#so i have jumbo shells

[fans-of-the-damned]

Anybody else take more time to math out the cook time differences for pasta (store bought) then it takes to cook so you can have multiple pasta times for 🌟 interest🌟

[castielsprostate]

i have once again. made unwise financial decisions <- bought a pair of shoes. $80. i have a $90 haircut on tuesday 🫠 AUOUOUOUOUAUGH

okay buuuut why be financially responsible when we can get little trinketsssss and stuff hehehehee

[gildedphoenix]

Fire Escape - Dead on MAYn Day 1

Prompts uses: -Courting rituals -Flickering -Dinner interrupted by a fight -“Are they gone yet”

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Not beta read. 6k words. Jason has a stressful day and shares dinner with his downstairs neighbor, Danny. The following week, Danny leaves something for him. A courting ritual between busy, stressed disasters.

AO3: Fire Escape Dead on MAYn Blog @deadonmayn

Fire Escape 

Life as a vigilante was stressful. Their world was not always easy. Cases did not always wrap up nicely in thirty minutes with everyone skipping off, hand in hand. 

This was definitely one of those bad days. 

A child trafficking case, after dragging on for the last 3 months, ended horribly. The head of the ring got away before Hood and Nightwing could to box him in. Most of the kids were already gone, whisked away to another location while Jason and Dick were fighting to reach them. And the kids they were able to find? Jason took a deep breath. This wasn’t a night he would be able to forget anytime soon. 

He wouldn’t be sleeping tonight so after Dick left, Jason cooked. He made chicken and bacon stuffed shells with a creamy marinara sauce. The recipe always took forever but it was a welcome distraction. Jumbo shells, chicken, bacon, broccoli, cheese, and sauce and a dozen other components to prep and cook. No time to think of anything else.

Two hours later, Jason was still wired, but he had stuffed shells. Enough for his whole family, if he was honest with himself. Enough to feed those kids who didn’t make it. Enough to fill the stomachs that hadn’t been full in so long but would never be hungry again. 

Jason was broken out of his despair by a noise on the fire escape. His gun was in his hand without conscious thought. Slow, steady steps took him closer to the window until he could see the potential intruder. 

Jason's shoulders dropped back down as he spotted his downstairs neighbor outside their window. It wasn’t unusual to see Danny out on the fire escape, one level down. Nothing unusual. Nothing to be concerned about. 

Jason reupholstered his gun before Danny spotted him and turned back to the kitchen. They’d introduced themselves when Danny moved in a few weeks ago at the beginning of the fall semester but hadn’t interacted much since then. 

Grabbing the casserole dish and an extra plate and fork, Jason stepped out onto his level of the scaffolding and called down to Danny. 

“Hey, you want some food? I made too much and can’t possibly eat it all.” Jason set the dish down between himself and the stairs and started in on his own plate. 

“Oh my god, Yes! I haven’t had food all day! You are a life saver. A knight in shiny armor.” Danny made his way up the stairs and peeked his head just above Jason’s level. He reached slowly for the extra plate and serving spoon while watching Jason. Jason motioned a little ‘go ahead’ with his own fork and Danny’s face lit up as he scooped a modest portion of shells onto his plate. “I was stuck in meetings all day. The council just wanted to drag everything out and every issue solved spawned two more. And it’s not even like they listen to me,” he stopped, eyes wide and he put the serving spoon back in the dish and looked intently at his own plate. “Not that they would. You know. I’m just a,you know, just an intern. I’m not even paid. Just an unpaid internship. Yep. I’m just there to take notes and get college credit. I’m an engineering student at Gotham U.” He glanced over at Jason, eyes a little panicked as he tried to sell his obvious lie. “But I don’t wanna bore you. You probably have a real job with real stress. I’m just an intern student. Aaaaaaand I’m gunna stop rambling now and go eat. Yep. Thank you.” 

Danny clammered back down the stairs (and Jason could swear he missed that last step based on the noises) before settling down against the wall next to his window. With a chuckle, Jason took another bite of his food. “You’re right, my job is stressful. That doesn’t mean you’re day can’t be stressful too, though. Stress is relative. We all handle it differently. It’s how I ended up making too much food. I’ve got a big family and I just went on autopilot and before I knew it I’d made enough to feed them all, even though none of them are over tonight. It’s still a nice way to decompress. I’ll give them a call tomorrow to see if any of them want some but this dish is better fresh.” He leaned back against his own wall, eyes closed, taking in the steady constant noises of the city. The chatter of Crime Alley and the more distant rumble of Gotham. It was several minutes before Jason heard Danny call up again. 

“This is amazing. I don't think I’ve eaten anything this good since….Actually never. I definitely can’t make anything like this and my parents didn’t really do home cooked meals.” 

Jason glanced down through the grates and Danny was scraping the sauce off the plate onto his fork. Jason decided to show some mercy before the poor guy started licking the plate. “Feel free to grab more. I’m not gonna eat this all and my siblings should have clairvoyantly known I was cooking if they really wanted any.” Jason chuckled a bit but it also didn’t seem that unrealistic. 

“Thanks! I’m going to be full for a week after this.” Danny popped back up the stairs, his face lit up in joy, as he pulled the dish over to him, spooning out a full plate of shells this time. “I guess their loss is my gain.” He went back down to lounge against his own wall. 

An easy silence fell. The noises of the city a distant juxtaposition to the bubble they had created. Just two people enjoying food. Enjoying a little down time. Enjoying peace.

****

A few days later, Jason came home to a surprise. He didn’t expect to really hear from his neighbor again beyond the occasional waves and hellos they had previously established. Just the coming and going in the stairs or passing on the street. But there on the outside of his window was a sticky note. Black with tiny nebulas, Jason’s name was scrawled with silver glitter gel pen and an arrow pointing down.

He opened the window and looked down to see if Danny was out, Jason spotted a ziplock bag full of cookies and a thermos. With Danny nowhere in sight, Jason inspected the note again and on the other side was more writing.

“I can’t cook anything near as good as what you made, but these are my favorite cookies from the bodega by campus. I like them with cardamom tea.” 

Jason opened the bag and caught a whiff of the cookies. He had fully intended to run them through a spectrometer but the enticing scent of ginger snaps and some urge deep within his soul overrode his caution. He took a small bite. And they were delicious. The spices were deep and warm. The molasses earthy. Setting them aside for a moment, he opened the thermos and took a tentative sip. The tea was still warm and lightly sweetened. The sharp spices of the tea playing well off the warmth of the cookies. 

He’d never had anyone leave him offerings like this. The thought stopped him for a moment. 

Gifts. Not offerings, gifts. He shrugged and grabbed a book from his TBR shelf. Settling in with the cookies and tea to relax before he had to go out for patrol. His mind was distracted by stray thoughts of what he might be able to leave his neighbor in return. 

****

Danny hated his teachers. He hated this city. He hated his creaky apartment. Though he didn’t mind the eye candy of his upstairs neighbor when they passed on the stairs. And if Danny turned around once in a while to watch Jason go up the stairs and enjoy the view? Well that was just the payment he deserved from the universe for the elevator always being out. There were other perks too, Danny decided thoughtfully. He and Jason had been leaving each other little offerings on the fire escape and it had become the best part of Danny’s day. It wasn’t every day, maybe more like once a week. But the joy he got when there was a little package outside his window? Unparalleled. As if matching Danny’s galaxy post it note energy, Jason left notes with his gifts on stationary that looked like old parchment paper, quotes from classic authors printed along the bottoms. Just a little explanation of what the gift was and where it was from. Or sometimes, if it were a homemade dish, Jason would include where he’d got the recipe from. Danny was on the look out for a larger notepad that was still space themed. He found he was running out of space on his post its and using two seemed like trying too hard, as if going out and buying all new stationary wasn’t also trying too hard. But Jason didn’t have to know it was new. Danny could have already had this. 

To Danny’s joy, there was a take out box outside under his window today. No Jason to be seen, but they rarely made it outside at the same time. Their schedules rarely lined up.

“I found a new korean place over off Vermont St. I got you some char sui pork buns. I hope they help tonight while you’re studying for finals. The things you’ve left for me have always made my evenings better.  -Jason”

And at the bottom, the little book quote read “‘Why did you do all this for me?’ he asked. ‘I don’t deserve it. I’ve never done anything for you.’ ‘You have been my friend,’ replied Charlotte. ‘That in itself is a tremendous thing.’” -Charlotte’s Web

What had started as a simple shared meal from Jason making too much food after work had become the best part of Danny’s week. And it seems like Jason might feel the same. A lovely give and take of food offerings. A courtship. Or at least, Danny liked to think of it that way. But even just simple friendship was a welcome feeling. At least now he knew Jason also liked their little dance and this wasn’t out of some misconstrued obligation. And Jason even remembered that he was a student and that it was finals week. That extra thought had Danny blushing as he took the buns to his kitchen counter and stuck the note on his fridge with a comet shaped magnet. Danny kept all the notes Jason left. Luckily the fridge couldn’t be seen from the window because otherwise Danny would die (again) of embarrassment. As it was, he simply enjoyed his dinner while rereading Jason’s words.

****

“Wait a minute” Dick interrupted Jason’s story description of Danny’s most recent gift of curry and boba tea. “So you and this guy-” “Danny,” Jason corrected. Dick nodded, a conspiratorial smile growing. The kind of smile your brother gets when he stumbles across potential blackmail material on you. “So you and Danny” Jason did not like that tone, “have been leaving gifts outside each others windows.” Jason nodded, “Every week, or MORE,” Dick looked pointedly at Jason for confirmation, to which Jason nodded again. “And you FINALLY tell him that his gifts ‘make your day better’ and you use the page with a quote from Charlotte’s Web about FRIENDSHIP?” 

“What’s the matter with that? It’s not like I picked it specifically. It was just the next page.” Jason was beginning to regret sharing this joy with his dick of a brother.

“Ok, So.” Dick threw his arm around Jason’s shoulders, “We need to either work on your delivery, or get you some stationary with better quotes. You’re clearly over the moon about this guy-” “Hey, what makes you say that? I just- It’s- I…”Jason stuttered, trying to gather his scrambled thoughts. “Having something to look forward to after I get off patrol is nice. And having someone go out of their way to do that for me…” 

Dick really looked at his brother. It wasn’t often that Jason managed to look small these days. But there he sat, shoulders hunched, fingers fiddling with Danny’s most recent note. It wasn’t a sticky note size, but a small half page. Very much like Jason’s own notepad with the quotes from famous authors. He was absentmindedly folding the paper back and forth, making lines from star to star among the constellations decorating the page. “Jason,” Dick dropped his teasing tone and waited for his little brother to look up. “It sounds like you’ve got a good thing going here. I wouldn’t want you to mess it up by being impatient. You laid out your cards, in a small careful way, and you received something in turn,” he nodded to the creased note. “Keep taking those steps. I can see how happy this has made you, even as simple as it is. Keep finding things you think he’ll like. Keep leaving your little courtship gifts. And maybe just flip through your stationary and pick the quotes a bit more deliberately,” Dicks eyes glinted dangerously, “You lit’ nerd.” Dick quickly flipped backwards from sitting into several handsprings across the training mat, his maniacal laughter echoing across the cave as he tried to escape the very predictable ire of his younger brother.

