#time to go check Ikea's online store

[nei-ning]

I tried to clean away Christmas stuffs since, well, I haven't been in shape of cleaning at all in months. Now that I finally felt I could do something, I managed perhaps an hour before getting exhausted and incredibly pissed.

Main reason is there's too much stuff! Seriously. Bedroom is a storage room, only one side of the bed being able to sleep on. There's boxes and boxes and bags of stuff. Some going to second hand shop, luckily.

Another reason is the LACK of storage. In whole house there's some cabins in kitchen, 2 narrow cabins (tall) in small hallway, "open" cabin for jackets and hats and shoes (this is full of stuff too) and then in bedroom 5 cabins' row, all tall but narrow. They ALL are so damn full of stuff too!

I know I'm part of the fault since I love Christmas stuff, buying something little each year. Another issue is mom. She is a hoarder more or less. She brings in stuff (most of the times she won't even use those items anyway), never throwing anything away. Sis also has start to leave her stuffs here but her situation I get since her apartment isn't even half of this big as our place. Her stuff is small ones too which can be stored in bags and boxes.

So, I am now, in all seriousness, thinking of buying good sized chest of drawers. We, at least, could put bed sheets, duvet covers and pillow cases, perhaps towels too, in it. Would free some room from those narrow cabins in bedroom

We also, AGAIN, should go through the cabins and just COLDLY throw things away. We've been living here since 2008 and mom still has curtains (PILES of them) which have NEVER seen the light of day...

Sorry about the rant. I'm just honestly so pissed, frustrated, tired, exhausted and hungry.

[bloodblanks]

solace [masky / hoodie x reader] — chapter iii.

You attend the first day of university and make a new friend. At the same time, strange occurences keep happening, eerily reminiscent of the events leading up to Tim and Brian’s disappearance.

author's note: this fanfiction will contain explicit content, including rape/non-con, kidnapping, stockholm syndrome, and similar themes.

please read at your own discretion.

<- previous chapter

It took a while, but you eventually convinced your parents that you were okay. They originally wanted you to return home and stay there for a bit to ensure everything was fine, but since school was starting soon, they agreed to let you stay. You weren’t too sure of what happened and why, but more likely than not, it was just a one-time thing. It wasn’t like you had a history of fainting; you must’ve just had a bad day. Everything would be fine, or at least you hoped so. Perhaps that sounded irresponsible, but what’s life without a bit of risk?

Alright, that sounded stupid.

When you had eventually come to, it was in a hospital. Your parents, being the concerned parents that they are, had picked you up and drove you to a nearby hospital. The staff there had looked at you, ran a few tests, and concluded that everything was fine; you must have overexerted yourself somehow. In any case, if things got worse, you were to return and get a more thorough check, but for now, you were allowed to leave. And since the doctors had cleared you and deemed you fit to go, you were able to convince your parents to let you stay and continue moving in.

Since your online IKEA shopping endeavours were fruitless, your parents drove you to a nearby, in-person IKEA after an hour-long conversation discussing whether you were okay. You had spent the rest of the evening rolling around on their beds, checking out new bed frames until you were eventually half-satisfied, which was better than your previous not satisfied at all.

Your parents had set up the new bed for you, despite your insistence to help. You were forbidden from doing too much work since you were ‘freshly recovered.’ Instead, you spent your time setting up your PC on the new desk you had purchased. You would need a better chair; you hadn’t decided on one when you went to the store today. Until then, your current setup will have to do. Your parents were still working on the bed, so you unpacked the boxes, equipping your new washroom with all your toiletries. You hadn’t filled the closet up yet; you got bored halfway through hanging up your clothes and instead settled for just moving your box of memorabilia into the closet, deciding you had done enough work for today. Maybe it was good that you didn’t also work on the bed. Building IKEA furniture wasn’t really your favourite activity, anyway.

When everyone was done, your new apartment was furnished, although not completely. You had one of the dining chairs at your PC instead of a proper gaming chair, and the apartment was missing pleasing decorations, but it was good enough for you to sleep and live here.

“Are you sure you’ll be okay by yourself?” your mom asked, pulling you into a hug.

“Yeah, don’t worry. I’ll text if I need anything. Pinky promise.” you reassured her.

“Alright then. Take care of yourself, and make sure to call us.” your dad said, giving you a pat on the back.

You sent them off and returned to your room, instantly throwing yourself down on the new mattress you bought. You were exhausted. Hitting your head turned out to be a surprisingly tiring, and everything that followed suit didn’t help either. You touched your hand to your head, feeling a sore bump in the area where it had collided with the stairs. Wincing, you took your hand away.

How did that happen? What was that static? You really had never experienced anything like it before. It was entirely out of nowhere, completely unexpected. Now that you were thinking about it, you hoped it wasn’t a sign or symptom of an underlying issue. Reaching for your phone, you decided to text your friends about these bizarre events. Likely, they wouldn’t know any more about it than you did, but it’d be nice to talk to them about it regardless.

It wasn’t long until you went to sleep that day. When you joined the call, your friends were playing video games, but you decided to sit this one out. They understood; you were talking to them about the situation while they played, and they, too, fussed over your injury, worrying about you. You didn’t want them to worry, but it did feel good knowing that they cared.

Drowsiness sank in relatively fast. You hung up the call and let your consciousness go for the second time that day.

—

Waking up at this time was nothing but brutal. Your parents were right. The sleep schedule turned out to be a slight problem, one you hadn’t realized until the fateful first day of school. Thankfully, today wouldn’t be a long day. You would get dressed, grab something quick to eat, take a bus to your campus, listen to some welcome speeches, and then you could go home and sleep. It couldn’t be too bad. You could leave the making friends part for another day.

You heard your phone buzz, the digital screen lighting up.

ark is she awake yet xd

Y/N yes actually.

ark OKK LETSGOOO Y/N!! first day of school today good luck try not to die :kittypog: :kittypog: :kittypog:

lilypop yeah i m sure it will be good we re cheering for you

Zohlem Fr Good luck :) Try to make some friends

Y/N yessir i’m going now

ark :kittyshock: omgg hfhfhfhf

Their words of encouragement filled you with determination, and you felt the excitement bubble up in you, resembling the flapping of butterfly wings. You hadn’t looked forward to something in quite a while. Stretching your limbs out, you got out of bed, quickly splashing your face with water, doing your skincare and brushing your hair as you got ready. You looked through your wardrobe, searching for your best outfit—first impressions are essential, right—and got dressed for school. You had your earbuds in during your walk to class, playing your favourite music to hype yourself up. When you arrived at your campus, you were surprised at the size difference between the university buildings, in contrast to the much smaller grounds of your high school. You had always known that university campuses were far more grand, but words didn’t fully encapsulate the immensity of the size, nor the sense of pride you felt at knowing that this was the building you’d be attending school in.

Finding the room you were supposed to be in was surprisingly tricky. You were searching for something similar to an auditorium, but the way the rooms were labelled was oddly confusing. You were just about to panic, thinking everyone must’ve arrived before you when a tap on your shoulder told you otherwise.

You turned around to find a girl about your age shyly looking at you.

“I’m sorry to bother, but I’m wondering if you happen to know where room 01.08 is?” she asked. The first thing you noticed about her was that her hair was extremely long. She had dark brown hair with silver highlights that fell down to her waist in waves. Her bangs were neatly trimmed, thick and sitting just over her eyebrows. Her eyes were a shade of green so bright that you couldn’t help but wonder whether or not they were contact lenses, and she had an abundance of freckles scattered across her face.

“I’m actually looking for it as well.” you told her. “We can go together if you want?” She quickly nodded at you, giving you a pleasant smile.

“Thank you, that’d be really nice!” she exclaimed.

Maybe this could be the start of a friendship, you thought. Hopefully, it was. She seemed nice, and her smile was incredibly endearing. At the very least, you appreciated not being alone in your search for the auditorium room.

“My name is Ewa,” she introduced herself. “What about you?” She looked at you, wide eyes blinking. She was adorable. Very well could potentially be a good friend.

“I’m Y/N,” you responded. “I study [major], what about you?” you asked, trying to keep up the conversation. It’d been so long since you had properly spoken to someone in person, with all your friends being from the internet and whatnot. You were really hoping that your social skills hadn’t decayed too terribly.

“I study psychology!” she chirped. “To be honest, I wasn’t really sure what I wanted to study. But I always liked it in high school and I thought it could be fun.”

The two of you continued your conversation until you eventually found the correct room. You both took your seats, watching other students gradually fill the empty spaces. Thankfully, you hadn’t been the only ones late. It seemed that others had trouble getting here as well.

You found yourself zoning out for most of the presentation, not really interested in what the presenter said. It was just an introduction to the school, and something about your classes and schedules, not particularly fascinating to you. When it was over, you turned to Ewa, asking, “Were you listening?” eliciting a small giggle from her.

“A little bit. Are you hungry?”

And maybe, you had made a friend. So far, the day was going well, and a burst of determination grew in your chest. Perhaps this was the new start you’d been talking about, the one you hadn’t had any faith in. Even though you didn’t previously mean it—you had thought it was bullshit—you found yourself growing fond of the idea. This really could be something good for you. And so, you didn’t hesitate in taking up her offer.

“What do you want to eat?” you asked her.

“Do you like pizza?” she glanced at you, waiting for your approval.

“Yeah, I do. But you’ll have to pick the place, I haven’t really been around the city yet.” you told her the truth. You held your breath, wondering if she’d ask more about your move, pry for the reasoning behind it, but she didn’t, and you were glad for that. It wasn’t so much that you felt shy or embarrassed around this girl, but more so that you figured it’d be best to keep the conversation subject light until you got to know her better.

It turned out that Ewa had good taste in food or at least pizza. The place the two of you walked to was nice and cozy, the pizza itself being tasty and not expensive in price. You were much hungrier than expected, and you wolfed down your food. Ewa watched as you devoured your pizza, smiling all the while.

“I assume you like the pizza?” she questioned.

“It’s great. You have good taste.” you complimented, and you couldn’t have missed the twinkle in her eyes when you said that. She really was cute.

“I’m glad you think so.” she replied, and her giggle had to be contagious.

—

Y/N GUYS I MADE A FRIEND

ark !!! :kittypog: who whowhooo tell us everything all the detailsssss

lilypop yeah tell us about them actually is it a her or a him

Y/N her name is ewa. she’s really sweet and pretty.

Zohlem Is she single?

ark u r down horrendous. :kittysus:

lilypop yeah zohlem you are down bad

Zohlem Y/N has a point The way you type is obnoxious

lilypop oh sorry we can t all be NERDS like you

Zohlem Im not a nerd youre just annoying

lilypop and you re down bad stfu

Y/N HAHA? nah but she took me to get pizza it was tasty

ark :kittyhug: so happy 4 u wats her socials lemme stalk :kittyevil:

Y/N i don’t have it yet. i only got her number.

ark ask 4 it ask ask ask ASKKKKKK

Y/N okay wait

You quickly texted Ewa—she had given you her number earlier—asking her for her social media accounts. Maybe you could invite her to the group chat with your online friends once the two of you were closer. You had thought then that perhaps you should call your parents and update them on how your first day of university went. They’d surely be happy to hear about it.

You tapped at your screen, clicking your way to your mom’s phone contact. Your dad was likely still at work, so you’d call her first—she’d tell everything to your dad when he got home, anyway.

You had just pressed the call button when you could’ve sworn you heard static from the speaker. The sharp hissing noise jabbed at your skull, feeling like a taser had just been stabbed inside your brain. It didn’t matter that it was inexplicable because there was no other explanation for why your ears started ringing, your head throbbing in tune as you immediately rushed to cancel the call.

Your headache didn’t instantly vanish, though. You were left sitting in your chair, hands clutching your head for several minutes until you willed yourself to get up and move into your bed.

