#there's a jerky store that has a bunch of different jerkys

[ckret2]

What does bill usually eat and drink? And how often? Does he eat when the rest of the humans do?

First choice:

When there's a meal being served—such as Abuelita cooking dinner or Stan grilling burgers—Bill eats whatever everyone else eats. (Provided he got to see Abuelita cook—to ensure cyanide wasn't an ingredient in his serving.) This accounts for maybe 15% of his meals.

Second choice:

If he happens to be in the kitchen at the same time as someone else, he'll ask them to open the fridge/cabinets to let him get food for himself or, more rarely, ask them to prepare something he isn't allowed to prepare for himself. This means he'll often eat at the same time as them, because swooping into the kitchen while THEY'RE eating means he can get food too.

When he does have full kitchen access, he creates the most disgusting concoctions known to mankind.

Human brains are wired from infancy to find almost all tastes disgusting until they've had them enough to learn to appreciate them (i.e., accept they aren't poisonous)—why kids are generally pickier eaters than adults. The Axolotl trusts that Bill knows enough about human diets to know what is and isn't food—he does—so Bill didn't get given a baby palate. Instead, he's the opposite: he finds almost all tastes okay. Nothing really tastes bad to him.

So his measure for food that "tastes good" isn't QUALITY of taste, but QUANTITY of taste. Bland food is disgusting. The more and stronger flavors a food has, and the more different they are from each other, the more he likes it.

When making his own food he wants maximum flavor for minimum effort. This is why he has a tendency to take as many condiments as he can, no matter how poorly they go together—in fact, ESPECIALLY if they go poorly together—mix them into a slurry, and then drop in enough solid food to cover his body's minimum nutritional needs. (He would do the same thing with spices, but the spices are kept in a cabinet and it's just not worth the trouble to him to specifically ask for access.)

As of chapter 39, he's no longer willing to ask someone else to help prepare something for him, and won't ask Ford to so much as open the fridge for him. Full kitchen access used to account for about 35% of his meals, now it's more like 25%.

Third choice:

If no one's in the kitchen, he won't go looking for someone; he'd rather starve than plea for food from the people who took his food access away. Instead, he'll just eat whatever he can scrounge off the open shelving. That means no food that requires refrigeration, cooking, or microwaving; and no food that's canned, in glass jars, or needs scissors to open. In practice, this means a whole lot of junk food—chips, cookies, candy, jerky, cereal, soda. The most nutritious thing he has regular and easy access to is peanut butter. He has a lot of peanut butter sandwiches. He dislikes peanut butter sandwiches, but he understands nutrition better than most humans and knows chips and jerky can only carry him so far. Scrounging accounts for 60% of his meals.

Beyond all that:

He likes triangle-shaped foods because he is, in fact, that much of an egotistical dork. He will legitimately get angry about nachos with circular or rectangular tortilla chips.

And (with Mabel's encouragement) he's become a fan of dumping sprinkles on as many things as possible. You know how grocery stores sell a bunch of different mixes of sprinkles? Different styles & colors & textures & shapes? Mabel has brought a WIDE variety of sprinkles into the house, and is teaching Bill the fine art of mixing sprinkles artistically for maximum aesthetic value. He likes the fancy-looking gold/silver/white varieties.

He drinks too much—usually, but not exclusively, to get to sleep. This is a bad thing. If called on this, he gets defensive, suggests he needs it like a "medication" to numb the discomfort of fitting a triangular soul in a human body—like taking medicine to prevent a body from rejecting a donor organ—and that the humans wouldn't understand it so they have no room to criticize. This is a VERY bad thing. I'd say he's speedrunning alcoholism, except he's continuing a pattern of substance abuse he had as a triangle, so tbh he was already there.

[dullgecko]

i want to say that one of the bad kids is that friend that ALWAYS has candy on hand. thing is i can't decide which one would be the best fit because i can think of reasons for all of them to be that friend.

- adaine might keep sour candy on hand to help stop anxiety attacks, but she could technically get whatever from her jacket at a moment's notice.

- fabian loves to spoil his friends and fancy expensive sweets is one of the ways he does it.

- kristen's parents would rarely let her have candy and now, trying to catch up on her childhood, she hoards them like the world is going to end.

- gorgug has emergency chocolate, he finds it helps him calm down when he's stressed out.

- riz stashes hard candy and lollipops to suck on when he's thinking, instead of chewing his pens, which explode if he accidentally bites too hard.

- fig's just always had a massive sweet tooth in general, she's been the candy friend long before she met the bad kids.

there are fucking copious amounts of sugar in this friend group.

Adaine doesnt really need to carry things around with her because of her jacket but is definitely the person who will start handing candy out to people if they look like they need it. She will sometimes hand out cookie that she made herself though.

Fabian doesnt really eat sweets himself but is the kind of person who will spot someone favorite candy in a store, buy it for them, and slip it into their bag or house without them noticing. The front pocket of his school bag has a bunch of different hard candies in it because his friends all like different flavours (also some fancy jerky because if given the choice between candy or meat Riz and Gorgug will choose meat every time)

Kristen has a snack-cupboard in her room and her selection is extensive. If you're craving something while at Mordred you can USUALLY find something to satisfy it inside the hoard. The bottom of her bag is also littered with different candies and sweets, but you need to check the expiration dates before snacking because some have been in there a while.

Gorgug is for sure the chocolate guy, but he also likes gummy sour candies even though they get stuck in his teeth. He shares the sour ones with Adaine whenever she's stressed.

Riz's office has so many giant jars of candy that he for sure did not buy himself. He leaves them on the desk for his clients but cant resist dipping into the supply whenever he needs something to suck on while thinking. He's got a horrible habit of crunching on the candy though, but at least he doesnt have to worry about cracking a tooth or cavities. Goblins loose their teeth frequently and grow them back often.

Figs pockets crinkle because she always has half a packet of SOMETHING shoved into her jacket. It's different every day because she goes through them so fast, but shares with her friends constantly. She's got shit aim with projectile weapons but has MASTERED a game where she flicks a candy at Riz and he catches it in his mouth from across a cafeteria table.

[ahanarhorse]

Can they cook?

Can the links in my AU cook?

First- Yes! Sorta! He doesn't remember how to make a lot of things(four years of prison and then dying will do that to you) but he can do simple things and often likes to cut up vegetables and help the main cook.

Sky- uh, sorta. He can make very simple things but likes to help the main cook where he can. Learned how to make pumpkin soup when he had to help out at the Lumpy Pumpkin, but doesn't know how to make much else.

Minish- can make absolutely amazing food... by minish standards. Probably not the best cook unless you want a few berries and nuts as your main meal.

Four- could cook, if only the colors would stop fighting and let Green take care of it. Red wants soup, Green wants something light and easy, Vio wants to show everyone how amazing he is at cooking and Blue is yelling at everyone else because their food ideas are awful. Whatever Four makes turns into some sort of mix between all of them. If he were split, you would have four(maybe three) dishes that are all pretty good, but combined? Probably not.

Time- Time can cook! Sometimes! He likes to help Malon cook when he's free. He often spills something or burns the food or makes some sort of mess, but he can help when needed.

Mask- No. He cannot cook, don't let him try. He would tell you he can cook, but unless you want meat cooked in the sun, don't ask him. Everything gets burned, even the stuff that's not supposed to be anywhere near the fire.

Warriors- No. He can hand out army rations, he cannot cook. He will burn the food, or leave it under cooked, or spill everything. He does always keep a store of beef jerky and other rations on him though, even if the others don't like it, he has food. Will watch the cook's every move because he's paranoid about being poisoned.

Past- He would make decent food, if only he tried. Warm home cooked meals remind him too much of Koholint, and he doesn't want to be reminded of that. He'll let everyone else cook first but if he has to, he'll just make mushroom skewers or something. Is a good helper, but doesn't like to. Does pick up recipes fairly quickly though.

Worlds- Learned to make food only so Ravio wouldn't complain about being hungry all the time. Can make simple things, not super good or anything, but he can make edible stuff.

Legend- Cannot cook, do not let him cook, do not let him anywhere near where they're cooking. Burns everything, spills everything, experiments with everything else. Once made a chuchu out of a meal. Likes to experiment with Wild, but banned from making food for the rest of the group.

Wind- Good at making one thing- soup. Learned how to make his grandma's soup but nothing else(will argue about who's soup is better). Used to eating rations, but complains about it. Does not make the food but yells at everyone until they eat some fruit because "I won't deal with ya land lubbers if ya all get scurvy!"

Twilight- Can also make pumpkin soup, will argue with everyone else on which soup is better. He can't make anything else but is good at making sure Wild won't put something strange into their food. Either won't make anything with meat because he loves animals, or Dusk will kill everything. No in between.

Age- Yes! He can cook! Actually he's the main cook. Can cook as well as Wild, but he's less likely to put something strange into their food. Can make many different things, used to cooking for a bunch of people in the army, makes food that takes great and is very healthy. 10/10 great cook.

Wild- Yes, he can cook, but he doesn't as much. Makes a much bigger variety than Age, but a lot of it is him experimenting, which the others don't like a lot. Can cook much more flavorful food than Age, but often doesn't care because he started his adventure eating raw chicken. Will eat anything, the only one to eat Legend's cooking, a good backup cook, but not the main one. (salty that Age gets to cook more than he does)

Thank you! If you have any ideas or suggestions about this I would love to hear them!

[kolliekazoo]

Fish For Dogs

I know not everybody fishes or eats fish, but even store bought fish and a little work is cheaper than dog treats. Since my dog loves fish and I'm in a fish mood and fishy dog stuff is expensive, I'm here to share the wonders of fish.

Be warned you will save money at the expense of your house smelling fishy.

I'm Using This As A Metric

Walmart Tilapia

https://www.walmart.com/ip/Great-Value-Frozen-Whole-Tilapia-3-lb/743729207

Because, they're already scaled and gutted (hard and annoying parts) plus walmart is easier to get to than a fishing spot.

Note that different fish have different nutrients.

Basic Order Of Operations

1. Lob the head and tail off, and put aside

2. Fillet the fish

3. Deskin the fillets

Now, you as a human can also prepare the fish for your consumption and still get dog benefits.

The Dog Treat Parts

Skin Chews

This fish is already descaled, so what you need to do is cut the skin off and stick it in the dehydrator / oven and the fish has already paid for itself. According to the fact that 3, 5in Tilapia Skin Roll Fieldcrest chews are $12 on Chewy.

Fillets

You can cook these for human consumption if you want, or unseason for dogs.

Alternatively, you can cut them into small pieces and use the dehydrator or oven to make jerky treats.

I find that dehydrated treats last a long time in a sealed jar.

Broth

Remember the head and tail you discarded? Perhaps the spine and any bits you couldn't get bones out of?

Throw them in a pot and simmer. I tend to simmer for an hour or so with my main goal getting meat out. Then, strain and pour the broth into jars. Seal and place in fridge once cooled. Human grade advice is it lasts about a week, can freeze for longer.

I like using broth to hydrate kibble or make gross ice cubes.

You can add other things like carrots into the broth to get them that good fish flavor and to flavor the broth.

Kibble Topper

The fish pieces from the broth should be very tender now. You can use a fork or your hands to seperate meat from bone. This way, you don't waste any meat and already have cooked meat for your dog.

I use it as a kibble topper because it is tender and kind of mushy it doesn't make great treats.

If you found making a fillet hard, you can just simmer the whole fish if you really wanted to.

If you simmered the entire fish and now just have a bunch of soft fish meat, you can add flour and an egg to it and bake dog treats.

Gross Bonus

Rub a dog toy on the fish for some scent enrichment. Preferably one you can wash.

What about the bones?

Don't give them to your dog. If you want a use for all your fish waste, I recommend throwing it in the garden / compost. You will never have a nicer plant than one you burried a fish next to.

[breakerwhiskey]

037 - THIRTY-SEVEN

Please visit breakerwhiskey.com for more information or to send a message to Whiskey's radio. Breaker Whiskey is an Atypical Artists production created by Lauren Shippen. If you'd like to support the show, please visit patreon.com/breakerwhiskey.

Transcript under the cut. For more episodes, click here.

Week 8 - Breaker Whiskey

[click, static]

Breaker, breaker, channel nineteen, this is Whiskey Alpha Romeo, calling out for anyone on the line.

[click, static]

Breaker, breaker, this is WAR1974. Currently on State Highway 37, just west of Norman, Oklahoma.

[click, static] Yeah, I figured it was a bit of a long shot. [click, static]

So I finally got to the point where I needed to start looking for more food —I’ve still got some jerky and some canned peaches, but I’ve definitely burned through my supply faster than I thought I would.

I’m not a huge fan of peaches.

[click, static]

Anyway, I popped into a grocery store in Norman—it was like every other grocery I’ve been to in the last six years. A lot of rot. Thank god for America’s insistence on canned food, huh? Otherwise I really would be shit out of luck.

I restocked, got some more beans and what not, but here's the really exciting thing—

[click, static] Cigarettes. [click, static]

God, remember cigarettes? I’d half forgotten that they existed. I hadn’t even thought to look for them until now because Harry never let me have them in the house. She hates the smell, always despised the habit. Which I always told her was absurd give she was an artist in New York - isn’t it, you know, mandatory for people like her? But she wouldn’t budge.

First year or so, I would just smoke out in the yard—way out in the yard —but I had to have a designated smoking jacket—not, you know, an actual smoking jacket, not a velvet thing, though I’m now understanding why smoking jackets exist. Huh. I’d never put two and two together on that one.

Um, mine was this massive Carhartt that was in the house we settled in —it must’ve belonged to a man who was about six five because I swam in it and I’m not a small person. It was too big to really do any work in, but it became the coat I smoked in. Because not only did I have to do it outside, but Harry would throw a fit when I came in smelling like smoke, so that Carhartt was designated to soak up cigarette smoke and be hung up in the shed.

That all got old after a while—having to skulk off anytime I wanted to enjoy a cigarette in my own home. So I just...stopped.

[click, static]

Harry was so annoying about it when I finally got over withdrawal. Because, yeah, I did feel better, but that could’ve been all the exercise I was getting or the lack of drinking or eating food fresh from the ground. It wasn’t necessarily giving up smoking.

[click, static]

Well, I don’t have to give it up anymore! I grabbed a bunch of different brands and I’m going to indulge, figure out which is the best now that I don’t have to worry about paying for them. Lemme tell you, it has really improved my day.

I hope you’ve got something to brighten your day too, Birdie. Whiskey out. [click, static]

[the-firebird69]

I'm interested in doing this as well and setting it up too our nephew here is ideas for products and he needs help and Joe usually get some stuff and he wants them to do better he's doing horrible and KTM is something Preston can do and they're making it on the island and a friend here can make it elsewhere and with Max too okay we need a big bikes too he wants to do it and Joe he's got ideas coming out of his pores he said smiling I want to do those ideas and nobody's letting me cup of joe the big cup of joe his two different sizes and Big Joe's big beef jerky that just beef jerky but big beef jerky we can have different ones like big Joe's beef jerky and Big Joe's big beef jerky you got a huge one like a quarter of a steak or something in volume and he's starting to laugh thinking people need it and they do and he had other ideas like the pancake House and you haven't Paul Bunyan so I'm going to do it I'm going to make the apple cider and the donuts I got to take Tommy F method to make them healthier and use a better sugar and terminato's not that bad I got to start this I'm feeling industrious they say they can plop them down tonight I'm also interested in doing that and we can start the beef jerky and he's got recipes that are better and the coffee too and it'll be roasted it'll be harvested correctly roasted correctly I want to get into that I have a coffee company but I need to do something else

Mac daddy

Going to wrap it all together with KTM

Preston

We shall and we know you're out of the hospital in ken is a madman

Mac

I don't have a meeting I want to get this started going to do this we're going to make a deal with Aunt Jemima and now she's hurt so make a deal with cars and Jemima and we're going to get his company back and I guess I'm going to eat sugar so we can change it and he wants to do it too he knows his friend means business Justin will have to be there for a fact give me a store assistant manager well one of the managers of the company

Joe m

I'm going to help fund it and I'm going to get it going and I'm going to order those stores for the pancake houses this is tiring you can't get a meal anywhere you can eat and we might use it to my mix but they have to change a little cuz really doesn't help you that much it's got the sugar it's got the flower all of it has a bleach in it and Garth is going to look into it it's probably a bunch of assholes but he says that his people can deliver it until they get them out of there and there's some kind of way to do that it's to put aunt jemima on there and show that the ingredients are different. I'm going to go ahead and pencil I didn't I'm going to meet with these guys I'm sick of this s*** and so many idiots

Ben Arnold

I need to come through for us it's a little late and I see your pinned down and these guys are beat up to hell and they beat us up because of their stupid s*** you got any of those two away from him and at least mention the meeting and probably should he says and yeah. Except the condolences from you guys this is terrible

Garth

[ragingbookdragon]

I'm Only A Crack In This Castle Of Glass (Hardly Anything Else I Need To Be) PT. 2

Batfamily x Batsis Story!

