yeah think that's trauma Kevin, sorry.

A happy All Smiles Eve to everyone is Desert Bluffs Too. May the corners of your mouth be ever widening. Believe in a Smiling God, my friends. And know that Joy is in your teeth. Lauren: Good night, Kevin. And good night, Desert Bluffs Too. Kevin: Good night.

Proverb: Fool me once. Shame on you. Fool me twice. Now you're just being an asshole.

[fastcarremovals2]

How To Get Highest Benefit For Damaged Cars: Cash For Car In Brisbane

Having a car that is in a bad way can be quite a heel. It uses your property in a worthless way, it does not appreciate, and finding a buyer willing to accept one that has been wrecked is almost impossible. Getting enough cash for cars in Brisbane might make it very difficult to find the right one.

This means that many Brisbane car owners do not have the luxury of trading their second-hand cars or selling them privately. All of which begs the question, how does one sell a wrecked vehicle without losing money and still make some?

Picture this: Your vehicle was involved in a collision and the restoration expenses are well above your reach. It's obvious to you daily, as it occupies your driveway and emits an obnoxious amount of lost value from the wasted space.

You feel it is still of some value but the idea of going through selling a car without flipping out beforehand is overwhelming. From listing the car to haggling with potential buyers and handling all of the paperwork — it can be a huge stress (especially when your car is anything but perfect). Moreover, it loses its value over time.

Then think about the aggravation and cost of fixing it up just to get rid of - when you could be using that same money as a small down payment on a lawn tractor. Even the repairs are not as big of an issue; they usually cost a lot to fix and take more time and there is no guarantee that you will recover your expenses in a sale.

What if I told you there is a way to sell your car for more money - and the managing process would be much quicker than selling it on Craigslist?

Solution

Welcome to cash for cars Brisbane Services. Some of the wrecking businesses specialize in purchasing broken, scrap, or non-operational vehicles and can provide a simple pick-up procedure for automobiles to unwind auto owners needing rapid solutions with income.

With our ready-to-use cash-for-car brisbane service, you can proceed without a headache and turn your wrecked vehicle into instant money.

Why Should You Go With Cash for Cars Brisbane Services?

Simple and easy fast process: This is so simple task. With a service, you simply contact them and tell them about your car; they will then provide an instant quote. If you say yes then they will do the rest.

No Repairs: You do not need to fix anything like in the case of selling on your own. Cash for Cars service purchases vehicles in any condition.

Most of these services offer free car removal, so it will save you money to transport the vehicle.

Free Car Removal in Brisbane To Earn Extra Cash

Instant Payment In Cash: You get paid immediately, which is beautiful if you are in a state of emergency concerning the money.

Eco-friendly: Here services typically ensure that your car is disposed of in an eco-pleasant method, recycling re-functional parts and releasing the others are brand-new only environmentally friendly hemp.

How to Maximize Your Profit

Obtain Many Quotations: Do not accept the earliest offer. Contact more than a few Brisbane cash for cars services to get quotations This ensures you will get the best deal for your car.

Tell Them the Condition: Let them know how poorly your vehicle is to make sure you get an honest quote. Deceptive information - can result in a lesser final offer upon inspection.

Select Good Services: Find good companies in quick car removal in Brisbane. Read reviews and ask for recommendations online to make sure you are working with someone reputable.

Get your car: Except that there has to be nothing prepared (make sure you take all sorts of personal effects out) and have the applicable paperwork. It reduces time and last-minute confusion.

Conclusion

Selling a car with serious damage need not be an arduous task. Fast Car Removals to get cash for cars in Brisbane allows you an opportunity to scrap your junk car and get paid instantly, without having to fix it up or go through any hassle in selling. If you choose a good service, get multiple quotes, and give an accurate evaluation of your car's state; then you can make quite a profit in addition to clearing up that room on your driveway.

Do not allow a car that is already declining in value to continue; use the best pipe-pushing roller services and get some money back from it.