What the fuck? That was so weird. You wondered then if it could possibly have anything to do with your blackout from the other day, and as you pondered about it, something came to mind that instantly sent chills down your spine. You felt the ends of your hair raise, your skin prickling into goosebumps at the mere thought of it, and you shuddered. It was just now that you suddenly remembered. Remembered what Tim and Brian were experiencing not long before their disappearance.

The two had been complaining of headaches, listing details such as static and blackouts. You also remembered that the doctors had shrugged it off as nothing too serious, nothing complicated, even though it was severely impacting the two. They had been constantly restless and not feeling well, and you could tell it bothered them just by the way they talked about it. At the time, you had felt like it had some correlation to the disappearance, even though there was no proof of it. But your gut feeling told you so, and you wouldn’t think you could ever be wrong about them. Maybe if it was anything else, but not when it comes to them. Not then, not now, not ever.

You felt your heart drop into your stomach, falling so deep into the pit beneath that it felt like your gut had swallowed it. It was an eerie coincidence, and you felt your heart pick up pace in response to your anxiety.

You were shaking when you picked your phone back up. Your mom had called you back, and you figured you should pick up. You were fully expecting the horrific sounds of static and the throbbing pain in your skull to return when you picked up the call. You flinched when your mom’s voice came through the speaker, then let out a sigh of relief as you realized that it wasn’t some form of static.

And then you couldn’t dwell on your thoughts for much longer, because your mom had started speaking.

“Hi Y/N, how are you? How was your first day of school? Did you meet any new people?” You were right. She was absolutely ecstatic that you had called.

“I’m good. My first day was good. I did meet new people, actually. I made a friend.” Your mother was thrilled to hear that. You were sure she had been holding her breath, praying that you’d meet people and finally start socializing in real life again. For so long, she had been worried—ever since the incident, you hadn’t shown any signs of wanting to move on, meet new people, or make new friends. In the beginning, it was normal and not any cause for concern. Of course, you’d need a period of time to grieve, go through the stages of mourning, and accept the situation. But that period of time stretched out into weeks, then months, and then two years had passed. At that point, she was rightfully worried that something was wrong with her child, that your stage of mourning would last permanently. That’s why hearing of your newest update would be much reassurance to her, and you were both glad for that.

“I’m so happy to hear that! Tell me more about them,” she responded, and you could hear the excitement in her voice.

“Her name is Ewa,” you started. “She’s a psychology student, and I met her while trying to find the right room. She’s really nice, we went to get pizza after.”

“That’s great, Y/N. I’m really glad you’re making friends. Have you been feeling okay since you fainted?” she changed the subject; your fainting must’ve been constantly on her mind since it happened. You froze. You weren’t sure if you should tell her about the headache, the static, and the fact that Tim and Brian had similar symptoms before their disappearance. Maybe if you told her, she could help you, but more likely than not, she would just want to take you home. Even more likely was that she’d relentlessly worry over you, and you didn’t want that. Plus, there was probably no correlation between this and what Tim and Brian were experiencing then. It had to just be a coincidence, something along the lines of stress-induced migraines. The only thing you would do would be making yourself sound stupid and unhealthily obsessed over the past. Which wasn’t entirely untrue, but it would be counterintuitive for her to know so. She had finally just got hope that you’d be finally moving on, and you weren’t about to crush it right away, or hopefully ever. You wanted this to be the end of your grief, as well.

“Oh, yeah. I’ve been feeling okay, thanks for asking.” you lied, quickly thinking of a way to leave the situation, “I’ll be going now, I’ll call you some other time, okay?”

You exchanged goodbyes with your mother before hanging up the phone, allowing a loud to escape your lips. You felt the pulsating in your head begin anew, but this time, it wasn’t accompanied by any static. Ah, yes, a certified stress headache.

You groaned, burying your face in your pillow, screaming into it. The scream was nicely muffled, saving you from potential noise complaints. The only positive thing about this scenario was that your neighbours wouldn’t hate you instantly upon arrival.

Your phone buzzed. You winced at the brightness of the screen as you glanced at it. You saw that Ewa had texted back, giving you the usernames of her social media accounts. Unlocking your phone, you opened each application, typing her handle in and adding her on all her accounts.

Ewa has accepted your friend request.

ewa hi

You felt a glimmer of optimism. Maybe tomorrow would be better. 

next chapter ->

[hamsternostalgia]

Hello, I'm thinking of getting a Chinese dwarf hamster and I want to make sure they will have the best home I can offer with the space I have. I admittedly haven't had a hamster since I was a child. What would you suggest?

Omg hi thank you so much for sending this ask this has literally made my day to get to talk husbandry <3

This post will probably get long so I'm going to put in a break shortly! I'll title sections so you can skim fr whatever info you'd like easily!!!

Chinese (Dwarf) Hamster Cages

(just some random stuff before we get into husbandry):: To preface, while Chinese Hamsters aren't 'technically' dwarf hamsters, they are still referred to as such in pet stores and in most resources outside of the hamster community, but when I refer to a Chinese Hamster it's the same thing!

Out of the 5 species of hamsters in captivity this is also the hardest one to find, they generally don't sell well due to their mouse like appearance (which imo makes them the most interesting species), as well as because they are a almost exclusively solitary species unlike 'true' dwarfs. If you're buying from a pet store be sure they actually have some before you go, if through a breeder or a rescue it'll probably be much easier (but if from a breeder/rescue definitely check their minimum adoption requirements as they vary from organization to organization).

The males have.. very large testicles. It looks very silly but does not affect them so do not worry if your hamster is really silly looking, it adds to their charm.

All husbandry advice will be based on US standard, please note that the recommended standard often differs wildly from country to country, I will be referencing both the CHA and the OHC though as the CHA sucks and is full of insane people who are literally a clique and will come for people not in their clique (specifically referring to breeders). The OHC has a majority of the same breeders on their list but the people who run the association itself are less insane.

The minimum recommended size for a healthy happy dwarf hamster is 450sq inches, or at least 30"x15" (per https://ontariohamsters.ca/). Lets look at some options:

Bin cage: These are incredible since they're sooo versatile. If you decide you'd like to make a bin cage (using a storage bin with added ventilation) this will be the cheapest housing option. The smallest recommended size is a 110 qt sterilite bin, but any size larger in that brand or the largest IKEA SAMLA bin are also acceptable! If you have the space to do a larger enclosure, also look at 200 qt bins and xmas tree bin. Check out this video on how to ventilate since I am silly and cannot use my brain right now to explain it https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cjuWsbPrF04

The main thing to avoid is bins with wheels underneath, the plastic over the wheels bumps up inside and makes for a great spot to chew and escape from!

Tank: Tanks are great for allowing for the most bedding possible, and functionally prevent any messes the ham could make. You'll want to look for a 40 gallon at least, if you have a petco near you they regularly (like 5-6 times a year) do a sale where they offer half off on all their tanks (its going on right now actually) so a 40 would be $60 currently. 55 gallon tanks are technically smaller, but they are very tall and allow for a LOT deeper bedding and more climbing enrichment, and 60 and 75 gallon tanks have the same floor space as each other, but the 75 is taller. If you decide on a tank you'll need to order the tank lid online for any size over a 40 (sometimes pet stores have the 40 lid in stock), make sure to get a reptile terrarium lid!

Similarly there are also Acrylic and wooden enclosures. You'll want them to have the ventilation on the lids or very high up on the sides to prevent them from attempting to escape, but I recommended looking into the brands Bucatstate, Niteangel, and Pawhut (before you buy though look for 'clones' of the cages by niteangel because you can find cheaper than their prices for almost everything they sell).

Wire Cage: These are awesome for allowing for hanging enrichment like toys and shelves, but chinese hamsters are very small so you need bar spacing of at most 3/8". The Prevue 528, Savic Hamster Heaven Metro, and Crittertrail Super Habitat are all awesome options! These can all be purchased online, but Petco sells the Crittertrail Super Habitat and the Hamster Heaven can also be purchased from many Pet Supermarket locations if you have those near you!

That's a Prevue 528 set up below!

Connectable Cages: If you were wanting a Syrian Hamster (also called golden hamster, teddy bear, black bear, fancy hamster, etc) these wouldn't be possible at all since the tubes cannot accommodate a syrian hamster, and they are honestly HELL to deal with because occasionally they'll pee in the tubes and you'll have to take it all apart to clean it, but you do technically have one option for connectable cages with dwarf hamsters if it interests you. The Crittertrail Super Habitat is about 500sq inches, and features 1 connection port. You can attach connectable cages to that as long as you can maintain them. You don't really want to do only small cages connected to each other, hamsters may be burrowers in the wild but they are also major explorers. If their entire enclosure simulates a burrow they will want to escape that burrow to explore. You want a large main enclosure to allow them to have a 'surface', and to give them the option to burrow on their own (the small ones never have enough room for bedding ugh). The pros to connectable cages is that you can have different areas that are easier to maintain, and chinese hamsters are quite agile so they tend to enjoy being able to explore. If you decide to ever use tubes in your cage, try not to have any straight up and down sections larger than 3-4 inches, if they fall within the tube from any higher they're able to get injured quite easily.

(sorry couldn't find many good set up pics for this option since this style of enclosure has fallen out of style in the last few years for easier, larger setups)

As far as enclosures go those are your primary options! If you have specific questions about other aspects of their care, please let me know!!! I just didn't wanna overload this one post with too much info...

[bufomancer]

What kind of size for a hamster enclosure would you recommend? Regular hamster cages from pet stores are clearly not an option haha, and for my last hamster I used a large storage box but I think it could’ve been a bit bigger. I’m not very good at any diy stuff so I’m trying to find an option that doesn’t require much skill and isn’t super expensive, if you have any recommendations I’d appreciate it

Great question!!

For my foster hamsters I usually used modified storage bins. They work well for temporary use as they’re easy to carry, easy to clean, depending on how you modify them they can be stacked, etc. I personally don’t prefer them for long term use as (just as you’ve said) they’re on the small side.

The minimum we adopt out to at the rescue is 600 square inches, my preference is 775 or more particularly for syrians. Keep in mind dimensions advertised are usually the external dimensions, and internal floor space may be a bit smaller.

Large aquariums are an option. 40 breeders are 648 square inches, 75 gallons are 864. You can often find them used for pretty cheap, though they’ll likely need a good cleaning.

Ikea hacks are popular for affordable hamster enclosures with minimal DIY. I don’t like the detolf hack since it’s so narrow (only 13 inches wide) and would only recommend it for robos, maybe the larger dwarf species, but not really for syrians if you can avoid it. The linmon hack is a lot more square and is about 877 square inches so that’s a good option. Most ikea hacks do require you to DIY your own lid.

Pawhut sells some wooden enclosures online that exceed 600 square inches- This One is just over 1,000 square inches and currently on sale on Chewy!

NiteAngel and Bucatstate both sell enclosures as well, on Amazon. Be careful checking dimensions- some of their enclosures are too small for hamsters! A friend of mine has been using the new Bucatstate 2.0 stacking enclosures, which are 774 square inches, and so far has liked them a lot for a fairly inexpensive, sturdy, large enclosure.

You can also use PVC reptile enclosures provided they have sufficient ventilation. These can be pretty expensive though.

Basically: there’s a ton of options, though unfortunately many can’t be purchased at pet stores (in the US at least). However, I *have* noticed that both Petco and Petsmart carry larger enclosures than they used to. So we are heading in the right direction, and with time things may change more.

Also keep in mind that any enclosure with only ventilation on the lid isn’t going to have optimal ventilation. Hamsters don’t produce as much ammonia as a lot of other rodents, and they’re good about mostly using the bathroom in one spot which makes cleaning easier. However I do recommend ensuring the room is well ventilated- I have an air purifier in mine and a ceiling fan going at all times, but I also have a lot of rodents. You can also hook up a small computer fan to gently agitate the air in the enclosure and increase air circulation.