Word Count: 2.7K Warnings: Explicit Language and Angst!

Author's Note: It's amazing how much one can write when they've got a story to tell, eh? Enjoy! -Thorne

Set Three Years After PT. 1:

Life for her revolved around work in the A.M. and community college in the P.M. If she wasn’t brewing cappuccinos and baking apple turnovers, she was writing research papers and taking physics exams. It was hectic and it was hard, much harder than anything she’d done, but it was her life, and she was going to make the best of it. The money she’d taken from her savings account had only lasted her long enough to get a decent one bedroom one bathroom apartment in a small complex and the rest went towards tuition. The coffee shop two blocks from her building had fortunately been looking for a new hire when she arrived, and she took the chance where it was, not going to look the gift horse in its mouth.

The life she lived now was a complete 180 from her old one. Back then, she didn’t have to work (though she did at a high-end department store in the mall—her father got her the job but at least she had one) and there wasn’t anything she couldn’t get with a swipe of a credit card. Now she was on a budget that consisted of five and ten tips and the last time she actually bought a new pair of shoes over a hundred dollars had been last year when she needed them for an interview, and even then, it cost her a limb.

Everything was so different, but she didn’t want to go back, preferring to be on her own and away from Gotham. From the newspapers and media, her family had convinced the world that she’d taken a few years to go overseas and spend time in Europe. A mental reprieve, they’d called it. Partially true if she was honest, but she wasn’t going to open her mouth about it lest they learned where she was. She didn’t go through all that trouble to be found within three years.

“Melisandre.”

Maybe I should move again?

“Melisandre?”

Moving would take a long time but it would be effective.

“Melisandre!”

Someone grabbed her arm over the counter, and she jerked with a start, eyes widening as she finally realized someone was standing in front of her.

“Barry?” she asked, and he smiled.

“Finally,” he snorted. “I’ve been calling your name for like ten minutes now.”

She felt a flush creep along her cheeks, and she smiled apologetically. “Sorry, I was thinking about something. Usual?” she murmured, marking a disposable coffee cup with a marker.

Barry nodded with understanding and handed her a credit card. “I hear you. How’s studying going for that physics exam?” His blue eyes darted to the science book she had sprawled over the counter.

“It’s going,” she muttered and turned, starting to mix together his latte. “I still can’t get the thermodynamic laws down. They’re a bit confusing.”

“Yeah, it’ll take a while. You know if you need my help, all you gotta do is ask, right?”

Shrugging, she glanced at him as she poured. “You’re a busy man, Barry. I can’t have you trying to help me while trying to solve cases too.”

Barry chuckled and accepted the freshly poured latte. “I’m an excellent multitasker, Melisandre. Besides, you don’t have to worry about it messing with my work.” She opened her mouth to retort but he cut her off. “Seriously, shoot me an email about whatever questions you’ve got, and I’ll take a look at ‘em, okay?”

Her eyes narrowed warily, and she inquired, “You’re sure it won’t interfere? I’d hate for you to get in trouble for working on non-work-related things.”

“I promise, Melisandre,” he smiled and accepted a bag of apple turnovers too. He couldn’t help but pull one out and bite into it, letting out a delighted noise. “God, what do you put in these things? They’re phenomenal.”

She giggled and winked as he handed her a twenty. “A baker never reveals her secret, but if you really want to know, I use a little vanilla extract.”

Barry shook his head with a chuckle and started making his way to the door. “See you later, Melisandre!”

Waving at him, she called, “Bye Barry! Take care!”

Just as he opened the door, he stopped and spun around, suddenly asking, “Hey, what are you doing tomorrow?”

Blinking, she glanced at the physics book then back to him. “Well, I was going to be studying for the exam…why?”

“My nephew is in town and I wanted to introduce him to you. I’ve already mentioned you a bunch of times and he wants to meet you.”

Her face pinched. “Barry Allen, what did you tell that poor boy?”

He stuck his tongue out at her. “That there’s a lonely college student who has no friends but has the greatest baking abilities in the world.”

“I cannot believe you told him I had no friends! Why!”

“You don’t.”

“Well, yeah! But still! You don’t just tell someone that! It makes me seem like there’s something wrong with me!”

Barry waved a hand. “Relax. Wally’s the least jerky person you’ll meet.” He smiled. “You’ll like him.”

She frowned. “I still don’t think this is a good idea, Barry.”

“Why not?”

“Well, he’s here to see you and your wife, not come meet the person who feeds your apple turnover addiction.”

The blonde’s cheeks turned a dark shade of crimson and he spluttered, “It is not an addiction!” he spun around and marched through the door. “I’ll send him over tomorrow! Bye!”

And he left before she could even say a word.

***

It had to be hieroglyphics. It was either that or some ancient cuneiform he’d recently taken up interest in, because there was no way whatever he’d written on the paper was English.

She cocked her head to the side, muttering, “Jesus Christ, Barry, did you write this on a caffeine bender? Your writing is like chicken scratch.” She tipped her head to the other side trying to decipher it when someone leaned over her shoulder.

“Which problem do you need help on?” they asked, and she pointed to the sheet.

“I have no idea what that says.” She turned and saw a red-haired stranger. “If you think you can, be my guest.”

He took it and read over it a moment, green eyes scanning over the page then he said, “Let’s see, he wrote first, ‘The third law of thermodynamics states that the entropy of a system at absolute zero is a well-defined constant. This is because a system at zero temperature exists in its ground state, so that its entropy is determined only by the degeneracy of the ground state.’”

Pausing, he scanned it again and added, “Then he marked a note beside it and wrote, ‘In simplistic terms, if an object reaches the absolute zero temp. of (0 K = -273.15C = -459.67°F), its atoms will stop moving. In other words, at absolute zero, the entropy of a perfectly crystalline substance is zero.’”

Glancing at her, he smiled. “Make sense now?”

She huffed and nodded, taking the sheet back. “Yeah, thanks. I don’t even know how you managed to get all that from his writing.”

He nodded. “Yeah, Barry’s handwriting is deplorable.”

Her eyes went wide, and she immediately questioned, “How did you?”

Sticking a hand out, he greeted, “Wally West. I’m Barry’s nephew.”

Shaking his hand, she couldn’t help but laugh. “I can’t believe he actually told you to come up here and meet me.” A smile came across her lips. “I’m Melisandre Hale.”

“That’s a pretty name, Melisandre.”

“Thank you,” she grinned and waved him to one of the bar-stools on the adjacent side of the counter. “Have a seat and I’ll get you something to eat and drink.” As she slid behind the counter, she inquired, “Anything specific?”

Wally stared at the bored, offhandedly mentioning, “Barry said something about apple turnovers that could make you cry with joy, so I’ve gotta have one of those.” His evergreen eyes met hers. “Maybe two if I’m being honest.”

She grunted, but a grin crossed her lips, nevertheless. “Barry exaggerates a lot, Wally. They’re good, but they’re not mind-blowingly good.”

“Then I guess that leaves me to be the judge,” he countered with a smirk. “What should I drink?”

She thought for a moment then offered, “Have any judgments about drinking before five o’clock?”

He let out a startled laugh and shook his head. “It’s five o’clock somewhere.”

With a grin, she turned and started working her magic and a moment later, she was sliding a plate with two iced apple turnovers over along with a clear steaming mug of dark coffee with cream on top. She leaned her hip on the counter and watched him pick up one of the apple turnovers and take a bite.

Immediately his eyes went wide, and he exclaimed, “Holy shit.” He gaped at her. “This is delicious, Melisandre!”

Despite herself, her cheeks warmed, and she gave him an easy smile. “Thanks, Wally.” She nodded to the crystal mug. “Try the Irish coffee.”

He did so and tossed his head back, letting out an exaggerated groan that had her laughing until her stomach hurt. Wally was on his second turnover and he looked at her.

“You’ve gotta open up a bakery or something, Melisandre. Your pastries are awesome.”

She huffed and took the plate from him as he finished the last bite. “Let me get through college first and then I’ll wonder how to rack up enough to open a shop.”

“What are you studying?”

Pausing, she tossed a quick glance at him. “There’s no specification right now. I’m just doing general studies to get all the basics out of the way.” She put the dish in the sink and started rinsing it. “I’m at the four-C right now.” His brows pulled together, and she added, “Central City Community College.”

He snapped his fingers. “Right! It’s been a while since I went to the four-C.”

Her eyes found his and she curiously asked, “Did you go there?”

“Yeah, a few years back.”

“You don’t look that much older than I am. How old are you, Wally?”

He sipped his coffee and set it down as he replied, “I turned twenty-eight a month ago.”

“Happy belated birthday,” she smiled, and he gave her one in return.

“Thanks. How about you?”

“I turned twenty-one a few months ago.”

“Hmm, happy belated birthday to you as well.” He grinned, quipping, “How’s it feel to finally be able to legally do all the things you were doing before you turned twenty-one?”

She shot him a look. “Shame on you, Wally West, for assuming I was doing illegal things.” He chuckled and she shrugged. “But to answer your question, it feels great, so thanks.”

Wally snorted at that. “My best friend and I got absolutely hammered on our twenty-firsts and swore to never drink hard liquor again after we woke up in the bathroom in our underwear after passing out on the floor.”

A shudder passed over her at her own memory of waking up beside the toilet after her birthday celebration with a bottle of white rum. She cocked a hand up with her water bottle in it. “Here, here,” she toasted and took a sip as Wally raised his coffee and drank too.

She glanced at him. “Are you in school, or are you done?”

“I finished a while ago. I work out of a tower with a group of friends in Manhattan.”

For a moment, her eyes drifted to the simple pair of jeans and graphic shirt he was wearing. She lived in the upper area of Gotham and she knew what uptown Manhattan was like, and it wasn’t jeans and t-shirts.

Evidently, he did too because he scowled, “I have suits and ties, thank you very much.”

She snorted and took the empty mug from him. “I didn’t say anything, Wally.”

“You made a face.”

“Is a face a ground to be hostile?” she grinned. “I was just wondering what type of business in Manhattan ran on flash t-shirts and skinny jeans.” She eyed him. “Tech?”

He shrugged. “It’s…a bit of everything if I’m being honest.” It sounded like he didn’t exactly want to say, and she let it be, rinsing out his cup before setting it to dry.

A buzz sounded and she felt for her phone when he said, “That’s mine.” Wally pulled his phone out, read the message, and stood up. “I’ve gotta go, Melisandre.”

She nodded and took the twenty-dollar bill he handed her, waving her off when she tried to hand back the change. As he started towards the door, she called, “Wally?”

He turned on his heel and waited and she felt foolish for saying it, but she admitted with warmth in her cheeks, “It’s been a while since I had any semblance of a friend…so thanks for this afternoon.”

Wally gave her a pearly white grin. “Barry said you’d say something like that,” he chuckled as she scowled and he added sincerely, “Can never have too many friends, Melisandre…and I hope you’ll become a great one of mine. So far, you already are.”

She smiled, “Same here, Wally.” The bell signaled his exit and she let out a heavy sigh as her heart warmed in her chest at the feeling of a newfound friendship.

***

She was dead on her feet when she finally got through her front door and into her living room, practically collapsing onto the couch. Though it wasn’t far from the truth as she flopped down and toed off her shoes, heaving a long and winded sigh as she stared at the dark ceiling. She wanted to turn on the lamp on the table beside her, but she didn’t want to move. Hell, she barely wanted to get up and take a shower, so she didn’t go to bed sweaty.

Just a moment. She thought. Just a moment to close my eyes and I’ll get up and go shower.

Of course, the second the shut them, she was opening them to her phone telling her it was two A.M. She groaned and picked herself off the couch to shuffle into her bedroom, and when she got there, she peeled off the clothes from her body and let them fall, not caring about the hamper just a foot away. She’d do it tomorrow after class.

The shower was quick, and she crawled into bed a few minutes later, glancing out the window at the stars that were still in the night sky. Even if she tried to avoid thinking about it, she couldn’t, and her mind drifted to when she was a young girl and would stare out the window in her bedroom back in Gotham, watching the spotlight come alive and paint the silhouette of the bat symbol against the night sky.

She missed them. She missed them a lot. Missed eating meals at a full table and the laughter in the manor. Hell, she even missed being ignored, because at least then she could see familiar faces every day. Now, it was wake up, go to work, go to class, then come home. And the process repeated every morning. She was alone in a city where she didn’t know anyone except for one forensic scientist and his wife, going to a college that didn’t even have her real identity. She’d not even said the name “(Y/N) Wayne” out loud for fear that someone with super hearing would hear her and tell her father, instead going by “Melisandre Hale”, a twenty-one-year-old born and raised Central City citizen going to community college. It pained her to admit, that with her decision to grant herself the freedom she desired, it came with a heavy price, and that was the loneliness. And it was worse compared to what it was like back then.

Sighing, she rolled over and pulled the covers up over her head, hoping that when she shut her eyes, she’d stop thinking about what she left behind. Unfortunately, the universe and her mind were never kind, and as she drifted to sleep, she saw the pained faces of her family.

[tastesoftamriel]

So you know how it's human nature to do really stupid shit just to see what our bodies will let us get away with, including dumb food challenges? What kinda dumb extreme food challenges do the people of tamriel get up to?

I'm of the belief that stupidity extends to all things, right down to food itself. While I strongly suggest not trying any of these challenges yourself, you're always welcome to watch people making a fool of themselves by doing...

Altmer

The prim and proper High Elves don't so much participate in dumb food challenges, but they are competitive when it comes to their food and wine. Gastronomy gurus in Summerset often "duel" each other with blind tastings to demonstrate one's superior palate, from types of rice to extremely specific vintages. It's pompous, pretentious, and downright ridiculous to an oafish nebarra like myself, but as a chef, I can say they're arses.

Argonians

Black Marsh is home to a whole host of delicious seafood, but Argonians like to test their luck with what they call Sithis' Kiss, made from the flesh of the poisonous Michinitl. The fish is served raw, and sliced thinly with expert precision. While preparing the fish properly removes the dangerous toxins, unskilled chefs have unintentionally killed many a tourist and fellow Argonian alike with this dish.

Bosmer

The Wood Elves are brilliant hunters, but sometimes take things a little far in the name of a meal (unthrappa being a case in point). There's a common saying that the more dangerous the catch, the better the meat tastes, and this has led some to participate in ridiculous, and at times disastrous hunts. One story that haunts me is a hunting party that accidentally led a wild timber mammoth through a village, where it gored an old woman and grievously injured many others. Pick on something your own size!

Bretons

Rivenspire hosts an annual competition where a huge prize wheel of sharp Northpoint cheese is rolled down a very steep hill, and Men and Mer alike roll themselves after it to the finish line. The first to reach the bottom of the hill wins the cheese, but injuries aplenty occur during the cheese race- I will personally stick to buying my Red Northpoint from the store!