[noone-is-gonna-save-us]

World//Parallel

In another world, I am the owner of a small restaurant in a town by the ocean. It was not my life's goal - It was not something out of ordinary. I did not have aspirations higher than the empire state building, or ambitions crazier than religious mobs. It just happened and I let it. I allow life to unfold in front of me, I experience it instead of running from it.

I sell food to earn money. I enjoy the cooking and I enjoy the people - I have lived in the same place for years. The money is decent -I have never understood the obsession about riding a fast car anyway. What is status and what is symbol - when I get to cook what I like and go sit by the ocean at times. I have people I consider family. I may or may not find someone I love. I may or may not get my heart broken. I may or may not get my heart fixed.

Everything becomes insignificant and secondary - If I was a small town restaurant owner by the ocean. I do not expect myself to be happy, but I would be at peace I may even be satisfied.

Did I choose my life or was it forced upon me? Why do I have to constantly run from the world, society, my home and even myself. What even is safety? When was the last time I even felt safe? Was trying to escape a constant state of existence? Last I checked I was still not a fugitive. I was a little girl forced to be somewhere against her will - do things against her will - live against her will.

another shitty poetry by yours truly

[summerlycoris]

So ive been thinking about the elevator ending in Ruin.

Ive tried mathing it out, to figure out if Cassie lives or if its just. Not gonna be possible.

And the first thing i realised is the fall doesnt make sense?

I had to bring out a timer just to check i was getting things right. But even with that the math doesnt quite add up? Maybe im making a mistake- im no math whiz. I had to be really generous about the fall time- it was actually closer to 6 seconds I think? But i gave it 5 seconds in case i started the timer too early (since could only use sound cues to decide when the elevator actually begins falling.)

Okay, so the math is a smidge off. Not a huge deal. A fall from like 100 metres would be a hard sell. Hitting the ground from 50 metres in free fall is the rough equivalent to getting hit by a car at 112 kilometres an hour. And Cassie nearly doubled that height unless my math is totally off. But kids bounce. And people have survived worse falls before. Preteens are even more likely to live than adults from bad falls.

In fact, the elevator may not have been falling in free fall- most elevators (maybe not fazent ones, considering how fast the atrium elevator crashed at the start of the game.) Have safety measures like emergency brakes to slow down a fall. Also, wind resistance on the elevators bottom panel should slow it down. And the air at the bottom of the pit wouldnt be able to get away in time, creating a buffer and slowing down the elevator. (This is how some people have lived crazy elevator drops in the past.) I cant measure for this- not a math genius- but this would help explain why the fall took longer than i calculated- if it wasnt going at free fall speed.

But Cassie ends up hitting the roof. Thats not possible if both you and the elevator your in are in freefall. Or even if Cassie is in freefall, but the elevator is going slower.

Proof below, because ive seen people claim she crashed while on the floor. No, she dropped to the floor when it started to drop. Then ends up stuck to the ceiling after about a second. Before getting smashed into the floor again as she screams.

(I cribbed the out of bounds shot from Astralspiffs video, because seeing it from out of bounds helps clarify things. The in cutscene ones i got from rezfinites video because i dont have ruin on switch yet.)

Like I looked it up. You dont end up stuck to the roof in freefalling elevators. If anything you get knocked to the ground as it shakes, and stay there. Because both you and the elevator are moving at the same speed- the speed demanded by gravity.

For this to happen, the elevator must be falling faster than free fall.

... is the Mimic strong enough to just. Pull the elevator back down to it? The only way the elevator is doing this is if something is pulling on it. (Like that elevator drop ride at disneyland)

Also i hate this because it makes the math WORSE.

Okay- so assuming it is a 97 metre drop, and lasts 5 seconds- this fucking elevator is going at around 70 kilometres when it hits the ground. In free fall this is worse- like 157 kilometres??? Huh????? It doesnt make sense for the elevator that needs to be going faster than freefall to pin Cassie to the ceiling to be going half the speed? Im sure i fucked up somehow, but I dont know how.

Where was i going with this?

Math sucks, and this doesnt make sense. If the elevator fell at, or less, than free fall speed, Cassie should be stuck to the floor.

