#so now i gotta. eat 7 dumplings.

[wolverinedoctorwho]

My fatal flaw: cooking two dishes, finishing one first and being full, but still deciding "well ive made it this far" and cooking the second one

[raven-at-the-writing-desk]

A Cat in the Kitchen

Part 1 (ft. Riddle and Silver) I Part 2 (ft. Trey and Kalim) I Part 3 (ft. Jade and Lilia) I Part 4 (ft. Deuce and Jamil) I Part 5 (ft. Malleus and Ruggie) | Part 6 (ft. Cater and Rook) | Part 7 (ft. Sebek and Floyd) | Part 8 (ft. Ace and Idia) | Part 9 (ft. Leona and Epel) | Part 10 (ft. Jack and Vil)

In which Gordon Ramsay-kun is isekai’d into Twisted Wonderland. Part Food Wars, part Hell’s Kitchen, all Master Chef—Night Raven College isn’t ready to take on this Michelin Star celebrity!!

Ready for a short supplementary cooking class?🌟 A day in the life of Prefect Gordon and his familiar Grim, told in three parts: breakfast, lunch, and dinner. After all, food is tastier when it's shared with friends and family~

Imagine this…

Gordon Ramsay stirred before the rats and the ghosts of Ramshackle dorm did. He was up by 5 am most days, first exercising and then rustling around in the kitchen fighting the gas stove to light (and stay that way!) and taking inventory of the dwindling ingredients in the pantry. At 7 am, the delicious smells would start up, rousing his housemates from their slumber.

This was the magic of a human incapable of spellcasting or sorcery.

"Mm... You're up super early again," Grim muttered from the doorway as he rubbed at his eyes. He yawned, still struggling to shake off the last remnants of sleep that clung to him. "I dunno how you do it."

"Not so hard once you've got the hang of it," he grunted in response. Gordon wiped his hands off on a dish towel before sliding a plate toward Grim. "Eat up now, we don't have much time before classes start."

"I dunno, I'm not too hungry."

"You? Not hungry?" Gordon's brows raised. "That's new. You feeling under the weather?"

Grim leapt, looking as though he had been caught with his entire body stuffed into a cookie jar. "N-No, I'm not! Yup, there's my hunger comin' back to me!"

He hurriedly yoinked a tuna sandwich and chowed down.

"See?! Ah'm jus' fine," Grim insisted, cheeks stuffed.

"Hmm, alright." Gordon tucked into a small bowl of oatmeal--prepared with baked bananas, almond milk, and dried cranberries.

"You got class today too or what?"

"Yup. Ashengrotto and the smaller Shroud this time."

“Think they’ll drive ya mad like the rest of them did?”

“I’ll hold my tongue until I’ve seen how they are in the kitchen for myself.”

“Keh, you’re no fun.”

The beast’s ears flattened. The blue fire that burned so brightly seemed to dim. Something weighed on his mind—of that, Gordon was certain.

“That means you'll abandon me before lunchtime again..." Between chews, Grim complained, "How come I gotta be just a student and you get to be a teacher too? The great Grim-sama oughta be showin' these newbies a thing or two!"

"I only teach what I know. I'm still a student in some ways, learning new things about food every day." Gordon shrugged, giving his friend a rough ruffle on the head. "You can be a teacher when you've mastered everything there is to master--neither of us is quite there yet."

"Why can't it be? I wanna fast forward to the part where I become an archmage already!!"

"Don't be impatient about making progress. I’ve made hundreds of dumplings in a day and still came nowhere near the level of perfection of a dim sum master.“

“Tsk, that sucks. Didja at least get to eat the bad dumplings?”

“It was all I had that day. They weren’t fit to serve to customers.” Gordon shook his head. “My point is, you’ll get there one day. Nose to the grindstone, Grim. You've got to work hard to earn it."

He spooned up the remainder of his oatmeal, then deposited his dirty bowl and spoon in the sink. Gordon plucked up Grim, who still had a mouth full of tuna, and tucked him under one arm.

“M-Myah?!“

“Right then, let’s head out. Brisk morning jog to wake up the senses—it’s a brand new day!”

“Lemme finish my breakfast first, sheesh!!”

Three classes before lunch, and they all went about as well as Gordon had expected them to. (That was to say, not well at all.)

During first period Alchemy, Grim had earned the ire of Crewel by disregarding the potion recipe. In spite of Gordon's reminders and warnings, Grim had taken one too many missteps. The wrong ingredient, the incorrect amount, the temperature too low or too high, the stirring too much or not enough.

He was then caught catnapping during Magic History and extensively told off by both Trein and Lucius. (The meowing had gotten very intense.) Gordon had apologized profusely in Grim's place.

Flying had not fared any better--Grim struggled to concentrate, his unsteady magic causing his broom to wildly buck, attempting to chuck him off. Gordon had to stop his rep of 100 push-ups to fetch his friend out from a shrub. Twigs poked at him, leaves caught in his fur.

By the time they were dismissed back to the locker rooms, Grim had melted into a furry puddle on Gordon's shoulder. "Maaan, I'm beat!! That was rough!"

"Rougher than usual." Gordon crunched on an apple. He had taken to the habit of eating small platters or snacks throughout the day over whole meals—it was more efficient for his lifestyle. “Something you want to tell me, or…?”

“N-Nothing’s up!” Grim snapped. "Quit worryin' about me. It's the boss's job to do that for their minion."

The chef rolled his eyes as he set Grim down on the floor beside him. He handed off a boxed lunch wrapped in a checkered cloth. "I'm off to teach. You'll be fine on your own, right? Find Trappola and Spade, settle down with your food, and don't cause trouble."

"I got it already!" Grim huffed. "Catch ya after...?"

"Always." His smile was strained, a bit tired but true. "Maybe I'll bring back some disastrous stories to share with you over dinner."

One last pat on the head, and then he was gone. Hustling down the hall, the white of his pristine chef’s jacket vanishing behind a corner.

Grim managed the rest of the hike to the cafeteria, balancing his lunch in his paws. He squeezed past the legs of various mob students, emerging safely on the other side. They rushed to line up for trays of food.

Suckers, Grim thought, paying in cash for food. Luckily for me, I’ve got something way better than whatever they’re serving.

“Oiiii, Grim! Over here!!” someone called to him. He looked—and there they were, the duo of troublemakers, marked by a heart and a spade upon their faces.

“Ace! Deuce!”

He scampered over to the two Heartslabyul freshmen. They had already secured their lunches, as well as an open seat for him.

“Hard night? Looks like you didn't get much sleep," Deuce commented. A fluffy omelet wobbled atop a mountain of ketchup fried rice on his plate.

“He's right, you really do look awful," Ace added cheerily--blunt as ever. He had opted for a slice of some savory pie, vegetables and meat oozing out from a buttery crust.

"Sh-Shuddap! The great Grim-sama was up all night cookin' up something big!" He slammed a paw down on the table. "Just look at your sorry lunches. They can't compare to what I have!"

"Did Prefect make your meal again? You should try to not trouble him too much.”

"’S not like I tell’m to! He does it on his own!” Grim snickered to himself. "He takes all these cheap ingredients and throws'm together to make these tasty dishes."

"Well, don't keep us waiting in suspense," Ace groaned. "Show us what you have already."

“Let’s see, let’s see!”

Grim undid the fabric knot that held his lunch in a swathe. The checkered pattern peeled back and the lid, once removed, yielded a creamy, cheesy bed of tuna bake.

Gordon had taken his beloved canned tuna and fried it down into flakes. It was then combined with a special mixture of seasonings, pasta shells, melted cheeses, onions and broccoli, and topped with bread crumbs. After a generous bake in their ancient oven, the dish had come out golden brown and bubbling.

“Whoooa, smells delish!!” all three of them drooled.

“Lucky bastard,” Ace muttered. He quickly put on a cheeky grin, his spoon prepared. “Ne, ne~ Lemme try some, Grim!“

“D-Don’t be cheeky, Ace! You can’t demand to mooch off of someone else’s lunch,” Deuce scolded his peer. “… Even if it does look really good.”

“Paws off!!” Grim shielded the box with his body. “My minion made this for me and me only!”

“Tch.” Ace’s expression dropped. “You get to eat like a king for free while the rest of us have to shell out and make do with whatever’s on the school’s menu.”

“It’s not that bad,” Deuce pointed out. “It’d be nice to be able to eat for free but I’m happy with the quality of food we get for the price.”

“This comin’ from the guy who was running low on pocket money for a snack the other day?” he smirked.

“H-Hey, I need to budget, okay?!”

While the duo bickered, Grim had started to shove his face into the box (silverware was too difficult to maneuver) and wolf down his meal. Cheese sauce painted his fur, bits of broccoli and tuna dotting his jaw.

It was heaven—or as close to heaven as he could get on the earth.

He licked his lips appreciatively, mopping up what was left on his face. Not even a little could go to waste. Grim was determined.

As he went back in for another mouthful, he felt a phantom hand cascade across his head, his back. Advice from that morning filled his mind.

“You’ll get there one day. Nose to the grindstone, Grim. You've got to work hard to earn it."

He shut his eyes, making a silent vow.

I’ll definitely… definitely pay ya back for all the hard work you’ve been puttin’ in too, partner.

Gordon bid farewell to the ghost chefs on his way out of the kitchen. The day’s leftovers and unused ingredients overflowed from his arms—a perk of the teaching gig, which helped to feed him and his feline roommate. He mentally parsed through what was available, dreaming up new dishes for the days to come.

There was a nice chunk of fresh tuna (Grim would love it) in his brown paper bag. Perhaps he’d sear it with a sesame crust, then drizzle the seafood in a yuzu-lime dressing to brighten it. He’s plate it with a microgreens salad. Chives, arugula, celery, radish, and ruby sorrel to encourage Grim to eat a variety of vegetables.

He made his way out of the school building and down the long, winding path to Ramshackle dorm. The sun was still out, warming the worn Prefect.

On the front porch, he rustled around in his pants for the keys. When he finally fished it out and inserted the teeth into the lock, Gordon swore he heard a series of suppressed giggles from beyond the door.

Odd.

The door swung open, and he was immediately accosted.

"Welcome baaack," the Ramshackle Ghosts chirped. One ushered him in from behind, another too his groceries off of his hands, and a third tugged him along by the arm.

"Come this way! Grimmy's got a treat for ya!"

"He's been working hard on it the second he got back from his last class."

"Oooh, you're gonna LOVE it!"

"What about dinner?" Gordon protested, watching his beloved ingredients sail off.

He was thrusted into their dingy kitchen--which doubled as the dining room, thanks to the table and chairs set up in one cobwebbed corner. The same old Ramshackle he woke up to every day. Rusty knobs and hinges, chipped cupboards, electricity and running water that blinked in and out.

But there, set on a table with uneven legs and splintered wood, was something extraordinary.

It was a stout cake, iced in light blue with a layer of dripping white and several lit candles stuck into the top. Black frosting formed the vague shape of a fish, TUNA piped over it in white. A single lollipop--pale blue, and in the shape of a paw--casually rested against the cake, as if it had been tossed on top for an extra flair.

A furry mass tackled and hugged Gordon's leg.

"Grim?!"

He was suited up in his own little chef's uniform. It was deep gray, verging on black, his apron tied with a striped-purple ribbon. A tiny toque--a chef's hat-- sat between his ears, a bandage over the bridge of his nose. A smear of white icing decorated his left cheek, and he carried with him a telltale piping bag squeezed thin.

Gordon blinked. "You did this?"

"Nyahahah! Were you surprised?"

"You told me you couldn't cook to save your life."

"He can't," a ghost piped up as he deposited the groceries onto a counter. "He's worse than I was when I was alive!"

"That's why Grimmy's been getting up in the dead of night lately. Been, what? Gotta be a few weeks now."

"He's been practicing his baking and then cleaning up the traces of his crime before you get up."

"What..."

"I wanted to pay ya back, yanno! For all the cookin' and cleanin' and whatever," Grim mumbled shyly, kicking at the ground. "So I figured I'd treat ya for once! I was thinking of a sticky toffee pudding at first since that's your favorite, but... it gets so sticky, it was hard to work with!"

He patted his stomach. "I couldn't put my stuff in the trash can or else you'd notice, so I had to eat up all my mistakes too! It was a lotta effort and way harder than it looked, so you'd better be grateful!!”

Grim looked away, rubbing at his bandage.

“… It helped me better understand and appreciate all the things you do on the daily.”

It clicked.

Everything suddenly made sense. Grim's tiredness, lack of focus, decreased appetite, defensiveness—it was all for this very moment.

"... I see." Gordon bent down, a smile taking shape on his mouth. A steady kindling in his chest. “This is your way of saying ‘thank you’.”

“M-Maybe! An archmage has gotta take good care of his minion,” Grim muttered.

The prefect laughed softly. “And you’re doing a great job at it. Hang tight, I'll get the stove going and whip us up some seared tuna to go with the cake."

“Myah?! Y-You’ve got tuna? Like, the real stuff?!” Grim’s eyes were wide and sparkling. A line of drool ran down his chin. "Fancy tuna...!!"