“Oh that’s it! You’re in for it now!” Jason rolled up onto the mats to chase Dick, joy in his heart and violence on his mind. Danny’s note settled to the floor, waiting for Jason’s response. “I hope you like curry! I got a medium spicy, but eat it with the naan if it’s too hot. Your gifts are the highlight of my day whenever you leave me something.” And then, hand written at the bottom of the page where Jason’s stationary had quotes, “With all the stars in the sky, and all the people in the world, I’m glad I ended up in a constellation next to you.”

****

“Guys, I’m going to die.” Danny declared and then promptly face planted into Sam’s couch. They were having their monthly catch up dinner and hang out. Sam was attending Metropolis University for Law with a minor in environmental studies. Her parents weren’t happy with her obvious post grad plans, but she was fulfilling their terms of getting a traditional, respectable degree, so they were footing the bill. That included her off campus apartment because no daughter of theirs was about to live in those dingy college dorm rooms. 

Tucker was attending MIT while also building a name for himself in the hacker community. Two streams he was desperately trying to keep from crossing, lest MIT expel him on ethics. 

Danny, of course, was attending Gotham U for aerospace engineering and astronomy. Their schedules made it hard to find a common evening once a month that they were all free. Danny’s ability to make portals (thanks to a new set of powers and abilities that came with being Ghost King of the infinite realms) made it slightly easier to get everyone in the same room once they found the time. Danny’s muffled voice drifted up from the couch cushions. 

“What was that Danny? I couldn’t quite get that through the literal couch in your face.” Sam sassed.

Danny lifted his face from the fluff and whined, “I left Jason the sappiest note and by the time I came to my senses, he had already taken iiiiiiiiiit! And now he’s read it and he hates me and he’s never going to talk to me again or leave me homemade cookies or anything else ever again and it’s all because I read too deep into a quote from fucking Charlotte’s Web!” He flopped onto his back and then slowly melted off the couch, thumping to the floor when Sam pushed him to make room to sit down with her pho bowl. 

“Come on man, I’m sure it wasn’t that bad,” Tucker said. “Tell us what you wrote.” “No.”

“Don’t make me check the security footage. You know we’ve got HD cameras on your place.” Tucker, horrible friend that he was, was already pulling up the footage. The cameras had been installed as a valid security measure but were mostly used to retrieve blackmail footage against Danny by his friends. Danny had a tendency to glow and float as he stargazed on rare clear nights in Gotham and Sam and Tucker gave him no end of shit about it. 

“Did you find it?” Sam asked excitedly, crowding closer while holding Danny off with a boot to the face. 

“Yep! Let’s see, ‘Hope you like curry,’ blah blah blah, oh here. ‘With all the stars in the sky, and all the people in the world, I’m glad you ended up in a constellation next to me.’ You’re right.” Tucker declared solemnly. “It is bad. He’s never going to talk to you again. He’s gunna move states. Dye his hair. Change his name! You’ll never find him again and you’ll never find love.” Tucker lost his deadpan demeanor and dissolved into laughter. 

Danny glared at him and phased the couch out from under him. Tucker hit the floor still laughing and didn’t stop. 

“Captain Chuckles can stay on the floor, but please re-solidify my couch. I like it to exist in this dimension.” Sam nudged Tucker ever so gently out of the way so that the couch could exist again. 

“But really. Was it too much?” Danny asked Sam, since Tucker was clearly just going to be useless. 

“I think it was honest and forward. I think if you guys had been going on traditional dates, then it might be too much.” Dannys face fell and his shoulders slumped. “But!” Sam interjected quickly, “That is not what you guys are doing. For better worse, you have some archaic courting ritual going on. You’ve only been exchanging words and gifts. Small offerings of your heart and soul. To give less than your full self in this situation would be disingenuous. I don’t think it was too soon, especially since he initiated the sentiment. Sure, writing down undying love,” Danny and tucker both chuckled at the ‘undying’ part and Sam kicked them both for it, “Would have been too much. But directly stating that you enjoy the little dance you have going on? And that you like him? Nah. I think you did good. Especially since he’s clearly a literary nerd.”

“Yeah” Tucker chimed in, “He matches well with your space nerd!” 

“Oh that’s it! You’re in for it now!” Danny rolled off the couch and chased Tucker around Sam’s spacious apartment, promising to freeze him to the ceiling once he caught him. 

****

Jason decided to take a night off patrol. Nothing major should be going on tonight. The Alley could do without him being a helicopter parent for one evening. He wanted to make a more involved meal for Danny. There was a good chance that they would see each other tonight. Jason had connected some dots and realized that Danny, the beautiful face and soul that he was, liked to stargaze on clear Gotham nights. This would be the first clear night in weeks and there was no way that Danny would miss the opportunity. 

So Jason got started early. Rissoto didn’t look fancy but it took skill to get right. The results, when done right, were amazing. Jason had also picked up a bottle of wine. Call it wishful thinking, but he hoped Danny would share it with him and they might sit down and really get to know each other. That would be nice. 

****

As Jason stood, stirring his hopes and risotto, Danny was one floor down trying not to burn the entire building down. This was his fourth night trying to make the same thing.  He’d watched so many videos. So many tutorials. All of them said this could be done by a beginner cook if they just followed the steps. None of them really sold how difficult it was though. Someone needed to start a cooking channel where an average person tried to follow these recipes. 

The first attempt, several nights ago, ended in him realizing that he could not melt sugar on top of a creme brulee in a plastic ramekin. Fire plus plastic is bad. That was the first batch ruined. 

The second batch didn’t set in the oven. Which didn’t make sense because he’d done everything the same as the first batch, which had turned out fine. 

The third batch, he turned the oven up just a but realized while he was cleaning up egg shell that he’d never actually put eggs into the second batch. By the time he got the third batch out of the oven, they were horribly over cooked. 

For the fourth batch, he laid out all his ingredients, portioned and in order of use. Set his oven back to the right temperature and gave an offhanded prayer to Clockwork for proper timing. 

The timer dinged, the custards wobbled ever so slightly and Danny about collapsed with relief as he got them safely removed from the oven and set on his counter. He took a moment to contemplate how he’d ended up cooking the same dessert four nights in a row. These were way too complicated for him. But he’d done this to himself. He’d looked up “impressive desserts to make for your date” and Creme Brulee topped half the lists. Last step was to toast the tops with a micro torch after they cooled. 

Danny returned to his homework while he waited.

****

Jason opened his window, two servings piping hot seafood risotto plated and ready. He’d heard muffled cursing from downstairs, so he knew Danny was home. Most likely cursing one of his professors. Jason left the bottle of wine just inside his window. He was hopeful that the evening would go well but no sense in being presumptuous. He wasn’t even sure if Danny liked wine, or drank at all! 

Starting down the fire escape, Jason was surprised to see Danny already out. He was peering into the eyepiece of a telescope muttering to himself. Danny did talk to himself a lot now that he thought about it. Not wanting to startle him, Jason waited on the upper level of the fire escape and simply watched. Admired the object of his affections these past months. It was odd to think how much they’d both put into the relationship so far for how little time they’d actually spent together. Danny sat on the stairs in his Nasa hoodie and some Justice League pajama pants, which caused Jason to chuckle quietly to himself.

Sitting next to Danny was an open notebook, Danny’s chaotic handwriting scattered over the page along with some very precise charts. Jason almost didn’t believe they were hand drawn except that they were penned in the same aggressively bright neon green sparkly gel pen as the chicken scratch writing. What a strange dichotomy. Next to the notes sat a tray with two ramekins of creme brulee. As Dannys hand moved down to make some notes Jason noticed several bandaids with burns peeking out from under them. Had Danny made the creme brulees himself? He’d mentioned a few times that he was hopeless in the kitchen. Had he gone to all that trouble and apparently pain, to make something for Jason? 

For no particular reason, Jason needed to clear his throat, which startled Danny of his concentration trance. “Oh! You’re here!” Danny said. He capped the eyepiece and looked around. “I made you something. You’re always making things for me and I’ve just been buying things so I wanted to put more work into your gifts. So I made these. For….For us. I was hoping you’d eat with me? I waited out here for you. Also it was a great night for some stargazing so I was just doing that while I waited, of course, because sometimes you come home really late. Not that I’m watching you!” Danny’s hands came up defensively, a blush coloring his cheeks as he rambled. Eyes darting away, he started clearing off the stairs for them to sit. Moving his notebooks and the creme brulees. Jason just smiled at the disaster he was already half in love with. He couldn’t wait to learn all of Danny’s quirks and habits. Would he always ramble on or was this just jitters? Would Danny’s face light up the same way every time Jason came home from patrol? He hoped so. He wanted to make this work. He wanted to come home to that face.

“I’m actually really glad you’re out here,” Jason said, saving Danny from himself. “I’ve seen your telescope and noticed that you like to come out on clear nights. I was hoping you’d have dinner with me again. I made seafood risotto. It’s shrimp and muscles. Would you like some?” Jason presented the plates to Danny as he came down the stairs. 

“Yeah. I’d love to have dinner with you. I like any food that doesn’t try to eat my back. I don’t think I’ve ever had risotto. Let me just finish moving my junk.” He smiled as he set everything off to the side in a pile.

Jason settled down and handed one of the plates and a fork over to Danny. “How has school been going? I think you mentioned you were going for engineering?” Danny nodded. “What made you pick Gotham U? Most people are trying to leave the city, not come here.”

“Oh, that’s easy. But two reasons really. First, Gotham U has the Wayne Tech scholarship program and the great internship programs. I’ve also heard hush-hush rumors about some great job opportunities that recruit from Wayne Tech. If it’s true, I want to be here.” Danny gazed up longingly at the sky. Wayne Tech of course had partnerships with NASA but that was a well known connection. It wasn’t hush hush. The only thing Jason could think of that Danny would be alluding to would be jobs on the Watchtower. They did hire civilians, but the Justice League hand selected the best of the best. Bruce and Lucius kept their eyes out for those people. Not that he supported nepotism, but Jason wouldn’t mind making sure Danny’s name got added to the hat once he was ready. 