Best of luck!!

[midinmod]

2024 Furniture Trends: What to Buy and Where to Buy

Hey furniture hunters! The 2024 furniture scene is shaking things up big time, just like the fast fashion industry. Forget Mango, Zara, or Shein—this year, it’s all about Wayfair, Amazon, Overstock, and Temu. If you love trendy, affordable pieces, you’re in the right place. Let’s dive into what’s hot this year and where to snag the best deals!

What's Hot in 2024?

2024 started slow for furniture, but some styles are flying off the shelves. The Japandy trend is the star—think big, comfy Japandy sofas, tables, coffee tables, beds, and dressers. This Japanese-Scandinavian fusion is all about minimalism and function. Wayfair furniture deals 2024 are full of these chic pieces.

Trendy Colors to Watch

This year, it’s all about warm, earthy tones. Japandy colors are calming, with soft edges and a mix of Mid-Century Modern vibes and minimalist comfort. Look for ivory, light grey, mocha, light brown boucle fabric, dark green, and olive green velvet. Mustard and burnt orange velvet are also trending for living rooms and bedrooms. Linen and performance fabrics in cream, ivory, light pink, olive green, and teal are hot, especially for commercial spaces. Check out Amazon furniture trends 2024 for these colors.

Best-Selling Furniture Styles

Affordable but stylish items are the big winners. Japandy and Mid-Century Modern designs are topping the charts, while bulky traditional furniture is out. Modern motion upholstery sofas, sectionals, and power recliner chairs are all the rage, especially for small spaces. Japandy U-shaped and L-shaped corners are perfect for larger living rooms. If you’re looking for affordable furniture 2024, these styles offer great value.

Industry Outlook for 2024

The year started slow, but affordable options from Amazon, Wayfair, Walmart, and Temu are leading the pack. Traditional stores like Ikea, Ashley Furniture, Rooms to Go, Living Spaces, and Bob’s Discount Furniture are losing ground to these online giants. High-quality brands like CB2, West Elm, Crate and Barrel, Anthropologie, All Modern, Article, Mid in Mod, and Rove Concepts are still holding strong, thanks to their quality and personalized shopping experiences.

Where to Shop in 2024

For trendy, affordable pieces, check out Wayfair, Amazon, Overstock, and Temu. They’ve got a wide range of styles and prices. For those who want quality and great service, hit up CB2, West Elm, Crate and Barrel, Anthropologie, All Modern, Article, Mid in Mod, and Rove Concepts. These are some of the best online furniture stores 2024.

As you shop in 2024, stay on top of trends and find pieces that mix style, quality, and affordability. Look out for pet-friendly furniture 2024 and power recliner chairs 2024 to keep your home both stylish and comfy. Happy shopping!

[shop-korea]

HATE - CENTIMETERS - AS

MEASUREMENT - GOOGLE

SEARCH - CONVERT 2 INCH

MIDDLE - SMALL - BOTTOM

REST - 4 - SOIL - AREA

FOR - WAGON - FOLDED THE

WHEELS - BECAUSE - USED

ANOTHER - USE - 4 - OUR

HAND - WASHABLES - SO

MIAMI - IKEA

GO - IN MORNING - THEY

OPEN - 10A - INCLUDING

SWEDISH - RESTAURANT

MEATBALLS - FAMOUS

IKEA - DAILY - EVEN YES

PRESIDENT's - DAY

SELF - SERVICE CHECK

OUT - NO - CASH KIOSK

IKEA - MIAMI

10A - 9P - DAILY

CAFE - 10A - 8P

IKEA - IS - HEALING LOVE

THEIR - HUGE - MIRRORS

BLK - WOOD - SIDES

$79.99

2 - MANY - EXPENSIVE

NOT - COMPARED - TO

ONLINE - EVEN PRIME

WILL - CHECK - AGAIN

MY - FAUX - FUR

WAS - IT - ALWAYS

$!4.99

20 X 20 - IKEA PILLOW

STILL - $7

RED - SMALL - NOT

AUTO - UMBRELLA

SWEDEN - $6.99

IKEA - IS - SWEDEN

BEEN - THERE YES

STONEWARE - BY - SWEDEN

4 PINKS - 4 - SOUPS

$14.99

BUT BAMBOO - NICE ROUND

SALAD - FRESH KITCHEN

LIKE - BOWL - TERIYAKI TOO

$15.99

NICE - BAMBOO - TRAY

$14.99

SAME - PINK - STONEWARE

SMALL - CUP - OVER - $1.00

SWEDEN's - IKEA

SO - AWESOME - PRICES

FOUND - LONG - CHAIR

SO - EASY - 2 - CONTROL

FAST - TURN - AROUND

AS - SITTING - WONDER

CHAIR - WITH WHEELS

BLK - ORANGE - ACCENT

BACK - PROTECTED AND

HIGH - CHAIR - $89.99

FAST - L 2 R - TURN ROUND

SUPER - FAST - EASY - 2 XO

MANUEVER - SO - COOL

4 - TABLE - L AND R - YES

MODERN - DESIGN THEIR

MICKE - BOY's - NAME

BLK - PLUS - ADD WHEELS

4 - DRAWERS - FILES - TOO

MAIN - DESK - 2 DRAWERS

LARGE - $89.99

SMALL - $39.99 OR $49.99

SAME - ONES - I - SAW

GETTING - MICKE - ONES

IKEA - KNOWN - 4 - TRUE

BEAUTIFUL - BLKS - AND

GORGEOUS - WHITES

SLIDING - DOORS - 4 OUR

WARDROBE - THEY'RE - A

WHITE & BLK - AWESOME

BEAUTY - STARK - WHITE

STATELY - BLKS - SO HOT

PRICES - COOLEST DO U

SHOP - ONLINE

SHOP - CITI - FURNITURE

CRATE & BARREL

ALL - ARE - EXPENSIVE

IKEA - OUR - GOAL YES

BED - CITI FURNITURE

HEADBOARD - BAMBOO

SHEETS - FAUX - FUR ITS

CITI - FURNITURE

2ND FLOOR

MIDTOWN - MIAMI

REMOTE - THERAPEUDIC

QUEEN - $1,999.99 - THAT

GREAT - SLEEP NUMBER

BELOW - THEM - TRUE

$2,999.99 - $5,999.99

SO - WE'RE - GETTING

KOREAN - GIRLS, GOT

USED - 2 - OTHER's YES

AUDACITY - WITH TRUE

BAD - ITEMS - FEELS FL

TERRIBLE - YESTERDAY

MY - SOFA - CHOICE

SOLD - OUT SO SAD

AFTER - CHECK OUT

R SIDE - THEIR EXPRESS

FOOD - NEW - PRICES

THIN SMALL - HOT DOG

NOT - MANHATTAN - NY

NEW - PRICE - $0.75

U - PUT - HOTDOG AND

MUSTARD - WE - NEED

PUSH CART - MANHATTAN

NEW YORK - RED - ONION

SAUCE - SOFT - BREADS 2

THEIR - HOT DOGS WORLD

BEST - WARM - DELICIOUS

24/7 - ATE - 'OVER' - 2,500

NO - DOESN'T TASTE LIKE

THAT - BUT - ADEQUATE

DIDN'T - LIKE - CINNAMON

BUNS - BUS 11 - WAS SLOW

DURING - PEAK - HRS - YES

3P - 4P - BEST - TIME TRUE

FASTER - MORNINGS SO U

ARE - THERE - AT - 10A

BEST - TIME - DRIVER NOT

2 - MANY - STOPS LOTS OF

PEOPLE - FOUND - OUT

LOUD - MOUTHS - FAR - 2

THE - SIDE - SW 2 AV - YES

U - CAN - WALK - BRIDGE

FR - SW 3 ST - 2 - BRICKELL

MAYBE - WERE - NOT - YES

SLEEPING - THERE - LAST

NIGHT - SO - THEY - CAN'T

COMPLAIN - ABOUT - MY

LOVE - SONGS - WEIRDOS

'F' - WORD - EVERY OTHER

BLK - MALE - WITH THEM

HE - STOPPED - MIAMI

POLICE - CAR ABOUT HIM

HIS - SISTER - FIGHT'G

THAT - FOREIGN - BLK

MALE - WHO - GAVE ME

EXPENSIVE - 7-ELEVEN

CHEESE - PIZZA - 2 - YES

WHITE - FAT - MALE WHO

IS - REALLY - A - WOMAN

HE - WEARS - BRAS

HIS - SISTER - AND - HIM

BAD - MOUTHS

SO HE - STOPPED POLICE

ABOUT - HIM - NOTHING

HAPPENED - BUT - BOTH

MOVED - TOGETHER AND

THEIR - TENTS - NEXT TO

EACH - OTHER - FIGHTS

EACH - ONE - BUT STAYS

TOGETHER - SO - 4 WILL

LEAVE - 4 - BOSTON MA

APRIL - PLEASE - NOW

LEFT - ME - SMALL PINK

BROWN - PLUSH - CUTE

GOING - 2 - IKEA - WAS

TOTALLY - HEALING - 2

BUT - I - WANT MY YES

OWN - SOUNDPROOF

INSTALLATION - WE HAVE

FREE - DESIGNERS - 2 YES

HELP - REDESIGN - YOUR

HOUSES - APTS - I WANT

MY - OWN - 24/7 - OPEN

WAREHOUSE - TRULY FL

DEAR - KOREAN - GIRLS,

CREATED - BY - MY - YES

TOKYO - JAPAN - MALE

SCIENTISTS - BEST APPS

TENTATIVE - NAME

SMART HOME - STORE

MANY - FLOORS

HARVARD - LAW

APARTMENT - RIGHTS

FUTURE - 14TH - REVISED

'WITH DUE - PROCESS OF

LAW' - REVOKED

NO - LIFE - IMPRISONMENT

NO - EXECUTION

NO - KILL - SHELTERS - NO

LEASH - CATS - AND DOGS

NO - EVICTION

NO - REPOSSESSION

NO - FORECLOSURE

THUS - FUTURE - OWNERS

OVERTHROW - OF - US GOV'T

ALL - APARTMENTS - MUST

SELL - THEIR - APTS - 2 THE

TENANTS

1ST - FREE - EXERCISE

THEREOF - OF - RELIGION

REQUIREMENTS

TENANT - MUST - SPEAK

TONGUES

IF - THEY - CAN'T - THEN

CONTINUES - RENT LEASE

PAYMENT

IF - QUALIFY

APT - SALE - $1

THUS - YEARLY - TAX

RESIDENTIAL - COINS

INTERNATIONAL FUNDS

WE - PAY - APT BUILD'G

THE - REST - NEW LAW

BUILDING - MUST - BE

SOLAR - SO - FREE

ELECTRICITY

WATER - MACHINES

2 - PRODUCE WATER

SO - FREE - WATER

APT - BUILDINGS MUST

GIVE - HIGH - FREE YES

WIRELESS

ALSO - NEW

NO - MORE - POLICE

SHERIFFS - LANDLORDS

PROPERTY - MANAGERS

NO MORE - MANAGERS

MIDWIVES - PSYCHIATRISTS

CHIROPRACTORS NO MORE

GYNECOLOGY - BOXES FOR

CLEAR - PAPS - SMEARS - 4

ACTIVE - ONLY - NOT - FOR

VIRGINS - 2 - PROTECT - FR

CERVIX - CANCER

NO MORE - FAMILY DOCTOR

THUS - 4 - APT - BUILDINGS

OFFICE - STAFF

CUSTOMER - SERVICE

SUPERVISORS - ALLOWED

BUT - ALL - APTS - MUST

B - SOLD - 2 - TENANTS

BUT - CONSTRUCTION

MUST - B - SOUNDPROOF

NO - SOUND - WE - WILL

PROVIDE - THAT - TRUE

FUTURE - CONDO BLDGS

CONDOMINIUMS

OWNED - APTS

OWNER - OF - APTS

NO - MORE - KEYS

DIGITAL - ENTRY

SMALL - LOBBIES

U - CAN - LOCK - AREA

DELIVERY - MUST - BE

PLACE - INSIDE - APT's

LOBBIES - GIVE - THAT

DAY's - NOS - LIKE 555

DIGITAL - FINGERPRINT

OF - CARRIER - AS WILL

SAY - UPS - AMAZON

FEDEX - OTHERS

THEIR - PHOTOGRAPH

COLOR - AS - THEY YES

ENTER - 555 - DIGITAL

PLACES - ITEMS - IN THE

LOBBIES - DOGS OTHERS

STEAL - PACKAGES - YES

AMAZON - PRIME

BACK - 2 - WHAT - I WANT

SMART HOUSE - STORE

WAREHOUSE - LIKE OR

TALL - BUILDINGS - WE

CAN - PUT LIKE STICK

THIN - MARBLE - ON WALLS

MAYBE - COPPER - FAUCET

OUR - LOANS

$1 - PER - MONTH - AS - YOU

BUY - MORE - AND - MORE

THE - $1 - PER - MONTH WILL

NOT - INCREASE - AS - WE

BEAUTIFY - THINGS

AMENDMENT 1 - IN FRONT

'FREE - EXERCISE THEREOF

OF - RELIGION'