"Yeah. We can plate some for the ghosts too--so they can join us for a meal in spirit." Gordon nodded at their other roommates. Their pale faces brightened with excitement.

"Can we really?"

"It's been so long since I was last invited to a celebration like this!!"

"Oh, but we can't eat... Ghosts don't have digestive systems. The tune would pass right through us."

"... Grim, you have eat their shares. More importantly, it's being together for the occasion that matters, right?"

"Whoo-hoo!! You're the best minion an archmage could ask for!!" Grim cheered, leaping into the air, furry fist pumping.

“Let's get this dinner party started…!”

[lucalicatteart]

Poll adventure (paventure? lol) Day 7: read the small story tidbit below the poll for more details, OR just vote based on initial impression

(✦ see past poll results + further information HERE (link) ✦)

The winning option of yesterday's poll was that the adventurer should go on a 5 day journey to find the Innkeeper's weird brother who studies animals, and show him the Suspicious Egg….

~

The next morning he wakes early, buzzing with renewed purpose, and also minor back pain from sleeping on old potato sacks.. After a meager breakfast of more free leftover scraps, the Innkeeper stops him before he leaves, giving him a few extra supplies for the long journey, as she can tell he doesn't have much. He packs up and sets out onto the road once again, crumpled sketchy map in hand...

He has a fairly uneventful journey for the first day - waving at the occasional other travelers as they pass, cleaning his boots in a nearby pond, stopping to eat some dumplings whilst watching the sunset, and finally setting up a small tent a short ways off the main path, resting with his cat by a dim campfire until they both fall asleep......

The second day, however, does not start as smoothly.. Only a few hours further down the road, he's met with a large barricade, guarded by a group of what seems like elven soldiers from one of the larger surrounding cities of the area. Practicing his confidence, he puts on his best "brave face" (which to others, appears more as some sort of pained wince, like he might have something in his eye), shakily striding right up to the authority figures he is definitely not afraid of.

"Halt, traveler! You cannot pass."

He sways slightly, struggling to keep his wobbly legs under control, "OH, y-yEAH, ssorry, I was-, hh, I was just walking, ~o-out for a stroooll~, haha, so I .. uh.. o-okay. That's.. okay. But, uh.. could, can.. euh.. C-can I ask why? like... why the, uh... blocking off.. of ... the um.. the-"

"Unfortunately, we are not at liberty to disclose any information on the nature of this current road closure. Our sole duty is to maintain security of the barrier."

"hhHeh, ye.. eAh, for sure, I-I get that.. Duty is.. really so... important in ... today's world.. gotta, um.. do the duties.. or, uh.. .. yeah, but.. so, uhhh... wh-Do you know.. maybe, uh... H-how long you'll, like... be here? guarding... and such...??"

"We'll be here as long as we need to be here."

"...O-okay.. but, like.. uh... any,,.... time estimate? hahahehhh?? like, uh.. a day, or... two, or um...??"

"This matter does not concern you, traveler. Move along."

"Aoh, yeahgh, I.. totally.. totally.. it, uh.. Well.. but it kind of does though,, right? B-because I do, in fact, actually have to go down that road at some p-point sssoo, um,... uh.. I-"

"I said move along."

The guard abruptly takes a step forward, causing The Adventurer to yelp as if he'd been hit, tripping over his own feet and scrambling off on hands and knees, lunging into bushes near the rocky roadside.. After exchanging a confused glance, the guards both shrug, resuming their stoic positions at the barrier.

The Adventurer watches from the uncomfortable safety of some berry brambles, surveying the area at a distance and desperately trying to work out how he can still get where he's trying to go. The map given to him by the Innkeeper is pretty straightforward, not showing alternate paths. Based on his primary map, he could maybe think of a few detours, but he's anxiously unfamiliar with the area... How should he proceed?

----

Additional Details - (I decided whenever he gets new items or goals or something, I'll list them at the end just to keep track)

items + to inventory (from the Innkeeper): 2 lunchboxes of vegetable dumplings, 2 canteens of water, a box of tea, one rope, 1 pouch of dried meat, 4 candles, a hand-drawn map

main goal: get to the abandoned castle ruins to see the rare animal specialist about the egg

[lumine-no-hikari]

Dear Sephiroth: (a letter to a fictional character, because why not) #55

I have been working on something all day today. Because the thing I ordered yesterday arrived today! Behold!!

So you remember that bowl that my klutzy ass shattered yesterday? Well guess what:

The pictures do NOT do it any justice. This thing is SPARKLY!! 🤩

It's not quite finished yet. Again, I am dyspraxic; this is going to take me a while. My hands are clumsy as hell because the idea of my body moving exactly in the way I intend is a distant fantasy for me; being dyspraxic fucking SUCKS. And I'm REALLY SUPER MEGA GLAD that you don't gotta deal with it. Clinical clumsiness is really not a fun time. For ANYONE involved. But whatever! I make it work!!

So the kit comes with this stuff:

You've got paper dishes with black gloves crunched up inside. You're supposed to use gloves because uncured epoxy is supposedly poisonous, but I didn't use the gloves because I can't afford to lose any more points in DEX, and when my fingertips are covered, my DEX score (which is already very low) gets set to -50.

Underneath are two containers of "gold dust" (it's really just extremely fine sparkly gold glitter, but still!). Then you've got the tube of food-grade epoxy (it's made of cashews, I guess? but it smells vaguely like shrimp).

I wasn't able to get you too terribly many pictures of the process, because this stuff sets FAST, holy cow! But I can give you a rundown of the steps:

First, you squirt an amount of the epoxy into one of the paper dishes. Then you add "an appropriate amount" (verbatim from the instructions) of the gold dust to the epoxy and stir it around with the wooden sticks provided. Then you use the stick to glorp the epoxy onto the edges of one of the pieces you're joining. Then you press the pieces together, and wait for a short time, and be VERY careful not to touch the epoxy until it stops being tacky, because the stuff has the stickiness and consistency of partially-melted caramel, and it WILL prioritize sticking to your skin over sticking to the ceramic (go on, ask me how I know! haha!). Keep doing that until all the pieces are joined together. Then you use the handy-dandy... chisel... knife... thing...??? to scrape off any excess epoxy. It looks like this:

...Or uh. That's what it looked like towards the end of doing this, anyway. I've been at this for... 6 or 7 hours now? But still, it's VERY sharp (again, ask me how I know!), and very good at scraping excess epoxy off of ceramic.

Though I didn't get many pictures of mixing the epoxy, or of the pieces after the epoxy was applied to the edges, I did snag a few images while taking quick breaks:

Anyway. Ideally, for a non-dyspraxic person, this process is simple enough. But that is not my lot in life, so... 6 or 7 hours, several sliced-open fingers, epoxy spills and glitter spills on my hands (and in my fresh cuts, fun fun... knowing my luck, I'm gonna have gold-colored scabs until those mend, good grief...), too many instances of accidentally touching still-tacky epoxy while trying to put another piece on, and needing to thus reapply the previous piece, and various spills all over my pants and all over the table I was working on later, I'm....!!!! ...still not finished. 😖

It's together, but I gotta go over each crack one more time with the epoxy goop; Not all of the cracks are thoroughly covered, so I'm still seeing spots where water can get in between things and cause problems. It's not because the kit is bad; the kit is very good! But rather, it's because this is my first time doing something like this, and my hands are clumsy even for things that I do well.

I'm maybe a little cranky about it at the moment because throughout this I mostly forgot to eat and drink (although we did get pork soup dumplings and some other stuff, which prompted me to eat, and that was good!); hyperfocus is a thing, and the time zooms by and I have no idea what happened (what even IS time, anyway? why do we have it? why does it gotta be linear? who decided that this was a good idea? seriously, what the fuck).

But I still had a lot of fun with it, even though my fingers are now ouchy from many accidents with the sharp implement and I've probably accidentally inhaled enough gold dust that my snots are probably gonna be gold-colored every time I blow my nose for the next week. You can bet your bottom that I'm gonna be back at it tomorrow. And then after that, it'll need 48 hours for the epoxy to fully cure and set. After that, though, the bowl will be better and more beautiful than before! It will be a wonderful vessel for that pumpkin soup! Just you wait!

Hey, Sephiroth!!! You go around acting like you're some kinda weird abomination and thinking that a normal life is out of reach for you because of it. And I don't agree with that!!! Not even a teeny tiny little bit!!! You are a "monster" in the same way that I am "furniture"! Which is to say, NOT AT ALL. And I know that this probably seems unrelated to the bowl right now, but I promise you it's not! Just listen:

Even if you were a monster, you can still do normal human things if you want to!! You can do them just because you decided it!! Sure some people might look down on you because of how you were born, but that's because they're insecure and judgmental, and you don't have to listen to those ones! There aren't gonna be any "monster police" coming to get you just because you're deciding to grow a garden at your house, or just because you decide to cook yourself a meal, or just because you're sitting on a sofa on a rainy day with a warm, fuzzy blanket, enjoying a hot mug of tea! And even if there were "monster police" who would be foolish enough to try to disturb your peace, you can just summon up some of that "I'd like to see them try" type of attitude you showed us before and send them a-runnin' with their tails between their legs! You are allowed to not give any fucks towards any arbitrary social rule that says you're unlovable or that you're not allowed to enjoy your life because of how you were born, the way you were raised, the horrors you've endured, the mistakes you've made, or whatever challenges you live with as a result of it all! You are not a lost cause! You are not broken beyond repair!

Sephiroth, I was a viciously abused autistic/ADHD child that absolutely no one wanted to have around. I know what it is to feel subhuman! I know what it is to feel out of place! I know what it means to be raised with the idea that, "if I'm not perfect or if I don't do what they want, I'm going to be considered unlovable and everyone is going to hurt me." And I have hurt people in the past who did not deserve it, too.

But you know what? Here I sit in my silly little house with my silly little things, awkwardly putting back together a pretty bowl that my clumsiness destroyed. I am putting it back together despite the difficulties that being AuDHD/dyspraxic presents. I am putting it back together even though my traumatized brain absolutely refuses to give me even a moment's peace, as all my instincts scream at me that the end result is gonna suck because I'm the one doing it, that the bowl is a lost cause, that I should be doing something "more productive" with my time, and that I'm a bad person for the fact that I'm making a mess in the process, and a bad person for the fact that I struggle with things like these to begin with.

But, my limitations and old conditioning that I'm trying to overcome aside, one fact remains: this bowl is going to be BEAUTIFUL when it's done, regardless of how loudly my brain tries to tell me that it's gonna be ugly because it was shattered in the first place, or that it's gonna be ugly simply because it's MY hands trying to fix it.

I've been told my whole life that no one's gonna love me because I don't think or act like most other people. But I'm sitting here with people who absolutely adore me, not despite the fact that I'm weird and abnormal as hell, but BECAUSE I'm weird and abnormal as hell! I'm considered "other" and "monstrous" and "socially unacceptable" by many, just for freaking existing. And here the fuck I am, DOING NORMAL HUMAN THINGS ANYWAY.

Because here's the thing, Sephiroth: only I get to decide whether or not I am allowed to have a normal. Other people are gonna try to tell me that the nature of my existence means that I don't deserve a normal, or that I'll never have a normal, no matter how hard I try. But I don't gotta listen to those people! Because a clumsy, awkward normal is STILL a normal! Just like the bowl, it doesn't have to be perfect to be worthwhile! There is strength in imperfection! There is beauty in imperfection!

All of this can be true for you as well! You are a human being! And even if you weren't a human being, SO FREAKING WHAT? You're still a person! And as a person, you don't gotta listen if broader society tells you that you're not allowed to have a normal for whatever stupid fucking reason. So just be you. Be the you who laughs and cries and reaches for your locket when you're troubled. Be the you who says what you're thinking and feeling. Be the you who does not stifle his emotions. Be the you who asks for help when those emotions threaten to consume you. People who benefit from keeping your self-esteem low and from encouraging you to dehumanize yourself will tell you that things such as those are weaknesses, but they're not; rather, they're the source of any human being's natural strength.

So, like any human, be like a glorious stained glass window. Be like a beautiful bowl that was pieced back together with intentionality and love. Be like any shattered thing that was put back together. And then go on to put other shattered things back together, even if you do it clumsily. Because shattered things that were repaired are some of the most beautiful things in this world you'll ever find.

If you only knew just how much courage it takes me every day to write to you. If only you knew how much resolve it takes to do the work of putting the shattered pieces of my own voice back together, after years of being silenced and being told who I'm supposed to be by people who didn't have my best interests at heart. If only you knew how much strength it takes, after decades of abuse and decades of being taught that my "stupid, weak-ass thoughts and feelings don't fucking matter to anyone", and decades of being taught that nothing I say or do makes any difference anywhere, to put my still-awkward voice in spaces where I know I'm gonna get hurt or ignored.

If you knew, then maybe you'd understand why I write about repairing broken things as though it is the most important thing there is. If you knew, then maybe you'd understand why I hold out my hand to you and call you so fervently to get up off your knees and do this work upon yourself; the darkness doesn't suit you, and there are plenty of people around who would help you. I'm such a one.

I don't know if it's hard for you to understand. So instead I'll show you that shattered bowls can still hold soup. Just you watch. Please stay safe until I get to show you. Please remember that you are loved; otherwise I wouldn't be trying so hard every day to reach you.