Dunmer

For some reason, the Dark Elves quite enjoy eating live things, and sometimes with dire consequences. It has been a trend on Vvardenfell to catch small octopuses, which are served live with a dip of salty saltrice sauce, pickled comberry, and saltrice vinegar. As you can imagine, the application of sauce generally incites rage in the octopus, which will sometimes choke its eater to death from inside the esophagus. Please don't do this, and eat your food dead.

Imperials

Wine is one of Cyrodiil's major exports, and the Province is swimming in it- literally. Wine-diving is a sport where a bunch of grapes are tied to the bottom of a vat of wine, and contestants must swim to the bottom and bring the grapes back to the surface with their teeth alone. The winner is whoever does this is the shortest time. As the hands are often tied behind the back to prevent cheating, this game has also led to a boozy demise for a few poor souls, who presumably died doing what they love: being submerged in wine.

Khajiit

It's no secret that Elsweyr cuisine is often loaded with chilis, and the Khajiit love challenging themselves and their guts with increasingly spicy chili eating contests. Participants are each given a glass of milk with moon sugar and are given up to ten different levels of fiery Oblivion to pass through. You don't normally win a prize beyond being known as that crazy jeek who can breathe fire, but it's a reputation that might just be worth the pain (not that I'll ever come close to winning).

Nords

You've heard about the famed eating contests of Skyrim, but do you really know about it? Participants starve themselves for days before the contest, or stretch their stomachs by gorging themselves, or just have naturally voracious appetites. There are only two rules: no throwing up, and no cheating, especially with magic. Everything else is in the hands of Ysmir the second you take a bite of turkey thigh. Only the truly gluttonous will win an eating contest among Nords. Attempt at your own discretion.

Orcs

The tuskiest of Orcs often step up to the plate when it comes to eating dangerously, but at the expense of one's teeth. While it's not common, bored Orcs have been known to challenge each other to chewing and swallowing increasingly hard foods, like tough jerky to whole solid dried bonito blocks. Unless you have teeth of steel and a stomach of malachite, it's not advisable to attempt this.

Redguards

The Alik'r is home to many dangerous creatures, including vipers and giant scorpions. Some crazy Redguard once upon a time mixed the venom from these two creatures, poured it into a glass with a shot of double rum, drank it...and survived. Many others have not been so lucky. While this dangerous drink has been decried by the law for years, you can't stop people from doing dumb things when they've really set their minds to it!

[platypanthewriter]

Hook Possum 1/4

Art by @monsdasarah​ for Harringrove Big Bang!

Steve had told the manager of Camp Butternut Springs every year of his life that the mildewed, papier-mache-masked, six-foot-tall opossum mascot was terrifying.  The mask was chipped and patched, fixed with different colors of gray over the mangy glued-on fur.  Its long, stained rat tail had drug through the red camp dirt for decades, and by the summer of 85, the dirty thing looked like it had been dyed with blood.

Hook Possum looked more like a zombie than a possum, with its mesh eyes staring in their ragged, uneven sockets, its lovingly molded teeth half broken off and stained with grime.  Inexplicably—but later, retroactively, mythologized by a ton of camp folklore—it had a hook hand off a pirate costume, gleaming in the sun.

Every goddamn year the goddamn manager had the goddamn Hook Possum outfit on some poor camp counsellor, out greeting campers—the goddamn moron—and every fucking goddamn year one of the already-homesick and worried new campers burst into sobs at first sight of the horrifying thing.  Steve wondered whether the manager was actually in the huge, blank-eyed Hook Possum costume this year, like a prick, because it was even bigger than usual—as tall as Steve, with its ripped ratty ears, and broad-shouldered in a way Steve suspected wasn’t padding.

The hook hand didn’t exactly help.

Steve grabbed the first wailing child he saw around the waist, then two more, and stomped over to the damn possum.  “Here, look, Hook Possum’s not scary,” he said, and they all screamed, because it was so clearly a lie.  

Hook Possum, somewhat to his credit, dropped to a crouch, his shoulders hunched, and Steve thought maybe it wasn’t the manager, just some poor camp counsellor that got roped in, because the manager probably would have roared like a lion—just for fun—and the kids would have wet themselves all over Steve’s lap.  

“Hook Possum just lives here!” Steve told the screaming infants he was holding.  “If you get scared at night,” Steve shouted over their desperate wailing and struggles, “—away from home?  Hook Possum is here to keep you safe.  Right?”

Whoever was playing Hook Possum flinched, and its creepy head jerked around to look at him.

“HELP!” shrieked the kid under his arm, his voice nasal, because he was holding his nose against Hook Possum’s fug of mildew and B.O.

“Nobody has ever yet been murdered by Hook Possum,” Steve gritted out.  “Right?!” he prompted the moron in the mascot suit again, nudging a fur-suited leg with his shoe.  “Hook Possum is like a...camp guardian!  Right?”

Hook Possum stared at his face, which was chilling—after Steve’s first visit to Camp Butternut Springs, Hook Possum had featured in every one of Steve’s childhood nightmares, and the costume was even worse after nearly two decades of wear—but Steve was as tall as the thing now, and he set his jaw.  

“Hook Possum is friendly, right,” he growled, and Hook Possum gave a jerky nod, making a weird choking noise, like maybe it had already eaten a couple of kids.

“Y-ye-ahssss,” the thing hissed, and Steve was tempted to push the whole mess, including the person inside, under a bus.  “Safe as houses,” said the possum, just as strangled-sounding, but it was better than staring silently, so Steve grinned ruefully at the kids, who were quieting as they realized they weren’t murdered—not yet, anyway.  

“You’ll get used to Hook Possum,” he said cheerfully.  “We all do.  Eventually.” 

It had occurred to Steve one night when he was fourteen, and firmly over his terror of Hook Possum, that the perfect cover for an actual serial killer would be a terrifying full-body costume everyone was trying to ignore.  He and Tommy had followed the costume around every time it had someone in it, looking for suspicious behavior.  Years later, he’d donned it himself, and for the first time in his life didn’t fear getting murdered by Hook Possum.  He only worried he might die of heatstroke in padded fur boots, gloves, and a bodysuit in July in Indiana, except for a few startling glimpses of himself in the mirror over the sinks.  

His suggestion every week in the suggestion box was still ‘burn the Hook Possum costume and bury the ashes under a rock’, though, because he was a rational human being who understood what needed to be done.

When he’d talked Robin into applying with him at the camp instead of the video store, he’d snuck the costume on and leaned into her cabin.  She’d screamed satisfyingly, and nearly killed him with an oar.  She’d argued for burying the ashes of Hook Possum in seven different locations around the US, lest it rise again, and they’d put that in the suggestion box, to no response whatsoever.

 It was pretty obvious the current Hook Possum wasn’t used to the cheerful voice necessary to offset its...everything, so Steve did his best.  “Are you guys telling me you’re afraid of possums?” he teased, and the littlest kid, a girl, reached out and lightly batted its nose.  The smell of cigarettes wafted up.  

“I’m afraid,” said the boy, thickly, and Steve nodded slowly, feeling nothing but respect for a smart child.

“Hook Possum protects you guys,” he told them, sitting them on their feet.  “From whatever, you know, else.”

“What could be out there,” the scared boy whispered, his eyes widening, “—that’s worse than—”

“...yeah,” said Hook Possum, in a weird squeaky voice like a Disney mouse.  “Yeah, that’s what I’m here for, I’m here to protect you guys from...nightmares?” he suggested, glancing at Steve, who shrugged, nodding, because it was a pretty good idea.

“You’re soft,” said the littlest kid, grabbing one of the other snifflers by the wrist, and shoving it into Hook Possum’s fur.

“You stink,” said the boy, and Steve elbowed him.

“I’m a possum,” hissed Hook Possum, and the kid nodded.  

“That makes sense.”

Steve muffled his laughter, but he was pretty sure the possum heard, because his crooked, whiskery mask jerked up, and his terrifying mesh eyes stared into Steve’s soul.  He smelled like long winters in a damp shed, and cigarettes, and B.O.— because it was worn every year in the summer in Indiana—but the smallest kids were gathering around and asking questions about possums, and Steve had to call upon his knowledge from years past, and explain things like how possums were too awesome to get ticks.  

Hook Possum listened intently—or maybe just glared at him, smoke drifting from its eye mesh—until Steve was a little annoyed, and mentioned that mother possums carried babies around on their backs.  That was probably way too mean, because the whole horde of children grabbed hold of Hook Possum’s every appendage, and he flailed his hook only once before vanishing in the giggling pile.  

“Here, here, no—” Steve yelped, unable to watch a human being consumed by piranha, and he reached into the laughing, yelping pile and hauled Hook Possum up by the arm, dusting him off.  Two small children dangled from his other arm, and one had him around the neck.  “You have to be nice to Hook Possum!” Steve told them.  “Who’s he gonna stay up protecting, huh?  The kids who’re nice to him, or the little, uh, cusses that knee him in the...shins?”

“...the nice ones,” came a small, grumbly voice from one of the criers, and “Probably the nice ones,” from a little girl who sighed heavily, and another kid just said, “Fine.”  The dude in the possum suit just panted against Steve’s shoulder for a second, and Steve let him, familiar with getting dogpiled by small children with weaponized knees.  

“...jesus,” came a faint whisper from in the possum suit, and Steve pinched him, even though he was grimacing with sympathy.  He lifted the kids off Hook Possum—once the littlest ones had decided he was safe, they tried to drag him around and show everyone how brave they were—and the human in the suit tried to wipe his face, or something, and smacked his hook-hand into the head of his costume.  He sighed, and Steve squeezed his shoulder, and patted his back, ushering the kids away.

“What are you doing here,” Hook Possum wheezed, as Steve pushed him back to sit on one of the picnic table benches.  “What are you doing here,” he repeated, sounding bewildered.

“My dad owns the place,” Steve said in a low voice, as the littlest boy ran back to the buses, screaming about how he’d met Hook Possum, and Robin and Nancy looked over, resigned.  “That’s why it pays so well.  We went to him and told him he could have a staff that would work hard, or he could have three underpaid girls who want it on their resume for becoming teachers, and the second week they’d all have nervous breakdowns.  Why, do...do I know you?” he asked, narrowing his eyes at the blank mesh eyes, and trying to place the weird squeaky voice.

Hook Possum nodded slowly, but Steve was pretty sure he was still staring.  Maybe it was just the mesh eyes.  “...oh,” he said quietly.  “Your...dad.  Owns...it.”

“Yep,” Steve said, shrugging.  “I mean, he owns the company that owns a bunch of camps, you know, but—anyway, you’ve never been a counselor before, right?  I can show you around, if you want.  What’s your name?  How d’you know me?”

Hook Possum stared at him some more, and then said, even higher, like Mickey Mouse, “He’s, like, the owner’s boss?” he asked weakly.  “...name’s Hook Possum.”

“What the fuck,” Steve muttered, staring back into the mesh eyes, but then he saw Robin’s arm fly up as she was consumed in a wave of children, and he clapped Hook Possum on the shoulder and ran off.  

 He saw the guy later, too, still in the costume, even though it was July in Indiana.  He was talking to Max Mayfield, so Steve wandered over.  “You need some help getting out of that?” he offered, because nobody would stay in a horrible hot stinking furry sweat bag by choice.

“No,” said Hook Possum, too quickly, and Max groaned into her hands.  

“Uh,” said Steve, who was starting to wonder if they’d found some possum-obsessed weirdo for a counselor.  “You must...really like possums.”

Max burst into giggles, laughing harder than Steve had ever seen her, and Hook Possum’s long face swung to look at her, then at Steve, then back at her, and then he stomped away.  Because the costume had big, dirty, saggy fur paw-booties, he had to lift his feet high, like a cartoon, and Steve started snickering too.

Hook Possum hunched his shoulders, and scuttled around the edge of one of the cabins, out of sight.  

“Oh my god,” Max cackled.  “He’s finally found his true identity!  Trash rat.”

“Is...is that...Billy,” Steve asked, the thought of Billy Hargrove, camp counselor, hauling off and punching kids, or murdering them, suddenly much less funny.  “What—isn’t he back in Hawkins?!  How’d he get here?!”

“Uh, no!  No, no,” Max said quickly, grimacing and waving her hands.  “Definitely, um, not, no.  It’s, ah, he lives on my street.  He’s, um, saving money to move out.”

“Oh,” Steve said, relieved.  

“The pay’s really good here,” Max explained, too fast.  “—and, uh, mmmm...hiiiis dad’s kinda shitty, so he needs money to get out of his house.”

“Well, he should be able to,” Steve told her, giving her two thumbs-up so she’d make a face.  “We’re practically all seniors, that’s what a lot of us are doing, that or paying for college.”

“...yeah,” Max sighed.  “He can...move away.  Finally.”

“Sounds like you’ll miss him,” Steve said, grinning at her, “—he the brother you never had?”

“...yeah, he um.  He sort of is,” she said, swallowing, and Steve patted her shoulder gingerly.  

“Uh,” he said cautiously, “Um, you...you know you can always give me a call, right?”

“Thought you had kind of a problem with my family,” she sighed, and he shook his head.  

“I’ve got no problem with you.”

“...yeah, that’s what we thought,” Max muttered, maybe, and Steve frowned at her.  “Go away,” she told him, sighing, “It’s fine.”

 They got everybody sorted into cabins, and Steve saw Hook Possum ducking into a bunk in the counselor’s cabin.  He stared for a long moment, watching the enormous possum negotiate its tail and its creepy, vacant-eyed mask and lie down on the lower bunk.

“It’s hot as Satan’s asshole in here,” he groaned.

“...what are you doing,” Steve hissed.  “They cannot be paying you enough to stay in that thing.  There is not enough money in the world to stay in that thing for more than a couple hours.”

“Ah, fuck,” said Hook Possum, sitting up and smacking his head on the upper bunk.  “Shit fuck,” he groaned, “—I can’t see in this thing—”

“Then take it off,” Steve told him, sitting next to him on the bunk and reaching in to feel for the ties behind the guy’s neck, but Hook Possum grabbed Steve’s hand, scrambling back.  

“No!  No, uh,” he stopped, then tried again.  “I need the money,” he said softly.  “I need it—”

“Okay, okay, did you agree to some—some massive bonus bullshit to keep this damn costume on?  Because you’re gonna die of heatstroke in there,” Steve told him.  “I don’t care how much he offered you, you can’t wear that thing all summer—”

“No, I did, I agreed to—to bonus bullshit to keep the damn costume on,” Hook Possum whispered, the fingers in his paw-glove squeezing Steve’s arm, hard.  “I can’t take it off.  He’s—he’s giving me a huge bonus.”

“Fuck,” Steve breathed.  “You’re gonna die in there, I’m not kidding.  You can stay in the shade, or—and we can bring you ice, lots of ice, you could try an ice pack on your neck—”

“I need this job,” the guy said, and Steve nodded, letting him go.

“Okay, okay.  We’ll figure this out, but if the manager comes out, I’m kneeing him in the balls, because—”

“No!  I need the money,” Hook Possum hissed, the weird cartoony voice even odder in a serious conversation.  

“Jesus,” Steve said, sighing.  “Okay.  I’m gonna check in with you, alright?  If you start to keel over, I’m taking it off, we’ll figure out something to tell the manager.”

“Don’t take it off,” said Hook Possum, like he was the last soldier holding the line, and Steve got caught up in it, like a moron.  

“I’m not leaving you in there,” he said, like the trenches were getting shelled.  “I’m not letting anyone die in a possum costume,” he said, to remind himself they weren’t at D-Day.  Hook Possum sighed, his shoulders slumping as he growled.  “And you can’t sleep in that thing, jesus,” Steve said,  “At least change at night.”

“You’d—somebody’d see me,” Hook Possum said, and Steve shook him, a little.  

“We aren’t possum spies, nobody’s gonna tell.”