“The other reason,” Danny said, breaking Jason out of his future planning, “is that Gotham is the only city I could find with even half the amount of crazy as Amity, my home town. We had some crazy super villains and after growing up with that daily madness, I can’t settle down in a peaceful city.” He took a moment to savor the food, bliss coming across his face. It made Jason want to make more food for him. Jason wanted to bring him that joy again. To provide for Danny and take care of him. “This is really good! I love your food. Best thing I’ve ever had every time. I just hope what I made doesn’t give us both food poisoning.” “Hey, I’m sure it’s great. Did you burn your fingers making that? I saw the band aids. Even if you need chaos, I’m sure you don’t need to make more by burning yourself making dessert. Just walk through the alley in the daytime and I’m sure you’ll get enough excitement.” 

“Nah, Muggers are small potatoes.” Danny contested. “Most exciting thing that can come of that is Red Hood showing up. And I’m typically not out while he’s patrolling. Hood keeps most of the rif raf out of the area, so I generally feel safer here than the rest of Gotham.” 

“Hmmm. So Hood is doing better than the bats and birds? I’m sure Batman would love to hear that.” Jason bumped Danny’s shoulder playfully. “Since you’ve been here for a few months now, do you have a favorite bat or bird?”

“Red Hood.” Danny said quickly and decisively. “Definitely Red Hood. Not only does he have his area on lock down, so much so that even the other Bats stay out. Black Mask? Nope. Traffickers? Gone. Most violence? Low level. I know some of the bigger name rogues will ignore all the boundaries but they’re really not known for following the rules so they don’t really count. And also he’s….” Danny stopped abruptly, a blush coming over his cheeks. “But what about you? You grew up here. Who’s your favorite?” 

“That’s a hard choice. I remember when it was just Batman and Robin OG. So I would say it was original Robin, then Nightwing, but then he abandoned us for Bludhaven. Now It’s probably BlackBat. Though the current Robin is also doing a great job. He gets a lot of shit for being so young and violent but what do people expect? Of course he’s violent. Being Robin is not easy. It’s- And now I’m rambling on.” Jason chuckled. “BlackBat. She’s my favorite. For now.” 

“Hmmm. I haven’t heard a lot about her. It makes sense since what I have heard is that she’s the stealthiest of the bats.” 

Some time during the conversation they had relaxed, no longer holding a strict gap between their bodies. Forks clinked as they sat shoulder to shoulder and hip to hip on the narrow fire escape staircase. A peaceful silence fell around them like a cozy blanket. 

“Can I try one of the creme brulees?” Jason asked, having finished his food already. “I would hate to see all your hard work, pain, and suffering go unappreciated.”

“Sure, but you’re taking your life into your own hands. Just do me a favor and lie to me about how good it is.” Danny passed one of the desserts and a small spoon over to Jason. Their hands touched and they both paused, but neither pulled away. 

A gentle smile grew on Jason’s face as a blush returned to Danny’s cheeks but still neither pulled away.  The world seems to pause around them, allowing them this moment. The soft light coming from the windows flickered….and then went out. 

“Um…What just happened?” Danny asked, looking around. The ambient glow of Gotham still loomed in the distance but most of the closer lights had gone out, just street lamps remained. Down at the end of the street, a red glow flickered. The glow of fire. “I gotta go.” They both said at the same time. Their eyes met in the dim light. Shadows made masks on their faces and sudden understanding lit their eyes. A mutual epiphany.

“Be safe.” Danny said to Red Hood. “You too.” Jason responded before darting back up the stairs and into his apartment. 

****

Danny’s mind was reeling. How could he not have noticed? All the clues were there in hindsight. The late nights. The tired days. The various bruises and scrapes. Even the vague half answers and glaring lack of personal info in their brief conversations. But in that moment of calamity, Jason’s entire demeanor shifted. His shoulders squared and resolution threaded every fiber of his frame, and what a great frame it was. On the plus side, Danny felt less conflicted about staring at Red Hood’s ass while courting Jason. They were the same ass. The same thighs. The same broad shoulders that Danny had way too many private thoughts about. 

Focus Danny!

Once he got into his closet, he transformed. While he no longer shouted “Going Ghost” at the top of his lungs (He was young, leave him alone), he didn’t have any way to dampen the bright flash of light his transformation gave off. So into the closet he went. 

Flying through his apartment walls and over the battle zone he quickly assessed the lay of the land. There seemed to be two groups shooting at each other from opposite corners of the street. Behind every available place of cover and down every alley, people were hiding. Sneaking into the intersection from their apartment was Red Hood, also assessing the situation from the ground. His eyes raked over both factions, the civilians, the fire escapes and windows, and even the rooftops. Danny was impressed because few people thought to look up. Danny allowed himself to pop back into the visible spectrum as Jason’s gaze passed over the rooftop Danny was hovering over. Nobody else was looking up. Nobody ever looked up.

Danny pointed at Hood, then at the violence. Then after a pause, pointed at himself and circled his hand around to indicate the surrounding area. He hoped Hood would catch that Danny was going to take care of the civilians and general crowd control. Jason nodded and took out two of his guns, checking the safety and loads before focusing on the task ahead. Danny faded back to invisibility and looked around for the most vulnerable of the civilians to get them out first.

****

The firefight took much longer to handle than Danny expected. He was used to one on one or maybe himself versus a group, but never a gang war like this. Never with so many people. So many combatants. So many innocents in the line of fire. 

The noise in the streets had been like listening to a bag of popcorn. Shots overlapping. Echoing endlessly. A constant incomprehensible cacophony of gunfire. As Danny got more civilians to safety, the density of noise began to wane. Little by little the gunfire spread out as Hood disabled the shooters and their weapons until it went from constant noise to just isolated pops to silence. 

Danny allowed himself to become visible atop the same roof as earlier when he noticed Jason looking for him once more. Danny held his fist out, thumb to the side, head cocked in question. Red Hood returned the thumb out fist and turned it up briefly, before pointing with his thumb over his shoulder back towards their apartments. Danny turned up his thumb to match and nodded before disappearing and leaving Hood to the mercy of the converging Bats. Danny didn’t even remember them showing up. He was so focused on getting people to safety. He was glad Jason had help though. He sped back to his own apartment to wait. To pace restlessly and hope that Hood hadn’t been hurt.

****

Jason was annoyed. Bruce was annoying for trying to act like he was in charge while standing in Jason’s damn apartment. Tim was annoying, standing off to the side while silently judging Jason’s lack of coffee choices. Oracle was annoying for sending Bats his way when she heard him get winged by a stray round at the beginning of the firefight. He was even annoyed with himself for somehow missing that Danny was apparently a vigilante? Or maybe a rogue? He needed them to leave. He needed to check on Danny. There was clearly some kind of powers involved but nothing to say that Danny couldn’t be hurt. That he wasn’t hurt. He’d seen Danny peek his head around the window frame three separate times before literally disappearing from view each time. Clearly waiting until Jason was alone again to talk.

“Look.” Jason interrupted whatever Bruce was saying. “I’m tired. I was already in for the night before that clusterfuck even began. I need you both out of my place because I have a date with a cup of tea and possibly a shot of whiskey.” Jason stalked over and opened the front door in clear invitation to leave. “Out. And tell O to mind their own business and butt out of my feeds.” Jason continued to motion out the door. Gentleman that he was, he even waited politely until their capes were all the way out the door before slamming it behind them. Jason took a deep breath and turned around as he felt the air shifting.

“Are they gone yet?” Danny asked. His inexplicable white hair from the battlefield was gone but he was floating a couple inches off the floor. 

Jason wondered if he knew he was doing it as he walked over to retrieve the bottle of wine. 

“Yeah. They’re gone for now. Let’s talk.” 

[acewithapaintbrush]

@somerandomdudelmao s latest update for the Cass apocalyptic series has given me mental damage so I'll make it everyone's problem

🐢🐢🐢🐢

Donatello remembers falling asleep. It's a generous word for dying, but that's what it felt like. Closing your eyes and just drifting off, just a feeling of contentment and peace. As peaceful as dying can be. 

It was painless at least. That's a plus if you ask him. The constant heaviness in his bones, the itching at the back of his eyes, telling him to close and never open them again, the constant buzzing in the back of his head. It all just went away the moment he let go. 

For a second he'd felt weightless. Free. He'd felt young again, had imagined himself jumping over rooftops with his brothers and feeling the wind on his skin. The battle shell a comforting weight on his back instead of the crushing burden it has become during the last few weeks of his life. He'd imagined himself jumping and landing, jumping and landing, effortlessly. Had imagined himself looking to the left and seeing Leo, keeping pace, grinning and whole. Looking to the right and seeing Mikey and Raph, happy and laughing. He'd imagined looking forward again and seeing April and Dad and so many others, standing there, waving at him, their silhouettes stark against the sun lowering behind New York's skyline. 

He'd thought "Ah. This must be heaven" 

And then nothing. 

And then too much, all at once. Like a computer going into overdrive, a hard drive rewriting and deleting itself over and over. He feels torn apart, his body rearranging itself constantly, nothing but a mist of energy one second and in the next blink of an eye a solid mess. When he has eyes and he can look down, he sees hands and arms glowing and glitching, but before he can panic or make sense of anything, he is gone again, just shadow and clouds, scattered across what his world has turned into. 

This is nothing like what Raph described. Donnie expected some mystical mumbo jumbo, thanks to their ninpo and their connection to their ancestors. But what he'd expected had been Gram-Gram and Dad, waiting for him with open arms. 

Not whatever the shell this is! 

Figures! Even in death this mystical stuff manages to screw him over. Paint him surprised. NOT! 

Time seems to be meaningless here. It feels like forever and it feels like just a second before something changes in his new world. The light changes, the texture of his surroundings solidifies. His body is as stable as it ever is, glitching and oozing with overflowing ninpo, but here and real. 

There is a figure in the distance and Donatello can't make out who it is but he knows, knows as instinctively as he knows himself, as he knows his brothers. 

The figure comes closer and they collide and Donnie feels himself rip apart AGAIN, but this time it's different. This time it's like coming home, like breathing in after years of holding it all in. 

And then there is nothing and then there is a lot again. Not too much this time, just the right amount. But confusing and dizzying. Donatello is still not quite back yet, still feels alien to himself, but he's as whole as one can probably be after dying. 

There are many new sensations pressing down on him. All of it familiar yet unfamiliar. The ninpo of his brothers, but much too young. The familiar energy of Casey Jones surrounding him, in contrast older and much more burdened than it should be. 

But no time to panic. Assess and analyze Donatello, it's what you do best. There will still be time to freak out once you have figured out what the hell is going on. 

"You know, I think I might need to invent a new scale to rate this rescue experience."

[raapija]

Käärijä's Veikkaus interview, 5.5.2023

Ten Questions For Käärijä

In this interview Vantaa's most famous bowl-cut Jere Pöyhönen tells, how he thinks about his Käärijä-named alter ego and why he would sometime want to "whack" Käärijä. Furthermore, he reveals his embarrassing vice - and reminds you that in every one of us there lives a tiny Jesus.