I'm going to write to you again tomorrow, with the same shaky, awkward voice with which I've been writing to you so far. Because it doesn't have to be perfect to be worthwhile; shattered minds, hearts, and voices can still hold goodwill, compassion, and love.

Your friend, Lumine

[hana-bean]

Close to you (4/7)

On the days of tears and on the days of smiles I will be by your side

---

“Wow, looking sharp, boys!”

Within the decorated front garden, already filled with aristocracy and guardians milling about, Ami, Rei, Makoto, and Minako strode up to the three men dressed up in suits—Seiya in red, Taiki in yellow, and Yaten in light blue. Each man tugged at their jacket and re-adjusted their tie to settle into the new tailor-made outfits.

“Yeah, these aren’t bad.” Yaten moved his shoulders. “I never would have thought blue was my color.”

“Psh, of course, it is. I chose the outfits!” Minako raised a hand while tittering in victory. “You’re welcome!”

Makoto pointed her thumb over her shoulder. “Are you all thirsty? The queen went with strawberry mojitos this year for her birthday cocktail!”

“That’s okay, we’ll wait for the waiters to come around—what happened to your thumb?” Taiki lost interest in the liquor once he noticed the brunette’s scratched-up, bruised digit, and furrowed his brow in concern.

Blushing, she covered it up with her other hand while muttering, “Oh uh, just… playing a game of thumb war…”

“And losing,” Ami smirked as she took a sip of her drink. Though her own thumb didn’t come out of the war clean either and was bandaged up.

Rei rested her elbow on Minako’s shoulder. “So, Seiya, how’s your leg doing?” She eyed him up and down, hungry for a snack already as she was three mojitos deep.

“It’s okay. I took a pain pill this morning and it’s just kind of a dull ache right now.”

“So like, if you took another pain pill later, you’d be able to move around a bit more? Like in the hips… area… place?” She gestured her hand over her pelvis

“I mean, sure… if I don’t get too drunk and not feel either of my legs.” He chuckled.

“Oh yeah, no… right… can’t have that!” Rei shook her head vigorously. “Gotta have you feeling at least one leg tonight.”

Seiya’s laughter trailed into nervousness, wondering if Yaten was onto something thinking they wanted to eat them.

“Please direct your attention to Queen Serenity, the first!”

The atmosphere filled with confusion in the form of a dull murmur as everyone turned toward the source of the announcement to watch the queen enter the garden area clad in her standard white dress and platinum crystal crown.

“Is she finished with the parade already?” Ami looked to the other women, receiving only shrugs for an answer. Nevertheless, everyone curtsied or bowed in succession as Serenity passed until she approached the main group.

“Gentlemen, you look great!”

The three men came up from their bows with smiles on their faces. “Thank you, your highness!”

When Rei came up from her curtsy, she caught eyes with Serenity, who stared at her for several moments looking apologetic, but then quickly averted her gaze to Seiya.

“How’s your leg doing?”

“It’s good!” He patted his hip. “I should be able to survive the day.”

“Good! Does that mean you’d be able to ride in the parade with me?”

“The parade?”

“Yes, further in the city! I ride in a motorcade and just kind of wave to people… thank them for coming out and getting drunk on my birthday.” She giggled. “Usually my husband rides with me, but I was hoping you’d be able to since he’s away this week. And also you’re a guest of honor.”

Taiki and Yaten looked at each other feeling like chopped liver.

There was no need to ask him twice. Seiya’s mouth curled into the most genuine and honored smile. “Yes, of course, your highness.”

“Wonderful!” She bounced with excitement. “We have to leave now, though.”

Ever the gentlemen, he pivoted on his good leg and held out his bent arm, enjoying every half-second of the feeling of her hand grasping the crevice of his elbow. They then began their saunter through the crowd and toward the driveway at a waiting car.

Rei had to pick her jaw up off the ground and turned toward Minako to commence in some harsh whispering. “That dirty little liar!”

“She totally has a thing for men with canes.” The blonde shook her head.

She growled before downing the rest of her drink. “I’m splitting Yaten with you then.”

“Uh, excuse you.” Minako locked her hand on her hip and waved around a finger in protest. “Split Taiki—there’s enough of him to go around.”

“I can’t climb that, I have a bad back!”

---

As the car came to a stop once it reached the parade queue, the top retracted to expose the two passengers to the afternoon sun of the young summer.

From his position sitting across Serenity, Seiya shifted on the leather seat. “So do I have the king’s blessing to be riding with his queen?”

“You do, actually.” She smirked. “In fact, he requested it.”

“Did he?”

“Well… not you… specifically… but he wanted me to have a chaperone.”

“And you choose the most injured out of the three of us?”

Her face glowed red. “Uh, well… I didn’t… see you as that… there are a lot of bodyguards around us anyway…”

It was too entertaining to see her stumble over herself, but Seiya had to keep in mind she was still royalty, and he shouldn’t get too comfortable. Nevertheless, he couldn’t help sending her a wink.

“If I have to put my cane to another use for you, I will.”

Serenity took a few moments to look away, her stomach erupting in a swarm of butterflies. And then the mimosas began to talk.

“I just feel very comfortable and safe around you.”

“It probably helps that my real job is to protect a princess. So this is very familiar territory.” He didn’t want to give himself too much credit.

That’s not what she meant, but it was probably for the best that he didn’t know that. She humored him. “Even after ten years?”

“The guardian purpose never leaves you.”

“That’s very true. I still carry around my transformation brooch.”

“Have you had to transform since Galaxia?”

“No, it’s been relatively peaceful. Just the normal societal problems—bar fights… illegal aliens…” Serenity’s heart sighed in relief to hear him laugh at her joke.

“In all seriousness, I’d be scared of you too if I knew you defeated the greatest enemy of the universe.”

Visibly flattered, she touched her shoulder to her cheek. “I’m surprised anyone even knows that.”

“Everyone in the known universe remembers Galaxia. Her reach was vast. And rightfully, so is yours. We were very excited to come here.”

“Really? Did you expect to meet me?”

“No.” His shoulders shook as he chuckled. “But everyone talks about how nice Earth is. It was actually really hard to sneak in. The security is tight.”

“Oh?”

“Yes. We had to time it perfectly to shoot in during a fireworks festival. Took us weeks to figure it out.”

“Well then, I’ll have to assign you to border security since you know all the tricks.”

He waited for a punchline, only to realize she was serious. A grateful yet regretful grin spread across his face. “That’s kind of you, your highness, but whether we find our princess or not, we must move on.”

Her face dropped while her brow furrowed. “Even after you find her?”

“Yes. Our ultimate end goal is to return to Kinmoku.”

“Right… right, of course.” The sinking of her heart was apparent through her darting, descending eyes. “But are you sure?”

“We want to go home. We’ve been away for so many years and that’s where we belong.”

“You belong here, too…”

While touched, he was more confused by her words than anything. And it must have been written all over his face in flashing letters since Serenity cleared her throat and tried to smile through the seriousness.

“That’s if you want to, of course—I’m hungry. Are you hungry?”

“Um…” He breathed out a laugh. “Since we ate about two hours ago, I’m—”

“Great! Let’s get some food!”

“Do we have time to eat? The parade is about to start.”

“We have plenty of time to scarf down a box!”

“A box?” Pure dread drained the color from his face. “Of what?”

A bodyguard on foot had already approached the vehicle at the queen’s verbal summoning. And then a few seconds later, he was jogging further up the road and disappeared into the distant crowd.

“My favorite vendor is not too far away.” Serenity shook her shoulders in anticipation. “You’re going to love the dumplings there. Their pork and red bean fillings are heavenly.”

“Pork and red bean? Together?”

“Separate!” She giggled at the face he made. “They have savory and dessert ones.”

Her assurance helped Seiya’s slight appetite return and helped him relax. “I’ll only eat them if they look exactly like the ones on your head.”

“Maybe… They get more creative every year. It’s become a tradition for people to eat them on my birthday.”

“That makes sense. They don’t call you ‘Queen Odango’ for nothing.”

Her blue eyes rolled back in her head with a jaded groan. “Even in royalty, I can’t escape the nickname.”

“It’s cute. It suits you.” He tipped his chin toward her head. “What are your odangos filled with?”

“Secrets.” She giggled.

“Are you sure they can all fit up there?”

“The odangos are adjustable. That’s why my hair is so long.”

“Well, if you run out of room, I can always keep one for you.” He winked.

Unable to speak from the suggestive comment, Serenity’s blush extended down to her shoulders. They both sat in silence for a few moments until the queen felt her phone vibrate with a text notification. Her eyes widened in surprise once she looked at it, piquing Seiya’s curiosity.

“Is everything okay?”

“The database has a hit.”

---

---

Please note if you would like to follow this story, I will be updating the rest of the chapters under the tag: hana-bean closetoyou and other iterations of the spacing. I love you all!

[caustic-synishade]

Prisoner of the Darkness

Chapter 7: Mind Games

Mark gets some news.

Mark walked from the room after Damien let him out. His face was flushed red as he walked, awkwardly at that. The man stared at his captor, contemplating his escape again. But before he could even make a move, he was on the ground, convulsing from an electric shock. Damien had tased him with a taser, quickly moving to cuff Mark once more. His hands were in front of him this time, thankfully. He had more room to move this way. Next, his captor dragged him to the center of the room again, slapping a collar on his throat and chaining him to the hooks in the floor.

“You look good in that outfit. It also suits you,” Damien smirked, watching Mark struggle to his knees. The man grabbed the chains with his hands and tugged, but got nowhere.

“God, I hate you,” Mark muttered under his breath. He was weakened by the events. 

“What was that?” Damien perked his head up, looking down at the man.

“I really, truly hate you,” Mark looked up and glared.

“And I do you, as well. Glad we are on the same page,” His captor just gave a soft smile. 

…

Damien walked into the room again. It had been two days leaving Mark in isolation again. This time, however, he had food again.  But he just sat the dish on the floor and left. Mark waited until Damien was gone until he took the lid off. Before he did, he could already smell it. Chicken and dumplings. It was actually chicken and dumplings. It smelled absolutely delicious. The man didn’t hesitate to dig in immediately. He wasn’t given utensils so he just ate with his hands, savoring every last bite.

Mark wondered why Damien was suddenly nice to him. At least, somewhat. He got to bathe and he got to eat. He got to eat real good food. Damien kept the dungeon lit, now. The man was suspicious. But a part of him was thankful that the double let up on the torment. Then a thought entered his mind. What if he WAS nicer to his captor? Maybe he could gain his trust… Maybe he could escape… 

The man had to think it over. It wasn’t in his nature to just give in to his captors. He remembered the times he’s played horror games for the channel about kidnappings and how he’d never give in to their demands. Now he was considering doing it. Was it because the double was suddenly being nicer? Maybe. He shook his head. No. He couldn’t give in. He wouldn’t give in. There was no way in hell he was going to actually play into this and be this thing’s slave just for the slim chance of escape… But it might work. Mark was so conflicted. 

…

That familiar creak returned. The door to the dungeon swung open and Damien sauntered through. That familiar smirk was painted across his cheeks.

“Guess what I did today?” Damien was practically dancing on his heels.

Mark didn’t answer. He wasn’t sure he was going to like the answer and he knew this friendly attitude was suspicious. 

“Well, Mr. Quiet, I deleted the channel!” He beamed, “Haha, just kidding, I hosted a party at MY house and everyone had quite the time!” 

Mark felt the dread hit again. He noticed that he was growing more and more miserable each day. It surprised him when his mood dropped that drastically.

“No one had a clue! And, listen to this, I took Amy out on a date afterwards. She was very happy. It’s funny, she thinks I am you. How daft!” Damien as laughing softly.

“Don’t you dare talk about her that way…” Mark growled, fire rising in his stomach. 

“She’s a lovely woman, I am sorry. But you know, at least she’s happy!” His captor continued.

The prisoner felt the dread rise up again. The thought of Amy being so clueless as to what was happening. That he was playing this role so well. It hit him like a truck. Mark was completely helpless. And this thing stole his life… Just like…

This was his revenge, Mark thought. Steal his life. Like he supposedly stole his body. Now Mark was really questioning himself. Did he ruin this man’s life and just simply forget about it? Was this past life karma? What was going on? 

“Don’t look so glum, everyone is so happy. Even happier than before I’d be willing to bet. At least, I remember things about my friends. I make it a point to hang out with them regularly. I keep up conversations with the fans. Hell, I’m online everyday, interacting with as much people as I can. I’ve been watching you, Mark. I know you. And I’m a better you than you could ever be,” Damien’s expression grew malicious. 

“You’re… lying,” Mark didn’t believe himself when he said it. 

Damien took his phone, Mark’s phone, out of his pocket and scrolled through the pictures, picking a recent one of him and Amy. Mark didn’t recognize it. Mark knew it wasn’t him. The dread rose to his throat so hard, he dry heaved. Damien gave a comforting pat on his shoulder. 