SPEAK - TONGUES - 2 - YES

ENTER

SO - WE - REDUCE - ARMED

ROBBERIES

IN - OUR - LOBBIES - WE YES

OFFER - OUR - CARDS - 4 US

CASH - USERS

WELCOME

SPEAK - TONGUES

2 - FREE - APP YES

$500 BILLION - TAX - FREE

SING - TONGUES ANOTHER

CASH - USERS

CONVERT - CASH - 2 - OUR

STORE - CARD

DO - THAT - OUR - GIFT

$500 BILLION - TAX - PAID

ONCE - DONE - KIOSKS - EA

FLOOR - GET - NEW - CASH

NON-FLAMMABLE

GET - NEW - CLEAN COINS

U - CAN - HAVE - $0.00

IN - CARD - FILL - ANY TIME

FUTURE

AESPA - CHARLIE BROWN

GROCERIES - 24/7 - OPEN

SMART HOUSE - STORE

OUR - KIOSKS - THERE

PUT - YOUR - CASH WITH

THAT - KIOSK - B 4 - OUR

STORE - HOLIDAYS OPEN

WE'RE - SELLING - BEST

ON - EARTH

BABIES - KIDS - ADULTS

100% - ORGANIC COTTON

500 - 2,500 - 3,500 COUNT

THREAD - COUNT

BEST - BAMBOO - SHEETS

CLOTHES - APRONS

100% - ORGANIC COTTON

PHILIPPINE - BABIES - WE

PUT - ON - CHAIR - WITH

WHEELS - AS - THEY YES

LEARN - 2 - WALK - RUN

OFFERING - BEST - TOYS

THINGS - 4 - ALL - KIDS

SWEDEN - IKEA - I DON'T

LIKE - THEY - INTRODUCE

PREDATOR - SHARKS

WILD - DANGEROUS - YES

ANIMALS - 2 - KIDS - LIKE

SNAKE - TIGERS - LIONS

WHY - DO - THEY - WANT

KIDS - 2 - PET - THEM IF

THEY - MEET - THEM - I

DON'T - AGREE - WITH US

EUROPE - OBSESSION WITH

KIDS - & - DEADLY ANIMALS

IKEA - PLUSH - ALSO - NOT

PRETTY - FLIMSY - NOT LIKE

DISNEY - PLUSH - QUITE YES

INFERIOR - UGLY NOT GOOD

BUT - I - DON'T - BELIEVE IN

THEIR - PLUSH - ANIMALS

MISSING - PLUSH - GIRAFFE

SMALL - ROCKING - CHAIRS

WITH - ANIMALS - 4 - KIDS 2

DON'T - LIKE - BEND A LOT 4

OLDER - KIDS - BUT - MOM

IS - PREGNANT - DON'T LIKE

KIDS - BEDS - JUST - LIKE

IKEA - BUNK - BEDS - BUT IT

IS - NOT - GREAT - BED - YES

SECTION - KIDS - BEDS - DO

NOT - LIKE - MANY - BEDS 2

CLOSETS - IKEA - AWESOME

DIFFERENT - KINDS - THEIR

CLOTHES - CLOSETS - WHAT

A - NICE - FEELING - HOLES

2 - CHANGE - HEIGHTS YES

WHAT - U - NEED

CUSTOMIZED

SO - I - WANT - MY - OWN

STORE - WITH - BUFFET 2

DEAR - KOREAN - GIRLS,

WE - HAVE - A - FUTURE

[kitchengarden4u]

Eco Friendly Recycled wooden pallet chairs

Eco Friendly Recycled wooden pallet chairs can be created using 1 used pallet and a couple of used 2x4’s. Build a set of 4 and you are all set. The pallets were free, only 30 x 32 so they are perfect for chairs. We cut two section off end (2 boards) of each pallet to use as back rest and attach to the verticle of the support legs. Check out video below to get the inside design. Chairs and plans will be available soon through our shop at below link. A set of six make a complete deck. Cushions are available at local stores.

Recycled wood pallet deck chairs Start with finding some used wooden pallets, sketch out a design and gettir done!

https://youtu.be/W6zeqjyuHfg Eco friendly recycled wooden pallet chairs and yard furniture Recycling materials such as pallets that typical go to garbage in some cases recycled by burning for heat, makes use of harvested wood for a few more years. Re-use is always best in the world, and even IKEA is getting into it.

recycled wood pallet deck chair

KitchenGarden4U – Other features

Consider making your own chairs or order them online soon at shop below. To enjoy your new deck chairs, cook up some great food with the worlds best kitchen cooking aplliance. “Hands down, it’s the Thermomix TM6. It’s the best time-saver in the kitchen. Since it pretty much does the cooking for you and helps you plan ahead, I’m able to whip up something fresh and easy for me and my daughter, yet still get through my list of things to do. Life. Changer.”Thermomix® TM6™ as the “gadget that’s changed her life – Mel Alcantara From meal planning, to cooking, to clean up, the TM6® is the ultimate kitchen assistant that has your back! You can seamlessly create the perfect meal, every time with this all-in-one solidly built machine called Thermomix® TM6® . For more information on Thermomix TM6 check this page or you could consider starting your own ultimate side gig, healthy eating and making money with home based business based around food and eating healthy including an opportunity of getting your TM6 for free(by referring 4 others). Your choice! We will be reviewing products and be sure I’m to check our our Product Reviews coming in the near future. Be sure to check out our SHOP for your everyday needs. What ever combo you choose, Enjoy! and come back to KitchenGarden4u often. Thanks for visiting. (Thermomix and TM6 are registerred trademarks of Vorwerk) Read the full article

[seapiatech]

​ Become a part of our community, contribute your knowledge, and unlock your earning potential. Together, let's explore the frontiers of human innovation and share the wonders of the world we live in!See you at Seapia.tech - where knowledge meets opportunity!

[jbeautytricks]

Crescite beauty: The Best Japanese Beauty Products in UAE

If you're looking for the best Japanese beauty products in UAE, you'll want to check out Crescite beauty. They carry a wide range of products from some of the best brands in Japan, and they're all available at great prices. Whether you're looking for makeup, skincare, or hair products, Crescite beauty has you covered.

What are some of the best Japanese beauty products in UAE?

There are many great Japanese beauty products available in UAE. Some of the most popular brands include Shiseido,& honey, and Dariya. Each of these brands offers a variety of high-quality products that can help you achieve beautiful, healthy skin.

Shiseido is a well-known brand that offers a range of skincare products, including cleansers, moisturizers, and sunscreens. Their products are based on traditional Japanese beauty principles, and they are known for their high quality and effectiveness.

& honey is another popular brand of Japanese beauty products. Their products are based on the latest skincare technology, and they are known for their ability to improve the appearance of skin over time.

Dariya is a Japanese brand that offers a range of affordable best japanese beauty products in UAE. Their products are based on the latest skincare technology, and they are known for their ability to improve the appearance of skin over time.

Where can you find these products?

Looking for the best japanese beauty products in UAE, but don't know where to find them? Look no further! Here are some of the best places to find high-quality products.

For cosmetics, visit your local Sephora store. They have a wide variety of brands and products to choose from. If you're looking for a specific brand that you can't find in stores, check out their website.

For clothes, head to your favorite clothing store. Department stores usually have a wide variety of brands, while boutiques typically specialize in a certain type of clothing. If you're looking for something specific, like eco-friendly clothes, try searching for "sustainably produced clothes" online.

When it comes to home goods, there are a ton of different places to find high-quality products. For furniture, try IKEA or West Elm. If you're looking for something more unique, check out Etsy or local furniture stores. When it comes to appliances, your best bet is to go to a retail store like Sears or Best Buy.

-What are the benefits of using Japanese beauty products?

Japanese beauty products are known for their high quality and many people believe that they offer a wide range of benefits over other types of products. Some of the benefits that people often cite include better quality, longer lasting effects, and a more natural composition.

[wlwsims4]

Back at it again with this whole challenge stuff.

This Challenge is half “Survive this”, half Legacy, and based around the various stages the main group in the TV Show “The Walking Dead” went through. You don’t need to have watched it to play this challenge, but many requirements will feel arbitrary if you haven’t. Since these aren’t really, uh, generations, I will refer to the individual parts of this challenge as “Stages” Packs required: Outdoor Retreat, Seasons, Eco Lifestyle, Get Together, City Living, Discover University, Get to Work

The Setup:

- You will need either Triplis’ “Kids Quit School” mod ot MCCC to make quitting school possible. - Create your founder and any number of other survivors in CAS, Two of these additional survivors need to be children. - Use your own physical dice or find an online dice roller, you will need that!

General Rules:

- It’s the Apocalypse, so buy mode is heavily restricted. You can’t just go to Ikea and buy  new couch! You will need to use the fabrication and handiness skills to make furniture! Some Random Events and generational rules may allow you to get stuff otherwise

- You may only cook with ingredients you have! If you play this after the release of Cottage Living, use the Lot Challenge!

- You will always play off the grid!

- The monetary cost of crafting is considered “materials”. You can "barter” for materials by using the selling table from City Living, or sell furniture and stuff you scavenged, thus “dismantling” it and salvaging it.

- Any children you have aside from the two you create in CAS automatically suffer a -2 penalty to all rolls they perform, on account of being children. 

- Randomized townies you encounter are generally considered zombies. (or WaLkErS of you don’t wanna use the evil Z word). If they engage you in conversation, consider it an attack and roll a d20, adding 1 for every two levels of fitness the Sim in question has. Below a 15, they get injured in the scuffle and are out of comission for the rest of the day. Below a 10, they get infected and die

- Pregnant and elderly Sims cannot perform any chores or other survival tasks and suffer the same -2 penalty as children!

- Every ingame week, roll on the random events table!

- Play with normal lifespan!

Stage 1: The Atlanta Survivors Camp You just survived the Apocalypse’s initial outbreak and you are settling with a small group outside a large city. However, calamity soon threatens your little sanctuary.