Q1: Why do you have such a funny haircut?

"When I was in junior high, I got a bowl-cut during a break. It was on a whim. There were us two boys, who did it, and we rocked with the bowl-cuts. I've always been whimsical, a guy, who is easy to provoke. I like to try things, and I've never really been embarrassed by anything. We had a few friend groups in Vantaa, with who I hung out with, and I was always the clown in the group. I like to make others laugh and I also like to laugh at myself. The others laughed with me, not at me - or that's atleast what I like to believe!"

Q2: So, Vantaa - you're a born and bred Vantaa-citizen. What does Vantaa mean to you?

"Quite a lot actually. I think that Vantaa is an under-dog kinda place. It reflected, for example, in hockey, which I used to play a lot. When we played against Espoo, it had emotion! The deal is, in fact, that Vantaa-people hate people from Espoo! [laughter] People from Vantaa are somehow more real than Espoo-citizens or people from Helsinki, more honest. If a Vantaa-person doesn't have money, then for fuck's sake they don't have money, they won't try to hide it, like Espoo-people do. Indeed, Vantaa is the place to be. Or at least the Tikkurila hoods, Myyrmäki on the other hand... We totally aren't any kind of a big and happy family in Vantaa. [laughter] East- and West-Vantaa are completely different things, kinda like the Bronx and Brooklyn. Actually I'm from Ruskeasanta, and for example Ruskeasanta's or 'Rusa' 's Shell (a gas station) has been a significant place in my life. We used to go there with friends on our mopeds and drink coffee and tea, fool around, bully vocational school students."

Q3: Wait a minute, you've gone to vocational school, too, but you aren't a student who drives around Tikkurila, around the local blocks?

"I haven't really driven there, maybe a couple times. But I haven't been serious about it in that way. I've never been a car-person, more of a moped-person, and that moped I liked more to tune and decorate, than to drive. I painted, tuned and tinkered with it. I, for example, melted Legos on the covering so I could get more plastic on them - no-one could ever guess, what color moped I'd come to school with."

"In my opinion, vocational school was more of a lifestyle than one going to vocational school. Students drove from gas station to gas station and went to Jumbo (a mall) with driving gloves on. I would rather stay at home to sleep and play Habbo Hotel. Sometimes I'd go to meets (meeting organized by youth to come show off their mopeds), and those were fun, but to those, too, we went with a few friends to laugh at the other dudes. [laughter] If I would now go to Rusa's Shell, I hope people would react to me positively. I'm still nevertheless on their side.

Q4: What kind of memories do you have from Vantaa's Tulisuudelma (a pub, restaurant and music venue)?

"There I didn't go a lot. I was more often at Porkku (Pormestari, a nightclub that has since closed). The few times I was at Tulisuudelma, I sang karaoke. Vesku's 'Hyvää Puuta', that was my favorite. But Porkku was, at least in my mind, Tikkurila's most popular bar. It was a bit like Pinkku (a restaurant called Pingviini), but the cooler guys went to Porkku. [laughter] Yeah, vocational school students went to Pinkku. It might be, that 'Cha Cha Cha' is about a night in Porkku. There I have my first bar-memories. It became my own little home, where all the friends in town came to."

"'Cha Cha Cha' represents dancing, and dancing represents freedom for me. That, that you have to be able to not be afraid to dance without thinking what the others think, even without drugs. You can see it as a drinking song also, I don't care about interpretations, but to me, it represents a lot more also. I want to encourage people to break free, because it's not about how well you can dance, it's about how you carry yourself. I'm not the most skilled singer, rapper or artist. But I believe in this thing, this madness, and I put 150 points on it. It creates the aesthetic, that he is just crazy and a star, even though really I'm just a regular dude from Vantaa."

Q5: The song lasts 2 minutes and 55 seconds. Because of those shy of a three minutes you'll soon go on a long trip abroad to perform. What does that feel like?

"As a thought it's damn crazy. How much work - hours, days, weeks, months - and then it's over. Those are probably my life's most important 2 minutes and 55 seconds. I think, that Käärijä is going on a little trip, does what he does best and it goes just the way it is meant to go. Everything doesn't even need to be so fucking thought out and perfect. It needs a bit of improv, my own style. Because I don't like to be bound."

Q6: You're a pop-star and many people have put a lot of money into your career. Isn't it inevitable, that in some way, you are bound?

"Yeah, that's exactly true. I've had had to work on that. I avoid it, when people tell me things and try to get me to do stuff, that I don't stand behind. It's been hard learning to say no, but it has been a necessary skill. Those people do see Käärijä as a product. It feels like a crazy thought - I'm like a walking billboard. But I'm a human and I have to do my own stuff, my own values, and not be with a note on my forehead saying 'buy this' or 'I'm selling this'."

"I've gone along with a couple things, but those have been the kind that benefit me. I want to rip out everything from those guys - the record label, ad-collabs and everything, and secure it that I'm not being fucked over. This is a rough business. People want a piece of Käärijä, which they can benefit from, so I have to be really alert. And not everything can be measured in wealth. For example, I've done stuff for charity."

Q7: Many of the stories about you are headlined "Jere from Vantaa", and that's the way you seem like: a nice basic dude. How does that nice basic dude handle all that hassle?

"At the beginning, not so well. I'm humble, and I still have a lot to learn about a certain type of roughness. You have to know your value and value yourself. Who am I, where do I belong, what do I want from life - I think about these and develop all the time. But it's not easy when the big bosses come to say how things are. Then you just have to stay tough and argue against them."

"The piss hasn't got up to my head, because I'm not 20 anymore. If all this had happened at that age, I would most definitely be an asshole. I can differentiate Jere from Käärijä. If on the streets someone films me, or someone sends me suggestive messages on instagram, I know that those are meant for Käärijä, not Jere. They don't really even know Jere, in a way."

"Jere sometimes wonders on red carpets abroad 'why am I here?'. It sometimes feels like a ridiculous circus show - even though I obviously enjoy it and value it. Byt my morals lie elsewhere. I don't appreciate people if they have some great job and money, that doesn't interest me at all. People shouldn't be seen as products, but people should be seen as people and appreciated the way they are. That's why it feels so weird when people go nuts sometimes about this Käärijä-thing, start to cry when they see me. In Madrid one guy fainted because they saw me! It was at the same time like wow, we had created something that had caused this kind of a reaction. But at the same time I think 'what the fuck just happened to you?'."

Q8: What sort of a relationship does Jere have with Käärijä?

"A really good one, mainly. We have a lot in common. In a way I'm a Käärijä-fan because I have to like the thing I'm doing, and in my mind we're making the best shit in Finland ever. But sometimes, when there's so much of this Käärijä-stuff, I'd like to whack that Käärijä: every time I come home and look in the mirror, there that bowl-cut is. Then I miss it, when I could go as Jere to the shop and be Jere to the people and not everyone would circle around Käärijä: how are you, how are you managing, how's the gigs, how's the music - fuck it. Let's talk about the weather!"

"Käärijä is also an armor. If someone asks to put on the bolero and go lay around for those photos, Käärijä will do it. Jere might not. With Käärijä I'm able and not afraid to do things. But the way that everyone right now wants to benefit from Käärijä, is of course sometimes heavy - and that's Käärijä's fault! He fucking did it! [laughter]"

Q9: If you could choose anyone to go in a sauna with, living or dead, who would you choose?

"That's a tough one. I'm a fan of Rammstein like crazy and I can relate to (the singer) Till Lindeman. But they say he's a really stiff guy. We probably wouldn't have a lot of conversation in the sauna..."

"If Jesus is really a real person in history, I'd maybe choose Jesus. I'd like to discuss with him: what all did he do, what kind of a guy he was. I'm really interested in that. Was he a regular fellow like all the rest of us?"

"I believe, that in all of us, there lives a tiny Jesus. I mean that I don't believe we're just a brain and a lump of meat. We're so much more. I don't necessarily mean supernatural things, but that there's something else, something that we can't reach with our level of consciousness. I don't believe in coincidences. There's always a reason why things go this or that way."

Q10: Do you have some secret or habit that you're embarrassed about so much that you wouldn't want to tell of it to anyone?

"I don't really have skeletons in my closet like that... Well, this is a bit dumb, but the thing that I'm sometimes afraid to do, is: I like to put ketchup on everything. I put ketchup in meat soup, too. Once I was in a fancy steak restaurant, a great steak in front of me, and I thought, damn I'd kill for some ketchup now. But there were people around, certain type of steak enthusiasts, that I couldn't do it, because people would've judged it really hard. Yeah, maybe it's about being from Vantaa! [laughter]"

Käärijä's make-up and hair: Tiia Loikkanen

Photography digitech: Pauli Boström

Photography: Ville Malja

Original writer: Jose Riikonen

[multi-level-shipper]

This shit was a fucking acid trip, like most of the game.

Anyway, something that poked my brain was the Infirmary. For all this game's insanity, there were actually some decent roots planted for worldbuilding/ character development.

It seems like the reason the cast ended up in Queen Bouncelia's domain is because they're treating the player as if they have 6 stars in GTA. Seline is no exception to this rule, and that seems to be her motivation for coming down to the lower floor, as she watched us leave in Chapter 3.

Toadster noted in his "Archives" that she was already hiding when brought in, and crying in her shell. She may have been antagonized by a bigger enemy- likely Kittysaurus or Tama/Chamataki (turtle chameleon thing), and she may have gone past the kingdom's walls for sanctuary. (That's just a loose theory, though.)

In any case, at some point she was frightened enough to shut down completely.

This could be some kind of anxiety attack, though there's no way to "diagnose" Seline at this point. Also interesting that Seline felt too afraid to even continue moving around on the lower floors. I think this is meant to speak to just how dangerous the lower floors are- if the giant ass snail is afraid, you should be, too.

Next, Jumbo Josh. Toadster categorizes him as a "Green Gorilla", which in hindsight, weirdly makes a lot of sense.

Firstly, an adult silverback gorilla can bench up to 4,000 lbs (or at least, that's what google told me.) Not that we needed an explanation of why he was able to throw Stinger Flynn, but I can only assume that if we adjusted that number for his size...it probably checks out.

Second, the fact that he walks like a chiropractor's worst nightmare. It took me a second, but I FINALLY realized that his posture is meant to IMITATE A GORILLA. Like, look at this:

DEFINITELY EXPLAINS WHY HE WALKS LIKE A HORSE IN GARRY'S MOD.

And thirdly, Josh's love for vegetables is also a gorilla trait. 85% of a gorilla's diet is leafy greens, with the remaining percentage basically amounting to termites and larvae.