“Well, I thought you’d enjoy that news, but I gotta go do a livestream. I also scheduled those weekly, so… I’ll be seeing you…” 

Before Damien left, he snuffed out the torches. The door shut and plunged Mark in darkness. He was all alone. Again. Anxiety spiked as he realized this. For some strange reason, being alone right now was worse than having his tormentor in the dungeon with him. Before he knew it, he was in a fit of tears and screaming. The man sobbed, choking on his tears as he thought about what his double told and showed him. He had really been replaced.

Mark struggled to break the chains, panic and anxiety overwhelming him. He pounded the ground with his fist in between tugging on the chain desperately. All he could do was scream and cry and fight and it was all in vain.

“Don’t leave me here!” Mark screeched, “Please don’t leave me here!” 

...

Before long, Mark had destroyed his voice. He had lost his voice completely from how much he was screaming. He hiccuped on the floor, crying miserably. He was now curled into a ball, unable to get that day’s conversation from his head. It just kept playing over and over again in his head and wouldn’t stop. Mark placed his hands over his head and screamed a  soundless scream.

[soo-sex]

190311 Soohyun Fancafe Chat (Part 3)

[English translation by junhaera_]

Soohyun: gap-bun-tti  KM: what does that mean?  Soohyun: suddenly the atmosphere becomes quiet (after saying a joke)  KM: our oppa is in the new generation  SH: at the camp  - the kids  - they are 98, 97, 99 liners  - since they are young  - im learning new generation language

KM: so young  - dont learn weird things  - ajusshi  SH: kkkk  - not too long ago  - a 99 liner came as a junior  - wow, 10 year age gap with me  - in our troop, im the 3rd oldest person  KM: kkkkk  - it's a relief you havent seen a 00 liner kk  - it's a relief youre not the oldest

KM: right, you're already out of the army before you see a 00 liner  SH: 00 liner?  - 00?  - is there a 00 liner?  - kkkkk  KM: youre already gone before you see a 00 line in the army  SH: when a 00 line comes kk

SH: ah right  - since im doing well in the army  - executives wants me to apply for professional sergeant (position)  KM: u cant  SH: u know I've got a special forces certificate again, right?  - i mentioned it before  - can i talk bout that too? kk  - i have to keep the camp's security

SH: i gained leg muscles  - not a weakling now  - we do a lot of marching ㅠ  KM: how about abs? chocolate abs  SH: of course, there's abs  - but i wont show it  KM: why?  SH: im not gonna show it easily  KM: if i show it easily  - will make a habit out of it  - kissmes

KM: eng  - fail  SH: kkkk  - what fail  - damn kkkk  KM: SHOW IT, SHOW IT, SHOW IT kkkkk  - say damn what kkk  SH: why  KM: what is Soohyun's rank  SH: can i talk about it?  - i think you dont like stories about the army  KM: say it..  SH: kkk  - ill be a sergeant in April  KM: oooh~  - wow

SH: but my discharge date  - it hasn't changed  - anyway, in the army  - it's manageable  - once you go,  - go like a man for once  and i think it's worth the try  - easy easy - the marines  - ㅠㅠㅠㅠ  - Hoonie ㅜㅜ  KM: im curious about Hoon's hairstyle.. curious

SH: when im at the camp again  - ill give advise to the kids  - how much they did well  KM: cool  - life sunbae  - i envy them  - living witness

SH: ah right  - what was that  - ill tell something interesting kkk  - Junnie  - receive the rookie award right?  KM: yes  SH: there at MBC  - just when he was receiving the award  - that time was our cleaning time kkk

SH: my junior said - hyung, your group member - he's so cool receiving an award - but you hyung - just do your best cleaning - with the mop KM: that was mean SH: ah i thought it was funny - kkkk KM: kkkk ah that punk junior kkk - how hard did you clean it kkk

SH: no, I didn't mean anything bad - he's a nice kid - mom is excited - she'll drink beer - kkkk KM: so funny kkk - i want beer too SH: i really clean up hard kkk - even seniors are looking at me - because im cleaning too hard

KM: why are you trying so hard kkk SH: no? - the higher my rank goes - the more i should work hard KM: should we send more cleaning supplies to the military camp? SH: the cleaning supplies are good enough, it's okay

KM: how's the food? SH: the food - it's very delicious - really - at the boot camp KM: i want to try it SH: it's really delicious when i first get to eat it - i gained 7 kilos 

KM: what's the most delicious food? SH: the most delicious one - stir fried vienna sausage - the best

SH: i have to work out & lose weight now KM: was there such a day where there are leftovers? SH: no such day - there's a futsal field too - really, there's nothing more i can ask for with futsal & football kkk - but there are over 60 people (in the chat) - less than 10 are talking

KM: it's lagging, slow. is it only me SH: not lagging for me KM: are u using a computer oppa? SH: yup, im on a computer kkkk - who wants to do a 1:1 chat with me KM: it's your bday, are u not going out somewhere? SH: it's my bday but where do i go? - gotta spend it w/ my family

SH: actually yesterday was really..kkkk - ey - chatting with kissmes (abt it) - wow - I'll tell you what - i'll leave it to your imagination KM: what is it - you didnt walk on four legs, did you? SH: no, i usually set my target KM: looks like you drink well

KM: oppa how many bottles can you drink SH: 3 bottles of soju - i cant drink that much - Hoonie is really - a heavy drinker - Hoonie can drink 6 bottles KM: wow that's doubled SH: kkkk KM: did Jun drink a lot too? SH: Jun dont drink - because Jun is an idol, he dont drink

KM: but youre an idol too oppa SH: ey, im an artist - i have to protect Jun KM: Kiseop was not there? - do you become an artist when you go to the army? - could it be that jun is an al-sseu? SH: ah kiseop was with his family - he wasnt able to come SH: what is al-sseu? - al-sseu? KM: alcohol trash (cant drink alcohol, gets drunk easily) SH: ah~~ kkk - al-kko - alcohol kkomaengie (kid)

Soohyun: limak (a member on fc, one who said he became an artist when he went army hahaha) - who are you - you keep ignoring me ㅠㅠ KM: oppa you know in-ssa/ a-ssa, right? SH: yes i know in-ssa - ey limak: please dont shoot meㅠㅠ SH: kk kiki

by the way...  in-ssa > insider > popular friend/person  a-ssa > outsider > a friend/ someone who aint popular

KM: oppa what is ae-ppae-si Soohyun: if you remove aegyo, there's dead body (this can be used in positive way as someone who pretty much uses aegyo a lot or negatively as someone who doesn't have much outside of their aegyo) - yah, i know that much KM: i didnt know that

SH: give me questions KM: JMT SH: jon-mat-taeng (slang for very delicious) KM: JGT - man-ban-jal-bu SH: jgt? what's that KM: jol-gwi-taeng (slang for freaking cute) SH: man-ban-jal-bu? KM: nice to meet you, please take care of me (MANnaseo BANgawo JAL BUtakhae)

SH: give me just half of the dumplings - jal~~~ tu~~~ e~~ - bok-se-pyeon-sal? - strong abs, soft slice of boiled beef (not the real meaning of it, he made this one up) KM: kkk, no - what was that SH: ah it's hard kkk KM: let's live simply in this complex world SH: nice

SH: tmi - too much information (wrote it in hangul) KM: ooh~ - too much information (in english) SH: thank you~ - i cant write that in english KM: what's o-jal? SH: slice the cucumber finely (another made up meaning by him hahaha, right one: you did well today too) - o-jal

[littlemallow]

Dumpling Danvers

Chapter 7 of Agent Drift

Kara is a terrible babysitter. But admit it, she’s a cool aunt.

"Bath time, play time, nap time, you know the drill and where to find all his stuff?"

"Yup."

"Umm...don't forget his vitamins and make sure he drinks enough water. Always give him some vegetables; he likes broccoli and pumpkin, and make sure he burps after eating. There's also ice cream in the freezer, you can give him some and the pot stickers you requested as payment just came in."

"Hmmkay."

"I left his schedule with a list on the fridge, and...umm...what else? Everything you'll need is right inside these walls, so..."

"And you're just a phone call away, so yeah, I got it."

"I will check in every umm...three hours?"

"This is not my first time with your baby, Alex."

"I know, but..."

"We'll be fine for the next forty-eight hours. You'll be back in no time so just relax, I got this. You go get that bad guy." Kara sighed. "I can't believe you're gonna go out there without me."

"Well, Hailey wants me there. But Brainy's with me so there’s no need to worry. Are you sure Snapper is okay with this?"

“Well, yeah. I talked to James, said I could finish my article here. He actually wanted me to bring Elly in the office but you know what happens when this irresistible little bean steps in a room. I had to remind him, “James, we all got work to do.”

“Oh, the power of this magic bean.” Alex kissed Elly right above his ear.

"Speaking of power, Clark is still in Argo City but you know there’s always plan S, right?"

"Um, no there isn’t. Not when plan S is also on a special mission."

"Um, yes there is!? You're forgetting we have our own army of friends named Nia, Jonn and the favorite uncle James who calls himself The Guardian for a reason, duh?"

Alex chuckled. "I know." She looked at the not-so-little baby boy perched on her hip who just turned two a couple of months ago.

Elly already knows his colors and red was definitely his favorite. He already knows the alphabet and can count from one to ten but he doesn’t talk much. He's already been walking and running around on his own but this afternoon, she wanted to carry him close to her while she prepares to leave for Metropolis. She ran a hand before sniffing on Elly's hair for a while and then gave him loud smooches on both his temples that made him chuckle.

"Mama has to go away for work so Aunt Kara's gonna take care of you, alright?"

"Come here, little Danvers, mama's gotta go."

"Oh, nooo." Elly clung his arms around Alex's neck.

"Ohh...We talked about this. I promise I'll be back in two days." She hugged him and rubbed his back.

"Two days?"

"Yeah, umm...when you sleep tonight, that's one night, and after you sleep again tomorrow night, mama's gonna be here when you wake up."

"Two nights? Willy?"

Kara held a hand over her lips that she was already biting to stop herself from giggling.

"Yeah, two nights." Alex blushed trying to hide her smirk, feeling a bit embarrassed being corrected by a two-year old.

"Pwomise?"

"Promise."

"Okay. I wew miss you."

"Aww. I'm gonna miss you too, sweetie." She inhaled his sweet baby smell to take with her before handing him to Kara, who took him gently in her arms without any difficulties.

"I'm a good boy, mama. I'm gonna watch my Auntie Kara for you, yeah?" Kara nods as Elly leaned on his aunt's shoulder.

"If something happens to him..." Alex raised her eyebrows.

"...I'll be on top of your list of names, I know!"

Alex smirked. "...call me. Okay?"

"Yes, Director Danvers."

"And if something happens to your Aunt Kara, you call mama, alright?" Alex snickered to Elly and kissed his hand a few more times, the last one landing on the lucky band around his wrist. "You're my little Ned Stark." She planted a last kiss on his forehead and turned to pick up her duffle bag and jacket, ready to leave.

"Be careful out there ma, I'll be waiting for you." Kara mimics a small voice, her eyes on Elly as he watches his mama leave. "Give mama a flying kiss and say, bye-bye mama."

Elly kissed his palm and waved his hand. "Bye-bye mama."

"We love you."

"Wuv you mama."

"Love you too." Alex returned the flying kiss and waved back to Elly. She knows he'll be a good boy but her sister...well, she nodded and pointed a finger to Kara, who nodded back at her with a smile. As she turned towards the door and was about to open it, she looked back at her sister. She wanted to say no flying but knowing Kara, it will only spark ideas into her head just like what happened two months ago, three days before Elly’s birthday.

They had a late, last minute debriefing at the DEO and she asked Kara to watch him after the nanny’s shift. Alex was only an hour late than her usual routine and was horrified to come home to an open window and empty apartment. It was warm and humid, that night and as it turns out, Elly had a hard time sleeping so the amazing Girl of Steel took him out on his first flight above the city. Kara was totally unapologetic. She remember almost passing out but she was too tired to argue and her sister’s words sounded too ridiculously familiar.

“Don’t be mad, he loved it!”

“You're cra-...ugh!”

And besides, Elly was indeed sleeping soundly when they finally arrived.

So she just pointed two fingers to her own eyes then to her sister who understood and reassured her with continuous nodding until she finally closed the door behind her.

"I can imagine you running after your mom, you know? How you would cling to her leg so she can't leave? That would be a good IG story, but sadly, you don't do that kind of stuff, do you?"

"Huh?"

"Is it just me, or you're some kind of a nerd like your Uncle Clark?"

"Huh?"

"Huh? No? So you're just being a good boy, huh, Ned Stark?"

"Huh???"

"Don’t fancy that nickie, do you, huh? I said you're stuck with me now and what do we have here?" They walked towards the large take home bag sitting on the kitchen counter and peered inside. 

Read full chapter

[girlwithglasses1245]

Um so yeah.

I got a new chromebook which is legit one of the best investments I’ve made in quite a while. One problem, I don’t remember my newer tumblr password and email I had set up for my happy new account. So I am stuck here with an older tumblr I made years upon years ago. I was browsing through some of the archive posts and ugh was I whiny little pain in the butt complaining about such stupid things. Anyways! I thought it might be kinda fun perhaps to do a survey that I did in 2013, yes 2013 oh my that seems ages ago. My plan is to have my original answer on top followed by the 2019 answer below it. Because why not? Here we go!