- Move your household anywhere with freerealestate, then take a vacation on the campground lot in Granite Falls.  - Set your money to 5k and start your grind. When you can no longer extend your vacation, your camp gets overrun and you are forced to flee. Roll Fitness checks for each member of your group and disable/kill accordingly. - If your founder dies in this, appoint a new one from the surviving sims

Stage 2: Hershel’s Farm After getting out of the overrun camp and having a little happening at the CDC, you are back on the road and lose one of your two kids in a run-in with a horde. Worse, even, your other kid gets shot and is badly injured! Thankfully, you are offered help by a small family on a nearby farm.

- Kill of one of your two CAS-created kids. Sorry, Sophia! - The other CAS-created kid is now injured for the rest of thi stage and can’t help you out or build skills. - Move your sims to one of the lots south of the Chalet in Windernburg (Or Henford on Bagley if Cottage Living is out!)  and build a little farmhouse big enough to accommodate four sims, with a small vegetable garden and 2 power generating and 3 water generating items. -Create four Sims that “own” the farm and help you out. One of them has to be an elder! - Two weeks into this stage, the farm will, unfortunately, get overrun and also set on fire. Do your fitness rolls for everyone and run for your life.

Stage 3: The Prison Again, you are on the run, but there’s a little shimmer of light at the end of the tunnel - an abandoned prison! Now, you just need to like... reclaim it.

- Build a Prison, or download one from the gallery! - Cheat one of your sim pregnant, if you don’t have a pregnancy yet. - Reclaim the prison! Make Fitness rolls for each level + the outside. - After your pregnant Sim gives birth, kill her. Sorry, Lori! - Create a rival 8-sim household and put your sims in a club, and their rivals in one too. Have  “fight (other club)” as one of the activities, then have them visit you and... start... a gathering... ;)

Stage 4 The Prison 2, Electric Boogaloo You defeated Woodbury! ... or did you? Well, you don’t really have time to deal with it right now, because there is a deadly strain of influenza wrecking your community. 

- Start placing ads for roommates. Those are the former Woodbury people you took in! - Every Time someone gets one of the GTW illnesses, roll your d20. Below a 10, they die to the sickness. Kill them, and roll fitness for one of your household sims, since the dead turn into walkers! - Three weeks into this stage, your friend, the Governor of Woodbury, comes back with a fresh new group he roped into his nonsense. Roll Fitness checks and book it. (also kill the Governor. RIP in pieces)

Stage 5: Terminus From bad to worse, you’re on the run again, and split up this time. Divided we fall, huh? Good thing there’s this totally not ominous set of markers leading you to a place called Terminus. I’m sure nothing bad will happen there.

- Split your Household and surviving roommates and pop them all into different empty lots. Play a week with each of them (aging off here, this is meant to happen simultaneously!) and roll on the random events table until you have eight sims left in total. Hope you weren’t attached to any of them. - Put them back into the same household again, and create yet another rival club to beat up. That rival club is Terminus. Surprise, the group with the name meaning “Death” was bad! - Switch to your Terminus household and “invite” your sims over, then lock them in the basement, true sims style. Go downstairs and start a club gathering. Keep an eye on them, every time someone loses a fight, kill them. Do this until you have either 5 good guys left or all of Terminus is dead.

Stage 6: Alexandria and The other blokes You got away from the humanitarians and were invited into the community of Alexandria. Thing are finally looking up again!

- Move to a 50x50 lot and build a little “village” with gardens, energy production and everything you might need. - Create two more 8-sim-households on similar situations and create clubs for them, with the activity to be friendly with yours! These two households will be Hilltop and The Kingdom. - Make one of the Evergreen Harbor Community Spaces a marketplace and frequent it! - Stay in this stage for four weeks!

Stage 7: The Saviour War Things just couldn’t stay okay, could they? You ticked off a horrible cult-of-personality-type organization called the Saviours, who now start their reign of terror against you.

- Create another household and club meant to be mean to you, Hilltop and the kingdom. Make their Leader a magnificent bastard and give that one plot armor. Narrative Immunity! - Host a little multi-club gathering and roll a d8 twice. Look at your own household portrait lineup and kill two of your sims whose portrait position corresponds to your rolls. - Take your strongest fighter, aka the highst fitness stat, aka Daryl Dixon and put them into their own household, to take them out of the equation for a while. They’re the Saviours’ prisoner now! - Congrats, you have been promoted to vassal state. The Saviours demand five of every crop you produce. Don’t hav enough to feed your people? Sucks to be you! - Stay in this stage for 4 weeks, then bring back your poor fighter, and kill off half of the Saviours, add the rest to your household and Kingdom & Hilltop. Their Leader must survive! Keep them in your basement from now on and visit them regularly to gloat.

Stage 8: The Whisperer War Finally, some stability. Oh, whats that? New enemy faction, and this one of even worse? Fantastic.

- Cease communication and trade with Hilltop & Kingdom for two weeks, Then hold a big party! - ...during said party,  kill 12 total sims from each faction. - Create a new rival faction called the Whisperers. Make their two leaders, Alpha & Beta, level 10 in fitness. - Hold weekly brawls with the whisperers. Kill every fight loser, but replenish the Whisperers losses. There’s no end to their forces! - Give Alpha a daughter and take her in after your first clash with them. - When you resume trade, roll a D20 every time you travel away from your lot. Below a 10, your travel party gets attacked by the Whisperers! Roll Fitness checks for every Siim traveling. - Remember the Saviour leader? Yeah, they’re doing better. Have them befried one of your household’s children, and gradually integrate them into your community. - After an additional 4 weeks of this, send your redeemed Saviour leader over to the Whisperers and befriend them. They’re a spy now! - Survive another week, then ply s the Whisperers and attack Hilltop! Move the survivors into your main household. - After this attack, your spy strikes and kills Alpha. Put them back into your household, then gear up for a big fight! - Cheat “Roughhousing ecouraged” in your NAPs, then gather all surviving characters along with the Whisperers and fight!

Did you survive this? Well, until season 11 comes out, that’s as far as we go. You can continue playing with the Random Events and general ruleset!

RANDOM EVENTS:

D20: 1.  There’s a drought. Sell all your stored water and reset your money back down 2. Zombie Attack! Roll Fitness and kill accoridngly! 3. Electric whoopsie-doopsie. Sell your stored electricty and set your money bck down 4. Roving bandits! The next time travel, all your traveling sims lose their inventory contents! If they had none, kill one of them! 5. Baby Boom! Get one fo your Sims pregnant 6. Other Survivors! Roll a d4 and add the resulting nuber of sims to your household! 7. Tragic accident! Kill a random sim 8. Extra Ammo! Every Sim gets a +1 to their next fitness roll! 9. Thunderstorm! Your Sims may not leave their lot for this week! 10: Supply thief! select a random sim and hoard food for this week. At the end of the week they get found out nd either killed or exiled! 11. Breach! Your wall has a breach! Reduce your funds by 150 to fix it. If you don’t have that much, kill a random sim in the resulting zombie incusrsion! 12. Illness! There’s a flareup of the deadly flu from the prison! Play with this Stage’s rules (regarding the illness) for this week! 13: Re-roll! 14. Sabotage! Your fabricator and woodworking table cannot be used this week! 15. Zombie Attack! Roll Fitness and kill accordingly! 16. Lost Child! You find a random child, adopt one! (cheat the money for the adoption) 17: Feast! Your Sims make the poorly informed decision to par-tay! Delete all the stored crops you have. 18. Horde! It’s too dangerous to leave the fortifications right now! Suspend all travel this week. 19. Foraging! Cheat yourself enough money and buy a seasonal seed packet that corresponds to this season! 20. Re-Roll!

[miekasa]

wait so i was scrolling through your blog (as per usual) and i saw that you brought up levi and his streamer gf briefly. care to elaborate a lil causeee im curious 👀👀

- 🖤

Absolutely, I can. He’s such a supportive bf even tho he’s far from a gamer himself, and very very proud of you 😌

Whatever game(s) you play, Levi knows the basics. He might not have ever played them himself, but he knows enough to recognize it if it ever comes up in conversation.

He doesn’t always watch your streams, and you can hardly tell when he does because he doesn’t comment or anything. He just tunes in when he’s free to support you and see what’s going on. Sometimes to peep on your comment section, but he’d never tell you that.

He doesn’t make donations. He’d just Apple Pay you money lmfao. Supportive emotionally and financially, but all your followers/subscribers don’t have to see that.

He knows when you’re recording content or streaming and typically doesn’t bother you. The only exceptions are (a) if he forgets or (b) you’ve been in your room for a while and he’s going in to check up on you.

He doesn’t forget often—and truthfully, when he walks in on your streams its not actually because he forgot; it’s because you’re online at a different time that usual and he didn’t know—but it’s pretty cute when he does. He catches himself pretty quickly, and silently asks you if you’re streaming; to which he gently closes the door and just texts you his inquiry.

He doesn’t even really disturb you—it’s not like he enters rooms cussing up a storm on full blast. Nobody could even tell he walked in, except for maybe a small lapse in your attention when you turned to him.

When you’ve been in your room for a while, he does come in to check on you. His intentions aren’t necessarily to get you away from the screen; he just wants to make sure you’ve had dinner or some snacks at the very least. When you have all night tournaments or streaming fests, he comes by with dinner for you; silently puts it on your desk, and on occasion, leaves you with a little head pat.

He doesn’t normally appear in your streams, but he is in two of your YouTube videos: one shopping haul, and once when he helped you make him/your friends in the Sims. They happen to be two of your highest viewed videos.

People constantly ask about him. They know Levi exists, but they don’t see him often, and newer fans especially are obsessed with catching a glimpse of your mysterious boyfriend on screen. If you asked him, he’d come in for a few seconds to show his face, but he wouldn’t do it unprompted.

You mention him, of course, it’s not like you’re hiding him away either. He comes up particularly often when you play with your friends or are just chatting in lobbies. You don’t exactly explicitly refer to him as your boyfriend, but you say his name—and so does Hange—and people kinda get the picture.

Hange constantly asking for Levi when you guys are playing together. It’s one of the few times Levi comes into your chat/comments to tell them to shutup. (Yes, your subscribers go crazy for the glimpse of Levi on your channel).

He’s not a gamer, and he sees no reason to disturb your streams by appearing if you don’t ask. But, also, he’s a little camera shy, not that he’d ever tell you that. You’ve got a lot of followers, he’s not prepared to be live in front of thousands of people every night; he’ll leave that up to you.

Levi built nearly everything in your gaming setup. From the adjustable standing desks, to the wall mounts for your accessories and decorations, to your chair, to the shelves. He built it all and tailored it to your exact taste and to fit your room perfectly.

So, sometimes you feel bad when people ask about stuff because you can’t exactly give them a link or recommendation—“Oh thank you! The thing is, my—well, Levi built the desk for me so you can’t buy it—but! There are some similar ones at IKEA!!”

(Levi scoffs ever so lightly when he sees that clip. His craftsmanship cannot be found at IKEA, but they can try).

He also helped mount the TV in your room so that the cables were hidden and everything. Truly a godsend. And whenever you wanna move things around, he’s there to help you. Sometimes he even has ideas of his own, “You were looking at accent walls the other day right? I think you could do something with this back wall…”

He does play games with you, just usually offscreen. He’s scarily good at first person shooters… even tho he claims to not have any past experience with them… extremely suspicious activity.

And when he mains D.Va and Symmetra then what. Then what.

Just don’t ask him to play Fornite. Ever. (He’d be good at it, but he feels so fucking dumb playing it especially when he can hear that he is competing against a twelve year old pls).

He plays games by himself, too. Think “classic” run of the mill console videos games, I guess, nothing too crazy; Zelda, Mario, Kirby… Animal Crossing. His island is nothing short of immaculate, his only regret is that he doesn’t have oranges as his island fruit. Levi really likes oranges (he got peaches instead).