Not too much to say about the Fucked Up Birds, but still! Nice to see them finally displaying a flamingo behavior (AKA their sleeping posture) because they seemed to lean more heavily on ostrich behaviors in previous chapters.

Toadster mentions in his archive for "The Teacher" that she keeps repeating the phrase "I can't be late" over and over to herself after being subdued.

He also notes that the bowling pins "calmed her down," which may not entirely be the case. In Chapter 3, in Banbaleena's "Classroom", each object had an assigned role like Cool Kid and Popular Kid. The bowling pins were meant to be the Bullies.

So Banbaleena is likely stuck in a prison of her own self-doubts right about now, which is doubly sad when considering her insistence in Chapter 3 that she was actually trying to be a good teacher. Either someone placed this idea in her head that she needs to strictly adhere to all these rules, or it's a stress she placed upon herself trying to fulfill her identity as a teacher.

Stinger Flynn gets better as the story progresses. He seems to have an ego to the point where he sees himself as a savior that can't see the faults in his own plans. His initial "safest procedures" plan seemed so obvious to him, but it seems as if he measures success by efficiency rather than the cost of human lives. While he's smart, he's not immune to being wrong, though he has yet to learn this.

He also seems to suffer from some form of depression, or at least intense sadness, and we see this as he talks to Banban in the latest hallucination sequence. Makes sense- his intelligence would make him much more privy to all the horrible things happening around him. It seems as if his high intelligence comes at a high price.

Last note- This might just be a case of recycling animations/rigs, but I think it's cute that Banban shares nearly the same emo pose as Banbaleena.

[world-smitten]

just finished Arcane season 2 & how could something be so good, and yet so bad? Felt like a yoyo because the writers clearly knew what they were doing, but they wouldn't have been able to take the wild swings they did without Fortiche's production strength. If s1 got around its 9 episode limitations by being lean, spare and hyper-focused, s2 goes wildly in the other direction, a maximalist "bang-for-your-buck" approach that clearly favours the animation. Like Riot always knew that Fortiche was their trump card but i dont think even they could predict how quickly and massively beloved the studio's house style would be. So the plot feels like it's structured both to set up future shows, but also to give Fortiche every single opportunity to flex their skills. Its a season that's intensely cinematic and layered in the ways it visually conveys the external action and the internal psychology of its characters. But this maximalist approach to animation is something im getting slightly tired of - post spiderverse fatigue i guess (to put it simply). But the production isnt as insufferable as ATSV was, partly because all of the characters are a stronger emsemble, but also because the operatic multiverses, timelines etc all feel like a shell to hold the characters vast feelings about themselves & each other. Like the mechanics of time travel are meant to hold Ekko's twin loves of Zaun & Jinx; even the worldending Arcane mumbo jumbo is meant to express Jayce & Viktor's love of each other, of these two men going on a journey of discovery and work together, and where that journey ends.

the problem with the high-concept, big-feeling approach is that it blows away everything that s1 worked towards - namely that this conflict was about two sisters, and two cities. Zaun becomes a passenger to the story. So much gets picked up & left behind. The deep foundation that s1 set up gets built on in patchwork, and very few characters feel like they're written to their full potential. I also think that making Viktor the final boss was frankly ridiculous - why should his journey to heal himself lead him to such a hyperbolic end? Jayce's speech about why Viktor was fine the way he was would be great in any other context - in this context, it neatly sidesteps that there were structural reasons for Viktor's illness. But ofc, when your writing barrels towards the abstract, all kinds of structural, tangible world-building gets left behind.

Much to love (Ambessa, Mel & Ekko's storylines, even Jinx's kinda worked) - and i'll forever love this show for writing black characters that fully take part in the politics and magic of their world. But boyyyy what a crazy rollercoaster. The only consistent act was act 1, and then act 2 & 3 were ping-pong in terms of quality. Eps 4 & 7 were soo beautiful, but what followed them - yikes 😬. Those godawful "music" videos at the start of each ep (so glad they dropped that gimmick in act 3!) & I'm still not over how jarring that Vander flashback w/ Silco & Felicia was. Like wtf.

[sistersavelorn]

Fish List

I love fish so much. I have only been thinking about fish. Here is a list of my favorite fish in no particular order, with facts and random commentary sprinkled in between.

Copper Rockfish

If someone asks me what my favorite fish is, I'll say Copper Rockfish. It was the first fish I ever caught (and had to put back, since Rockfish are endangered), but genuinely I just think they look really neat. They're my favorite out of all of the Rockfish species.

2. Quillback Rockfish

Though Copper Rockfish are my favorite Rockfish, I'll also shoutout Quillback. I really like how their spines are blue, and standout really well against the yellow and black. All Rockfish are venomous (to my understanding), but I've always found these ones to be the most intimidating if only because the spines are so much bigger than the other subspecies.

3. Sockeye Salmon (spawning)

For those who don't know, salmon spawning is when salmon return to their birthplace (freshwater) to lay eggs and die, and they also change appearance. Pre-spawning, while they are in saltwater, all the different subspecies pretty much look the same: silver and lumpy, with only minor differences between them. When spawning, they all turn more green and red and become more distinct from one another. I've always liked Sockeye the most, with their green heads and bright red bodies, and the shape of their heads/mouths. I think it's really an iconic look.

4. Flounder

I love flounder just because they look stupid. Fun fact: they don't actually start flat. They're born looking like "normal" fish, with one eye on each side of the head, but as they grow the face shifts onto the top and they flatten to better blend in with the sea floor. Imagine hitting puberty and you turn into Flat Stanley lmao.

5. Cabezon

Cabezon, like Rockfish, have venomous spines. Also their meat is blue until you cook it, where it turns white, which I think is neat. Usually, they reside really deep in the ocean, but in fall and winter they come more into the shallows to make nests and lay eggs. The males are left behind to guard them, so this is the best time to catch one if you don't want to go out on a boat, and also don't want to worry about catching a female. I've never eaten one, but my dad says that they have a texture more similar to chicken.

6. Betta

Pretty basic species of domestic fish, but I still really like them. I had a red and blue male as a kid named Spike. Bettas are usually surface/top fish, but Spike liked to go to the bottom to feed with the Emerald Corydoras I had, and sleep on the moss ball (like it was a little bed). He had a surprising amount of personality for a fish.

7. Emerald Corydora

Corydoras are basically just little freshwater catfish. They like to be in groups, so you have to have at least five if you want to have them at all. I had Emerald Corydoras growing up, and I loved watching them spend all day picking at the sand with their little whiskers for food. They remind me of cows.

8. Panda Corydora

Panda Corydoras are also really neat. I like how shiny they can be, I think it makes them look like little Pokémon.

9. Albino Corydora

Albino Corydoras are cool, especially in comparison to the other species. I think they all look like little old men.

10. Koi

Another kind of basic fish, but they're still cool and I want to point them out. They can get really big if they're not kept in a small enclosure (Domestic Koi can get between 12 and 15 inches, Japanese Koi between 22 and 26, and Jumbo Koi between 34 and 36).

11. Pufferfish

Like flounders, they also look stupid and it amuses me endlessly. They have these two front teeth for breaking into snail shells and slurping them out. I remember there was this really big one at the fish store I used to go to (nearly identical to the one pictured on the left) that would follow your finger if you dragged it across the glass, all the while with that big-ass stupid smile on it's face. They're just so full of whimsy.

12. Telescope Goldfish

Never owned them but I think they're really neat. "Awooga!!" ahh fish. What are they goggling at smh.

[petermorwood]

Hey, since cloning technology is good enough for them to create mammoth meatballs but not the entire mammoth yet, which prehistoric animal do you feel like taking a bite of?

Given where I was born, and where @dduane and I currently live, I think some Giant Irish Elk venison would be about right.

Enough for the entire clan with plenty of leftovers and a Handy Thing To Hang Stuff From.

*****

Which leads via Memory Lane to a funny by John M. Ford, who used to post such things - along with witticisms, wise observations and poetry - on Making Light.

He produced these in the same way a bonfire produces sparks: random, unexpected, brilliant and without apparent effort - though like the graceful swan on the river, I bet there was a lot of work going on out of sight. Or maybe not. Mike was that good.

For instance, he wrote THIS just to comment on another post...

I saved everything I could find offline because You Can Never Tell about online stuff, and also because there was, for a time, doubt - happily, It Got Better - that ANY of his writing would ever be seen again.

(Dammit, just like Terry Pratchett I HATE having to refer to Mike in past tense...)

And now, the funny (original archived Here). I've been assured that This Recipe Will Work, though the assurance also came with a strong suggestion about reducing the ingredient quantities More Than Somewhat.

*****

Hot Gingered Pygmy Mammoth & Jumbo Shrimp Salad

Feeds your whole tribe.

1 pygmy mammoth, boned and cubed (about 1 ton) 1 ton jumbo shrimp, peeled and deveined (many many ordinary shrimps, or one Ebirah claw) 10 buckets sesame seeds 60 pounds bean thread noodles if you are an Eastern tribe, whatever your tribe uses for noodles otherwise. If you have not yet invented the noodle, this might be a good time to do so. 1 bucket vegetable oil 1 bucket sesame oil Salt 10 buckets minced fresh ginger 6 buckets minced garlic 15 buckets dry Sherry 15 buckets rice wine vinegar 60 pounds sugar 60 buckets diced fresh mangoes 15 buckets chopped green onions Big Snorgul's helmet full of red pepper flakes 10 buckets chopped fresh cilantro, plus 5 Big Snorgul's helmets fresh cilantro, garnish 1000 large heads lettuce, cored and leaves separated (a raid on the People Who Grow Stuff may be necessary) 30 buckets thinly sliced, peeled, seeded, drained cucumbers, or just chop up the damn cucumbers and say "Fie to thee!" a lot All the chives you got

Preheat a giant turtle shell over a fumarole. A big giant turtle. Put some oil in there. Make sure no other giant turtles are around to see you do this.

On a flat rock, stirring with your Stick of the Dining God, dry cook the sesame seeds over medium heat until they are brown and smell good. Remove from the heat. Add the noodles to the turtle shell and fry fast until puffy and the color of sunrise. Remove from the oil and drain on non-itchy leaves. Throw salt. Set aside.

Sear the mammoth meat on the flat rock. Salt but don't overdo it, you remember what happened to the Chest-Clutching Tribe of the Plains. Drain.