1: Do you sleep with your closet doors open or closed? The closet must be closed! Still closed please.

2: Do you take the shampoos and conditioner bottles from hotel? Sometimes. Not as often as I used, because I honestly don’t ever use it. lol

3: Do you sleep with your sheets tucked in or out? Out? In because that’s how Dan likes it. 

4: Have you ever stolen a street sign before? No. Nope. 

5: Do you like to use post-it notes? Sometimes. Sure, I leave Dan random notes in the morning if I wake up first. 

6: Do you cut out coupons but then never use them? I get coupons but sometimes I don't use them. Haha my above answer tells me two things I wasn’t worried about money in 2013 and I didn’t probably understand the question. So yeah, sometimes that will happen when they expire before I get the chance to use them.

7: Would you rather be attacked by a big bear or a swarm of a bees? Neither sound great so I guess a big bear sounds more interesting. I’ll agree with my 2013 answer. 

8: Do you have freckles? I have some. Last I checked I am the same girl, so I have some. 

9: Do you always smile for pictures? Usually. Sure, unless I am being told otherwise. 

10: What is your biggest pet peeve? I have two major ones, people snapping gum and not messaging someone back. Snapping gum is still up there and people slurping soup obnoxiously. 

11: Do you ever count your steps when you walk? Not really. Um not physically, but my phone does. Thanks Google Fit!

12: Have you ever peed in the woods? Nope. Still no.

13: What about pooped in the woods? Again nope. Still no lol.

14: Do you ever dance even if there’s no music playing? Yeah. Of course!

15: Do you chew your pens and pencils? Not usually, but sometimes I'll chew on a pen. Still sometimes I will chew a pen. 

16: How many people have you slept with this week? Zero. One.

17: What size is your bed? Queen. Queen, but now I share it with Dan. 

18: What is your Song of the week? Runaway- iio. Goodness I have no idea. 

19: Is it okay for guys to wear pink? Yeah.  Since when are certain colors unacceptable for certain people? I like that answer. Good job 2013 Christina. :)

20: Do you still watch cartoons? I don’t really watch a lot of TV. Nope. 

21: Whats your least favorite movie? I am not really big on the Hunger Games. Still accurate or scary movies would be an accurate answer. 

22: Where would you bury hidden treasure if you had some? Wait…why would I want to bury hidden treasure. Dan’s safe?

23: If you’re a girl, bra size? If you’re a guy, pants size? 34 B 32-34 B depends on the bra. lol

24: What do you dip a chicken nugget in? Plain or honey mustard. I like those previous answers, but I do sometimes like BBQ. 

25: What is your favorite food? Some type of chicken with a bread coating. Chicken and dumplings from Cracker Barrel with carrots and green beans! 

26: What movies could you watch over and over and still love? Love and Other Drugs, Crazy Stupid Love, Easy A, Something Borrowed. So chick flicks I guess. Crazy Stupid Love is still in my top favorite movies ever. 

27: Last person you kissed/kissed you? Jeffrey. Eww I am sorry 2013 Christina that sucks. Anyways, Dan!

28: Were you ever a boy/girl scout? I was girl scout back in the day. Still a true statement. 

29: Would you ever strip or pose nude in a magazine? Eh I don't know. I am no model, so no.  30: When was the last time you wrote a letter to someone on paper? On paper?  A while ago. I write Dan little notes in the mornings sometimes. Does that count? 31: Can you change the oil on a car? Nope. Still nope.  32: Ever gotten a speeding ticket? Surprisingly no. Warning, yes. lol 33: Ever ran out of gas? Close, but no. Nope!

34: Favorite kind of sandwich? Turkey and swiss with spinach toasted.  Grilled cheese!

35: Best thing to eat for breakfast? French Toast or Waffles. French Toast sounds lovely. 

36: What is your usual bedtime? Unpredictable. Still accurate, but now it depends on if Dan is around or not.  37: Are you lazy? More than some would think. I can be.  38: When you were a kid, what did you dress up as for Halloween? I don’t even know. Probably a princess.  39: What is your Chinese astrological sign? I believe I am a sheep. Correct.  40: Are you horny? No. Not really.  41: Do you have any magazine subscriptions? No. Yep, Cosmo. And it’s annoying they send out the following month way too early all the time.  42: Which are better legos or lincoln logs? I could care less. Still true. 

43: Are you stubborn? I some ways. Kinda.  44: Who is better…Leno or Letterman? Letterman. Still true hence why Letterman is still on the air? 45: Ever watch soap operas? Sometimes Spanish ones with Rach and her roommates. Nope. 46: Are you afraid of heights? Not as much. What kinda of answer was that back then? lol. Anyways, no height fear really.    47: Do you sing in the car? All the time. Duh, gotta keep it fun.  48: Do you sing in the shower? Not really. I hum though. Still true.  49: Do you dance in the car? Yeah. That’s probably not safe… Hahaha still guilty of that.  50: Ever used a gun? Nope, I want to do it sometime though just to say I shot a gun. Hahaha 2013 would never have thought I’d say I am pretty fucking accurate with an AR-15.  51: Last time you got a portrait taken by a photographer? Does summer count? Jen took my picture. Christmas of 2015 lol. 52: Do you think musicals are cheesy? Some can be. Usually.  53: Is Christmas stressful? Not really, but this year I’ll be working the holiday season so we shall reassess. Nope. I love Christmas.  54: Ever eat a pierogi? Had to look that up.  Yes, I have I think my friend Elly introduced me to them. Yeah, not my type of thing.  55: Favorite type of fruit pie? Cherry or Dutch Apple.  56: Occupations you wanted to be when you were a kid? Teacher. I don’t know anymore and I am 27. Oops.  57: Do you believe in ghosts? Eh debatable. Sure. 58: Ever have a Deja-vu feeling? Many times. I had one just the other day. Yeah I had one the other day. Wait that’s funny that was my reply before.  59: Take a vitamin daily? I take multivitamins. I still do, but currently out. lol 60: Wear slippers? Nah. Barefoot is preferred.  61: Wear a bath robe? Rarely. Unless I am super cold. Nah. 62: What do you wear to bed? Yoga pants and a t-shirt. T-shirt and panties. lol 63: First concert? Paramore. Still true. 

64: Wal-Mart, Target or Kmart? Target, but Wal-Mart is closer. Target.  65: Nike or Adidas? I don’t care. Under Amour? 66: Cheetos Or Fritos? Eh…neither. Haha still good answer.  67: Peanuts or Sunflower seeds? Sunflower seeds since I can’t do peanuts. Neither. 

68: Ever hear of the group Tres Bien? No? What? 69: Ever take dance lessons? I did a few times. Did I? Hmm sure okay. I did in the past.  70: Is there a profession you picture your future spouse doing? Lawyer. Business owner.

71: Can you curl your tongue? Yes. Yep! 72: Ever won a spelling bee? Never participated. Nope I am not very good at spelling complicated stuff.  73: Have you ever cried because you were so happy? It has happened on occasion. Sure. 74: Own any record albums? No. Nope. 75: Own a record player? No. Nope. 76: Regularly burn incense? No. Nope. 77: Ever been in love? Yes. Yes.  78: Who would you like to see in concert? Matchbox Twenty, Google Dolls, Drake, Justin Timberlake, The Weekend, Linkin Park, The XX, and many more. I know weird mix there. Drake? 79: What was the last concert you saw? Grad night, Paramore. Same.  80: Hot tea or cold tea? I prefer cold tea. Ice tea!  81: Tea or coffee? Coffee, but I do like tea on occasion. Coffee 99% of the time.  82: Sugar or snickerdoodles? Yummy both please. Don’t make chose.  83: Can you swim well? Eh debatable. I’ve gotten better. lol 84: Can you hold your breath without holding your nose? Yes. Yes.  85: Are you patient? Most of the time. 50-50 depends on what.  86: DJ or band, at a wedding? Either would be fine, but a live band would be awesome. DJ, Cheaper, duh lol. 87: Ever won a contest? A few times. Yep! 88: Ever have plastic surgery? I am 22 so no. Nah, I am good.  89: Which are better black or green olives? Eww no thanks. *pukes* No no no. 90: Can you knit or crochet? My mom tried teaching me how to crochet. Still wanting to learn one day either one.  91: Best room for a fireplace? A living room? Still going to go with living room.  92: Do you want to get married? I don’t know anymore, I hope so. I do, lol. 93: If married, how long have you been married? (Not applicable) Same lol 94: Who was your HS crush? Mark fucking Andrew. Ugh that’s still true. But here’s a plot twist though he married someone I know and I see his picture on FB all the time because she posts pictures of them. I am not phased anymore. So victory? For me at least. 95: Do you cry and throw a fit until you get your own way? No. But I have though before though. Haha apparently.  96: Do you have kids? No. Nope.  97: Do you want kids? I would be ok not having kids for a while. No thanks. 98: Whats your favorite color? Purple! Purple!!! 99: Do you miss anyone right now? Yeah extremely. Yes. 

100. What do you hear right now? My Drake station on Pandora playing a Lil Wayne song. No Limit- G Easy ft Cardi B and A$AP Rocky

[elleiam]

Fulbright Korea ETA: Fall Daily Schedule

I’ve been wanting to type this up for a while now, as I saw one on another Gakri blog from way back when that calmed a lot of nerves when I was looking forward to what life might be like past the bubble of Orientation. 

But, of course, if you are reading this right now either as a prospective applicant or someone who just found out you’ll be at Gakri (welcome to the chaos), keep in mind the mantra of Fulbright: it depends. My schedule is just one of 115 for this current year, and what my life is like at my placement has differences from everyone else’s, as theirs is different from mine. Regardless, this is what a weekday generally looks like for me!

7:40: Eyes open - it used to be 6:50 in September, 7:20 in October, 7:30 in November, and here we are in December. I still leave the house at the same time though. I no longer wake up to an alarm, just my host mom saying “지후! 일어나 일어나!” (Jihoo! Wake up! Wake up!) followed a minute later by a louder “지후!!!! 일어났어?? 일어나!!” (Jihoo! Did you wake up? Wake up!) She then blasts the news from the kitchen, which thank goodness for because that’s usually what’ll finally convince my brain that it’s time to start the day.

7:50: Eat breakfast - my host mom comes up with different menus every day. It ranges from manduguk (dumpling soup), to egg and spam sandwiches, to udon, to kimchi fried rice. 

8:00 or 8:15: Leave for school - I try to leave at 8 when it’s the start of a new lesson and I have to set up the computer for my first period class. The computer in my classroom is ancient and runs so slowly that it generally takes me 20 to 25 minutes to do the following four actions: 1) turn on the computer 2) open chrome 3) get to google drive 4) open my ppt. That’s crazy, right? My co-teacher and I both mourned together when her application to get a new computer was rejected. If I don’t have a first period, I’ll leave at 8:15.

8:15-8:29: Get to school - I’m supposed to be at school before 8:30 and I’ve yet to get to my office after the bell rang (go me!). Since I don’t have homeroom, which is from 8:30-8:40, it really doesn’t matter if I’m late, but it’s the principle of it! If it’s a set-up-a-new-lesson day, I dash to my classroom as soon as I drop my stuff off in the office praying the computer will cooperate.

8:50-12:20: The first four classes of the day. Each class is 45 minutes with a 10 minute passing period. Sometimes 45 minute goes on forever, and sometimes it’s like where did the time go?? I always have a co-teacher with me in the classroom but usually they just glare at loud students and help translate when I look at them pleadingly. They let me have full control of the classroom, which I really appreciate! I always feel like they’ve got my back but never feel like they’re crowding. #dreamteam

I generally teach 3-4 classes a day of 30-33 students each (that’s 500+ students total and no I haven’t memorized names), which means I have a lot of time at my desk. Up until November, I pretty much spent all my time lesson planning. I didn’t understand the concept of desk warming because I was always busy. As the semester comes to a close though, I definitely have a lot less stress and therefore a lot more free time at my desk. Usually I’ll do Infusion stuff (now that gmail consistently works woot woot) or read ~

12:00-1:35: Lunch officially starts at 12:20, but if I don’t have a 4th period, we get to go grab lunch 20 minutes earlier. It’s nice because then you can eat and hear your thoughts at the same time. Gakri is giant with over 1,000 students, so they have to make lunch 75 minutes in order to make sure every student eats. It’s such a long time, but so nice when you just ain’t ready to teach those afternoon classes just yet.

1:35-3:15: The next two classes of the day

3:15-3:35: Cleaning time! Gakri is a really dirty school. There’s just too many kids and they’re at that age where dirt just doesn’t bother them. They drag their shoes along the walls and roll around in the hallways even though it’s covered in dust and hair. shivers. Some lovely girls from class 9 are in charge of cleaning my classroom, and we usually have a good time. I’ll sneak them some candy, play music from the speakers, and complain about how gross the boys are... I love when one of them comes in and just goes “Uh, Lauren. What happened today? The classroom is so.... messy...”

3:35-4:20: The final class of the day. Thank goodness I only teach this period once a week because no student is ever thinking about school during this time.