He knows that you’re pretty popular and he’s super proud of you. That doesn’t mean he likes to see fancam style edits of you on his feed. He knows that you’re pretty but still 🙄🙄

Constantly on the look out for computer/keyboard parts that you mentioned. If he sees it online or anywhere else, he’ll try and snag it for you <3 that goes for new console games, too.

He’ll also periodically upgrade some of the tech in your setup. Get you a better mic, some more lighting for your desk, a cute desk mat he thinks you might like. He’s observant, so he knows your taste in design and takes note of things you mention.

Okay okay okay but imagine putting the headphones with the kitty ears on him. He wouldn’t even notice at first and then you turn on the LEDs and bam. Very focused, very cute kitty Levi playing games on your PC.

If you’ve got a merch store, he helps you run it, and by that I mean, he practically runs it for you. Periodically, he might even have a design idea. You can count on him to get things out for shipping right on time. It’s one of his many ways of supporting you.

He’s also the one who remembers to check your P.O. box for packages from fans and from companies. It was his idea initially, too (he wasn’t too crazy about anyone, even major brands having your home address on file).

Look, he knows you’ve got some super fans, and some people who really do adore you. That doesn’t mean he’s necessarily happy when you get sent non-tech or gaming related merch (like jewelry or shoes or whatever). If he happens to put them a little bit out of sight then no he did not <2

Occasionally he’ll meet someone who recognizes your name when it comes up in conversation. He very proudly confirms that yes, he is talking about you, the streamer.

Sometimes, people will even recognize him back—“Oh, so you’re Levi, then!” Obviously. You only have one Levi in your life 🙄🙄

[chloeeli-archive]

status: closed ( @alessandrodinatale​ ) location: aless’ apartment

The fact that Aless was serious about the Ikea trip he had suggested had Chloe dreading their usual weekly get together. It wasn’t that she didn’t want to help him, it was that she hated Ikea. It was that she hated getting lost in a sea of furniture she couldn’t pronounce with no reasonable way out. It wasn’t even like she could ask an employee to help her find a specific item, because she could pronounce a single item in the store. Nothing about the store screamed ‘good time’ to her. Still, it was Aless asking, and she found it impossible to say no. She owed him after dragging him halfway down the coast, and then allowing him to adjacently stalk her ex who could certainly lay him out if she deemed fit. Chloe supposed she could stomach getting lost in an Ikea with him for a couple hours as a first step towards repayment. That didn’t mean she wouldn’t complain.  Chloe landed three raps on the door of his place, waiting patiently for him to swing the door open for her. Sure enough, the door was opened in no time, and Chloe leaned into her hip, already ready to cause him trouble. “Firstly, I’m not going to Ikea if you’re buying Stella another piece of furniture. Secondly, Ikea has a website. I checked. We could stay here, drink, and buy whatever you’re looking for online instead. Seems much more efficient.” She paused for a moment, shifting back off of her hip. “Also, hello. How have you been? What’s new?” Chloe asked, shifting past him into his apartment. 

[razrgrl]

Furnishing the new house

I arrived in Vermont with an odd collection of furniture. I have the things that I have kept with me for the last 40 years... things that I brought from my childhood home and have an emotional connection to. The rest of it is as kid-growing-up-I-don't-care-how-many-stickers-you-put-on-it furniture that I just needed to live.

My plan was to add pieces slowly... travel the area and find used or antique pieces. I would refinish what I could and end up with a collection of beautiful (magically matching) furniture.

Then reality set in.

I have two decorative china cabinets, but nothing to sit on in the living room. The table I have to eat on is a IKEA table that I bought as a remainder, 25 years ago. My dining room chairs are so old and creaky that I'm a little afraid to sit in them. While they were packed, my clothes magically multiplied well past my dresser's ability to contain them.

Then there is my guest room. It is currently furnished exclusively with half-empty moving boxes.

Tempting as it is, I can't leave it that way.

Then I looked at my moving/new-house-down-payment-shredded checking account and decided to go looking for a deal. I got on Wayfair.com and found a pretty green couch on sale.

You know how that ended.

Yeah.... No more online furniture sales.

I got my money back and went to a real furniture store for a couch. I got a nice comfy one... but it's going to take until the end of August for it to get shipped to the store and, then, delivered to me.

*eyeroll* Welcome to rural Vermont.

On the plus side, Cici and I have a reason to spend a day every weekend running around to antique malls and exploring this part of New England. We've been to a few places in southeastern New York State, northwestern Massachusetts, and central Vermont.

That has been really fun. It's a robust antiquing area around here and the prices are pretty reasonable. It's just going to take some time.

Note: I found a dining room table that needs some serious refinishing (and I have no idea how to do it) and a set of shelves (that needs no refinishing) that sits nicely in a corner of my kitchen. I've got my eye on a neat old dresser (that also needs no refinishing - do you sense a trend?) sitting in an antique mall in central Vermont. If it's still there next week, I'm going for it.

[elsanna-shenanigans]

February Contest Submission #2: Your Heart Will Fly on Wings

Words: ca. 4,000 Setting: mAU Lemon: no Content: brief s3xual language Song: Never Never Land from Peter Pan The Musical

Anna rode her bike down Highway 1 at a brisk pace, her braids blowing in the wind, the pinwheel circling on her handlebars, and a Marathon Branch Library book tucked safely in her front basket. She watched as car after car drove passed her on their way to Key West. The February weather was perfect for a trip to the Conch Republic, she thought as she smiled at the setting sky. Warm but not too warm, sunny but with a nice breeze from the Atlantic. Safely on the sidewalk, she adjusted her position on the seat so she could hold out her arms in gratitude. She’d had another great day at work. 

A moment later, she swerved slightly to the right and had to put her hands back on the handlebars. She laughed at how overconfident she’d been and pedaled faster, her home in sight. 

She slowed to a stop as she reached the driveway. Swinging her leg over and dismounting, she steered the bike to the side gate of an ocean blue house. She opened the gate and waved to Mrs. Schneider, who was working in her flower bed.

“I made you cookies, dear. They’re on your chair,” the older woman smiled and pointed towards a lawn chair set up in front of a converted garage. 

The biggest benefit to living in a garage-turned-studio-apartment owned by retirees was the cookies. Anna had learned this some time ago when they were still getting used to their arrangement.

She thanked Mrs. Schneider with a grin and parked her bike near the lawn chair. She then picked up a book from its basket and walked over to her landlady. 

“Is Mr. Schneider home?”

“No, dear. He’s out playing poker with friends,” Mrs. Schneider said with a playful roll of her eyes. “Is that a new book?”

Anna nodded with a grin. “Ryder thinks he’s got him on this one. He says it’s the best mystery novel of the decade.” She handed the book over and watched Mrs. Schneider read the title. 

“Bless that boy for trying. My husband is just so picky. This one does have a fun cover though. I’ll give it to him tonight. Standard check out time?”

“Mhm, two weeks. Plus he can renew it if no one else wants to check it out.” 

Mrs. Schneider smiled. “Thank you, Anna, and thank your library friends. Honestly, the world needs more of you all doing the work you do.”

“Thank you,” Anna smiled back. “And thank you for the cookies.”

“They’re chocolate chip,” Mrs. Schneider winked. 

Anna said her goodbyes and walked down the short path to her apartment. She picked up the cookies and already had one in her mouth by the time she opened the door. 

Inside was a hodge-podge of antique furniture found in thrift stores and estate sales, a few Ikea pieces for organization, tchotchkes, handmade macrame, and plants. She made her way over to a retro dinette table that she proudly thrifted for $10 from someone who moved in down the road and didn’t like the previous owner’s 50s vibe. She thought it was perfect for her home. Setting the plate of cookies down, she looked over at the table’s other occupant.

“Hi, Frank, did you miss me?” She opened a bottle of fish food and sprinkled it into her fish tank and pulled out a chair to watch the goldfish eat. She eventually crossed her arms on the table and leaned her chin on them. “Yeah, I can tell you did. You must have been hungry. Don’t forget tomorrow is tank cleaning day. Oh, don’t look at me like that. You’ll only be at your glass container condo for an hour tops.”

Anna paused as the fish swam up to the glass. “Don’t judge me, Franklin. I bought you a condo before I bought one for me.” She rolled her eyes at her own antics. “Think Flakes is online?”

The fish swam away. “Rude. I’m not going to tell you if she is.”

Anna walked over to her desk, another cookie in hand. She hoped that her favorite Discord user was online. 

Anna had never heard of Discord until she got into The Owl House. Fueled by the need for more Lumity, she then discovered fanfiction- which she now wondered how she ever lived without considering her love of pop culture and the written word. When her friend Ryder mentioned that she could probably find more fans on Discord, she started looking for connections with other Owl House fans. 

Thus, she found Lumity House on the Discord. Other than its vague reference to Little House on the Prairie, which she loved as a kid, she finally found her fandom. 

More importantly, she found FrostedFlakes. Flakes was an author that wrote the sweetest and most compelling teen romance fanfiction. Anna had started reading it because she saw others recommend it constantly. She loved it because she remembered what it was like growing up bisexual and falling in love with her first girlfriend. The way Flakes wrote felt so genuine and real to Anna. She could see every scenario play out perfectly. It made her wish she could be one of Flakes’ characters- at least that’s what she told Flakes once.Thankfully, Flakes was flattered by the comment, and their friendship was born. 

Now, three months later, Anna opened Discord and hoped to find a message from her friend.

“Yes,” Anna shouted and pumped her fists in the air. A notification next to Flakes’ Tony the Tiger icon stared at her. Even better, Flakes was online.

You dork. Of course I’ve seen Peter Pan. 2003 is the best version. Other than Hook.

Anna bit her lip and responded. “No movie is better than Hook. RIP Robin Williams.”

It’s true. Lol.

Did you have a good day at work? 

“I did. I love my job, even if I can’t openly recommend all of your fic when the teens ask me what to read.”

You could, you’d just have to give away your secret life as a shipper.

“Never!”

“What about you? Did you have a good day at work?” 

I did. And no, I’m still not telling you what I do.

Anna rolled her eyes. Flakes knew her so well already. Probably because she was an open book. That’s why Flakes knew everything about Anna, but Anna knew next to nothing about Flakes. She didn’t mind though. It was all part of the cereal box of mystery, as she once put it.

“Boooooo you stinker.”

Don’t you mean whore?

“I would never call you a whore, you whore!”

For the rest of the evening, Anna grinned at her computer screen as she chatted with Flakes privately and participated in the server. After saying good night, she walked over to the kitchen for another cookie and it hit her. She was falling for Flakes.

xxx

They were back on Peter Pan after Anna watched the Disney version during a sick day brought on by allergy season.

“It’s not in this version, but you know what my favorite line is?”

What?

“‘Never is an awfully long time.’”

It’s one of my favorites too.

Anna’s heart fluttered at Flakes’ admission. “Really?”

Yeah. It’s poetic. Peter says Wendy can go to a place where she never has to worry about grown up things and she tells him that in response. She’s wise beyond her years. It also foreshadows that “never” is actually an awfully short time since she chooses to go home. ‘Never’ is not forever.

“Wow, no wonder you’re a dynamite writer.”

I’m rolling my eyes at you.

“Are they blue? Hazel? Brown? Green?”

You’re impossible. 

Anna snorted. “Wrong movie/musical. Impossible things are happening every day.”

RIP Whitney

They’re blue by the way.

Anna filled that in the FrostedFlakes folder in her brain. “Blue, huh? Mine too, but they’re kind of a greenish blue? I don’t know.”

I bet they’re lovely.

“I bet yours are too.”

xxx

“You look happy,” Kristoff commented as he walked up to the circulation desk. 

Anna smiled at her best friend from where she was organizing books from the book return. “I am happy.”

“Anna’s happy because she’s been flirting with a girl online,” Ryder walked next to Kristoff. “Hey, babe.”