If it fell faster than free fall speed, then Cassie ending up stuck to the roof mid fall makes sense. But it also makes how slowly the fall took (it nearly took 6 seconds! I was generous!) Even worse. Unless it fell further than where it started.

Say, into a bunker hidden under a freddy fazbears pizzaria?

(Helpwanted2 helpwanted2-)

But also that makes it even less likely that Cassie lives. Being thrown into the roof by the fall, then the harsh deceleration back into the floor... ouch.

It might not be insta death. But broken bones? Head injuries? Bet.

I kinda hope she did fall into sister location if thats the case. Because thered probably be workers there that could 1. hear the fall and 2. get medical attention stat.

...but then that doesnt explain Roxy. Whether it be actually Roxy, or the Mimic, it needs to be there to be saying something to Cassie, right?

....im putting way to much thought into something dumb what am i doing with my life???

[jinx-on-mars-19xx]

You sharing your story inspired me to share mine too, although on anonymous bc reasons.

When I was 19 I met the person of my dreams, after living a life similar to Col's (fuck we even grew up in the same hood as middle schoolers before he went to Cleveland) you had to grow up fast there, in those days, I was drinking and smoking weed by age 10, in a gang by age 11, selling dope by age 12. Anyway, this person...It seemed we had everything in common. They understood me in ways no one else ever had before. They were a few years older than me, but not too many that it felt weird, just felt that they had a little extra experience and that made me feel safe with them. We started out as just friends with benefits, and then they drew bigger lines, slowly claiming me from others who wanted to offer me more. It was such a gradual process the way this person got their claws in me. At first it felt safe to be with them. But eventually it felt dangerous to be with someone other than them. They convinced me that because of my past I was unlovable (something the parental figures in my life convinced me of as well) that no one but them got me. That we were destined for eachother. They began cheating on me when I was out on deployment, would even post it to MySpace (yes I'm old). And id have to explain to everyone in my Division that it was fine, that we were just FWB. The only part is, I wasn't allowed to have side flings. This went on for two years. He convinced me that I was the love of their life, but would take my car and go to the bar with their side piece, they would take my credit card and spend my money on the side piece. Even when I was layed up in the hospital alone with a late term pregnancy about to be lost, they took my car and my credit card to spend on the side piece. I felt so alone because no one understood why I stayed with them but the reality was I truly believed I was worthless after all the love bombing I got from this person in the beginning and how gradual the tearing down process was. They made me feel that I was the reason our relationship had gone sideways, that if I had just been this way or that way or whatever that we would still be happy, that they wouldn't have cheated over and over again.

The thing with Narcissistic Abuse is that they fully make you believe that you are worthless and that everything is your fault. They do it gradually by giving you the love you've always dreamed of, always needed from your parents but never got, a promise that there IS love in life and that you're worthy of it! But then they convince you that they've learned that you aren't worthy of it at all, and then slowly, strategically they take it away,piece by piece, bit by bit, day by day and each piece taken is blamed on your behavior or lack of behavior. They make it all your fault, not theirs. They make you believe that you are worthless, undeserving of the love they gave before they got to know you. They make you believe that now that they know you, you make them sick, you're disgusting, they don't know why they put up with you. They tell you to change. They tell you they're perfect and you are broken so it's your responsibility to change or to "heal" to better the relationship.

To those dropping Colson bc of him staying with MF, please consider this: have you ever been neglected by your parent that was supposed to love you? To the point of running the streets just to have a pseudo family? Have you ever gotten everything you ever needed, ever got the love you dreamed of since you were little and had it turn from a dream come true into a waking nightmare? If not. Maybe try to see it from his point of view. Maybe stop thinking the world is as narrow as your experiences and remember there's a whole world out there you've never even witnessed. Let alone lived in, let alone fought to come up out of. ✌

"at first it felt safe to be with them. But eventually it felt dangerous to be with anyone else." This line. This line right here. That's exactly it.

I'm so sorry for all you've been through and you're amazing for still being here and sharing this. Thank you. I was terrified to put my story out there but it hurt seeing him attacked. You understand it better too because while I hung out with a bad crowd, you were truly where he was really.