Here is video evidence of that crazy. (I love this class btw). Things to note: the volume of the students and the fact that these two girls were straight up jumping like frogs back there before I threatened (and then obviously followed through) to film them.

4:30: Time to go home! Sometimes I’ll meet up with Louise, who teaches at a high school nearby, for tea. If not, I go home and just chill out in my bed for an hour... or two ~oops not productive~

Anytime between 5:30 and 8:00: Dinner time - because of hagwons and my mom’s job running her own class, our dinner times vary every day, but I think after four months I’ve finally figured out when we eat each day. Mondays 6:30, Tuesdays 8, Wednesdays 7, Thursdays 5:30/6, Friday 8. Boom. The dad eats at his company and comes home late often, so it’s just the four of us, but it’s nice to get this family time! 

After dinner: I often help with the dishes and then go back to my room to do any of the following: study Korean, watch youtube, do some stuff for Infusion, write a blog post, read. Sometimes you can catch me playing games or just talking with Jaehee, my host sister.

9:00: Four times a week I teach my host siblings English and Chinese, twice each. English is fun because it’s an excuse for me to dig into my host brother’s life and actually get him to tell me things about his life, sneaky huh. Chinese is a little more stressful because they knew nothing before we started, and I’ve never taught fundamental Chinese grammar before, what even is that! I worry that I often make it harder than it needs to be because I’m trying to figure it out myself still... 

11:00: Time for bed - Just kidding! Fooled ya. Actually in September and October I actually slept at this time, but now I’ll just tell my host fam that I’m off to bed and then stay up for another hour or two reading.

And that’s my day! Weekends are a whole different story, but generally from Monday to Friday you can find me following this pretty much to the tee. Gotta love that routine, amiright? And somehow because I’m in a different country not a single day feels quite like the one before.

[sweetredbeans]

A Sinlings Story

This is a birthday present for one of the best people I know.

Happy Birthday @bubblemagician!!!! I hope you have a fantastic day!

Addy's eyes blinked open, his turquoise gaze bleary and unfocused, to see a bright yellow glow. It took him a hazy minute to register that he wasn't in his normal bed—it wasn't the sun glowing through his eastern-facing window—it was Roy's golden hair and luminous smile, and he was in the grandiose room they were sharing at the Sin's mansion.

“Wake up Addy! Wake up!” Roy chirped.

Addy made a noise somewhere between a sigh and a groan. He wasn't a morning person at the best of times, and last night they'd all stayed up super late playing hide-and-seek in the dark. Which, admittedly, had been awesome, and so much fun, but he now very much did not want to have to get up at ridiculously-early o'clock...whatever that was. He half rolled over to peer at the clock, which said something approximating 7 am, and he made another muffled grumpy noise and pulled the pillow back over his head.

Roy would not be deterred though, leaning on Addy's bed and bouncing, “Come on Addy! It's EASTER you gotta get up, you gotta get up, there's Easter Eggs to find!”

That was probably the only way to actually get Addy up—promise the hope of chocolatey food. He slowly pulled the pillow off his face, peering up at Roy's glowing visage, “Fiiiiine.”

“Yaaaay!” Roy shoved off the bed again, nearly making Addy tip over as he tried to sit up and do something about the fluffy black and pink hair that seemed to have a mind of its own this morning, “You know there's going to be a competition, to see who can get the most eggs!” He clenched his fists and looked determined, “I bet it's gonna be me; I have a plan all set out!”

“Mrph,” was all Addy commented as he slowly dragged himself out of bed and oozed over to the attached bathroom.

Roy kept on chatting as Addy brushed his teeth, splashed some water on his face, and ran a comb through his hair, which Addy tuned out with practiced ease. When he finally emerged, feeling a little more alive, Roy was perfectly dressed in a pressed, blue-collared shirt, looking every inch the young gentlemen on a mission.

“You look fancy for going out and running around the gardens,” Addy commented, pulling on his own, red shirt. It was decorated with little sparkly Easter eggs embroidered down the front.

“It's Easter! I want to dress up.”

“I wonder what Marie will be wearing? Something fancy I'm sure.”

Roy, who knew, of course, nodded, “You'll see! She spent a long time going through the stores to find the perfect ensemble,” he added a fancy French flair to the last word. Now that Addy was dressed, Roy grabbed his hand and dragged him out of their room.

Once they were in the halls, Addy was even more revitalized by the distinct smell of pancakes and syrup, and now he was trotting along with Roy instead of being pulled.

They emerged into the kitchen, where Britton and Red were well on their way to making a pretty ginormous breakfast for all the associated cousins and families who were spending Easter weekend here. Marie was already seated there, fork and knife clutched in her hands, with her eyes laser-focused on the plate that Britton was carrying over, stacked high with chocolate chip and blueberry and strawberry-topped pancakes. Addy's youngest brothers, Paris and Troy, were both there too; the 7 year olds had been staying with Red and Britton, since they had a tendency to find whatever trouble existed anywhere and manage to immerse themselves in it. Plus...they couldn't be left alone. They were already surreptitiously poking each other at the table, and that was them trying to behave.

Roy had been right—Marie was dressed to the nines. Her pink shirt was decorated with bunnies and eggs in sparkling sequins. Her earrings were glittery Easter eggs, and the headband in her pink hair displayed two fluffy white bunny ears.

“Good morning, princess!” Roy called.

Marie smiled at him, but her attention was quickly reclaimed by the plate set in front of her. In about 10 seconds, she had three pancakes on her plate, had drenched them in real maple syrup, and was proceeding to devour them.

Addy thought that was a perfectly good idea too, and slid into a chair between his cousin and his brothers, stealing specifically only the strawberry and chocolate-related pancakes—whoever thought that blueberries belonged in breakfast treats was very confused.

“Did you sleep well Gumdrop?” Britton asked, fluffing Addy's hair on his way to help Paris and Troy.

“It's not too early for you?” Red smiled, his green eyes sparkling.

Addy's mouth was full, so he just said, “Mmmm,” and kept on munching.

Which was clever, because it was right about then that the rest of the cousins showed up. The first sign was the tell-tale portal created by Luci because he never wanted to bother himself with walking down the stairs, but before he could step through, there was a crashing noise as Miles, Sylvester and Cisco came colliding down the stairs in a tangle of limbs and excited shouts loud enough to wake the dead.

“HAPPY EASTER!” Someone shrieked, and in half a moment the kitchen was full and noisy and excited. Luci jumped in and then he and Miles promptly got in an argument about who made it down first, which Sylvester and Cisco both simultaneously dove for the pancakes, managing to nearly trip each other.

“Whoa there, dumplings,” Britton chided gently, as Red deftly reached to catch the two boys, in one fluid motion setting them into chairs.

Cisco practically bounced in his chair, “Mommy, Daddy, I'm so excited to go get eggs, do you think there's gonna be a lot? Did the Easter Bunny come and give us stuff?”

Red smiled, “I'm sure he did, licorice stick. But take a breath and eat your breakfast first, okay?”

Cisco promptly proceeded to shove pancakes in his mouth, still trying to talk until Marie shot him a dirty look from under her perfect princess eyebrows, and Sylvester, who was eating his food in silence, elbowed him in the ribs.

Given the number of kids in the room who were related to Gluttony, breakfast disappeared ridiculously quickly, and Red and Britton had their hands full keeping up with everyone.

The instant the pancakes—and eventual bacon—had vanished, the stampede of Sinlings rushed to the back doors of the porch, which were thrown open wide by Zel and Brice, who had been doing the last minute preparations to make sure that the hunt went perfectly.

The gardens and lawn of the Sin's Mansion spread out before them, glimmering in the early morning sun, bright verdant greens, the newly sprouted butter yellow of the daffodils, warm reds and pinks and oranges from the tulips—and there scattered amongst those colors, were the glittering gems of plastic shining Easter eggs.

All the Sinlings just gaped, mouths and eyes wide for about 1.25 seconds. And then Miles, Troy, and Luci all started to make a break for it—right up until Red and Brice simultaneously shouted, “Waaait just a second.” The two dads made a brief eye contact, and Red just ceded to Brice, going back to stand with Britton by the door.

“All right now y'all,” Brice said, “Here's the rules. You've got 30 minutes to try 'n get as many eggs as you can.” He grinned, “The one who has the most at the end wins somethin' really cool.”

“Whaaat?” Miles whined, and Brice raised an eyebrow.

“You'll jus' have to win and find out.” The Sinlings clamored excitedly, “All right—ready, set...go!”

And they were off like a shot.

Everyone had their own basket—pink and blue and yellow and black for all the various Sinlings they went with. Addy's was red, with little pink ribbons threaded through it and pink fluff at the bottom to keep the eggs from knocking around.

There was a bet, instigated by Luci probably, on who could use their powers and abilities and skills to find the most eggs. All the Gluttony kids could practically smell the chocolate—Addy could for sure, he could feel the delicious candy in the spring-colored eggs all around him. Luci was hopping around the field like the Easter bunny himself—appearing wherever he saw eggs. At least, he did that right up until Miles snuck up behind him and tackled his cousin, yelling, “That's cheeeeeating!” and refusing to let him up until he promised to stop. This started a 3 minute long argument about the rules and who was doing better, which finally ended, somehow, with them agreeing to team up in their usual dynamic duo in order to beat everyone else.

Marie had dragged Tavros down finally from his cozy bed, despite the fact that the Slothful Sinling had said he didn't want to, and was pulling him around with her. Roy kept bouncing over to say hi, but every time he did, Princess Marie gave him an evil eye and said, “Go away! You'll get our eggs!” Finally, Roy just had to satisfy himself by looking out of the corner of his eye to make sure nothing was going on with his sister.

Conveniently, this slowed him down substantially in his plan to find eggs.

Troy and Paris were staying closer to the house, where the eggs seemed to be a little bit more dense, but also better hidden among the flowers. Troy, of course, slowly kept wandering closer and closer towards where Miles and Luci were, keeping an eye on them. Paris, meanwhile, was well on his way to winning, using his particularly good sense of smell to pick out the chocolate among the flowers—although he did occasionally get distracted by the delicious aromas from the tulips especially.

Somewhere out in the lawns, Cisco and Sylvester were running around, exclaiming and diving into bushes to grab their prizes, holding them up in triumph and generally having an excellent time.

Addy smiled to himself, glancing back up at the porch where all their parents were sitting, watching over them.

Dream was sitting on the porch swing, Parkere's head in his lap as the orange-hooded Sin watched through half-lidded eyes. Zel and Brice were lounging on the deck chairs, both having acquired fancy little drinks that they were sipping. Luci's parents weren't actually present—but that was all right because at this point Zel and Brice had basically adopted him as a fourth child, and besides, this sort of thing really wasn't Mikel and Dodge's cup of tea. Red and Britton were sitting on the steps, snuggled close to each other, and occasionally calling encouragement—Red met Addy's eyes and smiled, “Having fun, Gumdrop?”

Addy nodded, and went back to his meandering.

It really was a perfectly gorgeous day—the sun was perfectly warm, and everything smelled amazing. Addy was sorely tempted to just settle down and photosynthesize in the sun, but then his Gluttony reminded him that candy was within reach, and he went back to searching. He found one particularly difficult one, which had been delicately tucked inside a tulip of the same color, as well as one up a tree, which required some shimmying to get.

Thirty minutes went by remarkably quickly, and at the end, Brice stood up on the steps and counted down, as everyone scrambled to find any last eggs.

“TIME!” he shouted, “Everyone back to the porch—lets see who won!”

All the Sinlings scrambled back across the lawn, now in a race to see who could get back first (except for Tavros, who still had to be encouraged by Marie), and piled into a huddle on the porch, all comparing their egg quantities. It was pretty obvious that the true competition was between Marie, Paris, Addy, Sylvester and Cisco, and Miles and Luci—the others definitely didn't have as many, due to their various distractions.

“All right, all right,” Brice interrupted their discussions, “Count 'em up!”

And then there was silence, except for quiet murmuring as everyone sat down and began counting their eggs—or at least, there was silence until Miles and Luci got into an argument about who had which eggs in their collection, and nearly had one stolen by Cisco (Sylvester rolled his eyes and asked, “Do you have a death wish?”).

When all was said and done, though, everyone called out their numbers—and somehow, someway, it was Paris who came out on top, beating Marie out by only 2 eggs.

Addy grinned at his excited little brother, bouncing on the steps, as Marie glowered a bit.

“All right, here's the prize,” Zel had brought out a large box, grinning as she stepped across the porch, “First place goes to Paris.” Brice reached into the box and pulled out a glittering silver and pink crown. All the Sinlings—but especially the Pridelings—gasped in awe, as Brice set the crown perfectly in Paris' curly pink hair.

“Ah! It's beautiful!” Paris spun around, and dashed over to his parents, “Mommy, Daddy, do you like my crown, isn't it pretty? I'm like a princess!”

Marie looked even more sour, right up until Brice added, “And second place goes to my Princess Marie.” And had another circlet, only slightly less fancy than Paris'.