Anna grinned as he gave his boyfriend a quick kiss on the cheek. “You’re one to talk.” 

“How dare you, Anna.” Ryder dramatically leaned against Kristoff and spoke to him next. “How dare she, Kristoff. I am but a simple gay, getting ready for a weekend of Pride with my boyfriend in Key West.”

“You mean the Cock Republic?” Anna whispered with a sly grin. She nearly burst out laughing at Kristoff’s blush, while Ryder nodded suggestively.

Recovering from the librarians’ dirty talk, Kristoff cleared her throat. “So, tell us about her.”

“Yes, Anna,” Ryder rounded the desk to sit at an empty computer. “Give us all the details about your online sapphic goddess. What’s her name, where’s she from, and all that.”

Anna sat down at her own computer and started scanning the books back in. “I… don’t actually know.” She bit her bottom lip and waited. 

Kristoff blinked. “You’ve been talking to her for how long?”

“Seven months-ish? But she’s not a weirdo. She just… values her privacy?” Anna looked at both of them before shrugging.

“Sounds kind of like you’re trying to convince yourself,” Ryder said quietly. 

“I know her eyes are blue,” Anna defended. “And she’s blonde. She told me the other day when I told her I need a haircut. Speaking of, I still need a haircut.” 

Ryder and Kristoff shared a look before Kristoff sighed. 

“Just promise you won’t get too attached to her. You should really watch out for people online.”

Anna rolled her eyes. “Okay, Dad.”

“More like Daddy,” Ryder wiggled his eyebrows. 

“Oh my god, go shelf these.” Anna practically thrust a stack of books into his arms. 

xxx

Later that evening, Anna thought as she biked home. What did she know about FrostedFlakes? She could count on one hand the personal things she knew. She still didn’t know where Flakes worked or what profession she was even in. And Flakes never mentioned where she lived. By the time she arrived at her doorstep, the mosquitos were out, and she was properly sulking. 

She quickly got inside and scratched at her arms. She went to her small bathroom and found the anti-itch cream in her medicine cabinet. As she slathered it on her bites, she looked in the mirror at the girl frowning back at her. 

“Maybe they’re right,” she said to her reflection. Maybe she shouldn’t have a crush on someone she didn’t know. 

She sighed and walked out to feed Frank. 

“Frank, I’m having lady problems. Do you think it’s okay to crush on someone I don’t know?” 

She waited for an answer as her fish ate. 

“I mean, I know she loves Peter Pan, and she cries during ‘Edelweiss’ in The Sound of Music. She loves chocolate and salted caramel, and she hates crowds- she’s an introvert. She would love to be a published author, but she does something else that she loves more. I just don’t know what it is.”

Anna pressed a finger up to the glass, and Frank swam over to inspect it. “I wonder if I’ll ever really get to know her.” 

But don’t you, a little voice in the back of her head asked. You know some really good things about her personality. You just don’t know everything.

“Yet.”

By the time she got into bed, Anna was no longer sulking. She felt like everything would work out. She texted Kristoff and Ryder, telling them to be safe and have fun at Pride. 

xxx

“What are you doing right now?”

Looking at the mountains.

“Do you live near mountains?”

I do, but I’m currently flying over them.

“Work trip?” 

No, just work. I’m a pilot.

Anna sat up straight on her bed and stared at her phone for a solid minute. Then she flopped back down and kicked her stockinged feet in glee. Fall in Florida was always hot, but that never stopped her from living her best plaid-skirt-and-stockings life. 

“Oh yeah?”

Yeah. Want to see a photo?

Anna turned onto her stomach as her heart beat loudly in her chest. Might she get a photo of the woman she was deeply crushing on? Anna tried to picture a faceless blonde in a captain’s uniform. “Totally.”

A few seconds later, a photo of mountain tops came through. 

Anna chuckled and shook her head. Of course. 

“Very pretty. What mountains are those?”

Blue Ridge. The flight is from Atlanta to D.C.

“Do you fly commercial?”

I do. I hate the crowds in airports and I hate making small talk with the crew, but I love flying. Views like these are part of the reason why. Guess the other part?

Anna thought for a minute. “No idea.”

This is the closest I’ll ever get to being Peter Pan.

Anna’s heart melted.

xxx

“Happy Thanksgiving, Flakes! How are you celebrating?”

xxx

Eight days after Thanksgiving, Anna still hadn’t heard from Flakes. She paced from one end of her apartment to the other, worried that something happened to her. She even started checking to see if any planes had crashed- thankfully none had. 

She finally sat down at her computer, hoping that the server could take her mind off Flakes when a notification popped up. 

Hi, sorry for the radio silence. I went camping.

Anna cried out, happy to hear from her friend. “That’s totally okay. How was it?”

It was very good. I really needed to get out of the city. I don’t really do Thanksgiving. How was yours?

“No judgment here lol. I love my landlords but their Thanksgiving spread didn’t have mac and cheese.

How could it not have mac and cheese, Flakes?!”

Maybe you’ll just have to make it next year.

“They’d have to call the fire department. I’m a terrible cook.”

A few minutes went by, and Anna waited to see if Flakes had anything more to say. 

Anna, can I tell you something personal?

“Anything, friend.”

I don’t celebrate Thanksgiving because my parents died around the holiday. That’s why I went camping. It’s my way of coping. To get away from everyone’s thankful bullshit.

Anna covered her mouth with her hand and tears welled up in her eyes. What could she say to that? She didn’t know that kind of loss. Her parents lived in Miami. They were only a few hours away. 

“I’m so sorry, Flakes. I wish I knew what to say. I’m just here for you, okay?”

Thank you, Anna. I suppose it’s not all bullshit because I am thankful for you.

“I’m thankful for you too, Flakes.”

My name is Elsa.

Anna let out a few tears at that message. “It’s nice to meet you, Elsa.”

xxx

Anna, the Hollywood hills are not mountains.

“They are to a person from Florida.”

You want mountains? I’ll show you mountains. 

“Is that a euphemism?” 

Oh my god.

“Hold on, my joke made me laugh and spray hot chocolate everywhere. I need napkins. Fly over here and help me since it’s your fault.”

I’ll do no such thing. It’s not my fault that you can’t be trusted with hot chocolate.

“Elsaaaaaaa”

Annnnnnna

As she got napkins, Elsa sent her a few photos of mountain trails and waterfalls. 

See? Real mountains. Specifically the Rockies. I took them on my camping trip.

Anna looked at the breathtaking photos in awe. One in particular stuck out. It was of a lake so clear and untouched that it reflected perfectly the snowy mountainous backdrop. “These are amazing, Elsa.”

Thank you. Maybe one day you’ll see them yourself.

“I hope so. I’m pretty sure you just sold me on them with your travel brochure quality photographs.”

Lol, you’re silly 

It was at that point that Anna wished she knew what Elsa’s laugh sounded like. She looked back at the picture and thought that it might sound as beautiful as the lake looked.

xxx

“Just tell her, Anna. You’re so head over heels it’s not even funny,” Kristoff said as they walked down Duval Street a few days before Christmas.

“I know, I know, Kris, but it’s not that easy,” Anna sighed. “I don’t want to freak her out. What if I ruin our friendship?”

“What if you get a girlfriend out of it?”

Anna’s shoulders sagged and she leaned on him for support. “Can we stop talking about my nonexistent love life and get a Christmas gift for your boyfriend?”

“He wants Crocs.” Kristoff put an arm around her shoulders as she straightened up.

“You guys are the worst gays ever.”

Kristoff laughed. “Because we don’t buy high fashion?”

“Yes, because you’re not a stereotype,” Anna giggled. “But seriously Crocs?”

“Yep. What my man wants, my man gets. And what my best friend wants is for me to give her a little advice.”

Anna rolled her eyes. “Okay, go on.”

“I’ve watched you go from schoolgirl crush to full out in love with Elsa. And I think that if you don’t tell her, you’ll just keep hurting yourself. So you should tell her. Maybe she likes you back. Maybe she doesn’t, but at least you know and you can do whatever the next right thing is.”

“Look at you, Mr. Love Expert,” Anna grinned. “I’m impressed.”

“I learned from Ryder. He took his shot with me, and now look at us.”

Anna stopped and put her hands over her heart. “Buying him Crocs is the most true form of love there is.”

Kristoff turned back to her. “You’re lucky I love you.”

“Oh my god, Kristoff, are you in love with me?!” Anna’s exclamation drew a few stares their way.

“Not anymore,” he deadpanned. “I’m walking away now.”

“Don’t leave me, my love!” Anna jogged to catch up.

xxx

Anna sat at her computer and pondered as she listened to “My Shot” from the Hamilton soundtrack. 

“You can do this, you can do this, you can do this.” She took a sip of wine, cracked her knuckles, and started typing. 

“Hey Elsa, I have a confession and I’m only able to type it out thanks to a little liquid courage. I really like you. Like, like you like you. And I know it’s totally crazy to dream I’d find anyone like you online, but I did. So I’m kind of wondering what you’re doing for New Years because I have time off work and would love to meet you somewhere if you’re interested. Nothing big, I know you don’t like parties. Just maybe dinner and movies at a hotel or something. I dunno. That’s probably too forward. But I would like to meet you at least. You are my best friend. I just hope we can be more.”

She quickly hit send before she could change her mind and closed her laptop. Five minutes later, she opened it. No new DMs. Knowing she might be in for a long night, she put on Annie to distract her from looking at Discord. 

When the credits began to roll, she finally opened Discord on her phone and saw that Elsa responded.

I don’t know what to say, Anna. Well, yes, I do. I don’t think it’s a good idea to meet. I’m sorry. I’m not good around people. I’m not as confident as I seem online. And, while I’ll admit I have feelings for you, I don’t know exactly what they are. I just don’t want you to wait for me because I’m afraid I’d disappoint you. 

Anna’s lip quivered and tears splashed onto her phone as she typed. “It’s fine.”

I never meant to hurt you, Anna. I’m sorry.

Anna sniffled as she put her phone down. Never is an awfully long time, she thought as her heart broke. 

By morning, Elsa left the Discord and Anna discovered that she could no longer message her. 

xxx

“Come on, Anna. This is why we told you to get PreCheck,” Ryder sighed as he and Kristoff waited for Anna to join them once she got through security. 

“It’s like 100 bucks, dork. I don’t know about you, but I work in a library,” Anna pinched his arm lightly. 

“Oww, Kristoff she hurt me. Did you see that?”

“I saw nothing, and I take no sides,” the blond man held his arms up. 

Miami International Airport buzzed with the typical morning crowd as the three friends made their way to their gate. Children held their parents’ hands as adults raced by, already late for their flights due to long security lines. Someone honked a scooter horn to break up a group of teens congregating near a bathroom entrance. And on her right, Ryder was hopping up and down like a 5-year-old in a candy store.

“Are you excited about ALA?” Ryder asked Anna for the umpteenth time. 

“Oh, I don’t know,” she shrugged. “Librarians from around the world, Barack Obama as the keynote speaker, free books, and participating in a panel discussion on how well our fanfiction workshops are doing? Sounds sooo boring.”

“Liar! You’re excited.”

They got situated at Gate G4, and Ryder went to find candy for the flight. 

“He’s right, you know,” Kristoff said. “You look more energized than you’ve been in months.”

“I think I’m finally over it, Kris,” Anna smiled back at him. “I feel good. This conference is just what I need. Plus, I get to talk about something successful Ryder and I started. That’s pretty freaking cool.”

“Yes, it is,” he chuckled at her enthusiasm.