I'm sorry for your loss, I think you said you lost a child. I had two miscarriages with him and one after an assault when I was young and it always hurts to hear others going through it. If you ever need to talk my messages are open and I won't tell who you are. Just saying, I'm here.

I'm not ever happy to hear someone else was in such a terrible relationship with a narcissist but that... Understanding I guess? always helps so seriously thank you for sharing and thank you for letting my page be the safe space to do it. Love you, even though I have no idea who you are. Thank you for helping me feel less alone today. You're very brave 🖤

[pbandjesse]

Exhaustion just hit me like a ton of bricks. I laid down to write this and my body was just like oh awesome sleep time!!! Ridiculous. That's alright it was a good day and I feel happy.

Even if this morning was tough! I slept alright and woke up at 715. I got dressed and felt alright. I wore my new scarf coat and thought I would be cozy. But I was only partially right.

It was a little drizzly this morning but that would clear up quickly and then it was just wildly windy. And so I had to spend the whole morning cold and fighting against the wind which always makes me exhausted.

James helped me set up and I really enjoyed seeing my market friends. Ginny and her husband Craig were back. Craig's 95 year old mother passed away, and they will be gone again to speak at her funeral next week. She lived a long and happy life, but I am said for Craig. It is always to soon to lose your mom.

I didn't sell much but it was fine. I enjoyed chatting with people and working on my little embroidery project.

But man was I cold. Stanley would come out and put down almost all of the sides and it helped but it was still rough. Sometimes the gusts would throw people's signs and knock the sides out of their tracks. It would be startling but thankfully no one was hurt.

My frogs kept falling off the table. But I didn't lose anything. I sold a froggies and a pig. A few stickers. I had nice conversations and tried to remain positive. But I was cold and the wind was killing me a bit.

I would go inside and visited James and warm up. We had gone over to Ginny to buy some baked goods but she also gave us a bag of leftovers which was very much appreciated. We have so many baked goods between her and me going to the Dutch market. It was nice to just hug in James for a few minutes.

1 o'clock could not come fast enough. I was so tired. Both in general and of fighting the wind. I enjoyed chatting with Ann, Helen and Rod, teasing about his apparently secret girlfriend. Those last couple minutes went so slowly. But right before 1 I packed up. Shared a donut with Stanley. And put everything in the car.

I went inside to hug on James. I had to wait a few minutes while they helped some guests. And then went home.

It took longer then normal. No idea why. I got back before 130. The apartment smelled bad again!! It is just by the kitchen and I was just like. I have to solve this.

So I would spend about an hour cleaning

I double bagged the trash and cleaned the trashcan. I put it in the bathtub and used very hot water and cleaned and the water turned brown. Gross. I scrubbed the whole thing and a few things came out of the bottom. So when I was draining the can I picked up the gross little pieces of trash. And you won't believe what I found. James's engagement ring! The first one! Because James had 3 over the year we were engaged. James was so excited and I'm so happy we were able to get that back to them.

I would finish cleaning. I vacuumed and swiffered and was able to wedge the broken window open a crack to get some air over there. And it helped. When I got back at 9 tonight there was no more bad smell. Yay.

I got cleaned up and put on a big Tshirt and laid down.

I would sleep until 430. Very strong and active dreams. It took me a minute to gather myself. But I would get up and got redressed.

And then James was home! I wasn't sure we would cross paths. But we did and I would try on all of my sweaters before I gave them a smooch and headed out.

I went to the museum for the wedding. And it was so nice to see Joel. It was apparently the first wedding he had ever worked. I would give him so tips. But I wasn't worried about him. He's an amazing educator and just a smart cookie. I also got to meet the new Jesse who is taking over Angie's position when she retires at the end of the year. He's a nice guy! I am pretend mad there is a new Jesse but he seems like he's going to be good at the job, I hope for the best with him.

I had a lot of fun tonight. I was slightly disappointed that it wasn't print like I thought. But I had fun in the garment loft. I had some excellent conversations. It was actually pretty busy! Consistent. And I had fun just telling stories and working on my embroidery. People were just really nice and even though I was missing dinner at topside I was still having a good time.