“How do I know you’re not possum spies,” Hook Possum hissed back, and Steve started snickering.

“Okay, okay, um, curtain?  What about a curtain, we’ll just staple it up here and nobody’ll see your, uh, late night transformation.”

“Oh,” said Hook Possum, snickering a little, like he did realize how ridiculous it all was, and looking around.  “That...might work.”

“Gonna transform out of your outfit like a shitty Cinderella,” Steve sighed, and Hook Possum laughed harder.  “You’re gonna have to shower in the dead of night,” Steve told him.  “I’ll let everybody know it’s just, y’know, just our resident possum.  Creeping around.”  He started laughing again, and Hook Possum elbowed him.  “How are you gonna eat?”

“Shouldn’t be feeding the wildlife in the cafeteria anyway,” Hook Possum pointed out.  “There are signs everywhere.”

“...you know you’re a human, right,” Steve told him, trying not to giggle.

Hook Possum shook with laughter against him.  “I’ll just climb into a trash can and knock it over at three am.  It’s the way of my people.”

“Oh my god,” Steve wheezed.  “I’m gonna get in trouble for feeding the wildlife and letting a possum nest in here, aren’t I?  I’ll sneak you burgers, I promise.”

“Why,” Hook Possum laughed, edging away.  “It’s not your problem, Harrington—”

“Hey, Max likes you, you’re part of the weirdo family we got going on,” Steve said, clapping the guy’s shoulder, and the possum mask swung towards him again.

“...does she?” he asked, snorting softly.

“She does,” Steve confirmed.  “She said.”  Hook Possum stared like a creepy puppet, and Steve was unable to resist reaching up and patting the dusty, greasy fur between the costume ears.  “You’re one of us, now.”

“...once you feed wildlife, it can create a dependency,” Hook Possum said, batting Steve’s hand away, but he was laughing audibly now.  “I read that in a flyer.”

“I can’t believe they handed a possum a flyer about possums,” Steve said, and Hook Possum snorted.

“Right?  Like who the fuck deals with wildlife by handing them flyers, what a moron.”

“I didn’t know possums could read,” Steve said, and Hook Possum kicked at him, completely missing.  “What a smart possum you are.”

“Fuck you, if I could see in this thing—” 

“Oooo, you gonna murder me with your little—your plastic pirate hook hand?” Steve asked, and Hook Possum laughed harder, letting himself fall sideways to curl up on the bunk.  

“Fuck you,” he mumbled again, wheezing with laughter.

Steve wondered who he was—whether he’d defended Max from Billy, or just showed her some skateboard tricks.  Whether he was younger, maybe—Steve didn’t know most of the freshmen—and what he’d look like in about ten minutes when he gave up on the incredibly stupid idea of living in a possum suit for the whole damn summer.

 Steve got hauled into setting up the welcome dinner, sitting the tables out, and putting cleanish rocks on the stacks of napkins to keep them from blowing away.  Hook Possum was useless at it—he nearly dropped the plates, and then bumped into a table because he couldn’t see, almost overturning it, and finally Steve put both hands on his furry possum shoulders and walked him over to a group of smaller kids who were milling around, bored by the orientation speech.

As he wandered by later, he heard Hook Possum telling them “Possum Facts.”

“Possums are gonna be the next police dogs,” he was saying, as Steve stared over.  “They’re gonna yell ‘Fly, my pretties!’ and the perp will be overwhelmed by possums.”

“That’s good,” said one solemn little kid, softly.  “I’m afraid of dogs.”

“Hook Possum is here to protect us,” said another one.  “You can find him if you’re scared of dogs.”

The first kid nodded, wide-eyed, and Hook Possum stared at one, then the other.  “...uh, yeeeah,” he said, slowly.  “Sure.”

“He’ll fight the dogs, Robin said,” said the first kid, and Hook Possum’s mask jerked towards her.  

“Wait, what?!” he hissed, and Steve ducked away, smothering snickers.

 Dinner was uneventful, as usual, in that there was so much chaos Steve was deadened to it, automatically reaching in to stop Dustin from using his spoon to catapult peas at Erica Sinclair and starting WWIII.   

He snuck off when he saw Hook Possum tiptoeing away like a stealthy cartoon.  “D’you need me to feed the wildlife?” he asked, and Hook Possum yelped, spinning around, so his tail whipped Steve in the legs.  

“Holy shit,” he panted, in his weird squeaky voice.

“Sorry, forgot you were a possum on the edge, man,” Steve told him, clapping a hand to his shoulder, and Hook Possum started laughing again, cigarette smoke trailing out of the eyeholes of his mask.  Steve watched it.  “...you have no idea how fucking creepy that looks,” he said.  “It’s eerie.”

“Creepier than my big blank eyes?” Hook Possum asked, and Steve wished he could see the expression of the person in the suit—whether it was resigned, or entertained, or what.  

“D’you want me to get you some food?” Steve asked.  “I can’t see you using the tongs, or like...seeing the buffet very well.”

“Also, I’m filthy,” Hook Possum said, raising a dusty paw.  

“That too,” Steve agreed.

“...I can get something later,” Hook Possum said, laughing a little.  

“You still have to eat, man,” Steve told him.  “And drink some water, at least.”

“What’s going on back here,” came Max’s voice, and they both swiveled.  She had a tray in her hands, and her eyes narrowed.

“Harrington was offering to feed the wildlife,” said Hook Possum, and she snorted.

“You’re a camp counselor, set a good example,” she hissed, waving Steve away.  “Didn’t you see the flyers, Steve?  You can’t feed possums.”

“Everyone saw the flyers, they even gave them to him,” Steve said, pointing.  “Possums probably can’t even read.”

“I barely can, in this,” Hook Possum admitted.  “I had to hold it up over my eyeholes.”

“Hrm,” said Max.  “Okay, Steve, go away, Nancy said to tell you you’re on dishes.”

Steve sighed, and left them to it.

 When he was done, he found an old tatty camp flag in the storage shed, half faded and ripped—he remembered somebody getting in trouble, in years past, for leaving it up all winter—and nailed it up over Hook Possum’s bunk with pruny fingers from the suds in the cooking tent.  He put a hook where the grommet could lift it away, in case Hook Possum’s struggles with his mask caught on the fabric, and then stepped back to look at his handiwork just as Robin wandered in.  

“That’s...really something,” she said, raising his eyebrows.  “We all get one of those?”

“No, it’s for the possum guy,” Steve told her, hooking the flag’s bottom corner up to show that the bunk was slightly easier to climb into.  “He’s like...contracted to wear the damn thing 24/7.  He gets a bonus or something.”

“That’s bullshit.  He’s gonna die of heatstroke,” Robin said, and Steve nodded, shrugging.

“That’s what I said.  Anyway, I told him I’d hide the bunk so he didn’t have to, like, lie there in the costume all night.”

“Playing possum,” she snorted, and Steve grinned, imagining the dude in full possum array, sprawled on his back like roadkill.  

“Sexy,” he snorted, and she waggled her eyebrows.

PART ONE | TWO | THREE | FOUR

[scythian-andromache]

the 7-Eleven off I-40

based off this post

also available on [AO3]

Drew has worked at the 7-Eleven off I-40 for three years, and two of those he’s spent on the night shift. It’s a shit job, honestly, but it’s what he’s got to pay the bills while he works at getting his GED (long story) and takes care of his baby brother (even longer story).

He’s seen some weird shit in his time; kids high off a late-night adventure, actual addicts shaking as they bring snacks up to the register, people so drunk they couldn’t walk straight, someone dressed up in a full-on ball gown and feather boa, you name it. He’s been held at gunpoint twice for the contents of the register, and has been cussed out more times than he can count.

So when, at six minutes past two in the morning, a guy that looks like he could be straight out of an action movie—and probably the villain, because he’s vaguely good-looking in a European way—waltzes in with another pissed-off looking guy dressed like a bum, hoodie pulled over his face and grunge jeans and what’s clearly a gun in his back pocket, Drew’s immediate thought is fuck. This is going to be a bad night.  

The two men are clearly arguing about something, but it’s low enough that Drew can’t hear, and he’s not about to approach them to listen in. He hopes desperately that they’re not arguing about how to rob the store.

Then, Action Movie Villain says something that causes Grunge Wannabe to gesticulate wildly, flipping the guy off with a hiss of “connard!” Or maybe Drew misheard, and the guy’s name is Connor. Yeah, that’s probably it.

Connor moves on to examine the display of beef jerky and Grunge is looking at the day-old pastry section, but it feels suspiciously like they’ve fanned out, like they’re casing the place, glancing shiftily around every few moments. Drew is five seconds from typing 911 into his phone and holding his thumb over the call button when the door bursts open again, and two more people tumble in: a women and a man, also in ripped, dirty clothing, and fuck, are those bullet holes in that dude’s jacket, the one soaked in a dark substance that Drew doesn’t want to think about?

The woman—white, thirty-something, looks like she could murder him with her pinky—says something in a language that definitely isn’t English, and Connor and Grunge each snipe something back. Drew tries his hardest to listen in without making it obvious that he’s listening in, and glances down just as Grunge makes another profane gesture in Connor’s direction.

“Calmati, Habibi,” says the man with curly hair and the maybe-bloodstained-jacket to Grunge, and then, “Booker, cut it out,” in English to Connor.

There’s more hushed argument in what Drew thinks might be a different unfamiliar language—and this time, the scary woman says, “Hey!” sharply—and then they’re interrupted yet again by a young black woman entering, with a heaved sigh of “We’re all gassed up and ready. Everyone got their snacks?”

“Not quite,” says Blood Spatter, this time in lightly accented English. “Booker, as I was saying, just let me drive if you think Andy’s so bad at it.”

“You?” snarks Connor—Booker? “The last time I let you drive, you drove us to Bratislava.” Drew takes a moment to wonder where that is. Kentucky? Missouri, maybe? They’ve got some real funny place names there.

“So?” says Blood Spatter, apparently unperturbed.

The man’s eyes almost pop out. “So? We were going to Vienna!” There’s definitely a Vienna in Missouri; he drove through it once.

“Eh, that is barely two marhalah away from Vienna.”

“Sure, except it was the wrong country”—oh, so maybe they’re talking about Europe—“and in the interim the wall went up and we got stuck behind Soviet borders for a MONTH.”

Soviet borders? Drew isn’t particularly up on world affairs, but he’s pretty sure that was like, from the 80s, wasn’t it? None of them look old enough for that, in fact—

“Hi,” says the younger woman brightly, leaning against the counter, and he’s distracted by how pretty she is, the angles of her face and the swirl of her braids. “I was wondering if you had any earplugs.”

She smiles disarmingly, tilts her head as if to say this bunch, huh? and Drew finds himself grinning back, mentally trying to run through the catalogue, remember if they do have any earplugs anywhere.

“I, uh. I don’t think so,” he says.

The woman looks disappointed, but just shrugs. “No biggie. Thanks anyways.”

“Hey, uh—” says Drew, before he can think the better of it. “Do you need any first aid supplies?”

The woman raises an eyebrow and he flushes, gestures vaguely at her midriff where there’s definitely dried blood ringing perfectly circular holes in her shirt.

“Oh,” she says. “Nah, but thanks for checking.” There’s an awkward beat. “Costume party,” she adds, gesturing at herself, like it’s an afterthought.

(There’s been no such party anywhere in the county, or he would have heard about it. In their neck of the woods, it would be a stretch even at Halloween, and it’s currently March.)

He’s considering saying something more, or maybe just shooting his shot—stranger things have happened, right?—when five armfuls of candy and snacks get dumped on the counter.

The older woman sends an icy glare his way, and Drew immediately starts ringing up the purchases, as fast as he can, barely noticing as half of them leave again.

It’s the Booker guy who pays, dropping a bill that looks like play-money on the counter (it says “100€”), before the pretty woman elbows him and swaps it out for a hundred dollar bill, smiling apologetically.  

“Keep the change,” she says, as they sweep up the bags and glide out the door.

Keep the change? This is a 7-Eleven, not a restaurant, and he blinks for a second, stupefied, before running to the door to protest, to tell them that’s not how it works, and also that he’s not supposed to accept any bill denomination above twenty, but there’s a screeching noise, and their car is already disappearing down the road and into the night.

He stands, alone in the empty convenience store, the overhead lights too bright and too harsh as he tries to make sense of what just happened. The hundred dollar bill sits limply in his hand, and he returns to the register to make the correct change and set everything in order.

Drew looks around, wondering, for just a second, if he imagined the entire experience. Everything looks exactly the same. They’ve gone without so much as the slightest indication that they—with their larger-than-life bickering and supposed costumes and strange stories—were ever there, and Drew is suddenly struck by the vague feeling that he just fulfilled a role as an extra in, like, a heist movie. Strange, indeed.

But this is the 7-Eleven off I-40, and sometimes the night shift is just like that.

***

fin.

***

*connard: Nicky has just called Booker a bastard in French, as one does.

*calmati: google translate tells me this means “calm down” in Italian, but what do either of us know?

*Habibi: we all know this one, right? “My love” in Arabic.

*marhalah: an Islamic measure of distance from antiquity, equivalent to roughly 44km, and considered about a village-length. Joe is sort-of correct; the quickest route from Vienna to Bratislava is about 80 km (but the shortest is 67 km).

[foreficfandom]

Mystic Messenger - Their Favorite Gift From MC

-- Zen: Customized Bracelet --

Zen’s sort of an excessive person so he’s almost always the one giving you gifts. He doesn’t want for much and the stuff he does - like skincare products - you used to buy for him but he eventually convinced you to buy it also for yourself so you could do sheet masks together.

When you do buy gifts for him, it can be a bit difficult. His fans send him a bunch of stuff all the time, like baked goods, or fanart, or neckties. He, of course, is a lot happier when you decide to hand him something, but it’s almost never something he’s ever gotten before.

You have to outsource. So you order a custom-stamped leather bracelet from an indie crafter, something he can wear while rehearsing without worrying about it falling off. On the outside, you have ‘I love you’, and on the inside ‘Zen x MC’. 

You give it to him for Valentine’s, his favorite holiday. Zen dedicates the entire day to you and him, and pushes aside the many packages from his fans for later. 

You hand him a little box, and he opens it to gasp dramatically at the bracelet, immediately putting it on and exploring the texture of the leather. The lightly-colored tan matches his complexion perfectly.

First, a kiss for you, then its 904709 selfies with him proudly modeling his gift. It goes on his social media to a slight ruckus, because Zen’s never shown off any gifts he’s gotten before. 

“My love is so thoughtful!!! Such a beautiful bracelet <3333″

Your name isn’t on the outside to maintain privacy, which proves to be a good idea since that picture is circulated like crazy to mixed reactions.

Zen doesn’t care, this is by far the best gift he’s ever gotten. He hugs you tightly and promises to wear it always.

-- Yoosung: Vinyl Laptop Stickers --

You like to buy knick-knacks for each other on occasion. Yoosung’s wallet isn’t packing so he can only get you stuff once and a while, and you return the favor with other little things.

And Yoosung is also kinda already surrounded by little trinkets and other stuff he’s collected on his own. Little figurines and toys from vending machines, plastic reward favors from convenience stores, character-themed pens and mugs and phone charms. 

It can get a little cluttered. His backpack alone is heavily decorated with pinback buttons and enamel pins, and you know he’s home just by the jingling of the many charms hanging off the zippers.

He’s also of a romantic and ‘cute’ mind, so when you give him practical gifts of a headset holder for his gaming desktop, he’s pleased but ... he prefers it when your gifts aren’t quite so banal.

You eventually do some deep surfing for his upcoming birthday, and find this adorable pack of laptop stickers based off of LOLOL characters. These wouldn’t take up anymore of his space, and he could still carry them with him. So during his birthday dinner, you give it to him over cake and he opens it with a gasp. 

“It’s ... oh, it’s so cute! It’s perfect, MC!” He hugs you tightly and immediately has you help him stick them on. 