Get a less giant turtle shell. Okay, think of this as a celebration dish for a good turtle hunt and shrimp catch. Make the vegetable oil and most of the sesame oil dance. Add the shrimp, mammoth, ginger, and garlic, and cook fast, stirring, until the shrimp are just pink and firm. Doom of Ten Thousand Wretched Canapés awaits those who overcook shrimp. Remove from the shell with pole weapons. Add the sherry and vinegar, and sing the Song of Deglazing over medium heat. Add the sugar and stir until it is one with the sauce. Cook until half the fluid is gone. Feed anybody who thinks this is waste to the giant turtles. Add the rest of the sesame oil, mangoes, green onions, and pepper flakes, and stir to warm through and wilt. No, this wilt is good. Tell the people it is the wilt of the Wilt God. You need all the mojo you can get. Remove from the heat and add the shrimp and ginger, and the cilantro. Stir to warm through and do the Highly Dramatic Ritual of Adjusting the Seasoning to Taste.

Now your tribal status is on the thin edge of the cleaver. Have everybody bring what they eat off of. You know your tribe. Put lettuce on whatever they hold out and spread the hot stuff on it. Those who have no eating platters should be used to the drill by now. Arrange cucumber slices on top in whatever symbolic pattern seems propitious to you and sprinkle with the toasted sesame seeds. If you have a really tough tribe, yell "Bam!" until they get a groove going. Add fried noodles, cilantro sprigs, and chives, and watch for any signs of people keeling over that can't be blamed on strong drink.

[floatingcamel23]

so i finished re watching dungeon meshi and saw the video about minecraft mobs and what they tastef like by skeletal spyro.

you know where this is headed.

this is how i think mincraft mobs taste and what they would be as food. i will not count already existing animals tho.

creeper: there is a popular headcanon that was pointed out by skeletal spyro in her video that people say they were from pigs like in the actual game glitch that made creepers and they look and taste like leaves as stated in the mobeasitary. so..... vegan pork.

zombie: rotten flesh. what did you expect?

skeleton: just bones and marrow.

sniffer: lizard. probably would taste great if deep fried or roasted over a fire...

villager: i was told they taste like beef or pork cus villagers are just humans. if i were a zombie i would probably eat them raw but i aint.

wandering trader: same thing.

strider: spicy fried lizard. it would be good fried with bread crumbs and deep fried it. fried strider legs for me-

drowned: same thing as zombies but a bit saltier.

husk: sandy flesh.

enderman: there is no water in the end so maybe they are like jerky. (saw a comment saying the same thing in the video.)

ziglin (zombified piglin): rotten pork.

piglin: pork. now that sounds yummy-

snow golem: just cold unless you take the snow, puts some milk and fruits, you got yourself some old fashioned ice cream/snow cones with fruit.

iron golem: its iron. unless you have some strong teeth, you aint gonna be able to eat it.

blaze: spicy takis. thats it. maybe like cheetos once you cool the rods for a bit.

bogged: swampy bones.

breeze: the blue takis lol-

elder guardian: hardcore next level fugu. might give you mining fatiuge.

guardian: arent they hollow and made of prismarine? should be in the golem class now that i think of it-

endermite: cockroach jerky. good if fried.

ghast: would be good calamari if you poke a hole and let the gas inside of it seep out before cooking.

illagers: again, humans.

ravager: oooooohhhh steak. would be good if seared and with wine.

hoglin: pork.

phantom: deep fried phantom wings anybody? its lizard.

shulker: pretty sure the mobiestary states its a mullosk. i think it would be good if you crack open the shell, got the main body and boiled it. might teleport tho-

slime: FORBIDDEN JELLO

magma cube: SPICY FORBIDDEN JELLO

warden: canonically sculk tastes like raisens. barbecue it and that should taste great.

wither skeleton: probably tastes like ash and decay.

zoglin: rotten pork again.

ender dragon: definetly jumbo ender jerky. might taste good if grilled.

wither: ash and death. wither ribs sounds good tho-

diamond chicken: fried chicken with diamonds in it!

moon cow: steak. very dried, un oxygenated steak.

batato: fried with wings. yum.

creaking: wood with sap. might be a sweet snack-

wild fire: extra big square doritos-

moobloom: flowery steak.

glare: its a plant thing.

rascal: nope. not eating the child-

tuff golem: unless you got pickaxes for teeth, you aint eating this one.

welp thats it. now imma eat-

[kosmicpowers]

About your Ocs from AstroBoy: 1,3,7,13,20,25,33 and 50

Thanks for asking!! ♥️

I guess I'll go with my robot OC, their name is Mugen.

Are they happy about their body?

They were recently built, so still trying to figure things out about it. I'd say they don't particularly hate the way they look.

Do they collect anything?

Oh boy... A lot. Their creator is a huge nerd who loves old anime, manga and video games so they have a lot of that. They also really like the beach and collect a lot of shells and rocks from there.

Shoe size... I honestly don't know. That's not something I really think about...

Comfort item would probably be their sketch pad. Not a very good artist but they like drawing regardless, they also frequently communicate that way since they're mute.

Favorite movie would probably be the 70's anime film Little Jumbo. Or just anything made by Takashi Yanase.

Favorite animal is a European Rabbit.

As for OCs, well they're very creative so yes! A lot probably. Maybe somehow even more than I do.

[wordsandrobots]

Contact

[@lilenui informs me today (8 April) is Shino/Yamagi day. Actually, they informed me of this via a post four days ago, which proves I can write fast when I have a looming deadline, since I bashed this out inside 24 hours.

Anyway, in honour of today, here's a flip-side piece to accompany Falling for a Fool. Content warnings for extremely bi himbo energy and general dumbassery.]

————

It shouldn't have meant anything.

It probably didn't.

Touching other people was such a normal part of everyday life, Shino barely thought about it most of the time. A nudge here, a knock there, the clasped hand or bumped fist, a slap on the back for a job well done or a kick to the ass for being an idiot. He couldn't count how often he'd lifted one of the little guys where they couldn't reach, or knocked about with those in his weight class, or simply slung his arm around a familiar pair of shoulders just because.

What was there too think about?

Why couldn't he get this time out of his head?

The battle with the mobile armour had been intense. A giant monster robot from hundreds of years ago on a rampage that nearly ended with Chryse getting flattened, that was only stopped because Mikazuki went all-out. When the dust settled, Tekkadan were heroes once again. They'd done something nobody had since the Calamity War and by rights it ought to have been the start of bigger and bigger things, putting them on the path to truly becoming the kings of Mars.

Hadn't worked out that way, but still: they got to prove how awesome they were!

And in the middle of it all, Shino headed out to fight in a mobile suit he barely knew how to use.

Yamagi had been pissed at being dragged into the cockpit to work the new Ryusei-Go's equipment. He didn't wait to start bombarding Shino with homework afterwards, insisting he wasn't about to take a job as a full-time operating manual. That sucked because reading a mountain of technical mumbo-jumbo was more likely to send Shino to sleep than help him understand the rail-guns and the transformation mechanism and so on, but he supposed it was fair.

He'd practised hard until he could remember which buttons did what, first try.

His record now stood at switching to and from shelling-mode three times in a row without throwing anything out of whack, which had earned him a rare nod of approval.

So all in all, the situation worked out well, for him specifically. He got a Gundam to call his own, did his part in the battle, bringing down a canyon to split the mobile armour off from its drone swarm, and Yamagi was still talking to him despite everything. Sure, with what had happened since, it felt like a very small achievement in amongst a storm of massive disasters, but you took what you could, right? It definitely wasn't nothing, to finally have the strength to protect his friends.

Yet the memory kept worrying at him, like a stone in his boot.

Not the whole thing, just one particular part.

Because there'd been this moment, on-route to the target, where he'd needed to swerve. He can't remember what he was avoiding, exactly. An outcropping or a crater, some common hazard of speeding across a rocky desert, pinging on his sensors. He'd done what he always did, throwing the Ryusei-Go into a sharp sideways jink, and normally that'd be that. Only, he had another person stuffed in there with him and when he hit the dodge harder than he'd meant to –

The cockpit rocked as he regained his balance.

And Yamagi's hand struck his shoulder.

Which made sense. Yamagi was sitting across Shino's knees, folded practically in half, and there wasn't anything else for him to have braced against. It was that or being pitched across the cabin. In any case, Shino hardly felt the touch. Yamagi was not what you'd call heavy, or especially strong. He could've pushed with all his might and it'd likely have done very little had Shino been standing up, much less sitting down with a back-rest behind him.

But Yamagi didn't push.

He flinched away and hunched up, and began tapping furiously at his data pad.

Now, true, Yamagi wasn't the world's biggest fan of being manhandled. A holdover from how he got treated when he first joined the CGS and quite a lot of the time after then, before Orga took charge. Probably from being a small, slim little guy who worked for a military company in general, really, especially since getting so badly sick from the Alaya-Vijnana surgery meant he never took to the training. It was understandable, if he was sensitive over getting shoved around

Shino did his best to respect that, even when circumstances meant he needed to physically move Yamagi about the place.

Yamagi usually let him know if he went to far, with glares that had him regretting his life choices.

Except this wasn't that. Yes, Shino did catch hold of Yamagi as well, to stop him going flying, and got shrugged off for his trouble, but he was fairly sure that hadn't been the reason for the reaction. No glare, for one thing. Could it run both ways? Did a dislike of being touched make you hate touching? That didn't sound right. Then again, Shino couldn't say he'd ever paid much attention to who or what Yamagi went around touching. Maybe it was just something he'd failed to notice?

No, hang on, Yamagi helped him put on Alaya-Vijnana connector blocks all the time.

Surely he'd have noticed if that made Yamagi uncomfortable?

If they hadn't been fighting a life-or-death battle, and if Orga hadn't chosen that exact moment to come on the comm to tell them to get a move on, Shino would probably have asked Yamagi what was up then and there. He regretted missing the chance. He got too caught up in the high of victory to remember to do it when they made it back home, only thinking he should after Yamagi had already shoved the pad into his hands and hurried off, boots dangling from his…

Wait.

Did Yamagi run away from him?

He replayed the scene in his head, trying to recall the exact expression with which Yamagi delivered the instruction to read the damn files already. He'd had his head lowered, fringe falling across his face, making it hard to see fully and meaning it was even harder to picture in hindsight. Vaguely annoyed and despairing? That wasn't exactly unusual. Sometimes, Shino genuinely wondered why Yamagi had put up with him for so long.

That was probably why Shino was worrying about this.

He and Yamagi made such a good team, he hated the idea of anything coming between them.

Was it just a gross place to put your hand? Checking for himself, running a finger around the point under his collar bone where the slab of muscle on his chest gave way to his arm, there didn't seem to be any strange bumps or warts or whatever. Maybe the bare skin felt bad? Mobile suit cockpits weren't much better than mobile workers when it came to overheating and getting ugly-sweaty. Except Yamagi had been wearing gloves…

And Shino never got complaints from people who touched him there while working up a nicer kind of sweat!

The thought wrapped around to hit his brain like a live grenade.