The timeline was different then we had been told originally so dinner was at 7 and not 730. So at 730 Angie said we could leave. I called James and asked if they were done dinner and they said I could come through and join them for dessert.

So that's exactly what I did. James would meet me outside to help me find a parking spot and we went up and I was excited to see Margot. She is my favorite of the cousins for sure. We talk the most. And she brought us all crystals! She got me two tiny ones, a turquoise and a grey one I'm not sure what it is but I will instigate further. James got lapis lazuli! Very cool!

Me and Margot both got a very sour passion fruit Panna Cotta. Which she loved, and j thought would be better with whipped cream. But it was also just nice to see Anne and Tucker and James aunt and I'm really glad I was able to get over there to see them.

We would take a group picture outside. And then hugs and goodbye. Me and James went and got their bike and loaded that on the car and headed home. Lots of dumb drivers but we made it home in one piece.

When we got back I was super happy there was no bad smell anymore. I held Sweetp. We fed him some of a cookie. I went and got a shower after getting rid of some small eggs in the frog tank.

And now we are in bed. And I'm really ready to sleep. I'm hoping to have a nice little morning doing some organizing. Then I'll go pick up me and Celia's pottery!! I'll go to awah. And do more clay there. And then Callie is coming over. Possibly Margot and Charlotte will join us. Either way it'll be a nice day.

Sleep well everyone. Have a nice day tomorrow.

[oshawottarchive]

Ninjago Google translated

== Way of the Ninja (cute ninja) ==

Tw, guns, death, cigarette

(The semester begins with a visit to Ignacia, who works at Kaichenia Four Hands.)

What: (Make a sword.) To make a perfect weapon, it must be strong and warm. Wow... it's great! (It hurts when the sword is broken).

Nia: (laughs) Hey, hurry up. I'm sorry, Dad.

Purchase: I know. No matter what your motivation, experience doesn’t come overnight. It may work for Nia, but I am more creative than my father.

Wu: (entering the shop) Hmm... your car is fast and heavy. It helps you feel better. Hidden insects. All samurai weapons but no ninjas?

What is a ninja? Hey, you don't see ninjas in these parts, old man, the name of the shop isn't Crowlo's, it's Cake Cool. Buy something or sell your curse elsewhere.

Wu: Yeah! That’s a terrible thing. I think I see something different here. (Kai goes to change Wu's clothes.)

Kay: I mean if you see anything strange... (if it works).

News: What is it?

Ki: Just forget it.

(A dark cloud appears above Ignite, signaling the arrival of the Skulkins. When they arrive, three Skulkin Police appear from a skeleton car.)

Nickel: Ah! I'm the first! Please. I have to go!

Kruncha: He's dead! Try fighting King Smokekai! (Voice change, back to Smokey.

Smokekai: I'm sorry, friend. Remember what we need and get a card. attack!

(All cars in Scotland fill up quickly, Igniti guarantees a car will arrive).

Smokey: You're tired!

(People turn and run, soldiers call).

The: (looking at the store). What a bye

Kay: (does something) I don't know. Stop here

(Kai rallies the Skulkin army, and one of them strikes Kai and decapitates him.)

You: Ah! Stop! (He kicks Scullen in the head. As the two skeletons celebrate their victory, Nia wakes up and sees them.)

Ki: (surprised by Nia's attack) Like I told you to stop!

Me: So what is it? Do you want everything?

(As the brothers fight the skeleton army, Kurosa and Nickel casually enter the restaurant and start looking around.)

Kroncha: You're not stubborn! (He played Nickel in a samurai helmet.)

Nick: Ah! Don’t be too harsh! (He kills Kruncha in retaliation. When the two Scottish managers fight, he turns the sign outside the shop and finds the card Somoki is looking for.)

Crunch and Nickel: (disgusted) Card!

(Outside, Kai finishes killing the last of his Skulkin warriors as Sumokai approaches him. Kai pulls out his gun and reveals that Sumokai also has four arms.)

You: (I know it’s him.) Oh.

(Koagu grabbed his gun and drew it.