He uses this laptop for school, bringing it with him on most days, so it was the perfect gift to remember you by. Whenever he opens his laptop in the student lounge, or in class, he sees all those bright colors reminding him of his favorite pastime, but also he thinks of you and how much you love each other.

-- Jaehee: Promise Ring --

You’ve gotten her spice giftboxes for her cooking, a set of cozy loungewear for the both of you, and other cute things she absolutely adores.

But her true favorite? Her engagement ring. A dainty little band that matches yours perfectly. You had proposed to her during a beautiful evening in the park, making her tear up. 

“We’re partners, now,” you said. She gave a watery smile and put her ring on proudly.

South Korea wouldn’t allow marriage between you two, so these rings promised more than a union. It promised a brighter future in the face of adversity. It promised progress in the name of love and equality. 

Jaehee struggles with societal expectations for a woman like her. This ring was like a shield against the worse thoughts, or an anchor during the more tremulous times. She had chosen to pursue you against the world’s wishes, and it was the best decision she’s ever made.

You and her wear the rings 24/7. To an onlooker, it just seemed like the two of you were separately engaged people. But she knows differently. A proud little secret. 

Customers sometimes make comments about them. She’d be ringing them up, and they’ll notice the brilliant white sapphire. “When’s the date?” some have asked. She stammered,  “It’s in the making.” The customer nodded, and wished her a happy union. 

She twists the ring around her finger, looking at you wistfully. It will be a happy union. One day!

-- Jumin: Custom-Made Cologne --

What the heck do you gift the man who could have anything he wanted? Material possessions are never a strain for him. He grew up knowing that any toy, any trinket, any new technology or experience he desired, he would get. He’d ask for ice cream and his father’d purchase an entire chain. 

His current self rarely buys indulgences. He’s had years of being fulfilled already. But he definitely buys gifts for you, almost to ridiculous levels. You can see from the diversity of gifts that he has a reach for any product or merchandise, anywhere at any time. 

When it came time to get him a gift, you had asked the RFA for advice. And everyone was as clueless as you were. Even Jihyun wasn’t sure; the two of them have almost never exchanged gifts throughout the long years of their friendship, since they knew the other was showered in generosity already. 

“You’re gonna have to go custom. Something that can’t be bought,” Zen suggested. So when Jumin announced that he had to go to Birmingham for a business meeting, you came along with him. Which you seldom do, since it’s two days of Jumin being stuck at meetings leaving you to your own devices. But you had a plan.

You looked up a luxury custom perfumery, and with the help of an expert nez you crafted a bottle that would complement him perfectly. On the bottle was a label that said “Love Forever by MC”. 

So for his birthday, he accepted his gift with grace and asked where you bought it. “This bottle doesn’t look like its from Clive Christian, is it? Maybe it’s Dior ...” 

You explained where you got it, and giggled when his mouth dropped open in surprise. He opened it, sniffed, and his smile grew bigger ‘cause it was so much more special now. It was made under your hand, something that will never be replicated. His and his only. 

He loves wearing it to work. It’s so wonderful to be surrounded by a smell that reminds him of you. 

-- Saeyoung: Fingerprint Charm --

He’s a surprisingly complicated man to gift. Like Jumin, he neither lacks nor wants for material needs. Sometimes you’ve given him cute candies or hand-knitted mittens for winter, and meanwhile he’ll give you ridiculously advanced robot cats or he’ll bust out his packing wallet and boom, you’ve got a new Gucci clutch bag.

He kinda knows that he’s hard to gift. So whenever you shyly hand over a six-pack of gag-flavored soda for Christmas or something, he makes a big show of loving it and thanking you with kisses and nuzzles. And he does love it! He’s never had gifts before, not from V or Rika or his co-workers, and definitely not from his mother. Just the thought that someone cared enough to surprise him with trinkets is so heartwarming.

But your anniversary was coming up. It marked the day that Saeyoung’s life turned around a complete 180 for the better. A very important day, one that you couldn’t mark with an exotic beef jerky bouquet or whatever.

One day, while touring a small art fair, you found an indie jeweler who offered custom fingerprint charms. You set up a date to come in and make a mold by pressing your thumb into a block of sand, which was cast into a mold and into which steel was poured. 

You gave it to him over a late-night car ride date. He took the charm out of the little bag and stared at it, you explained what it was. “That’s my very own fingerprint right there. I hope it’s something you can carry with you, and remember me by.”

He was silent for a few long seconds. You saw that his hand was shaking. So you reached over and kissed him, he embraced you tightly and said with a wavering voice, “Thank you.” A sniffle, and he was back to his cheery self. You helped him put it on his keychain, next to his car keys. 

He loves it dearly. Especially when he fingers the print and feels the groves, imagining your hand.

-- Saeran: Sweater --

For a long while, Saeran couldn’t live a proper civilian life and spent many days holed up at home, stuck in an anxious and depressive slump. Any venture outside was an ordeal for him. Bit by bit, through therapy and medication, he regained his confidence.

You found this sweater online, and you knew how much he liked wearing sweaters at home. It had this quote on it that the both of you were familiar with. It had been one of the repeated self-forgiving phrases his therapist suggested. Saeran took to that phrase particularly well. He repeats it in his mind when he feels himself on the verge of a breakdown, and it helps de-escalate. 

You knew you had to buy it. But keeping it secret from Saeran was kinda a challenge because he likes to tour around your internet history when he’s bored. Not for malicious reasons, he’s just curious and wants to know what kind of stuff you like to re-tweet, or what shops you frequent. 

So with Saeyoung’s help, you ordered the sweater under a guise Saeran wouldn’t be able to crack without some effort, and it ended up being a legit surprise when you handed Saeran his gift. 

You watched his eyes trace the quote carefully, and at his fingers tracing the screenprinted flowers. He was quiet for a long while, just exploring the sweater thoroughly.

He can’t remember the last time he’s gotten a gift. Maybe it had been never. His eyes teared up.

You hugged him close and stroked his hair like he said he enjoys. It was almost hard for him to accept this from you; he’d spent years trying to approve others under threat of violence, and he’s rarely gotten to experience true generosity. 

He wears it at least once a week. It’s his absolute favorite article of clothing forever and ever. 

-- Jihyun: Filled Scrapbook -- 

For the holidays, Jihyun had given you a beautiful set of jewelry over dinner, along with a framed photo of yourself that he had taken some time before. He rarely decides to spoil you with his riches, but sometimes the occasion calls for it. 

How can you match up with his generosity? You knew Jihyun would be charmed with whatever you gave him, but you wanted your gift to mean something. 

Once your anniversary began to creep up, you had an idea and began working on your project two weeks in advance - it was going to be a beautiful scrapbook of not just Jihyun’s photos, but also little momentos and decorations on every page, detailing particular moments of your life together up to this point. 

You scoured his instagram, printing out copies onto photo paper and cutting and pasting. You folded within old plane, bus, and boat tickets. There were sightseeing brochures from trips abroad, old restaurant menus, stamps from envelopes he had sent you. You wrote messages and captions with multicolored ink. 

Extra special were the pages dedicated to when the two of you moved into the new apartment together, and when V was officially recovered from retina surgery, and also the first RFA party he co-hosted with you. Some pages touched on more sad subjects.

Finally, you finished the scrapbook just in time for the anniversary, and it was all worth it to see Jihyun completely blown away by the effort you put into it. He spent several minutes on every page, talking them over with you and reminiscing. 

He managed to hold in his tears until the last page, which you kept empty except for a calligraphy script that said, “... and into the beyond.”

[thecandywrites]

Jewel Of The North Part 9

Oh this was so heartbreaking (yet so fun) to write. Am I evil? Yes. Are misunderstandings inevitable? Yes. Can problems be solved by JUST TALKING TO EACH OTHER? Yes. The Tropes. So many tropes. You can’t enjoy the high without getting really low first. 

Again, many thanks to @monstersandmaw​ for sharing ice orcs with me. And because she used hers with Inuit touches, I’ve done the same and please remember I’m from Alaska myself so I have my own experiences that I’m drawing from. And I’m using more Native- Pow Wow elements in my story and I’m trying to do so with as much respect as possible. Please keep in mind this is still a fantasy story. And in a perfect world- we can pretend that genocidal rapist and others like him didn’t destroy the Americas and the original Americans that lived on it. 

Jewel Of The North 

Part 9

After you dropped Noah off at his plane, you took his truck and went to town to get what Sakura needed to mend her outfit and went a little overboard and happily went back to Noah’s house to put everything together and by the time Noah got home, you had made three different outfits for Sakura to wear the next day. 

“Oh my goodness, you’ve been busy.” Noah chuckled when he came home to see you put the finishing touches on the last one to finish it. 

“I have, dinner’s in the crockpot, Sakura and I have already eaten and she’s in the bathtub getting a bath.” You told him as he stopped by the dinner table to see you sowing the last bell to the dress and kissed you sweetly as he passed. 

“Awesome.” He murmured before he set his things down on the kitchen counter before he washed his hands then got a bowl of the stew you made and sat down at the table to eat his own dinner. 

“So do I just show up in my priestess regalia tomorrow?” You asked him. 

“Basically. My mom told me that she already told the council of elders about it yesterday before the family dinner and they’re happy to have you and today they’re setting up a booth for you so you can read tea leaves for anyone else.” Noah informed you proudly. 

“Awesome.” You nodded. 

The next day, you spent most of the early morning getting ready and Sakura ready and you nearly lost your breath when Noah put on his own native regalia and looked very handsome himself and he wore it with such pride as you happily went together as a family to the festival and parked in the vendor’s parking area, it was still morning so everyone was still getting set up for the crowds in the afternoon. Thankfully you had bought a little fold up wagon and Noah had drug Sakura in it so she wouldn’t get her new outfit dirty on the walk in and when you got inside the gates of the area, she finally climbed out of the cart and pulled you to all the vendors who were already set up to get her her favorites which you happily indulged her and even indulged yourself and you were grateful you had gone to an ATM the day before and pulled out a bunch of money to pay for it and even got Noah several gifts as well.

You were the only one there dressed the way you were and it didn’t take long before many were staring at you curiously and you felt the weight of their gaze was heavy upon you. But Noah would not stop introducing you to everyone he knew and it was only a matter of time before you finally got to see his parents and the relief of finally seeing a friendly face was almost overwhelming as you hugged them tight as they did the same.

“We have a problem.” Summer pulled you and Noah aside as Sakura showed off your handiwork to her cousins and uncles and aunts. 

“What’s the problem?” Noah asked. 

“Your sister cut you and Zara off at the knees.” Summer murmured which made Noah growl dangerously. 

“What did she do now?” Noah seethed. 

“She went to the council of elders right after she left the dinner and found Doug along the way and together, they told them the most horrific lies about Zara and why she’s here and proposed for the council to pass a new tribal law among all the clans, that from the moment of the announcement which is supposed to be passed and announced to all the tribal clans tonight- that if any persons moving away from tribal lands for any reason- forfeits their rights to the lands and their rights in the clan. Meaning even if children, who have no say so in where their parents live, that if the parents move, the children also lose their birthrights and if anyone still wants their place in the clan and their inheritance, they will need to move back before the end of the year or they will forfeit everything.” Summer revealed. 

“Oh fuck her, where is she?” Noah demanded. 

“Nowhere to be found. She’s not answering anyone’s calls or texts and she’s not at home or the usual places.” 

“Did you check Doug’s place?” You proposed. 

“Yes we did and both of them seem to have dropped off the face of the world. No one can find either of them. Doug’s ex wife is pissed because she was going to be moving away with her new beau but now she has to reconsider and countless others will too.” Summer revealed. 

“Can I talk to the council of elders? Will they believe anything I say?” You asked. 

“I don’t think so. You’re an outsider and even though you have me and Ukluk and the rest of my family and all of Neena’s family vouching for you, the damage is done and Alorna has already turned them against you and it wouldn’t matter what you said, they’re firm in their beliefs because they had “two witnesses” even though you have dozens of other witnesses to contradict them and because Alorna isn’t here, she can’t be brought in for an account and we can’t argue it without her here to defend herself.” Summer explained. 

“But she maligned me without me being there to defend myself.” You frowned. 

“I know, it’s wrong and it’s not fair.” Summer conceded. 

“I’m gonna kill her.” Noah announced and anger rolled off of him in waves. 

“What can we do?” You asked Summer. 

“Just...try to enjoy the festival.” Summer concluded as you tried to think of a solution. 

“Can you get me to the council. Can we pretend that we don’t know about this? Just let me meet them the way I would have 15 minutes ago when we didn’t know Alorna torpedoed us?” You pleaded with Summer. 

“We can try.” Summer answered. 

“Noah, just hold your tongue. We’re going to try to kill them with kindness.” You suggested as you used what little time there was in traveling to the council’s arena to think of a plan and once there you put on a bright smile and shifted into your priestess persona flawlessly. 

“Greetings, my name is Zarasashasabine Zahnochka Volchitsa Wainswright Kingsley, I’m a priestess of Aura of the Rushaka Order, petite daughter of Manta Olga at Sinai Temple. I’m here on vacation and was invited to this festival by the Kintucks and the Maniiquiks. And to show my appreciation for the invitation, I would like to perform some tea readings not only for the council of elders but for anyone else who wants them and I would like to donate all the proceeds to all the clans in equal portions.” You proposed pleasantly and respectfully. 

“We already read tea leaves ourselves, so we don’t need your services. But we will accept your donations.” Elder Sirmiq answered evenly.  

“Very well.” You nodded before Summer and lsla and their other daughters set you up in a booth they had gotten arranged just for you. Having spent the whole day before preparing it and they were on either side of you, selling fry bread and salmon jerky and all kinds of specialty foods and you had a little booth and a little wheel of numbered tickets, like the kind you would find at a grocery store for the deli department and you had an electric kettle for hot water for your tea. And that’s really all you needed. You would be doing speed readings and you set up little tea cups with generous pinches of tea leaves in each one and thankfully you had a little camp kitchen behind you so you could rinse your tea reading plate. 

You prayed to all the gods, especially Aura to bless you and to give you her spirit in reading the tea leaves correctly and to give you justice and success and to win over minds and hearts and for the council to see the truth of the matter with their own eyes and hear it with their own ears and to believe what they see and what they hear from everyone but Alorna and Doug and anyone else who would mean you harm and for you to have peace and joy and for Noah and Sakura to have peace and joy and you had no sooner said ‘amen’ when you felt peace and were overcome with so much determination. You were going to win them over one by one if you had to. 

“What do you need? And how can I help?” Noah asked before you rummaged through your backpack and found your clipboard before you got a small stack of paper and put it on there and attached your pen via a small chain. 

“I need a helper, I need someone to organize whoever comes. Manage wait times and all that, each reading can be done in about five minutes but it will probably take about ten minutes per person between chit chat and reading it all.” You answered. 

“Consider it done.” Noah took the clipboard and stood at the mouth of the booth

“What can I do to help Mama?” Sakura asked hopefully. 

“Ok so you have the most important job, I have two tea reading plates, when I’m done using one, I need you to take it to the sink and rinse it off really good for me and bring it back to me and set it next to me while I’m reading the next one. Can you do that for me? Now be careful, because this plate is really special.” You instructed her as you set yourself up. 

“You can count on me Mama.” Sakura beamed happily as Sesi set up some chairs for people to use while they waited as you pulled out a black money box and put it next to you and you started it by putting five twenties into it. A twenty for each of the five clans. 

Thankfully your first guest was a repeat customer, Mick of all people. 

“Priestess!” He greeted happily before he gave you a big hug. 

“Oh I’m so happy you stayed for the festival! How do you like it?” Mick asked excitedly. 

“I love it. I set up shop for all of the clan’s benefit, all of the proceeds for today will go to the clans.” You informed him charmingly. 

“Well then let my family be the first to enjoy your blessing. How much are you charging?” He asked. 