No. No! Absolutely not. Why would he think for even a second that that had anything to do with it? Sure, yeah, it was technically an intimate place to touch, and looking at things from that angle – the angle where he hadn't been wearing a shirt and he and Yamagi were closer than they'd ever been before in their lives – then the connection wasn't a totally wild one to make. Under other circumstances, for other people, it might have been sensible. But come on!

Did Yamagi seriously think Shino thought he'd been trying to cop a feel?!

That was crazy!

For starters, Shino would never think that. Tekkadan was his family and as far as he was concerned, that put everyone else in it squarely off-limits when it came to any sort of intimate touching, giving or receiving. That was just… obvious. Orga said they were a family, and Shino cared about the guys around him the way you were supposed to care about your brothers, so of course he wasn't about to start leaping to all the wrong conclusions just because –

It suddenly occurred to him he hadn't ever checked if the others took the same meaning from what Orga said as he did.

Perhaps he needed to change angles again.

Yamagi being into guys wouldn't be the most surprising thing. All the crap the First Group bastards used to sling around aside, it was hard not to notice how uninterested Yamagi was in girls. Or at least, he wasn't interested in going out on the town to pick them up. Like Orga, except without the feeling the point was flying over his head. Yamagi seemed to understand sex as a concept, he just didn't appear to want it with the kind of people who showed up in Shino's magazines.

Didn't he ask if Shino was into girls once? As though there could be any doubt!

…had he maybe wanted a different answer?

OK, this was starting to feel weird. Now Shino was wondering if he'd ever seen Yamagi look at someone in a way that suggested he wanted to get it on with them! He was always so quiet and serious, it was hard to picture him being horny. Or giving anybody the time of day, honestly. The closest he got was maybe how he'd looked when they were putting the Alaya-Vijnana into the Graze Custom. The intense concern he'd shown over the pain the testing caused Shino.

Since then, he'd made it a mission to always perfectly tune Shino's A-V system, to avoid it hurting him again.

Did… did he do that for anyone else?

An itch spread across Shino's scalp as he took stock of the sheer amount of stuff he relied on Yamagi to do for him. Hell, there hadn't been a question that he'd be the one to head off to the Saisei to get Gundam Flauros fixed and turned into Ryusei-Go the Fourth. Shino bought the paint out of his own pocket but he'd known he could rely on Yamagi to make sure his new machine came back a roaring pink. Shino knew he could rely on Yamagi, full-stop, with pretty much everything.

Which was great!

Having a comrade – a friend – who'd make sure he got what he needed to fight the way he wanted was amazing!

Why though? Why did Yamagi do that? Shino was always bugging him with new ideas and he was always going along with them, despite his better sense. Sometimes, he'd explain bluntly why a suggestion was stupid and impossible given their resources, then come back an hour later with a plan to get close to something like what Shino wanted, and the result would turn out even better. In fact, the only time he'd flat-out refused was…

When they talked about funerals.

When Yamagi said he'd not make ice flowers bloom for Shino because they were too expensive.

Shino got the strong urge to slap himself across the face. He'd known he was being given the brush-off back then, it just hadn't occurred to him that was because – because, well, how could it have been? 'Cos when you started bringing in things like… then you weren't talking about sex any more, were you? And he could deal with somebody thinking he was hot, he could handle them being embarrassed over that, but if it was more than just a guy into guys being into a hot guy –

He was getting ahead of himself.

Way, way, way ahead of himself.

So what if Yamagi's flinch could possibly, maybe be taken as a response to… that. What other clues were there? He hadn't squirmed or blushed. He was a predictable level of snitty over being treated as on-site tech-support. He'd… not exactly been pleased when Shino got a tiny bit loud over Ride using Ryusei-Go the Third to snag the monster's attention. Nothing out of the ordinary for someone so cool under pressure, the only sign of nerves was a single foot tapping against Shino's knee.

Hold on.

Back up.

For a long few minutes, Shino sat with what snatches he could remember from before the flinch. The yelp Yamagi gave on being hoisted through the hatch. The restless patter of his toes, like he was trying to grab on with them. The all-business voice in which he rattled off information about the Flauros cannons. The faint reek of engine oil, soaked into his overalls, mingling with the new-clean smell of the cockpit and the animal musk of another body. The way he kept looking away –

None of it should have meant anything.

It still probably didn't.

But if Shino's suspicions were on the mark, then there was somebody in Tekkadan who did not think of him as family, or at least, not the kind of family Shino had assumed they were. Which meant he needed to figure out what to do next, because he couldn't just leave the guy hanging after going so long without realising. He'd have to say something, do something, decide if he wanted to see what came of saying yes…

Surprisingly, there didn't seem to be much of a question over that.

Good to know.

Even so, he ought to make sure. It'd be a huge pain in the ass if he worked himself up to asking an important question only to find he'd completely misread the situation. That'd be a real jerk move, inflicting such an awkward mess on Yamagi, and then Shino'd be the one dealing with horrible embarrassment. No, the smart thing would be to get a second opinion, check his working, make sure he wasn't chasing down the wrong rat hole with all of this.

And Eugene was sitting right there, so –

“Hey, can we talk about Yamagi? Do you think he… likes me or something?”

[fuckkbrunch]

Quick and dirty one today. This was one of the options for a garnish along side the shrimp bisque, but I chose the shrimp salad option instead. Figured it would make a decent dinner on its own.

Kept the shells from my shrimpy boys to boil them for a future laksa broth. Tony didn't specify either way, but in my experience, you need to break the backs of the shrimp so that you get that good, long shrimp stick. You can use a knife to cut them, but I find pressing them into the table with your fingers in faster and less finicky.

Fucking dredging. Feels so dumb to be putting together a whole dredging station for only 8 shrimp. Just like heating up a whole pan of oil to deep fry 8 whole shrimp. But here we are.

Panko breaded tempura is the inferior tempura. Everyone prefers the kind that you get in sushi restaurants, with the batter coating. This is more like jumbo popcorn shrimp.

Looks just like the ones you can buy frozen. Still delicious though.

| Tempura Shrimp |

Taste is a 2.5 out of 5. Average, but shrimp is always good.

Difficulty is a 2 out of 5. Straightforward, even if it's a little finicky.

Time was about an hour. A lot of that is the oil heating up.

I actually did this one along side the grilled cheese recipe, as you may have noticed in that last photo. So disclaimer that they would both take less time than it took me if you were doing them separately.

Not a bad combo, but the shrimp needs a sauce. Luckily I had some homemade tartar sauce kicking around.

[silkenseductress]

>The second the van is leveled, the white pawn bolts toward the jumbo jadeblood, arms flinging around the ring of flab that could roughly be called a neck. She is so glad to see you, [babe]. It has been far too long. She would back away from this squishy embrace and borrowing of dialect with a chuckle, a hand tapping at her own shelled stomach. Please, they both know he'd never do that willingly. Things have just been... real hectic around here. Not just with work, but the whole sun thing she might have heard about, or-

>She shakes her head before clasping her hands together. Look at her, being a downer here with her [friend's] return. Instead, she asks how [Kanaya] has been doing. Seems that [her] time off has been treating [her] well! ...Really, really well, the pawn states in a hushed tone, her gaze focusing on the sheer girth of this lass.

>Kanayas actually a little taken aback by the sudden show of affection - but surprise was swiftly replaced by mischief, her meaty arms pincering down on PM with a thick slap, trapping her between walls of lard and smothering in a heavy, soft embrace. She keeps the carapacian like that for just long enough that she might start worry about breathing with her face smothered in neck lard before finally letting her go, giving PM a grin of her own

"No No Don't Worry About It - Believe It Or Not That's Sort Of Why I'm Here, But I Can Get Into That Later- Glad To Know I Don't Have To Go Kick His Ass And Make Him Feed You!"

>she gives a laugh and slaps her gut, sending a rippling wave through the doughy mass

"Jealous~? Things Have Been Great- Olveta More Than Knows How To Keep Me Happy And Then Some.

But Yeah Your... Boss? I Still Don't Understand How That Weirdo's Store Slash Shipping Scheme Relates To You Guys...

Anyway >He Told Me All About The Sun Problem And Let It Slip That Doctor Fuckup Slipped Away Sooooo I Figured I'd Drop By And See About Making Sure Someone Actually Finds His Ass."

[nycfoodieblog]

Here is the gumbo recipe once again y'all, I have edited slightly to include turkey necks.

There are so many ways to cook gumbo so please make any adjustments you find necessary so that it's to you and your family's liking adding or omitting ingredients you may or may not want. The main thing is to make your roux properly and season well. ENJOY!

Edited to include turkey necks:

If you are going to make it with the turkey necks, wash then season them with salt, pepper, garlic and onion powder. What I do is wrap them tightly in heavy foil then place them in a preheated 400° oven for about an hour. (I personally don't like to boil meat as I believe flavor is lost by doing so) Go ahead and boil them if that's your preference. You can also use the turkey necks AND chicken if you like.

For some people, the very first thing they do is make the roux, I like to prep several other things before doing so but do what works for you....JUST BE SURE TO MAKE THE ROUX AND TAKE YOUR TIME DOING SO!

1. 20-30 pieces Chicken drums and flats (seasoned with salt, pepper, poultry seasoning, garlic and onion powder) and refrigerate

2. 2 lbs smoked sausage (I use Richards which is very good, I suggest you use a good quality brand)

3. 3 lbs extra large, jumbo or colossal shrimp peel and devine then place in the fridge

4. 1 dozen crabs (I am a true Louisiana country girl and we use boiled crabs (as in those nice spicy hot boiled crabs you get at the local seafood market) Remove the crabs from the shell and clean away the spongy membranes and the guts well but DO NOT WASH THE CRABS. Place in the fridge to keep cold

5. 2 lbs chicken gizzards optional as I realize everyone doesn't like them ( boil in a seperate pot for about an hour to get them tender) I don't know if you can see it but this gumbo has chicken gizzards you can add them to yours or not. With the meat it's pretty much what YOU like so adjust what meats you choose accordingly and add them to the pot depending on which meats require a longer period of cooking. When I use gizzards I add them to the gumbo pot right after the roux is made and stock added. I also add the turkey necks to the pot at this time.