Wu: (angrily) Ninja! (He attacks Smokey again.)

Yang Kai: Look Wu! Your sponge has become dusty.

Wu: Smokekai, don't let anything happen.

(Samakai saw Kai holding a bucket of water on the ground, lifted one knee and slammed the bucket onto Kai).

Ki: (looking at the tank) Oh...!

Wu: Thank you very much! (He used Spongjutsu again to save Kai.)

Smokekai: (returns to the car with the map and skull, instead of dispatching Wu first) Lord Garmadon said take the girl!

Wu: (inaudible) Lord Garmadon?

(Kruncha laughs and grabs Nia by the handle of the car.)

Ki: no! (A bone is equal to a liver.)

Kay: (sadly) got the word…

Wu: I already said. (She hits him over the head with a bamboo stick.) Don't go.

Amy: (angry) Come on! you have to do something! You can use... Twist or -.

Wu: Spanish: Uncle!

Kai: But you didn't do anything! Bring my sister!

W: No one can go anywhere. King Smokai is undefeated. Mr. Mani also feared that if he had taken Gamadon's advice seriously, he would have been in dire straits.

Kai: Are you Gambi-san? World of humans? What's important to them? Why did they arrest my brother?

Wu: What? What about Ninjago? You can take it Combine all your strength. When he died, he promised to protect his two children, but the darkness betrayed his parents: an old man who was defeated in the war and thrown into the desert. The brothers hid their weapons, but they did not want the police to see them, so they sent a guard. And there are maps where his followers can hide in fear of death. (Last photo) The righteous is his father. His older brother is Lord Grimdon. I have to find him before he uses the gun.

Amy: Are you young? So do you have everything in the recipe?

Wu: Absolutely not. I am here for something important. You are the only one. My brother couldn't come, so he arranged for a cigarette. Collect all 4 weapons. I can't stop you But there is fire within you. I will show you how to use it. Please use it. Be a holy teacher.

AMY: Well, I'm glad you said that, but I have to save my brother! I'm not going to fight your brother. (Mr. Conan overwhelms Kai, who tries to leave.)

Wu: And it's not good to laugh too much. You're not ready to get your finger on it. If you want your sister back, you must control your inner fire. You can meet Lord Gamadon for the first time after meeting SpongeBob.

Tui Pui: Yes. So when do we start?

(The next day, Kayuk climbs to the impossible height of Spinjitsu Monastery).

Q: (pause) How long have you been training? See a map above?

Wu: (offers) Wait. (goes to school) I'm done, I'm done. immediately

* (surprised) Daddy? Do you want to learn how to fight peacefully?

D: No harm. To become a true ninja, you must know the unknown.

* But there is nothing here

(Clicking the dragon icon reveals a secret button that activates all the trainers in the monastery).

* (surprised) Oh! Can you teach me how (go to campus)?

Wu: (somewhat confused) Oh.

(K shoots the dragon and it falls to the ground).

Answer: We will end the lesson before tea. Then realize that you are ready. (He drank the whole bottle.) Not today. I'll try again tomorrow.

Question: (angry) Really? But it hasn't started yet.

Wu: (closes the barn door) Wait.

(Kai trains the following week, but misses Wu several times, contrary to Wu's wishes).

Wu: They failed. Haha, no need! I won! And... it won't happen.

(Kai decides to look for fitness equipment one day to find Wu. He pours the tea into another cup and goes up the stairs, Kai can't find it.)

Kei: (Takes a bowl of sugar and threatens Xiao Wu) Is the sugar ready?

(Wu enters the monastery and admires Kai's success.)

Kai: Okay, do you want to learn how to play?

Wu: Done. Final exam tomorrow. (laughs) My advice is to sleep more.

(That night, while Wu is sleeping and Kai is getting ready to sleep, the monastery is attacked by three alien ninjas).

SH: (Thoughtfully) My advice is to sleep.

* (looks at herself) Oh! (The first ninja slowly enters the door.) Here he comes. (A ninja comes around the corner with a shuriken.) Look. (Who has the third ninja?)

(3 ninjas prepare to attack).

* (annoyed) Oh.