“I’m not charging anything, I want everyone who comes to donate what they can and what they want and know that whatever generosity they show the clans, is the same generosity they will enjoy from the gods, specifically Aura.” You answered. 

“Oh who can argue with that.” Mick grinned before you read for everyone in his family and you had not finished with them before more and more of Noah’s clients all came filing in and it became evident that Noah had at least been texting all of them to come and see you which you appreciated and Noah made sure to tell them all the ‘happy news’ that not only were you together and that he hoped that your family and his could join happily and peacefully and be able to spend the flying season in the Arctic Tundra and the winter months in the Great Lakes. And everyone seemed to want to know if you would be coming back and doing this again next year but your answer was simply ‘If I’m invited by the council of elders to be’. 

Noah and yourself happily took all the well wishes and congratulations and Noah encouraged everyone to spread the word and within moments, they followed through and soon you had people lining all around the block of booths and word spread like wildfire and Noah’s list began to get several pages long as many starred in at you eagerly. So much so that even the children of the council of elders came to check it out and be put on the lists and thoroughly enjoyed the experience and assured you that you would be welcome because they themselves would put in a good word for you which you deeply appreciated. You barely got a chance to eat lunch before the call came for the final celebration in the clan’s main hall just after dinner. You took your black box, which by this point had to be emptied several times into your backpack because it kept overflowing. 

And Noah and yourself were happy when you finally turned it all in, you guessed it was in the thousands of dollars and all the clans elders  were gracious in their acceptance of it and you waited a few moments for all of it to be counted before you and Noah got a ticket with the total on it and what each clan would get and you had grossly underestimated it. 

“You could have kept some of it.” Noah noted as you walked through the other food vendors to order something for dinner. 

“Maybe next year, if there is a next year. I did exactly what I came to do. Besides, I’ve been preaching all day that the generosity people show the clans is the generosity the gods will show us and it was important to me to go all in. I don’t do anything half hearted or half assed.” You shrugged as you walked into the great arena and sat down before Noah simply took your hand and kissed the back of it sweetly. 

“I don’t either.” Noah professed. 

“Well with a heart as pure as yours and an ass as fine as yours, you shouldn’t be half-ing anything.” You murmured to him which got him to almost choke on his food before he started laughing. 

“Still want to murder your sister?” You asked after your next mouthful. 

“Uh huh,” He confirmed over his own next mouthful of food. 

“What are we going to do if the law still stands and gets passed? There’s no way I would ever ask Sakura to give up her birthright.” You murmured to him. 

“The end of the year is way too soon for you and your kids though. It’s like jumping from a plane with no parachute for them. Even if the law gets passed, it can get repealed and it can get challenged and I’ll be the first to do so.” Noah professed. 

“There you are,” Summer said as she found you. 

“Zara, you need to come, the council of elders wants to meet with you.” Summer informed you breathlessly. 

“Ok,” you said as you quickly handed your plate to Noah before you got up. 

“I’m coming too.” Noah said before he took your plate and his and put them into the wagon and grabbed Sakura’s hand and followed you to the elder council’s room where all the elder councilors were sitting down with their kids looking particularly perturbed behind them and you made sure to hold your phone in such a way to quietly and discretely record whatever would happen.  

“Greetings elders of the council.” You greeted respectfully as you noticed Isla and Tonrar and Ukluk were also sitting in their spots at the tables set up around the space and even they looked resigned and pissed and you felt the opposition in the air and you wanted to cry because you could feel the proverbial noose around your neck but you had a code of conduct you needed to abide by while in your priestess of Aura regalia. 

“There are those on this council that feel that you should be the first to be told of the new law that just got passed by the council just now, that any persons wishing to leave the Arctic Tundra before the end of the year will forfeit all rights to all lands that are in their natural inheritance by natural birthright. And any persons wishing to join any Arctic Tundra Clan by union of marriage, will also have to do so by the end of the year or any children resulting in such unions will not be seen as natural heirs and therefore will not have any inheritance.” Elder Sirmiq delivered as you held her gaze before she was finished before you simply had to close your eyes and take a breath and silently pray to the gods to give you the strength to accept this as graciously as you could so you wouldn’t make a scene. 

“Are you delivering this verdict to the priestess of Aura that I am in hopes that I will bless this decree?” You asked carefully. 

“No, we don’t need your blessing on it.” Elder Sirmiq sneered haughtily. “Naturally, if you feel this is a slight against you personally, you’re more than welcome to take your donations back.” Elder Sirmiq picked up a check and offered it to you. 

“No thank you. That donation was given with freeness and good will. Returning it would be a reproach from the very gods who witnessed it’s gift in the first place.” You declined as you simply held your hand up in a stopping motion. 

“I knew before I saw you all this morning that I was already maligned and seeing as how my accusers are nowhere to be found so that it is impossible for me to defend myself against them and their accusations and it is not their mouths to deliver the final blow, should say a lot about them and I am sorry that all of you had to be drug into my own personal affairs. This is a day of celebration and I can sense how much all of this sorry business has already cost you, it has cost so much peace and joy that you normally would have felt during this time and I hope that once this matter is settled with fairness and justice, that peace and joy will return to you all. All I ask is if this is ever repealed- guard against anyone who would make it about money. I am not fortunate enough to have any real inheritance left, other than in name and tradition myself. But anyone who would want to secure their birthright tribal lands via a security deposit or buy out or anything else like that, while that might fill coffers now, it will spell disaster in the future because only the rich will be able to afford it, and the poor will have no choice but to go to extremes to survive just to maintain it and it would invariably put a price tag on the priceless. There is no question whether or not this birthright has value in every sense. But even a man in the desert will abandon the gold in favor of water. My entire aim in giving my donation was to hopefully make sure that those who want to put a price on the priceless would be satisfied and leave you be and leave what is really valuable- alone and to preserve what is already here so that it can survive and thrive and be here for countless generations to come. Thank you for the amazing opportunity of sharing such a sacred space with me. May peace be with you all.” You graciously said as you bowed in respect before you withdrew, grabbing Noah and Sakura on your way out before Noah could argue with them because you knew he was really ready to give them hell and several pieces of his mind but to hear the council chamber descend into chaos not two steps out of it, told you made the right choice by getting the hell out of there. 

“Why didn’t you fight for yourself?! Why didn’t you let me defend you?!” Noah demanded as he picked Sakura up and walked with you as you briskly walked out of there dragging the wagon behind you, just trying to escape the suffocating feeling you felt in your chest and fighting not to cry as you could already feel the sting of your tears.  

“Because she won. You saw it for yourself, if I try to defend myself now, I’ll be wasting my breath and aggrieving myself not just to the council of elders but also all of the clans and there is no way that would ever end well. Let’s just go, please.” You pleaded as the first few tears started to fall from your eyes and seeing those tears in your eyes cut Noah worse than any knife could and had any and all arguments dying on his tongue before you went back to the booth to collect the last of your things as Sesi and Noah’s other sisters and sisters in law were already taking everything else down. 

“How did it go?” Sesi asked. 

“It passed.” You answered. 

“Did you appeal it?” Samantha asked. 

“I’m an outsider. How could I?” You returned as you zipped up your backpack and slung it over your shoulder. 

“But did you?” They asked Noah. 

“I was pulled out of there before I could.” Noah answered truthfully. 

“Well, I will make sure that I’m one of the first ones to do it when it’s announced in a little bit.” Sesi reassured you. 

“Thank you, right now, I just want to leave.” You confessed. 

“Then take her home Noah.” Sesi encouraged her brother. 

“We got everything here.” Samantha reassured you and Noah as he nodded in agreement. 

The whole ride home you silently cried with Sakura under your arm as she dozed off to sleep and by the time you got to Noah’s house, your makeup was beyond a mess and neither you or Noah could find the words to say to each other and while Noah tucked Sakura into bed, you were in the bathroom, carefully taking everything off and putting it back into the blessing bag before you slipped into the shower and tried to wash everything away, only to sit on the floor and sob some more as you just sat there and let the hot water wash over you. Your body felt sore, beaten and bruised as if you had been in the fight of your life and lost and before you knew it, the hot water had run out and you were left to quickly clean up in the colder water that was getting colder and colder by the minute and by the time you came to bed, Noah was already in it and you saw a bottle of whiskey and a half full glass of it with a one ice cube melting into it as he laid in bed with his arm up, laying over his eyes. 

You quietly slipped into the bed, wanting his warmth but not knowing how to seek it and you simply rolled over and faced the wall, barely on the edge of the bed, wanting more than anything for Noah to come and pull you to him. But within just a few moments, you heard the distinct sound of him softly snoring before you turned slightly to see Noah asleep like that before you slipped out of bed and came around the bed to turn off his bedside light, picking up his glass of whiskey and taking a long pull from it before setting it down and walking back over to the other side of the bed and slipping in again. And while the whiskey did heat you up some. It was a cheap imitation of the warmth Noah could give you. And with that you fell into a fitful sleep yourself. 

The next morning you awoke to a cold bed and the sound of Noah coming in and out of the house. 

You got dressed and went around and got the rest of your things that you had up there before you came down only to see Summer making breakfast for all of you and Noah loading all of your stuff into his truck and by the stomp of his steps, he was in a fowl mood. 

“Good morning Paradise.” Sakura greeted sadly. “Do you really have to go?” Sakura asked, her big blue eyes already red and puffy from crying. 

“I do.” You confirmed. “Did your dad tell you not to call me ‘Mama’?” You asked her softly as she nodded in confirmation as she closed her eyes tightly and her face scrunched up as she started to cry again before you hugged her tight. 

“He took you not fighting harder for yourself or letting him fight for you as you giving up on them.” Summer murmured. 

“Sakura, listen to me, I don’t want to give up, especially not on you. The council of elders passed a law last night and that law is making it hard on everyone, especially me. And the last thing I want is for you to have to choose between your birthright and me and in a perfect world, you would have both and you should have both, you deserve both. So what I’m going to do is I’m going to go home, and I’m going to meet with my experts and try to find a way to give you both. But please remember that I also need to consider that I also have to make sure that my other kids get the happiness they deserve too. And right now, I don’t know if they would be happy up here. But I’m not giving up. Not yet anyway.” You reassured her as you hugged her tightly as she did the same. 

“You ready?” Noah asked coldly when he came back inside, already having his sunglasses on to hide his own red puffy eyes. 

“Let her eat some breakfast first.” Summer frowned. 

“Fine, hurry up, I don’t want you to miss your boat, besides, I got other loads I need to fly today.” Noah grunted before he went into the bathroom to at least go to the bathroom while you sat down at the table with Sakura and Summer to quickly eat what you could. 

“I’ll see you as soon as I can ok?” You reassured Sakura as you hugged her tight and hugged Summer tight before you left with Noah. 

Noah wouldn’t even look at you, much less talk to you and you could feel the anger and resentment roll off of Noah and you knew that if you said anything, it would inevitably start a fight in just the truck. You still had some time to try to find the right words. 

You wanted to be glued to his side and you wanted to be holding his hand so tight your knuckles would turn white. But Noah’s hands were on the wheel and his shifter and his jaw was clenched so tight- you could see the veins in his forehead pop and you were grateful he couldn’t see your face as you stared guiltily out the window and tried to think of a way to solve this as tears rolled silently down your cheeks. 

Who knew that in just two weeks you would reach the highest highs and the lowest lows. Losing Andy didn’t even hurt this bad. 

Once at the hanger, you used a bathroom break to disguise a trip to the office to buy Noah ten grand worth of airplane fuel and leave a payment check for another 100k for Noah since you doubted Noah would take it from you personally and wrote a message for him on the back of the check, hoping and praying he would see it before he decided completely against you in his heart. And in record time Noah had loaded everything up and had even loaded things into his cockpit so you couldn’t sit in it with him. 

He was blocking you out and putting space between you as you realized that last night was the closest you would get to him and he was willfully ignoring your presence and the moment you got in the air, you felt like the pressure in the airplane was suffocating and you couldn’t stop crying and you were so grateful the plane itself was so loud, you couldn’t hear the sound of your own sobs and to think that your kiss from last night over dinner was your last and how you wished you would have done everything differently. You should have broken the code and thrown a fit. It would have sealed your fate with the clans but at least you would have not have lost Noah. 

By the time you touched down and taxied over to the unloading area, Noah barely had the doors unlocked before you opened them and got off the plane and made a run for the other control tower office and did the same thing in that office and by the time Noah had come into the office to fetch you, you followed him wordlessly to a borrowed truck where he drove you to the port where the cruise ship was parked where various people were disembarking and embarking. 

“Goodbye Zara.” Noah finally said to you as he unloaded the last bag at the baggage check before walking away. 

“Goodbye Noatak.” You answered and just stood there and watched him walk away and get back in the truck and drive away and you wanted to collapse right there on the pavement when he didn’t even look back once. But all you could do is turn and walk into the building once he was out of sight but one look at the cues for the registration had you feeling nauseated and you quickly rushed to the bathroom to throw up your breakfast as you curled around the toilet and just threw up and cried and broke down completely because you felt the window of opportunity shut forever and the feel of the perfect jewels of the north- slip out of your hands. 

[mayiotome]

XOXO Droplets [Free to Play/ ext. ver:$19.99]

My Rating: 💗💗💗💗 ▪️

itch.io game page

Producer: GBPatch 

Release Date: Aug 31, 2017  (Updated: Mar 20, 2020)

Languages: English

Genre(s): Stat Management, Romance, Slice of Life,  

Download size: 279 MB (W/L) 261 MB (M)

Content Warnings: Swearing but it’s censored anyways.

Advertised length: not listed in hours but the completed game is 320,00 words while the free version is 130,00+

My Play Length: a few (3-4) hours to complete all routes (using cheats after the first one and skipping all seen lines). 

Steam Key: YES

Achievements: YES

Demo Available: Technically there’s a free version that’s about half the game.

(There is also a horror version of this game I’ll be reviewing in the future.)

Description/Features from game page:

“The story begins when our nameable protagonist finally transfers into the boarding school of her dreams at the start of her junior year in high school. It would be perfect if it wasn't for that little catch attached to her enrollment: her parents will only let her keep attending the school for her remaining two years if she doesn't make everyone  there hate her by shunning them, like she always does.

Do your best to show just enough interest in the other losers around to appease the folks while still having time to chase after all the attractive guys in the MC's afterschool group, which just so happens to be a group for chronically unfriendable people.

★★★★★★★

No, seriously folks. When we say the protagonist and main love interests are a big ol' jerk squad it's not a mistake and it's not an understatement.”

Default Game

3 distinct jerky main boyfriend options: Everett Gray, Nate Lawson, and Shiloh Fields

6 side characters who'll be your buddies and 6 minor clique boyfriend options, each with a bonus effect that makes the game easier

Partial Voice acting for every significant character by a talented cast

The option to break up with your bf and start dating someone else, if you feel like it

A variety of methods to manage your Reputation with the unimportant students

Part-time jobs, stores to visit, useful items, optional mini-games, an in-game phone to call a guy up and arrange a date at one of several different locations

Over 130,00 words. Hundreds of different events, including a collage-style ending system where you get events for every goal you achieved during the game

Cheat codes for those who don't give a f*ck about gameplay and just wanna see the events

Paid Extended Addition

3 more main jerk boyfriend options: Bae Pyoun, Jeremy King, and Pran Taylor

2 sweet but not-terribly-bright side boyfriend options: Kam Sung and Adrian Wulu

Yet 1 more boyfriend option in the flirtations party boy Lucas Kaiser (New Addition!)

4 Extra Date Events for Everett, Nate, and Shiloh

The ability to unlock all 4 CGs and 12 outfits for Everett, Nate, and Shiloh, rather than just 3 and 10

The ability to unlock all 4 CGs and 12 outfits for Everett, Nate, and Shiloh, rather than just 3 and 10

50 more Random Events, 45 more Text Chats, 24 more Part-Time Work Events

320,000 words in total

An accessory system that lets you decorate the main character with a variety of pieces, plus small events where characters comment on the accessories you wear

The option to change the background of your cellphone to one of 12 different options

Even better cheat codes

My Review:

This game is half stat manager, you have to “work” to get money, choose where you sit at lunch to raise your popularity with different cliques, etc. 