6. 2 small bags of frozen. okra.......I do not recommend using fresh okra in gumbo but it's fine if that's your choice Go ahead and spread your okra on a sheet pan that's lightly oiled, season with 1/2 tsp salt 1/4 tsp pepper and 1/2 tsp garlic powder and place in the oven on 375 for 45 minutes removing the pan once halfway through to toss them lightly as to not break up the okra too much

7. Seafood stock or you can just use water. I buy and cook shrimp all of the time so I usually keep stock in my freezer. You will need about 6 quarts but again use your judgement as gumbo broth is NOT suppose to be watery

8. 2 tablespoons tomato paste

9. Garlic powder

10. Salt

11. Pepper

12. Gumbo file........If you can't get Louisiana brand Zatarains is also good

13. A good brand of allspice seasoning.......Tony''s is good

14. Very large onion chopped

15. 2 bell peppers chopped

16. 3 stalks celery chopped

17. Cooking oil

18. Add about a 1/3 cup of vegetable oil to your gumbo pot and allow it to heat then start adding your flour. I didn't give a specific measurement on the flour as I have found that when making roux you need to rely on your judgement so keep a close watch on the pot while constantly stirring and slowly adding in enough flour until it turns like a loose paste with no oil left. Continue to stir until it turns a nice dark brown chocolate color (this will take about 30 minutes) then add your stock drop in a couple of Bay leaves and about 2 tablespoons of creole seasoning and place on med heat

19. Gather your chicken and sausage from the fridge......

20. Heat a large pan with very light coating of EVOO for the chicken and sausage. You can cook both in the same pan. I like to sautee the sausage first so that flavorful grease is left behind to cook the chicken. Sautee your sausage along with the onions, bell pepper, celery on medium heat about 20 minutes or until they are a nice brown color.....that's flavor! Remove sausage from the pan and add to your gumbo pot. Cook your chicken until done, you should allow it to get nicely browned also then drain any excess grease first and add it to the gumbo pot.

21. Remove your crabs from the fridge and add to the pot also being sure to give the pot a stir in between adding the ingredients. Turn your heat to med

22. At this point I like to lightly sautee my shrimp in the same pan the sausage and chicken was in and add those to your pot, pour off any grease then I place those two tablespoons of tomato paste in the pan and stir for about 5 minutes then put about two ladels of the gumbo broth in with the tomato paste and stir a couple of minutes scraping all those tasty drippings from the pan and add it back into the pot

23. Lastly add your okra and a tablespoon of gumbo file.

Everything is seasoned as it's cooked but you may want to give it a taste and adjust any spices as needed.

Let it continue to simmer for about another 45 minutes or so then serve over a bed of freshly cooked hot white rice and garnish with parsley...fresh or dried it's your choice.

ENJOY!

[samaeljigoku]

❤️ 🍫 ◇◆Passione Chocolate Box◆◇ 🍫 ❤️

My little gift for Valentine's Day - If each member of Passione (and their Stands) had their own chocolate flavour! And what it would taste and look like. I also included Scolippi. This is silly and seems like it took a thousand years, but was super fun to make, so I hope you like them.

These were originally supposed to accompany a drawing of each. I really wish that could've happened, but I didn't have time. Sorry if I gave your favourite a flavour you don't like, but... I don't think some of these actually exist. Which ones would you try?

🍫═══◇◆◇◆Bucciarati Gang◆◇◆◇═══🍫

Giorno - Sakura Blossom ◆Royal purple wrapper with gold flowers. ◇In the shape of a large ladybug, coated with gold leaf. An experience of springtime and the metamorphosis of nature. Subtly sweet and elegant, yet somewhat haughty. Dried flower petals are baked in, and perhaps a stray butterfly wing.

Mista - Caramel ◆Blue wrapper with white lattice pattern. ◇Salty-sweet, topped with gold sugar crystals. You can always rely on this chocolate. Has a friendly, nostalgic flavour - like a summer's day by the sea. Pairs well with red wine, and can be split into six pieces.

Narancia - Orange ◆Violet wrapper with an orange band. ◇Coated with orange frosting. Has a punchy, fun, in-your-face vibe. Tastes like your favourite song, but the one that you love to annoy your friends with. Will make you happier, but won't make you better at math.

Bucciarati - Hazelnut Truffle ◆Metallic white wrapper with bronze houndstooth pattern. ◇Are you prepared for this one? Swanky, chic and delicious - the chocolate equivalent of haute couture. Tastes like gold and cashmere look. Has a glittery fondant zipper that can be cracked open. It would be easy to hide money or jewelry in the center.

Fugo - Black Forest Cherry ◆Dark purple harlequin-patterned wrapper. ◇One of two candies in existence with a Latin scientific name. Rich, darkly sweet and sinister. Smooth on the surface, but has an oddly poisonous-tasting center that pops violently if you dare bite into it. Eat with caution.

Abbacchio - Bittersweet ◆Metallic black wrapper. ◇Chocolate is the silky, midnight black of the cosmos, topped with an edible lavender ribbon. Has a harsh, dizzying, intense flavour that feels like it's twisting the fabric of time and space in reverse. Absolutely does not pair well with tea.

Trish - Strawberry ◆Pink wrapper with brown checks. ◇Bright pink, sweet chocolate that tastes like cupcake frosting, but also has a spicy cinnamon bite. Is topped with purple and yellow sprinkles. Kind of under-rated. Has a jelly center that can be oddly tough to chew, like taffy.

Coco Jumbo (Plus Polnareff) - Coconut Rose ◆Green tortoiseshell-patterned wrapper. ◇In the shape of a turtle. Outer shell is crusty and tastes a few decades old. Seems to have been tossed around in someone's pocket. The center, however, has a pleasant, romantic tropical flavour.

🍫═══◇◆◇◆La Squadra◆◇◆◇═══🍫

Ghiaccio - Mint Mocha ◆Light blue wrapper with white spirals. ◇Chocolate is pale, bluish and crystalline. Aggressively chilly in flavour, yet has zero chill. Z-e-r-o. Forces you awake like a series of icy slaps to the face. If the cold shock doesn't send you to the hospital, its deadly caffeine level will.

Melone - Yubari Melon ◆Green melon-patterned wrapper. ◇It seems wrong to be eating this chocolate in public. Creamy, divine exotic bliss. Likely laced with a aphrodisiac. Can be split into many square pieces if say, you wanted to share it with willing partners.

Risotto - Sanguinaccio Dolce ◆Metallic black wrapper with white stripes. ◇Traditional blood chocolate with a rice-based filling. Has razor-sharp edges. Despite its dark reputation, the salt and iron make it taste wholly unique. But you may still want to watch for stray needles, just in case.

Formaggio - Mascarpone ◆Gold wrapper with red dots. ◇Not to be underestimated. May be small but is loud in flavour, viciously tart and sweet. Chocolate is dotted with little holes so the mascarpone center can be seen. Cheese and chocolate may sound bizarre, but is a surprise here.

Prosciutto - Tiramisu ◆White wrapper with brown and blue stripes. ◇Classy, mature chocolate with a midnight sheen. Has a syrupy coffee center and hard sugar top glazed with a strange, eye-like pattern. Makes you feel 20 years older with each piece, so don't eat too many. Is best served ice-cold.

Pesci - Butterscotch ◆Black wrapper with green and pink hearts. ◇Bears an unfair reputation as a babyish, "kiddy" chocolate, but is still loved by almost everyone. Extremely mild, sweet and gentle in flavour, but has its moments of sudden, brittle toughness. Is topped with a cute little chocolate fishy.

Illuso - Marzipan ◆Half-brown, half-ivory wrapper. ◇Chocolate is glassy and sharp-edged, decorated with gold beads. A rich, pompous sort of flavour that tricks you into thinking it's nougat, but also makes you feel unworthy to eat it. May cause double-vision or hallucinations.

Gelato - Milk Chocolate ◆Light brown wrapper. ◇A simple pleasure, like chocolate ice cream. Pairs well with most other flavours, but is perfect with raspberry creme.

Sorbet - Raspberry Creme ◆Rose pink wrapper. ◇Subtle and cool but likeable. Pairs ideally with milk chocolate. Do NOT slice in half, or filling will bleed out everywhere.

🍫═══◇◆◇◆Unità Speciale◆◇◆◇═══🍫

Tiziano - Amaretto ◆Ivory wrapper with a brown band. ◇Tastes of almond... or arsenic? An elegant trickery of the tongue, both medicine for the senses and poison for the heart. It's literally impossible to say anything bad about it.

Squalo - Sea Salt ◆Orange wrapper with blue wave pattern. ��In the shape of a shark, and you are its prey. Tastes of violence - tart and sharp, like it's devouring the inside of your mouth. Combining this with amaretto might end somebody.

Carne - Marshmallow ◆Pastel pink wrapper. ◇A massive chunk of chocolate, bursting at the seams with marshmallow fluff that violently consumes your taste buds in an explosion of sweetness. May contain meat product of suspect origin.

Cioccolata - Green Tea ◆Light green wrapper with brown skull pattern. ◇The first candy in existence with a Latin scientific name. Tastes like the guts of a dead tree. Bitter and earthy, with a frothy, aerated center that tastes of mushrooms grown in old chocolate. Has a pale green coating that is likely mold.

Secco - Prosecco Cordial ◆Light brown wrapper with black stitch pattern. ◇A punch of pure sugar concealed in a hard gemstone shell. Raw, maddeningly sweet, instant tooth damage. Pairs amazingly with green tea, somehow. By the way, chocolate is bad for dogs.

Doppio - Checkerboard Cookie ◆Pink wrapper with purple and green checks. ◇Seems to be both chocolate and vanilla, actually tastes more like berry. Sweet and cute in appearance, with little cartoon frogs etched into each square, but is likely to chip a tooth. Not a telephone.

Diavolo - Dark Chocolate Ganache ◆Dark red wrapper with gold lattice pattern. ◇The ultimate sin. All the decadent, devilish delights of hell melted down to candy form, topped with dark chocolate horns. This chocolate really is monstrously evil and addictive. You'll relive the experience of it over and over... forever.

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Zucchero - White Chocolate ◆Light green wrapper with white spirals. ◇In the shape of a snail shell. Pale, sugary sweet and very soft, almost gelatin-like. The inside is strangely hollow and airy, seems to deflate when you eat it. Pairs nice with something spicy.

Sale - Chile Chocolate ◆Metallic orange wrapper with red stars. ◇Star-shaped with a dark red chile coating. Dry, salty and fiercely spicy. Pieces somehow get stuck in your mouth and burn like hell. Pairs best with white chocolate.

Luca - Pumpkin Spice ◆Metallic brown wrapper with green leaves. ◇Tastes fresh from an autumn garden, where the bodies definitely aren't hidden. Sweet at first, but has a sudden spiciness that hits you directly in the brain. Don't worry, the gaping hole in your noggin will go away. Eventually.

Scolippi - 100% Cacao ◆Stone grey wrapper. ◇Beware the astounding bitterness of the cold hard truth. The ghost of your decision to eat this will haunt you for the rest of your life. Hits your taste buds like a storm of rocks, but you'll never stop thinking about it.

Polpo - Squid Ink ◆Black wrapper with yellow squid logo. ◇Controversial, but proud of how weird it is. Is that a tentacle in the middle? Tastes like regular chocolate that's been sitting in the darkness of a musty bedroom for too long. PS: Try the new banana variant!