In fact, everybody got crowns—all in their preferred styles. Marie had pink gems set in silver and rose gold, Roy's was plain gold with blue, sturdy and respectable, and Miles' was dark silver with midnight blue gems. Tavros' was just a simple golden circlet, and Luci's was black with red stones. Troy's was dark too, with green accents, Cisco's was a simple black, and Sylvester's was simple silver with tiny little blue gems. Finally, Addy's was gold with both red and pink gems that were arranged somehow perfectly arranged to match the pink streaks in his hair.

All the Sinlings scampered around, showing off their Prince and Princess and King and Queen crowns, exclaiming to their parents and cousins about their excitement, and about the day—and then there was the excitement of the actual candy in the eggs, and before long everyone was also hyped on sugar and chocolate and delicious candy.

After a bit, Addy had snuggled up with his parents, contentedly munching on a butterfinger and watching some of the younger ones play tag out on the lawn.

“Did you have a nice Easter, Gumdrop?” Britton asked, fluffing Addy's hair.

“Mhmm...” Addy nodded.

And then Roy came up and grabbed his hand and pulled him off to play tag with everyone else, “Come on Addy!” His golden hair and blue eyes shone in the sunlight.

[propheticfire]

Got tagged by @shadow-is-upon-us!

Rules: Answer the questions, then make your own and tag people.

Questions:

1. If you could live in any themed bedroom, what would it be? Oh gosh, um, maybe like Elven Woodland Realm? Or 18th Century French Court?

2. What’s your favorite time of day? I really like early dawn, when the sun has just come up, and things are still quiet and there’s that soft glow around everything. But I’m never awake to see it, because I’m most productive usually between 8pm and 3 in the morning.

3. Would you rather never have to do laundry the rest of your life, or never have to do dishes? Dishes. At least my clothes don’t get crusty with leftover glaze/sauce/oil/whatever, which you then have to rinse off before you can even think of putting it in the dishwasher, if you’re lucky enough to have a dishwasher in the first place.

4. If you could meet any fictional character, who would it be? ANY fictional character? How am I supposed to choose that? I guess since I’m on a Star Wars kick I’d really like to meet some clones, maybe all of them Captain Rex. Or like Captain America, or Dr. McCoy, or Mulan. I dunno.

5. If you were a mythological creature, what would you be? Oh man. I’d like to be a Chinese dragon or a unicorn/pegasus or an angel (do those count?), but based on who I am I’m more likely to be a dwarf.

6. Do you have a favorite planet? Saturn. I’ve always liked the rings.

7. Do you have a favorite Greek myth? I really like the tale of Eros and Psyche.

8. Are you more of a nighttime person, or a daytime person? NIGHTTIME.

9. What’s a food you could never give up? Honestly I don’t know. Is this “give up” in the sense that it isn’t available to me, or “give up” in the sense that I could technically obtain it but am choosing not to? Because those are very different.

10. What are you most looking forward to about today? I was looking forward to going out to celebrate my and both my grandparents’ birthdays, that were in September, that we weren’t able to celebrate yet because logistics, but now my grandma has a fever and doesn’t feel well so we’ll have to postpone it again. :(

1. Do you have a weird guilty pleasure? Not really?

2. Tea or coffee? Both. I’m sorry. I like both equally.

3. Do you have any pets? I have a 13-year-old cat named Sunny. She is very soft and is less of a little bitch now that she’s old.

4. What’s the first thing you do in the morning? Go to the bathroom, lol. Take my phone with me and scroll through tumblr like a loser.

5. Favourite sleep position? On my side.

6. How many languages do you speak? One. :( But there’s so many I wish I could speak. I’m just really bad at languages.

7. Favourite food? By “food” are we talking a specific dish, or a specific category of food, or a type of cuisine? I like Indian food a lot, and like, Asian food in general? I’m also very fond of tropical fruits. I used to love egg dumplings with onions and bacon, but now that I’m trying to be vegan I gotta find a different favorite dish.

8. Do you have any plants in your home? YES!! I have Mimban the zz plant, Eve the cactus, Fanny the ivy, and Rex the begonia that all technically belong to me. Then there’s a pothos plant and some little shamrock thingies and a lucky bamboo and some weird flower/shrub things that came in from outside.

9. What’s the greatest thing that could happen today to you? I could miraculously win a shit ton of money and also find a lifelong romantic partner and all of my health problems could go away. Or, realistically, I could actually eat vegan food today. But I don’t think any of those things are going to happen, even the realistic one.

10. Favourite song? She Moved Through the Fair  (Irish folk tune)

1. If you can bend elements like in avatar last airbender which element you would choose? Umm, I’ve never seen the show, so I can’t approach this from a show-specific standpoint. And all the elements are really cool, and I’m having a hard time picking. Air might be most useful day-to-day, but fire is baller. Earth would help me grow plants a lot better. Water is great I love water. I don’t know!

2. Cat or a dog person? Generally I’m a cat person. But I like dogs too.

1. Favorite Quote from a fictional character? (Book, anime, videogame…) Gosh, I don’t know! You know how many fictional characters I’ve come across in my time? And all the things they’ve said? *sigh* The only thing coming to mind right now is, “Well slap me thrice and hand me to me mamma, it’s Jack!” from Gibbs, in Pirates 3. That’s all I’ve got.

2. Do you believe in ghosts? Yes. Saw one once too. Though my mother still doesn’t believe me.

3. Have you ever pretended to have an accent when speaking English? Hahaha, this is a daily occurrence. My normal accent is standard American/midwest, and English is my only first language. I usually talk to myself in a typical London British accent, though if asked, I can also do Scottish, Australian, Cockney British, RP British, American South soft r, American South hard r, really stereotypical Minnesotan/Northern, French, German, and Russian/Slavic.

And here’s what I’ll add: 1. What’s your favorite season?

2. Do you play a musical instrument?

3. Shower in the morning or shower before bed?

4. What’s your favorite perfume/cologne/body spray?

I’m gonna tag @thebisexualmandalorian, @kristsune, @rex-ol-boy, and really honestly anyone else who wants to do it. But no pressure.

[richjapan]

#RichJapan - 2.0 - Tokyo

Fun-employed (when you’re having fun while unemployed because of a culmination of freedom + savings) since January 11, 2019. In late March 2019, accepted an offer to start another new venture on April 15, 2019. With two weeks to spare, I booked a trip to Japan. I knew my next venture would be the most challenging of my career so I chose Japan as a place to prepare my mind and body for the journey to come. Coincidently, it was also Cherry Blossom season (which only lasts about a week) in Japan.

Another reason why I chose Japan is because of how many great, deep thoughts I had last time I was there. This time I was hoping to go deeper down the rabbit hole of my own subconsciousness to find and define my purpose in life. During this trip to Japan, I read books and articles on this subject.

The last time I was in Japan I wrote a summary of each day in-the-moment. This trip, I did not have the time or energy to sit down every day to write, but I did compile notes each day of memorable experiences. Now that I’m back in San Francisco, I’ve decided to write a few entries to share with the world segmented by each city I visited.

Major update since this blog was written. I turned the Google Sheet which listed things to do in Japan into an app:

https://richjapan.glideapp.io

Observations:

- It’s hard to fathom how international travel was possible before smartphones. It’s mind blogging how everything is easier and faster with an iPhone in my hand.

- No one in Japan jaywalks. There could not be a car for miles in either direction, but people will NOT cross the street until there’s a green light for pedestrians.

- Japan’s snacks, sweets & beverages are on another level. The variety and quality of each treat is out of this world. I gained at least 10 pounds in less than two weeks. Is this the equivalent of Japanese Freshman 15?

- Japanese vending machines are like the 9th Wonder of the World. They are EVERYWHERE! I played a game of Pokemon Go while I was in Japan (”Gotta catch them all!)”. I was determined to try EVERY variety of beverage displayed in each vending machines I ran across. I would sometimes buy something new only to take a few sips and then throw it away. I could write a whole separate blog about my critique and ranking order of each beverage I tried.

- When I learned Japanese in college I learned the word “no” which is “iie”, but no one in Japan actually says “no” because it is seen as impolite. They use different variations of no.

- A couple of months ago I was in Brazil for Carnaval, but while in Japan I found it easier to read and pronounce Japanese than it was to do the same in Brazilian Portuguese. Maybe this is because words in Japanese are pronounced phonetically or because their words are pronounced syllable by syllable.

- I love listening to Japanese speak their language. They speak with such enthusiasm and, to me, it sounds very melodic. When I hear some Japanese speak it almost sounds like notes going up and down on a piano.

- Not sure if this was just for Cherry Blossom season, but Japanese put cherry blossoms (sakura) in everything and it tastes amazing. I had cherry blossoms in alcoholic beverages, tea, mochi, dumplings, donuts, etc and it was all sooo good!

- Uber has a presence in Tokyo, but it’s about 1.5x more expensive than cabs and even cabs are expensive. For instance, taking a cab 5 miles will cost you about $20. Without Uber, I forgot how much energy is expended when you have to walk from place to place or take trains. One day I walked 11 miles and on average I walked 7 miles a day in Japan.

- Japanese really take pride in their work regardless of the role. When I encountered train ticket agents, restaurant workers, retail associates, or any other service worker I was impressed by their enthusiasm to serve me.

- Japanese are very sexually repressed. For example: I’ve yet to see any public displays of affections and married couples sleep in separate beds. There are times and places where the Japanese express themselves sexually but it’s very underground and not spoken about publically.

- There’s always the most random American pop music playing in the background of bars, restaurants, and shops. Usually songs at least 15 years old.

- I found myself cringing every time I heard an American accent and doing everything I could NOT to mingle with Americans (or any Westerners). Americans abroad have the worst reputation (and for good reason). I found them to be loud talking, inconsiderate, culturally ignorant, and arrogant.

Memorable moments:

- I forgot how much I missed Japanese bathrooms. Japanese bathrooms are a microcosm of Japanese mindfulness. They’ve thought of everything and incorporated it into their bathrooms. 

Don’t want people to hear you pooping? They’ve thought of that.

Brought your baby in the toilet with you? They’ve thought of that.

Need someplace to put your umbrella? They’ve thought of that.

Need a deeper clean than just toilet paper? They’ve thought of that.

Don’t like the cold shock of a toilet seat? They’ve thought of that.

Need to quickly wash your hands after you’ve flushed? They’ve thought of that.

- Ate at a Chinese restaurant in Tokyo and tried new foods including: 1,000-year egg, pig ear, jelly fish, and. . .fried scorpion.

- Walked an area called “Grandma Street” on a Saturday morning. They close down a strip of streets every Saturday to spur community engagement. On this street are a bunch of shops and activities accommodating the elderly. Witnessed grandpa’s dressed in fancy clothes hitting on grandmas and took notes ;). This street is also where I discovered and fell in love with sweet potato pastries.

- Drinking with Japanese businessmen is like an episode of Mad Men. Conservative suits and ties, dim-lit bars, lots of cigarettes, binge drinking, and conversations too offensive for ultra-liberal San Francisco.

- Ate at a small, family-owned sushi place in Koenji neighborhood called Kiku Sushi. I was the only person sitting at the sushi bar. This position gave me the sushi chef’s and his mother’s full attention. They asked me questions about where I was from and what I planned to do in Japan. I spoke to them in my broken Japanese. They were so genuinely AMUSED by my stories. Everything I said was greeted by positive verbal and non-verbal communication. They were feverishly nodding their heads up and down, smiling, and giggling at everything I said. I was so amused by their amusement. Their warm, genuine intrigue, and hospitality really encapsulates Japanese culture for me and it was one of my most memorable experiences of this particular trip.

Learnings:

- You can buy a JR Rail pass when you land in Tokyo and available at the airport or select stations like Shinjuku. Also, I didn’t realize this when I was first in Japan in 2017, but JR Rail pass is not only good for traveling from city to city but also good for certain rail lines within Tokyo.

- According to a few locals I spoke with, Japan is NOT a Socialist country. I categorize a Socialist country by high taxes, free healthcare, free college, free child care, government-owned major industries. These locals said Japan does not have any of those things. Think of Japan as Collective Capitalism.

Places Visited:

- Kōenji（高円寺）- The thrift shop capital of Tokyo. Picked up a couple one-of-a-kind shirts. Thanks, Brian for the recommendation!

- TeamLab Borderless - An art exhibit made for the post-Instagram world. It was alittle bit like you were in the middle of the movie Fantasia. An internet meme that definitely lived up to the hype. We were there for two hours before they closed, but would recommend going earlier and staying longer. Thanks Ian for the recommendation!

- Kagaya - Wow. What an experience! Think Improv meets Sesame Street meets South Park meets Japanese cuisine. If you like irreverent,  random experiences make a reservation. As my friend, Dan who recommended says, “Don’t Google it! Just book a reservation and show up with an open mind.”

- Jazz Blues Soul Bar - Cool place with walls lined with old records and an eclectic mix of soul jams playing in the background, but too many Western tourists so I wouldn’t go back.

- Jiroumaro - Small restaurant where you stand-up and eat a super-tasty array of pieces of wagyu. Highly recommended!

- Odaiba Oedo Onsen - The DisneyWorld of Spas. Bars, restaurants, and spas. It’s an experience the whole family would enjoy.

- YAKITORI燃 - Best yakitori. Get the wagyu and ask for sake pairing recommendation from the manager (he's kind of a celebrity chef in Japan).