In truth, Anna really did feel better. After Elsa left the Discord, she stopped living and felt sorry for herself. She wondered what she did wrong. She wondered how someone like her could be so friendly and get nothing for it. She realized how selfish she was. It took months of coming to grips with her selfishness. It was especially hard to realize that she expected Elsa to fall for her. She thought she’d been charming and flirty. She never once stopped to look at things from Elsa’s perspective. 

The realization that her personality wasn’t as genuine and selfless as she thought sent her reeling even more. And, of course, she dealt with it by throwing herself into work. Which led to the formation of the Writing Club, a place where teens could write fanfiction and get constructive criticism from local authors, teachers, and their peers. It was a success at her library, bringing in more teens weekly than ever before. 

Eventually though, she decided to work on herself. She couldn’t put it off anymore. She began reading self-help books and starting working with a therapist. She was still healing and working towards being a better her when Ryder said their panel idea was accepted by the American Library Association for their annual conference. 

And now they were on their way there, Kristoff in tow for moral support. 

“I’m gonna get a Coke. Do you want anything?” She asked him.

“Nah, I’m sure Ryder’s bringing me something. Go on, I’ll watch the bags.”

She swung her purse over her shoulder and walked in the direction of Hudson News, hoping to get some trashy gossip magazines for the plane ride. 

As she made her way back, a staff member at the gate picked up the phone to make an announcement. “Paging Captain Frost, Captain Elsa Frost. Please come to Gate G4. Once again, Captain Frost, please come to Gate G4.”

Anna stopped in her tracks just as a blonde woman in a crisp uniform passed her, toting a hard shell suitcase with national parks stickers behind her.

The woman wore an ironed white short-sleeved shirt that showed off long elegant pale arms as she reached for a piece of paper from the gate staffer. Her platinum blonde hair was pinned up in a bun that screamed professional but looked damn sexy. Anna briefly wondered what it looked like down. And her pants. The shirt was tucked into tailored black pants that perfectly accentuated her rear.

Anna took a step forward just as the captain took a sip of coffee. She took another one as the captain nodded and set the paper down. The gate staffer must have then said something funny because the laugh it garnered from the captain was nothing short of melodious, but Anna could see that her mirth didn’t reach the captain’s eyes. Like someone putting up a pleasant facade. The captain then excused herself and walked over to a seat near the wall of windows looking out onto the airport’s apron. 

“Hello, Earth to Anna,” Ryder said from his seat next to his boyfriend. “What are you doing?” 

Anna slowly turned to them, her eyes unfocused. “I’ll be right back.”

Ryder and Kristoff gave her matching confused looks but said nothing more. 

Wondering if she was about to make the biggest mistake of her life, Anna decided to go for it. She walked up to the captain. “Captain Elsa Frost?” 

Elsa jumped at the sudden sound of her name and looked up.

“I’m sorry to startle you, but I have something to say that I think you’ll understand.”

Elsa’s brow furrowed, but Anna thought she could see tentative recognition in those sapphire blue eyes that she’d once longed to see. 

“Never is not forever,” Anna smiled hesitantly.

Elsa smiled back.

[oboevallis]

Sooo I was re reading hungry part 2 and I saw the part where you wrote about link making Amelia walk around Home Good and Lowe’s while she was heavily pregnant and I was wondering if you could write a fic about that? Hope your staying safe!

rocking chair

thanks so much for the prompt, i had a lot of fun writing this i hope everyone’s doing well and staying safe!

“Hey babe.” Link whispered as he shook his girlfriends shoulder, trying to lull her out of sleep.

“Leave me alone.” She grumbled into the pillow, turning away from him. He chuckled at her grumpiness, shaking her again. “Geez, what do you want?” She snapped.

“We’ve gotta go shopping for the apartment.” They had recently moved into an apartment together, before their son arrived. He was expected to come in 3 weeks and Link wanted to get everything in order while all Amelia wanted to do at this point was curl up into a ball until the baby came.

“Nooooooooo.” She whined turning around to face him.

“We have to. The baby can’t come home to an empty apartment.” Link chuckled at his girlfriends sleepiness.

“We have furniture, and we have baby things, why can’t we just order the other stuff online?”

“First off we’ve waited too long to do this, so stuff won’t get her in time, and secondly you can’t rely on the internet you have to go and see the stuff, and there are DIY projects I want to do. We’ve gotta make this place homey.”

“Hell no Link. I’m not going to walk around the store with you so you can get stuff for projects you’ll never do.”

“Come on babe, it’ll be so much fun. And we can get you a soft pretzel on the way to the store.” Amelia perked up at the mention of a pretzel. After some time Amelia reluctantly agreed to the excursion.

_______________________________________

“Ready babe?” Link asked as he unbuckled his seatbelt.

“Can’t I wait in the car?”

“Come on it’ll be fun.” Amelia rolled her eyes and begrudgingly got out of the car. She held onto her boyfriends arm and leaned against his shoulder, they had just begun and she was already tired.

“What do we need?” She wanted to try and make this excursion as quick as they could, so she wanted to assure she kept him on task.

“I’ve gotta make two key copies, paint for the baby’s room, some tile backsplash for the kitchen, some lightbulbs and a new light fixture for the living room.” The neurosurgeon sighed, she could tell the was going to be a long trip.

“After this can we get a pretzel.”

“I promised didn’t I?” Link chuckled absentmindedly, as he compared paint swatches. “So we decided on light green for the nursery right? Which on do you like better?”

“I don’t care whatever you want.”

“Alright.” Link sighed, staring to realize his girlfriend was going to be of no help. “This one then.”

“No that’s the wrong one.” The neurosurgeon dramatically sighed, picking up the paint swatch she thought would be best in the room.

“I thought you didn’t care?”

“That was when I thought you were gonna make the right choice.” Her boyfriend chuckled wrapping his arm around her.

“Come on this is so much fun isn’t it?” Link asked as they walked through the tile isle, he took out his phone to look at the pictures he took of the kitchen to try and see what would look best in their kitchen.

“No, my feet are swollen, I’m hungry, and I want to take a nap.”

“I promise we’ll get pretzels after this.” He smiled charmingly.

_______________________________________

“Link why do we have to do this?” Amelia complained as she trailed behind her boyfriend in Home Goods. “We have a couch, bed, crib, and changing table at home already this is unnecessary.”

“We’ve got to make it homey, babe.” Link wrapped his arm around her, trying to help her keep up the pace.

“I like our cold cave.”

“See wouldn’t this mirror look cute in the entryway?” Link asked pointing to one on a shelf.

“I don’t care, whatever you want.”

“Come on, lighten up. We’ve gotta make the apartment our home, it’s gotta have a little something.”

“I’ll lighten up once this bowling ball is out of me.” Amelia bit back, starting to lose her patience. Link kept grazing down the aisles, his girlfriend trudging along. “Can’t we sit down?”

“We’re almost done.” He got distracted with another item. The tired neurosurgeon sighed and walked away from him, and towards the front of the store where a bench was. She carefully lowered herself down onto the bench and sighed, she was tempted to fake contractions but she knew Link would take her to the hospital, as she was plotting in excuse an older woman then sat down next to her.

“Your husband drag you here?” The woman asked whilst smiling.

“Yeah.” Amelia chuckled, not bothering to correct the woman that it was her boyfriend.

“My husband drags me here all the time. Any home improvement store for that matter, it’s keen like this our whole marriage. Never made me when I was pregnant though, I would’ve killed him if he did that.” Amelia chuckled, as much as she loved her boyfriend she was at her wits ends with his restlessness. “With the first baby they have all this nervous energy, that they don’t know what to do with, so they do home improvement projects.” Amelia winced at the assumption that this was her first baby. “Our first, she’s 25 now, God that’s crazy to say, but he made this rocking chair himself. I remember we had this big fight, I can’t even remember what about, but I told him to get out. So he went out the front door and I cried and cried thinking he’d actually left, but in actuality he was out back in his shed building that chair. Throughout the years he’s made amazing things for our home but that’s by far my favorite.”

“That’s sweet.” Amelia smiled melting a little bit at the sweet story.

“I lied to you.” The woman said, Amelia crooked her eyebrow; confused. “My husbands dead, I just come here to feel him.”

“I’m so sorry.” Amelia sobered up a bit.

“It’s okay, he died of what the doctors said was something called a brain aneurysm. When the doctors tried to explain it they used all these fancy terms. I think that’s what upset me the most, they could see I was distraught but didn’t even dumb it for me. He was completely healthy, the day before he was at the doctors clean bill of health, how could they of not caught it? For how smart they acted, I couldn’t believe they missed it.”

“Their hard to detect, a lot of the time there are no symptoms, until it’s too late.”

“Oh, are you a doctor? I didn’t mean to offend you.”

“No offense taken, I get it. As interns we’re taught a list of bullet points, and they give you all that crap about being sensitive but that doesn’t resonate with a lot of people, until they’ve lost someone they love.”

“Would you mind explaining to me what a brain aneurysm is?”

“Of course.” Amelia nodded turning to face her a bit better. “There are blood vessels in your brain, and if one of them gets weak, it then kinda acts like a balloon and fills up until it bursts.” The woman simply nodded, indicating she understood, starting to understand better.

“What kind of doctor are you?”

“I’m a neurosurgeon.”

“So you see those all the time?”

“Yeah, I do.”

“Are they ever detected early?”

“It depends. Sadly in most cases it’s too late and the aneurysm bursts, sometimes if it starts leaking you can clip it and fix the issue.”

“Thank you.” The woman nodded, shooting her a sad smile. “May I ask why you became a doctor?”

“Well all my siblings are doctors, so I guess it never really occurred to me to do something else, but I think we’re all doctors because our dad died when we were younger, in some way thinking we could change what happened I guess.”

“It helps when you start to accept the things you can’t change.” Amelia immediately noticed the phrase, it was from the serenity prayer.

“I hope you don’t mind me asking but are you in A.A?”

“I am, I haven’t been in awhile. I know it’s not the best to be in a relationship with another alcoholic but I think we kept each other in check, and were sober for each other.”

“Im in AA too.” Amelia smiled, watching the woman relax a bit. “If you want to we can go together.”

“You know, I’d very much enjoy that. I really should be going, the want to drink has been lurching over me since his death. Thank you.”

“Of course.” Amelia smiled as she took out a pen and piece of paper from her bag to write her number on and handed it to the woman.

“Thank you dear.”

“Sorry about that babe, you ready?” Link asked his girlfriend as he spotted her on the bench.

“Yeah.” Amelia nodded slowly standing up. “I’m sorry I don’t think I caught your name.”

“Louise. And yours?”

“Amelia. It was really nice to meet you.”

“Likewise, I’ll send you a text message later dear.” Amelia nodded and walked out of the store with her boyfriend.

“Who was that?”

“My friend.” Amelia smiled to herself. “I’m sorry for being cranky earlier.”

“No I’m the one that’s sorry. I dragged you to a bunch of different stores and we still haven’t got you that pretzel.” Link chuckled as he placed the bags into the trunk and closed it. “And your 8 months pregnant and exhausted.”

“No it’s okay.” Amelia smiled once he got into the drivers side and buckled his seatbelt. “What were you planning on building for the baby?”

“Well I know your tired so I’m gonna get you that pretzel and drop you off at home, but I’m probably go to ikea and get a rocking chair.” Amelia perked up to this and smiled.

“No don’t go to ikea, you should build it.”

“Well yeah, they give you all the parts there.”

“No you should build it from scratch.”

“What happened to the online shopping Amelia?”

“Come on wouldn’t it be really sweet?”

“I haven’t really built anything like that since high school wood shop, but I guess I can figure it out.” Link smiled, happy Amelia was starting to appreciate the DIY side of him. “You know what I think I will.”

“Thank you.” Amelia smiled, relaxing into the seat. “I have the best boyfriend ever.”

“And I have the best girlfriend ever.”

“That’s correct.” Amelia smirked.

[seapiatech]

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