The story isn’t all that long if you use cheats but if you do use cheats you can’t get certain achievements.

The free version only lets you date 3 out of the main 6 guys (The paid extra version gives you those 3 + 3 others that are more side characters but they have their own scenes too, though not many).

It’s not too long or that story rich compared to other games I’ve played. The gameplay isn’t too hard or difficult to figure out.

You can pick the first and last name of the protag but not her looks.

Story/Writing

The story isn’t that long or complex, you have an ultimate end date. Extra scenes take place at the jobs you do every few times you do them. Each job is connected to a character (and school clique) with a few scenes. There are 1-3 date scenes per date location per guy. On certain (calendar) dates certain events happen, depending on who you’re dating certain dialogue will change but it’s not too big of a change (maybe like 3-5 extra or changed lines). 

Most of the game is just slight dialogue changes depending on who you want to romance/who you’re dating and a few original scenes per character.

Characters

So yeah, they’re not lying when they say that the characters are jerks. Kinda loveable jerks after a while but yeah, none of the guys actually want to date the protag but she kinda just says “Hey we’re dating now” or “Hey we’re going on a date tomorrow” and they just go with it albeit reluctantly but she grows on them for the most part.

There are 3 side characters you can date too, for achievements and I think 6 others for smaller perks for the game but no actual game-play involving them and it takes a long time to be able to actually date them as you need to meet certain requirements.

The 3 side characters are only with the paid version but they don’t go to the school the protag goes to so there’s less scenes of them really.

Visuals

The style of the stat raising menu/Weekend Planner is cute, the CGs are drawn in a cute drawing style and the rest are classic looking backgrounds that match the character styles.

The protag has a little portrait in the bottom corner where her facial expression change. With the paid version you can buy her accessories and they show up on her in game (some also trigger random events for each guy, 2 per guy as there are 2 versions for each of those items).

Sound

It is semi-voiced meaning there’s sigh sounds, growls of annoyance, a few lines here and there are voiced, they each have a set of “catchphrases” like the protag will go “Boo” when she is unhappy or a little laugh sound, Nate saying “this is absurd” when he’s annoyed or “You can’t be serious!” Sometimes they say the first or first few words of a sentence.

Stat Raising (Gameplay)

It’s not too hard to keep the stats (clique popularity) even/balanced so you don’t fail the game. It’s easy to earn money via the jobs, if you have a set guy you want then keep doing the job associated with him (where he also works) to raise his stat with you, get scenes at that location and earn more money the more you progress that job. (There’s no mini game for the jobs just occasional scenes.)

Using cheats the stat gameplay goes by fairly quickly and with no possibility of failing. You can get through each route quicker this way but there’s no way to skip the actual weekend planner part (which is good because you can go on dates or the store still.)

My strategy is to use a cheat to raise clique levels to the max, to get money, and buy a bunch of taffy (which skips the weekday choice pages and lets you quickly get to new story events.) that way I can just skip over the mostly tedious parts of the gameplay.

Worth the Price?: In my opinion, yes. You get a lot more content, unlock the other 3 guys, outfits, cheats more, date options, etc. (See above) and clearly time and effort went into this game. There’s no bugs, the VA is decent however limited. I’m sure some people might thing it’s a bit expensive but you have to remember you’re supporting a creator and not some big game cooperation.

Conclusion aka TL;DR

It’s not your traditional guys quickly fall for the protag story as none of the guys actually want to date her when they start dating. All the characters are jerks (So much so that they’re all in a club cause no one else wants them in theirs) but they do grow on you after a while. There’s no way to really skip the stat raising part of the game but it’s also not that hard to keep everything balanced and there’s always cheat codes.

I ended up getting the extra version (meaning paying for the rest of the game) because I wanted to romance Jeremy and Pran (Green and white haired ones).

My Rating:

Story: 7/10 (would score higher if the routes were more different.)

Characters: 9/10 (They’re jerks but they’re meant to be. This isn’t really a game where the characters will compliment yours and make you feel all warm and fuzzy inside but they’re well done.

Visuals: 10/10

Sound: 10/10

Gameplay: 9/10 (sometimes you just wanna skip all the stat stuff and just read the story. there are cheats in that case but you still need to actually click through the weekend stuff and keep skipping days until you get to the next event day). You can’t simply roll back on the mouse wheel to change a choice or rehear a line, it’ll bring up the log page where you can click any line that has sound to hear it or read what was said.)

Overall - 💗💗💗💗 ▪️

[amazingmsme]

A Loyal Companion Part 5

Trigger Warning: This chapter has minor depictions of animal abuse. Nothing too graphic, but enough for me to mention it. If you wish to skip these parts they are marked between this * symbol. Other than that, there are no warnings for this chapter. Hope you enjoy!

Jasper had died pretty young. He was only 35(in dog years) before his life came to its end. He had lived with a small family while he was still a puppy and grew under their care. His favorite human was the young girl, Maddie. The two of them did just about everything together. They'd play fetch and tug of war, and run around outside until the sun went down. They'd spent many hours sitting out by the sandbox on nice summer days, and taking dips in the pool to cool off. His name was Lance then.

Then they all packed up their things to go and loaded Jasper in the back of the pickup. Jasper loved car rides, especially when the wind blows through his fur. Suddenly a deer jumped in front of them, and they swerved off the road, tumbling over. Jasper was thrown from the truck, rolling down the steep hill hidden through trees. Everything was confusing and he didn't know where his people were, but it was getting dark, and he needed to find shelter. He found a rock outcropping and curled underneath for shelter that night.

He traveled back up in search of his family, but no one remained. He lingered at the spot where Maddie's scent was strongest, and chose to stay there. He stayed their all day until night fell upon him once again. The next morning, he knew he needed to find water and food. He walked along the road until he found a gas station and started rooting around the trash. He found half a corndog and a donut. As he ate, a man slowly approached him. He offered him some jerky which Jasper gladly took. 

"You look thirsty," he said and grabbed a plastic bowl from the trash and poured some water in it. He gratefully lapped it up, and the man took his collar off, inspecting it. Good! That meant he could take him home! * He coaxed Jasper into his car, and they began their long journey. Jasper was excited, and moved about the cabin.

"Fuckin' sit still!" the man yelled and shoved him into the backseat over the center console. Jasper landed on his back at an awkwardly twisted angle and cried out. He ignored him and Jasper sat in the seat as far away as he could. He curled in on himself to try and appear smaller. This man was not like his family, and he had a feeling he wouldn't see them again.

He was right. He brought him to his house, if it could even be called that. It was a shabby little shack near the edge of town. Everything was falling apart; it was a miracle it was even still standing.

"Let's see what you can do, mutt," he said and drug him by the heavy chain he had placed around his neck. Jasper tried to resist, but that earned him a harsh slap across the face, and Jasper lashed out to defend himself. He bit his hand hard. He cried out and held the bleeding appendage, swearing as he kicked him in the stomach. Jasper whined and backed up.

"I think you're gonna do nicely. Earn me some cash," he said to himself with a sickeningly evil smile.

Twice a week he would drag Jasper to go fight. When he won he would get small treats like a raw steak, but if he lost, he'd only endure more abuse atop whatever injuries he might've received in the dog fight. This continued for a few years before that final fight. That last fateful night.

He had already endured three fights, and Rick was pushing for another. It was hard for Jasper to stand, and he was so, so tired. He didn't want to fight anymore. Still, he was pushed into the ring, where a man stood with a large Doberman and Rottweiler pulling at their restraints. But Jasper had made a name for himself around here. He was fierce, and his size was enough to evoke fear just by looking at him. He had a constant sneer and fire in his eyes. He always pulled through. He was The Beast. That's why the opponent had challenged Rick that he should take on two dogs for double the money. Greed consumed him and he agreed. Everyone placed their bets.

But now, that spark in his eyes was dim. His large intimidating stance was curled inward, as he was trying to protect his already injured body. The fight started, and they both lunged at once. Jasper went on autopilot and pounced at the Rottweiler, biting his face repeatedly. But the other dog rammed him in the side, sending him tumbling to the floor. He tried to scramble to his feet, yet they were on him in an instant. Powerful jaws clamped on his throat and tore through the flesh, and just like that, it was over. Everything was gone, and Jasper woke to find himself in a large field. * It was quiet. Peaceful. It reminded him of when he would go to the park with his family and fly kites. He wanted nothing more than to run through the stretching expanse of gray grass with his girl by his side. In the distance, he thought he could see her. He ran until he reached her, but stopped just short. This wasn't his little girl. Something about her was off. He could sense her otherworldly power, and stayed back.

"I know you won't understand this too well, but you're not finished yet. I'm afraid I can't send you back in your body though, it's too late for that. You have no place here yet, you need to go back," she pointed back in the direction he came. And so he started trotting back, until the gray field and sky melted into the city. The pavement was wet beneath his paws, and he walked far away from everyone on the street. No one paid attention to him, and when one snuck up on him from behind, he phased right through him.

He roamed the streets day in and day out for years. When you're dead, you don't have to worry about the necessities of food and water, even if it's a nice luxury. He would try to eat whatever he could, but it was a 50/50 chance on whether he could actually eat it or if it would phase through when he took a bite. Jasper wondered aimlessly throughout the town, stopping for shelter when he needed.

He didn't like the rain. It was cold when it would pass through him, leaving him chilled to the core. His fur would mat down to his body causing him to shiver. He hated this life, but there was no other option. He closed his eyes and longed for the days when he would curl up next to his girl by the fireplace. That was a lifetime ago.

When he saw three men walking down the street, he thought nothing of it. Underneath the bench was one of his favorite places to be, and he hardly left the spot anymore. He had no reason to, and therefore, no incentive to leave. His ears perked up when the scrawnier of the bunch stopped in front of the bench. He curled into a tighter ball when the man crouched down to look under the bench.

Jasper knew he was dead. Death just feels different than life. You breathe when you're alive, but now his chest just carried out with the familiar motion. He didn't need to eat or drink, even though food would be nice. And people couldn't see you. Only, this strange man crouched on the sidewalk was looking right at him. Jasper could tell from the look in his eyes: he could see him. Actually see him instead of seeing through him. He reached a hand out to him and Jasper bared his teeth, a low growl escaping his throat, only the man wasn't deterred.

"This is not the time to stop and smell the roses, c'mon!" the man in front called.

He turned around and placed a finger to his lips, "Shh! You'll scare him!" The other man got impatient and left, leaving the other two with him. Then Jasper realized that the other one was dead like him. And he was talking to the dead man.

"So you're a ghost, huh? Well lucky for you I can see ghosts. I can touch them too. I bet you miss getting pet." He did. He really did. But the last man he had followed home had beat him until he became a monster. For years he fought in that ring, scarring and killing other dogs who were frightened and only wanted to live, just like him. Of course he was hesitant.

But he could tell this man was different. His eyes shown with a gentle kindness that he hadn't seen in years. The same kind of eyes Maddie had. With a little more coaxing, he inched himself closer, slowly working his way out from underneath his bench for the first time in weeks. He stretched out to his full height, towering over the scrawny human who looked up at him in awe. The ghost man took a step back, and Jasper didn't blame him. He couldn't see himself, but he knew his body was covered in scars and marks. But it wasn't the worst reaction he's gotten, just one of genuine shock.

Though one eye had been blinded in life, after he died he regained his sight, even if it was cloudier than the other eye. His limp had also gotten better, but was still present, yet it didn't cause him any pain.

The two men took him in, taking him to a store before going back to their home. It was one of the biggest houses Jasper had ever seen, and he knew he would have a fun time getting to explore it.

He was less than excited when they tried to give him a bath. By now he had learned their names: Klaus and Ben. They were both able to touch him, and he was grateful for the affection, but now he wished they couldn't. He focused all his energy on staying put, but they eventually got him in the tub and scrubbed off all the grime. He had to admit, it felt good to be clean again.

He should've expected that a house this big would hold more people, but he was still overwhelmed when faced with the rest of the family. He recognized Diego as the one who had left when Klaus found him, but the rest were completely foreign. At first he was terrified, then only a little skittish. Five seemed to be in a constant sour mood and would say things that evoked a reaction from the siblings, and Jasper always hated the racket and at times he wanted to bite him to get him to stop, just stop! But Jasper knew that was wrong, not that he could bite him anyway. It was the result of years of abuse and brainwashing. He was once a sweet and loving dog, and he wanted to be that again. Allison was kind but stern and kept them all in line. Vanya was his favorite aside from Klaus and Ben. She was soft spoken and gentle, and a nice contrast from his old life. She looked like Maddie, and he wanted nothing more than to curl up in her side and have her stroke through his fur. Diego was scarier. He usually had a stern look on his face, and bad anger issues. Jasper wasn't stupid, he knew what knives looked like, and this guy had a lot. He had seen him use them, and no matter which way he threw, they always hit the target. Luther was huge, and had a nasty superiority complex that he was trying hard to fix. That didn't mean he did a good job, and it was clear he had done something that caused tension among their family. Out of all of them, Diego and Luther were his least favorite. They reminded him too much of the men who would scream and bet on him in fights, the ones who'd strike him and force him into the ring. But Klaus seemed to trust them despite their flaws, and Jasper trusted his judgement. And so, he put up with it, and eventually they grew on him.  He did his best to hold back, even when they all fought and yelled and got overexcited.

He's slipped up a few times, but hey no one's perfect. They can't see or feel him, so who cares if he lashed out at Luther? He stepped on him while he was sleeping! And he knows he was in the wrong for trying to nip Allison when she accidentally dropped those pans that phased through his body. And he was sorry for trying to attack Diego when he was playing with Klaus. But in his defense, he thought the man was genuinely hurting him, if he were to believe his owner's words of protest. But all of that was in the past, and he knew better now. None of them meant them any harm.

Still, it made him upset when they would pick on or try to discredit Klaus. All he had kept hearing was how they thought he was lying about finding him. Clearly he's telling the truth, but there's no way for them to know for sure. Vanya believed him. Of course she did, that's why Jasper liked her. And he hoped that in time, he could learn to like the rest too.

And he did.

[megwritesfanfiction]

A/N: … This update happened by a miracle. My sinuses are all messed up, and I’m pretty sure I have bronchitis but I haven’t been defeated yet!! Let me know what you thought. Until next time friends… <3

Disclaimer: I do not own Boku No Hero Academia/My Hero Academia this is work of fiction that I am not making a profit off of.

Chapter One: Tumblr Chapter Two: Tumblr

Chapter 3 Chapter Summary:  Did babies really need all this stuff?

He took slow steps down the aisle in shock as he looked at the items.

Katsuki had enough common sense to know that babies needed food, clothing, diapers, and medicine, but he hadn’t realized it was this complicated. He never noticed diapers came in sizes, not that he ever needed to know that particular information.

As much as Katsuki hated professional development days, they did come with one small benefit.

Regular hours.

Hero work wasn’t a normal nine to five job. There were times he’d start a shift at eight o’clock in the morning only to return home the next day tired, bruised, and expected to report back in twelve hours. There were times where he’d finish a shift only to called back before he could step foot outside.

Professional development days were different. Sessions started at eight o’clock in the morning, finished by five, and he was home before six. He didn’t have to worry about last-minute emergencies or paperwork from a robbery that took place fifteen minutes before he was officially off the clock. Once the presenter ended the session, he was free to go.

As long as his agency didn’t summon him for a last minute shift.

He wasn’t on call this week so the chances of them asking him to come in for the shift were low but not nonexistent. “Tadaima,” Katsuki grunted out, slipping off of his shoes as he entered their apartment. He shrugged out of his jacket as he walked toward the kitchen.