[remembermemorablememories]

Saturday, February 2, 2019

post #390

main points:

- woke up early with mom to drive to flushing

- eat a breakfast at nan xiang

- pick up jwoos and go to LGA

- flight to chicago! watched bohemian rhapsody on the plane

- try to check into airbnb but keys weren’t there

- eat snacks at a chinese restaurant

- check into airbnb after contacting host

- walk around the area and visit chicago mural and get turbo tacos for dinner

- walk along 606 back to airbnb

- chill in airbnb watching youtube videos (vine compilations LOL)

today i:

- woke up at 7:00am to my alarm. then brushed my teeth and packed it. then went downstairs to get ready and load the car. dad also woke up to help move the car out of the way/get ready to take sheena to rehearsal once she woke up later

- mom and i left the house around 7:50am, then stopped by wawa to get some coffee. i haven’t had coffee in a really really long time. but i was like oh well i’ll give it a try

- i drove us for about two hours into flushing. on the car ride mom told me more about our family history. how she met dad, why she thought dad would be the best, her friendship with my uncle/aunt, how other people pursued my aunt but ended up with my uncle, how she helped my other aunt in high school. it was really fun to learn about our family history cause they never really talk about these things. the two hour drive felt pretty short because of what my mom was talking about

- got to flsuhing and we found some street parking relatively quickly. we got some nan xiang soup dumplings, tofu skin, fried pancake roll thing, and scallion pancake + beef. it was soooo good, i really like that place. we were really efficient, getting in around 10am, and out by like 10:40am

mom drove us about 15 minutes to jwoos place to pick him up. we filmed a quick thing with us putting stuff in the trunk for like 3 minutes then left to go to LGA

- got to LGA hella early, like around 11:15am? the security line had literally 1 person in front of us. then we got checked in and got to our gate, with plenty of time left... so we just kind of hung around, listening to music on our phones and watching glitch 6 smash ultimate videos

- we boarded the plane around 1pm, and promptly departed at 1:30pm. on the plane they had bohemain rhapsody so i was like oooooh. i watched it for the whole ride (which was basically the entire duration) perfectly aligned for like two hours. the movie was really really great. i thought the way they told freddie’s story was so inspiring and heart touching. i teared up multiple times and also got goosebumps. i really got the sense that he was someone who was struggling with his own sexuality but still wanted so desperately to be in love with mary. and his love for music was unbounded. great movie and great performance. i looked up online afterwards to see how accurate the movie was and some key things were inaccurate apparently. rip. LOL. i guess ya gotta manufacture some drama anyway

- we landed around 3pm, then got my bag from baggage claim. cause overhead compartments were full so they offered free checked baggage (they forced me to do it basically)

- we ubered and got to our airbnb around 3:45pm. it would’ve been a short ride but there was heavy traffic, making the ride like 40 minutes. we got to the airbnb and when we tried to get the key from the lock box, the box was empty.... we tried to call the host and message him but he didn’t respond. so we were like... might as well get some food cause we’re so hungry. we found a chinese place just down the street and went there to get some small dishes as a snack cause we were really hungry

- once we got there, the host called us and told us to call him once we got back to the airbnb cause he has the key and they couldn’t get it in the box cause it was so cold. thankfully it’s like 40 degrees today in chicago. if it were below 0 degrees like last week, we would’ve been so pissed LOL

- we got back to the airbnb, met up with the host and he gave us our keys. then we dropped off all our stuff, and then walked out to look around logan square

we left around maybe 5pm ish, then walked towards a chicago mural on a wall which looked kind of iconic. we thought it’d be cool. it was like a 15 minute walk from the airbnb. i took some video and jwoos took some pictures. on the way we caught up and talked about how things were going, he talked about how things went with tina, sony vs nikon vs canon, track from middle school and high school, and some other stuff. it was a good time

then we walked over to turbo taco which was a couple blocks down and got tacos for dinner. i got three tacos, two pork and 1 steak and it was pretty good. jwoos got a burrito

then we walked back towards the airbnb, stopping by the 606 trail, since cici said it was like the NYC high line. it was pretty, but there was a bunch of snow on the trail. just a general note a lot of chicago is covered in dark slush cause of the snow from the past week :/ kind of like gigantic puddles at every sidewalk corner

- we took the 606 trail all the way back and then got back around 8pm. we just chilled at our airbnb for the night. we watched some genesis 6 gameplay. like armada, ally, mkleo, leffen. then watched some skits like scott sterling. then we watched a bunch of vine compilations, some roy purdy, and that was about it

i took a shower, typed up this blog post. it’s now 12:24am cst which is 1:24am est. i am ready to sleep. i am tired boi. we just watched leffen vs mkleo, what a hype set

good night

the end

[la-appel-du-vide]

Day 7. Well my friends, what a day of reminiscing this was. We got to see all of our old hangouts, eat some of our favorite foods, and more. We woke up to the best surprise - my nanny was home! When I lived here, she made all my meals everyday and cleaned my room, made my bed and changed my sheets. What a kind woman. I wasn't sure if she'd still be around now that Fausteja is a lot older, but she was! And she made us my favorite dumplings for breakfast. I gotta get a picture with her. And finally learned (sorta) her name after all this time - Leonarda. I could never remember it. It was too hard. 😂 And just like the good old times, I got up, she spoke to my in Lithuanian, I responded in English that I had no idea what she was saying, and we went back and forth. Hahaha. Great 🎉🎉😊😊 Then we took the bus down to the school. Stopped at the Iki I spent TONS of time in while we were here. I used to have to wait for the bus there for an hour, so I got really familiar with it. Then we went down to visit the apartment and the school. It was so crazy to be there again. Walk the same paths. It's like the muscle memory comes right back and you know exactly where you're supposed to go. We couldn't go in the apartment, because the teachers are on vacation, plus we don't remember the code to even get into the building. Worst timing ever. Also meant the kids were gone because school was closed. I was kinda depressed. We had such bad timing on this trip. But we still stood outside that old, crappy apartment and the playground where we rocked some dough in the frigid weather. So many memories there. 😂 And we were able to go inside the school as well! The receptionist was the same, though I doubt she knows any difference from the teachers now and us. Nonetheless, she gave us the keys and let us visit the classrooms. They've been moved since we were there, so it wasn't quite the same. But it made us miss our teaching days and all the kids. Then we walked down to the Maxima on the same street, where we would buy pastries or school supplies pretty much every day. Bought pastries and drinks - just like the good old days. We were just missing our donuts. We'll try again. Then we went to Ozas (a big mall) for a bit, before heading to Jammi. (Actually prounounced Yam-ee according to Deima haha) which is easily the part Beach was looking forward to the most. She's been talking about it for as long as I can remember. Well, actually, since the last time she had it. She was filled with joy to eat one of her beloved kebabai. We drove past her old apartments, and headed into Old Town. We hiked to Gedyminas Tower to get that gorgeous view of the Old Town orange rooftops. We had to hike a whole lot longer than we needed to after so many wrong turns, but we made it. It was just as pretty as we remembered. We asked a foreigner to take a Polaroid for us (which is always rough haha) and he just kinda snapped it with no warning, and missed the whole tower hahaha. Oops. It's a terrible picture but a good memory. We just looked awkwardly at each other after we heard the click, like, "Ohhhh...." 😂 Then we headed down and walked through cute Old Town to try Holy Donut, a new specialty donut shop that was opened after we left. I'd seen all the pictures and it looked amazing. And it really was. The "freakshake" as they called it, looked GORG and also tasted great. (Minus the whip cream... Beach liked it, but I didn't.) Great experience. Another check off our list of must-do's while we're here. That pretty much completed the rest of our day. We took the bus home and lounged around until bed. But really, a quality day. I love my city and I love my family and this trip can never end cause I'm going to be ridiculously sad. End rant. 👍🏻

[missguomeiyun]

hot pot @ Chinese Hot Pot Buffet

You did not read incorrectly & I did not type incorrectly - I really did have hot pot at Chinese Hot Pot Buffet! 

I think many of you are just as confused as I was when I 1st heard the name of the “restaurant” haha sometime last year, I had heard of it through a coworker & I was like, “what’s the restaurant place called?” It’s not a common name/type of name for any restaurant, really, but it is what it is - it’s AYCE Chinese hot pot buffet :P 

It currently occupies the old location of Bonanza, which is now closed. That was a buffet restaurant that I had been to once. Tbh, it was forgettable & I rarely go for buffets. Last night, I went to Chinese Hot Pot Buffet for a birthday party~

Arrived @ 7:30pm, the time that the reservation for 10 was for, & guess what! There was a huge crowd at the door. From eavesdropping, there were regular “walk-in” diners, there were other “7:30″ reserved diners. .. & some have been waiting since 7pm o_O! Honestly, it felt like a big mess at the door. To say it was a small waiting area is not entirely correct; I thought it was a decent size... but there were just soo SO many ppl! 

Once you walk in, there’s the “waiting area”, & then the restaurant is kind of divided in half. A large seating area on the left & right side of the entrance. 

After 10mins, we got seated at a circular table that was in a separate divided section in the restaurant. It was very loud, & it felt like I was in Asia lol. Anyway, ignore the heating element in the center of the table; I don’t think it’s actually use-able.

*Someone else had the table order form & I didn’t even look at it lol however, it had the broth options, drinks options, & various meats (including dumplings/wontons). The meats come out from the kitchen all plated, which you’ll see later. 

The rest of the food is buffet style. The bowls & plates are on the bottom shelf, & then you just go for the things you wanna eat! Note that there’s only 1 “station” set up in the entire restaurant; therefore it’s crowded here like all the time! & there’s no real “order” or anything; you just gotta try your best & wait for your turn, I guess. 

[The photo shows items that are mainly found in cans or packages in grocery stores, as well as “root” veggies. For example, baby corn, lotus root, daikon, konnyaku, bean curd, etc...]

On the website, they stated they have over 150 items. In the picture above, there’s already 20. Like I was saying, space is not abundant so I didn’t get a chance to take photos of the buffet area in full; however, I did not think they have over 150 items to choose from.. . at least not the food alone. I mean, the sauce counter had like 20 sauces + aromatics (like garlic, chili peppers, cilantro & green onions) available for you, so including that, there was over 150. 

Below are some of the things that I did take photos of.

Cooked appetizers (the chilled kinds). ..there was about 10 available. 

Cooked appetizers (the warm kinds), which is mainly all fried items, like dry ribs, spring rolls, & a handful of typical dimsum items.

The “partially” cooked items, majority was thawed fish balls that you can find at Asian grocery markets. 

“Adventurous” proteins - think topping options for pho: tendon, tripe. .. & then there’s Spam in the bottom left corner haha to the right of this was the noodles section, which wasn’t really a section but rather they are kept in Rubbermaid containers (instant noodles, udon, vermicelli). 

To the left of this was veggies. I really liked the variety & selection! 

Adjacent to the veggies was seafood: oysters, shrimp, mussels, surf clams, squid, cuttlefish, basa. ..yeah that was pretty much it. I love oysters!! 

Desserts. There’s only coffee cake & Chinese osmanthus + goji berry jelly, but there was also 3 ice cream options, mango pudding/jelly, coconut jelly, & classic coconut + tapioca dessert soup. Last but not least, the fried buns with condensed milk. Oh! & if you’re too full for actual desserts, there’s some fruits as well. 

Okay, my sauce: garlic, green onion, sesame seeds, sesame paste, XO sauce, hoisin sauce, oyster sauce, chili oil, chili flakes, & satay sauce. 

I just got the regular chicken broth, which is “free”. Any of their special broth is an extra $2, however, the refill is just regular chicken broth. 

Our meats came! Well, here’s round 1 of many. This was all gone after 1 rotation of the lazy susan.. . so we ordered more. However, magically, no matter what we told the server, the same plate containing the same amount of meats came. I’m not sure how the portion/serving sizes work but we ordered so many times & eventually lost track. 

PS: I didn’t take photos as we ate bcos I was too busy chatting & eating haha but I had a great time! 

Ahh the beef was my fav <3

YESSSS!!! 

& then 4 desserts for myself :D

I really liked the selection & freshness of the food. The meats ordering thing was a little weird but you can always order more so it wasn’t a big deal. The place was pretty much “printing money” the entire time; after 9pm, they have the “after hour” special, which is cheaper but you only get 5 items so we noticed that ~9:30pm, there was like another HUGE rush of customers coming in. The restaurant’s website is very informative & accurate, & so I’d recommend checking that out (hrs, pricing, “specials”). They do have an unofficial time limit of 2hrs, which is dependent on how many ppl are waiting (you know how it is), esp if your party is occupying a large circular table for 10 ppl (these tables are rare), thus, don’t be alarmed if they sorta rush you out after you finish paying (the waitress was like “ok thank you, see you next time.”); it was SO busy last night! Overall, I had a good experience~ 

* * * epilogue * * *

I was here for Kevin’s bday, & basically the OG crew from junior high was here haha they all hang out regularly but I haven’t seen some of them for over a decade. It felt really “old school” & the atmosphere was so awesome. No awkwardness or unfamiliarity at all & I’m super happy I was able to come. Thank you all for a wonderful Saturday evening!