He found his wife perched on top of the kitchen counter like a little bird. Legs softly bent and feet planted against the granite top, Ochako sat hunched over the cutting board resting between her legs. She lifted her gaze from the carrots she was butchering clumsily, greeting him with a small smile, “Okaeri.”

“You know it’s much easier to just stand in front of the counter like a normal human being.” This wasn’t the first time he’d caught her sitting on the counter to use the cutting board.

She carefully set the knife down, leaning over to plant a soft kiss to his lips. “It’s easier,” she chuckled against his lips and kissing him once more.

“You’re not even that short.”

“It’s not about being short,” Ochako reminded him as she picked up her knife again. “This is more comfortable.”  

He shook his head, “You won’t be saying that when you cut your leg.”

“Yeah, yeah, yeah,” she huffed with a little smirk as she continued to chop. She definitely would be able to do this in a couple months. “How was your day?”

“Eh.” Katsuki didn’t really want to talk about the seminars he attended. The images of those frightened children still sat at the forefront of his mind along with the unsettling list crimes that had happened recently. “Same old shit,” he muttered, snatching a piece of carrot from her board.

She laughed, sliding the pieces into the bowl, “Get any good swag?”

“I got you a pen and a water bottle.”

“Yes!” Ochako had an irrational love of free merchandise from vendors tables. Neither one of them needed another water bottle. There had to be at least twenty of them stuffed in the cabinet above the stove but that never seemed to stop her desire to keep taking them.

“So,” he started slowly. “You get in touch with your doctor?”

“I did.”

“Yeah?”

She nodded, picking up a potato and placing it on the board.

His eyes drifted over her carefully. “Well?”

“Well,” she sighed, looking at him with a small frown. “I can’t get an appointment until next week.”

“What?!”

“They don’t have anything available until next Thursday.”

“That’s bullshit!” he shouted, folding his arms across his chest. “What the hell are you supposed to do until then?”

Ochak shrugged, sliding the chunks of potato into the bowl. “There isn’t much that needs to be done right now-”

Katsuki could think of about a thousand things they needed to do at this very moment.

“I’m probably about two months pregnant. It’s still the first trimester, and this is about the time a lot of women have their first prenatal visit anyway,” she informed him as she slid off the counter. “She emailed me a bunch of information-” Ochako’s head was still swimming after reading only a fraction of the pages sent. “Told me to get some prenatal vitamins, eat small frequent meals during the day to help with nausea-”

“What did she say about work?” he questioned eyeing her carefully.

“I’m on office duty for at least the next year.”

“No patrol?”

“No patrol,” she told him sadly as she took out a pot and placing it on the stove. “She encouraged me to stay active but anything that could cause someone or something to hit my stomach is out of the question.”

Katsuki figured as much. He moved behind her wrapping his arms around her waist and placing a kiss on her neck.

“I also need to avoid anything that increases my risk of falling, high altitudes,” Ochako listed as she turned on the flame. “Deep sea diving.” Basically, anything that involved her doing her job as a rescue hero wasn’t an option.

He nodded, placing his chin at the crook of her neck. “You gonna talk to Ryukyu tomorrow?”

“No.” Ochako relaxed into his arms allowing her head to rest against his chest. “Doctor said she’d send the agency a generic medical excuse to keep me out of the field until the end of my first trimester.”

“Why? I don’t understand why we can’t just tell people you’re pregnant.” He’d already let it slip to Deku.

“Because,” she huffed. “We need the doctor to confirm-”

“For what? The doctor seems pretty convinced.”

“I know-” It had barely been twenty-four hours and the two of them were changing their lifestyles as well. “I trust the test too, but it doesn’t feel real yet.”

The test she’d taken last night had been the only thing to help confirm her condition. Nausea and morning sickness had only succeeded in making her feel gross and not pregnant.

“Plus people don’t know we’re married and now I’m pregnant, and,” Ochako inhaled loudly, drawing in a slow deep breath. “It’s a lot.”

His hands dug underneath her t-shirt allowing his palms to press against her flat stomach. “I know. It’s a lot for me too.”

“Yeah?” she questioned, turning her head toward him as she laced their fingers together.

“Yeah.”

“The doctor said a lot of women wait until they finish the first trimester before telling anyone they’re pregnant, so I figured we could take the next month or however long to absorb all this,” she whispered, nudging his cheek with her nose.

Seemed reasonable.

“And tell people we’re married.”

There was also that.

“It would be nice for me to start using Bakugo instead of Uraraka before this baby comes.” Officially, she was a Bakugo. They’d updated the family registry after their small ceremony, but she’d yet to actually use the name.

“Using Uraraka doesn’t make us any less married.” Katsuki hadn’t really cared too much about her using her married name.

“No,” she hummed thoughtfully. “But I want us all to use the same last name. You, me, and baby.”

The idea that it would no longer be the two of them still sounded so strange. “Okay.” He pressed a kiss to the side of her of her face. “You making cheater curry?” he questioned, releasing her from his arms and looking at the sauce mix pack on the counter.

“Whatever, it’s still good,” she told him tossing the oil and chopping onions in the pan. “And it’s quick. I figured we could take leftovers to work tomorrow for lunch.”

“Your stomach going to be okay with this?”

She laughed, “We’ll find out.” Ochako had only thrown up two more times after he left. “I think my stomach has settled for the moment. I’m actually hungry.”

“What’d you eat today?”

“Um, after you left I had some crackers and ginger tea, doctor said ginger would help with nausea. Also told me to get these ginger candies, but...” she shrugged adding the carrots and potatoes in. “I also had a couple pieces of cheese.”

“What cheese?”

“The cheese with pepper flakes in it.”

“The stuff I use for my eggs sometimes? You don’t even like it!”

“I never said that.”

Katsuki snorted, “Okay.”

“I said the pepper flakes were weird, but it looked really good so I had it with some of your beef jerky for lunch.” She poured water into the pot and placed the lid on.

He’d get on her about nutrition later. In this moment, he was just grateful she actually ate something while he was gone and was going to be eating real food for dinner. “How much longer is that gonna be?”

“Mmm,” Ochako peeked into the pot with a little shrug. “I dunno. The potatoes are gonna be a while, and I still need twenty minutes for the rice. Why?”

“Text me what the doctor told you to get. I’m going to run to the store,” he told her, placing a hand on top of her head and kissing her forehead.

“I figured I could get it tomorrow on my way home from work.”

“Might as well get it now.”

Stretching to her toes, she pressed a kiss to his lips, “You sure? I can get stu-”

“Aren’t you supposed to take those vitamins every day?” he questioned, eyes narrowed with concern.

“Yes, but I already take a multivitamin every day so I figure I’ll switch to the prenatal ones after tomorrow. No big deal.”

“Tch.”

“The doctor just said to get them as soon as possible.”

“Which is why I’m going now.” Katsuki kissed her one last time before heading toward the door. “Text me your list!”

xxxxxxxxx

Katsuki had found everything on the list no problem.

Crackers.

Ginger tea.

Ginger candies.

Peppermints.

Mouthwash.

All items he’d purchased before, but now they were specifically to help with Ochako’s morning sickness.

He sighed, basket clutched in one hand as he looked at his phone with the other. He just needed to pick up the prenatal vitamins. Tucking his phone in his pocket, Katsuki moved through the aisles toward the health section. Katsuki found the vitamins stocked on shelves across from infant supplies.

“Holy fucking shit,” he muttered, stepping down the aisle.

Did babies really need all this stuff?

He took slow steps down the aisle in shock as he looked at the items.

Katsuki had enough common sense to know that babies needed food, clothing, diapers, and medicine, but he hadn’t realized it was this complicated. He never noticed diapers came in sizes, not that he ever needed to know that particular information.

It made sense.

Babies came in all shapes and sizes just like adults. But in the few seconds he glanced at the store’s supply of diapers, Katsuki was able to about five or six different diaper sizes.

He picked up one of the packages examining it.

Would they really need to get all of these?

“Hey!”

“What?” he barked startled. The plastic packaging crumbled in his hands as he turned his head to the source of the voice.

A small child with big blue eyes and dark brown hair stared up him. “You’re Ground Zero aren’t ya?” he asked, tilting his head as his little eyes studied his face.

Katsuki’s brow made a stern line across his forehead, “You’re not supposed to talk to strangers, kid.” He narrowed his eyes at the boy, hoping his glare alone would send him away.

“So you are Ground Zero?” the kid questioned again. “Because if you are, you’re not a stranger. I’ve seen you on tv, and I know your name.”

“Where are your parents?”

“You can’t answer a question with a question,” the boy told him with a firm nod. “My mama says it’s rude.”

“I’m sure your mama also said for you not to talk to strangers,” Katsuki growled lightly at the child. “Or for you to run off in the store.”

“For your information, my mom told me to wait for her at the end of the aisle.” The boy grinned up at him, clasping his hands behind his back as he bounced on his heels. “Are you-”

“Yes.” It was obvious the kid wasn’t going to move. “I’m Ground Zero.”

“Whoa!” he marveled, eyes widening as he looked at him. “I didn’t know heroes went grocery shopping! That’s so cool! Do all heroes go to the store?”

Katsuki rolled his eyes, sighing tolerantly. “We have to eat, kid.” Though he was pretty sure he would have screamed if he ran into All Might as a child in the grocery store, so he couldn’t be too hard on the kid.

“Why are you buying diapers though?”

“Huh?” He looked down at the diapers he still held.

“I didn’t know you had a baby…”

“I don’t!” Not yet. “Look, kid,” Katsuki tossed the package onto the shelf, exhaling as he faced the kid sternly. “You didn’t see me holding that stuff.”

The boy frowned, “Why?”

“Because-” How was he supposed to explain this to a five year old? Katsuki didn’t think this kid had the power to spread rumors about his unborn child, but he’d already messed up and told Deku. “It’s a secret.” He didn’t need to screw up twice.

“What is?”

“Why I’m here.”

“Why are you here?”

Were all kids this nosey or just this kid? He couldn’t recall being this inquisitive as a child. Loud, yes. “Because I’m getting some stuff for someone really important.” It wasn’t a complete lie. Ochako was the most important person in his life.

“I don’t understand why diapers and groceries would be a secret but-” His little face wrinkled thoughtfully. “Okay. I won’t tell anyone,” the boy decided, holding out his hand.  “I promise!”

Katsuki grunted, accepting the little hand and giving it a small shake.

“Haru! Where are you!?”

“Uh oh,” the child whispered, slowly lowering his hand.

“Haru!”

“That’s my mom. I gotta go.”

Katsuki looked down at the boy, “What? You said she told you to wait here for her.”

“Well,” Haru drawled, nervously shuffling his feet as he looked at his shoes. “She told me to wait at the end of the aisle for her, but she didn’t say which one.”

Katsuki shook his head, forcing himself not to smile. “Come on, you little-” He probably shouldn’t curse at random people’s children. “-brat. Let’s go find your mom!”

“Cool!” Haru grabbed his hand, leading him out of the aisle. “Will you take a picture with me too?”

This kid was absolutely ridiculous. “If your mother says it’s okay.”

“Yay! I’m so happy I went exploring in the supermarket! If I didn’t, I wouldn’t have seen you. This is the best day ever! All my friends are gonna be so jealous because I’m going to get a picture with Ground Zero.”

He almost liked the kid.

“Do you know Shouto? He’s almost as cool as you. Does he buy his groceries here too?”

Nevermind.

To be Continued... 

[pbandjesse]

Today was a really nice day off. I am tired and I need to go eat something. But today's just been really good. I don't feel so sad inside. Or guilty. I had a really good day.

Sleep last night was okay. I woke up a few times because I was overwhelmingly hot but then it would pass and it was fine. James apparently did too so I think the heater kicked on like hardcore at one point. Unclear. But it's fine. Actually woke up fairly early without an alarm. But we have stayed in bed until 9. I felt kind of low but only because I was tired still. James made biscuits and I went and got cleaned up and dressed. I really really needed to wash my hair. My head was so itchy. So I was looking forward to going home and doing that. We had breakfast and a soda helped wake me up. And we hung out for a while. I wanted to go home and take an actual bath and wash my hair. So we headed out.

When we got outside it was just beautiful out. The weather was amazing today. Yes it was February 15th and it shouldn't be 65° but jeez it was nice. James had to run back upstairs multiple times because he kept forgetting things but it was fine. We went to my apartment and we didn't have to be in a rush.

When we got back to my place James hung out while I went to go take a bath. He did laundry and I chilled. It was nice. And I felt so much better afterwards. He put his clothes in the dryer and I was drying off my hair and we decided we would go to the store and get lunch after his clothes came out.

So that's what we did. We went out and we went to the diner. He got a burger and I got a Falafel. It was really good. It was nice just sitting and talking with him. Turns out he has a bunch of games for kids that he knows from doing summer camp. So he told me about some of them and I'm going to see if I can Implement them for my kids. A lot of them are based off of drinking games which I think is hilarious. It was nice just being with him though.

We walked around the corner to go get my package but it turned out my mail went to a different pick-up point. And I was very frustrated because I didn't know where it was until I was just never going to do it. I was grumbly and we headed over to the art store so I can get spray paint. And I told James I would never go and get that package unless he looked it up in his phone and to figure out how far of a walk it was. Cuz I didn't want to walk. He kept telling me but we're going to be walking tomorrow we're going on a hike. I told him it's not the same! But he did look it up and it was only 8 minutes away and so we went. And I grumbled the entire time. Because it was too hot. Finally I just took my coat off and he carried it and everything was okay then.

We got my package from the weird pick up point. And then we went up to Rite Aid to look around at the clearance stuff from Valentine's Day. Then we went back to my apartment.

It was getting close to that time he had to leave to go to the overnight but he still had like 45 minutes. He took the wheels off my bike for me and I wrapped all of the pieces up and painted it. I got a color called ketchup red. And I really like it. I found some pink heart stickers in my studio to make the most Valentine's Day bike possible.

And James left around 3. Sweet pea and me hang out in the back. I have worked on my bike and half worked on Furby stuff. I had to fix my 2005 Furby, chamomile, because her nose is messed up. I'm trying this thing with a rubber base to glue to try to build it but we'll see if it actually works. None of the three Furbies I got yesterday turn on but that's okay. I added Sparkles to the one 1998 that came in the lot the other week that does work. And some blush. And a necklace. And one of the people on my Instagram named her marmalade which I think is an adorable name and then I spend some time trying to figure out who was going to come with me on my vacations this week. I think it's been decided that marmalade will come to Jersey and mint jelly will come to California. I'm not entirely sure still because Vincent is still my favorite right now but his eyes don't open and I think mint jelly would be better for photographs. I'm basically just going to go off of a gut feeling in the morning I think.

I hung out with sweet pea and we played. I made sure my bags were packed well and watch TV. At 6:30 I decided to walk to the Natural Food Store around the corner to pick up some stuff like trail mix and vegetarian jerky for hiking tomorrow. I walk down and listen to a podcast and it was a good time. Someone asked me for directions on my way back to a cafe and I accidentally gave them kind of a roundabout way to get there and I felt bad about it. But hopefully they still made it.

I got back here and I put together my trail mix and packed my day bag. And I had a snack. And then I went down to my studio and painted for an hour. I think I'm going to paint over what I painted though because I like the texture but I don't like the finished product. So we'll see what happens with this one. I still have one sheet of paper left so I might use this one and crop it in different ways and then just repaint a new thing. Unclear. It was nice to paint for a while though.

And now I'm just laying in bed. I think I'm going to go check the mail. I'm supposed to have my last birthday present order come today. You must not with standing because they're not supposed to come until the middle of March from China. But it's fine. Even if my stuff doesn't come today.

We're leaving tomorrow around noon. I'm really excited to spend sometime in a hotel with James. On a real vacation. And I really hope we can have a really good time tomorrow. See nature. Take photos. I think it's going to be really good. Send us Good Vibes. And energy. I hope you all sleep well tonight. Stay safe out there.